Chapter 15:
Crack
FLUM’S FIRST THOUGHT when facing Huyghe was “I want to take his attack once.” It was the same for Rischel as well. Justice Arts lacked the visual clarity of magic. If anything, they were more like conceptual attacks, similar to Reversal. And simply swinging a sword was far too easy as an activation condition. Huyghe was probably going to be firing off his attack with reckless abandon, so Flum wanted to gather information on it early on. Then when Huyghe used Prana Shaker, Flum felt a chill on the left side of her neck at the same instant. She jumped lightly to the right.
The sword slash went past her side, and Scorch Maiden was slightly delayed in slitting her throat. The wound reached Flum’s esophagus. She coughed blood out of her mouth.
With that jump just now, the wound went to the middle of my neck. It’s threatening, but it’s not going to kill me. Flum quickly leapt forward after landing and closed the distance between herself and Huyghe. However, when she took a look at his stats, she saw that his values were close to Gadhio’s.
Huyghe Pagna
Affinity: Light
Strength: 4,138
Magic: 1,972
Endurance: 3,097
Agility: 4,867
Perception: 4,247
During the moment Flum had dodged and landed, he should have been able to launch another energy sword slash. Was it conceit born from confidence that made him deliberately refrain from attacking and allow his opponent to close in?
That confidence of his will prove fatal. There isn’t that much difference in power between us, so I’ll make use of the weight of my weapon!
Flum delivered a downward blow, using her momentum.
“Teryaaaaaaah!” Huyghe blocked it with his one-handed sword. At the moment of impact, Flum felt something like a vibration running through her body. The next instant, she felt the strength drain from her arm, like it suddenly went limp.
“My bones were broken…?!”
“That was different from the Cavalier Art that Gadhio Lathcutt specializes in, no?” With Flum’s grip strength gone, her Souleater fell to the ground and disintegrated into particles.
“Seven minutes remaining until launch.” The voice of the alarm carrying through the room agitated Flum’s impatience. Huyghe aimed for Flum’s heart and thrust his blade forward. Flum used her entire upper body to make her arm move, grabbing the base of the blade with her still-regenerating hand to stop it.
“So do you mean to say that if your arm is broken anyway, you do not care about your fingers?”
“If I defeat you, the church will be over, and peace will return! Who gives a shit about fingers, or even an arm or two?!” Huyghe swiftly pulled his sword back. The upper half of Flum’s hand was severed. Immediately afterward, her arm exploded, scattering bones and flesh. Upon seeing Huyghe calmly protect his head using his sword, Flum realized something.
He must have heard or seen my battle with Rischel. He knows what cards I have hidden up my sleeve! Furthermore, he’d used Healing to immediately heal the small wounds on his body.
“Healing magic… I suppose you are a member of the clergy after all, more or less.”
“I clearly do claim the title of Church Knight.”
“What you’re doing is so evil that I can’t really see that, though.”
“Evil often says such things.” Once again, Huyghe unleashed both an energy sword slash and his Scorch Maiden simultaneously. If Flum tried to dodge both of those attacks, she would be guided into going in a specific direction. She figured that Huyghe must have had a definite way of finishing her off if she went there. Generally, people died from blood loss when their necks were cut, but when fighting Flum, there was a restriction that required “a sure strike to her neck.” So her weak points, such as her heart and brain stem, could not be attacked. Therefore, even though her neck had been cut, she didn’t stop getting close to Huyghe, despite spurting blood. And there was one more thing she realized.
Namely, that he could only activate his Scorch Maiden by swinging his sword. It didn’t trigger when he thrust and probably wouldn’t activate even with a half-hearted swing, either. She approached Huyghe as closely as possible and engaged him again to confirm this.
“Over and over again, hm. Your battle strategy relies far too much on regeneration, Flum Apricot!” This time, she swung her sword diagonally. Huyghe blocked it with his sword in the same way as before and once again activated his Cavalier Arts to shatter Flum’s arm. Prana Kushana: a technique activated by blocking an attack with a sword filled with prana, which was then transmitted through the opponent’s weapon and into their arms, destroying them from within.
However, this time, Flum was wielding her sword with one hand. That meant that her left arm was still intact. She momentarily put her sword away, then wielded it again with her left hand, and lunged at Huyghe with a rather awkward, reckless position.
“A weak attack. If you were a knight, I would have you beheaded.”
“I have to wonder about that!” Once again, Huyghe’s vertically positioned sword blocked her attack. His Prana Kushana broke Flum’s left arm, and then…
“Kuh… What?!” The Prana Kushana that Flum had triggered herself broke Huyghe’s arm. He was surprised, and he jumped back to create some distance.
“Heal—”
“Reversal!” Flum shot the fingers of her left hand at him like they were bullets.
“Divine Wall!” Huyghe activated a barrier to block the attack and healed his arm in the meantime.
“Tch, damn, so close.”
“I finally understand now…why Gadhio and Henriette taught you how to use a sword.”
“Because those two are good people.”
“You are like a dry sponge. Normally, humans develop into adults by filling in the gaps of their growth with experience. But in your case, your stats have been zero since birth. Although you are approaching adulthood in body and intelligence, you haven’t gained any of those gaps, and thus experience hasn’t sunk into your body.” Flum, ignoring Huyghe’s words, attacked him.
“Six minutes remaining until launch.” Perhaps he disliked having direct face-to-face combat, because he parried Flum’s slash by sliding his blade along the edge.
“However, you have suddenly gained a large number of gaps due to cursed equipment. And you filled those gaps with the highest-quality material: guidance from first-class warriors and life-threatening battles.” Flum lost her balance. Huyghe used the momentum of the sliding blade to accelerate, spinning around and slashing at Flum’s back. Meanwhile, Flum, after having lost her balance, made one of her legs explode from the position she was in, forcing herself up into the air. She spun in midair, blocking Huyghe’s blade. His Prana Kushana shattered both of her arms.
“Judgment.” Huyghe, without even changing the expression on his face, shot four swords of light at Flum.
“Reversal!” Flum reflected the one sword that was headed for her weak spot. The sword of light left a small wound on Huyghe’s cheek as he tilted his head to the side. The two of them took up their positions again. Flum waited for her arms to regenerate while Huyghe immediately cast a healing spell on himself.