Chapter 41
Chapter 41
The Brightly Blazing Sun (3)
Canis’s betrayal did not even qualify as a proper betrayal. It did not go beyond the level of a prank.
To wrap up Episode 2, I had to finish Soloven. Since this made that happen in its place, it was not such a bad deal.
Above all, I had agreed to receive two prices from Soloven while he was in a gentle state, and considering what I could squeeze out of Canis under the pretext that she had sold me out, I could not help but welcome it with open arms.
Of course, that was under the premise that I won.
“Are you ready.”
“Yes.”
It was a sparring arena at a rather late hour. At Soloven’s request that there be no others present, only a handful of people had gathered.
On my side were Winter and Canis, and on Soloven’s side was the second-year Combat Department’s top runner-up. The runner-up brightly cheered toward Soloven, shouting, Win!
I looked at Canis, who was swinging her legs beside Winter. Even with Winter glaring at her from the side, she did not care in the slightest.
Well now. When our eyes met, she even waved at me with a bright face. How irritating. This would not do. After the spar ended, I would have to give her a proper scolding.
I had no way of knowing why Canis had made such a proposal to Soloven. The only thing I could think of was that she wanted to find something out through this fight.
“Hmm.”
At the words that we were ready, Soloven took his stance. He raised the shield in his left hand and lifted the sword in his right up to his face.
He stepped his left foot forward and planted it firmly, the tip of his sword sharply pointing at me. His presence was formidable.
In terms of skill, he obviously held the clear advantage. I was just a modern man, so I did not know a damn thing about swordsmanship. But not knowing swordsmanship did not mean I did not know how to fight.
I took my stance as well. After all, I was someone who had just finished a series of major battles.
I let my favored shovel hang in my left hand. On my right was the Astral Gauntlet. Since I was ambidextrous, using my left hand was no problem.
I knew nothing of swordsmanship, so any formal guard stance was meaningless. A comfortable posture was my combat stance.
“I’m going!”
Shouting out, Soloven shot forward like a bullet. It was a charge with his shield thrust out. The force behind it—and the speed—were both tremendous.
If I were struck by something like that, it was obvious I would be knocked out on the spot. But it was not so fast that I could not follow. I avoided the charge by lightly leaping to the side.
“Hup!”
Then I swung my shovel at an appropriate timing. The shovel heading for the back of his head was blocked by Soloven’s sword.
By thrusting his sword behind his own neck, he cut off the shovel’s path. I thought I had struck fairly hard, yet it was blocked by his blade.
Soloven did not stop there. He immediately raised the arm holding the shield and swung it. The edge of the shield came flying at me sharply.
“Huh?”
I avoided the upward shield strike by leaning my body far back. Using that recoil, I immediately thrust out my right leg.
Startled by the sudden appearance of my foot, Soloven pulled her body back. I rolled with a breakfall and straightened myself up.
“Have you finished probing?”
“Your skill has improved beyond recognition. You’ve become much more flexible.”
“Oh really? Well, my swordsmanship has deteriorated instead.”
“You’re not even holding a sword to begin with, are you.”
“That’s true! It is!”
Soloven seemed surprised that my ability was higher than she had expected. This time, it was my turn. I pushed off the ground hard and charged at her.
Lowering my body as I ran, I thrust out the shovel.
—Clang!
As expected, the attack was blocked by her shield. At the moment the shovel and shield collided, Soloven slightly twisted her supple wrist, and the shovel was flung far outward, away from my body.
She had adjusted the angle of the shield to control the direction of the deflection. An absurd technique. It seemed she intended to exploit the opening that naturally formed as my weapon was forced away from me.
But there was one thing Soloven had overlooked. What I was holding was not a sword, but a shovel. I pulled the shovel with all my strength.
“What!?”
The wide head of the shovel caught on the shield. Since I was pulling with considerable force, Soloven’s shield was dragged toward me.
Taking advantage of her chest now laid completely bare, I threw a punch at it.
I called it a punch, but I was wearing the Astral Gauntlet. Given its vicious appearance, it was practically the same as stabbing with a claw.
“Indeed. A shovel. It’s unfamiliar.”
I thought it was a decisive move, but Soloven blocked it astonishingly easily. With a light flick of the sword in her right hand, as if merely brushing something aside, she diverted the direction of the gauntlet widely.
If I continued to thrust like this, it would not even reach her, and both my hands would be tied up. I tried to abandon the attack and step back.
“Huh?”
But Soloven was not so easygoing. She curled her wrist and pulled on the shield that was caught on my shovel.
Rather, she hooked the shield onto the shovel and yanked it. In an instant, I found myself being dragged instead. Her sword was already coming down on me.
Dodging would be impossible. I pulled back the gauntlet with all my strength. Then I thrust it forward recklessly. As Soloven dragged the shovel, she moved her shield toward the gauntlet.
—Thud.
Before Soloven’s sword could reach me, the gauntlet struck the shield first. Caught off guard by the unexpected force, Soloven was sent flying far back.
The sword that had been aimed at my chest failed to cut deeply. Thanks to her being flung away, the wound I received was shallow.
The tip of the blade merely grazed me.
“Your strength is considerable.”
“Ah, yes. One of my few advantages.”
Soloven performed a graceful breakfall and straightened her stance, offering calm praise. The upper part of her outfit had slipped down.
That was probably why the wound was shallow. I roughly tore off my upper garment. If it was going to flutter around and get in the way, it was better to not have it at all.
“I’ll be charging you for the uniform.”
“If you had dodged properly, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
“Ha. Such flawless logic.”
I grinned boldly at Soloven, who struck me with calm facts.
“You’ve tampered with your body quite a bit.”
“Tampered? It’s a gift left to me by our beautiful Goddess.”
“Hmm. A slip of the tongue. I apologize.”
Her gaze subtly pointed out the tattoos covering my entire body. They were excessive enough to creep toward my hands.
It felt like a parent scolding their son for coming home with tattoos, so I gave a hollow laugh and explained the circumstances.
Accepting her easy apology with a nod, I rushed forward again. Perhaps it was time to change my style a little.
***
“How fascinating.”
That was what Soloven thought. The reckless attitude. The sharp instinct that pierced through openings. It was incomparable to a year ago.
To Soloven, Davide had been a slick bastard with a filthy personality. He had a nasty temper, was rough around the edges, and had no interest in class.
It was strange enough that, as a member of the Duhein Family, he used a sword instead of a spear, and it had been surprising that he wielded a fairly fierce swordsmanship at that.
But that was all. The laziness of not honing himself further. And yet acting arrogant. That was what Soloven hated most.
And that guy had changed this much.
“How did you change so much? Are you really ‘that’ Davide?”
“I’m not ‘that’ Davide. I’ve changed! this much.”
When she thrust her sword, I calmly dodged. When she swung her shield, I nimbly withdrew my body. I knew how to aim for blind spots, and I knew how to target the gaps between defense and defense, between attack and attack.
And what of the swordsmanship that had at least been somewhat respectable? Instead, I brought out the absurd thing called a shovel and moved in such irregular ways.
“It suits you.”
Back then, my swordsmanship had been domineering and destructive. As much as that, it had been unrefined and rough. Even now, that had not changed. It was still rough and domineering.
But the feeling was different. It was rough yet flexible at the same time, domineering yet calculated. Had I found a fighting style that suited me? It was growth worthy of being called remarkable.
Soloven swung her shield widely. When she thrust her sword along with a great gust of wind, I once again evaded it in a peculiar posture.
It felt as though she was facing not a human, but a clever beast. Soloven did not stray far from her position.
From the start, since she employed a defensive combat style based on shield techniques, her range of movement was not wide. But Davide was different.
Up and down, left and right. I tried to find a blind spot no matter what, and once I found one, I did not hesitate to bite into it.
“You’re thinner than before, yet somehow your strength has grown.”
Strength normally came from muscle. Despite my gaunt frame, Davide displayed far greater power.
The same went for endurance. Soloven specialized in protecting. But Davide charged forward without caring about wounds. On top of that, he was strangely sturdy.
A fight between one who blocked attacks and aimed for counters, and one who took attacks and aimed for counters. Soloven could not easily adapt to this bizarre dynamic.
“Phew.”
She forcefully pushed away the shovel that came swinging at her. The distance between us widened from the force on both sides, and we naturally took a moment to catch our breath.
As I steadied my rough breathing, I shook my head from side to side. Then I tapped my chest twice.
At the same time, sparks began to burst from my body. Lightning coiled around me.
“This is troublesome.”
That rare lightning attribute. Its power was formidable, but its true nature lay in the special status effect of electrocution.
It inflicted an unconditionally beneficial effect against living beings. The effect was immediate and its duration long. And I was wrapping my entire body in it.
There was nothing more fatal to a close-combat warrior than this.
“It means this is Phase 2.”
I grinned savagely. Soloven also stirred her mana.
Mana that bloomed into flames under the blessing of the sun. Responding to its master’s will, her mana instantly filled the surroundings with searing heat.
Ordinarily, the intense heat alone would make approach impossible, but for some reason she felt it would not have much effect. In the end, Soloven’s prediction was correct.
“Kh!”
I did not care about the heat. My skin reddened in an instant, yet I paid it no mind.
At that sight, the pale white girl in the stands began to foam at the mouth.
I literally tore through the flames as I flew in. Attacks made with my weapon were repeatedly blocked by the shield. But the assault did not end there.
Even when she manipulated the shield to deflect like a rebound, a faint electric current flowed through it. Each time, she flinched for a brief moment, and this beast relentlessly aimed for that gap.
If this continued, she would be completely overwhelmed. If she were fully electrocuted, the spar would end right there.
Even if she defended, the current interfered. If she attacked, my body, clad in lightning like armor, made it dangerous. A perfect checkmate.
All she had to do was unleash enough heat to melt everything away. Soloven’s heat was capable of melting even stone in an instant.
But this was a spar she had requested, meant to compare our abilities. If she did that, Davide would die. Of course, Soloven had plenty to say about that as well.
“Lightning? Using something like that in a spar. You’ll die.”
“It’s low output. It’ll just sting a little and that’s it!”
She complained, but could only let out a bold laugh.
Soloven smiled back at me and leapt in. Judging by our wounds, mine were more severe. Burns had progressed to the point that blisters were occasionally visible.
Compared to that, a little jolt was nothing. The way I charged in without knowing pain. The helplessness she felt for the first time in a while. It seemed to stir a bit of excitement in her.
“Hot, so hot.”
“Then you can give up.”
“It’s hot, but it doesn’t hurt.”
My presence grew even rougher. Now it had become more blatant.
I rushed in no matter what to close the distance. I grabbed the shield with my hand and stretched out, trying to make contact somehow.
It went beyond persistence; desperate was the right word. As a result, a strange dynamic formed—Davide clinging on, and Soloven trying to shake him off.
“Kh. Ack!”
In the end, my fingers made contact. In that instant, a current that invaded the nerves in a flash caused Soloven to falter.
My splendid fist slammed into her abdomen. I threw it with all my strength, twisting my waist as much as possible.
It was a blow that would cause considerable suffering the next day. Sent flying by the immense force, Soloven’s mind went blank for a moment.
Amid that, perhaps because I had twisted my fist, the shock delivered to her insides was significant. She groaned and pushed herself back up.
I, having inhaled the scorching heat, seemed to have damaged my lungs and was continuously coughing up clumps of blood. Even so, my expression did not change in the slightest.
“……Do you not feel pain?”
“Well. Something like that.”
I had far more injuries. But the momentum was different. Wounds carved into my skin constantly seeped blood, and my flesh was mottled from burns. And yet I did not hesitate in facing the fight.
It was astonishing tenacity. Enough to make her feel sorry for having misunderstood me until now.
Of course, since I truly could not feel pain, I did not notice the change in Soloven’s state of mind.
“At this rate, you’ll really collapse. I’m going properly now.”
“That is what I want.”
I charged straight in. With a fierce shout, I thrust forward my gauntleted fist. Soloven also ran toward me, raising her shield.
The edge of the shield and the gauntlet collided. A massive tearing sound split the air.
Along with it, my lightning burst outward as if exploding around us, and at the same time Soloven’s flames swallowed me whole.
“Phew.”
Under the flash of my lightning, the spectators could not keep their eyes open. Perhaps two seconds had passed. When they opened them again, only one person was standing.
“Khrrk. Ptui. Did my lungs get wrecked?”
The casual words I spat out shattered the tension at once. It was hard to believe I was the one who had just exchanged such a spectacular clash.
“Hey. Runner-up, who’s frozen stiff. Take care of her.”
I called out to the runner-up and had him take care of the twitching Soloven. Winter immediately ran toward me.
“Huaaak! Hiaaak!”
I was the one injured, yet Winter was the one screaming. With tears streaming down her face, she sprayed all sorts of medicines she had brought.
“Hey, hey. I beat the top student.”
“I don’t care! They’re burns!”
She could not very well hit an injured person. So Winter had no choice but to vent her fury into the empty air.