24 – vs the 5th Divine General part 1
The pillars of light that had struck the ground in a grid pattern as if to block ones advance had already disappeared. Originally we came to this continent to deliver a letter and satisfy my exploration curiosity since such a place wasn't implemented in the game.
However, I never expected that the cost for that would be to face off against a Divine General.
“Nnn mou, don’t glare at me like that. Look, we are just having a duel after all, let’s have fun alright?”
".... I see."
If we don’t play along with her whims and wishes, we would be annihilated here anyway.
“Yufi! We’ll be fine if we work together!”
“Yes, it seems the opponent only wants to have a test of strength. There's a chance that we won’t be killed even if we fight her. Well we can’t step away from it anyway. Might as well do as much as we can.”
"You can come at me however you want. As for my weapon, I'll only be using this katana."
She clearly has a bow attached to her back, yet is claiming she will only use the katana? Is this a trick? Even if I try analyzing her… if I am to go by the lore of a Divine General, our chances of winning this are 10% at best.
"Say, miss demon-san, can you lose that disguise? It's pointless."
So she can see through Lu-chan's appearance? Lu-chan looked towards me and I gave her a firm nod. It's better to play along. So she snapped her fingers and returned to her normal demon form.
"Before we start, I'd be happy if you named yourselves."
"My name is Yufine."
"And I'm Luvia."
"I named myself earlier as well but once again, I'm the 5th Divine General, Mina. And with that out of the way, come at me however you wish."
There was no signal, but, at that moment, the curtains on this fight were definitely opened.
“Let’s do this, Lu-chan!!”
The first one to move was Lu-chan.
The moment she swung her staff, Mina’s vision was obstructed by a black smoke as dark as the night itself.
Soon the whole surroundings were covered with dense black smoke and nothing could be seen through.
But of course, Mina didn’t show any signs of faltering and without even trying to get out of that black smoke, took a stance with her katana.
“I guess [Holy Cutter] should be fine enough.”
As she prepared to unsheath her weapon, light particles began gathering.
Even with just her katana, she can easily use magic without any problems. Kuu, she's miles ahead of me in that regard.
“Eiyah!”
The moment it was released from the sheath, it burst to numerous beams and blocked the various ice blades that were approaching from inside the black smoke. [Chilling Barrage] was my attack. A magic skill that can fire up to 10 magical ice swords that will chase the enemy like a heat seeking rocket.
White magic and ice magic clashed in mid air and light and darkness scattered each other.
“Ice swords? Trying to keep your distance? How shrewd ~ ”(Mina)
As expected, even with her vision obstructed, Mina saw through my attack and smashed the swords to pieces.
“Now then, next is—-“
My turn to attack, is what she thought as she pulled her katana again but…
“Oops!?”(Mina)
She quickly jumped away from the place she was standing.
The very next instant, in the place where she was standing, a pillar of purple light fell down from the skies like a laser beam and created a giant explosion.
Crap. My coordination with Lu-chan was perfect, yet she managed to see through that one too? But I'm not done yet.
“It’s as strong as an advanced level magic, not to mention that its activation speed is pretty fast as well. That could be dangerous.”
As she jumped away to dodge the laser beam, she continued with her momentum to get out of the black smoke as well.
"I got you now! [Raptor Slash]!"
The moment she came out of the black smoke, I appeared behind her, using my skill at point blank. Avoiding this is impossible.
“Sooi!!”(Mina)
However she met my blast head on. Raptor Slash's energy wave was sliced and our blades clashed head on. Kuh… even if my greatsword would seem like it could snap her katana, she's not budging an inch.
"Is that all you got?"
"Of course not. You want to see power?"
The magic runes of Energy Link Manipulation started circling around my arms.
"This is…!?"
"Haaaa!!"
With a war shout I started pushing forward. Her katana was being overpowered, to the point my blade made her jump backwards. Fool. Did you really think you avoided it?
“iih!?”
She intuitively understood that she had been cut. [Mirage Blade] combined with Energy Link Manipulation can not be parried. It will hit you no matter what, but it's a trick that will only work once against someone like her.
“As expected, I managed to cut through that aura of yours."
“That technique. It resembles the martial art of my former master. You really are extremely shrewd!!”
"If that impressed you, this will blow you away!"
"Eeh!?"
Using [Rift Walk] I quickly took advantage and repositioned myself behind her. And the move I followed up with was…
"[FullBurst Stream]!"
With a power that was already much above humans, my blade moved at speeds that the human eye can't follow
If I were to believe the game's lore, physical attacks and magic attacks… a Divine General's unique silver aura held a resistance against both of these, yet if I combine everything I learned from Olivia I can slice through.
Realizing that her aura’s defensive abilities were as good as nil now, Mina quickly began to take evasive actions under the consecutive storm like attacks with the help of her dynamic vision, body movement and intuition.
“ooo—“
She was completely on the defensive. A single cut ran through her soft cheek and fresh blood flowed out from the wound.
Ignoring the fact that her face, which is considered her life for a girl, had been injured, her face showed an expression of joy.
“Not bad! Much better than what I was expecting!”
“Even though you say that, you’re still holding back, right?”
"Should I give you a little test of my strength?"
Crap!! My instincts were yelling at me to run away. I could predict that something was coming with my Perfect Vision, but…
"[Lux Holy Strike]!"
It's like out of nowhere her katana extended, bypassing my swings, piercing my shoulder and at the same time…
"Kyaa!!"
It also aimed for Lu-chan. She put up a powerful barrier, but it broke rather easily. Thankfully, she had enough time to dodge it, even if at paper thin difference.
Before the whole action was completed, her katana returned to her initial size. Darn it. This fucking hurts… but it's bearable.
"Wow, that really was good. It’s been a really long time since someone managed to survive that one."
Normally I would take this chance to heal my wound, but I might need to use "that" skill.
“I guess I’ll need to get rid of another seal or I won’t be able to face you guys properly—-“
What!!? She's going to get even more serious? In this case… am I really going to use it? Even back under Olivia's training I only studied it in theory. Am I going to really be pushed to that point?