I designated the location for our match to be out of the publics eye.
Radiant-san and her fellow knights didnt have any reason to refuse, so the duel was easily set up behind the tavern.
We pledged our mutual desire to duel on the Line, then drew our swords. My sword, by the way, was sothing I had borrowed from one of the knights and not Araith Households Treasured Sword. There was no need to use a weapon with such a high ATK for a match that was likely to be cut short.
Magic, Dinsion Gladiator, Magic, Foam
I murmured, then felt the magic sensation spreading out. Several magic bubbles also overflowed from my sword.
The first of the magic tactics that I wanted to experint withthe practice of using Foam.
In fact, as a result of continually experinting with Foam in the Labyrinth when I had so ti to spare, I had found so use for it.
There were many instances of using Dinsion and Foam together. When that happened, I realized that Foam was assisting Dinsion.
On its own, Foam didnt produce much effect. However, when it was used together with another Dinsion-attribute magic, it showed its true value.
In other words, the bubble made of magic allowed to grasp space even more strongly. In terms of magic feel, each bubble managed to store the entirety of Dinsion within its boundary. That was its general idea.
When combined with Connection, the magic that normally would take ti to create a door within a limited range from , it was then possible to create a door much farther away without taking much ti by containing Connection within the bubble.
Of course, in that duel, I used the bubbles to aid Dinsion.
First, I put bubbles containing Dinsion on my sword. That alone increased my spatial comprehension of my sword, allowing to understand more precisely how the sword was moving and what vector force was being applied. It was as if the sword had beco one of my own organs.
I took the kendo stance with my sword engulfed in bubbles. Seeing that, Radiant-san laughed scornfully.
Heh, is that supposed to be enhancent magic? Still, not only is it not the Holy Magic of our Founder, but your stance is also sub-par. Soone so shallow poses no threat to .
Saying so, Radiant-san casted her own magic.
Growth.
A white light illuminated Radiant-sans body. It was similar to the Holy Magic Dia perford. It probably had the sa attribute.
As I watched her, I casually checked on her Constitution through the Display.
Status
Serra Radiant
Level: 21
Constitution:
Physical Enhancent: 1.00
What an easy-to-understand effect. If anything, I felt sorry for Radiant-san since she had to deal with my Dinsional Magic for the first ti.
Lets start then.
Ready when you are.
Radiant-san took half a step back, the one-handed sword in her right hand was pointing to the ground. That was a peculiar sword stance. It looked quite disadvantageous from my point of view. However, considering her Swordsmanship Skill was quite high, there was no way that it was just an appearance.
I built up strength in my axial leg, trying to increase the internal pressure in my muscles. From the looks of it, the female knight didnt seem to set up a trick. I could guess that she intended to tank what feeble attack she thought I could muster. I didnt mind if we continued locking gazes like that, but wasting ti was against my beliefs.
Hup!
I exhaled, released the compressed strength I built up in my legs, and closed the distance at once. My sword, moving in tandem with , went straight towards her right hand, but she dodged the flash with a wide margin. In the sa evading motion, she swung her sword up to my neck.
It was one fluid movent that happened in an instanta brilliant counterattack that showed a glimpse of tireless effort behind it.
My eyes, however, caught it with no problem. Due to the nature of my magic, it was simply impossible for to miss it. I quickly pulled my body back and created a distance to evade the blow to my neck.
After a brief exchange of blows, I quickly distanced myself and returned to my previous position. I looked at Radiant-san, and she seed surprised that I had managed to evade her attack.
Hou. Youre not half-bad for a crook.
She appraised condescendingly.
I wouldnt bla her. After all, it was her who pulled her punch earlier.
I replayed our brief exchange in my mind. Then, I realized. I had aid to open a wound on her hand, but Radiant-san was going to stop exactly before her blade touched my neckshe had the skill to do that.
I gulped. Not because of fear, no.
It was a longing that almost took my breath away.
It was a sensation I didnt feel when I faced Tida. It was probably because Tida hardly had any technique in his movents. He did wield blades, but there was no technique behind them. He relied on pure strength based on his overwhelming STR and AGI.
That duel was different. The strength was almost a work of arta thoroughly refined craftsmanship.
How she carried her feet, how she rotated her waist, how she shifted her shoulders, how her elbows beca so flexible, how her wrists turned so stiff.
The fact that her perfected swordsmanship stole my gaze gave a sense of euphoria. That quick exchange with Radiant-san was just that: beautiful.
My dreamy, vidya-freak nature that lay at the root of my identity freaked out with excitent.
And I, for my part, quickly defused that excitent. My goal wasnt to appreciate Radiant-sans swordsmanship. Thered be a huge chance for to lose if I took my ti defeating her.
Conversely, I could also say that she wouldnt be able to defeat if I put up my guard. My objective was to asure my own strength and drive her and her goons back without failnot to play around.
I suppressed my desire to continue drawing out Radiant-sans swordsmanship.
Whats the matter? Are you not coming?
Im just pondering.
The beastfolk knight seed to be wondering why I fell into silence. I quickly made an excuse to make her think I was devising plans to attack her.
Hohou Looking at your movent, I can say that youre no ordinary fool. It seems that youve seen through my strength with that brief exchange alone. No wonder, for soone who kidnapped our lady.
She took the liberty of giving credit, fully believing her own words.
No, no, thats a false accusation. Really.
Fufu, I havent had such an amusing foe in a while. Right. Why dont I be the one on the offense next.
She didnt even lend an ear to my denial. However, it didnt seem like her ears were clouded by anger that ti since they were clouded because I struck a new interest in her.
I could feel her zeal tingle on my skin. Her intimidation made feel numb. She was one of humanitys best swordsn, and she was coming at .
Radiant-sans whole body shook.
That was a body-movent art that spared no useless movents. If I hadnt foreseen it, I wouldnt have been able to catch up with her speed. That being said, I knew in advance that she was a knight who specialized in AGI, and that made all the difference.
I followed her steps with my eyes. I had also seen that she struck with her sword from below.
I received the strike with the center of my sword, producing a high-pitched tallic sound as both swords t.
My sword bounced up from the collision while Radiant-sans was swatted down. At that instant, I put her sword as another object to cling the dinsional bubbles of my magic Foam onto.
The speed at which I obtained information about my opponent spiked up. I switched from environntal awareness to a spatial understanding that focused solely on the movents of both my sword and hers. Dinsion Gladiator was sharpened by orders of magnitude, telling the most minute movents of our swords down to the milliter incrents.
* * *
* * *
good.
The experint was a success. I had learned how effective the magic was against a sword-user once applied.
There was nothing else to experint with. What I had to do next was cut the battle as short as possible while concealing my own true ability as much as possible.
I montarily enhanced Dinsion with enormous magic power.
Then, as I etched every movent of the swords into my brain, I calculated the most optimal course for my body to move.
On our third exchange of blows, both of our swords missed each other by paper-thin margins. On the fourth exchange of blows, our swords grazed each other, sending sparks flying. And the fifth exchange of blows was the final one, as her sword cut through empty air while mine rested at her throat.
WHA?!
Radiant-san stared at the sword, disbelief in her eyes.
I guess I won.
Ultimately, I ca out with an overwhelming victory. However, had we taken account in terms of simple competence in swordsmanship, then I would have been significantly inferior to her.
The critical point was the difference in the amount of information each of us possessed. I knew the detailed, nurical values of Radiant-sans Status, while Radiant-san had no idea what kind of abilities I had in store.
Negligence and ntal fortitude might have also played a part, but the sheer disparity in the amount of information between the two of us gave a huge leg up against her. And the most important factor was that Radiant-san wasnt even aware that there was such a disparity.
The Celestial Knight was one tempo too late behind my top speed when she executed her art. Had it been a real fight, her head would have been flying off.
Ironically, the Display showed its true value in an interpersonal fight instead of a battle against monsters.
The other knights all groaned in unison once they understood the outco of the duel. So of them even rested their hands on their swords.
Seeing them, I slowly backed my sword away from Radiant-san. I remained silent, waiting for my opponent to speak first.
Kgh, I lost indeed. A knight does not struggle in vain. Boys, dont ever draw your swords!
She noticed animosity of the knights and warned them.
phew. Thank you.
I took a breath of relief since she had owned her defeat in earnest. With the remaining amount of MP I had left, being surrounded by that many people made anxious. Even if I tried to escape, I couldnt guarantee I wouldnt suffer so wounds fighting my way out.
How humiliating to be defeated by a crook
Please keep your words and get out of here. Preferably, right now.
Kgh, ggrrrrh! Argh, the oath of a duel is absolute for a knight. I shall do as you say.
How understanding.
I wasnt very familiar with knights and their business, but she seed averse to going back on her words. I hoped the rest of the Celestial Knights would be as easy to deal with. Then again, Palinchron ca to my mind, and I realized just how exceptionally earnest Radiant-san was in comparison.
H-however!! What we promised was for not to show myself before you again! Isnt that right?!!
Y-yeah Technically.
Which ans the other Celestial Knights may still appear before you! Dont you get carried away just because you bested !
Eeh
Isnt that what youd call a struggle in vain?
I shall leave it at that for today!
Leaving those words behind, Radiant-san turned her back and left the vicinity of the tavern, and the other knights followed suit. Thus, the boisterous group took their leave.
Looking at her back, not that I wanted to jinx it, but should there be a next ti, I thought to myself that I wouldnt put my faith in the duel system ever again.
Should I have phrased it that their group was never to get involved with again next ti? If there was a next, I should work out my conditions more carefully before laying it out. Yup, I made up my mind.
I then extinguished Foam. The experint was a great success. The last three blows of the exchange wouldnt have gone as smoothly without it. Being able to minutely grasp the movents of the swords was too OP. I couldnt think of a bigger advantage for a sword duel.
I took a satisfied breath and wiped the sweat from my foreheadthen I heard an applause.
As expected of you, Kanami.
It ca from the roof of the taverna girl with golden hair fluttering in the moonlit night with her smile so bewitching.
The root of the commotion, Lastiara, was there.
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