I Became the Must-Have Character of the Academy City - Chapter 133



132 – Olivia -2-

The girl’s secret hasn’t leaked yet.

Avert the disaster before that succubus’s nose-twitching mouth starts babbling, severing the lifeline is all it takes.

Her pounding heart reminds her that she’s not too late, and she regains composure.

‘No matter how urgent, as Rohan said… no reckless moves.’

Ichinose, eyes closed, tensed her thighs and ankles.

She firmly locked onto the succubus standing on the floor above, looking down, through her senses.

With the determination to kill her decisively and bury the secret.

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She envisions the trajectory of her blade.

Honing a cool, not fiery, but spirit-calming cold-bloodedness with sharp edge.

“Huuu…”

Exhaling, she achieves *meikyoshisui* (clear mirror, still water).

She calms the disorderly ripples rising in her mind.

Focusing solely on the enemy.

“Yes, no problem at all.”

A fortunate thing for Ichinose.

This succubus named Olivia wasn’t showing off some smug superiority from having found a weakness, but instead, sheer curiosity.

Perhaps it was due to her succubus nature.

Or maybe she simply didn’t realize the information she gleaned could be a weapon to shatter Ichinose’s composure.

*Thwack!*

The instant Ichinose gripped his sword and moved, Rohan leaped, pushing off the floor to the upper level where Olivia stood.

The pleasure golem guarding the succubus’s side, knowing exactly who his enemy was, drew his own blade and charged at Rohan.

*Clang!* Rohan’s sword spat sparks in the air.

Entangled with the powerful pleasure golem, Rohan was forced back down to the lower floor, the melee continuing.

Ichinose, meanwhile, landed like a butterfly on the railing directly in front of the succubus.

Within striking distance.

With eyes closed, he drew his sword like a thunderbolt.

[Dream Haze Shadow Stream – Wing Shadow Flash]

Slashes rained down haphazardly where Olivia stood.

However, Ichinose’s swordsmanship only succeeded in cleaving apart a mirror.

“Being this close, I can really tell. A disturbingly thick essence… if I could just devour this…” Olivia purred, rubbing her thigh and lost in her fantasy.

Ichinose raised an eyebrow.

*She’s quite fast.*

This succubus possessed considerable physical ability.

Even so, it wasn’t like she was skilled in martial arts. She was just using pure leg strength to achieve that speed.

*Of course, she’d be stronger than those succubi we faced earlier.*

He was sure that even if the two succubi he could communicate with attacked together, they wouldn’t be able to defeat this Olivia.

*Click!*

Ichinose sheathed his exposed blade once more.

It might look inefficient to someone who didn’t know, but the girl’s swordsmanship absolutely required the drawing and sheathing motion to unleash its full power.

Watching Ichinose swiftly complete the act of sheathing, the succubus made no attempt to hide her curiosity.

“Why would you do that? You’re clearly human, aren’t you? Are you perhaps a succubus hybrid?”

“…”

No desire to parley with a succubus.

Ichinose methodically traced the sword paths, unleashing a dense, unwavering assault.

*Crrrack!* The mansion’s mirrors, unable to withstand the onslaught of sharpness, shattered.

Anticipating Olivia’s instinctive movements, Ichinose preemptively unleashed a slicing blow.

Olivia, faced with an attack that allowed no escape, unwound the whip coiled around her form.

A smirk touched the corners of her lips as she gripped the whip’s handle.

And swung.

“!”

A chilling sensation crawled across Ichinose’s skin.

Abandoning her defense, she arched backward, opting for evasion.

*Shhwwwwwiiiip!*

An earsplitting crack sliced through the air.

Righting herself, Ichinose didn’t need to look to know.

The balustrade and stairs had collapsed under a single lash of the whip.

*’I absolutely cannot get hit.’*

A direct hit could mean death in a single blow.

Even if she survived, such force could instantly tilt the battle against her.

Deflecting or blocking with her sword, she doubted her wrists and grip would hold up for long.

“Oh, well, I suppose it’s not exactly special to humans, is it?”

“…”

“Bianca said they consume with their mouths solely for excitement and satisfaction, humans who have no other purpose than breeding.”

Olivia, even without a response from Ichinose, clung to that topic, rambling on.

Considering her consciousness of the battle, perhaps this chattering was her true nature.

*’Rohan…’*

Ichinose’s senses registered the lower floor.

Gunshots and the harsh clang of metal echoed, a fierce close-quarters battle raging.

As expected, there was no feeling of him being pushed back.

That situation was fortunate, but Rohan wouldn’t have the luxury of listening here.

Good thing he wouldn’t be able to hear, she thought.

“Don’t you think humans, who consume essence even without need, are a more depraved species than succubi, who must consume it for survival?”

“···You talk too much.”

“Heh heh, I should know the answer before I kill you, shouldn’t I? Is *that* man’s perversion this?”

“Die.”

Severing the conversation, she drew her blade once more.

Ichinose’s blade, infused with fully unleashed mana, was faster than before.

*Fwheep!*

Even as Olivia attempted to evade, the blade grazed her cheek, leaving a small wound.

Olivia’s forehead throbbed with a pulsating vein as she examined the flowing blood with her fingers.

“···You really are an ill-mannered little brat. I’ll have to teach you a lesson.”

The whip began to lash out in earnest.

··

··

*‘Just as Rohan said, these aren’t ordinary mirrors.’*

Ichinose thought, dodging the whip that snaked towards her from behind.

The mirrors embedded in the mansion.

When the whip struck them, they seemed to recoil and bounce off, altering its trajectory.

It was as if this attack method was permitted only to that succubus.

*‘Judging from the fact that she can use even somewhat damaged ones, I’ll need to completely shatter them, then…’*

Ichinose, who didn’t rely on sight, was capable of reacting to the whip’s erratic movements.

However, it was undeniably a nuisance.

She considered luring her outside with a trick, but a premonition nagged at her – what if the monolith was somewhere within this mansion?

If the succubus didn’t follow, Rohan and Ichinose would have to return here.

Since the mirrors were thick and firmly affixed to the walls, smashing them and dragging her out was impossible.

To disable the mirrors, she had to force her out through the door.

But if she fled the mansion, wouldn’t she bring her treasured dolls and other succubi with her?

In the end, the conclusion was that resolving things here and now was the most optimal choice.

“You dodge like a rat. Shall I increase the speed a bit?”

The instant Olivia unfurled her wings, unleashing her mana completely…

From downstairs, a *squelch!* The sound of flesh being severed echoed.

Olivia’s gaze, startled, dropped downwards.

Ichinose’s lips quirked up in a hopeful smile.

Rohan, having kicked off from the broken steps, took his place beside Ichinose.

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Rohan… I’m alright…”

Ichinose bit her lower lip, catching the sharp scent of blood emanating from Rohan.

He may have won, but his body bore the marks.

Rohan assured Ichinose he was fine, downed a potion, and tossed the empty vial to the ground.

“He was definitely no ordinary old man. I see what they mean when they say your body remembers.”

Even having lost his reason, Fraser Dole unconsciously used the techniques he’d trained in.

That dignified man was at least a step above Rohan, a swordsman of a higher caliber.

Had he not been suffering the succubus’s influence, even if he’d won, Rohan would be in far worse shape.

Still, Rohan had won.

He stood at Ichinose’s side.

‘So, even whiny-nose believed I could do it, huh.’

Rohan felt good about Ichinose’s faith in him.

He wanted to transmute the current heat and exhilaration into an analgesic, an inspiration, to continue the fight.

“…”

To the man who had overcome Fraser Dole, a carefully crafted bodyguard.

Olivia offered not anger, but a pleased smile.

“I won’t kill you. If you come over quietly now, I’ll offer you the finest treatment.”

“Why are succubi so clingy? Doesn’t a monster have any pride?”

Even as Rohan grated on her nerves, Olivia didn’t relinquish her smile.

She twisted up her wavy hair, exposing the alabaster skin of her armpit, and squeezed her thigh tightly with her tail, causing flesh to bulge.

“Heehee, don’t you want to plant your seed in a beauty like me‘too’? I can cater to every one of your kinks and bear you as many children as you like.”

‘Too?’

Something was off about that word, and Rohan was puzzled.

But Ichinose, timing it perfectly, offered intel.

“…Rohan. If the whip touches the mirror, it will change its trajectory and fly back.”

“Speed?”

“If you concentrate, you can avoid it. It looks like it’s going to get faster from now on… are you not feeling dizzy?”

“Despite how it looks, the bleeding isn’t that bad. The potion is taking effect too.”

Rohan answered Ichinose, finishing the check of his pistol’s chamber and magazine.

Two bullets remained in the Branding. No spare magazines left now either.

Rohan placed the pistol back in its holster.

He grasped the Radiance with both hands, the Incinerator burning within, shining like the sun.

“This…this feels a little unpleasant. Does that little brat mean more to you than me?”

Olivia, displaying jealousy towards Ichinose, began tinting her mana pink.

Seducing a woman wasn’t Olivia’s preference, but with Rohan involved, there was no reason not to use it.