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After the two clashed, Inglis and Rochefort were both blown back and once again separated.

The further away they got from the point of impact, the deeper they planted their feet into the ground before they both stopped in their tracks roughly at the same length.

「I see! So we are an equal match!!」
「How wonderful! If so…!」

Once again, the sound of two kicks to the ground overlapped as they flung their bodies at each other.

「Bracing for impact with those sleek arms must be painful, huh? Come on, feel free to run! You’re so slender, why don’t you just slip away and flee?!」
「No, no, let me accompany you to the end!」

Inglis Eux fought by taking on her opponent’s strongest attack head-on and then coming out winning.

And she wanted to confirm the resilience of her dragonscale sword too, so she would keep hitting it against the most supreme shield aka the weaponized Hyrule Menace in front of her.

「Don’t be shy!」
「Same with you!」

Again and again, Inglis and Rochefort collided head-on.

「FUHAHAHAHAHA!!」
「Fufufufu—」

Each time, the shockwave of their collision shook and creaked the entire castle building, and the castle was beginning to collapse in places.

「Th-, the castle is going to collapse!」
「But we don’t know when they’ll stop and who will win!」
「Their movements aren’t even visible!」
「Wait, no! Glis is actually pushing him back a bit at a time!」

To be honest, it was impossible even for Rafinha to fully grasp their movements.

The two figures would appear and then vanish for a slight moment before they would reappear and disappear again with tremendous shockwaves every two times.

The two collided in the same position every time, while their body moved around.

Because of that, the wake of destruction on the ground was taking on a more circular pattern. But that pattern was getting closer and closer to an oval shape.

It was slowly protruding out towards Rochefort’s side, little by little. In other words, Inglis was pushing him away.

「KGGGHHHHHHH?!!!」

Finally getting a bit disoriented, Rochefort kneeled to the ground for a moment.

「WHY?! Are you pushing me away?! Are you telling me your skinny body has that much hidden strength?!」
「I am afraid you’ve got it wrong…」

Inglis calmly shook her head.

「WHAT?!」
「I am not pushing you away. You are being pushed away, have you not noticed it?」

Inglis gently gestured to her own mouth. Her face showed a very disappointed, pitying look. For her to show such a melancholic look in the middle of a battle was a rarity amongst rarity.

「Aah?」

Rochefort wiped his mouth. And when he did… he noticed his hand was stained in sticky red blood.

That was not to say that Inglis managed to injure him with her blows. They were still in the middle of measuring strengths, clashing sword with shield.

The real battle was yet to begin, and yet…

「Hnn?!」

Rochefort abhorrently shook his hand away, brushing off the blood.

「I-, is that…! So that’s the—?!」
「Wh-, which means…! Br-, brother Rafa too?!」

Neither of them would explicitly say it, but Inglis understood what Redas and Rafinha were trying to say.

They wondered if that was the side effect of equipping Hyrule Menace.

They asked if Raphael would meet the same fate if he took weaponized Eris or Ripple in his hands. That was what’s going on inside their mind, but…

「No, it isn’t that, Rani. That is this person’s constitution.」
「Eh?! So, his body?」
「Yes. He is very sick… It’s a miracle he’s still alive!」

Merely standing up must’ve been incredibly painful.

And with the intensity of the combat, he must have felt unimaginable pain all over his body. It was all thanks to Rochefort’s strong body and even stronger mental fortitude that he managed to last so long, as any other person would have been in a coffin by now.

However, precisely because he was practically a walking corpse, the side effect of the Hyrule Menace, which sucked the life force out of her user and dispersed it, wouldn’t work.

After all, a corpse had no life force to be sucked out of.

Because Rochefort was in such a state, he never had the need to suppress the side effect using Ether like what Black Mask did, as the side effect simply eluded him.

Inglis also only learned that this was possible for the first time when she laid her eyes on Rochefort.

It was a miraculous combination of circumstances.

Rochefort the Mighty Knight was unfortunately stricken with a deadly disease and had little time left in this world, but because of that, he was able to take upon the Hyrule Menace and stand on the battlefield!

What beliefs or objectives he had, Inglis had no idea, but this battle only took place because such a unique set of circumstances met.¹

This had been a very valuable and worthwhile fight. But that, too, would come to an end…

「I admire your spirit. However, I reckon that you’ve hit your limit, yes? I suggest you take a break for a while……」
「KU KU KU! Isn’t that rather cruel, saying that especially when you know my constitution? Tick-tock, the grim reaper doesn’t wait! To stand still is to accept a futile death! And that won’t save Arles here! Keep your service to yourself! I can still fight——gbuh……!!」

Right then, Rochefort vomited a large amount of blood and fell to his knees.

Only, the golden shield prevented him from planting his face to the ground, as he seemed to be holding it tight. He must’ve reached his true limits.

1. Syl: Nononono, this made no sense at all, author please. He’s sick yes, but he’s still alive, which means he has little bit of life force no matter how you cut it and using hyrule Menace will only worsen his condition, there’s no other way around this. Don’t make up such b̲u̲l̲l̲s̲h̲i̲t̲!
   Mab: I had the same exact reaction.
   Lio: The amount of hoops the author has to jump through just to create an opponent around Inglis’ strength is amusing.