"So that's it. These are the prerequisites your ritual required... But at this point, it's nothing more than a dying struggle."
Beatrice looked completely confident of victory. Not only did she make no attempt to stop me, she even spoke with amused interest.
"It's all futile. No matter what you do, you cannot defy me, who possesses the power of Color! Ah, yes. As entertainment before I achieve my brand new form, give me everything you have and try your hardest to make me laugh!!!"
From this foolish display, even more arrogant than before, I could more or less guess one of the prices she had paid to obtain the power by praying to the so-called "Color."
Naturally, I wasn't about to let this opportunity slip away. I immediately focused all my attention on the card that was still hot in my hand. A screen of light, visible only to me, unfolded before my eyes.
...
Conversion Authority : [King's Blood]
Description: The holder may consume their lifespan to imbue the blood flowing from their wounds with the power to strengthen bullets. The strengthening effect is proportional to the amount of life consumed.
Source: Hakari Atsuko route completed.
...
Huh?
Who was the source?
Had Atsuko regained consciousness and heard what I said?
And... among the three remaining members of Arius Squad, the one who triggered the route completion from just a single sentence was actually her, the one I'd barely interacted with?
Was it because of our current situation, making her crave salvation more than ever? Or had she actually fallen in love with me at first sight?
Or...
The possibility that the card system had been skimming rewards had just increased significantly.
Before I could sort out my thoughts, several more lines of text flashed across the screen.
...
Authorities merging...
[King's Blood] and [Holy Blood] have merged into a higher-tier Authority.
Conversion Authority: [Blood of the Holy King]
Description: The holder may consume their lifespan to imbue the blood flowing from their wounds with the power to heal others or strengthen bullets. The healing effect and strengthening effect are proportional to the amount of life consumed.
Source: Iochi Mari, Hakari Atsuko routes completed.
...
When I saw the merged Authority's name, I instinctively glanced upward at the Authority I'd gained from Saori.
[King-Slaying Holy Spear]
After a brief silence, I suppressed the urge to complain about the naming convention and turned my attention back to the Authority Atsuko had given me.
Using life as the price, using blood as the medium, to strengthen bullets...
Putting aside why it had merged with Mari's Authority, what exactly did "strengthening" mean? And how effective was it?
The descriptions of Authorities had always been frustratingly vague. Ones that required sacrificing an unspecified amount of lifespan were even harder to test repeatedly.
Exactly how much of my life would it take to kill Beatrice?
And...
How much life did I have left?
More importantly, this Authority had another hidden prerequisite.
The bullets had to hit the enemy first.
Beatrice looked completely carried away now, but who knew how she would respond once faced with an attack that could genuinely threaten her?
Most likely...
This could only serve as our final desperate gamble.
After collecting myself despite the lingering disappointment, I put away the card.
Then I heard a mocking laugh.
"What's wrong, Sensei?"
It was Beatrice, who had been watching my every move.
"Didn't get an ability that could help your current predicament? Hehe. Shall I give you a little more time to deepen your bonds with these children?"
"Beatrice."
I couldn't help frowning as I said coldly,
"You're far too arrogant."
"Ha! Arrogant? What nonsense are you talking about? The strong are meant to humiliate the weak as they please! Otherwise, what meaning does power have? Besides..."
After confidently rattling off her twisted logic, Beatrice sneered.
"Did you really think I was merely interested in watching the farce starring you? I've almost finished adapting!"
So Beatrice had been stalling for time as well...
That was within my expectations. Even so, given the students' condition just now, there wasn't much they could have done regardless.
As her words fell, the body that resembled a lush, flourishing tree underwent another transformation.
She stretched her neck, her arms, and her bony wings.
Then, among the thousands of leaf-like white feathers growing from those parts, the crimson-black eyes embedded within them slid outward like droplets of water, hanging beneath the feathers and swiveling freely from side to side.
"...She's getting more and more disgusting."
Misaki commented.
"Honestly, I'm starting to feel sick."
"Disgusting? Hehe... Ignorant, lowborn child! How could someone like you possibly understand the holiness and beauty of my form?!"
No matter how anyone looked at her, Beatrice had become a grotesquely distorted monster.
She roared in fury. Her feathers trembled, the countless eyeballs swinging beneath them until the dense mass of them made even me feel nauseated.
The bad news was that Beatrice's further mutation clearly wasn't just a psychological attack.
From what I'd observed, all of her attacks ultimately revolved around those eyes.
Originally, the structure of her feathers had restricted their angles of attack.
But now...
She had essentially overcome that weakness.
It wasn't hard to imagine that her attacks would become even more vicious and impossible to guard against.
At the same time, however...
This also brought what might be good news for us.
"Everyone!"
I shouted.
"Now's our chance! Aim for her eyeballs!"
To me, Beatrice's entire upper body was now covered in densely packed weak points.
And with her lower body rooted firmly into the ground, she had no way to dodge.
But naturally, Beatrice had anticipated this.
The instant we launched our all-out assault, six massive beams, each formed from over a hundred rays of light, fired simultaneously, each targeting one of us while also engulfing our bullets.
The few shots that did manage to hit Beatrice accomplished nothing.
"How naive!"
Beatrice laughed.
"Even my weak points are far beyond your ability to overcome! Accept your fate obediently!"
Ignoring her ravings, I continued dodging while thinking of some way to break this deadlock.
"...Ah."
Suddenly, Hiyori, who was hiding behind the same piece of cover as me, seemed to notice something and exclaimed excitedly,
"Sensei! Sensei! Look!"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Uh, um..."
The green-haired girl immediately reverted to her timid, withdrawn self and stammered,
"I-It's nothing... I just wanted to say... even though the colors are different, Madam kind of... really looks like an apple tree right now..."
I had to admit, she did bear some resemblance...
But why had Hiyori suddenly brought that up?
I froze for a moment.
Then it hit me.
After waking up...
I seemed to have asked Hiyori and Misaki something.
About the dream I had.