Chapter 248

“You knew it already, didn’t you?”

Kapricorn said as she held her swords. But I shook my head.

“I had a suspicion. But I didn’t want to believe it.”

“Hehe. You sound different already.”

“…”

I couldn’t help it when I was reminded of that person. She was my superior, after all.

But this was a battle. I had to fight. It didn’t matter who I was up against.

“Oh? Rather cold-hearted of you to point your blade at me now.”

“Well, this is a battle. We have to fight.”

I hit. To the left, right and different angles, but all of them were dodged. Not only that, she would constantly launch small attacks of her own, which made it difficult to stay on the offensive for long. Still, I hit hard and pushed forward while still being careful. Attacking was my best defense.

“Hehe. You’re quite strong.”

“I’m not going to hold back on this one!”

“Oh, how frightening. I think I want to run away.”

Kapricorn said as she retreated. I had no intention of allowing her to get away, and so I used Legs of the Godwolf to close the distance as much as I could before thrusting my sword into her. This would surely…!

“K…!”

However, she just disappeared again. She had gone into my shadow. My blade cut through empty air just as short swords shot out from the shadow by my feet. And so I ran up into the air with Legs of the God Wolf in order to escape them. At the same time, Kapricorn emerged from the shadows.

“Hmm… Things have gotten harder now that you know where I’m going to appear.”

“You’d never hit me if I stayed in the air.”

“That doesn’t seem very fair.”

“I agree.”

I believed you should fight on even footing in a match. I wanted to fight head-on. And so after creating some distance between us, I landed on the ground and raised my sword.

“Well, perhaps I’ve been running too much. This time, I’ll attack!”

“Wo-woah!”

In spite of the fact that I had landed some distance away, she crossed it in an instant. I blocked the three blades that swung towards me and tried to take a step back. But the followup attacks were relentless.

“Arghhh!!”

She almost seemed like a different person now. The pitch-black blades slashed through the air, hungrily searching for an opening. Defending myself was all I could do.

“How about…this…!”

Still, she was human. The smallest opening would be enough for me. And so I would launch a surprise attack. Something she hadn’t seen me use yet. Water magic. A furious fountain from under her feet. Her body twisted out of the way as the cold torrents shot out. I slashed from the bottom right in order to hit her.

“Too slow!”

I thought I had her. But it was then that she used new magic. She had dug her foot into the ground and kicked her shadow. The shadow stretched out into the air and created a barrier between us. My blade was swallowed up by it, but it never reached her.

“Ggg…!!”

Instead, the tip of my sword emerged from the shadow behind me and shot towards my leg. There was the sound of metal striking metal. Then the blade stopped. Thankfully, the wind dragon trousers had guarded me.

My foot would have been gone had I not been wearing dragon armor… I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ah, that nearly got you.”

“…You really are full of tricks…”

“Hehe. Surely you are used to it by now? It is the lost art of shadow magic.”

“You’re kidding…”

After hearing that, one might assume that shadow magic was the only way to do what she was doing.

But I had started to think that she was using a form of advanced earth magic. I had even wondered if she could dive in the dirt anywhere and was just misleading me into thinking it was the shadows…

However, a lost art…huh? How nice. It was almost unfair. This meant that my opponent was at a similar level to Matsumoto the Hero. It was enough to make you sweat.

“Asagi. Fighting with all your power and fighting seriously is not the same thing. Do you understand? Only idiots show all their hands and try to win no matter the cost. It will be a good fight as long as you don’t get lazy. The important thing is to take it seriously.”

She started to sermonize all of a sudden. Well, I understood what she meant. Let’s do this properly. But also, think of the future. Something like that. It would be foolish to show all of my abilities here, while this crowd was watching me. You were supposed to use your trump card during an actual emergency.

“I only used the last one because things had gotten dangerous for me. And I don’t want this fight to end just yet… But I won’t use such things now, Asagi. That would be careless. I promise to take the rest of the fight more seriously.”

Using a secret ability was merely careless to her. Clearly, she had plenty of other things up her sleeve. I would have to be on my guard.

“Then I won’t be using any tricks either. But I will still go all-out. Everything I know about swordsmanship and magic will be used.”

“Ah, I wish for nothing more. Now, let’s see how far you have come!”

I charged once again. My goal was the same. Offense was the best defense. Especially against an opponent with so many moves. I wouldn’t give her a chance to use magic or blade.

“Hah…!”

“What…!?”

I raised the speed of Legs of the God Wolf and used Jack of all Trades, Master of none to make some calculations in my brain. The reach of my sword was two meters in all directions. A slash while I lept into the air, a step in the air with platinum and green wind, and then an overhead slash. Going even faster, I move under the opponent. Behind. Above, from the front, and then down again. The sword swings.

It was a unique sword art created during my trials with Rachel. I called it the ‘Kamiyashiro Space Maneuver Sword Art.’ It ignored the laws of gravity and showed the true worth of Legs of the God Wolf. It also used Eyes of the God Wolf to search for opening from every angle. You ruled space itself and made it a place for your blade to run through.

However, there was a weakness as well. It pushed all of your organs into overdrive. In five minutes, your nose would start bleeding and you would vomit all over the place.

“Were…you…even…listening…!”

“I won’t hold back!!”

I spoke louder than I had intended. But surprisingly, Kapricorn was able to deal with my attacks. But that was only for the first dozen or so seconds. Gradually, small wounds started to appear. I still had time. I continued the attack.

Ultimately, this was the only thing I had. I didn’t have any cheats or abilities involving light and shadows. I had a unique skill, ‘Jack of all Trades, Master of None’ and Legs of the God Wolf and Eyes of the God Wolf. It took a lot of work to finally approach their level. These were people that could count on their one cheat skill to trample a thousand men. People like me had to push ourselves to the brink and look death in the face in order to face them. Had I not met Beowulf and Rachel, I would have had to survive with Jack of all Trades, Master of None alone. And it was just something that allowed you to easily grasp skills and knowledge at a moderate level.

I had no idea how she had lived up until now. Coming from a modern world and being given a cheat skill. However, I knew that I had to fight to survive. So much would feel meaningless if I was defeated here. Besides, perhaps my jealousy was making me feel all the more determined to beat her.

“Ggrrr…aahhh!!”

Kapricorn’s dark blades shattered and turned into shadows. Now that I looked, I could see that she only had two remaining. She was getting tired and was no longer able to react to every attack. The fight would end soon. Besides, I was reaching my own limit.

“This is it!!”

“Come!!!”

I lept back and gathered the wind towards me. It increased in speed with a painful, high-pitched ringing sound.

“Swiftest Wind Flash!!”

It was an attack that could kill a dragon. Of course, it worked best with a great sword, but a one-handed sword should be enough against a human. My fastest, most powerful attack shattered her crossed blades and went straight for her throat.

“Ggggg!!”

Even with her blades gone, she desperately tried to twist her body out of the way. However, she was not quick enough. The tip of the Glampanzer cut her throat open.

“…So, I am defeated…”

I lowered my sword and turned to look, just as her decoy bracelet shattered. The device took the damage for her. Had this been two attacks in rapid succession, she might have been dead for good.

“The fight ends!! Asagi is victorious!!”

The referee shouted. Ahh… It felt like it had gone on forever. I knew that I wouldn’t be killed, but I fought as if I would be. Now, since I had won…surely her identity would be…hmm?

“Ah.”

Her hood had fallen off and the cloth around her mouth unraveled. The bracelet took the bodily damage for her, but not the damage to her clothing. As the cloth fell, so did long, black hair that reached her waist. A clear, cool expression greeted me. And there was something in the eyes. A look of triumph and mischief.

“Ah… I knew it.”

Kapricorn Shteiner was the manager at the store I used to work at.

Kizugawa Rindo.

“What the hell are you doing…”

“I took a walk one day and ended up here.”

As if!!