“Grandmaster…! I can’t hold them back any longer—you need to end this now!”
“Oh, quiet, you… I’m just getting to the good part! Don’t interfere—I’m on the verge of discovering a completely new artform here!”
……But that didn’t happen.
While he was a bit out of place in Gods of the Moon, Victor was still a certified weirdo—psycho, I should say. I guess that was what bastards like him had in common.
I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel…
I’ll play along with him for a while.
“Gah!”
“Oh, no you don’t, Mylene! Not like that—think beautiful and elegant!”
Still, dodging the man’s precise, lightning-fast attacks was no easy task. And at times, his tricks were punctuated with thunder hammers of increasing intensity.
But I can take it. As long as I know I have a chance of coming out on the other side.
Wasted force—I knew just how futile it was. And that was why I just needed to wait. The tiny roots I’d planted would soon bear fruit.
“Ngh! G-Grandmaster Victorrr!”
“Agh, just shut up. You’re a proud member of Gods of the Moon—endure it! Unforeseen developments in battle are all a part of glorious chaos, are they not?”
Colette and Albert were backing Baldie into a corner. I could hear the panic in his voice. I knew my students had gotten stronger, but they had exceeded my expectations. Still, Victor was focusing all his fury on me. He didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about his comrade.
“Whoa, you sure you’re okay just leaving your brother to die?”
“Ha-hah! I was never that devout to begin with! I merely wish to observe beauty at its apex. And compared to my time spent with you, my dear, everything else is pond scum!”
“You bastard! How dare you side with God’s Bitch…?! And you call yourself a grandmasterrr…?!
I guess the brotherhood between this cult grandmaster and novice had fallen apart. The big guy spat curses at Victor, but the latter couldn’t seem to care less.
From the look of things, Victor had only joined Gods of the Moon because they shared the same goal. (Then again, the fact that they shared the same goal at all proved just how batshit crazy he was.)
“Damn! It! You’re a prince! You conniving little shit…hiding behind a stupid girl!”
“Fine words from a coward who takes innocent girls hostage!” Albert said.
“Besides, Albert and I will be rulers someday. It’s our duty to fight smarter, not harder,” added Colette.
“Use every card in your deck. That’s what Miss Mylene taught us!”
As the muscular man struggled to keep up, Albert and Colette calmly clapped back. The clash of their swords got fiercer and fiercer until—
“Curse you, Eltania! Curse you, Victor! Go to hell, all of youuu!”
The moment finally came.
Unfortunately, I could only hear the sounds and voices.
A loud gust of wind accompanied his shrieking death rattle.
“Miss Mylene!”
“Our fight is over! We’ll take Melissa!”
“Thanks…!”
Without even a moment’s pause to celebrate their victory, Albert and Colette flew past me on either side and landed before Melissa. They were covered in battle scars, and their shoulders were wildly undulating with fatigue.
It must have been quite the fight. I would’ve loved to toast to their heroism—pity this nation had such strict underage drinking laws.
But before we could celebrate with a good drink, we still had a messy job to finish—that was the rule.
I turned my gaze on Victor. He was looking down at us from the podium, a scalding smile burned on his face.
“Astounding—what a beautiful story. Almost brings a tear to my eye.” There were actual tears in Victor’s eyes as he clapped in applause.
This guy seemed to think everything that had just happened was part of one of his plays.
And the same went for everything to come—
His calm and composed demeanor was a product of his confidence. He had yet to unleash his full powers on us. Meaning, everything that had happened so far was just the opening act.
“O, Zuri Dien! Lend me your power!!! Together, let us write the perfect ending to this story…!”
He would ruin everything in act two with the power of his god. That was his true aim.
Victor threw a medal inscribed with a picture of a birdman into the air, and lightning spilled out of his body. When the storm subsided, he seemed largely unaltered. He slowly opened his eyes.
Appearance-wise, the only thing different about him was that his hair was now standing on end… But even Pearlman, who had gained bright-red eyes from his transformation, looked like a doe compared to him.
“And now, the second act. An abrupt death—the height of beauty and realism.”
Victor elegantly extended his hand. And as I faced the overwhelming wave of magic energy before me, I wiped the blood off my cheek with my finger.
“That your game, too? Borrowing powers from that shitty god of yours. Ya didn’t seem to give Him much of an offering in exchange.”
“Ahh, you speak of Pearlman, I assume? Well, that comes down to compatibility for the synthesis. I seem to be highly compatible with my god, Zuri Dien. He’s a good guy—if I ask, He gives me all this power.”
Aha…so, the chummier you are with your deity, the more power you get to borrow. Pearlman must be rolling in his grave. He crushed his eyes with his bare hands while this asshole just asked nicely and got even more power than him.
“Oh really.”
But I didn’t care about any of that. I’d just asked out of idle curiosity, and Victor had happened to tell me. Didn’t really care one way or the other.
“Well…aren’t we a little bland, my dear? You’re resigned to your doom……is what I’d like to say, but you aren’t that kind of person.”
“You know me well.”
“Ohh? So, are you sizing up your odds of winning?”
“Nah, that’s not how I roll. I just need…”
“You just need—what?” Victor’s voice was eerily calm, probably because he had attained the powers of a deity.
I was well aware of the difference in power between us. But I hadn’t given up yet.
I didn’t give a shit who I was up against. It was actually quite simple. I had an itch—an itch that wouldn’t be satisfied until I punched his fucking face in. No matter what else happened, I would sink my fist into his cheek and wipe that pretentious smirk off his face.
That was nonnegotiable.
Though I’m getting ahead of myself here—
“You deserve no mercy after the shit you’ve done…! No matter what happens, I’m gonna beat the shit out of you until I feel better! That’s all I need!”
The half-baked way he’d taken a hostage, the conniving way he’d made Melissa fight for his amusement, the way he kept pecking away at me like a chicken during our fight—Victor was gonna pay for being so bloody annoying!
His pretentious mug, his overdramatic lines, his boring-ass script! I’d punch his head through the ceiling so hard it burned.
“I’m completely and utterly pissed off right now!”
I’d snapped.
I don’t care who the hell you are—I’ll smash those lips of your so hard they never work again!
Letting my wrath take form, I clenched my fists, squeezing all my magic energy into them.
My mana materialized into white blades, the tips burning with red flame.
Its color was almost like—
“Sulberia-colored magic! Whoa, now, don’t tell me you’re performing an invocation in the eleventh hour?! Sublime to the very end!”
—a sulberia flower incarnate.
It was answering the call of my wrath—but it was more than that. I felt a tremendous power surging up inside of me…like somebody’s power was flowing into me.
I opened and closed my fists, half-doubting the power myself.
Victor was screaming something in excitement. Did he say “invocation”? I don’t really get what’s going on…but I think I can ride this wave to victory.
“Are ya ready to die, you pretentious prick?”
“Ha-hah! Oh, yes! Let us bring this performance to its beautiful climax together!” Victor spread his arms wide, his voice shrill with elation.
I just stared at him quietly with eyes of ice.