Mira barely avoided the kick using Mirage Step, but she was not out of danger yet, as ilin quickly turned around and threw an explosive punch straight at Mira.
A direct hit from that punch would at best leave Mira unconscious, but ilin had calculated that she could use that amount of power through their fight so far. If Mira blocked the hit with her arms, she would rely be rendered unable to continue fighting.
“Still as speedy as always, I see.”
ilin’s ability to rapidly chain one attack after another with so much precision was always impressive, and if this had been Mira’s first ti seeing it, the match would already be over. Luckily Mira was very familiar with it, and knew how to deal with it, so she was almost baiting ilin to do it.
Mira crossed her arms to defend herself, and secretly do sothing more.
She deployed her Holy Knight Fra at just the right mont. That was Mira’s way of compensating for her inferior physical strength, and ca in handy just in situations like her current one. It also allowed her to distort ilin’s perfect control over her strength, giving her a slight edge.
It felt like a heavy impact passed through all of Mira’s body as she completely stopped the attack and then took hold of ilin’s hand.
“Oh, you managed to stop that?!”
ilin’s eyes were twinkling like she was expecting even more from this fight, while also looking surprised that her attack had been blocked like that.
“Summoners can do this too!”
Mira shouted loudly, announcing the new possibility for summoners she had discovered, while maintaining her grip on ilin’s arm, swinging her around before throwing her away with all her strength.
Usually, Mira’s strength would not be enough to do much when throwing soone like that, but now she was aided by her Holy Knight Fra. It not only improved her defenses, but also gave her the sa strength of a Holy Knight.
As a result, ilin flew in a straight line after Mira swung her around, crashing wildly into the wall.
A loud booming sound shook the room while the bulletin board hung on the wall shattered to pieces. No regular person would be able to survive sothing like that unscathed, and Henry with his siblings watched in shock, wondering if ilin was alright.
But then…
“I wasn’t expecting that!”
They all heard ilin’s joyful voice, and the dust settled to reveal her completely safe, her feet planted on the wall, having absorbed the impact like a pair of springs.
“I know, I know.”
anwhile, Mira did not seem at all surprised that ilin had not taken any damage, and rely laughed boastfully. She had been fully confident that ilin would not take any damage from sothing like that.
But what happened next did surprise Mira.
“Let’s bring things up a notch!”
ilin was thrilled to continue the fight as she straightened her legs, and then began walking on the wall. She went up to the ceiling, and even began walking upside down, almost like gravity had no power over her. Henry and his siblings were also shocked by all that.
“That’s a nifty trick you have there.”
That also reminded Mira that she had seen that before. Sasori, one of the Fifty Bells’ Hidden, had also done sothing similar before.
She had explained that it was a secret ability passed down in her hotown, the Karasawa Village hidden in the western Grimdart forest, but if an outsider managed to impress the elder with their talents, they were also allowed to learn it. That was likely how ilin acquired it.
“By the way, could you teach how to do that too?”
Mira was already planning on visiting Karasawa Village to learn that, but just in case she decided to ask that.
“I can’t do that. I promised not to teach anyone.”
Hearing that, Mira was certain that it was the sa ability Sasori had used. ilin’s talents would have impressed anyone too, so it stood to reason that they had allowed her to learn it, as she effortlessly kept walking upside down.
“And you promised that to the elder of Karasawa Village?”
“Yes.”
ilin replied with a hint of pride in her voice. She treated that ability with respect, knowing how secretive the village was about it.
The elder had likely tested her ability to keep secrets on top of her talent before teaching her. And as naive as she usually seed, ilin was surprisingly inflexible when it ca to promises, so Mira would not be able to learn it from her.
But then ilin said sothing else, “But if you defeat , I might think about it,” with her eyes set ablaze.
“Oh, I hope you rember that later then.”
Thanks to their long friendship, Mira knew exactly what ilin was attempting to do, saying that when she had promised to keep silent.
First, she was trying to get Mira to fight even more relentlessly with the idea of such a reward, while also being fully confident that she would not be defeated.
Still, she had only agreed to *think* about it, not actually do it, as a failsafe in case sothing unexpected happened. Usually in such cases, she would say she thought about it, and the answer was no. A rather underhanded escape.
That was a piece of wisdom imparted on them by Solomon. Even the Nine Wisen were not undefeatable, and could et their match when they least expected it.
ilin was no exception, and she had already leaked various secrets and tactics after getting carried away with her wagers during fights. So Solomon had to step in and taught her to always say, “I’ll think about it if you win.”
ilin happily agreed to do that, as long as it ant that her opponents would fight earnestly while keeping herself honest. That habit continued even now.
That also ant that Mira already knew what would happen if she won, and despite that, Mira still agreed on it simply because she too wanted an all out fight.
There was a mont of silence as both opponents stared at each other.
The children had almost forgotten how to breathe as they watched in anticipation, wondering what they would do next. Henry was also rather excited to witness a fight between two highly skilled opponents, so much so he did not seem to notice the crumbling walls around him…
ilin was the first one to move, running on the ceiling for a mont before vanishing with Ground Shrink.
Then Mira reacted, turning around and holding her arms crossed in front of her face to block ilin’s incoming flying kick.
And that was when things started to differ from their earlier fight. Right after the block, a black arm swinging a sword appeared, but ilin vanished before it connected.
She reappeared behind Mira, punching her back, the impact of which was felt strongly by Mira.
“Hnghh…!”
Mira quickly turned around to strike back, only to find ilin had already vanished again, this ti reappearing from the side to attack Mira again, who reacted almost instantly, but to no avail.
(I still can’t compete in these situations…)
A close range fight against ilin was one of the worst matchups for Mira, especially in an enclosed space, as she could use the walls and ceiling as additional footholds, allowing her to freely move in all three dinsions.
The only reason why the fight had not ended yet was because of Mira’s Holy Knight Fra. Wearing a summon as armor was clearly the superior option to any regular armor.
It not only increased Mira’s defenses greatly, but she could apply the sa type of barriers to it as to any summon, allowing her to fully negate a large chunk of damage.
In other words, if she managed it correctly, she could fight as recklessly as she wanted without getting hurt.
“I didn’t think that armor was going to be so tough.”
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