City of Witches Chapter 254

It was closer to a dance than a sword strike.

A refined sword principle that only one who had gripped, swung, and traversed diagonals with a sword thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of times—to the point of tedium—could replicate, with every movement that could be called superfluous removed.

Eloa, holding the ground with only the tips of her feet, her clothes fluttering as she spun, her eyes slanted and elongated.

Purity is beautiful.

There wasn't even a fleeting moment to be distracted.

Siwoo, having lost himself gazing at that sight, belatedly raised his sword and took a defensive stance.

-Kwaaang!

A single strike imbued with the subtlety of force, different from her fluid movements.

As the swords met, an explosive sound like a grenade detonating erupted, and Siwoo's body was pushed back.

The foot planted on the ground sank deep, and the shockwaves caused the surrounding paving stones to pop up like popcorn.

Even this was because Siwoo had let the force flow through him; if he had taken the blow head-on, he would have been sent flying dozens of meters.

"Hup!"

Siwoo, supporting his knees that threatened to buckle, forcibly pushed his sword to create space.

Siwoo, who could at any moment abandon his sword and create or utilize daggers, axes, shields, etc., and

Eloa, wielding a sword larger than her own height.

At first glance, it would seem easy to think Siwoo would have the advantage if they clashed at close range.

But the reality was different.

When they became tightly pressed together, Eloa used her small stature to her advantage.

That is, she utilized the narrow space more efficiently.

She disrupted his center of gravity by stepping on his feet or tripping his legs, and used the pommel, elbows, and even headbutts to make use of the space.

-Kang!

Siwoo pulled his shield inward and struck Eloa away.

Eloa, who had protected her flank by seemingly slipping her sword between the points of impact, was knocked back.

In itself, it wasn't a clean hit.

Because Eloa had jumped cooperatively to let the impact of the heavy shield blow flow through her.

But that was also what Siwoo had been waiting for.

"Got you!"

-Kkigigigik!

Siwoo twisted the four strands of Ribbon that had been fluttering in the air, waiting for a chance to intervene.

He was exactly copying the method Ea had shown previously.

Each strand contained a force far more concentrated than a sword strike Siwoo could unleash at full Combat Power.

With the sensation of releasing a fully drawn bowstring, they homed in on Eloa, still floating in the air, like tracking missiles.

A flawless attack simultaneously targeting four directions.

The speed was faster than bullets.

At this point, Eloa's defeat seemed obvious.

However.

"Contract."

One of the characters on the side of the Contract Sword glowed.

A dense Wave of Magical Power spread in all directions, and Eloa forcefully extended her back leg in mid-air.

It's common knowledge that in mid-air without a foothold, no matter how much one tries to move, almost no reaction force is generated, imposing restrictions on movement.

But Eloa was a superhuman who transcended the line of common sense.

-Thung!

The moment Eloa extended her foot in the air, a circular Shockwave spread out.

Eloa's back foot, having surpassed even the speed of sound as if it were trivial, 'stepped' on the empty void where nothing existed and shot forward like an arrow.

With a violent brute force that seemed to mock the laws of physics, she pushed off the air layer.

The fired Ribbon belatedly changed direction to pursue Eloa, but...

That was a mistake.

"Keuhuk!"

Eloa's front kick shattered Siwoo's shield like a cookie and slammed into his solar plexus.

Siwoo flew a considerable distance, toppling parked cars like blocks, and crashed into the interior of a cosmetics roadshop.

"Kkeuk..."

As he barely managed to get up, Eloa, who had followed, was pointing her sword at his throat.

Today, too, was a perfect defeat, satisfyingly thorough.

"Haa, I lost. Cough cough!"

"Are you alright?"

"You were particularly good at controlling your strength today, weren't you?"

"We have to go shopping after this, I can't ruin your face, can I?"

Eloa smiled softly and extended her hand to Siwoo.

The armor lost its form and returned to shadow, and Siwoo took her hand and stood up.

Every time we spar, I feel like I've become a professional wrestler.

And today, I played the villain role that gets beaten up spectacularly.

"I thought today I might finally win once... but you can do something like that too."

"The attempt was good. I could see you haven't forgotten the concept of Initiative we talked about last time. But the moment you thought your plan had worked, your guard became lax. If you had trusted your own Defensive Art instead of being fixated on the Ribbon, you could have continued longer."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Eloa smiled contentedly.

Siwoo's skill was improving day by day.

Although Siwoo was already executing almost perfect moves due to the Contract's effect, there was one thing lacking before Eloa's guidance.

Namely, tactical combat.

Moving solely by instinct, he showed weakness in controlling pace or designing and following subsequent actions, and such weaknesses were being compensated for through sparring similar to real combat.

Having become perfectly proficient in methods of using power efficiently and even Spirit Body enhancement, he must have become several times stronger than before.

"Even in this state, you'd be more than a match for most Witches. Of course, assuming they don't use innate magic."

"That's almost meaningless."

"Not so. With your current skill, you could hunt quite a few troublesome Homunculi."

Seeing Siwoo's bitter smile, Tiferet secretly sighed in relief.

She thought he might feel awkward due to the embarrassing experiences of yesterday and the day before, but once training began, it didn't seem to bother him much.

Was this the inertia of daily life?

If Siwoo had known the full story of that incident, it probably wouldn't have been like this.

If he knew that Eloa had directly witnessed his sexual intercourse scene and, because of that, had learned the fact that she had wet herself between her thighs...

No, let's stop thinking about that now.

There won't be such incidents in the future, so it can remain just my secret.

Thinking that, she actually felt more at ease.

"Anyway, good work."

"Phew, thank you for the guidance again today."

Siwoo and Eloa emerged into the Gwanghwamun Plaza, which was in shambles.

The plaza and streets everywhere were shattered as if they had been caught in a bombardment.

Well, the sparring between the two wasn't like sparring between ordinary humans.

A car lightly grazed at the end of a movement crumpled like it was made of foil, and even the hard asphalt ground caved in from just one step.The crater left by the stray Ribbon was so massive it could have formed a giant crater, needless to say.

It was incredibly convenient Magic that even traces of destruction on this scale would be restored to their original state once the Hidden Boundary disappeared.

The two who had returned to the Witch Point washed up and changed clothes before heading to a nearby department store.

Of course, it was for shopping.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm…”

Eloa was humming along to the classical music flowing through the department store.

With each light, cheerful step she took, her hair swayed along.

It was the happiest Siwoo had ever seen Eloa look.

“Master.”

“Did you call?”

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

It wasn’t such a difficult thing to say, but Eloa tilted her head slightly before catching the meaning half a beat later.

She blushed faintly and stopped humming.

It seemed she was a little embarrassed, as if she had been acting frivolously.

“Don’t tease me.”

“I wasn’t trying to tease you. I’m glad if you’re in a good mood.”

They had arrived at the department store together in the nice car Periwinkle had gifted them.

Now, they were browsing the women’s clothing section.

To be honest, Eloa wasn’t particularly interested in clothes or accessories.

During her time as an Apprentice Witch, she wore clothes given by the previous Tiferet, and even after becoming a Witch, she had always worn whatever clothes seemed passable.

There was a reason for this.

Even among Witches with vividly colored hair and eyes, Tiferet’s hues were unparalleled.

Eloa, who preferred simplicity over extravagance and disliked drawing attention, had maintained her own balance by dressing as plainly as possible.

Whether it had become a habit or not, she had never had occasion to go shopping separately.

But how could she refuse when Siwoo was offering to buy her something for once?

In truth, Eloa was much happier about Siwoo giving her a gift than about receiving new clothes itself.

“Hmm…”

“Hmm…”

But a problem arose.

Siwoo lacked knowledge about fashion—what clothes suited whom, what the latest trends were, and so on.

Eloa, needless to say, was the same.

Thus, Eloa and Siwoo kept circling the stores like a revolving sushi bar.

“What kind of clothes do you usually wear?”

“I tend to wear clothes that are easy to move in or dresses.”

“Hmm… Then shall we look over here?”

They randomly picked a brand and entered a store that seemed to have many dresses. It took a while before a clerk approached them.

“Hello… Oh my.”

The clerk, who looked quite young, was startled once upon seeing Siwoo and twice upon seeing Eloa.

While Siwoo was striking too, Eloa’s appearance was especially unique, to the point of being hard to find elsewhere.

The clerk, who had been staring blankly at the two for a moment, soon regained her composure and apologized.

“I’m sorry. You’re both so handsome and pretty, haha… What kind of clothes are you looking for?”

The brief awkwardness was just that—brief.

The clerk began recommending this and that outfit in a friendly voice, her eyes sparkling.

“You’re not models, are you? Oh my, your hair dye came out so beautifully!”

“How about this? It’s very popular lately, and I think it would suit you perfectly…”

“It’s chilly at night these days, right? If you coordinate it with a cardigan like this, it’ll look so pretty…”

“You seem like you’d pull off a casual, sporty feel well. In that case, these products are also nice…”

Like a child playing dress-up with a favorite doll, she tirelessly recommended various outfits.

Siwoo had already been pushed to the background, becoming a temporary clothes hanger as he stood to the side, holding a pile of clothes the clerk recommended.

“Would you like to try them on?”

“Is trying them on really necessary…?”

“Yes, it might be good to try them on before buying.”

“The Fitting Room is over there. If you need alterations, we can do them on the spot, so even if the size isn’t perfect, just check how the clothes look on you.”

Seeing Eloa’s expression that seemed to ask, “Is all that really necessary?” Siwoo answered for her.

Since it wasn’t a small amount of money, wouldn’t it be better to try them on and buy what looks good?

The first dress Eloa took was a gray knit dress that fell to her calves.

Though it was called a knit dress, in Korea, it was famous as a “new city ajumma” style.

After a brief rustling sound from inside, Eloa cautiously opened the Fitting Room door and stepped out hesitantly.

“Wow…”

Before Siwoo could exclaim, the clerk opened her mouth in admiration.

The knit dress the clerk had recommended clung somewhat to the body, revealing Eloa’s figure and curves plainly.

Even though there was a cardigan loosely covering her upper body, with every step, the swaying shape of her hips seemed entirely visible through the dress.

"Oh..."

Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Though her figure had been hard to gauge in loose training pants and a windbreaker, Eloa had more pronounced curves than expected.

The Eloa who had seemed like a princess fresh from a secret rendezvous had now transformed into an actress exuding provocative charm.

“It, it seems to cling too much…”

Eloa was flustered by the snug feel of the knit fabric wrapping around every part of her body and the stares fixed on her the moment she stepped out of the Fitting Room.

“Not at all~ It looks perfect on you, ma’am. Isn’t it just too pretty?”

“Huh? Yes, it is.”

“You should react a bit more~ She might feel disappointed~”

“It’s pretty. It suits you well.”

Unlike Siwoo, who had grown somewhat accustomed to being around Witches, Eloa’s beauty seemed to strike the clerk as astonishing.

She made a huge fuss and even sought Siwoo’s agreement twice.

Eloa had been wondering, “Is this really right…?” while looking in the mirror inside the Fitting Room, but her ears perked up at Siwoo’s words, “It’s pretty.”

“R-really…?”

“Yes, it suits you very well. Would you like to try on something else?”

“Alright.”

This time, it was jeans, a belt, a black shirt, and a trench coat.

Though it was quite a Western, mature urban women’s fashion, it fit Eloa perfectly.

“This feels too tight…”

“Tight? It looks so good on you! You look just like a movie actress. Right?”

“Yes, you look really cool.”

“R-really…?”

After that, it was a repetition of the same pattern.

Eloa in the Fitting Room, wondering if this really suited her.

The clerk clapping her hands in admiration the moment Eloa stepped out, and Siwoo agreeing.

Eloa being swayed by Siwoo’s compliments of “pretty” or “cool.”

Before they knew it, they ended up buying all the clothes that had been recommended.

There should have been clothes that didn’t suit her.While waiting for the on-the-spot repairs, Siwoo even bought three pairs of shoes for her.

And so, the shopping trip, which had been a delightful spectacle, came to an end.

A Word from the Author (Author's Note)

Hehe, I'm off to sleep now.

Good night, everyone~