"Where is Turing?" Theresa stood in the garden, looking around, and stopped a maid to ask casually.

"Isn't Miss in the study reading?" The maid shifted another hand holding a heavy bucket and answered, with one hand on her waist.

Theresa's puzzled expression showed that she truly didn't know.

"No, I just checked."

Theresa felt a bit embarrassed. She hadn't told the maid that she had asked several other maids earlier, and they all gave different answers.

"Well, Miss must be in the forest below the back mountain."

"With the upcoming competition, Miss must be training equestrian skills until late every day."

"It's really hard."

Theresa frowned slightly, feeling that it wasn't the case.

Normally, although Turing couldn't be described as being by her side twenty-four hours a day, they were at least very close.

But these days, Turing not only wasn't clinging to her, but seemed deliberately avoiding her.

Theresa wanted to talk to Turing as an elder, but Turing seemed to have a perceptive eye that could disappear before she could find her.

"Could it be that Turing dislikes me?"

Theresa felt that the most unlikely answer in her guess was this, but now she had to consider it.

----------------------------------------------------

"Do... do I have anything that makes you dislike me?"

In the Bijou Forest beneath Erisburg's back mountain.

Samael wore a neat jacket on the upper body and a skirt on the lower body. Today was an unusually hot spring day, and even the angel couldn't resist the human habit of dressing for the weather.

Merka suggested that since using magic in front of people would consume mana, they should use training as an excuse to escape and avoid revealing any flaws.

Merka held a knight's sword with both hands, blocking Samael's attacks again and again.

Samael's fierce swordsmanship gave a fragile impression, but her swift sword movements gradually pushed Merka backward, trapping Merka tightly behind her iron sword.

"This training is the least Turing faces, pretty boy."

"What kind of challenges do you think Turing faces in daily life?"

"Challenges from classmates at the academy, tests from teachers, even Oedipus takes time to examine Turing's progress."

"Fortunately, Turing dropped out of school now, otherwise... tsk tsk."

With a single sword strike, Samael defeated Merka in three positions, completely overpowering her, even though she relied on the Mage's Hand enchanted with magic.

"You rely too much on the Mage's Hand."

"The Mage's Hand, just like the Magic Wings, is easily disrupted by the opponent's mana flow."

"It's a very fatal weakness."

Merka, holding four swords, felt that her sword was about to break, and this woman in front of her probably hadn't even used her full strength yet.

The sun in midday of spring was scorching, and in the forest where insects and birds fluttered, there was a hint of warmth.

Samael stopped her relentless attack, straightened her blouse casually, and looked up at the sky through the gaps between the tree leaves.

The girl seemed a bit irritated by the scorching sun.

"Miss Samael, may I ask if there are any weaknesses that angels possess?"

Mammon had already told Merka about Oedipus and their angelic nature, much to Samael's discontent.

Samael and Mammon were powerful angels brought out of the laboratory by Oedipus. However, for some reason, they could only obey Oedipus's commands now.

Mammon told Samael that Oedipus didn't kill Merka, which proved that what Merka had said was true.

Merka was trustworthy.

"We don't have weaknesses, except for the fact that we are too exceptional."

"We have exceptional memory, fast learning abilities, strong vitality, and unmatched magic talent."

"And our sense of smell, reaction speed, and physical fitness are so powerful that they are almost incomparable to humans."

"We are a race completely superior to you humans."

Sense of smell. Shouldn't it be one of the five senses?

Samael didn't seem like someone who would hide things. Why was she being conservative about this?

Merka secretly noted this strange slip of the tongue and kept it hidden in her heart.

"Are there really no weaknesses?"

Merka subtly pointed at Samael's hand that was fanning herself and said.

Samael paused and stopped fanning. In truth, she didn't feel any heat, but her human memory made her do it subconsciously.

"You haven't said everything."

"If there are no weaknesses, why are you under Oedipus's control?"

"There must be some leverage or something."

"Otherwise, the two of you wouldn't hesitate to escape with such immense power."

Samael was stunned by Merka's words and stood still, staring blankly ahead.

She was completely unaccustomed to dealing with people like Merka and would almost always reveal her flaws after just a few sentences.

If only Mammon were still by her side. Samael despised opponents who couldn't be defeated with force.

"However, anyone, even angels, must have hidden weaknesses, like..."

Merka smiled knowingly, a radiant smile blossoming on his beautifully round cheeks. A gentle breeze passed through the branches and leaves like a window frame behind Merka.

The sly breeze came in front of Samael, almost lifting her skirt.

Samael blushed and quickly used one hand to block it.

However, what she faced was Merka rushing towards her with the fastest speed, as if he had to leave one or two wounds on Samael before he would stop.

With a crisp sound, Samael used her unparalleled reflexes and strength to block Merka's cunning attack.

"Strange, you said you are not human."

"According to what you said, after undoing the dropback, you should only be a pile of flesh and tentacles."

"Why do humans have a sense of shame?"

Samael stared at Merka's eyes, which resembled the bottom of the galaxy. It felt as if an endless silence of stars passed by her, a tide of wisdom and madness surged up, as if to overwhelm her.

Samael snapped back to reality, a flame of anger ignited by Merka's words. She raised her leg and viciously kicked towards Merka's abdomen, a buzzing sound like a heavy crossbow resonated angrily through the forest,

But there was no dull thud of physical impact.

"Dropback?!" Samael exclaimed.

Merka's figure was cut in half, but his abdomen, like a foam-like incision, did not bleed or reveal any broken organs.

The whole person gradually dissipated like an illusion.

"I'm sorry, Miss Samael, I can't take your heavy kick."

"I'll come find you when you've calmed down!"

Samael's mouth twitched, and an angry roar echoed throughout the forest.

"Merka! Don't let me catch you!!"

At this moment, Merka was hiding in a corner of the forest not far from Samael. In order to confuse her further, he not only hid in the bushes but also tidied up the surrounding area as if no one had been there.

"Huff... huff..."

Merka breathed heavily, taking a while to recover.

Using dropback like that was a great burden for him, and he had now released dropback.

"It seems that even intelligent angels still have humanity."

"To have humanity means having weaknesses."

"So, even Grand Duke Oedipus would have weaknesses?"

Merka murmured with deep meaning to himself.