Chapter 326: The Dragon About to Awaken!
"Speaking of which, why are you so against using Rule of Grace on me?"
"!?"
Luke's sudden question made Edelweiss's entire body stiffen.
But immediately after that, she looked at Luke with just as much confusion.
"You don't know?"
"What am I supposed to know?"
The two stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"You really don't know?"
"What exactly is it?"
"…"
Edelweiss stared blankly at Luke.
Seeing the question marks written all over his face, Edelweiss carefully thought back.
It seemed…
He really did not know that triggering Rule of Grace could be sensed by her?
A complicated feeling immediately rose inside Edelweiss, and she even threw the matter of painfully losing delicious food to the back of her mind.
She looked at Luke somewhat helplessly, then opened her mouth and explained.
"When you trigger Rule of Grace, I can sense it."
There was no need to say anything more.
That one sentence was enough.
Luke immediately understood why Edelweiss had refused him.
Thinking back on how he had triggered Rule of Grace whenever he had free time during this period, Luke once again sighed at how kind this pure-white swordsman before him was.
If it were him, he would definitely have already cut the other person down with one sword strike.
But when he thought about it again, Luke felt that something was not quite right.
Even if his previous way of using it had indeed been a little annoying, it should not have reached the point where there was no room for discussion, right?
Whether it was planning the timing or reducing the number of triggers, there should still be some room to negotiate.
Just now, even when tempted by honey and juice, Edelweiss had wavered that much, yet she ultimately rejected him outright.
She had not shown even the slightest intention of discussing it.
After staring at Edelweiss somewhat suspiciously for a moment, Luke still could not help asking again.
"If that's the case… it shouldn't be enough to make you refuse this firmly."
"Is there some other reason?"
"!!!"
Facing Luke's question, Edelweiss's breathing immediately stopped.
A subtle expression quietly appeared on her face.
Edelweiss hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she was too embarrassed to answer that question.
There was no helping it.
It was not as though she could tell Luke,
'Actually, it's because you scared me while I was in the bathroom!'
As a normal girl, no matter how strong she was, Edelweiss could not bring herself to say that.
She opened her mouth…
Then, after struggling for a long time, she finally chose to ignore the question.
"A-Anyway, no means no!"
This time, it was Luke's turn to feel troubled.
Honestly, he did not want to give up this opportunity.
This kind of special training method was something one could only encounter by chance. Once he left this world, there was no guarantee he would find such a good opportunity in another world.
It was just like the Dungeon in the Dungeon world.
Training holy lands like that were extremely precious.
But now that honey and juice had both failed, what else did he have that could move Edelweiss?
Wait!
Maybe he really did have something.
Luke looked at Edelweiss and thought back to the casual conversation they had after their first battle.
At the time, he remembered Edelweiss mentioning that her favorite food was apple pie.
Thinking of that, Luke opened his mouth again, deciding to at least try.
"Then… I still have some special apples used to make that mixed fruit juice. How about I include those in the payment too?"
"Apples!!!"
Sure enough, the moment she heard the words "special apples," Edelweiss's entire being perked up.
"Honey, juice… a-and special apples…"
"Uu… special apple pie… I kind of want it, QwQ."
The S.S. Edelweiss had sunk!
…
The scene returned once again to Hagun Academy.
At this moment, the school gate no longer looked anything like it used to.
Ouma's Kusanagi had directly changed the terrain around this area.
But that was not actually the most important reason.
"Rooooooaaar—!"
The air shook, and the earth churned.
Along with Stella's roar, a sound that absolutely did not belong to any human being, the area near Hagun Academy's school gate was flattened.
"Roooaa… ah!"
However, halfway through the roar, Stella suddenly stopped with a struggling expression on her face.
This sudden change left everyone who had just defended against the girl's wild roar at a loss.
To be honest, including Ouma, everyone present, regardless of faction, could no longer keep up with the changes in the situation.
Stella's sudden transformation had already been far too shocking.
Now it had inexplicably been interrupted.
What exactly was going on?
Of course, there was one exception who understood the situation.
That was Ikki, who had once witnessed this scene together with Luke.
And he was also the reason Stella had forcibly interrupted the transformation and desperately called back her reason.
Stella stiffly turned her head and fixed her gaze on Ikki.
"…Go."
"Take… everyone… and go!"
"Until Lu… or Director… gets here… absolutely… don't come near this place!"
The words Stella barely squeezed out were broken and disjointed.
When they entered everyone else's ears, not a single person could understand what the girl was trying to convey.
In fact, the instant Stella's gaze shifted over, everyone subconsciously took a large step back.
Even Shizuku and Touka, who usually had a good relationship with Stella, were no exception.
Under that immense pressure originating from a difference in life level, they could not even hear Stella's broken words clearly.
Understanding the meaning behind them was even more impossible.
However, Ikki understood.
Looking at the light of reason in the girl's eyes gradually fading away, he did not hesitate in the slightest and shouted directly to everyone behind him,
"We're leaving!"
"Get away from here now!"
After saying that, Ikki was the first to run in the opposite direction from Stella.
That was right.
It was truly running away.
Because he knew that among everyone present, there was no one capable of stopping the rampaging dragon.
Other than fleeing, they had no other choice.
And the instant Ikki turned to run, the Akatsuki Academy members led by Pierrot and the Hagun Academy group led by Touka also turned around without hesitation and followed behind him.
Putting Touka and the others aside, even Pierrot's group, who stood on the enemy side against Ikki, did not understand why they had obeyed his command.
They only vaguely felt a tremor from the depths of their instincts.
It was the instinct of living creatures telling them one thing.
If they did not run, they would die.
…
Seeing the others retreat, along with the unconscious teachers and students being carried away by Hagun's group, Stella smiled in relief.
She looked at Ouma again.
She looked at this powerful enemy who had forced her to use Dragonification.
As her mind grew hazy, the girl remembered the words Luke had left behind before leaving.
'I'll leave him to you.'
Ha.
Had he calculated all of this in advance?
He really was…
Helping in such an excessive way.
…
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