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213. Entrance Exam and Valentines Day [10]

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Translator: Saitama-sensei Editor:Ryunakama

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213. Entrance Exam and Valentines Day [10]

With tears in her eyes, Lou tried to bite down the pain.

The red-brown short sword pierced deeply into her left palm, and blood flowed out.

(It hurts, it hurts, it hurts so much… But if I do this much, even Allen-senpai will not be unscathed… what!?)

「W-What are you doing?」

I threw out the sword in my hand and rushed towards Lou.

「No way, why are you…!?」

She was fixated on my left hand for some reason with a shocked expression.

「Come on, show me your hand!」

「Y-Yes…」

As soon as I started high-speed treatment with high-output darkness, the wound on her palm was quickly healed.

「That should do it… Do you feel any pain?」

「T-Thank you… Wait, that’s not it. Why are you unharmed!?」

After Lou politely thanked me, she came closer and took a better look at my left hand.

Taking in the sweet scent of a girl, my heart started to race slightly.

「Well, I’m not sure what your question means…」

I didn’t receive any attack, so it’s only natural that I’m unharmed. I was troubled as to what her question entailed.

And as I was tilting my head with a troubled look on my face,

「Bitch, how dare you… A”a?!」

All of a sudden, Zeon’s ice cold angry voice echoed.

And the next moment,

「Wha!?」

My left arm moved without permission and grabbed Lou’s thin neck.

「Ack, A-!?」

Her feet left the ground. She desperately tried to escape as she started foaming at her mouth.

However, my arm gradually put more power into it and strangled her tighter.

「STOP! ZEON!」

And when I strongly rejected him with my mind,

「Tch…」

A loud tongue-click resounded, and with that, his presence disappeared.

At the same time, I regained control over my left arm.

「I-I’m sorry… Are you all right, Lou?」

When I reached out my hand to her, who was breathing raggedly on the ground,

「Hi-Hiiiiiii…」

Lou held her body with both hands and ran away from me.

It seems that I have caused her a lot of fear.

(Damnit, Zeon… I thought he was being unduly quiet lately, but it seems that he was concentrating on restoring his spiritual power.)

The last time he came out to the『surface』was in September of last year.

For about six months after that, he seems to have been concentrating on recovery.

(…Even with my consciousness so clear, Zeon forcibly took control of me.)

Right now it is still just one arm, but I don’t know what will happen in the future.

(If I don’t control the spirit core more firmly, things will get more dangerous.)

Zeon’s power is truly overwhelming.

Once he goes on a rampage, there is no doubt that it will cause devastating damage to the surroundings.

(I’m a little worried about Lou, but… For now, shall I just continue the special exam?)

I’ve more or less completely recovered her wounds, and above all, I can’t leave this place at the moment.

(I’ll apologize to her the next time we meet again.)

Lou was an excellent swordsman who had greatly exceeded the passing criteria of Thousand Blade Academy.

The vice-director who was scoring the current battle will surely have made the decision for her to pass.

If she doesn’t decline admission, we’ll probably see each other before long.

When I was thinking about that, I noticed a faint trace of blood on my left palm.

(Eh…?『Whose』blood is this?)

First and foremost, it is not my blood.

I haven’t had a single hit land on me in the fights so far, I am completely unscathed.

And it’s hard to think it’s Lou’s blood.

The only time I came into contact with her was that moment when I strangled her neck.

At that time, Lou’s wound was already completely healed, so that possibility is very low.

(If that’s the case… No way…)

One possibility crossed my mind.

(Is it possible that〈Companion Partner〉has the ability to link the conditions of Lou and her target?)

If I look at it that way, everything fits together perfectly.

Just before the start of the special exam, she made sure that I would heal her with darkness.

During the battle, she suddenly harmed herself.

And then, she asked me why I was unscathed with a shocked expression on her face.

And all of a sudden, Zeon came out to the surface.

(That bad mood and the faint trace of blood on my left hand… Going by that, he probably suffered a『small cut』.)

I don’t know why the effects of〈Companion Partner〉bared its fangs towards Zeon, but…

I’m sure this is how things roughly came to this point.

After solving most of the mysteries, I turned around to resume the examination, but… The examinees who had been hit by Zeon’s intense bloodlust were trembling all over.

They huddled together with each other and looked up at me as though looking at a monster.

(Ah man… How should I explain this…)

After overcoming the major trouble of Zeon’s appearance, I ran into the trouble of the『aftermath』that followed.

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