239: Magic that Surpassed the Original Story and a Double Trap

Until that moment, aside from yours truly, only Eva Avery and Meryl had been capable of handling three or more elements. In the Original Story, those two were established as total freaks of nature—the ultimate geniuses of the setting. Meryl, in particular, hailed from a prestigious lineage of Court Mages.

But the Priscilla I was currently squaring off against didn't have that pedigree. Even if she was considered strong in the game, there had to be a secret behind that supposedly inexhaustible pool of mana. Beyond that, her mastery of multiple attributes just didn't make sense. Noblesse was a game, sure, but it didn't usually resort to lazy, convenient plot devices that ignored its own world-building.

In other words, there had to be a logical explanation. If I could just unravel that mystery, I’d have the key to her secret. Whether or not I actually had the luxury of time to solve puzzles in the middle of a life-or-death struggle, however, was a different story.

I was aiming for a 100% completion rate. Victory, hidden content, every single last trophy—I wanted it all!!

"—One-Hit Kill."

Having gained the ability to use Flight Magic through my black wings, we were currently tearing through the sky in all directions. Tura was busy holding off multiple upperclassmen, and Cynthia was doing the same. Somewhere in the distance, Allen and Shari were double-teaming Neil. The rest of the seniors and intermediate-year students were scattered across the battlefield, locked in their own skirmishes.

My slash, augmented by Time Lapse, slammed into Priscilla—.

"—Wind Attack."

She fired off a similar strike, neutralizing mine with practiced ease. It carried a force equivalent to Magic Destruction; she was likely weaving in small amounts of the water and Fire Attributes as well. She landed gracefully, pressing her hand against the ground to pull up a mass of earth.

"—Hah!"

Just as I thought she was going to throw it, the dirt dispersed like a shotgun blast right in front of me. Of course, it wasn't just common dirt—it was an elemental attack saturated with mana.

The Earth attribute—that makes four! This girl is a total monster!

"You monster!"

I managed to block it with a Shield, though the sheer impact rattled my teeth. She was likely imbuing every single projectile with a different attribute. Normally, an attack like that would have ended the fight then and there. She was burning through mana with an extravagance that suggested she had an infinite supply.

"Weiss Fancent. How did you acquire such power?"

"Hah! You want answers? Then tell me first: how the hell did you learn to use all those different attributes?"

Priscilla might have been wearing a Slave Crest now, but she had been born a daughter of a Baron. Cecil had told me that her service as Neil’s maid since childhood had just been about handling his personal chores. The records hadn't lied; they clearly stated she only possessed a microscopic affinity for the wind element.

That meant everything else was a late-game power-up. A maid who wasn't even supposed to be a combat specialist had somehow become strong enough to trade blows with Eva. It was unthinkable. But the evidence was currently trying to blow my head off.

"It wasn't something I particularly desired. It was simply... necessary."

"A mere maid wanted power? For what?"

"Isn't it obvious? —For the sake of Lord Neil!!!"

For the first time, an actual expression flickered across Priscilla’s face. It was brief, but it was a look of pure, unadulterated rage. Her sword began to glow with a black light, identical to my own. She lunged at me, swinging her blade downward with terrifying efficiency, power, and speed.

However, the attack was far too honest. I blocked it with a Shield, intending to counter in the split second she was wide open. But in that moment, I sensed an indescribable surge of mana.

I activated my Magic Eye. It didn't grant me Future Prediction yet, but my visual perception spiked far beyond what Time Lapse alone could provide.

And then—my heart nearly stopped. Her sword was now imbued with the Dark Attribute as well.

Realizing my Shield was about to be pulverized, I twisted my body mid-air to dodge. She had mastered the four great elements and Darkness.

Impossible. This is cheating!

But!!

"I'm going to beat you and keep moving forward!"

"—Wha—"

Surprises like this were par for the course in Noblesse. I couldn't afford to be intimidated. I dodged Priscilla's follow-up by a hair's breadth and swung my sword horizontally. I intended to end this right now—a kill-on-sight judgment with a single blow.

"—Ku-aaaaah... ngh."

Despite her pained expression, Priscilla displayed a horrifying reaction speed. The moment she realized she couldn't dodge, she used Wind Magic to create a platform under her feet and launched herself in the opposite direction. She began chanting a healing spell while still mid-air, but she couldn't break her momentum and plowed straight into a pile of rubble.

She had to have taken massive damage. This was my chance. I dashed toward the crash site, but an upperclassman stepped in to block me.

"I won't let you!"

"—Vanish."

I didn't have time for small fry. I took him down in one hit, but he'd managed to waste a few precious seconds of my time. When I looked up, Priscilla had already soared back into the sky. There was no mana leakage. As I suspected, she had used self-healing.

But... for some reason, her clothes remained torn. Usually, the magic would have restored the fabric as well. Had some kind of "irregularity" occurred that the healing spell couldn't account for?

"...What on earth is driving you this hard?"

Until now, Priscilla had been a blank slate. But now, she looked different—almost as if she were wrestling with some internal conflict.

"I’m doing this for myself. Always have, always will."

"...Is that so? In that case—I can crush you without holding anything back."

She didn't even look tired from all that mana consumption. A war of attrition was going to be bad for me. But then—.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Weiss."

"Yeah. —Sorry, Priscilla, 2-on-1 isn't really my style. But hey, this is a Tag Match, after all."

Cynthia stepped up beside me. She’d apparently finished off her batch of seniors and left the rest to Tura. In the distance, I could see Allen and Shari struggling to keep up with Neil. I didn't particularly care if those two got knocked out, but it would be a massive pain if they messed up and let him escape.

In this exam, there were no bonus points for taking down the "King." The developers probably put that rule in to prevent players from backstabbing their teammates over the last hit. However, my plan was to delete Priscilla quickly so I could be the one to finish Neil myself. That was the only way to get my "Complete Clear."

"Let's go, Cynthia."

"Yes."

She readied her Glacies at my side. Seeing the two of us together, Priscilla took a deep, steadying breath.

"The Slave Crest suppresses emotions. But it also has... side effects. Specifically, it allows one to exceed the limits of the human body."

The next moment, her mana exploded. It’s said that humans only use about thirty percent of their brain's potential, subconsciously holding back to prevent self-injury. The reason Neil was so obsessed with building a combat slave harem—and the reason Priscilla was so terrifyingly strong—was finally clear. That was his secret.

To my surprise, Priscilla seemed ready to stake everything on a single, decisive strike. Despite her bottomless mana, she wasn't going to drag this out, likely because she was worried Tura or the other students would finish with the seniors and come to reinforce us.

Actually, that’s exactly what I wanted.

And we had a secret weapon of our own. I had no intention of having a long, dramatic battle with someone whose "source of strength" was now an open book. I was the villain, after all. I was prepared to take down anyone, and I was prepared to kill if the situation called for it.

But you didn't fit that criteria, Priscilla.

"Haahaaaaaaaa!!!"

She lunged with a thrust that contained all her mana, the four elements, and Darkness. A standard Shield would be like paper against that, and even an Inviolable Domain (Barrier) was a risky bet.

"—Weiss, I’m ready."

"Yeah. Let's do this."

Instead of dodging, I charged straight into her path.

"A clash of raw power? —You have my thanks."

Yeah, sure. Except this isn't power against power.

"—This is the Miracle Magic that's going to blow the Original Story out of the water."

"Weiss—now!"

I caught Priscilla's blade with everything I had. The force was staggering—greater than anything I'd felt from any other opponent. But in that moment, I finally understood. She had put in a blood-soaked effort. Over and over, she had trained harder than even I had.

But even that... with this... was over.

"Priscilla, you did a great job."

"It's not over! We're just getting started!!!!"

"No, this is the end!!!!"

My sword knocked hers aside, but she instantly chanted Full Shield. Her speed and technique, fueled by that limitless mana, were perfect. A second strike would have been blocked easily.

But that wasn't the plan. This was the end for her.

"It's over."

In the next heartbeat, Cynthia imbued my blade with magic. This was the culmination of my Magic Eye, Time Lapse, and Miracle Magic. Usually, the brainwashing of a Slave Crest only broke if the master died. The game followed that rule, and this world was no exception.

However, we had engineered a loophole. We had created a Magic Formula—the first of its kind in this world—specifically designed to sever that "unbreakable" curse.

"—This is—"

When my sword connected with her through her Shield, Priscilla was engulfed in a brilliant white light. This wasn't our first time doing this. I had already liberated one slave I’d known about from the game—a cursed girl who had wandered the Royal Capital after her master went missing. She was now living a normal, sane life.

Priscilla, you were officially number two.

"...No... how... a technique like this..."

Priscilla went limp, her strength deserting her. Her sword point dropped to the ground, and the look on her face was completely different from before.

"Priscilla-san, it’s... it's okay now. The Slave Crest won't vanish, but you are finally free."

Cynthia smiled like a literal goddess. And it was working—Priscilla was actually crying. It was an expression I'd never seen on her. I couldn't tell if she was happy or sad, but we didn't have time to process it.

I could have just beaten her the old-fashioned way, but that wouldn't have accomplished anything. I didn't save her out of pure sentimentality; I did it because I was certain this was the key to avoiding my own destruction. Meeting Lilith, Zebis, and Teacher Milk, stopping Carta from being expelled, saving Shari—all of it had led to this. If I just knocked Priscilla out here, the story might follow the same path to my ruin. I had to go beyond the script.

Just like when I subjugated Debi, I knew the developers of Noblesse were greedy enough to leave the possibility of "miracles" in the code. Thanks to Cynthia, we’d made it a reality. I was moving toward one goal: defeating the Demon King. Meaningless fighting was a waste of time. Priscilla was going to be useful in the future. Better yet, I would make her useful.

This was the "Correct Answer" for this battle.

"Let's go, Cynthi—"

I didn't let myself get caught up in the moment. I turned my attention back to Neil. But then, I saw something that made my blood run cold.

In the split second that Cynthia looked away from her, Priscilla—still weeping—ignited her mana once again. She leveled her sword directly at my throat. It was the most terrifying, pitch-black Darkness I had ever seen.

And it was impossibly fast. It was as if she had been waiting for this exact moment.

"—I believed that you two could produce a miracle. I believed you could actually devise a way to break the Slave Crest's brainwashing when no one else in history could—"

Wait, what? What is she—?

I pushed Time Lapse to its absolute limit, dragging the world into a crawl. Don't stop thinking. Think, Weiss, think!

...I see. Her words, her expression—it all clicked. She hadn't been brainwashed by Neil from the start. She was following him of her own free will. And she had bet on the fact that we would try to "cure" her, knowing it would create a moment of absolute, fatal carelessness.

Nobody would ever suspect a trap like that, because the "cure" itself didn't exist in this world's history. But she had believed in us. She had believed that her enemies would do the impossible.

That momentary lapse was going to cost us everything. She’d been looking longingly at Cecil and Battle Universe... she’d looked like a tragic slave at the gate... it had all been a long-con.

How long has she been setting this trap?!

I tried to react, but she was too fast. I didn't know if my Inviolable Domain (Barrier) would even hold—.

"—Weiss!!!!!!!!"

But the sword didn't hit me. Cynthia had thrown herself into the gap, and the blade pierced through her heart. The Training Uniform registered the fatal damage. Between the kill-on-sight judgment and Priscilla's insane mana, it had to be excruciating—like her entire body was being shredded.

But—.

"I... believe in you."

Without so much as a whimper, Cynthia vanished into light with a smile on her face. Her mental fortitude was unreal.

Ah, dammit. No, stop. Don't mourn yet.

Move. Make your body move. Don't stop thinking! She hadn't protected me because she doubted my Barrier. She did it because she knew if I burned my mana there, our chances of winning later would drop to zero.

[Cynthia Violetta eliminated. Points awarded to Neil Albert and Priscilla Enizi.]

"Priscilla!!!!"

"—I!!!!!!! Cannot lose!!!!!!!!!!! For Lord Neil's sake, I will!!!! DEFEAT YOU!!!!!!!!!"

The person standing before me wasn't the Priscilla I knew. She was a raw nerve of rage, killing intent, and destruction. This was her true self. Her sword was a blur. How could a former maid be this driven? It was impossible.

Suddenly, Tura appeared behind her.

"—Forgive me."

It was a cold, decisive strike from a blind spot. He hadn't left so much as a hint of his presence.

But—.

"—Aah, aah, AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

Letting out a guttural scream that didn't even sound human, Priscilla moved with insane Taijutsu. She looked like Sierra. She launched a back-kick that sent Tura flying and caught his sword with her teeth.

"W-What?!"

"I... we cannot lose. Not once. Not even a single time—"

She drove her blade through Tura’s heart in the same motion. He vanished in a burst of Teleportation Magic.

[Tura Enizi eliminated. Points awarded to Neil Albert and Priscilla Shertz.]

But I wasn't going to let that opening go to waste!

"Priscilla!"

I swung my sword down with everything I had. She wasn't giving up, though. She thrust her left arm out to meet my blade. She hadn't even funneled mana into it. There was no Shield. She had to have mana left, so why—?

"—The left arm... you can have it—"

I couldn't believe my eyes. My sword bit deep into Priscilla's arm. It sliced through flesh, shattered bone, and—horrifyingly—cut right through her Training Uniform. The limb flew off in a spray of blood and gore.

There was no mana leakage. That meant she had manually deactivated the Magic Formula of her Training Uniform beforehand. Why would anyone go that far?!

"This is my... true... secret plan—"

I had hacked her arm off, but the momentum of the swing had left me completely overextended. She was truly fighting a life-or-death battle. She’d taken Carta’s magic without flinching, and she’d done this without hesitation. If she'd timed it wrong, it would have been for nothing. But she had believed in us—believed that unless she sacrificed her own flesh, she couldn't win.

Her mental strength and intellect were terrifying. But... but!

"I won't lose! I can't lose!!!!"

To win this match, to stop Priscilla, I had to kill her. Allen wouldn't have been able to do it. But I was Weiss Fancent. If there was only one path to victory, I wouldn't show an ounce of mercy!

I used an Unnatural Wall to wrench my body back into position and summoned Debi directly in front of me.

"Debibi!"

He intercepted her blade, but he was no match for her. Still, he bought me a fraction of a second. Sorry, Debi, but I won't let you die for nothing.

I didn't hold back. I aimed a lethal blow straight for her heart—.

And in that moment—perhaps triggered by my raw emotions—the Magic Eye flared to life.

«A blow toward the heart»

"This is the end, Priscilla!"

I saw through her sword entirely, dodging it by a hair. She had gambled everything on that one counter; she couldn't even defend herself with mana now. Her Training Uniform’s protection was gone.

"—Lord Neil... everyone... I'm sor... I couldn't win—"

My sword—surpassed hers—.