Selena usually spent her time assisting Arald or Lily with their work.
Managing the devils, improving and repairing the 3D map device, Arald and Lily had tasks that both overlapped and were completely different. Selena didn't know the details but often helped with the smaller tasks.
She devoted the rest of her time to personal training. When she was in Manggot, there were people who helped her with her training, but now she trained alone.
“Phew…”
Even now, she was training in her room, the empty room Frondier had arranged for her. This room looked very similar to Constel's personal training room, and in fact, it was mostly designed by Frondier and he had asked Arald to design it.
Basically, it was a soundproof, dustproof, fireproof, and waterproof room, so unless a war broke out, she wouldn't know what was going on outside. She could only focus on her training. Except for the shadow connected to Frondier.
Swoosh-
Selena lay sprawled on the floor of the room. Her body was stretched out as if she were about to take a nap. The slender arm that passed over her head, the palm of her hand at the end touched the ground,
Whoosh-
With her hand as the axis, her entire body spun around and she stood up. A technique that utilized her aura, her movements, her sense of balance, and her equilibrium. It wasn't a move that would be helpful in actual combat, but the prerequisites to make this move possible were enormous.
“There doesn’t seem to be any problem with my condition.”
Selena muttered as she checked her body.
Her most important job was to escort Frondier. But the times when Frondier needed her were few and far between.
So, Selena had been preoccupied with a growing question ever since she first met Frondier.
It was a very serious concern.
‘Am I needed by Master Frondier?’
Frondier was strong. So strong that he easily surpassed Selena.
He himself said he was weak in close combat, but now it was losing its persuasive power. Weak in close combat while fighting head-on with Aster? His humility was so excessive that it became deception.
‘…Perhaps Master Frondier is referring to a very close, extremely close combat range.’
Selena was an assassin and one of the Yeolgot that exterminated enemies. She was top-notch when it came to handling her body.
The weakness that Frondier spoke of was actually Selena's specialty. Closer than fighting with weapons, closer than a striking battle where fists were thrown. All forms of grappling using techniques like grappling.
In other words, it was a distance where all reach, including the length of one's arms, became meaningless, let alone weapons. At this distance, Selena had an advantage over Frondier. That was a clear fact.
“Of course, I don't know how to approach him…”
From that point of view, it wasn't for nothing that Frondier needed Selena. Selena was like Frondier's last line of defense. If his weapons, Obsidian, and even the short sword he drew were breached, Frondier would have no means to respond. That was why Frondier entrusted Selena with that means.
However, could Selena stop an enemy who broke through all of that?
“…I’ve become weak.”
Selena let out a deep sigh.
Frondier’s enemies were getting stronger. The monsters were now killing abyssal monsters, humans had surpassed the Zodiac level, and even the Seven Deadly Sins and high-ranking Gods were after his life.
In Manggot, Selena was a carefully selected individual. Both in appearance and skill. Very few people knew the total number of people in Manggot, and only her former superior, Hagley, had a rough idea of its scale.
Even though Manggot had fallen, it didn’t mean everyone had died. There were quite a few people who were scattered and living somewhere.
Out of them, only ten. Only ten had entered the Yeolgot, and only those ten could be each other's training partners. The others were of no help in the training of the Yeolgot.
And among them, Selena, all nine remaining members had been her training partners.
“It’s different from back then.”
If they searched the entire continent of Pallindius, there would be only a handful of people who could defeat her.
Manggot was originally a group of people who had moved to burn down the Empire. And among them, the Yeolgot was a group raised to kill the Zodiacs.
Of course, they didn’t surpass the Zodiacs in skill. However, if it was only for the sake of killing, it wasn't necessary to have higher skills.
If the conditions and environment were right, they could kill a Zodiac. By taking a very long time, and exploiting a single moment of vulnerability. Of course, most of that would be in the form of mutual destruction.
The Ten Scorching Blades were all called by the alphabet. It was a very unimaginative naming, and Selena was called 'J', the tenth.
In other words, Manggot had completed the 'Ten Scorching Blades' by placing Selena in tenth place, and in other words, they were confident that the Yeolgot could kill a Zodiac from the moment Selena joined.
‘I thought I was getting stronger, but I’ve become weak.’
There was a time when all she thought about was killing.
There was a time when all she thought about was burning.
Like everyone else in Manggot, Selena also had that past.
To protect Frondier, to stay by his side in the future.
That murderous intent from back then,
Beep—
Selena looked up at the beeping sound from inside the room. It meant someone had come outside. It was like a doorbell.
Selena walked over, wiped her sweat with a towel, and opened the door.
Ria Lis was standing there.
“……Hello.”
“Hi, Selena.”
Lily waved her hand cheerfully.
Selena felt somewhat awkward.
She had spent a long time with Lily after she left the continent with Frondier.
However, this was the first time they had met privately, and this was the first time she had visited her house. It was only natural that she felt a little awkward.
“What brings you here?”
Selena asked Lily.
She wished it would just end with awkwardness, but.
Unlike Frondier, Selena couldn't just see Lily in a good light.
Lily was a devil. A devil who had deceived Frondier.
According to Frondier, she was a high-ranking devil whose power was comparable to that of the Seven Deadly Sins.
The devil with the power of ‘Charm’. Ria Lis, a devil whose power, abilities, and even her name were reminiscent of the ancient devil Lilith.
It seemed that she had gained quite a bit of trust from Frondier through this incident, and that was why Selena was even more wary of her.
‘Master Frondier has gone to see Heracles, and Miss Elodie is with Mei. If she’s taking advantage of this opportunity to come to me…’
Lily’s charm was undetectable unless Lily herself or the person affected by it confessed to it. Just like how it had gone unnoticed by anyone in the Empire before Frondier.
If she was planning to charm Selena and put her under her control…
‘Before that, I’ll be the first to…’
Kill—
Whoosh!
“?!”
At that moment, Lily completely defied Selena’s expectations.
She bowed 90 degrees in front of Selena.
“Teach me Shadow Transference! Selena!”
“……Huh?”
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