"I wish I could have heard a little more... But I suppose this is the limit of even my Soul-Seizing Demon Eye School."

Bellows did not know that the Seven Dragons Society's Seventy-Two Martial Schools were more than merely unusual martial arts. Among them was an art that could see into another's mind and even dominate their soul: the Soul-Seizing Demon Eye School.

It was so difficult to learn, and nine out of ten who succeeded went mad or became invalids, that even the Seven Dragons Society regarded it as a demonic art. Yet it was powerful enough to be worth the risk. Back when the Seven Dragons Society was called the Demonic Cult, the Black Dragon Princess's ability to wield it was one reason successive princesses had been feared above all others.

'I fell for primitive mental manipulation using psionics?' Bellows had never tried to learn such things, dismissing the Seven Dragons Society as nothing more than an archaic band of fanatics. Now, having fallen under the Soul-Seizing Demon Eye School's influence, however briefly, he felt overwhelming shame.

Players with high stats naturally gained strong resistance to mental attacks. Anyone who succumbed to one was treated as either a bottom-tier player or a complete idiot. Yet a level 97, duke-class player had been beguiled by a mere soul-seizing art into divulging information about his organization. For a man as proud as Bellows, the humiliation was enough to make him want to die.

"『Breaking on the Wheel, Executed』!"

The solution Bellows chose for his shame was simple: kill Li Qingyu, bound to the wheel, and make the whole thing as though it had never happened. A thoroughly Liberation Brigade approach.

CRACK.

But a moment later, Bellows's face twisted. Qingyu shifted her body slightly. Her joints popped out of place, and the chains binding her fell away. Moving with the supple ease of a snake, she slipped free and set her joints back in place. In her arms, Yu Na-gyeong gaped, her beak wide open.

["... Princess, don't tell me you let yourself get caught on purpose to coax answers out of him?"]

"What if I did?"

["How can you just admit it so casually?!"]

"Why would I deny it?"

["Because you should! If you were going to put on an act, you could at least have told me!"]

"To fool your enemy, you must first fool your allies."

["There's a limit to that! Give me back all the worry I spent thinking something might happen to you!"]

Bellows ground his teeth. Their conversation made it clear how thoroughly Qingyu had toyed with him. It might have been different if this were the first time, but she had already used him once as part of her scheme. Played for a fool yet again, he could no longer pretend to be calm. He merely glared at her, murder plain in his eyes.

"I never intended to let you live... but you'd best give up hope of an easy death now."

Qingyu took the full force of his murderous glare without the slightest sign of unease. She answered calmly.

"Don't worry. I have no intention of torturing you before I kill you."

"Ha. How ridiculous. Do you seriously think that vile trick will work twice?"

"No, that would be difficult."

"Then what are you counting on? Even a fool like you must have learned firsthand that you can't beat me."

"Until now, yes."

Qingyu did not bother denying it. Since Bellows had used 『Constellation Descent』, she had been at a disadvantage the entire time. But that did not mean she agreed with everything he said.

"Unfortunately for you, I no longer need to let you back me into a corner."

She had learned everything she needed. The little play was over. Now the real fight would begin. Bellows glared coldly at her as she spoke with a smile. His murderous gaze met her composed one, and a brief silence settled between them.

"『Impalement, Sentenced』."

KRRUNCH!

A massive iron spike thrust up from the floor to impale Qingyu from below.

BANG!

Qingyu spun clear, then kicked the spike toward Bellows. It failed to pierce the pages circling him, bounced away and vanished as if dissolving into the air. But that was only the beginning. Before the spike had even finished veering away, Bellows was already riffling through his statute book and unleashing more punishments.

"『Death by Firing Squad, Sentenced』."

"『Death by Hammer, Sentenced』."

"『Boiling to Death, Sentenced』."

"『Burial Alive, Sentenced』."

Bullets flew, a giant hammer swung, boiling oil poured down, and heaps of earth came crashing after it. It was hell made real: countless punishments from throughout history inflicted on one person, a cruelty that made simple execution seem merciful. Bellows did not care. Qingyu had deceived and insulted him while he acted on the will of a great constellation. To him, that was tantamount to insulting the constellation itself, a crime for which she deserved to be torn apart and killed a hundred times over.

THUMP!

"...!"

But after unleashing his skills, Bellows's eyes widened. Under the restrictions of 『Bipedal Walking Prohibited』 and 『High-Speed Movement Prohibited』, Qingyu should have been forced to take every punishment without budging. Instead, she pushed off the black mist, sprang lightly into the air, and evaded them.

'Don't tell me that bitch...'

Bellows's expression hardened for a reason beyond surprise that she had escaped the restrictions. He hurriedly unleashed more punishments, but the result was the same. As though her earlier confinement had been a lie, Qingyu hopped around the broad corridor, easily evading each new attack. The sight confirmed his suspicion, and he fixed her with a fierce glare.

"How much... No, when did you figure it out?"

It seemed a question out of nowhere. But Qingyu, as though she had expected it all along, lightly leapt over a swinging cudgel and replied without a care.

"Hmm. Perhaps when I learned you were a romantic who cared about animals?"

Bellows clenched his fists at her words. He glared at her as if he wanted to devour her and ground his teeth.

"... You scheming bitch."

"Thank you for the compliment, but please don't fall for me. I'm already engaged."

"Say whatever you like. With nothing but that paltry power you call psionics, you'll never defeat me."

Had his anger gone so far that it had brought him back to his senses? Bellows radiated murderous intent as cold as frozen steel while riffling through the statute book and unleashing five or six skills at once: 『Crucifixion』, 『Caging』, 『Punishment Chair』, and others. Every one specialized in restraint. His intention to catch her first and kill her afterward was unmistakable.

"As a princess of the Seven Dragons Society, let me tell you something."

As though she had foreseen this long ago, Qingyu stayed a step ahead of the barrage and evaded it without moving particularly fast.

"Don't underestimate psionics."

BOOM!

She flicked her hand, sending an invisible strike of psionic force toward him. As the pages surrounding Bellows blocked it, she closed the distance and continued quietly.

"The psionics and Seventy-Two Martial Schools our founders left us hold far greater potential than you imagine."

Bellows sneered at the deep pride in her words. "Ha. What could a primitive power like that possibly accomplish?"

She seemed to have noticed the secret of 『Rule of Law』, but that was all. As long as she could not lift the restrictions themselves, she could never stand against him and the power he had borrowed from a great constellation. Of that, Bellows was certain.

"Well, something like this, for instance?"

"What are you..."

KABOOM!

He heard something explode. Then one of the pages circling him tore to shreds, and an invisible strike of psionic force burst from inside it and slammed into him.

"Gah?!"

The utterly unexpected blow caught him defenseless and sent a wrenching pain through his insides. He cried out, though confusion twisted his face more than pain.

"Wh-what did you do...?"

How had an invisible strike emerged from a page he had been using as a shield? While he struggled to understand, Qingyu flicked her fingertips again. Three more invisible strikes flew toward him. As three pages wheeled through the air to block them, Bellows took no chances this time and hurriedly retreated from the pages. That let him see what happened: the moment they stopped the strikes, the white pages darkened as though soaked in ink, tore apart, and expelled the strikes once more.

KABABABOOM!

"Ghk!"

Bellows blocked the successive strikes with his statute book, but the impact sent him sliding backward again. Qingyu pursued him and spoke softly. "I already knew, but you truly know nothing about us."

Many people misunderstood: individually, the Seventy-Two Martial Schools had never been complete martial disciplines. Just as the five senses together made up perception, and bones and muscles together made up a body, martial disciplines required harmony between fist techniques, footwork, external training to strengthen the body, and internal training to cultivate energy. In that sense, each of the Seventy-Two Martial Schools, specialized in only one direction, was an incomplete discipline. A hand without fingers was incomplete. Even a master-level martial artist who had trained one school to its utmost could never draw out its full power without that harmony.

That was why the seven dragons had created seventy-two supreme arts, and why each clan's princess was the strongest warrior in the Seven Dragons Society. Only the seven princesses, born with the true essence of psionics, could draw out the Seventy-Two Martial Schools' true power. Qingyu, one of those seven, smiled and swept one hand lightly toward the barrier of pages surrounding Bellows.

"Let me show you the essence of that primitive power you looked down on."

Her foot struck the floor lightly. At once, the blade-sharp psionics of Soul-Locking Severing Kicks surged from her toes through her knees and spine, gathering at her fingertips. The instant she added that keen edge to the steadfast psionics of the Perfect Dragon Claw School already resting in her hand, the two powers fused and intensified. Each amplified the other, bursting from her five fingertips as sharply as dragon claws.

SHRIIIP!

Was this what a dragon tearing through clouds looked like? Each page was tougher than an iron wall, yet she ripped through dozens at a stroke. It was an astonishing display. But Qingyu did not stop. As though this had only been a warm-up, she maintained her psionics and added another school.

With the Dark Heaven Shadow Soul School, she closed in on Bellows and infused her hand with mist of psionics. She folded and opened her palm eight times, compressing layer upon layer of psionics with the palm technique of the Eightfold Great Strength School. Then, following the energy-circulation method of the Flying Lotus Butterfly School, she let that condensed power flow lightly into her fingertips.

RRRRRUMBLE!

Twice as strong. Four times. Eight times. Then sixteen. Each school she added doubled her psionics, until the mere aftershocks shook the air and sent tingles through the body.

"『Barehanded Attack Nullification Act, Enacted』!"

Perhaps he felt threatened by the power building before him. Bellows hurriedly added a new law to the statute book. Reassurance and arrogance entered his eyes as the absolute power of law guaranteed his safety. Yet Qingyu showed neither alarm nor hesitation. She merely reached out one hand, slowly.

『Seventy-Two Martial Schools, Fifth Supreme Technique

Eight Lotuses Bloom』