# Chapter 494 The worries of the little heart (1)

Black calm!

I split the nearing mist hand in two with my martial arts. The magic hand, which had enough absorbing power to even evaporate my body, got dissected vertically and pa.s.sed by me in vain.

As it had been cut with considerable force, the hand couldnt retain its form and control and ended up turning into a gentle breeze before it disappeared.

However, unlike humans who have only two hands, this terrifying mist doesnt stop there.

2, 3 4, eh? Thats one more than yesterday!

Ufufu, I am giving it my all to catch Kuroe.

As her complexion grew white and her eyes shone purple, Ursula swirled up the mist together to make it dense and manifested three hands with her mist. On top of that, she had also just finished restoring the other hand I had just cut off.

In terms of appearance, considering how the girl of the illusion has horns and floats behind her, it sort of resembles my sword arts. That said, most would turn out this way once theyre able to freely control it.

Now, give me your all, Kuroe!

This time, it came rus.h.i.+ng at me like a real rocket punch, with mist coming out of the back of the wristall four of the mist hands.

Two from the front and one on each side, as if to surround me.

I am already aware of the fact that these hands arent just some projectiles she releasedin fact, they behave like her own hands. As such, rather than trying to dodge all four of them, it would be much more reliable to cut down at least one. Despite the fact that it would reform almost immediately.

Grenade burst.

I am not sure if I should be surprised that I still couldnt acquire a magic wand which can handle black magic or if I should expect it cause its only natural for it to be that way. While using black magic barehanded against Ursulas fully unleashed original magic does make me a bit anxious, I have no other choice.

Even then, Grenade Burst still has enough power to blow off these handsor at least, it should have.

Too lenient.

I shot a grenade burst at both the hands coming from the sides and it shouldve exploded upon making contact with the drain magic but for some reason, it misfired.

Such misfire is not possible in the case of my black magic since I control them directly until they explode.

Considering the fact that they still didnt explode, they mustve been erased. To express the phenomenon visually, it was as if the hand crushed the grenade burst along with the explosion.

The grenades went straight at the middle of the flying fists and just as it was about to unleash its explosive power, it disappeared as the fist clenched. Did it erase the grenade before it could explode or did it drain it along with the explosion? I dont know.

I guess this wont work anymore, huh?

Either way, it doesnt change the fact that the effective grenade burst has now been nullified by Ursula. It was the moment I saw her actual growth in progress.

Bipart.i.te Black Calm.

Being left with no other choice, I tore all the nearing fists up with Bipart.i.te Black Calm.

The sword I drew was the same old one I used to slaughter the Crusaders. Although its ma.s.s produced, the quality isnt bad. This one probably is better than most.

The sword was blackened from the tip to the handle. However, while it was only for a moment, the swords enchantment came undone and exposed the original steel underneath upon making contact with the draining hands.

That said, the enchantment is also similar to Ursulas mist handsitll reform with just a little mana.

I didnt know you could use martial arts in succession.

Well, thats how much Im being cornered here.

And despite that, you seem quite relaxed.

Ursula said with an uninterested expression, as if none of this was appealing to her. This expression has quite the intensity when she does it with those demon eyes.

But Ive gotten used to it to the point I can also think of that as cute these days.

Ive also gotten a bit used to your powers, you see.

Used to this draining power.

No matter how terrifying an ability may be, if you deal with it for long enough, you naturally come up with methods to counter it. After all, if this was the maneuver experiment, Id have had to beat it upon first sight. And here I just have to stave it off so of course I would be relaxed.

I want, Kuroe, now.

If you want it, come get it. With all your strength.

While it may have made my heart skip a beat if an older woman said that to me, since I know Ursula gets high when using her original magic, I was able to reply calmly.

I cant afford to show any weakness. It wont be any practice if Ursula doesnt believe that she cant beat me no matter how hard she tries. After all, these abilities are something you first start getting a hang of once you unleash it all.

..Then, I shall, give it my all.

The atmosphere around Ursula rapidly changed.

The fact that it wasnt just my imagination was proved as her manaor rather, the white girls mana rose suddenly.

As Ursula spread her hands in front of her and pushed them out, the white girl behind her did the same. Unlike the previous attack, this one felt like it was directly connected to her body and was aimed directly at me. Ursula and the girl behind her did look alike since she was wearing the trainee outfit and the white mist girl was wearing a white robe.

And before long, her rising mana had changed enough to make it visible. The white mist gathered towards the wrist of the white plaster-like figure and whirled in one spot. It made thunderous rumbling and felt like she was creating a typhoon on the palm of her hands as the mist vigorously concentrated on one spot.

Ah, this one feels a bit dangerous. I might have to use Overgear depending on how this goes.

And it happened just when I had resolved myself to go that far.

Ill just have lunch.

The overwhelmingly concentrated whirling mist with potentially deadly draining power just vanished into thin air all of a sudden.

Ursula returned to her usual blue eyes and back to her absentminded carefree expression like Fiona and quickly walked towards me.

Its already that late, huh? Now that you mention it, I feel kinda hungry too.

The churchs midday bell reached my ears.

While it wasnt clearly audible, one could still hear the churchs bell from this highway where I brought Ursula to train on the day the goblins attacked.

Before I had realized, one week had pa.s.sed since then.

I have never seen Kuroe like that before.

My grumble was sharp enough to even surprise myself.

I am currently watching over Uru and Kuroes sham battle which is taking place some distance away from the village. I sneaked all the way here so that the two didnt realize.

Im doing this quietly purely because of curiosity. I mean, theres no way I wouldnt be interested, after all.

I, for one, know how much Uru has worried about her curse till now and I understand how this is a very serious matter. Its very different from some stupid brats secret of who likes who or anything like that.

At the moment, Kuroe is trying to solve this worry of hers. Now, I cant imagine at all how one could do that. I mean, how would you go about suppressing such an unknown, terrifyingly strong curse?

At the very least, the all-important trash of the church couldnt do anything about it. Ah, just thinking about it makes my blood boil. Those bunch of fools wanting to kill Uru saying shes a demon and shes cursed and whatnot. I will shove those splendid-looking rosary they wear up their a.s.s and then surely theyll meet their oh-so-great G.o.d. I could probably do as much as I am now.

More importantly, the problem at hand is if Urus curse is actually something that can be dealt with.

I would have declared it impossible just some time back. That isnt something some stupid adult should poke around with out of curiousity. Someone like that would and should just get eaten by the curse.

And so priest Nicolay chose the wise option of not doing anything about it. Theres no doubt that that was the best choice for both me and Uru.

But, Kuroe if its him, then he could actually do something about Urus curse. I believe that, strangely enough.

That is probably cause I know how strong Kuroe can be. Having exchanged blows with him every day, even while Im growing at a very rapid rate, I can tell that I cant possibly catch up to him. That overwhelming strength just gives me this unbelievable sense of security.

And so I am not worried. The reason why I am peeking on them like this today is also just cause I was curious about what they were doing.

I came out todaya week after the training had begun cause I couldnt suppress this curious heart any longer and decided to watch.

The first thing I did was ask Sister Yuri for her cooperation as shes staying back at the church. To be honest, I thought this would be the biggest obstacle but

I understand. Go and watch them, then.

She gave her approval almost immediately. Why was I even worried anyway?

Not only that, she also told me to watch all I want as she would handle ringing the bell as well. Thats more than satisfactory.

If I am being honest, I cant really deal with her properly. She wears this incomprehensible expressionless face and has the perfect looks of an angel as described in the Bible and is so hard to approach.

Kuroe acts cool but his emotions are easy to read so hes very easy to talk to. Besides, he treats us earnestly even though we are kids and makes considerations for us and doesnt keep lecturing us like those stupid self-important Crusaders Anyway, hes a nice person.

And since Sister Yuri is Kuroes secret lover and Ursula trusts her quite a lot as well, she surely cant be a bad person. I probably just made my own a.s.sumptions about her and she isnt as cold as she looks.

She likely inferred my feelings and thats why she is cooperating with me this much.

In any case, that is how I had made it this far.

Uru and Kuroe have been going out for this training every morning. Since they also have their lunch there, I had been appointed to pack their lunch boxeswhich is not much, reallyjust bread, cheese and side dishes from the previous nights dinner.

And they always return in the evening. He spends all day training Uru and doesnt do any of his priest work but it seems he has already talked about that with the chief. That old man Randolph doesnt really know much about Urus curse but he was informed about her to some extent by priest Nicolay. Thats probably why he accepted without much troubleor so said Uru. I dont really get adult-talk much but as long as he doesnt come interfering, its all good with me.

And so about the training itselfI was very worried about Kuroe as his complexion looked really bad on the first and second day but he returned to his normal self later on so I had nothing to worry about either. I understood that he was dealing with it properly, as expected.

About what they were actually doingthat is what I saw today, with my own eyes.

To think Kuroe would be fighting seriously like that.

It was clearly a battle. While I dont understand the first thing about magic or curses, what befolded before me was a pure clash of powersthat much I understood immediately.

The severity of their battle makes the vigilante group and my training look like childs play. Even the battle against the goblin horde couldnt compare to this. Even without any instruction or explanation, their battle taught me a lot.

First of all, about how strong Urus curse can be. This is the first time Im seeing the white horned girl behind her.

If that thing appeared when she first released her powers at the orphanage, theres no doubt that everyone there, including myself, would have died.

I am getting gooseb.u.mps even though I am watching from such a distance. I only realized that my body and mind had been preparing for battle, some time into observing them.

That said, the most surprising fact about this was how Kuroe was taking on Urus curse head on.

Even Kuroe wouldnt be left without a fatal injury if he got caught by her attacks. I can tell that her strength is on par or even more than what she used against the doltos to reduce it to its bones.

Kuroe was dodging, cutting and sometimes deflecting these attacks as if he was looking into the future.

I have never seen him having to dodge so sharply before. That black and crimson slashis that martial arts? Its my first time seeing that as well.

And numerous other black magic Kuroe used afterwards. The aura hes emitting from his body, the snake-like tentacles fending off the mists hands, the exploding arrowshe had never used any of these in our mock battles. No, I wasnt able to make him use it.

During those mock battles, which had become commonplace just until last week, Kuroe had only ever used his sword. He didnt use any martial arts or magic. And he wasnt trying to hide his powers or anything. Its just that we werent good enough to bring that out of him.

And so, its definitely not like Kuroe is at fault. In fact, I should be thankful and admire his exquisite adjustment in strength to match our mock battles.

That said, my weakness isnt to be blamed either. Its only natural for me to be weak. Im still a kidand for what it matters, a girl too, at that. Im sure people would say that I did very well for myself, considering how even adult vigilantes couldnt do anything to him.

Kuroe is Reki, not enough.?

But thenwhy is it that my heart aches so much that I feel like Im on the verge of crying?

I am well aware that theres nothing to be done about this situation. Im just a kid who got good at handling a sword. And Urus a special kid with immense hidden strength which Kuroe has to deal with with his full power.

What can I even complain about here? What am I dissatisfied with?

Why Reki fought with Kuroe first too

Ah, I seeI feel jealous.

It was fun getting stronger every day. I was happy knowing that I could get stronger. I hadnt felt this happiness ever before.

My goal was Kuroe. Its an overwhelmingly high and far off goal but it made me engrossed enough to not think about anything else.

I wanted to reach him as soon as possible. I wanted him to use more of his strength, even if only a little.

I was overjoyed whenever he used a new move against me. The feeling of achievement I felt when he first started to counterattack against me.

I was swinging from joy to sorrow with Kuroes each move. Which attack surprised him? Which one did he predict? During battle, I always observed him in detail. I would get engrossed to the point I felt like we were the only ones in this world. Looking at him single-mindedly, I was able to get stronger.

I dont feel like I would lose, no matter how many goblins came at me. Even against a doltos, I feel like I will do better next time. The feeling of actual progress made me so happy. Just being acknowledged, head-patted and being told I did a good jobthese things made me so happy that I felt like I would melt with happiness.

This just makes me look like a fool

Uru and Kuroes battle turned all my hard work and joy upside down.

It takes Urus all to just pull up a bucket of water. And so, it was my job to beat up any brat who tried to bully her. She hadnt gone into a fight once and neither had she even hit anyone.

Thats cause I had been protecting her.

And this girl, who was supposedly protected by me, took one leap and crossed meshe reached the one place I forever wished I could reachbringing out Kuroes real strength.

I cant accept my own weakness? Thats not it.

I cant accept how strong Uru is? Thats also not it.

Kghh. uu..

And somehow, right then, the sight of Uru sitting on top of Kuroes knees and having the pan I prepared came into my visionmy vision which was starting to get wet.

I wonder what theyre talking about I cant possibly hear from this far.

But Uru looked happy from any angle, and Kuroe had a very gentle expression as well.

I couldnt make myself watch any longer. I couldnt bear the sight of them having so much fun.

Uu, uuuuu!

These flowing tearstheyre the proof of defeat.

It just feels so unbelievably frustrating and painful. And I cant even blame it on anyone.

It took my all just to keep myself silent as I left the area without them noticing.