Deceleration and Reweighting

(Bai Ziye)

Although I put on a show of arrogance, finding the core of Betelgeuse was not my achievement.

To be honest, my brain isn't that sharp.

Just now, the side of the airtight stone coffin facing me suddenly became transparent, allowing me to glimpse the secrets hidden within.

That's right, Aunt Yuehan secretly helped again this time.

She was currently leaning against Anjie with her eyes closed; she was indeed faking unconsciousness...

"Surrender, you have nowhere to run."

With the wormhole blocked, Ceruno's father has no way out. Unless he wants to go through the white hole to the branch, SpiCa will definitely prepare a big surprise for him. Given her previous cautious behavior, she would never take that risk.

But what could she do when she had nowhere else to turn?

The "Gun Witch" pointed her gun at me.

"Tsk, so we still have to fight?"

I rubbed my boots on the ground; the core residue was probably stuck in the grooves of the sole, making it uncomfortable to walk on and causing my feet to ache.

"Let me make this clear from the start, I am extremely strong."

The Gun Witch did not respond, and the tip of the gun aimed at me remained unmoved, as steady as a sexy Nioh statue.

Witch.

I already have experience from several encounters.

Because they possess magical power far exceeding that of magical girls, their magic is often exaggerated in scale.

The six Floating Lances looked intimidating, but they didn't reach the exaggerated levels of other witches: the Shark Princess Witch who drained an entire lake; Betelgeuse who materialized a magnificent warship; Fomalhaut drastically altered the weather, causing snow in August and tsunamis with every strike...

Each of these witches possesses an extraordinary and oppressive power.

But Ceruno's father didn't have that kind of presence.

In comparison, these lances seem too conservative and monotonous.

Haven't you gotten used to the witch's power yet?

Or is she still hiding her true strength?

People who act cautiously like to keep their cards close to their chest. Although she has pinned Sirius to the ground, she has not yet revealed her full strength.

Sirius, who was lying on the ground pretending to be dead, was the same in this respect.

Although she looks miserable, as Star Crystal, having a hole cut into her fake body probably doesn't even qualify as an injury.

Both of them were holding back, but I had to go all out.

Strike first!

The rubble I casually threw at her face was stopped by her lance.

The moment she blocked his view, he bent down and circled around her.

I can move faster than her neck can turn, and by watching the direction her neck turns, I can keep myself in her blind spot.

Throughout the entire ordeal, the lances behind her never attacked me.

It can be confirmed that they do not have independent consciousness or senses, and are only manipulated by Father Ceruno, so they cannot attack me without my sight.

But I was able to launch a sneak attack on her from behind when she was off guard.

The area outside the breastplate was covered in scales, but none of them could be as hard as the breastplate. With that thought in mind, I slashed at her bare side waist.

Clang--

The force of the impact on my hand made my thumb and forefinger go numb, and I almost lost my grip on the short sword.

So hard!

What kind of scale is this?

Even though I've removed my heavy armor, am I still unable to cut through it?

The other witches' physical abilities weren't this excessive; even the Sword Witch could be injured by my blade.

This time, the parry also allowed her to pinpoint my location. Her nearly two-meter-long lance swept across in a crescent shape, which, even at my accelerated pace, didn't seem slow at all.

It wasn't just the lance in her hand.

As the Floating Lances swept across the battlefield simultaneously, I couldn't find a suitable way to retreat. Even if I jumped away at top speed, those cobra-like lance tips would catch up and try to tear open my body.

Phew, I barely avoided it.

Thanks to the performance of the Battle Dress itself, I did not suffer any substantial damage.

She wasn't retaliating haphazardly. As a legend who came from the war years, she could make up for the speed gap with experience and skill. Fighting with an underestimating mentality would only lead her to a dead end.

"..."

She scratched the spot on her waist where I had slashed her, as if it were just a mosquito bite.

It doesn't break the defense, but it's a little itchy.

Although it was just a normal slash, it was at thirty times the speed, a sword strike capable of cutting through steel plates, yet I really didn't feel anything... This sword is no longer viable.

Ceruno turned back into A-Yao, and without her Bubble Membrane support, I couldn't use acceleration beyond my tolerance limit.

"Morning Star, you can't keep me."

Seemingly having assessed my strength, she finally spoke.

But I don't like being looked down upon.

He discarded his two short swords and assumed a fighting stance, empty-handed.

"Don't misunderstand, this doesn't mean surrendering. I may not be able to defeat you, but I have many ways to stall you."

The simplest way is to make her slow down.

Besides slowing down myself, I can also slow down any object I come into contact with. Since the effect diminishes as the object leaves my hand, and maintaining it for a long time consumes a lot of magic, the general application is to accelerate the object just before it leaves my hand.

However, against such a formidable opponent, physical attacks alone are unlikely to be effective; at this point, one must remember their identity.

The key element of magical girls is "magic".

A sweeping lance is very dangerous, but if I can touch it at a relative speed before it hits me, I can slow it down.

For the Gun Witch, it meant that her lance had become very heavy, and she had to use much more force to maintain her previous speed.

Swinging such a large lance requires considerable strength, and she clearly wouldn't hold back that much power, resulting in...

Her attacks became slow and heavy.

But this is only the first step.

I quickly released the gun, since she still had the Floating Lances that allowed her to move freely.

So I started circling her at thirty times the speed, while simultaneously slapping her body and every lance that came near.

This kind of light, fleeting attack doesn't require me to use much force.

Simply keep moving and focus on increasing speed.

With each contact, a part of her body would become heavy. The weight of the weapon would at most cause muscle strain, but the sudden slowing of time in local areas such as the arms, thighs, or even the waist and neck could lead to muscle strain.

It's not hard to understand, is it?

If a twisting arm suddenly slows down significantly, the part that could have been twisting will be stretched, potentially leading to muscle rupture.

Since we can't cut off those scales, let her destroy herself from the inside.

Her attacks became riddled with holes, and I was able to dodge them with greater ease. The bigger her movements, the more serious the damage she inflicted on herself.

I would slap or punch her on her scaleless face whenever I felt like it.

This wouldn't cause much harm, of course; it was meant to provoke her, to make her grit her teeth and endure the strain to continue attacking me...

Unfortunately, she is an exceptionally rational person.

She gradually slowed down, and eventually stood still.

That's right, just don't move.

She understood that if she didn't move, she wouldn't get hurt because of my slowing down.

But if I don't move, she can't leave here either, and my goal has been achieved.

"It seems you're the one who lost, Chairman Sun."

I stopped in front of her.

"I don't want to make things too ugly, so please hand over Ceruno's Star Crystal."