Nina threw the dagger straight through the completed magic circle.
And the moment the blade passed through it… its speed changed. The circle had amplified the force. The dagger now tore through the air with a sound like a whip crack. Almost like a bullet fired from a sniper's barrel, it cut forward in a perfect line.
The fleeing man didn't even have time to react. The dagger struck him cleanly in the back of the head.
Christian's eyes lit up at this display of power, something he didn't quite understand, and Sophia, too, seemed equally surprised.
She, who had been training for nearly forty years now, instantly felt the difference in talent.
She was still a little distance away from the first mastery stage, after all.
And she quietly estimated that, at this rate, she would be surpassed by Nina in no time.
While one harbored a complex feeling, and the other was secretly celebrating the success of a move she had just thought of, the battle finally came to an end.
Christian walked toward them with a smile on his face, uncaring about the blood and gore of the situation.
He intended to say a few complimenting words before heading back to the house, but, just as he arrived near them, one of the corpses suddenly opened its eyes and rasped, "P-please… save me."
No, it wasn't a corpse. It was someone still alive… barely hanging on the edge of death.
His face was pale and smeared with dried blood, and his limbs twitched weakly, as if even lifting his head required all the strength he had left.
'Does he think I'm not with them?' Christian wondered as he looked at the man's battered appearance.
Was it not your group of people that first had their eyes on my house? So with what face are you begging for mercy now?
Christian didn't even get the chance to reply.
Nina, having noticed the one who had slipped through, immediately stepped forward and finished him off without hesitation. A few drops of blood even splashed onto Christian's clothes.
Then, she stepped in front of him.
She still wore that same impassive expression on her face, but Christian, in that moment, couldn't help but feel as if there were a tail behind her, now wagging furiously.
'She wants to be praised for doing a good job, right?' he thought with an inward chuckle.
He reached out and batted her head, messing up her hair like he usually did, before saying, "Good job."
Then, turning to Sophia, who stood a little further away, he added, "You too."
Without commenting on the way Nina's mouth twitched at the corner, as if she was holding back a smile threatening to escape, Christian said, "When fighting those trained in essence, you always need to make sure that they're dead. One, two, and three times."
"As they're unlike ordinary people. Some of them may hold special abilities, so always take care to notice that."
Though his tone was a little stern, his voice remained soft as he continued, "Anyway, for a first battle, this could be considered good. So, for now, finish disposing of the corpses and bring back anything of worth. Then come back."
"Understood," Sophia replied, while Nina gave a small nod.
And with that, Christian finally returned to the house.
…After he took a bath, due to the blood that had splashed on his clothes, Christian didn't see his sister, who had already returned to her training after confirming the result of the battle. She was still sulking over not being allowed to participate, after all.
So, Christian was now with Eva, explaining the situation to her once again, despite the fact that she had already watched it happen.
He was just explaining things for the sake of it, because he simply wanted to be with her.
So when he noticed that Eva didn't seem to care about the situation this time, unlike the last, and that her mind was clearly on something else, Christian stopped talking and simply stayed beside her in silence.
Being careful not to disturb her, he hugged her gently and stayed like that until she gathered her thoughts and finally spoke her mind.
"I want to see Olivia," Eva suddenly said.
'Come now?' Christian wondered why Olivia was being brought up so suddenly, though he didn't say it aloud.
Every time Olivia's name came up, Eva would express how much she missed her. So Christian usually avoided the topic altogether… after all, even if he wanted to help her meet Olivia, they couldn't… not with her still being in the Academy.
'Should I have brought Eva along and met her in that place she went to last time?' he thought briefly, but quickly dismissed the idea.
He still didn't want to meet that principal. At least not yet.
"In a few months, Olivia will finally be allowed to go outside the Academy whenever she wants. So then, we can meet her whenever you'd like," Christian said, trying to console her.
Eva hummed in response, without saying anything back.
At first, Christian had actually thought that she had something on her mind regarding the current world situation... because Eva was always too aggressive in her approach.
Every time something new happened around the world, she seemed eager to poke her nose into it.
So this time, he thought maybe it had something to do with the Liberation Front they had discussed before… a group he had actually benefited from quite a lot!
After all, due to their sloppy management, many things had become available to him, and Christian's arsenal of knowledge had grown quite rich thanks to them!
If not about them, Christian had even thought it might be about her condition... since they had finally found out what the problem with her was, after all.
Feeling head ache at this topic, which he couldn't help with at all, Christian in the end, decided to just stay silent and be with her, in this moment.
He couldn't understand her feeling as a mother, after all.