Ch.138138. Something That Touches the Divine Realm

Blue flames rose up in front of Alkine.

Once called the holy fire that judged heretics, it was now being wielded aimlessly, having lost its purpose.

“If you interfere with the plan, I have no choice but to eliminate you.”

Perhaps that’s why Alkine felt slightly uncomfortable.

She knew quite well what people like them were capable of.

If even Ludion wasn’t worth sparing… they must be exactly the kind of people she thought they were.

The flames were starting to annoy her, so she casually created a sword with mana and swung it lightly.

Instantly, the vigorously burning flames died down as if they had never existed.

“…What?”

“She’s powerful. Stay behind me, Harjan.”

Tension appeared on the faces of the two who had been rather composed until now.

Harjan hid behind Gardian, who held up his massive sword with both hands, like a shield.

A mage behind a shield. The classic position.

But… there was something they overlooked…

The fact that their opponent was far, far from being someone who could be dealt with using standard tactics.

*Slash-*

In an instant, the sword Gardian was holding was cleanly cut in half.

The blade he had been supporting with his hands suddenly fell to the floor, and Gardian could only stare at it blankly.

He hadn’t noticed anything. Not the raising of a sword, not the swinging motion.

By the time he realized, her sword had already been swung.

Was she moving too fast? No, it wasn’t just that.

That attack just now… it was as if the process of swinging the sword had been skipped entirely.

Gardian and Harjan. The two wore expressions that couldn’t distinguish whether what they were seeing was reality.

Looking at them, Alkine asked nonchalantly.

“What are you doing? Weren’t you going to eliminate me? Hurry up and do something.”

She looked completely at ease. That only made the two feel an even greater sense of disconnect.

And soon, they began to feel fear about their current situation.

If that attack just now…

If that imperceptible strike had been aimed at them instead of the sword…

“W-wait…!”

The moment that thought reached him, Harjan desperately tried to stop the situation.

But it wasn’t necessary. Before Alkine could do anything, something dropped between them with a thud.

“Ms. Alkine. What’s taking you so long?”

It was the sisters that Celia had defeated. Risha and Serna.

They were completely disoriented. With incomprehensible situations happening one after another, it almost felt like they were dreaming.

But… this sensation was definitely real.

That’s what made it even more absurd.

“Those two were already defeated?”

Harjan recalled a memory of nearly being killed by those two after saying something wrong.

Just like now, he had tried to resist alongside Gardian, but they were instantly subdued with knives held to their throats.

That day, if Enera hadn’t stepped in to stop them, he wouldn’t be here now.

And yet… those two people… were now lying completely incapacitated before him.

Something was terribly wrong. Something beyond their capacity to handle was now in motion.

“We’ve chosen the wrong opponent. Retreat, Harjan.”

Gardian, having reached the same conclusion, tried to flee with Harjan, but unfortunately, they couldn’t.

Their bodies suddenly froze.

It wasn’t just simple paralysis. It was as if their bodies had calmly stopped, as if they never intended to escape in the first place.

With this strange sensation of losing control over their own bodies, they couldn’t help but think…

This was… not a human ability.

It was something that touched the realm of gods.

Soon they regained control and could move again… but somehow, they no longer felt the urge to escape.

Because they felt they would just be caught again anyway.

“I don’t understand how you even thought you could escape. How did you plan to outrun Ms. Alkine when you couldn’t even block a single sword swing?”

Celia mocked them briefly, then glanced at Alkine.

“So, how are you? Any side effects?”

Alkine briefly assessed her condition after hearing Celia’s question.

The ability she had just used, “Providence.”

This ability, obtained as a favorability reward, had a side effect that returned the burden to herself proportional to its use.

If she stopped someone else, she would have to stop herself afterward.

But Celia had said:

Another ability gained as a favorability reward, “Action Causality Manipulation,” might be able to resolve the side effects.

Since then, they had occasionally conducted various experiments, and finally found a way to solve the side effect problem.

By using Action Causality Manipulation to skip over the side effects of Providence.

Just like she had skipped the process of swinging the sword earlier. By skipping over her own stopping… effectively making it as if there were no side effects.

More precisely, she still felt the sensation, but didn’t bring it into reality… though she wasn’t really sure.

Celia had given her several special lectures on causality, but she barely understood even a fraction of it.

So rather than understanding and using it, she was just using it by intuition.

As a result, she could only apply it to simple actions… but for now, this was more than satisfactory.

So the conclusion was: Unless she abused Providence beyond what she could handle… there was no need to worry about side effects for light usage like just now.

Even now, she had completely ignored the side effect.

“It seems to be working well.”

“That’s good to hear. But were you waiting for me to arrive?”

Alkine nodded lightly at Celia’s question.

After all, this was her first time using it in a real situation.

She had waited for Celia to arrive before using it, just in case something unexpected happened.

Hearing this, Celia slightly reproached her.

“So, it would have been better if you had tried it when I suggested earlier.”

When they first found a way to solve the side effects, Celia had clearly suggested confirming if it really worked.

After refusing that, she had actually waited for her to arrive before using it in a real situation… it was a bit frustrating.

But Alkine confidently rebutted.

“There’s no situation to use this ability normally.”

“You could have used it on Ludion.”

“That’s…”

The confident rebuttal was met with an equally confident counter.

And… whatever she was thinking, Alkine blushed slightly and hesitated to answer.

“…If I did that, who knows what he might do.”

“You could just do it anyway.”

“You really…”

“So, are you not going to do it?”

“No… I will… but I want to create a certain situation first.”

At those words, Celia couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Ms. Alkine. As I always think, you’re quite lewd.”

“Don’t tease me.”

“It’s not teasing, it’s a compliment.”

How could calling someone lewd possibly be a compliment?

Alkine was dumbfounded, but Celia continued without caring.

“When the time comes, you have to include me too. I’ll help you create the situation.”

“…I’ll think about it.”

If Ludion had heard this conversation, he might have gotten goosebumps.

But Ludion didn’t have ears as sharp as Celia’s, and thus their very lewd plan remained a secret.

“…Oh right. So what are you going to do with those two?”

Only after their conversation ended did Celia show interest in Gardian and Harjan, who were still staring blankly at them.

Alkine thought for a moment… but unable to reach a conclusion, she answered the question with a question.

“What did you do?”

“I just lightly broke their ribs.”

“Then I’ll do the same.”

Gardian and Harjan, who had been listening blankly to the conversation, prepared themselves for the coming pain upon hearing those words.

Such pain was familiar to them, so they thought it fortunate.

It was an arrogant thought, as they would soon realize… or rather, they didn’t even get the chance to realize it.

*CRASH!*

With Alkine’s rushing punch, Gardian and Harjan behind him were simultaneously smashed into the wall… but it was far beyond the level of just broken ribs.

With the pain of their entire bodies being completely crushed, there was no way for the two to remain conscious.

///

Hearing a sudden loud noise, I turned my head slightly to see Gardian and Harjan embedded in the wall.

A little while ago, I saw Celia magically smashing Risha into the wall… why do they like smashing people into walls so much?

Anyway, both Celia and Alkine seemed completely out of these guys’ league, not even considering them as proper opponents.

Well, it was expected, so there was nothing to be surprised or shocked about.

From the beginning, I thought I just needed to do well myself.

With my evasion and parrying skills, I’m practically invincible in one-on-one combat, so I was feeling pretty relaxed.

But then…

“Ah, Chaos! How can you intervene in such trivial fate…”

This is a bit embarrassing.

Setting aside why he’s acting like this, the fight on the other side ended quickly, so everyone’s attention is now focused here…

“Don’t look at me like that… I don’t know what’s going on either.”

I really don’t understand how things turned out this way.