Terrorist Attack

Just as when everyone thought that it was just a case of a person in need of urgent medical care, the situation quickly devolved into something far more serious and grave the moment I removed the many, many layers of the victim's clothing.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...

Ticking away in obscurity, a bomb with a timer was planted inside his chest, where his heart should be placed. A closer look revealed that to extract this person's heart, a huge slit was made from his abdomen up to where his diaphragm was while he was still alive—a method employed by the Aztecs in their human sacrifice rituals.

At that point, I thought that everything made no sense. Just who is this person, and how was he able to still move for so long even though his heart was replaced by a ticking time bomb? Did he choose to pick the inn as a target because he saw that many people are flocking there? Was he doing this on his own? Even if I can know the answers, the urgency of the situation is barring me to do so.

Tessa...why did you go on a long meditation, now that I need your help the most?

"Stay back, or else all of you will die!!!"

By the time I discovered the bomb in his body, there were only less than 5 seconds left on the timer. During that time frame, it's very difficult even for me to find a place where there are no people around that could be hurt by the explosion, and even if I have the [High Priestess] on my side, there's no way for me to defuse it in time—

Screw that, there are only 3 seconds left on the timer.

"...B-Big brother? Why did you stop in the middle of the street?! What are you planning to do...?!"

Feeling extremely pressured by the situation, I decided that the only thing I could do to minimize the damage is to do that.

"Please, make it work..."

Just as the timer was about to reach 0, I made the last-second action to use the [Fool] and absorb the bomb from the person's body and into mine, much to the surprise and disbelief of everyone who saw it. And then, suddenly—

"GUUUHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!!"

The moment the timer went off, everything around me started to go topsy-turvy. Spitting out mouthfuls of blood, I immediately collapsed on the floor.

I can feel it. The heat, the shrapnel, the expanding shock waves ravaging my internal organs—I can feel all of them inside me. It hurts—IT FREAKING HURTS!!! Not just my left hand, but my whole body feels like burning! Why did I even think of doing this in the first place?!!

Ugh, is this...what being inside a blast zone feels like...?

"...BIG BROTHER?!!"

"BROTHER REENNNNN!!!!"

The two girls, who I thought to have listened to me and taken cover inside the inn, hurriedly ran towards me. Many people followed soon after, and before I knew it I'm surrounded by everyone.

"...Big brother, you idiot! Idiot, idiot! Why in the world did you do that?! What would happen if it didn't work, huh?!"

"Please...don't die, Brother Ren..."

My vision's still hazy from the blast but it's easy to tell that they're crying for me right now.

Two very beautiful girls were on the ground beside me. Your beautiful dresses will become dirty if you do that, you know...?

"You girls...were you not hurt or anything?"

"...All of us are fine, unlike you...and that corpse over there."

"I see. That's a relief—BLEEERRRRGGHHHH?!!"

"...BIG BROTHER?!!!"

"Hawawawawawa—?!"

"I-It's fine. I just had to spit some blood, hehe...BLEEEEGGGHHHHH!!!"

"""NO, THAT'S NOT ALRIGHT!!!!!""" Everyone shouted in unison.

Well, although I did cause great worry for everyone, in the end, I was able to contain all of the damage and no one was harmed as a result, except for the dead man. My body is screaming in pain and cursing me right now, but it's all worth it.

"By the way, where's Lerish?"

"...That woman? If I remember correctly, she's still—"

Before Aoi could even finish her sentence, a sudden cacophony of sounds blasted into our ears. It's a mix of very high-pitched screaming and screeching, deep bellowing that shook the ground, and other unsettling sounds like resembled scratching a metal plate with a fork—which made everyone cover their ears in a hurry.

"W-Wh-What's going on?!"

"It's...too loud...!"

"Everyone, look! The sky—there's something wrong with the sky!"

While our ears are being bombarded by extremely loud, dissonant sounds, the sky above gradually changed its color from a light blue into a blend of red, orange, and purple.

Then the clouds, already becoming almost as dark as pitch, gathered together and swirled violently into a huge, circular storm cloud, spitting out several forks of lightning every second.

"W-What's that...?"

"I-I'm scared..."

WWWAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

And then, another deafening roar was heard by everyone, quickly sapping away the spectators' courage and resolve and sending chills down their cores. As it goes on, a huge, black object shaped like an egg slowly emerged from the middle of the storm that's growing larger as it consumed the dark clouds around it.

"This is bad...!"

"Everyone! Head to the underground shelter immediately!"

"This way! This way!'

"Please, no pushing!"

Fear and panic quickly enveloped the town. In all directions, one could see people heading to the nearest entrance leading to the town's underground shelters, which were originally used whenever the giant worms living in the desert decide to look for food inside the town.

"Ren! Miss Aoi!"

Then Lerish, who was until now guiding the people who took cover inside the inn into the underground shelters, finally went outside. On her back hung her bow and quiver full of arrows, which she had kept with her ever since she returned from Yaref.

"Lerish, how's everyone?"

"Those who have stayed inside the Sandy Fish suffered no injuries due to the explosion. However, everyone is fearing for their lives because of the loud sounds outside."

"I see. What's important is that Saku and the others are safe."

"Leaving that aside, what is happening?"

"I...don't know. The [High Priestess] is not working for some reason."

"That...that is unprecedented..."

"...Tsk, I never thought I'll be able to witness something like this again," Aoi muttered as she watched the storm clouds grow.

"W-What do you mean, Aoi...?" Saki asked, trembling in fear.

"Aoi, do you have an idea of what's going on?"

Ignoring our questions, Aoi called me and said:

"...Big brother, can you see the middle of that storm cloud?"

"Y-Yeah, but that doesn't answer our questio—"

"...Destroy it."

Uh...what?

"...Don't make me repeat myself, big brother. I want you to destroy it before it's too late. Only by then, you'll find the answer to your questions."

Hearing her somewhat snooty response, I—

"Okay. I'll just destroy it, right? I don't know exactly how will I do it, but that's what I only need to do, right?"

"...Nn. As long as you can destroy it, any method is fine."

"....."

Aoi...after all of this is done, we'll talk, okay?

"Then, I'm going now," I said as I leaped high from the ground, landing on top of a nearby building.

"Please take care of yourself, Ren."

"Brother Ren, stay safe!"

"..."

While I am on my way to destroy the giant egg of darkness, the girls on the other hand...

"Um...don't you think it's the best time for us to go to the shelters, too?"

"I believe so too. Miss Aoi, we should—"

"...I...I don't want to go there yet."

"E-Eh?"

With her gaze still fixed on the brewing storm, Aoi said:

"...I have a feeling...that something very bad will happen if I leave big brother all by himself. I want to keep watch of him, even from a distance."

"Miss Aoi..." placing her hand on her chest, Lerish replied, "I completely understand that feeling, that is why I, too, shall remain here."

"Um, I don't want to be a bother to everyone, so I'll politely decline," Saki raised her hand.

'Good luck Aoi, Big Sis Lerish!' she said to them before going back to the inn and into the shelters.

"...Very well then, should we go after and help big brother?"

"Certainly!" Lerish replied, her eyes sparkling with resolve.

-----

It is said that the [High Priestess] can give information on the subject that the user wants to know more about. Although what I am using is a toned-down version of its actual capabilities, it has never failed me in getting the data that I need—

—until now.

Earlier, while the bomb was still ticking I didn't use it because I didn't have time to browse through the endless repository of knowledge the Arcana has, but now when I'm not that constrained anymore it decided to just not work properly. Anything about the perpetrator of the bomb, the identity of the victim, even the giant black egg in the sky, and its connection to the bomb from earlier—zero, zip, zilch. I tried using the Arcana on a random tree, and it worked just perfectly fine.

Are there really things that the [High Priestess] couldn't identify? Is it really not the omniscient power I assumed it to be? For a moment I thought those were the reasons. Only when I looked at it from the other side of the spectrum that I came up with a hypothesis.

"Let's see if my assumptions are true."

After jumping from building to building to pick up momentum, I gathered as much strength as I can into my legs, and sprung up high into the air and directly towards the storm clouds. Aoi said that anything would work as long as the black egg gets cracked, so I decided to use the new spell that I created using both the [Magician] and [Death].

From my hands, a tiny spark emerged, flickering and letting out black smoke like a small firecracker. While moving I have to maintain it in this form, so that the spell could activate without problems.

"Here goes—my first custom, totally original spell!"

As if preparing to draw a sword, I placed my hands on my side. Then, as I unsheathed the phantom blade from the scabbard, the spark that I'm holding flared up and grew into a surging wave of black and blue flames that reached up to a couple of meters long, which I could use as a weapon.

A new spell that I haven't tested the efficacy of yet, and a target I currently have zero ideas what it is. What more can you ask in this situation?

Also, I haven't named the spell yet, so for now I'll go with the placeholder name [Unnamed Spell #1]. Quite fitting, given the circumstances.

"Now, to see if it will cut—"

Whooosh!!!

As I was about to swing my 'blade' of darkness at the egg in the sky, a small projectile flew directly towards me on my six, which I was able to catch in time. It is a reddish brown-colored bird feather, about ten centimeters in length, with a very sharp metal tip on it. I assumed that the projectile was possibly thrown like a dart, as it is too large to fit inside a blowing tube yet too short to be fired using a handheld weapon, say, a crossbow.

Well, whatever the method used to fire this feather dart, it doesn't stray from the fact that this is the definitive proof that I've been looking for.

"Since you've decided to defend that thing by attacking me, it means that it's now pointless to keep hiding in the shadows. Show yourself, whoever you are."

When I said those words loud and clear, the person who fired the dart finally revealed themselves, after hiding atop a nearby building all this time.

Wearing a brown hood and cloak that covered their body up to their ankles, this person then took off their head covering, intentionally letting me find out who they are.

Hey, wait a moment—

"Ugh...of all the people that I could face here, it has to be you," I groaned, pinching the area of my face between the eyes.

Without the [High Priestess] to give me the information beforehand, I was both surprised and disappointed to find out that the person whom I helped twice, is the perpetrator behind all that's happening right now.

Because I believed that this girl is just a helpless foreigner desperately trying to survive in an unfamiliar place, I didn't cast any suspicion on her behavior and not used my Arcana to get her identity, all the while letting her roam freely around the town.

Looking back, I even invited her to come to the inn and introduce her to Lerish. Luckily she declined; otherwise, I'll be making the biggest mistake in my life. How foolish I was for asking her that!

Regardless, now that it has all come to this, I have to settle this matter that I unintentionally made possible.

"Likewise...I did not expect it was you..." she replied softly, still struggling to pronounce her words correctly.

"'Did not expect', you say? Why would I believe that, when you tried to blow up the place where we're staying?!"

I recalled the huge black insect last night, during our small celebration with the inn's new employees. Its movements are way too suspicious to be considered normal, and for some reason, I had the urge to kill it. Now I know why.

Shaking her head, the girl replied, "No...that wasn't me. It was that person. He...turned his heart into a bomb..."

"What? That guy did that thing all by himself?!" my jaw dropped upon hearing that revelation from her.

I've read and heard of many stories back in our world about the so-called 'su*cide bombers', who would strap explosives in their person and blow themselves up in the middle of a crowded place, all in an act of terrorism.

Unless they were intercepted early on, those people will usually keep themselves alive until the final moment, but I have yet to hear about someone who, before committing such evil acts, must take their own life first. It's so twisted, that I find it very hard to believe.

"Even if he's dead already, I'm sure there are still others you're working with that you're trying to hide from me," I said to this girl, whom now I confirm to be also a terrorist.

"No...it was just...the two of us...hired by that person."

"H-Hired...?"

Wait, isn't this person giving way too much information to me, her opponent? Never mind not having the [High Priestess], at this rate I can easily make her spill all of her beans by just continuously asking her questions.

"Who...is this person, you're referring to?"

After pausing for a moment, the girl looked me in the eye and said:

"T-That person...is—"

BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM—!!!!!

"W-What the...?!"

As she was about to reveal the real mastermind behind everything, I heard a loud blast coming from the direction of the Sandy Fish.

"Aoi! Lerish—"

"Don't...turn your back on me!"

"—?!"

The girl, who was calm until now, suddenly raised her voice as she threw a long chain that latched onto my arm. I tried to break it with my strength, but it was made of a very tough material that I have never seen before.

"Please..." looking at me with a very sharp gaze, she muttered, "in exchange for my survival...I will have you detained with me here."