Chapter 37: The Second Time Holding a Blade

A drop of cold sweat slid slowly down the girl’s forehead. She stared at Artemisia, who was smiling and walking slowly toward her, and gritted her teeth.

If she used Mitestin now to break the boundary and return to the Neighboring World…

There was no chance of escape. She could feel that this genius Wizard, who represented humanity’s highest fighting power, had completely locked onto her. The moment she tried to flee, Artemisia would use an extremely dense Territory to seal off the space around her, even her movements.

She knew very well that this Wizard named Artemisia definitely possessed such terrifying ability. If she picked up a weapon and fought to the death, maybe there was still a chance. After all…

The airborne ship Fraxinus should be watching this place, right?

Even though the Spirits here were no good, judging by how the Itsuka siblings thought, they wouldn’t just watch her die at Artemisia’s hands.

Chihaya Sayo gritted her teeth. She knew how pathetic it was to entrust her hope of survival to others, but right now she had no choice.

No, if she really had to say it, she did have a way to save her life. It was just…

“Mitestin!”

The girl, now with no way out, called out. Her Angel responded to her wish as a matter of course.

A pale ink-colored fluid slowly flowed from the black ring, forming a blade about one and a half meters long. Perhaps worried that the girl was not skilled with a sword and might lose her grip in battle, Mitestin thoughtfully designed the hilt into a series of twisted spirals, then firmly fixed it to the girl’s arm.

The blade shone with a brilliant light like a galaxy, and from a distance it looked quite intimidating… Of course, it was only ‘intimidating’.

Although the blade condensed by Mitestin still possessed destructive power that could easily tear through any defense, in the hands of a girl who had never fought anyone…

This was the second time in her life holding a blade, and the first time she had ever wielded a sword in battle against another person. In her previous life, she had always been kind and avoided conflict. She had no experience fighting others at all. If she had to say…

The last time she had fairly intense physical contact with someone was probably when she slapped a subway molester hard on the train?

And that time it was only because the molester’s target was herself that she got angry… If someone else had been harassed, she would probably have looked the other way.

Artemisia moved.

With the boost from her Realizer, Artemisia’s speed had broken the sound barrier. Her charging body produced a series of harsh sonic booms in the air.

From Chihaya Sayo’s perspective, the smiling face of the girl who had just been some distance away appeared like a ghost only a few meters in front of her the next moment. The Anti-Spirit Light Sword, flickering with the aura of death, swung down at her, the angle aimed directly at her arm.

Artemisia had done her homework. As a somewhat special Spirit, Jormungand seemed strange. Normally she posed no great threat, but when near death she could unleash extremely terrifying power.

In the words of that somewhat gloomy man from DEM whom she didn’t particularly like…

‘Such powerful strength, yet such a weak personality… What a waste of heaven’s gift!’

Yes, if Jormungand always used that kind of power to destroy cities, then having appeared so frequently in this world, she must have turned the whole world upside down by now, right?

So Artemisia, who had originally planned to finish the fight in one strike, settled for a slashing attack instead.

That way, as long as she could cut off the Spirit’s limbs and completely disable her, then use Territory to maintain the Spirit’s vital signs and keep her alive…

That would effectively cripple the Spirit ‘Jormungand’. She might even take her back to England and imprison her, or, with full preparations, cut off the Spirit’s head.

That was the plan. But…

Before her brain could react to Artemisia’s movement, her right hand instinctively moved across her body and blocked the sword that was slashing at her arm.

There was no sensation of ‘tremendous force’ coming through, nor any sound of metal clashing against metal. Before Mitestin’s unreasonable ‘destroy everything’ property, the Anti-Spirit Light Sword merely touched the starry black blade and melted away like ice and snow meeting a roaring flame, then completely vaporized into the air.

What… was that?

Realizing what had happened, Artemisia’s brain froze for about a thousandth of a second.

She knew Jormungand’s Angel could easily pierce Territory and all kinds of Realizers, but she had never imagined it could be that sharp.

No, if it were sharpness, there should at least be some sense of force. The current situation was different. Perhaps Jormungand’s Angel was not just ‘sharp’?

There was no time for Artemisia to think further. Her body, having received no impact at all, continued forward by inertia. Although the girl standing before her had not reacted and made no move, at this speed Artemisia would crash straight into the blade.

Artemisia did not think her Territory and Realizer could withstand such a terrifying blade.

Actively crashing into that terrifying blade and being cut in two by inertia, her fate was already sealed.

In that life-or-death instant, a Territory power used by a third party forcefully pressed against her body. Under the influence of this third force, Artemisia’s body shifted from its original trajectory, barely avoiding the blade that symbolized death.

But… Artemisia’s Realizer was not so lucky. The blade symbolizing ‘destruction’ easily tore apart the wing portion of the Realizer. From a distance, it looked as if the entire Realizer had been cut clean through the center.

“Artemisia!”

The one who had acted was Takamiya Mana, who had been standing to the side keeping Kurumi Tokisaki in check. Her high-density Territory, from the world’s fifth-ranked Wizard, easily knocked Artemisia, who had deliberately dropped her guard, flying. She landed safely in the distance.

Well, it could not be called safe at all.

Artemisia was in a miserable state. Her Realizer was completely ruined, and her body had been savagely crushed by Takamiya Mana’s Territory. The once-proud girl now curled on the ground, coughing up mouthfuls of blood. One could even vaguely see fragments of internal organs coughed out with it.

If she had not used Territory to protect her body, she would probably be dead now.

Still, at least she had kept her life.

At this moment, Chihaya Sayo’s slow brain had not caught up yet.

This…

What exactly had just happened?

The girl’s brain began to laboriously process the information she had just received. It seemed Artemisia had actively crashed into her blade, and then was sent flying by Takamiya Mana?

‘You’re not a spy, are you? I can clearly sense that your strength is far greater than mine, but you just crashed into my blade like that. Isn’t that a bit too…’

Chihaya Sayo’s throat moved. She wanted to say something to ease the awkward atmosphere, but…

In the end, she said nothing.

Takamiya Mana picked up Artemisia, who had completely lost her ability to fight, and looked warily at the figure standing before her, unmoving like a mountain.

This was the Jormungand rumored to be able to easily destroy a city and fight a legion of five thousand Wizards? As expected…

But thankfully, the rumored Jormungand had no intention of continuing to attack. She did not seem to harbor any ill will toward her own older brother either.

There was also the possibility… that this would be her future sister-in-law? After all, those Eastern fantasy novels often had similar plots. A peerless female powerhouse falling in love with a useless high school boy.

She quickly shook her head, tossing these absurd thoughts out of her mind. Takamiya Mana helped the exhausted Artemisia to her feet.

After all, she was a Spirit.

“As expected of the legendary Jormungand. Truly a terrifying strength. We admit defeat this time. Next time, we will definitely take your head!”

At this moment, the so-called ‘legendary Jormungand’ herself was completely frozen in place. Actually, she was not putting on an air of superiority. Rather, her brain was too slow, leaving her no spare thoughts to control her body.

She had originally prepared to risk everything, but she had not expected things to end so abruptly.

Before her, Takamiya Mana slowly left with Artemisia, while Chihaya Sayo stood where she was like a mountain, still showing no intention of pursuing.

Was it pity for the weak? Or was it that in Jormungand’s eyes, she was truly just an insignificant ant?

Artemisia gritted her teeth, but felt helpless. Honestly, she had never fought a Spirit before. This first duel had shown her that Spirit abilities were truly bizarre and unreasonable.

“Oh my, as expected of Jormungand. You can even take down Britain’s SSS ace so easily. Or have I been misjudging you all along?”

Seeing the crisis resolved, Kurumi Tokisaki also voluntarily widened the distance between herself and Chihaya Sayo.

She could clearly sense the thin spiritual power in Chihaya Sayo right now, yet even with such power, she had easily defeated the terrifying Artemisia.

Originally, Kurumi Tokisaki had always thought that the terror represented by the identification code Jormungand was merely the demon hidden inside her. But now it seemed that was not all?

Yes, it was said that Chinese fantasy novels often had plots like… playing the pig to eat the tiger. Perhaps Chihaya Sayo’s earlier behavior of observing her was like observing a cute pet?

Thinking of this, Kurumi Tokisaki felt a little more wary of the girl who still maintained her original posture, and could not help but step back a few paces.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Night of Arcbalis

BLContract RelationshipDark Fantasy

Read Now →
Not interested