With a snort of my nose, the red ice broke and vanished. And Pearlman’s eyes, revealed from deep behind it, were dyed in red. They were like a serpent’s, thin and slanted, glittering with bloodlust.
“I am going to kill you now, God’s Bitch…! I will rip your head clean off, and it shall be the spark to ignite the flames of chaos!”
Pearlman howled, all attempts to obscure his rage long gone. And the ridiculous amount of magic energy I sensed from him was far bigger than any I’d—you know what, it’s pointless to even try to make comparisons. His magic was inhuman.
And if that was the case, then maybe he really was possessed by a god. If such a thing really existed, did that mean Eltania did, too?
“If God does exist…then I’d love to give His cheek a good punch.”
If God really did exist, that actually gave me a reason to dream; I’d love to tell Him off for His incompetency in choosing such a motherfucker of a woman like Mylene and letting her screw over her own kingdom. I’d also love to hit Him with all my rage for forcing me to occupy the body of such a tyrant.
But let’s deal with that later. For now, I’m itching to beat this asshole to a pulp.
With a menacing glare, Pearlman let out an earsplitting hiss from the back of his teeth and charged at me with tremendous force. Even though I modeled my stance off a beast, his form resembled that of an animal even more. He was growling like a monster; all traces of reason were gone. He was trying to crush me with sheer power alone.
And this was the sort of opponent I was specialized against… Or so I thought.
“Shit!”
Pearlman swung his arms high overhead…then slammed them down, shooting crimson icicles out of his fingernails like daggers!
I quickly jumped away to see the magic blades shoot right past my eyes. The blades grazed my hair before plunging into the stone wall behind me—then boring right through it.
Daylight streamed through the holes his fingernails had made in the wall. His powers were so great, he could cut through a thick stone wall like it was a slab of cheese!
“You’re making a face—I can’t see it, but I know.”
An opponent who tried to power his way to victory with brute force was easy to fight…or at least it should’ve been…
But Pearlman’s brute force was on a whole other level. While his direct attacks were simple to read, it felt like I was facing off against a giant dragon.
He was powerful enough to slice through a thick stone wall. A blunt, razor-thin rapier wasn’t even enough for a friendly fight.
“What’s wrong, God’s Bitch?! Aren’t you gonna keep dancing for me?!” Pearlman jeered in a high-pitched cackle as he cheerfully waved his arms. The red icicles he’d created remained airborne for a moment before shooting at me with tremendous speed.
I jumped out of their way and used my momentum from the tumbled landing to quickly leap to my feet again. From the sound of the stone wall cracking behind me, I could tell that this volley of projectiles was weaker than the last.
“The rocks… They’re breaking! Lady Mylene!”
But it was immediately clear to me that this was not good news. In short, his attacks were still as powerful as cannonballs. That wall wasn’t gonna hold, regardless.
And to make matters worse—
“For fuck’s sake… Talk about overkill!”
—there were dozens of ice stakes around Pearlman, standing at the ready. Instead of hurling them as a slash attack, he had amplified their power by quantity and speed.
Geesh… Now things have gotten really annoying.
“Die!” Pearlman swung his raised arm downward like a baton. And with that, his virtual army of icy needles rushed at me.
“Motherfucker!”
I snapped into a sprint. Barely a second later, icicles struck the spot were I had once stood, sending shards of rock flying into the air. But he still had more projectiles to spare. One by one, he sent them after my shadow. It was like a torrent of cannonballs. And as I ran, the fragments of ice and rock cut my cheeks and thighs—it didn’t hurt much, but it was only going to get worse.
Pearlman’s magic ain’t running out, either… I can keep running around for a while longer, but it’s only a matter of time before my foot gets caught in the cracked floor. The longer we play this game of tag, the more at a disadvantage I’ll be.
I’d love to fight back before that happens—but if I want to run toward Pearlman or block his line of fire, I’ll need to slow down for just a moment. As long as I’m working within the confines of a human body, I can’t make a sudden change of direction without dropping my speed.
And if I rush my move, I’ll be skewered by an icicle before I can blink. Then it’ll be either a snake hole or the butcher shop for me.
But I don’t have time to drag my ass over this.
“Keep it in your pants, you pompous prick!”
I filled my hand with magic energy, transformed it into an orb of light, and released it. It was an elementary spell, but if I got a clean hit in, it would have enough power to knock someone out cold . However—
“I don’t think so!” One of the icicles near Pearlman transformed into a sword and deflected my ball of light.
Yeah, figures. I knew one measly orb wasn’t gonna end this fight. During the exchange, his icicles hadn’t stopped their steady volley of fire.
But if I can distract him for just a moment—that’s all I need! I bent my knees and sprang energetically into the air.
“You pesky little brat!”
Then I grabbed the metal pillar holding up the storehouse shelving and used my elbow as a hook to whirl myself in a wide circle. If I stopped running, I’d get smashed by the icicles. So my only choice was to keep moving…or rather, to keep moving while I made a counterattack.
“What are you—?!”
Thrown off by my wild maneuver, Pearlman shot his icicles slightly ahead of their target. He was already starting to recalibrate them, but—
I can still make it!
Just as I let go of the pillar, I twisted my body in midair, adding a spiral flip to my trajectory.
Pearlman grunted. “I can’t…lock on!”
Due to my complex trajectory in the air, Pearlman couldn’t line up a clean shot on me. Sure, my line of sight was a blurred mess, but I’ve survived magic tsunamis with the power of my own body alone; I had faith in my eyes!
“Just—”
I looked at Pearlman, his arms spread wide at me. From the placement of his hands, I could see his aim was slightly off. I kept flipping, imbued my rapier with magic…
“—die already!”
…and I thought about all the hell he’d put me through as I paid him back in full.
“Guh! Rahh?!”
As I violently slammed my rapier against his magic-cloaked body, Pearlman shot backward like a cannonball. I couldn’t cut through him, which proved the magic imbued in my rapier was vastly dwarfed by the magic in Pearlman’s body. His defenses were quite impressive. But nobody could come out of an attack with that much momentum behind it unscathed.
Pearlman slammed into the stone wall, spitting out all his breath. It was the same as slamming back-first onto a stone floor without taking a defensive posture. A normal human would have died from that. However…
“Curse you…! I can’t let someone with powers like yours live…!”
Though he was far from unharmed, Pearlman got to his feet as if nothing was wrong with him. Even so, a hit that hard square in the back should have at least knocked the wind out of him.