Chapter 125

Why can’t we use instant kill techniques?

According to Lucian’s explanation, it can be summarized in two points.

“Magic or unique abilities project and manipulate Ether at the desired coordinates. You understand that, right?”

“Yeah, I get it. But Ether ignores physical laws. It can even penetrate thick walls.”

I know this from generating clones beyond the wall. There’s a feature that allows anything to cross if there’s space within two meters, which is quite handy for infiltration and reconnaissance.

“The issue is coordinate setting. Inside thick materials, the coordinates are disturbed. The manipulation process itself gets interrupted.”

If what he said is true, then we can’t generate within solid objects. I understand that.

I’ve experienced it myself. If there’s no space, clones simply cannot be generated.

“As for inanimate objects, it’s tricky, but living beings are much more complex. After the first and second-dimensional invasions, every living organism in the world contains Ether within them—regardless of whether they’re awakened or not. You know that, right?”

“Of course!”

I learned this while getting tutored by Professor Albert.

“Ether strongly influences the will or thoughts of living beings, whether they are non-awakened or awakened. That’s why every organism has its own magical field inside. When I project my magical power into someone else’s body, interference occurs between my magic and theirs. Therefore, in this case, manipulation is blocked. Got it?”

“Does this apply to unique abilities as well? Like telekinesis possessed by the student council president?”

When I asked, Lucian looked at me as if he couldn’t believe it.

“I told you, magic or unique abilities simply cannot be used! That guy can’t manipulate your or my body. He can crush someone or strangle their neck, but he can’t squeeze their heart or manipulate their nerves.”

“Could it be possible if you pumped in more magical power?”

“If you pour in enough magical power to ignore the magical field, the other person’s body would either break or be punctured.”

I could finally understand after hearing Lucian’s explanation. While one could shoot fireballs and scorch someone outside, generating something inside is impossible. What a disappointment.

He continued to explain several complicated theories and formulas, but I hardly understood half of it. So, in theory, it can’t be done.

“Is it really impossible? Let’s give it a try.”

“Okay!”

While cleaning up outside the restaurant, Unit 221 placed her hand on the stomach of Unit 601. Our Violets are stronger in practical applications than in theory!

Aiming at the inside of her body, I attempted to generate a clone, and as Lucian said, my magical power activated and spread out like cotton candy falling into water.

I repeated the process several times, but the results were similar.

“Ugh!”

“Yikes!”

On the final attempt, Unit 412 popped up in front of Unit 601 as if bouncing away. The two Violets collided and tumbled to the floor.

I felt downcast. The unbeatable instant kill technique had just crossed my mind, but now it felt so disappointing that I couldn’t use it.

“…Violet, you’re not thinking something strange again, are you?”

When I turned my head, Daphne was looking at me suspiciously. I shook my head.

“It’s nothing!”

“…Yeah, I suppose so. I got it.”

Despite my answer, her blue eyes still stared at me skeptically. It was a bit overwhelming to be looked at like that. So, Unit 3 quickly changed the subject.

“Well, it can’t be used for attacks. That’s a bummer, right?”

“Sigh… Let’s not talk about that. It’s too cruel!”

Daphne reacted dramatically to Unit 3’s words. I waved my hands.

“I got it! What I meant was, why not try applying it in different ways? I’ll help you practice. How about that?”

“I understood what you meant. But…”

My friend trailed off. I tilted my head in confusion.

“If you tell me to use it as a target, I’ll get upset. Do you understand?”

Hearing what Daphne said sent chills down my spine. How did she know?

“Everything you’re thinking is written on your face.”

“Ugh!”

Upon seeing my reaction, the sparkle in Daphne’s eyes faded. She jerked her head like a broken machine and awkwardly smiled.

“You won’t, right?”

Seeing her ask each word distinctly made me nervous. How could my face reflect what I’m planning to say? Now that I think about it, Kalia said something similar. She said I can’t lie.

“I won’t say anything like that!”

After I promised several times, Daphne’s face finally softened. Next time, I’ll need to manage my expressions better to avoid being found out.

As I headed out of the restaurant, I turned towards where Lucian was. He had been giggling and chuckling for a while.

“Hey, Lucian. I’ll send Unit 234 to call for you later, so follow along.”

“What? Why?”

He asked.

“We have work to do! You said you’d help with our plan. Are you not going to do it?”

“Oh, right. Where do I need to go? Who do I need to fight?”

Hearing my answer, Lucian’s expression brightened up. He was complaining earlier, but now that he was actually participating, he seemed more proactive.

“What fight? We need to make money!”

“What?!”

Upon hearing my words, Lucian’s face turned somewhere between dissatisfied.

“What? You just want to get me a part-time job…?”

He seems to have misunderstood something.

“What are you saying? We’re going to the dungeon! Come when I call later. I’ll explain what we’ll do there.”

After leaving him, I practiced using my friend’s unique ability outside. I set up various fruits and mannequins as targets and tried using barriers against them.

The results were disappointing.

“They’re all bouncing off…”

“Something seems off.”

Sadly, Daphne’s barriers were far from reliable for offensive use.

First, I tried compressing the barrier into a disc shape and launched it. However, the control speed of the barrier was slower than expected, and the targets either fell over or bounced away upon impact.

Throwing a pillow would be more effective. The barrier did not deal any significant damage.

Next, I tried expanding the barrier over a target and then reducing its size, thinking it could smother the target.

Of course, the subject panicked at first.

“No matter how much it’s a fight, isn’t this a bit… Wouldn’t it be better to attack with a magic bullet? Or I could just ask Lucian to teach me an offensive spell!”

“But Daphne, you’re not good at offensive magic.”

Unfortunately, Daphne has a hard time using offensive spells. She’s skilled with defensive magic and various supportive spells, though. Professor Albert says that the aptitude for magic and unique abilities relates to one’s personality, and I wonder if Daphne’s gentle character ties into her magical aptitude.

In the end, after much pleading, she decided to try my idea, but it failed this time.

While she could trap the subject, she couldn’t compress the internal object regardless of the barrier’s durability.

“Hmm, so using a unique ability to kill someone is impossible.”

This kind girl who loves helping others is far from anything related to killing.

Instead, I found other ways to apply it.

“What do you think?”

“Wow, it didn’t break!”

Daphne tried a new idea. This time, she achieved a quite satisfying result.

The three Violets, serving as test subjects, relentlessly struck weapons imbued with sword energy against the vivid green barrier. Every time a sword hit the barrier, it sparked noisily, but there wasn’t a single scratch on the shield.

As a barrier, it couldn’t destroy the opponent. You can’t kill someone just by vigorously hitting them with a comforter or pillow. However, you could surely wrap someone up like a comforter and immobilize them.

Thus, using the barrier, you could envelop the opponent or use it as an obstacle to hinder their movements.

“Is this working?”

“Thanks to Violet! Because of that Ether Amplifier, my unique ability’s deployment speed and range have increased. If it were the past, I wouldn’t have even been able to attempt this!”

Seemingly aware of her ability’s enhancement, Daphne smiled contentedly.

Suddenly, seeing the trapped Violets reminded me of a part of the original story I had forgotten.

The scene where Daphne outsmarted the Witch.

In the second half of Part 1, Witch Violet was wreaking havoc all over the academy city when she attacked the hospital where Daphne was. This action stemmed from the calculation that killing innocent people would anger the scholarship officer even more.

What countless witches had failed to anticipate was that Daphne was not just an innocent and easy target.

She realized that the opponent she faced was the main body and, just before dying, used all her strength to cover the entire hospital in a barrier.

Even in a decapitated state, the barrier remained intact, trapping the witch. The clone creation ability couldn’t surpass the barrier that had been burned with her life.

Just in time, the scholarship officer also entered. So in the end, the witch was defeated.

Daphne’s dead body caught the living witch.

Of course, our Violets are the good Violets, and we won’t get trapped!

“Now I can catch her alive, right?”

When I activated the Violet Network, various applications arose. Crushing them under a barrier to immobilize them. Throwing a smoke bomb inside the barrier to suffocate them. Setting fire and blocking the entrance with the barrier…

“This is awesome! Now we can fight more safely!”

“Should we develop poison gas while we’re at it?”

“That’s impossible; let’s settle for something like tear gas!”

The options for the Violet Squad increased. We rejoiced over that fact.

After the practice was over, we headed to the place where the orientation was being held. It was about time to explain our upcoming plans to our labor troops.