Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Enigma Auction Scramble (6)
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Holy Power.
In other words, Holy Magic.
In fantasy worlds, it was the quintessential power that clerics borrowed from the gods.
But in the world of Fixers, it was a power known to have been completely lost.
The reason was simple.
The chief deity who provided the Holy Power had vanished along with the destruction of their world.
Ultimately, Holy Magic was a kind of spiritual transaction—receiving power in exchange for intense concentration and faith.
With the entity providing the power gone, the very concept of Holy Magic couldn't exist.
In fact, for decades after the metahumans crossed over to Earth, the surviving clerics had tried everything to revive Holy Power.
But all their efforts were said to have ended in vain, yielding no significant results.
*‘Thanks to that, only the undead and vampires thrived. Their worst natural enemies just disappeared on their own. Why else would vampires occupy two of the world's Seven Great Evils?’*
But let's remember that this world was based on a shonen manga.
A power that vanished with the world's destruction. What could be a more fascinating premise?
Naturally, Holy Power would be resurrected in the near future by a certain secret society.
Along with an Earth-born, artificial chief deity and a cult with tens, even hundreds of thousands of followers.
Of course, at this point in time, with the Metahuman Liberation Army on the rampage, they were probably still in the middle of gathering believers.
The artificial chief deity itself had already been completed years before the original story began.
Holy Power worked on the principle of gathering strength through people's faith and then distributing that collected power back to them.
As long as one had the aptitude, it was theoretically possible to borrow Holy Power even now.
Well, it was a stroke of luck that I remembered Holy Power, the weakness of the undead, at this moment.
*‘I don't know if it'll work, but I asked the Tesseract to change me into a version of myself from a worldline where I have the aptitude to use Holy Power….’*
Using Holy Magic was understandable.
After all, I had asked the Tesseract to change me into a body capable of it.
However, turning into a beastkin with ears and a tail was something I couldn't comprehend at all.
The Tesseract's ability wasn't the power to freely transform into any appearance I wanted.
The essence of the ability was to superimpose the potential of another worldline onto my present self.
To put it simply… it was like being able to become another version of myself from a parallel world.
I could become the Yuria from the distant future or the Yuria who fell out of bed this morning and hurt her arm.
But I couldn't become Yuria, Alice's younger sister, or Yuria, Raven's older sister.
Even if such a being existed in a parallel world, she wouldn't be Yuria in the first place.
But now, here I was, a version of "me" with the ears and tail of a cat!
Just where did my other-worldly self go so wrong to end up like this?
It made me wonder if I had misunderstood the Tesseract's ability.
*‘That aside, so this is how a beastkin experiences the world. For me, it might be a bit... overstimulating.’*
They say a cat's sense of smell is fifteen times more sensitive than a human's.
Perhaps that was why the space felt as if it were filled with all sorts of spices.
The all-too-familiar sweet scent of peaches and the sharp smell of blood that seemed to pierce the top of my head.
And the unpleasant, putrid smell of rotting corpses that grated on my nerves.
The olfactory stimuli felt like they were directly poking my brain, a sensation that was hard to get used to.
My new ears and tail kept twitching involuntarily, regardless of my will.
Hmm, so beastkin live their lives with these senses all the time?
Maybe I'm much more comfortable as a dull-sensed human.
*‘...Well, for now, dealing with the enemy in front of me is more important than such thoughts. The Tesseract's energy is limited. Every second counts.’*
Amidst the atmosphere of shock at the sudden appearance of Holy Magic, I calmly brought my hands together.
I had heard about how to use Holy Magic ad nauseam in the original story.
No calculations, no incantations; all that was needed was to pray to a god for the desired action.
As if responding to a trigger, a tremendously warm and powerful energy immediately filled my entire body.
Perhaps this feeling of omnipotence was Holy Power. Having never even felt mana before, it was incredibly unfamiliar.
It felt like someone was gently tickling my skin with their fingertips, and I almost let out a strange sound.
It seemed I still couldn't speak even after my transformation, so nothing actually came out.
"Verita! That thing is gathering Holy Power! We have to kill it now!"
"Right. It's a dangerous enemy. Must be eliminated immediately."
Was the act of gathering Holy Power so obvious from the outside?
The undead Vita sisters swung their attacks at me without hesitation, their strikes filled with killing intent.
Vita, the High Lich, shot out a Grasp of Decay that could instantly corrupt anything.
Verita, the Death Knight, charged with a terrifying momentum, sword raised as if to slice my entire body to pieces.
But even in the face of such a life-threatening situation, I wasn't too worried.
Because Alice and Tamamo, having grasped the situation, threw themselves in the way of the Vita sisters.
"...Tamamo! Get that girl, quickly!"
"Nyahaha! I'm already on it!"
It seemed they had instinctively realized that in this desperate crisis against a powerful foe, protecting me was the only way to overcome the situation.
Was it thanks to their life-risking efforts?
Vita's menacing magic was deflected by Tamamo's defensive spell, turning an innocent wall and ceiling to ash, while Verita's ghastly blade pierced Alice's shoulder, leaving countless marks on the floor.
In other words, this moment was free of any interference. A time just for me.
*‘I pray.’*
*Fwoosh!*
With a brilliant flash of light, feathers made of Holy Power scattered in all directions.
Was it because this was pure Holy Magic, capable of boring holes through an undead's body on mere contact?
Verita, who had been about to finish off Alice, clicked her tongue and retreated, while Vita prepared to threaten me with new Corpse Magic.
But just then, the feathers slowly descended upon the battered Tamamo and Alice, and an astonishing event occurred that turned the tables.
"Huh? This is...!"
"My wounds... they're healing?"
That's right. As the feathers seeped into the deeply wounded bodies of Alice and Tamamo, their injuries began to mend in an instant, as if time were being reversed!
It was a healing unique to Holy Magic, a restoration that turned the wound itself back to its former, undamaged state—a feat that healing magic based on regeneration could never replicate.
Was it because it was an unbelievable phenomenon, closer to a miracle than magic?
The ones whose wounds were healed, Alice and Tamamo themselves, were the most shocked, their eyes wide in disbelief.
But after a brief glance at me, what did they think?
The two, who had been barely staggering just moments ago, now stood tall, unlike before, blocking my path as they faced the Vita sisters and spoke.
"Nyahaha, giving us another chance, are you? I'd hate to disappoint!"
"Leave it to me. I'll make sure they don't lay a single finger on you!"
Childhood friends Alice and Tamamo, standing shoulder to shoulder against the enemy.
As a fan of the original story, it was a sight that made me absolutely giddy with romanticism.
Of course, my reason for using precious Holy Power to heal them wasn't solely for the romanticism.
The fundamental reason was a lack of total Holy Power.
Was it because there weren't enough believers yet? The power the artificial chief deity was providing was too weak.
With this amount, I would run out quickly fighting the Vita sisters, even with the type advantage.
Therefore, gathering my remaining Holy Power to heal these two was the best I could do right now.
With their condition restored, Alice and Tamamo would have a good chance of winning, even against the Vita sisters!
*‘Ah, I should give her this first.’*
I trotted over to the posturing Alice and poked her in the back with my finger.
When I changed my form earlier, I had given my usual fox mask to Sabrina and switched to a black half-mask I found on the floor.
Perhaps because of that, Alice's gaze was slightly different from how she usually looked at me, tinged with a bit of tension.
My overall height was different, I had ears on my head, and a tail.
She wouldn't possibly think I was Yuria. So this was probably natural.
"Ah, thanks for the healing. But it's dangerous, so please step back a bit..."
"...!"
"Oh, this is... a sword?"
I silently handed a sword made of Holy Power to her as she was telling me to step back.
Alice, despite her appearance, was a skilled swordswoman.
How frustrating must it have been for her to fight bare-handed without any weapon?
With a sword imbued with Holy Power, effective against the undead, she would surely gain the upper hand against the Death Knight. I'm counting on you, really.
What did she think upon seeing the sword I handed her with that intention?
Alice blinked blankly for a moment, then a confident smile spread across her face as she took the sword and said.
"Thanks! I'll protect you no matter what! Yu... No, miss!"
*Swoosh!*
Alice, lightly brandishing the pure white sword, looked at the Vita sisters with a serious expression.
If before she was filled with the resolve not to back down even if it cost her life, now she was filled with the determination to cut down her opponent and win!
I definitely preferred this Alice, full of confidence that she could win.
She's so cool. So admirable.
"There can't be any Holy Power left! It's a power that's already vanished!"
"Eliminate. And report to Lord Morte..."
Before I could even move away from Alice, the Vita sisters' attacks flew in.
The space decayed and collapsed, and the enemy closed in at a speed the eye couldn't follow, swinging her sword.
But the situation was different now.
Tamamo, the light back in her eyes, unleashed dozens of spells with a flick of her finger.
Alice, holding the white sword, didn't back down from Verita, skillfully deflecting her attacks.
And even when they switched opponents in a cross-over, the two moved fluidly without getting in each other's way, showcasing a combination that didn't fall behind the Vita sisters.
If that side had twin sisters, this side had precious, irreplaceable childhood friends.
The depth of their trust would never be outmatched!
"Dammit... These two are completely different from before! For a couple of insignificant creatures who were on the verge of death...!"
"The annoying swordsmanship combined with Holy Power is doubly annoying."
Surprisingly, as the exchanges continued, it was the Vita sisters, with their tireless bodies, who first showed signs of impatience.
It wasn't a strange outcome.
Physically, they could probably fight like this until sunrise.
But from what I'd heard, they were just a diversionary team meant to spread gas in the hotel and cause chaos.
Being held up like this must have been completely messing up their original plan.
Moreover, even when they used bizarre surprise attacks leveraging the characteristics of their dead bodies.
As I replenished their wounds and stamina with Holy Power as if refueling them, the situation turned in favor of Alice and Tamamo, who had begun to learn their patterns.
"Alice, now!"
"Haaaah!"
And finally, piercing an opening created by Tamamo's magic, Alice boldly dove into the enemy's formation.
In that moment, the coordination of the childhood friends, Alice and Tamamo, surpassed that of the Vita sisters, who complemented each other!
"Ugh...! D-Defensive magic...!"
"Sister!"
*Slice!*
Alice's blade, after deflecting Verita's attack with her shoulder, sliced the neck of Vita, the High Lich.
It was the moment the cherry-blossom-haired swordswoman finally seized victory with her own hands.