Chương 14: CHAPTER 12: THE CONSULTANT’S MALICE

The heavy iron door of the guest chamber screamed on its hinges as it was violently thrown open.

"Time is up, medic," a cold voice rasped. I didn't answer. I simply stood up, dusting the residual grime from my charcoal cloak. My wrists were bare, the runic iron shackles left clattering on the stone floor behind me. When I stepped into the corridor, the two black-cloaked guards flanked me instantly, their hands resting heavy on the hilts of their serrated daggers. They marched me back through the winding, oppressive volcanic tunnels, throwing open the towering obsidian double doors of the central throne room.

The atmosphere inside was suffocating. Sitting on his throne of jagged black iron, Kaguro Orichi loomed like a specter of death, his ivory skull mask gleaming under the flickering green fire of the grease-lamps. Standing right beside him was Hades Malice. The moment I stepped onto the shattered marble floor, Hades drew his sleek magi-katana. The blade hummed, radiating a sinister, violet aura that made the air bleed with killing intent. One wrong word, and my head would roll across the stones.

"Your twenty-four hours are spent, boy," Kaguro Orichi rumbled, his voice carrying a mountainous weight that vibrated through my ribs.

"What is your answer? Will you clear my circuits, or do I dissolve your baseline structure right here?" I didn't flinch. Instead, I focused my gaze directly on his massive chest.

[NEW SKILL ACTIVATED: SSS-RANK RADIOGRAPHIC DIAGNOSTIC EYE] The world shifted. The stone walls and the dark armor faded into transparent, ghostly layers. Beneath Orichi's flesh, my vision locked onto his internal architecture. His primary mana veins were engorged to four times their natural diameter, pulsing with an unstable, erratic blue light. The high-density pressure was causing widespread micro-cellular ischemia, slowly crushing his internal organs.'

Advanced stage Vascular Mana Engorgement,' my clinical brain calculated smoothly.

'He's flatlining from the inside out. He has forty-hours, maximum.'

"I will perform the operation," I said, my outward voice smooth and compliant as the system matrix translated my words into flawless, calm Japanese.

"But your condition requires a highly precise chemical stabilizer before I can safely open your pathways. I need unrestricted access to your alchemical supply room and utility vaults to compound the formula." Kaguro Orichi narrowed his eyes behind the skull mask.

"An apprentice demanding the keys to my treasury? You take me for a fool, Shin. You will compound it here, under Hades' blade." Hades Malice stepped forward, the violet aura of his katana brushing against my neck. I let out a low, erratic laugh. Throwing away every single ounce of my submissive camouflage, I took a deliberate step forward—right into Hades' space. Before the assassin could even react, my hand shot out, gripping the raw, glowing edge of his magi-katana.

The high-density mana sliced into my palm, blood pooling rapidly down the steel, but I didn't even blink. I violently yanked the blade closer, pressing the razor-sharp edge directly against my own jugular.

"Then cut it!" I shouted, a manic, unhinged smile spreading across my face as I stared straight into Orichi's ivory mask.

"Kill me right now! If my heart stops, your core collapses in two days. You want to play authority with a chief consultant? I've watched hundreds of people die, old man. I don't fear the grave. Let me work, or we can both turn to ash in this cave!" Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The throne room fell into a dead, terrifying silence.

Hades Malice froze, his twisted, sadistic composure completely fracturing at the sight of a fifteen-year-old kid acting like a suicidal madman. Kaguro Orichi stared at me for a long, agonizing moment before slowly lowering his hand.

"Release him, Hades. Let him choose his reagents. If he fails, let him watch his own skin rot."

"By your command... Boss," Hades muttered, reluctantly pulling the blade back. The utility vaults were a goldmine of forgotten alchemical waste and raw chemical compounds. For three hours, I worked in absolute isolation, my hands moving with the flawless, mechanical speed of a veteran practitioner. I wasn't looking for herbs. I was looking for raw chemical reagents.

In the dark corners of the supply room, I located dense jars of concentrated potassium nitrate, volcanic sulfur deposits, and raw, highly refined acidic salts. In this primitive world, they used these materials for crude metallurgical smelting and preservation. They had no concept of weaponized chemical synergy. I didn't make a weapon to breach their armor. I made a weapon to breach their lungs.

Using the natural, hollowed-out coconut shells stored in the rations vault, I packed the interiors with highly volatile, unstable sulfur-nitrate particulates mixed with thousands of fine, rusted iron upholstery nails I pulled from the scrap crates.

If exposed to a sudden burst of high-density heat, the rapid gas expansion within the reinforced fibrous shell wouldn't just create an explosion—it would turn the rusted iron nails into a supersonic storm of septic shrapnel, while flooding the immediate area with a dense, blinding cloud of highly concentrated sulfurous gas.' Two anti-personnel chemical canisters, fully assembled,' I thought, hiding the heavy coconut spheres deep within the wide, dimensional folds of my new charcoal cloak.

'That handles the perimeter.' For the leader himself, I prepared something far more elegant. I took a massive dose of the unrefined nitrate salts, compounding them into a single, sleek, silver mana-stabilizing capsule.

"The formula is complete," I announced, stepping back into the grand throne room. Kaguro Orichi leaned forward, his breathing noticeably heavier than before. The tremors in his hands were worsening. I approached the throne slowly, raising my fingers to press them firmly against his massive, cold wrist, measuring his erratic, bounding pulse.

"Take it," I commanded, handing him the silver capsule.

"It will mechanically relieve the pressure within your circuits instantly." The final boss didn't hesitate. He took the capsule and swallowed it whole. For a long, terrifying moment, the room was dead silent. The green flames flickered wildly against the obsidian walls. Then, the erratic, suffocating blue light beneath Orichi's skin began to dim. The violent tremors wracking his massive frame suddenly stilled.

He let out a long, ragged breath, the deathly ash-grey color slowly leaving his face as his suffocating organs were suddenly flooded with oxygen-rich blood. The intense nitrate compound had caused massive, immediate vasodilation, dropping his blood pressure and instantly opening the clogged mana channels. He looked down at his massive hands, a dark, dangerous smile creeping onto his face as his oppressive mana flared back to life, twice as heavy as before.

"I feel... stable," Kaguro Orichi rumbled, standing up from his iron throne as the ground vibrated beneath his boots.

"The devouring fire inside my core has stopped. Foolish doctor... you have just handed your savior his greatest enemy." He raised his right hand, gathering a terrifying, crackling ball of dark mana, aiming it straight at my chest to obliterate me where I stood. I didn't even blink. I stood perfectly still on the shattered marble, slowly lifting my left arm to check the ticking interface of my system watch.' Three... two... one.' Suddenly, the dark mana ball sputtered, flickered, and vanished into thin air.

Kaguro Orichi violently gasped, his entire body stiffening as he clutched his chest. He dropped heavily to one knee, the marble cracking beneath his weight. His lips, tongue, and fingernails violently turned a sickening, ghostly shade of slate-blue. He coughed violently, but no blood came out—just a dry, desperate, empty gasp for air, his lungs expanding but finding absolutely nothing to absorb.

"What... what did you do to me?" he wheezed, his eyes wide with a profound, paralyzed horror as he stared up at me, his massive strength draining into nothingness.

"I saved your life," I said, looking down at his trembling form with a bored, cold expression, my hands tucked safely inside my sleeves.

"But I never said my services were free. That crude mixture stopped your acute mana necrosis by dilating your vessels, but it was also a massive, unrefined chemical overdose. It is currently inducing acute, severe methemoglobinemia." I took a slow step forward, the shadow of my cloak falling over his ivory mask.

"In layman's terms? The nitrate ions have violently oxidized the iron within your hemoglobin, converting it into methemoglobin. Your red blood cells are completely locked down. They are physically incapable of binding with or transporting oxygen to your tissues. You are literally suffocating to death from the inside out, despite your lungs being wide open." Hades Malice let out a terrified shout, drawing his katana to lunge at me, but I didn't even turn my head.

"Step closer, assassin," I whispered, my voice cutting through the room like a frozen scalpel.

"Without my timed, progressive chemical antidotes, your Leader's internal organs will suffer permanent, irreversible hypoxic death in less than twelve hours. His brain will turn to mush, and his core will shatter. You want to kill me? Go ahead. See who fixes his blood." Kaguro Orichi raised a trembling, blue-tipped hand, his voice nothing more than a desperate, suffocating scrape.

"Hades... stay... your blade..." I looked down at the helpless king of the underworld, a dark, chilling smile finally spreading across my face. The pieces were exactly where I wanted them.