The flow of time seemed to stop for a moment. Even Ruri, watching from behind, couldn’t believe her eyes. Ney had been several meters in front of Maha, when suddenly she was swinging her massive blade down. Maha narrowly managed to keep sight of her and tried to meet the sword’s trajectory with her dagger. However, the sword was too heavy; blocking normally would only cause the dagger to shatter. So instead, Maha didn’t fully block the blade, but instead deflected its path to the side just enough.
“Hmph. I’ll give you eighty points out of a hundred for that,” Ney said, taking a step back to get some distance.
“Your speed is as ridiculous as ever.” Maha stepped in, following Ney’s retreat.
“How will you deal with this?” Ney used her sword’s length to bat at Maha’s legs—the same move Maha had used against Tao. This technique was something Maha had learned from Ney to begin with. Tao had stopped this technique by stepping on the blade and pressing it against the ground, but Maha wasn’t heavy enough to attempt the same here. Instead, she dropped low and stuck her dagger into the ground to block the attack fully.
“Not bad. Seventy points.”
“I’ve known you long enough to know all your moves,” Maha said coldly. She pulled her dagger from the ground and slashed upwards.
“Sorry, but that’s zero points. Too obvious.” Ney ducked under the slash and swung at Maha’s abdomen, taking advantage of Maha’s vulnerability after attacking.
“Spear of Mercury!”
“Ah, indeed. There were two of you, weren’t there?” A spear came flying in to cover Maha’s opening. Ney slashed it apart with her sword and grinned. “I take it back. Seventy points.”
“Well, ain’t that kind of you!” Maha stepped in close again, stabbing with her dagger. This attack from up close with little wind up was aimed squarely at Ney’s center; dodging it should prove difficult.
“Thirty points. To aim for my core leaves your follow-up moves hard to read. You make things difficult for your support.” Ney brought her sword up and narrowly blocked the tip of Maha’s dagger, repelling it. Maha’s dagger should’ve looked like nothing more than an approaching point from Ney’s perspective. For her to block it, and with the edge of her blade, not the flat, was absurdity.
“You sure can talk.”
“Well, ‘tis training for you two. Come now, you can try a little harder than that.”
“Oh, we’re just getting started!” Maha leapt back and slid low against the ground. A good deal of space opened up between her and Ney.
“Blast Wave!” Ruri shouted. There was a burst from between Maha and Ney. Air rushed past them both, causing Ney to stagger. But the low center of gravity afforded her by her stance helped Maha remain stable.
“We’ve got you!” Maha shouted as she attacked.
“Naive.”
Instead of trying to right herself, Ney allowed herself to fall backward, kicking a leg up as she did so and blocking Maha’s all-out attack with a foot. There was a sharp clank as Maha’s dagger made contact with something hard in Ney’s shoes. Ney let her momentum roll her backwards, then stood upright and brushed the dust off her clothes.
“Your teamwork still needs work. Let me show you what it really means to put someone in checkmate, as you so elegantly put it.” She smiled sweetly as she pulled her massive sword back. “Ruri, I’m about to attack Maha from overhead.”
“Huh?” Ruri said. Maha’s eyes shot wide.
“React accordingly or she might get hurt, okay? Maha, you just stand there and brace yourself.” Without waiting for a reply, Ney vanished.
“Activating automatic defenses. Diamond Shield.”
The next instant, Ney appeared behind Maha already swinging down her sword. Maha felt the impact a second later.
“Gah…!”
Before she knew it, Maha was flying through the air. Most of the force was blocked by me, but the bit I couldn’t prevent blew her away. Her trajectory had her flying right towards Ruri.
“Huh? U-ummmm?!” Greatly flustered and without any time to think, Ruri held her arms out to try and catch Maha.
“And that’s the match.” Ney caught Maha easily with one hand and flicked Ruri on the forehead with the other. Ruri stared blankly into space, still not sure what happened.
“…You win,” Maha reluctantly resigned.
“…Aww.” Ruri hung her head.
“Ha ha! You’re both still too green to be a threat to me!” In contrast to the losers, Ney was in high spirits. “It wasn’t the worst performance, but your teamwork is still crude in many areas.”
“That can’t be helped. Ruri and I haven’t been fighting together for very long,” said Maha.
“Perhaps, but the demons won’t be so generous as to wait around for you two to be ready.”
“Um, are there really demons so strong we need to worry?” Ruri asked.
“‘Tis possible. A demon that could slip through the town’s barrier existed, did it not?” Ney had the two sit down. “Your plan to ‘checkmate’ me was decent. But you need a sure-kill technique to pull that off.”
“A sure-kill technique…?”
“Like what?”
Maha and Ruri cocked their heads to the side. Ney cackled over how similar they were and continued. “My overhead swing just now is one of my sure-kill techniques. Something trained and polished to the point of becoming a fight ender. A finisher, you could say. That’s what you two need.”
“Hmm…”
“Okay…”
The two girls began to rack their brains.
“Well, unlike me, you two are a team. You should come up with a technique you can do together.” Bringing things to a close there, Ney returned her massive sword to the empty space she pulled it from. “Now then. Let us discuss my prize for winning.”
“Ugh… All right. A deal’s a deal.” Maha sighed for the fourth time that day, a defeated look on her face.
“What do you want?” Ruri asked with pure curiosity. Come to think of it, this would be a first for her.
“Well, there’s nothing like a good bath after working out.”