Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 11: I Died 120 Times for a Pair of Panties

Five figures jumped off the mansion wall.

They landed silently, running in close formation. Three in front. Two behind. The one in the middle carried Isabela on his shoulder.

Haru appeared in front of them, blocking their path. He stretched out his bandaged hand and shouted:

"Ignition!"

A wave of fire exploded from his palms, roaring toward the invaders. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

But one of the figures, the wizard, raised his hand. An emerald barrier materialized in the air, protecting the group. The flames hit the barrier and dissipated, turning into smoke.

The figure carrying Isabela on his shoulder didn’t stop, dashing sideways. Fast. Precise.

His blade slit Haru’s throat in a single motion.

Haru felt the warmth of blood flowing. He tried to breathe. He couldn’t.

He fell to his knees and everything went black.

[CHRONIA’S CURSE: ACTIVATED]

"Death number fifty. Fifty different strategies. Fifty failures."

"It seems I’m not even making progress..." Haru muttered, sitting with his head down.

Haru was sitting on the cold floor. His arms crossed. His head bowed.

He thought, mentally reviewing each death. Each failure. Each lost second.

"There has to be a way..." he thought. "There has to be."

They were training in a different place today. Haru had asked for it. He said it was for better concentration. But in reality, he just wanted to see that part of the mansion.

Over the last four "todays," he had been asking to train in various wings of the courtyard. Mapping. Studying. Looking for escape routes. Blind spots. Places where he could ambush the invaders. Today they were at the clotheslines.

The area where the maids hung clothes to dry. It was at the back of the mansion, far from the main gate. The smell of soap and clean fabric hung in the air. Pleasant. Almost relaxing.

Haru and Isabela were barefoot. The grass was damp under their feet.

Cedrick was sitting on a wooden bench across from the clotheslines, watching them from time to time. But most of the time, he stared into the distance, bored.

Haru took a deep breath. "Another day, another try."

Isabela approached, stopping in front of him.

"You’re thinking a lot today. What’s wrong?"

She leaned forward, looking down at him.

Haru saw her breasts swaying inside her shirt. The curve. The volume. The line of her bra marked on the sweat-damp fabric.

He was silent for a moment.

Isabela raised an eyebrow. She followed the direction of his gaze and realized where Haru’s eyes had stopped.

She stomped on his face.

Her bare foot hit him squarely. Haru fell backward, laughing.

"Hehehehe..."

Isabela lifted her foot, turning her face away in disgust.

"You... you LICKED my foot when I stepped on you?!"

Haru continued smiling, lying on the grass.

Isabela blushed. With anger.

"You perverted piece of trash!" she shouted, starting to stomp on his body. On his chest. On his stomach. On his arms. "I hope you lose this damn election!"

Haru laughed between the stomps.

"More, ma’am, punish me! Stomp hard! I want to feel your foot on my face!"

Isabela stopped. Her eyes widened.

She blushed, not only with anger, but also with shame.

"You... you son of a bitch!"

She raised her hand. Mana focused on her palm. A steady stream of water began to flow out, soaking Haru from head to toe.

Haru lay there, letting the water fall on him.

"I’m so wet, ma’am..." he said, his voice slurred. "I’m getting there..."

Isabela stopped breathing for a second. She switched from water to fire. The flames engulfed her hand.

Haru’s shirt began to burn, he jumped up, threw the shirt away, and ran between the clothes hanging on the clothesline, laughing.

"You coward!" Isabela shouted, chasing him. "You don’t like it anymore, do you?!"

Haru came out from between the sheets, raising his hands in surrender.

"I give up! You win..."

Isabela turned her face away abruptly, letting out an irritated "Hmm!" She tried to maintain her superiority, but her eyes betrayed her. Haru was no longer the dirty, bowed slave. The system had sculpted his body; every muscle in his torso was defined, his skin taut, and his bearing that of an elite warrior. For Isabela, looking at him was like facing a kind of pressure she couldn’t name.

The metallic sound of the main gate echoed. The hooves of the Baron’s horses beat rhythmically against the stone as they moved away from the mansion. They were alone.

Haru approached her, his voice lowering to a serious tone that made her freeze.

"Miss Isabela... I feel that something is going to happen today."

"So what?" she retorted.

"It’s going to happen to you, not me." Haru pointed to a random window on an upper floor. "I think you should sleep in another room tonight. There, for example."

Isabela gave him a look of disbelief.

"Are you crazy? I don’t sleep there. My room is the one on the opposite end!" She pointed exactly where Haru wanted her to confirm. "And why on earth are you telling me this? What’s this about ’something happening’?"

"Just trust me. I’m your guard, remember?"

"I forgot you’re a know-it-all," she snorted, shaking her head. "I already have Cedrick for that. Anyway... practice is over. Let’s go."

Night fell like a heavy blanket over the mansion.

In her room, Isabela combed her hair, dressed only in a fine silk nightgown. As she looked in the mirror, her heart skipped a beat. A motionless reflection appeared behind her.

"Cedrick? What are you doing here? Don’t you know how to knock?!"

When she turned around, she found no explanation, but a quick gesture. Cedrick blew a fine gray powder directly into her face.

"What... is... this..." Isabela stammered. The world spun. Her legs gave way and she collapsed unconscious on the carpet.

Cedrick looked at her body with the coldness of a butcher. But before he could touch her, the sound of shattering glass exploded in the room.

The bay window shattered into a thousand pieces. A figure flew through the shards with the force of a projectile... It was Haru.

"IGNIT...!" roared Haru.

Before the cry of "Ignition" could finish, Cedrick landed a sharp punch to his throat and a brutal headbutt. Haru staggered, gasping for oxygen, and Cedrick stomped on him hard, sending him flying back toward the window. When Haru managed to grab the edge, his fingers bleeding, he saw the empty room. Cedrick and Isabela were gone.

"Damn... I used up all my mana climbing this wall..." He is still an amateur at manipulating mana for passive activities.

He returns to the room, his despair turned to calculation. He needs fuel. He finds Isabela’s brush, pulls out a strand of hair, and activates [Touch of the Goddess]. The mana rises. He runs down the hallway, his feet on fire, jumps out the window where Cedrick escaped... and the world goes black. One of the kidnappers was leaning against the outside wall, waiting. A blade pierces Haru’s skull before he hits the ground.

[DEATH 78]

Haru tries to fight in the room. He manages to grab Isabela’s hair during the clash, but the difference in experience is abysmal. Cedrick breaks his neck before the mana finishes charging.

[DEATH 115]

The progress is invisible to others, but real to Haru. He has learned to climb the mansion using only 10% of his previous mana. He stares at Cedrick for three minutes. He sees the patterns, the sway of the traitor’s body. But Cedrick’s brute force still wins. Another reset.

[DEATH 120]

The fight is a dance of breaking bones. Haru blocks the punch, but his arm snaps under the pressure. Cedrick looks at him with cold contempt as he walks down the hall with Isabela. Haru tries to follow him, but his mana is gone, and he is alive. He could still do something.

He started opening Isabela’s drawers. He was looking for something, anything other than a strand of hair that would give him enough mana to hold on.

Clothes here and there. Scarves. Socks. Hair ribbons.

"Damn... I’m running out of time..."

Haru was clearly tired of repeating that. It seemed impossible. So he picked up something different, felt the mana flow. Much stronger than the hair.

He put it in his pocket and ran towards the hallway. Cedrick was already far away.

As he ran, he looked at what he had picked up.

It had given off a lot of mana, a lot of mana. Much more than the hair.

Was it... fabric? White. Lace. Small.

He frowned.

He realized.

"Isabela’s panties?!"

He jumped out the hallway window, still looking at the object in his hand.

A sword pierced his heart through the air.

He fell.

Everything went black.

[CHRONIA’S CURSE: ACTIVATED]

Haru woke up in the morning, gasping for breath. His heart was racing.

He looked around. The stable. The hay. The dim morning light. He took a deep breath.

And he shouted:

"ISABELA’S PANTIES!"