* * *

“『Stoning, Sentenced』.”

The instant the cold voice rang out, hundreds upon thousands of pebbles flew in from every direction. They were stones only in shape: each struck with force closer to an artillery shell than a bullet. Yet that deadly barrage never reached its mark.

The girl deflected stones with the back of her hand, crushed them lightly under her toes, knocked them away with her palm, or plucked them from the air with her fingers. Without taking a step, she calmly met hundreds of stones with one hand. She was a vision of beauty, like a dancer moving among falling petals.

“『Burning at the Stake, Sentenced』.”

As though he had expected that, Bellows sent a raging fire after the stones. It surged up from the ground and closed in on her from every side, a hellish blaze that would melt flesh and bone and burn a person alive. But that agony, too, was shut out.

The girl lightly stamped her foot. Black mist spread like a cloud and pressed down the flames, while invisible strikes of psionic force burst from a flick of her fingers, snuffing the fire in an instant like a breath blowing out a candle.

“『Beheading, Sentenced』.”

A blade seized that opening. As if to end her life at once, the execution blade dropped toward her neck at a speed too great to see. But the execution missed.

As though it was not even worth blocking, she bent backward until the back of her head nearly touched her heels. The blade passed over her. Then she planted one hand on the floor, spun through the air like an acrobat, and came upright again.

Bellows looked at Li Qingyu. His concerted assault had not left a single wound on the black-haired girl. “Persistent, aren't you, for a half-breed descended from primitive lizards?”

“And for someone who calls himself an absolute being, your attacks aren't particularly fierce.”

Her provocation did not faze Bellows in the slightest. He merely smiled coldly. “Say whatever you like. You cannot defeat me anyway.”

“You sound confident.”

“Doesn't your appearance prove I'm right?”

“That...”

Qingyu looked uncomfortable. Her appearance was hardly pristine. Though she had no serious injuries, her sleeves were torn in several places and the edges of her clothes were lightly scorched—signs of how narrowly she had escaped.

“Commenting on a lady's attire? You're no gentleman.”

In the end, Qingyu chose a counterattack over a rebuttal. She flicked one hand covertly, launching an invisible strike of psionic force without a sound. Even a high-level player with a sturdy body would have collapsed coughing blood if it had caught them unguarded. It was a killing blow.

BOOM!

But the surprise attack failed. Before it could reach Bellows, the strike met an obstruction in midair and burst apart.

“You can try as many times as you like. An attack of that caliber cannot penetrate my statute book.”

Bellows sneered coldly. Yu Na-gyeong trembled as she watched the pages torn from the book circle him. She had seen those thin sheets move on their own to block Qingyu's invisible strike.

[Ugh. A cheat skill wasn't enough, so you've got a cheat item too? You filthy cheater!]

She had good reason to curse.

『High-Speed Movement Prohibited』. 『Bipedal Walking Prohibited』. 『Execution Tool Protection Act』.

Qingyu was already under three restrictions. Even without anything else, fighting like this was practically the same as fighting with her hands and feet bound. Add the pressure of hundreds of tons still bearing down on her and the box cradled in one arm, and it was astonishing that she had held out this long.

And thanks to that damned statute book, most attacks could not even touch Bellows. As Na-gyeong had said, it was a fight with the outcome decided in advance—the very definition of cheating.

“Cheating, is it?”

[You think it's unfair too, Princess?]

“No. I was thinking it doesn't quite qualify as cheating.”

[... Is this really the time to joke?]

“I'm only giving you my honest impression.”

[How can you possibly look at this situation and come away with that impression?!]

Yet Qingyu neither despaired nor gave up. She simply looked at Bellows, as composed as ever. “If it were truly cheating, there would be no way to fight back at all. I think I can still find a way to deal with his skill.”

[That's not what I was asking...!]

“What amusing nonsense.”

As Na-gyeong stared at her in disbelief, Bellows cut into their conversation. Na-gyeong clamped her beak shut at the terrifying cheat of a player's interruption, and Qingyu asked calmly in her stead, “You think it's nonsense?”

“Isn't it?”

“No. I have grounds for saying it.”

Qingyu met his gaze. She raised a smooth, pale hand to her gently rounded chest and continued quietly. “The fact that I'm still alive is proof enough that you haven't fully joined the ranks of absolute beings like the Monarchs.”

A cheat skill was the power of a Monarch—and thus proof of an absolute being. If Bellows had truly risen to that level, he should have been able to kill her long ago. As long as she was alive, he had no right to call himself an absolute being.

Qingyu said it all so calmly that her words sounded all the more sincere. Bellows's expression turned icy. “Only make provocations you can afford, you stupid girl.”

“I wasn't trying to provoke you. I only wanted you to know one thing.”

“And what is that?”

“Even if you leave here unharmed, you will never survive the Seven Dragons Society's pursuit.”

Qingyu spoke evenly. Bellows was certainly strong, and his comrades might also wield power beyond that of duke-class players. But there were only three of them. The Seven Dragons Society, on the other hand, still had seven princesses like her and dozens of master-level experts, each comparable to a duke-class player. Add the Seven Dragon Group's vast wealth, and the conclusion was clear: whatever their individual strength, the Liberation Brigade could not defeat the Seven Dragons Society as an organization.

“So I have a proposal.”

Qingyu looked Bellows in the eye, her gaze deep and still as obsidian. “Withdraw quietly, while you still can. If you don't make an enemy of the Seven Dragons Society from now on, I won't pursue you either.”

[What?! Are you serious, Princess?!]

Na-gyeong's beak fell open. The proposal was beyond anything she had imagined. For the Seven Dragons Society, infamous for repaying blood with blood, it was an astonishingly mild request for a truce.

“I see. That is an excellent proposal.”

Perhaps he recognized just how extraordinary the terms were. Bellows gave a brief murmur of admiration, then smiled coldly. “Excellent for how laughably absurd it is.”

BOOM!

[Aah! Princess?!]

It happened in an instant. While Qingyu spoke, Bellows had been quietly scanning his statute book. The moment his hand stopped on a passage, a wheel sprang out and slammed into her. Qingyu staggered and coughed up blood. Chains erupted from every direction, wrapped around her limbs, and bound her to the wheel.

“... A surprise attack in the middle of negotiations? You truly have no manners.”

The chains had even forced her to drop the box she had been holding. Bellows answered her reproach with a sneer. “How surprising. You actually thought that plea for your life was a negotiation.”

“I don't recall pleading for my life.”

“Don't talk nonsense. Call it a proposal if you like, but weren't you begging me to withdraw because I should fear the Seven Dragons Society's retaliation?”

Bellows scoffed. She had declared she would kill him, yet the moment things turned against her, all she could manage was a petty threat borrowed from her organization's power. Strongest warrior of the Seven Dragons Society or not, she was a sheltered flower after all. He could not help smiling at the thought.

“You don't seem afraid of the Seven Dragons Society's retaliation.”

“Of course not.”

“Why? However strong you are, surely you know the three of you can't take on the Seven Dragons Society.”

“What a stupid question.”

Bellows smiled coldly at her foolishness. Even now, she seemed to believe she had the upper hand. “Did you imagine the Liberation Brigade had only three ghosts?”

“You mean there are more people like you?”

Qingyu looked surprised as she gazed at him with those obsidian eyes. Bellows smiled. “There are twelve ghosts in the Liberation Brigade altogether. Every one of us has received the same great blessing I have.”

“That... certainly is a threat.”

“More than a threat.”

Qingyu looked uneasy at the thought of twelve players who had reached the ranks of absolute beings like Bellows. Even the Seven Dragons Society would struggle against them. Bellows declared with certainty, “If we act in earnest, I guarantee we can bring down the Seven Dragons Society within five years.”

“Surely not. Even if the Liberation Brigade has that much strength, the ten great guilds wouldn't stand by and let it happen.”

“Ha. You think the ten great guilds would take your side?”

A laugh escaped him. Qingyu's deep eyes watched him.

“If the Seven Dragons Society falls, it will trigger a worldwide economic collapse.”

“If that's all you're counting on, you'd best think again. Because...”

Bellows stopped in the middle of his impassioned reply. Something suddenly felt wrong.

'Why?'

Qingyu was already trapped by his skill. He could end her life with a gesture. Yet for a moment, he could not remember why he was telling all this to someone he intended to kill.

“Why should I think again?”

But the moment he heard her question and looked into her eyes, Bellows understood. Because she had asked. He needed no other reason, nor did he need to give it another thought.

“Because... Ngh?!”

He was about to answer her when a stabbing pain shot through his head. His face contorted. Clutching his temple, he staggered, then hurriedly opened his statute book and shouted, “『Mental Manipulation Prohibition Act, Enacted』!”

CRACK!

It happened immediately afterward. He felt something break. The fog filling his mind cleared amid a pain like needles digging into his skull, and uncontrollable rage took its place on his face.

“You—you mongrel of a primitive species! How dare you!”

So furious was Bellows that he abandoned even the pretense of politeness. He glared at Qingyu as though he would crush her to death on the spot. She showed no fear. She merely wore her usual smile, though it was somehow more alluring and provocative than ever.

“I see. So there are still only twelve ghosts in the Liberation Brigade?”

Deep as an abyss. Murky as a swamp. Beautiful as the moon, yet all the more captivating for being as dangerous as the night.

Bellows looked into those unfathomable eyes, which made him dizzy with the urge to fall to his knees and kiss the tops of her feet, and clenched his teeth until they bled.