The search had been long, far too long.
Luxuzia, who had been tirelessly searching for any traces of Miyuki and the mysterious shadow, had found nothing so far.
It reached the point where she began questioning whether the search was worth it or if it was all in vain.
It almost felt as though those two entities had vanished completely.
Luxuzia knew for certain that those two were hiding sowhere within the house.
She had conjured shadow wolves, giving them one of Miyuki's shoes as a scent marker. Though they weren't real wolves, their sense of sll was particularly sharp, far superior to anything natural. It was only a matter of ti before they tracked Miyuki down.
And once she found the girl, the shadow spirit wouldn't be far behind.
However—
"Even if they find her, what if she tas them again like before? And there's no guarantee the spirit will stay with her when I get there. It'll probably run off and hide in the house's chanisms to preserve itself."
Her brows furrowed and she clicked her tongue.
"Tch! Damn it. I could track their exact location from the control panel, but since I've entered the narrative as a hunter, I'm stuck in this role. And if my sisters were still around, I wouldn't be dealing with this disaster alone! Ugh, why the hell did they have to screw up so badly and get themselves killed?!"
Her lips moved around the lollipop as she spoke, but its sweetness had faded, replaced by a faint bitterness that lingered on her tongue.
The loss of her sisters had taken a toll on her, far more than she cared to admit.
After all, who wouldn't be affected by the death of a loved one?
Luxuzia was no exception.
But instead of succumbing to despair, she had thrown herself fully into the hunt. She would find the girl and the spirit, eliminate them both, and then turn her focus to the rest of the intruders. She would finish them all, even if she had to do it alone.
Only when every last enemy had been defeated would she finally allow herself to grieve, to shed tears for her sisters who had fallen.
But before she could eliminate the enemy, she had to locate them first.
So far, her efforts had yielded nothing.
"....?!"
Luxuzia, about to let out another weary sigh, froze mid-breath when she noticed sothing unusual.
A black silhouette flickered at the end of her vision.
The event seed to turn the gears in Luxuria's head as though she could not comprehend such a scene.
When faced with death, most creatures, human or otherwise, would instinctively choose to flee. The hunted always ran, no matter how desperate or futile the escape seed. Even if it ant dragging themselves through the mud, clawing for survival, they would run.
In this case, Luxuzia was the hunter and that person was the prey.
However, the silhouette defied the natural order, refusing to act on the primitive instincts associated with normality. Instead of fleeing, it stood its ground, challenging the hunter's dominance.
As if determined to reverse their roles, the shadow exuded a strong resolve, one that seed to declare its intent to cut the hunter into a thousand pieces.
The passage between them felt like a battlefield where the established hierarchy would be overturned, and where it would be decided who would erge as the hunter and who would fall as the prey.
Ten tres away from Luxuzia,
Miyuki stood there, like a savage beast, glaring at her, nacingly.
"Eh? What's this?"
Luxuzia did not understand. She thought that she was being tricked in so form or way.
But Miyuki Kuroi truly stood there.
As if she had decided that there would be no running nor hiding.
Luxuzia chuckled,
"Well, well, isn't this a surprise? Did you finally grow a spine? I thought you'd be scrambling for an exit, but here you are, standing right in front of . Are you an idiot? Did you hit your head or sothing while running? What could you possibly be thinking?"
Her words carried a hint of genuine curiosity, even though they were drenched in condescension.
Truly, Luxuzia could have understood if the girl had chosen to flee. That would have been the logical choice, the instinctive response of soone cornered.
But instead, she had chosen to confront her directly.
No matter how Luxuzia tried to reason it out, the girl's actions defied all logic and reasoning.
Luxuzia's grin faltered for a mont as she pondered the absurdity of the situation.
What sane individual would willingly return to the predator hunting them down?
Only two possibilities ca to Luxuzia's mind.
One: the girl had chosen to surrender and accept her death.
Two: she had co here with the intent to fight.
Both scenarios seed equally ludicrous.
Even so, Miyuki's eyes betrayed neither fear nor resignation. It was as though she had cast off all hesitation and embraced the role of the hunter herself.
It was madness. No, it was beyond madness. It was incomprehensible.
Luxuzia sneered,
"Are you delusional, or do you have a death wish? Do you even realize what you're doing?"
No answer.
Miyuki remained silent. She did not move.
As if Luxuzia's taunts were beneath her notice, she continued to fix her sharp eyes on the older woman.
She was observing. Calculating.
Perhaps she was biding her ti, waiting for the perfect mont to strike. Every slight twitch of Luxuzia's body was being studied with intense focus.
In a standoff like this, the one who moved first would dictate the outco.
And Miyuki seed intent on ensuring it wasn't her.
That only served to irritate Luxuzia. Her grip on her cane tightened, and a flicker of rage slipped through. She was ready to strike the girl down imdiately and end this insolent display.
What was the girl hiding? That question passed through her mind.
Luxuzia couldn't bring herself to believe that Miyuki had suddenly gained so miraculous power or enlightennt, but the alternative that the girl had nothing was just as unbelievable.
Thus, she hesitated to attack impatiently and simply squirted.
"..."
"..."
The two continued to glare at one another, each trying to unravel the mystery of the other.
A few monts later, Luxuzia began to sense that sothing was amiss.
'That's strange. The girl is standing right in front of , but why haven't I received any reports from the shadow wolves?'
By now, the shadow wolves, empowered with Miyuki's scent, should have tracked her down and arrived at this very location.
Had sothing interfered with their movent? A trap, perhaps?
Luxuzia's eyes narrowed as a single unsettling possibility ca to mind.
Soone, or sothing, must have eliminated them.
Only one person ca to mind at that mont.
She glared at Miyuki with renewed suspicion.
'You little brat, was it you? But when did she have the ti to track all of them?'
The shadow wolves had spread throughout the personal dinsion to track that girl, but they were all eliminated. Luxuzia couldn't fathom how the girl could have managed to kill them all, especially without so form of assistance.
'Wh-What is that?'
Luxuzia froze as she concentrated her gaze back on Miyuki.
The girl, who had been unard just monts ago, now stood with a crossbow in hand.
It was an odd sight, especially considering her age, and the weight of the weapon, which seed far too heavy for soone so young. But Luxuzia's mind was consud by a different question:
When exactly had she equipped that crossbow?
Luxuzia had been watching the girl this entire ti, yet she hadn't seen when Miyuki had pulled it out.
She was certain that the girl hadn't been carrying the weapon before. If she had, Luxuzia would have noticed.
Could that small fra of hers really conceal such a weapon?
So where exactly had she pulled it out from? She couldn't understand. Her thoughts spiralled uncontrollably.
Perhaps the girl was the unique type capable of using Spatial Magic, but Luxuzia quickly discarded that thought since she didn't sense any distortion. Maybe it was a mystery item with the object class Dormant, but that theory was also ruled out, as she didn't feel any fluctuation typical of such items.
While Luxuzia was still consud by that mystery, Miyuki finally made her move.
Wordlessly, she raised the crossbow, her focus narrowing as she aid directly at Luxuzia's forehead.
A headshot.
Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger.
Swish—!
The shot was fast.
Following the Third Law of Newton, the recoil produced by that arrow shot snapped back and had a trendous impact on Miyuki's arm, causing her to stumble back powerlessly.
At the sa mont, the incoming arrow jolted Luxuzia from her reverie.
"...?!"
Without a second thought, Luxuzia swung her cane to intercept the arrow.
The magic coursing through the cane established a law along the wind's path, turning it into an invisible attack designed to strike down the incoming arrow before it reached her.
Clang—!
With a sharp sound, the arrow's trajectory was altered, embedding itself into the wall beside her.
There was no ti to waste.
In the sa breath, Luxuzia swung the cane again, redirecting the focus of her magic toward Miyuki. But before the law could fully establish in the air, she was forced to leap backward.
A black, spear-like tendril erged from the shadows, lunging at her neck.
It seed to be made from the very essence of the darkness itself.
As if realizing it had missed its mark, the tendril quickly recoiled back into the shadows.
Luxuzia frowned.
She was already familiar with that phenonon and instantly recognized the nature of the attack she was facing.
'Shadow Wolves, huh? I see. So she really tad all of them.'
It was a truth that bordered on absurdity, but Luxuzia had no intention of laughing. Instead, her frown deepened.
'She must have tad all of them and co here. I was wondering how she could be so confident.'
'The crossbow itself was a distraction. The real threat is the shadow wolves hiding in the darkness.'
'She must have concealed them so I couldn't destroy them all at once.'
Luxuzia herself could easily wipe out the shadow wolves with her spirit pressure, but Miyuki had clearly anticipated that. She hid them in the darkness and used the crossbow to draw Luxuzia's attention, setting up a perfect opportunity for a surprise attack.
If the shadow wolves remained in the darkness, even Luxuzia would be unable to harm them, as they would beco intangible.
She had only been able to deal with them before because Miyuki had carelessly unleashed them all at once during their first confrontation.
'Ha! What's this? When did this little brat beco so clever?'
Despite the tension, Luxuzia couldn't suppress a smile.
She felt a strange sense of pleasure.
What was the point of hunting when the prey was too easy to catch?
Only when the prey proved capable did the hunt truly beco satisfying. The fact that the little girl, who could barely defend herself, had managed to co up with an actual plan instead of simply defending, filled Luxuzia's nonexistent heart with an unexpected joy beyond anything she had ever felt.
Soon, laughter erupted from Luxuzia's lips.
"HA HA! ISN'T THIS GREAT? YOU'VE FINALLY BECO SOWHAT CAPABLE, YOU LITTLE BRAT! NOW I CAN ACTUALLY TAKE THIS FIGHT SERIOUSLY!"
The words "take this fight seriously" made Miyuki frown, and a flicker of displeasure crossed her face. But she didn't let the taunt affect her.
Stay tuned to empire
While Luxuzia was still lost in her laughter, Miyuki reached behind her, pulled another arrow, and calmly began reloading the crossbow.
"BUT I HOPE THIS ISN'T ALL YOU'VE GOT, OR THIS WILL GET BORING REAL QUICK! IT WAS A GOOD TRY, BUT NOW THAT I KNOW YOUR TRICKS, THE SA STRATEGY WON'T WORK WHEN THE ELENT OF SURPRISE IS GONE!"
With a sharp stomp of her heel, the ground beneath Luxuzia trembled slightly. In an instant, she sprang forward with incredible speed as if carried by the wind.
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