Chapter 72

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Crimson Wave
-----------------------------------------------------------------

“Block it!”

There was no time to assess the situation.

A low hum resonated.

All around, the hands of the assassins began to glow.

They were many, so they naturally assumed they could block the wave.

But.

*Crash!*

The wave effortlessly ignored their power and slammed onto the deck.

The ship lurched under the violent surge.

The assassins scrambled to grab the railings, but it was no use.

The water they had commanded like their own limbs moments before now defied them. Instead, it choked them, grabbing their legs and dragging them down.

“Gah—!”

Caught off guard, several were swept away on the spot.

In the wave's wake, nothing remained but white foam and people who looked like drenched seaweed.

“What kind of wave was…!”

The Alloje assassins were, of course, chosen for their superior ability to control water.

A mere wave should not have been enough to overwhelm them.

But when they tried to use their abilities to control it, they felt a power so immense it was like facing a colossal wall.

“What in the world is happening?”

Sharing the same question, they struggled to stay upright on the violently rocking ship and stared in the direction the wave had come from.

“That power just now… it was definitely the power of Alloje.”

A veteran assassin, the most sensitive to such forces, spoke.

There had been rumors of a monster that moved water appearing in Argenta's seas, so that was a possibility, but the veteran felt it.

This was undoubtedly the same kind of power they possessed.

How strange.

This is the middle of the Argenta Sea.

There can't be anyone with the power of Alloje around here…

“…No.”

There was one. A single person.

There was, but.

Wasn't she supposed to have such trivial power she couldn't even move tea water without spilling it?

“It can't be her, can it?”

They denied the last possibility, but as the wave receded, the sight of the figure revealed between the swells left them utterly dumbfounded.

“Is that…”

Wavy, deep violet hair, the very symbol of Croire Alloje.

A clear, sharp gaze that pierced right through you.

It was, without a doubt.

“Croire Alloje…?”

The one person who shouldn't possess such power—Croire Alloje.

* * *

“You’re not saying that wave was caused by Croire Alloje?”

“Her?”

The ones dressed in shabby clothes, pretending to be pirates, clearly possessed the power of Alloje.

I might not have been able to sense it on the mainland, but here, I felt it clearly.

Their arrogance, daring to try and dominate this sea just moments ago.

Their feeble power.

“They seem surprised.”

Diello, his eyes meeting theirs, let out a low laugh.

“That man is…”

Was it because of my power? The Alloje assassins, who had been focused solely on me, finally turned their gazes to Diello.

Their eyes widened.

“Diello Argenta!”

Their surprise was fleeting as they quickly calculated the situation.

The head of House Argenta, standing in the middle of the open sea.

A foolish flame in the middle of the water, with few escort ships.

“That man…!”

Ecstasy dawned on their faces.

With a war against Argenta imminent, they seemed to be imagining the immense reward they would receive for killing Diello Argenta.

Their hands began to glow in unison.

*Rumble!*

The surrounding water churned with a rough sound.

The ship seemed to sway greatly, and then streams of water shot up from the sea.

*Swoosh!*

In an instant, the streams of water sharpened into the shape of multiple arrows.

The moment they aimed and fired the water arrows at Diello.

*Thump!*

A powerful control over water extended from around me.

“...!”

And the water arrows, which had been rushing to strike Diello, stopped dead in front of us.

Diello watched, completely unfazed.

As if he knew I would block them.

“…”

It was then that he smiled radiantly.

*Fwip-fwip-fwip!*

I returned the water arrows to their original owners.

“Ugh!”

The arrows, imbued with a force incomparably stronger than what they had mustered, lifted their bodies several meters into the air and sent them flying.

“What the—!”

Those who barely dodged cried out in bewilderment.

But I had no intention of letting them be.

Just as I began to move a large, harpoon-shaped mass of water.

“I’ll take care of the rest.”

Diello’s hand gently covered my eyes. A comforting warmth pressed against my back.

“Diello?”

I blinked.

In the small space of warmth and darkness he created, I hesitated.

“You don’t like to see people get hurt.”

My eyes widened at his voice.

“That’s…”

Before I was transmigrated, the original Croire had killed people before.

Even I had already used water to harm someone.

But.

“Even if you have, you don’t like to watch, do you?”

Diello's words left my mouth slightly agape.

How did he know?

No one would have ever thought the villainess Croire was that kind of person.

But Diello spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“So, my bride, rather than looking at such unpleasant things.”

Diello turned me away from the railing. Then he removed the hand covering my eyes.

I saw Diello's face, silhouetted against the sunset. He smiled gently and placed a kiss on my forehead.

“You should look at pretty things.”

As he said that, a massive, flaming spear appeared in his hand.

It was something I had seen once before.

“Diello.”

When he killed the monster that used water magic.

Just like then, Diello thrust the spear without hesitation.

*Fwoosh!*

A fire that burned upon the sea.

One might think it a weak flame, easily extinguished.

But the reality was different.

*Smash!*

A savage sound echoed as a wave of heat washed past me.

But even as it scorched the railing, the flame didn't singe a single strand of my hair or a thread of my clothes.

Diello, holding me securely, threw one flaming spear after another.

“This is… this is…!”

The Alloje assassins, shrieking in disbelief at the impossible sight, were quickly dwindling in number.

Screams rang out between the brutal explosions.

“Impossible! For Diello Argenta to have such power!”

Diello seemed to have no intention of hiding his power, even in front of the Alloje.

And why would he? Not a single one of them would leave this place alive.

Just as I clenched my fists.

“Grrr…!”

I thought I heard an enraged voice echo strangely around us.

*Vwooom!*

The surrounding water began to resonate in response to the voice.

I froze, my eyes wide.

A wave imbued with blue mana surged toward us.

At its forefront were several Alloje assassins, clearly fatally wounded, grinning with bloodstained teeth.

Within the instantly swelling wave, a faint red light could be seen.

The scent of blood pricked my nose.

Don't tell me, they're using their source power?

“This is the end!”

Their faces were filled with rapture.

As if they couldn't bear to die alone, utterly satisfied to take Diello and me with them to the afterlife.

Those lunatics!

I quickly gathered my mana, intending to dispel the wave.

*Flash!*

At the same time, I thought I saw flashes of light embed themselves in their necks.

But perhaps because several of them had gathered their source power, the Alloje assassins, their faces pale, began to die off one by one.

“...!”

Within the massive blue wave that threatened to engulf the ship, a crimson current shimmered in the shape of a sword.

*CRASH!*

“Croire!”

A startled Diello seemed to throw up a barrier of fire around us.

I thought I saw Rick running toward us.

*Crack!*

But the crimson sword was faster, slicing across the deck and separating Rick from us.

The moment that sword, forged from the source of Alloje, cleanly split the ship in two.

*Crash!*

The wave, coalesced by the power of Alloje, crashed down on us.

I can't swim.

The moment I thought that, Diello pulled me into a tight embrace.

“...!”

Our eyes met for an instant.

*Plunge!*

And just like that, we fell into the sea.