Chapter 55: I am an Avenger and a Beast Thirsty for Blood!
Around the time Kazuma was confronting the large horde of Mahito, fierce battles were unfolding in various countries against Ibinom, criminals, and executives of the Ivera Church.
Among them, there was one confronting a fated enemy.
“To think I’d meet you here…”
“What a coincidence. I was thinking the same thing.”
Charlotte, who had returned to France, was on standby with the medical team at the international conference, just as usual.
Due to the Mahito invasion, the venue was in an uproar, and with reports of Ibinom rampaging outside, she was fighting near the conference hall.
It was then that Azrael, having finished his “work,” appeared.
Charlotte, finding her fated enemy unexpectedly before her, entered a battle stance.
“Hahahaha! You’re looking quite the part. Don’t tell me you think you can fight me just because you got some toy from the Crimson Knight?”
“Fufu, I was wondering what you’d say, but that’s quite amusing. Fight you? Don’t be absurd! You’re no longer a match for me.”
Azrael’s eyebrow twitched at Charlotte’s overly arrogant remark.
“Hoh. Quite bold, aren’t you? Especially for someone who was crying like a baby when I tore off your ear.”
“My past self was weak. That’s all. But now, it’s different. I can crush someone like you with ease.”
“Fine by me! You can’t take back what you said!”
Azrael, who possessed Spatial Manipulation, pointed his hand at Charlotte before him and severed space.
That alone would usually be enough to cut most people’s bodies along with space, ending them.
However, Charlotte was no longer an ordinary person.
With her new Powered Suit and Kazuma’s guidance, she was one of the world’s foremost powerhouses.
She defended against the supposedly severed space using the Dimension Blade equipped on her Powered Suit.
“Huh?”
“Surprised? Allow me to explain it to your foolish self. This Dimension Blade is a sword that cleaves space, born from the wisdom of Kazu… ahem! The Crimson Knight and the science team. That said, it doesn’t possess power on par with your Spatial Manipulation. At best, it can only defend against your spatial severing, like just now. So, rest assured. I will bury you with my own hands.”
“What nonsense—”
With a leap, in the blink of an eye, Charlotte slipped into Azrael’s guard.
Azrael, his eyes widening at Charlotte’s sudden appearance before him, instantly created an infinite space with his Spatial Manipulation.
Azrael was confident that no matter how powerful Charlotte’s attack, it wouldn’t reach him, but her fist punched right through the space.
“Guhaah!?”
“Naive, so naive. Did you forget the Dimension Blade? Of course, I have other countermeasures prepared for you.”
“Wh-What did you do!”
“I know your ability. You can use Spatial Manipulation to create multiple layers of space around yourself, nullifying enemy attacks. But if one can pass through that space, there’s no problem, is there?”
“I-Impossible! With current technology, passing through my space… Don’t tell me, the Crimson Knight again?”
“Correct. Invisibility. Using that, my fist slipped through your multiple layers of space.”
“N-Nonsense… Just how many cards does that Crimson Knight have up his sleeve!”
“At least, it’s beyond the comprehension of someone like you.”
“Th-This damn bitch!!!”
Enraged, Azrael used Spatial Manipulation to compress the space Charlotte occupied, intending to shrink it and erase her from this world.
Charlotte sensed the space she stood in contracting, but she felt no fear whatsoever.
She had already experienced the same technique.
“Haah!!!”
“Wh-Wha!?”
Azrael, who was trying to annihilate her by compressing space to its absolute limit, cried out in surprise as the space was repelled.
It wasn’t blown away by sheer spirit.
Moving her hands as if drawing a circle, then spreading both arms wide, Charlotte repelled the space.
It looked like some kind of martial art, but Azrael, completely clueless about the principle behind it, could only be bewildered.
“Wh-What in the world are you!”
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m not the same person I was before.”
“Even so, there should be a limit! You didn’t have that kind of power! Don’t tell me you guys also made a drug to increase Gifts!?”
“There’s no such drug. Rather, did you people create such a drug? Impressive, even for an enemy. I offer my sincere praise.”
“D-Don’t act so damn composed!”
“Oh my, you seem to have lost quite a bit of your composure. Ah, is it perhaps because our positions have switched? Just a little while ago, you were overwhelmingly superior, weren’t you? But now, the tables have turned. That’s why you’re acting so tough, isn’t it, wittle boy~?”
It was a blatant provocation.
Charlotte used baby talk to get on Azrael’s nerves, deliberately provoking him.
As a result, veins bulged on Azrael’s forehead, and he was consumed by rage.
Forgetting the position he himself had been in just moments before.
“I’ll fucking kill you, you damn bitch!!!”
“There’s no need to get so angry just because I hit the mark~”
Enraged, Azrael lunged at Charlotte.
He launched attacks like severing and compressing space with his Spatial Manipulation.
However, as expected, they didn’t work on Charlotte.
She easily defended against Azrael’s incoming Spatial Manipulation attacks and landed a brilliant counterattack.
“Buheh!”
Azrael, struck in the cheek by her fist, bounced multiple times on the ground like a rubber ball before crashing into a pile of rubble.
Azrael, having plunged headfirst into the rubble pile, had his lower body pathetically exposed, creating a foolish sight.
“Pfft, are you perhaps trying to make me die of laughter? If so, you’ve succeeded magnificently.”
Charlotte giggled, clutching her stomach, tears welling in her eyes.
After laughing her fill, Charlotte wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her finger and walked towards Azrael, who had pulled himself out of the rubble and was breathing heavily, shoulders heaving.
“You could have stayed buried a little longer, you know? It looked like modern art, quite cool.”
“Don’t screw with me…! You were just laughing your ass off until you cried! Was it that funny, huh?!”
“Of course, it was funny. So funny, I even took a picture and sent it to Kazuma-san and the others.”
“Wh-!? You bastard, don’t mess with me! Taking pictures leisurely in the middle of a fight!”
“A fight? Where? What just happened was merely child’s play. Aren’t you misunderstanding something? Please don’t speak of ‘fighting’ when you can’t even properly fight me.”
“Ah, uh…! Shut up! Besides, without that Powered Suit, you’re just a little girl! Before you go criticizing your enemy, aren’t you the weak one for relying on tools?!”
“…”
“Hah, see! You can’t say anything back because I hit the mark!”
“Pfft…! Ahahahahahahaha! I wondered what you were going to say, and it’s that? Weak without a Powered Suit? Are you an idiot? That’s like saying it’s against the rules to use a gun against an enemy in war, isn’t it?”
“Gh…!”
“In the first place, a battle is about using whatever you can. If you think Powered Suits are unfair, then you should just stick to matches with rules. For a grown adult, you say some rather pathetic things.”
“Th-This damn bitch…!”
“Ah, well, I suppose it can’t be helped. After all, since your vaunted Spatial Manipulation is completely ineffective, I can understand why you’d say such desperate things.”
Charlotte advanced until she was right in front of Azrael, her lips twisting into a grin.
“Shall I take this off for you?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, this Powered Suit is cowardly, right? If so, I’ll take it off for you?”
“Are you sane, you bastard? If you take that off—”
“I’ll be nothing more than a little girl. Victory will be as good as yours. Right?”
“…You seem pretty damn confident.”
“I am. In the first place, this Powered Suit is a mercy for you, you know?”
Veins throbbed on Azrael’s temples as he barely suppressed a roar, retorting to Charlotte.
“Hohou. If you’re going to say that much, then go ahead and try.”
“Very well.”
Without any hesitation, Charlotte deactivated her Powered Suit.
Azrael’s eyes widened at Charlotte becoming defenseless in the middle of the fight, but deeming it an unparalleled opportunity, he activated his Spatial Manipulation.
“Don’t you regret this, you damn bitch!”
It was utterly pathetic, but this was Azrael’s only chance to defeat Charlotte.
He understood this and, intending to kill Charlotte, severed her neck with Spatial Manipulation.
“Huh…?”
“It’s true when I said it was a mercy. Because the Powered Suit was suppressing my power.”
“Wh-Why…! I’m sure I just cut off your neck!”
“Yes. I certainly felt my neck being severed. So, I simply reattached it instantly with healing and regeneration.”
“Wha-!? You shouldn’t have had that kind of power!”
“I told you at the beginning, didn’t I? That I’m different now!”
As Charlotte finished speaking, she stepped forward and launched an uppercut towards Azrael’s abdomen.
Naturally, Azrael had layered space multiple times so that her fist couldn’t reach him, but Charlotte’s fist smashed through space and pierced his abdomen.
“Ga, hah…!?”
“Burst.”
“Guboaaah!!!”
Azrael’s abdomen strangely swelled up, and then it burst as if a bomb had been planted inside him.
The center of his abdomen ruptured, and Azrael, scattering a large amount of blood, couldn’t bear it and collapsed on the spot. But due to Charlotte’s healing and regeneration, his wound healed immediately.
“Wha- huh? Why? No, more importantly, what was that just now?”
More concerning to Azrael than his wounds being healed was the fact that Charlotte had pierced through space with her bare hands.
Until a moment ago, it had largely been due to the assistance of her Powered Suit, but now, it was with her ordinary bare hands.
How could that have caught Azrael, who was at a distance that seemed close yet was unreachable due to multiple layers of space?
Azrael, who couldn’t help but wonder about it, turned a questioning gaze towards Charlotte.
“This is an ultimate technique I learned from Kazuma-san. The only way to make a fist reach an opponent like you, who uses space to create an absolutely invincible defense. It is to leap across space.”
“Huh? There’s no way you can do something like that—”
“Yes. That’s right. Normally, it’s impossible. No matter how much a person struggles, they cannot leap across space. Ordinarily, that is.”
“Then, how on earth…”
“It is through effort and training. You leave sound behind, surpass even light, and step into the realm beyond that. By doing so, it was possible to transcend space.”
“What you’re saying is absurd! There’s no way that’s possible! Especially for a mere human!”
“Have you forgotten? My Gift is healing and regeneration. As long as I’m not dead, I can overcome even the impossible. That is who I am.”
“A-a monster, are you… you bastard…!”
“Fu, fu, fu, fufufufu! Ahahahahahahaha!!! That face, I wanted to see that face! Your face, despairing at everything before an overwhelming enemy you can’t even touch! Finally, finally, with this, I can achieve my revenge.”
“Uah…! Wh-what are you…”
“Just a single beast. A bloodthirsty beast seeking to enact its revenge.”
Charlotte peered at Azrael with heavy, intense eyes.
The Holy Maiden who was once merely toyed with as they pleased was no more.
Azrael was finally forced to realize that.
“Kuh!!!”
Azrael, judging that he no longer had any chance of winning, tried to escape using Teleportation.
However, Charlotte sent Azrael flying with a punch even faster than that, and used a device installed in her Powered Suit that isolated dimensions.
“T-Teleportation isn’t working!? It can’t be…”
“Don’t worry. Within this device, Teleportation, severing, and compression are all still possible. Now, let’s fight to our heart’s content.”
Charlotte spread her arms and smiled like a goddess, but from Azrael’s perspective, she looked like nothing less than a final boss.
Azrael, crushed by despair, attacked Charlotte with Spatial Manipulation as a last-ditch resistance, but she pulverized every single one of them.
Repeating her healing and regeneration, she had become an immortal monster, and moreover, thanks to Kazuma’s hellish training, she could unleash fists that surpassed even light. Azrael was no match for her.
“For someone who said that without a Powered Suit, a person is no different from a mere little girl, you’re just a small fry without your Spatial Manipulation, aren’t you? Ah, I’m sorry. Even with Spatial Manipulation, you were still a small fry.”
“U-u-uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Ah, there’s no point in getting desperate and spamming Spatial Severance. Because as long as I’m not dead, I will revive.”
“Normally, anyone would go insane if they were torn to shreds like that!”
“Ufufufu. Thanks to Kazuma-san, I have a tolerance for pain. There’s no way I’d be shaken by something like this, is there?”
“Wh-what kind of torture did you go through to become like that…?”
Fear, despair, and negative emotions gnawed at Azrael’s heart.
His legs trembled violently, and he was barely able to stand.
Where he stared, paying no heed to Azrael’s attacks, Charlotte, walking straight ahead with just a madness-tinged smile, was reflected in his eyes.
“Don’t mess with me, don’t mess with me! I am Azrael the Silent! My Spatial Manipulation is the strongest!!!”
“Ahahahahahahaha! Futile! Meaningless! Feeble! Frail! Compared to Kazuma-san’s, your attacks are so pathetically weak, I can’t stop laughing!”
Charlotte’s body was slashed apart by Azrael’s Spatial Manipulation, and blood spray danced in the air.
She, walking calmly through it all, was truly nothing but a symbol of terror.
“Haa… haa… How can you be fine after losing so much blood?”
“What a foolish question. My regeneration even regenerates blood.”
“So, you’re saying you’re truly immortal?”
“How long is it taking you to understand?”
Charlotte, shrugging as if to say “good grief,” took her final stance to enact her revenge.
She lowered her stance deeply, drew back her fist like drawing a bow, and like a bullet, Charlotte slammed her ultimate strike into Azrael’s face.
In an instant, Azrael perceived Charlotte’s approaching fist.
It leaped across Azrael’s space.
However, if a human body were to do such a thing, it would undoubtedly be unable to withstand it and would collapse.
Charlotte’s fist was no exception; unable to endure the speed surpassing light, it self-destructed.
Normally, the fist would not reach Azrael here, and it would be the end, but her Gift was healing and regeneration.
The moment her shattered fist regenerated from the bone, flesh and blood scattered, and even if the fist shattered again, it repeated its regeneration, eventually reaching Azrael’s cheek.
Azrael understood that process in a fleeting moment, and the instant he realized that Charlotte was a true, genuine monster, he lost consciousness.
“Buberaaah!!!”
“This is mercy. I shall let you be judged under the law.”
Azrael, sent flying, plunged headfirst into a pile of rubble and completely lost consciousness, but his life was not taken.
At the very end, Charlotte had shown him mercy.
She poured in her Gift of healing and regeneration, saving Azrael’s life.
“…As I thought, it has to be Kazuma-san. Only Kazuma-san can take my full power!”
She blushed like a cute, bashful maiden with a “Kyaa,” but Charlotte, dyed bright red with Azrael’s splattered blood in addition to her own, looked like nothing less than a vicious murderer.