<714 – The Pitiful Child (14)>
They’re strong.
Watching the connections among the second-year students, Sadi Chocolate felt that the academy had changed tremendously in just two years since her time.
Those who once so easily fell to her ‘outside the box’ now withstand the Four Kings of Class from all grades.
Even the strongest, Again, met his demise.
It’s absurd that he was betrayed and killed by those entrusted with weapon maintenance.
They fought with sincerity.
Even after fighting, they were forced to retreat due to numbers.
[I want to help Oknodie]
[I need Oknodie for a complete victory on the Northern Front]
[I must repay my debt to Oknodie at this opportunity]
Thoughts gleamed from such students.
The psychological master Sadi Chocolate let out a wry smile.
Such strong loyalty could only be seen in someone like Cruel, who specialized in brainwashing and suggestion.
So, she tried to secretly provoke their hearts.
“Do you really think you can just let it be?!”
“It doesn’t matter if I don’t. You know, don’t you? Your wavering cannot surpass my twisting.”
Sadi Chocolate made no effort to block Mandela’s attacks, which carried magic infused with sound, unleashing various status ailments.
She is a psychological master.
Her physical and magical talent for reading others’ hearts has reached its peak.
The body is the entrance revealing the voice of the heart.
Control over bodily reactions and sensory organs that trigger status ailments was a realm she had long conquered to grow as a psychological master.
[Nullify Balance Loss]
[Nullify Eye Pain]
[Nullify Allergy]
[Nullify Pain Amplification]
No matter how hard Mandela tries to inflict many status ailments, nothing works.
This method won’t do.
Mandela recalled the moment of confrontation with the Giant Monster Kraken experienced due to Oknodie.
True status ailments are like that.
Fear that penetrates the soul, breaking through all resistance.
Kraken Pier.
The [Screams] at that time had a mechanism to induce status ailments, a manifestation of Mana Technique.
[Mandela Castera Vision Sound Sphere Magic]
[Destruction of Sounds]
Sounds reflected and amplified within artificially created Mana structures force lethal damage through the opponent’s Mana resistance.
The infinitely intricate structure had even turned Oknodie’s Mana Shield roll into a textbook example.
If one could move using a Mana Shield, which can be unfurled anywhere, then why couldn’t that Mana Shield act as a sound barrier, bursting with amplified power in a specific space?
It can’t be.
What is lacking is imagination.
The spirit of challenge.
And the tenacity to carve new paths until succeeding.
Understanding the magical possibilities shown by her junior, Mandela exhibited even more strength than she normally would have achieved at this time.
[Mandela Castera]
[Stage 4 Contract Mark Area]
[Ultrasonic Zone]
Blood flowed from Sadi Chocolate’s ear, which boasts the highest level of resistance to all mental attacks.
The overwhelming noise and the ultrasonic waves existing beyond the audible spectrum forced themselves into a comprehensible realm.
In this moment, she fully recognized the sound of the Giant Monster that all creatures instinctively fear.
Death.
The overwhelming violence that even the undead, who have already died once, would fear, struck the soul.
“Ooh~ Hohothohotoh~~! This is the true heart-punch of Mandela Castera’s ultrasonic zone! I shall not give any power to the strongest of the class or the rulers behind the scenes!”
“Hehe. Really, whether then or now, you remain adorable. But alas.”
Sadi Chocolate, who should rightfully be dead, having lost even her hearing, surprisingly managed to raise her head while withstanding the disaster-level sound attack amplified even further.
“The pain of the body is the pain of the heart. Understanding the heart means understanding the body. I understand your two years of struggle…”
Mandela Castera screamed silently.
The leisure that had come from her certainty of victory disappeared in an instant.
Sadi’s body, which was dying in real-time, straightened its often contorted limbs and stood upright.
It wasn’t false bravado or acting.
She understood the principle of how the magic was destroying her body.
She understood the pain her body was crying out.
She even comprehended the countermeasures to alleviate that pain.
At that moment, the battle was finished.
Her interference after her death over the past two years was troublesome, but with talent raised to a higher level, Sadi caught up to the two-year experience in the blink of an eye.
As shock, despair, and a sense of defeat flitted across Mandela’s face, Sadi Chocolate’s gaze drifted from her.
‘What are you looking at? Back then, and now, your opponent is right in front of you. Why do your eyes always wander to others?’
Two years ago, Sadi Chocolate poured all her strength into Cruel, and this time, she focused on the students who pressed against Again instead of Mandela.
She infiltrated the minds of the 981 class second-years, embedding whispers of her own.
[Psychological Master]
[Sadi Chocolate Vision Mental Attack]
[Twisted Hearts]
She identifies the desires held by her opponents and distorts the methods to achieve that desire, creating hesitation.
No matter how perfect a technique is, if hesitation forms, cracks will appear, and once the cracks start, they will widen and ultimately lead to uncontrollable destruction.
A deadly mental attack capable of causing phenomena feared by all warriors and magicians!
That attack penetrated Jiang’s heart as well.
-I don’t need friends. They’re just beings who will betray me anyway.
-I don’t need weak friends even more. They’re just beings who will die on their own.
-There’s no such thing as a strong friend who won’t betray me. Yeah… if it’s not Oknodie, such a friend doesn’t exist.
Just one friend.
The only one who understands herself as an assassin.
Different from the unstable Titosso, a true friend who could break at any moment.
-Why are you getting weaker?
-What is the Great Evil, and what are the professors making you weak?
The presence that sends Jiang into fear.
If you’ve found a weakness, distorting is even easier.
[You already know the answer. If you gain strength that won’t fall behind the Great Evil or the professors, you should be able to overcome the fear within.]
-How can I gain that power?
[You don’t need to protect every friend. If you sacrifice the rest for one, taking their power, at least you can protect your true friend, right?]
Discard it.
And focus.
Sacrifice all but Oknodie, take their strength, and protect Oknodie.
Then your true understanding will survive.
That singular desire will surely become truly unique.
[Connection]
[Rhetoric]
[Logomachy]
[Precision Strike]
[Distortion]
[Synchronization]
[Trick]
[Cognitive Erosion]
[Calm Destruction]
[Impenetrable Wall Destruction]
[Mental Contamination]
[Whispers of Corruption]
Functions forcefully lift and pry open the tightly locked vault of the heart.
The cunning trick to deceive Jiang’s voice as her own, expanding from within.
The moment false whispers fill the interior, the distortion begins.
“When did you have such ridiculous thoughts?”
“?!”
Jiang’s heart swelled with water.
A lake filled with numerous distractions consumed her.
The submerged emotions were drawn into the whirlpool.
The drain.
This is the drain of the heart.
A mental recovery technique that empties one’s weakness and wavering.
[Cleansed Clarity]
A clean mirror and tranquil water.
A state where thoughts and heart are clear.
All emotions need to be emptied to restore to the deserved point of recovery for the mind and soul.
Resentment.
Despair.
Malice.
Everything washes away, and new water begins to fill the void.
Mindlessness.
An artificial peace where none of the hearts exist.
In that, the aberration left to remain revealed Sadi Chocolate’s fragment.
Once the identity is revealed, the assassin cannot survive.
-Die.
She felt a stab.
The moment she perceived it, Sadi Chocolate’s fragment disintegrated, and the pain returned to her main body.
“Ugh. Heheh.”
Blood flowed from the corners of Sadi Chocolate’s mouth.
This was not just Jiang’s overcoming.
Rosgini’s flames burned the distractions to ash.
Irene’s coldness froze and crushed the distractions.
Hestia’s will clawed and tore through the distractions.
Titosso’s brilliance shot distractions away at the speed of light.
All the students of Class 981.
Entering the final room of Layer 6 of the Catacombs.
Everyone who had stepped into the Boss Room on the 60th floor had prevailed.
Class 980, first semester.
The peers from a year and a half ago succumbed or crumbled before her whispers.
Those who obeyed were allowed to keep returning power only when they complied, while those who resisted had their distortion continuously expanded until they couldn’t help but succumb.
The juniors of Class 981 were different.
They were strong.
Physically and mentally.
The depth they had navigated through until now was different.
Even in the face of hellish cruelty, their own weakness, and the violence of a harsh world, they possess the strong heart to move forward without losing themselves or twisting.
“That strength captivates me. The one child who embodies that strength.”
Sadi Chocolate realized.
If she had the chance, she would have thought exactly this.
She wanted to see the moment that the strongest, most beautiful heart crumbled.
Surely, that would be the most fulfilling moment of feeling alive.
Having toppled numerous players and repeatedly frustrated the Marine who Specializes in Strength All-in, Sadi recognized the reason she was meant to be Oknodie’s adversary.
But she lacked the ability to become a true rival.
There simply wasn’t enough time.
Today, she would surely die.
“Your greetings were well received. Then our second-year students must return the courtesy to our seniors.”
Jiang, Irene, Titosso, Rosgini.
All the second-years who remained after defeating Again would not allow Sadi Chocolate’s resurrection.
