Ch.137137. Brainwashing

In reality, it was nearly impossible for heretics to unite under a common belief.

Even if they acknowledged each other as comrades, it was merely another means to protect themselves as a minority.

How could people who couldn’t even follow mainstream opinions possibly unite among themselves?

So how did Enera manage to gather them all together?

The answer lay in Enera’s ability.

[Brainwashing]

[Where exactly should one claim ownership of the mind?]

What she called “persuasion” was simply brainwashing.

Ugh. I remember how she brainwashed an entire kingdom and manipulated it as she pleased. Since they were all innocent people, messing with them would lead straight to a bad ending.

Anyway, everyone gathered here was definitely under her brainwashing. I recognized these faces from the original work, and they weren’t the type to willingly participate in something like this.

“Of course, we didn’t start out together like this. They all simply changed their minds after hearing my persuasion.”

Enera began making excuses, apparently interpreting my gaze. It was quite something how she insisted on calling it “persuasion” even though she clearly understood her own ability to some extent.

But whatever… that’s fine. She’s that kind of person anyway. It’s pointless mental exhaustion to ask a villain why they do bad things.

I was going to let it slide, but then…

“Join us. Act for the sake of God.”

Is she seriously trying to brainwash me now?

I could tell because strange wavelike energy suddenly began emanating from Enera’s eyes.

She’s suddenly talking about joining together and clearly using brainwashing.

This wavelength seems to be visible only to me… but it was definitely brainwashing.

By the way… what happens if I get hit by that?

In the game, when the brainwashing status effect was applied, attack judgments were reversed, creating a chaotic situation where you couldn’t hit enemies but could hit allies.

I wondered how that would work in reality. I was curious, but… that wasn’t reason enough to experience it firsthand.

I’m not an idiot. Why would I willingly submit to her brainwashing?

Today’s life tip: Status effect skills can also be dodged.

“Unfortunately, Ms. Enera cannot join us.”

“…What?”

I casually deflected the brainwashing and threw out a joke.

“I’m sorry. You’re rejected.”

“…Whaat?”

Enera didn’t seem to understand my joke, but fortunately, Lilith laughed beside me, so at least it wasn’t a complete failure.

So… what now?

I had originally planned to look around more and dig deeper, but Enera’s sudden brainwashing attempt accelerated the situation.

Well… I guess it’s fine. There’s no point in digging deeper here anyway, since everything will become useless once we capture them all.

I should just wrap this up quickly and head back.

With that thought, I searched for the two people who weren’t visible here.

“Celia. Senior Alkine. Please reveal yourselves!”

Then Celia and Alkine appeared beside me.

“I was getting tired of listening to that nonsense.”

“Me too. People with such strong self-conviction make me uncomfortable.”

“…What is going on here?”

Enera was confused when the two people I had supposedly left behind appeared so casually.

But she quickly regained her composure and shouted with a firm voice.

“You… and everyone. Stop right there!”

She seemed to be desperately unleashing wide-area brainwashing… but it was pointless.

Of course it was. We had none other than the Holy Maiden with us.

Noticing the growing ominous energy, Lilith spread a curtain of light to envelop us.

But… perhaps that was what Enera had been aiming for from the beginning.

“Everyone. Take care of all of them except the Holy Maiden.”

With that command, Enera hid behind the five brainwashing victims.

But is it okay to say “take care of” in front of the Imperial Princess?

I guess the situation is too chaotic for her to think about that.

While I was questioning this strange point, the five heretics split up and blocked our path.

Two in front of Celia.

Two in front of Alkine.

One in front of me.

Actually, we didn’t need to face them separately like this. Either Celia or Alkine alone could easily annihilate all five of them… but I had asked them to play along.

That would create a better setup for Lilith and Enera to face off later.

Then, Celia asked me:

“Is there anyone we should go easy on?”

“No, none.”

They may have been brought here under brainwashing, but the fact remains that they’re all heretics.

They might be victims of brainwashing now, but it’s obvious they’ve been perpetrators of countless crimes before. No sympathy was needed.

We slightly adjusted our positions to avoid interfering with each other’s battles.

“Let’s finish this quickly and go get something to eat.”

We hadn’t even had breakfast before coming here, so I wanted to wrap this up and have lunch.

With that thought, our individual battles began.

///

Two women approached Celia.

According to the introduction we heard earlier, they were sisters who eliminated the impure: Risha and Serna.

Though called sisters, they didn’t look particularly alike, but their unique atmosphere was similar enough to feel identical.

That bloody, fishy atmosphere. Their appearance, showing no emotion about killing someone, was bound to create discomfort in any living person.

Despite the atmosphere that suggested blood could splatter at any moment, they attempted conversation first.

“Why are you interfering with our plans, Your Highness?”

“We are merely carrying out noble acts for God’s will.”

The two waited for Celia’s response after saying these things in sequence, but Celia wasn’t soft enough to entertain such nonsense.

She immediately fired magical energy, shattering the bone daggers held by Risha and Serna, making it clear she had no intention to talk. The two suddenly began laughing like madwomen.

“Aha, ahaha! Ahah!”

“Kyahahahaha!!”

At this bizarre sight, Celia unconsciously grimaced and stepped back half a pace.

The next moment, the two had somehow rushed to either side of Celia, swinging newly drawn bone daggers.

“The impure.”

“Must be eliminated.”

A perfectly timed joint attack targeting a blind spot. An ordinary person would have lost their head before even realizing what happened.

But Celia had already surrounded herself with a magical barrier, allowing her to safely block the attack.

Crack-creak—

A chilling sound emerged as the tips of the bone daggers were blocked by the magical barrier.

There was no worry about it breaking. Even Alkine’s attacks couldn’t break it unless she went all out, so this level of attack wouldn’t even scratch it.

But the chilling sound—she disliked how it kept resonating without end, so Celia sent Risha’s body, which had been scratching at the barrier, flying.

She didn’t shoot anything to send her flying… it was more like directly lifting her with magic and throwing her away.

Crash-!

“Kuhak!!”

Risha, slammed into the wall without even being able to resist properly, almost lost consciousness but somehow managed to endure…

Crash-!

Crash-!

Crash-!

Crash-!

“…”

She couldn’t endure. Celia had no mercy prepared for them.

After the brutal consecutive attacks, Risha’s body went limp and collapsed to the floor.

That completely battered appearance was… enough to provoke the anger of her sister, Serna.

“Eeeeek…!”

Serna charged forward, having lost her reason.

Gone was the skillful appearance from earlier. Seeing her now full of openings, Celia smiled slightly and manipulated her magic once more.

Serna’s body was caught in Celia’s magic as if being wrapped, and she ended up unable to move from her charging posture.

And… Celia realized the identity of the strange feeling she’d been having.

“Wow, those daggers. They’re ribs?”

The bone daggers those two were using were made from their own ribs.

And it seemed they had used each other’s ribs.

It was truly remarkable sisterly love.

However, what they might have done with weapons made that way…

‘Judging by Ludion telling us not to go easy on them, whatever they did couldn’t have been good.’

With that thought, she decided to execute them.

Celia wrapped her magic around the ribs of Serna, who was caught in her magic and couldn’t move.

And… she shattered them in one go.

“…?!!”

Faced with such unexpected, terrible pain, Serna lost consciousness without even being able to scream.

Seeing her pass out with her eyes rolled back, Celia felt belated regret.

“Ah, should I have broken them one by one?”

That method was apparently not suitable for making her properly feel the pain.

She felt disappointed about sending her off too easily, but… then thought it was better this way.

If she had broken the bones one by one, causing endless screams… Ludion’s gaze would have turned toward her too.

She didn’t particularly want to show her cruel side if possible.

‘Well… Ludion would have called it cruel from the moment I broke the bones anyway…’

Anyway. That concluded Celia’s battle.

It was a trivial fight that didn’t even require using the abilities gained from favorability.