Anna’s Strength

Looking at the serious-faced muscular men, after a brief, tense silence, Ewan pulled out the fruit knife from behind his back and snarled, “Don’t come any closer! I’m very strong…”

He didn’t get to finish.

With a series of metallic clicks, the muscular men silently drew their own two-meter-long greatswords.

The blades glinted coldly as they were all aimed at him.

“…”

Ewan looked at their two-meter-long greatswords, then at his own twenty-centimeter-long small dagger.

He forced a smile.

“Don’t come any closer. I’m very weak. Believe it or not, I’ll commit seppuku right here in front of you.”

“…”

The muscular men remained silent, seemingly not good with words. But only Ewan, who could see the shyness in their eyes, knew that these pure-hearted men had probably never spoken to a girl before in their lives.

But even if they were pure-hearted, they couldn’t just let him go.

The muscular men closed in, step by step, and Ewan could only retreat, step by step.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to use Shadow Step to escape, but Shadow Step wasn’t a true teleport. It couldn’t ignore obstacles, so it was difficult to get away when he was surrounded. And he had used Shadow Step in his martial arts class before. If he used it now and Ariel recognized it, and then figured out his identity…

Combined with the cheesy lines she had just said to him, Ewan didn’t even want to imagine how many pieces the enraged Ariel would chop him into.

It definitely wouldn’t be a small number.

“What do I do… what do I do… if I get caught, all my efforts will have been for nothing,” Ewan’s forehead was beaded with cold sweat. Unconsciously, he had backed himself against a cold wall, with nowhere left to retreat.

With so many muscular men up on the roof, the defenses below would be even weaker. In other words, the heroes would be here even sooner.

And then…

Social death in front of the entire school… no, I don’t want that!

“Hey, Ewan~”

Just then, a familiar voice called out.

Ewan froze, then his eyes widened in disbelief. A wave of pure, unadulterated joy, the joy of being saved at the last possible moment, surged through his chest.

“Anna?”

Ewan turned his head, looking around. “Where are you?”

“Don’t move.”

A gentle, feminine voice echoed in his ear.

Just as the muscular men were confused by Ewan’s sudden talking to himself, a snake-like shadow suddenly shot out from the shadows of the wall and the floor.

A long whip.

The whip moved with a life of its own, and it struck at the muscular man closest to Ewan. The muscular man was not slow to react. He quickly raised his sword to block, but the seemingly soft whip, upon contact with the blade, seemed to burst with an immense force. The greatsword in the muscular man’s hand bent with a visible, horrifying arc. And under the force of this blow, the muscular man let out a cry of pain and was, without any surprise, sent flying.

An opening had been made in the encirclement. The whip quickly retracted, wrapped around Ewan’s waist, and pulled him through the gap.

Being dragged by the whip, Ewan lost his balance and felt a flicker of panic. But before he could struggle, he felt himself being enveloped in a warm, gentle embrace.

A familiar, faint fragrance filled his nostrils, and the full, soft sensation at his back made his heart pound.

In a dark corner, Ewan felt a pair of soft hands wrap around his waist. A sharp chin gently rested on his shoulder, and a warm breath tickled his ear, making it itch.

“Ewan, you’re so beautiful,” Ewan heard the senior’s devilish voice echo in his ear, and his heart couldn’t help but flutter along with it.

“Isn’t this all because of you, Anna?” Ewan said with a bitter smile. “I didn’t want to become like this.”

“Is that so? But you seemed quite happy about it. You were even standing so conspicuously in everyone’s line of sight. Were you trying to gain some popularity and then debut as a school idol?” Anna said with a light laugh. “I think you have a good shot at it. Look at how popular you are now. The underclassmen boys are all so excited to see you. If you debuted now, you might even surpass the student council president in popularity in no time.”

“I’m not going to be an idol!” Ewan shouted, covering his face. “I’m a hundred percent man, purest of the pure!”

“But if you wore a little skirt right now, you might look even cuter than me.”

“…” He was numb. He didn’t want to talk.

“Hehe, alright, I won’t tease you anymore,” Anna said, patting Ewan’s head with a giggle. “While that big guy is distracted, let’s go.”

“Okay, okay, let’s go, let’s go.” Ewan nodded repeatedly, tears of gratitude almost welling up in his eyes. After being tormented for so long, he could finally…

“BOOM!”

Before the first tear could even fall, a familiar figure was suddenly thrown through the air and slammed into the wall beside Ewan.

“Cough, cough…”

In the smoke and dust, Ariel struggled to sit up, then vomited a large mouthful of blood.

“Damn it. Even with a forbidden art to temporarily boost my combat power, it’s still too much to fight an enemy two ranks higher?”

In Ewan’s stunned gaze, Ariel turned her head and saw him. A look of joy appeared on her face, but then she saw Anna hugging him, and she froze, her expression quickly turning to one of pure rage.

“Who are you?! How are you even faster than me?!”

“…”

Ewan’s mouth twitched. He didn’t know what to say. Anna behind him suddenly let go, and like a fleeting shadow, she shot forward to meet the oncoming figure.

The High Priest had arrived.

“Oh, another woman?”

The High Priest, holding a bloodstained greatsword, looked at the approaching Anna, a ferocious look on his face. There was a huge, burn-like wound on his chest, but he seemed not to feel it, as if it were as insignificant as a single hair falling from his head. Although he didn’t have any hair.

“As I thought, women are nothing but trouble!”

The High Priest, in a fit of rage, raised his greatsword again and slashed.

The glinting blade cut through the air with a fierce wind. The High Priest had no intention of being gentle, as if he were just trying to cleanly chop a fish on a cutting board in two.

Under the terrifying blade, Anna was as fragile as a piece of paper.

But she suddenly twisted her waist, as if her entire body had no bones. Her slender body bent in a way that would make even a professional dancer sigh in admiration, and she deftly dodged the High Priest’s blade.

The next moment, before the High Priest could swing a second time, Anna lightly stepped on the greatsword that had just missed her, and like a black cat, she leaped into the air. Her body drew a graceful arc, and she flipped upside down, her fingers pointing at the High Priest’s head.

A rare, cold look appeared on her bewitching face.

“Explode.“

She whispered the word.

The incantation-less magic was instantly formed at her fingertips.

A blazing light erupted, and with it, a terrifying, destructive heat shot toward the defenseless High Priest. Even if the power of the spell was greatly reduced by the lack of an incantation, at such a close distance, the notoriously powerful Explosion Magic was not something that a body of flesh and blood could withstand.

And so.

Flesh and blood sprayed.

Even though the High Priest had twisted his head at the last moment to avoid a fatal blow, the heat and flames still instantly consumed a large chunk of his flesh. His shoulder was completely blown apart, and the right arm holding the sword hung limply, connected only by a thread of flesh.