Me, a priest? How could that be!

Chapter 86, Article 2.5

"Danger! Mr. Charlotte, get out of the way!"

Youyou shouted anxiously.

This spell is classified as high-level, but its power, amplified by the immense magical energy, far surpasses that of high-level spells. While it may not be as powerful as an explosion spell, it is quite similar.

Charlotte, standing beneath the fireball, felt it most directly. The intense heat emanating from the flames had already made him drenched in sweat, his hair was slightly bent, his clothes were wrinkled, and his whole body emitted a slightly unpleasant burnt smell.

I'll avoid his sharp edge!

Charlotte never considered dodging; stimulated by the pain and enhanced by the magic circle, he chose to face the attack head-on!

"—Divine Light Fist!!"

There was a bang.

The fireball struck Charlotte squarely.

The blast wave made her skirt flutter, but she had no time to fix it. Instead, she stared intently at the center of the explosion with a worried expression.

"Hmph, arrogant."

The Demon King's daughter, hovering in mid-air, looked on with disdain.

Her magic was incredibly powerful; even the headless knights among the Demon King's army wouldn't dare claim they could withstand it head-on. For a mere high priest to take it with her face without any protective gear would certainly be fatal.

"Pfft, cough cough!!"

"……Um?"

A person slowly emerged from the dusty battlefield. Although he was covered in dirt and his clothes were tattered, making him look disheveled, he did not seem to be injured or have any wounds.

"H-How could this be...?"

"Never give up—perseverance and sturdiness are my selling points!!"

Charlotte threw a rock at Yasaka in mid-air, its speed exceeding the sound barrier! Unfortunately, it was too far away and was easily dodged.

Why...?

Yasaka stared at him in disbelief. "Why are you still alive and able to move? Do you still have the strength to spare, or is it that your physical abilities are now comparable to those of a Demon King's army officer!?"

"Don't make me sound like some kind of perverted female knight, okay? You probably couldn't see it because of the explosion, but I defended myself well. This is the only way to counter this kind of exaggerated magic."

Charlotte raised her fist in a gesture.

Yasaka naturally didn't believe it.

"Impossible! You're lying! This kind of attack is impossible to defend against!"

"There's a trick to it. When you get hit, it explodes, right? First, you use a punch to trigger the explosion, then use your other fist to disperse it. To be honest, it's basically impossible to defend against, but it's much better than being hit directly."

Charlotte scratched her head, somewhat embarrassed.

But what made Youyou even more ashamed was that she couldn't help but exclaim: "They're really reckless! Aren't they afraid of not being able to catch it and dying cleanly?"

"Aren't you afraid of death?! Are you really the High Priest?!"

Yasaka had the same question.

The answer was—

"well enough."

Charlotte didn't disregard his own life; if he could live, he naturally wouldn't want to die. But he also knew very well that even if he died, even if he was reduced to a speck of ash, Aqua and Eris would find ways to bring him back to life.

There's nothing we can do, we have connections in higher-ups!

"...Tsk."

Yasaka was even more annoyed.

She felt that Charlotte was similar to those Axis cultists she could never shake off and those Red Demons she could never get rid of. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She wanted to vent all the resentment she had suffered at the hands of the Red Demons on Charlotte.

"I understand, you can defend against my magic, but I also understand that you have no means of controlling the air."

"Are you serious? Youyou is a Grand Magister—"

"—Death threat!!"

"Hmm!"

In the instant that Charlotte didn't seem to care, Yasaka suddenly glared fiercely at Youyou.

Suddenly, Youyou was enveloped in a black mist that flashed by. Then she collapsed to the ground, her face pale and unable to move. She was sweating profusely and panting heavily, unable to even speak.

Yasaka said smugly, "There's no way around it now. The highest-level curse skill, Death Intimidation, can disrupt an enemy's magic power for a short time. It's a skill specifically designed to deal with mages. Of course, this skill can be dispelled with a priest's purification, and with your strength, I don't think it'll be a problem. But do you think I'll give you that chance!?"

No, you've misunderstood.

I still don't know how to use the purification skill.

Charlotte suddenly felt a sense of unease. After all, even if he managed to break through all the obstacles and reach Youyou's side, how could he remove Youyou's curse without purification skills? And if he couldn't remove the curse, how could he interfere with Yasaka?

No time to think—

"Alright, let's see... how long you can hide! Purgatory!!"

Here comes the second fireball.

Distracted, Charlotte instinctively dodged to the side, but his foot was still hit by the edge of the fireball. The explosion sent him flying more than ten meters away, rolling several times on the ground before he managed to get back to his feet.

hiss----

He was in so much pain that he was wincing in pain.

He could see his feet burned off, and the exposed cross-section wasn't even bloody, but just charred black.

Without any hesitation.

Heal!

In just a few seconds, Charlotte's foot grew back. The exaggerated healing effect left even Yasaka, who was in mid-air, stunned.

"You really are a priest..."

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"So verbose!"

Yasaka unleashed another massive fireball; her magic power is truly astounding, befitting the strongest member of the Demon King's army.

This time, Charlotte, who was better prepared, naturally wouldn't fail. She gathered an equally massive amount of magic power to bombard the fireball, but this method of using magic power was too rudimentary and could not effectively stop it.

This resulted in most of his body being damaged, exposing all the internal parts.

"Oh... so this is my intestines? Amazing! I can even see my stomach now, and my heart is beating so strong and powerfully! As expected of me!"

"Mr. Charlotte!!!"

Youyou screamed.

This is terrible! Showing such images to a young woman could become a lifelong psychological trauma.

Charlotte cast her healing magic again, while keeping a wary eye on Yasaka in mid-air to prevent the Demon King's daughter from launching a sudden attack.

But for some reason, her expression was also quite unpleasant, and she covered her mouth as if she couldn't stand it.

……Um?

Suddenly realized.

Yasaka is also a girl.

It's important to understand that killing someone cleanly and disemboweling them are two different things, and Yasaka was clearly not used to such a scene.

It seems we've found a solution.

Despite his discomfort, Yasaka said with a grim expression, "You...you wouldn't happen to be a dark priest, would you?"

"I am a true follower of the Eris Church!"

"They must be Axis followers!"

"...That's right, they are Axis cultists."

"So you finally admitted it!"

Charlotte was too lazy to argue anymore; she could say whatever she wanted.

Yasaka seemed to have regained her anger, and she shouted, "As expected, the Axis Cult should be destroyed! With this one move, watch me completely wipe you out!!"

An even larger fireball descended from the sky.

However, Charlotte didn't even try to block, let alone dodge. Instead, he spread his arms and let the fireball hit him solidly, causing a huge explosion.

"...What?"

"Mr. Charlotte!?"

When the smoke cleared, a pitiful Charlotte appeared before the two women, whose pupils dilated in shock.

Same as before.

Charlotte's body was mostly gone, and it was swaying precariously with parts falling off from time to time, which looked very frightening.

The Demon King's daughter, suspended in mid-air, stiffened and stammered, "You...you're in quite a sorry state...I'll be generous then, hurry up and heal yourself!"

"I do not want."

"...What?"

"I said I don't want to! Hmph... Just watch, this is the only way I can think of to defeat you! Take this! Left kidney attack!"

A mangled, bloody mess of parts was thrown over.

The Demon King's daughter immediately screamed.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"Of course, it's a counterattack! Take this, right kidney attack! Take this, spleen attack! Next, let me take out what's in my large intestine—"

"You... exhibitionist!!!"

"Who are you calling an exhibitionist!"

"No, no! Don't come any closer! Aaaaaaaahh ...

She screamed and ran away in panic.

Charlotte wasn't about to let this golden opportunity slip by. She chased after him, laughing wildly, "Hahaha, what's wrong? Aren't you the Demon King's daughter? Why are you running?! Watch my big bullet... ah!"

He probably ran too fast, causing his fragile body to accidentally split in two at the waist.

Oops, I accidentally made it into 2.5 lines.