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Shinka carefully analyzed the magical handcuffs that had been placed on his wrists. His intention was not to be bound all the time.

At the very least, he wanted to discover a way to remove them if necessary.

Shinka's eyes turned a deep blue as he examined them.

Certainly, it was impossible for him to use mana, but he had understood that the 'Magic Inspection' ability was not inherently magic, but a skill mutated by the system.

"My mana is supposed to be sealed, so it would be impossible to use the ability, yet here I am using it."

With his head bowed, Shinka's face was obscured from view.

The magic inspection allowed him to see the magical matrix that composed the handcuffs, and he studied it carefully.

'These things have a limit. If the captive exceeds the amount of mana it can seal, then the handcuffs will be invalidated.'

[Handcuff Magic Lv.1]

Having understood the matrix behind the handcuffs, the magic was added to his repertoire.

"Interesting, the handcuffs don't completely interfere with all the functions of the system." A spark ignited in Shinka's mind.

"We're here," said Kaede, pointing to a cell deep within the church.

With a gentle push, they ushered Shinka into the cell. Kaede and Shizumi also entered the room.

WOOSH

The cell door closed behind them.

"Time for interrogation." A magic circle appeared on the floor of the cell, and the ground began to change.

Shinka discreetly looked at the floor, trying to understand the magic.

'It seems to be transformation of physical matter. The matrix is very complex...'

Two chairs and a weight appeared out of nowhere, and the circle disappeared, leaving Shinka without learning the magic.

'If I concentrate enough, I can see the exact memory later. Right now, I have something else to take care of.'

"Take a seat, Kusaka Shinka," said Shizumi, while she remained standing beside her sister, who had taken a seat.

'Both seem to be the same age, but Namikawa Shizumi seems much more submissive than Kaede.'

Shinka closed his eyes.

'I have a few seconds before they start interrogating me. Raymond isn't here. I have to take advantage and try to find a way to free myself.'

'I don't think they won't let me go after the interrogation, but probability theory makes it always better to have another way out.'

'The only way to get rid of the handcuffs is to increase my mana. So far, I've been doing that using the mana meditation skill every night before falling asleep.'

Shinka pondered for a moment.

'To use mana meditation, I need to be completely relaxed and not think about anything. Just exist. But since it's impossible for me to do that right now, I need to find another way.'

Shinka focused.

Now Shinka was in a completely dark place. Where there was nothing but himself.

[Mental Palace Lv.MAX]

"It is always spoken of the division of the mind, where there is the conscious mind and the subconscious."

"The conscious mind allows me to take objective viewpoints, responsible for making decisions, planning, and storing short-term memories."

"And the other, constitutes 90% of the mind, where long-term memories, habits, behaviors, and beliefs are found. Humans normally cannot use this part of the mind at will as such."

Shinka understood that this dark space was finite, only limited by the subconscious mind where he existed.

Shinka closed his eyes and thought of something.

A few seconds later, he opened them again and looked to where the sky of that mental world was supposed to be.

"I can see what my eyes see, from the perspective of an observer, and not in first person as I should normally."

"Time passes normally out there, which means I don't have all the time in the world to use mana meditation in this world."

"But that doesn't leave me without options."

At that precise moment, an amorphous mass of flesh and bones began to appear beside Shinka.

Gradually, it began to take shape.

It had the same appearance as Shinka at that moment, but its expression seemed angry, as if it only existed out of rage.

The eyes of this other Shinka turned into burning golden color.

"Consciousness is the secondary part of the brain to a certain extent because the subconscious contains the primary being, which is the human."

The other Shinka stared fixedly at his counterpart.

"Meditate." Was all the original Shinka told him.

Several chains emerged from the black ground that composed that world and entangled the primitive Shinka's body.

He was forced to kneel and remain still.

Far from seeming upset, this one had a placid expression and had his eyes closed, as if the surroundings didn't matter to him, nor did the position he was in.

[Mana Meditation Lv.6]

[Split Thinking has evolved into Parallel Thought Room.]

[Parallel Thought Room and Mental Palace have merged. Do you want to continue?]

"Yes."

[A new ability has been added to the skill repertoire; Mental World]

[Mental World Lv.MAX]

Shinka's expression seemed calmer than before.

"I hadn't dared to venture so far into my mind before. I had only increased the level of things I considered necessary and stopped."

"I considered that my mental abilities were good enough for the time being to leave them on hold and improve my physique, which would be the first thing any ordinary person with the system would have thought of."

"My main concern was always that I would only focus on improving my intellect and that some other person with the system had improved their physique enough to kill me with a single blow."

"In that hypothetical case, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. But right now, I find myself needing to adapt to the situation. I have no choice but to venture into my mind even though it's not what I had planned originally."

Shinka looked at the sky, and he saw Kaede's lips moving. He understood that the girl was speaking to him, but as there was no one controlling his conscious mind, he was basically an empty shell.

"It's time to return." Shinka disappeared, but his other self stored in the subconscious remained there using the meditation ability to increase his mana reserve.

...

"Hey, idiot, are you even listening?!" Kaede got close to Shinka's face as she shouted.

The boy's eyes narrowed.

"My apologies. I fell asleep with my eyes open. I'm a bit tired," Shinka said calmly.

"Is that even possible? W-Well, I'll believe you," Kaede said with a sweat drop running down her cheek.

'This guy is too strange...' she thought.

"I was saying that Dad has been taking too long, so Shizumi and I will start the interrogation."

"I understand, go ahead," the boy said, nodding his head.

"Alright," Kaede took a breath to start the questions, but Shinka stopped her for a moment.

"Excuse me, but before you start with the questions, can I ask one?"

Kaede frowned and glanced at her sister.

"I just want to know why I was attacked. I do have the right, don't I"

Both sisters put on a complicated expression upon hearing the question.

"Um... Well, you see. We felt a lot of demonic energy coming from the warehouse, and since when we entered we only saw you, we thought you were a devil trying to cause mischief in Takido..." Shizumi responded with a embarrassed expression.

"And you didn't see the devil's corpse on the floor?"

"Those things disappear after a certain time after dying. You just had the bad luck of it disappearing seconds after dying," Kaede calmly replied.

"We knew you weren't a devil when you could take the sacred sword without complications, but since we didn't know if you were an enemy, we could only fight against you."

"I see. And when you investigated me after the fight, you had more doubts than answers."

The sisters nodded simultaneously.

"Well, if that was your question, I'll continue."

Kaede seemed to cough a bit to reaffirm her authority and looked into Shinka's eyes.

"What is your Sacred Gear?" Kaede asked directly, giving the boy a determined look.

"Describing it is difficult. Just understand that my Sacred Gear's ability allows me to increase abstract concepts like intelligence and more literal ones like strength."

Kaede seemed thoughtful for a moment.

"I suppose your Sacred Gear is similar to mine, right?" Shinka asked.

The sisters looked surprised at the boy, only to look at each other and burst into laughter.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA! S-Sorry, it was just a good joke," Kaede seemed to wipe a tear after laughing so much.

Shinka simply looked at them, somewhat confused about the girls' laughter.

"Of course, you wouldn't know because you're new to this magical world, but Sacred Gears were conferred by God to humans, but not all humans have Sacred Gears," Shizumi said.

"So, you're telling me that I should believe that you're this strong without a Sacred Gear?"

Although Shinka had humiliated them in combat, both were humans beyond a common being. They were superhuman entities, almost touching the threshold of the supernatural.

"That's a compliment. We've acquired this level of strength through rigorous training."

Shinka raised an eyebrow.

Shizumi seemed to be an attention seeker, so she kept talking.

"All humans have a limit due to the race we are, but when you reach that limit, it can be broken thanks to mana and the eccentric training of the exorcists."

When those words reached Shinka's ears, he wasn't surprised.

His heart didn't race either.

Despite just discovering that not all supernatural beings possess a system as he thought, he wasn't scared or uncertain.

Because all those emotions were given by the subconscious mind. And now that they were themselves different entities inhabiting the same body, Shinka wasn't fully bound to the subconscious.

'If I hadn't made the separation of the conscious and subconscious mind, right now I would really be seeing how my world crumbles.'

"So, any person can use mana and do magic?" Shinka looked directly at Shizumi.

"If the human doesn't have a Sacred Gear, then they must be trained from a young age for their body to use magic, but if an adult tries to do it, then it would be impossible, unless they make a contract with a devil to use demonic energy."

Shinka reflected for a moment.

"That's really interesting. So, what types of Sacred Gears exist?"

Shinka took advantage of both girls' desire to be recognized to get answers.

Kaede seemed to look at the ceiling, trying to remember something, while Shizumi began to respond quickly.

"There are various types of Sacred Gears, and they have their own power scale. The strongest ones are the Longinus. They're the most powerful Sacred Gears, which can even kill the creator of the Sacred Gears himself."

'A Sacred Gear with the ability to kill God...' Undoubtedly, that would be a statement that would make anyone pale.

"In that classification, there's even a Sacred Gear with the ability to create other Sacred Gears. Annihilation Maker. There are Sacred Gears that create an avatar or creature obedient to you, others that are sealed and use you as a container in exchange for lending you their strength."

Shinka's eye twitched.

Shinka felt as if his subconscious self were trying to become one again upon hearing such a declaration.

Shinka understood in that moment.

The Sacred Gears were ambiguous in themselves.

"So, are all Sacred Gears objects?" Shinka swallowed nervously.

"That's right."

"Is there none that's like an abstract element? Like a video game?" The answer Shinka had been waiting for.

"That... That would be impossible. Even Annihilation Maker couldn't create a Sacred Gear as an abstract concept over something. At least I think so," Kaede was the one to speak this time.

Shizumi seemed pensive, and she agreed with her sister.

Shinka was frozen for a few seconds.

"So only humans have Sacred Gears, right? devils and angels have their own power."

"That's right. The only way a devil can get a Sacred Gear is only if the devil was previously human," Shizumi reflected.

"For angels, too. The angel must have been a human born with a Sacred Gear, and I think the only way for a fallen angel to have one is if they were human, then turned into an angel and then, having sinned, turned into a fallen angel."

'Devils, angels, and fallen angels... There are more supernatural things than I thought.'

"You said that for a devil or an angel to have a Sacred Gear, they must have been human. How is it possible to change species? Before, you also mentioned that my sister was reincarnated as a devil, but it doesn't make sense if I take the meaning literally."

"W-Well, I don't have much idea about that, but from what I know, devils turn humans with special pieces. And only a human chosen by angels can be transformed into one with an unknown method," Shizumi doubted her knowledge, and the boy noticed.

Shinka closed his eyes for a moment, reflecting on all the information obtained.

'Then, my system isn't a Sacred Gear. And if it is, then it's one that has never been cataloged. If I understood their words correctly, then these are classified after several generations of people using it.'

'Which means that if the system is a Sacred Gear, I'm the first person to wield it...'

Shinka shook his head.

'I can't be so arrogant as to think that I'm still the only one with one. No matter how you look at it, it's an extremely optimistic situation if only I have it, but it's certainly liberating to know that not just anyone can access this ability.'

WOOSH

The door to the cell suddenly opened.

"Idiots, he's interrogating you!" Raymond's voice made Shinka open his eyes again.

"You two go home. I'll take care of Kusaka," Raymond said as he looked at his daughters with a furrowed brow.

"W-What? But we didn't even get to ask him anything!" Kaede retorted.

Her father just gave her a stern look, and she was forced to leave with her sister.

Kaede, as she left the cell, gave Shinka a malicious look.

She moved her lips but made no sound. Still, Shinka could understand what she was saying.

"Bastard."

'I really don't understand why 14-year-olds are so absurd.'

Shinka didn't think about the contradiction in his thoughts and looked at Raymond with reluctance.

"I hope you enjoyed yourself. I gave you that little space because I wanted you to have some context about the magical world. I can see that you're still a bit lost, but now the real interrogation begins."

Shinka, who had delegated the detrimental emotions to his subconscious self, simply nodded and calmly looked at the man in front of him.