Brand Value

"Caitlyn! I told you to tell me if my choking was hurting you!" Leon cried.

"Hurt? Haaaaah. What… are you talking about?" Caitlyn asked with an erotic expression on her face. If Leon could see it, he wouldn't be asking the question.

He was horrified by the only thing he could see was the hand marks on her neck.

Caitlyn's ears twitched; a second later, she spun ninety degrees with godlike speed.

Thud!

"What was—"

Leon's eyes trembled when he saw the arrow in Caitlyn's hand.

The blonde was just as confused as he was.

"Who shot this!?" Caitlyn cried.

She scanned the area at lightning speed. When she laid her eyes on Timothy, her expression changed considerably.

"Hey! Timothy!" Caitlyn called out with a friendly voice.

Timothy's face flushed with horror when he saw her flying down to him. She didn't seem hurt in the slightest, and that was an alarm he was in danger.

Worse, he was staring at her shirtless chest and knew that could turn things lethal if she snapped.

He had watched countless rotten students turn evil, and he definitely wasn't projecting his own life's choices on Caitlyn's chest. Not at all!

"H-Hey, Caitlyn! I-I'm glad you're alive!" He stuttered.

"You, too." Caitlyn replied with a warm smile as she glided before him.

Flapping her wings slowly in place, she scanned the area.

"Did you see someone holding or shooting a bow?" She asked casually.

Leon's eyes widened in surprise. The man was holding the bow, but she wasn't even looking at him. Moreover, her mood was cool and composed.

'Ah. Caitlyn reverted to the one that I knew for the last year.' Leon thought in surprise, 'Habit? Or will she be like this around the others? That'd be a Christmas miracle.'

She was so extreme that he thought she had lost her capability to act normal.

He was grateful for her current behavior, and it gave him hope.

"N-No. I-I haven't. Hey… why are their choke marks on your neck?" Timothy asked nervously.

He wasn't stupid. If Leon was choking her, and she didn't seem phased, she was probably under his X-Level Kamsutra Harem Mind Control technique. So he needed to be careful.

"Oh, this?" Caitlyn asked while turning to him and pointing to her neck.

"Leon has to hold my neck so I can fly, and I went really fast because of how much I enjoyed—"

Caitlyn's eyes abruptly turned rabid, and her face turned crazed.

"Is that… a bow in your hand?" She asked slowly.

"I-I, uh, yes! I… I was trying to save you. He was choking you! And was yelling! And looked angry!" Timothy stammered.

"Tell me, Timothy. Did I look like I was in pain?" Caitlyn asked in a low, ominous tone.

"N-No! He's obviously brainwashed you, Caitlyn! Wake up!" He yelled.

Leon started cringing and looking around. He desperately wanted to avoid a scene.

"Hey, Cay—"

"Oh! It was just a misconception and you were trying to save me?" Caitlyn asked.

Her face relaxed to her original form, and her voice was relieved.

"Y-Yes…. That's right." Timothy confirmed.

"Well, that was nice of you. I'm under no such brainwashing, and I assure the gods wouldn't give someone the power to enslave people against their will." Caitlyn replied.

"Oh? Is that so, haha ha ha." The young man laughed nervously. "S-sorry, Leon. I didn't mean to jump to conclusions."

"No problem." Leon replied dryly.

"S-So can we forget about this situation, Caitlyn?" Timothy asked nervously.

"Hmmm. I suppose so." The angel replied absentmindedly.

She was scanning the area and seemed unconcerned.

"Thank you for understanding, you two." Timothy sighed in relief.

"No problem. Now about you trying to leave Leon to die, allowing Able to try forcing me to leave with him, and then attempting to kidnap Sarah and Lindy." Caitlyn said after finishing her scan.

The student's body froze in an instant.

"Were you acting in my interest then?" She mused.

Leon let out a sigh packed with two tons of hyper-condensed, military-grade depression. Leaving without a confrontation was unavoidable.

"I-I…." Timothy stuttered in horror.

"Caitlyn, we can't make a scene here. So—" Leon reasoned before being cut off.

"Good point." Caitlyn replied with a frown.

"So do it quiet—AaGgHhHhHhHhHhHh!"

Leon was desperately arguing for her to dispatch Timothy without making a scene.

However, she interpreted it as doing it elsewhere, so she shot into the air at lightning speed, with the two men screaming in horror.

"See? People will die while flying if they don't hold someone's neck." Caitlyn explained gleefully.

Timothy was dangling in the air by his neck. Luckily, she was holding the scruff, or legendary Leon's choking technique would have resulted in a [normal] human response.

"I was wrong! I understand now! Please let me down!" Timothy screamed.

His eyes filled with terror when he saw her shrug and felt her hands loosening in response.

"No! Don't let him down!" Leon cried.

Timothy's heart filled with hope.

"Princess carry him and bring us to the ground."

Caitlyn's eyes filled with confusion, and Timothy's filled with multiple layers of gratitude.

"You can kill and torture him there. If women see you torturing and killing people mid-air, they'll fear me. We have to focus on my brand value!"

Timothy's eyes filled with sheer terror when he connected the meaning behind his statement.

"W-Wait!—Aghhhh-Oaf."

In a split second, she dropped Timothy and caught him in a princess carry.

"I'm confused. What do you mean?" Caitlyn asked innocently.

Leon sighed. "If women see you ruthlessly killing people in a dramatic way, they'll find you and I dangerous and won't join us."

Her eyes glided to the left in thought.

"But what if this douchebag hurt those women? They'll be less inclined if we look like we're helping him." Caitlyn argued, "Lindy and Sarah are key examples."

Leon was stunned by her revelation.

"H-Hey guys! People are okay with p-punishment, but n-no one like a murderer."

"Gah. What a pain! We're in a catch-22 right now." Leon complained, ignoring Timothy, "Do you think your new stats can increase the volume of your voice?"

"I'm not sure… why?" Caitlyn asked, also ignoring the person in her arms completely

"We'll put him on public trial." Leon replied with a grin.

"Yes! Put me on trial so that I can explain myself!" Timothy cried.

"Trial? He's guilty, though." She replied, disregarding his pleas.

"Well, not a real trial. Just the sentencing part after we announce his crimes." Leon clarified.

"WAIT!?" Timothy yelled.

"Can you be quiet? The adults are speaking." Leon requested in exasperation.

"Adults!?" The man countered.

"How have I never noticed how annoying you are?" Caitlyn asked in perplexion.

"A-ANNOYING!?"

"Let's get this over quickly. Can you amplify your voice?" Leon sighed.

"I don't know. Can you check my skills?" Caitlyn asked.

"Check your skills!? So you are part of his harem! He's brainwashed—!"

Caitlyn covered his mouth with her hand and continued ignoring him.

"Yeah, I think so. There was a member's option," Leon responded, "For now, we'll focus on Lindy and Sarah. We'll leave campus to find others."

Timothy's face turned red with anger. He was humiliated and ignored by the class clown in front of the woman he had his eyes on.

Now said person was casually deciding the best means to kill him!

The man thought back to the beginning and realized that everything bad that had happened to him started with Leon.

Caitlyn leaving, Lindy and Sarah trapping him to be fed on, Martin dying, and now this.

Flushed with anger, he decided to gamble. If he could kill Leon, it could release Caitlyn's brainwashing, and she might let him live. More than that, she might be grateful and love him!

He didn't tie his attempts to kill or let Leon die to the reason he was in his current predicament. Nor did he find his decision to [repeat] the act that got him in that mess ironic.

It was purely rational.

"Here's to a pyrrhic victory!" Timothy yelled in a battle cry.

He materialized a Special Edition 50 Caliber Markov IV Long Range Antipersonnel Sniper Rifle from thin air.

To ensure victory, he needed ample firepower to cut through a superhuman's defense. Moreover, the barrel was summoned six inches from Leon's shoulder ensuring he wouldn't miss.

He'd worry about breaking his arm from recoil later.

"Circle back for now—" Leon requested absentmindedly. When the barrel materialized from thin air, he casually reached over and bent it upward without looking. "—and break this idiot's finger, so he doesn't try that again."

Timothy was shocked-speechless. Leon stopped choking Caitlyn with both hands—mid-flight—and bent a steel barrel without his body shaking.

His grip strength was absurd! So was Caitlyn's neck!

Leon's strength was already abnormal. Add up 5% of Caitlyn's power and his milestone level ups, and he was an abnormally powerful superhuman at that stage.

If Timothy knew how powerful Caitlyn was, the hand marks on her neck would horrify him.

"Just his finger. Don't do more. If he's screaming in pain, we can't hold a trial. If he's knocked out, it won't be a demonstration. Interface." Leon added without turning away his attention.

Timothy went from perplexed to furious. Leon didn't take him seriously enough to give him a single glance, even after an assassination attempt!

"As~you~wish!" Caitlyn sang.

CRAAAACK!

Timothy found his trigger finger at a 90-degree angle, and his body filled with endorphins a split second later.

Worse, Caitlyn was still cupping his mouth, so breathing was hard, and his screaming was muffled.