Retreat

As the crimson moon illuminated the territory of the whole Nether Realm, in one of its regions, a man's clothes were intensely fluttering along the wind due to the unimaginable pressure coming from below.

His messy hair felt like it was going to be pulled but it stayed. On the other hand, his handkerchief, pocket watch, and gloves from his pockets were falling into the expanse of purple darkness.

"Good work."

With a disgruntled look, the Innkeeper dragged Duke inside his domain before closing the door, slightly struggling to maintain the balance. In the end, he was successful, and the undeniable pressure they were feeling disappeared.

"You could've let me come if this was too dangerous, sir."

Duke shook his head, "I know and that's what I failed to see. The plan wasn't even to fight in the first place but just to retrieve the lock and key that the Fiend used to open a hole from the gravitational pull…"

He let out a tired sigh, clenching his injured hand while ordering, "Anyways, get everyone."

Nodding his head once, the Innkeeper stood up and exited the door, the view from the front changed into a devastated area where only piles of rubble were seen, corpses, and hundreds of doors stationed to every part 

Duke watch Innkeeper took Heralton first since he was the nearest one. The Innkeeper brought Heralton down who was ragging heavily. 

The Innkeeper closed the door once again, only to open it, leaving the premises we're in and going for Vodry and Sezter consecutively, bringing them inside where both Heralton and Duke are resting.

Everyone was catching up for their breaths while waiting for the Innkeeper to grab the last person. 

Closing the door once again, the Innkeeper opened it up and the Duke saw Maria right in their very front. The Innkeeper, with much force, knelt to the ground and unwrapped the rope from her wrist before taking her inside.

The Innkeeper was about to close the door to leave but was soon stopped by Duke.

"Wait."

Duke looked a few meters away from their standpoint, seeing Cayenne still struggling to hold herself down and was also looking at them, seeming to be shouting something.

"Take me too!"

Duke was hesitant for a moment before looking past her back. People in iron-clad armor, various students in the academy's uniform, and priests' robes were running in her direction. It seemed they were rushing for her rescue, realizing that some Fiends were still there.

"Let's leave."

The Innkeeper nodded before closing the door as Cayenne kept cursing in their direction with a furious expression.

"You bastard! I'm in pain too! Help me—"

Thud—!

The moment the door closed, all the other doors from across the area were disappearing. People rushed into the middle with different powers to augment themselves to withstand the pull from the gravitational hole.

The natural disaster was the only thing that didn't stop from wreaking havoc.

…

"U-uhm, sir. This is going to… hurt a little." Meera who put up gloves from her hand, advised his boss, "I may not be as good as ma'am Sezter and sir Vordy but I can apply proper medication and treatment—"

"Just get on with it…"

Of course, the boss was me. 

"Y-yes!"

Meera was an extractor and the one handling matters in terms of our animosity. She's the one who is making our masks with different varieties of them.

For her to know first aid treatment is exemplary enough.

"Here we go…"

But unlike her delicate action of extracting mystery technique, she was…

"Ugh…"

…pretty rough.

"Hmphhh…!"

I even found myself suppressing the pain. 

"Fuck…"

Letting out a cursed groan, Meera tried to be soft but it only worsened. I tried voicing out to be careful but with a lot of stitches, bandages, and ointments to be done, I couldn't tell it. 

"Bite this, boss,"

Meera handed me a cloth that I could bite and I did, before excruciating pain came next since the method that came next was to remove the toxins and contaminants to avoid unwanted sickness.

"Kuhhh—!"

Then, after a few more moments, she was finally done, and wrapped me around in a support stretcher for my injured right hand. She had to wrap a bunch of bandages over my whole body, making me look like a mummy where only my face was cleared from it.

"Go for the others."

"Yes!"

Meera bowed down before moving around with a serious expression. It seems she's only nervous to me but not the others. Still, there was a trace of her worry from her expression as she left.

"Sigh…"

Placing my arm right above my forehead while lying down on a hospital bed stretcher, my thoughts wandered around.

'How strange…'

For some reason, something had changed about me. 

It was faint at first but as if something was unveiling from the inside, blooming once again. It was a strange feeling where you never felt it but there's the feeling.

'What change about me…'

My brows knitted as my eyes closed. I tried viewing some scenes that happened the moment I came here but there's really not much happened until…

'Yeah, the submergence…'

Right after the weird event happened, thinking that I was going home, my mind seemed to change or… feelings inside me.

'Well, what happened after that? I got to Jams, then fought off with the three royal conglomerates in a wordless fight, fight or… what happened to Nobirik is a fight, to begin with? Then after that, I was in the underworld for a week but was invited by Cayenne. And for some reason, I was itching. Yes, in the week, the only thing I did was find methods as to how to return but… there was also something else…

'Then, when I was invited, I was interrogated. After that, the arc happened and I fought again. I asked to Cayenne to borrow a gun and for some reason, I was expecting to fight. It's not like an intuition… as if— as if I wanted it in the first place… Then, I fought, waited for another week to come then went to Neverest…'

My train of thought stopped.

'Then, I fought again…'

What is this? 

Oddly enough, the similarities were far too obvious. I fought once in a while and the reason I was itching once in a while was because… I wanted to fight so badly.

'No, no, no. Something doesn't add up.'

As far as I can remember, I'm never a battle-hungry type of person. It is even one of the things I wouldn't say I like since it attracts problems.

'Then, what is this thing influencing me…'

My body involuntary shuddered. After eliminating the possibilities, I've come up with three reasons as to why this is happening.

First, maybe because I was really crazy, and in the first place, I have this hidden side of mine that was just hidden for a long time. When I was Lander, I guess or maybe, this Duke has it…

'No, that's too typical mc's only. I'm not the main character. Ugh, Cayenne has it though…'

Second, which had a bit of sense, is that someone is possesing this body of mine. A specter? Maybe so, even though I don't believe in ghosts, what was impossible in my previous life is here. Or maybe a god is in the shadows, trying to control me…

'Nah, someone possessing this body is not really believable enough. First, that doesn't follow the timeline. Duke wasn't supposed to show presence after that time. It's still clear as day to me. He just appeared out of nowhere and announced he would wage war and… Fiend's Day II happened.'

Third, and by far the most logical reason in this world is that… I have a Mystery Technique inside me which I didn't know about.

I couldn't see its abilities, and the more I think about it, the more my head ache. And I'm sure I couldn't display the mystery book on my front… if there is one.

This is the only thing I'm not disagreeing with…

'That's… not true at all… Duke only had two mystery techniques in his arsenal and in his free time, he was experimenting with his cursed marks and putting them on a test…'

…or maybe I'm just a crazy bastard after all.

Letting out a tired sigh, I muttered, "There's only one way to find out."

Calmly waiting for the boring minutes to pass, I called for someone, "Meera, are you done? Come here for a bit."

"Y-yes, just a few more finishing and it's done!"

After treating the last person that needed to be treated, Meera meekly walked towards my hospital bed before bowing down, "Please forgive me! I-I will train more to be a healer in my free time."

"Huh? No, it's not like that."

Meera blinked, "T-then if you are not going to forgive… Gasp, are you going to fire me? Please no! I will do my hardest to become better than sister Sezter and Sir Vodry so please don't fire me!"

Letting out a stupefied sigh, I get straight to the point, "Check how many techniques I have inside me. Hmm, the mana for techniques too. What do you call it? Ah yes, the core, right?"

Meera tilted her head as she walked right beside my bed, "It is indeed called a core in ancient times but now, it has changed to essence due to many discoveries on it."

'Essence or whatnot, I don't really care…'

Nodding my head while keeping my thoughts inside, "Do it now. I know you have a job to do."

Nodding her head relentlessly for a second which is impressive on its own, Meera swiftly pressed her hands in the middle of my chest as she closed her eyes while wearing a serious face.

Now that she was in the work mode, like the way she was extracting, there were no traces of giddiness left. 

'If she didn't see any mystery technique, I might consider the second reason. I have to see if I was being possessed or, worse, if the real Duke is trying to take back control of his own body which I can't afford right now.

'If I wasn't possessed then, hah, maybe I was really hiding this thirst of fight for a very long time…'

For a minute, nothing happened. But after it hit another ten-second mark, Meera let out a soft breath while opening her eyes.

"Boss, you have three Mystery Techniques inside your body."