Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint
chapter-279

Captain Abbey closed her eyes and activated her Unique Magic.

Dozens of vines spread out in all directions.

The morning glory vines, ignoring physical obstruction, soon reached the Signallers.

The Signallers had mentally shut down in the unprecedented situation, but Captain Abbey persistently nudged them.

Eventually, the Signallers activated their Unique Magic and synchronized with Captain Abbey.

｢Communication request from Signaller Ivy.｣

｢Signaller Ivy is a high-risk individual who led the hostile entity here. Request denied.｣

｢Counterargument. If she has the means to explain the current situation, this Module should gather that information.｣

While the other side hesitated, Captain Abbey conveyed her strong will through her Unique Magic.

｢Signaller Abbey demands it! This is a state of emergency for you and the Military State! Quickly return to your rooms and respond to the communication!｣

Synchronization Magic is reciprocal.

If one side was affected, the other side had to be as well.

However, those with strong convictions were not easily swayed by minor influences.

Captain Abbey steadily permeated the Signallers.

Following her orders, the Signallers returned to their rooms.

『Abbey!』

It seemed the communication reached Eimeder as well.

Eimeder, looking ready to charge at Captain Abbey, was held back by Historia.

Two shots aimed at Eimeder's face forced the Angel to defend with its wings, causing a momentary delay.

Good.

It seems wary of Captain Abbey.

“So, my job is to buy time until Captain Abbey finishes her task?”

Buying time… as always, that's all I can do.

While I muttered self-deprecatingly, the Angel's wings fluttered unnaturally.

Suddenly, a white feather shot towards me.

A cowardly long range attack?

The wings moved too subtly for my Mind Reading to catch it!

As I hesitated, Azzy leaped like lightning, snatching the feather mid-air.

Azzy landed gracefully, chewing the soft feather and barking triumphantly.

“Woof!”

“…Well done, Azzy.”

Even though she couldn't fight the Angel, she handled the feather well.

After all, she is a Beast King.

I praised Azzy sincerely for the first time in a while, and she barked energetically.

“Leave it to me! Go!”

“Don’t rush me. If I act hastily, I’ll die.”

“Woof? You can't die! Live!”

“You talk big. Yet you won’t even fight the Angel…”

“You too!”

I was about to get angry, but rationally, she was right.

I couldn’t fight either.

Still, I could help in other ways.

If not with strength, then with wit.

I unfolded the Queen of Fabric.

In the center of the precious fabric that saved me from the Angel was a gaping hole.

It was a pity, but now even this must be turned into an opportunity.

I took a card with my left hand and turned it into a skewer.

Gripping the skewer, I dug into the hole while infusing mana into my right hand.

Drawing a transmutation circle with blue light, I attempted an extremely condensed alchemy.

“Set. Re. Alke.”

Using the hole as the center, I began to reshape the Queen of Fabric.

I pressed the square piece of the Queen of Fabric with all my might, rolling it into a tight ball.

The skill I honed during my days of rolling mana herb served me well; the Queen of Fabric was tightly rolled.

Maintaining the material’s structure but altering its shape was a very basic form of alchemy.

It looked crude, but it was good enough for Historia to use.

“Ria! Catch!”

I threw the tightly rolled Queen of Fabric to Historia.

Perfect timing, she caught it without looking as she disengaged from Eimeder.

Checking what she had caught, Historia muttered.

“…Mana herb?”

“It’s a bullet! Fire it!”

Historia's gun wasn’t constrained by standard ammunition.

Her gun compressed and discharged Qi, needing no gunpowder, and could forcefully accommodate any size bullet.

『It’s futile!』

Eimeder lunged as if not giving her a moment to load the bullet.

Four wings encroached on her from all sides.

But Historia’s reloading was as exceptional as her shooting.

She flicked the bullet with her fingers, leaped into the air to evade the attack, and caught the bullet in mid-air with her gun’s barrel.

It was an old-fashioned, forceful reload reminiscent of the musket era.

Historia's gun already contained several bullets, but my makeshift bullet was forcibly loaded regardless of the sequence.

『Being of the earth, yet you took your feet off the ground…! How laughable!』

The Angel’s wings chased after Historia.

Their speed was difficult to track with the naked eye.

There was no way to dodge in mid-air.

But if she intended to dodge, she wouldn’t have jumped into the air in the first place.

Historia didn’t know what I had given her, but she trusted my bullet.

Perhaps she calculated she couldn’t win otherwise.

Or maybe she trusted me too much.

She had been infusing her gun with Qi from the start, just waiting for a bullet.

Now that she had a bullet, all she needed to do was shoot.

Historia naturally aimed the gun.

“Fire!”

Bang!

The shot was muffled, likely because the bullet was made of fabric.

The rolled-up fabric was sucked into the Angel’s wings.

Feathers sprang up and clashed with the bullet.

At that moment, pure white light erupted.

The Queen of Fabric, which absorbed light inside and reflected it outside, shredded the Angel’s light and scattered it in all directions.

The bullet tore one of the wings completely before embedding itself in the ceiling.

The Angel now had only five wings left.

It worked.

I only need to make five more!

As a faint smile spread across my face…

『Petty tricks….』

A new wing sprouted behind the Angel.

I muttered in despair.

“I’m not the scammer… That thing is the real scam.”

The Angel, clearly annoyed by the loss of its wing, turned and growled at me.

『With no Arcane, using mere human tools…!』

“No, Huey! This is enough! Even this much…! Ugh!”

Historia, who was desperately shouting, got caught by Eimeder again.

The Angel rampaged, smashing walls and floors with its wings.

｢If I can momentarily disrupt the light, there might be a chance! Just three more shots! As long as I can use Zero In…! Zero In will always hit its mark…!｣

Okay.

You need a few more, right?

Three more will do!

I busied my hands.

My skills from rolling mana herb hadn’t dulled, and I quickly prepared three more bullets.

I gauged Eimeder and Historia’s movements and threw the bullets toward where Historia was retreating.

Predicting Historia’s movements was easy for a Mind Reader like me.

Historia timed her retreat perfectly, shifting her weight back to catch the bullets I threw.

『So obvious.』

Eimeder spread its wings wide.

The Angel hovered in mid-air, then quickly turned its focus on me.

Oh, targeting the supplier instead of the combat unit.

Truly the Angel of the Military State.

Even its strategy mimics the Military State.

Wait, does that mean I’m doomed?

As I hesitated, Eimeder tore through the ground with its wings, charging towards me at a terrifying speed.

Azzy’s fur stood on end.

“Huey!”

Realizing what was happening, Historia chased the Angel with the bullets in hand.

But Historia had no wings, and the Angel only widened the gap.

With no other option, Historia aimed her loaded gun.

But…

｢Only wings…｣

The Angel’s wings extended from its back.

The topmost wing covered its back as if wary of Historia.

Historia’s line of fire was filled with wings.

｢If I shoot... No, even if I shoot, destroying one wing is all I can do.｣

Historia’s thoughts raced.

A retreating enemy.

A visible back.

A loaded gun.

A dire situation.

Her focus was at its peak.

But….

｢I can’t do it.｣

Her thoughts leaned towards despair.

Her outstretched hand felt useless.

The enemy moved, but Historia’s hand remained motionless.

｢But I have to shoot. If I don’t, Huey will die. But how?｣

No answer came to her mind.

It was hopeless.

Her grip on the gun loosened.

The trembling barrel entered her field of vision.

｢...Not shooting is stronger, it will make the enemy fear my bullet.｣

Not shooting.

Historia had a lot of fun with that strategy when dealing with the Camarilla.

The Camarilla avoided coming into Historia's line of fire, and thanks to that, Historia was able to gain the upper hand as if she was holding a sword with an invisible blade.

｢But I still have to shoot. In the end, they’re on guard because my bullet will be fired at some point.｣

Not shooting makes her stronger.

But she has to shoot.

A paradox.

Things that should be logically impossible.

But among the Geon, Gon, Gam, and Li, Li symbolizes achieving the Axiom.

Twisting the World’s Principles to make that paradox a reality.

It was different from Unique Magic.

Unique Magic overlays the world with new rules based on one's Spiritual World, essentially declaring new rules to the world and bringing everything under its dominion.

However, Li was akin to obstinacy.

It was a stubborn passion that forced a single exception, detached from all reasoning and logic, onto the world… an incredibly childish passion.

Amidst the paradox, an image flashed in Historia’s mind.

The Regressor, Shei.

An absolute powerhouse who wielded an invisible sword and manipulated space with ease.

Extending and retracting the sword’s length, shooting a flurry of Blade Qi like a gun.

｢His invisible sword…｣

In the critical moment, Historia visualized the image of the Sky Blade, Chun-aeng.

Historia adjusted her grip on the gun.

She didn’t aim directly at the Angel but slightly above, targeting the Angel’s right shoulder.

If she fired now, she would miss.

However, caught up in a strange epiphany, Historia fired.

The bullet 'did not fire.'

But Historia 'definitely fired.'

In the paradox, logic was twisted.

A crack appeared in the air.

The bullet didn’t fly, but all the effects of a bullet were realized.

Historia felt a tingle in her sixth sense.

Her bullet had 'definitely hit' something.

Biting her lip, she swung the gun.

Despite its lightweight, the gun felt heavy, like wielding a 100-meter-long sword.

But she swung it.

Historia swung the gun, no, the sword.

Amidst the paradox, her incomprehensible slash cut through the Axiom.

Consensus of Gun and Sword

When I regained my senses after witnessing Historia’s epiphany…

The Angel, missing three right wings, was spinning and crashing into the wall.