Chapter 254 – #57_An Unknown Side (5)
#252
1.
It was less a sword strike and more akin to a dance.
Every unnecessary movement was eliminated.
A refined sword principle that only someone who had gripped and swung a sword countless times, crossing the line between life and death, could reproduce.
With only her toes gripping the ground, Eloa’s eyes narrowed as she spun, her clothes fluttering.
Purity is beautiful.
There wasn’t even a moment to look away.
Shiwoo stared, mesmerized, before belatedly raising his sword into a defensive stance.
-Kwaaang!
Unlike her soft movements, the strike was imbued with the essence of power.
The moment the swords met, an explosion like a grenade erupted, and Shiwoo’s body was pushed back.
His feet sank into the ground, and the surrounding paving stones popped up like popcorn from the aftershock.
This was only because Shiwoo had redirected the force; if he had taken the blow head-on, he would have been sent flying dozens of meters.
“Hap!”
Shiwoo, supporting his buckling knees, forcefully pushed his sword to create space.
Shiwoo, who could abandon his sword at any time to create or use daggers, axes, or shields,
and Eloa, who wielded a sword larger than her own height.
At first glance, it might seem that Shiwoo would have the advantage in a close-quarters clash.
However, the reality was different.
When they were in close contact, Eloa took advantage of her small stature.
She used the narrow space more efficiently.
She would disrupt his balance by stepping on his feet or tripping his legs, using the hilt of her sword, her elbows, and even headbutts to exploit the space.
-Kang!
Shiwoo pulled his shield inward, pushing Eloa away.
Eloa, protecting her flank by inserting her sword between the points of impact, was knocked back.
In itself, it wasn’t an effective hit.
Eloa had jumped as if cooperating, to deflect the impact of the heavy shield strike.
However, it was also what Shiwoo had been waiting for.
“Got you!”
-Kkkkkkk!
Shiwoo twisted the four ribbons that had been fluttering in the air, waiting for their moment to strike.
He was imitating the method that Aea had shown him before.
Each ribbon was imbued with a force far stronger than a full-power sword strike from Shiwoo.
With the sensation of drawing a bowstring to its limit and releasing it, he intercepted Eloa, who was still in the air, like a homing missile.
A flawless attack that covered all four directions simultaneously.
The speed was faster than a bullet.
At this point, Eloa’s defeat seemed certain.
However.
“I 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 hind leg in the air.
In the air, where there was no foothold, there was almost no reaction even if one tried to move, which restricted movement.
This was common knowledge.
However, Eloa was a superhuman who transcended common sense.
-Thump!
The moment Eloa extended her leg in the air, a circular shockwave spread out.
Eloa’s hind leg, which had exceeded the speed of sound, ‘stepped’ on the void and flew forward like an arrow.
It was a violent force that seemed to mock the laws of physics, pushing against the air.
The launched ribbons belatedly changed direction to pursue Eloa, but…
That was a mistake.
“Cough!”
Eloa’s front kick shattered Shiwoo’s shield like a cookie and struck him in the solar plexus.
Shiwoo crashed through parked cars like blocks, flying a long distance before smashing into the interior of a cosmetics road shop.
“Ugh…”
Barely managing to get up, Shiwoo found Eloa pointing her sword at his throat.
It was another perfect defeat, as satisfying as ever.
“Haa, I lost. Cough, cough!”
“Are you alright?”
“You were particularly good at controlling your strength today?”
“We have to go shopping after this, I can’t have your face all messed up, can I?”
Eloa extended her hand to Shiwoo with a gentle smile.
Her armor lost its form and returned to shadow, and Shiwoo took her hand and stood up.
Every time they sparred, he felt like he was a professional wrestler.
And today, he was the villain who got spectacularly beaten up.
“I thought I might be able to win today… You can even do that.”
“The attempt was good. I could see that you hadn’t forgotten the concept of initiative I mentioned before. But as soon as you thought your plan had worked, your defenses became lax. If you had trusted your own defense techniques instead of fixating on the ribbons, you could have continued longer.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Eloa smiled contentedly.
Shiwoo’s skills were improving day by day.
He was already executing almost perfect moves thanks to the contract, but until Eloa had intervened, he had lacked one thing.
That was the battle of wits.
He had been moving only by instinct, so he was weak at adjusting his pace or planning and following through with his next actions. This weakness was being corrected through sparring that was similar to actual combat.
Now that he had completely mastered how to use his power efficiently and enhance his spirit body, he was several times stronger than before.
“In this state, you could probably take on any ordinary witch. Of course, that’s assuming they don’t use self-magic.”
“That’s almost meaningless.”
“It’s not. With your current skills, you can easily hunt down any homunculus that isn’t too difficult.”
Tiphereth secretly sighed in relief as she watched Shiwoo’s wry smile.
She had thought that he would feel awkward because of the embarrassing experiences of yesterday and the day before, but once the training started, it wasn’t that noticeable.
Was this the inertia of daily life?
If Shiwoo had known the full story of this incident, it would never have turned out like this.
If he had known that Eloa had directly witnessed his sex scene, and that she had even gotten herself wet between her legs because of it…
No, let’s stop thinking about it.
It wouldn’t happen again, so it was better to keep it a secret.
Thinking that way made her feel more at ease.
“Anyway, good work.”
“Hoo, thank you for the guidance today as well.”
Shiwoo and Eloa emerged into the ruined Gwanghwamun Square.
The square and streets were broken as if they had been hit by a bombing.
After all, the two’s sparring was not a normal human’s sparring.
Cars that were slightly touched at the end of a movement were crumpled like foil, and the hard asphalt floor was dented with just one step.
The ground that was dug up by a stray ribbon was enough to create a huge crater.
It was so convenient that even this level of destruction would be restored to its original state once the otherworld barrier disappeared.
The two returned to the location point, washed up, changed their clothes, and headed to a nearby department store.
Of course, it was for shopping.
2.
“Hmm hmm hmm…”
Eloa was humming along to the classical music playing inside the department store.
With each light, cheerful step, her hair bounced along with her.
It was the happiest Shiwoo had ever seen Eloa look.
“Master.”
“Did you call?”
“You seem to be in a good mood.”
It wasn’t a difficult thing to say, but Eloa tilted her head slightly, realizing the meaning a beat later.
She blushed slightly and stopped humming.
She was a little embarrassed that she had shown such a frivolous and thoughtless side of herself.
“Don’t tease me.”
“I wasn’t trying to tease you. If you’re happy, I’m happy too.”
They had arrived at the department store together in the fancy car that Periwinkle had gifted them.
Now, they were browsing the women’s clothing section together.
To confess, Eloa wasn’t very interested in clothes or accessories.
During her apprenticeship as a witch, she wore the clothes that the previous Tiphereth gave her, and even after becoming a witch, she just wore whatever clothes she could find.
There was a reason for this.
Even among witches with their rainbow-colored hair and eyes, Tiphereth’s colors were unique.
Eloa, who preferred simple things to flashy ones and disliked being the center of attention, had maintained a certain balance by wearing clothes that were as plain as possible.
Whether it was out of habit or not, she had never had the opportunity to go shopping.
But how could she refuse when Shiwoo was offering to buy her something?
In fact, Eloa was much happier that Shiwoo was giving her a gift than she was about receiving new clothes.
“Hmm…”
“Um…”
However, a problem arose.
Shiwoo lacked knowledge about fashion, such as what clothes suited whom, what the latest trends were, and so on.
Eloa was even worse.
And so, Eloa and Shiwoo just kept going around the shops 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 around here?”
They randomly picked a brand and entered a store that seemed to have a lot of dresses. After a while, a sales clerk approached them.
“Hello… Oh my.”
She was a young-looking clerk, who was startled once when she saw Shiwoo, and twice when she saw Eloa.
Shiwoo was one thing, but Eloa had a unique appearance that was particularly hard to find anywhere.
The clerk, who had been staring blankly at the two for a moment, quickly regained her senses and apologized.
“I’m sorry. You’re both so handsome and beautiful, haha… What kind of clothes are you looking for?”
The awkwardness was brief.
The clerk, with a bright look in her eyes, began to recommend various clothes in a friendly voice.
“You’re not models, are you? Oh my, your hair is dyed so beautifully!”
“How about this? It’s very popular these days, and I think it would look great on you…”
“It’s chilly at night these days, isn’t it? It would look so pretty if you coordinated it with a cardigan like this…”
“Looking at you, I think you’d be great at pulling off a casual and sporty look. If so, these items would be good too…”
Like a child playing dress-up with a favorite doll, she tirelessly recommended various clothes.
Shiwoo was already forgotten, becoming a temporary clothes rack, standing next to her with a pile of clothes that the clerk had recommended.
“Would you like to try them on?”
“Do I really need to try them on…”
“Yes, I think it would be good to try them on before buying them.”
“The fitting room is over there. We can do alterations on the spot if you need them, so please just check the fit even if the size is a little off.”
Shiwoo answered instead, seeing Eloa’s reaction, which seemed to say, ‘Do we really need to go that far?’
It wasn’t a small amount of money, so wouldn’t it be better to try them on and buy something pretty?
The first dress that Eloa took was a gray knit dress that reached down to her calves.
It was called a knit dress, but in Korea, it was a style famous as a ‘new town missy look.’
After a brief rustling sound inside, Eloa peeked out of the fitting room, looking hesitant.
“Wow…”
Before Shiwoo could express his admiration, the clerk opened her mouth in awe.
The knit dress that the clerk had recommended was somewhat form-fitting, revealing her figure and body shape.
Although there was a cardigan that loosely covered her upper body, it seemed like the shape of her swaying hips would be visible through the dress every time she walked.
“Oh….”
Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
He hadn’t been able to get a good sense of her figure in her loose training pants and windbreaker, but Eloa’s curves were more defined than he had thought.
Eloa, who had looked like a princess on a secret outing just a moment ago, had suddenly transformed into an actress exuding a provocative charm.
“I, I think it’s too tight…”
Eloa was flustered by the feeling of the knit fabric clinging to every part of her body and the attention she received as soon as she came out of the fitting room.
“No, it looks great on you, customer. Isn’t it so pretty?”
“Huh? Yes, it is.”
“You have to react a little more~ You’ll make her feel left out~”
“It’s pretty. It suits you well.”
Unlike Shiwoo, who had become somewhat accustomed to being around witches, Eloa’s beauty seemed to be awe-inspiring to the clerk.
She made a big fuss and asked Shiwoo for his agreement twice.
Eloa, who had been looking at herself in the mirror in the fitting room, wondering, ‘Is this really okay…’, perked up and her ears twitched at Shiwoo’s words, ‘It’s pretty.’
“R, really…?”
“Yes, it suits you well. Would you like to try on something else?”
“Alright.”
This time, it was jeans, a belt, a black shirt, and a trench coat.
It was a rather Western and mature city girl fashion, but it suited Eloa perfectly.
“This is too stuffy…”
“Stuffy? It looks so good on you. You look like a movie star. Right?”
“Yes, you look really cool.”
“R, really…?”
After that, it was the same pattern over and over again.
Eloa, wondering in the fitting room, ‘Is this really okay?’
The clerk clapping and admiring as soon as Eloa came out.
Shiwoo agreeing.
Eloa, tempted by Shiwoo’s compliments of ‘pretty’ or ‘cool.’
Before they knew it, they had bought all the clothes that had been recommended.
There wasn’t a single outfit that didn’t suit her.
While they were waiting for the alterations to be done on the spot, Shiwoo even bought her three pairs of shoes.
And so, the shopping trip, which had been a feast for the eyes, came to an end.
