Giselle stared at Lee Wonwoo, who possessed an alien special ability. Her own reflection appeared in his eyes, which seemed to contain an abyss.
‘It feels strange to say this about a kid, but...... he’s handsome.’
They were also deep. No other words came to mind. They were attractive, and they made her want to look inside and see what was there.
‘......Is this what they call unexpected charm?’
However, when she tried to look inside, they stirred a primal human fear of what they might be filled with.
‘It looks like he can’t use it for a while, right?’
Fortunately, she no longer felt any ominous aura from Lee Wonwoo.
Though Giselle acted sly on the outside, she was actually wary of Wonwoo’s special ability.
‘If this is how things are, what does everything I’ve learned until now become?’
He absorbed another person’s mana and made it his own. That was the same as receiving a transfusion of blood with an incompatible blood type.
The common sense of this world said it would be impossible, and even if it were possible, one would certainly die. That common sense of Giselle’s had been shattered here and now.
There was no need to dwell on what principle or method had made it possible.
The important thing was the fact that she had experienced it herself. Moreover, that special ability was a power capable of bringing about mana exhaustion, the weakness of every Hero.
‘I’m glad I released my transformation.’
If she had not released her transformation in time, there was a high possibility she would have fallen into mana exhaustion.
‘......Half my mana was stolen.’
Unlike her, the boy before her was merely standing there, but he could not completely hide the fact that he was tired.
From that, Giselle understood that even a special ability that defied common sense had a price.
‘As expected, he’s still immature.’
One had to hide impatience and strategy, as well as weaknesses. That was real combat, and it was a necessary quality when facing an enemy.
Giselle did not think Wonwoo, who was still only a first-year, could do that.
So she had to race against every moment.
‘Quickly, before his strength returns.’
Among the targets Giselle had touched before, she partially transformed her legs into those of the monster with the greatest speed.
That was not the only reason she had to race against time.
‘When will it be? Soon?’
The Muscleman heir was also in the same space. Since he had used mana detection art, he would reach this place before long.
“Kid, I’ll end this quickly for you, okay?”
Subduing an opponent who stood still was no different from eating rice cakes while lying down.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
As expected, he was tired. Even after she entered his range, Wonwoo showed no movement.
‘I’ll avoid the face, okay?’
It was just as she was about to strike.
“......!”
In that instant, an intense sense of wrongness seized Giselle’s body. That sense of wrongness was an unconscious reaction from all the experience she had accumulated until now.
‘What else is left? No, does that mean I was pushed back in a battle of moves?’
Leaving aside the evaluation, it was something that hurt her pride.
Moreover, if Wagner learned of this, he would follow her all the way to the bathroom to tease her.
‘It’s still fine.’
The speed of the monster she had transformed into was on par with Wagner’s, so she could recover.
Giselle widened the distance.
Then, an indescribably sinister aura once again swirled around the boy.
“Release Attraction.”
“......?”
A chant with no proper root. Yet Giselle’s body began to be pulled toward Lee Wonwoo.
‘Still, if I do this right.’
If she wanted to, she felt she could escape it.
‘No. Hee hee!’
Giselle changed her mind. There was no time.
The Muscleman heir bothered her, and the boy right before her bothered her too.
‘It’s a bit harsh to do to a kid, but...... Wagner told me not to hold back.’
No, I’m doing this because I want to!
Giselle waited. She waited for Wonwoo’s hand to touch her body.
Grab!
And so, Giselle’s hand touched Lee Wonwoo’s.
‘What an attractive special ability.’
The truth was, she coveted it too. Wonwoo’s special ability, which defied common sense.
Crrrrrack!
Giselle began transforming into a new form. Only then did Wonwoo’s face change.
A face as if cognitive dissonance had occurred. That expression was all too familiar to Giselle.
“How is it, facing you who isn’t you?”
Their gazes, which had been at different heights, aligned. Their hands, once different in size, now fit together exactly.
Giselle said,
“Thanks. I’ll use it well.”
***
It was widely known in society that Giselle could use a target’s physical abilities by allocating a certain amount of mana.
However, even those closest to Giselle likely did not know that if the target was a person, she could use a portion of their special ability.
Of course, it consumed that much mana.
‘I can just refill it.’
Lee Wonwoo’s special ability was mana absorption, so all she had to do was absorb mana.
‘Blame Wagner.’
She knew how to break a person.
It was the method of crushing them with the exact same power.
It was an evil method that dyed someone in despair and inferiority.
Even if it was the same special ability, there should be a difference between Giselle’s level and that of a first-year student.
Yes, that was what she had intended.
“Where is this......?”
Giselle, who had intended exactly that, could not hide her panic now.
Because the shopping arcade she had been in had vanished without a trace, and all she could see was a world of endless darkness.
‘It didn’t seem like he was on the magic side?’
Grrrrr!
Meanwhile, from within the darkness, Giselle heard the sound of a beast.
‘......A puppy?’
Tap. Tap.
Soon, she heard the sound of light footsteps. A bright light illuminated the darkness that clung thickly around her.
Woof! Woof!
Every strand of its fur burned like fire. It was a puppy with emerald eyes that seemed to contain the sky.
“Oh my, you’re cute...... no, you’re not.”
In that instant, Giselle sensed it instinctively. This was not some mere puppy.
Woof!
Soon, the puppy growled at Giselle and bared its fangs.
Because it was small, it felt almost like a cute trick, but Giselle’s eyes trembled.
‘It’s different......’
Because the puppy was plainly giving off an alien aura that humans could not approach.
Clank! Clank!
As Giselle was bewitched by the puppy’s aura, the sound of armor striking together suddenly began reaching her.
“What else is here...... Urgh!”
The moment her words ended, Giselle clutched her own throat with both hands.
“......!”
Soon, what appeared before Giselle was a horse-headed human wearing armor that was both old-fashioned and crude.
‘Wait, what’s wrong with this?’
My hands...... won’t listen?
Even as her mind grew dizzy from choking herself, Giselle could tell.
‘They resemble each other.’
The aura emitted by the armored horse-man greatly resembled Wonwoo’s aura.
The moment it approached right in front of Giselle’s nose, she gripped her own throat even harder.
‘Are you insane? Why are you doing this, seriously?!’
It was as if she were trying to take her own life to apologize, and flee through death.
“Urgh, gak!”
As time passed, her thoughts stopped working. She vomited out the words her unconscious self desperately wanted to say.
“Save me...... I want to get out.”
The moment her eyes met the horse-man’s, Giselle felt her life force draining away.
‘Am I going to die like this......?’
Though people could never know their own lifespan, Giselle could clearly feel that the moment of death was approaching.
Thud......
In the end, Giselle’s knees buckled, and she collapsed where she was.
“......”
She had thought there was no such thing as a god, but in this moment alone, Giselle desperately prayed and looked up at the sky.
“......!”
Above, a merciless blue light was staring down at her.
Giselle could tell. It was absolutely not the god she had hoped for.
As if she had not been granted permission, she could not see anything except that blue light.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Soon, blue lightning struck down savagely, and a drumbeat that made her bones tingle battered her entire body.
Flash-!
A single bolt of blue lightning fell right beside Giselle. Bright-red blood flowed down her cheek.
‘......This is lightning?’
She turned her gaze to the side. There was a mark there that was hard to believe had been left by a lightning strike.
It had simply been slashed apart here and there by a gigantic blade.
‘What did I do?’
Giselle blamed herself. She resented herself for coveting the special ability, no, for trying to transform into him.
Now, Giselle could tell.
‘This place is that child’s......’
This was his mindscape.
And those beings were the embodiments of his special abilities.
Flare!
A fierce crimson sphere of fire rose above her head.
It could not possibly be a light that would illuminate the world and save her from this darkness.
The moment the edge of the flame touched her, she felt that even her soul would become ash.
The voices of four beings blended together.
“......It was not granted to you.”
The fierce vermilion flames burned away the darkness.
***
“Excuse me.”
This was quite an awkward situation.
The moment the bobbed-haired woman transformed into me and said “I’ll use it well,” she convulsed and lost consciousness.
“She was definitely trying to do something.”
Judging by the fact that I had briefly felt Kubanda’s aura from her, it seemed she could also use other people’s special abilities like me.
However, I did not know what had happened after that.
‘I’m so curious.’
I wanted to wake her up right away. Because I was curious about what had happened to her, someone with a special ability similar to mine.
I carefully approached her and placed my finger near her nose.
‘Right, it’s not urgent.’
Her breathing was faint, but she was not dead, so I would be able to hear the answer someday. Only then did I remember the part I had missed.
“Ah, right. I did well on the evaluation, didn’t I?”
The bobbed-haired woman had essentially self-destructed, but she had been in my form, so wouldn’t that mean I had done it?
Thud! Thud! Thud!
At that moment, unhesitating footsteps began approaching me.
“What were you doing, coming only now?”
HISSSSS!
A huge figure slid in, sending dust flying like a cloak, and stopped beside me.
“......Nothing happened.”
Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?
Jio looked at the bobbed-haired woman breathing softly beside me. But Jio’s state was no joke.
I did not know what had happened, but he had smeared dust all over his body like camouflage cream.
‘Could he have......? No, that must be it.’
Come to think of it, even before and after I found the bobbed-haired woman, golden waves of mana had rung out several times.
I could tell from the nature of the mana that it was Jio, and seeing the mana waves return after spreading outward, I could guess it was a search technique.
So Jio must have found me and the bobbed-haired woman, and in the end, he must also have realized the two of us would clash.
‘So that’s why he didn’t come.’
The fact that he had known the whole story yet had not come meant Jio had trusted that I would handle it and searched every corner of the shopping arcade.
I was inwardly grateful. Since the instructor had not said how many there were, it had bothered me too.
Jio spoke even louder, as if trying not to show his exhaustion.
“I merely never learned how to stop, nor did I learn how to step back. It was not a difficult matter.”
My mouth did not open easily.
‘Is this why people say if you’re strong, your head can relax......?’
“Heh heh. If you’re strong, your head really can relax.”
“......!”
“......!”
It was a third person’s voice, and a familiar one.
‘......When did he get here?’
I had not felt him at all.
From the moment I became able to absorb mana, my ability to detect mana had risen dramatically.
If it was someone whose mana I had directly absorbed, my senses became even more sensitive, and I could notice them from far away......
“Instructor, why are you......”
Even so, I had not realized it until the instructor was standing side by side with Jio and me.
The instructor nudged the unconscious bobbed-haired woman with the tip of his foot and said,
“......I knew this would happen. So damn weak. Heh heh.”
Along with Instructor Wagner’s sigh, the playful atmosphere disappeared. The instructor’s appearance was the same as when he had destroyed the Head-Pressing Spirit.
“......Kids, at this point, you should notice. I’m sure I told you clearly. Everything that moves except you is a target.”
Fine, let’s say he included himself among those targets.
No, wait, why would he do that?