Just as I made a hand sign to summon an ayakashi, I thought the knight vanished, only for her to reappear right before me, sword raised. Her steel greatsword swung down and was caught by a floating bronze sword. A loud clang echoed through the air.
I had just barely managed to summon Hihirukiri in time, but I was still in a bad spot. The knight’s strength was immense, and Hihirukiri was being forced back, the eye on its hilt squirming around anxiously. The fact that the knight’s sword could clash with Hihirukiri at all meant it was a fine blade. A dull blade would have split the moment they met.
In the brief pause born from the deadlock between the ayakashi and the knight, I collected my thoughts. I had felt a surge of energy the moment the knight had appeared. It was teleportation magic. That meant she was a magic swordsman capable of using dark element spells.
“What a headache,” I muttered, settling on a course of action.
Phase of wood: Binding Vines. Thick vines emerged at the knight’s feet. They wrapped around her armor, nearly restraining her, before I felt another current of energy. Flames erupted around her, engulfing the vines and burning them away.
“Fire magic too, huh?” Though I hadn’t expected her response, unfortunately for her, it was a bad move.
Phase of wood: Binding Vines. Three times as many vines burst from the earth. Even if she relied on her armor’s fireproofing and tried to burn them again, eventually her body would be unable to withstand the heat it conducted. She couldn’t use the same trick over and over.
“Tch.” I clicked my tongue. The knight disappeared with another flow of energy. “I get it.” She had teleported. I immediately grabbed hold of Hihirukiri’s hilt, just as its opponent’s sword vanished and it lurched forward, then swung it behind me with all my might.
It repelled the knight’s sword after she had teleported behind me. I could sense her shock, but all I could do was frown. Her blow was heavy. Even with my qigong-enhanced strength and Hihirukiri’s supernatural power, it still stung. Nevertheless, I repelled it. All was according to plan.
The knight had had no choice but to escape the situation where Hihirukiri had caught her blade, leaving me free to cast spells, and teleporting had been her only way of doing so. The spot that would catch me most off guard was directly behind, outside my line of sight. That was exactly what made it so predictable.
I stepped toward the knight, whose stance had now faltered. Getting in even closer than sword range, I stuck a hitogata on her armor.
Phase of yang: Discharge. The knight was immediately blown upward and back. Discharge wasn’t a particularly lethal spell, but it was difficult to deal with on one’s first encounter. Most people wouldn’t even know what had occurred. Because she had been blown into the air, she couldn’t simply plant her sword in the ground to halt her momentum. It would also be difficult for her to designate a teleportation destination while flying at high speeds, but even if she did try a desperate teleportation, I had one more trick up my sleeve.
Phase of yang, wood, and fire: Burning Cascade. Massive flames surged toward the knight. The waves of burning oil morphed into a sea of fire, leaving her with nowhere to teleport to.
Just as I thought it was over, energy spouted from the knight’s spellblade, and a huge block of ice dropped out of nowhere to block the oncoming wave.
“Wha—”
The moment the fire touched the ice, it began to disappear. The oil cooled, falling below the temperature necessary to continue burning. Then the knight spun around and unleashed a powerful wind spell in the opposite direction. She used the recoil to halt herself in midair, glaring at me from behind the visor of her helmet.
“That’s not good.” I immediately hurled Hihirukiri behind me, returning it to the other plane. If it couldn’t compete with her on its own, it was nothing but a hindrance to me.
The knight disappeared with another surge of energy, reappearing right before my eyes a moment later. She gripped her sword tightly, then released a thrust swift enough to tear open space itself. It struck true, aiming to pierce right through my heart and end my life in an instant—but what the knight’s blade impaled was nothing more than a single hitogata.
“You’re not the only one who can teleport.” Swapping places with a shikigami behind me, I put space between myself and the knight, already making a hand sign. I channeled cursed energy into a hitogata I had left at the knight’s feet.
Phase of metal: Needle Mountain. A vast field of dark gray spikes erupted from the ground around the knight. It was another wide-range attack that left her no room to evade by teleporting. However, I had no illusions that it would be enough to finish her off.
Just as I expected, she had already managed to escape the needles. She kicked off the ground, then leaped off the spikes extending toward her, using them to vault into the air. But that was exactly what I was waiting for.
Phase of earth: Tengu’s Beard. A thread made of volcanic rock fiber swung at her like a lightning-fast whip. I was aiming for her legs. Tengu’s Beard closed in on her, severing the tips of the spikes. She wouldn’t have any way to evade while in the air.
The spikes to her left and right were sliced by the thread just as I heard the sound of something being cut. Her sword still raised, she landed on the flat top of a severed spike.
I was completely astonished. She had cut right through the thread of Tengu’s Beard with an upward swing. The thread was so thin it was barely visible. In addition, it was extremely tough, moving at high speeds, and it was her first time encountering it. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to be impressed. I felt energy begin to swirl around her sword as she held it in the air.