The Abandoned Villainess Takes Everything This Time - Chapter 163

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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163.
Chapter 36. An Unforeseen Parting
No matter how powerful a Monster might be, there was always a way to counter it.
Without Control Ability, one simply deployed knowledge and timing to adapt. That was all.
Lillian signaled to Jeanne.
If they couldn’t touch the Black Lion directly, they’d destroy the ground beneath its feet using the power of one who commands the earth.
As Iris sank with the Black Lion into the crater that had been gouged below, she screamed.
“Ah!”
Dense dust rose in an instant.
‘But this is just a trap.’
Zing—!
Bang!
!
The destructive light erupting from the Black Lion’s maw spread outward in all directions.
‘I can’t let it escape from here.’
Lillian shouted to the Holy Knight Commander rushing toward them.
“Noah! The barrier!”
“…!”
The moment he struck his hand against the ground, a Holy Barrier rose at the edges of Temple Square.
‘That much will at least let the people evacuate.’
Ren raised his hand, then quickly lowered it again.
“No—if I use my power now—”
“It’ll just absorb my strength and do everyone else a favor.”
“Right…”
Having fed on S-rank power, it had already grown substantially. Direct ability attacks were no longer an option.
“But there is a way to fight back.”
The Black Lion of Annihilation fires destructive light from its mouth seven times.
“If we make it attack seven times, it’ll weaken then.”
Then with S-rank ability we can strike down that massive Monster.
And along with it, Iris—who had become mentally connected to the Monster.
But Ren looked deeply skeptical.
“…You’re not thinking of using Torch on that Monster, are you?”
“No.”
I value my life. That kind of close combat is impossible.
But if I have no power, I’ll fight with words.
* * *
“Hah, where are you? This fake saint.”
Iris looked around the Temple, laughing mockingly. Dust and haze shrouded everything.
“Come on out, won’t you? Sister.”
The Baltazar Clan had torn up the floor of the Square…
‘I lost them in the dust.’
“Am I that frightening to you?”
Iris snickered with amusement.
— Hmm? Iris. Saying amusing things, aren’t you?
It was Lillian’s voice.
Iris exulted inwardly.
‘Good. She hasn’t run away yet.’
Monsters relied more on sight than scent. So she needed to provoke responses and pinpoint the location.
“Huh. You ran away from me, and now you say amusing?”
— That’s right. You wanted to be me since you were little. Why would I fear someone like you?
“What nonsense!”
Iris burst into laughter.
“Me, wanting to become a powerless one like you?”
— Really? But you, having all the specs of an S-rank ability, couldn’t do anything without me—not family matters, not business.
Iris faltered.
— You know yourself you’re powerless. You can’t even design an artifact on your own.
“That’s not true! What nonsense are you—!”
— Is that so? But you can’t even beat me now that I’m a Powerless One.
Iris spun around in panic.
She still couldn’t locate Lillian’s presence…!
‘Why? Did she flee with the Crown Prince in this situation?’
“Hah. Hah.”
Iris breathed heavily.
She hadn’t realized maintaining the Black Lion would drain such an enormous amount of power.
Worse, as her emotions grew turbulent, the drain accelerated.
I can’t let Lillian’s words get to me. If they do—!
But once she heard them, she couldn’t stop her ears.
— You clearly had the advantage from the start. Yet you never beat me.
“That was just bad luck!”
— No. Iris, want to know the real secret why you fell behind?
Iris flinched without realizing it.
— Iris. You can’t be born as yourself.
“…!”
— Your actions are shallow and your mind is dull, yet you refuse to accept that truth even unto death.
Her pride shattered mercilessly.
The strike landed where it hurt most—
— Unless you’re reborn as me, you’ll never become anything. Iris.
“No!”
Her heart pounded hard.
Stained by the Monster, Iris could no longer think clearly.
“Shoot it all! Shoot everything!”
Her plan to find Lillian and humiliate her changed.
Zing…
The light gathered in the lion’s maw tore through the surroundings mercilessly.
But after the fourth attack, a sudden choking sound came from the lion’s throat.
“Why… why won’t it work?”
No more attacks emerged.
Only pale smoke drifted from the Black Lion’s muzzle.
— Good. The kid’s throat is parched.
“…!”
— I’ve counted all seven.
And in a blink, white snow came rushing down.
* * *
Unlike Iris, whose vision was blocked by dust, the people beyond the Holy Barrier could see the situation clearly.
“The Monster…”
“It stopped without Control Ability…?”
Saint Lillian, absent for half a year.
They acknowledged they’d held a brief misconception about her due to Iris.
But as Lillian returned, the people’s faith wavered greatly.
“In such circumstances, how did she grasp the Monster’s weakness so instantly?”
“Speaking through the Video Stone to drain its power—!”
Video Stones were installed throughout the Temple.
As a saint, Lillian had used them before, so she drained the Monster’s strength by shifting positions through them.
Iris had followed Lillian’s voice, only to be caught in the trap.
By the Crown Prince’s Annihilation and the Holy Knight Commander’s Holy Power.
The High Priest Ambrosio, who had been evacuating people, let out a deep sigh.
“She has always done her utmost.”
From Silverin until now.
Even when everyone pointed at her as a Powerless One, she must have worked her hardest behind the Tillard Family all along.
A watching knight suddenly cried out.
“Iris Tillard has collapsed!”
The connection to the Black Lion Monster was severed!
* * *
Subdued…!
‘I was afraid it might fail.’
We couldn’t pull that massive Monster through Ren’s Rift, and it had to not look like we were fleeing mid-battle.
Iris lay unconscious beside the Monster’s corpse.
‘She can’t be allowed to rampage any longer.’
Now it was time to capture Iris and confine her.
Ren was checking on the fallen alongside the Shadows and the Holy Knights.
Marguerite approached Lillian.
“Miss, we should relocate first.”
“Yes.”
Since it was now public that I can’t use Control Ability, I need to get away from this dangerous place.
But just before leaving—
“Wait.”
Why was that corpse convulsing?
‘No!’
The Black Lion split.
A new Black Lion flickered its crimson eyes, then opened its vast maw and fired light.
At the target of Iris’s most obsessive emotion.
‘…Me.’
I have to dodge.
A natural thought, yet her body wouldn’t respond swiftly.
“Ah…!”
As the light came like a glimpse of one’s life flashing before their eyes—
It grazed the Neck Mark.
A Controller bearing the mark would suffer certain shock death if anything happened to it.
100% fatal.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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