Chapter 207: Autumn Harvest Festival (4)

༺ Autumn Harvest Festival (4) ༻

Holy Burster Semi-open Impact.

It was a physically explosive attack only made possible by amplifying divine energy through prayers.

Whether it be knights or mages, all skills worked the same way - one had to refine their energy into skills or spells. However, it was slightly different for Estelle.

She was simply letting out a ridiculous amount of energy.

It was the same as blowing out a balloon until it exploded. It was a simple and rather wasteful use of energy, but it had its upsides.

Like instant casting spells, there was no visible sign of preparation which made it difficult for the opponent to react to.

"Aigo~. I feel bad for the people who had to build the arena."

Despite saying that, Estelle didn't feel apologetic in the slightest. Her confidence, bordering arrogance, was so potent that she didn't find anything wrong with half-destroying the arena.

"Hmm~. Is it over already?"

Even though it wasn't her strongest attack, it was still powerful enough to destroy half of the arena. It would be difficult for anyone to withstand an attack of this level unless they were a mage relying on barrier spells or knights with high resistance to magic.

Alicia Arden, however, was a classic example of an agile swordsman. She shouldn't possess any measures against an explosive frontal attack like that, however...

"..."

When the dust cleared away, Estelle found an armed swordsman standing within the remains of the half-destroyed arena, glaring her way with a sharp gaze. Despite taking on the attack head-on, she hadn't taken a single step.

Don't tell me... Did she offset the shockwave with just her sword?

Is that even possible? In that short period of time? Unless she's able to "stop time" or something...

"I see... So that's the 'Domain' thingy, huh? Interesting."

Despite there being countless personnel and warriors within the New Faith, there was still a widespread belief that such a realm of swordsmanship wasn't possible and that it was but a result of legends and exaggerated rumors.

Although Garrand Arden, the pinnacle of his generation, had been very famous for his use of the Domain, even that was in the distant past for many.

The Domain was well-known but only a few had ever witnessed it and... it was a realm that a saintess like Estelle had an even lesser chance of coming across.

"Hmm?"

Estelle was still in awe when Alicia closed the gap in the blink of an eye. Alicia then swung her sword horizontally as it went straight for Estelle's arms. And—

- Kang!

— It was blocked by Estelle's bare skin.

"H, how could normal skin..."

"I shall become an iron fortress stopping the enemy chariots."

A splendid light started to cover her body. The horrifyingly dense layer of divine energy was fundamentally different from the likes of aura and mana.

It was a demonstration of divine energy that even Korin Lork had only seen during the last moments of Erin Danua and Eochaid Bres.

After acquiring Undry, Estelle had gotten even closer to divinity. However, she didn't approach divinity as the Saintess... Instead, she started to become a divine being herself.

Only a few were able to sense the change in status that she had gone through. From those present, Erin Danua and Korin Lork, as well as the ones who possessed eyes that could see through anything, were the only ones.

"I, I thought you're a saintess..."

"Not anymore."

Estelle raised her club with a smile. The magic club of Dagda was a very fitting weapon for the Divinity of the Earth.

"Call me goddess, little human," she jested.

Alicia blocked the downward strike of the club with her sword, but she felt like she was up against a mountain crumbling down from above.

"Uguk...!?"

The magic club of Dagda was the heaviest weapon in existence, even 8 of the strongest Danann could barely carry it together.

Only the one with the Divinity of the Earth could control it at will by absorbing the aura of the Earth. It wasn't something that a mere human like Alicia could hold off against.

"Uguk...!"

She deflected it slightly to the side before being crushed to death as the club landed on the floor of the arena.

Kwaang!

The arena exploded beneath. Despite avoiding direct contact with the club, Alicia was bombarded by the pressure from the collision.

"Uhk...!"

"Your skills aren't too shabby."

Estelle sounded relaxed but her movements were like that of a lightning bolt. Her body reinforced with divine energy was at a level where she could apply tremendous pressure on Alicia with just the aftershock of her movements.

"Huu...!"

Alicia took a deep breath out and calmly fended off the bulldozer called Estelle. Her movements were fluent and elegant unlike the aggressive style put forth by Estelle. She had become very experienced through her countless duels against Korin on how to parry and deflect the opponent's attacks.

Whenever Estelle swung the club, she dodged and deflected it carefully before aiming at her thighs, stomach, chest, and neck.

Compared to the heavy club, Alicia's sword was much faster and landed on her vitals several times. However, Estelle didn't even flinch a little and tanked all of Alicia's attacks before continuing to march forward.

"Ugh...!"

Her opponent was not used to fights. She was just charging forward and relying on her overwhelming physical stats, and that reminded her of someone.

Heavenly Yaksha Hua Ran.

Hua Ran also had a ridiculous defense partnered up with her nigh-infinite supply of aura. Alicia had a feeling that she was up against Hua Ran.

But they're different. There has to be a limit.

Compared to Hua Ran, whose impenetrable defense was there as a passive, Estelle's was based on her "prayers" which was considered an active skill. In that case—

"Stop running away all the time...!"

Estelle focused a large amount of divine energy into her feet. She then stomped down on the arena, which made the floor - or what remained of the stage from the first attack - slightly float up from the impact.

"...!"

Alicia was flung into the air alongside the crumbled remains of the arena floor. Seeing that she was in the air with no footing, Estelle grabbed tightly onto her club.

It was over. The moment she landed, Estelle was ready to strike her intimidating club at Alicia.

"Huh?"

That was when Alicia vanished from her sight.

It wasn't as simple as acceleration. Estelle's eyes, after being reinforced with prayers, were able to pick up even the most minute of movements.

In the first place, how was anyone able to accelerate from the middle of the air with nothing to set ones foot on?

But the moment she perceived that Alicia had vanished, Estelle also noticed that she was right in front of her nose.

Is this Domain?

Domain was an extreme level of concentration that allowed one to take "an impossible step forward" inside a realm of suspended time. It did not obey the principles of time.

Korin Lork.

Erin Danua.

Garrand Arden.

Eochaid Bres.

Tates Valtazar.

These people were the prime examples of there being a sky above the sky - heaven above the heavens. They were able to take a full step forward within the Domain.

But Alicia Arden was different.

I thought you could only take a step inside the Domain?

That was what was commonly passed down to the people, however, the amount of distance Alicia covered was something one step could never accomplish.

Three steps.

Alicia Arden treads three steps.

Eyes of the Boundary.

She had innate gifts that allowed her to see through the Domain much better than anyone else. Added on top of that were her unparalleled talents that scoffed at those who had to countlessly push themselves to their limits.

Her unfair attack ignored the limitations of distance and—

Alicia Style: Thousand Blades— —Infinity. Exceeding the Domain

— It landed on the hems of the Saintess' outfit.

- Swish!

"Ehk..."

A foolish mutter escaped from her lips. She had exceeded the Domain while withstanding the pain of her body being shredded to pieces and yet her final attack with everything on the line ended up missing its target.

"Uhmm... This wasn't the plan."

Despite being caught off guard, her opponent made a dumbfoundingly foolish mistake which gave her the chance to fight back. Estelle's face, however, was stiffer than ever before.

She mumbled with her lips to complete a prayer as her club started to give off an extraordinary level of pressure.

It was so concentrated that Alicia's brain was ringing with alarm bells.

"W, wait. I, I give up—!"

Divine Energy Full Power — Bashing Everything

A ridiculously deafening barrage of attacks was thrown at the arena and at Alicia.

***

"Hiing..."

Alicia grumbled and growled in the medical room of the Tournament.

"Some moderateness would have been great," said Korin.

"I know right!"

"I'm talking about you."

Korin gave her a flick to the forehead which made her even more teary-eyed than before.

"I'm a patient, okay...!"

"Ehew..."

"...I wanted to give you the winner's prize though."

"That's not what's important right now, is it?"

Domain and Full Impact Burst.

Both had far exceeded what would normally come out in a simple event like the Tournament. Seeing the two of them fight each other to death in what was supposed to be a friendly event, Korin couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt.

"Anyway... I'm sorry. It's my fault."

It was his fault that the two of them had to fight each other with the prize on the line.

"Like, this is not even that overpowered of an item or anything."

He just wanted to get one of the prizes, and yet that innocent wish ended up causing the two girls to fight like it was a life-or-death situation.

"Hehe. I think it will hurt less if you blow on it."

"...Seriously."

Korin felt like giving her another flick but retracted his hand after seeing the coy smile on her face. He felt both apologetic and grateful.

"Why do you seem so happy after getting injured like this?"

"I don't know. I just feel... happy that I was able to do something for Mr. Korin."

"You are... seriously beyond saving."

Unable to find anything to say, he patted her head as Alicia returned a wide and unreserved smile.

"Mr. Korin. Can you tighten the bandages a little?"

Korin did as she said while Alicia lifted both of her arms in the air. He was wrapping it tight from the armpit to her chest but for some reason, there was a constant smile and a blush on her face from the start till the end.

"Mr. Korin~"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and locked her fingers. Nonchalantly with an innocent smile, she locked him up in her arms.

"Hehehe..."

"Why are you laughing?"

"Nothing."

Ever since her confession during the summer break, Alicia tended to occasionally reveal her feelings by being extra touchy. Unlike how she used to blush from a little bit of touch, she was being very expressive with her emotions.

"Getting hurt is not so bad once in a while, because I get to monopolize you like this. Hehe..."

"Don't say things like that. And don't think about getting hurt."

"Hehe. I tried my best, you know?"

"I know."

"If you do, then give me a kiss..."

"No."

"...No?"

"Yeah. I haven't made up my mind yet. I'll feel bad."

"Tch~. I'm fine with anything though."

Alicia did say that she didn't care and that she preferred a big family.

"I get you sisters have a slightly weird preference but... that's still not a correct thing to do."

"I think you should be a little bit more thick-skinned though, Mr. Korin."

"But I don't want to. And that's why there are a lot of things I have to keep in mind."

Being loved was an extremely joyous yet troubling thing.

Whether it be giving love, or choosing someone who would make everyone else sad... or even worse if something happened to him... He was worried about all those scenarios and couldn't answer any of their feelings.

However, he did feel very sorry for all of them.

"Sorry, but please wait for now."

He patted her head and tightened the bandages one last time. During that, he accidentally caught sight of her over-abundant chest and turned slightly red.

"Seriously. Kids these days."

"I'm not a kid anymore! I'll be an adult soon."

"I know," Korin replied while looking straight into her eyes.

Without being embarrassed in the slightest, Alicia looked straight back at him as Korin gave his honest compliment.

"You've gotten a lot stronger."

"Right?"

Alicia was much stronger than before.

Of course, she still had low self-esteem and wasn't very confident, but she was incomparably stronger than how she was at the start of her first year at the Academy, where she was bashed around by Korin due to her lacking foundations.

"It's all~ thanks to you, Mr. Korin."

Alicia had stayed with Korin the longest.

All the way from when she was miserably defeated in the Hunting Grounds, to when she was looking for an easy way out in fear of fighting others...

He had always been with her, protecting and believing in her.

"If not for you, I wouldn't have been able to look straight into the Domain, nor fight against Unni, or directly face my gifts."

The gift she was born with was simple. It was the talent of being bewitched by the sword and the act of cutting others.

It was a fearsome talent for Alicia to face, as a girl who had been wanting to be normal despite her gifts.

"I wouldn't have been able to do anything without you, Mr. Korin."

"That's not true."

Korin Lork knew how this girl would have faced her talents to become one of the heroes to save the world even without him. All he did was give her a gentle push from behind and show his trust.

"Hehe..."

Her eyes looked straight into his eyes. The deep feeling of love that he could sense from those eyes deepened his own feelings of gratitude and remorse.

***

It was the third night of the Harvest Festival.

While the entire continent was in deep sleep after an exciting day in hopes of having an even more exciting tomorrow, there were those who were indulged in their work regardless of the moon outside.

"Huu, huu..."

"I, is this it?"

In a laboratory located inside the Korin Guardians office, 35 mages were finalizing the stability test for the product that would be showcased during tomorrow's Magic Exhibition Contest.

Korin had assigned to them an extremely difficult job.

They could understand the concept - both the design and the fundamental concept were easy to grasp.

The problem, however, was how they would manifest it with current technology.

It had already been 3 weeks since he dropped the idea and irresponsibly told them to come up with a way to make it happen. The slave mages who were all from the greatest magic research facility of the continent brought their minds together and shared their thoughts.

That in itself was already a marvelous feat.

Even back when they were all affiliated with the Tower of Mages, no one wanted to share their secret ideas and plans with others - even disciples and masters kept their secrets to themselves.

It was an inefficient method but the mages of the Tower had been stuck to that method in order to lift their status in a world where monopoly of knowledge equaled power.

And yet 35 of those doctorates, the conservative mages that loved to monopolize knowledge, were surprisingly cooperative and open with sharing their secret skills.

As a result of the world's very first full-on cooperation of the seven cults of the Tower of Magic, they at last completed a wonderful result.

"T, then... let's do a test run."

Professor Zollin of the Red Cult, who was in charge of energy and heat control, nervously activated the product.

——!!!

It roared ferociously like a beast. Hearing that, the mages of the Tower hugged each other in joy.

"We did it!"

"We made it work!"

"Uhahaha! We actually did it!"

It was a joyous and touching moment. At the same time—

"We won't be chased out!"

"We don't have to go back to that hell!"

"Huhuhuk...!"

It was also joyous because their lifetime career had been secured.