“Bring it on!” I shouted.
Aruku rushed at me, his sword ready at his waist, and launched a vertical strike straight down at me. I kept my eyes on it the whole time and used my right gauntlet to knock it slightly of course. I noticed a hint of surprise flash across Aruku’s emotionless face.
“Too slow!” I said. “You won’t hit me with an attack like that, Aruku!”
But on the inside, I was terrified. Having to fight at close quarters with a flaming sword wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. At the same time, however, there was nobody else but me who could save Aruku.
For him—and for all of us—I refused to back down.
Aruku sliced horizontally, and I ducked as the sword whizzed over my head.
“My turn!” I shouted.
I leaped back into striking range and pulled Aruku’s shoulder straight into my flying knee. I knew it was a strong attack, but it had zero effect on Aruku’s armor. Even keeping him in place as I hit him was no use.
“Whoa!”
I noticed the magic power building in Aruku’s hand and leaped out of range. I’d escaped one fireball already, but even I wouldn’t be unharmed if I caught one of those in the face. Before I could get back to my feet, however, Aruku launched himself into yet another attack.
“Not even going to give me a chance to rest, huh?”
Flames flickered from behind Aruku’s sword as he swung it over and over again in an attempt to get me. I dodged what I could dodge. I parried what I couldn’t. But with each strike I felt my breath growing ragged and a stabbing pain in my skin.
“Ugh, so hot . . .”
I parried another strike, this one coming as Aruku spun and let his body weight carry his sword on a diagonal line. He followed it up with a stab, which I bent backward to dodge. It was attack after attack,. I had to parry almost all of them with my gauntlets.
“Ouch!”
I looked down and saw that my right gauntlet was quickly growing red. So, in a panic, I threw it to the ground—it was either going to break, or it was going to leave me horribly burned.
“Damned fire . . .” I said, struggling for breath, “such a pain in the ass.”
Nack sure had guts to face off against Mina like that.
I blew on my right arm while I parried a strike with my left. But at that moment, I noticed a slight tremble in Aruku’s arm and something stiff in his movements.
“Hm?” I uttered.
As I watched him more carefully, I put together a hypothesis.
“Is he exhausted . . .?”
Nobody could avoid getting tired. My own limits were a little further than normal, but any ordinary human would feel the effects of moving without rest. On top of that, while I was focused on defense, Aruku was attacking non-stop. This would have tired him out more than me.
Usually, at this point in the battle, you’d try to make some distance and catch your breath. But Aruku was under Nea’s control. He would not stop swinging his sword until he had accomplished the orders that she had given him.
“If he wasn’t under her control . . .”
Under normal circumstances, Aruku never would have let himself get pulled into a battle of endurance. He wouldn’t have bothered with something as down and dirty as a close-quarters fight. He would have made the battle more technical, where I was weakest and where he could take advantage of me.
I dodged another one of Aruku’s strikes and glanced at Nea.
“Do it!” she shouted. “Get him! Yes, like that!”
She was very excited. Seeing me stuck on defense made her even more assured of her own victory. But seeing her like that told me she wasn’t very experienced when it came to battle. The whole reason she’d cowered in fear when I attempted my first strike was because she knew that I could easily take her down if I got close enough. I had to get to her and knock her out before Aruku’s body broke completely. Unfortunately, Aruku wasn’t going to make it easy on me.
If only there was some other way to attack Nea . . .
And then it hit me. I just had to flip my perspective.
“I’ve got it!” I shouted.
If close-quarter attacks weren’t effective, I’d have to use another method.
“I’ve got just the thing!” again I exclaimed.
I turned my focus back on Aruku and took a big step right into close range. If I tried to hit him here, I’d simply be repeating the same mistake again, but now I had a different idea. This time I didn’t hit Aruku straight on, but instead knocked Aruku upward with my fists. The force and shock of my blows were ineffective, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t lift the guy up into the air!
And Aruku’s body proved my point. It flew up from the floor. I felt the smile growing on my face as I turned to look at Nea.
“Here we go! Prepare yourself, Nea!” I shouted.
“Eek! What?! Why me?!” cried Nea in utter shock.
I glared straight at her as I took a hold of Aruku midair and launched him straight toward Nea, who was standing by the windows. I already knew that with a hex on his armor, Aruku would be fine. But what about the person he collided with? How would she fare?
“What?! Huh?! You’re aiming for me?!”
Aruku flew toward Nea, who was frozen in place.
“Aruku! Stop!” she screamed.
Right before Aruku collided with her, he dug his sword down and stabbed it into the floor. The sound of his armor impacting the ground echoed around us. The fall certainly didn’t look like it felt good.
“Damn it,” I spat. “He stopped.”
“What the heck?! Are you crazy?! All the things you could have done, and you launch your friend straight at me!”
Did she just call me crazy? Well, whatever. I’ll throw him as many times as I have to.
I readied myself as Aruku lifted himself from the ground with a groan.
“Ugh . . .” he uttered.
“Huh?”
He’s hurt. But it wasn’t because I hit him. It must have been the weight of the armor and his own body when he fell. Does that mean he’s not impervious to every kind of impact?
“I think I get it,” I said.
I felt like I was getting a better feel for how Nea’s resistance hex worked.
“So your resistance hex is only resistant to striking attacks, then. Well, that makes things simple. I’ll just throw him at you until he’s unconscious.”
“This is your friend you’re talking about, right? And you’re just going to beat him into submission . . .? Um, are you even capable of that?”
I heard that fear slip into your voice, Nea.
In reply, I nodded and raised my fists.
“I’ll do what I have to do,” I said. “One reason I was so focused on defense was to ensure that Aruku didn’t cut me or Amako. I don’t want him to have to carry around any guilt from hurting us, so I’m going to stop him.”
Nea flinched at my words.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “You leave me no choice.”
She put a hand on Aruku and murmured something. I glanced at Amako, but she shook her head—even her beastkin ears couldn’t pick up what Nea said.
“It really would have been much better for you if you’d let things end here,” said Nea.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
But before she could answer, Aruku was on the move. He’d had a chance to catch his breath, but his movements were still slow.
It doesn’t matter what she has planned. I’ll just do what I did the last time and . . . huh?!