Chapter 159: The Power of the Twilight Magic Eye!
"You... You're Hiraga Reisen from Bunkyoku Academy, aren't you?"
Touka frowned, locking her gaze onto the figure wearing the clown mask.
Even though she had prepared herself mentally, seeing the academy where she had lived for three years reduced to ruins still filled her with boundless anger.
"My, none of you look surprised at all."
"We went through so much trouble preparing this stage for you. How disappointing."
"And we couldn't find a single person inside Hagun Academy. Could it be...?"
Hiraga Reisen turned a malicious gaze toward Alice.
"Black Assassin, you betrayed us, didn't you?"
Although phrased as a question, Reisen spoke with complete certainty.
It seemed they had already anticipated Alice's betrayal.
"But have any of you considered that perhaps we deliberately allowed Black Assassin to betray us so he could lure all of you here?"
The eyes hidden beneath Reisen's mask swept across Hagun's representatives as the corners of his mouth curved upward.
It was an open scheme.
Whether Hagun believed Alice or not, those words would still plant a thorn of doubt in their hearts.
If even one of them became distracted during battle because of that doubt, Reisen would have achieved his goal.
"What a boring attempt to divide us."
"Is this really the best Akatsuki Academy can do?"
Shizuku immediately mocked his scheme.
And she was right.
Everyone present had boarded that bus precisely because they chose to trust Alice.
Even if Alice truly was bait deliberately released by the enemy, they were already prepared to pay the price for their trust.
"Your faith in Black Assassin is truly moving."
"I only hope he doesn't betray that faith at a critical moment."
Seeing his scheme fail, Reisen did not become irritated.
It had merely been a casual move anyway.
Even if it failed, annoying Alice was enough.
"I assume all of you already know Akatsuki Academy's objective, so I won't waste time explaining it."
"This may be somewhat unfortunate for you, but we'll be defeating all of you here and using Hagun as our stepping stone—"
Slash—!
Before Reisen could finish, a pure-white sword light flashed through the Akatsuki members.
The figures standing before Ikki and the others instantly collapsed into pools of multicolored paint.
"Stop talking so arrogantly."
"If you want to crush Hagun, at least show up with your real bodies."
Shiro held his Device and looked toward an empty area completely opposite from where Akatsuki had seemingly been standing.
"My, as expected of the [God of War]'s disciple."
"A little trick like that really can't fool you."
Reisen's voice emerged from the seemingly empty space.
The scenery there suddenly distorted.
One after another, the members of Akatsuki Academy stepped out from the warped air.
"Wait! Why did Akatsuki come out over there?"
"Then what did Shiro just cut down?"
Tomaru Renren cried out in surprise.
"[Trick Art]. My paintings are even more lifelike than real people..."
Sara Bloodlily, the girl whose upper body was covered only by an apron, spoke indifferently.
"What stood in front of us were only replicas of Akatsuki."
"Their real bodies were hidden by manipulating the refraction of light through the air."
Shiro finished Sara's explanation for Renren.
"Kukuku... To think a mere mortal could see through our concealment."
"How about joining beneath my banner? I shall grant thee the privilege of drinking the wine of victory beside me."
"My lady says, 'You're handsome and strong, so if you join us, she'll go on a date with you tonight.'"
On this otherwise serious battlefield, the slightly delusional [Beast Tamer], Kazamatsuri Rinna, looked completely out of place with an eyepatch covering one eye.
Earlier, Hagun's representatives had wondered why she had brought along a maid who was clearly not a Blazer.
Now they finally understood.
Without that maid, communicating tactics with Rinna might have been nearly impossible.
"Damn it, a honey trap?! Shiro, don't fall for it! Leave this girl to me!"
Before Shiro could even respond to Rinna's invitation, Stella angrily raised her greatsword and charged forward.
"Oh? You wish to experience the power of my [Twilight Magic Eye]?"
"Then gaze upon it carefully! It is already too late for regret!"
"Seal—release!"
Hearing Rinna's declaration, Stella's body instantly tensed.
She stomped to a halt and raised her greatsword diagonally across her chest, guarding against whatever came next.
Under Stella's wary gaze, Rinna smiled faintly.
Her right fingers slowly touched the eyepatch covering her eye.
Then she dramatically pulled it away, revealing a crimson eye identical to the other.
"My lady, you forgot to put in your contact lens before leaving today..."
Rinna's maid calmly reminded her.
"Uh... Hahaha! My MP has been exhausted today!"
"Thou art fortunate! But do not believe this means you shall survive!"
"Go, my servant! [Finley]—bleh, [Sphinx]!"
"That lion is obviously named Finley!"
"And why does every chuunibyou insist on naming their feline pet [Sphinx]?!"
Stella shouted while charging into battle against the pouncing lion.
At the same time, she desperately prayed that none of her companions had remembered how seriously she had guarded against the so-called [Twilight Magic Eye].
Young Stella had yet to understand that Shizuku would soon spread this incident throughout Hagun Academy.
It was destined to become an embarrassing memory that would follow her for a very long time.
Once Stella charged forward, the remaining Hagun members also began selecting their opponents.
But before that—
"Aren't you going to remove that thing around your body?"
Shiro's gaze passed over Reisen and landed upon Ikki's older brother, Kurogane Ouma.
He had noticed it from the very beginning.
Wind constantly surrounded Ouma's body.
However, the wind around him was completely different from Ais's.
Ais used magical wind to grant herself tremendous agility and brief periods of aerial mobility.
Ouma instead compressed the surrounding air against his body, forming armor made entirely of wind.
While this technique granted him tremendous defense, it also placed an incredibly heavy burden upon his bones.
Against weaker opponents, it was useful because the armor could block their attacks.
But once he encountered someone equal to or stronger than himself, it became less like armor and more like shackles chained around his body.
Fighting Shiro while wearing something like that felt slightly insulting.
Ouma froze briefly when he heard Shiro's words.
Then he silently shook his head.
"?"
'What is that supposed to mean?'
A question mark almost appeared above Shiro's head.
He had only spoken because he could sense Ouma's fighting spirit and had noticed the man repeatedly watching him.
So what did that shake of the head mean?
He wanted to fight Shiro, yet still intended to hold back?
Perhaps karma really did come full circle.
Several months later, Shiro finally understood how Kurashiki Kuraudo had felt when he deliberately provoked him.
"I see."
"If you don't want to take it off yourself..."
In the next instant, Shiro's voice sounded from behind Ouma.
"Then I'll take it off for you."
Rip—
Like a kitchen knife slicing through tofu, Shiro's blade effortlessly passed through Ouma's thick wind armor.
A long wound opened across his back.
…
(Don't forget to vote, review, and leave a comment below! :D The more you vote, the more chapters I upload.)
...
Read more chapters(25+):
patréon.com/U22
(Note: Replace "é" with "e" on your web browser.)