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「GAAAAaaaahh……!」

The invisible man shrieked.
Flaming bullets, ice pebbles, and stone spears appeared all at once, surrounding Inglis.

「!?」

Evade! However——
There was a sensation of a firm grip on her shoulders. Something was sticking onto her.

「Nn……?」

It was the opponent who had hidden himself. He had decided that there was no necessity to stay invisible, so he returned to become visible.
Inglis had grabbed his wrists to stop his ice blades, but he instead stuck even closer into her to stop her movements altogether.
And then, several projectiles of multiple attributes surrounded both of them.

The amount was as if there were many people using sorcery all at once.
If the man were to unleash that, then he would surely fall victim‌ to it as well.
Will he still unleash it!?

「In the end, just a woman…… eat this!」

The flames, ice, and stones that were suspended launched in unison.
Even if Inglis tried to avoid them, the man gripped her tight.
Her movements were sealed. Even when she tried to shake him off, he wouldn’t budge.
That was——only if she let things be.

「…… Holding a woman without her consent, I can’t say I’m impressed.」

Inglis freed herself of the high gravitational pull she put on herself.
With the weight that burdened her entire body gone, her body became lighter all at once.

This ability was very convenient for self-training.
Ever since Inglis learned it, she had always put a high gravity load on herself all around the clock except for particular times it would hinder her.
Just being able to learn this ability made Inglis able to say that enrolling at the Knight Academy was worth every penny.

「HAAAAaaatt!!!」

After Inglis shook off the man with brute-force, she leaped overhead.
There were no projectiles deployed above them.
While bouncing up the wall of the abandoned house and climbing to the roof, Inglis observed the scene below unfolding.

The man who had been shaken off by Inglis was being charged by countless projectiles of his own creation.
Flame bullets, ice pebbles, stone spears. All of them shot at him at once.

——But, just before they landed, they disappeared as though they were sucked into something.
As a result, he appeared to suffer no damage at all.

「The attacks he unleashed, he absorbs it himself……?」

So, he was keeping Inglis in place and attacked himself precisely because he could do something like this.
If he suffered no damage from it, then it ‌was an effective tactic.
It was ‌close to Inglis and Rafinha’s 『Blast it all, decoy and all!』 strategy, where Inglis would plunge into the swarm of Magic Stone Beasts and Rafinha would attack everything in its vicinity with the shower of light.

「Kukukuku……」

The man also jumped to the roof, chasing after Inglis.
The two ice swords appeared again in his hand.

Will he turn transparent and slash at me again?
This time around, the fire, ice, and stone projectiles would surely be added into the mix.

Evading everything with a bare hand would be ‌tricky, would it not?
If that’s the case, then I’ll do it too——
Inglis closed her eyes and attempted to recreate the pattern of Mana her opponent just did in front of her eyes.

Inglis couldn’t do it earlier because she was applying the high gravity pull on herself, but now that she had released it, she was no longer occupied by any kind of mana processing.
For Inglis to use mana that was converted from Ether, with her current development, she could only use one mana technique at a time.
Since mana techniques could be used simultaneously with ether battle techniques, Inglis could operate one mana battle technique and one Ether battle technique at the same time. This was the height of her current skills.

Ker-chink!

Along with a clear, solid sound reverberating in the air, an ice sword appeared in Inglis’ hand.

「Yup. I made it.」

Now, she could parry the incoming attacks on top of evading them.
Fighting with a sword every once in a while was a good thing.
If she kept engaging her enemy in hand-to-hand combat, her sword skills would get dull.

「Now, let’s start from square one. By all means, please come at me with your everything.」

The man’s figure vanished in a hurry.
That technique seemed to require a rather complex pattern of mana, and so it would be difficult for Inglis to replicate it with her current skills.

Footsteps were heard approaching.
Invisible ice swords slicing the air as they attacked.
Inglis pictured where the invisible blades would be in her mind and showed off how she could parry them.

Prang prang prang prang——!

The sound of ice swords locking ice swords was unlike steel clashing one another, but ‌clear like a musical instrument.

「Now……. Eat this!」

Flaming bullets, ice pebbles, and stone spears, all those projectiles appeared all around the perimeter of Inglis, even up above her, all at once.
It was the same attack as before, but now blocking her escape route through the sky.

「That’s still within my prediction.」

Whilst still locking swords with the invisible opponent, Inglis pranced around to either dodge or parry the incoming projectiles with her ice blade.
Her movements were like a dance, so beautiful, so elegant——
Even her enemy who should’ve been engaging her couldn’t help but had his breath taken at her sight.

「O-, Ooooohh…..!!」
「Your hands have stopped, you know.」

Counterattack!
As Inglis further increased the speed of her sword, the pitch of the tones played between the ice sword heightened.
Gradually, the invisible man got cornered, and then——

Voom!

At last, Inglis’ ice sword had sliced off the man’s right arm.

「OAAAAAAAaaaaaa!?!?!?」

Along with a scream, the sliced off right arm fell with a plop, revealing its figure.
And then, slowly, the owner faded into existence. 　
Was it because the person in question had lost his concentration, or was it because the Rune that caused the invisibility was on that sliced-off arm?
Inglis did not understand, but because of his violent riot, the man had also fallen off the roof.

「Glis! Glis!? Are you here……!?」

From down there, Rafinha’s voice echoed.
She had followed ‌Inglis into the alleyways.

「Rani! Get away, it’s dangerous!」

Unluckily, when Rafinha stuck her face out, it was the fallen man who greeted her.

「GAAaaaaaaahhh!!!!」
「Kyaah!? W-, what is he——!? This is the slasher……!?」
「M-, more……! I need more mana!! GIVE MEEEE!!!!」

The man leaped up and lunged at Rafinha. His ferocity was that of a wounded beast itself.

「YOU——!」

Rafinha braced herself‌, but she was a step too late.
If this continued on——

「I won’t let you! HAAAaaatt!!」

If it was to protect Rafinha, Inglis need not for any restraint or reserve.
With all of her might, Inglis activated Ether Armor.
She kicked the roof and slipped in the interval between Rafinha and the man with the speed no one could catch.

And then——her ice sword radiated pale light and turned into a flash.

「…… Burn this in your mind. Use whatever trick you have on me, but, should you lay your hand on Rani, consider your life gone.」

After uttering such, Inglis huffed to loosen her severely tightened lips.

「Well, I guess saying it now is useless.」
「S-, sure is…..」

Behind her, Rafinha gave a response as her eyes darted around.

Lying there was a corpse of the man, cleanly sliced in half vertically.