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Chapter 202 ~ Aika vs Clementine

“Fufu~ How cute~”

“Huh?”

The former member of Slane Theorcracy’s greatest elite force, holding the position of 9th seat within the Black Scripture, could not believe what she had just heard from the female magic caster who just stepped up to face her. 

Was she insane? 

A feeble magic caster… Voluntarily facing her, one on one?

“Hey darling~ This girl is pissing me off, so I’ll be playing with her~ It’ll be fine, right~?”

“...Sure.”

“Hold on a minute! Are you insane? Did you got some screws loose when you’re making your way here? Getting a magic caster to face me… If you want to dump your girlfriend, you can just say it instead of having her killed, you know?”

“...”

Clementine’s expression froze when she saw Yuuji stayed silent and Aika smiling at her in the distance. 

Crack!

Then, something inside her broke. 

While the draconic helm and fox’s mask obscured their eyes, Clementine could feel their belittling gazes at her. 

“Hah… Ahahaha~!!! Don’e be silly, you slut~! How could a measly little magic caster beat me? It’ll be over in two or three blows~! Just like how those proud magic casters all fall under my blade~!”

“Oh really~ Wow~ You must be so good with your little needle~”

“You…”

Clementine’s eyes narrowed, and for the first time, she had a look of annoyance on her face. 

“There’s only five people in this country who can give me a good fight. Gazef Stronoff. Gagaran of Blue Rose. Luisenburge Albelion of Red Drop. Brain unglaus. Also, the retired Vestia Croft Di Lofan, though none of them could beat me even if they went all-out. Not even I was without the magic items from my country.”

Clementine smiled at Aika. A disgusting mix of hatred, pride, violence, perversion, and anger of a smile.

“So slut, be grateful that I, Clementine-sama – one who’s left humanity behind and stepped into the realm of heroes – will carve you inside out personally and let you experience a living hell for daring to go against me–”

Time stopped. The world became silent. And the space, the very air seemed to have frozen over in an instant. 

Clementine, Khajit, and all the cultists could not move even a single strand of muscle. No, they were not allowed to move a muscle. They were not allowed to even tremble. 

All they could do was slowly, ever carefully, shift their eyeballs – which was the only thing they could move – and saw darkness. A pitch-black darkness, voided of all life and matter, except for the white gold warrior at its center. 

The Holy Knight, whose very appearance was meant to inspire hope, bravery, kindness, and heroism, could not appear more opposite to them. 

“What… Did you just say?”

Like thunder, his voice shook the very core of their minds and hearts. 

Yuuji had not cast any spell. Nor did he intend to emanate the immense pressure that seemed to stop time and freeze the world for them.

But in his rage at Clementine’s words, the aura he had carefully sealed and concealed, erupted. 

Not even Clementine, who was truly one of the beings in this world who had entered the realm of heroes, could bear the sheer intensity and “mass” of his presence. 

“Hubby, calm down.”

But just as suddenly, the pressure disappeared, as if it was but a dream. 

They all snapped out of their daze and wondered what had just happened… No, was it even real? 

Such a thing… It must’ve been their imagination, right?

They looked towards the white gold warrior, and saw the white-robed mage placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“Fufu~ You’re so protective of me, hubby~ I love it~ But, you need to calm down, okay? Her words mean nothing~”

“...Sorry. I lost myself a bit there.”

A heavy sigh escaped his lips. 

And as Clementine was trying to assess what just happened, she felt their gazes land on her. 

“!!!”

Like a prey eyed by a predator, the natural, primal instincts that were still embedded deep within the human psyche, her survival instinct immediately activated, screaming and begging for her to run. 

Run as quickly as she could. And ran as far, far away as she could. 

Her mind and logic hadn’t been able to process everything. And her pride stopped her from running away at a moment's notice. 

But in the end, her survival instincts broke through all her pride and logic, and forced her body to move. 

Her leg muscles tightened, and she made a dash instinctively. 

“[Stop].”

A calm, beautiful voice reverberated throughout the area, and Clementine stopped in her tracks.

She did not intend to stop. Her survival instinct was telling her to run. And her mind was now forcing her body to do the same thing upon understanding the sheer gravity of the danger she was in. 

Her whole body trembled. Every single muscle it needed to use for movement was flexing strongly so she could move. Even her jaw muscles were flexed, clenching her teeth as she tried her best to move. 

But she didn’t. She couldn’t. 

Clementine could immediately tell that it was magic. However… What sort of magic could possibly bind her to this extent?

Similar spells had been casted upon her during her escape from the scripture. However, not even that cold bitch’s ice (Infinite Magic) could stop her, much less the other spells casted by those lesser filth and that chain bastard (Divine Chain). Even if one successfully landed on her, her body’s natural resistance to magic that she had built over decades of battle would’ve nullified it. If not in a moment, a few moments after. 

But this… No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t even move an inch from her very spot. 

Khajit and his subordinates all watched with widened eyes as the beautiful, white-robed woman with a fox’s mask approached Clementine, before stopping a small distance away. 

“[Follow me. Let’s take this somewhere more private~]”

Aika walked away, and to their shock, Clementine followed…

“What… What the hell is she thinking…”

Khajit could not understand why the psychotic bitch would follow the words some chick told her. 

‘Is it magic…? No, that’s impossible. Although I hate to admit it, that woman has such a high resistance to magic that even I can’t affect her with my orb of death. It’s impossible…’

The notion that Clementine was compelled and forced to obey some random magic caster’s words was simply unbelievable to him. 

After all, even his “Charm Person”, a third tier spell, was broken by her after a few moments, and gave him multiple stab wounds that took quite a bit of death energy to recover from. 

So, the only reasonable explanation was that Clementine was, once again, playing with her food and simply followed her words for her sick little games, just as usual. 

‘Hah… How annoying. Well, I don’t care what she does, as long as she keeps helping me with what I need…’

Khajit shook his head. The thought of dealing with Clementine, on top of everything he was planning, simply gave him a headache he’d rather not have right now. He needed to focus on the ritual. 

He was so close… Ever so close now to realizing his dream…

‘A bit more… Just a bit more… I can finally become a lich…’

And the only thing standing before him and his goal he had worked and sacrificed so much for… were the adventurers before him. 

Khajit shook his head and focused on the holy knight, the fighter woman, and the robed magic caster. 

The fear he had felt that compelled his instincts to make him run had long been dismissed by the core member of the death cult, Zurrenorn. 

It must’ve been simply a spell that the robed man casted to instill them with fear. However, now that he was aware of it, he didn’t have anything to be afraid of. 

‘Now then… let’s clean up this trash…’

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

With clenched teeth and eyes spread wide open in denial, Clementine walked. 

She walked, following after the white-robed female magic caster.

It was not her intention to follow the vixen. But, her body kept moving, disregarding her own will and intentions. 

Even with her body’s resistance to magic and her defiance to the spell’s compulsion effect, she continued to walk as the clinking of two pairs of high heels against the ruined pavement and dirt echoed through the silent graveyard. 

Clementine dove through her knowledge about spells and artifacts in her mind that could compel her to such a degree. One possibility was the God artifact possessed by the old woman of the scripture. She had heard rumors that it was capable of mind controlling even dragon lords and put it under their control. 

However, it was impossible for a random magic caster like her to have such a thing. After all, even she was incapable of taking that artifact, as it was guarded by a monster beyond comparison. 

If not that… then she truly had no answer to her question. But it was only natural. After all, the spell Aika had used was something even Momonga, who knew the most spells in Yggdrasil, had no idea about previously, as it didn’t exist. 

[Whisper of Evil].

An exclusive skill of the “Empress of Evil”, allowing absolute domination over anyone below level 60 and causing fear, confusion, and anxiety to those below level 80, in addition to making all words she utter to be perceived as truth until proven otherwise, even if it went against her target’s belief. 

It was similar to, but much superior than “Command Mantra”, a skill possessed by Yuuji, Demiurge, and other archdevils which could only dominate beings under level 40 and nothing else. 

It was also not as absolute as Lelouch’s Geass, which gave him the absolute obedience of his target, regardless of level, if they do not possess an SSR ranked item capable of defending against mental attacks. 

After a while of walking, Aika arrived at an empty clearing within the graveyard. A few headstones, ruined and in disrepair, laid around them. There were only a few still standing, as most had already turned into rubble and mixed with the broken stone pavements and debris. 

She stopped and turned around. Clementine similarly stopped a few distance from her, just as Aika had willed. 

Just then, in the distance, golden light shone brightly from above, illuminating the night sky in its divine brilliance, before a loud rumble of explosion reverberated, shaking the air and earth. 

She smiled proudly and lovingly. And although his figure was no longer in her sight physically, she was still watching him through her Elemental Sight, and saw how cool he was while beating up the ugly half-dead old man and the skeletal dragon. 

Her eyes shifted back towards Clementine, who still stood still at the place she had ordered her to stop, unable to move a muscle without her express command. 

Her smile disappeared, and a cold disposition replaced her usual, sunny expression. 

Ever since coming to this world, Kiryuu Aika found herself capable of thinking with extreme clarity, even more so than when she received the “tremendous magic calculation area” as a support item and later reward from her mission in Tatsuya’s world. 

She was also capable of seeing through people with extreme ease now and expressed herself much more confidently and persuasively. Yuuji also observed the similar changes to himself, and they both suspected this to be the influence of their “character build”. 

For Aika in particular, it should be due to the [Empress of Evil] Job Class and [True Primordial Demoness] Racial Class. 

Such a sudden change in her disposition should’ve been alarming to experience as someone who was a regular high school girl just a few months ago. However, perhaps due to her experience with the mission and the mindset and maturity that came with it, Aika did fear it. 

Having it was never going to be a detriment to her. The only thing she feared before was the fact that she had become… a bit distant to her humanity. 

But even that was expelled due to Yuuji’s words. 

“I’ll be here to remind you.”

Those words of promise alone was enough for her to embrace this change without fearing losing her humanity. For he will be there to correct her if she ever strayed from the right path, just as she would for him. 

However… the woman before her. Given everything she has done and might do in the future, she shouldn’t deserve such humanity.

“You know, miss “former 9th seat of the Black Scripture”, you actually haven’t done anything to us, aside from kidnapping Nfirea.”

Clementine’s eyes widened in shock, and this time, her body tensed and froze even without the effects from Aika’s “Whisper of Evil”. 

Her past… How was she aware of it? How could she know she was a member of the Black Scripture? Knowledge of her position within the scripture and subsequent betrayal should not have been something anyone outside of the scriptures be aware of. 

Was she a part of the scripture? No… That’s impossible. She didn’t reek of those fanatics. 

But then… How was it possible? 

“That alone isn’t deserving enough for you to go through what I’m about to put you through. After all, it’s really a no biggie. But… your existence alone is a nuisance for us. So, it’s better for me to remove you before you get things messier later on~”

Her lips curled into a smile, one that did not reach her eyes… One that lacked the usual warmth and brightness Aika bring and shine upon with her beautiful smile. 

“So, I came to a compromise~! I’ll be giving you a chance! A chance to kill me. After all, I’m quite interested to see how much you could actually do to me~ But if you fail to impress me, I will kill you in the most horrible way possible. How about it~?”

Cold sweat dripped down Clementine’s forehead, down to her cheeks, and dropped down to the dirt and rocks beneath her. 

The primal fear she felt before… It wasn’t an illusion after all. 

These people… No, these monsters… They held power beyond anything she could even begin to comprehend. 

‘Run… I need to run…! Run as quickly as I can…!’

“Oh~ And you can forget about running~ [Hellfire Wall] [Dimensional Lock]”

A wall of jet-black flames, the flames of hell itself manifested in the world of the living, surrounding everything within Clementine’s range of view. 

There was no heat that she could feel physically. The temperature of the air around them did not increase. But instinctively, as someone who was still a part of the living, she knew instinctively… One touch on the flames of hell, and her soul is forfeit. 

As the jet-black flames appeared, the space around them seemed to twist and bend before returning back the next moment, as if nothing had changed. But now, the space around them was sealed. 

Any teleportation and transfer magic, in or out, cast by anyone but Aika and those she considers allies would be unusable. 

She had completely and utterly sealed the space around them with magic. And now, she would have no way of physically or magically running from her demise. 

“Alright~ Now, let’s start the fun. You can do anything, everything you can to impress me~ And remember, if you don’t… You’ll die a horrible death~”

Clementine slumped as she took a step forward, catching herself from falling as the effects of Aika’s “Whisper of Evil” disappeared. 

Her eyes, still widened in horror, looked at the white-robed vixen. This time, there was no mockery, ridicule, calculation, nor pride. 

Before a power beyond her comprehension, only fear, despair, and the desperation for survival remained. 

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!”

[Pace of the Wind] [Ability Boost] [Greater Ability Boost] [Greater Evasion]

Brandishing her stilettos, Clementine charged as a myriad of colors lit up around her body upon the activation of her greatest Martial Arts. 

She was no longer the deft warrior who dashed towards her opponent. She was a beast, a cornered beast charging at her predator in desperation for the final gamble of her life. 

Stab! Thrust! Stab! Stab! Thrust!

Heart. Head. Shoulder. Heart. Throat. In a mere fraction of a second, Clementine unleashed a barrage of stabs and thrusts of her stilettos towards Aika’s fatal points. 

However, none managed to even graze a part of her robe or mask. And even as she dodged, with seemingly no effort, Clementine noticed that her smile never left her face. 

“AAAAAAAHHH!!! DIE!!!!”

[Flow Acceleration]

In an instant, her speed exploded. Everything around her seemed to slow down as her martial arts temporarily accelerated the workings of her nervous system, allowing her to process information and move at increased speeds. 

‘I got you!!!’

She thrusted her stiletto right towards her throat. That white, smooth, lithe, unprotected throat. She knew, from experience of fighting against mages, that the throat was not only a lethal point, but also a crippling one. 

Without the ability to speak, a magic caster would not be able to chant. And without the ability to chant, they won’t be able to cast any spells. 

A magic caster incapable of casting spells would be no different than a dead person. 

But in that slowed world, just as the tip of her stiletto was about to pierce through her throat, Aika suddenly moved even faster. 

She felt hands gripping her arm, and her vision suddenly turned upside down as the dark, starry night sky appeared in her sight. 

[Invulnerable Fortress]

A live saving martial art, capable of blocking physical attacks from monsters beyond her comprehension. 

She had learned to instinctively activate it – without consciously making the decision to activate it – during a life and death situation. It has saved her plenty of times in the past. 

And this time, it had saved her once again, as the rocks and ground beneath her caved in. 

The impact of being thrown by Aika created a massive crater and spider cracks large enough that it was as if a building had fallen out of a sky and slammed down. 

“Oops~ That was a bit too hard, huh? But that was pretty good! You used [Invulnerable Fortress] right before you impacted! But, you can do more, right~? Come on, stand up~ You’re not done, right?”

Clementine slowly stood up in a daze… Her legs trembled. 

The damage that would’ve snapped her spine and pulverized her innards was nullified by her martial art. 

It was the fear… The trauma, and shock, that made her tremble like she had never been in her life. 

“AAAAAAHHHH!! DIE! PLEASE JUST DIEEEE!!!”

The warrior who had stepped into the realm of heroes was no longer there. 

She was simply a slightly above average beast, desperate, flailing around in fear of death.

Lightning. Fireball. Mind control. The three spells enchanted onto her stilettos that had stolen the souls of hundreds, were now cast without finding a target. 

It was inevitable. Even when she was focused on stabbing Aika, she could not even graze her. And now… wailing around in desperation as tears, snot, and drool drip down her eyes, nose, and mouth, she had no chance of even hitting her. 

“Hah… Alright, I guess this is enough…”

Aika caught the lightning clad stiletto with her left and the flaming stiletto with her right hand, and snapped them. 

“Eh…? GUUUFHHKK!!”

Then with a knee to the gut, she launched Aika into the air, before slamming her down into the ground. 

This time, having learned the extent of her strength through the first throw, she did not deepen the crater she had made. 

But without her [Invulnerable Fortress], Clementine felt the air forcefully ejected from her lungs as her entire body rocked from the impact. 

And before she could catch her breath, Aika stepped on her chest.

“Since you can’t impress me, I guess then it’s the hard way to go for you. A torturous death for you it is~!”

A pair of crimson and pink light shone through the slits that made up the fox’s eyes on Aika’s mask. 

And that was the last thing before Clementine fell into darkness…

[Nightmare]

A spell that puts a target to sleep, and allowed the caster to control what kind of nightmare their target experienced, causing a chance to inflict confusion, fear, insanity, and a smaller chance of instant death.

And as she had promised, she gave her a torturous death. Not physically. But mentally. 

In a matter of a few seconds, she would experience years of death, torture, and suffering, all in the hands of those she had killed, and relive the life of fear and anxiety as she was chased by the Black Scripture. 

And no matter how many times she fought back and ran, she would always be caught, tortured, and died. Over and over again. 

Not even death by her own hands would free her from this prison. 

Aika didn’t know how a level 100 player from Yggdrasil would deal with this “Empress of Evil” exclusive skill. She guessed that even if they could not fully resist it, they won’t suffer from the more annoying “insanity” debuff or suffer the instant death. 

But, either way, it was something that Clementine had no hope of achieving, as in a mere three seconds, light disappeared from her eyes and she moved no longer.