Chapter 341: Training For Shizuka
"So why did you call us here, Eve? Grace and I are busy!! We don’t have time to waste on you and... that thing?" Marie asks irritably, her gaze landing on Shizuka. Her way of referring to Shizuka sounds pretty offensive — she’s not a "thing" — but I say nothing to avoid starting a conflict.
"Hey, Grace!" I wave at Grace, ignoring Marie, who scowls at me. Grace and I have been talking more lately, so over the last three months we’ve had plenty of conversations about swords and fighting styles.
Grace doesn’t seem too fond of Evelyn-sama because of Evelyn-sama’s attitude, but Grace helps out anyway because she’s married to Marie, so she does what needs to be done. Besides, she has the kind of character that I know would never let her betray Evelyn-sama and side with the angels, because she loves Marie.
"Hey, Eve. How are you? And who’s this girl? I’ve never seen a demon like her," Grace says, staring at Shizuka, who gives her a somewhat goofy nod, her tail dragging across the floor as she steps forward.
"This is Shizuka, a new puppet of Evelyn-sama’s. While Evelyn-sama leads the march, I need to train her. I want to show Shizuka how magic works since she knows nothing about it, so I want a duel with one of you two."
"That way Shizuka can observe how it works. I believe seeing magic in practice will help more than explaining how it functions, given how much talent and potential Shizuka has," I tell them. Marie makes a sour face at me and looks like she’s about to refuse.
"I’ll go," Grace says before Marie can shut it down. Marie stomps her foot on the ground, clicking her tongue at having been ignored and not even given a chance to weigh in.
"Great, thanks for the help, Grace. We can do it right now," I say to her. She draws her sword, and I draw mine so we can have our duel. I’m actually a little excited about this.
"Shizuka, stand beside Marie, or behind her — that way you’ll be protected from anything."
"...’Kay!" She moves behind Marie, her steps still a bit unsteady since she doesn’t quite know how to walk properly yet.
"Marie, make an arena for me, please?" Grace asks in a cute tone, making Marie sigh before using her powers. Around us, a kind of white rock forms, creating a relatively large arena as Marie steps away from it.
It’s more of a wide square platform than an actual arena, but it works for a simple practice duel. Grace and I climb onto the platform, preparing ourselves for what comes next.
’I’ve always wanted to fight her... I wonder how strong I’ve gotten...’ I’ve trained a lot and had plenty of help from Evelyn-sama to strengthen myself. And though I’m still not as absurdly strong as I’d like to be, I now have far more control over my powers.
"Grace, I’m taking this seriously. I expect the same from a fellow swordswoman," I say, pointing my sword at her. Grace gives me a little smile.
"I wouldn’t ask for anything less. A friendly duel is far better than having to fight angels to the death." She shifts into a combat stance. I glance over at Shizuka and see she’s paying close attention.
’Critical Hits...’ I take a deep breath and step forward. My ability to land critical hits is extremely powerful. In combat over the last two years, I’ve only seen one person land a critical hit by luck, while I’m able to land them almost constantly.
The way a critical hit maximizes and alters how an attack functions is simply too useful. But the much higher magic cost, even for the normal strikes I make, is what made me lose to Syl’Vyr in the past. The cost is still an issue, but now my fighting style is far more solid.
’Grace can take it...’ I take a deep breath and execute a vertical slash. The strike becomes a critical hit, and the shockwave is so violent it pushes the wind like a blade, generating a kind of black slash that travels in a straight line. Grace dodges while the cut shreds through several trees in a straight path.
She advances quickly, clashing her sword against mine. I throw a knee strike that she defends by twisting her sword and protecting herself from my knee with the guard and hilt, forcing my blade completely downward.
I raise my kick using my flexibility, positioning myself almost like a sideways T on my left side. She barely dodges my kick, backing away a little as I recover my stance.
To maximize the power of my strike without making it too dangerous, I perform a vertical slash, channeling plasma electricity into the blade only when it clashes against Grace’s sword, deactivating the electricity right after to reduce the cost.
Strike after strike is exchanged between Grace and me at extreme speed, though Grace begins to gain the advantage. Still, considering I’m keeping up, I’m happy I’ve gotten this strong.
With a twist of our swords, we both take distance from each other before charging in, our blades colliding. The impact splits the arena in half and releases a powerful wave of Hikishin.
I take one hand off my sword and throw a punch forward. Grace does exactly what I wanted — she releases one hand from her sword and catches my punch. With that opening, I deliver a kick that becomes a critical hit charged with electricity.
Black lightning with deep purple and red edges erupts, generating a violent wave of energy that sends Grace flying far back. She spins in the air, but before she can hit the ground, I’ve already closed the distance. I grab her leg and slam her against the floor, hearing the crack of her back against the stone.
Grace twists her entire body, trying to kick me in the face, but noticing the movement of her sword, I release her and tilt my whole body downward, dodging her blade. I twist my body on the ground, leaping backward and recovering.
"What a strong blow. I think it cracked one of my ribs," Grace says without any expression of pain, though my wrist hurt a little when she twisted her leg to help break free.
"You’re absurdly strong too, but you don’t need to hold back so much. I wouldn’t die just from one or two cuts," I tell her, quickly shifting my gaze to Shizuka, who looks impressed and captivated by what she’s watching.
I smile at her for paying such close attention. I was pretty skeptical about this girl, but her "innocent" look, so mesmerized by my fight, makes me feel good. That excited gaze genuinely pleases me.
’Good, let her keep that up.’ Later I’ll be able to teach her so much more.
...
...
...
"So, you’re Shizuka, huh? Is this really that interesting?" The girl called Marie asks me with a bored look while I stare, captivated, at Eve. Watching her fight is incredible!! I never expected in my life to see magic in action.
On top of that, I feel truly excited and thrilled watching her. It’s very strange to feel "excited" by Eve, but because of Evelyn and her "image," I can’t see Eve any other way. She’s like, incredibly beautiful.
"Yes, yes, it’s incredible! Magic is fascinating!!"
"Pff, you call this fascinating? You have no clue! There’s nothing special about this brute display!!" She speaks arrogantly, puffing out her chest.
"Oh, really? Could you show me magic, then? Eve seems distracted." Eve has made the fight against that Grace person even more intense, no longer looking at me now.
"...Show you?"
"Yes, yes. You seem very strong, and I want to learn magic."
"Well, naturally, the weak and pathetic are inspired by the powerful... but I’m not a teacher, least of all to one of Evelyn’s playthings. Unf!" She says it all pompously, stepping away from me.
"What is Grace to you?" I try to make conversation, attempting to socialize, because I never had friends in the other world. Now that I have a new body, new chances, and a "clean" history, I want to try socializing.
"Grace is my wife. Isn’t it obvious?" When she says that, I freeze in shock.
"B-But she’s a girl!"
"What’s the problem?" Marie speaks as if there really is nothing strange about it. That catches me off guard. In the world I came from, marriage between women didn’t exist. Relationships like that, sure, but marriage wasn’t something you could do.
"N-None, I guess. That must be incredible."
"Yes, yes, I am indeed incredible. Grace is lucky to have married someone like me," Marie says, referring to something that wasn’t what I meant at all, but I’ve already learned not to question arrogant people too much. I’ll leave it as is so it doesn’t fall back on me.
"In truth, I think Grace couldn’t have been luckier than she was marrying me, because..." Marie starts rambling about a bunch of things I pretend to listen to while turning my attention back to Eve, who has escalated the fight into something even more intense.
Both of them fire magic at each other, and even though I know nothing about magic or Hikishin, somehow I can feel how it works. And that is very good for me.