Chapter 46
A few days had passed since Arin had fondled my breasts.
“Plia.”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Huh?! Really?”
“No?”
“…You!”
I’d reached the point where I could fight back against Ian’s teasing.
No, from Ian’s perspective, it probably wasn’t teasing.
The more I heard it, the more used to it I got.
“Phew…”
“If you sigh too much, your luck will run out, you know?”
“…This is your fault!”
Well, he should’ve known to take it easy.
At first, I could only get mercilessly teased, but not anymore.
Now it was my turn to counterattack!
My attack must have worked, because Ian was blushing and huffing.
Cute.
“Whew… You’ll pay for this later.”
“Sure. I’ll look forward to it.”
Our trip back to the dorm was just like any other.
As we headed back to the dorm, joking around as usual, a man appeared in front of us.
Wearing a silver robe.
“…Who are you?”
A silver robe wasn’t all that rare.
You didn’t see them often, but every now and then, someone would wear one.
So why did I have such a bad feeling about this?
“…Plia.”
“I know.”
Ian must’ve sensed it too. There was something off about this guy.
“I am ‘Mercy.’ I’ve come to show you mercy.”
“…So it’s the Baekcheon Church.”
Well, a hunch like this had never been wrong before.
“The Baekcheon Church? What’s that?”
“I’ll explain later. For now, get ready to fight.”
“…Okay.”
Ian must’ve realized how serious I was, because he stopped asking questions.
Anyway, ‘Mercy,’ huh… Last time it was ‘Glory.’ What the hell were they up to this time?
Based on what happened last time, he probably had a power related to that name.
The chances were low, but you always had to be prepared for the worst…
I kept my guard up and glared at ‘Mercy.’
“You’re wary. Not a bad judgment. Though I should also say it’s useless. You cannot defeat me.”
“You’re awfully confident for someone facing two Swordmasters.”
“It makes no difference whether there are two or ten.”
Was that a bluff, or was he serious?
One thing was certain: he had some kind of trick up his sleeve. There was no way he’d be this confident otherwise.
“…So? What does the Baekcheon Church want with me?”
“God desired your death. So, before others can kill you horribly, I’ll show you mercy and put you to death painlessly. Accept your death quietly.”
“Ha. Mercy, my ass. You don’t think I’ll just accept that, do you?”
“As expected, that’s how you’d respond.”
A powerful aura poured from ‘Mercy’s’ body.
Judging by his power alone, he was on the same level as Ian and me!
“In the name of ‘Mercy,’ I will kill you.”
‘Mercy’ said, swinging a staff shaped like a cross.
Good grief. Just look at him. He’s the spitting image of a saint.
“Ha. I don’t know what this Baekcheon Church is, but you’d better not forget I’m here too.”
Ian said, pointing his sword at ‘Mercy.’
With his shining Aura Blade in hand, he really looked like a hero.
Look at him, acting all cool.
“Hmph. Having one more person here changes nothing.”
“We’ll find out whether it makes a difference when we fight!”
I drew my Aura Blade and charged at ‘Mercy.’
Let’s finish this quickly.
…
Luke Jegen Daishin.
The academy professor and head of security came face-to-face with a woman radiating a sinister aura.
A woman in a silver robe.
A crazed smile stretched across her beautiful face, and she held sinister-looking silver daggers in both hands. Just looking at her was enough to inspire fear.
“Who are you?”
“Kihihihi! I’m ‘Purity’! I’ve come to wipe out impure things like you!”
“…So it’s the Baekcheon Church. What’s your purpose here?”
“What? Is your head so full of impurity that your brain’s stopped working? I said I came to eliminate the impure!”
“You’re completely insane.”
Luke drew his sword, leveled it at ‘Purity,’ and said,
“I can find out why the Baekcheon Church is here by interrogating you.”
“Hah! Someone like you? Interrogate me? Kyahahaha! Go ahead and try!”
‘Purity’ charged at Luke, swinging her daggers.
“Not a chance!”
-KWA-AAANG!
Luke countered with his own Aura Blade, and the battle began with a deafening crash.
…
I made the first move.
“Hah!”
I swung my sword at ‘Mercy.’
But—
“I told you it was useless.”
-Swoosh
“Huh?”
My sword’s path twisted on its own, and I cut nothing but empty air.
“Die!”
“Tch!”
My sword’s path twisted on its own. Was it his power?
I’d hoped it wasn’t…
“Plia! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine! But this guy seems to have an annoying power!”
“Oh? You noticed.”
His name was Mercy.
His power was probably related to that name, too.
He must’ve forced the connection somehow. That’s how powers worked.
“As long as my ‘Mercy’ power is in effect, you can never defeat me.”
“We’ll see about that!”
Ian fired a concentrated blast of mana at ‘Mercy.’
Could he fire it like that, too?
But even that ridiculous attack veered off course on its own, missing ‘Mercy.’
Did it make every attack veer off course?
No. That wasn’t quite it.
It seemed to work on a more fundamental level…
“Plia! Watch out!”
“I know!”
Tch. He wasn’t giving me a chance to think!
I dodged ‘Mercy’s’ attack and countered.
My sword’s path twisted again.
What a pain…
But now I knew for sure.
That guy’s power didn’t make attacks miss.
If anything, I was the one swinging my sword strangely.
“Does he interfere with my mind when I attack and make me swing my sword the wrong way…?”
“Oh? You figured that out? Quite impressive. As you said, I can make my opponents show me mercy, causing them to miss their attacks.”
“That’s a tricky power, Plia.”
“Tell me about it.”
Make your opponent show you mercy? What kind of power was that…?
“That’s why you can’t defeat me. You can’t even attack me.”
It was certainly a pain that our attacks wouldn’t land.
But… that didn’t mean we couldn’t beat him.
His power was impressive, but that didn’t make him invincible.
In fact, once you found a way around it, beating him would be easier than anything.
“If you surrender peacefully, I’ll grant you a merciful death.”
“Bleh. Who would obediently die just because you told them to?”
“Exactly. He’s got a powerful ability, but he’s an idiot through and through.”
Our casual taunts made ‘Mercy’ grimace.
Heh heh. We’d been roasting each other for ages, so our trash talk was top-notch!
“…I tried to put you to death painlessly. You’re only hastening your own demise.”
“If we’re going to die anyway, what difference does it make if we hasten it?”
“You’re even dumber than I thought. Did you come here to fight after mercifully removing your brain?”
“Pfft!”
Ah, wait. I genuinely snorted just now.
“You bastards!”
A vein bulged on ‘Mercy’s’ forehead.
He really was pissed.
“I’ll kill you!”
-BANG!
When ‘Mercy’ slammed his staff down, countless spheres appeared in the air.
…This is dangerous.
Each sphere on its own wasn’t much of a threat.
Even that many wouldn’t matter as long as we didn’t get hit.
But…
“Doesn’t it feel like we absolutely can’t dodge those?”
“Yeah. My body refuses to dodge.”
My body wouldn’t obey me properly.
It was as though my body was screaming that I had to take the attack, and that dodging it would be a terrible sin.
It seemed to work on the same principle as when our attacks missed earlier…
“Something like this!”
I spread mana through my body and shook off the power eating away at me.
His power still made my movements a little sluggish, but this was enough.
“Thirteenth Form: Snowfall Barrier.”
The space around us began to freeze as heavy snow fell.
I slowed the spheres and weakened their power.
And the weakened spheres—
-Clang!
—collided with the falling snow and disappeared.
A perfect counter to wide-area annihilation attacks.
“Tch!”
“Ian! Now!”
“Got it!”
At the same time, Ian charged at ‘Mercy.’
Gathering mana in his legs and detonating it again and again.
That’s totally Bakugo…
“Haaah!”
-KWA-AAANG!
A huge explosion engulfed ‘Mercy.’
Ian’s Aura Art, which he’d named ‘Convergence’ after my suggestion, seemed specialized for one-on-one combat, but it could also unleash wide-
area explosions like that.
And an explosion over such a wide area couldn’t be avoided just by dodging.
“Grr!”
Just as I’d expected, he couldn’t block the secondary damage from Ian’s explosion.
If we kept this up, we’d be fine.
“Ian! Keep attacking! I’ll support you!”
“Got it!”
It could’ve been dangerous if Ian weren’t here.
I didn’t have any wide-area techniques like that.
If I’d fought him alone, I would’ve taken some pretty serious injuries even if I won.
Too bad for you.
You should’ve figured out who you were picking a fight with before you came after me.