Volume One: Intrigue in the Imperial Capital - The Palette of God

I·B

The eccentric man dressed as a painter called himself that.

It's clearly an abbreviation of the name.

That's probably right.

This guy is definitely a member of the mysterious organization to which "Blood Fiend" belongs!

The formidable foe destined for me has appeared before me so quickly; it was truly unexpected.

With a formidable enemy looming ahead, and a fight to the death inevitable, I calmed down.

Haoyue, who was next to me, thought the same thing. She squeezed my hand tightly, conveying the message that "I'm not afraid."

"Oh? These two beauties are surprisingly calm. Shouldn't they be covering their faces with their hands, eyes wide, shouting 'Ahhhhhh! Who are you?! You look so amazing!'" I. B said, gesturing wildly and striking a terrified pose that only appears in comics. "Then they'd be covering their heads, turning around, and yelling 'Waaaaah! I don't want to die!'" He then struck a pose of running away with their heads covered. "Are they going to run away like that?"

"..."

Seeing that we didn't speak, he shrugged boredly. "What? No sense of humor at all! Humor is one of the sources of artistic inspiration! Humorous people are insightful and better at finding value in ordinary things, and these values are the signs of inspiration! Many masterpieces have been passed down in this way! The great painter Michelangelo said this three hundred years ago..."

He just started talking to himself, getting more and more emotional, and eventually even stomping his feet and waving his fist, loudly criticizing the art world for being full of incompetent people, as if he had forgotten our existence.

"... I'm saying, Haoyue, it seems like he's ignoring us."

"That seems to be the case... Should we retreat first?"

"Good idea, let's get away from this lunatic as soon as possible."

"Alright... Silver Moon - Moon Mist Silver Veil!"

We leaped from the Bridge of Light, and under the cover of the silver veil, we crossed the horde of zombies. The lowly creatures roared and looked around, completely unaware of where the two people we had just surrounded had disappeared to.

As I. B.'s impassioned speech continued, we quickened our pace.

Is this guy... a goofball? Did he genuinely not notice we slipped away, or is he playing us for fools?

"Xiao Ye, my apologies."

"Hello, hello?"

Haoyue suddenly grabbed me and picked me up without saying a word—a standard Princess carry, wait a minute, isn't that a role reversal?!

"Time to accelerate, Orange Moon - Moonstep!"

A flash of orange light, the immense acceleration almost suffocated me. I always thought high-speed movement was a cool skill, but experiencing it firsthand revealed how uncomfortable it was! I endured the discomfort, watching the surrounding warehouses and streetlights flash by like streaks of light. Almost there, just escape the warehouse area, and I could—

"Don't be in such a hurry♪"

"What--Whoa!"

With a thud, we both crashed hard into something. A sharp pain shot through my body, the air in my lungs was squeezed out, and my head spun uncontrollably—thankfully, my breasts cushioned the impact, otherwise I would have been bleeding from a head wound!

Suppressing our headache, we quickly scrambled to our feet, only to find ourselves facing... a wall?

The reason I use a question mark is because when I saw this mixture of earthy yellow and light gray in front of me, the first thing that came to mind was a "wall," but my association with it was entirely due to its color—in fact, what had blocked our way wasn't even a solid object.

Yellowish-brown and light gray paint floated in front of us, resembling a large cloud of colorful mist, yet this mist was indeed a flat surface like a wall, which was quite eerie.

Did we just bump into this thing? But this patch of paint—or rather, this fog of paint—doesn't look like it's solid, yet we definitely felt pain from the impact...

"Surprised, ladies? Right? Right?" I. B., who suddenly appeared beside us, said excitedly, circling around us.

"Does it hurt a lot? It must hurt a lot! But there's nothing I can do about it—it's a 'wall' after all!"

"You bastard! What kind of trick is this?!" I couldn't help but yell angrily.

You're saying... this is a trick?

Sa------

The air froze.

It wasn't because of the cold, but because of the murderous aura.

I. B.'s carefree and goofy demeanor vanished without a trace, replaced by a chilling killing intent.

"A trick... a trick... you actually call my art a trick!?"

A terrifying pressure descended upon us without warning, instantly filling me with a sense of dread, as if I were standing on the edge of an abyss. This was the oppression of an absolute powerhouse, proof of the disparity in strength! My beloved art, which I call "trick," had made this man, who calls himself I. B., truly serious!

"Okay, okay, haha, hahaha, hahahahahahahahahaha! Trick! Interesting! So interesting! I'll show you how powerful and beautiful the 'trick' you call it is!"

A mad light flashed in I·B's deep eyes. With astonishing force, he dipped his right brush into the palette in his left hand, splashing a spray of yellow-green paint. The paint droplets danced in the air, not only not falling to the ground, but also seemingly stuck to something, remaining suspended in mid-air before spreading rapidly!

"Take a look! This Sour Yellow-Green! It's coloring the air!"

A pungent, acidic smell assaulted the nostrils, turning the yellowish-green air into acid mist! The mist spread with the wind, corroding and melting guardrails, lampposts, and even the road surface!

"A trivial skill—Silver Moon Moon Mist!"

With a swing of his longsword, Haoyue unleashed a violent storm of light that engulfed the acid mist with overwhelming force, shattering the sturdy asphalt road into pieces! Undeterred by the engulfment, the storm roared towards I·B!

"Ha! What a beautiful superpower, but compared to my art—" I. B. laughed loudly, and then swung his paintbrush again—

"Still far from it! Dusk Yellow!"

His paints seemed inexhaustible; the Withered Yellow of autumn leaves was mixed in an instant, and the paintbrush, dipped in the Withered Yellow, left afterimages in the air before landing directly on the approaching storm!

Even though only a tiny amount of pigment came into contact with it, the murky, withered yellow color instantly spread throughout the entire silver storm! The storm, turning withered yellow, weakened, shrank, and then completely dissipated, like lifeless fallen leaves!

But—it's not over yet!

"Grave Spike Annihilation!"

I roared and shoved my hand into the ground, unleashing a massive Earth Spike attack that will turn you into a beehive!

"Oh my god! The Tough Silver-gray!"

Just a second before the Crystal Spike the ground, a drop of silver-gray paint, reminiscent of steel, fell onto the ground.

Clang!

The pitch-black asphalt road surface instantly turned silver-gray, as if it were cast from metal! The Crystal Spike were stuck in the ground, unable to even pierce the surface!

"You can't even damage the road surface, right? Because steel has always been a symbol of 'tenacity'! To destroy it, you'd need an attack powerful enough to represent the very concept of 'destruction'! Now it's my turn. I'll show you what a real storm looks like!"

The paints on the palette danced merrily, and the brush was dipped in pale blue, white, and egg-white-like colorless liquid—

"Pale blue, white, and colorless, let the air become a storm!"

The three colors scattered out, and the instant they adhered to the air, the air currents throughout the entire harbor became astonishingly turbulent! Centered on our location, the cool night breeze twisted into a massive storm vortex! Trees and streetlights throughout the harbor were swept high into the air, warehouse roofs were ripped off, and huge cargo containers, some weighing tons, were scattered everywhere!

I conjured nearly twenty layers of crystal shields to protect Haoyue and me. The lower half of the shields was deeply embedded in the undyed ground, at least twenty meters deep! Haoyue also summoned several layers of Shield of Moon Radiance to stack on the outside, but even so, we could only barely protect ourselves in the terrifying storm!

"Hahaha! Did you see that? This is the powerful attack that truly represents the concept of 'storm'! Your skills are ultimately just pathetic flaws!"

In the space filled with the howling of the hurricane, only I. B.'s voice traveled clearly through the storm. He opened his arms wide in ecstasy, as if embracing the disaster he had created!

He sang loudly—

"Since the earliest times, people have liked to use colors to mark everything!"

"Red represents fire, blue represents water, and green represents vegetation! There are countless examples!"

"After tens of thousands of years of development, 'signature colors' no longer simply represent a specific 'object'!"

"Red can be fire, or it can symbolize warmth, heat, bloodshed, and madness! Blue can be water, or it can symbolize coolness, gentleness, indifference, and melancholy! Withered yellow can be fallen leaves, or it can symbolize passing away and twilight! Silver-gray can be steel, or it can symbolize resilience and tenacity!"

"Color brings meaning! Color brings change! Color brings value! Color brings new life!"

"This is my superpower! By applying color, I give everything—whether it's the ground, the air, liquids, or people—new properties! Properties that the color represents!"

"This is the pinnacle of art!"

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Actually, I originally planned to introduce I. B. in later volumes because, if the speculation goes well, his superpowers could be ridiculously strong. But I've changed my mind.