The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Although Alice didn't want to take the risk of stripping the enemy's panties, with the situation as it was right now, her only choice was to rely on this method if she wanted to subdue Luna.

After all, Luna didn't receive any substantial damage even after taking a Holy Cross Slash to the face.
Now that the skill was on cooldown, if Alice still chose to rely on the Hero's Sword, her only means of counterattacking would be to execute regular attacks.
Setting aside whether she could even land a hit on Luna with her non-existent swordsmanship, she wasn't sure if the weakened Hero's Sword could cut through Luna's defenses even if she did land a hit.

Regardless, now that Alice had decided to sequestrate Luna's panties for her own use, she would need to figure out a way to approach the silver-haired maid.
This was a relatively dangerous action for her current self.

On the one hand, the stat bonuses the Hero's Sword provided had already fallen to 5000 points.
That was significantly less compared to what it originally provided.
So, while Alice might be able to keep up with Luna in terms of reaction speed and movement speed right now, she wasn't confident if she could perfectly avoid or deflect Luna's attacks like before.

On the other hand, Alice had too few means of attacking right now.
Once she started running for Luna, she would become nothing but a moving target for Luna.
Meanwhile, this was a problem that she could only remedy after studying in the March Royal School of Magic.

On that topic, if I get rid of Luna here, doesn't that remove the need for me to study at the Royal Academy?

While having such optimistic thoughts in her mind, Alice drew the Hero's Sword out of the ground.
Fortunately, a layer of dirt had now covered the Hero's Sword because of her previous actions.
So, Luna still did not recognize the sword's identity.

Alice sighed in relief when she felt her stats increasing once more.
Then, she pointed the tip of the sword at Luna.

Meanwhile, Luna had grown more cautious after eating a Holy Cross Slash to the face.
Instead of subduing Alice by force, she started biding her time as she waited for her seal to thoroughly isolate Alice from the Hero's Power.

However, Alice naturally wouldn't sit still and wait for her death.
Immediately, she set her posture and charged straight at Luna.

With 5000 points in Strength and Speed, Alice arrived in front of Luna almost in the blink of an eye.
Then, she swung the Hero's Sword straight at her opponent's body.

Since Alice had never undergone any systemic training, her swordsmanship standard naturally wasn't anything praiseworthy.
However, her immense strength allowed her to have a firm grip over the Hero's Sword, preventing her from making a rookie mistake such as letting her sword fly out of her hands.

“I expected as much.”

No sane person would sit still and do nothing while their enemy sealed their power.
Thus, Luna had long since expected Alice to attack her and prepared herself to respond appropriately.

Even after seeing the sword that was making its way to her waist, Luna did not retreat.
Instead, she swiftly moved the black sword in her hand downwards, using it to meet with Alice's sword.
Meanwhile, the instant the black sword made contact with the Hero's Sword, a metallic sound echoed throughout the area.

Although the impact force had pushed Luna back a certain distance, the black sword had still successfully stopped the Hero's Sword in its path.
Now, even if Alice had pushed the Hero's Sword to Luna's body, the sword wouldn't be able to cut through Luna's skin.

“That doesn't look like an ordinary sword…”

Luna narrowed her eyes as she looked at her black sword.
There—at the point where the black sword had intercepted Alice's dirt-covered sword—a small cut could be seen.

The black sword was constructed from the Demon King's Power, so its toughness practically rivaled the Demon King's Power.
Even the weapons labeled as Artifacts in the human and demon realms wouldn't necessarily be able to damage the black sword.
Yet, Alice's sword had managed to accomplish this feat.

Before Luna could have more time to think, Alice immediately swung her sword upwards, aiming directly at Luna's neck.

However, Luna's frosty expression remained unchanged even after seeing that Alice's sword was already close to reaching her throat.
Calmly, she raised her black sword upward, blocking Alice's weapon with deadly precision once more.

“It seems my conjecture is correct.
Your speed and strength have weakened significantly.”

Luna could tell that Alice was already starting to have trouble keeping up with her.
Previously, when she destroyed the mansion while attacking Alice, Alice had been able to escape or deflect her attacks with great precision.
In terms of speed, the two of them were almost evenly matched.
Now, though, Alice's speed had visibly dropped as she could even block such a close-range attack from Alice with little effort.

Meanwhile, Alice naturally knew that Luna was right.
At this point, the stat bonuses the Hero's Sword provided had already fallen to just 4000 points.
Although it was still a scary amount for normal humans, it was no longer enough for her to keep up with Luna in battle.

Without waiting for Alice to make any further moves, Luna pushed Alice's sword away and willed her black sword to change its form, the weapon separating into several black blades that appeared to be connected by a thin thread of dark mana.
Then, under Alice's horrified gaze, the black blades stabbed into her abdomen from various tricky angles.

“Ugh…”

Alice groaned in pain and took a step back.
Then, she knelt on the ground and held her bleeding abdomen.
Only now did she realize that Luna's sword wasn't an ordinary sword.
Instead, it was a whip sword capable of expanding its blade and transforming it into an agile whip.
Unfortunately, this discovery came a little too late since the blades of the whip had already embedded themselves into her body.

“Don't worry; I won't kill you.
I will only immobilize you to prevent you from struggling,” Luna said as she looked at Alice gasping in pain on the ground.
“My goal is to lure out the Hero.
Nothing will happen to you so long as you obediently listen to me.”

“Is that so?” At this point, cold sweat had already covered Alice's pale face.
However, while covering her bleeding abdomen with her left hand, Alice looked up at Luna and suddenly revealed a stiff smile, saying, “I'm afraid you won't get that chance, Demon King.”

“What?”

Luna was momentarily stunned.
Then, Luna saw Alice extending her right hand out from her back, the hand holding onto a familiar pair of black panties.