“So with a big adversary like this, you want to start…by tripping her up.”
Blade performed a foot sweep on Claire’s legs as he spoke.
“Ow!”
The low kick to her Achilles tendon made Claire stagger forward.
“And then…you do this.”
He tackled his foe, placing all his weight on her pivot leg. Then he grabbed her calf and threw her right over his shoulder.
Craaash!
Claire flew through the air, then landed face first, her body sprawled out on the ground. This wasn’t a feat of pure strength—it was all technique. Blade’s adversary might have been ten times taller and a thousand times heavier than he was, but a little force applied to just the right spot at just the right time was all it took to make the giant lose her balance.
“And once you have her on the ground…”
Blade stood before Claire’s giant face.
“Draaag…”
He was in his Dragon Eater stance.
“…Nnhh!”
Ten times his size or not, Claire was done for if she took an attack like that to the face.
“…Kidding, kidding.” Blade stood back up, then addressed the crowd. “So what do you think? Did you understand? That’s how you take down someone way bigger than you!”
Everyone shook their heads.
“…Huh? What? You didn’t see it clearly? Hmm. Come to think of it, she did kick up a lot of dust when she hit the ground. All right! I’ll show it to you again! Make sure you watch carefully this time, guys!”
Shake, shake, shake.
“C’mon, Claire, stand up.”
Claire was reluctantly brought to her feet. This time, she properly braced herself. She knew what was coming and was determined not to be knocked down again…
But it was useless. She toppled forward, going down even more forcefully than before. She landed right on her face, in fact. Blood poured out of her nose, and she had to wipe it up herself.
Who was it? Who had suggested that being a giant would help her defeat the super-being? It was impossible. Totally impossible. Size didn’t even factor into the equation.
This time, he used a slightly different technique to throw her. The way Blade performed it, the move didn’t raise a single speck of dust into the air.
“So as you can see, size doesn’t really matter that much. If just being big was all it took to win, my business woulda been a lot easier.”
Blade spoke with real conviction, and Claire now understood just how true his words were. He was right. Size didn’t matter. But what “business” was he talking about?
I’m sorry I thought I could beat you. I’m sorry for suggesting we call it off because I might overdo it and hurt you. I won’t do it again. I promise I won’t…
“Okay, Claire, stand up. I have a lot more techniques for fighting giant beasts to show off.”
“A lot…? How many?”
“There are about forty-eight in the basic set.”
“F-forty…?”
“Oh, but don’t worry. That’s just the official list. There are away more, so you can relax!”
“I… I’m not worried, exactly… But I can’t really relax, either…”
“Like, first off, there are the forty-eight shadow techniques that correspond to each official one, right? Then outside of that, you have four families of other skills that correspond to the Four Guardians of the—”
“J-just the official skills, please… But…are you really planning to demonstrate all forty-eight of them? On me?”
“…Oh, right, that’s a fair point. Hey, Cú! Turn into a dragon for me, could you? Some of these skills work better on four-legged beasts.”
“Yaaay! Training with my honored Father!” Cú, the baby magic beast, couldn’t have been more delighted.
“Ahh, how I envy you,” muttered Lunaria. “If only I could become some kind of giant creature, then maybe I could be Blade’s test subject, too. Yes, maybe it’s too soon to give up on that. I’m a genius, after all. If I stay here and watch…maybe I can do it, too.”
Lunaria stared intently at Cú as she transformed.
Unfortunately, even a genius would have a hard time becoming a dragon just from watching.
Claire Mountain, who was neither a magic beast nor a genius, but just a very big person, didn’t feel any joy or envy.
And yet, on that day, she would be defeated twenty-four more times.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t know how I ever thought I could beat a super-being…