The Expelled, Oblivious Strongest Boy Saves an S-Rank Beautiful Female Adventurer and Unknowingly Forms a Harem - 47-48

Chapter 47: Zayn, in Despair

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Lightning struck between Zayn and Empress in the center of the arena, signaling the beginning of their battle. The Empress turned to Zayn and said. 

“You seem confident you can defeat me.”

“Confidence? I don’t put my card in some cheap thing like that. I know I can achieve my victory with this trump card I have. This one move is the only thing I need to defeat you.”

After all, I have the liquid that can weaken someone from the demon race.

“Oh? To think you have a method that can bring me down in just one move. How amusing… You have quite a mouth on you.”

“Heh. Just so you know, your cocky attitude won’t last long.”

“I do have to say, it’s not everyday someone acts like that toward me. Very well. I will grant you the first attack. Go ahead and show me that one move of yours.”

“Oi, oi, oi, are you sure? You’re really going to be defeated with this one move, you know?”

Zayn said so and the Empress only nodded in response. 

“Yes. I don’t mind. I can see the magic power and the ‘fierce’ determination you have won’t be enough to defeat me anyway. Therefore, should I fall in the next move, it simply means my time has come to an end.”

She’s underestimating me that much… But!

“In that case, I won’t hold back anymore. I will attack you first.”

Accepting this advantageous proposal, Zayn took out the bottle containing the liquid to weaken the demon race from his pocket. He threw the said liquid at the Empress and shouted loudly. 

“I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET UNDERESTIMATING ME!”

The Empress neither blocked nor avoided the liquid. She just accepted the liquid as it was. Seeing this, Zayn couldn’t stop himself from laughing maniacally. He was absolutely confident he would win this match. 

“Hahaha!! You really took it!! This is what you get for looking down on me!!”

“…”

While Zayn was laughing boisterously, the Empress looked at her own body. Observing this change, Zayn chuckled. 

“What’s wrong? Are you surprised that you can’t use your power like usual? But of course…. I just poured you with a liquid that could weaken someone of the demon race… Now, do you understand your position now? You know what’s going to happen next, right?”

Zayn raised the corners of his mouth so high that his expression twisted with glee as he continued on. 

“The tide of the battle has turned against you now! You shall face a one-sided defeat at my hands, right in front of all these demons who have praised you until now! What do you think? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You will show everyone how disgraceful—”

“I see… So that’s what that liquid was. I had no idea, since I felt no change in my body.”

“…Huh?”

Suddenly breaking her silence, the Empress’ words left Zayn stunned. His mind was struggling to keep up. Zayn immediately broke into a cold sweat. His face turned pale, but a part of him convinced him that he might misheard the Empress. And so, Zayn asked again for confirmation. 

“Just now… What did you just say again?”

“I said I felt no change in my body.”

After she said so, the Empress instantly evaporated the remaining liquid using magic. Witnessing this, Zayn’s face twisted in a way that made it hard to believe he was the same confident person from earlier. 

With her domineering tone, the Empress continued on. 

“Good grief. I was genuinely curious to see what kind of trump card you have since you claimed you would be able to defeat me after insulting those honorable warriors… Did you really think that cheap trick could work on me?”

“Bu-bu-but, th-that liquid w-was supposed to weaken someone from the demon race…”

“Only the weak would be affected by something like that… Or do you think I’m weak? If so,then allow me to show you my true power.”

After she said that, the Empress summoned an ice sword in her left hand using ice magic. She raised the sword high up in the sky and in that instant, a chilling cold spread throughout the entire arena, sending shivers down Zayn’s spine. Yet, the Empress paid no heed to his fear. She began to conjure lightning magic on his right hand and with a heavy, ominous tone, she said to Zayn. 

“As promised. You shall receive the consequences for insulting those honorable warriors.”

“Hiii…! P-please—Gahhh!!”

Overcome with despair after his supposed trump card was proved to be utterly useless, Zayn screamed in terror. He was begging for mercy, but the Empress ignored his plea. With an ice sword in one hand and sparks of lightning magic on the other hand, she began to attack Zayn relentlessly.

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Chapter 48: Lydia and Meria, Showing No Mercy

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The fight became a one-sided battle with Empress-san attacking Zayn-san with lightning magic relentlessly. Zayn-san was utterly powerless, unable to defend himself. The liquid meant to weaken someone of the demon race, which Zayn had believed to be his trump card, was proven to be ineffective against the Empress. Of course, this outcome was inevitable. Moreover, Zayn-san had insulted the previous warriors who had fought Empress-san bravely. This careless remark only angered Empress-san even more.

“I knew it… Empress-san is really strong after all.”

She was only using lightning magic as of now, perhaps because she deemed anything other than that was unnecessary to fight against Zayn. But she was still holding onto her ice sword in her other hand. She would probably use that sword if the battle had turned into a close combat battle. As someone who would be facing Empress-san after this, I couldn’t help but wonder how could I possibly defeat someone like her, but then…  Huh?

“Lydia-san? Meria-san…?”

There was no response even after I called out to them. I glanced back and forth between my right and left, only to realize that Lydia-san and Melia-san were nowhere to be seen.

“W-Where did they go…?”

I didn’t notice any sign of magic attack or any sort of disturbances, so maybe they just wanted to step out for some fresh air for a bit? I didn’t want to risk getting separated from them even further if I were to go out to look for them. I guess I should stay where I was and just watch the battle between Empress-san and Zayn-san while waiting for the two to return.

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“OI,OI,OI,OI,OI!! BELLA!! Isn’t Zayn in like, serious trouble right now?!”

“D-Don’t ask me! Zayn is the one who said we should just leave everything to him!’

Bella and Radd, who were watching the battle between Zayn and the Empress from the corridor of the arena, became very anxious after they witnessed Zayn being overpowered by the Empress.

“But that liquid didn’t work! How is Zayn going to beat that Empress now?!”

“I told you! Don’t ask me—!”

“I mean, there’s no way someone like him could defeat Empress-chan in the first place.”

“Wha—!?”

Just when Bella was yelling back in panic, a woman’s voice cut her mid-sentence. Both Bella and Radd quickly turned towards the source of the voice. There, they saw Lydia and Meria standing before them.

“You….! Astoria and the Great Mage!”

“Wha-What do you want from us?!”

Bella and Radd braced themselves, but Meria only responded to their hostile attitude merrily. 

“Oh, no need to be so defensive~ We’re only here to have a nice chat with you…. Yeah, as if.”

Her voice darkened at the last part, followed by Lydia, who was speaking in a stern tone. 

“You two exiled Liam under the pretense of ‘lacking in strength’ and you even attempted to destroy the Elf Kingdom for your own selfish desires.”

“Tha-That’s… Ye-Yeah! We only did it because the masked guy told us to! We had no choice!”

“Oh…?”

Within the chilling atmosphere, Radd hastily blurted out the first thought that came to his mind. 

“Ri-Right! How about you two forget about Liam and join us instead? Just ditch that guy and come with us! With the two of you on our side, we could take down that Empress—Gah!?”

But before Radd could finish his sentence, Lydia already drew her sword and pointed it against his neck, while Meria had shot a fire spell against the stone wall beside him. The air seemed to be frozen at this chilling encounter. Lydia then spoke coldly. 

“Insulting Liam-san is an unforgivable offense.”

“Lydia-chan, while I do share the same sentiment as you, but we need to squeeze some information out of them before we unleash our anger on them, okay?~”

“…Very well.”

“Okay… Now then. I will start hitting you with the same lightning magic as that person.”

“Wha-?! AARGHHHH!!”

“AHHHHH!!”

From that point on, Lydia and Meria interrogated Bella and Radd, forcing the information out with violence. They showed no mercy to them, just as they had stated before. They forced Bella and Redd to reveal the true reason for Liam’s expulsion from the party and to give them any information they had about the masked man who had ordered them to destroy the Elf Kingdom.

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