Strongest Superhuman System - Chapter 284

Chapter 284: Joan, Gilles and The Reason For Irrational Murder
“Really? That’s nice. I think I’ll take you up on that offer. I’m not really a mana freak like you, but there is something that I want to use mana for in my fighting style and it sucks up an enormous amount of mana, so I want to learn how to use it more efficiently.”

Luna frowned.

“I’m not a mana freak.”

“Luna, you have more mana in your arms than I have in my entire body. You are a mana freak.”

Luna blushed at the lopsided compliment and she huffed and turned away from him to look at the television again so he wouldn’t see how his words affected her. Luna didn’t know why she was like this whenever Mark said anything nice to her. She already told Mark that she was sorry for kissing him and the both of them had gone back to normal since then, but for some reason, she couldn’t look Mark in the eyes whenever he spoke to her like this. She would turn into a blushing mess and it irritated her that she couldn’t do anything about it.

Luna sighed. If only he wasn’t in a relationship already.

Luna stole a glance at Mark and saw that he was looking away from her and watching the news again. Her eyes roamed over his body and she couldn’t help but notice everything. She noticed the way the muscles on his arms twitched at regular intervals – a warning to anyone that he was always ready to move at any moment. She noticed how his angular face glowed in the sunlight coming from the window and she swallowed as she watched his chest tighten against his shirt with every breath he took in.

Oh god, she was going to have a heart attack.

Luna had to look away from Mark and put her hand to her chest as she felt her heart rate spike! Her cheeks were burning and Luna struggled to stop the blush she could feel rising on her cheeks.

What is wrong with her!? She only looked at him and she was already like this!? This was getting out of hand!

” – sneak into the king’s territory.”

Luna suddenly caught the ending part of something Mark said and she blinked in surprise as she realized that she had blanked out and missed what Mark was saying. She quickly tried to get back into the conversation.

“S-Sorry, what was that?”

Mark rose a brow at Luna as he noticed that she did not hear him. He saw her holding her chest and he narrowed his eyes in worry while asking if there was something wrong.

“Is your wound acting up? Maybe I should take a look at it again. You might have moved something when you got up this morning.”

Luna waved her hands.

“N-No, it’s nothing like that. I just wanted to hold my chest.”

Wow, that’s really smooth, Luna.

Luna almost felt like sinking into the ground from embarrassment when she noticed the confused look Mark gave her. But after some time, Mark turned away and she sighed as he started to repeat what he had said.

“I said I think I should sneak into the king’s territory to find out what they are up to. It’s been three days already and I am not comfortable with their silence. The wiik-bat cannot get too close because of the protections around the territory. It’s really weak to mana, so getting through the mana defenses is difficult.”

“But isn’t that dangerous? You won’t have anyone backing you up if you go in there. It could end badly.”

“I’m still going to fight her anyway, so I need to see what the king is doing. If I go in there, I will get the abilities of the king as well. I should be fine even if they try to do anything, and if it’s too dangerous, I’ll just use the bishop’s authority to get back here.”

Luna sighed and glanced at her shoulder in irritation. She hated how weak she was here. She knew that she could trust Mark to take care of himself, but she did not want him to go in there alone. He needed someone backing him up, someone strong.

“Alright, you can go, but if I sense anything is wrong and I don’t see you, I’m using a command seal to bring you back here.”

Mark nodded before he got up and went to get ready to leave.

…

“Just a while longer, Joan. Just a little while longer and we will have everything that we need. I shall bring you back to all your former glory.”

An old man with white hair and a wrinkly appearance was kneeling gently in front of a girl. The girl was tied to a long post that had been stabbed into the ground. Her clothes were tattered and burnt and there was a large bruise that spread across both her feet, deforming the skin there with black scars and burn marks.

The girl tied to the post was named Joan d’Arc, the woman sentenced to death by fire during the Hundred Years’ War between the French and the English five hundred years ago. Her head was bowed and there was no movement from her at all other than quiet muttering that echoed through the museum eerily.

Joan d’Arc had been summoned to this game from the pyre where she had been sentenced to burn to death. Ares grabbed her body from that pyre and placed her in the game.

Why?

Because Ares thought her mindset right now was the most entertaining out of all her versions. Joan was once a faithful servant of the gods who would do anything they wanted, but right now Joan was filled with hatred for the gods as well as humans and Ares knew that putting her into the game while she was in her worst state of mind would provide him with the most entertainment.

Joan, meanwhile, was having an internal crisis as her mind raced. What did she do to deserve this? Why were her people turning on her like this after everything she did for them?

Did she not win the war for them? Did she not tell them the words of the gods? Did she not fight for them?

She fought for them and this was how they repaid her?

“Hurry up, Gilles. Hurry up and finish the ritual. We don’t have much time.”

Joan muttered in a spiteful voice that showed just how angry she was, and the old man standing at her side bowed reverently.

“Yes, my Lady. I shall fulfill your requests to my dying breath. I shall bring you forth once more to lead the people to prosperity. I shall kill and kill until you are satisfied with the blood pooling at your feet!”

The old man stood up and turned around to look at the hundreds of humans hanging by their necks from ropes on the ceiling all around him.

The humans who were hanging from the ceiling had all been bled dry and their blood was pooling on the floor around Joan. The old man smiled and took in a deep breath as he enjoyed the smell of fresh blood in the morning. This was the definition of true ecstasy.