Masugaki Princess couldn’t conceal her envy as she watched Oknodie’s Dark Mana.
So Dark Mana was that powerful after all.
It’s dangerous, but if handled well, it can become an incredible tonic that can’t be exchanged for anything else.
Stability.
Adaptability.
Aftercare.
Everything is unstable, but what if we enhance it with the power of capital?
Adding herbal remedies to boost stability, directing the royal court magicians to install magic circles to improve adaptability, and ensuring continuous aftercare by wearing artifacts.
Is Dark Mana still that hard to acquire, difficult to control, and a life-threatening power if one lets their guard down?
“Awesome♡”
The princess embarked on an experimental journey to buy her way to mastery, successfully handling a pure Dark Mana of 99% purity with zero flaws, stripped of the impurities that stained the commonly tainted Dark Mana.
This signified a serious fact.
Dark Mana responds to the quantity one possesses; those with more can threaten the bodies and lives of those with less.
Without high-level Mana control skills or elite artifacts to defend against it, one could lose their life in an instant.
Yet, purity became a variable.
Now, even if those with less than 10% purity boasted ten times the Mana, instead of threatening her, their lives would be threatened by her.
Those who possessed Dark Mana lurking across the continent would become minions who couldn’t refuse her commands the moment she laid eyes on them.
“Everyone’s like, ‘Eh? Why is the princess messing with Dark Mana?’ snicker They don’t even care how well she wields this power. loser♡ coward♡”
Consumed by the allure of dangerous Dark Mana, the princess ultimately accepted the power into her body.
If the traitorous advocates of humanity who had handled Dark Mana for long periods contacted her, her noble body, bloodline, and life would belong to them.
Such greed was vividly visible in the minds of countless students.
It’s a half-baked thought.
Common sense would suggest that there’s no fool who reveals their weaknesses in front of everyone, right?
At the very least, Masugaki Princess is not that person.
“Wow, to think she’s handling such ominous Dark Mana. Is the Second Princess of the Empire losing her mind to greed and giving up her claim to the throne? Planning to spend her life in a convent?”
“Haha! Did you think Masugaki Princess would become a Dark Priest and start saying morning prayers to the Evil God or lead boring Sunday services?”
Masugaki Princess intercepted a flying ball with a ‘single hand’ wrapped in Dark Mana.
A light guard rendered meaningless the grand display of Second Year Four Kings, White Knight Roe, who threw the ball with all their might.
Roe’s gaze dropped.
Masugaki Princess didn’t budge an inch.
The gaze that had been watching the naïve princess began to feel a fear toward her inexplicable strength.
“Being a knight really is such a foolish class~? snicker I understand the desire to look down on the magnificent Second Princess and own her body and mind, but? There’s no way she’d allow herself to be easily possessed by losers, right?”
The princess’s Mana flared even more, doubling the shadows of the Dark Mana.
It was not a change through technique.
It was a change driven by the sheer amount of Mana.
To believe she had gathered that enormous quantity of Dark Mana in just over a month was unbelievable.
In terms of duration, it was equivalent to ten years’ worth of Dark Mana.
An energy ten times denser than that of the average Dark Mana holder.
It meant she had already obtained the power that an ordinary Dark Mana holder could achieve only after a century of effort.
By avoiding the knights.
By dodging the priest of the Benevolent Deity.
By escaping the watchful eye of the Adventurer’s Guild.
Using her wealth and power to simply grasp the strength that should have been obtained through all sorts of desperate efforts.
Roe realized.
“I didn’t expose the princess’s malicious power. The princess wanted to become like this.”
For someone, the inter-class competition at the Great Sports Day was their debut stage to prove their strength.
The one determined to become the star of this Great Sports Day was none other than Masugaki Princess.
“Older Sister! Why did you reach for such ominous power…?!”
“Shut up♡ Just because we’re both princesses doesn’t mean I permitted you to butt in ♡”
“Gyaaak!”
Third Princess Yayoi fell with a helpless scream.
The righteous Yayoi bore a gaze outside her coat similar to Roe’s.
I can’t forgive you.
I will stop you.
I won’t forgive the user of that wicked Dark Mana.
It’s a ridiculous thing.
Who exactly will stop whom?
In terms of combat power, we hold the upper hand.
In terms of power, we hold the upper hand.
With all the weaknesses of Dark Mana transformed into strengths, she was no longer in a position to be dominated by other followers or fear the purge by public institutions.
Rather, with that formidable power, she could instill fear in other followers and became a ruler who the public institutions would shy away from.
“Listening to the self-introduction of the Second Year Four Kings, there’s just one thing I envied. Do you know what it is~?”
“I don’t know.”
“A cool title♡ Fearsome Deadcat, Blue Fist Io, White Knight Roe, Genuine Noble Agassi Mandela. Now I’ll have a title like that instead of the Second Princess of the Empire.”
Masugaki Princess said with delight, crossing her legs and clapping her hands on her chest as though unable to contain her anticipation.
“Dark Princess Masugaki. I’ll cherish the power, title, and popularity that Oknodie had. If I have the strength, power, and beauty that are all superior, there’s no reason not to be called that~?”
With a whoosh sound, the self-important Masugaki Princess was teleported outside her coat.
“Ah!? Who’s eliminating me without permission? I was in the line and didn’t get hit by the ball!”
An instructor approached her and said.
“To prevent disruption in the match, holding onto the ball for more than 30 seconds is a violation of regulations.”
“That explanation wasn’t given before the match…”
“The fault lies with the participant who didn’t ask. Study the rules yourself. There are both strengths and weaknesses in unpublished rules that others won’t tell you. Take it as a lesson.”
It was a foolish disqualification of the once-confident First Year Four Kings Masugaki.
The other First Year students, who were desperately avoiding her gaze, were visible, with some even shedding tears in frustration.
“Did you just get disqualified while showing off?”
“Don’t laugh. If Your Highness finds out, she’ll be furious.”
“Sigh. I feel like I’m going to laugh. It’s driving me insane…”
Students from the Imperial faction, nearly like weeping ones, gritted their teeth and moaned in agony.
Masugaki Princess turned her blushing face, filled with embarrassment, suddenly to somewhere.
“I-it’s not like I’m the only one who lost! Oknodie will definitely struggle too, right!?”
However, reality was quite the opposite.
Instead, the Second Year was screaming and desperately trying to evade.
The debut of the sports day powerhouse that Masugaki Princess intended to showcase was unfolding at the hands of Oknodie.
Deadcat devoted the last two days solely to recuperation.
Illusion Stack.
If she could just stack the eight extra lives of Nine Lives again, she could pursue her strategy.
The more difficult the technique, the stronger the attack.
She would make the death of a clone feel like the death of the main body by executing Deadcat’s powerful counterattack based on the [Mutual Destruction] principle.
And she needed to do it safely, not just once, but at least eight times.
A character fully equipped with a damage set optimized for a single-boss deal, showcasing the prowess of a cheating character capable of one-sided damage exchanges.
However, in the eyes of a veteran player, it looked like nothing more than a useless burden.
“Senpai~! You’re not going to run away this time, right? I can get the rainbow ball, right?”
“There’s no turn for you. I’ll throw, then I’ll throw again, and then I’ll throw again.”
Taking advantage of the chaos, Deadcat retrieved three balls.
Hearing whining that it was unfair, begging for just one chance.
Although Oknodie, who thought it wouldn’t be strange to act like a kid throwing a tantrum, surprisingly responded with a relaxed “Hmm~?”
You can’t have your way.
Is that going to go as you wish?
As if to say that.
“Well then, let’s see.”
Her Illusion Stack doesn’t only decrease from enemy attacks.
She can reduce it herself by taking her own life directly.
Even if the opponent does nothing, attacks boasting extreme efficiency fly in!
“Do you understand why I was called the Fearsome Deadcat…?”
Confidently declaring as she reclaims the fallen honor of her senpai, she felt something missing in her hands.
The ball in her hand had somehow rolled away and sneaked into Oknodie’s grasp.
Not only that.
Her feet were empty, too.
The balls she had neatly placed at her feet rolled towards Oknodie of their own accord.
[Magic Eye]
What on earth kind of trickery is this?
She concentrated Mana in both eyes to discern the magical trickery when she saw something.
Squawk squawk!
Transparent mosquitoes, clinging to the dodgeball, rolled the ball with their bodies.
One of them was even a light red.
Looking down at the hand that had lost the ball, she saw her fingers swollen painfully.
The sensation in her fingers was so numbed that she couldn’t realize she had let go of the ball.
Before her dazed eyes, Oknodie gleefully picked up the ball.
“Stage 3 Rainbow Ball~~!”
In addition, at her feet were two more balls that Deadcat had diligently gathered.
