Chapter 14:
The Single Necessary Reason for Judgment
“DON’T JUST START FLIRTING with each other right in front of me!” Rischel was furious at Flum, who had prioritized her reunion with Milkit over delivering a follow-up attack. Thanks to that anger, her body temperature increased, her metabolism was accelerated, and blood spurted from the spiral and from open wounds. As a result, Flum’s body that remained in her body was ejected and she regained her ability to move. Jumping up, arching her body like a bow, she delivered a powerful blow with her raised arm, putting everything into it.
Flum didn’t try to take the blow head-on but instead immediately took hold of Milkit and jumped backward. The blow that Flum had caught earlier was quite intense…but Rischel hadn’t used all of her strength that time. That was because that attack was for the purpose of killing Milkit. Milkit was no different from an ordinary person, so strength wasn’t really needed to kill her. But this time was different. The single blow from Rischel hitting the floor this time shook the entire area, affecting even the areas that she hadn’t directly hit.
“Milkit, stay back as far as you can. She’s dangerous.”
“Yes…please be careful.” Flum, after having Milkit escape, tried scanning Rischel’s stats.
Rischel Hyle
Affinity: Fire
Strength: 6,739
Magic: 464
Endurance: 8,084
Agility: 1,091
Perception: 7,493
Despite using an Origin core, there was no disorder in her stats. That must have meant that she had used a complete and adjusted core. However, the trade-off was that the numbers were more within the realm of common sense than what Flum had expected. Considering that Rischel was a vice captain of the Church Knights, the total value of her stats normally would’ve been about the same as that of Herrmann or Ottilie. It was reasonable to assume that it was somewhere in the range of 15,000 to 20,000.
That alone showed that there had been a huge jump in stats, but Flum still felt like the increase was modest, because the monsters she had seen so far had been affected so greatly. On the other hand, Flum was currently equipped with a total of six cursed items: the Souleater Zweihänder, the God Hater Leather Boots, the Leather Belt of Agony and Screams, the Damascus Gauntlets of the Laughing Killer, Engagement Ring of Loss and Delusion, and the Greaves of the Wailing Shade. When she calculated those stat increases…
Flum Apricot
Affinity: Reversal
Strength: 3,907
Magic: 2,405
Endurance: 3,108
Agility: 3,185
Perception: 2,526
They exceeded 15,000. She had finally reached S-Rank level numbers, but in comparison to Rischel’s current stats, it still made her anxious. However, when facing Flum as an opponent, the disadvantage of having “used an Origin core” was quite significant. Because if she put her power of Reversal into her strikes, she could pierce through anything, no matter how sturdy.
She’s irritated. I know what kinds of abilities she has. If I can just stay calm and fight, I can toy with her. The fact that her dominant hand had been rendered useless due to Flum’s initial attack was also a major factor.
“Bring it on, Flum!” What Rischel was doing could truly be called rampaging chaotically. She transformed her left hand into an axe and swung. The slash was swung diagonally downward, followed by a sweeping blow, and then another attack straight from above. Flum tilted her body, crouched down, and, listening to the sound of the axe hitting the floor, lunged forward, slashing as she passed by. A deep wound on the thigh. She was bleeding profusely but showed no signs of being shaken. Rischel turned and slashed upward.
Flum could get away. But the moment she thought she could, the veins in Rischel’s arms throbbed and her movements accelerated. The blade went through some of Flum’s right arm, gouging out so much flesh that it practically severed her arm. Incidentally, when she slashed upward, the wind pressure tore off pieces of the ground, which pierced Flum’s body. However, because Flum regenerated, it was only a minor injury, so there was no need to panic. The problem was Rischel’s movements. It was certainly true that she had a great degree of Strength, but there must have been another reason why she was able to achieve even greater speed during all-out attacks.
“Strengthening your body with prana… You’re using Cavalier Arts.”
“Oh, does that shock you? What, did you think that Gadhio had a monopoly on that? You’re wrong. You’re so wrong. Cavalier Arts are knight techniques to begin with, so naturally they’re something knights should learn!” Now that she had mentioned it, Flum thought she was right. Neither Flum nor Gadhio were knights. Also, the Justice Arts that Rischel used were not learned through training; they were all innate talents that someone was born with. In other words, she could devote her time to training other skills.
“The prana you’ve generated can only be used to enhance the strength in your arms though, can’t it?”
“What? Are you trying to show off and act like you’re superior just because you learned that so quickly? Gawd, you really are a super uncute girl. I was a fool for thinking that we could’ve understood each other, even for a moment!”
“Yeah, you really were.”
“Don’t be so cocky, you trash!” Rischel once again charged in a straight line. She could say that Rischel just succumbed to her anger, but even so, it would’ve been unnatural for her to repeat the same move. Flum sensed that she was up to something. She twisted her body and dodged the downward slash. In an instant, Flum’s right arm, which hadn’t even been touched, exploded off of her. The shock of the explosion threw Flum’s body off-balance.
“That was Pendulum. And you were supposed to have known about that!” Once she attacked a spot, she could destroy it without touching it. That was Rischel’s Justice Art. Rischel, making that statement like she was boasting of her victory, aimed at Flum’s head with her axe. But in that instant, Rischel felt a strange sensation. She should have been fast enough to deliver that blow, but her movements were slower than expected. She focused her prana in her arm and accelerated her movements, trying to scatter Flum’s brains.
Based on her experience, she had a vision of where her axe should have been, but its current position was closer than she had expected. Amid that confusion, Rischel was dealt another blow. Flum’s arm, which had been severed and was flying through the air before, had exploded again. Blood and fragments of flesh blocked both Flum and Rischel’s line of sight, and the scattered bones spread like buckshot, piercing their bodies.
“This woman, using her body like a weapon again!” Flum could see the Pendulum coming, so just before her arm was shattered, she infused it with the magic of Reversal, so that she could detonate it with a time delay. Flum could generate, so it was only a minor injury for her, but it was a painful one for Rischel.
“I learn and you don’t. That’s the difference.” Flum drew her Souleater, splattering the blade with blood from her right arm. Then, scraping the ground, she slid the blade upward toward Rischel’s neck.
“Kuhhhh!” Even though Rischel bent backward, Souleater carved through her neck, leaving a deep wound. Her throat was wide open, vocal cords exposed, spewing blood.
“This much is no problem!” However, the wound immediately closed up and the bleeding stopped. Of course, her movements were still somewhat slowed by Genocide Arts.
I suppose I can’t kill her unless I destroy vital organs or break the core. She must understand that too, but I don’t feel any fear from her when I attack her upper body. While the opponent before Flum was no longer a human, but something else—a monster—the consciousness was human. Moreover, when Flum had briefly destroyed the right side of her body before, Rischel should have exhibited fear, even if she didn’t want to. Flum felt it was unnatural that this wasn’t reflected in taking action to avoid attacks.
“Ohhhhhhhhh!” Rischel angrily swung with her axe, as if to erase the disadvantages imposed on her, of not being able to use her dominant arm and of her body being made heavier. Just as Flum was thinking that she had become desperate after all, she looked around and saw countless balls of fire floating in the air.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
Flum jumped backward. In that instant, a ball of fire flew toward her. Flum tried to knock it down, but it floated away from her attack and exploded right in front of her eyes.
“Ugh…!”
“Ah ha ha ha! Your scorched face looks awful! Your beloved Milkit’s gonna hate you now!”
“Just now…” Rischel didn’t have much Magic stats, so that meant this power wasn’t brought about by magic. Rischel’s axe that she was swinging around caressed the balls of flames that she was continuously creating around her.
“Pendulum on the fireballs…?”
“Yeah, I can. You assumed I couldn’t activate that ability unless I slashed some physically and stuck the blade in it.” Pendulum allowed Rischel to detonate a target marked with her axe whenever she wanted, breaking it. They were just balls of fire that didn’t have much heat, so they were easy to control, even without magic. But there was something else that Flum found more curious.
“Having fireballs floating around seems more like a curse.”
“The hell you say?”
The reaction from Rischel, after her true nature was exposed, was like that of a hooligan. Flum, reminded of Dein and his entourage, felt her cheeks relax into a smile at the nostalgia.
“It’s what that other me was talking about. Dead people, reaching out for wishes that can no longer be fulfilled, turning into a curse that hurts people around them.”
“I am justice! This is absolute justice, transcending time itself!”
“Then can that justice protect others or bring others happiness? I’ve never heard of a justice that only satisfies one’s personal desires.”
“Shut the hell up! I’ll kill you dead with the next attack! Go, Ogre Flame!” She floated new balls of flame in the area. Quickly touching them with her massive axe, she then sent them toward Flum. Then, as if following after the fireballs, Rischel herself made a move on Flum. Then a fireball exploded right in front of Flum…but Flum charged forward, right into the explosion.
She’s moving forward? I can’t sense any fear of the flames!
Once Flum had been attacked by it once, she realized that it would only burn her, not kill her. Closing the distance while in the flames, Flum, her body burned, swung Souleater.