Just then, he grabbed at my other leg. But this time, I had a chance to land my kick!
“Groof…”
With a warbled grunt, his hold on my leg loosened. As I fell from Victor’s grasp in slow motion, my hand managed to find the ground, and I sprang to a standing position.
“Hack—hack…!”
My collapsed lungs writhed, desperately trying to fill themselves with air. While suffocating in hellish agony, I still turned to attack Victor.
“Myle—!”
Meanwhile, he couldn’t even get a single breath in. He couldn’t even call my name without running out of air.
I wobbled dizzily toward him, then toppled toward him head-on in a punch up his nose.
“Boof—agh!”
I’d wanted to punctuate my blow with a cutting quip, but my poor lungs were still struggling just to get in air.
Another exertion would surely kill me. So I gave up on attacking and put all my focus into catching my breath.
Victor collapsed, drawing an arc of blood in the air as he fell. I thought that hit had killed him for sure, but he was still trying to stand.
“Hahhh! Nng-Hahhh!” I gasped for air.
But neither of us would last much longer.
Knowing the fight was almost over, I took a deep breath in.
“Mylene…Mylene! You are perfection…! I’m so glad that you exist…and beyond thankful that I got to meet you!”
“Pshaw! And who exactly are ya thanking? Those shitty gods you all worship?”
“Who knows?! Not even I can answer that! I thank you—or the god who made you—I don’t care anymore!”
Victor raised both his arms, imbuing them with purple lightning.
Uh-oh…we’re in deeper shit than I thought.
“Albert! Colette! Take Melissa and run behind me!” I yelled, keeping my eyes on Victor.
It was a race against time, and every second counted. I filled my body with magic, knowing full well how reckless it was.
“Don’t be crazy!” Colette yelled.
“W-we’ll manage, Princess Colette!” Albert stammered back.
“Agh—god dammit, trust me!”
It was good of them to do as I said without asking questions. Now it was my job to return the favor by delivering.
Victor’s magic had amassed to a point where it could easily blow up the entire school.
If his bolt of lightning flew at sonic speed, I wouldn’t be able to dodge it. And if I blocked it, even if I survived, nothing else around me would.
I couldn’t dodge it. I couldn’t block it. So what was left?
Smash through his attack head-on—that was the only way.
I breathed sharply. In and out.
“Enough stalling, Mylene! I’m ready to go!”
“Bring it!”
By some miracle, my friends were doing exactly as I said. I could hear Melissa struggling and moaning behind me.
So I owed it to them to do my part.
My enemy stood like a warrior across an ocean, his bottled lightning like a sheathed sword.
And though I was unarmed, I gripped an imaginary sword. Until—
“Ah—! A sword…of light?!”
“Ohh, Lady Mylene, how majestic you are!”
A sword of magic energy had materialized in my hands.
The magic light condensed and hardened into the shape of a sword. It felt just as sharp and just as solid as a true blade. And soon, it glowed a reddish-white hue. It shined brighter with each pulse of magic I fed it—
“Let’s end this,” I spat.
“Oh…you never cease to amaze…!” Victor’s face twisted with ecstasy.
This guy was an enigma to the bitter end.
This unscrupulous bastard had possessed Melissa, yet he’d thrown plenty of chances to kill me, and he didn’t seem all that enthused about the Gods of the Moon’s mission.
But the god he worshiped seemed to like him more than Pearlman’s god had liked him. And for a pretentious prick, he sure packed a punch.
And the cherry on top—he finished the whole fight by giving me to the count of three to catch up. He was just batshit insane.
But it would all be over soon.
Shivering with elation, Victor finished his spell and screamed poetically, “And now, the grand finale! Let us close the curtain on this most beautiful of moments!”
As for me? I’d had enough of his shitty threepenny drama.
I was more than happy to help him close the curtain on it.
“Curtains for your threepenny drama—”
My sword shined even brighter. I squeezed my fists firmly around its hilt.
“And curtains for you! Zhi Guan Lei!”
A cataclysmic burst of lightning shot from it.
What shouldn’t have even been perceivable by the naked eye, I had contained in my sword.
The moment it materialized, my sword had already begun to shake.
Like a swallow taking flight, my attack burst forth, shattering the auditorium floor beneath it—
“This ends now!!!”
My burst of light hurled into the massive ball of thunder that was poised to absorb everyone and everything on campus.
Its slashing power, imbued with crimson light, clashed against the destructive power of Victor’s magic in a fraction of an instant. And then—
The lightning burst split in two.
The two beams of light shot upward from the impact, sailing high.
And after a beat, a tremendous boom of a death rattle reverberated through the auditorium.
The beams of light were flying at supersonic speed—they would likely explode high in the sky.
But our fight wasn’t over yet.
Victor had failed to neutralize my sword of light, and I hurled it toward him.
“Kkr—Gnahhhh!!!”
The blade struck him violently. Light burst from his wound, then in the next instant, my sword vanished.
“Ah—hahh…”
Only Victor remained, standing still, his arms spread wide to take in the attack.
After a moment of silence, he crumpled to his knees and fell forward.
It was over.
“Phewww…!” I flopped onto my butt in exhaustion.