The Archangel of Death

Chapter 22

'Divine shield.' I activated my only defense skill.

Crack!

The shield cracked under the assault of his sword. Its level wasn't that high so I guess it was expected. I shot the remaining of my bullets at him and he jumped back avoiding them all.

[You should have expected this]

'You're right. I should have.' In my confidence, I made the mistake of not counting all the scenarios. I only expected the artifact to be only a defense one but it also had an active skill on it—the short-term burst of speed.

That was how he avoided the first barrage of my bullets and managed to land a hit on me. And that was how he was able to avoid this one.

Instinctually, I conjured up the shield just in case only to be surprised to be hit on my back. His speed burst was good. Far greater than what my current senses could follow even with my high perception.

"You were lucky there." I heard him say once he had put in quite a distance among us. His smug expression didn't annoy me in the least.

Everyone here, along with him was under the assumption of mana consumption of my magic bullets but I could shoot 930 bullets at once. If we are comparing it with mana, then my MP is almost of C+ rank.

I conjured another hundred bullets in the air and shot them at him. With the distance between us, he didn't need to use the active skill to avoid my attack so he ran sideways, avoiding them.

That was his second mistake. He was thinking that I couldn't control these bullets when I shot them.

I let the bullets pass him but controlled them to remain out of his vision. Once he thought he had avoided all my bullets, I shot him with all of them at once from his back.

Boom, Boom, Boom.

A smoke screen came into creation from the impact of a hundred bullets. The smoke settled after some time and he emerged from it, undamaged.

He stared at me with pure unadulterated surprise and astonishment. So was everyone in the arena. I was doing things with the lowest skills in existence that they couldn't even imagine. 

Before his surprise could fade away, I conjured up another hundred bullets and shot them at him. He used his active skill to avoid them and came straight at me.

I again used the shield but unfortunately, unlike magic bullet, I couldn't put extra MP in the divine shield to make it sturdier.

His hit this time broke the shield but lessened the impact by a lot so I was able to avoid it. Once I had succeeded in avoiding it, I noted all of the weak joints in the armor. Unfortunately, there were none.

This time, I was the one to jump back and shoot one hundred more bullets at him to keep him occupied.

I was now down to 500 MP. 'Use three hundred to create ten of those large ones and the rest to create 200 magic bullets. Also, purchase the MP recovery potion.'

All my instructions were met but the enhanced magic bullets were created up above in the sky. No doubt the audience would be able to see it but I could stop my opponent from looking with the extra 200 bullets.

"Your mana is quite a lot. It seems the rumor about you not having mana was just a tactic of the imperial family." Allen commented when he saw the two hundred bullets around me.

Yeah, no. Even they are surprised by what I am doing right now. Everyone in here was surprised. Even Max would have been surprised if he saw me right now even though he had seen me do some pretty amazing stuff already.

I spread the 200 magic bullets around me in a radius and if he wanted to come to me, he would have to go through them. It's not that the impact would be very great if he did, but it would tell me which direction he would be coming from.

And as expected, seeing no other way, he did exactly that. He ran at me with the armor's active skill and barged through the section where my reaction would be the slowest. From my back.

Seriously! Anyone would be prepared to deal with an attack like that. I focused all of my senses and felt him very close to me.

I quickly attracted all of the magic bullets and first and foremost, dropped them at his sword's most strategic points to change the to change the course of his sword slightly. Just enough for the impact to be impaired enough to be stopped by the divine shield. 

Then I used the rest to attack him. Obviously, they were not enough so I refilled my MP once again and shot him with more magic bullets. A storm of magic bullets that wouldn't even tickle him with the artifact on him.

However, that storm did provide me with an excellent cover to swipe my hand on his wrist. As soon as I did, I stopped the rain of magic bullets and jumped back.

"You are full of surprises but no matter how many of them you shoot at me, they will do nothing." He loudly bragged while straightening himself.

"Is that so?" I asked as I shot him with a magic bullet. It hit him squarely in the stomach only this time, he screamed like a girl.

Kaugh!!

He held his stomach tightly when he felt the pain in his abdomen. It was also then that he saw that his wrist was empty. All color faded from his face.

"You see; this is why armors should literally be made into armors," I commented while playing with the bracelet in my hand.

He became even paler at the sight of the precious artifact and yelled, "Give it back. That's cheating."

An adult or an experienced fighter wouldn't have panicked and instead, would have tried to talk me into returning it. Would have told me the implications of my act and how dangerous my act could have been regarding morality.

But this kid was telling me it was cheating. That was a good laugh.

I raised my head to look above into the sky. He followed me as well and saw ten glowing balls the size of a baseball.

Without announcement, I willed one to shoot at him but lowered the impact greatly so it would only hurt, not kill.

"Ahhhh...." He screamed as the magic bullet landed on him, scorching his left leg. I, being a fair person, did the same to his other leg.

But then I thought the pattern should be equal so I shot both of his arms as well.

And while doing so, he kept on screaming and screaming. His screams spread into the arena and everyone could feel the pain hidden deep inside of them.

Some even averted their eyes when Allen screamed. I was very annoyed right now by his actions. If there is one thing I don't like, it is being used.

This piece of sh*t tried to use me to impress Asmara and to also raise his status. I don't like this at all.

"Your Highness, please! Listen to me." A shout came from the crowd in the form of a plea. It was mister Joseph, father of the screaming Allen beneath me.

I stopped the magic bullet that was about to fall on Allen's groin. Joseph pleaded while saying, "My son made a mistake. But please, he is only a young boy and boys make mistakes. How about you be the bigger person and forgive him, Your Highness?"

Now that's funny. Just a while ago this guy was wagering his family artifact and now he was calling it a mistake from a youngster. That's funny indeed.

In reply, I dropped the magic bullet I had halted on Allen's groin. His screams once again rang throughout the arena.

"Your Highness, please!!" Joseph kept on pleading amidst his son's screams but I didn't stop. I was going to kill him today, not only to fulfill my promise but also to make a point. Who I am now. And if they are smart enough, they will understand the danger I represent.

[Don't kill him]

But even I was surprised to hear this from Allison herself.

'Why?' I stopped and asked. There was no way that she would have said it without a reason.

[You're smart enough]

[Figure it out]

I raised my head and scanned everyone in the arena. From the emperor to the members of the imperial family.

Everyone in the crowd was terrified or curious about my next move. I didn't understand what she was referring to until my gaze landed on Alicia.

She was in disbelief. Different kind of disbelief than others and different from the one she had shown me before my dungeon hunting.

I knew that look. One of my masters had the same expression on his face when he had to make a decision. Despite being a doctor, he had to kill someone. It's not that he hadn't killed someone before, but every time he did, it was the most difficult and painful decision for him.

'Why should I care?' but it didn't matter to me. I was a doctor alright and that was what I had chosen to be out of everything else. But I was a soldier as well. I had to be one right now too.

[Alicia can be a good ally in the future]

'Let me ask again, why should I care?' I asked once again while I kept my eyes locked with Alicia's. There was something Allison wasn't telling me.

[Don't kill him]

'Tell me why?' whatever it was, it was related to Alicia. And it was a plan. When the word plan was mentioned, then it wasn't hers but my father's.

This was worrying.

[I will remove that title]

I scoffed internally at her reply. Maybe she didn't understand the implications between a title and my father's plans.

[There is no plan]

'You don't expect me to believe that.'

[I do]

I turned my attention back to the groaning boy beneath me. I threw the artifact near him on the ground and turned around to leave the arena.

'I'm not doing this because of you or Alicia.'

[I know]

=======

"Soft" Orion commented as Adrian left the arena.

Raphael however, didn't agree. He had seen where Adrian was looking at before he turned around and left.

'What is going on?' he questioned inwardly and made sure to ask his granddaughter about it.

=======

Alicia exhaled and dropped to her knees as soon as she entered her room. She was buckling the entire way during the walk to her room.

Even now she was remembering those cold eyes that sent shivers down her spine.

For the first time, she felt fear that was more than death. She had faced death before and she was strong enough to live through it.

She had even seen people die in her hands but today what she saw was something that was deeply imprinted in her soul.

Knock, knock.

She yelped when she abruptly heard the knocking on her door. Alicia wasn't the one to have servants so she had to open the door herself.

Opening the door, she froze as she saw what could possibly be described as the most handsome boy ever with the most pleasant smile on his face.

She, however, was terrified somewhat. She composed herself very quickly but still, she was a bit afraid.

"Good afternoon, lady Alicia." Adrian greeted her with a smile before he asked, "Would it be possible to give me some of your time?"

Alicia collected herself and replied, "Good afternoon to you too, Your Highness. What brings you here today?"

Adrian smiled and answered, "You see, some important information has been brought to my attention regarding an incident involving you and me before I lost my memory. I would like to apologize to you about it if you can spare me some time."

Alicia heaved a sigh of relief when she heard why Adrian was there and nodded. She moved aside to allow Adrian entry but Adrian shook his head saying, "Considering our last incident, I don't think it would be wise for me to enter your chambers alone."

Alicia turned beet red at the implication but nodded in return before she stepped out of her room and closed the door behind her.