Chapter 4: Yamata no Orochi
The next morning. Rio and the others boarded the enchanted ship that was waiting on the lake, which was used as a natural watering hole beside the fortress. It was time to head for Amande.
However, before they were to arrive in Amande, there was his mock battle with Hiroaki to deal with. The stage selected for them was an open field with a good outlook located on the way to Amande. Liselotte knew there was a lake right before the road stretched into the forest, so they landed there.
This area was one of the lands that the Galarc Kingdom anticipated to become a battlefield in the event of an invasion. There were no sources of water before the forest other than the lake, so it was the perfect location to lay siege and aim for a water shortage for the enemy forces.
For that reason, there was a bit of a fortress city built along the lakeside. Once they anchored the enchanted ship, several people were quickly sent out to the city.
“This should be a good area,” Hiroaki suggested once they strayed far enough from the main road that the city was no longer visible.
The gallery contained a little over ten people—Kouta and Rei were excluded as they currently weren’t members of the Restoration. The rest included Celia, Sara, Orphia, Alma, Liselotte, and several of Liselotte’s attendants, as well as Christina, Flora, their bodyguard Vanessa, Roanna, and Duke Huguenot.
After the spectators backed away a far enough distance to watch over the battle, Rio and Hiroaki faced each other. Liselotte’s subordinate, Aria, was acting as a neutral third-party judge.
“That is all for the rules. Does anyone have any questions?” she asked the two of them.
A situation the judge would deem as victorious was the way to win. The only prohibited action was to kill the opponent. It was a rather dangerous setup for a mock battle, but it was an agreement reached by Rio accepting Hiroaki’s request to exercise the power of his Divine Arms.
“I don’t have any,” Rio answered first.
“Ah, this is less of a question and more of a suggestion, but can we add a rule to decide the outcome if anyone flees to the safe zone when they realize that they can’t win against the other person, and so they accept the loss? In short, the addition of a defeat condition,” Hiroaki proposed.
“What do you think?” Aria placed a hand against her mouth in thought and asked Rio.
“I don’t mind,” Rio agreed easily.
“Ah... The reason I suggested such a condition is so that you can surrender without reserve once you witness my attack in terror. Well, if you’re scared, you can just flee as soon as we begin. There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Hiroaki added, explaining his intentions behind the additional rule. This rule wasn’t for his sake, but Rio’s.
“Thank you very much for your consideration.” Rio bowed his head.
Tch... Ever the prim bastard, I see. Whatever. The audience is small, but this time it’s quality before quantity. I’ll shock him with my opening blow and show them all how pathetic he is.
Hiroaki sneered viciously, his will to fight intensifying.
“Now that the rules are confirmed, I will signal the start of the match. The trip to Amande still has to be made after the mock battle, after all.”
“Yeah.” Hiroaki nodded smugly at Aria’s statement.
“Then please distance yourselves as far as you feel appropriate and wait. Once I’ve judged that you’re both ready, I will fire magic into the sky. That shall be the signal to begin the mock battle.”
“Understood.”
“Got it.”
Rio and Hiroaki departed to prepare for the start of the mock battle.
This might end up like a battle between a hunter and a beast. Though the scale of the fight could end up quite large, Aria thought as she alternately watched the two of them take their leave. Then, to prevent herself from getting dragged into their battle, she drew the enchanted sword at her waist and retreated to a position where she could see the two of them clearly.
Not long after that, Rio came to a stop first, followed by Hiroaki, who widened the distance more before stopping as well. There was a hundred meters between the two of them. Rio drew the sword at his waist while Hiroaki called forth his Divine Arms longsword.
He seems fairly cautious of letting Sir Amakawa get too close. Well... His abilities as a swordsman are still amateurish, so that’s understandable. Based on the statements he made when adding to the rules, he must intend on devoting everything to a long-distance opening shot. I sympathize with Sir Amakawa for having to distance himself while knowing that...
Aria analyzed that much based on their positions and the earlier conversation, but she had to remain neutral as a judge. She kept that thought in mind as she raised a hand in the air.
When Hiroaki spotted that, he tightened his grip on his longsword. In contrast, Rio remained in a purely natural stance.
“Magicae Displodo!” Aria recited.
Immediately following, a huge magic circle of several meters in diameter appeared in the sky above her. The time it took for the magic to activate after this step varied from individual to individual based on their ability and the difficulty of the spell, but for this intermediate level spell, five seconds was considered quick. Aria activated hers in three seconds.
The light of the magic circle compressed, gathering to a point above her hand before blasting like a cannon towards the uninhabited sky.
It was the sign for the mock battle to finally begin.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment! I’ll have you fleeing in one shot with Yamata no Orochi!” Hiroaki yelled the moment they began, raising the Divine Arms longsword in his hand high in the air. Then, a huge mass of water spouted from the tip. The water rose into the air, splitting into five currents. The phenomenon that was activated instantly exceeded the scale of advanced magic. Each of the water currents carefully formed the shape of a dragon’s face.
“He’s activated some tremendous sorcery right off the bat...” Christina muttered to herself bitterly as she watched the attack that exceeded her expectations.
Tch... Only five came out.
Hiroaki looked at the number of currents diverged in the sky and made an unhappy face. The Yamata no Orochi that he named his Divine Arms after was a water god with eight heads. Thus, he actually intended on releasing eight currents of water. The fact that only five came out meant he would have been humiliated in front of anyone that knew of the original legend.
But I guess this’ll do. I can control it too... All right.
Considering the speed at which the currents were flying, even a single one of the heads excelled an intermediate level attack magic. Even if he had enhanced his physical body, a direct hit had enough power to seriously wound someone. And yet...
Hey hey, is he still not fleeing after seeing this? It’d be dangerous if it hit him. Read the room and run. Hiroaki frowned at the sight of Rio remaining still.
Well, if he’s not running at the sight of this, then he’ll probably be fine. As expected of the Black Knight, as they say? That, or he’s just a fool... Who cares.
For a moment, he considered intentionally landing the attack in a random direction, but that could have been his aim, and he didn’t want his control questioned. He proceeded to send all five water currents to crash into Rio.
“U-Umm... Sir Haruto isn’t running. Is this really okay?” Flora worried aloud from a distance, questioning Sara and the others with an anxious face. Christina, Roanna, Liselotte, Cosette, Natalie, and Chloe also turned to look at Sara’s group.
“It’s fine. An attack like that won’t bother Haruto,” Sara declared without hesitation.
“Still, to activate something of that scale in an instant...” Alma said in surprise. She didn’t have a very good impression of him due to the looks and words he had sent their way, but it seemed he wasn’t all talk, at least.
“Indeed, it’s remarkable. But...”
“His control of the phenomena is sloppy. The five heads can only make the same movements.”
“Exactly.”
Sara and Orphia analyzed Hiroaki’s attack with precision. To use spirit arts as an example, it was as if the caster’s ability was inconsistent with the scale of the phenomena created. If bringing out five heads lowered the control he had over each one, it would be better to only activate the number that he could control for certain.
Meanwhile, the water currents Hiroaki released landed at Rio’s position.
“Eek!” Flora squeezed her eyes shut reflexively. Roanna was unable to bear it and averted her eyes too, whereas the others were all intently gazing at the landing point of the attack. Water poured from the point Rio had been standing, flooding the area and obstructing their view.
“The match is pretty much decided now,” Sara said.
“W-We have to save Sir Haruto!” Flora paled and tried to run out onto the battlefield, but Sara stopped her by pointing close to where Hiroaki stood.
“You’ve got it all wrong—Haruto will be the victor. Look over there.”
“What?!”
It was Rio, racing along with his sword braced. His speed was restrained a fair bit, but still fast enough to run through a hundred meters in a matter of seconds, closing the distance to Hiroaki and on the verge of attacking him.
“What the...?!” Hiroaki’s reaction was delayed, but he managed to stop Rio’s attack with the powerful physical body enhancement hidden in the Divine Arms.
“When you manipulate a large scale phenomenon like that, you tend to create more blind spots for yourself. It’s a bad idea to let your guard down and forget to stay alert,” Rio advised.
“Y-You! What are you doing?! You dare to assist your opponent mid-fight?”
He was underestimating me. Hiroaki swung his longsword using all his rage, and Rio used that strength to lightly step backwards.
“It was bothering me a little, so I couldn’t help myself. Even though this is a mock battle, it’s common to collect information and search for ways to disturb the opponent even in actual battles. If the opponent gets shaken easily, then that would be ideal. Just like you right now...”
“Y-You bastard...!” Hiroaki forgot about his earlier thoughts of how he was no match for Rio in close-ranged combat and charged forward in irritation. It was exactly what Rio was aiming for. He saw through Hiroaki’s attack and caught it with his sword, letting the force escape behind him. Hiroaki was thrown off balance and stumbled forward.
“Guh.” Hiroaki tried to pull back immediately, but in the next moment, Rio was stepping forward, shoving a frightened Hiroaki until he was flying backwards.
“Whoa! Oof...” Hiroaki lost his balance and caught himself on the ground.
It was possible for Rio to take that chance and close their distance, thrusting his sword at Hiroaki’s throat. But he paused, purposefully choosing not to pursue. His first goal of this battle was to probe the abilities of the Divine Arms, and if he won too easily, he wouldn’t be able to satisfy Christina’s request.
In other words, he had to crush Hiroaki’s pride. A defeat with a potential escape route meant that Hiroaki’s pride wouldn’t be hurt.
“You... You’re looking down on me, aren’t you?” A vein bulged at Hiroaki’s temple as he questioned Rio.
“I am not. You wanted a chance to fully exhibit the power of your Divine Arms, so I didn’t think it was right to decide the match right here and now...” Rio answered with a blank look. Is this all you have? he implied.
“You jerk! For all that humility you pretend to have, you sure turn arrogant during a battle, huh?! Is that your true nature then?!” Hiroaki yelled in fury.
“Fighting is one of the most arrogant actions a human can conduct.”
If there was something you wanted someone to listen to no matter what, if there was a goal you had to achieve, if there was something you couldn’t give up—you fought for it.
Thus, that action in itself was pure arrogance, and those that stood on the battlefield had to be arrogant to do so. If someone was humble enough to hand over their life to their opponent, there wouldn’t be a fight in the first place.
“You sure don’t know when to shut up!” Hiroaki charged at Rio once again. He clutched his longsword in a low position as though crawling along the ground before swinging with all his might. However, Hiroaki’s longsword was easily deflected by Rio’s sword. The sound of heavy metal clashing echoed in the air.
“R-Raargh!” Hiroaki didn’t back down. He poured his strength into the hand clutching his longsword and began swinging it with everything he had. The speed of his swings was too fast to follow with the eyes; they appeared as multiple flashes of light closing in on Rio.
However, Rio saw through all of Hiroaki’s attacks, countering by indifferently swinging his sword to deflect the slashes. The sound of metal clashing echoed intermittently.
“Amazing...” Liselotte muttered. She had been aware of his strength, but even she could tell Hiroaki was being toyed with this entire time.
But why is he holding back so much? Is he dragging it out to save the hero from losing face in an instant defeat? Or maybe he’s trying to respond to the request for the hero to demonstrate the power of his Divine Arms, but is having a problem with it because of how weak the hero is... But dragging it out for too long may end up angering the hero. In fact, he looks pretty angry already.
It looked like Hiroaki was flaring up at Rio in rage, but they were too far away to hear their conversation.
Come to think of it, Princess Christina requested permission to use a meeting room yesterday to talk to Sir Haruto. Did she entrust him with some matter at the meeting? If so, Duke Huguenot is unlikely to be involved... Liselotte thought, considering the possibility Christina had requested him to fight that way. She shot a sidelong glance at Christina and Duke Huguenot to read their expressions, but they were watching the battle without any notable reaction.
Well, neither of them are the type to express their thoughts on their faces, Liselotte thought, returning her attention to Rio and Hiroaki in the distance.
“Aaargh!” Hiroaki was swinging his longsword with determination, but none of the countless slashes reached Rio. Rio remained in the same place as he parried him. He was like a brick wall, building a barrier of swords to prevent Hiroaki’s longsword from invading.
His movements are quick, but that’s all they are.
Rio evaluated Hiroaki’s swordcraft with disinterest. A longsword was hard enough for amateurs to handle, yet he was swinging his unthinkingly, relying entirely on brute force. His speed was impressive, but his techniques were not quite there yet. A stereotypical example of a warrior who had obtained more physical prowess than they could handle.
This should be enough provocation for now... He still hadn’t seen the true potential of the Divine Arms, and defeating Hiroaki like this wouldn’t crush his pride. Rio considered how to end the sparring match at this point.
“If you’re holding back out of concern for my safety, I’m fine,” Rio said.
“Guh...!” Hiroaki’s face twisted with humiliation. He then distanced himself from Rio and paused, speaking with fury overflowing from under his smile. “Ah... It seems like holding back like this isn’t going to work. I didn’t expect you to be able to dodge a wide-ranged attack in close combat. Though it’s a shame that you seem to think this is my full power.”
“I accepted this mock battle in response to your request to train while using all of the power that normally can’t be used. Your current level is no problem for me, so feel free to bring more of that power out.” His words were courteous, but his manner of speech sounded extremely arrogant in Hiroaki’s ears.
“You’ll regret this...” Hiroaki’s brow twitched.
Give me all the power you have...
He poured even more of the magic essence from his body into his longsword. He didn’t even understand the principles of it himself—he just knew instinctively that doing this would give him more power. Then, his longsword began emitting a blinding light.
This is impressive... My physical enhancement is stronger than before?
The physical body enhancement he had used until now had been powerful too, but he was now certain that he had the potential to become even stronger. It gave him a boost of confidence.
Let’s test it out before I use another area attack... Hiroaki thought.
“Haaah!” He immediately charged at Rio, pouring his fighting spirit into a shout. He was even faster than before, but—
“S-Shit!”
Rio caught Hiroaki’s sword with ease once again. In contrast to Hiroaki’s grimace, Rio admired him with honesty. “As expected of a hero... You’ve increased your physical enhancements even more.”
“So what does that say about you when you can deal with it so easily? Huh?!” Hiroaki didn’t interpret Rio’s praise as sincerity.
“With all due respect, it seems that you are relying entirely on physical abilities to fight. I would advise against doing this, as it makes your movements easy to predict,” Rio said, hinting at where Hiroaki was lacking. Incidentally, Rio hadn’t enhanced his body with spirit arts—just because Hiroaki was moving faster didn’t mean he had filled the gap in their techniques. It was easy enough to deal with him without reinforcing his own strength.
“Huh?! Are you saying my swordcraft isn’t good enough for you?!” Hiroaki lashed out.
“Not at all. What you’re doing isn’t swordcraft—it’s just an illusion of sword mastery by forcefully swinging around a sword that’s difficult to wield in the first place. You were never taught swordsmanship from an instructor, were you?”
“S-Shut up!” Hiroaki raged at the bullseye comment. However, Rio easily redirected the trajectory of his longsword and he ended up slashing uselessly through the air.
Hiroaki became even more worked up at that, swinging his sword even more roughly than before. His anger was clear to all the spectators, and it was evident at a glance that the cause was Rio’s handling of him.
“If you become fixated on repeating an ineffective attack, your movements become monotonous and easy to counter. Please find another factor that you can win in and challenge me with that. What happened to your wide-ranged attacks?” Rio advised. It was no longer a mock battle, but an instruction course.
“Silence!” Whether it was intentionally or otherwise, Hiroaki swung his sword and fired a powerful blast of water from the blade. The attack swallowed the entire area, but Rio himself had evaded it by leaping away.
“You finally moved to evade, huh?” Hiroaki was pleased by that and grinned.
“You finally put out an attack worth evading.”
“Shut your mouth!” Hiroaki broke into a run, provoked by Rio’s words. This time, he didn’t try to slash at him from a close distance, but fired a blast of water from mid-range.
His dull attacks are still as easy to read as ever, but...
Considering the force behind each shot, they were rather problematic to deal with. Rio moved nimbly around Hiroaki while avoiding the water shots.
“Tch, quit scurrying around!” Hiroaki’s attacks increased in intensity, but they still didn’t reach Rio.
“Is it just me, or does it look like Sir Hiroaki’s movements are improving?” Duke Huguenot spoke up for the first time here, having watched the battle silently until now.
“He’s getting better. Haruto must be teaching him as they fight,” Sara replied plainly.
“Why would Sir Amakawa do such a thing?” Duke Huguenot asked dubiously. He must have noticed that Rio would have won the moment he drew close if he had been fighting seriously.
“I don’t know. The great hero made a request to show off the strength of his Divine Arms, so maybe he’s responding to that?” As spirit folk, Sara didn’t particularly believe in the legends of the heroes, but she referred to Hiroaki respectfully while in front of the others.
Well, he probably wants to confirm the power of the heroes and their Divine Arms. That, and the request Princess Christina made of him. For Celia’s sake... Either way, the power of the Divine Arms is... Sara thought as she stared at Hiroaki’s longsword.
“If it’ll make the hero stronger, then he’s most welcome to try,” Christina added.
“Well, I suppose...” Duke Huguenot nodded with a vague reply.
In terms of abilities, the difference is as clear as day. The table should be set now.
Now Hiroaki wouldn’t be able to excuse himself if he lost. He was fighting desperately enough for everyone to see that. Christina narrowed her eyes as she watched over the battle.
This guy is seriously a monster... Meanwhile, Hiroaki was beginning to panic. His attacks weren’t making contact at all, and he couldn’t see an end in sight to the strength of Rio’s abilities. He would lose at this rate. After all his boasting.
I can’t lose. More... I need more. I need to attack an even wider area. Should I bring out Yamata no Orochi’s finishing move again? I should be able to call more water dragons than earlier. I just need some distance...
Impatience showed in Hiroaki’s expression as he took a large leap backwards, away from Rio. Then he lifted his longsword into the air once more.
“I’ve got this. I can do it!” he yelled, raising his own morale. It worked: a fierce grin was carved on Hiroaki’s face, now convinced that he could fire a more powerful Yamata no Orochi than the first time.
His magic essence output increases each time he’s cornered. Is he drawing out the power of the Divine Arms?
The only ones who had noticed were Hiroaki himself, Rio, and the spirit folk girls. Just how much stronger could he get? Rio sensed the power of the Divine Arms was limitless. If the scale of the battle grew any more than this, Rio would have to use some stronger moves himself, which would put the area around them at risk of being damaged.
This is a good time.
He’d tide over the next attack and claim victory. He had no choice.
“Hah! Here I go! Better hope you don’t get wiped out instantly!” Hiroaki yelled loudly, summoning seven water dragons into the air. Not only had their numbers increased, but they were slightly larger than before too.
He really has gotten stronger. And faster at strengthening himself, too.
As soon as Rio determined that, Hiroaki’s sword came swinging down. The dancing water dragons moved in response to his action, swooping down on Rio all at once.
This isn’t that different from before, but...
Their speed had increased. Rio looked up at the seven water dragons approaching from the sky and saw through them instantly, then glanced at Hiroaki on the ground.
He’s full of openings. He’s increased his output and strength, but everything’s so inconsistent... No, it could be a trap.
He considered charging straight in and finishing things just as he did at the start of the match, but with this many openings in his opponent, he questioned it.
It’s weird for something called Yamata no Orochi not to have eight dragons. Wait, is it meant to have eight tails too?
There was the possibility that Hiroaki’s abilities were too weak to bring out the eighth head, but the scale of the activated phenomenon at the moment wasn’t to be underestimated either.
Some spirit art users could remotely control the phenomena they invoked. The weakness of ranged spirit arts was that the caster was unable to move freely—if their ability was too low, they’d be so occupied with control they wouldn’t even be able to move. However, experienced casters could move about normally, and even cast other arts just to be safe.
Hiroaki wasn’t a spirit art caster, but the phenomenon of his Divine Arts wasn’t all that different. Rio determined that it would be best to treat this as a fight against another spirit art caster.
Just then, one of the dragon heads descended to swallow Rio up. Rio let it draw close until the last moment, then moved away at a rapid speed. Immediately following, another one of the water dragons descended on the spot Rio had been standing moments ago, crashing into the ground and spraying water everywhere with a tremendous sound.
“Heh, I missed. But this isn’t all I’ve got! I’ll show you the power of the stage only heroes are allowed to stand on! Five thousand retreating soldiers is nothing. I can do that much as well! You’ll see once I show you the power of being a hero!” Hiroaki yelled smugly. The power-up he received had him suddenly returning to his usual self like a fish in water. The two water dragons that crashed into the ground had also returned to their soaring forms in the air.
Indeed, if he could invoke a phenomenon like this, it would be possible to suppress an army with the sheer scale of the phenomena.
What a troublesome person.
Instead of his pride being crushed, it was growing more impudent. He always seemed so sensitive to the slightest things, it was surprising to see him this resilient.
However, that just meant Rio didn’t have to hold back when making him lose.
“Hahaha! Are you sure you want to leap like that? My Orochi will swallow you up.”
Down on the ground, Hiroaki raised his sword and controlled two of the remaining water dragons to aim for Rio, who had leapt several meters into the air. However, at this point, Rio activated his physical body enhancement through his enchanted sword for the first time. In other words: a forced acceleration with wind spirit arts.
Rio zoomed straight to the ground, letting Hiroaki’s two water dragons pass him overhead.
“Wha...” Hiroaki’s eyes widened as Rio started running to finish the match.
“What, did you think that would shock me? Take this!” he yelled, redirecting the two dragons that had just missed. Rio glanced behind himself to confirm, but continued charging without a care. At this point, the two dragons in the rear were a fair distance from him, but—
Boom!
There was a sound like a dragon’s roar from behind him. Immediately after, the head of the dragon opened its mouth to fire a laser-like blast of water at Rio’s back.
“Get blown away!” Hiroaki yelled, but Rio started running in a zig-zag pattern, as though he had eyes on the back of his head. Both water lasers traced along the ground trying to hit Rio, but Rio smoothly evaded the attack.
“W-What...? Y-You cheater!”
Unable to understand how he had evaded the attacks coming from behind, Hiroaki yelled without thinking. Of course, there was a trick to it: Rio was sensing the change of mana in the air that preceded the phenomena, similar to how electricity sent an advance discharge down the path it would travel through.
“How did he evade that just now...?” Celia had been watching the battle with a nervous face, but Rio’s unbelievable movements had her unintentionally asking her question out loud. At that, everyone’s gazes gathered on Sara and the others. They had completely settled into the role of being commentators.
“Only Haruto could pull off such a thing. If it were me, even if I knew the attack was coming, I’d have to change directions to deal with it,” Sara said, half exasperatedly.
“Right... Of course.” Only Rio could do such a thing. Celia was entirely convinced.
“Does he intend on keeping his enchanted sword’s power sealed as much as he can while he’s winning?” Orphia wondered to herself.
“Most likely. The hero’s fighting style is so bland, Haruto can just devote himself to evading while he approaches,” Alma said, describing what he was doing at that very moment.
“Guh... In that case, try and ride this big wave! You’ll drown if you touch it carelessly, though!” Hiroaki fired three of the water dragons next to him towards Rio, intending to swallow him up.
He seems to be struggling with control after all. Controlling seven phenomena of this scale at once would be difficult for even an experienced spirit art caster... Rio thought, tracking the position of all seven water dragons Hiroaki was sending out. Other than the three beside Hiroaki, there were four water dragons behind Rio, two of which were beyond controlling and showed no signs of attacking. The ones he had to be wary of were the three closing in from the front and the two firing water lasers from behind. Should he evade by detouring around the side, or leaping into the air?
In the end, Rio accelerated towards the advancing tsunami-like water dragon.
“You’re going for it?!” Hiroaki yelled, spotting Rio approaching from head-on before his water dragons blocked his view.
I’ll counter him the moment he shows his face!
He held his longsword at the ready, on guard for Rio’s jump attack. In the next moment, Rio appeared, stepping on the head of the water dragon. He was running while using Hiroaki’s water as footholds. Their gazes met.
“Guh...! I told you you’d drown if you touch it carelessly!” Hiroaki swung his longsword even as his body trembled. However, no water came out of it. Instead, the water dragon Rio was stepping on twisted dramatically, trying to swallow Rio.
But Rio spun as he leaped, enshrouding his sword in a fierce wind and slammed it into the water dragon. The long torso of the dragon was unable to endure the impact and snapped in half. A gust of wind blew.
“Whoa!”
A large mass of water sprayed everywhere. Hiroaki averted his face so the water wouldn’t get in his eyes. Some of the water splashed in them anyway, creating a fatal opening.
Rio had already landed after leaping over the water dragon Hiroaki released, drawing near to close their distance. Hiroaki controlled his water dragon in a fluster, directing it to obstruct Rio’s approach.
Too slow.
At this range, he should have grabbed his longsword and charged instead.
“Damn it! The impudence!” Hiroaki swung his sword roughly, trying to land an attack using area rather than a point, firing a straight shot of water from the tip. The sound of water splashing could be heard.
“Did I get him?!” Hiroaki yelled, his vision obscured. If anyone else had yelled that during battle, he would have lectured them against using such foreshadowing clichés, but even he couldn’t help it at a moment like this.
“Guh...”
An arm stretched out from behind him, pointing a naked blade at his throat. A cold chill ran down Hiroaki’s spine, making him freeze.
“Using such large-scale attacks creates more blind spots, so you shouldn’t fire them in succession. Your opponent will start to remember the move and learn to deal with it, which could end up being used against you,” Rio whispered indifferently into Hiroaki’s ear.
“D-Did you make the wind at the end?”
If so, just how experienced in battle was he? Hiroaki clenched his teeth with a look of disgrace. The water droplets blown by that wind were what had obstructed his vision.
No matter how he looked at it, this was a decisive loss for him. And yet, his heart was refusing to accept such a thing. He had often watched movies where weapons were thrust from behind and imagined himself being able to handle it easily, but reality was cruel.
He knew Rio wouldn’t kill him, but he couldn’t think of any way to overturn this situation. Even if his heart refused to lose, his body had accepted his defeat.
Anger and frustration suddenly welled up in him until his mind was a confused mess. He wanted nothing more than to throw a tantrum, but the blade pressed against his neck wouldn’t allow it.
“You half-assed bastard!” he cursed instead.
“Half-assed...?” Rio cocked his head, unsure of the meaning of the words.
“It’s what we call jerks like you who fight without giving it their all! Holding back their powers and going easy on their opponent for no reason! Fight with all your strength from the start!” Hiroaki explained. He had fallen to the level of a snappy child.
“There’s no telling what trump cards the opponent may be hiding, and there could be traps too... I don’t think revealing your hand from the start can be considered wise...” Rio said with mild confusion. There was meaning to his actions. Of course, it varied depending on the time and place, but it was generally a risk to show off one’s abilities unthinkingly before evaluating your opponent’s strength. The more of his hand he revealed, the more he could be analyzed and countered. Thus, Rio generally fought by only revealing the hands he didn’t mind revealing.
The only times he would go easy on his opponent would be when he was aware of all the cards in the opponent’s hand from the start and when he was fighting without a particular goal.
Rio’s goal this time was to ascertain the potential strength of the Divine Arms in the unlikely event that he would have to battle a hero in the future. In order to do that, he needed Hiroaki to bring out everything he had, so he had dragged the battle on until this point.
Well, it makes sense he would think that way of me.
Hiroaki didn’t know Rio’s objective, so none of that mattered to him. Rio wasn’t about to argue that point in particular either. Arguing would be pointless.
Now, Aria should be on her way soon...
Rio turned his gaze to where Celia and the others were spectating over the match.
Meanwhile, a few moments later...
“H-Hey. Isn’t that water dragon the hero launched kind of heading this way?” Celia pointed in the direction of the battlefield and asked the spirit folk girls beside her. The two water dragons Hiroaki had failed to attack Rio with were soaring unsteadily towards where the spectators were. At this rate, it was possible they would land near them.
“The shock of his defeat may have made him lose control over the spell,” Alma said tiredly. Losing control over a phenomenon you activated yourself was something a child would do back at the village. The result could be very dangerous depending on the spell, so the children that messed up would always be scolded, though to an appropriate degree.
“Orphia, can you intercept that?” Sara asked Orphia, who was standing beside her.
“Yup,” Orphia nodded, holding her bow ready and stepping forward.
First one...
She poured magic essence into her bow and formed arrows of light, taking her aim.
That’s... Rio...
She spotted Rio leaving the battlefield for the mock battle, running their way. Rio had also spotted Orphia with her bow held at the ready.
I’ll leave one to Rio, Orphia decided, taking aim on the water dragon she would shoot down.
Rio had spotted the rampaging water dragon a few moments ago.
“Sir Hiroaki, please regain control over that immediately,” he said, pointing to the water dragon moving wildly about.
“Huh?” Hiroaki was in a sulking mood and was refusing to listen to Rio; he could only give a dull reply. With that, Rio gave up on relying on Hiroaki. He couldn’t waste a single second—it’d be faster to solve things himself than rely on him.
Abandoning Hiroaki where he was, Rio started running at a speed several times faster than he’d been during their battle. He immediately activated his wind spirit arts to accelerate to his fastest speed.
He spotted Orphia with her bow ready to intercept the water dragons—their eyes met. Based on the movement of her eyes and the faintest angle of her bow, Rio instantly deduced which water dragon she was aiming for and set his eyes on the other. The sword in his hand was already wrapped in a tremendous amount of magic essence, containing a compressed storm of wind.
Orphia fired an arrow of light from her bow. The outer appearance of the attack suggested a force far exceeding the Magicae Displodo Aria used to signal the start of the mock battle. Celia and the others could tell at a glance that it contained the equivalent force of an advanced magic spell.
Meanwhile, Rio had come to a sudden stop before condensing the windstorm surrounding his sword to a point, firing it like a bullet of essence. The blast of light and blast of wind passed each other mid-air, and the water dragons Hiroaki had lost control over exploded dramatically, turning into a mere spray of water.
“Wha...” Christina, Liselotte, and the other spectators watched that scene with wide eyes. At the same time, Hiroaki finally noticed the mess that his lapse of control had created.
“Whew...” Rio sighed in relief.
Thus concluded his mock battle with Hiroaki.
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