After leaving the alley and returning to the main street, Fang Li immediately received a call from Sylvia.
"What happened?"
Sylvia's voice was filled with surprise.
"Why did a Side Quest like that suddenly get triggered?"
Naturally, Sylvia had no way of not knowing about the triggering of the Side Quest.
Fang Li and Sylvia originally shared permissions and life, so if the System Notification sound rang in Fang Li's mind, it would naturally ring in Sylvia's mind as well.
Presumably, Sylvia was still having afternoon tea with Shokuhou Misaki when she suddenly heard the System Notification sound midway, which was why she hurriedly called to confirm what had happened.
"Well, in any case, just deal with Shokuhou Misaki first," Fang Li said. "We can talk about everything else after we get back."
"Mhm." Sylvia had no objections either. After nodding, she hung up the phone.
Only then did Fang Li close his cellphone, raise his head, and look up at the sky.
"A duel with a Saint... huh...?"
That would probably be the highest-level battle Fang Li had encountered since arriving in this world.
Even though over the past year he had attacked the bases of various magic factions one after another many times, compared to those magic factions, Kanzaki's abilities were in no way inferior. She alone was enough to rival the combat power of an entire magic faction stronghold.
"It's just that I didn't expect things to turn out like this..."
No, rather, ever since The Book of the Law had fallen into Fang Li's hands, he had vaguely felt that this matter would definitely trigger some kind of incident.
Now, this matter had not only dragged both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church into it, but had even involved the Amakusa-Style Church as well. It truly was a case of pulling one hair and moving the entire body.
But...
"I can't deny that a part of me is looking forward to it..."
A battle against a Saint was also something worth anticipating for Fang Li.
Even though Fang Li had spoken with such confidence earlier, if he were to truly face a Saint like Kanzaki, then without releasing his Stigma, he genuinely had no confidence in achieving complete victory.
But releasing the Stigma was equivalent to shortening his lifespan, accelerating the destruction of his soul.
Therefore, in this duel, perhaps Fang Li might not be the greatest winner after all.
"But that's exactly what makes it interesting..."
The corners of Fang Li's lips curled upward slightly.
"I just wonder how Index is doing right now."
Fang Li was not especially worried about Index's safety.
Not only because Index wore the spiritual item Walking Church, but also because Fang Li believed that with Index's own abilities, she at least wouldn't come to harm in the hands of the Amakusa-Style Church.
Moreover, Fang Li could roughly guess why the Amakusa-Style Church had taken Index away, and why Index had voluntarily agreed to go with them.
So Fang Li was certain that, at the very least for now, Index was perfectly safe.
After all, Kanzaki was definitely monitoring the movements of the Amakusa-Style Church from the shadows, so no matter what happened, nothing would go wrong with Index.
"The remaining matters can wait until after the Daihasei Festival ends..."
As for why the timing was set after the Daihasei Festival…
Recalling Sylvia's visibly excited anticipation for the upcoming Daihasei Festival, Fang Li couldn't help but chuckle.
"If we complete all the Quests and return to the Main God's Dimension before the Daihasei Festival ends, I'd probably be cursed to death by Sylvie's resentment, wouldn't I?"
Leaving behind this muttered remark, Fang Li lifted his feet and walked toward the crowd ahead.
...
Very soon, the first day of the Daihasei Festival came to an end.
During this period, all competitions between the various schools would come to a full stop, with only things like food stalls and booths remaining open.
During the daytime, it was a time for students to sweat it out on the sports field while their parents cheered them on from the sidelines.
At night, however, it became a time for families to gather together and go out to have fun.
Because of this, the various stalls and businesses actually became even more lively and popular in the evening.
Of course, the curfew for the school dormitories still wouldn't show the slightest leniency, preventing students from staying out too late.
Not to mention that they still had to continue participating in the sports festival and competitions the next day, which naturally required plenty of rest.
For that reason, before curfew arrived, the bustling atmosphere throughout Academy City had yet to diminish.
Under such circumstances, Fang Li and Sylvia were also walking through the crowd like a couple, browsing one stall after another while discussing the events of the day.
"So that's what happened?" Sylvia said with a somewhat relieved tone. "In other words, it won't be long before we complete all the Main Quests, right?"
"That's not necessarily true." Fang Li scratched his cheek and spread his hands. "I might lose to Kanzaki Kaori. If that happens, the Side Quest will fail, and naturally our Main Quest 3 won't be completed either. We might even have to start over with Main Quest 2 because we'd lose The Book of the Law."
"Lose?" Sylvia said with an amused smile. "So you're actually afraid of losing too?"
"It's not that I'm afraid." Fang Li replied in an indifferent tone, "It's just that Kanzaki Kaori isn't that easy to deal with. My opponent is, after all, a Saint."
"Are Saints really that strong?" Sylvia asked curiously. "Even you aren't confident of beating one?"
"If I were willing to go all out and ignore everything else, then I'd have no reason to lose." Fang Li curled his lips. "The problem is whether there's any way for me to truly go all out."
For example, once he used his Stigma, it would only accelerate the collapse of his soul, indirectly shortening his lifespan.
And then there were his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. If Fang Li recklessly ignored the risk of his brain being burned out and forcibly interpreted the death of the world itself, killing this world, then it wouldn't just mean dragging his opponent down with him, it would mean burying everything in this world alongside them.
As someone who treated death as insignificant, Fang Li's true terror could only be exchanged at the cost of ending in death himself.
It had to be said, there was a certain irony in that.
And if he had to preserve his own life, then even if Fang Li went all out, he genuinely might not be able to defeat Kanzaki.
"Still, Kanzaki's weakness is obvious too, after releasing her Stigma, she can't maintain it for long." Fang Li said to Sylvia, "So while I can't say I have a guaranteed chance of victory, I'd say it's about fifty-fifty."
"Is that so?" Sylvia sighed softly. "If even you say that, then even if I were the one to fight, I might not be able to defeat that Saint either, right?"
"No." Fang Li denied it outright. "If the strategy were simply to stall for time, then your chances of winning would definitely be higher than mine, since you can use all kinds of Abilities."
"But..." Sylvia exposed Fang Li's true thoughts and said with a helpless smile, "You're not planning to let me make a move, are you?"
Correct.
Although from a tactical standpoint, Sylvia's chances of success might actually be even higher than Fang Li's…
Fang Li still intended to personally accept this duel.
Simply because he wanted to fight a Saint.
But that was something for after the Daihasei Festival.
For now, Fang Li only wanted to enjoy the Daihasei Festival together with the lover by his side.
(End Of This Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 70 chapters on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/GGS6395
I am translating some new fanfiction (Haikyuu- Starting From Volleyball). Read it and support me.
PS— I will post 1 Bonus Chapter for every 100 Power Stones