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Hiyuki and Otomaru stood with a distance of around 10 steps in between, a gap that neither of them can close-up in an instant.

The two face each other with their respective weapons in hands without budging from their spot, though they didn’t look any nervous 一 Normally, the air between both should have been as tense as a balloon filled up with the air to its utmost limit.

Perhaps, it’s because Hiyuki looks as clam as ocean as she holds her ‘Gilles de Rais’ in hassou stance 一 her left foot forward and ‘Gilles de Rais’ pointing upright with the hilt in front of her right shoulder.

And also because of Otomaru who has a contemptuous and carefree expression as he holds his saber on the same level as the center of gravity of his body.

“…… Just reminding you, my status right now is almost comparable to you thanks to that person. At the same status, you, who are inferior to me in actual strength, have no chance of winning against me.”

The look in Hiyuki’s eyes turned slightly dignified when she checked her opponent’s status with a quizzical expression who suddenly opened his mouth to taunt her.

For the thing was just as he has said, Otomaru’s current status 一although she still has upper hand in terms of MP, the opponent has higher HP一 is comparable to her who is in state of pet unison with Utsuho, a divine beast with fair complexion, golden fur and nine tails. However the thing that stunned her even more was «Pet unison : Fenrir».

“Fenrir!? Wasn’t Fenrir the boss of the event Tim impossible… !?”

No wait, it should have been impossible to have a status that deviates from the players’ level 一except the inhabitants of Imperial Crimson who broke through the limit with their willpower一 no matter what kind of trick is used to make Fenrir his pet either way.

In fact, not a single pet who had come out of the mobile fortress Otomaru called out earlier has inappropriate status. So, the cause of this abnormal status is一

“By ‘that person,’ perhaps… you are referring to the God that Lubbock was talking about.”
“That’s right. That person is a god! The beginning of everything.”
“…… Then why don’t you tell me more about him?”
“Hmph! I will tell you anything only if you can defeat me. Except, it’s impossible even if heaven and earth turns upside down, though!”

Otomaru kicks the ground as he sneers at her; Hiyuki also moves almost at the same time.

一Clang!

The sword and the saber clashed against each other almost at half-way point, scattering sparks all over.

“I told you!”

Unsurprisingly, the balance in this head-on collision of power tilts in the favor of Otomaru who excels in both body weight and STR (physical strength).

The twin saber of Otomaru chased after Hiyuki with a spiral and sent her flying backward from the impact; it was the effect of Sword skill ‘Whirlwind Blade’ and lightning attribute his saber itself possesses.

The force generated from the sword attack formed a tornado as it lashed out at Hiyuki, who was still floating backward.

Hiyuki’s skirt flutters as her petite body floats in mid-air. The sparks loomed at her from all directions, drawing a crescent arc.

“Haaaa!”

Hiyuki executed a ‘Slash’ with a shout as she swung ‘Gilles de Rais’ while spinning in mid-air. The slash, split the incoming tornado and the looming lightning in two.

But before Hiyuki’s feet could gain a firm foothold as she freed herself from the chains of attacks, Otomaru charges straight at her like a cannonball using Swordsman basic skill ‘Slash’.

Hiyuki counterattacks the linear charge attack with her horizontal sweep attack.

Her attack that looks simple at a glance transformed into a terrifying spiral due to the impact of landing, the movement of rapidly accelerating the muscles from their still state at once 一incorporating the Ki movement she has learned from Beast king一 and the explosive power Hiyuki has.

The ground beneath her feets was blown to smithereens.

The sword and the saber clashed for the second time.

However, the sword wasn’t the overwhelming one this time, being surpassed by its opponent with extreme speed.

“!?”

A look of impatience appeared on Otomaru’s face at the unexpected result. Just as he tries to use the skill to cover up the gap that has been opened, Hiyuki kicks him on his solar plexus, while her sword was in deadlock with her opponent’s saber.

Otomaru opens up the distance by utilizing the momentum of the kick while suppressing his urge to throw up on the spot and readies himself for the follow up attack. Albeit, the situation didn’t unfold in the direction he had assumed as he saw Hiyuki let out a murmur “sure enough~” as her sword ‘Gilles de Rais’ rested on her shoulder. She was contemplating something.

“…… I knew I wasn’t mistaken.”

“Huhh? What is?”

“I’m talking about your attack pattern. They are the same as Animaru. Basically the time of skill activation, chaining the normal attacks in between and then trying to make a breakthrough with strength when it seems like skills aren’t enough to make your opponent submit.”

“So what! You think you can shave off the HP of your opponent just by slashing at them? Dream on!”

Hiyuki shook her head at his words.

“That’s only in the case of games where you don’t feel pain or anything else; the same doesn’t apply to reality. There will be pain if a person’s vital point gets hit or how they will lose their sense of distance if their vision is covered. In fact, even Animaru will lose by following that pattern. Well not that I’m any good either when I, too, was using the skills to match the opponent. I think the usual tactic which neither has any foundation nor practical use will fail just at the early step.”

“What nonsense, that’s just an excuse for pathetic losers! Whatever you say doesn’t even matter as long as one has overwhelming power.”

“Really? Then I will prove it by defeating you without using any skills from this point onwards. Let’s settle this battle in the next round, shall we?”

“Just try if you think you can do it, you bluffing b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲!”

While shouting, Otomaru swings his twin saber horizontally and vertically using Sword skill ‘Continuous Slash. Hiyuki backsteps, dodging his frenzied attacks and flicks it off.

“Hmph! You’re all talk but no action! You h̲o̲m̲o̲!”

Otomaru appears to be snarling and shouting abuse at her, but he doesn’t seem to be particularly upset; He has already guessed Hiyuki was aiming for the lag which occurred right after one finished using a skill and had stopped his steps right before the skills ended.

But it was at that timing Hiyuki’s ‘Stab’ swoops down on him like a meteor strike.

“S̲h̲i̲t̲!”

The momentary lag proved to be a fatal delay as he had wanted to ward off the looming sword which was aimed at his throat from the closest position possible. But it was impossible for him to even dodge in his current situation.

Otomaru immediately changed the trajectory of the saber in his right hand to knock off the sword using the Sword skill secret technique ‘Demolition Strike’.

A destructive technique where users brush away the opponent’s weapon the moment their weapons collide with each other with forced movement. Except, this also puts a considerable load on the user’s weapon in exchange.

However, the weapon held by Hiyuki is ‘Gilles de Rais’; a divine sword that has miraculously succeeded in strengthening 10 times in a row, which no one in the server was a stranger to. In contrast to that, the saber he held in his hand still fell short despite being also a lv99 weapon.

And sure enough, the blade of the saber shattered with a clear metallic sound, leaving the unscathed ‘Gilles de Rais’ behind. Though not everything was in vain as the skill also did what it was supposed to, it caused the sword to slip out of Hiyuki’s hand, the sword spins in the air and falls behind the Otomaru.

Almost reflexively, Hiyuki stretched her left hand towards ‘Gilles de Rais’.

But that wasn’t the end of it. For her opponent is a twin saber user, and he still has the second saber, all sound in his left hand.

Otomaru raised the corner of his mouth, sure of his victory, and swung down his sword, aiming at Hiyuki’s fair-skinned collarbone.

“…… Got you!”

Hiyuki, who looked as if she’s going to lose her stance at any moment, quickly fixed her posture and stretched her bare hands at the looming silvery blade.

一Clap!

The silvery blade was stopped as dry clapping sounds resounded.

It was a Sword Master skill “Bare-Handed Blade Block”.

A skill that was once used by Animaru against her that became the cause of her defeat.

“一Y-You! What about ‘I’m not going to use skill…’!”

Hiyuki grinned against Otomaru’s objection in return.

“Well, sorry. That was a L-I-E. 一I said that just to trick you.”

And in that posture, she twisted the silvery blade in her hand. In the same tempo, Otomaru watched the ivy tip of the rose attached to Hiyuki’s left hand equipment ‘Steel Rose’ moving and stretching behind his back.

Without giving any moment to dodge, the ivy tip grabbed ‘Gilles de Rais’ and pierced his torso as he suddenly turned around to look.

“Oww, it hurts!!”

Hiyuki effortlessly snatched away the saber from the powerless hands of Otomaru as he coughed out blood.

The reason why she had extended her left hand towards the ‘Gilles de Rais’ which slipped from her hand was to kill two birds with one stone; to reveal an opening to bait Otomaru’s attack and to find a chance to bring ‘Gilles de Rais’ back into her hand by using the ivy of ‘Steel Rose’ she had activated secretly.

“As expected, neither of you are capable of basic tricks, let alone putting it into practical use.”

Hiyuki expressed her feelings as she pressed the saber she had snatched away earlier on the neck of the groaning Otomaru.