“Ah— Haha… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Her laugh echoed and echoed, and it failed to stop.
The sound of the roaring exchange of swords swelled and swelled with each passing second, and already long exceeded the speed beyond what a normal naked eye can keep up with.
Both of us surrendered ourselves to our primal instincts, only swinging our swords in anticipation of the most optimal result we could hope for.
And although there was a meager basis for proper judgment, even for a moment, our way of “thinking” that led to the sounds from the exchange that was left behind was nothing short of suicidal.
Therefore, we were in a deadlock.
The silver trails poured down on me like an endless hail of rain, her attack’s momentum briefly dissipating, only to be immediately followed by arcs of swords coming towards me from two different directions with even greater speed than it had before.
It was a relentless pattern.
—It was as if she was trying to change the pace.
Lilea roared with maniacal laughter and acted as if she had abandoned reason and calmness, but in reality, her fighting style was as rational as can be.
But even though I knew in my head that she was just letting her instincts take over, my body couldn’t keep up.
What’s more, because of her unique fighting style, I had no choice but to go on the defensive.
“You won’t be able to beat me if you turtle up like that, you know?! DO YOU HEAR ME?!”
“—Kgh…”
I was well aware that I had no chance of winning without taking the initiative to attack without being told, it was just that I couldn’t find any opportunity to do so.
Thus why I had to patiently wait for an opening to exploit, though Lilea, knowing what I had in mind, only laughed with amusement.
Her words, along with her fierce, bloodshot eyes, shot through my entirety.
“You have all the audacity to think about that when you can’t even attack back!!!”
A chain of strikes came in every direction possible, every powerful as they could be.
I walked the tightrope just in time, intercepting her attacks as I read their trajectory.
Before long, a familiar metallic clang struck my eardrums, followed by two or three more.
She taunted me as she spoke, but I knew that Lilea, the person in question, was eagerly waiting for my turn to attack.
So even though I thought it would be fun to take advantage of this provocation, I could only do so much.
Given the state she was in, she may seem like a person who’s engulfed with pure madness.
But in practice, she couldn’t act carelessly given that her natural habit was to fight efficiently at all costs.
She attacked in a way devoid of any openings, as if to ask me the same thing I’ve been asking myself… What to do?
The more time I spent turtling up, the worse my chances were.
If that’s the case, then—
“—Heh. AHAHA—”
It was at the same time I made my decision.
And as if she had been waiting for it, Lilea narrowed her eyes and smiled a smile that could only be described as eerie.
“Yes, that’s it.”
She affirmed it.
That’s what I’ve been waiting for, she said.
She laughed again, with a clearly recognizable glee in her eyes this time.
…I wasn’t happy about doing what Lilea wanted me to do.
But I had to do it.
Even if she expects everything to happen her way, it’s the only way to break this deadlock that I’m in.
Besides, to remember what I was here for…
I was only here to prove myself in a fighting contest, not a fight to the death.
Even the killing intent showered at me was uncanny, but I couldn’t deny that it was just a natural result of her enjoying this situation to the fullest.
Being afraid to lose was the only thing that could make me lose.
Losing this fight right now wouldn’t be the end of the world either way.
Thus— while defending myself from the continuous barrage of blows, I let out a sharp exhale and let out the wicked thoughts swirling around in my brain.
And once again, I retreated.
“…Hm?”
Instead of coming at her at full speed, I retreated as soon as I had the chance.
My contradictory behavior raised Lilea’s eyebrows.
…What does this mean?
Or so the question painted her face.
Then, the torrent of swords, which had been drawing arcs in the air like a whip, stopped for the very first time.
Lilea looked at me— and wrinkled her brows even more.
The reason being as soon as I got distance, she saw me in a strange position with only half of my body facing her.
“…Are you messing with me?”
“I’m not. You’re one of the only people who know how serious I am.”
***
Reaper Scans
***
Soon the breeze that was blowing over the area changed ever so slightly, perhaps influenced by the combined overflowing fighting spirits we were displaying.
Realizing this slight change, the disappointed look on Lilea’s face vanished in a flash.
I guess it would be more accurate to say that she was stunned out of it, given that the stance I’m trying to achieve was impossibly grandiose.
“Besides— it’s not like you know everything, Lilea.”
The normal way was, above all, reaching optimal responses with an emphasis on functionality above all else.
There was nothing wrong with that idea.
However, there are people in this world who cannot be evaluated by common sense.
That’s exactly the kind of people who are not afraid to smash down the wall of common sense that people say is equivalent to garbage and move on.
I would be happier to be convinced that those opponents aren’t very easy to beat.
“I see…”
Since fighting and crossing swords in a normal way would only result in a slow and steady decline, the only way to win is to change the way you attack.
“——”
For a few seconds, I had blank thoughts, and only at this time, in this very moment, could I afford to do that.
What broke the brief silence in my mind was Sofia’s condition to this fight.
If I lost to Lilea—
Despite everything she says, I knew firsthand what she really felt.
Maybe it was to keep me from doing something reckless, but my father generally had Sofia to look after me, after all.
Therefore, I had to show by my actions that there was no need for such concern.
I had to prove it.
And the quickest way to do that is to embody the “strongest” that exists within you—!
“It’s far from the real thing, but still—”
—I thought it was worth trying at a time like this.
So rather than only trying to imitate his “techniques,” why not imitate his fundamentals on swordsmanship— hell, even his form?
Strangely enough, both my legs felt so light that it was almost as if they had wings.
“Hey— Julius… Since when were you able to do—”
Why, Lilea muttered, her eyes wide with astonishment, with her voice sounding amused and comical at the same time.
—To not attack using magic, but only exerting magic on both my legs and feet instead of only my hands.
I didn’t take the time to listen to what she had to say, but focused my mind on the sword in my hand.
Before long, I attempted to start closing my distance to Lilea again, but…
“…”
Silently, Lilea let the twin swords in her hands fall from her hands.
And soon after, a metallic clang sounded from the ground.
“…I know it’s not my place to say this,”
…But if you’re going to fight in that state, you’re going to have to do more than just get hurt, she added apologetically.
“I give up. As tempting as it is to cross swords with you using that technique… it would only end up causing a serious injury to either of us. I’m not going to go any further than this right now, given that there’s still the ‘Magician Hunter.’”
This was the line.
A fine line that can be damned by reason, Lilea said, and raised both her hands up in the air.
—I lost, not just in words, but in this very match, too.
…It was just as Lilea said.
It’s not the brightest idea to get fatally injured in the midst of the magician killings.
As much as I would’ve liked to cross swords with her a little more, this was only a match to determine my skill.
By reminding myself that this wasn’t a killing match, I slowly calmed down the heat that had once flared up inside me.
And as if in tandem with this, the strange sensation of lightness in my legs also disappeared, it was a sensation similar to what I felt unleashing a ‘Shooting Star.’
“—With that being said, where the hell did you learn a trick like that?”
Lilea asked as she picked up her twin swords and scabbard that she had taken out of my hands.
But…
“…I wonder about that myself, too. I just felt like I could imitate that technique and tried to apply it myself, so I don’t really know.”
I myself didn’t understand how my legs became so light, nor how much of a feat that was.
“…Imitate?”
“Yeah. I tried to imitate what I wanted to do with a clear ideal in mind… But the next thing I remembered was that I just found myself already doing that.”
Needless to say, it was an imitation of the ‘Star Slayer’ that resided in my memory.
“I see. Trying to imitate, huh? …You’d be better off not forgetting that sensation. Remembering that very feeling would do you good sometime, I guarantee it.”
——
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