Chapter 107: Whip (5)

After winning the battle for control over his body, he stared up at the sky, lips sealed like an old man reminiscing about the past.

The sudden change in atmosphere made me doubt if this contemplative figure was the same person who had just shouted “Yas!” at the top of his lungs.

‘Wait, if he used the word “Yas,” could he be a possessed individual like me?’

While it was possible that this world’s translation ability had appropriately translated “Yas,” it was more likely given his connection to Ganryu’s group, who were deeply involved with the possessed.

Anticipating an attack once he regained his senses, I pulled out the syringe from my pocket, hiding it behind my back.

After a while, he suddenly lowered his head and turned to look at me. “Who are you?” he asked.

His face showed genuine confusion, as if part of his memory had vanished when he took control of the body.

“Don’t you remember what you were doing just now?” I asked.

“…Remember?”

At the mention of memory, he winced as if struck by a headache. Then, as if suddenly recalling something, he bent over and retched towards the ground.

“Bleurgh!”

The sound alone was enough to make you think he was emptying his stomach, but despite being made to resemble a human, he wasn’t one. Naturally, there was no food or saliva to expel, just the disgusting sound of dry heaving.

“Those bastards weren’t content with ruining my life, now they want to use me even after death… Tch, so who are you? You don’t seem to be with those guys.”

“Ian Barthow,” I replied.

“…Barthow?”

He scrutinized my attire and the reverse-bladed sword and Wolffang at my waist, then asked with a look of disbelief, “What year is it now?”

“Would it make sense if I said it’s the year Reinhardt entered the academy?”

“…So you’re a possessed one too. Barthow… Baldo… Judging by your name and the swords at your waist, are you the Baldoje?”

“It’s Baldojae, not Baldoje. Don’t get it wrong again. You don’t have any particularly striking characteristics, but you must be…”

Excluding the deceased Ponpon hyung, considering the agility and skill he’d shown when we crossed swords earlier, there was only one possibility.

“Bukkake, the one who claimed ninjas were the strongest, right?”

“…Do I look like I’d use such a moronic nickname?”

“No? Then what is it?”

“…I’m Bondage Master, who claimed whips were the strongest weapon.”

While not quite as bad as Bukkake, Bondage Master was still a pretty stupid nickname.

Realizing this belatedly, Bondage Master’s face reddened as he let out a deep sigh.

“Haah… I know my nickname is stupid, so don’t give me that look…”

“What’s going on? You’ve developed self-awareness that you never had back on Earth?”

“Shut up, you science nerd…”

“W-What?! Science nerd?!”

It had been a constant source of confusion since I was on Earth.

Everyone accused me of being a pathological liar, so I showed them my student ID and did everything I could, but why did no one believe me?

“Why don’t any of you believe me? I even showed you my student ID!”

“It was obviously fake. If you really went to KAIST, I’ll give you a problem. What’s 65,820 times 52,103?”

“Come on, we’re not elementary school kids…”

Normally, wouldn’t they ask a question requiring advanced scientific knowledge rather than just a large multiplication problem?

I could solve this kind of multiplication problem mentally without breaking a sweat.

Unaware of how foolish he sounded, Bondage Master proclaimed proudly, “See! If you were really a K University student, you’d have answered immediately. Clearly, you’re just a science ner–“

“3,429,419,460,” I interrupted.

“What?”

“3,429,419,460. If you don’t believe me, calculate it yourself.”

“…Just wait a second.”

Bondage Master started calculating, using Agaia as a pencil to write numbers on the ground. After a few minutes, he looked up at me with an expression of disbelief.

“H-How…?”

“How? It’s just a simple multiplication problem, so this much is easy to do mentally. But usually, when people test others, don’t they give complex equations or problems requiring scientific knowledge?”

“…I don’t know about that stuff.”

“What? Which university did you go to?”

“…Sungji University.”

“Sungji University? I’m not familiar with it, is it some kind of theological college? The name makes it sound like one.”

“No, it’s not that kind of place, it’s a local…”

His trailing off told me all I needed to know about what kind of university it was.

I felt embarrassed for having argued with someone from such an obscure school, even if it was just online.

“Let’s just drop this useless conversation and get back to what we were doing… Come on, I’ll wait, so hurry up and finish transforming.”

Pointing at the demon sword Bondage Master was holding, I spoke. He tilted his head and asked, “Continue what? I’m done here.”

“…Done?”

His words seemed genuine as he sheathed his sword and turned his back to me, leaving himself completely vulnerable.

“I’ve already given up on whips once. I’m not interested in stupid fights to determine what’s strongest anymore. I’d rather spend that time meeting women.”

With those words, he turned back to face me, smirked, and was about to leave when I called out to stop him.

“Hey, wait a second.”

“You might not understand now, but someday you’ll realize how ridiculous it is to try to determine what’s strongest…”

“No, that’s not it. How are you going to meet women with that body? …You don’t have that.”

“…Don’t have what?”

As if instinctively understanding what I meant, he reached for his groin, but of course, the organ that should be present on a normal man was missing.

That body existed solely for combat. It would be strange if it had organs that could interfere with fighting.

“Huh? Wha, what?!”

Bondage Master groped his groin repeatedly, like a gender-swapped protagonist unable to accept their transformation.

But no amount of groping would bring back his lost masculinity; it only increased his sense of emptiness and loss.

“…Hey, where did my thing go?”

“Why are you asking me? If it still exists, the person who made you like this probably has it.”

Of course, any sane person wouldn’t keep such a thing, but that thought seemed to happen to him as well.

Bondage Master, who had been pitifully touching his groin, raised his face in anger and shouted at the sky.

“You goddamn bastards!!! What… What did I do so wrong?!”

It was a sorrowful cry that any man could sympathize with, but because he kept clutching his groin while shouting, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Bwahahahaha!!!”

“What’s so funny?!”

Perhaps because I laughed so openly, he redirected his anger towards me, but since he was still holding his groin with one hand, it wasn’t intimidating at all.

“How can you not find this funny? A guy with no dick saying he’s going to meet women?”

“W-What did you say, you bastard?!”

“Come to think of it, you seem to like Baldo as much as I do. No, maybe even more. After all, I’ve never tried to draw a sword from my groin.”

Boom!

The ground began to shake from the murderous energy emanating from his body, making every hair stand on end.

Simultaneously, the Agaia in his hand instantly transformed into a long, sharp whip resembling a dragon’s tail.

No, considering that the blade was made of sharp metal rather than leather, it might be closer to the urumi, an ancient Indian weapon, than a whip.

“Looks like you’re finally in the mood to fight me.”

“Yeah, you crazy bastard!! You, and that other guy too, why the hell is determining what’s stronger so damn important?!”

“That other guy?”

Before I could ask who he meant, the whip lashed out, heading straight for my neck like a katana drawn from its sheath.

In the era before lead bullets dominated the battlefield, there were two weapons that broke the sound barrier: one was undoubtedly the katana, and the other was the whip this guy was wielding.

The whip, which accelerated towards its tip using centrifugal force, had now met its ultimate master and was being pushed to its limits.

Even with Baldo, there was no way to block an attack if caught off guard.

I twisted my body to avoid the attack, just as I had before Bondage Master regained his senses, but the whip immediately changed course and slashed at my side.

As before, his skill far surpassed that of a mere whip user.

Like when I wielded a katana, it wasn’t a matter of separating the swordsman and the whip; they had become one entity.

“Hah…!”

I focused my energy on the muscles of my side to quickly stop the bleeding, then jumped back a considerable distance.

Bondage Master just smirked, as if this distance meant nothing to him, and watched without lashing out his whip again to stop me.

“Ha! What do you plan to do, putting so much distance between us when you’re wielding a sword that’s barely a meter long?”

“I plan to inject.”

“Inject?”

Taking advantage of his confusion, I plunged the syringe I had hidden in my left hand into my thigh with all my might.

“Agh, shit!! This hurts!!”

Enduring the pain, I injected the drug, and an unprecedented power began to course through my entire body.

‘…I’ll end this as quickly as possible.’