Have You Finally Acknowledged Me?

My blood was boiling.

I was probably stronger in this moment than I had ever been in my life.

[Darius is swinging his blade down from directly in front.]

[Chloe’s whip is snapping in from the upper right and lower left.]

[Teacher Milk is closing in from behind.]

[Coco is providing defense for Darius.]

I can see them, I thought. I could see Darius’s heavy strike, the trajectory of Chloe’s whip, Teacher Milk’s fluid swordsmanship, and even the activation of Coco’s Defense Formula.

I had made the magic formula for my Blessing of Healing and Impulse of Destruction far more complex than my previous iterations. If I hadn’t, Coco would have dismantled the spells in an instant. Now, I’d essentially installed a password on the magic itself.

Magic is a world built on imagery—a lesson Luna had drilled into my head once again.

I was running out of time. If I wanted to surpass the staggering experience these titans possessed, my Magic Eye alone wasn't going to cut it. I knew for a fact that there was a realm one simply couldn't reach just by peering into the future.

The faculty probably hadn’t realized it yet, but Malice wasn't just some extra muscle on the battlefield. I was sharing every single one of my senses with her.

Sight. Hearing. Smell. Touch. Taste.

On top of that, I was funneling my Mana into her—the kind of overflowing, excessive power that would normally cause a person’s body to burst at the seams. The kicker was that we were cycling it back and forth.

Like an electric current, the energy surged from Malice to me, and then from me back to Malice. It allowed me to output power that blew past my limits while barely keeping me from self-destructing.

I wasn’t trying to invent some flashy new move; I was sublimating everything I’d learned until now. My goal was to eliminate my one and only weakness. That was the primary purpose of my training with Luna.

God, I can’t thank her enough.

I never imagined that going toe-to-toe with the world's strongest would be this much fun. These were the legends I’d admired back when I was just a fan of the Noblesse Oblige game. And now, here I was, fighting them on equal ground.

Are you watching, Weiss? I’ve actually gotten strong, haven't I?

But this was only the beginning. From here on out, things were—

"Weiss, you never cease to amaze me."

In that instant, Teacher Milk was suddenly wreathed in both fire and water.

This was it—her Ultimate Technique.

It was the same move she had used during the Demon Invasion. In the Original Story, this was hailed as the absolute strongest Offensive and Defensive All-in-One Magic, an overwhelming wall that wouldn't let a single attack pass through.

She hadn’t shown it to me even once during our training sessions.

I see... so you’ve finally acknowledged me.