WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 382: Lightning Did Not Fall from the Sky - 5

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Eight of Spades, Elixir.

I scored the wall with the Lord of Gold's card. Through the profound principles of alchemy, the lightning rod tower's coated steel walls were transformed into cards. Hundreds of butterflies with steel wings fluttered apart.

I slipped through that magical sight.

"Haah!"

The Thunder Lord's iron fist came crashing down behind me. A fist charged with lightning pierced through the fluttering cards, trying to reach me...

Unfortunately for her, cards made of steel weren't so light. The steel butterflies that had been spinning and scattering suddenly clung together in alarm.

The steel butterflies couldn't have stopped an attack from another qi practitioner. But because she was the Thunder Lord, her attack was blocked by the steel butterflies.

'It's all alchemical steel! The instant it touches them, it disperses the lightning... As if he knows every one of my weaknesses!'

The Thunder Lord moved by grabbing something and pulling herself toward it. She extended lines of lightning and connected them to metal, using that attractive force to move as quickly as a lightning bolt.

In other words, all I had to do was deal with the lightning. The alchemical steel cards stole that attractive force and clung to her. They might have looked like cards, but it must have felt like steel blocks latching onto her.

"Then!"

The Thunder Lord changed tactics. This time, she didn't pull herself forward. She fired.

Lightning gathered in her palm and shot out, splitting the floor as it rushed toward me.

It felt like feathers brushing past my body. A faint tingling sensation ran through me.

'Lightning isn't working?! He's not deflecting it. It's as if it's being swallowed!'

The idol of Mother Earth was useful after all. Lightning was meant to be swallowed by the ground.

I stood with one hand against the lightning rod tower's wall.

"What do you think? Do you believe me now when I say our odds are fifty-fifty?"

"...You're awfully confident for someone relying on cheap tricks."

"Seriously? If my techniques are cheap tricks, are yours professional techniques? Anyone can make static electricity tingle by rubbing their hands together."

Yours was only bigger in scale. How was it any different from static electricity?

When her attacks failed one after another, the Thunder Lord caught her breath and thought things over. I was surely more out of breath than she was, but composure came from psychological superiority.

This was my chance.

"By the way, I thought you were a practical person like me. I had no idea you were such an innocent, delicate girl that you'd hear a voice in your head and believe it without question."

"Your tongue never stops moving."

"No, I'm serious. You're the Thunder Lord, aren't you? Why would you suddenly hear a voice in your heart and become hostile toward me?"

She had been born and raised in this city, then chosen to become the Thunder Lord. Not once in her life had the Sanctum appeared.

Yet after receiving that revelation earlier, she had become a more devout believer than anyone and attacked me.

No matter how I looked at it, it was unnatural. Come on, realize that much at least...

"That doesn't matter. Who you are, or what I am."

The Thunder Lord spoke firmly and clenched her fist tighter. The lightning energy spreading outward condensed further, heating her body at an incredible speed.

"What matters is what you will do. And that I must stop it."

"What do you think I'll do?"

"You intend to stir up all of Claudia's secrets and uncover the truth, regardless of what those secrets are... or how they might ruin this city."

I couldn't deny it. It was true, and even if I did, she would clearly believe the revelation in her head over my words.

Tch. So it wasn't going to work after all.

The Holy Sword Corps. Fate chose them.

The Thunder Lord had been fortunate. Amid countless tragedies in the Lesser States, she had been lucky enough to be born with the most perfect body. Then, by chance, she had been struck by lightning and survived. More than that, it had allowed her to realize her talent.

The Thunder Lord, who could approach the source of Claudia's power, caught the previous Thunder Lord's eye and was appointed this generation's guardian.

After one fortuitous encounter after another, she came to believe that she was special. Then she learned part of the secret and accepted that duty...

Honestly, there had been nothing strange about her even when I read her mind. Like every person with that level of ability, she was simply disgustingly lucky. That was why I hadn't been wary of her.

But now that I knew about the Holy Sword Corps, things were different.

A chosen body. Fortuitous encounters that arrived like miracles. Even the ability to fully absorb all that power.

She truly had been chosen. The Sanctum had breathed fate into her, and she had accepted the fate given to her. She would hold lightning within her body, hide the secret underground, and protect this city.

There was no reason not to. She loved this city, and she had gained the power to protect it. To her, it was rational, noble, and precious beyond measure.

And it was, in itself, work for the Sanctum.

Seeds the Holy Maiden had scattered across the world by carefully choosing among futures.

That was the Holy Sword Corps.

Which was why I couldn't persuade her. The Thunder Lord, who reigned within the order observed by the Holy Maiden, would not welcome the change I would bring.

"I don't intend to destroy the city. I just want to satisfy my personal curiosity."

"Can the King of Humanity use the modifier 'personal'?"

"Well, when you put it that way, I don't have much to say."

Damn it. This was why I hated the Holy Sword Corps. You couldn't persuade them, and you couldn't bring about change. They had already been completed as they were.

It couldn't be helped.

"I don't like violence... How about we solve this through conversation?"

"It would've been nice if you'd had that thought before stealing."

"Then why don't you create a situation where I don't have to steal?"

"If you wish. I'll make sure you can never steal again."

The Thunder Lord approached me, filled with lightning. I pressed an Eight of Spades card against the wall and slammed my palm into it like a seal.

My hand stung, but it worked. When I pulled the card away, steel cards poured down as if a dam had burst. I copied cards in an instant, then used a flick of my wrist to throw them at the Thunder Lord.

Dozens of cards flew toward her.

"That again?"

Humans learned. Remembering what had happened before, she didn't scatter lightning around like earlier. Instead, the Thunder Lord calmly blocked the cards one by one as she advanced.

Ugh, this was troublesome. I had put some force into those throws, but she didn't look hurt at all.

My strength was around the human average. In other words, I could keep a fight roughly even against anyone. I could steal innate magic, read their plans through mind-reading and respond, then use techniques that targeted their weaknesses to force a standoff.

But I lacked finishing power.

Her body was made of the Lord of Gold's alchemical material. It wasn't metal, but it was no different from it. Her durability surpassed that of most qi practitioners. Even after being struck all over by steel cards, she didn't have a single scratch.

She was only approaching slowly because she was being cautious. If she had charged straight at me, I wouldn't have had any way to stop her.

"These are nothing but steel scraps without any power. Why are you throwing them around so pointlessly?"

"I call myself a magician, so I'm trying to stay true to the concept."

That was a lie. It had been an attack with everything I had.

It was just no more than a child's plaything to the Thunder Lord.

Tch. I couldn't win like this. I was sick of this pattern, but... I had no choice but to drag things out.

'He doesn't look that strong... but I won't let my guard down. He's the King of Humanity. He may be hiding abilities I don't know about. One at a time, without fail. I must press him as though I were facing a powerful opponent.'

Still, thanks for being cautious.

Not underestimating your opponent was a very proper attitude, but it only hurt you when facing me. The more strongly someone regarded me as a threat, the more they calculated their actions. And that gave me more thoughts to read.

Her waist, legs, arms, and fists moved like precision machinery. Her iron fist flew toward my head.

A chilling sensation, and before that, the intent to attack I read through mind-reading. I reflexively put my arm in the path of the rapidly approaching iron fist.

It should have been a strike I couldn't stop even if I knew it was coming...

But with a dull thud, the Thunder Lord's fist was blocked helplessly.

'Something is wrong...!'

It had been an attack like a bolt of lightning, but light flashed just before it touched my hand. Current flowed from her toward me, and at the same time, the force that could have shattered steel gradually weakened.

'He's not strong. It's the opposite...! I'm getting weaker...! What did he do...?!'

Simple. I discharged her power.

The Thunder Lord's innate magic, Thunder Catcher. It was a technique that grabbed lightning and moved with it. She could use lightning like qi because that technique let her house lightning within her body.

Having stolen that innate magic, I seized her lightning and discharged it into my cards. Once I got close enough for the lightning to reach me, the power that made her "special" disappeared.

I whispered to the stunned Thunder Lord.

"How does it feel to be ordinary?"

"My power! You coward...!"

"Would you call it fair? Now we're equals, aren't we?"

It had become a muddy fight using only a handful of qi. It wouldn't be strange no matter who won or lost. Right?

Taking advantage of her confusion, I pulled her arm and struck her chin. The Thunder Lord seemed to try to endure through brute strength, but her discharged body had no power. All she had left was pure physical strength...

'It doesn't hurt. His own strength is nothing special.'

Huh. She was still stronger than me?

Well, that made sense. Frequent use of qi strengthened the body to withstand the strain. Why else would people who had learned even body-strengthening qi be treated like superhumans? Even without qi to draw on, there was a difference in pure strength.

'Then I won't panic. Without the power of thunder, I'll face him with pure physical strength.'

The Thunder Lord's fists soon rained down.

Every blow was heavy. She wasn't even using qi, yet my arms were already aching. Missed punches easily shattered furniture. Overwhelming durability was strength in itself. Fists swung without fear of damaging her own body were far stronger than ordinary fists.

Thud, thud, thud.

The punches I barely avoided battered the walls and furniture at random. If I had done that, I would have suffered fractures, but the Thunder Lord calmly prepared her next strike. It felt like wearing down a boulder.

'You're truly remarkable at one thing, running away. Have you retained your beast's instincts even after losing your strength?'

If not for mind-reading, I would have been hit several times and collapsed already. At least I knew where her fists would fly.

This time, it was my chest. I had to dodge...

Huh. My breath.

I hadn't managed my stamina while dodging. During the moment I gasped for breath, her fist slammed into my chest. I crossed both arms to block it, but the impact pierced through my arms and chest, spreading through my entire body.

I slid backward.

The Thunder Lord followed and spoke.

"The match will soon be decided."

"Ha ha. You're awfully confident after landing one hit."

"It won't end with one."

She was right. I had no chance in a battle of attrition. No matter how much I hit her, she was fine, while she pressed me with nearly endless stamina.

It was like fighting an immortal.

There was no point using a weapon... Even if I stabbed her with an awl, it would only make a hole in her skin. If she took it from me, my life would be in danger. Better not to show one at all.

Then.

"Hey. I've been fighting with my back almost against the wall the whole time, right?"

"You're talking again. Do you fight with nothing but words and petty tricks?"

"How did you know... Anyway, while I kept my back to the wall, I prepared something to show you."

My tricks were already all exposed. Scary. This was why I hated fighting.

"Anyway, I'll show you what I've been preparing while taking hits and dodging."

"You'll have to show it before you die."

As if there was nothing more to say, the Thunder Lord threw a kick. At that moment, I slid away while brushing along one side of the wall.

Her missed kick struck the wall. The thin wall shattered like glass, and thousands of cards poured out as if a dam had burst.

Cards I had made countless times while rubbing against the wall.

They rained down over the Thunder Lord in an instant. No matter how strong her body was, she couldn't help losing her balance when hundreds of kilograms of steel cards pressed down on her.

A waterfall of cards crashed over the Thunder Lord and knocked her down.

"Petty tricks...!"

...Even the Thunder Lord's absurdly overpowered body came through unharmed, but that instant of opening was enough.

While she struggled amid the waterfall of cards, I grabbed her arm from behind, trapped it between my legs, and twisted.

Footnotes:

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