“Wh-what incredible firepower! H-hold on! Since when does Riessfeld have a technique like that?! Is this the move she showed off during the semifinals…?”
“…No, I don’t think so. This is probably…combustion fuel.”
Precisely.
The red particles scattered by her Amaryllis were essentially a kind of fuel, designed to react to mana converted by someone other than Julis and cling to it, then increase the power of any mana she herself released. While not quite as potent as her Queen of the Night ability, it still had the effect of magnifying her firepower several times over.
“Lily pollen is incredibly difficult to remove. I used to have such a hard time getting it off my clothes in the greenhouse. Do you remember, Orphelia?”
“…I’ve long since forgotten.”
Orphelia’s response was curt, but Julis could sense that something was amiss.
Her foe’s remarks just now had been a lie. She could see it in her eyes.
Not too long ago, Orphelia wouldn’t have denied her past—she would have simply dismissed it with an air of resignation.
And yet now she was lying.
Julis didn’t know what exactly had changed within her, but whatever it was, she felt it was a positive development.
“Whoa! Right from the get-go, we’re seeing a tremendous back-and-forth—two Stregas at the top of their game lashing out in a heated exchange! It’s no wonder they both made it to the championship match!”
“I have to admit, I underestimated Riessfeld. Orphelia may be off the charts in terms of her abilities, but Riessfeld, as a Strega, is certainly on par with the likes of Sylvia Lyyneheym, at least. And her moves have a natural advantage against Orphelia Landlufen.”
“An advantage, you say?”
“There are basically two ways to deal with poisons, especially chemical weapons… The first is by neutralizing them; the second is through combustion—in other words, burning them up. Riessfeld’s ability to manipulate fire gives her an inherent advantage over Orphelia’s miasma. There have been other flame-users who faced Orphelia in the past, but their overall lack of strength and fighting ability rendered that advantage meaningless. Riessfeld, however, has managed to close the gap, thanks to a combination of keen tactics and expert abilities… She might even…”
As she spoke, Zaharoula almost sounded excited.
While she was grateful to receive such high praise, Julis couldn’t afford to get complacent.
Her tactics, no matter how diligently prepared, could quickly be rendered meaningless, depending on the flow of the match. And while it was fair to say that her own abilities had a natural advantage over Orphelia’s, they still required a lot of steps and time to pull off. One attack from her opponent would require two or three of her own to counter, making it difficult for her to keep up.
As she had known from the beginning, if she focused on evasion and defense, she would inevitably be crushed. If she didn’t press the attack when necessary, even if it was risky—if she didn’t force Orphelia to defend herself, then this would turn into a very one-sided match. She couldn’t afford to make even a single mistake.
It’s like walking a tightrope…!
But Julis wouldn’t be defeated so easily.
If push came to shove, she still had her trump card—her Queen of the Night ability.
While she wouldn’t be able to use it until the very last minute because of its time limit, it had already helped her beat Ayato and brought her toe to toe with Xinglou Fan. It would also, she hoped, be effective against Orphelia. For a brief twelve seconds, that is.
Ayato asked me to buy more time, but he didn’t say exactly how much. Probably not even he knows how long they need. They probably thought giving me a fixed limit would only cause me more stress…
In other words, she would just have to delay for as long as possible.
Festa matches tended to vary in duration—sometimes they were decided in an instant, and on other occasions, they dragged on and on. Group fights during the Gryps were usually the most time-consuming, but curiously, one-on-one bouts during the Lindvolus tended to last longer than the Phoenix’s tag-team matches. Perhaps that was because teams in the Phoenix became unbalanced as soon as a member dropped out from either side, all but deciding the outcome. Lindvolus matches, on the other hand, when the competitors were evenly matched, lacked an easy deciding factor. When both fighters were skilled at evasion and defense, matches could go on for longer than an hour.
Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect to hold out for that long out against the likes of Orphelia.
Even just half an hour would be extremely difficult, but there was no point to this unless Julis set herself a high bar.
All right, then, thirty minutes. Let’s see if I can hold out that long…!
“Bloom—Nerium Oleander, Multiflos!”
Julis summoned five double-flowered buds all at once, encircling her foe. She made no move to attack, however.
“…”
Orphelia, likewise, glanced around, but made no sudden moves.
“How unusual! Landlufen is taking in the situation!”
As to be expected.
“Yes. Even Erenshkigal, the Witch of Solitary Venom, must be wary of poisons not of her own making.”
“Ah, so this is the same poisonous flower technique Riessfeld used to drive Xiaohui Wu into a corner!”
It would be difficult to break through Orphelia’s defenses using firepower alone. A half-baked technique wouldn’t even pose a threat to her.
But if there were accompanying side effects, that might alter the equation.
This technique used a flaming flower modeled on the poisonous oleander, and would scatter its toxic fires throughout the surrounding area when it exploded.
Orphelia might have resistance to her own toxins—the ones that she could freely manipulate—but Julis’s remained unknown to her. She would have to approach them with caution.
“Poisons don’t belong exclusively to you, Orphelia,” Julis called out.
“No. I never said they were…though it is a little odious to have one used against me,” Orphelia muttered, summoning up five gravitational spheres roughly the same size as Julis’s oleander flowers in an effort to brush them aside.
“I thought you’d do that!”
Julis snapped her fingers and all five of the oleander flowers detonated. If she let those gravitational spheres touch them, Julis’s flowers would only be swallowed up whole.
Poisonous sparks of flame fell like snowflakes all around Orphelia.
How’s that? There’s no way you can dodge this…!
The poison would be less effective now that it was dispersed, but if it could whittle away at Orphelia’s strength, even if only a little, that would still be a win.
Unfazed, Orphelia merely glanced up slightly and murmured, “Kur nu Anzu.”
The miasma swirled rapidly around her, forming a gust of wind that easily blew away the surrounding sparks.
“Tch! So it won’t be that easy…!”
Despite her disappointment, Julis concentrated her prana to prepare for her next move.
All of a sudden, Orphelia’s gaze pierced clean through her.
“…I see. It’s a clever little trick, but that, too, is a form of power. Your destiny seems to be gaining strength.”
“Like I said earlier: This isn’t destiny. It’s ability,” Julis said, correcting her.
“And didn’t I tell you? To me, they’re the same. Let me test your ability one last time.”
A chill ran down Julis’s spine.
The urm-manadite core of the Gravisheath in Orphelia’s hands let out an ominous purple glow, just as an anguished gasp tore through the air.
It was the same move Orphelia had used back in the fifth round.