Chapter 1349: City of the Decisive Battle (6)

"M-Mr. Rhode..."

Looking at the blade pointed at her, Catherine was clearly at a loss for words. With a terrified expression, she looked to Rhode at the side, expecting him to give her an idea. But now, Rhode, who had already noticed the secret behind the 12 mental crystals, apparently knew what he should do. Thus, facing Catherine's gaze that was begging for help, he, however, shook his head slowly.

"I'll leave it to you to decide, Catherine."

He looked at Catherine and said.

"As she said, since you two are the only ones who can move, it means that this crystal has chosen either one of you. As for who gets to keep it, it is up to you to decide. Whether you plan to throw it away, give it to someone else, or keep it for yourself, it's all up to you. And no matter your decision, we'll support you unconditionally. So you don't have to worry, just go ahead and do it with confidence."

"Huh? But... How can I... I-I can't..."

After hearing his words, Catherine's face turned pale. She hadn't expected Rhode to throw this problem back at her directly, which gave her quite a headache. It was as if one who was against war seeking to use war to solve an immediate life and death situation. But looking at Catherine's expression, Rhode and Little Five Lori put up expressions as if they were watching a good show instead. After all, even Little Five had also figured out that it looked like the mental crystal had nothing to do with them in the slightest and it would be quite an interesting show to see what kind of choice Catherine would make in front of them.

After all, Catherine didn't attack once and was basically useless other than serving as a mobile snack shopping basket for Little Five. On the other hand, the Angel of Light was apparently a belligerent personality. A battle between an extremely non-belligerent personality and an extremely belligerent personality... Oh my, it wasn't that Rhode felt like this battle wasn't a big deal. But if one were to look at things from his standpoint, how was it possible for one to not enjoy a good show!

"I... I..."

Upon seeing that Rhode clearly had no intention of making a decision for her, Catherine hesitated and was left speechless. She looked at Little Five for help but this time, Little Five was apparently on the same side as Rhode. Or perhaps, Little Five was using this opportunity as a form of revenge for Catherine standing leisurely and doing nothing at the back, while both of them took on the shadowy monsters tirelessly. After all, one wouldn't feel great when one was as tired as a dog and there was another person standing idly by in the back, wasn't it?

"Argh..."

The lonely Catherine finally realized her situation. She let out a soft grunt like an abandoned puppy, turned in fear, and swallowed her saliva as if she had made up her mind. The moment she was about to speak to her other self, she curled up her body again with a groan after noticing the latter's razor-sharp gaze.

Looking at this scene, Rhode and Little Five sighed in unison and the same thought flashed through their minds.

What a good-for-nothing...

"Erm... Fighting isn't right..."

As Rhode expected better from Catherine, she finally spoke up with lingering fear. But at that moment, perhaps making up her mind, she straightened her curled up body. Although her expression still looked weak, it carried a bit more determination now. And just like that, the timid young lady became courageous enough to raise her head and gaze at her other self, stating her opinion.

"I, for one, think we shouldn't be fighting it out in this way. Because it's just too sad; fighting means that one side must lose. Wouldn't that be too disrespectful to the other party? Obviously, we have all put in the same amount of effort to reach here, but having to give up just because one isn't strong enough... That is too cruel for me... E-Even a weak person who is completely powerless to fight back has the power to choose!"

"Tsk...!"

In response to Catherine's words, the Angel of Light didn't say a word, but on the other hand, Little Five gnashed her teeth in displeasure and lowered her head to let out a grunt. And upon noticing Little Five's reaction, Rhode swept a glance at her, before withdrawing his gaze quickly and recalling the moment they first met each other... Yes... Right now, Catherine was attacking Little Five indirectly with her words!

Come to think of it, aren't you a pacifist, Catherine? Can't you see that Little Five's heart was just pierced by a million swords from you?

"So you're not going to get out of the way, then?"

Faced with Catherine's speech, the Angel of Light didn't react much. It was only natural since manifested personalities were extreme existences. It would be the wildest thing to imagine if one were to expect the manifested personalities to be easily persuaded. In order for words to work, one had to get a hold of the weaknesses and deal a critical blow to them in order to maximize the power of words. Just like earlier, if Catherine's words weren't targeted at her other self but Little Five instead, perhaps Little Five would have sprung up like a cat whose tail was stepped on.

Wait... Something doesn't sound right here.

"... Yes."

In the face of the sword that was raised before her face again, Catherine shrunk a bit, but nodded firmly. In terms of stubbornness, this pacifist wasn't any worse than the battle fanatic. Rhode suddenly felt like the Catherine on his team wasn't entirely useless. He imagined himself being angered to death if he were to face a stubborn foe who only fought using words and refused to give up. Fortunately, this Catherine was on his side and he didn't need to have a headache about it. On the other hand, he got to see how others dealt with this bothersome young lady. Judging from this point, this Catherine really wasn't entirely worthless, it seemed?

Or that no matter how harsh the environment was, one had to find the good and the fun in life, wasn't it...?

"In that case, let's fight!"

Compared to Catherine, the Angel of Light was clearly bad with words; or rather, she trusted the sword in her hand more than words. Thus, after making sure that Catherine wouldn't get out of her way, she swung her sword right away and brandished it at the young lady in front of her. Along with a shimmering blade ray, Catherine was entirely shrouded by bright lights. Facing this ambush, Catherine didn't react in the slightest. Even though the Angel of Light had clearly declared war, Catherine would be considered quick if she could return to her senses after three minutes based on her slow reaction.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In just an instant, Catherine was completely enveloped by the assault. The whizzing and roaring explosion of sword lights scattered before everyone's eyes. And looking at this scene, Rhode and Little Five puckered their brows. Based on the attack they witnessed, they could tell that the Angel of Light was definitely much stronger than Little Five in combat and even just slightly weaker than Rhode himself. In all fairness, if it were Rhode standing before her, he would need to put in quite a lot of effort to defeat her. But now, could that Catherine, who barely had any sense of retaliation, be able to resist such an intense and deadly attack?

Soon, the smoke cleared.

"Huh?"

After gazing at Catherine, not only did Little Five shriek in surprise, but Rhode also stared in amazement. They couldn't believe their eyes. Catherine remained on the same spot unscathed, though her expression was still full of terror. The Angel of Light didn't knock Catherine down with her sword like both of them had expected. On the contrary, that seemingly full of momentum and indestructible sword was now a distance away from Catherine's chest, blocked by a layer of faint golden radiance. And although the Angel of Light looked like she had gnashed her teeth and used all her strength, she still wasn't able to penetrate it an inch.

"Huh? What?!"

Up until that moment, the Catherine with scarily-slow reactions finally responded to what happened and retreated hurriedly in shock, waving her arms around uncontrollably. For that reason, the snacks that were in her arms scattered to the ground. Looking at this scene, Little Five, who was watching the bustling show, sulked instantly. She tried to extend her arms to grab her 'treasures', but it was a pity that she couldn't budge after being imprisoned. But even so, she gnashed her teeth and glared at Catherine, yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Hey! You fool, don't throw my snacks on the floor!"

"Whoa! Sorry, I'm sorry!"

Little Five's roar startled Catherine. The latter lowered her body instinctively and picked up the snacks that scattered on the ground. After all, she was used to being ordered around by Little Five all this while. Thus, as soon as she heard Little Five's order, her first reaction was to immediately do what she commanded. Despite that, this definitely wasn't an experiment of Pavlovian theory[1].

And just as Catherine lowered her head and was about to bend over to pick up the snacks, the Angel of Light returned to her senses. And this time, Rhode and Little Five finally witnessed what they hadn't seen clearly just now. Catherine was engrossed in picking up the snacks scattered on the ground. Meanwhile, the Angel of Light flourished her sword repeatedly with great vigor, and from the momentum alone, each of her strikes could split the tower in front of her in two. The force from each swing was lethal and powerful.

But what surprised Rhode and Little Five was that such an attack didn't work at all against Catherine. Rather than saying that the attacks were blocked, it would be more appropriate to say that they were directly erased. Rhode felt the spiritual power contained in the sword that the Angel of Light lifted. But after it erupted to attack Catherine, it seemed to completely disappear as if it turned into a gust of wind.

I didn't know Catherine had that kind of ability...

At that moment, Rhode was considered to finally put his mind at ease. Indeed, for a personality like Catherine's to survive until now could be considered a fluke, just like those singers who ran to the battlefield to offer condolences and do public service. If there weren't any backstage supporters behind them, wouldn't they have already been kidnapped or simply shot by a terrorist organization or the enemy? And if an absolute pacifist like Catherine, who couldn't fight or curse back, didn't have an ace up her sleeves, perhaps she would have died long ago.

"I, I don't think that's right. Fighting doesn't bring any good; it only brings sorrow..."

The scene before them was like a comedy. The Angel of Light had fought to the point of literally going crazy and attacked Catherine repeatedly, but Catherine was completely unresponsive to her. She didn't even try to hide, but was simply absorbed in picking up snacks, while communicating her philosophy to her other self. It reminded Rhode of a certain movie he watched a long time ago, where an undefeatable monk talked his enemy into a mental breakdown. Although Catherine's language skill wasn't as strong as the monk's, her repetition of the same words over and over again was, in a way, like cutting flesh using a blunt knife.

"Haa... Haa... Haa..."

After some time, perhaps a few minutes, a dozen minutes, or a few hours, the Angel of Light who attacked incessantly finally stopped. At that moment, she was completely fatigued and could only half-kneel on the ground and breath heavily. On one hand, she consumed too much strength in the previous battle, and on the other hand, Rhode believed that she was also mentally exhausted. After all, whoever listened to Catherine's constant nagging that

"fighting isn't right; we should get along with each other peacefully" and yet, couldn't hurl even a punch on her, was an extremely fatal and frustrating torture.

But Rhode believed that what Catherine was saying wasn't nonsense; or rather, while it sounded like nonsense to others, it wasn't to herself. Let's not forget that this was the mental world, where mental power was greater than anything else, and the will to influence reality was hard evidence of that. Catherine didn't want to hurt anyone, so she didn't do it. But on the other hand, she wanted others to not hurt themselves either.

To put it bluntly, Catherine wanted a world where people didn't hurt each other anymore. And this trait of hers reacted to the fact that while no one else could bring her down, she also couldn't defeat others. And the decision to fight with brute force like the Angel of Light was, in fact, the stupidest. If it were Rhode, he would have chosen to confuse Catherine with his words, before going up against her. As long as he didn't give Catherine the chance to be firm in her beliefs, her ability would be rendered ineffective. But unfortunately, it looked like the Angel of Light clearly didn't know anything about it, hence why she had fallen for it...

"Alright! Go! Hit her! Now's the chance! Catherine! Beat her up!"

Looking at the panting Angel of Light, the most excited person was actually Little Five. It wasn't surprising since the Angel of Light had attacked the snacks on the ground in order to force Catherine to fight with her. Even though Catherine did her best to protect them, some of the snacks that Little Five loved the most were still crushed ruthlessly. This left Little Five in displeasure. If she weren't imprisoned now, perhaps she would have rolled up her sleeves and fought the Angel of Light herself.

"That... Isn't too nice..."

Upon hearing Little Five's grumbles, Catherine was clearly hesitant. She looked at the Angel of Light who had fallen to her knees, looking as exhausted as a dog, and turned to both of them. It seemed like Catherine was clearly disinterested in Little Five's words. And upon seeing her reaction, Little Five sighed in frustration, blinked, and smiled all of a sudden as if she came up with a good idea. Then, she continued to speak.

"It's fine even if it means going up there and patting her! You won, anyway."

"Okay then..."

After Little Five urged Catherine on, the latter nodded with doubt. But soon after, she walked up to the Angel of Light, came to a standstill, stretched out her finger, and tapped the Angel of Light's forehead lightly. Unsure if it were due to the Angel of Light being too exhausted or because she was entirely speechless to the point of giving up on Catherine's ability to be immune to her own attacks, she didn't resist or dodge in the slightest.

"Don't do that again, okay?"

For some reason, Rhode felt that this move was the most deadly strike to the Angel of Light instead.

"———!"

And the moment Catherine's finger touched the other party's forehead, suddenly, the mental crystal once again burst out with a dazzling glow. Soon after, two halos within the crystal expanded and shrouded Catherine and the Angel of Light together. The radiance became brighter and shortly after, it enfolded everything in sight.

And when Rhode opened his eyes again, the rune that bound him and Little Five had vanished, while the mental crystal, too, was gone. In front of them, there were only the two Catherines who were suspended in midair. Soon, a glow between their bodies began to flow and then, both of them began to overlap each other.

In the end, they metamorphosed into the same person.

Upon looking at this scene, the corners of Rhode's mouth curled up slightly.

Looks like that's what the mental crystal is for.

[1] A learning procedure that involves pairing a stimulus with a conditioned response.