Chapter 93: Astarte

"I never thought Natsuki would have such a girlish heart that loves listening to stories."
The one speaking was Arthur, who was preparing his lesson in the office. Last night, he had been with Natsuki the entire time. Unfortunately, the two of them—an unmarried man and woman—had actually spent the whole night telling stories. Fortunately, neither of them were ordinary people; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to get up this morning.

Knock knock knock!!!

At that moment, a knock came at the door.
"Come in," Arthur called.

A particularly adorable little girl entered. It was Nagisa Akatsuki.

"Teacher, are you busy?" she asked shyly as she walked in.

"No, Akatsuki-san. Is there something you need?"
"Um, just now Yukina Himeragi asked for leave, so..."

"Asked for leave? I see... Alright, I understand," Arthur nodded. It seemed Yukina Himeragi had gone to retrieve her wallet. After all, she was a particularly strong-willed girl and wouldn’t accept Arthur’s kindness so easily.

"What's wrong, Akatsuki-san? Is there anything else?"

"Nothing. Goodbye, Teacher!!" Nagisa Akatsuki skipped away after speaking. She was truly a lively girl.


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Meanwhile, Yukina Himeragi had just retrieved her wallet and finished listening to Kojo Akatsuki explain everything.

"So... you weren’t originally a True Ancestor?"
"That’s right."

"So, in other words, only Teacher Natsuki, me, and Teacher Arthur know your identity here on Itogami Island?"

(Kojou Akatsuki didn’t know about Xenoglossia.)
"Wait, Teacher Arthur? Nagisa’s teacher?" Kojo was taken aback. "How would he know!?"

"How is it impossible? Teacher Arthur is very powerful—even True Ancestors are no match for him! What’s so strange about him knowing?"

"True Ancestors are no match? That can’t be true!"

Hearing Kojo’s disbelief, Yukina couldn’t accept it. She now held deep admiration for Arthur.

"How is it impossible? Teacher Arthur single-handedly challenged the War King’s territory—the territory of the Forgotten War King!!"

"Single-handedly? The War King’s territory?" Kojou processed the information. "Wait… is he here to kill me?"

"Of course not. Teacher took pity on you and came to help you."


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As the two were discussing Arthur, not far away, a small figure stood facing two bddi demons.

The demons looked at the little girl before them with eyes full of amusement. Wicked grins curled on their faces.

"Letting demons wander around like this while completely ignoring the existence of justice... Itogami City has truly fallen," a voice rang out behind them.

Before them now stood a powerful-looking man. He was old, but far from frail. On the contrary, the muscles covering his body revealed he was an expert in hand-to-hand combat.

He held a massive axe and wore traditional church attire. Clearly, he wasn’t someone to take lightly.

"Why did you appear? Demon Slayer?"
A vampire frowned at the man.

"Even so, step aside and wait. Don’t ruin our fun!!!"

The beastman also growled fiercely at him.

But the man showed no fear. Instead, he raised his weapon.

"Since you disregard me so much... then I’m sorry. I just wanted to play a little."

"Old man, you’re asking for death!!!"

The beastman lost his temper and charged forward.
"Die!!!!"

With immense strength, the beastman lunged. But the man calmly swung his axe—sending the beastman flying.

"Such worthless attacks… How could they possibly defeat me?"

"How could it be!?"

"With strength like yours, how do you expect to survive in this world?"

The man then rushed forward, his axe cleaving downward with terrifying force!

"Ah...!"

A massive gash tore through the beastman’s body. Blood splattered everywhere, exposing bone and shredded flesh.

"What!!!"

The vampire instantly began releasing magical power, now looking at the man seriously.

"Who are you!!?"

The man stared at the vampire, his expression deadly serious.

"I am Rudolf Eustach, a devoted Exorcist."

"Shouldn’t you be in the West? Why are you here?"

"You are not qualified to know."

The vampire tensed. Magic surged within him, and a force burst outward.

"Come forth, Scorching Hoof!"

A fiery horse materialized, radiating searing heat at over 1000 degrees Celsius. The ground and air around it ignited as it charged at Rudolf.

But suddenly, a transparent wall of light appeared. The flaming horse’s attack had no effect on the man at all.

Rudolf laughed heartily and looked toward the small girl beside him.

"It’s time to finish this, Astarte."

"Understood, Master," she replied softly.

Astarte calmly closed her eyes. A calm voice echoed from her lips as magic swirled around her, generating a powerful gust of wind.

"Command received. Commencing — Rose Finger."

As soon as she spoke, a massive gray arm materialized. The arm was so large it dwarfed Astarte herself. It surged forward with overwhelming force, piercing the vampire’s Familiar at incredible speed!

"Scorching Hoof, what’s wrong?!"
The vampire panicked. His Familiar had lost all ability to fight. No matter how he commanded, it didn’t respond!

Then he saw it—his Familiar was shrinking. Realization dawned on him.
"She’s... a Familiar!!!!"

"Hahaha! So you finally noticed! But so what? Your defeat is already sealed!"

Rudolf burst into wild laughter.
"Since you’ve already seen 'Rose Finger'... Astarte, let them receive salvation."

The blue-haired girl remained expressionless. But an even greater power surged into her hands.

"No! No!! Let me go!!!"

Astarte didn’t flinch. She softly muttered a single phrase:

"Command received."

The gray arm twisted violently, releasing an overwhelming force.

All of it crashed into the vampire’s body.

His scream echoed through the city.


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