Chapter 416: A Staged Accident!
Once Luke realized Sara genuinely could not walk any farther, he was left speechless.
Looking around, he spotted a drink shop with outdoor seating and decided to bring her there for a short rest.
After all, if Sara was truly too exhausted to walk, Luke could not simply force her to keep following him…
Hm?
Wait. Something seemed wrong.
Luke suddenly stopped after taking one step.
He was not… shopping with Sara, was he?
Luke glanced back at Sara and met her innocent gaze. Then he abruptly changed direction!
What a joke. She was the one pestering him, so naturally, he should use this perfect opportunity to escape.
It was still a little early for lunch, but Luke needed to bring food back for Edelweiss. He had no time to waste wandering around with Sara.
More importantly, when had this turned into shopping together?!
Sara seemed to have predicted his reaction.
The instant Luke turned to escape, she grabbed his clothes with a serious expression that clearly said, 'I won't let you get away.'
Then an enormous force struck her.
Thud—!
Sara fell flat on the ground.
The sudden development frightened Luke.
It genuinely frightened him.
He stared in shock at Sara, who lay face-down and could not get up. Luke was certain he had used no strength beyond what was required to walk normally.
Yet Sara had been pulled off balance by that tiny force and crashed directly onto the ground.
"A-A staged accident?!"
Luke never imagined he would encounter someone faking an accident to blame him.
And the supposed scammer was one of Akatsuki Academy's ace competitors?!
Even with Luke's broad experience, he had no idea how to respond. He could only stare blankly as Sara struggled on the ground.
After watching for several seconds, however, he realized the situation might not be what he imagined.
"Ow, ow, ow… Ugh… M-My waist feels like it's breaking…"
Sara struggled to rise, and nothing about her reaction seemed fake. She genuinely appeared to be in too much pain to move.
After hesitating, Luke ultimately could not bring himself to abandon her there.
Her physical condition was clearly terrible, and his movement had technically caused her fall, so Luke reached down and helped her up.
Supporting Sara, he brought her to the drink shop and placed her in an outdoor seat.
He then bought two drinks, handed one to her, and sat down with a helpless expression.
"What exactly is wrong with your body?"
Even a sickly ordinary person would not become unable to walk after only a short distance.
Nor would they fall from such a small force and remain unable to rise for so long.
Simple physical weakness could not explain this. Sara's condition resembled that of someone suffering from a serious illness.
Sara accepted the drink and finally seemed to recover from the pain.
"My condition is congenital. My bones have been extremely fragile since birth."
"If I hadn't received treatment, I would still be confined to a hospital bed and unable to move."
That was not the entire reason.
Sara paid almost no attention to her health, rarely exercised, and spent nearly all her time obsessed with painting.
As a result, she had made her already weak body even worse.
However, Sara herself seemed completely unaware of this and believed her condition was solely caused by her fragile bones.
"You don't need to worry about it. This is my own problem."
"I may look like I'm in terrible pain—and I really am—but I'm already used to it."
Even a mild fall caused Sara considerable pain.
What might feel insignificant to someone else became genuine agony for her.
Still, she was not lying to Luke. She truly had grown accustomed to it.
When she first arrived in Osaka for the Seven Star Sword Art Festival, she missed a step on a staircase and broke a bone.
An ambulance ultimately had to bring her to the venue.
Incidents like that had become part of Sara's daily life, yet she had no intention of training her body.
For one thing, she considered herself an artist rather than a warrior. There was no reason to exercise when she could spend that time improving her painting.
For another, her bones could not withstand training.
Even something as mild as jogging could cause a fracture if she made the slightest mistake.
Still, Sara was a Blazer.
When necessary, she could strengthen herself with mana and perform superhuman movements, so ordinary physical training was not essential.
The consequence was that during daily life, whenever she did not use mana, she constantly bumped into things and injured herself.
That was how she earned the title Bloodstained Da Vinci.
Despite how brutal the title sounded, the "bloodstained" part actually referred to Sara's own blood…
Of course, despite her condition, Sara's combat strength was genuinely terrifying.
Her power had little connection to her body.
It was precisely because her ability could conceal every physical weakness that Rebellion selected her as the trump card of its current plan.
Although Sara told Luke not to worry, he could not simply leave.
She had fallen because of his movement, and more importantly, Luke was certain she would follow him again if he walked away.
Looking at her frail appearance, Luke could only shake his head, sigh silently, and remain seated.
"I'll wait until you've rested, but I can't stay with you forever. I still have another match this afternoon…"
"Come to think of it…"
Luke suddenly remembered that his third-round opponent would be the final remaining competitor from Block D.
Sara was a Block D competitor!
In other words, the two people now sitting opposite each other and drinking cold beverages would face each other in the afternoon.
"You didn't follow me because of our match, did you?"
"Were you planning to gather information?"
"No. I'm not interested in the tournament."
Sara's answer surprised Luke.
At the same time, he felt almost powerless to comment because he could tell she was completely serious.
Among Akatsuki Academy's six competitors, Ouma, Amane, and Sara had no interest in Rebellion's plan.
Then there was Arisuin, who had already switched sides…
More than half the plan's participants had either defected or refused to cooperate.
Rebellion was honestly rather pitiful.
Luke had originally assumed that an organization faintly regarded as the world's third-greatest power must be extremely formidable.
Yet the more contact he had with it, the faster the world's largest criminal organization seemed to lose all dignity.
It certainly possessed many talented members, but none of them appeared to care much about Rebellion itself.
…
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