Ch.136Provocation

That remark was the final blow. This time, a massive crack appeared in Christine’s expression. Divine power emanated from her body, engulfing everything around her in white flames.

While Serena and Christine were too focused on each other to notice, Charlotte’s expression was also souring.

The boy was hers, and she was disgusted that a beast and a madwoman were absurdly claiming ownership between themselves.

“What did you just say?”

“I said he is my lord, not your god.”

As Serena drove in the wedge, Christine stared blankly for a moment before a single tear rolled down her cheek.

“Oh, my God. My God. Please do not forgive this lamb. Because of my disloyalty, you have suffered such blasphemy.”

A gleam flashed within those tears.

“I shall pay for this lamb’s sin with that heretic’s life.”

Christine lunged at Serena with a deranged laugh. Behind her, purifying flames of white and yellow erupted, cleansing everything they touched.

Then, with Charlotte’s slight gesture, the flames were extinguished effortlessly.

This was possible because mana nullification was an ability to block mana directed at Christine, not mana directed at the divine power that was its byproduct.

Serena took her stance as she watched Christine charging toward her, shedding tears and maniacal laughter.

The divine power surrounding that body was threatening even to Serena. The moment it touched her, her skin would begin to burn.

Having already experienced stinging burns when she had pushed against Christine’s divine power-shrouded body with her shoulder before, she had no intention of repeating such a mistake.

With that in mind, Serena thrust her Wind Shear at Christine, who had approached within arm’s reach. If there was no evasion or defense, it would be a strike directly to the throat.

Serena held the psychological advantage with her Wind Shear.

Whether Christine chose to counter-attack, block with half-hearted strength while wary of a feint, or not block at all, how to respond to each situation was entirely up to Serena.

Having just confirmed that Christine could feel pain, there was not a hint of hesitation on Serena’s face as she thrust her Wind Shear.

But if there was one thing Serena overlooked, it was that Christine was literally a person who followed her instincts.

“Such an attack will never break me.”

Christine didn’t stop even as the Wind Shear reached just inches from her throat. Soon, the blade’s tip dug into Christine’s throat.

With a crunching sound, her throat caved in, crushing everything inside, but rather than slowing down, she pushed forward even harder.

As the situation unfolded this way, Serena began to realize something was wrong.

It was natural, since Serena’s plan had revolved around three possibilities: Christine countering the attack, responding half-heartedly, or not blocking at all.

Who would have predicted she would allow the attack to hit while charging forward? And while enduring the pain of her throat being crushed, no less.

Moreover, Serena had struck not some intermediate area like an arm or leg, but the throat—practically a vital point for humans—so it was normal to expect some kind of response.

She hadn’t anticipated this at all.

Serena saw Christine’s throat deeply embedded, almost touching the skin on the other side. Yet despite her throat being in such a state, her charging speed hadn’t decreased at all.

Serena tried to apply more force to somehow stop Christine’s charge, but without being able to use physical enhancement, she was overwhelmingly outmatched in strength, making it a futile effort.

“Do you still not understand?”

A fist filled with divine power swung toward Serena’s head. She quickly ducked, narrowly avoiding the attack.

As the fist brushed past her ear, a piercing ringing shook her eardrum. In that brief moment, the divine power had taken effect, causing a stinging pain in her earlobe.

Serena decided to change her strategy.

‘I need to calm my mind.’

Ignoring Christine, who was radiating killing intent, she closed her eyes. It was both a method to calm herself and a way to bypass the mana nullification.

The targets of mana nullification were broadly divided into three categories, each equally troublesome.

First, when a collection of mana was directed at Christine.

Second, when a collection of mana was not directed at Christine but might indirectly affect her.

Finally, when a collection of mana was not directed at Christine but the action derived from it was intended to attack her.

The range of application for the last condition seemed to be expanding over time. Whether it was Christine growing or the ability of mana nullification itself evolving, there was no way to know.

That was why mana nullification activated even when she tried to use physical enhancement to avoid an attack and then charge at Christine again.

“Are you finally ready to repent?”

Serena ignored Christine’s voice, which was clearly excited with elation, thinking Serena had given up.

She erased everything from her mind. She erased stray thoughts, fighting spirit, and Christine herself. And she left only the will to dash forward using mana.

‘Now.’

Mana enveloped Serena’s body. With explosive acceleration, she instantly moved behind Christine. It was a movement she had performed once before.

The moment she opened her eyes and formed the intent to attack, the mana surrounding her body disappeared, but since she had achieved her goal, it didn’t matter whether the mana vanished or not.

Christine was exposing her back, defenseless. Serena raised her Wind Shear. She intended to bring down the sword and impale Christine to the floor below.

“It’s useless.”

With a cracking sound of bones breaking, Christine’s neck rotated 180 degrees to face Serena.

While her body clearly faced forward, she twisted her neck completely backward to look behind her. Though Serena had seen this behavior once before, she still couldn’t shake off how grotesque it was.

“Did you think you could escape?”

“Escape? Nonsense!”

Serena brought down her Wind Shear with force. Whether Christine performed grotesque acts befitting her image or not, that was no reason to stop the attack.

The Wind Shear plunged into Christine’s head. The sound of the Wind Shear striking down echoed throughout the room. Everything had gone according to plan so far.

Except that Christine wasn’t sent crashing to the floor below after taking that hit.

“I told you clearly.”

Christine, who had somehow turned her body back to its original position to face Serena, reached out her hand. Though it was just for a brief moment, it was too fast for Serena to react.

Taking advantage of Serena’s momentary hesitation due to the unexpected series of events, Christine’s hand grabbed her wrist.

“Ugh…!”

Gray smoke immediately rose from the grabbed wrist. Serena could distinctly feel her skin burning. She gritted her teeth against the pain.

Whatever the reason, Christine was growing stronger the more they fought. Both her strength and speed were completely different from when they had fought before.

With her free hand, Serena summoned another Wind Shear and struck Christine’s head. After hitting her three times with a thudding sound, the grip on her wrist loosened slightly.

Seizing the opportunity, she forcibly pulled her arm free, delivered a final blow to Christine’s chin, and created distance between them. Christine was still laughing maniacally with her mouth split wide.

Serena looked down at her wrist. Her skin had burned bright red, appearing as if she had suffered a severe burn. She winced at the stinging pain from the burned skin.

At first, Christine had seemed to feel pain when hit by the Wind Shear, but now there was no sign of that. Serena had essentially traded a few blows to the head for one entire wrist.

The exchange was unfavorable.

Serena staggered backward. Christine was approaching her, arms joined together, muttering prayers.

“Oh, my God. Please allow this lamb to defeat this infidel. Grant that this apostate may repent with tears and be purified.”

Retreating was never an option anyway. As Serena formulated her next plan in her mind, Christine charged at her with a mouth-splitting grin.

That’s when it happened.

“Are you putting on a show to entertain me?”

A voice was heard.

For Serena, it was a voice she had never heard before.

For Christine, it was a voice that seemed familiar from somewhere.

For Charlotte, it was a very familiar voice.

The voice was coming from the darkness that had opened near the boy’s body. Charlotte was shocked. She hadn’t noticed the space opening right beside her.

Serena and Christine were equally surprised to see the darkness appearing above the boy.

No matter how focused they were on fighting each other, it made no sense that they hadn’t noticed such a space opening directly above the boy.

Pitch-black eyes appeared.