Chapter 151 - The Maiden of the Scales, Attended by a Thousand Blades - Part 1
Here I come.
"Ah, Sora-san?"
"Yes?"
"No [Scareless]."
"I wasn't going to use it!?"
I mean, I'd be pretty helpless if she drained thirty levels from me, so I had to make sure, you know?
That broken mutual-buff skill is, at its core, a 'support skill.'
It's limited to a specific target—Sora said she can only use it on me right now—but to flip that around, it means she can use it on me at any time.
So if we fought with truly 'anything goes,' I basically can't beat Sora. It's not a status ailment or a debuff; it's a side effect of a support buff... There's no way to resist it.
And with [Scareless], the side giving up levels loses thirty levels' worth from their highest stat all at once—in other words, 300 points get yanked out...
――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇
Title: Acrobat
Name: Haru Lv: 100
STR: 300
AGI: 350
DEX: 100
VIT: 0 (+50)
MID: 0 (+350)
LUC: 300
◇Skill◇
・All-Weapon Aptitude
《Blink Switch》
《Flip Stroke》
《Gusty Limb》
《Exchange Voltate》
Greed's Precept
・《Reflect Bloware》
・《Tremble Slide》
・《Ignition》
・《Floating Leaf》
・《Foreknowledge Eye》
・Embodied Protection
・Combo Accelerate
・Awakening Blow
・Heavy Attack Manipulator
・Adamant Sky Dash
・Rabbit Run
・Fataless Jumper
・Rhino's Heart
・Trickery Precept
・Guardian's Cradle
・Telepathy
――――――――――――――――――
Yep. In my case, AGI would drop to 50, leaving me with nothing but muscle and luck.
Right now, my enhanced MID is tied with my AGI. If it drew from that instead, we could probably form a double front with my combat power mostly intact, but... unfortunately, it doesn't seem to reference anything but base stats.
So, yeah. For example, if the word 'mercy' were to vanish from Sora-san's mind in the middle of a brawl, my defeat would be all but sealed in that instant.
Of course, I don't think Sora would ever resort to such an outrage, but... again, just to be sure.
Sora glares at my joking words as if to say "How rude!" but I'm sorry to say, she's not scary at all.
—The thing I'm currently feeling dread for isn't the girl's adorable appearance... but the combat potential she has accumulated within that slender avatar, a power yet to be revealed to the world.
............Can I be brutally honest?
—There's a serious chance I'm going to lose this.
"Fuu... —Sora, you ready?"
On the verge of battle, I let out a long, thin breath and asked Sora, who stood facing me across the white circle.
Whether she was copying me or it was unconscious, she took a similar deep breath, then slowly opened her eyes—
"—...!"
As if she had made up her mind, Sora raised her face, and the [Cradle of Sword-Craft] on her right hand began to glow.
It was a familiar sight now. A single, seamless magic sword of sand materialized in her right hand.
"I'm ready when you are...!"
Her stance was somewhat stiff and awkward. Yet her eyes were unwavering as they looked straight at me. The golden girl declared her fighting spirit.
Ah, really... it's impossible not to think back.
This is the same girl who, at the very beginning, could do nothing but scream and run away from a fungus whose only attack was a body slam.
And now, here she stands, ready to cross swords with me as a clear equal.
"...[Blink Switch]."
I summoned my own Anima—the [White-Flawed Straight Sword]—to my right hand, a mirror image of her own... and I wonder, what kind of expression was I making?
For a moment, the tension in Sora's eyes faded as if she were stunned—and I'd like to think the natural smile that appeared on her face was also a mirror image of my own.
"Sora."
"Yes."
"I'm coming at you with everything I've got."
I remember. She said she wanted to stand with me.
I've never forgotten that she said she wanted to fight by my side.
That's why.
"—...Yes! I'll show you my full power, too!!"
Yes, that's why, with my full power right now.
I have to teach you that you're no longer behind me.
"Ui-san."
"Yes, whenever you're ready—"
"No, that's not it."
The large, white circular stage takes up most of the spacious grounds. For a match between swordsmen, it might be too large, but it would never be insufficient. The training hall is that big.
Ui-san, watching us as we stand about ten meters apart in the center, is properly standing outside the white circle, but—
"Please move back a little more."
That is far, far too close.
"That's also part of Sora's combat zone—and also, I'd like to apologize in advance on behalf of my partner, but..."
Sora has probably already entered her zone. On her behalf, I give the baffled Sword Saint a strained smile.
"If the buildings can be destroyed by stray shots... I'm sorry."
While I belatedly try to hedge my bets—something invisible erupted from the girl facing me, swelling explosively and pushing the very air aside.
It was likely the visual effect for 'magic power' in Arcadia. The MID stat, into which half of her Level 100 resources had been poured, roared to life, sending her own hair, my hair, and even Ui-san's hair, who had moved even further away, fluttering in the wind.
And then—
"—[Schwert Kreis]."
She uttered the key phrase, the one we created together, that signified the beginning of her fighting style as a 'Magic Swordswoman.'
In that instant,
"—...!!"
It was an outlandish spectacle, one that I could vividly imagine would make even the Sword Saint, who had retreated to the side of the building, gasp in astonishment.
An uncountable number of swords deployed all at once, centered on Sora—like the swirling dust that had once enveloped that great serpent, a thousand blades of sand attended the maiden.
As if she were a conductor, Sora waved the single sword in her right hand, and the ring of magic blades that constantly flew around her changed shape at will... like loyal retainers bowing to their queen.
"............Well now."
—I have to wonder what I'm supposed to do about that. Wasn't there a secret boss in some masochistic game that was like this?
Even then, I feel like that was its berserk state after you'd cornered it—and yet, to think that this is her first form is enough to make me laugh.
"Looking at this scene, it's hard to tell who the challenger is, but..."
One thing I can say for sure is that I'd rather die than show a pathetic side of myself here.
Not to Sora, whose expression has gone blank as she focuses solely on thought control, nor to the Sword Saint, who is secretly watching with incredibly delighted, sparkling eyes.
We no longer need a signal to begin.
We already know each other's rhythms as if they were our own—so,
"[Ignition]—!!"
I pulled the trigger of the [Panga Fool] I had summoned to my left hand, and at the same time,
"—[Torus]."
Sora swung her command sword.
The crimson lightning that erupted from the black dagger coursed through my avatar, and as I leaped forward with what was, without any exaggeration, a do-or-die step—
"[Tausend]—!!"
The waterfall of a thousand blades commanded by the girl descended upon me all at once.