Ch.284Chapter 284: Give It Back!! (4)

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Before I could fully process my confusion at seeing Imperfectio jump into the fight with a declaration that she couldn’t stand by and watch anymore.

The movement Imperfectio displayed while restraining Adorator’s body with telekinesis was so fast that even the phrase “lightning-quick” couldn’t fully capture it.

Adorator, who had no choice but to stop his fist mere inches from crushing my face.

“I can’t break free!!”

Despite his violent struggle to fulfill his desire to smash my face.

“Hup!!”

With a short, sharp exhalation, Imperfectio pulled her outstretched right hand inward.

“…!!”

Adorator’s body was helplessly dragged toward Imperfectio, completely unable to resist.

“What are you doing! How dare you ruin a sacred one-on-one duel!”

Hearing Adorator’s angry outburst after his decisive strike against me had been thwarted, Imperfectio responded.

“Sacred? All I see is someone forcibly pushing an unfair fight.”

Even as she coldly retorted, Adorator’s body was unwillingly being drawn closer to Imperfectio’s range.

While her right hand was occupied with telekinesis.

Judging by the crimson battle aura swirling around her left hand, which was no less intense than what Adorator was emitting.

The outcome was obvious if Adorator were to be pulled defenseless into Imperfectio’s range.

“Stop! My lord has already agreed not to hold you accountable for taking this vessel and leaving! Yet you dare to lay hands on me!”

At first, Adorator coldly snapped at Imperfectio, threatening her to stop pulling him closer.

“…Is that all you have to say?”

Imperfectio’s right hand continued to draw Adorator in, her voice carrying a coldness incomparable to when she spoke to me.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Adorator released his battle aura to its fullest to resist Imperfectio’s telekinesis.

But his resistance proved strangely powerless against Imperfectio’s gesture.

Even though Imperfectio was a demon agent who had received a portion of the divinity from Desire.

Her abilities shouldn’t work on someone like Adorator, who had awakened his own divinity and stepped into the realm of transcendence, due to the fundamental difference in their origins.

As I watched this unbelievable scene, forgetting even to maintain my defensive stance.

“Ugh! I can’t resist…”

Not just me, but Adorator too seemed bewildered by the situation, as his struggles to escape Imperfectio’s grasp proved futile.

The more he struggled, the faster he was pulled into her range.

“There.”

Imperfectio’s cold utterance filled the dark space where our fierce battle had been raging, as she finally pulled Adorator into her range.

“Hik!!”

A hiccup-like sound escaped from Adorator’s mouth, unconsciously feeling fear from the severity emanating from her voice.

Just as I was about to realize that even a cruel demigod who wouldn’t bat an eye at most things could fear an agent emitting such intense energy.

“Since you enjoy tormenting others so much, you must enjoy being on the receiving end too?”

The moment Imperfectio’s declaration left her mouth.

The intricate movement of her right hand, which had been binding Adorator with telekinesis, ceased.

“…Hah!”

As Adorator broke free from the telekinetic restraint, a passionate breath burst from his lips along with a glare of boiling anger directed at Imperfectio, but…

THWACK-!!

That blazing glare faded the instant Imperfectio’s left hand, swirling with battle aura, magnificently struck Adorator’s face as soon as her right hand stopped moving.

“Urgh!!”

Adorator’s head turned violently from the impact, and a pain-filled groan erupted from his mouth.

[Oh….]

The strike was so powerful that even Paphnir, who was watching with me, involuntarily let out an exclamation of wonder(?), as if feeling Adorator’s pain.

Just looking at Adorator’s contorted face as his head turned made me realize how incredible Imperfectio’s strike had been.

“Guh…guhhhhh….”

Though not comparable to regenerative abilities, the demigod whose physical perfection even Desire praised was now groaning in pain, indicating the match was already decided.

THWACK-!

Imperfectio, paying no heed to this, extended her right hand and struck his face once more.

Given the monstrous strength with which she wielded the demon sword Devastator in her right hand, it goes without saying that this blow was even more powerful than the previous one.

“…”

Adorator’s eyes lost focus, forgetting even to groan from the pain of taking a direct hit to the face.

The demigod who had barely staggered when taking my full-force punch to the chin was now rendered unconscious after just two attacks.

Judging by Adorator’s incapacitated state, there seemed no need for Imperfectio to attack further, but…

THWACK-! THUD!!

Imperfectio unleashed a dazzling series of punches on Adorator, so fast that not even their afterimages were visible.

Chin, temple, and abdomen.

Though the trajectory of her fists was invisible, the marks of destruction where they landed told me exactly where Adorator was being hit.

Despite her somewhat delicate appearance, the transcendent being of the demon realm with an invincible body that even holy swords could barely wound was now…

THUD-!!

After allowing consecutive heavy yet sharp blows to his body, suffering more wounds in this short time than perhaps in his entire life…

THOOM-!!

With a thunderous sound, Adorator’s knees hit the obsidian floor.

The fact that only his knees touched the ground after taking not one but five such blows demonstrated how sturdy his body was.

“…”

But his completely unfocused eyes were evidence that his mind, unlike his tough body, had succumbed to the powerful strikes.

The duel-that-wasn’t-a-duel between Adorator and me ended due to Imperfectio’s capricious intervention after she had initially acted as if she wouldn’t interfere.

Having displayed enough might to knock unconscious a transcendent being who had acquired divinity—not just an ordinary demon—one would normally expect some pride to show, befitting a being tainted by demonic energy.

“Indeed. Quite sturdy. I struck with the intent to kill out of anger, and yet…”

Only Imperfectio’s calm assessment, delivered in a tone that betrayed no hint of the anger she mentioned, remained as evidence of the incredible might she had just displayed as she looked down at the unconscious Adorator.

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After confirming that Adorator had completely lost his fighting ability, Imperfectio’s movements were concise.

With a kick that followed a much flatter trajectory than her previous strikes.

She sent Adorator’s unconscious but still upright body crashing to the obsidian floor.

THUMP-!

The sound, though louder than nothing, was insignificant compared to the noise from our earlier battle, and Adorator remained unconscious as he rolled across the obsidian floor.

[I’m speechless. It looked like she threw just one punch, but somehow she hit three vital points simultaneously?]

Even without Paphnir’s astonished commentary, it was clear how thoroughly Imperfectio had crushed Adorator.

…Well. Since I couldn’t predict when she might change her attitude and turn on me.

I never trusted her escape route from the beginning anyway.

The prowess she just displayed only heightened my wariness.

Though I find it unpleasant that she looks exactly like Shizu, I should no longer show my displeasure openly.

After all, even with superior regenerative abilities, they wouldn’t be enough to nullify the pain from taking such blows.

But regardless of the complex calculations in my head.

“With the nuisance gone, let’s get out of here now.”

Imperfectio’s calm voice reminded me of what I needed to do first, so.

I silently nodded, following her suggestion.

Seeing this, Imperfectio turned her head again, ready to focus all her energy on creating our escape route.

I say “ready to” because.

“Hey. Wait a moment.”

If not for my voice calling to her, our footsteps would have continued without hesitation to leave this place.

Why did I stop Imperfectio at such an urgent time?

Because from her right hand, which had been perfectly fine even when shattering divinity-infused obsidian like paper.

Drip- Drip-

I could see blood pooling excessively and dripping down a few drops.

How hard was that damned Adorator’s body to make Imperfectio’s fist bleed after her successful one-sided attack?

Anyway, with our paramount objective being to escape the obsidian palace.

Leaving traces like bloodstains would immediately give us away to pursuers.

“In our situation, we can’t afford to be so careless as to leave traces behind.”

So I calmly explained my reasoning as I took her right hand.

For the medical purpose of stopping the bleeding.