Encore 43 — Comrades (VII)

After an hour and a half, eleven items had been bid and brought so far. One item was brought by the man who brought the magic scimitar, Kaito Hasegawa, supposedly working for Kim Yohan.

Three items were brought by random buyers in the auction and the rest of the seven were brought by Deliano.

He spent around ¥4,000,000,000 in total. Elizabeth and Myraliana practically gave up on getting the philosopher's stone with money. The amount of money he had seemed infinite.

[And the final item for today! It's a gorgeous amber stone that glistens red under the moonlight! A stone that ignores the laws of the universe and traverses the laws of magic! The philosopher's stone that gives infinite wisdom and power! The starting price will be ¥100,000,000!]

Everyone began shouting prices out desperately. Even the auctioneer seemed overwhelmed by the noise being directed towards him. However, one voice trumped all with a gallant roar.

"¥700,000,000!"

The buyers stopped as Deliano shouted his price.

That seemed to be the end. Deliano's price caused everyone to withdraw immediately. All except for a single pair.

"¥710,000,000!"

A magenta-haired woman shouted, brandishing her auction number.

[Oh! Will this be a battle between bidders for the end?!]

Deliano glanced over at Elizabeth and she glared right back at him. The giant shouted the next price.

"¥725,000,000!"

"¥745,000,000!"

Elizabeth continued to challenge the Iron Giant. Deliano had enough and finally announced.

"¥850,000,000!"

[¥850,000,000! Now, will the other buyer be able to retaliate?!]

Elizabeth sat down and sighed. Deliano smiled from the VIP balcony.

[Oh no! I guess she's run out of money!]

"¥900,000,000."

She put her number up and everyone peered over at her, shocked. Elizabeth just wanted a satisfactory ending, such as the change in Deliano's face. His face transformed from a satisfied grin to a face of defeat. He looked fairly annoyed.

[Oh, ¥900,000,000 once! Twice! And the philosopher's stone is sold to the lovely lady with purple hair!]

"Good job, Eli!"

Myraliana cheered from beside Elizabeth.

"We have it. Now, we need to be careful of any third parties..."

Elizabeth focused on Deliano as she got her phone out and Myraliana looked over at Kaito, who felt uncomfortable.

She sent a text to Kazuya, who should be sitting in the VIP area with Deliano.

"If he's gotten anything..."

There was a bleep and she received a reply.

"Already, hm..."

·———·

{Kazuya Shiba's POV:}

Elizabeth won the philosopher's stone, that much is nice but now is where the real trouble starts.

To make sure that I don't look suspicious, I bidded at times when I knew someone would outbid me. Due to that, he hasn't done anything to me, although, he and his companions have glanced over at me time from time.

"I'll fucking kill that bitch!"

Deliano shouted, smashing the seat beside him with his fist.

"It's fine, sir,"

His assistant assured him.

The giant smirked.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. I can steal the stone from the woman if I just kill her."

This entire time, I've had my phone on the table in front of me and it's been voice-recording everything around me.

The reason for this is to use it as evidence. I'm not going to expose Deliano, I'm using this to protect myself. If I attack Deliano without a reason, the hosts of this auction will blame me and punish me by denouncing me. That won't be good for the future. They may even add a bounty to my head.

"Let's go,"

Deliano said to his trio of bodyguards, walking out of the door with him.

I just need to beat down Deliano and that will be it.

I got up from my seat and grabbed my phone, ending the voice recording. Stepping out into the corridor, I shouted at Deliano and his group.

"Hey, fatass!"

I shouted out, as a means to provoke him.

"Hah?!"

It worked. Deliano turned around and focused on me. His bodyguards instantly circled in front of him.

"I don't think you should go to kill the girl."

"What did you say?!"

"What? Didn't understand me? Or should I say it in Russian?"

His bodyguards rushed towards me. I could barely follow them with my eyes. They disappeared from my view and dispersed behind me.

⟨The Singularity, 'Sacred Lightning,' is selected.⟩

⟨Due to physical conditions, the effects of the Singularity have weakened.⟩

⟨Effect duration is 35 minutes.⟩

Instead of battling them, I leapt towards Deliano like a bullet. The lightning cloaked my fist and launched it towards him.

"!"

He caught it while reinforcing his arm with mana. My attack caused him to slide back slightly.

So he was a Streia.

"You'll be my playmate? I hope you'll survive then..."

I zipped into the air and created three lightning bolts. They floated behind me. I flicked my arm at them—the bolts of lightning struck them, sending them flying.

I created another and aimed it at Deliano but...

"He disappeared?"

"I'm behind you."

Deliano moved behind me and struck me with his fist. I smashed into the opposite end of the corridor. I barely managed to block his attack.

"Shit..."

I was lucky enough to react in time. If I take one raw punch without defending myself, I'll be out for the count. And I thought this would be easy.

I stood up and faced Deliano, who walked towards me.

"Ah, so that's why that punch hurt so much."

"They call me the Iron Giant for a reason, blondie."

His fists became iron. He smacked them together as sparks flew.

I'm guessing his Singularity allows him to turn his skin into iron. It is hard to score hits with Sacred Lightning. That's if I'm attacking randomly.

"I can't believe that things that my sister taught me are still coming in handy."

"Hah?"

I fired the lightning bolt at his chest. He deflected it with his iron skin. I pounced towards him and attacked his chest with a barrage of lightning-fast kicks and punches.

When Deliano swung at me, I hopped over his forearm and kicked him in the face.

"You little—!"

I packed as much lightning as I could into a single orb and released it at him; it enveloped his body and shocked him.

"Gah!"

Finally, I created a blade of electricity, launching it into his chest. Despite his iron skin, it pierced through easily.

Deliano began bleeding. He clutched his chest and rested on one knee.

"H-how..."

"Attacking you randomly would be the dumb way to deal with things. I would lose if I did that. My sister taught me when faced with something seemingly impossible to break, I have to hit one place repeatedly to break it."

He won't die. Someone should find him before he dies. I'd say he has around twenty minutes before he bleeds to death. Killing him isn't my goal.

I thought he'd be trouble but he was fairly simple. Now, I should join up with Elizabeth and Myraliana, then we'll go back to Mr Yohan.