Charles frowned as he listened to the busy tone coming from his phone.
Since he'd decided to help Stella with special training, he figured he might as well go all-in and gather more people under the principle of "herding one sheep or a whole flock, it's all the same." Naturally, his first choices were Ikki and Shizuku Kurogane. Unfortunately, Toka Todo and the rest of the student council had returned to their hometowns for a visit. Otherwise, he would've invited them too.
According to the data he had, the Puppet King wasn't particularly skilled in combat. But in terms of sheer threat level, even within Rebellion, he ranked above the Supreme Leader—the Tyrant who held a corner of the world together.
His "Hell Spider Silk" didn't just control inanimate objects—it could perfectly manipulate human bones, muscles, even nerves.
Charles didn't believe the Puppet King had anything resembling a bottom line. There was no telling what underhanded methods he might resort to.
Having more allies could reduce complications when the time came.
But no matter how many times Charles called Ikki or Shizuku, no one picked up. Not even once.
When he asked Kurono Shinomiya, she too had no idea where the siblings had gone.
A sense of foreboding crept over Charles. Still, with no leads to pursue, he had no choice but to leave the investigation to Kurono. Afterward, he and Stella set off once more.
This time, their destination was... a dessert shop located in a Tokyo shopping district.
Looking at the cake sign hanging above the entrance, Stella asked in confusion, "I thought this was for special training. Why are we getting sweets?"
Charles replied, "The person who can help you with training is inside."
For Stella, the most direct path to power was awakening as a Majin. But in that area, Charles couldn't help her at all.
As the Grand Elder had once told him, Charles was already essentially equivalent to an awakened Majin, just without the ability to manipulate causality. So he had no experience with the awakening process himself—nothing he could teach Stella.
Naturally, he had to find a Majin to serve as her instructor.
Nango Torajiro and Nishimiya were both abroad, and as for Kurogane Gen—Charles wasn't on good terms with him, to put it mildly.
Back during his last visit to this world, Charles had caused quite a bit of trouble for the head of the island nation's Alliance branch.
And there weren't exactly a lot of Majin hanging around this country. That left Charles with only one option.
Who would've guessed that the Alliance's most wanted criminal—Winged One Edelweiss—had never actually left the island nation? Her "hiding place" wasn't hidden at all. She was working openly... in this very dessert shop.
According to her, the shop's head chef made incredible cheesecake, so she'd joined as an apprentice to learn.
Charles had followed her aura to this shop during the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival—only to walk in and find a girl in a pastry chef's apron.
He'd expected the world's strongest swordswoman to look like the pure-white Valkyrie he remembered, but instead... he got a totally different Edelweiss.
That's when she told him she had always loved making sweets. She trained with the sword only to burn off the calories from eating too many desserts.
She had literally dieted her way into becoming the world's strongest swordswoman.
Proof that, when it comes to weight loss, women really can do anything.
Stella followed Charles into the dessert shop, still looking skeptical. As soon as the door opened, the sweet aroma of cakes wafted over them.
Swallowing her drool, she whispered, "Hey, Charles... how about we buy some cakes to take back? I bet special training will make us really hungry—w-wait! You're the... the... Winged One?!"
She had spotted the girl behind the counter and blurted it out on reflex!
…
It took a while, but Stella finally calmed down and accepted that Edelweiss was the special training instructor Charles had mentioned.
Edelweiss turned out to be warm and cheerful, happily agreeing to help them. Stella quickly grew fond of her—though that might've had something to do with the cake she served being outrageously delicious.
Even Charles was surprised by how skilled Edelweiss was at baking, despite already knowing she had a sweet tooth.
Edelweiss removed her apron and sat across from them. "I've heard your story. I'm happy to help with the training. But I'll tell you up front—awakening isn't easy.
Especially for someone like the Crimson Princess, whose power is already at a Majin-like level. Breaking through fate's final threshold will be very difficult."
Charles nodded in agreement. A Majin was someone who broke free from the world's gravitational pull on their destiny, stepping outside the bounds of fate.
And the most tangible manifestation of fate was a Blazer's magic power. Given Stella's level, her "weight" in fate already rivaled the world's. She was practically born a Majin.
That's what made it so hard for her to awaken.
Stella downed her entire slice of cake in one bite, clenched her small fist, and declared, "I'll definitely succeed!"
Edelweiss said nothing in response, but then turned to Charles and said, "There's nothing more you can do here. You can go now."
Charles opened his mouth to protest, but Stella had already pushed him out the door of the shop.
Left standing outside with the door shut in his face, Charles just chuckled and turned to walk back to the academy.
The moment he returned to Bujin Academy, he got a message from Kurono Shinomiya and immediately rushed to the Director's office.
"Take a look at this," Kurono said grimly, sliding a tablet across her desk.
Charles picked it up and tapped the play button.
The video showed a somewhat handsome young man. But the moment Charles saw his smiling face, he felt a wave of discomfort.
That face matched the intel perfectly—this was none other than Puppet King, Ohl Ger.
From the background, it looked like he was aboard a ship. Charles could see the coastline in the distance, the steel-gray deck, and large naval cannons.
"Hello! I'm Ohl Ger, known to you as the 'Puppet King' and wanted criminal.
I'm here to declare war on a certain someone. Charles of Shenlong Temple—are you watching?
One week from now, let's joyfully tear each other apart! I'll bring four companions. You're welcome to gather your own team of five. Let's have the best ten-person battle ever!
Don't even think about declining. Look over here."
The camera panned to show the warship's massive cannons turning all at once, hatches on the missile bays opening wide, sleek missiles rising from their launch tubes.
And it wasn't just one ship—the entire fleet was combat-ready. Every weapon was aimed directly at Tokyo Bay.
The camera returned to Ohl Ger, and four figures appeared behind him.
He smiled and said, "Don't disappoint me. Tokyo Port. One week. Be there."
The video ended. Charles set the tablet down and muttered, "So he found four backup dancers and got bold enough to provoke me?"
Kurono spoke up. "Three of them have already been identified. One is a Majin-level Blazer wanted by the Alliance—Desert Reaper, Nassim Salim.
Another is a hitwoman from the House of Hell—Flower of Evil, Ein Aberrant.
The giant is a Rebellion cyborg—B.B.
As for the last one, they're wearing a cloak, so we haven't been able to identify them. But anyone standing among those four won't be weak."
Charles's expression darkened. For some reason, the cloaked figure looked vaguely familiar to him.
He could only hope it wasn't who he thought it was.
Otherwise, that Puppet King was truly digging his own grave.
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