Chapter 150

Ṛėаԁ ​ｏｎ​ ǨаｔＲεαｄ​ｉηｇĊɑϝė

Frey had always wondered.

‘Why was I born?’

Alice’s other personality.

Her companion who shares the same body.

A product of self-preservation instinct. Alice’s defense mechanism. Alice’s violence.

She was tired.

She didn’t want to be the good girl anymore.

Alice didn’t want to endure anymore.

Her mother didn’t love Alice.

Maybe it was because they weren’t connected by blood.

What that woman wanted was her father’s wealth, not a family.

It was a remarriage planned from the start. Her father and Alice just didn’t know it.

It hurts. It hurts so much.

She was beaten every day, cursed at, and abandoned.

Alice cried. She cried and cried.

Then she wiped her tears and forced a smile.

I’ll be a good girl.

I’ll listen to everything.

Please love me like before.

Can’t you hold me like you did when Dad was healthy?

But to that woman, Alice was just a nuisance.

She didn’t hold her. She only slapped her.

She didn’t stroke her hair. She pulled it.

She didn’t whisper words of love. She spat out vile curses.

Why? I was such a good girl.

Why? Do you hate me that much?

I tried so hard to please you.

I worked so hard…

Sadness piled up. Resentment piled up. Pain piled up. Frustration piled up.

Anger piled up. Injustice piled up. Irritation piled up. Hatred piled up.

Alice’s inner self boiled. Her gaze toward her stepmother grew colder.

I liked you. I loved you, Mom. Even though you’re not my real mother, I still liked you.

But now I’m not sure. Do I really like you? Did I truly love you?

What am I to you? What are you to me? Are we really family?

They say family takes care of each other. Do you take care of me?

Is hitting me love? Are curses affection? Then can I do it too?

Can I hit you? Can I pull your hair? You wished I was dead, right? Then can I kill you?

She imagined it.

Just like her stepmother had done to her.

Slapping her cheek and knocking her down.

Choking her neck while whispering words of love.

I don’t know. I’m not sure.

But if this is the love you give me.

I’ll give it back to you. I’ll return everything you gave me.

“Kyaaaaah?! W-wait, Alice, it hurts, aaaah?!”

That day, Alice grabbed her stepmother’s hand and twisted it.

She broke the bones and dislocated the shoulder.

She choked her neck with her small hands.

She returned everything she had received.

More than she thought.

Surprisingly more than she thought.

More than she had imagined.

It felt incredibly refreshing.

Ah, so this is how it feels.

Is that why you’ve been hitting me all this time?

Yeah, it’s not bad. Not bad at all.

Alice laughed. She laughed until her lungs hurt.

So this is love.

This is love.

What you gave me.

And now what I’ll give you.

Love.

Alice looked at the crimson blood on her hands and was filled with ecstasy.

Her stepmother writhed on the floor.

Alice licked the blood off her palm.

It tasted like iron. Not a bad taste.

“Hiiiiik?!”

Her stepmother scrambled on the floor.

She tried to escape with her broken hand.

That hand, it’s in the way.

Should I cut it off?

Why are you running away when I’m giving you love?

I accepted all kinds of love from you.

You know, I really hate you.

Did I like you before? Yeah, I did.

But now I really hate you.

But we’re family.

No, someone like you isn’t family.

But legally, we are.

So I’ll give you as much love as I can.

I don’t need your love. I don’t need it at all.

I’ve already received enough, right?

You’ll enjoy the love I give you to the fullest.

It’s one-sided love from a daughter to her mother.

“Ahhhhk?! I-I was wrong, Alice, Mom was wrong, ugh, p-please…”

Alice grabbed her stepmother’s arm.

The dislocated shoulder trembled.

Watching her stepmother writhe in pain, Alice smiled eerily.

You’re in the way. Yeah, you’re in the way. You don’t need this arm, right?

I’ll take it. Hahaha. It’s a late birthday present.

Her grip tightened. A sinister sound came from her stepmother’s arm.

Her eyes rolled back. Her stepmother screamed silently, staining the floor yellow.

I can pull it off. I can tear it. Should I? Yeah, I will.

[S-stop, don’t…]

If she hadn’t heard the voice in her heart.

Alice would have surely torn off her stepmother’s arm.

Who is it? Alice was bewildered.

Where is it coming from? Inside my head?

“Who are you? Where are you?”

[W-who are you?]

“I’m Alice. Who are you?”

[L-lie!]

“It’s not a lie.”

[A-Alice is me! Who are you? Give me back my body!]

That was their first meeting.

‘Alice’ realized she wasn’t the same Alice as before.

The Alice in her memories didn’t choke anyone or lick blood.

She was different. At first, she was confused, but she quickly calmed down.

I’m ‘Alice’.

But I’m not Alice.

Alice is someone else.

Then what am I?

Another personality. Yeah, I’m Alice’s other personality.

Then why was I born? I was born in response to Alice’s wish.

Alice always wanted help. She wanted someone to save her.

I’m ‘Alice’, so I know. I have to know. She loved her stepmother but also hated her.

“I am Alice’s prayer.”

Frey.

‘Alice’ named herself.

She realized the reason for her existence.

Alice’s anger, her latent violence.

Her self-preservation instinct, her desire for destruction.

All of that is Frey.

“I exist to protect Alice.”

Then let’s fulfill that duty.

Protect Alice from all external malice.

From any danger, from any hardship.

Let’s protect the most precious other me.

She vowed that.

She swore that.

But…

“Haa, haa…”

Frey felt like her head was about to split open.

Her vision swayed. Her pupils ached. It felt like her eyes would tear apart.

Covering her burning crimson eye with her right hand, Frey blinked her blue eye.

‘It didn’t work at all… even at maximum output…’

Can I protect her?

Frey clenched her fist at the thought that crossed her mind.

It’s hot. It hurts. It feels like her eyeballs are about to burst.

It’s the backlash from overusing her supernatural ability.

She’s had moments where her vision blurred, but it’s never been this painful before.

‘By now, most of the people should have evacuated, so I was ready to bring down the exhibition hall if necessary…’

A crimson flash surged like a massive tidal wave.

An immense heat scorched the exhibition hall.

The maximum heat output she could produce.

She had grown steadily.

The Frey of yesterday and the Frey of today are different.

Alice (Frey), who became a member of the Golden Generation through talent alone without any effort.

Once she started proper training, she grew stronger with each passing day.

That strike just now.

She was certain it could kill even a high rank monster if it hit.

It was meaningless.

The moment it reached the woman in the red mask.

The powerful destructive torrent scattered like waves crashing against a rock.

All it did was make her hair flutter slightly.

‘What the hell is that damn woman…’

Frey gritted her teeth.

She felt helpless. It was the first time she’d felt this helpless.

No, she had felt something similar during the cherry blossom festival.

The Black Knight.

She had felt just as helpless when facing that monster.

The clear difference in strength. It felt like a candle flickering in the wind. Every attack was blocked, and every attack from the opponent was fatal.

But this is different.

Completely, fundamentally, from start to finish, it’s different.

Back then, she had a sliver of confidence.

There was no basis. Just a vague intuition. She was sure that if she could land just one solid hit, she could somehow turn things around.

And she did.

Thanks to Lucia’s sacrifice creating an opening, she barely managed to secure victory.

But what about now?

If Lucia were to sacrifice herself again like back then.

If she could hold down that woman’s sword.

Could she land a decisive blow like before?

‘…No. I can’t even imagine it.’

It won’t work.

It’s blocked.

It’s countered.

That woman is different from the Black Knight.

‘What do I do? Is there a way? Any chance of winning?’

There isn’t.

No matter how much I think about it, there isn’t.

We can’t win against that.

The level, the scale, the dimension is different.

Even if Angelica, the homeroom teacher of Class A, was here, it would still be impossible.

Unless a captain from the Celestial Corps, like the one we saw that day, comes…

[F-Frey…]

Alice’s voice trembled.

She seemed to be shrinking in fear.

Feeling Alice’s emotions directly, Frey forced her exhausted body to stand up.

What am I doing? If there’s no way, find one. If there’s still no way, make one.

Fulfill your duty. Protect Alice. I have to protect her.

“…Just trust me, Alice.”

Even though she knew it was bravado, Frey spoke confidently.

Her gaze swept across the side.

One wall of the exhibition hall was in complete disarray.

Eugene, who had been flung several times, was embedded in the wall.

“Cough.”

Dust scattered as Eugene let out a ragged breath.

Blood soaked the floor.

Eugene’s condition wasn’t great.

It’s a familiar sight for Frey.

That guy always ends up covered in blood.

He’ll be hospitalized again. If we survive this, that is.

“Is that it?”

In the same place.

In the same posture.

With the same tone.

She says the same sentence.

The woman in the red fox mask looked the same as before the fight started.

She still hadn’t moved a single step.

Her breathing was calm. As if she was out for a leisurely stroll.

She lowered her sword and silently watched them.

“Not yet…!”

Eugene shouted bravely.

But he couldn’t finish his sentence.

Foam rose in his mouth, and he quickly covered it with his hand.

He was vomiting blood. He must have suffered internal injuries.

Even a supernatural can’t train their internal organs.

‘I can’t let him take the front line anymore.’

Eugene takes the front, Frey takes the rear.

With swordsmanship and flames, Eugene draws attention while Frey incinerates the enemy with powerful firepower.

A simple but effective tactic.

But as you can see, the result is the worst.

Eugene is covered in blood, and the woman is unscathed.

Maintaining this formation will only lead to the obvious outcome.

“Hey, kindling.”

Frey called out to Eugene.

“You still have some strength left, right? I’ll create an opening, so fire off that Sun Sword or whatever.”

“What? Wait, that’s too dangerous.”

“Ha, you look more dangerous.”

Look at the state of you, a walking corpse.

Frey pouted.

Guess you’ve got guts, huh?

Secretly raising her opinion of Eugene, Frey stepped forward.

“Don’t worry about others, worry about yourself. I’m not a fragile body that breaks at the slightest touch like you.”

Supernatural abilities are the power of the mind.

A manifestation of will, influenced by emotions.

Since it’s an ability rooted in the self, special situations can sometimes arise.

One person has one ability.

Naturally, since there’s only one personality in one body.

Is it possible for one supernatural to possess multiple abilities?

There are similar cases.

Angelica wields multiple abilities.

Rocks, sand, iron, gravity, magma…

At first glance, she seems like a multi-ability user.

But the essence is one ability.

Upon awakening and becoming ‘one close to a god’, her supernatural ability ascended to a higher dimension.

Dominion over the earth.

She dominates all ‘concepts’ related to the earth.

Angelica causes multiple phenomena with one supernatural ability.

This is why Isabella, the captain of the 3rd Division, has her eyes on Angelica.

Dominion over ‘concepts’ is a realm only a handful of supernaturals have mastered.

It’s extremely rare, unique, and a special case.

Frey’s situation is different from Angelica’s.

Supernatural abilities are the power of the mind.

One personality has one ability.

Then, if there are two personalities.

Is it possible for one person to have two abilities?

【Heat Ray】

That’s Alice’s supernatural ability.

An extremely violent power focused solely on destruction.

An ability that doesn’t suit Alice’s gentle nature.

Frey also uses the Heat Ray, but as another personality sharing the same body as Alice, it’s closer to borrowing the ability.

Just as Alice is a supernatural, Frey is also a supernatural.

She’s not a supernatural by borrowing Alice’s ability; she has her own ability.

“I am the shield.”

If Alice is the spear that pierces and melts everything.

Frey is the shield that protects Alice from everything.

【Hardening】

It’s a simple ability.

It makes her physical body incredibly tough.

So that nothing can dare harm Alice.

It blocks external interference. It defends against threats.

A power meant for protection.

It doesn’t just block physical attacks but also mental ones.

She easily overcame Regina’s drugs and shrugged off Seri’s hypnosis.

Simple, but that’s what makes it powerful.

Frey’s supernatural ability, specialized solely in protecting one person (Alice).

Frey’s right eye flashed red.

At the same time, her left eye shimmered blue.

A deep glow lingered in her two differently colored eyes.

I am Alice’s shield.

A shield to protect my precious other half.

“But just this once, I’ll protect you too.”

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
This is a joint operation of a match made in heaven.

Lucia’s sins are truly deep.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Does this mean that if Lucia awakens, she holds the dominion over the concept of life? Far fetched no? 

Either way, a very selfish shield. Imagine super regeneration and hardening together, heh.