Chapter 244: W-Why?!
(PS: Thanks for your votes :). This fanfiction has received 100 power stones. As promised, I will upload 5 more chapters. Enjoy!)
Smile walked toward Luke step by step.
With every step he took, his mood heightened a bit more.
Just thinking about being able to print his fist onto the face of this annoying brat in front of him right away made Smile unable to hold back his excitement.
Humiliating, dominating, and devastating this kind of chosen one was his favorite.
In order to see Luke's unwilling expression, Smile deliberately slowed his pace, while continuously uttering mocking words.
"Oi, oi, oi, where did your previous momentum go?"
"Oh right, I thought of a pretty good idea."
"Are these two girls beside you your girlfriends? How about this, let them apologize to me in your stead, and if so, I'll consider letting the hostages here go."
"Of course, they have to kneel on the ground stark naked and apologize to me. Hahaha, a nice proposal, right?"
Listening to the insulting words coming out of Smile's mouth, Stella and Shizuku's faces both became filled with anger.
However, no matter how angry they were, the two of them could only stand in place, extremely unwilling.
The expressions on the girls' faces obviously gave Smile immense satisfaction, but just as he looked at Luke.
That half-smiling expression once again ignited the anger in the heart of this Apostle.
"Brat..."
"I've changed my mind now!"
"First, I'm going to fiercely punch your face."
"Then I'm going to make you lie on the ground and watch how I humiliate these two girls. I will make today's incident the shame of your life, making you live under my shadow for the rest of your life!"
The furiously burning Smile quickened his pace, and arriving in front of Luke, he forcefully swung his right hand, smashing it toward Luke's face!
"Damn brat!"
"Hit me again if you have the guts!"
"Try resisting if you have the ability... Puh-ah——!"
Boom——!
Accompanied by a huge boom, Smile once again flew out, smashing into the wall in the distance.
"Good grief... Since you pleaded with me again and again, it made me a bit embarrassed to refuse."
Luke, while feeling the sensation on his left hand of hammering someone's face three times in a row, said in an apologetic tone:
"I really misunderstood you, so you're actually a good person."
"You must have known my hands have been a bit itchy recently, so you deliberately stuck your face out for me to hammer, right."
"Oh my, it's really all thanks to you that I could relieve my stress."
"I even misunderstood you as a piece of trash just now, I'm really sorry about that."
This shocking turn of events caused everyone present to be completely dumbfounded.
Whether it was the Rebellion members holding their guns or the masses being pointed at by gun muzzles.
Even Ikki and Arisuin hiding upstairs, as well as Stella and Shizuku standing beside Luke, all looked at the boy with bewildered faces.
And Smile, who had been smashed flying, lay in the ruins, silently looking at the shopping mall's ceiling.
Having been hammered in the face three times in a row, he couldn't quite recover his senses at this moment.
There was only one thought in his mind right now, and that was '???'.
Even though it was an extremely dangerous situation, the shopping mall fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone stared blankly at Luke.
Upon hearing what he said after throwing the punch, everyone's minds went completely blank.
Everyone's reaction, as if they had disconnected, made Luke a bit awkward.
He looked left and right, finding that everyone was staring at him with silly expressions.
Finally, a somewhat puzzled Luke patted the shoulder of Stella beside him and asked:
"...What's wrong with you guys?"
Luke's action was like a switch, instantly jolting everyone awake.
The hostages held at gunpoint instantly turned pale.
They looked at Luke with despairing eyes, and some of the more timid ones had even closed their eyes, ready to wait for death.
The Rebellion members holding firearms were still looking bewildered.
They looked at their boss who was 'looking up at the ceiling', then looked at the hostages under their guns, somewhat at a loss.
'Without Lord Smile's orders, should we fire or not?!'
This was the only thought in the minds of the Rebellion members at present.
And the two girls beside Luke were almost scared out of their wits.
Shizuku muttered 'The hostages are done for, the hostages are done for', while covering her face with her hands, seemingly unable to bear seeing the scene of a massacre.
Stella, looking panicked, yelled at Luke:
"W-W-W-W-W-What did you do!???"
"The other side holds hostages!"
"Do you not care whether the hostages live or die?!"
"Did you forget that as Blazers, we should protect ordinary civilians?!"
"Cold-blooded! Inhuman! Beast! Pervert!"
"W-What do we do now?!?!"
Luke, somewhat helpless, retorted to the already incoherent Stella in front of him:
"Beast and pervert obviously have nothing to do with the current situation, right..."
Luke knew his actions seemed reckless in the eyes of others, but since he dared to do so, he naturally had his reasons.
Just as he was about to explain to the two girls beside him, a sentence coming from the distance interrupted him.
"Yeah... Why... Why don't you care about the hostages?!?!"
Smile shakily crawled up.
He wasn't hysterical, and even his previous arrogance and anger had disappeared from his face.
Smile looked at Luke with lifeless eyes; the experience of being hammered in the face three consecutive times had made him completely lose his mind.
"Do you really think I wouldn't dare to order them to fire!"
"Then give the order."
"???"
Luke's flat response directly choked back Smile's next words.
"N-No, wait, Luke!"
Compared to Smile, Stella was actually even more surprised.
Although she had yelled at Luke just now, those were just angry words spoken in a panic; Stella didn't truly believe Luke was a cold-blooded and heartless person.
But now, Luke's act of not caring about the lives of the hostages left her feeling somewhat terrified.
But without giving her a chance to continue speaking, Smile gave the order.
Under the despairing gazes of Stella, the others, and the hostages, he shrieked at all the Rebellion members with a voice that was distorted from shouting to its limit:
"O! PEN! FI! RE!!!"
Almost the moment he gave the order, all the Rebellion members pulled their triggers.
Countless bullets, accompanied by flames spewing from the muzzles, sped towards the hostages at extreme speed.
And then...
Clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink——!
Countless bullets struck the blue starlight barrier, emitting crisp sounds.
An endless starry sky filled the space of the entire floor, the stars constantly revolving around the hostages, intercepting every single incoming bullet without missing one.
Star Sword Art: Myriad Stars!
This was a defensive sword technique that Luke modified based on Shigure-Soen-Ryu: Defensive Form, Seventh Form - Shibuki Ame(Splashing Rain).
"That's why I said from the very beginning."
"You are only at 'this level', that's all."