Ch.25The Vain One (6)

The beautiful fluttering snowflakes.

Though they bore a somewhat alien black hue, they were beautiful enough to make such observations meaningless.

It was a landscape born from a kind of paradox.

The thickly falling frost carried shadows within it.

Even the freshly bloomed spring.

As if it had never existed, it’s covered by the winter night.

Those who witnessed the contradictory seasons find their gaze stolen by a terrible ecstasy.

Meanwhile.

“Haa, haa……”

At the center of the circular arena.

There stands a girl, roughly exhaling her breath.

“Cough… ugh.”

The dry cough is painful.

The identity of the girl standing there in exhaustion is none other than Ameila.

Her delicate steps stagger.

Crunch-

Footprints are imprinted on the thickly piled snow.

Facing the surreal scenery before her, the girl absentmindedly mutters to herself.

White breath blooms in the air.

“……what on earth.”

What could have happened?

She sinks into thought.

The last thing the girl remembers is the scene of ten thousand spears falling.

And the next moment.

-Break.

Winter broke.

In an instant.

The vivid scenery from just moments ago disappears as if it were a lie.

Scattering into countless fragments.

“Ah.”

It felt like being entranced in a dream.

If she closed her eyes and opened them again… would everything disappear, and would she wake up in a soft bed?

Of course, such delusions don’t last long.

Snowflakes falling on her cheek.

The coldness seeping into her body temperature was proof of reality.

Ameila raised her head.

“……”

What appears in her blurry vision is a golden snake.

Narrowed eyes smiling ominously.

The boy was full of composure.

Unlike herself, withered and pitiful, he was elegant.

Only then does Ameila realize.

The fact that she is weak.

She deployed magic hoping to at least touch the boy’s feet, but even that was woefully insufficient.

It was truly an unreasonable gap.

“Do you still intend to continue?”

A gentle questioning voice.

Her breath catches.

A deep sense of exhaustion circulates through her entire body.

Her weakened legs tremble.

But.

“……yes.”

She doesn’t fall.

Above her blue eyes, a venomous light still gleams.

It was a terrible obsession.

Ameila bites her lip.

She forcibly steadies her breathing.

In her ears, hallucinations ring. It was a voice she had heard somewhere before.

-Become strong, Ameila.

Her chest tightens.

-Otherwise, you won’t survive.

A fragment of memory ultimately raises the girl to her feet.

Of course, she wasn’t expecting a reversal.

She had already sensed it from the previous strike.

The gap was immeasurable.

So vast that even looking up at him was burdensome.

“It’s not over yet.”

Ameila simply didn’t know.

Because in her life, defeat meant only death, she never learned how to kneel.

It was the path she had learned to survive a harsh fate.

This time was no different.

The girl clenches her fist.

If she scrapes together the discharged mana to the very bottom, she can barely create one ice spear.

A final desperate struggle.

“I won’t lose… never.”

The atmosphere is venomous.

As she points the sharp tip of the spear at the boy, she hears a self-muttering mixed with lamentation.

“My, my… I didn’t want to treat you roughly.”

The snake flickers its tongue as if pleased.

Is it that enjoyable?

Well, it was the process of stepping on an insect that didn’t know its place.

‘Is this natural?’

She didn’t particularly feel wronged.

After all, wasn’t this what she had intended to do?

If one resolves to stab another, one should also be prepared to be stabbed in return.

The ominous narrowed eyes smile.

“I can’t help it! I wanted to end this as gentlemanly as possible, but……”

Grin.

The boy’s mouth corners twist eerily.

A killing intent spreads intensely.

“This is the result you chose, Princess.”

The snake brings his hands together.

Black mist ripples around him.

Sensing something ominous, Ameila tried to step back, but the boy’s subsequent action was faster.

He lightly claps his hands.

Crack-!

A sharp explosive sound stretches out.

The next moment.

“……huh?”

The gravity surrounding the girl flips upside down.

Her body momentarily hovers in the air.

Not long after.

“Aah… kyaa, kyaaaah!!”

Blue hair shoots up toward the sky.

***

Judas is described as the ultimate evil in the original work.

He moves as if he’s the protagonist’s helper until the latter part, but when the most important moment comes, he reveals his true colors.

He plays the role of delivering a shocking twist.

[What?]

[?????????????????]

[Wait, is this real? Judas betrays them?]

[Damn, narrow-eyed characters are scientific]

[Stop messing around]

[More importantly, why is that guy so strong?]

[He’s narrow-eyed, so he must have been hiding his power]

The reaction to the walkthrough video I uploaded was intense.

Always kind, and sometimes a goofy comic character.

It was a development where a supporting character who had established a favorable image with players was actually the mastermind behind all the tragedies.

Perhaps because the foreshadowing was so meticulously hidden.

It was nearly impossible to notice on the first playthrough.

The problem didn’t end there.

An ability close to a calamity.

The protagonist’s party had to move to prevent the world’s destruction without even having time to recover from the shock of betrayal.

Judas’s strength was far beyond the framework.

[Is this the right difficulty??]

[If even the walkthrough guy fails, we can’t even touch it]

[The Gallimar faculty wiped out in 30 seconds?]

[Seriously, is this right?]

As such, there were many intense scenes.

Among them, the most talked-about scene was the ‘Continental Gravity Flip’ that appeared in the [Final Battle].

《It’s getting a bit boring.》

《Shall we… make our world a bit more interesting?》

He denies the laws.

When the boy claps once, the gravity of the entire continent reverses.

People fall toward the sky.

A world heading toward inevitable destruction.

It was a scene that still remains etched in my mind.

[How do you beat that?]

Of course, that was only possible for the original Judas.

My power wasn’t nearly enough.

Even after three years since my possession, the ability called ‘Lie’ was still tricky to handle.

With insufficient output, it was difficult to reach the peak.

To begin with, flipping the gravity of an entire continent?

How does that even work?

It was a level of power I simply couldn’t comprehend.

‘But.’

That doesn’t mean I can’t do it at all.

The ability to manipulate reality with lies.

It’s simply that my output is lower, not that the content is different.

Within a narrow range that I can handle, I can easily defy the laws of the world.

Crack-!

That’s exactly what was happening now.

“Aah… kyaa, kyaaaah!!”

The principle was the same ‘Gravity Flip,’ but it was a version reduced to an incomparable degree.

If the original Judas’s target was a continent.

My target was just one girl.

A silhouette ascending vertically at high speed.

Watching the form accelerating more and more, I wear a sympathetic smile.

-I won’t lose… never.

As expected.

Ameila showed no intention of surrendering.

A determination to fight to the end.

To break that, I had to use a somewhat rough method.

If she intends to stand up again despite knowing the difference in power.

Then I just need to shake her so much that she can’t stand up again.

“Huhu.”

The judge doesn’t seem to have any intention of stopping it either.

That means the duel can continue.

As the girl’s head is about to touch the clouds, I clap my hands once more.

Crack-.

Immediately, the gravity surrounding the girl returns to normal.

Blue hair hanging at the edge of the sky.

After hovering in the air for a moment, it begins to fall to the ground.

A faint scream is heard.

“Ugh, uwaaa…!”

Ameila descending rapidly as acceleration builds.

Even with a sturdy body, falling from such a height would cause severe injury.

Add to that mana exhaustion, fatigue, and weakness.

The girl was clearly going to meet the ground without being able to prepare for the impact.

Of course.

“Let’s go up again.”

Crack-!

I didn’t leave her like that.

Just before the fluttering blue hair touches the arena, I bring my hands together with perfect timing.

Ameila’s face recedes again.

“For someone who spoke so gravely… your screams are quite cute.”

The little villain lady shot up by the mastermind.

I repeated the applause.

Crack-!

Crack-!

Crack-!

When she seems to reach the sky, I drop her, and when she comes down, I send her back up.

Occasionally, I switch gravity horizontally for variation.

“……!!”

For a while, only faint screams echo in the arena.

How much time passed like that?

I stopped clapping when.

The system notification appeared.

-Ding!

[The output of your unique ability ‘Liar’ is mostly depleted.]

[Remaining output: 4.7%]

“Time to wrap this up.”

Crack-!

After the final clap, I wait in place.

Standing with arms outstretched, before long I see the girl falling at a terrifying speed.

Her blue hair leaves a long trail.

“Oops.”

I lightly catch the falling girl.

Using my ability to erase the acceleration, I gently embrace the powerless body.

“Are you finally thinking of giving up?”

“……”

Ameila is in a daze.

I whisper in her ear deliberately teasingly. Implying that if she doesn’t forfeit now, I’ll show her something worse.

Her delicate shoulders were trembling.

“Hmm.”

I set the villain lady down on the ground.

Her legs wobble as soon as they touch the ground.

Sure enough, Ameila immediately sat down in place.

Her chin trembles like an aspen.

“Princess.”

“……”

“Princess?”

“……”

No response.

Smiling brightly, I finally realized something was wrong.

Did I play too rough?

She’s a student with considerable skill. That’s why I felt safe toying with her.

Her strange reaction was concerning.

‘Wait.’

As I question, one setting belatedly comes to mind.

‘Come to think of it… I think there was something about Ameila having severe acrophobia.’

It was a detail I vaguely remembered from an extra booklet released sometime ago.

A feeling of my insides turning cold.

“Oh my goodness.”

I hurriedly check on Ameila.

The villain lady kneeling with blank eyes.

It was already too late.

“Princess! Are you alri— huh?”

The girl’s pants are wet.

A small puddle has formed around where she’s sitting.

The black snowflakes that had accumulated from previous attacks quickly melt as they touch the flowing water.

Simultaneously, white steam rises.

“Oh.”

My brain stops.

Yellow liquid.

No matter how I look at it, it was… fluid that came from below the girl.

I hurriedly raise my head and try to pretend I didn’t see, but unfortunately, I meet her blue eyes.

“……”

“……”

Pupils trembling as if about to break.

Tears gradually well up.

The trembling intensifies.

Finally.

“Hic…! Ugh, huaaang…!”

Ameila bursts into tears.

Oh dear.

I’ve made a mistake.