🟠Chapter 75
🟧 Narrator's POV:
After Takeru, Elnar, and Ryo continued their path to search for Elithius, Mirai stayed behind to face Number Four and rescue the king and his entourage.
Mirai asked Number Four in surprise:
"Aren't you going to chase after them?"
Number Four replied confidently:
"There's no need. They won't defeat the boss anyway."
Mirai smirked.
"Well, if he's that strong, I'd better defeat you quickly and go after them."
Number Four flared up at Mirai's words and launched her attack. She drew an arrow coated with poison and shot it toward Mirai's head, but Mirai managed to dodge it.
The arrow, however, changed its path and came back toward her — Number Four had used a spatial rift, allowing the arrow to enter one rift and exit from another right behind Mirai's head.
But Mirai had anticipated such a trick. She didn't stay still; even though she didn't know from where the arrow would reappear, her unpredictable movement allowed her to dodge it again.
Number Four drew another arrow, but before she could take aim, Mirai used her skill Swap Ray, switching places with the arrow mid-flight. Instantly, she appeared right in front of Number Four.
She punched her with such force that Number Four fell to the ground, spitting blood. Mirai mocked her, exploiting her shaken confidence:
"What's wrong? We haven't even started, and you're already down."
Abandoning her arrows, Number Four switched to her daggers — also coated with poison. She thrust her hand into another rift, but Mirai didn't just watch. The moment Number Four made her move, Mirai swapped their positions.
The two switched places, and Number Four couldn't get her hand into the rift in time.
Now realizing Mirai's capabilities, Number Four understood that this fight would be decided by who was faster and more cunning. She decided to expand her skill, filling the hall with countless spatial rifts.
Mirai was taken aback.
"I thought you could only use two or three at once. Well, this might be a problem."
"You won't leave here alive," Number Four sneered. "You'll die paralyzed."
Such a move was one of Number Four's trump cards, but it drained her energy rapidly. She usually reserved it for opponents who truly threatened her.
She thrust her dagger into one rift, making it emerge from another beneath Mirai's feet. Mirai swapped positions again, only to appear before another rift.
This time, Number Four managed to slash Mirai's arm. As Mirai tried to retaliate, she realized the poison was already taking effect — her arm was growing numb. Before she could close the distance, a rift appeared before her face, and she was punched squarely in the face.
Number Four mocked her with the same words Mirai had used earlier:
"What's wrong? We haven't even started, and you're already down."
Mirai burst out laughing.
"I can't believe this! You could've stabbed me in the face, but instead, you're playing like a child."
Then, she suddenly cut her own poisoned arm, causing it to bleed. Number Four was shocked. Mirai's intention became clear — she was trying to bleed the poison out.
"I think the poison's gone now," Mirai said calmly, before activating a healing technique that regenerated the damaged area.
When Number Four realized what Mirai had done, she laughed hysterically.
"Unbelievable! You're even crazier than I thought. But that won't help you — once I fill your body with poison, healing will be useless!"
Number Four aimed her dagger at Mirai's neck, but Mirai vanished — she had swapped places with a small stone behind Number Four. The next instant, she unleashed a blue energy sphere:
"Blue…"
Number Four quickly created a massive rift beneath herself — large enough to swallow her whole — avoiding the blast just in time. The energy ball shot out of the palace hall, while Number Four emerged from another rift elsewhere.
Both women were astonished by each other's abilities.
"I didn't expect you could move your entire body through the rifts," said Mirai.
"And I didn't expect you could use blue energy," replied Number Four.
Number Four drew ten arrows at once and fired them through different rifts, forming ten exit rifts around Mirai. In a circle barely a meter wide, Mirai was surrounded — ten rifts, ten arrows, no escape.
It seemed almost impossible to survive — almost, but not completely. The rifts didn't fully block her view; she spotted the king's throne in front of her and fired a Swap Ray.
In an instant, she swapped places with the throne. But as soon as she appeared, she found Number Four already waiting for her. Number Four had anticipated the move — the arrow attack was just a distraction.
Number Four stabbed Mirai three times in the stomach with her poisoned dagger. Mirai retaliated with a powerful kick to her face, sending her flying.
Mirai staggered, bleeding from her abdomen as the poison began to spread through her body. Meanwhile, Number Four confidently approached her, ready to finish her off.
Just as she raised her dagger to decapitate her, a blue energy sphere came flying toward her. Number Four dodged swiftly — realizing it was the same energy ball from earlier.
"Wait, don't tell me you made that thing orbit the palace just to hit me? How ridiculous."
Mirai smiled softly.
"What's ridiculous here is you."
Suddenly, Number Four was struck from behind by another blue energy sphere — completely different from the first one. She fell to the ground, confused.
"Tch… What? When did you fire another one?"
"When I was behind you earlier," Mirai explained. "I launched two — one clockwise, the other counterclockwise. So this one came from the opposite direction."
The blast inflicted a severe wound on Number Four. Unlike Mirai, she had no healing ability. The number of rifts began to decrease as her energy waned.
Mirai repeated her earlier move — cutting her wounded stomach and healing it again. Number Four tried to attack through another rift, thrusting her dagger, but this time Mirai targeted the dagger itself.
She fired a blue energy pulse directly at it before it entered the rift. Number Four attempted to create a large portal to relocate herself, but Mirai stopped her.
"No. I won't let you escape that easily."
Mirai fired Swap Ray again, swapping Number Four with a stone in front of her.
Number Four appeared right before Mirai — and Mirai kicked her in the face. Without pause, she pulled the poisoned dagger toward herself using Swap Ray, grabbed it, and stabbed Number Four's arms, rendering them useless.
With her arms and power disabled, Number Four could no longer fight.
The battle ended —
Mirai was victorious.