ALL NOVEL Chapter 50: The Invisible Boundary
"Guardian knight? you've got quite the imagination," Ryuji thought to himself, glancing briefly at rikka but saying nothing.
He then turned his attention back to the monster in front of him.
"Really weak!"
To Ryuji, although the creature looked terrifying with its grotesque appearance, it was incredibly weak. or maybe he had just gotten too strong for this to even feel like a challenge.
The monster seemed to understand ryuji's comment and let out a low, angry roar.
"Forget it. It's a waste not to eat it."
"Soul devouring!"
Without further hesitation, Ryuji summoned a chain that shot out and quickly dragged the monster into a crack in space.
"it's really weak," Ryuji muttered, patting his stomach, which didn't feel the slightest bit full. shaking his head, he dismissed any disappointment.
With the monster gone, the clubroom quickly fell silent again.
"Guardian knight, you came to protect me!"
"So amazing! is this the power of the guardian knight of The Eye of the Wicked Lord?"
Miko and Yukino were just about to say something when Rikka and Sanae rushed over, admiring Ryuji like he was their savior.
What were they talking about? Guardian knight? do they even know what that means?
---
"They're... chuunibyou, aren't they?" Miko asked, stepping forward with a curious look on her face.
Yukino nodded affirmatively. "Yes, they are Rikka Takahashi and Sanae Dekomori from Class F. Although they're beautiful girls, they don't have many friends in their class because of their chuunibyou. They are really pretty, but with their eccentric behavior, it's hard for anyone to approach them."
Although Yukino wasn't in Class F, she had memorized the names of all the students in her grade. in her mind, knowing everyone's name was a basic responsibility.
Yukino's sense of thoroughness might've seemed over the top to some, but for her, it was just another part of her genius-level mentality.
"We're not chuunibyou!"
Upon hearing what Miko and Yukino said, Rikka and Sanae immediately became defensive.
Pointing to her covered eye, rikka said with absolute seriousness, "i'll show you the power of my Tyrant's eye. It has the ability to destroy reality and bend ideals to my will!"
"The Tyrant's Eye?"
Yukino frowned slightly. could it be that this girl had some kind of hidden ability?
Both yukino and miko watched with curious eyes as rikka slowly began to remove her eyepatch.
Ryuji stood by, watching silently. he had to admit, when rikka got serious about her fantasies, it was pretty entertaining to watch.
Sure enough, when the eyepatch was removed, it revealed a golden pupil a striking contrast to her other eye.
"Heterochromia?" Miko asked, somewhat surprised.
"No, it's just a colored contact lens," Yukino said bluntly, immediately recognizing the truth. "You've probably been wearing it for too long. i can see the redness around your eye. it's likely a mild infection from wearing the lens too much. you should take it off now, or you might actually damage your eyesight!"
Yukino's tone was stern, almost motherly. while it wasn't that serious, she intentionally exaggerated the risk to get rikka to stop wearing the lens.
"Really?"
Rikka panicked and hurried to remove the contact lens. chuunibyou or not, she didn't want to lose her eyesight over a fantasy.
Surprisingly easy to deal with, Yukino thought to herself, casting a glance at Sanae, who was standing on the other side.
Sanae, having just watched her "master" be exposed so easily, was determined not to be outdone. she swung her long, twin-tailed hair dramatically and pointed at Yukino.
"You must be part of the demon king's army! even if you've defeated the eye of the wicked lord, you can never beat me, the thunder hammer user!" Sanae declared, her hair whipping around like a weapon.
Sanae's twin tails were adorned with small balls at the ends, making it easier to swing them around like she was wielding an actual weapon.
But then…
shua! shua! shua!
Her "weapon" wrapped itself around her, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground in a heap. she flailed on the floor, looking like a helpless fish out of water.
"Help! somebody help me!"
Her plea for help was pitiful, to say the least.
Ryuji, Yukino, and Miko stood in silence, watching this scene unfold without saying a word. but deep down, they all thought the same thing:
Yep, she's an idiot.
---
Ryuji walked over to the paper that had summoned the monster and picked it up. after inspecting it briefly, he deduced, "it looks like a one-time use summoning rune for weirdness. there's no spiritual energy left on it now."
He shook his head, turning to the girls. "you two are incredibly brave dripping blood on something like this without even knowing what it does. even in a world without weird things, randomly dripping blood like that would be a bad idea. but in a world with curses and spirits? you two were lucky."
Sanae, still wrapped in her own hair, could only manage to nod in agreement from her unfortunate position on the ground.
Rikka, however, walked over to Ryuji, her eyes wide and filled with a mixture of admiration and hope. she gently grabbed his hand, pleading, "Please, sir knight, take me to the invisible boundary!"
She's really persistent, ryuji thought.
"Invisible boundary?" miko and yukino, who had been watching with growing curiosity, finally spoke up. "what's that?" they asked, genuinely intrigued.
"it's where my dad went. he must've gone into the invisible boundary, and i want to go there to bring him back!" rikka explained, her voice full of conviction.
"???" Miko and Yukino exchanged confused looks.
Only Ryuji seemed to understand what Rikka was really talking about. her obsession with the invisible boundary stemmed from her inability to accept her father's death. instead of confronting reality, she had built up this elaborate fantasy world where her father had simply disappeared into another dimension, and she was destined to find him.
it was her way of coping with the harshness of the real world.
Ryuji sighed inwardly. "the invisible boundary, huh?"
"Please! you're the only one who can take me there!" Rikka begged.
He didn't want to crush her hope, but at the same time, he couldn't just play along with her delusions forever.
"You're a strong girl, Rikka," ryuji said softly, pulling his hand free. "But the invisible boundary isn't what you think it is."
Rikka stared at him, clearly not understanding what he meant.
"Sometimes, people build their own invisible boundaries in their hearts," Ryuji continued. "and crossing that boundary isn't about magic or knights. it's about learning to live with what's happened and finding your own strength."
Rikka's eyes widened. for a brief moment, it seemed like she was going to argue. but something in Ryuji's words struck a chord, and she fell silent.
"That's enough for today," Ryuji said, turning to Miko and Yukino. "let's go."
The three of them left the clubroom, leaving Rikka and Sanae behind. Sanae, still wrapped in her hair, finally managed to free herself and rushed over to rikka's side.
"Rikka? are you okay?" sanae asked, worried.
Rikka didn't answer right away. she stared at the spot where ryuji had stood, her mind swirling with thoughts.
"I... i'll find the invisible boundary one day," she muttered under her breath, still clinging to her dream. but for now, something in her heart had shifted.
---
As they walked back to the service club room, Miko glanced at Ryuji. "you know, you're really good at dealing with people like Rikka."
Ryuji chuckled. "i've had some practice. everyone has their own ways of coping with the world."
Yukino nodded in agreement. "You handled that better than i expected."
"Well, i guess you could say i've learned to be a bit of a 'guardian knight' after all," Ryuji said with a grin.
Miko smiled softly, while yukino just rolled her eyes at his teasing.
"Let's just get back to lunch," she muttered, leading the way.
---
It wasn't until the afternoon class that Ryuji finally had the chance to check the talent entries that had been triggered earlier.
"Golden entry: Tyrant's Eye!"
This was obviously triggered by Rikka. Seeing it, Ryuji couldn't help but feel a bit curious.
"Could it be that the Tyrant's Eye is real?"
Was her chuunibyou fantasy actually manifesting into reality? Ryuji quickly scanned the description of the entry.
"Tyrant's Eye: This ability changes the color of one's eyes to a golden hue, causing those who see them to feel awe from the depths of their hearts. The strength of this power depends entirely on the imagination of the viewer."
"..."
Ryuji was at a loss for words. The power of this eye is entirely based on how much the other person believes in it. The eye itself didn't actually do anything, it was pure bluff.
In a sense, it truly was the embodiment of Rikka's "Tyrant's Eye." Deciding it had no real value for him, Ryuji quickly chose to decompose the entry.
He then turned his attention to the talent entry triggered from Sanae.
"Golden entry: Double Braid Technique."
"...What?"
Ryuji stared at the entry, bewildered. He'd heard of whip techniques and other forms of martial arts, but braid skills? What could this possibly be?
He glanced at the description, hoping for some clarity.
"Double Braid Technique: A technique that uses one's hair styled into braids. When swinging, the braids become highly flexible, allowing for unique combat applications."
"..."
Ryuji had no words. Sure, it wasn't completely useless he supposed it could be effective for someone like Sanae or even someone with long twin-tails like Eriri Sawamura. But what if he tried to use it?
He briefly imagined himself with twin braids, swinging them around to fight off strange entities. The mental image was so absurd he couldn't even process it.
Nope. Forget it.
"Decompose!"
Without hesitation, Ryuji chose to break down the entry. Another 20,000 points were added to his balance, and he smiled in satisfaction.
Just as well, he still had the chance to use his golden entry draw, a reward for triggering more than ten golden entries. He crossed his fingers, hoping for something good.
Excited, Ryuji activated the draw.
"Successfully drawn!
Obtained: Golden entry: Third Dimension!"
For a moment, Ryuji was unsure how to react. It felt like a similar experience to when he first drew the red entry. But this time, it was a golden one.
"Third Dimension?"
At first, Ryuji didn't expect much. After all, despite triggering many golden entries, most of them were fairly niche or even useless to him. But after seeing the result, he was a bit surprised.
"Wait, is it that Third Dimension?"
Could it be that the golden entries obtained from a draw were different from the ones triggered by interacting with people? While still puzzled, Ryuji read the description.
"Third Dimension: Grants the ability to distort space. Allows free entry into the Domain Dimension, granting intangibility by projecting oneself outside while the true body remains within Domain Dimension."
"..."
This is a serious upgrade!
Ryuji couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement. Compared to most of the other abilities he'd drawn so far, Third Dimension was on a whole different level.