Chapter 56
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Superhuman
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Even after that, Elcia didn't stop.
She flicked the iron balls remaining in her pocket one by one with her thumb.
In place, gripping them tightly, and then swinging her arm wide to hurl them forth.
A motion that would be like a human throwing a shot put.
The moment the iron ball left her hand, a sound ripping through the air echoed across the entire dueling arena.
Kieeeing—!
A few servants in the stands instinctively covered their ears, and even the elf soldiers winced for a moment.
But Aira caught it all with a single palm.
Flicking it away, flicking again, then snatching it mid-air—
Thwack!
She sent the iron ball right back.
Boom!
The ground rumbled.
"N-No way…!"
"That's… Aira?"
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
Of course, Aira was a high elf who had inherited almost none of the elves' traits.
No Hero of the Bow bloodline, no unerring mana.
So the iron balls Elcia threw were just objects flying at high speed, without any mana enhancement.
The problem was the one catching them.
"What… is this power?"
Elcia reflexively rolled her body aside.
And in the next instant.
The spot where she had just been standing, the dueling arena wall behind it, cracked massively and collapsed inward.
Not like a wall crumbling, but as if the ground itself had been gouged out.
This wasn't a force explainable by a single iron ball.
If she had to compare it, it was like the top-tier mana-enhanced cannon humans could deploy.
And even that would require a direct hit from the front to produce such power.
To replicate that with an iron ball—not even a proper shell—and with personal strength alone?
"Final piece of advice."
Aira's voice rang out again.
"Make a bow."
Thump.
Her heart pounded a beat late.
It was strange.
No, she didn't want to admit it.
Just moments ago, she had judged Aira's attack dangerous and rolled away.
She, the future queen of the elf kingdom.
She, the vessel to awaken as the Hero of the Bow, had instinctively bowed her head before that worthless girl.
And now, she was looking up at that child.
It was incomprehensible.
No, it shouldn't be comprehensible.
Her heart was beating even faster now.
She knew this sensation.
It wasn't fear. Nor excitement.
It was what she felt once before, facing that being who could have single-handedly crushed the elf kingdom but passed them by as if they were filth.
The thrill permitted only before the strong.
But—why.
Why was she feeling that toward this child?
It was humiliating.
Despairing.
But she couldn't submit.
"…Indeed."
Elcia ground her teeth.
"You've gotten stronger. In that short time, you've become somewhat useful."
Rumble—
Mana surged up, shaking the ground.
"But."
Her eyes sharpened once more.
"That doesn't mean you're on the same level as me."
The earth rumbled lowly.
Elcia gathered her scattered breath in one sharp intake and rose to her feet.
Then, she slowly raised one hand toward the sky.
In that moment.
The first to react was King Erdas of the elf kingdom, seated in the front row of the stands.
"Stop this, Elcia!"
His voice cracked.
"Are you trying to kill Aira?!"
Belcia and Celcia stood almost simultaneously.
"Sister… the bow?"
"Against that child…?"
Those words couldn't continue to the end.
Because they all knew what it meant for Elcia to draw her bow.
Meanwhile, in the Argent side stands.
The heirs exchanged glances, unable to comprehend what was happening.
And then.
"Hoo."
A low, intrigued exclamation escaped.
Agram Argent, seated in the best spot next to Erdas, twisted his lips into a smile.
"So that's… the Hero of the Bow I've only heard about."
His gaze turned beyond the arena.
To the boy standing quietly at the entrance as a Proxy Blood Fate participant, behind Aira.
"I don't know how you created such a being…."
Agram slowly nodded.
"But for now, I'll watch. Show me, Lucas Argent. The prestige of the Argent Family."
Right then—
Drip.
As if the world's film had frozen on a single frame, all sounds cut off.
Breathing, wind, even heartbeats.
It was suddenly in Elcia's hand.
A form woven from threads of pure white silk drawn from nature itself, strand by strand.
A being too sacred to call a mere bow.
As it appeared, all the elves, including Erdas, instinctively held their breath.
As if standing before a god.
And that beauty wasn't exclusive to elves; even the watching humans were struck speechless.
After the first Hero of the Bow.
A phenomenon permitted only to high elves who fully awakened the hero's power.
The sacred treasure of the elf kingdom.
Artemis (Ἄρτεμις).
⟨ Artemis ⟩
"Consider it an honor."
The halted world resumed as if nothing had happened.
Elcia spoke.
"Even the thieves who invaded the elves' forest were not granted the honorable death of falling to this bow."
Her gaze pierced Aira.
"To take Artemis into your eyes—that alone is an honor irreplaceable for any elf."
At the same time, the bow, serene as a work of art, finally moved.
The string, which seemed eternal in its form, was slowly, surely drawn back.
But.
"…No arrow?"
Nothing rested on the string.
A bow was a weapon for shooting arrows.
From the front, at point-blank range with no place to hide, no arrow meant a clear opening.
So Aira aimed to exploit that gap.
But.
"Foolish child."
There was no tremor in Elcia's voice.
"Do you think mere objects can withstand the power of the Hero of the Bow?"
She drew the string further.
"The air permeating everywhere in this world. The mana infused within it. That itself—is my 'arrow'."
Twang.
The string released.
The sound was brief.
But in the next moment.
Blood burst from Aira's side, along with the trace of something brushing past.
"Guh…!"
Pain surged belatedly.
And it took less than a second to cough up blood.
The defective princess, who had seemed to hold her own until just now, collapsed to the ground, bleeding.
The stands fell silent.
Faces unable to grasp what had happened.
A stillness where even breathing vanished.
Then.
Clap.
Clap, clap.
Applause rang out.
"…King Erdas?"
The king, who had shouted in fury moments ago, now slowly clapped as if satisfied.
As if on his cue, elf soldiers began applauding one by one, and even the hesitant Argent side joined in, swept up in the mood.
The arena filled with cheers for Elcia, under the premise that victory had tilted her way.
"Well done, Elcia."
Erdas's voice brimmed with certainty.
"At first, I thought it foolish, but to disable her just enough without killing her through minute bowstring adjustment."
He nodded.
"Truly worthy to succeed me."
"Ah… so that's what it was, Father."
"Amazing! As expected of Sister! Elcia's the best!"
Belcia and Celcia's faces held no doubt.
The scene in their eyes was clear.
Aira, awakened only a month ago.
But her power was still immature, and against another high elf, there were clear limits even when going easy.
So Elcia, as the elder sister and future queen, drew Artemis to show the difference in skill.
Pretending anger to heighten tension, precisely disabling without hitting vitals.
And that was the end.
That was everyone's judgment.
So no one noticed.
"…How on earth?"
The cold sweat beading on Elcia's face, the supposed victor.
It was no face of triumph.
"She… dodged it?"
Erdas's mutter slipped out lowly.
Ridiculous.
Adjusted my power not to kill? Intentionally tried to disable her?
Those were words only from those who hadn't wielded Artemis themselves.
No high elf who fully awakened this power—except the first hero—could make such fine adjustments.
Not even Elcia herself, hailed as the greatest genius in high elf history.
This bow was simple.
It sees.
And it hits.
That was all.
Elcia had clearly aimed to kill, targeting Aira's heart.
Without an arrow.
With the invisible mana itself.
A hundred-percent accurate strike.
Dodging shouldn't have been an option from the start.
Yet Aira, in that instant.
The very moment the invisible arrow sought to pierce her chest, she twisted her body.
Just barely evading a fatal wound.
An impossible reaction.
A movement beyond any normal lifeform.
And even more absurd was what Aira said as she clutched her bleeding side and stood.
"…I see."
Her breath was ragged, but her eyes were clear.
"Sister's arrow. Just like Lucas said. It curves 'twice' precisely in mid-air."
"…What?"
For a moment, Elcia's thoughts froze.
Impossible.
Her arrows weren't physical objects.
Traces of air and mana, everywhere yet invisible to the eye.
A power that left only the result the instant it was fired.
No such thing as a midway path.
Curved twice?
And she saw it?
At the same time.
Shing.
The low sound of metal scraping.
"What’s that?"
"…A sword?"
"No, too short."
Aira drew a black-bladed dagger from the inner pocket of her maid outfit.
A strangely alien aura for an ordinary dagger.
And despite that much blood loss, she assumed a stance.
The moment Elcia saw it, she realized.
This wasn't mere awakening or coincidence.
Something fundamental had gone terribly wrong.