Chapter 55: Branch – 4

Chapter 55: Branch – 4

The girl was certainly fast, and she was certainly strong.

From the moment she blocked a sword with her bare hands, it was already a well-known fact that her physical abilities were not within the normal range.

But… even so, the girl was a civilian.

No matter how excellent her physical abilities, she couldn’t stand against an assassin who was trained and moved systematically and efficiently.

…That was normal.

“…Did she counter with magic? In that short moment.”

The man’s sword clearly reached the girl.

It was extended at a distance where it couldn’t fail to reach, and at a speed where it couldn’t fail to reach.

But… one thing the man overlooked was that the girl hadn’t failed to perceive his sword either.

“……”

The girl silently looked at her hand.

Blood was flowing from her hand, and shards of glass were falling.

Uniquely, the girl’s magic was activated either by opening the cap of a glass bottle or by breaking it…

So the girl had broken a glass bottle in her fist and thrust it directly at the man.

Therefore, magic was unleashed with the girl’s fist, and that power was enough to block the man’s rapidly swung sword.

“Interesting. Definitely interesting. I thought the only threat, besides the mansion’s internal guards, would be the Duchess… Where did a brat like you come from?”

However, even as he spoke and laughed, the man’s eyes were not smiling at all.

As proof… even as he said those words, he quickly threw two daggers.

“If it’s interesting, just watch nicely, what’s with the daggers?”

And the girl, as if amused, blocked the daggers with the black cloak she was wearing.

If it were a normal cloak, it would have been pierced, not blocked… but the cloak the girl wore was not a normal cloak.

“Armor, then. From what I can tell, it seems to change into whatever form the user desires.”

“…Rolling around on that floor for a long time must improve your observation skills, huh?”

“Oh, it’s a favored piece of equipment because it can be worn as armor disguised as everyday clothes if the user wishes, so it’s impossible not to know.”

And, immediately after he finished speaking, the man’s sword, which had instantly closed the distance to the girl, swung again.

The difference from before… was that what was struck was not the girl’s body, but a familiar glass bottle filled with blue liquid.

The sword shattered the glass bottle, and once again, an ice mist spread out.

On its own, it only obscured vision and froze equipment… but the preparation time given to the girl while her vision was blocked by the mist was certainly not to be ignored.

“Again, cheap tricks.”

The man knew this, so this time, as if he had no intention of indulging her, he began to inject mana into his sword.

And… a flash, identical to the one that had attacked the girl earlier, filled the top floor of the mansion.

The next moment, all the mist vanished, and the girl was seen descending below the pillar, lightly clicking her tongue.

Just as the man was about to descend the pillar to pursue the girl, he felt something strange.

Even if it was only for a moment, he had given the girl an opening to clear the mist.

But the girl had merely descended the pillar and seemed to have done nothing else.

……Even though that was absolutely impossible.

“Ah. So that’s where it is.”

Only then did the man see several spells falling from the tall, full-length window of the mansion.

At the fireballs fiercely charging towards him and the lightning streaks rapidly falling, the man once again caused a flash from his sword.

…A strike swung through the air with a flash, and a space that briefly shimmered.

All the magic that had been coming towards the man had already faded into dust.

“It seems I’ve been playing around for too long. To be underestimated to the point of being thought incapable of even this.”

“…Yes, I certainly didn’t expect you to be able to do such a thing.”

As the man, who had calmly cut through the magic, and for a moment, the space where the magic had been, descended from the pillar, the girl also showed a rather flustered expression.

She seemed quite exhausted, her expression was dark, and she held a clumsily gripped sword in her hand.

“It seems you picked up something some worm discarded. It would probably be more advantageous to fight bare-handed, you know.”

“……My hands are starting to hurt, you see.”

“Do you still have the energy to joke? I commend your spirit and stamina. And I commend your ability to still be standing after unleashing so much magic.”

The man was clearly smiling and praising the girl, but no one would have called it praise.

What was on the man’s face was a sneer, and the words coming out of his mouth were mockery disguised as praise.

The girl knew this too, but showed no particular movement.

She merely quietly observed how the man held his sword and adjusted her own grip.

“Ha. What is it. Are you trying to imitate me now?”

However, the man was not merciful enough to simply watch.

Therefore… the sword was immediately thrust at the girl.

He, who had instantly moved even to the tall pillar, would certainly not fail to reach the girl on the ordinary flat ground below the pillar.

The difference was that until then, the flash had only flickered in the fleeting moment he cut the girl, but now the sword the man wielded itself was glowing.

“Even if you play tricks with magic, this will be difficult. This sword is meant to destroy magic, after all.”

However, despite the man’s words, the girl did not flinch.

Instead… she simply took the man’s sword without any resistance.

The man’s sword pierced through the armor the girl wore and reached her body.

Even with the armor’s resistance, it was by no means a shallow cut.

Since the girl’s body was thin to begin with, it was harder to cut shallowly.

But… even so, the girl’s expression didn’t change at all.

No, to be precise, she smiled.

As if… she was ready to endure everything.

Her body, directly struck by the sword, swayed, and blood gushed out.

Even as she swayed, the girl attempted a counterattack with the sword she held, and the man stood before her with a look of disgust.

“……It’s a pretty deep cut, but you’re not even screaming.”

“I’ve been hurt much worse than this.”

“…Even if pain is a sensation that dulls easily, a blow that slices open the abdomen like that should be painful enough, you know.”

“Really? Maybe it’s because the one who swung it is a weakling, but it doesn’t hurt much.”

That couldn’t be true.

A sword strike perfectly cut horizontally across the girl’s abdomen.

The cloak she wore as armor was already torn in half, and blood was profusely flowing out.

If left untreated, it was an injury that would clearly lead to death within an hour at most.

“But you know, don’t you think it’s too quiet here?”

“……I don’t know what kind of trick you’re trying to pull, but……”

“A device that blocks all sound, isn’t that just boring?”

Saying that, the girl’s fist struck the man’s body.

With a tingling shock, streaks of lightning spread across the man’s body.

The man, who hadn’t expected the girl to still have this much strength, allowed the attack, and retreated with a considerable shock.

“…Such monstrous strength comes from that body. In terms of power, you might even be similar to me.”

“Thanks for the compliment?”

“……You’re still at it. Well, you tried hard to protect the Duke.”

“Yes, I tried hard. And I’ll try a little harder.”

“Ridiculous. With that body, you won’t be able to use any magic. Even if you can endure the pain, if your body is in that state, mana won’t be handled properly.”

As he said, the peculiar aura surrounding the girl, and the lightning streaks that had struck the man’s body, were all disappearing.

It was abnormal for the girl to have used proper magic amidst such pain in the first place.

Therefore, the man turned his back on the girl, who would soon collapse, lose consciousness, and be unable to do anything.

……Until he was caught off guard by a shock to the back of his head, and an even more powerful fireball.

“Ugh!”

A short, but clearly powerful blow that made him groan.

Even the man, who rarely reacted to pain, let out such a groan, though not as much as the girl.

Clearly, the man, though not as much as the girl who was spamming magic, had consumed a large amount of mana using the abilities of his sword.

Therefore… the physical protection he routinely maintained through mana was bound to be somewhat disrupted.

And in such a situation, a spell strong enough to instantly kill an ordinary person had struck… so it would have been strange if he hadn’t groaned.

“Why, is it a little hot?”

“…You bitch…! How can you use such magic?”

“Sorry, but this is a potion. Not magic.”

Saying that, the girl, stumbling, still clutched another glass bottle in her hand.

The glass bottle she held now was clearly different from what she had seen so far.

If the previous ones were all illusions made of mana… this one was real.

Therefore… even the girl, who was clearly in no state to properly use any magic, could use it.

“…You’re making a meaningless struggle.”

“For that, you look pretty hurt, don’t you? It seems the Duke’s assassination is out of the question.”

An ordinary person hit by a normal fireball would burn to death.

And if an ordinary person was hit in the back of the head by a glass bottle thrown with all the monstrous strength the girl possessed? They would immediately fall into critical condition.

No matter how strong the man was, he was quite exhausted and had taken a direct hit from an attack that would have killed an ordinary person twice over, so he couldn’t be unharmed.

If the girl’s injuries hadn’t been severe, he was hurt enough that she would have truly won.

…Moreover, to the extent that if he went to assassinate the Duke alone, he would clearly be subdued by the Duke instead.

“Shut up! I’ll tear that body and mouth apart!”

“Really? But… is it okay to make such a loud noise?”

“Noise? It’s perfectly blocked anyw……”

However, contrary to his words that the sound was blocked, the man’s shouts echoed throughout the top floor.

The man suddenly remembered that the girl had punched him, even taking a sword hit for it.

……And the fact that there was a magical device blocking sound near where the punch landed.

“You don’t think a magical device scorched by electricity will perform properly, do you? Especially… a delicate magical device capable of blocking all sound.”

“……Was this what you were aiming for?”

“You know it? So make your choice quickly, then? Run, or get caught and die.”

“Ha, haha. …It seems I was truly underestimated.”

At the girl’s audacious words, the man, who had briefly let out a hollow laugh, was the next moment standing before the girl as always.

With his sword flashing brighter than ever, as if burning away his remaining strength.

“To hear words of death from a mere brat like you.”

And so, the sword struck where the girl had been.

From above… downwards.

If the girl had been there, it would have been a blow that would have perfectly split her head and body in two.

…But the girl wasn’t there, and the sword merely struck the spot where she had been.

The man’s vision wavered at the unexpected situation.

His half-lost focus desperately scanned the surroundings, and only then could the man see.

“This is my last gift. Please… like it?”

A glass bottle falling from above his head.

And the sight of the girl, who had such deep injuries that moving itself should be painful, moving so effortlessly.

Therefore… the man couldn’t understand.

Even a trained Knight, if they suffered such injuries and felt pain, it was common sense that they couldn’t move properly.

And it was even more so for a mage, who was even further removed from pain and physical training.

Unless one lived their entire life steeped in pain, or was in a situation where they absolutely had to move through pain, it was impossible to move as usual while blood was profusely flowing from their body.

But this girl in front of him now?

Just like before, so naturally and quickly, she had climbed onto the adjacent pillar in the fleeting moment he swung his sword.

Moreover, she was once again attacking him with all her might.

“…Yes, I admit it. You are an incomprehensible being.”

Therefore, the man admitted it.

That this girl was absolutely no ordinary mage.

That she was someone capable of sufficiently confronting him, who possessed the strength of a high-level Knight.

Therefore… instead of standing there blankly, he raised his sword and blocked the falling glass bottle.

……The next moment, a flash erupted.

It wasn’t the activation of the man’s sword ability.

It was simply that the magic, which until now had merely been a streak of lightning, had become a massive bolt of lightning and was falling.

Perhaps to prove that what the girl created through mana was degraded compared to the original?

The lightning bolt fiercely struck the man.

With a scorching power far beyond what the man had expected.

“You… son of a bitch…! I will… definitely tear you apart!!”

But it wasn’t enough to stop the man, who, regardless of his body’s condition, rose in anger and moved to strike the girl’s neck.

The girl looked at the man, who was raging to drag her to the underworld with him, with a subtle expression.

If she couldn’t defeat the man now, it was certain that she would die, regardless of what happened to the man later.

No matter how fast the mansion’s people and guards were, it wasn’t enough time for the man to be completely incapacitated and unable to kill the girl, who had no remaining means of attack.

Therefore, for the girl, who had used all her trump cards and was barely maintaining consciousness amidst the throbbing pain, this was the greatest crisis.

Perhaps, a crisis where she could simply die.

But… there was no fear of such a crisis in the girl’s expression.

Rather… there was a realization that such a method existed.

The girl slowly watched the man, who was approaching her on the pillar with his sword drawn, and quietly spoke into the air.

“……You guys are truly malicious for teaching me such a method.”

And then, she jumped down towards the man.

At first glance, it looked like she had simply lost strength and fallen from the pillar… but the girl’s expression proved otherwise.

…It was the same expression as when she had taken the man’s sword hit and broken the sound-blocking device instead.

Crack!

The lightning bolt flowing through the man’s body chained to the girl’s body.

The lightning, which had been on the verge of fading from the man’s body after failing to find a target to chain to, began to scorch the girl’s body once again.

Before the man could even smile and mock the girl at the sight, the girl’s mouth opened first.

“They say lightning magic… is most effective on the third strike…?”

With those words, the girl let out a scream of pain for the first time.

And at that scream, as if it had scorched the girl’s body enough, the lightning bolt shot towards the man again.

“N-no! Don’t!!!”

The next moment, on the top floor of the mansion, a flash flickered once again.

***

The top floor of the mansion, in utter chaos.

Flames erupted in various places, electricity crackled, and two disheveled figures lay sprawled.

The girl, with a rather deep wound in her abdomen, was bleeding and gasping for breath, practically a corpse…

The man, holding his sword, barely managed to stand up again, using the sword as a cane.

A bitter smile played on his lips as he stumbled towards the girl with difficulty.

“Yes… even if I go… I’ll end your life with my own hands.”

However, the girl’s answer to his chilling words was merely a laugh.

……The same laugh she had shown the man countless times, a laugh of things going her way.

And then……

“Lucia!!”

As the door to the top floor shattered, a sword blade struck the man as if shot.

Along with the Duchess, who clearly looked like she had rushed there at full speed.

The girl could only offer a weak smile at the Duchess’s appearance.

“You’re… too… late… Christie…”

With those words, the girl’s consciousness came to an end.

The last thing she heard in her ears was… only the Duchess’s half-sobbing voice.

Thus, the battle between the girl and the man came to an end.

With the man’s complete defeat, having lost not only his initial goal of assassinating the Duke but also his own life.