Pythie Frederica
The crystal balls would absorb things that leaped toward them and spit them out from a different crystal ball. Frederica had set them on auto to block anything fired at her, which was nice since she didn’t have to pay attention to that and could concentrate on the hand-to-hand combat. It was very simple compared to Frederica’s old magic, but it was extremely effective as a trap for people who were not aware of it. Old Blue could see through it, so Frederica had just used them as bullets against her, but up against a Sage who was unused to combat, things were different. Frederica didn’t know specifically what sort of magic Kana had used, but so long as there were results, that was enough.
Point three seconds after Kana began to fall, Frederica kicked off the crystal ball she’d been using as her footing. She leaped at Kana faster than falling speed. She had experienced quite personally the power of an incarnation. She would not give her the time to do anything more. She would finish her off before she landed. But right before she could step on Kana’s gut and kick her to the ground, she sensed a presence behind her. Something had moved.
Huh?
Frederica turned around in midair, but she didn’t make it in time. Even given that she’d been in mortal combat with a powerful enemy, this came as a total surprise. Ripple had slipped past a Sage incarnation’s excellent senses—as well as Frederica’s sixth sense—and struck faster than any reflexes or foresight. Frederica was unable to stop Ripple’s katana from plunging directly into her throat.
Ripple buried the blade in the deep wound that had been made by Old Blue and thrust it out through the other side of Frederica’s neck. Frederica swiped with her right hand, but she was too slow. With her katana still stuck in, Ripple kicked off Frederica to leap back. First Kana and then Frederica fell to the ground.
Frederica did fall on her back, but she broke her fall. Slamming with both arms hard enough to break the road’s surface, she made use of the impact to instantly stand up.
With the dust and dirt billowing around them, she looked side to side, thinking to finish off Ratsumukana-honome-no-kami, but she had vanished, leaving only the mark of her fall. She’d left a blood trail like she’d dragged herself off. Frederica really doubted Kana had enough left in her to use her own bleeding to lure Frederica somewhere. Just follow the trail, and Frederica should be able to finish her off.
But right now, this came first.
Blood had come up into her mouth from her throat. Wiping off the blood bubbles that spilled from the corner of her mouth, she flicked them away. Ripple stood atop a steel beam that thrust out from the rubble and eyed Frederica with suspicion. Frederica had a smile on her face, and she broke off the Japanese sword stuck in her neck with only her index finger and thumb.
It wasn’t as if there was no damage, but she pretended she wasn’t even looking at the spray of blood, turning to Ripple with a smile. She had Old Blue’s smile in mind.
“That was a wonderful surprise attack.”
Frederica leaped off a crystal ball. Ripple also jumped, running away. Frederica gave pursuit. Up in the air, she jumped off another crystal ball, then jumped again, knocking down the kunai as they zoomed toward her, landing on the edge of the gym roof. Then she eyed the magical girl readying her kunai on the other edge of it—Ripple.
“Normally, I would have died…but alas, I am no longer normal. I was created to be different from humans and ordinary magical girls. See? Even with my throat pierced, I can still talk to you.”
Frederica leaped to the right, and a beat later, Ripple threw her kunai. It was impressive that she could even track Frederica’s movement. Frederica knocked down the kunai with her right hand and then swept it back the other way to knock aside the second that had been thrown in the shadow of the first. At the same time, she grabbed the sneakily thrown follow-up projectile between her middle finger and pinkie.
She didn’t know when Ripple had thrown a shuriken, but it came for the back of Frederica’s head from behind and above to the right. But that was absorbed by the crystal ball that suddenly appeared in its trajectory.
Ripple immediately bent way back. From the other crystal ball that had been floating behind her—even Frederica herself, the user of that magic, hadn’t noticed—the shuriken that had been sucked in just now flew out and thrust into Ripple’s back. Even as she groaned, she still made to throw her kunai as Frederica came a step closer and grabbed her arm, twisting it and pushing her down. Ripple twisted from her back to her waist like a wrung rag and kicked from below.
It was a wonderful counterattack, but to Frederica, it was hopelessly slow. The kick came for her chin, and Frederica struck back at her foot with her chin instead. She held back but still felt the sensation of foot bones breaking.
This is what would happen, normally. Old Blue was the strange one.
As Ripple was about to tumble to the roof, Frederica struck from above. She crushed Ripple’s knees, stepped on her remaining arm, and straddled her. Frederica repelled the needle Ripple spat at her with her eyeball.
This was no flattery; it had truly been a wonderful surprise attack. She had launched herself out at the one moment that counted. Frederica sensed her growth and training, and her rage and obsession. She had grown by one or two levels as a magical girl. But it was still not enough. It was close, she’d given her a little shock, but that was it. It was pitiful. That was precisely why she was so darling.
Ripple finally stopped moving. Panting hard, she was looking up. Her pupils were continuing to flit around. She was looking to see if she could still do something.
“It’s no use. There’s nothing you can do. You should give up,” Frederica said with a laugh.
She wasn’t laughing at Ripple being like a child throwing a tantrum on and on. It was her own fondness for this that was so ridiculous. She’d ended her pursuit of Ratsumukana-honome-no-kami, but then instead of going to the courtyard, she was very gladly pinning Ripple to the ground when she’d attacked, even though she was running out of time.
There had been other times before when she had bungled things because she had gotten carried away with her interests at the most important times, but despite reflecting on her actions, she had not learned. No, even if she did learn, her body would just move on its own, so there was no helping it. If you asked the mercenaries who had cannily withdrawn, they would say that was foolish. But if she were to throw away her foolishness, then Pythie Frederica would not be Pythie Frederica.