LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 272.1
Chapter 272.1. Combat Training Grounds
The reception lobby from earlier had vanished entirely, along with the staff who had been working there, as if they were mirages. Now, there was nothing but a training ground modeled after a desolate urban battlefield. It seemed they had been ambushed.
Fortune felt it was unnatural but accepted that it must have been an illusion created from the start.
Though her surprise attack had failed, the girl in front of them, aiming a plasma submachine gun, smiled brightly and pointed the barrel.
“Burn to ashes with the ultra-high heat of plasma!”
The red-haired girl pulled the trigger, and the glowing plasma rounds, radiating immense heat, sped toward Ares and the others. Normally, such rounds wouldn’t need to graze a target—just passing nearby would incinerate them. The heat warped the air, causing it to shimmer like a mirage as the light projectiles closed in.
However, Ares and the others stood calmly, showing no intention of dodging. The reason for their composure became clear when the plasma rounds hit.
Like soap bubbles, the plasma rounds burst just before impact, vanishing like foam.
“Futile. Toy weapons like plasma rounds are useless against me.”
Ares lightly waved his hand, summoning his beloved golden spear, Antares.
“Behold the power of the Divine Spear, Antares!”
“Heh! Who’d lose to some god who always loses? [House Emperor’s Meat-Cutting Cleaver]!”
In response, the red-haired girl summoned a cleaver with a thick, blade-like edge. Ares glanced briefly at Fortune, as if to confirm something.
Fortune understood his silent question and spoke up loudly. It was easy for her to analyze enemies—after all, the goddess of fate could peer into someone’s true nature at will. With a few exceptions.
“That’s a clone specialized for cooking, a fragment of Silky. She intends to fight with her cleaver skills. There are also two other girls hiding a little further away—one with pink hair and one with green hair. Additionally, there’s a blue-haired girl with a sniper rifle on a rooftop further back. Behind her is an enemy in heavy armor, like reinforced combat gear. All except the armored one are clones!”
“Well done, Fortune!”
Ares grinned confidently, reassured by Fortune’s calm and precise analysis of the enemy.
Fortune’s [Fate] skill transformed the ties binding enemies planning to attack her into threads of destiny, which revealed their identities. She saw four attackers, all of whom intended to defeat her.
Fortune also realized that these four were Silky’s clones, created when short on manpower. They looked stronger than before, but it wasn’t a problem.
“Damn! What an annoying skill! Take this!”
[Flame Dragon]
Cursing as her identity was revealed, the girl’s eyes turned fierce. She swung her cleaver, unleashing a torrent of flames. The fire grew massive, engulfing her, and then transformed into a dragon of flames charging toward Ares.
But Ares responded to the attack with a cold smirk, closing the distance with a single step. Though the space was boiling hot—too scorching to even breathe—Ares remained unfazed.
Instead, he sneered dismissively and shouted.
“Fool! Do you think you can burn me with kitchen tricks?!”
[Aura Lance]
He cloaked his spear in crimson fighting spirit, effortlessly sweeping it to extinguish the flame dragon. Without slowing down, he closed in on the girl, thrusting his spear from his hip.
[War House Emperor Spear]
The girl tried to block it with her cleaver, holding it horizontally. Sparks flew as metal clashed, but a cleaver was still just a cleaver. It cracked and shattered, and the spear pierced through the girl, leaving a massive hole.
“Damn it! This guy’s strong!”
She cried out in frustration before dissolving into silver particles, which scattered and glittered in the air.
However, as Ares defeated the red-haired girl, two more girls burst out from behind a building, launching an attack.
“Our strongest firepower is down!”
“We’re not done yet! How about this? Plasma Saucers!”
The pink-haired girl shouted in dismay while the green-haired girl threw several metal rings. In the air, they generated plasma and sped toward Ares and his allies.
“Divine punishment for those who defy the gods!”
[Accelerator Wing]
Metatron sprouted wings like a swan and dodged the plasma saucers, leaving afterimages as he charged toward the girls. But the pink-haired girl suddenly blocked his path.
“Ultimate Magic Marker!”
She summoned a talisman, scribbled something on it with a magic marker she pulled out from somewhere, and threw it into the air.
[House Emperor Household Rule Talisman: No Running Indoors]
“What?!”
Silver particles rained down like snow from the talisman, touching Metatron and suddenly halting his acceleration, nullifying his technique. Forced back to normal speed, he stumbled awkwardly, losing his balance.
[House Emperor Ice Cannon]
Seizing the opening, the sniper girl from afar fired her plasma-coated sniper rifle. The plasma round hit Metatron’s head, engulfing it in flames and incinerating it to ash instantly. The intense heat produced smoke, and oddly, Metatron’s head became frozen solid, turning into an ice sculpture. It looked as though his lifeless body would fall to the ground.
“Futile! Wicked one, Metatron’s power is eternal! I cannot be defeated!”
From within the smoke, Metatron’s voice echoed in multiple tones, like a chorus. His figure emerged with a smug smile. Then, more Metatrons appeared—dozens, almost a hundred of them.
“We are not mere clones.”
“We are whole and individual, yet one.”
“In other words, each of us is the real one.”
“Destruction is impossible. Therefore, we are eternal. We are the undying Metatron.”
The Metatrons extended their hands and laughed as they gathered mana.
“Divine punishment upon those who would slay an angel!”
[Heavenly Emperor Light Cannon: Hundredfold]
A hundred brilliant beams of white light tore through the air toward the distant sniper. Panicking, the blue-haired girl tried to escape, but the vast array of beams covered an enormous area, leaving nowhere to hide. She was struck and vanished into the light without a sound.
“How about this?”
[House Emperor Trash Bundling]
The green-haired girl waved her hand, producing threads that filled the area, attempting to bind the Metatrons.
“Thread can only be countered with thread.”
[Threads of Fate]
But Fortune countered by summoning golden threads that entangled the girl’s threads, dissolving them into the air. The power of the threads of fate caused the skill to fail and disappear.
“We’re not done yet!”
[House Emperor Tea Leaves]