Chapter 650 - After the Tremors Pass
Although I had found 'evidence' I could be confident in during our short but intense brawl, I was honestly relieved from the bottom of my heart that [Yamabiko] landed successfully.
I didn't throw a vibration attack at an opponent who controls vibrations because I had lost my mind. All things considered, I did it because I judged it to be the most effective move against her.
Ultimately, the most troublesome part of Oubai Touri, or Oume-san's, defense was the instant partial hardening from her unique title, 'The Grounder.' Even if the power of a strike was dispersed by her vibration dampening, challenging her with a blade would just get me repelled by her steel-like body.
It was easier to get through with strikes, impacts, and vibrations that would merely be dispersed. And the fact that they would be at least slightly effective was proven by her reactions to my fists that landed time and again during our brawl.
Her unique title, 'Heroine,' and its ability, [Helios Tremblea], which boasted vibration manipulation, naturally had a limit to both its amplification and dampening—so, I decided to pierce it head-on.
Shinden Style Two, [Yamabiko]... and not just that. It was a triple combo, with a fully charged [Kai] added in while I clung to a one-ton-plus weight to endure the raging torrent.
On top of that, I didn't forget to reapply [Water Enchant] and the six-shot barrage of [Frezon Revolver], a merciless, instantaneous, and overwhelming onslaught. It was unfortunately unclear whether the limit of her vibration manipulation depended on 'the amount of power' or 'the number of vibration sources'... which is why.
To be safe either way, I hammered her with a combo of overwhelming power that was far too excessive for a single player—and then, on top of that...
The moment the principles of [Shinden] bypassed the Heroine's steel body defense, I had the vibration, impact, and all other damage judgments completely overwritten into a slashing judgment.
[Reject Sentence]—a massive cheat that overturns the system's rules.
Hahaha... the 'price' is scary, but when weighed against the massive achievement of defeating a Ranker, it can't be helped—or so I thought, but first, there's one thing I have to do.
And so, the person I needed to apologize to came running up to me.
"Whoa... sorry, Kanata. Honestly, I didn't have the luxury of worrying about you."
"No, no, no, no, not at all...!"
Even if that was the only full-power blast, I had clearly used [Kai] too many times in a short period. As was to be expected, my body crumbled backwards, and a cool arm caught me.
It was Kanata-kun, completely soaked from head to toe, who must have had a terrible time despite my efforts to protect him.
I had tried to protect him by multitasking and instantly firing a shadow thread from [Nine Tail] behind me to wrap him in a cocoon, but it seems it wasn't perfect.
Nevertheless...
"You protected me...! And that move, you can use it like that... or rather, your decision to use [Flood] to forcibly cancel it out was to protect me in the back, right?! If you hadn't, I would have definitely taken a direct hit and been crushed—!"
"Calm down, kouhai. Your senpai is currently pretty beat up from repeated death matches with monsters..."
Even factoring in the exhaustion from before I came to his rescue, a quick look shows his HP bar is holding steady at just over fifty percent. Compared to me, who barely survived the waterfall in the critical red zone thanks to my insane MID-boosted magic resistance, he could be called unscathed.
And so, another thing to tell him... or rather...
"Right, Kanata, good job. You did well against a Ranker. I'm proud of you."
"Huh...? Uh, no, I mean... you ended up saving me, and I couldn't even follow through on the challenge I made, so it's more embarrassing than anything...—"
"Or so you think?"
There's one thing that clearly deserves immense praise. I need to make sure I put it into words.
"The Lady Heroine's left leg wasn't moving properly, you know."
"Eh, ...what?"
"You did something to it, right? The reason I was able to fight her head-on and hold my own was probably thanks to that. Her footwork was sluggish the whole time, Oume-san's was."
"..., ..."
As for what Kanata actually did to hold his own against the Heroine, that'll be something to look forward to when I watch the archive footage later. Still, it's only natural to assume that no one other than Kanata, in his first encounter with her shortly after the battle began, could have been the culprit.
What he did, whether his plan fully succeeded or not, I don't know... but Kanata's fangs had certainly reached the Heroine.
"In other words, it was practically an unexpected joint takedown—be proud, Kanata-kun."
"...—!"
Still supported by him, my back too weak to move, I leaned my head back to look up at his upside-down face and offered him a teasing smile—and WHAM.
"...Damn you, kouhai, what do you think you're doing?"
"S-s-s-so-sorry!?"
Blushing furiously and panicking, the boy pulled back in what I can only assume was a reflex, abandoning me. My exhausted, near-dead avatar crumbled to the floor in a heap.
...Am I the one at fault here? Ah, I see.
The floor is cold, which might be just right for this avatar's flushed body, even after a bath.
◇◆◇◆◇
"—Well, I'll be damned..."
In front of the Southern Faction's war base, the Knight's Royal Castle - El Faria. A man leaning against the outer wall of the red castle with his eyes closed—Yata, 'The Poet'—let out a genuinely amazed voice.
"The first one out is from our Southern Faction, huh."
"Oume-san... well, it wasn't a great matchup for her, so I guess it can't be helped."
Next, Uni and Ohlin, who were beside him, reacted to his murmur with bitter smiles of resigned acceptance. And to conclude...
"What did it look like?"
...came the voice of the 'Lady-in-Waiting,' asking for what he had seen in order to formulate their ongoing 'plan.' Unlike the somewhat laid-back men, the question from the ever-sharp Queen (Helena) was met with...
"I was gobsmacked... my goodness, I never thought she'd be taken down in a ground battle, in a straight-up brawl... I truly didn't expect that."
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
"What did you say?"
And as Yata gave his answer, it was the laid-back men who raised their voices in astonishment. This time, Fuji, who was next to Ohlin, joined in, creating a perfect trifecta.
"There were some strange moves mixed in here and there, but it was basically a simple brawl. A bare-knuckle fight between two fists where neither side gave an inch."
And so, hearing Yata's report...
"Ehh... I heard she's been into martial arts lately, but..."
...mused Uni.
"One of his strengths is being a 'walking armory,' and now he's become dangerous even bare-handed...? You've gotta be kidding me... is his growth rate broken or something?"
...said Ohlin.
"At this point, I can't even call myself his 'nemesis' anymore. In fact, I don't want to. I just don't want to fight him. With the sheer number of cards he has and his pure skill, I can only see a future where he and his replica instantly kill me in a dozen different ways. I give up."
...said Fuji.
As the three who had shared the battlefield with him strung together words that were ten parts exasperation, 'The Poet,' who had been close to Oubai Touri when she left the Four Pillars' stage and had shared her vision,—however...
"But, well... just as planned, we've found our first promising lead. As expected of our top three in PvP, she didn't go down for nothing."
Under his hat, his bitter smile turned into an amused one.
"And so, Helena-chan. Here's the first chink in the Prince's armor."
"I'm listening."
His 'eyes,' which were currently housing multiple scenes, turned to the 'Lady-in-Waiting,' and he nodded.
In other words, he simply broke through with a power-is-everything approach that transcended the limits of her ability. By the way, if not for the finishing blow of converting the damage judgment to slashing with [Reject Sentence], the vibration dampening would have kicked in just in time, and she would have barely survived.
Eh, you can convert attack attribute judgments in the first place? This guy was casually felling giant trees with his fists during the event's pioneering phase, wasn't he? He must have been properly experimenting and verifying things when he had the time. What a good boy.