Chapter 114 - Imitation

In fact, her initial reaction was nothing like any of the possibilities Aiden had imagined. He had expected rejection, displeasure, or even a beating in the worst case.

But until their lips met, Noel simply stared blankly. She seemed unable even to register what was happening.

Perhaps she only came to her senses when Aiden began slipping his tongue between her lips.

"...!"

Her face flushed an explosive red. In fact, the color spread to the tips of her ears so quickly that it seemed her face might actually burst rather than merely grow hot.

Her hand immediately rose as though to push Aiden away. But when he promptly pulled her tight against him to keep them from separating, her body went rigid, stopping her movement short.

Seizing that opening, Aiden kept kissing her.

"...! Mmmph!!"

... The strange thing was that, despite expressing with her entire body that he should not do this, she made no actual attempt to shove him away. Questions were written all over her face—why was he doing this, what did he think he was doing so suddenly?

Yet the one thing that mattered, a forceful action that would make him stop, was nowhere to be found.

When he drew his lips away once they were both short of breath, Noel's unfocused eyes darted wildly around. She opened her mouth, but only her lips moved, as though her voice had failed her entirely.

... He kissed those lips again.

"Mmph! Mmmph!!"

Noel froze, forgetting their predicament and looking on the verge of losing her mind completely. Death energy was closing in from every direction, putting them in terrible danger, but what had just happened was shocking enough to drive even that out of her thoughts.

... Fair enough, really. Aiden knew perfectly well that what he was doing was bizarre in the extreme.

Who in the world did something like this on the brink of death...?

The words that spilled from Noel as soon as he broke the kiss probably ran along the same lines.

"I-I would appreciate it if you could at least explain why you're doing this before you—mmph...!"

And so he resumed before she could properly finish. As he immediately kissed her again, Noel started squirming in surprise.

He had to keep her from holding on to her reason and thinking for too long. If she began seriously considering why he was doing this, it would break her immersion.

Human emotions were remarkable things. Once someone became engrossed in something, it was all too easy for everything else to stop mattering.

After Aiden kissed her for another long stretch and slowly pulled away, Noel immediately hung her head. She looked unmistakably dizzy, her breathing terribly ragged.

... Given her stamina, merely holding her breath for a little while could not possibly have done this. It had to be an indirect indication of just how violently her emotions were churning.

"... A-at least, w-when there aren't people around..."

"..."

"A-Aiden, people are watching. They're watching us..."

... It really was strange that she never said she disliked it, told him to stop, or demanded to know what he thought he was doing so suddenly.

"Let them watch."

Aiden normally respected Noel's wishes in most things, but not this time. Holding her firmly by the waist as she twisted in embarrassment, he kissed her again.

"... I-I wanted it to be a little more romantic than thi—!"

Not a chance. This was no time to be picky. He kissed her again.

"Um, no, Aiden, at least tell me why, wai—!"

Explaining would spoil the mood. He kissed her again.

"It's my first, my first time! Why in front of everyone—stop, wait a moment!"

It was Aiden's first time too. He kissed her again.

"S-stop! Stop! Stop—!!"

Letting out something close to a scream, Noel tearfully clamped both hands over Aiden's mouth as he approached again. At her first forceful reaction, he paused. He had the sense that if he went any further, she really would hate it.

'... But shouldn't she have reacted like this ages ago, if she was going to at all?'

The thought did occur to him, but regardless, this was certainly her strongest reaction yet.

"S-seriously! Wh-why are you doing this?! If you suddenly wanted to do something like this, any other time would have been better than now! What for?! Seriously! Why?!"

Noel poured out the words, her eyes spinning. Her face showed embarrassment, shame, and enough... happiness to eclipse them both.

'...'

Honestly, he had expected her to react this way. Aiden let out a silent sigh, feeling all sorts of complicated emotions toward himself for noticing it.

It was a rotten thing to do, really. Trying to win points with her as though he were pressing an emergency escape button.

But having started, he had to see it through.

"Did you find it unpleasant?"

"..."

At those words, the trembling throughout Noel's body grew much worse. The corners of her mouth drooped, and the tears welling in her eyes grew larger.

"I-I-I didn't... dislike it...! B-but still...!"

Her fist slowly rose. The movement plainly carried resentment at him for making her say that, and Aiden braced himself inwardly.

... He had never done anything like this in his life. He had spent quite a long time playing the con man, but words of this sort...

He had never once said them deliberately. Even he needed some time to prepare himself.

"I did it because I wanted to hear you confirm that."

"... Pardon?"

"Because when things are dangerous and urgent, I think having you cheer me on would give me more strength than anything else."

The fist that had clearly been about to pound against his chest stopped dead. Her lips twitched. Her face asked why on earth he would say such a thing at a time like this.

... And yet it was equally clear that she could not suppress her joy at hearing it.

As Noel hung her head, her fist sank as though melting, landing limply on Aiden's shoulder.

"... Why the hell is that bastard seducing a woman at a time like this?"

"Haven't you heard the rumors? They say he's one slick ladies' man."

"..."

... As those utterly deflated voices drifted up from the ground, Aiden broke into a cold sweat but did his best to ignore them.

Honestly, he was aware of it himself.

... At this point, rumors like that were his own fault. He would accept them humbly.

Fortunately, he was clearly getting a reward worth the disgrace.

-System Message

▶ Target 'Noel's affection increases.

▶ Target 'Noel's affection increases.

▶ Target 'Noel's affection surges!

▶ Target 'Noel's affection surges!

▶ The target's affection has skyrocketed within a short period.

▶ You may copy 6 additional skills.

▶ 'Unique Trait: Origin' activates. The target is now more deeply influenced by you!

▶ Target 'Katya' is affected by this incident. Exercise caution!

Aiden sighed in relief at the windows plastering his entire field of vision. Had it failed, he would truly have been in hell, but fortunately, it clearly had not come to that.

... Of course, those were not the only windows appearing. A series of rather terrifying system windows were popping up too, but he could not afford to worry about those now.

During all this, the death energy had come right up to them and was about to engulf them.

Aiden hurriedly opened the skill window. The skills he had picked out beforehand were still right there.

-System Message

▶ Copying 'Skill: Energy Manipulation – Amplification'.

▶ Copying 'Skill: Energy Manipulation – Expansion'.

▶ Copying 'Skill: Energy Manipulation – Overload'.

▶ 'Skill...

.

.

... He had noticed it when looking through her skill window before: Noel had surprisingly many enhancement skills that could only be used once.

And as he had learned when using a Remnant, skills that could only be used once were invariably extraordinarily effective.

Until now, he had needed to prepare for the main scenario through skill copying as well, so he had never given these a second glance. In a situation like this, however, they were worth an army.

"...!"

Pure-white energy erupted with such violent power that it would not have been surprising if his heart had burst on the spot. The pressure threatened to knock even Aiden unconscious if he made the slightest mistake.

Considering that he had once summoned Karva herself, producing an output almost on par with that was absurd.

'... This should be enough!'

What he needed to do now was simple. Using every single-use enhancement skill he had copied, he deployed a barrier.

"... What is that?"

It was unquestionably enormous—so vast that someone could only mutter those words in a daze. In size alone, it matched the Lord Protector's Remnant Aiden had once used.

And Aiden possessed an ability that could produce a similar effect, albeit as something of an instant substitute.

He mixed another supernatural power into the barrier.

-System Message

▶ Activating 'Skill: Purifier'!

A special supernatural power that erased every supernatural power it touched infused the barrier.

Although this was Aiden's first time mixing two or more supernatural powers in this way, the output of his sixfold-enhanced energy made him feel like a demigod. It was not all that difficult.

At last, Aiden slammed his imitation of the Lord Protector's Remnant into the descending death energy that imitated a demon-god fragment.

Both were counterfeits. But assuming equal conditions, the outcome of their clash had already been demonstrated once before.

-...

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

With a scream, the death energy was driven back into the sky.

▣

... He had done it.

Watching the golden reverberations spread into the distance, Aiden sighed inwardly in relief. Completely drained, he landed in a tumbling heap on the ground.

Hmm, somehow he felt he had experienced free-falling through the air like this before—

"... Hey."

"..."

But the moment he landed, before he had any leisure to dwell on that thought, someone's voice interrupted.

He could see everyone keeping a step away from him, too. Clearly, no one wanted to go near Katya with the waves of violence she was giving off right now.

"You're tired, aren't you? I know. You just did something terrifying."

"..."

"But shall we have a little chat anyway?"

"..."

If she had simply gotten angry, sworn at him, or thrown a tantrum, it would not have been nearly so frightening.

But seeing Katya speak so calmly and coldly left him with only one thought.

'Here it comes.'

He meant it.