CH-53 : Ray's Past

Chapter 53.1

We decided to wait in the hospital room and before long the sound of a door being opened could be heard.

Ray enters and walks straight over to his mother and quietly watches her face.

"…Mother…"

There's no reply as Sheila continues to sleep.

"I won the tournament…tomorrow is the finals."

He reports to the silent Sheila.

"…Can you wait until tomorrow? I'll help you by any means…"

Ray's face doesn't carry his usual smile as he stares sadly at his mothers face.

"What's happening tomorrow?"

Ray turns in the direction of the voice and the slightly drifting mist parts to show Misa.

Looking like he'd understood something Ray speaks to Misa.

"I thought it was strange how it suddenly started raining. I didn't expect you to come here though."

"I came because I didn't believe Ray-san would join the royals by his own free will."

Ray puts on a smile that's hard to read.

"I'm a liar."

"…Liar's don't admit they are liars…"

Rays expression didn't change as he continues talking to Misa.

"Are you alone?"

"I am."

Of course, that's a lie. I'm currently hidden by Rain Spirit Mist ｢Fuska｣. If I don't move I should remain hidden.

"I'm sorry but I can't talk to Arnos."

"…That's a weird comment. Have you been told not to talk to Arnos-sama? Are you being threatened?"

"Do you think so?"

"I think that Arnos-sama can help you."

"Neither me nor my mother will survive if he knows."

Not that there was much doubt but now we know he is being threatened.

"What do you mean?"

"As you can see, my mother is sick. Because she's half spirit ordinary doctors cant help."

Misa looks over at Sheila.

"…What kind of disease is it?"

"Her magic power weakens and her origin becomes thin and will disappear after a while."

"What's the cure?"

Ray shakes his head.

"If they'd told me I wouldn't have joined the royal faction."

"…Can this hospital really cure her?"

"After she developed the spirit disease my mothers magic power weakened day by day but when she came to this clinic it went into remission. It seems like they can cure it. Even if its a lie I've got no choice but to believe it."

If they have a way to put it into remission then have they identified the cause? If they know that then they can cure it.

"To cure my mother there were a few things I had to do for them. One of them was to fight Arnos in the tournament. A contracted demon sword has been buried in my body. If I make a mistake, I will be killed. If I die they have no reason to keep my mother alive."

A contracted demon sword huh? Its a magic tool with more compelling force than Contract ｢Zekt｣.

If you break the contract then certain death awaits you as it erases your origin.

"Even if you tell Arnos this the contract will still be broken."

"…Wouldn't it have been better if you hadn't told me…?"

"I believe you won't tell anyone."

"Eh…?"

"That's a lie."

Ray approaches Misa in an instant. Misa melts into the mist and was just about to disappear before Ray slashed her magic with Initeio.

｢Fuska｣ is cut and loses its effect. The mist disappears and the rain outside stops.

Ray looks around the room.

"…It seems you really are alone…"

It seems Ray was sure that someone else was hiding in the mist. More than likely he thought it was me.

As ｢Fuska｣ was cut I activated Illusion Mimicry ｢Rainel｣ to become transparent and hid my magic with Hiding Magic ｢Najira｣.

My magic is hidden and so am I. As long as I control my breathing he won't find me.

The reason I had Misa use ｢Fuska｣ when I could do this is so that when ｢Fuska｣ is dispelled nobody would think anything else would be hidden behind a second layer.

"Well then."

Ray grabs both of Misa's arms and pins her down while drawing a dagger from his inside breast pocket. Ray hesitates a moment before swinging the dagger down at Misa.

Misa closes her eyes unintentionally but no dagger enters her body, instead, Ray had pierced her shadow with his dagger.

"I'm sorry but I'll have you stay here until after the finals tomorrow."

Misa tries to use ｢Fuska｣ and melt into the mist but it seems her shadow is sewn to the floor and she is unable to manipulate magic.

"…What's this dagger…?"

"It's called a shadow sewing dagger. You sew someone's shadow in place and they can only move in the range of their shadow. Magic is also rendered unusable."

So its come down to this. It must be part of his contract to silence those who know about his circumstances.

It doesn't seem to be a contract where he has to kill them though.

This is what happens when you don't think your contracts through. You only have to silence them but that doesn't mean you have to kill them.

"This room has an anti-magic field that interferes with magic communication. Even Thought Transmission ｢Liikus｣ is useless. You can't call for help."

"If I disappear then the unification faction will come looking for me."

"They will but it won't be in time for tomorrows finals and that's all I need."

Misa stops for a moment then asks

"What are you going to do?"