Gabriel and I skidded to a stop at the center of the floor we were on. Turning to face Mikagami, we were now in a dueling stance.
“What, no more tag, Shinobu?” he smiled.
“We’re gonna run out of energy if we just keep running forever.”
With only twenty percent of our MP left, it was clear that running would get us nowhere.
“Seems like you have a plan, then? Go on, show it to me.”
Gabriel jumped in front of me to take the next slash from Mikagami’s crystal sword.
“Master Shinobu...I wish you luck.”
As she fell to the ground, I began casting a Dark spell. “Grade 4: Dark Matter.”
This magic would surround the opponent in darkness, blinding them.
“Ha ha! Didn’t I tell you that status effects wouldn’t work on me? You already forgot?”
I knew that. I wasn’t stupid.
Opening my inventory, I threw an item out and squeezed my eyes shut.
A stun grenade.
Often called a flash-bang, it was capable of stealing an opponent’s vision away. I’d spent my guild coins on it.
Even with my eyes shut, I could tell that the violent light encapsulated the whole area.
“If magical status effects don’t work, then how about you get your eyes dug out by a modern weapon?!” I shouted.
“I can’t...see...!”
Yes! It worked!
Whether his vision would fail had been a gamble. Since it used light as a means of violence, it would obstruct his vision using physical attributes rather than magical. I’d figured it would be akin to stabbing his eyes with knives, and bingo!
When I opened mine, Mikagami was standing there looking thrown off-balance. “So I can’t see now. What does that do for you?”
“Clear as Still Water allows you to dodge any attack within your vision. You shouldn’t be able to dodge if your eyes don’t work.”
“I see how you got there. The logic is reasonable, but you didn’t think hard enough.”
He pulled the skull-shaped necklace off his neck and threw it right at me lazily. “My vision is now dead. However, as I just demonstrated, I can still see you. Thanks to Evil Eye of Liquid Wisdom, I can see the flow of your magic. It was originally intended to allow for evasion of simple magic attacks through a sixth sense. But, if you think about it, it’s only natural that I’d be able to use it to sense you, since you’re moving around full of magic power. You’ve even buffed your physical abilities with it to boot.”
He shook his head, disappointed. “This was your trump card? That’s so sad. It seems I expected too much of you.”
“I’d be glad if it worked, but I don’t expect to be able to hit you with this alone.”
“Yeah? Got something else up your sleeve?”
“Don’t you find it strange? Weren’t you wondering why I haven’t summoned as many summons as I possibly could yet?”
A grin floated up his face, though his eyes weren’t focused on anything. “Now you’ve got me excited! What’re you gonna do?”
“Grade 5 Summon: Bahamut!”
Mikagami whipped his head around and yelled out. Seemed he finally realized what kind of situation he was in.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to destroy this whole building with Bahamut’s giant body?!”
“This building was already half broken in this perfect shape! Of course I’d use it!”
I jammed my middle finger up and bared my teeth at him in a nasty grin. “This building’s going down. Do it! Try to dodge all the flying rubble and rocks! This counts as a physical attack too!”
Freshly summoned, Bahamut ripped through the roof of the building and demolished the pillars. The whole structure began to wobble side to side.
I was a mage, so I could cast a barrier to avoid being buried alive. Plus, I had plenty of ways to escape, like transporting to another dimension.
But what about Mikagami? He couldn’t use magic since he was a swordsman. The sole fate that awaited him was getting buried under the rubble like anyone else.
Though, I didn’t think he’d die just from this. He probably had a way to dig himself out of the debris too.
But if a piece of the building hit him, that would mean I got a hit in.
This was the first plan I’d come up with after it was established that I couldn’t use Area of Effect magic. No magic? Then I’ll hit him with an Area of Effect physical attack.
If you can counterattack after this, then come at me.
The ceiling and floor collapsed at the same time with a thunderous boom, and the building began to crumble.
†
I teleported outside from under the rubble. The crumbled building looked just like a scene on TV. I laughed bitterly—this plan was pretty crazy, even for me.
With that, I’ve won Mikagami’s game.
Just as I thought that, I froze up on the spot and sputtered out a whisper.
“...You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
Mikagami appeared in front of me by Spatial Transport Magic. There wasn’t a single smudge of dirt on his clothes, nor any injuries from the rocks to be seen.
“But how...?”
“Same as you. I put up a barrier with magic.”
“But you’re a Swordmaster... You shouldn’t be able to put up a barrier that can protect the space within it.”
“I already told you. I have broken, unimplemented skills equipped. Including one that makes a romantic idea like a ‘magic swordsman’ a reality.”
“Wha—?!”
I’d never heard of such a thing. He’d explained some of his abilities to be “fair” or whatever earlier, but leaving this one out was nothing but unfair! Wasn’t I playing this game as punishment after getting verbally attacked for “cheating” in the first place?!
“Isn’t this a little bit extremely bullshit, Mikagami?”
This was explicitly the type of situation I’d use the word cheat for. But as unsatisfied as I was, it was the simple truth that I’d been beaten.