CLENCH-!

My eyes widened at the bracer wrapped around my arm.

What the hell? What is this?

Why had it suddenly bound itself to my arm?

I hurriedly tried to tear it off, but—

It won't come off... ?

It wouldn't budge.

No matter how hard I tried, no matter how much force I put into it, it stayed exactly the same.

Why is it doing this?

Flustered, I kept trying to pull it free and shot a look at the Tyrant.

“...What are you doing?”

The Tyrant was looking at me with the same baffled expression.

Seeing that, I spoke quickly.

“I don't know either. It suddenly wrapped itself around my arm.”

“...What?”

“You saw it too, didn't you? I didn't put it on myself.”

The Tyrant had clearly seen the bracer fly up and bind itself to my arm.

“...No, seriously, why won't it come off? Please help me.”

At my words, the Tyrant stepped forward.

Then reached out and grabbed the bracer.

BANG-!

“...!”

“Huh?”

The Tyrant's hand was knocked away.

The bracer had repelled it.

“Hah?”

The Tyrant's eyes widened.

“Well now.”

The Tyrant reached out again.

The moment those fingers grabbed the bracer once more—

THUD-!!

The Tyrant's body shook.

As if absorbing the impact.

So it explodes with force when someone tries to grab it?

Why?

It wasn't even mine.

It belonged to the Tyrant.

So why was it reacting to me?

...Was it the blood?

Had the problem come from the trick I'd used to pass the karma onto the Tyrant? 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Could that really have anything to do with it?

I couldn't make sense of it.

There shouldn't have been any reason for this to happen.

So why had this bracer suddenly started acting like this?

RUMBLE.

The Tyrant endured the constant vibration and finally managed to seize the bracer.

Then the Tyrant put strength into the grip and tried to tear it off—

“...Ghk!?”

A monstrous pain ripped through me.

The Tyrant was trying to pull off the bracer, but it felt like my arm was about to be torn off with it.

“...Sir...! Wait a moment...!”

RUMBLE.

Either the Tyrant couldn't hear me or simply didn't care.

Still enduring the vibration, the Tyrant kept trying to rip the bracer free.

“Ahh!”

It hurt like hell.

At this rate, my arm really was going to be ripped off.

So I had no choice.

I drove force into my dantian.

WHOOOSH-!!!

I unleashed Moonbolt and pushed back against the Tyrant's pressure.

At that, the Tyrant loosened the strength in that hand and stepped back slightly.

“What are you doing?”

“I told you to wait a moment.”

“Ah, did you?”

That expression said the Tyrant hadn't heard a thing.

And here I was, practically dying from the pain.

Then—

Drip.

A thin line of blood ran from the Tyrant's mouth.

“...Sir?”

“Mm. More violent than I expected.”

The Tyrant casually wiped it away with the back of a hand, but the fact that blood had been drawn at all shocked me.

...The backlash is really that fierce?

Just taking off one bracer was enough to make an absolute master on a level beyond the heavens cough up blood?

That was hard to believe.

“So it really won't come off?”

“...Yes. If you try to pull it off, it feels like my arm is going to tear loose.”

“...Hm.”

At that, the Tyrant narrowed those eyes and looked down at the bracer.

“Then this is troublesome. Do I have to tear it off arm and all?”

“...Sir?”

That was a joke, right?

It had to be a joke.

But seeing how quiet the Tyrant was, it didn't look like a joke at all.

Pretending I hadn't heard that part, I asked carefully,

“...You don't know anything about a situation like this?”

“I've never heard of one.”

“And when you wore it yourself, there was no problem?”

“Correct. Which makes this even stranger.”

If even the Tyrant couldn't understand what was happening, how was I supposed to?

...For fuck's sake.

What was I supposed to do about this mess?

I had never once imagined the bracer would latch onto my arm like this.

Why is it doing this?

I'd take even a reason.

As far as I knew, this should have been impossible.

Who in the world would have expected a bracer to wrap itself around my arm like this?

“What do we actually do?”

“Hmm.”

The Tyrant stroked the chin like someone thinking.

“Really, I suppose tearing off the arm—”

“...I'd prefer another method.”

“Isn't that the fastest one?”

“At the very least, it doesn't seem like the best method for me.”

“Then do you have a better one?”

“...Well.”

Who knew.

This was my first time seeing something like this too.

There wasn't much I could say.

“Ungh...”

At this rate, I really might lose an arm.

Just as I was thinking I had to come up with something—

HUMMMMM-!

Hm?

Something began to ring strangely inside my head.

What was this all of a sudden?

As I narrowed my eyes—

“...Huh?”

My arm grew hot.

Then, bit by bit, something began seeping into my mind.

What is this?

It was information I didn't recognize.

Not only could I not understand it, I couldn't even tell what it was supposed to mean.

“...Mount Tai... five forms... opening move...”

“What?”

The moment I blurted out the information flooding in, the Tyrant reacted.

And when more words continued spilling from my mouth—

“Wait.”

The Tyrant suddenly grabbed my shoulder.

Twitch.

“Ghk?”

A savage pain shot through it.

The Tyrant had put strength into the grip.

“...What was that just now?”

“...What?”

“I asked what you just said.”

“I don't know. Information suddenly started pouring into my head...”

“Information?”

Heat entered the Tyrant's voice.

What?

What was this?

The Tyrant clearly seemed to know what I had just said.

“...A record. Don't tell me that's the record.”

“Sir...?”

“Recite it.”

“What?”

“I said recite the rest. Right now.”

Battle intent laced with yearning.

It was so fierce that just feeling it made me flinch.

Recite more?

If it were up to me, I'd have gladly said more, but—

“I don't know.”

“What?”

“...Even if I wanted to say more, that was everything.”

Everything that had seeped into my memory had already come out.

Nothing more entered after that.

“...That can't possibly be the end of it.”

“What in the world is this, anyway?”

“...Hmph.”

At my question, the Tyrant furrowed the brow.

Was it difficult to explain?

Seeing that reaction to the information entering my head—

This has to be something serious.

Just as I was wondering what could possibly warrant that kind of response—

“It is the final form.”

“What?”

The Tyrant finally gave me an explanation.

“The martial art of the Mo Family of Xi'an. The final form of the art I learned. That is what is contained in that bracer.”

“...”

Hearing that, I swallowed dryly.

This is really important, then.

Not moderately important.

Exceptionally important.

“...In this bracer?”

So that was why the Tyrant had called it a record?

There was information like that stored in this bracer...?

Ah.

Something flashed through my head.

“...Then what I just said—”

“Yes. It seems to be the information needed to complete the form.”

“Shit.”

I didn't even bother filtering my language in front of the Tyrant.

That really was insane.

Why is that entering my head?

Wasn't it bad enough that the bracer had gotten stuck on my arm?

Now I had acquired information about the form too?

I'm screwed.

This was a real emergency.

I just learned another family's technique.

At this point, if the Tyrant killed me for it, that wouldn't even be strange.

Especially if it was something called the final form.

“...”

My heart trembled.

How would the Tyrant react to this?

I stared warily, bracing myself.

Then—

“What should I do with you?”

As if aware of exactly what I was thinking, the Tyrant looked at me with a somewhat chilly gaze.

I should've just let the arm get torn off.

Then maybe it wouldn't have come to this.

Damn.

I bit my lip lightly.

What should I do?

Could I run?

If I did run, how?

I have to get to the Moon Immortal Sword.

The question was whether I could make it that far.

I'd already figured out the route to the exit.

If things went bad, I'd have to flee with everything I had.

There was no other way.

As I quietly regulated my energy with that in mind—

“You said there is no more information beyond that?”

“...Yes. Nothing more came in after that.”

“And the bracer will not come off.”

“Yes.”

“Then it can't be helped.”

The Tyrant nodded, as if arriving at some conclusion.

“In that case.”

Was this it?

Was the Tyrant about to kill me and take the bracer by force?

At the very instant my tension peaked—

“I'll have to stay beside you.”

“...What?”

Something strange came out instead.

Stay beside me?

“What do you mean by that...?”

“Exactly what I said. Is that hard to understand?”

The Tyrant casually picked at the nose and went on.

“Leaving aside the fact that the bracer won't come off, the record is feeding information to you. So first, shouldn't we listen to all of it?”

“No...”

It was a brutally simple method.

“What if it stops giving information?”

Right now it had only given me that short fragment.

Judging by the reaction, the Tyrant seemed to think more records remained inside it.

But what if there aren't?

What if, contrary to the Tyrant's expectation, the bracer gave no more information at all?

To that question, the Tyrant answered,

“Then we really will have to tear the arm off.”

“...”

That calm answer made one thing perfectly clear.

I had to get more information out of it somehow.

Fine.

Let's say more information would come.

...Leaving that aside.

There was still another problem.

“...If you get all the information that way, then what?”

“Then what?”

“Yes. What are you planning to do with me after that, once I've learned the information about the form?”

A secret art of the Mo Family of Xi'an.

What would happen after I finished giving the Tyrant all the information about its final form?

At my question of what would be done with me once I had served my purpose—

“Well.”

The Tyrant smiled.

“I suppose I'll think about that when the time comes.”

“...”

That gaze was far too different for someone merely saying it would be considered later.

It was a vicious answer.

*****

We came back out of the vault.

The Tyrant glanced once at the bracer stuck on my arm, said there would be another visit later, and disappeared.

Maybe the Tyrant simply didn't care because the bracer couldn't be removed anyway.

Or maybe that means I can be found anytime.

It also sounded like confidence.

The confidence to find me somehow, whether I ran or hid.

And once I was left alone—

What do I do now?

My head filled with worries.

I had never expected to get tangled up with the Tyrant like this.

...I should've just not touched the bracer.

Forget passing on the karma.

I should have left it alone and let the Tyrant pick it up directly.

I got clever for no reason, «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» and now it felt like I'd ruined everything.

“Damn it.”

What the hell was I supposed to do now?

“Should I tell the Moon Immortal Sword?”

I wondered if things might improve a little if I confessed everything about the Tyrant to the Moon Immortal Sword.

But—

...I can't be sure.

The Moon Immortal Sword didn't seem like someone I could trust either, which made every choice difficult.

“Ah, damn it. Why did the bracer have to bind itself to me?”

My head was a mess.

Why had this bracer suddenly reacted like this?

“...Damn.”

I kept rubbing my face dry.

At this point it was a problem if no more information entered my head, and it was also a problem if it did.

“Hah.”

Carrying all that frustration, I threw myself onto the bed.

And at the worst possible moment, I found myself thinking of the one old man I needed most.

“...Where did you go?”

Yucheon Gil.

Without even realizing it, I was hoping that he would appear soon.

Time passed like that.

Even when dawn came, I still couldn't sleep.

Only after I barely managed to close my eyes—

“...Hm?”

At the familiar scene spread out before me, I frowned.

“...Why all of a sudden?”

A pure white backdrop.

A place I had already been to several times.

A dream-vision.

For some reason, my body had arrived there once again.