12
Chapter 12
Once the barrier was set, she frowned and scanned her surroundings.
The man who introduced himself as Reika and three hooded figures came into view.
Looking at them, she recalled the plan she had heard on her way here.
'Once the first method succeeds, you'll be alone in a different location.'
'I don't think I'm at a level where I can defeat everyone by myself, though.'
'Correct, you can't win alone. But while that place is the most dangerous, it's also the most useful. Once the barrier is deployed, everyone's positions get scrambled, leaving them lost and unaware of where anything is.'
'Are you saying there's something there that allows me to roughly figure out the layout?'
'Similar, but not quite. It's the center of the barrier. You still won't know what's where, but since every path connects back to it, if you get lost, you just go back to the start and try another way.'
'But you said the barrier is complex and that messing with it could cause a disaster.'
'True, but you're an exception. Specifically, thanks to the influence of your Stigma, you can move through it without any issues.'
'Wait, do you happen to know the identity of my Constellation?'
'I'll explain questions that aren't immediately necessary once this is over. So please, wait. Anyway, once you reach the center...'
The leader of the Order of Star Carving and his three subordinates were staring at her.
"Use the characteristics of the barrier to hold out as long as possible and find the space where the professors are isolated."
Recalling his words, she muttered to herself.
The condition for victory isn't defeating all of them.
Victory only counts if the students currently in danger are rescued. However, she couldn't save hundreds of freshmen on her own. That was why she was receiving help.
The person with blue embroidery on their hood spoke.
"Tsk, was the deployment a bit slow?"
'And it won't be as dangerous as you think; they have to keep the barrier stable.'
A barrier that must be maintained stably meant a constant drain of mana.
Since destroying the barrier would ruin their plan, they couldn't use attacks that were too powerful or wide-reaching.
The variable was that despite it being their barrier, they were less free to move than Estella.
They were bound by the immense sunk costs they had poured into executing this operation.
Out of sheer greed for their investment, they had to ensure the plan proceeded as closely as possible to the original design.
"Yor, don't be so irritable. I've heard this one is quite talented, but public reputation is always prone to exaggeration. Regardless, there's no way she can handle us alone."
A person with grey embroidery on their robe slowly stepped forward.
"She's just an arrogant prey driven into a corner."
"What are you talking about? Things won't go the way you think."
Estella snorted at those words.
The grey-embroidered man leaped in front of her in an instant and swung his hand.
'The grey one is named Pennil. He can't use magic, but he coats his body in mana for exceptional close-quarters combat. He doesn't use weapons, though. He's quite competitive, so he'll likely attack you first.'
Estella lightly blocked his incoming claws.
"You blocked that as if you knew exactly when I'd strike."
"Anyone who isn't an idiot can tell when someone's walking toward them radiating bloodlust. Oh, wait, you're all idiots, so you didn't realize?"
"You're a brat with a foul mouth."
"I don't see any reason to be polite to you people."
With those words, she leaped backward and vanished into the barrier.
"How did she..."
He was bewildered by the sight, but couldn't finish his sentence. It was because Estella's attack had already come from a different direction.
"Damn, you're tough. Is this even human skin?"
"You are impressive indeed. My name is Pennil. You're no mere prey."
He spoke while wiping the wound from his body.
"We need to wrap this up quickly; we have a script to follow."
From behind Pennil, a person wearing a robe with light blue embroidery stepped forward.
'The blue one is Yor; he covers short to mid-range with various weapons and simple magic. The light blue one is Hell, a pure mage. She's weak in close combat, but she sets trap magic around herself, so be careful not to get counterattacked while approaching.'
The three naturally formed a formation and began attacking Estella, while Reika, the leader of the Order of Star Carving, simply watched as if amused.
***
Their coordination was superb.
Unlike Lee Seo-ha and Quixote, who often got in each other's way, their teamwork was fluid and perfect.
They filled the interior of the barrier with a special spell to slow movements and obscure vision.
It was a strategy that could even blind their own allies, but having shared their vision, they navigated the spell with ease.
Then Pennil, with his superior physical abilities, engaged her, while Yor filled the gaps with magic and a variety of weapons.
In the chaos of the battle, Yor and Pennil might have been hit, but their movements and the spells raining from behind seemed well-practiced, cutting between them to strike her with precision.
Yet, attacking the mage in the rear was impossible due to the dense traps and the fierce assaults from the other two.
She constantly switched her weapons and strategies, but they countered every move with a variety of formations and tactics.
To be honest, the only reason she could hold her own was that their firepower was currently diminished and it was easy for her to secure safe zones through the barrier. With her superior adaptability, she mastered the environment before they could even cross over.
"Manageable... Yeah, right... My ass..."
Having crossed the barrier to secure a temporary safe zone, she gasped for air.
While she had managed to deal significant damage at first, their coordination eventually became enough to drive her into a corner.
"Still, I've checked most of the area."
She hoped to find it immediately, but she hadn't reached the desired space until nearly the very end. Or more accurately, the enemies had noticed by now.
They had realized her destination was where the professors were isolated and were blocking her path. They also realized she wasn't fighting with full knowledge of the barrier's structure.
She had to break through, even if it meant overextending herself.
Parts of the barrier dividing the sectors began to fade.
"Tsk, they're getting faster at opening the barrier to chase me."
Estella clicked her tongue.
"Don't you think it's time to end this game of hide-and-seek? Both you and we have wasted a lot of time. And regardless of your method, crossing the barrier doesn't seem to be free of cost."
It was true.
Given her original stamina, even against three opponents, she had focused primarily on evasion, so three hours of combat shouldn't have drained her this much.
Crossing the boundaries was consuming both her physical strength and mana.
"You're right, it's time to wrap this up."
She was bluffing.
"I doubt you'll just let me go, though."
She unleashed as much bloodlust as she could possibly muster.
The air grew heavy.
The tension peaked.
Sensing the change, a look of apprehension flickered across their faces.
The sound of her own heartbeat echoed in her ears.
What was this sound?
Was it the excitement of fighting the strong?
Was it the terror of being cornered?
Or was it the anxiety that her lie and act might be exposed?
Perhaps it was a mixture of all those things.
The others were exhausted, but not nearly as much as she was.
As the fight dragged on, the advantage shifted further toward her opponents.
"Tsk, if you had just run away, you might have kept your life."
Pennil spoke, loosening his wrists.
"Persuasion... I suppose she isn't the type to be swayed."
Hell deployed another special spell into the space.
Perhaps, as they said, she could survive if she just gave up and surrendered now, or used her ability to flee somewhere.
But she didn't want to.
'I don't feel right just receiving one-sided help from someone else; this isn't a favor, it's a deal. In the process of this operation, you will gain [something very useful].'
A favor and a deal.
Though they seem different, they are remarkably similar.
Both involve the expectation that the other party can provide what one desires.
I have always found the expectations of others burdensome. People hold expectations because they admire me. But if I fail to meet them, that admiration turns into disappointment in an instant.
That was why being expected of something felt like a weight.
Yet, the moment I actually met those expectations was absolutely exhilarating.
A contradictory heart that finds expectations burdensome yet still craves them. A heart that is human precisely because it is paradoxical.
I have lived with a thirst for a liquor I cannot quit, and the anxiety that follows until the day I do.
But his expectations were different from the others.
He didn't admire me or look up to me.
He saw me not as Estella the rising Divinity, but simply as Estella the friend.
That expectation wouldn't turn into disappointment even if I failed. He was the kind of guy who, even if he found out I survived by running away, would apologize instead of being disappointed.
He had agonized as much as possible while planning the operation together.
Unlike others who simply dreamt of success and left everything to me, he agonized over how to turn the worst into the lesser evil, the lesser evil into the better, and the better into the best.
'If you stay in one place too long, the magic will only grow stronger. You must keep moving.'
'If we link the attacks like this, blocking and dodging...'
'No. How about this instead?'
He lacked confidence in his own plan, striving to pinpoint my abilities as accurately as possible to beat the slim odds. While his overarching goal was to save everyone, he focused every detail on ensuring I wouldn't get hurt.
Yes, even as he mapped out the strategy, he was worrying about me.
Ha.
Thinking about it now, it's actually irritating.
He's the one who's pathetic and weak, yet he's the one worrying about me.
Can this body even follow my commands properly right now?
I pull a new weapon from my clothes.
My body screams in protest, as if shouting that it's impossible.
But it moved.
That's all that matters.
Pennil charges toward me with terrifying speed.
I hurl the spear I was holding at the incoming enemy. He swerves violently to avoid it.
Then, I block Yor's sword, which strikes from my blind spot, with the newly drawn dagger. Immediately after, I push back to create distance.
I listen.
I hear the sound that always reaches me.
I focus on the noise pulsing between the beats of my heart. I hear three distinct killing intents. One is from Yor, right in front of me.
I quickly throw the dagger toward the sound coming from afar. Then, I draw a halberd to block Pennil's assault from the side.
An explosion echoes from the direction I threw the dagger. It seems I succeeded in shooting down the spell aimed at me.
Yor, who had kept his distance, also launches a spell. I deploy a defensive barrier. Because I cast it in haste, it can't block the attack completely.
So, I force the trajectory to shift. The spell aimed at my shoulder twists grotesquely and flies toward my head. I tilt my head to dodge it.
That spell strikes Pennil instead.
A momentary opening.
I don't let that gap slip away.
I swing the halberd's axe blade toward his abdomen.
Crunch—
He blocked it with his bare hand, but the axe blade pierced through his palm and embedded itself deep into his wrist joint.
I tried to retrieve the halberd immediately... retrieve it...
My vision is blurry. Even things right in front of me are a haze. It's not the effect of magic. It's the limit of my stamina.
I've used every bit of my strength.
The strength leaves my arms, and my vision goes black.
But I feel something warm spreading through my body via my back.
A deal.
In that moment, I could understand the words from then.
This must be the [something very useful] he mentioned.
It's a sensation I've never felt before, but I've heard enough stories about it.
Star Radiance.
A possibility that anyone with a Stigma might possess.
A unique ability hidden within the Stigma. An ability usable once the conditions set by the Constellations are met.
The most famous example is the Immortal Lumiere's Beloved by the World. An ability where nothing could harm him.
Those who have awakened Star Radiance are consistent.
They say they instinctively know what it is, though they don't know why.
Suddenly, a familiar way of using it comes to mind, as if I've used it since long ago.
I followed that instinct and gathered the power flowing from the Stigma.
"Kingdom"
A reddish-brown light erupts, creating a domain.
That light paints over the barriers that had divided the area with lines here and there.
What surged forth was not mana.
She no longer had enough mana left to discharge it on such a scale.
It was starlight.
It wasn't mine, but I was simply using one of the lights that illuminate me.
I felt my senses expanding.
This entire space became familiar, as if it were my own domain.
Estella raised her weapon once more and swung it through the air.
But that space was no longer just empty air.
Standing before her was not a void, but a woman in a light blue embroidered robe. Hell.
Hell hastily deployed a defensive spell, but Estella's strike shattered the unstable magic and sprayed blood.
Then, the surrounding trap spells triggered and exploded.
Smoke billowed from the blasts, but Estella was no longer within it.
She had instantaneously reappeared at her original position.
"Was that a bit too shallow?"
Estella muttered to herself and adjusted her grip on her weapon.
"She's absolutely relentless."
"Though it doesn't seem like she's actually recovered."
They lunged at her again. The moment Estella vanished from sight, they found themselves blocking attacks aimed at one another.
But the tide of battle was no longer as one-sided as before.
There were constant swings of weapons, yet they never seemed to end.
Even when one attack was blocked, another followed before they could react.
As they blocked, Estella would vanish, only to strike again.
A hammer to the head.
A rapier to the solar plexus.
An axe to the ribs.
A sword to the brow.
A spear to the shoulder.
A dagger to the eye.
The ring of metal echoed without a single pause.
As if it were impossible to block everything, wounds began to accumulate on their bodies.
"Why don't you stop this childish display?"
"The talk of a rising Divinity certainly isn't a lie."
They panted, looking at her with sheer exhaustion. Yet, they remained confident. They knew her previous assault was a final, desperate struggle. They knew she couldn't possibly take them down. Her stamina was depleted. To perform such feats in her state was nothing short of a miracle.
They spoke to Estella, who could now barely remain standing.
"If you'd used this power from the start, it might have been different, but it's too late. Still, I pay my respects to a warrior's soul that can shine this brightly. You truly are a genius."
They walked toward her slowly, as if to claim her life.
However.
"Right, I can't defeat you in my current state."
They were blinded.
Blindingly brilliant starlight, painful to the eyes, caused them to momentarily forget everything and stare in mindless awe.
"Did you forget that wasn't my goal?"
This was the center.
Her expanding domain.
Pennil noticed and lunged, but a powerful repulsion—as if a new rule had been established in this area—made it difficult to approach.
And soon after.
Every sector was connected through the center of her Kingdom.
Through the connected pathways, they emerged.
The blockage forcibly maintained by the Immortal burst open.
The head of the man with grey embroidery, who had been rushing Estella, was slammed humiliatingly into the ground.
The woman in the light blue robe, who was preparing a spell after recovering, was impaled through the chest by a massive spear.
The man in blue, who had already deployed a shield sensing the danger, saw his barrier shatter as his arm exploded.
"Student!! Hang in there, I'll treat you right away!"
Someone caught her just as she began to collapse. She felt the bleeding stop and her broken bones mend in her fading body.
"The other students..."
"Don't worry. We'll save them all. It might sound unreliable since I needed a student's help just to get out of here, but... Good work, student."
Hearing those words, Estella closed her eyes.