Chapter 37. Five Points of Caution (I)
—At the Time of the War Council—
"I see. In that case, Sirius is entrusted to Emilia. My Ricardo and Julius will be responsible for protecting the main base. Is that alright?"
Anastasia smiled at the two who nodded in agreement, then looked at Subaru.
"Speaking of which, Subaru-kun, as the only one who has faced Sirius head-on, do you have any suggestions?"
"Yes, indeed. I feel there are five points of caution."
Natsuki Subaru stood up and seriously raised one finger.
"First, I estimate that Sirius's Authority should only share lethal injuries.
At least, striking someone who has been 'soul-washed'... well, more accurately, even if you beat them until their head is bleeding, it won't be transmitted to the other soul-washed people. So, you don't need to be too careful when attacking."
Subaru voiced this idea based on his experience from being ganged up on in his first loop.
Thanks to the fact that Beatrice, who would not contradict Subaru, was the only one present in the reception room who participated in that loop's Wrath battle, this strange piece of information was taken by everyone as having been obtained from the encounter with Wrath in the current loop.
—6X Minutes After the War Council Ended, Residential Area in the Center of the Fourth District—
Emilia, gliding at extreme speed on the ice path, emitted a powerful surge of magical energy. The dozens of people controlled by Sirius's Authority who came to block Emilia were instantly frozen from the knees down. Emilia then swiftly created an ice bridge in front of her to pass over the immobilized crowd.
"I'm sorry!"
Emilia, having landed back on the ice path, slid forward while looking back and shouting. However, after only twenty-odd meters, another batch of 'soul-washed' people appeared in front of her.
"As long as they're not dead, and the injury wasn't caused by some inexplicable thing like the 'Divine Protection of the Reaper,' Ferris can fix it."
Recalling Ferris's confident words, Emilia's eyes became firm again. She skillfully adjusted her strength to freeze the new batch of people trying to intercept her, adding a dozen more frostbite patients to the already overworked Ferris's future schedule.
"Emilia-sama! Are you alright?" Geuse, flying in mid-air using his 'Unseen Hand,' asked Emilia anxiously as he caught up.
"I'm fine." Emilia said calmly. Although freezing a thousand people in place required a considerable amount of magical power, it was not unbearable for Emilia, who could once freeze an entire forest for hundreds of years in her childhood.
"But it really is endless."
Emilia looked at the dozens of controlled people who appeared again in front of her, feeling a bit annoyed. As one of the five major cities of the Dragon Kingdom, the Water Gate City had over 20,000 people even in just one district. It would be fine if they were all ordinary civilians who offered no resistance, like the ones before.
Emilia sighed internally, looking at the skilled fighters who dodged her attacks. Since this was a large city like the Water Gate City, of course, there were some skilled fighters among the people Sirius controlled, and these skilled fighters required Emilia to stop and spend some time freezing them.
"Sorry, Geuse. I need to trouble you to tie up Mama Fortuna by yourself again." Emilia apologized to Julius beside her.
"Eyes that seduce men! A silvery voice that tempts men! Shining silver hair that lures men! Snow-white skin that bewitches men! A wanton face that provokes men! Ah, utterly filthy! You grew up like this just to steal that person from me, you home-wrecker!"
Sirius, noticing the situation behind her, let out an angry roar. The iron chains on her feet, engulfed in flames, lunged towards Emilia.
"Ahhh, Petelgeuse, how could you, how could you protect her? Have you forgotten how much we once loved each other? I could breathe the same air as you, I could receive your smile, I could sleep in the same bed as you, I could eat your leftovers, and you would even praise me when I burned the half-devil... How could you, how could you be enchanted by a half-devil?"
Sirius shouted crazily while attacking.
"I was not enchanted, because I decided from the very beginning to dedicate everything to Emilia-sama. You too, didn't you spend the last second of your life thinking about how to protect her?"
"So you were betraying me from the start? I will burn you all to ashes!!!"
Sirius let out a roar of grief and anger. Clearly, she hadn't heard a word of Geuse's last sentence. This emotion even made a few people fighting Emilia shed tears of blood.
—Damn it, I can't communicate normally at all.
Geuse grew more frustrated looking at Sirius, who was attacking him wildly.
"Second point: If Sirius truly is Fortuna-san, then you must be extremely careful when communicating with her. It's best to have one person stay in a place where they cannot hear Sirius's voice.
Actually, I would prefer you to communicate with her after you've broken her combat capabilities, because once you communicate with her, even if you are full of caution, you will unknowingly be turned into a puppet by her. In short, you will unconsciously overlook things that aren't right."
For some reason, Subaru's warning from back then slowly took on a different meaning in Geuse 's mind. Initially, it was a caution, but now Geuse 's thought was:
—She should be capable of normal communication. Why? Because she's unwilling? Then, is it possible for her to accept Emilia-sama's words?
Geuse looked at Emilia, who was fighting a few skilled opponents nearby.
If it weren't for them getting in the way, Fortuna would certainly have returned to normal with the help of Emilia-sama.
How many more of these pests are there? They're like termites.
Speaking of which, they are already linked together by the [Authority of Wrath], aren't they? If I accidentally kill one, this current predicament can be resolved. Then I can dedicate all my energy to waking up Fortuna.
"Geuse, are you alright?"
The hatred and killing intent in Geuse 's eyes clearly startled Emilia, who was concentrating on the battle. She quickly forced the opponents back and rushed to Geuse 's side, asking anxiously.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo... Me just now, I apologize. It might be the mental strain caused by using the Authority for too long. It's alright, I've calmed down now. Leave Sirius to me."
However, what had occurred dozens of times changed this time.
Among the people Emilia had pushed away, one person stopped pursuing. Then a second... Finally, the last three also stopped simultaneously, captivated by the exquisite singing that resounded throughout the city.
"Is this Liliana-san's singing!" Emilia exclaimed with emotion, listening to the beautiful music that made people unconsciously lost in it.
"Wait!"
Suddenly, Emilia realized what Liliana's singing meant. She hurriedly looked up at the sky. The originally bright sky had already turned into a half-orange, half-black state.
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New Fanfiction!
Hachiman please tone down your Inner Thoughts
While waiting for Yukinoshita in the clubroom, he unexpectedly travels to the world of Classroom of the Elite and becomes the representative of Class B.
Initially, he only intended to keep a low profile while helping Class B escape its tragic fate from the original story, and incidentally saving Ichinose Honami.
However, why these girls seems to know what am I Thinking?
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting