But Wataru had suspected what was about to happen and leapt away with his astonishingly quick reflexes!
BOOOOOM!!!!
The girl’s axe cut through the air and smashed straight into the floor, creating a deep gouge in the marble!
“Aria, Résistance! Stand back!”
“Okay!”
“Got it!”
The two of them backed away from Wataru and Elphabelle, whose eyes were locked on one another’s! Everyone’s nerves were on a hair trigger! After a long moment, Elphabelle burst out into laughter!
“Ohoho! That was an impressive dodge! Hear me, and know that I am Elphabelle of House Evil! Who is my opponent?”
“My name is Wataru Ito!!”
“Wataru... Ito...? What a weird name!”
“That’s funny, coming from you!!”” Wataru was entirely correct!! Who in their right mind would name a child “Elphabelle”!?
Nevertheless...!
Wataru maintained his fighting stance, watching the girl before him carefully!
She’d look just like any other ordinary girl, if she wasn’t holding that axe...!
Elphabelle was as lovely and adorable as any princess you might find anywhere in the world! She was even wearing a frilly pink dress, though it had been modified for battle into a miniskirt that displayed her remarkably thin legs! Still, what demanded attention more than anything else was the massive axe in her hands! Being held in the hands of a small girl only served to make her weapon look even larger!
“So you want the orb, huh? Then you’re in for a battle with me! If you can defeat me, I’ll hand it right over!”
“Wow... Thanks for keeping it simple!”
Elphabelle gave Wataru an appraising look, as if Wataru was something she was considering bidding on at an auction, then laughed innocently! I mean, creepily! I mean, it was creepy how innocent she sounded!
“Wataru... You’re pretty dense now, aren’t you!”
“Yeah! It’s because I work out every day and my muscles are tight!”
“Is it true that you defeated the Demon Lord Deus?”
Wataru reacted to this question with visible confusion!
“Hm, you’re pretty well informed...!”
“Well, duh! I’ve got the whole House of Evil network at my fingertips!” she boasted with a dangerous gleam in her eyes! “I know just about everything goin’ down on this continent! Don’t get all carried away now that you’ve killed one lousy idiot. I was planning on assassinatin’ him eventually.”
“Whoa...!!”
The murderous malice surging out of every part of Elphabelle’s body made even our battle-hardened Wataru groan in admiration!
“The rules are simple! We fight until one of us gives up!! And no funny business, all right? No ball-crushing, no going for the eyes, no poison, that kind of thing.”
“Sure, I got it!”
“But weapons are allowed. Do you want to borrow anything? I’ve got all kinds of weapons I can loan you for the fight.”
Wataru grinned confidently as he raised his clenched fists. “My bare hands will be enough for the likes of you!!” he shouted.
Of course, our Dear Readers will know that this isn’t overconfidence! Wataru isn’t taking on a handicap in the slightest in this contest! After all, Wataru had trained so much that his bare hands were sharper and more powerful than any weapon! They were truly lethal!
“Oh, yeah...? Huh. I knew fightin’ you’d be interestin’.”
“I’m ready whenever you are! Come at me!!”
Before the last words were even all the way out of Wataru’s mouth, Elphabelle screamed “Okay!” and dashed right for him!
“!?”
Wataru was taken aback by her breathtaking speed! Without breaking a sweat, she casually swung her axe at him, but he dodged by the skin of his teeth!
“Not bad, huh!”
“You’re not so bad yourself!!”
And so the true battle for the third orb began!
“I’m just gonna make this clear, but I don’t fight women! Calm down and gimme the orb!!”
Wataru was a manly, hot-blooded boy from Japan! There wasn’t a single situation in which he would want to knowingly raise his fists against a woman!
“Nothin’ doin’! Daddy’s gonna get mad at me if I hand over my heirlooms!” As she said this, her axe was slicing through the air towards Wataru at eight hundred kilometers per hour! Wataru dodged by falling to all fours! No... It wasn’t a fall! Wataru was expertly performing a dogeza bow, and desperately began to plead with her to reconsider!
“Please! I’m begging you! Without the orb I can’t stop the dragon!”
“You think I give two rat craps about the dragon!? It’s actually better if it’s rampaging around and making everyone feel scared! More work for us assassins!”
Elphabelle slammed her axe down at Wataru, who was still on the floor in dogeza! But his dogeza was—an illusion!
“How you like that! My true power, the Illusory Dogeza... the ‘Faux-Geza’!” Wataru began running circles around her at the speed of sound! He had just come up with this move and the name for it on the spot, so we can forgive him for the terrible pun!
“It’s lame is what it is!”
Elphabelle whirled around, swinging her axe in a deadly circle!
“Ngh!” Wataru panicked and leapt backwards to dodge the blade! Elphabelle was every bit the heiress of a family of assassins! She left absolutely no openings in her defenses!
I get it now... I can’t let my guard down or go easy on her at all, even if she is a girl, otherwise I’m the one who’s gonna be killed!!
Wataru let out a roar and charged towards Elphabelle, punching at her with the full power of his being! And yet, with all his mighty might and skillful skill... she easily dodged!
She’s fast...!
Wataru continued his assault! Left hook, right uppercut, kick to the face!! Still, Elphabelle perfectly predicted every move he made, and just barely avoided every blow he attempted!
“Nice, Wataru! I think I like you!” Elphabelle laughed at him like she hadn’t a care in the world!
From a far distance away, Aria clasped her hands together in prayer as she watched the ferocious battle!
“Do you think Wataru’s going to be okay...?”
Résistance stood next to her with her arms folded as she watched the fight, looking considerably impressed!
“Illusory Dogeza... the ‘Faux-Geza’... Ha, that’s pretty good.”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, nothing...” Résistance turned away from Aria before the younger woman could see her embarrassment!
Back in the center of the room, Wataru and Elphabelle continued to hammer at each other!!
“Take this take this take this TAKE THIS!”
Elphabelle wielded the axe with terrifying speed! Just where was a little girl like her hiding her muscles!? But despite her speed, Wataru was not about to lose!
“Gahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!”
The two traded explosive blows, all the while stepping around each other like a lady and a gentleman waltzing at a ball! They closed in on one another with incredible speed, getting right up next to their opponent! Wataru punched with every ounce of hot-blooded energy he had!
“You can’t touch me!” Elphabelle spat, literally spat, the words at Wataru as she avoided yet another punch!
She slammed her axe down at Wataru as she dropped low to the ground! “Get rekt!!!!”
“Never!!!!”
Wataru thrust against the floor with all his might and jumped to his left!
“Urgh!”
Elphabelle had anticipated this and was ready with her axe to defend against his next attack!
“For honor!!!”
Wataru’s high kick sliced through the air, but Elphabelle was able to interrupt him mid-kick! She swung her axe sideways and parried his attack!
“Parrying” is a sophisticated battle technique in which one moves their weapon in a direction perpendicular to that of their opponent’s attack, thereby deflecting the attack instead of having to block its full power!!
What the—!? This little girl... parried my kick!?
Wataru was two meters tall, whereas Elphabelle was a mere 1.6 meters! Wataru clearly should have been able to overpower her, but Elphabelle managed to use what strength she had while having even more skillful skill than Wataru!!
“Brk!!!”
Wataru kicked again, but again she intercepted his attack and deflected it away from her!
“You’re better than I thought!!”
Every one of Wataru’s attacks carried with it the threat of instant death! Even so, Elphabelle parried and deflected all of them with ease! Even though that may be technically possible for her to do, it must still have taken great courage! And yet Elphabelle looked as though she was barely finished warming up!
“Heeheehee... Now it’s gettin’ interestin’!”
Elphabelle laughed again, flashing a cheerful smile like a child getting away with an adorable little prank! Her child’s smile was so cute that Wataru almost forgot he was in a fight to the death!