Come on.
「Ha ha haaaaah!」
「…!」
Come on, come on.
「Is that all you’ve got, Hayato!」
「Guh, hah!」
「Too soft!」
「Guh…!」
Come on come on come on come oooon!
I’m going all out now!
My momentum is sky-high today!
The paralysis effect stacks exponentially.
Right now, one solid hit to the right arm adds sixty-four seconds.
Fighting while cradling a useless arm must be incredibly restrictive, he has to protect that spot, slowing him down so much.
His movements lack precision, so even I can land hits!
「Ah ha ha ha ha ha!」
「Whoa, so awesome, aniki! Fighting while laughing like a total villain! But you’re completely overwhelming Hayato! If you keep this up, maybe, just maybe, you might actually pull it off!?」
「……Makoto. Be quiet.」
「Eh? Shiro-san?」
「There is no way he is overwhelming him. And moreover… Hayato isn’t even serious yet. He hasn’t truly begun to fight.」
「But… even so…」
「If possible… Shiro also hopes you can end it here. But…」
「……Haaaaaaaah!」
「!!」
Hayato forces a wide, sweeping strike with his left arm alone. The blade catches mine and sends me flying backward with tremendous force.
…What kind of ridiculous power is in that sloppy, wide swing?
A cold sweat runs down my back. In an instant, the soaring high I had been riding crashes flat.
I brace myself for a follow-up attack, but it never comes, in fact, Hayato doesn’t even move from that spot.
「Let’s… stop here. I understand your strength now, Itsuki-san. You really are incredible. In such a short time, you’ve grown so much stronger. You’ve even learned some interesting skills… but it’s clear now that you cannot defeat me… like this.」
「!」
In the blink of an eye, he closes the distance.
It feels exactly like he used Vector Accel, the instantaneous jump from zero to full speed. My eyes widen in shock.
「Haaah!」
「Gah, guh!」
Even though it struck through my sword, a dull, heavy pain shoots through me as I’m blown away, tumbling across the ground.
There is no room to think about avoiding cutting myself, his speed is so overwhelming that I can’t even stop my own momentum. Finally, my back slams into the trees lining the roadside, and only then do I come to a halt.
「See…? Just me getting a little serious is enough to do this to you.」
「Gaa… koh… kaa…」
My breath catches.
I can’t breathe properly.
My eyes widen from the sheer agony, tears welling up as I desperately try to suck in air, but nothing comes.
Damn it… my body hurts like hell too…
「Your right arm is moving again now. I won’t take any more attacks from you… You understand, don’t you? Continuing this is pointless. So, 」
「Gah, kuh… ha, ugh… kaaah… haa… Making me let out weird noises like that… So what?」
Yeah. I get it now.
Why the hell are you making that pained face?
You talked big about having made up your mind, but you haven’t at all.
I thrust the Yin-Yang Blade forward, showing that I can still fight.
「……You’re barely standing. Let’s stop this already… Any more would be… meaningless.」
「Meaningless… huh. Maybe you’re right. But you know… that has nothing to do with you.」
「……Huh?」
「You said you’d make an enemy of anyone, didn’t you? Then go ahead, knock me down, hold your head high, and say you stuck to your pride. You decided to save Letty, yet you don’t want to hurt me? Don’t half-ass it and screw around. You said you made up your mind, right? Then see it through to the very end.」
Isn’t that fine?
Throw everything away for the woman you love, friend, world, whatever, make them all your enemies.
I swore I’d do the same.
So stand tall and declare, “I will protect my pride.”
I’m ordinary. A total nobody.
Like Makoto once said, just a regular old man.
But you, you praised me without a hint of sarcasm. You called me amazing.
That made me happy. Hearing it from someone truly incredible like you made me genuinely glad.
I think you’re incredible too, from the bottom of my heart.
Not because you’re some hero.
It’s about who you are inside.
But… you’re a kind man.
Just as I treasure you, you probably thought you couldn’t go all out against me.
My whole strategy was built on exploiting that gentleness…
「……When did I ever say this was my full strength?」
That gentleness… it’s wrong.
You said you’d make an enemy of anyone.
I’m supposed to be your enemy.
Yet… you don’t even acknowledge me as one.
In your eyes, I’m not even worthy of being your enemy.
And that… is incredibly frustrating.
I store away the Mana Eater and draw out the magic tool lantern.
「Up until now, it was a swordsman’s fight. From here on… I’ll fight in my own way.」
Time to change the plan.
I’m done exploiting your kindness.
I’m going to make you acknowledge me.
Not just with words, I’m going to force you to recognize me as a man worthy of your full strength.
Look at me as an equal, as a man.
At the same time, prove it to me.
Prove that you truly have the resolve to make an enemy of anyone, no matter who, for the sake of saving someone precious.
Prove that you’re a man I can respect.
Show me that your pride stands higher than mine, higher than my stubbornness.
I pour earth-attribute magic power into the lantern, spreading countless small magic power balls across the entire area like a carpet.
They adhere to the ground, fusing with it and refusing to budge.
Then I draw the Mana Eater once more.
「This is… the footing…」
High-elasticity footing that becomes unstable.
Combined with Vector Accel ×4 plus the elasticity, my speed will surge far beyond what it was before.
「…!」
「……Sixty-four seconds.」
I slash his right arm as we pass each other, the paralysis effect now lasts just over a minute.
My body screams from the recoil, but who cares.
I’ll be crushing my limbs one by one until finally my entire body can no longer move.
Hayato still hasn’t gotten used to this footing.
It suddenly turned into a giant trampoline, after all.
He’ll need a few seconds to adjust, or he might even fall if he doesn’t.
「This footing!」
「Guh!」
His left arm swings the sword with full force. The ground tears open, exposing the bare earth beneath, though the magical orbs themselves don’t peel away.
Damn, his mind works fast.
「Tch…」
I wanted to land one more hit if possible.
Still, the next one will be one hundred twenty-eight seconds, about two full minutes.
If his dominant arm is useless for two minutes, I can find an opening from there.
「……Itsuki-san. Isn’t it you who lacks resolve?」
「……What?」
「Why are you using that kind of blade? A paralysis effect like that is proof you have no intention of killing me, isn’t it?」
「Are you an idiot? With my STR, there’s no way I could even scratch you anyway.」
I lightly tap the flat of my blade against his shoulder.
If the paralysis effect triggered here, it would be a huge problem, but fortunately, it doesn’t take hold.
「I can cut you now. When your astral body is severed, your status drops dramatically, basically no different from an ordinary flesh-and-blood human. That’s why I can cut you.」
「……I see. I didn’t know that. But I’m not changing my mind. My resolve isn’t just about saving Wendy.」
「Eh…」
「I’ll save Wendy, and Letty too, and while I’m at it, you as well. That’s exactly why I came here.」
「Wha… Itsuki-san, it’s you who lacks resolve. Saying things like that, ignoring reality, it’s something that only happens in stories…」
「Yeah. Then let’s just make it a story. Turn it into one chapter of your hero saga. Even in your legend, it’s fine if there’s a part where someone else, not you, saves the day, right?」
That’s why,
「I’ll say it again. Step aside, Hayato. I’ll rescue Wendy, and since there’s no helping it, Letty too. I’ll do it in your place, since you haven’t even made up your mind.」
「……You too.」
「Hm?」
「……No, it’s nothing. In that case, I absolutely cannot yield. I want to save Letty with my own hands.」
You too, huh… Ah, so that’s how it is.
What the hell.
You’ve got something in mind too, don’t you, even if I don’t fully understand it.
Something like… a double magic circle, or maybe the information Oboro gave Mii about something…
「Then… no helping it.」
「No helping it, is there…」
Yeah, no helping it.
Neither of us can back down.
Even if the end result would be the same no matter who wins.
Neither of us can accept the path the other would take, so there’s only one thing left: two men settling it head-on.
「Don’t complain if you lose, got it? If you try to say ‘then you take over as the hero in my place’ or some crap, I’ll slap you.」
「You too… Don’t make a fuss later even if you end up half-dead.」
All right. This is where the real fight begins.
My chances of winning are zero.
Absolutely, unmistakably pure zero.
But… for some reason, a small part of me feels glad.
I have no intention of losing.
I’ll use everything I’ve got and show you an Itsuki who won’t go down to you.
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