by Yuu Miyazaki
“Hmph. They always think they know what they’re talking about.” Julis frowned at the commentary.
With Ayato’s time limit, they would be the ones at a disadvantage in an extended fight.
And from here until the final match, there would be only one day for rest. If Ayato broke his seal for long periods, it would make the next fight harder—That was obvious.
Still…
“Ayato, don’t push yourself too hard,” Julis told him. “Well, not that you’ll listen.”
“We can’t win otherwise. Not against them.”
Julis activated the Aspera Spina and nodded. “I have to agree. Let’s give them all we’ve got as soon as it begins.”
Ayato returned her nod, took a few steady breaths, and charged up his prana.
Magic circles surrounded him and shattered with sparks of mana. Power and the pain accompanying it welled deep inside and surged through his body.
“By the sword within me, I break free of this prison of stars and unchain my power!”
Then the shackles broke away, and he was filled with strength.
“There it is! Amagiri’s signature entrance—known and loved by now!”
“Quite a show no matter how many times you see it.”
The audience erupted in excitement and cheers.
“All fired up, huh, Amagiri.” The Gravisheath resting on her shoulder, Irene pursed her lips into a thin smile. She advanced, while Priscilla waited in the back. “Well, I better keep the pace!”
The Gravisheath gave off a purple light, its mana writhing eerily.
Tension drew the air in the dome taut, and—
“Phoenix, Round Four, Match Eleven— Begin!”
The automatic announcement declared the start of the match.
Julis immediately cast a spell. “Burst into bloom—Livingston Daisy!”
Flames flared up all around her to swirl into crimson chakrams. The fire surged toward Irene from every direction.
“Ha! Isn’t that cute!” There were more than a dozen fiery projectiles, but the Gravisheath easily swept them away.
In that time, however, Ayato had closed the distance. With the Ser Veresta in hand, he dashed between the chakrams and swung up from below.
“Ooh—I don’t think so.” Irene absorbed the attack with the Gravisheath, and sparks flew as the two blades clashed.
Even for the Ser Veresta—the sword that could burn through anything—it would not be easy to compete with another Orga Lux. Ayato could see that by locking weapons, he could force his opponent back bit by bit, but that by itself presented no significant advantage.
Ayato had expected this result. He switched tactics, twisting to pull her in as he swiped at Irene’s torso.
She deflected the strike upward with the Gravisheath and immediately followed with a downward swing, but Ayato was one step ahead with a counterattack. She dodged the sweeping blow by spinning to where he had just been, but Ayato retorted with a thrust.
Irene twirled the Gravisheath in front of her to use its blade as a shield. Sparks danced again as Ayato drew his blade back, twisted his wrist, and deflected the scythe backward.
“Huh?!”
He swung the Ser Veresta down at Irene’s defenseless chest—at her school crest.
She leaped backward to just barely dodge the attack, but her trademark scarf did not escape. Two pieces of fabric fell to the ground in flames. “Damn. Didn’t think I’d be this outmatched…! Guess I can’t beat you in a swordfight!”
Ready for her evasive maneuvers, the scorching chakrams continued to bombard Irene.
“Diez Fanega!” Irene cried. With one swing of the Gravisheath, black spheres of gravity appeared around her, flying into the chakrams. The magic projectiles destroyed one another.
“Wh-what an amazing exchange to open this match!” Mico gushed. “The teamwork between Amagiri and Riessfeld there was something to see, but so was the elder Urzaiz’s defensive skill!”
“Takes some guts for him to jump into the middle of those flames,” Pham chimed in. “Riessfeld has always had tremendous control, but that’s not an act you can pull off without a lot of faith in your partner, so.”
Ayato and Irene reestablished their distance, and Julis prepared for her next move farther off.
“Not bad for fighting together all of one or two months,” Irene said as her panting calmed.
“And you managed to dodge it all by yourself,” Julis replied, her Aspera Spina at the ready.
“By myself? Ha! We’ve got two on our team, too!” A savage glow lit Irene’s eyes, and she grinned to expose her fangs. “This strength is mine and Priscilla’s!”
The Gravisheath rattled as a violet light spread across the stage floor. The sound was almost like cackling laughter…
“Ayato, jump!” Julis shouted.
Even before her warning, Ayato’s legs were carrying him into the air.
He could see the atmosphere shivering around where he had just been standing—where Irene had manipulated the gravitational field.
“Heh. Pretty good reflexes,” she remarked.
“Well, I have seen that a few times,” Ayato replied, cautiously lowering his stance while readying the Ser Veresta.
The Gravisheath’s power affected a targeted area, but there was a moment’s lag before the ability took effect. Whereas ordinary students stood no chance, Ayato could narrowly dodge it with his power released.
“But do you really think you have the Gravisheath all figured out?” In Irene’s hands, the weapon cackled again.
The violet glow spread again across the ground, but over a much larger area than before.
Ayato took a wide sideways leap, but seeing he could not escape entirely, he braced himself for the weight to come.
Instead of being crushed, however, his body floated gently in the air. “Huh—?”
“It takes a lot of work to strengthen gravity, but not so much to weaken it,” Irene said. “I can manage a pretty broad target this way.”
Ayato hovered some six or seven feet above the ground.
He tried moving his arms and legs, but even a Genestella couldn’t do much without having something to push off against. His flailing limbs waded powerlessly through the air and his body spun around.
“Ayato!” Julis started toward him.
“You stay right there!” As Irene swung the Gravisheath toward her, Julis felt the weight.
“Ngh…!” She rolled to the ground. She tried to stand, but she could not even bring up one knee.
The target area was small enough that Julis could have dodged it, but Irene had accurately predicted that she would rush to Ayato’s aid.
“I’m not as precise as the Witch of the Resplendent Flames, but I’m good enough when my target can’t move. Massive destruction—Uno Fanega!”
A single gravity sphere appeared in front of Irene, and she steadied her aim at Ayato.
Until she abruptly fell on one knee.
“Damn—I guess using three abilities at once is a bit of a stretch…! I fueled up a ton, but I’m already out.” Irene’s face contorted in pain, although her power still remained active.
“Oh, well—This is the end, Amagiri!”
The sphere shot toward Ayato, and just before the moment of impact—
“Burst into bloom—Amaryllis!”
Julis had cast from her position on the ground, and her fireball struck Ayato before the gravity sphere.
“What the—?!” Irene exclaimed as Ayato grunted in pain.
A small explosion sent him hurtling through the air. He hit the ground tumbling, but quickly got up and frowned reproachfully at Julis. “I’m glad you saved me, but couldn’t you think of a nicer way?”
“Better than nothing, isn’t it?” Julis shot back. “Besides, I made it as soft as I could. It couldn’t have hurt that much, with the amount of prana you have.” She spoke easily, with the power of the Gravisheath apparently weakening.
Meanwhile, Irene inched her w
ay backward, keeping her eyes trained on Ayato and Julis. She was trying to reach Priscilla to draw more blood.
“Julis!” shouted Ayato.
“I know! Burst into bloom—Longiflorum!” Julis swung her rapier to draw a spear of flame in the air.
Now was their chance, when Irene could not use the Gravisheath. Julis did not intend to let it slip past.
As the fiery spear cut through the air, Ayato chased behind it. But then—
“Orreaga Pesado!”
A purple wall—or rather, a row of pillars resembling prison bars—sprang up from the ground to block them both.
Ayato almost instantly came to a dead stop.
The prison bars apparently had the same power as the gravity spheres, only elongated in shape.
“A fixed defensive maneuver—!” Julis bit her lip in frustration. And then Irene reached Priscilla.
“Heh. That’s a trick I keep up my sleeve just in case someone tries to attack my sister. You won’t get through it too easily.” On the other side of the bars, Irene smiled thinly and made a show of sinking her fangs into Priscilla’s neck.
The Ser Veresta could break through, but it was already too late.
“So we’re back to square one,” Ayato sighed, then checked the time to see that almost two minutes had passed since the start of the match.
Ideally, he wanted to finish the match in another minute or so…
“Ayato!” Julis called to him sharply.
“What is it?”
Ayato went to her, and she whispered quickly in his ear. “I’m done setting up on my end. If you want to take your shot, now’s the time.”
“Got it.” He nodded and tightened his grip on the Ser Veresta.
The next move was Julis’s ace in the hole. Whether it succeeded or failed would determine the outcome of the match.
And given the time, Ayato had only a few chances left.
He recalled Julis’s words from before the match. “If we can win by fighting the way you want to, then let’s do it.”
Ayato knew it was a gamble. But he had to make his move before Julis used hers.
“Sorry for the wait. So, another round?” The purple bars melted away, and Irene stepped forward wiping her mouth. Behind her, Priscilla lay limp on the ground, breathing hard.
Ayato’s brows drew together, more sad than angry. “Do you really think what you’re doing is right?”
“Shut up, Amagiri. I don’t need you lecturing me to know.”
“Then why—?”
“I said shut up!” Irene held the Gravisheath high as the violet glow raced across the ground.
Frustrated with the non-answer, Ayato took a large leap backward to escape her ability. The target area was even larger this time, but he was getting the hang of dodging.
“You pesky…!” she growled.
I guess we’ll have to show her, Ayato thought. Determined, he positioned himself with the Ser Veresta at his side.
“Burst into bloom—Primrose!” Julis came in for backup.
“Ugh, enough already! Cien Güestia!” The Gravisheath flashed, and an aurora of purple rippled outward, annihilating every one of the fiery primroses.
But that instant was enough for Ayato to run around from the right and jump in through Irene’s guard. “Amagiri Shinmei Style, First Technique: Twin Serpents!”
After a sidelong slash, he stepped in to slice upward.
Irene hissed. The powerful clash of impact and a residual flash tore through the air.
She had just managed to block the attacks with the Gravisheath, but was caught off balance. Seizing his chance, Ayato swung the Ser Veresta not at her—but at her Orga Lux.
“What?!” Irene shouted.
The Ser Veresta was a sizeable weapon, not suited to fine maneuvers, but the same was true of the Gravisheath. Ayato struck with all his might into the mechanism containing the urm-manadite, and while the purple light absorbed most of the blow, he definitely hit something.
The Gravisheath shrieked, high and terrible. When he moved in for another blow, an invisible force knocked him back. “Guh—!”
It must have been the Gravisheath. Ayato fell back into stance and looked up to see Irene’s rage-filled eyes glaring at him.
“Oh, I get it now. Didn’t think you’d come after the Gravisheath…!”
All along, Ayato’s goal had been to break the scythe.
Destroying an Orga Lux was no simple feat, but not impossible with another Orga Lux of equal power.
If he had succeeded, the match would be all but decided. But now that his intent was known, he would not get a second chance.
“It was a good idea, Ayato, but we’re out of time,” Julis called to him, looking serious.
“I know.” It was the best strategy Ayato could come up with, but it had failed. He nodded to Julis and shifted his tactics.
“You guys have a lot of tricks up your sleeve, huh? Well, now it’s my turn!” As if it, too, were burning with anger, the purple glow from the Gravisheath in Irene’s hands intensified. “Diez Mil Fanega!”
The scythe’s blade carved through the air, summoning spheres of gravity. They were smaller than before, perhaps the size of a fist—but the extraordinary thing was their number.
“You’ve got to be kidding…,” muttered Julis, her expression taut with disbelief.
Several dozen spheres multiplied in front of their eyes—no, more than a hundred.
“Like I said, my control isn’t great,” Irene admitted. “But there’s no way to miss with these!”
“Julis! Don’t worry about me! Concentrate on defending yourself! And—”
“Yes, I know!”
As Julis confirmed her next move, Ayato held the Ser Veresta out in front of him.
“I’m gonna demolish you!” Irene brought the Gravisheath down, and the orbs of magic rushed at Ayato.
About one tenth of them were headed for Julis.
That was to be expected, considering Irene’s intent. Ayato was confident that Julis could defend herself.
He inhaled deeply and focused his mind. He imaged a small circle around himself, and concentrated his consciousness inside it. This was his ring of impenetrable defense.
“Amagiri Shinmei Style, Middle Technique: Yatagarasu.”
The spheres flew at him furiously, but he sliced each one in half the moment it entered his circle.
With lightning-fast strokes, Ayato hacked away the barrage of spheres one by one, never missing. The audience probably couldn’t follow the path of his sword, or even the motion of his arms.
“Are you for real…?” As the orbs dwindled before her eyes, Irene’s face contorted in shock.
Once he had destroyed more than half of the spheres, Ayato went on the offensive. He dashed between the attacking orbs and lunged straight in front of Irene.
“Dammit!” Irene reacted immediately to meet him with the Gravisheath.
The two Orga Luxes collided, and sparks sprayed. Ayato and Irene, their weapons locked, strained against each other, back and forth, until finally Irene leaped backward as the Ser Veresta pushed her away.
“Julis!” Ayato shouted.
“You got it!” replied Julis, who had been evading the gravity attack on her end.
A magic circle materialized directly under Irene where she had landed.
That was Julis’s trap, a fixed ability. “Blossom—Gloriosa!”
Giant flaming claws erupted from the stage to crush Irene in their grasp.
“You’re too obvious!” Irene scoffed, as if she’d seen through it all along. She drove the Gravisheath into the ground, and the fiery glow of magic vanished. The claws of fire, too, wavered and dissipated like a mirage in the summer heat.
The maneuver had clearly failed. But that was quite all right. “There’s no harm in being obvious…especially as a decoy,” Julis said.
“What…?!” Shock came over Irene’s face as another magic circle appeared at her feet.
Although, “at h
er feet” was not entirely accurate. The second circle was at least ten times larger than the first with a diameter of well over twenty yards.
“This is the hottest of all my traps,” Julis crowed. “I hope you enjoy it!”
As the Aspera Spina descended, the circle shone bright red. The enormous amount of mana flowing into it was palpable.
“Aw, hell!” Irene started to run—but too late.
“Blossom—Rafflesia!”
In that instant, a fiery flower of unbelievable proportions rose up, and an ear-piercing roar engulfed the stage. The explosive gust raged like a hurricane and carried the roasting heat to Ayato, far away as he was. The shock wave obliterated the remaining spheres of gravity.
It was a destructive force beyond comprehension.
Julis had warned Ayato that because of the amount of prana involved, this move required significant time to prepare. Throughout the fight, even while she provided backup for Ayato, Julis had been readying this trap in secret.
“S-sis!” Her face ashen, Priscilla tried to reach her sister, but she couldn’t see through the haze of smoke.
When faced with life-threatening danger, Genestella would instinctively concentrate all their prana on defense, and they did not easily suffer critical injuries. Even so, it was hard to imagine Irene or the Gravisheath emerging from that unscathed.
But—
“You can’t be serious!” Julis gasped.
A crater had been carved out of the stage. In its center, Irene stood with her face down, the Gravisheath dangling from her hands. Her clothes were burnt all over, but she did not seem to be badly hurt.
And an enormous sphere of gravity surrounded her, protecting her.
“Did she use the Gravisheath to suppress the explosion…? She shouldn’t have had that much energy left…,” Julis murmured, stunned.
Ayato was thinking the same. The power Irene had demonstrated was not enough to suppress that destructive attack. Even if she could, it would have cost her her life.
Does that mean she wasn’t fighting at full strength before? No, that can’t be right…
“Oh, sis! You’re okay!” Priscilla’s face lit up as she ran toward her sister, but Irene remained motionless with her head downcast.
