A Battle Beyond Boundaries
Because she mainly used golems during her classes, some students occasionally misunderstood. They thought Angelica's ability was simply controlling golems. It wasn't entirely a misconception. Golems were within the scope of her power, after all.
Her supernatural ability was officially registered as 'Rock.' However, that name was far too inadequate to describe her true power. Supernatural ability users are legally obligated to register the detailed specifications of their abilities with the state. At that time, it is up to the user themselves to decide the representative name of their power. Angelica had simply lumped everything together under the vague label of 'Rock.' It wasn't wrong, per se. It was just that 'Rock' was merely a fraction of her ability.
Dominion over the earth. That was the essence of her supernatural ability. Golems were nothing more than a single application of that power. Rock, sand, soil, mud, land. And going even further—magma, metal, and gravity. She could dominate any 'concept' that fell under the domain of the 'Earth.'
The mastery of a 'concept,' classified as a unique class even among the countless supernatural abilities. A 'high-tier ability' where a single supernatural power comprehensively encompassed other sub-abilities. Angelica's power hadn't been this overwhelming from the very beginning. Back when she was a student, her ability likely truly only controlled rocks, just as the name 'Rock' suggested. But now, things were different.
Angelica was a hero who had successfully sublimated her very existence. A realm that only an extremely small fraction of 'awakened' supernatural ability users could ever reach. An existence that had shattered the boundaries of her ability, stepped into a new domain, and drawn closer to the essence of supernatural power than anyone else. Angelica was one of those awakened.
Supernatural abilities were blessings bestowed upon humanity by the Four Seasons. The closer that power reached its absolute limit, the closer the user drew to the 'source of power.' In other words, Angelica—the homeroom teacher of Class 1-A and our mentor—was someone who was 'Close to God.'
When the parasol and the stone collided, an incongruous, screeching sound of metal scraping against metal rang out. The parasol attempted to deflect the stone spear at an angle and slide past, but a force as heavy as a great mountain pushed Astaroth back. For the first time, the masked girl took a step backward. Stepping off Lucia's body, she swung her parasol with violent force.
Three slashes unfolded in an instant. They tore through the boiling atmosphere heated by Frey's heat ray, whipping up an eerie, razor-sharp gale. But her goal was not achieved. The slashes meant to slice Angelica into three pieces were completely deflected by stone spikes erupting from the earth, and the parasol ended up wedged in the gap between the spikes.
"……Heh, close one."
A stone spear lunged toward Astaroth's solar plexus, which had been left wide open in an instant. Letting out a chuckle completely devoid of tension, Astaroth let go of her parasol and slapped the side of the stone spear with her bare hand. The force striking its side heavily deflected Angelica's thrust, causing it to graze harmlessly past Astaroth's flank.
……At least, that was what I deduced from the afterimages of what had transpired in that split second. To be more precise, it was closer to barely piecing together the opening moves of the battle. After that, I couldn't make out anything other than flashes of light and the shockwaves of flying slashes. It was so fast that my eyes could barely keep up.
Ugh, Lucia's body is getting torn apart just from the shockwaves! My leg! My leg just flew off! My arm too! I wonder if I'm going to get sliced in half at this rate. No, actually, getting sliced in half would be a relief. What if my body gets completely pulverized into a handful of bloody mush...? Will I have to regenerate a whole new body starting from just my head?
Fortunately, those worries proved to be unfounded. Whether Angelica didn't want her disciple's corpse (not really a corpse) to be damaged any further, or if it just naturally happened as they fought, the battlefield rapidly drifted away. Though the body of Lucia that Astaroth had been stepping on was left in tatters, it managed to maintain its overall shape.
She doesn't even have an acceleration ability like Leo, yet she's trading blows faster than him. How pitiful, Leo. The value of your ability's greatest strength is being utterly devalued. But that's okay. If she can move that fast without acceleration, it just means that you, who actually have acceleration, can become far faster than that in the future.
"Hey, look. I brought it over for now... but can you attach this?"
As the fierce battlefield of Angelica and Astaroth drifted away, the sweeping waves of destruction receded with them. Seizing that gap, Leo quickly ran over, carrying Lucia's body on his shoulders.
Eu-he, I was just thinking about you... I guess this is what they mean when they say speak of the devil. Leo's face was deathly pale. Nearly dying just moments ago was probably part of the reason, but the bigger reason was undoubtedly the horrific state of Lucia's body, which he had hastily carried over.
Not only was the head missing, but a leg and an arm had been severed, and the torso was torn open from the chest to the waist, exposing bone and organs. If he accidentally tripped and dropped it, her guts would probably spill right out.
"……No matter what state it's in, we have to try. Lucia, can you hear me? I'm going to attach it. Can you regenerate?"
Frey aligned and pressed my head onto the severed stump of my neck.
Mmh... Yes! It's attached! Dun-da-da-dun!
The moment my head and body reconnected, the pain from my body transformed entirely into electrical signals, piercing my brain. As much as I wanted to leisurely savor this exquisite agony, now was not the time to indulge in my personal hobbies.
Super Regeneration, full throttle! I unleashed my supernatural ability on a scale larger than ever before. Starting with my neck, which wasn't even fully fused yet, I began repairing the damage across my entire body.
Fortunately, Leo had been kind enough to bring over my severed limbs as well. Since Frey personally held them against the stumps, I was spared the trouble of having to grow entirely new limbs from scratch. I closed my eyes and focused my consciousness for a brief moment. When I opened my eyelids, I saw Frey's face staring intently down at me.
"Thank you. I survived thanks to you."
"Hmph, why don't you try being more careful? Aren't you throwing your body around way too recklessly just because you can regenerate?"
"He-he, I'll be careful. But... Aris? Did you cure your stuttering habit?"
"Ah."
I spoke while feigning ignorance, even though I knew everything. Frey's face stiffened. Cold sweat trickled down her forehead. Her lips parted slightly as her eyes darted back and forth. Was she looking for an excuse? Heh, alright. I'll stop teasing you. It's not the time for it anyway.
"Ah, more importantly! What about Ms. Angelica? How is the fight going?"
As I turned my head toward the battlefield and spoke, Leo replied with a deep furrow in his brow.
"She's fast. Unless I accelerate my perception, it's a struggle just to follow them with my eyes. I already knew our teacher was strong, but I never imagined she was this absurd... But they're evenly matched. Neither side is gaining the upper hand. Who on earth is that girl? Where did she come from? She looks about our age, but to be that strong..."
"Could she be a supernatural user from the Family? No... those guys are extreme supernatural supremacists. There's no way they'd attack other supernatural users..."
"Ah, shit, you scared me! Make some noise when you walk over, will you?"
Leo grumbled, glaring at Yujin, who had suddenly appeared without making a sound. Yujin's forehead was bruised a deep red, but considering he had been sent flying like a cannonball, he didn't seem to have sustained any major injuries. Still, it must have hurt, as he occasionally rubbed his forehead.
The 'Family' Yujin mentioned referred to a group of supernatural ability users who did not belong to any nation. Supernatural ability users were subject to conscription. Naturally, there were bound to be those who wished to avoid being drafted. And there were those who went beyond merely hating conscription, falling into fanatical ideologies. That was the Family—a terrorist organization also known as the Supernatural Liberation Front.
They were a bunch of lunatics consumed by extreme supremacy, spouting nonsense about how supernatural users were the rightful rulers of the world. Since Yujin didn't know Astaroth was a Main, he seemed to assume the girl in the Red Fox Mask was just another supernatural ability user.
Well, I had knowledge of the 'original novel,' so I knew she was an otherworldly entity in human form. But to Yujin and the others who lacked such knowledge, it was only natural to think that way. It wasn't that human-shaped monsters didn't exist, but monsters possessed a distinct aura. The moment you saw one, you could instinctively tell it was a monster. But Astaroth didn't have that. Since a Main could even control the Mental Pollution of monsters, she looked absolutely no different from a human on the outside.
"We have to help Ms. Angelica."
"Well, I'd love to do that too. But how exactly are we going to help her?"
Leo scoffed at Yujin's words. Indeed, everyone wasn't just standing around here for no reason. They had instinctively realized it. The moment they stepped into that devastating battlefield, they would be reduced to nothing but scraps of meat splattered across the ground. Half-baked interference would only get in the way. Even getting caught in the crossfire meant death. In the end, all we could do was stand here and suck our thumbs.
"Don't just stand there. Everyone, draw your weapons."
But our class president seemed to think otherwise. Arin placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, cold sweat dripping down her face as she spoke.
"A 'crisis' is coming soon. Everyone needs to protect themselves."
"Are you saying our teacher is going to lose?"
Yujin asked back. Arin narrowed her eyes, glaring toward the distant flashes of light. Objectively speaking... yes. The answer to Yujin's question was affirmative. Angelica could never defeat Astaroth.
She was in the upper echelon of heroes. Even as an awakened user and someone close to God, she was no match for a Main. Power inflation is always severe in growth-focused stories. In the beginning, they hype up a technique as a 'special skill that only an extremely select few can master!' but by the late game, it devolves into a basic attack that literally any random extra can use.
Dawn Swordsman was no exception. In the early to mid-stages, they packaged 'awakened users' as incredibly amazing existences close to God, but by the late stages, these supposedly 'extremely rare' awakened users started popping up one after another. It got so bad that you couldn't even participate in battles unless you were awakened.
Besides, the concept of awakening didn't even properly debut in the novel until around the second semester of the first year, during the battle against the seventh Magic Beast in history. Until then, it was only vaguely hand-waved as something that existed. Once the protagonist defeated the Magic Beast through his awakening, the next enemies to appear were the Mains.
You get it? It's exactly like how Goku became a Super Saiyan to defeat Frieza, only for the story to bring out Cell next. Because the protagonist grew and defeated a powerful foe, the author had to introduce an even stronger opponent just to keep the plot moving.
And right now, it's as if Cell has traveled back in time and shown up before Goku has even set foot on Planet Namek, let alone become a Super Saiyan. No, actually, it's worse than that. It's like Majin Buu has grabbed Goku by the collar at the exact moment he's about to fight Raditz, before Vegeta and the bald guy have even arrived on Earth.
Someone save me, please.