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Chapter 18 - Sucrose Part 1

Amelia continuously rotated her body until the girl's face was almost parallel with hers, they were face to face. Their noses only centimeters apart, lips so close, Amelia could feel the warmth of this girl's breath on her bottom lip.

『 Is this really her? She's so pretty...and not at all what I had in mind, even my body stopped shaking. Her breath, it smells sweet, and her lips are flawless. Am I getting hot? My heart is beating faster than usual, what's going on with my body!?』(Amelia)

「Are you my mom's disciple? 」(Amelia)

「Your mom? Oh wait, you meant Lady Death! Yeah, she's been my mentor for a decent bit of time and sorry for not introducing myself.」(???)

The mysterious girl took a step back, putting some distance between her and Amelia before bowing in a greeting fashion while holding the edges of her dress as if she were some type of maiden. Letting off a resilient smile, she tilted her head to the side and declared her identity.

「 My name is Sucrose, Sucrose Kobayashi.」 (Sucrose)

『 So her name is Sucrose...』 (Amelia)

「 Oh um, don't worry about it, you don't need to do the formalities. You already know who I am, but its only natural if I greet you back. I'm Amelia Clementine, holder of the Ghost Witch and former disciple of Apollo. I guess this means that you're the trial leader. 」 (Amelia)

Amelia held out her hand to Sucrose, trying to get her to shake hands, wanting a friendly relationship with someone she was about to engage in a fight with, it was just her personality. Conversely, Sucrose looked down at Amelia's open palm, saying not a word, but giving the blankest of stares.

『 Dammit! Was it something I said? It couldn't have been, I greeted her the same way she greeted me. Why is it that everyone in Fortitudo has disgust for shaking hands, maybe I should pull back for now. 』(Amelia)

Getting nervous, Amelia started to stutter on impulse.

「 Y-You know what, on second thought you don't have to— 」 (Amelia)

Surprising Amelia, Sucrose had met her halfway, shaking her hand, albeit it be a bit rough.

『 This girl is weird, but I guess that cute and crazy are a normal combo. 』 (Amelia)

「 Well, now that the two of you are familiar with each other, Amelia you can begin the trial with no ill-feeling towards Sucrose. 」 (Death)

After Sucrose and Amelia finished greeting one another, Death and Apollo led them to Life's field in order for Amelia's trial, where Noah and Carter followed. The two girls stood almost parallel to one another having at least twenty or so meters between them.

Death, Apollo, Carter, and Noah all stood to the side so that they could watch from afar.

「 Okay you two, the way this trial will function is that it'll be a battle of will. The two of you will duel until one person renounces or is unable to continue. Do not spare your opponent because you believe they are your friend or family.」 (Death)

「 Okay, but is it really okay if we do the trial in Life's field? Won't we break something?」(Amelia)

「 Fear not, my child, Fortitudo is embedded with a form of healing similar to a God's. 」(Death)

『 I guess that's that then. The last person I seriously fought was Olivia and I wouldn't exactly call that conclusion a victory. 』 (Amelia)

Looking down at her hand, Amelia furls it vigorously, creating a first before unfurling it once more.

『 I have to give it my all..yeah, hyping myself up is what I'll do...I can totally do this. I can do this!』(Amelia)

「 Amelia, before we begin, I think it's only fair that I tell you I'm a Sugar Hybrid. I already know of you being an Ice Hybrid, as Lady Death has told me. You should know beforehand that— 」 (Sucrose)

「 That's good to know, but I'm still gonna kick your ass! 」 (Amelia)

『 Perhaps I overdid it a bit, just a little. 』 (Amelia)

Before she herself could think, Amelia had released a barrage of ice that seemingly teleported to Sucrose's area, but was just the effects of her control over causation.

A colossal explosion of white filled the atmosphere as it stretched tens of thousands of meters into the air. The ice disappeared as it rained down a white, crystalline substance. Confused and with squinted eyes, Amelia expected to see an ice statue with Sucrose in the center, only to see the girl standing, moving not an inch.

『 Wh-what?! I didn't even see her move. Did she destroy the ice or maybe she has some sort of absorption ability? Whatever she did, there's no way that she should've been able to withstand that attack! 』(Amelia)

「 What the Hell Sucrose?! I never saw you move a muscle so why aren't you refrigerated?! 」

「 Well, before you had interrupted me, I was about to explain the nature of my Hybrid abilities. I'm a Sugar Hybrid, and sugar protects me. 」 (Sucrose)

『 Sugar? What the hell is she talking about? She couldn't possibly mean that stuff from that explosion, could it have been sugar, is that what her hybrid ability's true nature is? 』

「 Anything that wants to hurt me within fifteen meters turns into sugar. This is one of my hybrid abilities and I even gave it a cute name. La de da de!」 (Sucrose)

Sucrose danced around for a few seconds and giggled before stopping and facing Amelia once more.

「 I call this ability Sugar Coat! 」 (Sucrose)

『 That's impossible! Anything into sugar...can she really? 』 (Amelia)

「 I usually like long-distance, but we can get up close and personal too!」 (Amelia)

Amelia sprinted towards Sucrose, closing in the distance between the girls. As she got closer, she began to form a spear of ice almost three meters long and continued to charge.

『 Maybe she can turn all my attacks into Sugar, but that won't mean anything if I go in for a direct hit. Eighteen meters...seventeen meters..sixteen meters... 』 (Amelia)

Almost Getting within range of Sucrose's 「 Sugar Coat 」, within a few steps, Amelia had finally stepped her foot into Sucrose's radius of attack.

「 Hah...Hugh, ahhh!」 (Amelia)

Amelia leaped back out of「 Sugar Coat 」's range and rolled on the ground as she agonized in pain. She looked down at her leg and screamed while her skin, blood, and even bones starting converting themselves into the whitest sugar that had ever been seen to man.

「 My..My foot! It's turning into sugar! 」 (Amelia)

『 Shit, shit, shit! My foot, it's been completely transformed into sugar and the effect is scattering! Dammit, at this rate, It'll catch up with my head in seconds.』 (Amelia)

「 Here I come!」 (Sucrose)

『 Wait, what did she say?! 』 (Amelia)

Dashing towards the powerless Amelia, Sucrose darted ahead at maximum acceleration.

『 Shit, she's approaching, I can't move my leg and the thing is damn near gone! I'll have to chop it off, that's my only option or else she'll close the gap between us and I'll be done for. 』 (Amelia)

Amelia scrambled to form an ice weapon resembling an ax, expending not a second as she cleaved the entire limb from her body, carving between her pelvis and t.h.i.g.h. Blood erupted into the sky, but her leg had already grown back.

『 It looks like I can't heal while it's transforming, but if I cut it off, then it's not a major issue and it looks like she's still coming.』 (Amelia)

Still sprinting towards Amelia, Sucrose didn't pay attention to her terrain. She hadn't noticed that the spear of ice Amelia had dropped, after getting her leg turned into sugar, had slid across the pasture and dead center under Sucrose's foot.

The spear made a swishing sound before Sucrose's foot skimmed the top, causing her to fall backward.

『 This is my chance, I'll have to attack her while she's in the air! 』

Her back only centimeters from the soil, Ameli ultimately decided to attack Sucrose before she touched down.

『 This is it! 』(Amelia)

There was an abrupt silence. Apollo, Noah, Carter, and Death all gazed in shock at what they saw right then.

『 Has Amelia always been able to do this?! Is this a new Hybrid ability?!』 (Noah)

『 I didn't see this phenomenon! Is it feasible that she escaped from my visions? 』 (Carter)

『 I only remember her having her ice Hybrid abilities and her divine energy, I've never seen this one before! 』 (Death)

『 Perhaps I was wrong about my former disciple and maybe she has far surpassed what I expected from her, she not only allowed fortune to play in her favour but used it to her advantage. Being a Divine Hybrid, maybe she does share similarities to the daughter of Hades.』 (Apollo)

「 I'll be honest you had me frightened there, I almost would've lost, but you didn't count on me hiding one of my Hybrid abilities that even my mom didn't know about. You believed your Sugar Coat was powerful and I'll admit, it's a pretty fatal ability, being able to change anything into sugar whether it be person or thing is chilling, but..」 (Amelia)

Standing up from the ground, with her hair getting dirtier and her dress tearing to its limits, Amelia faced Sucrose and made her own type of declaration, comparable to what Sucrose had done earlier.

「 This is my Hybrid ability, Kinetic Freeze! 」(Amelia)

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