A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1485 - 1003: Are You the Protagonist?

Chapter 1485: Chapter 1003: Are You the Protagonist?

Does existence itself mean evil and therefore must be eradicated?

At this moment, Naruse Mio was full of anger. The words of the Fallen Angel reminded her of her own experiences. What did she do? She was just an ordinary high school student. But just because she was the heir of some Superior Demon noble, she had been repeatedly attacked, and the enemy even killed her parents......!

Absolutely unforgivable!

"Her magic power is getting stronger! Kill her!"

At this moment, the three Fallen Angels also seemed to sense that something was wrong. They raised their hands again, and quickly dozens of light spears emerged around them, flying once more towards Naruse Mio.

However, the next moment, an unexpected scene occurred — the light spears flying towards Naruse Mio disappeared completely even before reaching her, as if swallowed by the space itself!

"What on earth is this.........!?"

Seeing this scene, the faces of the three Fallen Angels changed dramatically. But before they could take action again, a surge of invisible and powerful force descended from the heavens like swatting flies, knocking the three Fallen Angels down from the sky!

"Guaaah!!"

The Fallen Angels clearly did not expect Naruse Mio to possess such formidable power. They were slammed to the ground with cries of pain, their bodies distorting and twisting under the invisible pressure, issuing sounds like that of being crushed.

As the three Fallen Angels were about to be completely crushed, Naruse Mio suddenly rolled her eyes and fainted. With Naruse Mio losing consciousness, the erupting magic power on her body disappeared as well.

"Lord Mio!"

Seeing Naruse Mio suddenly collapse unconscious on the ground, Banriya quickly screamed in panic. At this moment, the three Fallen Angels climbed up and glared at Naruse Mio with anger and fear.

"As expected, she’s an evil and powerful demon, she must be killed here!"

While saying this, the Fallen Angels once again summoned light spears.

But just then, Duanmu Huai’s voice came from behind them.

"Alright, thank you for your hard work, you may die now."

"Who is it!?"

Hearing the sudden voice from behind, the three Fallen Angels were shocked. But before they could turn to look, Duanmu Huai had already smashed them into pieces with a hammer blow. Their bodies exploded instantly, turning into fragments of flesh and blood, and then disintegrating in mid-air.

"Lord Duanmu!"

Seeing Duanmu Huai appear, Banriya also let out a sigh of relief. Duanmu Huai put away the War Hammer and walked up to the unconscious Naruse Mio, looked at her, and then at Banriya.

"How bad are the injuries? Are they serious? Do you need treatment?"

"These little injuries are nothing serious."

Banriya shook his head, then looked towards Naruse Mio.

"Lord Mio......"

"Yes, I saw it."

Duanmu Huai picked up Naruse Mio and stared at the girl. In fact, he had arrived a long time ago, but upon seeing Naruse Mio and others fighting the Fallen Angels, Duanmu Huai suddenly thought of something.

According to light novel tropes, the protagonist usually erupts with a power they themselves are unaware of at such moments, defeating the enemy.

Considering Naruse Mio’s setup, she was practically a standard light novel protagonist template, so was there such a possibility?

So Duanmu Huai decided to observe the situation and wait.

And the result...... Good heavens!

Seeing the power erupted by Naruse Mio, Duanmu Huai was shocked!

The dual attributes of gravity and space! What kind of cheat is this!

Even among players, these two attributes are the cream of the crop, not easy to get. Duanmu Huai once picked up a pair of Gravity Gloves out of luck at the Novice’s Village and had been inseparable from them since, unable to part ways easily!

Sour, truly sour!

Since crossing over, Duanmu Huai had only been particularly envious of others twice.

One was Mary’s Golden Pupil, which was outright cheating to the level of a GM-tier Divine Artifact. If Duanmu Huai had a Golden Pupil, what would he fear from the Four Peddlers? He would have slaughtered through the Milky Way to challenge the Outer Gods already!

The other was Naruse Mio’s dual attributes — the combined boost of spatial and gravity attributes, it’s practically heaven-reaching!

Damn, why don’t I have such good luck!

But on second thought, huh?

An ordinary high school student suddenly suffers a disaster one day, parents killed, learns that she’s not an ordinary person but actually hiding a powerful demon bloodline, then erupts in power during a fight and awakens strong powers... This is the standard light novel protagonist’s opening!

Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai looked at Naruse Mio in his arms again.

Could it be she’s the protagonist?

However, generally following the pattern of light novels, what should come next would be the protagonist’s power eruption, and both ally and enemy simultaneously send people over, all of whom are beautiful girls. Then the protagonist punches the Nanshan Old Age Home and kicks the Hokkai Kindergarten, repelling all foes and befriending beautiful enemies, developing a super friendship with the beautiful girls around him, isn’t this the classic harem?

But Naruse Mio is female, not male.

...............

Could it be the development will now turn into a girl’s comic, with a bunch of handsome guys?

If I’m not mistaken, romance novels also have a similar plot. Originally ordinary girls are found to possess noble lineage, then handsome guys from both sides appear, and the handsome ally protects the heroine by repelling enemies, while the heroine uses her kind and gentle nature to reform the handsome foes into friends......

Damn! Gender-swap scenario with the same plot!

It’s still a harem!

But the problem is, Duanmu Huai likes beauties, but he doesn’t like handsome guys!

Alas, if handsome guys really come to protect Naruse Mio, should I beat him to death? Beat him to death? Or beat him to death?

In the end, Duanmu Huai still decided, just to beat them to death.

After all, he only had a meager three points in Charm right now. If handsome guys appear before him, that’s deliberately picking trouble, if he doesn’t beat them to death, does he have a good temper?!

These Fallen Angels didn’t die in vain, at least they helped Naruse Mio awaken her true power, at least they pointed her in the right direction.

In terms of gravity, Duanmu Huai could still teach her since he had been using Gravity Gloves all the way from the Novice’s Village, considered quite experienced.

Of course, Duanmu Huai wouldn’t be able to help with spatial issues since time and space had always been his weakness; he couldn’t handle such complex things.

In fact, things that required thinking weren’t exactly Duanmu Huai’s favorites.

But hearing Banriya say "The power of magic is the power of imagination," Duanmu Huai thought of an excellent teacher—someone he met on another planet, Frieren.

That elf indeed had a knack for teaching magic. With her guidance, Duanmu Huai completed Destruction Magic. The Human Magic System just fits the classic "the stronger the imagination, the more powerful it is." However, Duanmu Huai wasn’t too familiar with her, whether to summon her over for Duanmu Huai...... still required some consideration.

But no matter what you say, with protagonist attributes, once Naruse Mio awakened her true power, the training afterward got a lot simpler.

However, before that.........

"This is the territory you mentioned? Someone comes to pick a fight every few days. I don’t think your Gimonri family’s reputation is worth much."

Though the Fallen Angels helping Naruse Mio awaken her powers also had some merit, Duanmu Huai did not miss the opportunity to complain to Liliath. He remembered clearly that Liliath initially said this was her territory, so Angels and Fallen Angels wouldn’t cause trouble. Based on this, Duanmu Huai and Naruse Mio had agreed to a contract with Liliath.

And the result?

The enemies have come knocking, okay!

And they’re making moves in broad daylight, completely disregarding you!

"My territory is mainly Ryuo Academy, not the city center...... Moreover, there are many hardliners among the Fallen Angels......"

Liliath’s expression was not good either. She had just made a claim to protect someone, and the next moment they were attacked, a sheer slap in the face.

"You might as well put the word out for me that this city is now Tribunal territory, any fool who dares to mess around will be killed! I want to see how many of these bastards die before they learn! They need to know the Tribunal is not to be trifled with!"

"Uh...... please calm down, teacher."

Hearing Duanmu Huai speak with murderous intent, Liliath also broke out in a cold sweat. More importantly, knowing Duanmu Huai, he would indeed do it. If this city ever becomes a battlefield, it would be a real hassle......

"By the way, what you asked me to investigate, about the current situation of the Wilbert family, I’ve made some preliminary findings."

To prevent the situation from progressing in an unwelcome direction, Liliath decisively shifted the topic.

"After the previous Clan Leader of the Wilbert family passed away, the family is currently managed by the former clan leader’s brother——Lord Ramses. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this. However, during our investigations, we found a few rumors."

"Oh?"

"First, the cause of the former clan leader’s death is unknown, officially reported as sudden illness."

"Oh? Is that possible?"

"For demons? Very unlikely, while not impossible, typical illnesses don’t affect demons. Not to mention the former Wilbert clan leader was very powerful, lowering the chance of him falling ill. Many nobles privately believe that the former Wilbert clan leader may have been assassinated."

"Hmm, this possibility is indeed high."

Duanmu Huai nodded.

"What else?"

"The other rumor is quite interesting."

Liliath squinted her eyes, revealing a meaningful smile.

"It’s precisely about Naruse’s classmate——according to our information, within the Wilbert family, there are some elders who always express the wish to strengthen the guardians around Naruse’s classmate, but it was vetoed by his brother, Lord Ramses. This is why Naruse’s classmate only has Banriya following her."

"I see."

Hearing this, Duanmu Huai nodded.

"So, the current situation of Naruse Mio was engineered by her ’dear’ uncle."

Hmm......... this is indeed quite interesting.