I Will Not Die

Tamashi had not always won every battle. The number of times he had brushed with death was greater, not less, than Yaxiu's. Although he was indeed at the pinnacle of mortals, even able to resist the direct influence of sorcery spirits, he was ultimately still mortal. Furthermore, a sorcerer's supernatural methods were impossible to foresee or guard against. Until one mastered a Sanctuary, battles between sorcerers remained treacherous and unpredictable; an unexpected sorcery spirit could shift the tide of battle in an instant, let alone in a contest between a sorcerer and a mortal. On top of that, Tamashi served as the most dangerous of Judgment Retainers, locking horns with the most heinous and depraved sorcerers on every mission. Even more terrifying was the fact that most evil sorcerers in the wasteland were actually underworld forces carrying out missions on behalf of major cults—such as the "Ruin Hunters" of the Calamitous Fire Sanctuary, the "Fuses" of the War Temple, and the "Three Hands" of the Whirling Light Cult. This meant that when Kill-All-Crows hunted down evil sorcerers, not only was there a risk of retaliation from other cults, but the targets could even receive reinforcements from their parent factions mid-pursuit. Tamashi had encountered this once. He and Tanomu were hunting a gang of bandits disguised as a merchant caravan. Intelligence indicated the enemy had only a few ordinary One-Wing Sorcerers, but just as the Black Crow unleashed his slaughter, he was struck at close range by a Grey Fox firearm. Grey Fox firearms were exceedingly rare in the wasteland. At most, the Black Crow had undergone training against crude, makeshift guns. Facing a Grey Fox weapon whose rate of fire and kinetic energy far surpassed homemade firearms, he had only managed to keep his vitals from being hit. His tailbone was pierced, and he crashed to the dirt, his lower body completely paralyzed. He was paralyzed right inside the enemy's stronghold. The gun sorcerer did not kill him on the spot. He fired two more rounds through Tamashi's arms, and then his bandit underlings dragged over Tanomu, who had been providing support nearby. Seeing the Black Crow collapsed on the ground, Tanomu wept and screamed incessantly, begging them for mercy, pleading to spare the Black Crow's life, saying she would do anything... but the gun sorcerer merely hoisted her over his shoulder with a leering grin and carried her inside, leaving the Black Crow in the mud. The Black Crow had just killed their brothers; how could the bandits let him die so easily? Paralyzing him meant that while the gun sorcerer enjoyed himself in the cabin, the remaining bandits could slowly torture the Black Crow to vent their fury. Mercury Trojan's memories of that day were already blurry. She had tried to threaten them with the Kill-All-Crows Cult, tried to bribe them by revealing she possessed a prophecy sorcery spirit, and begged them to spare Tamashi. In the end, she couldn't suppress the terror in her heart, weeping bitterly until the gun sorcerer dealt her a vicious backhand across the face. The slap swelled her cheek and left her completely dazed, sapping all strength to resist from her body as she allowed herself to be laid out on the table. She could only vaguely recall the gun sorcerer tearing at her clothes while cursing: "That Black Crow is a dead man!" "They're gonna torture him until he begs for death!" "He's going to die the ugliest death imaginable!" Just as the gun sorcerer ripped apart her shorts, the clatter of galloping hooves echoed from outside. The gun sorcerer bellowed, demanding to know who was riding horses in the yard, and then with a deafening crash, the front door was smashed open by a tall, brownish-grey steed. That was the single scene Mercury Trojan remembered most vividly. It was carved deeper into her soul than the voices of the Four Pillar Gods, lingered more endlessly in her mind than when she later watched the Black Crow come to assassinate her. It was as though Tamashi on horseback had not only crashed into that room, but straight into her heart. Tamashi sat astride the horse, bound to the saddle with four spears and hemp rope so he wouldn't fall off. His entire body was covered in torn, mangled flesh. Blood had thoroughly soaked his outer robe and dripped endlessly down his pant legs. His crow mask was partially broken, exposing bright, luminous green eyes. Mercury Trojan had no idea how he had managed to slaughter all the bandits while paralyzed from the waist down, nor how he had tied himself to that horse. All she remembered was Tamashi charging forward on horseback and driving a spear straight through the gun sorcerer's skull before the man could draw his Grey Fox firearm! "I will not die!" The voice of the Death-Herald Black Crow echoed again and again in Mercury Trojan's ears. "I will not die!" *** On the fifteenth floor of the Silent Spiral. The Black Crow pinned Mercury Trojan to the ground, raising his Grey Fox blade high and aiming at her head, stabbing down with savage force— "I will not die." Mercury Trojan produced a miniature silver handgun, raising it to shield her face. She gazed calmly at the crow mask that had once been her sweet dream and was now her living nightmare. "Unless you are willing to let Igola be buried with me." The Black Crow's hand froze. "Don't listen to her honeyed lies!" Igola coughed up several mouthfuls of foul blood and shouted, "The only way to deal with Mercury Trojan is to refuse to negotiate and kill her outright! Cough! Cough!" "Stop shouting so loudly!" Gwen scolded Igola for the first time, frantic to the verge of tears as her hands scrambled to apply a Water Therapy sorcery spirit to heal the Swindler's wounds. "Tamashi, you know me," Mercury Trojan said languidly. "I would not use such a clumsy lie just to prolong my life. Watch closely—I am going to unpack the bullets inside." Mercury Trojan ejected the magazine of the miniature silver handgun, turned it over with a flick of her hand, and dumped the ammunition onto the floor. "Pierce one of the bullets and see for yourself," she said. The Black Crow gave her a cold, level look, flicking his Grey Fox blade to slice open one of the cartridges. Inside the silver bullet tip lay a tiny, delicate groove, from which trickled a liquid that flowed like mercury. "That is mercury powder refined from my own bone marrow," Mercury Trojan said. "After I became a feeler, my marrow turned into this mercury. Any individual injected with my mercury becomes a Trojan horse I can parasitize. "Gwen ingested my marrow in the past, which was how I was able to descend into her body. However, your strange encounter in the Dead City purged the mercury from her system, which is why I lost control over her. "When one of these mercury bullets strikes a target, the kinetic energy instantly injects the mercury deep into their flesh." Mercury Trojan lightly shook the empty magazine. "The magazine holds seventeen mercury rounds, but there are only sixteen here. Where do you think the round I fired went?" The Black Crow's left hand clamped viciously onto Mercury Trojan's shoulder blade, while his right drove the Grey Fox blade to shred all the remaining mercury bullets into scrap. Gwen and Igola had naturally heard Mercury Trojan's words. Gwen probed around Igola's body, her voice trembling and choked with sobs. "M-Mr. Tamashi! Inside Mr. Igola... there's a mercury bullet!" "It seems my marksmanship wasn't bad after all," Mercury Trojan smiled. "Don't be afraid of her, Black Crow." Igola drew in a sharp breath against the searing pain, nearly dropping to his knees, yet he still forced out, "Her soul... cannot transfer too far. As long as I return to the floor above, she won't be able to... descend into me..." "You're welcome to gamble." Mercury Trojan wrapped her fingers around the Black Crow's Grey Fox blade, pressing it against her own throat. "My soul indeed cannot escape the Silent Spiral. But whether the range of my feeler reach is limited to this floor or encompasses the entire Silent Spiral—you're welcome to take that bet. "Of course, if you can transport Igola all the way to the surface, I certainly won't be able to reincarnate into him. But in his current state, can he really make it through fifteen floors of spiral trials? "Besides, now that you've entered the Silent Spiral, do you think my subordinates won't come down looking for me?" The Grey Fox blade sliced into Mercury Trojan's hand, drawing blood, yet she seemed oblivious to the pain. She looked at the Black Crow with a cruel, hideous smile, as though the one with a blade to their throat were him. "Is Igola really the only vessel I can reincarnate into? Of course, whether he is or not, I will prioritize reincarnating into Lord Igola first, and then pretend nothing ever happened. "When I have Igola's appearance, Igola's memories, and Igola's sorcery spirits, what difference will there be between me and him?" Mercury Trojan pulled the Grey Fox blade downward, letting the tip pierce her skin. She broke into a smile that was both charming and ghastly. "Tamashi, we can start over." After the devastating rampage of miracles, the hall was already flooded with foul runoff. A dark mire of spilled wine, blood, and murky water pooled across the floor. Mercury Trojan lay in the sludge, and right beside her head, the dirty water reflected a hideous crow mask. "This time, I'll be far more careful, far more cautious in expanding the Four Pillar Cult, and far more discreet in wielding power. I won't let you find out, and I won't put you in an impossible position. All you need to do is like before..." Mercury Trojan reached out her right hand, caressing the filthy mask encrusted with countless layers of dried blood, her fingertips gentle as if tracing a work of art. "...continue to cherish and protect weak, fragile me." *Thwack!* The Black Crow struck ruthlessly, pinning Mercury Trojan's right hand to the floor with his blade. She let out a soft whimper, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes as she complained in a coquettish, pouting tone, "It hurts..." "Tamashi, you know how afraid of pain I am. I never once endured the ascetic agony training of Kill-All-Crows..." she said pitifully. "If you hurt me too much, I'll run over to Igola and hide for a bit, and come back once you've cooled off..." She spoke as though she were an unruly child who had caused trouble and fled to an older sister's house next door to hide until the grown-ups calmed down. Yet a chill shot straight from the Black Crow's tailbone into his brain. Barely able to contain his fury, he roared, "Can't you just die like you're supposed to?!" "You protect yourself your way, and I protect myself mine," Mercury Trojan chuckled. "I will not die." She paused, then repeated: "I will not die. "Still, you could also let me leave. As long as I exit the Silent Spiral while you remain in the trials, it will be impossible for me to reincarnate into Lord Igola." She smiled faintly. "How does that proposal sound?"