Ch.369364 – Despair Sword

The clash of auras demands precise, razor-sharp judgment at every moment.

A fight can be lost because of a missed counter, a slightly off sword trajectory, or falling for an opponent’s feint.

But when one side is a mage, they need to design the situation more strategically rather than obsessing over minute movements.

Emika put forth every effort to create an opening in Cecilia’s defense.

[Cast: Adera]

Emika prioritized draining Cecilia’s health.

Her innate magic, honed through countless practice sessions, activates in the blink of an eye.

She thrusts her sword into the center of the magic circle with incredible speed.

Wheeee-!

The engraved gear wheel spins and flies toward Cecilia.

KWAAANG-!

But Cecilia evades the attack with equally impressive speed.

A small crater forms where she had been standing.

Emika pulls another magic circle to prepare a second bombardment.

Tense balance, repeated movements.

Someone needs to break the pattern through variation.

Cecilia, who had been circling around Emika, suddenly stops in her tracks.

Embracing a visibly complex mechanical wand, she murmurs incantation words.

[Synthesis: User Coordinate System Fixed]

[Cast: Drag Coefficient Adjustment]

A pointed barrier forms in front of the simple synthesis circle generator.

She finally accepts the close-quarters battle that Emika had been demanding.

Cecilia rushes toward Emika even faster, without slowing down.

[Cast: Arc Discharge]

[Cast: Sonic Boom]

The atmosphere in the arena intensifies.

Triple casting, evaluated as reaching divine levels.

An electrical storm rages along the cone-shaped mana wave front.

A sword cannot cut water, much less air and lightning.

Cecilia, who approached right up to Emika’s face, seemed confident of victory as she flashed a sinister smile.

She smoothly released the wand she’d been gripping and slipped away sideways like a squirrel.

The concentrated magical energy erupts all at once.

[Innate Magic: Manubia Rafflesia]

KWAGWAGWAGWANG-!

The drill-shaped barrier’s tip opens up, blooming into a flower of electric current.

Sparks fly wildly along the path of the thrown wand.

Cecilia directly refutes the public’s prejudice that, at 13 years old, she should be grateful just for making it to the quarterfinals.

-Wow, she’s pushing Katsuhata this hard?

-Is she going to be the perfect supporting character again this year too?

-Insane, absolutely insane!

-Triple casting, innate magic, and transformation at 13… achieving just one makes you a genius, but she has all three…

-If she wins here, it’ll be one of the biggest upsets ever lol

-Bye-bye favorite, bye-bye favorite~

“She hasn’t lost yet.”

I glance at the scoreboard as I speak.

[Quarterfinals Match 60]

[Katsuhata Emika] [87% | 11%(⚠️Non-recoverable)]

[Cecilia Nieto de Sampaio] [35% | 31%]

-Oh, safe by the skin of her teeth…!

-lol This is like a ball on the goal line in soccer.

-This is getting good.

-And look how her particle barrier is holding strong against water damage lol

-Just 1% more damage and she’s done. She’s basically lost.

-How can she possibly turn this around?!

-Haha those Japanese guys were acting all high and mighty, serves them right

The public opinion that had predicted Katsuhata Emika’s easy victory was completely reversed.

Cecilia pushed her to the edge, and her unpredictable innate magic played a significant role.

“Emika seemed to be trying to cut through the magic with her sword. Whether by chance or prediction, Cecilia’s innate magic was divergent rather than convergent, and Emika suffered irreversible damage.”

-My heart is pounding that this is just the quarterfinals.

-Both their casting speeds are inhuman.

-GG.

-It’s still unbelievable how that drill suddenly spread out right in front of her lol

-Who would have thought the young dark horse would defeat Emika.

“While she’s at a huge disadvantage now, the outcome is still uncertain. Cecilia lost her wand in that last attack and suffered significant recoil. In contrast, Emika can pull out as many light swords as she needs. There are 4 minutes and 51 seconds left. Now the roles have reversed—Emika attacks while Cecilia defends.”

Emika gets up and casts Devil’s Horns again.

She seems to be trying to squeeze out every last bit of her aura.

Her expression barely changed, but her trembling hands revealed her obvious confusion.

“Cecilia has deactivated Devil’s Horns. Looks like she’s out of mana. Slow play? That can’t be right—if she had mana left, she would have retrieved her wand. Using one more spell would be at most… Ah, Emika has made her decision.”

The arena, packed with Japanese spectators, falls silent.

It could be because they sense defeat, or perhaps they’re clinging to a sliver of hope for a comeback victory.

Emika steps forward, carrying this heavy pressure.

[Simple Cast: Devil’s Horns]

[External Manifestation: Sharp Point]

A light sword identical to an ancient destroyed legendary sword materializes in her hand.

A familiar sword will bring stability to her mind and body.

The tip is blunt since it’s based on a wooden practice sword, but that hardly matters for a light sword.

A blade imbued with ideology and will burns and cuts through everything it touches.

SHUAAAAK-

A time to rely on instinct rather than reason and press forward.

Years of practice and experience since first holding a sword guide her.

PABABAPAT-!

Cecilia concentrates aura in her arms to minimize damage to her barrier.

Nevertheless, slowly, very slowly, the barrier begins to chip away.

[34% | 30%]

[33% | 29%]

-There’s not enough time.

-If she commits to a turtle strategy, Emika will never break through.

-That sword is insanely fast damn, I can barely follow it with my eyes.

-I can feel her desperation, it’s heartbreaking…

-After such a disappointing elimination last year, how badly must she want to win this time.

The meaning and reasoning behind each exchange of offense and defense overflow.

Words can no longer keep up with their movements.

Giving up on commentary, I quietly watch, hugging my knees under a blanket.

‘How could Emika win from here? Does Cecilia have a weakness we don’t know about?’

As I watch, biting my nails…

CHANG-!

Cecilia inexplicably fails to defend against a low attack that she could have easily dodged.

The barrier around her calf is torn away, and a new barrier fills its place.

‘Why didn’t she dodge that?’

No matter how hard I think about it, there was no reason for Cecilia not to dodge there.

The broadcast camera, which had been focused solely on Emika, finally shows Cecilia’s face.

Her pupils are so dilated that her irises are barely visible.

Moreover, her focus has always been on Emika’s shoulders, arms, and torso.

‘Her eyes are unfocused… she doesn’t even notice her lower body is being attacked!’

A symptom of excessive adrenaline release.

Some might praise it as being “one with the object” or a state of hyper-focus, but in a duel where various factors must be considered, it’s absolutely something to avoid.

Come to think of it, Cecilia only entered professional dueling after graduating from university two years ago.

Therefore, she inevitably has far less practical experience than other participants.

She’s trapped in a self-defeating situation, obsessed with not letting her advantage slip away.

“If she plays this right, or rather with high probability, I think Emika’s going to win.”

When I mutter to myself, viewers flood the chat with question marks.

-I don’t see any chance for a comeback?

-The momentum is good but there’s still too much barrier left.

-2 minutes left and still 20% to go.

-Her dynamic vision must be no joke. She hasn’t allowed a single vital point to be hit.

-Emika’s arms will probably cramp up first at this rate.

-Countdown to Japan’s downfall 100… 99…

“Cecilia isn’t blocking low attacks right now. If you look, she’s not blocking any attacks below the knee. If Emika maintains this rhythm and alternates between high and low attacks, there will definitely be an opening at some point, so she should aim for that moment.”

She’s lost control of the attack and rhythm.

You can’t understand how serious this crisis is unless you’ve been in such a match yourself.

Cecilia must feel like she’s desperately deflecting blades flying at her in pitch darkness.

-Huh? Hasn’t she been blocking low attacks just fine?

-No, if you look closely, the barrier keeps regenerating.

-You’re right! Why isn’t she blocking?

-She’s not blocking low cuts? Why?

-How did NoName notice this?!

The light sword awkwardly catches right at the knee.

The girl collapses in an unstable posture, neither properly blocking nor simply taking the hit.

Emika doesn’t miss the opportunity and exploits the opening.

CHIZIZIZIK-!

A powerful strike slashing at her side.

Cecilia, suddenly alert, belatedly tries to push her away with magic.

[Cast: Friction Coefficient Adjustment]

Such a simple grappling technique might work in the early stages of a match, but not in the late game.

Emika stands elegantly on the slippery ice surface, preparing for the final blow.

At that moment, another unexpected turn occurs.

“Hahaha, my aura heart is a bit blessed, you punk!”

“…!”

Cecilia’s jubilation echoes throughout the arena.

She licks her lips with a snake-like tongue and recites an incantation.

“Delayed cast! Glacies Ion Trap!”

She’s so excited that she directly shouts the spell name as she grabs both of Emika’s wrists.

The cold from the magic circle freezes their hands solid.

Sensing the calm environment, the broadcast drone flies closer to capture their voices.

“Let’s just stay like this for exactly one minute, okay?”

“Cee! Aaaagh!”

“When did my barrier wear down this much? I just checked and was shocked!”

“Let go!”

“Hehe, just wait a little bit. I’ll definitely win the championship so you won’t be embarrassed about being eliminated in the quarterfinals.”

“When did you set up this spell?”

“Right when the match started? Somehow I had a feeling our match with big sis would be neck and neck until timeout. Just intuition!”

Delayed casting consumes relatively less mana.

The mana required for constructing the magic circle was already injected earlier.

Combined with her mana recovery rate that’s far above average, the advantage shifts to Cecilia.

-It’s over.

-She’s a crazy genius monster for real!

-De Sampaio is a genuine monster…

-She went full 30 minutes with that Italian girl last match too, and now this? How does she have so much stamina?

-This is the power of Switzerland’s greatest generation’s #1!

-Ahem, that’s forbidden to mention in this room.

-With that level of intuition, even NoName would struggle.

-Not just intelligent, but perfectly understanding her opponent’s tendencies.

What? Even I would struggle?

Don’t talk nonsense.

This room is too harsh on me.

I chuckle and fold my arms.

“Well done. Despite all the twists and turns, Emika has won this match.”

-???

-Huh? The barrier is 10.1% vs 12.3%?

-Just accept the results, NoName!

-How do you figure…

Cecilia’s chatter continued nonstop.

“When Katsuhata sis was pressuring me at the end, I thought my heart would burst. Who knew that boring NASA combat simulation would help at a time like this? There really is nothing useless in this world!”

“Now you’ll learn. A tongue that chatters without pause is useless.”

“Huh?”

Emika lowered her head.

The Devil’s Horns magic circle still spinning.

“Haak.”

Emika opened her mouth wide.

Cecilia mistakenly thought that with Emika’s hands bound, she couldn’t use external manifestation or magic.

Emika’s bluff worked perfectly.

Countdown: 5 seconds.

In this critical situation, Emika very calmly drew a magic circle with Devil’s Horns.

Cecilia belatedly detects the danger and tries to dispel the magic circle, but Emika’s casting speed was much faster.

A red light flickered inside Emika’s mouth.

I watched the scene with satisfaction and revealed the identity of the magic to the viewers.

“Innate Magic, Tongue Blade.”

We trained together for over a month, which was plenty of time to develop at least one innate magic together.

I knew she would use that in a real match someday.

How many people try to restrain a woman’s wrists and get in her face?

* * *

[Innate Magic: Tongue Blade]

ZIIIIING-

The light sword that rapidly shot out from Emika’s mouth struck the center of Cecilia’s forehead.

CLANG-!

The clear sound of the mana barrier completely shattering echoes gently.

Cecilia, hit by the unexpected blow, stumbled back about five steps and landed on her bottom.

“Ugh, my head…”

The hot July breeze flows through the hole in the barrier.

Only then did Cecilia realize she had lost.

“No way, I lost?”

She could only stare at Emika with a dumbfounded expression.

And the final winner of the quarterfinals was struggling with her somewhat flawed innate magic.

“Ack, ugh, keck! The sword is caught in my throat… ouch! My lips are burning!”

[Quarterfinals Match 60]

[WIN: Katsuhata Emika(Japan)] [77% | 10%(⚠️Non-recoverable)]

[LOSE: Cecilia Nieto de Sampaio(Brazil)] [12% | 7%(☠️Complete Destruction)]