Copy Skills with Affinity!

Chapter 7

Synthesis

"Give back the territory you stole, you barbarian."

"...It has been a while since we last met, Your Majesty."

Even though the Emperor hurled a vulgar insult right into his face the moment he saw him, the chieftain of the Great Plains—Dunadan simply offered a polite greeting with an expressionless face. He looked exceedingly accustomed to this, as if such incidents had happened more times than he could count.

In fact, despite the fact that a diplomatic catastrophe was unfolding in real time, no one around them made any effort to stop it. They only managed bitter smiles.

Regardless of all this talk about stealing territory, that land had originally been ceded directly by the Emperor himself to the tribal alliance, who had been steadfast allies throughout the war.

"What do you think of the Empire's current war division? Are they as robust as ever?"

"They have thinned out a little compared to before. Near the end of the war, there was a bit of..."

The Emperor swallowed his words for a moment.

"...a variety of incidents."

"..."

Understanding what the Emperor was referring to, Dunadan smirked faintly.

There truly had been a dreadful incident.

The fall of the Empire's greatest star.

"-Someone will surely fill the seat of the Warden of the Nation, Your Majesty. And the Prince will, someday, return to his former—"

"Enough. How about your war division?"

The Emperor's voice cut him off brusquely, and Dunadan held back another smirk inside.

He, too, knew well that it was not the sort of event that could be consoled with a few words. It was best to follow the shift in subject.

"I have brought mostly young warriors brimming with vigor and the will to fight."

"That's a flattering way to describe a bunch of fledglings."

"Then why, knowing that, did you send something like that?"

Dunadan lifted his gaze to the stage where the sparring match was scheduled to take place.

Unlike the dozens of tribal alliance warriors warming up before the fight, the Empire's side was almost absurdly sparse.

One woman sat still with her eyes closed, as if she were meditating.

And simply by sitting there, she seemed to radiate such an oppressive presence that even the surrounding air felt weighted down.

It could only be called the majesty of a predator.

"Are you not taking this a bit too seriously? Bringing the Lionhearted to what is, at most, an exchange event."

In that voice, tinged with even reverence, the Emperor gave a short laugh and bit down on his cigarette.

"Still, it's only one person. It's not as if I don't know how well the warriors of your alliance fight."

"...You truly do exaggerate too much."

As Dunadan spoke, he looked back down toward the bottom of the stage.

With little time left before the sparring began, he could see the Lionhearted taking a deep breath and channeling her qi.

The white qi billowed forth from her heart, soon forming a dome-shaped barrier that enveloped the entire sparring ground.

A safety measure. To prevent the aftermath of the fight from spreading into the surroundings.

Even so.

For a single human to create such a massive hemispherical barrier—it was almost majestic to behold.

Even if qi was an ability that held a relative advantage in sheer output among all powers, ordinarily it would take an entire regiment specialized in this kind of work to accomplish something of this scale.

...It was laughable, really.

To expect the person who was about to fight up there to also handle that kind of task—there was no other way to describe it than an absurdity.

Yet despite that, there was not a single person present who raised any protest about it. If anything, the air was heavy with the sense that this was only natural.

The reason was simple enough.

The woman called Lionhearted was a monster who could do something like this.

‘Heart of Pure White.’

Dunadan’s gaze swept across the qi that made up the dome.

The pinnacle of qi among all that the Empire’s knights could wield.

The reason Lionhearted could serve as a human-shaped “power plant” was all thanks to that special nature of her ability.

“She was the same warrior who was called a one-woman army on battlefields where men fell like kindling. If she’s alone, isn’t that more than sufficient?”

A mischievous smile crept over the Emperor’s face.

“To be precise, she’s not alone.”

“Pardon?”

“There’s one more. He hasn’t come up yet. I’m rather curious to see what he’ll show.”

Without a doubt.

His voice brimmed with anticipation.

▣

…I was so nervous I had to go to the bathroom.

How in the world had things turned out like this?

My gaze shifted forward.

In an era where concrete buildings, black-and-white televisions, and telephones had become commonplace, the image of “barbarian warriors” seemed to have materialized out of nowhere—rough-looking men filling my entire field of view.

“Am I really supposed to brawl with people like that?”

If there had been a negotiation table that could spare me from this, I would have gladly traded a year of my lifespan. That wasn’t just an empty thought—it was my honest conviction…

“…I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Aiden.”

And it was obvious that I wasn’t the only one who recognized this as a troublesome situation.

Just seeing Noel whispering with such an apologetic look made that clear.

Even if, from her perspective, I was someone hiding inexplicable power and an unknown past, that didn’t make it any less of a problem to force me into something this dangerous. She looked like she was carrying her share of guilt.

The problem was that even Noel hadn’t had a good reason to strongly refuse.

Not long ago, I had crushed a top-tier combatant—someone just below the level of a knight—in a single blow, and I had done the same to a royal of the Holy Crown Kingdom who wielded holy power.

Considering the Emperor had bothered to orchestrate all of this, he must have heard about those incidents in detail before deciding to act.

“In any case, you won’t need to do much yourself. I’ll only ask you for one simple thing.”

The one relief, at least, was that she more than possessed the ability to manage such a situation on her own.

Before Aiden could ask what she meant by that, the signboard at the very center of the arena switched its color from red to blue. A signal meaning ‘the duel begins.’

At that same moment—

“O orb, O lotus, shine your radiance!”

A fierce battle cry erupted from among the warriors of the alliance.

Immediately, letters across their bodies all began to emit light at once. A brilliant halo exploded outward, spilling countless motes of light in every direction, and among them floated several luminous orbs infused with that same glow.

“Is this your first time seeing it?”

Noel tilted her head and spoke when she saw Aiden’s eyes go perfectly round.

Even with such menacing figures standing right before her, she remained utterly composed.

“It is divine power. The warriors of the Great Plains place prohibitions upon themselves, and in return, they are granted strength.”

The blessing bestowed by the chief god of the tribal alliance, Urgan, the God of Ascension.

Those who served him would gain power by imposing upon themselves a kind of ‘prohibition.’

“To prove the value His Majesty spoke of, they are more than worthy opponents.”

As she spoke, pure white qi began billowing softly from her heart.

It was a sight Aiden knew well. He had already used that power himself and knew just how formidable it could be.

…Would she really be all right?

Even so, the worry that rose in him was real.

That was simply how overwhelming the pressure radiating from those warriors was. Even if she wielded such qi, fighting opponents of that caliber in a many-against-one was an entirely different matter.

Yet, as if to make his worries look foolish, Noel stepped lightly in front of him, pushing him back without the slightest hesitation.

And as though that were a signal, the alliance warriors all at once let out a roar strong enough to make his whole body prickle and came charging in.

Just watching them was enough to make his knees weak. Though they were plainly human beings, it felt as though he was about to be crushed by enormous vehicles barreling toward him at full speed.

And in spite of that—

The woman standing in front of them remained as composed as ever.

“Perhaps I should give you a little demonstration.”

Then, the pure white qi surged violently from her heart, racing across her entire body.

“-Law.”

And with that, such words flowed solemnly from Noel’s lips.

“I swear.”

A consecration offered directly to a god—one of the ways to commune with a deity and amplify one’s power. It could be called the Empire’s principal prayer, offered to Karva, the main god they served.

“In battle, to claim victory.”

The divine authority of the heavens responded to her sworn oath, and pure white qi settled into her arm with a force far fiercer than before.

“When you imbue an ability into a tangible ‘substance’ like this, it becomes much more precise. You can channel it into your body as I am, but it’s more efficient to channel it into a weapon.”

“…I see.”

“Of course.”

Noel, who spoke so calmly, then did something Aiden himself had tried a few times before: she planted her feet and threw out a straight punch from where she stood.

But unlike him, she did it with far greater mastery.

“If you can wield pure white qi, you can do at least this much barehanded.”

It would be no exaggeration to say her entire body had become a launching platform, from which a shell in the form of a fist was fired.

Her supporting foot, her legs, then her hips twisting up her spine, through her back, her arm—her power gathered to a single point and exploded from her knuckles.

And then—

Among all qi, the purest, and precisely because of that purity, the one that surpassed every other ability in terms of instantaneous [output], now strengthened even further by consecration—its result was this:

---!!

----!!!!

Aiden’s mouth fell open.

It would be fair to say the entire front of the stage was simply blown away.

The air itself ripped apart. The barrier spread around the stage shivered with a crackling sound, and screams burst out from the audience.

For a moment, as if a hurricane had erupted, everything around the dueling ground whipped violently in the wind.

She hadn’t even struck them directly. Just from the pressure wave at the end of her punch, the alliance warriors who had been charging straight at them were lifted off their feet, screaming, and flung clear across to the far side of the arena.

It was as though several superhumans, charging like runaway eight-ton trucks, had all been swatted away by the mere aftershock of a punch thrown standing in place.

“…”

Aiden stared blankly at Noel before him.

Was she even really human…?

“Does this make things clearer?”

“…”

Unfortunately.

After committing such a feat, Noel turned back to him with her usual blank expression and asked a question that only left him more bewildered.

She acted as if this was truly nothing at all…

…I don’t get it.

What exactly was she expecting him to understand from that display?

At the very least, he understood all too well that he and Noel were different beings from the very root.

“If you could just manage to imitate this much, I believe that would be more than enough to satisfy His Majesty’s idea of ‘proving your value.’”

“…Pardon?”

“If you can wield pure white qi, this is hardly an advanced technique. You know better than anyone what potential that ‘color’ holds, but this time, I only ask that you show a fragment of it.”

“…”

Was she seriously telling him…to copy that?

Himself?

“-!”

“--!!”

Before he could even process the vertigo rising in him, the warriors of the alliance ahead of them were already leaping back to their feet.

Since they had merely been struck and sent flying, it was only natural that they’d sustained no real injuries and just as natural that they were already getting back up.

The unfortunate part was that it was obvious they regarded what had just happened as a humiliating disgrace.

Thick veins were pulsing on all their foreheads, as if they were all furious to the very tips of their hair.

They were probably convinced Noel was toying with them.

And unlike before, Noel didn’t look as though she intended to stand in their way again as they charged back in.

…Such is my fate.

Aiden clung to his spinning consciousness and barely managed to form that thought.

Still, I have to do my part…

From the moment he’d ended up entangled in a sham marriage with this woman, he’d already braced himself for the possibility of getting dragged into something dangerous.

That was why he’d told the Emperor he’d step up himself.

He had no confidence he could pull off exactly what Noel had just done, but there was at least one thing he could trust in.

Quickly, he summoned his status window before his eyes.

What he intended to use was the one remaining use of Noel’s skill copy.

-System Message

▶ Copying “Qi Enhancement: Consecration.”

The same technique Noel had wielded to manipulate qi.

The moment he learned the skill, the ‘method of using it’ settled naturally into his mind. It felt as though someone were carefully typing the instructions into his brain.

“…Law. I swear.”

Facing the warriors who were now charging at him in earnest, Aiden felt the qi surge out around his body.

From the side, he could see Noel giving a slight nod. As if, of course, she had expected he would be able to do this. All he had to do now was wield the qi and replicate what she had shown.

There didn’t seem to be any room left for things to go awry. At least, Noel clearly thought so.

Aiden himself was thinking something a bit different.

“…”

He turned his head to glance around.

He looked at Noel.

Then he fixed the Emperor and the chieftain high up in the stands into his field of view.

If this went well, he would surely see a reaction from those watching.

And if it didn’t?

…I’ll figure it out when the time comes.

After all, this was the only card he had to play now.

He parted his lips to complete the consecration.

Even that simple act sent the pure white qi surging out from his heart and brought a heavy pressure that weighed down his entire body.

Even though it was merely a one-way message sent from him up to the heavens, he could feel at once that the being on the other end of this communion was truly divine.

Speak your wish, offer your vow. The whispering insistence seemed to echo without end.

But instead of adding words to that whisper—

Aiden was preparing to do something a little different.

Please…let this work…!

With that almost prayer-like thought, divinity began to rise from his body.

A colorless flame. An ability he had taken from a princess of the Holy Crown Kingdom he had never even met face to face.

From the side, he saw Noel’s face turn utterly pale.

“That’s…divinity…? No, how in the world could you—”

But before she could even finish reacting—

He pushed it into the pure white qi that surged from his heart.

The colorless flames that flared up from his feet collided fiercely with the qi. They warily circled each other, as if trying to devour one another, and then, gradually, the two forces began to merge together, seeping into one another.

“…Aiden…?”

And from his side—

He heard Noel’s voice, trembling as she stared at him.

She looked as though she simply could not believe what she was seeing. Her face was blanched, her eyes shaking violently. It was the sort of look that left no doubt just how surreal this was to her.

The “authority” of a god—

Had blended.

Two domains that should never, ever intermingle had fused.

And as this happened, a string of messages appeared before Aiden’s eyes.

< System Message >

[ Divinity purifies the backlash of Consecration. Qi and Divinity are merging! ]

!! System Message !!

[ You are using two abilities simultaneously. ]

[ is being unlocked. ]

…He drew in a slow breath as he scanned the messages.

Now that they’d appeared, it seemed he’d succeeded in what he aimed to do.

-Skill Info

■ Omnipotence [ Locked ]

This skill is locked. Open the initial stage by wielding two or more abilities simultaneously.

…This.

Ever since he’d first seen it, he had sworn he would find a way to use this ability.

The question was simply what kind of power it would produce when combined this way.

[ By the effect of , a new effect has been developed by combining the abilities! ]

[ By synthesizing and , you have developed ! ]

…Thankfully.

It seemed he wouldn’t have much to worry about in that regard.

The divinity wielded by the royals of the Holy Crown Kingdom took the form of a colorless flame.

As befitted the power granted by Sia, the God of Purification, it remained in the purest possible state, untainted by any color.

And now, here—

Just as the pure white qi and that flame had mingled, “white divinity” was spreading all around Aiden.

The flame born of divinity, infused with another power, had been given “color.”

It burned so fiercely that the air itself seemed to be drawn away, creating a vacuum that made it look as though someone had cut the scenery out and crumpled it in their hands.

“…”

“…”

Aiden blinked blankly.

…Somehow.

This looked even more dangerous than he’d expected.

And indeed, even as the duel continued in earnest, it was clear that no one dared to interfere with what he’d unleashed.

Not Noel, not the alliance warriors, not Dunadan presiding as referee.

The instant those flames burst forth, not a single person moved.

-…!

And in the next moment—

--------------------!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A colossal pillar of flame erupted around Aiden, smashing into the hemispherical barrier surrounding the stage.

And it shattered the protective field Noel had set up—

In the most spectacular, resounding fashion imaginable.