Echoes of the Royal Style

The silence that followed the valkyrie's transformation was icy.

"I’m going to kill you."

The silver-haired girl maintained a vacant stare, as if her blue eyes weren't seeing Shija, but an infinite abyss of painful memories.

(ROAR-RRRRAAAGHHH!!!)

However, her body moved with a murderous intent that contradicted her empty expression.

(SHTTTT!!!)

In a blink, her figure vanished, leaving only a trail of black particles...

"¡¡!!"

And before the brain of an ordinary warrior could process the displacement, she was already in front of Shija.

(VROOOOM!!!)

Seizing the momentum, she unleashed a lateral kick with ballistic speed.

(Just as I thought!)

Nevertheless, Shija, his reflexes having transcended his limitations, tilted his torso back, feeling the air displaced by the blow cut like a blade just inches from his chest.

(I can predict her movements...!)

But despite that, the girl, displaying an agility that defied inertia, did not allow the movement to end; she braced her weight against the air itself, changing her trajectory mid-acrobatic leap.

(FLASH-BOOM!!!)

She pushed back with a surge of momentum, and as she flew backward, she summoned her serrated sword.

(SLASH!!)

With a circular sweep of her arm, she unleashed a flurry of slashes enveloped in black flames that roared as they advanced, seeking to incinerate Shija’s vital space.

"I won't give you that space!"

Counterattacking, Shija retreated with rhythmic steps that barely touched the fractured ground, moving his hands with astonishing technical fluidity.

(SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!!!)

Using the edges of his palms as if they were steel blades, he launched a counteroffensive of crescent-shaped slashes made of compressed Qi.

(CLASH-KRA-PUM!!!)

Thus, the emerald light projectiles and the black fire strikes collided in the center of the antechamber, triggering a series of chain explosions that illuminated the marble walls with violent flashes.

(...Her flow is erratic...)

Seizing the moment, Shija analyzed the situation, keeping his guard up; his stellar eyes followed every micro-movement of the Valkyrie as the energy exchange raised the cave's temperature to unbearable levels.

(She fights like someone who wants to die, but whose soul will not allow it.)

But immediately following that thought...

(VROOOOOOOO-RRRR-IIIII!!!)

From within the flashes of light caused by the clash of energies, a massive object sliced through the radiance with a violent metallic hiss.

{A shield?!}

Taking the doll's consciousness by surprise, the tower shield suddenly emerged, rotating at a speed that defied sight, coated in a layer of black flames so dense it acted like a vacuum circular saw.

(Fshuuuuuu...!!!)

However, Shija, sensing the sonic vibration of the object closing in on his throat, evaded with a display of absolute flexibility, twisting his body back and arching his spine at an impossible angle as the shield grazed the tip of his nose, leaving a trail of black heat that scorched the oxygen around him.

(Above!!)

But the Valkyrie wasn't just looking for a long-distance hit.

(SHHHH-PUM!!!)

Taking advantage of the fact that Shija's body was committed to the evasion, she appeared above him, descending with an axe kick charged with all the weight of her momentum, aimed directly at his neck.

"Not yet...!"

In response, Shija reacted with the speed of a spring.

(BANG!!)

Bracing a hand on the ground, he executed a side flip that pulled him out of the impact zone just as the girl's heel cracked the marble, kicking up fragments of white stone.

(KRA-SHHHH!!!)

And mid-rotation, without losing his balance, Shija unleashed a sharp palm strike, releasing a slash of compressed Qi.

(SLASH!!)

However, Shija's slash collided with a fiery strike the Valkyrie had released with her sword in a follow-up movement, blocking his advance and forcing her back a step.

(VROOOOOOOOOM!!)

The resulting explosion of energy created a momentary barrier of sparks and smoke, preventing her from closing the gap and suffocating him with her constant pressure.

(She’s fast... she moves like a shadow seeking its own end... No, it’s not that...)

Taking advantage of the brief breathing room, Shija regained his combat stance, his breathing controlled and his gaze fixed on his opponent's hazy blue eyes.

(She is, without a doubt... a monster...)

The black-flamed shield, after missing its mark, began to curve its trajectory in the air, returning to the guardian's hand as if tethered by threads of dark gravity.

"Kyōgetsu Style..."

She uttered the words icily as she took a stance...

"... Kasukana tsuki no kirameki."

Thus imitating, with her sword, the very technique Shija had unleashed.

(ZIP-ZIP-ZIP-ZIP-ZIP!)

Imitating the physical sensation after receiving the attack, the Valkyrie had managed to partially replicate Shija's technique after experiencing it only once.

(Vring...!!!)

Thus, the Valkyrie unleashed a flurry of crescent-shaped slashes, but unlike Shija’s emerald flashes, these burned with a black fire that devoured reality in its path upon impact.

"By predicting her flow, I knew she would do it... But it’s still shocking!"

Instead of attempting a block that would drain his energy, Shija activated the properties of the mystic cloth.

(KRA-SHHHH-FROOOSH!!!)

Facing the flurry of slashes she unleashed—strikes that took the shape of burning crescents...

(SWISH-SWISH-ZIP!!!)

The ribbons and shreds of Shija's tunic extended unnaturally, becoming strands of reinforced silk that anchored themselves into the cracks of the ceiling and walls.

(... Nevertheless... She doesn't seem to have mastered it completely... At least not yet...)

As if he were a puppet that had broken its strings to gain absolute mobility, Shija was pulled violently by his own attire.

(PUM... ZAP... PUM!!!)

He moved through the air at impossible angles, his body shifting with arachnid agility while the crescents of black flames sliced through the air he had just vacated, using the silk threads as anchors to pivot and change direction in microseconds.

"Learning the technique in a single exchange..."

The black flames grazed the fibers of his tunic, hissing upon contact with the doll's energy, yet failing to catch him.

{Those flames really burn...}

Ignoring the doll's complaint, Shija landed momentarily on a column before being propelled again by a thread toward another flank...

(If I let her get used to my techniques, she will become my very shadow... Or rather...)

From his elevated position, Shija saw how the Valkyrie was preparing a second flurry, the marks on her face glowing with a crimson intensity that threatened to overload the atmosphere.

"She will devour my shadow..."

And as if responding to those words, the Valkyrie, noticing that Shija dominated the aerial space with his threads, ceased her projectile bombardment and drastically shifted her tempo.

(BOOOOM!!)

With an explosive leap, she propelled herself toward the shadows of the ceiling, where her feet slammed against the rock formations.

(KRA-KRA-KRA-SHHH!!!)

She wasn't just using the stalactites as footholds; through the raw propulsion of her impacts, she tore them out by the roots, turning them into massive projectiles that rained down on Shija with the speed of a meteor shower.

{Here she comes!!}

Simultaneously, she harnessed the repulsive force of each strike to accelerate her own body through the air, moving like a silver and black bolt of lightning zigzagging through the debris.

"¡¡!!"

In response, Shija, suspended by his prehensile threads, did not back down.

(VROOOO-SHHH!!!)

His mind, working at a terrifying speed, transformed each of his limbs into an absolute cutting tool, unleashing a series of circular kicks that deployed sickle-shaped Qi slashes, shattering the stalactites closing in on him.

{You’re not the only one who can use the environment!}

His fingers traced lines in the air that turned into cutting filaments, while the extensions of his attire, acting as additional limbs, shot out to intercept the attacks coming from his flanks as the doll's consciousness grew excited.

(ZAP-ZAP-ZIP-ZAK!!!)

Shija used his arms, feet, and threads to cut, deflect, and repel. Every time the Valkyrie launched a direct attack, Shija countered with a palm strike or a finger thrust that generated shockwaves, forcing the guardian to retreat.

(CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!!!)

However, amidst her high-speed dance, she interjected her tower shield to absorb the Qi impacts and used her serrated sword to deflect Shija’s prehensile threads that sought to ensnare her.

(There’s no doubt... she’s looking for an opening...)

They moved so fast that only their trails were visible, clashing again and again in the center of the cave like two colliding storms.

(But something is wrong with her movements!)

The friction between the energies was such that the marble floor began to vitrify beneath them, while the blood murals on the walls crystallized...

(CLANG-ZAP-SHHH-KRA!!!)

There was no longer room for words or conscious thought; it was an exchange of pure instinct and refined technique, a sequence of aggression and response that allowed for not even a single heartbeat of rest.

(BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!)

Shija and the Valkyrie became a blur of perpetual motion. One moment, Shija would launch a palm slash that she blocked with the edge of her shield, only for her to respond with an upward sword spin that Shija evaded by rotating in mid-air on an invisible axis, using his threads as instantaneous pivot points.

(SSSS-KRRRR-TCH!!!)

There were no pauses. Every time the Valkyrie's foot struck a column, Shija was already there, unleashing a flurry of finger strikes that sliced the air into thin sheets of Qi. Unfazed by the pressure, she used the inertia of the recoil to spin like a whirlwind, unleashing a sequence of black-flamed slashes that Shija intercepted using the prehensile extensions of his attire as reinforced silk whips.

(VROOOO-PUM!!!)

The combat reached a terrifying parity. If Shija attacked from above with a descending kick, she would interpose the shield while her sword sought Shija’s flank in a simultaneous move. Shija, in response, did not retreat; he used his own threads to wrap her blade for a fraction of a second, deflecting the slash just enough to launch a shoulder strike charged with will.

{Don't give an inch! YOU CAN DO THIS!!}

The white marble shattered beneath their feet, stalactites turned to dust before touching the ground, and the air hissed from the friction of their colliding auras.

(ZIP-ZIP-ZIP-ZAP!!!)

In a display of technical coordination, Shija began alternating close-range strikes with energy projections from his fingers, creating a web of attacks that she neutralized with minimal sword movements, returning the momentum with shockwaves of cold fire.

(CLANG!!)

Their bodies crossed in mid-air, landed, lunged, and clashed again in a dance where death was only one mistake away, yet neither allowed that mistake to happen.

"Kyōgetsu Style..."

And on that thin thread of tension...

"... Royal Style."

... Both sides.

"Kagen no tsuki!!"

"Ascending Waterfall!!"

They collided head-on.