A bane. Even if The Hero of the Gale returned from her rigorous training, Selina would still be her bane.
You train hard, you have fortuitous encounters to level up, but our precious Selina also has a divine artifact boosting her!
That half-baked Pure White Knight in your Hero Party, wasn’t she also able to join the team because of a divine artifact? Have you forgotten?
“Putting on an act with empty hands, you really had me fooled at first. Turns out it was all bluster,” Samimi snorted coldly.
“Are you really willing to assist someone like this? Come back to the Hero Party. We can start over, accomplish great things together. Shalum, turn back from the brink,” The Hero of the Gale, hearing the mockery, suddenly switched personalities, gently trying to persuade her to surrender.
“Hiss—” Samimi drew in a sharp breath.
This kind of gentle, weird talk gave her goosebumps all over. She’d rather be cursed out thoroughly than listen to this insincere drivel.
She even regretted speaking up a little—just opening her mouth gave the gentle personality a chance to seize control, becoming even more naggy and long-winded.
“Shut up! The person I hate most in the Hero Party is you, you hypocrite!” Samimi roared.
“I can change. Tell me where I’m lacking, what I didn’t do well enough. I can change it all,” The Hero of the Gale said with a look of deep affection.
Hearing this, an outsider would think Samimi was the villain.
That’s the effect the protagonist wants.
Past arguments were private team matters, but The Hero of the Gale had the skill to bring these things before everyone, as if asking for public judgment.
This was the first time Samimi had faced such a situation.
That classic scenario of “the villain being exposed and surrounded”—when you’re the one experiencing it, all that’s left is grievance and rage.
“Rustle, rustle, rustle—”
Thorns coiled around Samimi, and a set of thorny exoskeleton rapidly constructed itself over her body.
She chanted softly, quickly stacking herself with amplification.
Her magic was almost depleted, but she still had to make her move personally.
To be honest, while everyone in the Hero Party had their issues, she actually quite liked them.
The Pure White Knight Fabiana, the White-haired Witch Bemore, even that yandere elf Close who wanted to kill her—each had a unique character, each “disturbed in their own distinctive way.”
Most importantly—they were all very pretty.
Even though she had beaten them all up, and might have to fight them every time she saw them in the future, deep down… she really did like their faces and figures.
Except for The Hero of the Gale—
She couldn’t muster a shred of fondness for her.
The original rational persona was still acceptable, but this current “gentle persona” was downright nauseating.
“Heh, you think I’d take this insincere nonsense seriously? Go trick some little girl next door. I won’t fall for it,” Samimi said with a calm smile.
“Does ‘little girl next door’ mean me?” Bemore pointed at herself.
“I am sincere,” The Hero of the Gale was clearly being controlled by the gentle personality again.
“But I already have my hero~” Samimi suddenly acted cute, making a peace sign, her tone sugary sweet.
The effect was outstanding.
The Hero of the Gale instantly froze, her personality thrown into chaos again.
“You were already defeated by Selina last time. Of course I’d choose to team up with the stronger one,” Samimi tilted her head, swaying it.
This was fighting poison with poison.
You use gentleness to disgust me? I’ll use a ‘green tea’ act to disgust you!
“Disgusting! Shut up!” Bemore was the first to lose it, directly firing off several Dragon Bombs.
“Selina, save me~” Samimi called out in a cutesy voice.
The next moment, the thorns twitched, pulling Selina to the front. Her twin shields blocked the Dragon Bombs, creating quite the heroic rescue visual.
In reality—
Once she donned the Thorn King Armor, Selina had already entered Samimi’s control system.
But she didn’t know it.
Because this wasn’t forced control, but a kind of “suggestion-based guidance.”
Selina would think this was her own judgment, that she was controlling the equipment.
In reality, the Thorn King Armor made her “think” she was in control of everything, while the true manipulator was Samimi.
This system was composed of the Support Technique, the Thorn Crown, and the Thorn King Armor, and it had to be built upon Selina’s absolute trust in Samimi.
All were indispensable.
This wasn’t exactly a dark art.
Because—it required the controlled to “willingly believe.”
This was [The Illusion of Free Will].
“You… are no longer needed,” Samimi looked at The Hero of the Gale, smiling as she spoke the most lethal words in the cutest tone.
This sentence successfully allowed The Hero of the Gale’s “true self” personality to retake control, suppressing the gentle personality.
The Hero of the Gale, restored to her true self, had flames of fury burning in her eyes.
She wasted no more words.
Raising her hand, she used wind battle aura to sweep up a broken sword and instantly charged forward!
Clang!
The sword light was like a gale, slashing directly at Selina.
Selina showed no fear, crossing her twin shields to counterattack.
Clang! Clang!
Blades collided.
The sword in The Hero of the Gale’s hand soon broke, but she immediately swept up another sword to continue fighting, not falling behind in the slightest.
Only then did Samimi notice—
Hundreds of weapons were stuck in the sandy battlefield, all becoming her backup armory.
Crack! Crack!
Break one, replace it with another.
Using quantity to compete with quality.
She didn’t even feel a hint of regret—after all, they weren’t her swords.
Samimi’s eyebrow twitched.
This move… why did it seem so familiar?
Wasn’t this—[Unlimited Blade Works]?!
“Fine, then I’ll teach you how to break it.”
Samimi controlled the thorns, rapidly spreading them, breaking the weapons on the ground one by one.
Turn your “unlimited blade works” into “limited blade works”!
Both sides began a battle of wits.
Bemore also noticed this, using the last of her magic to blast the spreading thorns apart with Dragon Bombs.
Sweat beaded on her forehead as she shouted, “The Hero of the Gale! We can’t drag this out! End it quickly!”
Then—
She unleashed her final wave of Full Burst.
Her magic was completely exhausted.
The [Purgatory Cage] collapsed with it. Her vision went dark, and she fell on the spot.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions destroyed a large number of thorns, creating a final opportunity for The Hero of the Gale.
“Even though you can’t wash off the title ‘Clown B,’ today… I acknowledge you,” Samimi said quietly.
Her magic was also almost gone.
But there was still one vine connected to Selina’s Thorn King Armor, enough to continue controlling the fight.
“Come on, protagonist. Let me see what other tricks you have up your sleeve,” Samimi said coldly.
This time, she was smarter—
Speaking softly, to avoid triggering the other party’s gentle personality.
Sure enough.
The next moment, The Hero of the Gale made her move again.
A storm of sword energy howled forth.
But this time, it was clearly more “plain” than before.
“This move of yours is more orthodox than wind magic,” Samimi couldn’t help but吐槽.
She and Selina, wrapped in Deep Red Shields, completely disregarded this kind of attack.
However—
A variable suddenly arose.
The main vine connecting to the Thorn King Armor was targeted for attack!
In a brief instant, it was slashed over a hundred times, directly severed!
Selina and Samimi instantly lost their connection.
The next moment—
The Hero of the Gale abandoned all flashy techniques.
Instant movement!
She flashed in front of Selina!
She didn’t even summon a sword this time—
Clang!
Using her finger as a sword, she concentrated all her battle aura into her fingertip and thrust!
The Deep Red Shield—shattered!
For the first time, battle aura truly broke through a Magic Shield.
But—
This was just the beginning.
Selina still had her twin shields for defense!
Last time, a single small deep blue shield could block all the wind blades, and this time—
She had two shields!
Just as the shield was broken, The Hero of the Gale summoned a sword again, a gale-like thrust aimed directly at her vitals!