29 Warlock Armoury

Surprisingly, I saw that at this moment, magic infused 'ash' appeared out of nowhere and fused into my body. I scanned myself and double-checked my body with my Mana but found nothing changed.

Was I imagining things?

Anyway, that wasn't important right now. What most concerned me right now was that irritatingly condescending look on the man who appeared on the mirror before me. His height made it so the only thing I could do was lift my head to look up to him.

So even death can't kill that dead-eyed old bat living within me, huh? Is this some kind of joke...?

Hahahaha... ha... ha... Seriously... To think I'd become such a mess... trying to brainwash my little sister into some kind of 'super-soldier'. Why would I want her to live a paranoid life like I did?

Was my past life even worth living after I started to live in fear of getting killed everyday? That wasn't 'living', what I did was no more than 'surviving'! I'll never go back to living the same way I did back then!

"You are not wrong. What's so bad about being paranoid? It's our strongest and most important trait. We'd be nothing without it!" The scarred veteran within the mirror declared in opposition to my thoughts... His words resonated with the unwillingness I had hidden buried deep within my heart to completely change as a person.

I mean, it's not like I was entirely wrong...! My words were completely rational. There's no way for me to protect her 24 hours a day, right? Isn't it better to train her to become someone who could protect herself? In that way, aren't I in the right?

As her older brother, I shouldn't take her naivety into account and should instead force her to train for real-life combat. For her protection... Yes... There's nothing more important than keeping her safe...

I walked towards the long mirror embedded to my drawer and put my hand on it. My eyes glared at the cold and ruthless man I was in the past. When my eyes made contact with his own, the man tilted his head down and changed the way he looked at me.

"What's wrong? Don't have anything say?"

"Shut up, you're just my out-of-control imagination."

Upon hearing those words, the man just smiled.

"The moment you reacted to me is the moment you already knew I'm more than just your 'imagination'."

"Shut up, Just..."

"And why should I? If you wanted to stop listening to me, all you have to do is turn around~" A sadistic smile appeared on the old man's as he knelt down to make eye-contact with me. Seeing his face up close only reminded of why I hated thinking about him.

"You're don't exist anymore."

"Oh? Is that how you escaped your past sins? By rejecting my existence and regressing into a child?"

"I am a child." I avoided his eyes.

"No... You're not."

"I-"

"Coward." Those insulting words caused me to turn my head to glare at him in anger. The old man seemed pleased at this accomplishment as he looked at me like he could peer deep into my heart.

"You formed two Skill Roots, one that looks like an angel's halo and the other a demon's horn. I can't help but wonder... Why is it you chose to hide the horn instead of the halo? Or do you truly believe it would've mattered if the Duke found out you had a Dark Attribute Skill Root? How cowardly...

Are you scared of showing anything but your most positive aspects? Are you actually... scared?"

"Just shut up already."

"Why do feel fear? It's only natural that you show your demonic side once in a while. You're not wrong to want to train her to become independent from you. In fact, forcing her into a spartan training regimen shouldn't be anything much. Didn't that so-called 'Father' of yours do the same? The old man ignored my words and continued to speak.

A coldness like the arctic sea appeared in my eyes as I slammed my fist straight into the face of that foolish old bag knew absolutely nothing about my current self! My mirror shattered into fragments...

"Heh, so this is your choice. Just know that there will be a day you'll call out to 'me', the old Damian. I'll be waiting for the day you'll wake up for your daydream and realise that you NEED ME, Simon Rainglow."

A whispering voice entered my ears before vanishing without a trace. All seemed to have been just a fragment of my imagination, while the only thing clueing me into reality was the pain on my fist...!

I don't give a damn about what the old me would have done. I will never sacrifice my only little sister's happiness! That's not the kind of older brother I'm trying to be! It was only after a long moment did I notice blood dripping down my knuckles and onto my fingers after I broke the long mirror. My chaotic storm of emotions slowly calmed down. A big crack spread across its surface as the man inside vanished.

I looked at my hand after venting my frustrations, a decisive glow appeared in my eyes as I clenched my fist. I completely disregarded everything that right now and thought about what was important.

I will apologise to her...!

I don't have a plan on what to do next nor do I know how to solve this predicament I'm in, but I know one thing for sure: I don't want to see my little sister tears. I have to man up and apologise.

But first, I might as well finish what I already started. The Sun Ether within my spherical Spacial Radiance Skill Variant shook as I pointed at the shattered fragments of the long mirror.

My sphere of Sun Ether turned into glittering, glowing specs of magical energy that merged into the broken pieces of the long mirror. Then the shattered pieces of it all came together and became whole once again, making it look as good as new. Even the blood that fell on it returned into my injured hand...

However, I wasn't done. It would be hard to explain to my parents why I'm injured so I decided to do something about it. I closed my eyes as I got in touch with the Moon Mana in my flesh to purify the blood.

A eerie and chaotic energy that seemed to resonate with the all shadows in the world slowly revolved as it formed a connection with between both my mind and flesh. My Skill Root started to activate...

[Skill Root- Horn of the Moon God!]

A demonic horn grew next to the knuckle of my index finger and radiated a sort of shadowy glow that seemed to affect my flesh. The blood that had once left my injury was purified with Moon Mana and returned to my bloodstream. The wound closed as the torn flesh was knitted back together using a mixture of my Moon Mana and force of will.

Looking at my hand that seemed to have reverted back to how it originally looked, I nodded my head. This was a good first aid to use before healing it properly with proper and orthodox Healing Magic.

I once again retracted the Horn of the Moon God and turned my knuckle to notice the azure Lightning Gatherer Spell Circle that was still floating in mid air, the one that Merilin formed before she left.

There was no reason for me to waste such a good Spell Circle so I naturally inserted my Sun Ether into it using the special powers of my Molecular Retrofit Variant Extension. I could feel that everything I was working with becoming further enhanced by the Sun Attribute gifted to me by Enigma. It was almost like the innate qualities of what I worked with changed.

The colour of the Spell Circle changed to a bluish golden hue as I manipulated its structural foundation was tampered. I raised my hand and pointed at the glove in midair that was once Warlock Hand and retrieved it before wearing it on my hand like a normal glove without any special qualities.

The Lightning Gatherer fluctuated in the air as I willed it to move towards the glove. It twisted and distorted as it covered the glove on my right hand before assimilating itself into its surface.

I had already changed the size and shape of the ancient-looking glove beforehand, so there was no longer a need for me adjust it in any other way. I looked towards the box I previously used the hold the different mechanical components of the guns that were still floating in the air and decided to just turn it into an Enchanted Object using the Spell Circles I'd taken from Warlock Hand.

I waved my hand towards the components in the air and retrofitted the different components in the air so that they could produce more powerful weapons for me to use in future. They were even imbued with the golden hue of my Sun Ether as I worked with them.

The result was a plethora of hot weapons that looked both magical and modern in their outward appearance. Then, without wasting any time, I returned them to the cache I had them in before.

The Spell Circles I had taken from Warlock Hand fluctuated as they moved towards the artillery cache as well. I had already put the all the Inner Spells and Outer Circles back together at this point...

They distorted and assimilated into the artillery cache the same way Merilin's unique Lightning Gatherer Spell Circle did unto my glove, but only I could tell that the lines of the multiple Spell Circles I used weren't merely covering the weapon box itself.

Inside the box, all the modern weapons I manufactured were resonating with each other as a complex Spell Circle like electrical circuits fully covered and merged into every part of them.

The process only took a few seconds as the Molecular Retrofit Variant Extension wasn't something people other than myself were capable of replicating. It had too many strange characteristics that even I, its wielder, haven't fully grasped despite the fact that it was an innate Skill that was based off an amalgamation of my countless experiences.

After completely finishing the assimilation of the Spell Circles, I activated them in order to shrink the artillery cache and all the firearms stored within it using the Self-Adjustment Spell Circle within.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for both the artillery cache and the stored items within to shrink using only one Self-Adjustment Spell Circle, but the way I managed fuse together all of my four Spell Circles with the modern weapons I personally created truly was unique.

I may not know if others have similar methods to my own, but that didn't matter. I'll think about all that after I've apologised to Merilin for what I said. Now I can finally leave and chase after her...!

I held the shrunk artillery cache I've now decided to call... umm... 'Warlock Armoury' and walked out my room after putting my new creation in my pocket. Now... how should I apologise for what I did?

My ears jerked after I walked out of my room arrived near Merilin's room, a cautious glint appeared in my eyes as I concentrated my senses to focus on my hearing. The sound of my own footsteps walking down the corridor were resounding normally, yet why was I feeling an ominous premonition? This somehow feels familiar... I'm unable to put my finger on it but something is definitely wrong here...

I turned my head to find an ordinary-looking young maid was politely smiling at me from the end of the corridor like a passerby. Her head was innocently peaking out the edge of the corridor as if she was very timid. This shouldn't have been very alarming at first, but the darkness of the night combined with her strange actions made my hair stand on end.

My hand was already on the door handle to Merilin's room, but after seeing that the maid at the end of the corridor was just standing there... I felt a little suspicious about the young maid girl's actions!

Have we met before? I looked through my memory and tried to recall who the young girl was out of the various youthful acquaintances I don't usually bother talking to, and found nothing...

Could it be I just forgot? Well, that does sound possible. I don't usually socialise with other kids of my current age because I don't have any interest in playing childish games like 'Tag' or 'Hide-And-Seek' unless it's solely just to get away from Anna.

Could it be one of them? A young girl in love secretly follow the guy she likes in order to find an opportunity to confess her love~?Nah~! It can't be something as interesting as that, right~?

Just as I was musing to myself, a cold chill ran down my spine as I reflexively pulled the little weapon box I created out of my pocket. Then I adjusted Warlock Armoury back to its original rectangular shape and size so I could shield myself from the nearly invisible weapon that was thrown in my direction. My heart grew colder than ice as I glared at the nonchalant young girl who was still smiling innocently...!

This is definitely an assassination!

"Hee~ You defended against that? Nice going!" The little girl laughed as she claps from afar with admiration. My past life would have been lived in vain if I still didn't understand what was going on...

I was too careless... Who would have thought that I would meet someone who could hide their killing intent to kill so thoroughly? Even the assassin's sent to kill me in my past life weren't this good... I held the black knife that had almost cut into my neck by camouflaging itself using shadows of this corridor...

Oh for the love of- She picked the best time for assassination, didn't she...? This shadowy corridor wasn't well-lit and it was the dead of the night. If I wasn't so sensitive to the tiniest movements in the air, the black knife in my hands would have cut straight through my throat and killed me...

I better call for reinforcements...!

"Intruder!" I roared loudly at the top of my lungs but found that some kind of soundproofed barrier had already completed surrounded us and isolated any loud sound so that it wouldn't alert other people.

I didn't dare take my eyes off the young girl who was casually taking some black needles that were hidden in her hair and shifted my body into a battle stance. The atmosphere around me changed as I was no longer the young and emotional child from before.

The me of this moment had already gone into a kind of 'Combat Mode' that killed off any emotions that would get in the way of surviving in this tense situation. My pride and even my kindness had been put to the side so I could deal with this enemy...!

"You've come looking for my sister, right?" I asked with sea deep eyes that hid a burning inferno of rage... They say every dragon has a reverse scale, and if I was to point out my own 'reverse scale', then that would be my little sister. No mercy will be given to anyone wants to harm her! It's kill or be killed!

"There's no point in me telling a corpse about what I'm going to do." She said with utmost confidence in her voice. Her eyes seemed to be looking at me as nothing more than dust as she gently smiled...

Even after properly displaying her killing intent, that artificial smile which was plastered onto her innocent-looking face didn't change one bit as a thick Dark Aura covered her little body.

[Aura Conjuring- True Doppelgängers]

Her physical body distorted by the dark radiance of an obsidian aura and suddenly reformed back into multiple shadowy figures that mirrored her form perfectly. She didn't even leave the slightest clue as to which one of the clones formed from solidified Shadowlight Aura was her true self. This kind perfect technical skill in applying the eerie Shadowlight Attribute was beyond anything I've ever seen...!

I didn't bother asking anything else and retrieved a Revolver and Pistol from the box in my hand. The rage in my eyes dissipated as I put my Warlock Armoury on my back before I faced the enemy head on. The burning flames in my eyes cooled down as I stepped toward the various shadow clones.

Some might think that I've calmed down from how I looked. However, my outward appearance was far from what I felt inwardly. If I was compare what I felt to when I fought for the right to become the Young Miss' personal butler, then all I could say is that I no longer felt any 'excitement' to fight...

Mostly because... I wasn't planning on 'fighting' this young assassin girl who appeared out of nowhere.

I'm going to kill her...!

"What are those weapons?" One of the myriad of doppelgängers asked as they slowly inches forward towards me. It looked like she'll only try initiating a conversation as long as it's beneficial to her...

"You don't need to know." I shrugged without displaying my wrath by acting cautiously. I have never been good at talking nonsense to about-to-be-dead people who I'm about to murder.

I silently turned off the safety lock I made on my two guns and looked around to search for any clues that could help me locate the real assassin among the multiple 'clones' forming out of Shadowlight Mana.

However, I was disappointed to find that there seemed to be no differences among the ten doppelgängers the young girl had formed. To think that some random assassin would be a better Dark Specialist than even Anna...! I'm honestly quite shocked I ran into this kind of foe so suddenly...

Meh... Whatever... Just do me a favour and politely drop dead already...!

As I was about to pull the triggers of the two guns I held, my instinct warned me of an anomaly behind me. A chill released from my eyes as I lightly turned my body and drove my elbow into the throat of the eleventh doppelgänger that formed behind me.

"You... who-" The artificial smile on one of the assassin doppelgänger's expression vanished for a moment and was replaced with one of utter confusion. As she was about to speak out after noticing the abnormality in my behaviour, I interrupted her without leaving any room for banter.

"I'm just an overprotective brother." I spoke before opening fire and shooting a hole through that specific doppelgänger that talked. The shadowy figure who let her emotions display vanished and was replaced by another doppelgänger wearing the same expression as those around her...

Looks like killing her won't be easy... She's too scheming to go down without a fight...!