kscans

Chapter 853 - Magic Swordsman - Magic =

It's not that I'm angry.

Let's not worry about matching each other's pace or trying to be overly considerate. I remember us having that conversation back when we had just met.

Even without a Gift for 'memory,' I've never forgotten the promises we made. Many things have changed since then… since I used to call Haru 'Haru-san.' But in terms of our fundamental personalities, we're both still the same.

Meaning, Haru still has a nature where he 'worries about others more than himself, for his own sake.'

And I, Sora, still have a nature where I 'cherish the one who worries about me more than I cherish myself.'

Are we similar, or not really? Are we looking in the same direction, or is that not it either? There is only one clear thing we have in common.

Both of us, while acknowledging the problems and distortions, don't dislike the way we are. We may want to be better, but we have no intention of changing who we are at our core.

My wish for him to stay just as he is, the one I told him a long time ago, remains unchanged.

The words he told me a long time ago, that he likes me just as I am now, I've never doubted them.

Sora will remain Sora, and Haru will remain Haru, and while we might adjust our perspectives or awareness just a little… well, in the end, people can't just become someone else so easily.

As always, Haru thinks in a way that prioritizes me over himself for his own sake, and as always, I cherish Haru's feelings for me more than my own.

That's why we exchanged 'Go on ahead' and 'I understand.' Two weeks ago, he urged me to go first, promising he'd catch up right away… and by extension, he asked me to lead our clan mates in his stead. I accepted.

I am, at least in name, the clan master. I'm sure Haru had no such intention, but even setting that aside, I understand exactly why he said, 'Lead them.'

The Azure Sky Clan is Haru and Sora's clan.

Two rankers and one fighter said to be a ranker-in-training. It's a dizzying fact, considering the incredible members we've gathered…

Ui-san, the Sword Saint who I still look up to; Tetra, the Undying, who stubbornly acts younger despite likely being older; and my partner's disciple, student, and junior, Kanata.

All three of them see themselves as being by Haru's and my side.

Perhaps as pioneers with years of experience, they feel a sense of watching over us, the latecomers. That's why the three of them try to accommodate us.

And what does that mean? It means if Haru stops, and I stop beside him to rest, the three of them will naturally stop as well.

In other words—it's easy to imagine that Haru, who 'worries about others more than himself, for his own sake,' couldn't possibly allow that to happen. He's considerate even with me, his partner, so he must be even more so with his two juniors (?), not to mention his master.

And that, in other words—is why I, who 'cherish the one who worries about me more than I cherish myself,' couldn't possibly refuse Haru's request.

Again, I'm really not angry.

I understand and accept it all, including my own feelings and those of my other half. I'm troubled by the twisted way our thoughts mesh, but when I think of it as a rare compatibility, it even feels comforting.

So, yes. My attitude last night was, in every sense of the word, me lashing out.

At the inflexibility of the system, which makes it impossible to simply descend through the layers. At the fact that the memory of the annoyed look I gave Haru two weeks ago, when he told me to go ahead with a smile, won't leave my mind. And at my own hopelessly childish heart, which got genuinely jealous of an NPC… an existence I know is just a game character, no matter how much she seems like a real person. All of that, and more.

One thing after another piled up, leading to a massive explosion.

No, if I could have had a grand explosion, there might have been some salvation. Instead, I just sulked, like a slow, damp leak in the ceiling.

At fifteen, the heart of a maiden in love is as unmanageable as ever.

Last night, I thoroughly troubled the one I love. The image of him desperately trying to placate me replayed endlessly in my mind, and as a result—

◇ [Souls Criter, Wax Figure of a Thousand Views] has been defeated ◇

◇ Conquest of the Thirty-Third Layer confirmed ◇

"Haaaaaaaaah…! Haah, fuu…!"

In the labyrinth, the young girl swung her sword as if to beat her own uncontrollable heart back into submission.

◇◆◇◆◇

"Hey, Kanata."

"…Huh? O-Oh, yes."

And so it was, in the rear.

Two young male avatars stood stock-still in a corner of the great hall. The girl who had been handling rear support up to this thirty-third layer—as she always did—had gently requested that they 'stay out of it,' and they had obliged.

Their black and hazel eyes were colored by the lingering remnants of the boss enemy that had filled the space, and they exchanged words while gazing at the golden figure shining in the center of the phosphorescence.

"To be honest, I thought my senpai's comment that 'Sora is more dangerous than me' was half a joke. And even if he was being completely serious, I figured it was just his biased overall assessment, taking into account her weird Anima's performance and their compatibility."

"………………"

They were too far for their voices to reach her. And because his sharp observational skills told him it would take some time for the girl to recover her breath.

Whether this was also typical of him or not, Tetra laid his true feelings bare. The boy listened quietly to the words of the indisputable top-tier player, a ranker of the Eastern Faction.

"I wasn't underestimating her or being sarcastic, you know. I genuinely like Sora-senpai, and I've always acknowledged that her ridiculous parallel processing limit and swarm-intelligence control techniques are genius-level. She's smart and a good commander, too. …But, you know. It's just… how do I put it?"

"…Yes, I understand. I guess… we didn't understand at all, any of us."

And now, Kanata could only agree, his perception completely overturned, as he listened to the assessment of the partner of the senpai he so admired.

He hadn't underestimated her in the slightest, either. …But it was a fact that he had been judging the 'Maiden of the Scales' from a perspective far closer than that of the general public.

He had acknowledged the girl's combat power as astonishing, devastating, and altogether otherworldly, trembling at it from the bottom of his heart—and yet, he had thought that while she was formidable, she wasn't scary.

That was likely something shared by every skilled player who had witnessed Sora's battles, including the rankers—not just Kanata and Tetra.

What did that mean? It meant her methods were comprehensible. Her talent for adapting to the virtual world was certainly exceptional, but her thought processes and movements were, for the most part, within the realm of imagination.

She lacked that certain atmosphere of the unknown that made you feel like she could easily shatter your expectations—an aura possessed by beings who had crossed a certain line, starting with a certain someone.

This was, of course, excluding the lawless power that stemmed from her fundamentally illogical Anima… but until now, Sora had never exuded that kind of presence.

That was why the two of them, who had thought they knew the girl, were now utterly astonished.

"Hah… haaah……… Ah, sorry! I made you wait…!"

Her deep breaths lasted just over a minute. After defeating the boss single-handedly in roughly twenty minutes, the girl finished her short break and ran over, an apologetic look on her face.

In her hand was a single sword.

From beginning to end.

Just one basic sand sword. Was it simply that she never had a chance to show this side of her, having been called upon mainly for large-scale annihilation techniques in past raids?

They looked at the Acrobat's partner, who had so brilliantly and one-sidedly sealed away the giant, shape-shifting wax figure with pure skill.

And so, the golden figure reflected in their eyes…

"…You're actually scary, Sora-senpai."

"…Let's make sure we never get on her bad side."

It was likely just a ritual to blow off steam, a cathartic release of the emotions from whatever had transpired the previous night—a rather charming gesture, if one considered the feelings behind it.

She may not have intended it, but… the girl had shown herself to be an undeniable 'swordsman,' worthy of standing beside the Acrobat.

In fact, she had left her two seniors trembling with the thought that close combat might very well be her true specialty.

---

──────────────────
◇Status / Restarted◇
Name：Sora
Lv：34（10）
STR: 30
AGI: 100
DEX: 100
VIT: 10
MID: 80（50）
LUC: 0

◇Skill◇
・Maiden of the Magic Sword (Livslashea)
《Lord Bullet》
《Attribute Conversion》

・Light Magic Aptitude
《Embrace》
《Geo-Stake》
《Light Enchant》

・Active
《Scale's Song (Scareless)》
《Upward-Gazing Amber Eyes》

・Passive
《Sharis Heart》
《True Sight》
《Healer's Battle-March》
《Resolde Esta》
《Root of Magic》
《Four-Sided Blessing》
──────────────────

・'Combat' in Arcadia is fundamentally high-difficulty.
・Boss enemies are not designed to be fought solo.

Adding to these major premises the fact that the Acrobat is generally having a 'good fight' in the lower layers, the following facts should help explain how Sora was able to take down the boss of the thirty-third layer—considered the 'upper region' of the current Key Tree Maze—with just a single sword and her own skill:

・In the past, she defeated her partner—who had already mastered techniques related to Kesshiki Ittoryu—in a serious duel with no abilities and only a single sword.

──ep.433『Running』──