With a silent promise in my heart, I put on the scarf.
It truly felt like our battle was just around the corner now. We returned to the academy several hours later. The sun had sunken down, and the sky was bathed in twilight. Suddenly, I felt intense star power, and I knew exactly who it belonged to.
“Towa, we need to win this.”
“...Yeah. We can do this, big brother.”
This day was supposed to be for her. Instead, we were celebrating Christmas without her.
And so, the final battle began.
“Back so soon?” I asked.
“I have a skilled subordinate who can use healing star sorcery,” Redge replied.
“...No wonder you look like you’re in perfect condition.”
It had only been one day, yet he looked completely healed. As he said, he must have had very skilled subordinates on his side. We had some skilled people at the academy as well, but my body was still hurting in several places. I had used too many spells that put a strain on my body, and one day wasn’t enough to recover from all the damage, even with the help of healing star sorcery.
“I told you I’d be back in no time to end this,” Redge said. “It doesn’t matter how much damage I may have accrued... I came here to kill you as quickly as possible.”
“Fine by me. I want to end this just as much as you do.”
“Liberation – Khaos Ende Schwert.” Redge brandished his massive blade.
“Let’s go, Towa.”
“...Okay!”
“Liberation – Ruinmaker.”
Towa’s body faded into light, then transformed into my right arm. I clenched my right fist, and again, that voice echoed in my mind.
Kill.
“...Shut up.” I forced the side effect of the Ruinmaker’s power out of my mind. This is my... no, our battle. It has nothing to do with you, Ruin.
Then, I extended my right hand. Yukihime... Lend me your strength.
“Liberation – Chronoslayer: Glacies.” I brandished my metallic blue twinblade.
“I never told you my name, did I?” Redge asked.
“Go ahead. I have a name to give you as well.”
Redge swung his sword down and began to speak in a commanding voice. “I am Redge Ferimento, the Dark Emperor of Khaos Schwartz. The man you killed was Zolminal Radius, and I have come to avenge my mentor’s death!”
“I’m Kokuya Kurono, the Headmaster of Azur Étoile. I’ve come here to finish what Yukihime started!”
“Oh? You succeeded her on the throne? I don’t think you’re fit to inherit that title... Time for you to die and relinquish it.”
With that, our battle began.
The golden line that ran down my silver arm was glowing blindingly bright. I spun my twinblade to the right and sped up my body. When I stepped forward, my immense star power created a small crater below me. Like a bullet, I shot forward and instantly closed the distance between us. My unprecedented speed made Redge’s eyes widen, but it wasn’t enough to make a man like him falter. As soon as I reached him, Redge’s silver star power burst out, creating a hurricane of invisible blades.
I quickly spun my twinblade to the left in order to slow down the space around me. This would lower the amount of times his star power would hit me. I couldn’t reduce it to zero, but I’d be able to prevent most of damage.
Blood splurted out from my cheek, chest, and thigh. This is nothing compared to what Yukihime felt.
With a powerful shout, I swung down my longsword hard enough to split his blade in two. A piercing clang echoed across the battlefield. Redge had turned his sword sideways to block mine. In the next moment, I shot behind him. His mind couldn’t possibly keep up with this. I slashed out at him from behind – then, Redge instantly disappeared.
He reappeared five steps away from me, then disappeared again. Teleportation. I kept feeling his presence pop up in different spots. When he teleported in succession like this, it was impossible for me to get a grasp on his location.
Suddenly, I felt star power surging out from behind me. Quickly, I swung my twinblade backwards, just in time to catch a powerful slash. Several other slashes followed it, knocking my body straight through a wall.
“You certainly are fast.”
“...What you’re using has nothing to do with speed,” I said as I stood up. He wasn’t moving quickly. He was just disappearing. “It’s insane...”
“And you’ll die without ever understanding it.”
“I don’t need to understand it to beat you,” I spat, then punched through the wall in front of me with my right hand.
We were now standing in a cramped alleyway between some buildings. It was perfect. I kicked off the wall in front of me, then leapt onto the roof of the building I had come out from. I could get behind him here.
Then, as I took another step, the entire roof caved in.
What just happened? I sped up my mind and looked around. Soon, I understood. Redge had slashed through every last building in the area. Every building in front of him, as far as the eye could see, had been perfectly cleaved.
As I felt myself fall, I struggled to keep my body in an upright position and landed safely.
“Those movements are starting to annoy me,” Redge grumbled, then twisted the hilt of his blade.
Suddenly, the unusually long hilt split apart, and its blade broke into two. Redge slid the extra blade into the free half of the hilt. He had just split his huge sword in two.
Redge swung the blade in his left hand. We were 20 meters away from each other, and the blade wasn’t glowing, so it didn’t seem like he was about to fire a slash at me.
Then, he disappeared – or so it seemed, until he appeared on my immediate right and swung down the blade in his right hand. I quickly caught it with my longsword. I’ve never seen him teleport this far. I thought 10 meters was his limit... Does it have something to do that sword swing? Maybe he needs to swing his sword in order to teleport long distances?
Redge pulled back his right blade and swung his left horizontally. I deflected it with my dagger. I only had one sword – my twinblade, but I had confidence in how many attacks I could make with it. He’s not going to get the jump on me just because he has two swords now. Or so I thought.
Redge swung down both swords at the same time, but didn’t slash anything. It appeared to be a useless motion, until he disappeared immediately afterwards.
I felt his star power behind me. I swung my longsword back and turned around just in time to see Redge swing down at me. I managed to block it, but then he disappeared again. Now, Redge could apparently teleport multiple times in a row. It seemed that normally he would need to wait some time before using it again, but splitting his sword into two somehow eliminated that.
...Maybe he needs to swing his sword in order to teleport like this? I’ve seen him teleport without that motion, so it might affect his activation time or distance... The swing must be an enhancement.
A cycle had begun. Redge would disappear, reappear only long enough to slash out at me, then disappear again, leaving me unable to counterattack. Eventually, he reappeared right in front of me. His greatsword could reach me, but my longsword wouldn’t be able to reach him.
I stepped in and swung my longsword horizontally. It cut only air. He was gone.
A split second later, he reappeared at my side – the perfect spot.
“SlashSet – Release.”