Chapter 732 - Ice that Blooms in Spring
—This was absolutely unbearable.
With every passing second, not figuratively, this thought just kept piling up.
"Hah, surprisingly, I think… I can still… go on!"
"Tch—!"
The rhythm has changed.
The flow was the same up until he dodged the first strike and bound the daggers with ice as Uni was about to move… but what came after was different. Using his twin daggers as a decoy, Uni left them floating in mid-air as his right hand flashed out, and his gauntlet parried and deflected the pursuing second strike.
Furthermore, he spun.
Ignoring his opponent, who was caught in the opening of a missed swing for less than a split second, the small frame spun without losing its momentum from the exchange, unleashing a roundhouse kick that—struck ice.
The binding chains were shattered. The weapons were released. And with the same speed they were sent flying,
"There!"
It was an acrobatic feat, truly reminiscent of someone else.
With the divine skill that he, himself, had been synonymous with until that someone else rose to prominence,
"—Tch…!"
—his left hand, which had unerringly caught the hilt, shot forward, grazing the neck of Irori, who had reflexively dodged.
The sequence was the same as before up to a point, but the ending was the complete opposite. The [Peerless] warrior, letting out an involuntary click of his tongue, took a large step back to reset the engagement and glared ahead.
"Hah, tough…"
Though his breathing was ragged, the [Heavy Tank] was smiling.
By now, he was confident that he had surpassed him.
Ability, skill, and spirit. Combining all of them, he was certain he had overcome his senior. This was not conceit; it should be a fact.
He himself, and Uni too, should have recognized this.
In this virtual world, they had spent more time in battle than anyone else. That's why, on that point alone, they wouldn't make a mistake. They would absolutely never misjudge who was stronger than whom.
That should have been the case, and yet…
"…This is unbearable."
—He was still so high.
The wall he thought he had surpassed, the wall he thought he had left behind him…
…was still standing so tall that he had to look back and face it from the front again, exuding a presence that belied his avatar's small frame, as if to say, 'I am still here.'
If that was the case, then not yet.
If that was so, then not yet.
If he hadn't pulled away enough to leave him behind, then they were ultimately just splitting hairs.
"…"
He became aware of his own smile, a mirror image of the other's.
This relationship was different from the one he had with his hard-to-ignore, troublesome 'junior.' Being near this person was both unwelcome and—somehow, strangely pleasing.
"Hey, what are you smiling at? Stop it, that's creepy."
"Right back at you."
The lighthearted banter they had started exchanging at some point was, annoyingly, not something he disliked.
He had been difficult, a burden, a mirror, and at times, an unbearably irritating presence that disturbed his peace of mind… but looking back, if it hadn't been for this guy…
…he probably would never have been able to accept that 'Harbinger of Spring.'
And so, that's why.
"Uni."
"Hm?"
I thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
"I'm ending this with the next move. I won't accept any complaints."
"…Heh. Bring it on."
For letting me reach this point.
"Come on. You'll surpass my expectations anyway, right?"
And for always, always forging me with the pressure of those expectations.
"[Trance]."
And so, he wove the words and donned the form.
The tickling sensation of his hair growing to touch his neck, the unreliability of his slenderer frame, the discomfort of the prayer robe heavier than his usual kamishimo—it was his 'reverse' side, a form he was still not used to.
And though the direction he took, which coincidentally overlapped with someone else's, was nothing short of infuriating—
—now that he had forged it into his 'power' through months of effort, he had no hesitation in wielding it.
"Ice Chamber Release."
"—…!"
The one commonality between his two sides. He thrust the tip of his blue sword into the ground at his feet, and as he chanted the prelude, his 'enemy' kicked off the floor at full speed.
An excellent decision, the best possible one… but unfortunately, it was too late.
If he hadn't been caught off guard by the sudden [Trance], if he hadn't been taken aback by the first sight of this 'reverse' form, if he had chosen to close the distance before anything else, it would have been easy to take the head of the now extremely fragile Irori—but that was that.
This jack-in-the-box first-time-kill was a bad thing he had learned from his junior, after all.
"[Tsuge no Inagi (Ice World's Advent)]."
Now, I shall proudly display it.
◇◆◇◆◇
"—Ngh, mmm…"
It wasn't the bell signaling the end of the match, nor the sudden disappearance of the countless presences she had been facing, that caused the [Castle Lord] to open her eyes with a dissatisfied grunt.
It was simply because it got cold.
And so, her eyelids fluttered open, and her violet eyes reflected a world of pure light. A world of ice, glittering brilliantly as it caught the stage lights.
She looked around, and around again, but it was impossible to deduce its scale… because, aside from the immediate vicinity of Mei, protected by an emergency-activated absolute protection function, the space was filled with ice without a single gap.
It was an anomaly so vast she thought it might have swallowed the entire stage whole. In this place where the abnormal had manifested, the sleeping princess, momentarily roused from her slumber, was…
"………………………c-cold…"
…muttering a complaint, before slowly closing her eyes once more.
Semifinal Match 1, Winner: [Peerless & Castle Lord]
A moment of silence for the Northern #2, who was caught in the crossfire of his rival's dispute and taken down with him.
―――――――――――――――――― ◇Status◇ Title: Peerless Name: Irori Lv: 100 STR: 500 AGI: 150 (+50) DEX: 200 VIT: 100 (+100) MID: 150 (+100) LUC: 50 ―――――――――――――――――― ◇Status / Trance◇ Title: Peerless Name: Irori Lv: 100 STR: 10 AGI: 30 DEX: 10 VIT: 0 (+100) MID: 1100 (+200) LUC: 0 ――――――――――――――――――