CH 121.3

[Yes, this is Aidle of the Underground Explorers! I was just doing an interview with the head of the Holy Knights Armani, and it seems that not only the cardinals but also the bishops have been embezzling money! Armani-sama, is it true?]

[Yes, they all confessed. We were banished to the snowy mountains by the Cardinal and Hero Goutani’s takeover, but we had escaped to an underground facility from the old days. At first, we were willing to cooperate with them to take back the Pope, but thanks to Aidle-san, the bishops’ crimes were discovered]

[That’s right! The above is from the Underground Explorers].

Pope and Cielo, who did not expect to be interviewed and appear on the show, looked at the video of Armani, who was wearing firm light makeup, and then turned to the actual Armani.

“You were in it?”

“Were you interviewed?”

“…I was.”

They chuckled at the expression on her face, and then turned their attention back to the screen. What was shown next was Cielo’s Spartan Manners class. The public saw Cielo incessantly pointing out the dishes served on the white table to Goutani, who was unable to touch any of them.

[Cielo was giving him a heart-to-heart talk in order for Goutani to become the next Pope. I heard that there are many more things he has to learn to become Pope, but Goutani is already fed up! I know how you feel, but you are going to lead the future followers of the Church, so at least you must be able to do this with a straight face! Good luck!]

As they were arguing, he finally said something he shouldn’t have said.

[It is a wife’s role to support her husband. Especially if it is the person I am going to marry, I must say it. Otherwise, people will not be satisfied. If you make one mistake, the whole nation will laugh at you. As the face of the country, you must try to be perfect in everything. It is an unavoidable part of your marriage to me. If you say that you will refuse, then I will be forced to refuse as well].

[I don’t care what happens to the country! I’ll kill the Pope too!]

“That’s a lie! I never said that!”

“Be quiet!”

“You’re in my way too, you useless bastard! You’re useless!”

No matter how many [Curse] he sent to Mika, they would all disappear before touching Mika. That was the power of Mika’s holy sword attribute, [Cancellation].

There were two main effects of [Cancellation]: one was for [Abnormal Condition] and the other was [Skill] Cancellation; Abnormal Condition’s Cancellation was just what it sounded like, but the [Skill] part was completely removing the effect of a skill with [Cancellation]. This hurts Goutani the most. Because the [Curse] skill was always active, and once it was cancelled, it would disappear from the skill column.

Originally, Asahina decided to use Mika as a deterrent in case of an emergency, and it turned out to be exactly as envisioned. And one more thing.

“Aaaaahhhh”

Kka…shiiiiinnn…

“…It’s the same, no matter how many times you do it.”

The sword blow, which neither had a shape nor effect, got [Cancelled] before it hit.

Another effect, that of [Physical Cancellation], was allowing Mika to completely prevent her opponent’s attacks, as long as they were physical in nature. Once a physical attack is “cancelled”, any resulting impact created by that attack is considered to have never occurred.

Therefore, Goutani could only damage Mika with magic. However, he could not keep up with Mika’s movements and did not even have time to do proper chanting. He was outmatched by Mika’s status, and outmatched in melee as well.

It was a complete dead end.

“Gghh…haah…haah…you, why are you so…?”

“Do you have any idea how much I’ve trained over the past half year or so? I’ve been training to beat you. I’m no longer the one scared when everyone else in the class was fighting. I’m not useless anymore!”

Mika had never missed a single training session since the day she ran away with Cielo and met Aidle. Goutani, on the other hand, had been sitting on his high status for the past few years since he came to La Veil Rad, and his physical strength had decreased dramatically.

Mika’s strength and stamina had been built up over the course of her journey, along with the experience she had gained in Ladaria, the dungeons of Amone, and training with the Aidle’s. Goutani was no match for Mika. There was no way they could lose. She didn’t even need to use her newfound skills.

“You…you…you don’t look down on me!”

“Come back to your senses, you idiot!”

Mika finally flicks off Goutani’s holy sword and swings her fist at him with all her might, right into his face, right into his jaw, just enough to not kill him, while his skills are off.

Gakkoooooooon!!!

“Uguh!!!”

His head was shaken and his vision blurred. He tried to stare at Mika with the force of his emotions in an effort to stay conscious, but he was at his limit and finally collapsed, as if his strings had been severed.

Mika looked at him, then turned away and raised her fist high in the air, now looking at her best friend’s face.

“I won, Cielo!”

“Yes…my Hero-sama!”

Beside Goutani, for some reason, Quad rang the gong. La Veil and the Pope were happy as they splashed their drinks.

[…That’s enough from you, Aidle!]