I'm in Love with the Villainess!-Chapter 105: Built In Double Tap...?
And while I would like to go on an all-out spell clash with him.
Unfortunately, the noise attracted the attention of several professors who had been hiding within the district, and they were now quickly closing in on the building.
Xander himself didn’t seem to sense it, too focused on ending me to pay attention that both he and his entire group were about to get obliterated from all sides.
I needed to end this quickly before something else came.
[Profaned Step]
I appeared behind Xander, this time no longer holding back.
He was fun, if not laughably weak.
CRACK!
I elbowed him from behind, an observer literally appearing mid-strike as he teleported him away before the full force of my blow could meet him.
"H-Huh!?"
I stumbled slightly, not expecting to suddenly just hit air after making contact for less than a second.
But that didn’t matter...
I looked down to where Xander had been teleported from. There it was—the mirror artifact I wanted to fuse with the staff.
Looks like the observer didn’t bring it with him.
CRUMBLE!
The entire building suddenly shook. Outside, a barrage of spells hammered it, trying to bring it crashing down and eliminate all the students inside.
"The professors aren’t really holding back anymore, huh!?"
I laughed, and more importantly, was shocked.
How rich is the academy that it just allows its professors to topple a huge building just for a semi-monthly examination!?
Never mind that, I need to get out quickly.
The floor began to warp below me as I began to transport, but not before another student saw me trying to get away.
"H-Hey, bring me with you!"
The student detonated the ground below him in an act that I could only describe as incredible survival instincts.
They literally used the explosion to propel themselves across the ruined hallway and grabbed my legs the moment I successfully cast the spell.
"G-Get off me!"
[Profaned Step]
FWOOSH!
I returned to Corvus’s building, the same place where I teleported the staff before I began fighting. But not before bringing someone else with me.
"I-I did it!"
"Tch..."
I swung my leg hard into a nearby wall, smashing him clean through it. He released my leg and lay unconscious in a pile of stone rubble.
"G-God..." I laughed, been a while since I’ve seen a student that ballsy.
Or even crazier, a student without any combat experience having enough survival instinct to think quickly enough to do something like that.
Kid practically invented rocket-jumping on the fly.
I rubbed my leg where he’d latched on and clicked my tongue.
"Still... kicking someone through a wall first thing after teleporting... yeah, that’s definitely gonna lead to a painful headache once he wakes up."
I walked over and checked his pulse anyway.
Alive.
He was just unconscious—apparently not enough for the observers to bother taking him away yet.
"...You’re welcome, I guess."
Could’ve teleported him back there and let the professors turn him into collateral damage. Instead, he gets a free evacuation and a concussion.
Lucky bastard... If I didn’t respect the impressive display of self-preservation he showed, I would’ve sent him right back without batting an eye.
I dragged him by the collar and dumped him in a relatively intact classroom, propping him against the wall like misplaced furniture.
He’d wake up eventually.
Probably very confused.
Probably with a new fear of me.
Fair trade for getting unintentionally saved, I guess.
"Alright... back to business."
My gaze shifted to the two artifacts, the mirror still in my hands and the staff just on the floor where I teleported it.
There was no time to be dramatic or to hesitate—not like this was my first time fusing. This also definitely wasn’t the strongest item I had fused before.
[Mirror Husk]
[Multiplying Staff]
[Synergy Activated]
[Mirror Husk + Multiplying Staff]
[Fusing]
[Echo (Unique)]
"H-Huh...?"
I stared in disbelief as I didn’t receive an item this time.
I checked around just in case it may have appeared around me, but... it was nowhere to be found.
Not a ring, not an eye, not a sword.
Literally nowhere.
But it clearly worked; maybe it gave something other than just a simple item?
Although...
Wait...
Stop being an idiot!
I hovered my hand over the item notification.
[Echo (Unique)]
[Fuses with the user’s body, creates two echoes of the user’s movements that mimic half of the user’s destructive output]
"A literal echo?"
I clenched my fist, punching a nearby wall while severely holding back to check.
THUD!
The wall didn’t crack as expected...
But...
THUD!
THUD!
BOOM!
The wall exploded outward as two violet silhouettes, identical to me, repeated the punch twice. Even with my clear restraint, the force was enough to completely shatter the wall.
"D-Damn..."
I chuckled. This was a better result than I thought.
But that didn’t mean I was done experimenting.
I took a step forward.
TAP!
As expected, I could hear the tap of my shoes against the ground.
But then again...
TAP!
TAP!
It happened again: two silhouettes copied my movements, adding two more sets of tapping sounds like I moved two more times.
[Profaned Fireball]
This time I tested with spells, and just like before, the effect repeated.
[Profaned Fireball]
[Profaned Fireball]
The fireball in my hand grew larger like I cast the same thing another two times, same with the footsteps, and same with the punch.
It effectively doubled my output without me needing to hold onto anything or think about anything.
Despite the sheer power of the new artifact I had just obtained, a strange thought suddenly popped into my mind...
This...
This could actually be useful in bed as well...
"Hah..." I slapped myself in the face. "Get your head out of the gutter."
I laughed, feeling the sting of my own blow, before...
CLAP!
CLAP!
It echoed my movements again, causing me to hit my face two more times than intended.
"Okay, yeah... I deserved that."
Now the question is... how do I disable its effects so I don’t just keep multiplying my actions even in the most mundane scenarios?
[Echo (Off)]
Well... that’s convenient.
I just needed to think about it.
