Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 226
Chapter Title: The Might of the Second-Years
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Charlotte was strong.
It was a fact everyone knew.
And now, one person who had just rediscovered that truth firsthand was standing before her once again.
A girl with red hair and healthy skin.
Karanthis Poseidon.
Her legs trembled like aspen leaves.
She had already blocked Charlotte's sword and rolled across the ground more than ten times.
Thanks to that, her body was a complete mess.
"Hah... hah."
She exhaled ragged breaths and laboriously lifted her head.
Then she saw Charlotte clashing with a man.
He was someone from the elite class who kept a low profile and avoided mingling with others.
Arthur Gramalte.
Though he hadn't stood out much even in the elite class, he was performing beyond expectations right now.
He was facing Charlotte's sword head-on, after all.
His swordplay was quite peculiar.
His blade, cloaked in light, was destructive at times, swift at others, and incredibly flexible when it needed to be.
As if he had lived countless lives in different ways.
The various techniques and insights embedded in his body felt strangely distinct from one another.
Yet the end result—Arthur Gramalte himself—was exceptional.
Karanthis had never imagined anyone could stand up to Charlotte face-to-face.
Maybe, just maybe, with Arthur's help, they had a shot.
Clang!
She was catching her breath with that thought in mind.
The light surrounding Arthur's sword as it clashed with Charlotte's scattered in an instant.
Arthur pulled back sharply, letting his sword hang low.
"Output..."
He wrapped his opposite arm around the one gripping his sword, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Arthur!"
Seizing the opening, Charlotte lunged straight at him.
Karanthis threw herself between them in a panic.
Creeeak!
A shield of water shattered against Charlotte's sword.
But thankfully, it stopped her blade from reaching Arthur.
From behind Karanthis's watery shield, Arthur gathered light around his sword once more and thrust it at Charlotte.
It was a clever use of the obscured vision.
But Charlotte blocked it effortlessly.
'Now!'
Judging this her chance while Charlotte parried Arthur's strike, Karanthis hurled herself at her.
But the whirlwind of sword winds flung her body away.
Even against multiple opponents, Charlotte showed no lapse in vigilance.
Karanthis bit her lip hard.
Who ever heard of a monster this unfair?
"...I owe you one."
In that moment, Arthur's voice reached her ears.
He had always looked at Karanthis with disinterested eyes, but today was different.
"What are you talking about? If you go down, I'm done for alone!"
And Karanthis replied with bright, spirited energy.
"I have to do everything I can."
She relied solely on her durability, charging at Charlotte without any fancy tricks.
She knew full well she was no different than a wild boar from Charlotte's perspective.
Without Arthur, she would've been out long ago.
So she stuck faithfully to her role.
"If your output's unstable, I'll buy you time."
Everyone had a part to play, after all.
Even a wild boar could buy a single second.
"Ramming's my specialty."
In love or in battle.
Crashing headfirst was what suited her best.
Arthur's eyes flicked toward her for the briefest moment.
"So that's the kind of person you are."
Arthur murmured quietly to himself.
Hearing it, Karanthis shouted boldly.
"Yeah, that's me! So let's get to know each other better from now on!"
He was a distant figure even in the elite class.
She was calling out, hoping to bond while they were at it.
"I've given you plenty of time to chat."
And with that, Charlotte approached them again.
Arthur shifted his gaze from Karanthis to her.
"...Krash's influence, huh."
He murmured once more, and his sword began glowing with light again.
This time, it shone even more fiercely than before.
That was when it happened.
Charlotte's advancing foot came to an abrupt halt.
She suddenly looked up, staring silently at the sky.
Rumble!
In that instant, the entire mountain shook violently, as if struck by an earthquake.
Karanthis hurriedly steadied herself in surprise.
And soon, she pinpointed the source of the vibrations.
It was none other than the sky itself.
The direction she had looked.
There floated a massive fireball large enough to engulf the entire forest.
It was absurdly huge, reminiscent of the sun.
Karanthis's eyes widened in shock.
Her face burned from the heat pouring from that miniature sun.
And she realized who was behind it.
7th Circle Magic Parva Sol
⟨ Parva Sol ⟩
Such a spell had formed silently in the sky overhead.
'Haring's doing.'
Karanthis realized who had enabled Aslan to complete that spell.
Haring had concealed him with Invisibility until Parva Sol was ready.
The moment she figured it out, Arthur brushed past her.
"Arthur?!"
Arthur dashed forward at high speed, thrusting his sword at Charlotte as she looked up at the sky.
Clang!
The incoming sword wind blocked his strike.
But Arthur pressed on, undeterred by it.
Charlotte tilted her head sideways.
Despite the wounds it left on him, Arthur had broken through the sword winds.
"Looks like you're planning to pin me down."
They intended to keep her from escaping until Parva Sol descended.
No matter how strong Charlotte was, she couldn't emerge unscathed from that.
"Ah!"
Realizing this, Karanthis followed belatedly.
She, too, was determined to tie Charlotte down alongside Arthur.
The moment Parva Sol began its descent, Arthur and Karanthis unleashed a fierce barrage.
Boom! Clang! Kaboom!
Each swing of Charlotte's sword added to their injuries.
Yet Karanthis gritted her teeth and clung to Charlotte desperately.
Her body had already rolled across the dirt countless times.
Knowing her limit was near, she stuck to Charlotte like glue.
If only to bind her movements for a single instant.
Karanthis threw her body into the fray.
And Arthur was no different.
He wielded his blade of light with relentless tenacity.
"That's some unusual swordsmanship."
Even Charlotte realized it was hard to shake off Arthur's sword.
His light blade kept ensnaring her.
Like an antlion pit, constantly drawing her inward.
Charlotte's silver-blue hair whipped through the air.
'It really is pulling me in.'
His sword of light was genuinely dragging her closer.
It felt like another wind swirling around him.
As if he were the center of the world.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Meanwhile, Parva Sol had closed in right above their heads.
Their clothes and hair whipped wildly in its gravitational pull.
"You'll get caught in it too."
Charlotte warned Arthur.
He would be engulfed along with her at this rate.
But he replied with an inscrutable expression.
"No, I won't."
There was conviction in his words.
She didn't know where it came from.
But Charlotte agreed.
"You're right."
"Raaagh!"
Karanthis charged with a guttural roar, only to take a sword flat to the face and tumble across the ground.
Her battered form rolling in the dirt was pitiful to behold.
That was when it happened.
The air around them shifted in an instant.
The flows of energy rushing toward Arthur suddenly veered toward Charlotte.
All ambient noise vanished in that split second.
Birdsong, insect chirps.
The rustle of foliage.
Even the sound of gravel skittering in the wind.
Everything fell silent.
In that hollow space, Charlotte's silver-blue hair drifted slowly.
The blue aura cloaking her sword silenced all who beheld it.
It was that overwhelming.
Charlotte's sword rose slowly toward the sky.
Those watching could do nothing.
It was already decided.
The moment her extended blade touched the heavens...
The sky began to move once more.
Heavenless Sole Sovereign Ultimate Art Flowing Heaven
⟨ Flowing Heaven ⟩
And the sight that unfolded was utterly absurd.
The center of the 7th Circle spell Parva Sol was hollow.
The blazing inferno that had seemed ready to burst moments ago was shattered by a single swing of Charlotte's sword.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Parva Sol lost its core and scattered, splitting apart.
Beneath the whirlwind of embers from its collapse.
Charlotte drew her usual faint smile, showing what a true powerhouse looked like.
It was eerie, yet somehow noble.
And that smile wasn't from safely destroying Parva Sol.
Inside the shattered Parva Sol.
Aslan plummeted from the sky, hands crossed palms-up, forming a new sphere of flame—even greater than before.
Just as Charlotte hadn't lost her will gazing at Parva Sol.
Aslan hadn't faltered at its destruction either.
He was simply preparing the next move.
And the one after that.
"Just like Krash's friend."
As she said it, Arthur's sword of light swung at her side.
Charlotte casually tilted her head to dodge, continuing.
"And you seem to know something oddly specific about Krash too."
Her leg whipped out suddenly, slamming into Arthur's side.
Unable to evade, he crumpled and rolled across the ground.
In that instant, Charlotte realized something had bound her leg.
A cord of light.
Arthur had woven it around her leg just before contact.
Thud!
Suddenly, it felt like an iron weight hung from the end of the light cord.
The connected sword of light had plunged deep into the earth.
As she moved to sever it with her sword.
Twitch—
Reflexively, she twisted her head and slashed left.
Splat!
Haring, emerging from her left despite Invisibility, grimaced fiercely.
'I was using Invisibility.'
Yet Charlotte not only dodged the dagger but struck Haring's wrist with her sword's hilt mid-motion.
That blow told Haring her right wrist bone was crushed.
Tendons on the verge of snapping.
Before it fully severed, Haring gripped the dagger reverse-handed by force.
She thrust out her left arm.
Her left hand clasped her right, which held the dagger.
Then Haring poured all her arm's strength into stabbing down.
"Hmph."
Charlotte hadn't expected a follow-up from the broken right hand.
A beat late, she blocked the dagger with her sword.
Whoosh!
The poison-laced chill from Haring's dagger seeped into Charlotte's blade.
The moment Charlotte's eyes widened faintly.
Fwoosh!
Aslan, falling from the sky, unleashed his condensed white-hot orb.
The white heat ray shot straight at Charlotte.
Smaller in size, but its power surpassed Parva Sol.
In this desperate pinch.
Charlotte wrapped her free hand around Haring's throat.
Bam!
And slammed her into the ground.
"Gahk!"
Haring's consciousness faded instantly, without a chance to react.
Meanwhile, scorching heat closed in on Charlotte from above.
Aura flared anew along her sword.
Her blade curved in a flash, intercepting Aslan's white-hot orb.
Ziiiiing!
So sharp was the edge of her aura.
Aslan's white-hot orb split cleanly in two.
Its heat rays scorched the ground, melting it and sending up acrid smoke.
But it didn't stop at the earth.
Charlotte's sword, frozen by poison moments ago, began melting under the orb's heat.
No matter Charlotte's aura, fully blocking such power without transferring shock to the blade was impossible.
The result.
Crack!
Cracks spiderwebbed across her sword.
Her aura held, but the blade itself couldn't endure.
The instant she noticed, she altered its trajectory.
Suddenly, Haring's dagger was in her grasp.
"What?!"
By the time Aslan realized and conjured a defensive spell, it was too late.
The dagger, flung like a shot, was already at his nose.
Shatter!
Piercing his barrier, it buried deep in his side.
The force sent Aslan soaring into the distant forest.
The situation resolved in a blink.
The forest fell quiet once more.
Charlotte stood tall, unscathed.
Arthur lay collapsed after tethering the light cord, showing no sign of stirring.
Haring was buried headfirst in the earth, consciousness fully severed.
Aslan, wounded in the side and crashed far away, could no longer move.
"Hoo."
A breath escaped Charlotte's lips.
Crack!
Her sword split further.
Shatter!
And completely broke into fragments.
She stared blankly at the empty hilt.
Since arriving at Raheln Academy, she had never once lost a sword.
Today was the first time one of hers had shattered.
The desperate might of the second-years.
"Wonder who they take after in a fight."
Their style reminded her of someone, narrowing her eyes briefly.
Something bumped lightly against her back.
Battle-heightened, she had sensed the presence a moment late and turned.
There stood Karanthis, battered beyond belief.
She was in a punching stance, breathing raggedly.
Her fist held no power.
She had merely extended her arm.
That was all.
Karanthis could barely stand, let alone act.
Even Charlotte hadn't sensed her presence for that instant.
She posed no threat whatsoever.
Yet Karanthis's fist reached Charlotte.
The first attack to land on her, and Charlotte blinked as Karanthis collapsed.
All second-years retired.
"Hm."
With a short hum, Charlotte glanced around and curled her lip.
"Not bad for my little underclassmen friends."
Her highest praise.