Wasn’t This a Night Game

A Macho Man’s Faint

When the witch took my hand.

The world seemed to freeze.

Why are you taking my hand, of all things?

Why are you asking for my name?

I have no intention of being near you.

Not even a little bit.

Not at all.

I’ve no hobby of cuddling bombs close.

So I tried to slip it out, flee while I could…

Then suddenly, this holy favor, whatever it is, they dragged me to the Sun Cult temple nearby.

“Holy favor, you say!”

“To use such impossible miracles one after the other, it’s only natural, isn’t it! Roper, guide us!”

There, I received treatment befitting a king.

Every kind of priest came running, drenching my body in divine power, and freshly cooked, delicious rice and a fluffy bed were provided.

I had to eat the rice and lie in the bed, to rest.

Shouldn’t I bolt right this instant, you ask?

Truly, the correct answer.

Yes.

I had to flee now.

The witch is healed and done with.

There’s absolutely no reason for me to act like some saint here, so why am I eating rice and resting easy in bed?

“Are you feeling alright?”

It’s because of the witch, right next to me, holding my hand, looking at me with those bright eyes.

“Don’t be afraid. I am here. I will make sure you never fall. Saint.”

The way she carefully takes my hand, her voice… like someone welcoming a cult leader.

Looks like this bomb has decided to stick close to my side.

That can’t be happening!

It could burst again any moment now!

“Witch-nim.”

“Erpa. I’m Erpa. Holy One.”

“Erpa-nim. Please, return now. I am unharmed.”

Truly unharmed.

I’ve no miraculous powers or anything.

It’s just you being near, making me sweat and tremble like a scared dog.

“It cannot be. Allow me to stay by your side until you are healed, Holy One.”

“I am truly unharmed.”

“But because of me…”

Speaking nicely isn’t going to work, it seems.

I need to speak more firmly.

“Erpa-nim. You have become beautiful now. No one will discriminate against you because of your appearance. But even more important is the inner self.”

“The inner…self.”

“What good is a flawless exterior if there is no peace in your heart? I am merely one who heals the lowly. I can heal the outside, but that is all. I cannot heal your heart. Only you can raise your own heart.”

“What must I do? Show me the way.”

Can’t you just go away and stop talking to me?

I’m running out of things to say!!

All those self-help books I’ve read and the lines I heard at Sunday school!

Help me!!

“Talk to yourself. Try to find what you truly want. Now, there are no shackles binding you. From the freest of positions, ponder how you will write your life.”

“……..”

“I was merely a cane. The sick need a cane, but after they recover. It is normal for that cane to be discarded. Leave me and soar to your heart’s content. Realize what you truly wanted, what you sought to do, and move in that direction. That is what I desire for you.”

In a word, just please bugger off.

As I’m saying this, wearing a benevolent smile, Erpha starts shedding tears again.

“How shall I repay you? This grace…how should I possibly repay you?”

You don’t need to repay me.

I’m gonna bounce now.

“I didn’t do it hoping for repayment. If you wish to repay me, repay me with your life. Live a magnificent, wonderful life. I hope you become someone who throws away hatred and resentment and loves themself.”

And don’t explode again.

Got it?

I won’t see you.

I won’t see you again, and I’m going to quietly bolt and live my life, so let’s each go our separate ways.

With a nervous heart, I watch Erpha, and she slowly rises from her seat.

“I swear. I swear on my entire life.”

She smiles brightly.

She’s awfully pretty, damn pretty, but no matter how pretty she is, a bomb is a bomb.

“I will live a life worthy of you. I will live a wonderful life.”

“I believe you will. Lady Erpha. You are more than qualified.”

“Thank you. I will never forget you.”

“You can forget.”

“No.”

“Please, just forget me.”

Erpa bowed carefully to me, then left the room.

Only after she was gone, the door closed, could I slump onto the bed.

Thought I was gonna croak for real.

Why’s every goddamn day gotta be a rollercoaster, for Christ’s sake?

Alright, that’s it.

The witch who was glued to my side is gone, so now I can disappear quietly.

That’s how most Saint legends of the Arcal Empire end anyway.

Now that I have shown you my grace, go forth and sin no more, live by ethics and morals, blah blah blah, *poof*.

Vanished.

Then the Grace Order folks come sniffin’ around, “Wait, this b*stard ain’t even a believer?”

“You heretic.”

*Whoosh whoosh.*

No damn way I’m taking that kind of ending.

I got up from the bed, opened the door, and went outside.

“Saint! You shouldn’t be up yet!…..”

“The time has come.”

I looked at everyone, smiling.

“I must depart now. May grace lead us to meet again, if it wills it so.”

“Huh? But Saint! The Lilia Order folk are arriving sooner than scheduled, they’re coming now!…”

Arriving sooner than scheduled?

Fucking hell!!

Gotta bolt!!

Right goddamn now!

I snapped Time Stop into action, quick as I could.

The whole world, frozen solid.

And in that state, I groaned, forcing it, toggling Time Stop on and off in that confined space, inching forward.

Each damn flicker drained my mental strength something fierce.

Ah, for fuck’s sake.

Why’d they design the skill like this, anyway?

In the game, it was just click and done, easy peasy, but coming into reality made it all complicated or what.

Anyways.

Bearing the mental strain, slowly.

I started moving forward in the stopped time.

In the distance, I could see the express train pulling away from the Mars capital city.

Gotta get on that!!

Get on that and bug out from this place!

Duck into a toilet stall or something, break the Time Stop, then slap a Body Modification buff on myself.

“This face… it’s been peddled way too much to use.”

If I just knead my face a bit, change its shape, then buy a train ticket and saunter out of the capital…

Saunter out…

Wait.

My mental juice is running on fumes, this is rough.

Feels like I gotta release this for a bit, then rest before cranking it back on, yeah?

What kinda skill is even this, for real?

But can’t exactly *not* use it either.

Gotta find some place to let the skill loose, just for a bit.

Scanning around the vicinity, just so-so-like.

A grimy, filthy back alley in the corner of the train station caught my eye.

Bingo!!

No one’d be there, right?

C’mon, even *they* wouldn’t be caught dead in a place that disgusting and repulsive, would they?

Just a quick break there, then change faces and bail outta here.

Nice meetin’ ya, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Capital Mars, you.

Thinking that, I released the skill.

And the moment I did…

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! aaargh!!!”

The sounds, silenced in the frozen moment, now clawed at my ears: a brutal symphony of flesh striking flesh.

Even in this grimy, festering back alley, there were people.

I flinched, a cold spike of unease, as the sounds kept coming.

“Didn’t I tell you to sell them all? You worthless whores!”

“aaagh!! I’m sorry! Please! I’ll sell them all! Please!”

“Go and sell them all! Or I’ll burn the other side of your face off, you hear me?!”

“I will! I will!!! Please, just don’t burn me!”

The deep, gravelly voice of a man, contrasted against the thin, hushed voice of a young girl, echoed for what felt like an eternity.

The little girl’s cries were so heartbreaking, it was impossible not to look.

I shifted my gaze to the corner of the alley, and a cluster of girls huddled against the wall, along with one hulking man, came into view.

What was strange was the girls’ faces, twisted into grotesque shapes.

Some had their upper lips and cheeks completely burned away, others had teeth missing.

Barely seven or eight years old, children who should have been at home, showering their fathers with affection, were weeping with melted faces, begging the man before them.

What kind of scene was this?

I stood there, stunned, dumbly watching the spectacle.

The man spat on the ground and lit a cigarette.

“Fucking goddamn it. These rejects from the match factory better be good for something. If you don’t meet your quota, you’ll get it from me. Got it?”

“Yes! Yes! We will! Please don’t abandon us!”

“You pathetic monster b*tches. Fine. Now get lost. If you don’t pay your dues properly, I won’t give you any matches to sell tomorrow, so remember th—”

The man, spitting a glob of yellow phlegm as he turned to leave the alley, saw me and stopped dead in his tracks.

“You… You, you son of a b*tch…”

The emotions flickering in the man’s eyes shifted, one after another, from bewilderment. To surprise. And then…

To greed.

“You’re the b*stard who was healing people in the slums, right?”

The man snickered, pulling a dagger from his waist.

The moment I saw the dagger, my body froze solid.

This is for real.

Look at those eyes.

He didn’t just pull it out to threaten me.

That b*stard, a hundred percent.

No!! Two hundred percent, he’s actually stabbed someone before!!

Should I freeze time and run?

No way!

My mental strength is too depleted, I won’t be able to cast it again!

I need some rest, but why the hell does this b*stard have to be here.

“Holy man. Holy man, overflowing with grace, full of kindness. You see, I’ve been really struggling lately. How about you share some of that grace with me? Huh? It would be great if you could give it to me in shiny silver or gold coins. You must have been paid for your healing, right?”

The son of a b*tch snickers, coming closer to me.

What should I do?

I’ve used up too much mental strength to use time stop right now.

Body Modification?

Where’s the damn space for body mods in this situation!

Absolute hypnosis?

No matter!

Hypnotize him with this and just make him vanish!…..

[Mental strength required for target designation!]

[Current mental strength too low, target designation impossible!]

Ah, goddamnit, what is this crap!!

Then what do I do!!

Now all that’s left is…….

“Just stay still, Saint. I’ll just quietly pick your pockets while you’re embracing me, so just stay still.”

The mugger, reaching for me, saw that I was completely frozen and tried to rummage through my pockets with a confident look.

The moment his eyes went to my pocket.

I reflexively touched his body and activated the skill.

[Skill ＜Sensitivity x3000＞ is cast!]

“Quiet!!!!”

I suddenly swung my fist, landed it above the mugger’s head, and stepped back.

It wasn’t even a hard hit.

Just a pathetic, flailing swing.

The mugger, hit with the laughable punch out of nowhere, laughed as if he couldn’t believe it, then suddenly started to tremble.

“Ugh… kk… kk… kk!! Uhhh!!”

Sensitivity, times three thousand.

How is it! With this much, you’d be too wracked with pain to even twitch…

Twitch…

No, hold on a sec.

“kkrrrr….Ugggh…Kkrrooock.”

The robber’s eyes burst with blood vessels.

He was clenching his teeth so hard, they were shattering, exploding outwards in pieces.

They say when pain surpasses its limit, a person can’t even scream.

Must be that.

The robber dropped his dagger, shuddered for a moment, then slumped to the floor.

Blood streamed from his nose, and his eyes, now dyed red where the veins had burst, wept tears of blood.

“……Hey, you?”

No response.

Even an idiot could tell.

Dead.

Shock, probably.

My first kill.

A churning welled up inside me.

I…

Killed a person.

Just wanted to beat him bloody and chase him off, but I killed him.

The world spun.

Already, using time stop to get here chewed through my mental reserves. Add on the shock of murder, and my brain couldn’t take it anymore.

Vision blurring, I collapsed, just like the thug.

Right before I blacked out.

The last thought that flickered through my skull was this:

A shock death just from a Bouncing Punch, huh.

Those Taimanin ladies, enduring all sorts of things every day at 3000x sensitivity and still standing… they really are inhuman.