Chapter 142: Sister's Critical Hit
***
Just one strike, and it had nearly turned the alley ahead, along with half the adjacent one, into a frozen tundra.
Countless ice spikes of varying thickness crisscrossed everywhere, covering the cobblestone road, the roof beams, every corner within sight. Some were only half a person's height, but most stood 5 to 6 meters tall, some even 7 to 8 meters, looming like silent titans. Scattered yet somehow unified, they looked like dazzling but deadly ice flowers in full bloom.
Ice crystals filled the air like smoke and mist. Within it all, the glow of fire had been reduced to a dying flicker in the wind, barely holding on with a faint trembling red light.
"Oh my god... this is nothing short of a disaster... it's terrifying..."
"Unbelievable... and the one who caused all this is just a little girl who isn't even of age yet... damn, I should've brought a coat."
Someone behind me gasped in amazement.
"Is he dead..."
I heard the vice-captain's boots crunch against the ground as she seemed to be walking this way, so I immediately waved my hand at them repeatedly, signaling them not to come over yet.
At the same time, an ice pillar shot up from beneath my feet with a thud, and I used the momentum to leap toward what remained of that faint glow. Landing on a tilted ice spike nearby, I frowned and lowered my head to look at the figure trapped inside.
And met the muscular man's blood-red eyes head-on.
His body... from the chest down was completely buried inside translucent ice spikes, with only his head, shoulders, and one right arm sticking out above.
Residual fire kept leaking out from his wounds, casting a reddish hue over the ice encasing him. Wisps of steam curled upward, letting out a faint hissing sound, and water droplets dripped down the ice spikes and pooled into a small puddle at the base.
"Hah... hah..."
The muscular man's eyes were wide with rage, his breathing heavy. He stared hard at me, and a moment later began to thrash around like a man who'd lost his mind.
"Urgh... Aaaaah—!"
"AAAAAH—!!"
He let out a bone-chilling roar and raised his still-functioning right fist, slamming it down against the ice surface again and again. His thick arm muscles bulged, and every strike carried an explosive burst of crimson flame, seven, eight punches in a row, yet the ice didn't budge an inch. Not even a crack.
I just stood there and watched him.
After a while, the muscular man raised his head again, glaring at me with fury, letting out a roar like a rabid beast.
"AAAAAAH—!"
"Who are you! Who are YOU—!!"
I said right away: "Your daddy."
"I'll kill you... I'll KILL YOU!!"
Watching the man throw his powerless tantrum, I tilted my head and thought for a moment. Going by how these things usually play out in stories, this is the part where the protagonist typically asks the villain the same kind of question.
"Tell me who's behind this, and you can live."
"Hahahaha—!"
The muscular man laughed even more maniacally at that, and suddenly swung his arm hard in my direction.
"Little girl..."
The next moment, a torrent of blazing fire came rushing toward me.
But... too slow.
I dodged it easily with Moon Step, shifting to another ice spike nearby, and stood there lost in thought for a moment before asking again: "Then... talk, and I'll make it quick for you."
"You little b*tch... hehehe..."
He let out a low, eerie laugh, his gaze sharp and sinister as he fixed his eyes on me, then curled his finger toward himself: "Come closer, and I'll tell you."
"..."
No reasoning with this one.
Swoosh—
A sharp ice spike sliced through the air and with a dull thud, plunged into his slightly open mouth, bursting clean out through the back of his skull. Red and white matter exploded and splattered across the ice surface... the image was rather unsettling, and I scrunched my face in disgust.
Even so, the muscular man was still alive.
"Blugh—, cough cough... cough cough!"
He coughed up several mouthfuls of blood clots in a row. They hit the ice and ignited instantly, sending curls of steam rising and blurring the surrounding air.
Through the haze, I could faintly see the gory wound at the back of his skull visibly closing itself at a speed you could actually watch.
"Hehe... little girl, I don't care who you are... The Gate of Truth will remember you... hehe..."
Hearing the muscular man's feeble parting threat, I rolled my eyes.
"You don't even know who I am. How exactly are you going to remember me."
"The great God of Truth... knows all things... it will be watching you... cough cough!"
"God of Truth, what is that?"
"Want to know... let me go, and I'll tell you..."
...Dream on.
"You know what, I don't want to know anymore."
So what do I do with him?
There's actually no need to just kill him outright right now... at his level, there's absolutely no way he can break free from the ice crystal prison I've made. We're not even in the same league in terms of power. He's no longer a threat, but he still has enough fight left to keep struggling, which means he's not going to die anytime soon.
Valarr died too fast earlier, and there were a lot of things I never got to ask... This might be a good chance to find out something useful from him.
With that in mind, just as I was thinking over how to question him, I heard light footsteps from behind.
I turned to look, and saw Theresa walking over.
"The Gate of Truth... just looking at him like this, he really is just an ordinary person," she said.
I picked up where she left off: "An ordinary madman."
"But madmen are people too."
Theresa looked up and gave me a gentle smile, her steps never slowing, walking straight toward the muscular man.
"Maybe in the eyes of a madman, it's us who are the mad ones."
"Sister Theresa, be careful."
The muscular man was only physically restrained right now, he wasn't weakened at all. I was a little worried Theresa might get hurt, so I kept my eyes locked on that hulking figure over there.
I saw the muscular man's expression shift into a look of sheer shock, his eyes going wide.
"You're... Sister Theresa?!"
"Ah, yes." Theresa answered.
As she spoke, she had already closed the distance to just 5 steps away from the muscular man, and came to a slow stop. Her slender arm lifted, right hand forming a fist, and she drove it straight into one of the ice spikes beside her.
Thud!
A dull impact rang out.
I don't know if it was just my imagination, but I actually felt the ground tremble slightly beneath me.
Crack.
And then, the ice, the very same ice the muscular man had spent so long hammering without making a dent, the ice that even the Fire of Sin couldn't melt, suddenly split open with cracks under what looked like a feeble punch.
With a sharp bang, the ice exploded. As ice crystals flew in every direction, an ice spike as thick as a grown man and over 3 meters tall snapped clean in half at the middle, and Theresa caught the pointed end in her arms, lifting it with ease and cradling it against her chest.
Everything that just happened in front of my eyes left my brain completely blank.
What is she about to do...
Her next words reached my ears: "Being known by someone the world calls a madman... is that really such a bad thing... or a good one..."
"You can't—"
That was the muscular man's last sound.
The next moment, the ice spike cradled in Theresa's arms was swung high into the air, and like an unstoppable giant hammer, it came screaming down toward his head, and crushed it instantly like a watermelon.
Red and white matter, trailing fire, flew several meters in every direction. What remained of the pulped flesh, along with the spine, was driven deep into the chest cavity by the sheer force.
Boom—
Ferocious flames erupted from the deep hollow where his neck used to be, blazing up taller than a person, then just as quickly died out like a flash in the pan.
"Sister Theresa..."
I stared at her, jaw hanging open, completely at a loss for words.
A nun, smiling sweetly, caving someone's head in with a smile on her face... I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to unsee this for the rest of my life... that was brutal. It completely obliterated the gentle image I had of her in my mind...
On that note, Theresa, having finished everything, casually tossed the sticky, gooey ice spike to the ground, turned to me, and said: "Let's go. Don't waste time, we still have a lot to do."
"...Okay."