Chapter 87 – Last Hand Part 4
Rayna closed her eyes in a cloud of dust, maxing out her senses. Then, in her head, Gaho’s movements in human form are drawn as if she could see them.
For Shine, the dust that obscured his vision was bad luck. For Reina, who can feel God’s protection, such a smoke screen really isn’t even the slightest penalty.
Reina clearly senses even the divine protection that extends from Shine and wraps around her sword. Therefore, it was not surprising that Reina easily deflected Reina’s high-slash, which was aimed at the gap created by her parrying arrows.
And from now on, you can switch to attack.
The moment Reina decided to take a step forward.
“…?!”
A faster sword attack than before came flying from the right. Raina bites her foot as she tries to step on it and raises her sword to defend it.
However, even if that was blocked, it would not be Reina’s turn.
It was because the sword that had been withdrawn immediately aimed at her head and struck her from above like lightning. She took another step back and when she blocked her sword, Shine’s sword was already there.
“It’s awesome…!”
Each time Reina manages to return her sword, her opponent’s sword speed accelerates. She climbs her gear step by step, as if she were asking her where she could follow her.
Their swordsmanship quickly surpassed the speed that ordinary people could see with their own eyes. The swords collided several times in one second, and sparks flew from all directions.
Protection of Light: 5 stacks of speed.
Reina converted all of her available blessings into swift blessings. She has no time to prepare for the future. What she is dancing right now is the sword dance of death, which will determine her life or death if she misses the beat.
You have to endure it like this. The opponent’s body is already in a state of disrepair. There’s no way I can keep up with my speed. My victory is confirmed just by maintaining this antagonistic state!
However, another Reina questions that judgment.
Is it really so? Do you know how many tens of sums have already been divided?! That guy’s sword speed isn’t falling, it feels like it’s going up even though it’s very little by little…!!
“No way. Such nonsense…”
A cold sweat runs down your cheeks. This is impossible.
Clearly, Shine is a talented child who served as the vice-captain of the Knights of Light. She’s fast enough that she can come along on her own.
But that’s when the body is fine.
There’s no way this kind of movement would be possible with a fractured leg and a fractured arm!
Did you do super regeneration with the blessing of light? Protection is not such a convenient power. It was an injury that would take half a day even if it was treated with protection.
No. Even if Shine had completely restored her body through some means of her own, she wouldn’t have been able to defeat me one-on-one…!
Raina calculates all her possibilities in her head. No matter how many times she reviews it, the result is the same.
In any case, Shine should have been subdued within twenty sums. Even if it’s a situation where Reina can’t display 100% of her abilities due to her modification.
Because there was that much of a gap between Reina and Shine.
However, in reality, it is difficult to block, let alone subdue. No matter how much the sword is cut, the opponent’s sword speed does not drop at all. Rather, it comes in more sharply at an angle that is difficult for Reina to defend.
Thus, Reina was unable to make up for the loss of her player in the first place and continued to defend and she was unable to switch to the offensive.
“Tch…!”
Skills beyond understanding. An endless confrontation.
Nervous Reina’s eyelids trembled.
Her master told her to subdue them as much as possible and not take her life, but… I don’t think I can afford to argue about that!
Reina jumped behind her. And as soon as her feet touch the ground, she turns to the right this time. There she accelerates again, turning her direction.
Inside the dust cloud, Reina’s figure completely disappeared in an instant. She focuses all her protection on her legs and moves so fast that her presence can be felt in all directions for an instant.
As Reina ran around Shine in a mess, she made sure that her protection stayed in one place without moving.
Also.
No matter how she recovered to wield her sword, she couldn’t have healed her fractured leg. If so, it would be a loss for her to engage in close combat.
Besides, the dust cloud still hasn’t cleared completely. In other words, Shine can’t see me, but she can clearly see Shine’s appearance to me!
Decide the game now!
Reina’s body, which was bouncing dizzy like a rubber ball, stepped on the wall of the building behind Shine, spinning around and leaping high.
Her target is right above Shine’s head.
The moment she reached the perfectly calculated position, Shine was hit with the continent’s fastest blow like lightning. Shine’s protection was still stuck in one place.
Right before Reina’s sword splits her Shine in half, the wind blows. Reina involuntarily opened her closed eyes at the refreshing sensation of her acrid dust being swept away.
What kind of eyes does Shine have at the end? Her curiosity, which suddenly came to her mind, immediately turns into goose bumps and runs up her spine.
“…!!”
Silver-haired bangs glistening in the moonlight sway in the wind. Her eyes, which glittered like shining stars inside her hair that covered her eyes like a curtain, were closed.
Just like you until now. It’s like she’s focusing all her nerves on trying to feel something about her-!
In order to deny what that fact meant, Reina’s blade mercilessly attacked Shine. The first blow split Shine’s form in half.
No. She should have split
Shine narrowly twisted her upper body to the extent that it seemed that way for an instant, and let her sword flow. However, Reina is also a veteran.
The moment her right foot touches the ground without panic, she spins her entire body around her ankle and unleashes her slash.
The slash fired from zero distance aimed at Shine’s neck like a gale. But, like a reed lying in the wind, it cuts through the black air over Shine’s upper body.
Her doubt turns to certainty. Now this woman
“Are you feeling the blessing right now?! It’s ridiculous, that’s…!!”
“Yes. It’s a talent that only the leader in Astraia has.”
As Shine acknowledges with her calm voice, she dodges Reina’s flying sword again with minimal movement.
“It can’t be. Because that’s a blessing from the Goddess…!”
“I know. I think. Leader. For today, even the goddesses seem to want me to win.”
“Charaaaaain…!!”
Power enters her hand and she swings her sword wide. Right after that, Reina felt her deja vu and realized her very own mistake.
However, in a world where time moves dozens of times faster, a moment is too long. Time is running out for Reina to correct her mistakes.
As if she had waited for that mistake, Shine’s eyes widened. At the same time, Reina felt a strong jolt in her temple and she was slammed against the building wall.
Kwa-ang!!
“Gagging…!”
An acrobatic round kick that flies while tilting her upper body at the same time. Reina returned the exact same kick that she used to ignite Shine!
“Keuheuuuuu…”
Reina groaned as she hit the building wall so hard that it dented. The cracked walls, like her webs, showed how hard she was in shock.
Leina barely stood against the wall, and the sword, like her alter ego, suddenly fell from her right hand.
“All, you…”
Ironically, it wasn’t until she couldn’t move one of her fingers like a butterfly caught in her web that Reina realized the secret to her Shine.
Neither did she heal her tibia fracture, judging by her limping and approaching gait. Rather, even her arms were bent in a strange way, hanging from her body.
“You didn’t use divine protection for defense…!”
“Ah. Since he is the leader who can feel the divine protection, that was his weak point, right?”
Shine gave her teacher a mischievous grin.
Like that. Since Shine was wearing her protection, Reina believed it was for her defense and she had no doubts.
However, the opposite was true.
The divine protection that covered Shine’s entire body was not for her defense. The direction of her power was inward, not outward.
To put it in an analogy, she used her protection like a cast, forcibly fixing it whenever her body was broken or torn. She seemed to block Reina’s attack casually, but it was her desperate performance.
Blood dripped down Shine’s arms. There will be no healthy places on her body anymore.
“Such, to do something reckless… I don’t remember teaching you to use divine protection like that…”
Shine walked up to Reina and stopped.
“Hehe… But thanks to you, you gave the captain a shot, right? I think it was cheap enough.”
“Whoops… That’s right.”
Under the full moon, the student and master looked at each other and smiled. It was an unbelievably peaceful sight for people who had just been trying to kill each other.
“But at the end, what was that…? You seemed to feel the blessing…”
“Well. What was it really I thought I could do it somehow, so I tried it, but it worked? Maybe the Goddess really helped.”
“Come to think of it, you were the type to become stronger in moments of crisis. Ha. It’s my negligence.”
“Why did you do that?”
“…”
The gentle atmosphere was instantly broken by the words that spilled out of Shine’s mouth. A single tear falls from her eyes.
“Why, why! Why, of course, the leader…!! Are you betraying us?”
“Shine. Shine Verdades? Didn’t I tell you that you should always manage your emotions? Is it important to you now to find out the reason for the betrayal? The mansion’s guards will be coming soon. Don’t you still have work to do?”
“Leader…”
Reina gently scolded, like soothing a crying child. Seeing her teacher teaching her until the end even before her death, Shine couldn’t tell whether to cry or laugh.
Shine slowly raised her sword with both her trembling hands.
“Don’t hesitate. If you hesitate, you will definitely regret it.”
“Kuheusss… Haaaaa!!”
After a moment’s hesitation, the sword struck down with all its might, with a spirit like a beast’s scream.
Kwa-aaaaa
Shine was flying with a roar. She didn’t even have time to figure out what had happened. This time, Shine’s consciousness, barely holding on, sank as quickly as if he were hanging a heavy pendulum.
She flies for a while, then gets stuck somewhere and stops. Only incomprehensible words come into her ears.
“Hey. What. When I was told to wait in an empty room, I thought the owner was trying to trick me. Did you really expect this to happen? Who is our master?”
“Haaaaa… Aricia. Has your brain really become a gorilla? What if I destroy the master’s house like this!”
“It’s fun. On the subject of being hit by a killifish like that and being flat-out. Were you allowed to break down the wall and get out?”
“All right. I will bill you for the repairs, so know that!”
After a while, I heard footsteps approaching. The last thing she heard before Shine completely lost her mind was a snake-sweet voice.
“So you said that. Shine. If you hesitate, you will regret it. Whoops. But don’t worry. Shine will be able to fully understand me when she wakes up next time♪”
One month later.
