One day ago, in the Association headquarters.
"Actually, I learned a new skill recently..."
A grin appeared on Rioâs face, which made Raji feel interested.
Sheâs already been working with Rio for four months now, and she knows that Rio rarely ever shows his real emotions on his face.
Usually, heâs like an emotionless robot with no facial expressions or any changes in his eyes.
If heâs smiling today, then it means that he definitely has brought something worth listening to.
"Hoh, tell me about it..."
Rio nodded his head and spoke in a calm voice.
"In the last mission I went to hunt down an S-rank criminal called Snegnar; I tracked him down to a border town and caught him red-handed murdering a family..."
"Unfortunately I couldnât arrive earlier and only the young girl was left alive; both of her parents ended up dying before I could rescue them..."
Rioâs eyes narrowed as he continued explaining.
"The real twist came when I noticed that Snegnar was actually using threads to attacks that were embedded with his own âSoul Powerâ... which means he was controlling his soul itself to enhance the power of his weapons..."
Rio not only tortured Snegnar but also skimmed through his memories of creating his own skills and training, which gave Rio a lot of knowledge about what Snegnar was doing.
"It turns out... by using the âsoulâ as a bridge, he managed to influence the girlâs fatherâs âsea of consciousnessâ to some extent..."
"In doing so he bypassed the defensive capabilities of a soul and controlled the other personâs soul using his own soul threads... I have copied that skill; using that skill, I can sneak into the hidden base undetected!"
"I can cut off their communications methods and everything from inside before they can even react while also saving all the victims."
Raji leaned back on her chair and spoke in a surprised tone.
"That... why does that power of yours sound kind of... You know, very weird. what do you mean you can now... like manipulate a personâs soul and sea of consciousness to some extent..."
"That sounds very horrible to be honest... If not for the fact that I am not sensing any miasmic corruption from you, I might have already started to get suspicious..."
Rio shrugged his shoulders at those words and didnât dare tell Raji that he can in fact even read a personâs memory through their soul and corpse.
He can even do mind manipulation, brainwashing, forced mutation, and all kinds of horrible stuff if he likes; he just doesnât do that to innocent people.
âHmm, come to think of it... I did use a little bit of memory manipulation on that girl whose family got slaughtered by Snegnar... I reduced her trauma to prevent future complications...â
âI wonder if manipulating her brain could be considered bad in such a case... arenât I already a criminal if we look at it this way... err...â
Rio stopped his mind from wandering in random direction and continued saying,
"Well, I wonât really be using this kind of power on innocent folk... err, donât look at me with such suspicious eyes; I wouldnât have told you about my skill if I was going to do something suspicious with it..."
Raji shook her head at Rio and sighed.
"Forget it, you are already given the title of a âHeroâ because of your merits and you have already helped the nation so much... thereâs no point in doubting you; itâs just me being cautious..."
She was under tremendous stress, as the entire nationâs burden was on her shoulders, and she couldnât afford to make a single mistake in such a critical time.
As long as Ashtel Rex wakes up, she wonât have to worry about troubles like Rio going rogue and using skills for bad things.
She just has to maintain balance for now and keep the nation stabilized.
"You didnât tell me all this solely because your ability to sneak into the base has improved, did you?"
"Get to the point..."
Hearing Rajiâs words, Rio hesitated a bit and spoke.
"Err... first promise that you wonât get angry, okay... I know you have a, you know... kind of moody temper..."
Rio scratched the back of his neck in awkwardness as Raji glared at him with an irritated look.
"Hmph! I am not hot-tempered at all! Itâs just that I am frustrated that I have to do all this work! I havenât even slept once in the past six months, you know!"
"Ugh, donât be so wishy-washy; just tell me straight. hesitating like that doesnât suit the image of merciless lunatic whoâs been slaughtering criminals horrible for several months..."
Rio could only shake his head in helplessness at those words and speak as calmly as possible.
"So, well... as you know, I have very powerful âSword Intentâ that can even penetrate and work against âSS-rankers,â right?"
"Err... Also, I now have a skill that can influence the soul and sea of consciousness of a person, right?"
"If we like combine them... I can now puncture right through a defenceless SS-rankerâs sea of consciousness, bypass their resistance against everything and can... cough... ahem... do various âstuffâ to them..."
*SHATTER!*
The moment Rio finished saying those words, the wine glass in Rajiâs hands fell on the floor and shattered, spilling the wine everywhere.
Her eyes widened in shock, and her jaw was opened so wide as if it was about to fall on the floor.
Rioâs words shocked Raji so much that she almost could not process it for a second.
"Y-you... W-wha..."
Even Raji, an SS-ranker, felt a chill run down her spine, and she hurriedly backed off a bit from Rio.
It took her a long while to process what Rio had said, and she looked left and right before asking in a suppressed voice.
"Tell me the truth... Are you perhaps an illegitimate son of the âDemon Kingâ or something like that?"
"Donât tell me that the battle between you and Alverto happened because you refused to call him your big brother and wanted him to call you big brother instead?"
Rio frowned at those words and gave a wry smile.
"I-itâs not like that; hear me out okay-"
Raji didnât even let Rio finish his sentence and spoke,
"What do you mean hear you out!? Why are you researching such weird and creepy skills!? Miasma was okay; I could make excuses for that... but if the world found about this..."
"I canât even fathom what kind of chaos will ensue... Perhaps the entire worldâs SS-rankers will rush over to smash you and all of us who are supporting you!"
SS-rankers are beings that stand at the pinnacle of this world, and none of them wants anyone to mess with their soul or sea of consciousness at all.
If anyone found out about Rioâs horrific skill, they wonât think twice before attacking him at all.
âI only told her one of my weird skills and she already had a such an intense reaction... I think itâs a better idea to not tell anyone about my âotherâ questionable skills...â
Rio could only sigh and shake his head at the thought, though.
"Well, I only mentioned this to you because I think we can use this skill... as you know, the entire nation has been suffering for half a year now..."
"Even if we keep killing more and more criminals every day, there will always be more, as crime never ends... we need our âabsolute deterrentâ back..."
Rioâs eyes narrowed as he spoke in a solemn voice.
"I want permission to use this skill on âAshtel Rexâ and âJin Waltâ to help them wake up and get them back on their feet!"