<873 – Potential of the Adversary (8)>
Darknodi had been confined in the forbidden city for a long time.
Separated from friends, stripped of her personal freedom.
Oknodie planned to never grant her freedom again.
[Observation Eye]
Even restricted in her use of magic, the only power she could wield was to secretly tap into the encrypted communications from the Observation Eye left at the Academy.
At first, she thought she could be satisfied with that alone.
What joy was there in being able to see friends she couldn’t even face?
It didn’t matter if the relationship was false.
The fleeting taste of connection was a sweet delicacy for a child starving for affection.
It was a foolish thought.
Oknodie merely taught her friends, joking around occasionally, enjoying life at the Academy.
But Darknodi continued to watch her friends’ daily lives from afar.
Training.
Studying.
Frustration.
Torment.
She felt heartache for everyone’s pain.
She celebrated everyone’s achievements.
However, her own pain and joy belonged solely to her.
No one responded to those feelings.
Only Darknodi remained here.
Her friends didn’t even know she was here.
The joy of relationships comes from giving and receiving.
Isn’t it joyful just being together?
Even the happiness from being close grows through giving and receiving.
What could she share with someone who doesn’t even perceive her existence?
Darknodi was treated as the lost persona of Oknodie.
– Oknodie is so cheerful today.
– Will we never see her frail self again?
– If we work hard, surely the day will come when we regain her true self. Let’s do better then.
Even the time she spent was not hers.
The owner of all relationships was Oknodie.
The time that should have belonged to her.
The memories that should have been hers.
Her friends reminisce and make promises for Oknodie.
Determination. Love. Friendship. Devotion. Affection.
All were of Oknodie.
“Do you really have to take everything away to feel satisfied?”
Darknodi shed tears.
She sobbed, her frail shoulders trembling.
The more she watched her friends happy, the more her heart hurt.
Each friend, one by one.
Each time she felt longing, she reduced the number of Observation Eyes she tried to open.
Being alone was better.
Then she wouldn’t have to see her friends betray her and favor only Oknodie.
She wouldn’t have to witness the spectacle that tarnishes the memories that should’ve been shared.
Before long, only one Observation Eye remained.
Please don’t take my memories away.
Please remember me.
Screaming a heart that could not reach, feeling the pain of friend NTR, Darknodi mechanically opened the Observation Eye.
You must be the same anyway.
Oknodie must be favored.
The time spent with me would surely also belong to Oknodie.
Show your true colors quickly.
Abandon me, and give me a reason to abandon you!
The Observation Eye she connected to with a heart full of despair displayed a surprisingly dull and monotonous daily routine.
‘Is this what Academy life is like?’
A pain and hardship that paled in comparison to the happy and joyful memories of her Academy days unfolded.
– To grow running skills, what you need is breath, endurance, rest, and ultra-focus.
– You must consciously control every breath of daily life, running up to the limit your body can withstand, alternating between endurance and rest, with sheer will never losing focus…
– Training conditions for focus skills require an expression of precision more than 10 times. Training conditions for ultra-focus require an expression of precision more than 100 times. Achievements not reached cannot be obtained through skills.
If reproducing a high point once reached is a skill, then the way to grow that skill is to repeatedly and expandingly reach that high point through one’s own will.
Because the talent to surpass the limit needed is lacking, to surpass the limits, the Mob dedicated himself to the simplest and harshest training method that only he could do.
Repetition.
Again and again.
His Academy life was filled only with fatigue and pain, training and overcoming.
– Is it true that he wears a helmet because he was burned?
– Maybe he’s a stunningly handsome guy.
– That can’t be true~ Usually, handsome types have abundant talent.
– I think I get it!
– Well, if you’re incompetent, you don’t get the handsome feel. He doesn’t even have that kind of aura.
Curiosity and mockery from those around.
Favor or animosity towards him.
No feeling moved Mob’s heart.
– Isn’t it hard?
– Not at all. Just the fact that there’s an opportunity makes me happy.
He said this in front of his close friend Jaku while passing each other.
– You should be happy. How desperately have you earned this position?
– If I don’t enjoy this pain, how can I endure my own shortcomings in becoming stronger?
Words spoken late at night in the training area he was left alone.
There wasn’t a single untruth in his words.
Every moment was sincere.
Training that spoke of joy but could not enjoy.
A responsibility to seek joy even when he wasn’t happy.
For the first time, Darknodi felt joy instead of alienation.
– Why do you work so hard? You must feel your own lack of talent better than anyone else. Isn’t compromising with reality a shortcut to finding happiness?
In response to the question of an unnamed Lower Class Student, Mob looked down at his body clad in armor.
The time spent in this constrictive armor, unable to move freely, stretched longer than the times he freely roamed the Academy.
Was he happy?
His peer asked.
Mob answered that question.
– The happiness I want isn’t for myself.
– Then?
– It is the happiness of those who believe in and support this clumsy me. To achieve that, I must become stronger and stronger.
Mob never stopped putting in the effort.
The moment he stops, the expectations and cheers from those around him.
The future where his efforts will reach disappears.
– Is that so? You really are strong. I can’t be like you.
That day, one of his peers dropped out of the Academy.
Even so, Mob’s training schedule didn’t change.
Darknodi watched all those processes.
– You’ve become strong enough.
– You can stop now.
– I envy you. I wish I could become that strong too.
– Effort is also a talent.
– I don’t have that kind of talent.
– If only I had inherited the genes of a hard worker, I could work even harder than he does.
Recognition and unrecognized.
Is the driving force that allows one to maintain their original intention amidst emotional words truly talent?
No.
On a day when training was particularly tough.
Mob made a vow in the garden under the full moon.
– For every day I stand still, the day I get closer to you will only be pushed further away.
– I will surely bring forth the true you within you.
– I will become the kind of strong person you can safely show your weak side to.
With that vow, Mob returned to his training.
Who do the words he left behind point to?
It was not an unaware Darknodi.
[Darknodi’s Favorability towards Mob is unlocked.]
[The favorability ceiling is broken.]
[Darknodi’s Favorability towards Mob: 80]
Thank you.
Even when everyone forgot me.
There was Mob, who remembered me alone.
There was Mob, who worked hard alone.
Although many relationships existed, the one cherished until the end was only Mob.
I can wait.
No matter how much the isolated life in the forbidden city feels like hell.
Even if I cannot escape my fate as a caged animal that doesn’t change.
The presence of Mob, stepping closer each day for me, brought so much joy and gratitude.
– Oknodie. If you’re okay with it… would you join my harem?
The words that shouldn’t have come from Mob’s mouth slipped out.
– That’s right, that’s right. Mob is doing well.
– Am I… doing well?
– Yes. I’ll acknowledge you. You can rest now!
Like Oknodie and me, Mob engaged in words and actions that shouldn’t be.
She brings happiness and whispers that he doesn’t have to become stronger.
Smiling in the place I should be, looking at him, treating him like a child, and having fun.
“Ah! Aaaaah!”
I was robbed.
Even my last sanctuary of the heart.
The only one.
The sole refuge was taken too.
No longer was there any hope in Darknodi’s heart.
What constitutes satisfaction?
What does it matter if there’s just one person? Is that enough?
Ultimately, no one remained.
As the physical distance grew, the emotional distance did too.
Now, no one lives for Darknodi anymore.
Though verbally, Oknodie is still here.
All the attention, love, and relationships were monopolized by her.
Even my only sanctuary became a mere plaything, living off of stolen life, not even a true doppelganger queen.
It boils over.
Emotions.
They ignite.
The heart.
Kill me, Lord.
If possible, kill me instead.
If that can’t be done.
I can no longer endure.
Darknodi broke the legs of the chair.
She pressed the sharp edge to her neck.
I will end this.
This harsh life.
The sad fate of the lost persona.
Even in the farthest end of the last moment.
Choosing her own death instead of deciding to kill the original and the fake to become the real one.
The path she chose with the kindness squeezed out to the limit was her own death.
Kaboom!
A great noise.
Vibration.
Pain felt at her fingertips.
Zing!
A ringing in the ears.
The earth roaring like a collapsing mountain.
The forbidden, unseen scenery of the outside world.
Beyond the broken wall.
As she witnessed the rampaging destruction magic and unleashed taboos, Darknodi realized.
I’m alive.
No, I’ve survived.
I tried to end all this pain with death.
But if I’ve lived, what can I do now?
“I will. I will have it too.”
I will not endure any longer.
“I will become the real thing.”
All the flows of mana in the city twisted and reversed.
To her who decided to give up nothing anymore.
All the mana of the city, even the power supplied to facilities, could no longer be permitted.
With the cruel greed that allows not even a handful of mana to escape.
Darknodi regained her mana and strength.
