4 – Seal of the Blade

The [Black Sword] blew the [Doll]’s head off.

It cut off the right arm,

And blew away the left arm.

It slashed diagonally from the shoulder to the side and then changed the trajectory of the sword, cutting in a crisscross pattern.

Amel surrounded her body with [Electricity].

Her torso remained fixed by [Magnetic force].

Even when her posture was disrupted, she kept her body fixed with [Magnetic force] and swung with a full swing.

The movements were large, but because her body was fixed, she could swing the sword faster and more nimbly, and even if the [Doll] took out a [Blade] and blocked it,

It cut through everything.

[Slash] [Slash] [Slash] [Slash]!

[Slash]! [Slash]! [Slash] [Slash]!! [Slash]!!!

[Slash]!!! [Slash]!! [Slash]! [Slash]!!!!

[Slash]!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crack.

Violent [Slash].

Her arm bone dislocated.

It exceeded the speed and power that was acceptable for a body that wasn’t a [Sword God].

A high-speed [Slash] that wouldn’t even leave afterimages.

The moment she stopped from the shock of the dislocation.

The fragments of the [Doll] were about to fly away due to the aftershock of the [Slash].

Fzzzt.

Fzzzzzt.

She wouldn’t let it go.

She extended [Electricity].

The arm imbued with [Magnetic force] corrected the dislocation, and the small fragments that were the [Doll] were caught and fixed by [Electricity].

‘Full power.’

Output 100 percent.

Of course, only in words.

She didn’t actually know if it was 100 percent,

But Amel was currently emitting all the power she could muster as [Electricity].

Current began to run through the fragments of the [Doll], and a stream of flames made of flashes connected the fragments.

Heating and melting the fragments.

The protrusions and edges sprouting from the fragments were heated white and blunted. The fragments each formed round bubbles in the air.

Not yet.

Fzzzzzzzzzzzt!!!

An even stronger output!

But in reality, it was just bringing back the sluggish performance.

She gritted her teeth at how difficult it was for an ordinary Human body to maintain her power.

To think that her body couldn’t withstand the power after ascending to [Sword God].

She had met Vampires after Force, but they couldn’t even draw out 10 percent of her power and didn’t know her full power.

She was exerting power. Even if it was a little, she didn’t know the risks it would entail.

Drip…

Her nose bled.

Melting the fragments.

She released [Frost].

‘Die.’

She froze it solid.

Crack crack crack crack crack!

In an instant, the shimmering heat haze disappeared, and [Frost] flowed out like smoke.

The metal spheres hanging in the air cracked, and some of the smaller fragments split in half.

“…Did I get it?”

Ah…

Cliché.

But she couldn’t help but say it.

The [Doll] that wouldn’t die easily.

Could it finally be dead this time?

If she couldn’t kill it even with this, there was no way to kill it other than with [Sword God].

The eyes of [Sword God] would be able to see through and destroy the source of the [Doll].

[Electricity] was being emitted, freezing it, and the current was destroying the internal [Magical Power] of the fragments when─── her hand reflexively reached out.

Among the fragments.

She grabbed one.

“….”

Amel passed through the fragments to grab it.

Behind her, the fragments lost their [Electricity]’s binding and fell to the floor.

The fragments that fell to the floor were black and hard, unable to move. They rolled across the dirt floor like ordinary lumps of metal.

Except for the one in her hand.

“Got it.”

The main body.

The core.

She didn’t know what it was, but the source that was operating the [Doll] was in this fragment.

Amel,

Fzzzt.

Concentrated [Electricity].

Heightening the sensation of [Electricity], she plunged [Electricity] into the fragment’s interior, searching for the source.

She searched.

She couldn’t find it.

“………….”

What is this?

She had expected the [Doll]’s identity to be a Golem, but it was something more than that.

It was certain that the [Doll]’s core was in this fragment, but the identity of that core was unknown.

“…I should have Win investigate it.”

Amel threw the fragment upwards.

She swung the [Black Sword].

Swish swish.

Fzzzt.

She cut the fragment into even smaller pieces and used [Electricity] to melt and freeze it.

It would be good to cut and destroy the core in this process, but,

It only got smaller.

She reduced, reduced, and reduced the size until it was small enough to be easily picked up with pincers.

“Hmm…”

She clenched it in her fist.

Fzzzt!

She applied [Electricity].

She hardened it even further.

Even though 99.998 percent of the metal that made up the [Doll] had hardened black, the [Doll] resumed its activity, aiming for the moment when the [Electricity] was withdrawn while remaining a trace amount of metal.

It didn’t stop its activity, devouring the blackened metal as its own.

‘What do I do with this?’

She couldn’t let go of it in her fist.

Because if she let go, it would quickly recover.

She surrounded her fist with [Electricity].

The [Doll]’s activity was suppressed by the subtly surrounding [Electricity].

“Hoo…”

Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

“…Cough cough!”

Haa…

She wiped the blood from her nose on her face with the back of her hand.

She moved too fast without being [Sword God].

The power and speed were less than when she was [Sword God], but even so, the damage to her body was greater than expected.

‘I only felt like I exerted a little Strength.’

It felt like she just put a little Strength into her fist and threw it.

Even so, her body couldn’t handle it.

It was absurd.

Amel used [Heal] to recover her dislocated arm and also recovered her strained muscles and heart. She barely supported her collapsing body.

But it wasn’t working.

Her Vitality was collapsing.

The realm of acceleration.

It was a temporary name, but there was a moment when all her senses accelerated and time slowed down.

Amel, who thought that she wouldn’t be able to destroy the [Doll] even if she destroyed it powerfully, wanted to destroy the [Doll] with delicacy.

At least, she thought she could find a clue to destroy it.

To do that, she had to concentrate, and that concentration became the switch to enter the realm of acceleration.

As her concentration reached a certain level, her thoughts accelerated, her senses accelerated, and the whole process started with a light determination to exert a little power.

Exerting a little power.

That was all,

But her body couldn’t handle it.

“…Head?”

The burden was heavier on her brain than on her body.

A lot of information was poured in at once.

Her brain couldn’t withstand it.

She held her head and examined her brain with [Electricity], and brain cells were dying in various places.

She thought it was amazing that she was still mentally sound even in this state, but she was soon able to understand.

The existence of the soul.

Just like how she could use her head well even as a soul, brain damage didn’t greatly affect the Hero’s mind.

It wasn’t that there was no effect at all.

Her vision blurred.

‘No…’

Amel gripped the metal fragment more tightly in her blurring mind.

She injected [Magical Power].

She detached [Magical Power].

Amel, who had learned the knack of having Dragon Girl take away [Magical Power], extracted [Magical Power] and injected it into the [Doll].

This decision was reflexive.

She was strong enough to fight without [Magical Power], and if she didn’t have [Magical Power], her body wouldn’t be damaged even if she exerted all her power.

If there came a moment when [Magical Power] was needed, she could bring back [Magical Power] again at that time.

Also, if she used [Magical Power] to suppress the [Doll], she could seal it without having to hold it in her fist and be on guard 24 hours a day.

There would definitely come a time when she would have to use [Sword God].

She could deal with it then.

Such thoughts flashed through her mind,

And she put it into action.

…It worked.

Stagger.

Stagger.

Thud.

She collapsed.

She lost consciousness.

At that time when she was collapsed.

“(….)”

Chocolat took her body out of the shadows and looked down at her, who had fainted.

There was a procedure to using [Sword God].

The most essential thing was [Magical Power].

The [Magical Power] stat was 100 points, but because there were differences depending on the level, the [Magical Power] to become [Sword God] was woefully insufficient.

So, she had become [Sword God] by gathering [Magical Power] through a trick.

She had developed [Electricity] through Hong Joo-ah’s firepower,

And she had developed [Electricity] through the friction of the storm.

By developing external force into [Electricity], she converted [Electricity] into [Magical Power].

But that process required a long time, and she couldn’t use it right away when she needed it.

‘If there’s a Tower in a nearby village…’

“…I’ll have to climb it.”

Amel opened her eyes.

The ceiling greeted her.

It wasn’t the sky.

This was a house.

Someone must have moved her after she fainted.

To think that there would come a day when she would receive help from someone after becoming this strong.

“Haa~aam.”

She raised her body.

She stretched.

There was no [Magical Power].

She habitually recalled what she had done at the moment she fainted.

She had sealed the [Doll] in exchange for [Magical Power].

The [Seal] was successful.

‘If that wasn’t the case, I would have woken up as a soul in the place where I fainted.’

Killed by the [Doll].

Judging by the fact that she wasn’t dead, the [Doll] was still sealed.

But…

“….”

Amel looked at her hands.

“…Where did it go?”

The [Doll]’s fragment.

It wasn’t in her hand.

When she strained her nerves to chase the presence of [Magical Power], it wasn’t anywhere in the house.

She could feel [Magical Power] in a place where the presence was clearly felt.

But this sense of distance.

She had left the village at the very least.

Moreover, this feeling was…

‘Someone must have taken it.’

Someone moved her after she fainted, but they didn’t take care of the [Doll]’s fragment.

The feeling of it being held in someone’s hand was conveyed through [Magical Power], telling her who had taken it.

But it wasn’t urgent.

She could find it quickly if she wanted to.

More than that,

“Haa…”

She stretched and sighed.

To think that she was being taken advantage of like this by a [Doll] that was only good at not dying.

‘I still have a long way to go.’

“Haa~aam.”

She yawned and got up.

Her clothes were drab.

It was a yellowish-brown dress.

It was shabby and looked like something a beggar would wear.

It was patched with scraps of cloth here and there.

It looked like it would smell, but it didn’t smell, and it had been laundered, so it was cleaner than it looked. The clothes were a dress, a faded brown one-piece.

It was natural, or maybe not,

But her nipples.

Stuck out over the clothes.

She had no underwear.

Her large breasts pushed up the clothes, so the clothes were far away from the front of her stomach, making it feel quite empty.

She stroked her stomach.

“….”

Amel opened the door and went outside.

A morning with bright sunshine pouring down.

Buildings made of stone and wood were sparsely gathered on the muddy field, which was muddy from the rain, creating the scenery of a rural village.

A rainbow was visible under the bright sunshine, and an Auntie nearby approached with a happy and surprised face.