So even death can't kill that dead-eyed old bat living within me, huh?
Hahahaha... ha... ha... Seriously... To think I'd become such a mess... trying to brainwash my little sister into some kind of 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'!
'You are not wrong.' 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!
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?
As her brother, I shouldn't take her naivety into account and should instead force her to train for real-life combat. For her protection... Yes...
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.
Then I slammed my fist straight into the face of that foolish old bag knew nothing about my current self! My room mirror shattered into fragments...
I don't give a damn about what the old me would have done. I will never sacrifice my sister's happiness! That's not the kind of brother I'm trying to be!
Blood dripped from my knuckles after I broke the mirror in a chaotic storm of emotions. A large 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 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: I don't want to see her tears.
But first, I might as well finish what I already started. The Light Mana within my spherical Clockwork Radiance Variant Skill shook as I pointed at the shattered fragments of the mirror.
My sphere of Light Mana turned into specs of energy that merged into the broken pieces of the 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 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 Dark Mana in my flesh.
A eerie and chaotic energy that seemed to resonate with the world slowly revolved as it formed a connection with between both my mind and flesh.
[Skill Root- Cellular Dark Mana Horn]
A 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 Dark Mana and returned to my bloodstream. The wound closed as the torn flesh was knitted back together using a mixture of my Dark 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 orthodox Healing Magic.
I once again retracted the Cellular Horn and turned my knuckle to notice the azure Lightning Gatherer Spell Circle that was still floating in mid air.
There was no reason for me to waste such a good Spell Circle so I naturally inserted my Light Mana into it using my Psionic Retrofit Variant Extension.
The colour of the Spell Circle changed to a bluish white hue as I manipulated its structural foundation. I raised my hand and pointed at the glove that was once Warlock Hand, retrieving 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 it.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
I had already changed the size and shape of the glove, 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 power.
The result was a plethora of weapons that looked both magical and modern in their outlook. Then, without wasting any time, I returned them to the box.
The Spell Circles I had taken from Warlock Hand fluctuated as they moved towards the box as well. I had already put the Inner Spells and Outer Circles back together at this point...
They distorted and assimilated into the box the same way Merilin's unique Lightning Gatherer Spell Circle did, 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 merged into every part of them.
The process only took a few seconds as the Psionic Retrofit Variant Extension wasn't something other people were capable of replicating. It had too many strange characteristics that even I, its wielded, haven't fully grasped despite the fact that it was based off an amalgamation of my experiences.
After completely finishing the assimilation of the Spell Circles, I activated them in order to shrink the box and all the weapons stored within.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for both the box and the items within to shrink using one Self-Adjustment Spell Circle, but the way I managed merged the four Spell Circles with the modern weapons I personally created 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.
I held the shrunk box I've now decided to call... umm... 'Magicians Armoury' and walked out my room. Now... how should I apologise for what I did?
My ears jerked as I walked out. 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 wrong...
I turned my head to find a young maid was smiling at me from the end of the corridor. Her head was innocently peaking out as if she was very timid.
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 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 really socialise with kids of my current age because I don't have any interest in playing childish games like 'Tag'.
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~! Can't be, right~?
Just as I was musing to myself, a cold chill ran down my spine as I reflexively adjusted Warlock Armoury back to its original rectangular shape and size so I could shield myself from the invisible weapon that was thrown in my direction. My heart grew cold as I glared at the nonchalant young girl who was still smiling innocently...!
"Hee~ You defended against that? Nice going!" The little girl laughed as she claps from afar with admiration. My life would have been lived in vain 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 intent to kill so thoroughly? Even the assassin's sent to kill me in my past life weren't this good... I held the knife that had almost cut my neck by camouflaging itself using shadows of this corridor...
For the love of- She picked the best time for assassination... The 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 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 barrier had already surrounded us and isolated sound so that it wouldn't alert others.
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 'Combat Mode'. My pride and even my kindness had been put to the side so I could deal with this enemy...!
"You've come for my sister?" I asked with 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!
"There's no point in me telling a corpse about what I'm going to do." She said with utmost confidence. 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 of Dark Aura was her true self.
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 actually ‘fighting’ this young girl.
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...
“You don’t need to know.” I shrugged without showing my wrath. I have never been good at talking nonsense to people who I’m about to murder.
I silently turned off the safety lock on my guns as I looked around to search for any clues that could help me locate the real assassin among the ‘clones’.
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...
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 doppelgänger. 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...