"Sorry! That was close!"
"Good to see you, senpai! I'm glad you came back. I'd have been disappointed otherwise."
When I got back to my seat, Yukina welcomed me with a look of genuine relief.
It really was just in the nick of time. In the ring, Kirin and Victoria were facing each other, about five seconds before the match was to begin.
I mean, she didn't have to look that relieved to see me.
"No, well..."
Yukina leaned closer.
"You were taking so long to come back, I thought maybe you were... doing something..."
"Doing something? ...No way, Yukina. Not even I would do that."
At my words, Yukina's face turned bright red.
"B-But! Senpai, you've done it with Einhart, right? I thought maybe you were trying to comfort her and it just... got to be that kind of mood..."
"Even so, there's no way I'd do that right now..."
Having sex with Einhart and missing the match would be incredibly rude to Kirin.
Well, I guess Einhart was hoping for something, but it's the mark of a true adult to refuse in a firm, resolute manner.
"That doesn't sound very convincing coming from a senpai who's done it with Kuro and Cocoro. You're really lewd, you know."
"That's completely different."
Besides,
"I wasn't even thinking about doing it there. Aren't you the lewd one, Yukina?"
Yukina and Einhart... is this what middle schoolers' sex drive is like? Though, I might be the one who caused it.
"Wha—! What are you saying?! I'm gonna get mad!"
Yukina's face was as red as a boiled octopus, but I couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or anger.
"Master, the match is about to begin."
"And now, let the match begin!"
Cocoro's warning and the announcer's words were almost simultaneous.
"Alright, alright, let's just focus on the match for now."
"Ugh...! I-It's really, really not like that!"
Yukina still looked utterly unconvinced, but she turned her attention to Kirin's match.
I had to cheer for Kirin even more than I did for Einhart.
---------
"Here I come. Red Frame...!"
"I knew you would."
"Kirin-senshu has donned armor, just like Einhart-senshu!"
Kirin, wearing the flashy red MS, the Red Frame, used her leg strength and boosters to close the distance in an instant.
Then, she began her "Ren Tsuru," a series of rhythmic slashes that assailed Victoria.
The Ren Tsuru had been shown many times throughout the tournament, but its foundation was a simple one: a continuous attack. There was no grand secret to it, which made it difficult to counter.
Kirin's skill placed her among the top contenders in the tournament. Yuuki was the only one who had been able to contend with her swordsmanship head-on.
Victoria was a skilled fighter, but it was hard for her to trade blows with Kirin directly.
"Then!"
Victoria stomped her foot with force, and the foot was instantly enveloped in lightning.
"Form Four, Flashing Light!"
She swung her lightning-clad poleaxe horizontally. Using her immense magical power, she sought to crush Kirin's swordsmanship itself.
The attack had a wide enough range to cleave everything in front of her. However, that range only applied to a horizontal plane.
Kirin dodged the attack by arching her back and waist like a limbo dancer, barely avoiding it.
But that hair's breadth of a dodge was all part of Kirin's plan.
"!"
Now it was Victoria's turn to break out in a cold sweat.
From her unstable stance, Kirin straightened her body. Victoria barely managed to avoid a rising slash by taking a half-step back, causing a few strands of her golden hair to flutter in the air.
But Victoria had no time to catch her breath. The true value of the Ren Tsuru was its continuous attack.
"Hah!"
With a battle cry, Kirin brought her sword down,
"!"
...only for it to be stopped by Victoria's armor, failing to chip away at her life.
Victoria had poured magic into her defense instead of her evasion, so her armor was not so easily cut.
Seizing the moment, Victoria swung her poleaxe's shaft down at the flinching Kirin.
But from her unstable position, Kirin had already used the Astray's thrusters to blast herself away, landing after a mid-air somersault.
Kirin's movements were so acrobatic that it was hard to believe she had only been practicing for a few days. Even on the ground, she used her thrusters in short bursts to add tempo to her movements.
Faced with the flying Kirin, Victoria's choice was...
"Form Ninety-one, Army Breaker!"
Victoria rotated her poleaxe over her head. The lightning and slashes that had been clinging to it were scattered in an all-encompassing storm.
Kirin instinctively backed away, but the range of the attack was wider than she expected, and she couldn't fully evade. She used her thrusters again to barely escape the attack's range.
"Kirin-senshu is hit! Victoria-senshu's attack is still heavy! 30% of her life has been shaved off!"
"(I might have been in trouble without this armor I got from senpai...!)"
The impact had been transmitted through the armor. The armor itself was also scarred, and if she had been even a little slower, she would have been electrocuted.
Kirin was once again reminded of her opponent's true strength.
"Phew..."
But Victoria had also taken a moment to catch her breath. She had finally escaped the storm of slashes from the Ren Tsuru.
Kirin's razor-sharp slashes were attacks that Victoria couldn't afford to be careless about.
At that moment, the gong rang.
Kirin sheathed her sword once. Without a word, the two headed for their respective benches.
"How is it, Kirin?"
"It's still tough. I have the speed advantage, but there's no opening in her magic armor."
"Yeah, you're right..."
Wiping the sweat from her brow, Kirin answered Kuro's question.
Victoria's skill was incredibly high, as expected of a tournament regular. Even Kuro would have a hard time damaging Victoria with just her sword.
It was a level where she could barely manage it by using spatial teleportation. And unlike Kuro, who used a sacred treasure, Kirin was using a normal sword. It was very difficult for her to break through Victoria's high-defense magical barrier.
"Even so, I'll do my best."
"Yeah. You've got the armor from your brother, so let's chip away at her."
Kirin was focused and didn't need any unnecessary advice.
And Victoria was just as focused.
"The head of the Todo family. As expected, her skill is superb."
"You don't often see swordsmanship this refined. And she fights differently from Mikaya-san."
"Indeed. She has a different kind of speed than Mikaya... and her sword is beautiful."
Victoria herself was capable of a variety of close-quarters techniques. However, she wasn't keen on using them aggressively against Kirin.
Going up against a close-combat specialist would only make her an easy target for a counterattack.
"Then, I'll just force my fighting style on her."
"If you fight calmly, you'll win."
"Of course."
The two, their eyes fixed on each other, stepped back into the ring... and the gong for the next round rang.
Their feeling-out period was over, and it was time for a full-scale battle.
"Hah!"
Kirin charged at Victoria with a slash.
"Kirin-senshu charges again! Victoria-senshu is ready to meet her!"
Kirin now held two swords in her hands. Her own Senbagiri in her right hand and the Gerbera Straight in her left, held in a reverse grip, and she spun like a top as she charged, slashing.
A flurry of attacks, interspersed with the Ren Tsuru. Victoria's huge poleaxe-type device couldn't keep up with the speed.
She plunged her poleaxe into the ring. She was going to face two swords with her bare hands.
"Come on!"
"I'm coming!"
The two clashed head-on.
"(My sword couldn't cut Victoria-senshu's armor. Attacking her head-on is useless!)"
So Kirin's aim was the one weakness of an opponent wearing armor: the joints, the parts not protected by armor.
A lightning-fast slash was parried by the gauntlet of Victoria's armor, causing sparks to fly. In fact, if Kirin was careless, her sword would get grabbed.
Victoria was smart enough to know that an opponent would aim for the joints of her armor.
And since all Victoria had to do was protect the limited spaces between her armor, she was able to deal with Kirin's swordsmanship with ease.
"Form Twenty-three, revised, Blade Bite—!"
"(This person, she's catching swords with her bare hands...!)"
Even on the parts of her body not covered by armor, Victoria's immense magical power was concentrated in her hands, forming a solid barrier.
Kirin had donned the Astray armor and even brought out her half-practiced two-sword style to break through it. But it was a makeshift effort, and it was no match for Victoria.
"What an incredible clash of swords! Centered around the poleaxe plunged into the ground, the two fighters' swords and fists are crossing!"
Even though she wasn't holding it, the poleaxe plunged into the ground interfered with the swings of Kirin's swords. She was using a weapon without holding it. Victoria was using three weapons: her two hands and the poleaxe.
"Ugh...!"
"You haven't practiced your two-sword style much, have you?"
"Even so!"
Blocked by the poleaxe's handle, Kirin let go of her Senbagiri and pulled a beam saber from her backpack.
"Amateur!"
Victoria shouted down the attack.
A part of the poleaxe separated, and electricity formed a blade. A beam saber made of lightning.
The two sabers clashed, sparking.
Even with the power assist of the Astray, Kirin was no match for Victoria's brute strength. Kirin was sent flying backward. After landing, she immediately took up her stance again.
Victoria returned the saber part to her poleaxe and pulled it out of the ground.
"The Todo style is truly something. Perhaps you are a special case."
Victoria spoke with sincere praise.
"You don't use magic for your attacks. You only enhance your physical abilities, and you only use sword techniques. To fight me like this is truly impressive."
"It's not that big a deal. Mikaya-senshu is similar."
"Hmph, yes, I suppose so."
Victoria laughed and affirmed Kirin's reply.
"(But...)"
"However,"
Their thoughts overlapped.
"There is a decisive difference between you and her. You might be able to defeat other fighters with that style, but you cannot defeat me."
At those words, Kirin tightened her grip on her sword.
Kirin had a vague idea of this. She knew there were some things that she just couldn't break through with skill alone.
"(I can't break through Victoria-senshu's defense. And while she's playing along with my fighting style for now, if she uses that high-power area-of-effect attack, I'll lose.)"
Kirin had spent her life perfecting sword techniques, so she had no magic-based ultimate moves. She had no ultimate attack.
The continuous attacks of the Ren Tsuru were Kirin's one-and-only ultimate technique.
It was a powerful technique in a normal sword fight, but it was meaningless if she couldn't cut the opponent.
Furthermore, with the Ren Tsuru, if a wide-range attack—like Victoria's attack that could blow away a wide area by, for example, dropping lightning over a large area—were to be used, Kirin, who had no technique to defend against it, would be defeated helplessly.
If Mikaya were here, perhaps she'd have a chance to cut through Victoria's defense with a full-speed dash and a lightning-fast drawn slash at the start of the match.
"Even so, I can't give up here, for the sake of the fighters I've defeated so far."
"Very well. There is one and a half minutes left. I will end this match in this round."
"Then I will do whatever it takes to land at least one strike."
Victoria laughed in satisfaction at those words, but her face quickly became serious again.
She plunged her poleaxe into the ground. A gigantic magic circle appeared.
"Form One Hundred, God's Lightning!"
"Victoria-senshu's ultimate move! Lightning rains down all over the field!"
The gigantic magic circle covered the entire ring. That meant there was nowhere to run.
"Then I'll charge forward!"
"Wha—"
Victoria's face was filled with surprise. She saw Kirin running straight toward her.
Victoria knew that Kirin had no other choice but to charge. She also knew that Kirin would be struck by lightning before she could reach her.
Of course, lightning was pouring down from above.
Kirin, however, used her Gerbera Straight,
"(Cut through the lightning—!)"
...to cut through the lightning as she advanced. This was a technique only possible with the Gerbera Straight, which could even cut through a beam.
"Do you intend to call that 'Lightning Cutter'...!"
"Haaaaah!"
As a result, Kirin managed to get close to Victoria without taking much damage.
"Lightning Orb!"
Victoria unleashed a sphere of light with the intent to kill. It was the same technique that finished off Yuuki in the previous match.
"!"
"Ugh...!"
Victoria stopped the attack with her left hand.
"Hah...!"
For the first time in this match, Victoria's face was distorted with pain. The armor on her left hand cracked, and a simulated hairline fracture was even registered.
Kirin had indeed landed a strike on Victoria. But that was all she could do.
"Form Sixty-eight—"
She grabbed the back of Kirin's head with her uninjured right hand,
"Helmet Splitter!"
"Gah—!"
...and slammed her into the ground.
The impact was so great that Kirin's body bounced for a moment. Cracks appeared in the ring, centered around her head, testifying to the power of the attack.
Kirin's limbs were completely limp, and she didn't move a muscle.
She was completely unconscious. The count began immediately, but she never got up.
"Winner! Victoria Dahlgrün-senshu! A wonderful match that showed the dignity of a top fighter, as she landed a decisive blow even after taking damage!"
Victoria coolly stepped off the ring, ignoring the stretcher and Kirin's seconds being brought to the ring.
"You fought well, my lady."
"Yes."
Edgar, her butler and second, handed her a towel.
"Though it was a reckless attack, you were met with an unexpected counterattack."
"She's a fighter who made it this far, after all. It seems we're no longer in for easy matches."
Victoria looked at her left hand, where the pain had already vanished.
Kirin's final charge was somehow reminiscent of Victoria's rival (though Victoria herself wouldn't admit it), Harry.
"Well, I suppose this was a good experience, a rehearsal for the match with that delinquent girl."
With that, Victoria began walking down the path to the waiting room.
As always, Edgar followed close behind her.
--------------------------------------------
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