“Ugh…!”
Somehow, Kirin managed to bring the Fudaraku around in time to repel Percival’s thrust, careening at an almost godlike speed.
Yet by the time she managed to bring her blade back around to counter, Percival had already backed away.
Not only that, the tip of the Holy Lance was glowing once more, and a golden light burst from the ground at her feet like an erupting geyser.
“Ascend, O Light of Judgment!”
Kirin raced to avoid the attack, but several pillars of light erupted from the earth in pursuit, forcing her to leap up into one of the broken passages looming from the second floor of the hall.
“Haah… Haah…!”
She had known it would be the case, but Percival was indeed strong—completely different to how she had been during their fight in the lakeside city.
To begin with, her foe’s speed was unrecognizable—an order of magnitude faster. Not even Xiaohui Wu, whom Kirin had fought during the Gryps, had improved to this extent. If not for her eyes, capable of channeling her prana to gauge her opponent’s next moves, she would have fallen victim to the Holy Lance in no time at all. It wasn’t just a matter of offensive and defensive techniques—it was like her foe now inhabited a completely different plane of existence.
And then there was the golden light being emitted by the Holy Lance. Unlike in its Holy Grail form, the light didn’t rob its target of consciousness in a single blow, but rather manifested as a wide range of attack forms, each of them potent and powerful. Kirin suspected if she had Ayato’s strength she might have been able to withstand them, but as she was, even a single blow would probably be enough to spell her demise.
But that doesn’t mean I can just fall back…!
Reaffirming her spirit and resolve, she sped past the burning remains of the Valiants spread left and right throughout the hall and closed in on Percival.
“Kyargh!”
Percival parried her slash with the Holy Lance, meeting her weapon not with the side of her own blade, but with its tip. Kirin followed through, attacking from above, sweeping up from below, thrusting from the front—but her foe stopped each attempt the same way. During their last encounter, Percival had exchanged blows with Kirin’s blade using her gun-type Luxes, but this time, she was holding Kirin back with astonishingly precise movements.
For her part, Percival’s eyes could see through pretense and falsehood, which rendered Kirin’s Toudou-style Hidden Technique, her Conjoined Cranes, ineffective. Since feints were useless, her only choice was to go all out from the front.
“Rage, O Light of Judgment!”
The golden light swirled like a gust of wind, quickly buffeting Kirin as she shielded herself with the Fudaraku.
Her attack canceled and momentum disrupted, Kirin was left at a distinct disadvantage.
“Hah!” She tried to break through the interval by releasing her sword energy, but the strike was easily evaded.
Well, she had suspected as much. Through those slashes, she might have been able to release projectiles of a sort, but in the end, they were simply flying tools. Such a technique would hardly prove effective against Percival in her current state—unless, of course, it was employed with particular finesse.
“Pursue, O Light of Judgment!”
At that moment, several bands of light shot out from the Holy Lance, launching straight for Kirin.
She ran to avoid them, but the strips of light changed trajectory midflight in chase.
Homing attacks…?!
They were probably similar to Saya’s homing blaster, the Waldenholt Mark II.
Kirin’s sole option was to hold her ground and lash out with the Fudaraku, but of course Percival immediately capitalized on that opening to close in with a series of perfectly targeted thrusts straight for her throat, her heart, her stomach, only backing off when Kirin sidestepped to launch her own counterattack.
“…!”
At its most basic, Percival’s strategy relied on using the Holy Lance to establish a favorable distance between the two adversaries, and once an opportunity presented itself, to dash forward and launch into a close-quarters melee attack. But she never overplayed her hand, and she never got too close. It was a solid tactic, one that offered no means to turn the tables on her.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a chance…!
Overall, Percival was the far superior opponent, but that didn’t mean she had Kirin beat on every front.
First, there was technical ability. Percival was clearly competent at employing Saint Gallardworth Academy’s various spear techniques, but she wasn’t yet an expert. Of course, each blow was precisely targeted and packed considerable power, and she fought with formidable speed, but it seemed also that she hadn’t quite perfected her technique through long training; she fought only at the level of one who understood the underlying theory. The old Kirin would have been hard-pressed to respond, but with her current knowledge, she could hold her opponent off without fear.
Her other advantage was the Fudaraku. It was said that with one month’s worth of stored sword energy, it was capable of competing head-to-head with even one of the Four Colored Runeswords. With four months’ worth of reserve, no Orga Lux should be able to defeat it.
No doubt Percival herself was aware of these two points, as she hadn’t yet attempted to finish Kirin off in a sustained close-quarters attack.
Still…
“Rend, O Light of Judgment!”
With a sweep of the Holy Lance, Percival unleashed a burst of light faster than anything else thus far.
Kirin raced to dodge it with a forward roll, only for the strike to gouge a gaping gash in the wall above her.
And with each additional swing of the Holy Lance, more and more such attacks came speeding toward her.
“Haah, haah…!”
If she allowed herself to get distracted even for a moment, she would be sliced clean in two, and so she continued to evade, her breath ragged. Percival’s breathing, however, wasn’t in the least disturbed.
I won’t be able to take my chance if this keeps up…! At best, I might have one or two opportunities…!
Desperate, she continued to dodge the oncoming bands of light, occasionally parrying them with the Fudaraku, simply enduring as she waited for her chance to hit back.
And then—
Percival, perhaps having sensed that Kirin’s movements were slowing, pressed forward once again.
Thus far, she had demonstrated a habit of using more thrust attacks than slashes. That being the case, she would likely do the same again this time.
Even with her clairvoyance, Kirin wouldn’t have been able to move in time after reading her foe’s next moves. If she missed her chance, death awaited her.
But against this opponent, she wouldn’t stand a chance of winning if she wasn’t prepared to take that risk.
Percival homed another thrust in on a single point. Instead of falling back, Kirin dared to step forward, letting lose an upward slash of the Fudaraku as she shifted her body.
“…!”
Almost at the exact same moment, the Holy Lance grazed her flank—but it was only a shallow wound.
Kirin, however, didn’t waste a moment reacting. Percival instantly rotated her body to avoid the oncoming strike. The Fudaraku tore through her military uniform, sending a long piece of cloth flapping to the ground and exposing Percival’s toned body as a faint red line ran across her abdomen.
How did she manage to avoid that…?
Falling back this time, Kirin clicked her tongue, amazed by Percival’s physical ability.
“…”
Her foe, on the other hand, glanced down at her stomach with dark eyes, then slowly turned her gaze back to Kirin. She didn’t seem perturbed in the slightest.
“I see. It seems I still underestimated you. In that case…you leave me…n-no choice…”
“…?”
All of a sudden, Percival’s words stuttered—yet her facial expression remained as stolid as ever.
Kirin, however, couldn’t afford to dwell on that mystery.
“S-slaughter, O Light of Judgment!”
Percival braced herself with the Holy Lance held out before her as an unusual amount of light began to spill from the weapon’s tip.
This was bad.
Very bad.
Suppressing the instinctive wave of fear that washed over her, Kirin leaped high into the air.
“Holy Lance—fire!”
From the weapon’s tip, a golden torrent similar to the Holy Grail’s energy wave began to spill out.
Kirin managed to evade the deluge just before it could reach her by kicking off from the ceiling, but she was thrown across the hall by the aftershock and knocked to her back as she hit the ground.
“Gah…!”
But the sight of what came next sent the pain of her landing far into the periphery of her senses.
Flying through the air, the flood of light that had targeted her tore through every level of the underground block—even ripping through the clouds that covered the sky above.
That destructive power was nothing short of incredible.
And an even more unbelievable sight yet awaited her:
“Rise, O Light of Judgment!”
“What…?!”
She’s using it a second time…?!
But it should have been too soon for that.
Percival readied the Holy Lance in the same position as before, its golden glow increasing once again.
Uh-oh…! I won’t be able to dodge it from this position…!
The next moment, the ensuing torrent of light swallowed Kirin whole.