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"Well then, here I come—"
With that, Aoko crouched down, her arms hanging back and down, her sharp gaze fixed on the nearest puppet.
Suddenly, an arc of electricity flashed across her legs. With a loud bang, she crossed the thirty meters in an instant, appearing before a puppet—Her right arm once again sparked with electricity, and her slender, long fingers suddenly clenched into a fist.
Aoko's gaze sharpened.
Her fist slammed into the puppet's chest. Then, a loud bang echoed in the air. As if hit by a sniper rifle, a soccer-ball-sized hole was blasted in the puppet's chest—You could even see the snow-covered forest behind it through the hole.
"Tsk, this Mana Burst is pretty useful,"
Aoko clicked her tongue. At the same time, her footwork was not slow. With a side kick, she cut a nearby puppet in half at the waist. Though Aoko's physical fitness was good, it was only at the level of a sports prodigy. A terrifying attack that could punch through a human body was something she would never be able to do.
However, with the addition of the Mana Burst skill, it was a different story—
—Mana Burst was a technique that used a momentary burst of internal energy to enhance physical abilities in a short time. This kind of technique was very common among close-combat Heroic Spirits.
But that was for Heroic Spirits.
Among human mages, not many had learned this technique. The reason was simple:
Mages, who preferred to use magic to attack and manipulate concepts, not many of them were inclined to close combat. So much so that after the Age of Gods this technique had long been lost. And for some reason, this technique was very much to Aoko's taste.
And with the training diary of King Arthur. In just one day, Aoko had learned this technique, and had even improved it, wrapping the magical power around her body, giving up the momentary output for a longer duration.
"Well, even if I give up the explosive power, I can only last for three minutes." Aoko pursed her lips and punched the head of the puppet before her.
Facing the face that was identical to her own, Aoko grinned and blew its head off with a single punch. Under the influence of Mana Burst, Aoko was like a human T-Rex, staging a scene of tearing apart 'living people' with her bare hands.
————
"...Where did that monstrous strength come from? Magical enhancement can't do that," Touko, hiding in the corner, patted her ample chest with a look of surprise, her heart pounding as she watched the 'Destroyer' before her.
It was a good thing she hadn't underestimated the newly-minted magus, Aoko, and had wisely hidden in the shadows. If she had brazenly walked up to her, she would probably...
A puppet, under Aoko's heavy blow, its head was smashed into its chest. With a thud, it fell to the bridge.
"This bloody and brutal fighting style has no sense of beauty at all," Touko said, her brow furrowed, a look of displeasure on her face.
Though she was shocked by Aoko's trump card, there was not a single trace of worry on Touko's face. After all, Aoko was about to face a Phantasmal Species.
The battle ended quickly.
In just over a minute, the fifty-odd puppets had been reduced to a pile of dismembered limbs, falling on the remains of their comrades who had died by gunfire.
Drip~
Blood slowly dripped from Aoko's arm. And on her youthful, beautiful face, there were now a few splatters of blood. Her expression cold, she now looked like an Asura from hell, filled with a dense, murderous aura.
"What a wicked sense of humor, as always."
Aoko surveyed her surroundings. The front half of the bridge was now covered in dark red blood, which had long since dried under the scorching magic bullets, a scene straight out of purgatory.
Puppets have no blood. The appearance of such a scene indicated that Touko had deliberately added this material.
The purpose was probably to make it more exquisite. Aoko guessed at her sister's thoughts. The added blood had limited the puppets' speed, and had also increased the material consumption for no reason. Only someone like Touko, who was born to burn money, yet was a pauper, would be so wasteful.
"Hmm?" Aoko, surveying her surroundings, seemed to see something.
"She's finally discovered it," Touko, hiding in the corner, blew a puff of smoke.
Aoko walked up to a headless puppet, lifted its wool sweater, and her pupils constricted.
"This... this..." Aoko stared, dumbfounded, at the puppet's abdomen, or rather, at the writing on its abdomen.
'One hundred thousand yen a pop'
'Suitable for three centimeters to twenty-two centimeters'
'Customers served: over twenty-five'
Thump—!
Aoko knelt on the ground, her body trembling, as she looked at the puppet's belly.
"These puppets all have my face... that guy, he wouldn't really use these puppets for those kinds of transactions, would he?" Aoko said, her voice trembling.
The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Where did her sister get all that money?
Why was she spending it so freely?
Why did she make so many puppets that were practically indistinguishable from humans?
It was all from selling her life-sized inflatable dolls!!!!!!
"Touko Aozaki!!!"
Aoko knelt on the ground, completely ignoring the blood on the ground, and roared at the sky!
"Awoooo—!"
Beo, who had been lurking around Aoko, took advantage of her enraged roar. Its four limbs pushed off with a powerful force, and its leaping trajectory formed a golden ribbon of light. With an incredibly fast speed, it rushed to Aoko's side and opened its wolfish jaws.
"What..." Before Aoko could even say a word, the sharp fangs bit into her neck. Even with the power of 'Mana Burst,' Aoko, who had just learned this art, couldn't withstand the bite of a Phantasmal Species.
The sharp fangs only paused for a moment before piercing her neck.
Like wolves, tigers, and lions, the killing move in hunting is to bite the prey's throat. While drinking their blood, they can also make the prey lose their resistance and suffocate to death.
Beo, though a Phantasmal Species, was ultimately a beast. The moment it bit Aoko's throat, Beo, with Aoko in its jaws, violently shook its head, slamming her frail body against the solid bridge.
Thwack—!
"Cough~" With the sound of the impact, blood also spurted from Aoko's mouth. It was from a ruptured internal organ.
Not only were her internal organs ruptured, but with that one shake, Aoko's brain was instantly concussed, and she even blacked out for a few seconds.
"Bast...ard!"
A hoarse voice came from Aoko's mouth. She mobilized all the magic circuits in her body and subconsciously recalled the contents of the 'A General Theory of Destruction' she had studied yesterday.
The trajectory of the magic circuits in her body suddenly changed, and the magical power flowing within it underwent a profound change. The concept of [Destruction] was born from nothing.
With a look of determination, Aoko clenched her right fis and slammed it into Beo's neck.
Boom—
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