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Chapter 145

When I returned to earth after visiting the Underworld, I retrieved my body clone from Selina and Dramina, which had been drained of all life energy and blood — although I was still perfectly fine myself. The next morning, I was standing with Christina on the edge of the beach, at the foot of the blue waves.

The sky was blue and clear as far as the eye could see, and the sun was shining brilliantly, casting its warmth on both us and the sandy beach.

We were both dressed in our Galois Magic Academy uniforms, and Christina held her two swords, the Elspada and the Dreadnought, in her hands, which she had just pulled from their sheathes.

「Where are Selina and Dramina today? The three of you are always together, so I thought they would be here too」

Christina asked that, seemingly genuinely confused, and I responded while carefully considering my words as I wondered if I should tell her the truth or not.

「The two of them are feeling a little sick today, you see. They’re resting in their room. Well, I say they’re sick, but it’s not like they’ve caught a disease or anything. Let’s see, it might be something like a stomach ache from overeating?」

「Overeating? A lamia and a vampire did? The food those two consume are… ah, I see, it’s your energy and blood.

But I didn’t think those two would take so much that they would make a mistake in measuring their own stomach capacities, did something happen?」

「The main reason is Diadora, but you are also partly responsible, Christina」

In percentages, Diadora was about ninety percent, while Christina was ten percent.

It was rare for Selina and Dramina to show their jealousy so openly, but the fact that they’re able to be so jealous for me makes me somewhat happy.

「Me? Ah, is it because I told you so frankly that I would think of a pick up line for you? In that case, then I suppose I am more or less one reason for it」

「If it was just you, then they wouldn’t have done that, but Diadora did something a little bold when we were parting, you see. And so a fire was lit in Selina and Dramina」

As a result, they ended up overeating and getting a stomach ache, and now Selina was lying in bed and Dramina was in her coffin, groaning in unrestrained pain. It was really a silly story.

It seemed Christina was extremely curious about what Diadora had done, and she asked about it with a slight blush on her face.

It looks like Christina was giving a lot of thought about what Diadora did. If she wasn’t, her face wouldn’t be getting this red.

Well, we’ll see how close Christina’s imagination is to what Diadora actually did as I answer.

「Now, what did Diadora do, I wonder? As someone who has fallen for you, I am quite curious」

She has fallen for me; when Christina said that, I have to admit I was suddenly caught off guard.

Since Christina decided that she would live true to herself, it seems she has become able to say bold things very nonchalantly.

If this continues, when I return to Galois, I might end up getting stabbed in the back or poisoned if I’m caught alone in a deserted place.

But if I think of that as the price I must pay for Christina liking me, then it is an unbelievably low price.

Maybe my heart would rest easier if I just think of the other students’ jealousy and envy as medals to wear.

「She said she loved me, and kissed me」

Wanting to see Christina’s reaction, I decided to tell her what Diadora actually did. It would be unfair anyway, if Christina is the only one left who doesn’t know.

「…………」

Christina’s slightly blushing face turned bright red, leaving me also speechless.

For someone who once worked in a brothel as a maid, she was sometimes surprisingly innocent.

Just like Christina who had confessed her feelings for me, there was no more straightforward way to express their love other than to say they love me, but this was where Diadora differed greatly.

In addition to that, she had even kissed me, not to mention she had done it so clearly while Selina and Dramina were watching, so from Christina’s point of view, the two of them were like the sky and the earth, that’s how different they were.

「I-I-Is that so? As expected of Diadora. Her way of doing things is different. She’s an adult, yes」

It’s true that Diadora is jaunty, and acts magnificently bold, but she also has a cute side too.

During the time when I visited Ente Yggdrasil, she did things like sneaking into my room at night, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t feel any shyness.

Yesterday, after she parted ways with us, she even seemed like she would writhe around in agony while clutching her head after she returned to her room, but maybe it would be better if I didn’t tell Christina that?

「Christina, putting aside your admiration for Diadora, what was your goal for coming here?」

If I leave Christina as she is like this, then she would probably stay as red as a boiled octopus for a long while.

At the slightly troubled sound of my voice, Christina shook her shoulders in an exaggerated way, and she came back to her senses.

「Ah, oh no, I showed some shameful behavior. As a late bloomer, I ended up thinking too much about that」

「Well, it happens. But we still have several decades of life left to live. We don’t have to live in such a rush, do we?」

「But passed time won’t ever return. Doing something and regretting it, or not doing something and regretting it, the former suits me better」

「In that case, does that mean it won’t be long before you steal my heart with a wonderful killer phrase?」

When I said that, Christina showed an indescribably strange expression on her face.

It was a mess of emotions, as her face scrunched up with embarrassment, as if miserable or uncomfortable.

This was bad, in the end, our conversation just kept on switching back and forth. And she was even looking away now too… At any rate, that really is an amazing expression, Christina.

「Sorry. I didn’t mean to be mean, but that must have been a little harsh, or difficult, for you, right? It was too soon. Let’s return to the main topic. Get Dreadnought ready」

At my warning, Christina took a single deep breath, calming her mind and body, and lightly swung the cutting edges of her two magic swords at her sides.

Fumu, she’s as fast as ever at switching her focus. Since she was familiar with the Elspada, it displayed her power without any problems, but as expected, I could see that her control over the output of power for the Dreadnought was still rough.

The Dreadnought, which was created for the purpose of killing me, may look like a longsword, but its true form is a superweapon made for the destruction of higher dimensional life forms.

If she can draw out its full power, there isn’t any three dimensional creature that she can’t kill. It is an object that can destroy a whole universe as much as you want.

Christina is recognized as the legitimate owner of Dreadnought, but its power was vastly different from any fight she’s experienced or anything she’s dealt with before, so I can’t say that she’s using the sword to its fullest extent.

Rather than drawing more power out of the Dreadnought, we were practicing so that she doesn’t end up accidentally drawing out too much power and destroying the planet, or the galaxy, or the universe.

It might seem unnecessary to wield Elspada as well if she was just practicing how to use Dreadnought, but Christina wants to someday wield both magic swords in fights, so she thinks using Elspada too is essential.

After only a few seconds of mental concentration, Christina’s consciousness spread throughout every corner of her body, crossing down through the tips of her two magic swords.

「Alright, let’s go, Dreadnought!」

Her shame from just earlier disappeared, and her face changed into a brave and dignified expression as Christina raised the Dreadnought in her left hand out to the blue seas stretching out endlessly before her eyes.

Christina was looking at a lone rocky mountain sticking up out of the ocean, and her current goal was to destroy only that mountain, using the power of the Dreadnought in a single slash.

Her spirit power overflowed, and the Dreadnought responded brilliantly to Christina’s slash and her sharpened spirit. It struck the tip of the mountain peeking out over the surface of the water, splitting it in two right down the middle.

The cross section of the mountain looked like a polished mirror, and it was clear that Christina’s slash had contained only the necessary amount of power.

But, the things I could praise her for ended there.

Christina had successfully controlled the power enough so only the amount she needed to cut the mountain came out, but maybe it was because she lost control for a bit, it was clear that her control on the Dreadnought wavered a little. There was no choice but to say, “Oh no…”

Immediately after the rocky mountain split into two, the sea behind it, and the eternal sky even further beyond that, and even past the sky and into the endless stars and universe; all of that was swallowed up by a vivid light, only to disappear quietly far too soon.

The moment Christina’s control over the Dreadnought loosened, a portion of the power that escaped her control traveled to the end of the ends of the universe, destroying planets and stars and even the galaxies and clusters of galaxies made up of those things, destroying them all down to their atoms.

Due to the angle of the slash, the damage to this planet ended with just a small sphere gouged out of it, but the damage to space beyond it was quite terrible.

Gravitational and atmospheric abnormalities were already starting to occur, but it goes without saying that Christina, under the protection of the Dreadnought, is not particularly affected.

Christina seemed to be aware that she had made a mistake in controlling the sword, took one moment to look at the suddenly changed scenery before her, and then let out a rare groan.

「I thought I was doing well up until halfway there, could it be because my spirit wavered in the moment when the mountain was cut?」

「That’s exactly it. In that moment, your spirit wavered, creating a gap in your focus as small as the tip of a needle, but that was enough reason for it to fail. If not for that, I’m sure it would have cleanly made it all the way to the end this time」

「I see… As expected, Dreadnought is too strong for me.

Even if it’s just for the amount of time that I’ll be needing it, I would like to be able to control it completely, but at this rate, I’ll only be able to use it as an ordinary magic sword.

I thought I definitely wouldn’t be able to bear its power, so I started practicing, but reality is harsh. The road until I fully master this sword is still steep and long」

She raised Dreadnought, and while placing her red gaze on its blade, Christina pushed her apologies to the forefront, and expressed her misery.

「When Semto was fighting with me, he was completely drawing out the Dreadnought’s full abilities. Bastrell was only somewhat there.

Christina, you should talk to Dreadnought as much as you can, and ask it about how Sempto managed to master using it」

「I have no idea how my ancestor was able to master using this sword. Oh, I feel like I’ve been repeating a lot of the same things because I’ve been practicing using Dreadnought so much lately.」

「As long as Lenia and I are on this earth, we can fix things, no matter how many times you make a mistake while using Dreadnought, but I’m sure that will cause you a lot of anxiety in the long run.

In the end, it’s better if you learn how to use it properly. For that purpose, I’ll prepare a place for you to practice, as many times as you want. Now then, let us try again.」