Chapter 233 - The Sword That Wishes, The Sword That Hopes, The One Awaited is Here, Part Four
""————————!""
Words had long been lost between us. The field, where we did nothing but slam our full speeds into each other, was filled with a relentless, ceaseless roar of impact.
Even if I couldn't perceive the swings of a body so thoroughly loved by the world, blessed with Talent and favor, I'd already accumulated more than enough 'memory' of the quirks and movements in her stance leading up to those invisible slashes.
Dodge, strike, and if possible, knock her attack away before it even begins.
Reinforced by [Desperate Crimson] and commanding the principles of [Shukuchi], my avatar was certainly holding its own against the [Sword Queen]—but that was as far as it went.
I'd desperately managed to 'catch up' to her. But anything beyond that... overcoming our clash and landing my blade on her body was impossible.
It was a stark reminder of the overwhelming difference in our fundamental skill. I'd known it from the start, but the wall separating us wasn't just the magnitude of our 'Talents.'
'Three years' since the service began—a genius, certified as 'the real deal' by the world, had put in tireless effort, whatever her feelings may have been, to become the [Sword Queen] she is now.
...She might be furious with me for speaking like I know anything.
But you know, I get it. I have to get it, right?
After all, I'm the 'disciple' of someone who endlessly strives for what she 'loves'—chasing an ideal she's always admired.
If I can't even recognize an opponent I should respect, I can't call myself the Sword Saint's disciple.
"—...Hk!"
"Ghh... Nraaah!!"
Another clash, one of countless. I take the initiative, an overhead strike, even using two swords of red and green, and I'm still overpowered and deflected. Iris's eyes are certainly pointed straight at me, but—
In those garnet depths, the 'emotion' I'm hoping for has yet to surface.
I've made her face me. That much I've achieved. But it's not enough—
My blades aren't just parried; they're pulled in as if her sword is 'reeling' them in, and my posture breaks. A familiar technique—something my 'master' also used, a form of 'jujutsu' with a sword.
"Y-You...!"
I'm the only one whose voice is tinged with panic. The girl who stands one step ahead of the [Sword Saint], the embodiment of the 'Supreme Sword,' is—
"Hh————!"
—wordlessly, with everything else she has, embodying the 'Strongest Sword.'
A block, a break, a returning slash. It's undoubtedly a technique at the apex of what can be achieved through an mind-boggling amount of training.
My activation of [Breath Moment] kicks in at the last possible second, and I manage to escape with my life—but that just means I'm one step closer to a game over.
Just over a hundred seconds remaining. Thanks to my special title's cooldown reduction, it'll be ready again, but this means I can only use my semi-absolute evasion one more time within the limit.
I already used [Prescient Eye] to deal with her initial shift into serious mode. From the very beginning, I've been critically short on cards to play.
The shields... they'd be useless against her. The only reason I'm able to 'clash' with Iris at all is entirely thanks to a skill I recently acquired.
[Cutting Body, Unyielding Advance]—it provides a percentage-based cut to the chip damage from weapon clashes, scaled to the ratio of total self-inflicted damage versus my max HP. Furthermore, it uses MP to cover any excess damage.
It's a god-tier skill that's almost too perfect for a player like me, but its origin—the reason, or rather, the catalyst for acquiring it... was probably getting beaten to a pulp during my endless spars with the [Sword Saint]-sama.
In any case, thanks to it I can clash, but 'blocking' is impossible. Even if I raised my [Revolving Shield], I can only see a future where I get blown away right through my guard.
And as for the clashing itself—my MP is running low. I'm nearing my limit.
Should I have used [Rabbit Rapid, Crimson Brilliant Bullet] instead of [Desperate Crimson]? No, combining [Shukuchi] and 'Red' is too unsustainable. I could see myself hitting my control limit in a few steps and falling apart.
The 'Red' protection, which causes unavoidable self-destruction damage different from self-inflicted damage, is incompatible with [Crown Crown], which drops my health to the absolute minimum. Seeking the cooldown reduction effect, I prioritized the latter in a two-choice dilemma. I can't say that was a foolish move.
Then did I time it wrong? Should I have saved the [Crimson Rabbit Hairpin] and relied on its instant-death avoidance for a max-power strike—no, that's just as reckless.
The hairpin's protection only activates once.
And as shown when [Desperate Crimson] and [Crown Crown] activated almost simultaneously during my self-termination, 'death negation' just 'nullifies fatal damage once'; it doesn't grant any invincibility frames.
If I leave the blade that pierced my heart embedded in my chest, my HP will vanish in an instant.
Similarly, it's powerless against continuous damage, multi-hit attacks from combos, or aftershocks—or rather, it might be useful for someone with decent durability, but for a glass cannon like me, I usually can't withstand it and die anyway.
Like with Karehomura, which looked like a single strike but was actually an instantaneous flurry, or Yuikaze, whose otherworldly power created aftershocks that took the form of multi-hit attacks—I've lost count of how many times my own master's sword has pierced through this 'death negation.'
There might be moments where an unexpected activation saves my life, but... unfortunately, I no longer have enough faith in 'death negation' to incorporate it into deliberate tactics.
In the end, I don't think I could have held on this long against her with my base stats—so I can't say that playing my cards early was a mistake.
Which means, it really is just that—I cannot defeat Iris.
...But hey,
"I knew that from the start...!"
More than anyone else, I myself—
"Came into this fight fully aware of that!!"
"Hh————...!?"
I use [Shukuchi] to get in her face. Iris, reacting with the same precision she had to my countless previous moves—swung her sword, which drew a bigger arc through empty air than ever before.
I'd dove headfirst right in front of her—or more accurately, at her feet.
Charging in with a trajectory that would have me crash into the now-shallow waterway, I slammed my green sword into the floor with all my might—and using the rebound to launch myself upward, I transitioned into three-dimensional movement with a switch-jump.
I know that using the splash of water as a smokescreen is useless. But,
"—Rabbit Blades!!"
[Flip Stroke] activated. While tossing my rabbit dagger overhead, I zipped through the air, scattering crimson blades as a diversion, then kicked off a wall to reverse direction and burst through the pillar of water—
"Second Strike—"
"Hk..."
"—[Striking Iron]!!"
A flash of my green sword, followed by—[Ignition]!!
"Wha—agh, guh...!"
Contact, deceleration—and then, I bit down on the trigger of the [Panga Fool] held in my mouth, unleashing a pseudo-combo of zero-to-one-hundred acceleration.
It was the only two-handed stance in Kesshiki Ittoryu. A peerless 'hard' strike that could blow away a several-hundred-kilogram iron ingot like it was paper.
Furthermore, the follow-up push from [Shukuchi] and the thrust from a swing that bypassed the acceleration process rocked even the [Sword Queen].
Obscure her vision with a water pillar, distract her thoughts with a barrage of rabbit blades, and catch her off guard with a new card—don't stop, keep moving, run her ragged!
Though she was slightly off-balance, Iris's counter came instantly, without a moment's pause. She pushed back against the blade of the [Samidorizuki] that had, despite her wavering, met her attack squarely—
"!?"
—and her eyes widened as the green sword vanished without any resistance.
[Blink Switch]—in the middle of a blade lock, your opponent's weapon suddenly disappears... you've probably never experienced that before, have you?
Got your back, Princess!!
Using a multi-stage [Shukuchi] to switch directions and get behind her, I summoned into each of my raised hands two massive weapons: the [Giant's Hand Axe] and the [An-ri Galta (Prologue: The Wedge-Fragment that Sings of Eternity)].
There's a momentary lag before the weight registers—my arms, gripping the hilts, are running on two different outputs at full blast, already past their limits at top speed!!
"Ngh—..."
"Hk... y-you—!!"
"—————DUUAAAAARGHHHHHHH!!"
A deafening roar, vaporization—and impact.
The first sound of clear distress she'd let slip came as she was completely thrown off balance.
And as I mercilessly slammed the violence of nearly a ton of mass into her—I kicked away the very idea of stopping, putting all my 'trust' into this charge.
My Talent isn't enough, so what?
My experience is lacking, I already know that.
My skill is inferior—who cares, I'll just smash through it.
I'm not enough, I can't reach her, I understood all of that before she ever had to show me.
For me, this was never a fight to win—it's a fight to make my playmate, who looked bored, lonely, and on the verge of tears, finally smile.
If everything comparable about me is hopelessly inferior—then I'll just have to hit her with something she doesn't have.
Luckily, I'm an acrobat. I have a reputation for being good at dirty tricks, far removed from my master's swordsmanship... but my master is a generous person. I'm sure she's watching over me with a gentle smile.
So come on—you too, smile more.
As I braced against the immense recoil and charged once more, through the steam created by the massive energy release—I saw a faint smile on her face, and,
I couldn't suppress the ferocious grin that spread across my own face.