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438 p2. Noble Faction and New School Year [11]

 

「Shin-san, let’s quickly continue.」

「You were just killed a moment ago, but you’re already itching for a fight. Where did you pick up that confidence?」

「Rather than self-confidence, it’s more of a curiosity. It’s been a really long time, but I finally feel like I’ve become a “soul dress user”.」

「………Is your head okay? If it’s your soul dress, you already have it manifested, right?」

「Ahaha, sorry, just my own circumstance.」

I misunderstood the power of〈Zeon〉.

I thought that it was a strengthening-type that rules darkness.

However, this guy’s true power wasn’t at that level.

(And one “mystery” solved.)

The Darkness doesn’t belong to Zeon.

He stole the power of darkness from the Rodore family.

(I will question Zeon about this the next time I meet him…)

Anyway, let’s enjoy it for now.

Let’s make full use of the power of the new darkness and the ability of the soul dress that I have finally obtained.

(Well then, let’s try the darkness of House Rodore first.)

I let out a long breath and clad myself in the soft and gentle sacred darkness.

Looking at that, Shin gave me a suspicious look.

「…White, darkness…? What, did you get a makeover?」

「Ahaha, well, I guess you could put it that way. Leaving that aside, get ready.」

Saying that, I gently kicked the stage.

The next moment,

「……huh……?」

Shin’s lopped off left arm danced in mid-air.

(W-Wow, amazing…)

Even though I only stepped in lightly, as a bit of a test, I ended up lopping off his entire left arm.

My physical strength has once again surpassed my past self.

The strengthening ability possessed by the white darkness was far beyond what I expected.

「a… KUOOOOOO…」

Large beads of tears rolled down his cheeks as he held his shoulder.

He cried aloud, ignoring the gazes of the surroundings.

He’s crying so much even in the middle of a battle… He’s a man with more freedom than his soul dress ability.

「A-Are you okay?」

In response to my question, Shin responded with a look of hatred.

Breathing out roughly, he picked up his left arm on the ground, and lined it with his own shoulder.

「Fuu…Fuu… Shin Rex’s arm will reattach!」

His torn arm and shoulder were reattached together perfectly as before.

(I see, so it can be used like that too…)

〈Emperor Rule〉is truly an all-purpose ability.

「…that hurt… that one really Hurts!!!」

In response to his shrieking shrill voice, an aberrant amount of spiritual power erupted.

(…Unbelievable.)

That is no longer an amount of spiritual power that a human can hold.

I can say this clearly.

If compared in terms of pure spiritual power, this is by far the greatest of all the people I’ve fought.

「…………I’ll kill you.」

A short, heavy mutter was swallowed up by the spring breeze, and Shin, who had a warthful look on his face, started attacking.

As I defended the attack with the black sword held at an angle, a situation of locked-sword state was created.

「I won’t take it easy any more! I will force all sorts of unreasonable rules on you, and prove that I am the strongest! — Seal the darkness of〈Zeon〉!」

Shin activated〈Emperor Rule〉’s ability and tried to add rules to Zeon’s darkness.

However, the darkness did not disappear.

That’s no wonder, the sacred darkness I’m clad in doesn’t originate from〈Zeon〉, but from Allen Rodore myself.

「Damn, why… (The target for which the rule is applied is different!? No, this feeling is… the source itself is different. The root of the shining darkness is not〈Zeon〉! In that case, where did it come from!?)」

Seeing Shin in frustration, I finally understood.

「I finally found the weakness of〈Emperor Rule〉 You can’t assign rules to things that you don’t understand and don’t have a grasp over.―Am I wrong?」

「…」

「After all, Shin-san failed in trying to seal this darkness. Or perhaps, you’re just acting like you failed like before?」

「Allen Rodore……you sure have a “good” personality, don’t you?」

「Ahaha, I hear that a lot!」

I put strength into the hand wielding the black sword and pushed Shin far away.

Now that I was clad in white darkness, I boasted an overwhelming superiority in close combat.

(Okay, next is finally the true power of my soul dress――)

Just when I was about to start working on the long-awaited “main dish”,

「–Water explodes!」

My sight was dyed white, and heat waves and blast waves assailed me from all over.

(This is quite intense…)

This wasn’t just a normal explosion.

It was a large explosion that boasted terrifying power, enhanced by an aberrant spiritual power.

「Haa… Even if your whole body is cut to pieces, you recover immediately. Even if your heart is destroyed, you revive back. Even if your face is blasted, there is almost no damage…Hey, what should I do to keep you dead?」

「I don’t know. Maybe I’m hated by Yama-sama and not allowed to go to the afterworld.」

I analyzed the scene from earlier with a moderate amount of banter.

「The attack just now… so you gave the rule of explosion to the moisture contained in the air?」

「Yeap.」

Shin confessed easily, and spread his arms wide open.

「I’m also smart, so I thought about “How can I bury the creature called Allen Rodore?” and as a result, I came up with a solution.」

「What is it?」

「To cut down. Your body, your heart, your spiritual power! Just cut you down until you’re worn out!」

He then continued with a carefree smile.

「Allen isn’t exactly “invincible”. You bleed when you’re slashed, cry out when you’re hit, and feel pain when thrown into an explosion. Only thing is that, you’re just incredibly tough. And that “toughness” is supported by the defense and resilience of darkness, and that darkness is maintained by spiritual power. In other words, when the spiritual power runs out, the darkness will disappear. Once that happens, you will no longer be any different from an ordinary swordsman.―Am I wrong?」

「Well, you’re right.」

I’m a little tough, but I’m still a normal human being.

Without the spiritual power that supports the defense and recovery of darkness, my original endurance is not very high.

「It’s regrettable, but it’s going to be hell from here on, okay? I’ll be attacking you non-stop plain and simple. It’s fast, hard to avoid, and doesn’t have any openings! Again and again and again, I’ll torture you to death! For example… like this!」

When Shin snapped his fingers, my vision was once again dyed pure white, and a strong impact assailed my whole body.

(Water → Explosion. It’s a troublesome rule.)

The starting point of the attack is the small amount of moisture contained in the air.

In other words, this is the same situation as invisible bombs being planted everywhere.

The moment I notice it, it has already exploded, so I can’t dodge it even after seeing it coming.

(Infinite range + ultra-high power bombing that cannot be evaded… It’s absurd.)

But I wonder why?

I don’t feel like I’m gonna lose at all.

「-Come now, dance more!」

Ten shots, twenty shots, thirty shots… Amidst a series of raging explosions,

(Fuu…)

I reached out to the depths of my soul and searched for the power to overcome this situation.

(…This is not it, this is also not it.)

If I could handle the power of〈Zeon〉much better, I wouldn’t have to search around like this.

This is my first time, so it can’t be helped that it takes a while.

「Hmm? You suddenly went silent, what happened? Could it be that you’re plotting something strange again?」

「…」

「…Hello, I’m talking to you here, okay? How dare you ignore me!」

As Shin swung his left hand down, a huge ball of light appeared in front of me.

Just before that ball, stuffed with enormous spiritual power, exploded―I finally found it.