I still had a few seconds left of double speed. What would happen if I spun my twinblade again? My speed would be tripled, of course, but so would the burden placed on my body. And it only lasted for five seconds.
“This ends here.” I gripped my twin blade and sliced upwards with all my might. “Progress Boost.”
With that, I released the star power I had been storing up in my right arm since the battle began. Grom staggered backwards. Four seconds left. I caught the opening Grom had created as he staggered, and sliced out at his right hand. As he blocked it with his spine, I could feel his power waning. Three seconds left. I extended my right hand and grabbed the giant spine from Grom’s right hand. I now had two weapons: my twinblade in my left, and Grom’s spine in my right.
I thrust out my twinblade. Grom gripped his remaining spine with both hands, then thrust it up and knocked my blade off its course. Two seconds left. I used the spine in my right to stab Grom in his left leg.
“Graaaah!” Despite the pain that warped his face, Grom was still able to swing his spine downwards.
One second left. I gripped my twinblade with both hands again and parried the spine. As my longsword clashed with it, my enhanced speed ran out.
A tortured gargle escaped my throat as a horrifying amount of blood splurted out from within. The taste of copper filled my mouth. Then, the burden of enhancing my speed racked my entire body.
No... I’m still not done yet... I swung out my twinblade and slashed frantically at Grom’s extremities. Right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg, and then a wide slash to finish it all off.
“...Asshole,” I spat.
Grom fell to the ground, painting it with his blood.
“I win,” I said, as I struggled to stay on my feet. Then, as I turned to leave, I felt a hand grab my ankle.
“Wait, Kokuya... Let’s play some more... Grom’s still stronger than you...”
“You’re strong. But unfortunately, I refuse to lose to shallow jerks like you.”
I had slashed through each of his limbs. He was done fighting.
Back above ground, Yukihime and Elemia were just about to begin their battle.
Elemia held out Sand Scorpios, her silver sword. It was lined with a number of joints that allowed it to extend, contract, and change shape at will. With a flick of her wrist, the weapon extended ten paces ahead to where Yukihime stood.
A brief clink sounded out as Yukihime deflected the silver blade. After unsheathing her sword at a lightning-fast speed, she quickly took a step forward and then dashed straight for Elemia.
However, the Sand Scorpios refused to allow her passage. It quickly changed its trajectory and assaulted her again. Due to the way it could change shape at will, it was virtually impossible to predict where it would come from. Still, Yukihime continued to deflect it with ease, defending herself as she moved forward.
“Fine. In that case...” A silver light flashed in Elemia’s left hand, then transformed into an identical sword.
This time, two silver swords came snapping at her, and Yukihime stopped in her tracks. As she was no longer able to defend herself by simply deflecting them, she started leaping backwards and dodging. Through this, the two grew farther and farther apart, which allowed Elemia to remain as the sole attacker.
“What’s wrong? Are you going to let me slice you up without even getting a single attack in?”
“Heh. Yeah right.” Yukihime let out a cold chuckle as her left hand began to glow. Out from the blue light came an ice sword. “Sorry I couldn’t think of a more creative counter.”
With Snowbloom and the ice sword in both of her hands, Yukihime easily cut through Elemia’s ferocious attacks. Sparks flew and blades clanged as she broke into a dash, preparing to close the distance once and for all.
Once she got near Elemia, Yukihime threw the ice sword straight at her. Elemia deflected it, and it went sailing into the ground far away from the two, leaving Yukihime with only one blade.
The Sand Scorpios’ shapeshifting nature allowed Elemia to extend and contract it at will and instantly block attacks at both mid and close range, something that no normal star sorcerer could do. Close range, however, was Yukihime’s specialty.
Yukihime swung down Snowbloom hard, but Elemia crossed her blades and took it head-on. Still, Yukihime kept pushing, so hard that she managed to shove Elemia back. The Wicked Knight staggered for only a moment, but it allowed enough time for Yukihime to launch a powerful horizontal swing. Elemia quickly held up a sword and tried to block, but the swing had gained too much momentum. The sword was knocked out of Elemia’s hand, but Yukihime had already launched a new upward swing.
Elemia was stuck on defense – Yukihime had proved herself superior when it came to close-range combat. Realizing that Yukihime was clearly the better sword fighter, Elemia clacked her tongue and took a huge leap backwards.
“Afraid of getting cut up?” Yukihime asked.
“Don’t get cocky just because you know a thing or two about swinging a sword.”
“Oh, I’m not. Do I appear that way to you?”
“...That attitude of yours is really starting to piss me off.”
“Yeah, your smile’s gone, and your eyebrows are furrowed.”
“I’m going to wipe that cocky grin right off your face.” Elemia stomped her foot and created a star circle in front of her.
But that wasn’t all – soon, a dozen star circles spread out along the ground. Out from each came a huge earthen hand, like giant ghouls reaching up from their graves.
They swarmed toward Yukihime. In response, she extended her hand and created her own star circle. Icicles flew out and pierced the hands, but by that time, Elemia had created even more of her own circles, and the number of hands was only increasing.
“This is never going to end...” Yukihime shrunk back from the earthen hands, held Snowbloom upside down, and touched it to the ground. “Freeze everything... Absolute Azure!”
Instantly, a cold wave of star power exploded out from Yukihime. It covered everything, creating a frozen world, as if time itself had come to a screeching halt. Frozen was every last leaf on the trees, which had just been shivering in the wind. Every inch of the ground was covered in a thick slab of ice, and every last blade of grass now looked like sharp ice knives.
Of course, Elemia’s earthen hands had been frozen as well. As she passed her eyes over what had happened, Elemia’s eyes widened... Not out of surprise, but joy.
“Looks like you’re at least strong enough to go head-to-head with Neige.”
“Would you please stop comparing me to someone I don’t even know? Besides, I’m sure I’m stronger than them.”
“Still so cocky. One of my fellow knights is an ice elemental, too... But fine. I’ll admit it, you know your way around the battlefield. I never expected you’d be able to make it this far... We’re pretty much on the same level.”
“Fine, keep talking down to me if it makes you feel better. I could care less how much stronger you think you are,” Yukihime spat, then kicked the ice beneath her feet. “You done playing around with dirt now? Can those mud clods of yours break through my ice?”
Everything was frozen as far as the eye could see, leaving Elemia with no more earth to manipulate.
“Let’s play a different game now,” Elemia said, as she let her sword melt into mud.
Once the sword dissolved, the remaining silver squirmed on the ground, as if it was alive. The tiny puddles merged into one, then began to transform into a giant hammer.
“Are you going to break through my ice with that?”
“Wrong,” Elemia said, then swung the silver hammer in the air. Naturally, since she was so far away from Yukihime, it didn’t hit anything.
“H... Huh?!” Suddenly, a powerful force slammed into Yukihime and knocked her backwards. She fell onto the ice, then bounced a few times before slowing to a stop.
The silver hammer squeaked against the ice as Elemia dragged it towards her prey. “My star power is terra elemental. It means I don’t just have power to manipulate earth... Understand?”
“...Abstract star sorcery,” Yukihime muttered as she stood up. “Terra elemental... Earthquakes?”
“Exactly. I can manipulate the abstract concept of ‘earthquakes’ as I please.” Elemia raised her hammer. “Now then, ready for another bounce?”
Elemia swung her hammer again. The space around Yukihime trembled violently, and another shockwave shot out toward her.
“I never fall for the same thing twice.” Yukihime extended her glowing left hand.
Out of the blue light appeared a wall of ice. The hexagonal ice wall took Elemia’s shockwave head-on without budging an inch or even taking any damage.
“That looks pretty hard... Okay.” Elemia raised her hammer and ran toward Yukihime. “Let’s see what happens when I hit it head-on, then!”
A loud clang boomed out as silver collided with ice. The wall remained unscathed.
“There isn’t a single person in this world who can break through my Azure Wall.”
“And how does it feel to be the queen of trash?”
“We’ll see who’s trash here.” Yukihime grabbed the wall and tossed it at Elemia.
Elemia instantly dissolved her hammer and turned it into silver body armor. The ice wall collided with her – then fell to the ground, leaving both parties unscathed.
“You’re pretty hard yourself. Okay then.” Yukihime sheathed Snowbloom and extended her right hand.
In the next moment, ice spears attacked Elemia from every angle. They all shattered the moment they hit her silver armor. Next, Yukihime raised her right hand. Simultaneously, a giant icicle shot up from below Elemia’s feet. Her body was knocked into the sky, where another icicle appeared right next to her. She took another hit, then went plummeting to the ground.
Massive icicles converged on her, but Elemia still remained unscathed.