Until the count hit zero, Kuon was pondering his opening gambit.
My frame can’t possibly keep up with a Division 5’s aerial mobility. She’ll probably go for a ranged attack like Spiky did, so if I use that art to get in closer…
The “1” count vanished. As it did, a beautiful face appeared in front of him, smiling.
Huh?
Two Blades swung toward him, one on each side. He only managed to block them out of pure unconscious reflex. The force of them was like being caught in a giant pair of scissors. Her DM’s power was overwhelming. Soukyu’s arms let out a horrible grinding noise.
Hanabi had gone for a close-up fight.
This, with her giant rifle and range-focused wings?!
Kuon’s mind was screaming. Hanabi was so close he could almost feel her breath on him.
“Nicely done, Okegawa Kuon-kun!” she yelled, grinning. “But what’s next? I’m clearly overpowering you. You’d better do something before I cut you in half!”
I know!
Kuon momentarily pushed back, then went limp. A moment later Hanabi’s Blades slammed into the ground, tangled up in Kuon’s. Hanabi’s Core was exposed, so he threw a right roundhouse kick at it, but Hanabi recovered her balance instantly and jumped back, out of range.
With their swords locked, Hanabi noticed Kuon putting his strength into it and increased her own to match. When he pulled back a moment later, she hadn’t reacted in time.
The first three years after he’d resumed his Shichisei Kenbu training had seen Kuon sans DM, entirely focused on learning sword skills from his master. No longer reliant on overpowering his opponent, between his resolve to do better this time around and the ease with which a child’s brain learns, Kuon was now much better at Fencing—and only Fencing—than the Hero Suzuka Hachishiki had ever been.
“Sometimes it’s better to yield, huh? Is that the secret to your strength?!”
Even as she dodged backward, Hanabi was smiling. Kuon followed, not about to let her get away so easily.
But…wait, wasn’t this too easy?
Shichisei Kenbu: Tensetsu.
The world paused, all colors reversing. Kuon squinted, trying to read his opponent’s attack—and right where he would be a second later, he saw a web of enemy attack lines. He didn’t have time to wonder what that meant. He could extend his perception of time, but not indefinitely. Just as Tensetsu’s effect wore off, his reeling mind finally found the answer…and time moved again.
“Unhhh!”
He hit the brakes, hard. He barely stopped in time. Several thin magical beams appeared, burning the air in front of him, just as he’d foreseen.
“Nicely dodged!”
Hanabi was full of praise. Was this a sign of her confidence? Was she just battle crazy? More importantly, this attack was from a weapon that could fire in all directions from his blind spot, not a weapon a brawler like Hachishiki had ever learned to use.
The wing-like backpack on the rear of the Reimei (Type-3 Artillery) frame split apart. Each piece of the wings launched themselves away, moving independently through the air like birds.
Servants!
Of course she was using Servants. This was a Division 5 frame with an edge to ranged attacks. The ability to fly miniature mobile drones around like missiles, using her magic link to make ranged attacks from any distance or angle—why would she not take advantage of that?
Or maybe by stopping her first attack, he’d forced her to use them. If he didn’t make her go all out, there’d be no meaning in victory.
But the exulted confidence rising inside Kuon was quickly dashed.
“You don’t think that’s all I’ve got, do you?”
Barely out of his emergency brake, Kuon’s frame was assaulted by the swarm of Servants. He hastily turned and began zig-zagging, moving at random as fast as he could. He couldn’t see where the attacks were coming from, and with no way to tell where they were aiming, all he could do was rely on hunches and instinct.
Then…
“Dodge this,” she said.
He turned, activating Tensetsu. Hanabi had her giant Scout Nova Rifle at the ready.
The Type-3 Artillery system, an experimental combination of a high-power rifle and the miniature drones. The Servants would pin an opponent down, allowing the rifle to finish them off—an ideal form for a ranged frame.
He felt his right side grow tense, but…
Shichisei Kenbu: Chijin.
As Tensetsu ended, Kuon’s frame vanished. Hanabi’s trigger finger stopped just shy of firing, and she found Kuon in her blind spot to her right.
“Shukuchi,” Kuon heard Hanabi whisper. Exactly, he thought, swinging his Blade at the perfect angle. Just like teleportation.
There was no clash of metal. As he struck her, Hanabi twisted her body, sacrificing half her mobility to avoid a loss. As this was a mock battle, the system “detected” that the Blade had sliced Reimei’s backpack. Kuon didn’t give her a chance to recover. He swung the Blade back the other way, but Hanabi caught that one.
Their Blades locked again, but, where Fencing was concerned, Kuon had already surpassed the Hero.
Their weapons bounced off each other.
“Hahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
With a yell, Kuon sent his Blades after the school’s best. Hanabi’s reflexes were good enough that she barely managed to deflect his first attack, but to dodge a slice from any well-trained swordfighter was fundamentally impossible. No such miracle would occur again.
All Hanabi had now was her natural talent.
“If you can get in close, you need not fear attacks from around you” was common sense in DM combat, to the point that it was even written in textbooks. But Suzuka Hanabi’s genius defied common sense.
A beam of light shot out from Kuon’s blind spot, blocking his supposedly unblockable second attack.
Wha…?!
Kuon couldn’t believe his eyes.
It was a sword of light.
The Servants had bound several microfilament magical beams together, forming six different swords that danced around Hanabi. Kuon froze. That’s not possible! he thought. Servant control should be no more precise than rolling a ball bearing around a carpet, but this young Cavalleria Cadet was moving them like they were part of her own body. Kuon may have been called a Hero in his past life, but, for the first time, he felt fear. When he froze up, seven swords came hurtling toward him.
Shichisei Kenbu: Ryusui!
Ryusui was a combo art, adding a sword draw to Chijin. Kuon moved so quickly it seemed like he’d teleported again and slashed at his opponent as he passed her. Kuon’s art sent Hanabi’s swords flying and cut off her DM’s left arm.
“Ungh!”
But it was Kuon who grunted in pain. He hadn’t come out unscathed. That last exchange had left him without a right arm; the suit had detected the hit and rendered it unusable. Once that happened, it wouldn’t let him move it at all.
I’ve used Tensetsu and Chijin too many times. I don’t have the concentration left!
The longer this went on, the worse it was for him. She must have known that, too. Before she moved away into ranged combat, he had to get in close again.
Feeling the heat, Kuon turned…and found Hanabi facing him, grinning happily, with new wings deploying Servant Blades. She lunged toward him.
She was still confident enough to fight him up close. That was the only explanation he could think of as it didn’t make any sense to him otherwise. But despite what Kuon thought, and in line with what he’d wanted, the match turned into a Blade-centric slugfest.