Chapter 248
“You knew it already, didn’t you?”
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Kapricorn said as she held her swords . But I shook my head .
“I had a suspicion . But I didn’t want to believe it . ”
“Hehe . You sound different already . ”
“…”
I couldn’t help it when I was reminded of that person . She was my superior, after all .
But this was a battle . I had to fight . It didn’t matter who I was up against .
“Oh? Rather cold-hearted of you to point your blade at me now . ”
“Well, this is a battle . We have to fight . ”
I hit . To the left, right and different angles, but all of them were dodged . Not only that, she would constantly launch small attacks of her own, which made it difficult to stay on the offensive for long . Still, I hit hard and pushed forward while still being careful . Attacking was my best defense .
“Hehe . You’re quite strong . ”
“I’m not going to hold back on this one!”
“Oh, how frightening . I think I want to run away . ”
Kapricorn said as she retreated . I had no intention of allowing her to get away, and so I used Legs of the Godwolf to close the distance as much as I could before thrusting my sword into her . This would surely…!
“K…!”
However, she just disappeared again . She had gone into my shadow . My blade cut through empty air just as short swords shot out from the shadow by my feet . And so I ran up into the air with Legs of the God Wolf in order to escape them . At the same time, Kapricorn emerged from the shadows .
“Hmm… Things have gotten harder now that you know where I’m going to appear . ”
“You’d never hit me if I stayed in the air . ”
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“That doesn’t seem very fair . ”
“I agree . ”
I believed you should fight on even footing in a match . I wanted to fight head-on . And so after creating some distance between us, I landed on the ground and raised my sword .
“Well, perhaps I’ve been running too much . This time, I’ll attack!”
“Wo-woah!”
In spite of the fact that I had landed some distance away, she crossed it in an instant . I blocked the three blades that swung towards me and tried to take a step back . But the followup attacks were relentless .
“Arghhh!!”
She almost seemed like a different person now . The pitch-black blades slashed through the air, hungrily searching for an opening . Defending myself was all I could do .
“How about…this…!”
Still, she was human . The smallest opening would be enough for me . And so I would launch a surprise attack . Something she hadn’t seen me use yet . Water magic . A furious fountain from under her feet . Her body twisted out of the way as the cold torrents shot out . I slashed from the bottom right in order to hit her .
“Too slow!”
I thought I had her . But it was then that she used new magic . She had dug her foot into the ground and kicked her shadow . The shadow stretched out into the air and created a barrier between us . My blade was swallowed up by it, but it never reached her .
“Ggg…!!”
Instead, the tip of my sword emerged from the shadow behind me and shot towards my leg . There was the sound of metal striking metal . Then the blade stopped . Thankfully, the wind dragon trousers had guarded me .
My foot would have been gone had I not been wearing dragon armor… I breathed a sigh of relief .
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“Ah, that nearly got you . ”
“…You really are full of tricks…”
“Hehe . Surely you are used to it by now? It is the lost art of shadow magic . ”
“You’re kidding…”
After hearing that, one might assume that shadow magic was the only way to do what she was doing .
But I had started to think that she was using a form of advanced earth magic . I had even wondered if she could dive in the dirt anywhere and was just misleading me into thinking it was the shadows…
However, a lost art…huh? How nice . It was almost unfair . This meant that my opponent was at a similar level to Matsumoto the Hero . It was enough to make you sweat .
“Asagi . Fighting with all your power and fighting seriously is not the same thing . Do you understand? Only idiots show all their hands and try to win no matter the cost . It will be a good fight as long as you don’t get lazy . The important thing is to take it seriously . ”
She started to sermonize all of a sudden . Well, I understood what she meant . Let’s do this properly . But also, think of the future . Something like that . It would be foolish to show all of my abilities here, while this crowd was watching me . You were supposed to use your trump card during an actual emergency .
“I only used the last one because things had gotten dangerous for me . And I don’t want this fight to end just yet… But I won’t use such things now, Asagi . That would be careless . I promise to take the rest of the fight more seriously . ”
Using a secret ability was merely careless to her . Clearly, she had plenty of other things up her sleeve . I would have to be on my guard .
“Then I won’t be using any tricks either . But I will still go all-out . Everything I know about swordsmanship and magic will be used . ”
“Ah, I wish for nothing more . Now, let’s see how far you have come!”
I charged once again . My goal was the same . Offense was the best defense . Especially against an opponent with so many moves . I wouldn’t give her a chance to use magic or blade .
“Hah…!”
“What…!?”
I raised the speed of Legs of the God Wolf and used Jack of all Trades, Master of none to make some calculations in my brain . The reach of my sword was two meters in all directions . A slash while I lept into the air, a step in the air with platinum and green wind, and then an overhead slash . Going even faster, I move under the opponent . Behind . Above, from the front, and then down again . The sword swings .
It was a unique sword art created during my trials with Rachel . I called it the ‘Kamiyashiro Space Maneuver Sword Art . ’ It ignored the laws of gravity and showed the true worth of Legs of the God Wolf . It also used Eyes of the God Wolf to search for opening from every angle . You ruled space itself and made it a place for your blade to run through .
However, there was a weakness as well . It pushed all of your organs into overdrive . In five minutes, your nose would start bleeding and you would vomit all over the place .
“Were…you…even…listening…!”
“I won’t hold back!!”
I spoke louder than I had intended . But surprisingly, Kapricorn was able to deal with my attacks . But that was only for the first dozen or so seconds . Gradually, small wounds started to appear . I still had time . I continued the attack .
Ultimately, this was the only thing I had . I didn’t have any cheats or abilities involving light and shadows . I had a unique skill, ‘Jack of all Trades, Master of None’ and Legs of the God Wolf and Eyes of the God Wolf . It took a lot of work to finally approach their level . These were people that could count on their one cheat skill to trample a thousand men . People like me had to push ourselves to the brink and look death in the face in order to face them . Had I not met Beowulf and Rachel, I would have had to survive with Jack of all Trades, Master of None alone . And it was just something that allowed you to easily grasp skills and knowledge at a moderate level .
I had no idea how she had lived up until now . Coming from a modern world and being given a cheat skill . However, I knew that I had to fight to survive . So much would feel meaningless if I was defeated here . Besides, perhaps my jealousy was making me feel all the more determined to beat her .
“Ggrrr…aahhh!!”
Kapricorn’s dark blades shattered and turned into shadows . Now that I looked, I could see that she only had two remaining . She was getting tired and was no longer able to react to every attack . The fight would end soon . Besides, I was reaching my own limit .
“This is it!!”
“Come!!!”
I lept back and gathered the wind towards me . It increased in speed with a painful, high-pitched ringing sound .
“Swiftest Wind Flash!!”
It was an attack that could kill a dragon . Of course, it worked best with a great sword, but a one-handed sword should be enough against a human . My fastest, most powerful attack shattered her crossed blades and went straight for her throat .
“Ggggg!!”
Even with her blades gone, she desperately tried to twist her body out of the way . However, she was not quick enough . The tip of the Glampanzer cut her throat open .
“…So, I am defeated…”
I lowered my sword and turned to look, just as her decoy bracelet shattered . The device took the damage for her . Had this been two attacks in rapid succession, she might have been dead for good .
“The fight ends!! Asagi is victorious!!”
The referee shouted . Ahh… It felt like it had gone on forever . I knew that I wouldn’t be killed, but I fought as if I would be . Now, since I had won…surely her identity would be…hmm?
“Ah . ”
Her hood had fallen off and the cloth around her mouth unraveled . The bracelet took the bodily damage for her, but not the damage to her clothing . As the cloth fell, so did long, black hair that reached her waist . A clear, cool expression greeted me . And there was something in the eyes . A look of triumph and mischief .
“Ah… I knew it . ”
Kapricorn Shteiner was the manager at the store I used to work at .
Kizugawa Rindo .
“What the hell are you doing…”
“I took a walk one day and ended up here . ”
As if!!