"Jasmine, are you ready?" Resting Trina atop my shoulder, I stood in front of Sash and glanced at Jasmine, who firmly nodded, causing me to lightly smirk as I raised Trina into the air. "Alright, give me buffs that only increase my mana." "Got it." Following Jasmine's words, she pointed her hands at me while her body glowed a soft gold, only for foreign mana to enter my body.
Once the foreign mana settled down, my mana reserves, which were previously a bit on the low end from fighting Chase and activating the magic circle, had been instantly filled up to the halfway mark; however, that wasn't all. My natural mana recovery speed had significantly increased, and I even felt more in tune with mana, as if it were a friend; I was able to control the mana within myself more effortlessly and fluidly.
Taking a moment to get used to this new state, I gestured for Jasmine to back off and surged all of my remaining mana into Trina, causing me to wince in pain as I clutched my chest; I've gotten used to completely emptying my mana, so the aftereffects weren't too bad anymore, but the pain was still ever-present. As my mana flowed into Trina like a river, she emitted a bright purplish glow while her childish voice, full of happiness, rang within my mind.
'Hehe, it's been so long since you've used this move, Master! Divine Judgment!' Rolling my eyes at Trina, I narrowed my eyes at Sash, who, despite giving it her all to resist the sealing effects of the magic circle, still had the leeway to notice what I was doing. "D-Dammit! Divinity!? You fucking bastard!" Yelling loudly with a clear expression of desperation, Sash stopped resisting the magic circle and instead controlled every shadowy tendril to surround her, creating an inky black, protective cocoon.
'I've grown too strong for this to be able to save you.' With a hardened gaze, I slashed downwards, launching a thin, purple sword wave that swept through everything in its path; nothing was spared except for the reality that held everything together. When my attack reached the protective cocoon, it effortlessly slashed through it and exited from the other side, only to dissipate a second later.
Following the disappearance of my attack, the cocoon protecting Sash crumbled apart, revealing Sash, who, despite looking perfectly healthy, wasn't moving an inch. "Alex, is she dead?" Standing beside me, Jasmine cautiously eyed Sash while I gently patted her head and nodded. "Yes, she's dead." As if on cue, the instant I finished speaking, a faint, bloody, vertical slit appeared across Sash's body right down the middle, only for the chains binding her to break, causing her to fall while splitting into two different pieces.
Maybe I was being paranoid with how vulnerable I was right now, given my lack of mana, but I cut Sash's head off from both sides of her body before finally sighing in relief. "Haa, freaking goodness. It took several years, but I've gotten my revenge for being tortured… Haa, that was a lot of fucking money." Stabbing my sword into the ground, I leaned against it for support as I looked at Sash's corpse while shedding a tear at our lack of funds.
"When we return home, I want the nastiest blowjob you can give Jas-" With our greatest enemy now dead, my worries and stress mostly vanished, allowing some of my lust to slip through, though I was unable to finish speaking as I was suddenly stabbed in the back of my heart. Tightening my grasp around Trina, I looked behind, only to freeze in shock when I realized the person who had plunged the dagger into my back was Jasmine.
"Jasmine?" "A-Alex, i-it's not me, m-my body, it's moving o-on i-it's own." With tears streaming down her cheeks, Jasmine twisted the dagger within my chest, causing me to hiss as I dropped to my knees while she fell to the ground beside me. Since I was still receiving buffs, my mana had recovered enough to allow me to use [Heroes Gaze], and when I looked at Jasmine, I noticed an aura of energy different from mana surrounding her body.
However, before I could further examine what was happening, I heard Chase's voice, prompting me to snap my head to my left as I eyed him, only to narrow my eyes when I noticed the same energy surrounding Jasmine was spewing out from his mouth.
"Y-You evil fucker! How dare you kill a member of the Hero's party!?" Spitting on the ground at Chase's nonsensical words, I used [Blink] and appeared behind him as I swung my sword at his neck. "停止." With firmness and a faint sense of dignity, Chase's voice forced me to stop as Trina was a mere hairsbreadth from touching his neck. 'T-The fuck? Why can't I move!' 'He's speaking Dragon tongue, Master, be careful!'
Gritting my teeth, I used all of my strength, but even still, I was unable to even get my body to twitch, let alone move; turning around, Chase stabbed me in the stomach with his sword before kicking my chest, flinging me into the tree. "That feels good." Coughing up blood, I reached behind my back and removed the dagger before throwing it at Chase, who blocked it, though I was unable to move as I was once again frozen.
"Since you killed a member of the heroes' party, it's only fair if I kill everyone from your party, starting with the evil saintess!" Wickedly grinning, Chase picked up the dagger I had thrown at him and glanced at Jasmine, causing me to furiously gnash my teeth, only for him to suddenly toss it back to me. "However, do you know what would be better? If you killed them all yourself." "You, sick fuck!" "ジャスミンを殺す."
Unfortunately for me, despite my anger, reluctance, and resistance, I was still forced to pick up the dagger as I approached Jasmine, who was lying on the ground, unable to move. 'Dammit, body, why won't you fucking stop!? You're MY body!' Inwardly cursing myself, I looked around, searching for something to help, but other than my sword, there wasn't anything useful. 'Trina, if I summon you, can you point your blade at me?' 'Yes.' 'Good.'
Desperate to change our situation, I used my foot to summon Trina, something I'd never done before, but since I could do so with my hands, why couldn't I do so with my foot? Thankfully, other than needing to mentally command Trina, my foot didn't have to do anything else; otherwise, I'd be fucked. With Trina flying toward me, blade first, she cut right through my ankle, causing me to fall to the ground.
"Cutting off your own foot? Hahaha, you're desperate! ジャスミンへのクロール. No, no, better yet, do this. ロール・トゥ・ジャスミン." Instead of walking, I was now forced to roll across the ground to Jasmine, which was both infuriating and humiliating, although I was unconcerned about the latter at the moment.
Once I reached Jasmine, we looked each other in the eyes, prompting her to force a smile while I closed my own. "さあ立ち上がってジャスミンの心臓に短剣を突き刺せ." Sitting upright, I firmly held the dagger and looked at Jasmine's back, yet, in the end, I never plunged it into his back like he desired.
"Hmm, what the hell, why aren't you doing it? Kill Jasmine!" While Chase yelled in the background, I glanced at my status screen and checked my skill [Omnilingual], which had been stuck at level four for a long time. Yet, just a few seconds ago, it had leveled up twice in one go, reaching level six. 'Trina, why isn't his Dragon tongue working anymore?' Although I had a vague idea as to why, I wanted to make sure, who better to ask than a several-thousand-year-old spirit artifact? 'Well, Dragon tongue only works on those unable to speak its language.'
"I see." Nodding, I stood up and glanced at Chase, who had stopped yelling and was now looking at me, petrified in fear. "Jasmine, you're free." It felt more than just a bit uncomfortable to use Dragon tongue as I could feel my vigorous life-force rapidly decline with just a few words, yet just as it did so, it swiftly returned to normal, causing me to suspiciously gaze at Chase.
'Given how many words he's spoken in Dragon tongue, he should've turned into a dried husk, yet, other than being exhausted, he looks fine.' Shaking my head, I rid myself of such thoughts and appeared in front of Chase, slashing my swords, only for a pillar of light to beam down from the heavens, blocking Trina as she bounced right off.
"W-What the hell?" Landing beside Jasmine, I quickly glanced at Chase through the beam of light, only for him and it to suddenly vanish, causing me to furrow my brows as I glared at the sky. However, my rage at being unable to kill Chase was pushed to the back of my mind when my heart began to beat rapidly, warning me of my rapidly impending doom.
I was given no time to even react as a bright light shot down from the sky, aiming directly for me, prompting me raise Trina even though I knew I wouldn't be able to block it; however, just when the memories of my life finished flashing before my eyes, a sapling sprouted from the ground right beside me.
Growing at speeds that defied logic and any sense of the world, it grew into a gargantuan tree, its canopy covering Jasmine and me, as if protecting us.
"Why are you interfering, Eywa!?" "Because I can, Justina. Now retreat unless you want that little church of yours to perish."