Chapter 282: Moonlight Slash
Hitsuna-san is seriously cruel.
She can use the techniques of her comrades?
No wonder there were a lot of things mixed in there that didn’t seem like magic!
Maybe the effect is slightly weakened, or it might be that the cost to use is high; no, this is not the time to be analysing that.
Mad Sublimation, Zero Berserk.
The spell of Hitsuna-san that super-buffed the Marikosans -or maybe it is a skill.
So Aznoval-san was the actual user of it. The aura that is cladding around him is also slightly different.
A second after he said something nice like: ‘it is fine to call me Azu-san’, that guy suddenly charged at me.
And then, shouldering that sword that looks like a joke, with speed that felt like a joke, he cut down the Magic Armor like a joke.
When Shiki mimicked the movements of one of my master’s acquaintances with his ring, I was surprised by the resemblance in his moves.
But the starting swift attack of Aznoval-san surprised me in how similar it is in character to my master’s acquaintance.
‘He might be an idiot, but he is an Oni with the sword’, is what my bow master Natsu-sensei said.
A sword Oni in the modern era, that’s quite the mistaken time he was born in.
I heard that he had been a mercenary in the strife zones like Natsu-sensei.
…When I look back at it, there are times when I think that maybe everything that she told me was actually true.
The way to use the gun as well…maybe she really…
Leaving aside if he is an idiot or not, Aznoval-san had a similar air to those people.
For some reason or another, I can tell the identity of this vague atmosphere-like thing.
That is the presence of someone that has stood in the battlefield and experienced the taking away of lives in a daily basis, moreover, the kind of people that stand in that kind of battlefield on their own will and consider it their place to be.
In this world, adventurers and mercenaries are not rare.
In my world, battlefields itself felt like faraway existences for me, so I couldn’t reach that answer in my time there.
“That’s really tough!! Just how much magic power do you need in order to reach such an intensity in that magic power armor?!” (Aznoval)
Says the person that cut it easily.
This is the first time I have seen someone cut the Magic Armor in his first swing. Moreover, at first he certainly did use power to cut the Magic Armor, but since the time he activated that skill Zero Berserk, he has been cutting it as if it were butter or tofu!
Ah, I used cooking ingredients for kitchen knives as examples.
Wait?!
“He disappeared?!” (Makoto)
Teleportation?!
The giant kitchen knife that was big enough to cover my whole field of vision disappeared together with Aznoval-san.
Hiding his body with an exaggerated move like that, and yet, what he used was a movement spell?!
Geez, he is seriously going all out with the jokes!!
“Good job, you are right!” (Aznoval)
Without even trying to hide, a voice came from above.
When I look up, I saw Aznoval-san swinging with all his strength that big joke-like sword at me.
This feeling has a close resemblance to the time I first encountered Sofia.
I move away my body from the trajectory of the sword, and as a test, I buff the Magic Armor with magic and Sakai and try to take it on with a 10 o’clock stance.
Uwa.
With resistance that I would even have to wonder if it lasted for a second, it yielded to the kitchen knife.
Both arms of the Magic Armor were cut in a single stroke, and not only that, even the Magic Armor was destroyed.
The Kuzunoha Company side was surprised by this.
Right, even I am honestly surprised by it.
He is fast and strong.
How to say it, for now, he is a truly simple person.
In other words, after activating his skill and his whole body was clad with a bluish aura…he has been unbelievably fast and strong.
But, for now, it seems like that greatsword will be missing to my side.
Let’s try taking distance and set up attacks concentrated on mid and long distance magic attacks.
And let’s mix in Azusa with that.
I want to make this battle flow to my advantage as fast as possible.
“You are unexpectedly honest, Raidou-kun…… I am surprised!” (Aznoval)
“Wa?!”
In mid-air, the knight on full-body armor holding a crazy big greatsword…turned around.
The greatsword turns into a blur and disappears from my field of vision with only pure speed. The wind that was born from the speed of the sword brushed my skin.
The sword didn’t hit the ground.
…Well, this is a given huh.
The movements of a weapon are something that are not easy to follow with the eye. That’s a matter of course.
Moreover, my opponent is a Japanese person.
If I watch Aznoval-san himself, I should be able to predict his moves a bit.
Will it be a sword technique, a skill, or maybe something new will be coming out?
He was forcefully twisting his body to guide the greatsword into the next attack.
Looking at that forceful twisting of his…his next attack will be from the side!
There’s no signs of a skill activation!
I rebuild the Magic Armor. Even if I don’t block it, it should be able to buy a second, and in that second, I will fall back!
“Wow, to think you would be able to rebuild it in no time!” (Aznoval)
That won’t work.
If I just fall back, I won’t be able to make it up.
I have to go on the offensive with Bridd and Azusa.
The rebuild Magic Armor was destroyed just as expected.
It bought enough time and I was able to jump way to the back though.
In that moment, I felt it wouldn’t be good to wait until I land to make my next move, so I fired Bridd blindly to my front.
After spreading that around, this time I concentrate on Azusa, target Aznoval-san and…shoot.
Just as I thought, after the horizontal sweep, Aznoval-san seems to have been thinking about pursuing me, but the arrow of Azusa was sucked up into the smoke screen that the Bridds created, and its presence disappears.
While being cautious of teleportation, I shoot three more arrows.
I know for sure.
All of them hit the mark.
“I didn’t expect that Magic Armor to be able to cast magic continuously without any arias.” (Aznoval)
He appeared like normal.
His arms, and thighs; I certainly did hit him, and yet…
“I did show those moves to Hitsuna-san though. Stop being so barefaced.” (Makoto)
“It would be unfair if I were to hear about your information before the battle, don’t you think? I call myself a knight, gotta follow the principles.” (Aznoval)
…Seriously? He hasn’t heard information of me from his comrades?
And on top of that, he came out unscathed.
“No, aren’t you Japanese?” (Makoto)
“I was, that is. Since coming here, I have called myself a knight, and I also obtained the power of one. By the time I met Root and heard a variety of things about the powers, it was already too late -I already chose to live in this way. If I had learned faster that this was simply a special trait of this parallel world, I might have chosen a different way of living.” (Aznoval)
“…”
“I saved people as a game of make-believe, I killed people as a game of make-believe; as expected, I stopped that. I couldn’t help but feel disgusted at that.” (Aznoval)
“…”
“That’s why, I resolved myself and decided on staking my life as a knight. But well, the knights I know of come from games and novels, in other words, the image I have is of fictitious knights. Quite laughable. Even so, if I push through it with my all, there might be a day when I will be able to understand what it truly is to be a knight.” (Aznoval)
With his all.
Do it for the rest of his life huh.
I don’t know when and what experiences he went through to resolve himself to do that; I wouldn’t be able to understand it, and I can’t measure it at all.
Just that…for an instant, I felt like my archery had overlapped with that image of his.
“…”
A strange sensation of empathy.
But no words were coming out.
“But, what I miscalculated was that…I lived a lot longer than I thought I would. That truly got me good.” (Aznoval)
“…By the way…” (Makoto)
As if shaking off this strange sensation, I ask him a question.
“Oh, what is it?” (Aznoval)
“I thought four arrows had hit you.” (Makoto)
“Yeah, they hurt like hell, you know.” (Aznoval)
There’s no way I would accept that it just hurt!!
Even the Bridds, even if I blindly shot them, several of them should have hit him.
Just what’s up with this knight.
“So you are telling me to confirm it myself. Well, obviously huh.” (Makoto)
With a bold laugh, Aznoval-san once again takes a stance with the greatsword he is holding with both hands.
There were no words; his movements were the answer.
You wouldn’t be able to tell from the easy-going chat we just had but, as troublesome as it may be, we are currently trying to kill each other here.
He said that this is a fight in order to vent out, and that it would be over once one side concedes, but this is a serious fight.
I finally understand the meaning of those words.
Both of us will try to crush each other with the intent to kill.
Namely, a battle to death.
This is…a problem.
Just when will this ‘I give up’ even come?
For some strange reason, the desire to speak out the words ‘I give up’ was not welling up from inside me.
“Sad to say, we are currently mutual enemies. Raidou-kun, I was thinking about having you show me your serious state, and grasp your nature from it. But honestly, I am troubled.” (Aznoval)
“I am not really hiding my personality though.” (Makoto)
This is the truth.
I am no good at acting, and I don’t like doing that anyways.
“Yeah, but if that’s the case, we would be hitting a big contradiction.” (Aznoval)
“?”
“…Right. This is something that I should be confirming in this fight of ours. Now then, let’s resume the fight. Don’t worry, there’s still things I can show you.” (Aznoval)
“If that greatsword can awaken and become a cool Japanese sword, I would like to see it.” (Makoto)
“…Oh, close, but no cigar. You are going the right line there, Raidou-kun. We might have similar tastes! In that case, let’s go with that next!!” (Aznoval)
“!!”
It can shrink huh.
Even if you say our tastes are similar, a big sword compressing and becoming smaller is something that’s pretty cliche already.
If there’s something with the greatsword, the first thing that comes to mind is that it can transform and become a katana.
In the first place, in all those instances that sword was swung at me, I couldn’t help but think about the kitchen knife, Masamune.
Aznoval-san holds that greatsword with a backhand grip and…takes a stance by placing it horizontally from his body.
A part of the blade was hidden behind his back.
Uhm…
“Transform into the Calamity Snake, deity of the night blade, God Yato!!” (Aznoval)
“This is bad! Vivi, Ageha!!”
With the words of Aznoval-san, the presence of something was born at his back.
Maybe Rokuya-san guessed what was coming next, it seems he had already recovered from the paralysis, I could hear him shouting at someone.
Two presences gazed at me sharply, they didn’t show any substance; after that, they revolved around Aznoval-san, and entered the greatsword.
The greatsword that had been shining with the simple radiance of a bladed sword, at that moment, began to shine with the color of the night sky.
This looks bad.
I must stop him this instant.
With Bridd and Azusa, I aim at his hand, handle of the sword, and his elbow; and then, shoot.
This is a good chance to confirm how he came out unscathed a few moments ago!
“[Unveil, Moonlight…” (Aznoval)
…
He is…not moving?
The arrow and magic flew towards the knight directly in front, and…it hit like normal.
To the exact locations I aimed at.
Passing through the joint of the gauntlet, it pierced the wrist, and I also pierced his elbow. The Bridd hits the blade of the sword and creates an explosion.
And yet, he is not minding it.
For just a real small amount of time, an incredibly unexpected thing made me blank-out completely.
I think I saw the greatsword shining with the color of the night sky -pulsate.
“–Slash]!!”
The vigorous voice of Aznoval-san resonates.
“…..?”
It looks as if both of his hands that were still injured had grown a size bigger.
In those hands, there was a japanese sword.
Being taken in by this sight, I let out a dumbfounded voice.
Our tastes are similar? What a lie.
The greatsword……had gigantified.
It is true that if we were to ignore the size, it had good balance; it might be a japanese sword, but—! This is already not a size that a human can hold.
I can feel a pressure that surpasses that of Beren’s ‘Mountain Cleaver’ from that thing!
From THE ‘Mountain Cleaver’ that’s on the 150 *galanas rate*, you know?!
A slash came out from his horizontal stance.
This is bad!!
It is fast!!
The mad sword, that makes me question in the bottom of my heart if I should evade it, was approaching me.
Should I jump up?!
Block it?!
There’s no time to ponder about it!
Jump!!
“What an outrageous technique!!” (Makoto)
I felt I heard some sort of roar; I felt like I was being watched by something.
This is…if I remember correctly, this happened before…
And then, to my surprise…the trajectory of the sword changed.
I don’t know how many times it has happened today already, but even so, the words reflexively came out from my mouth.
“You must be kidding me!!” (Makoto)
Having escaped by jumping, it was a height that would pass right below me.
My head was telling me that a sword like that wouldn’t be able to change trajectories to up or down.
But if we were to narrow it down even more, it would be because it is more difficult to deal with a target that has jumped up. That’s probably my thought process when I chose to jump up.
Honestly speaking, I did it out of instinct though!
And yet, it changed to up, the trajectory of the sword went up.
Evading is already impossible.
The only time I have is to move my body.
Looking at the sword that was approaching from my left, my last move was…
“Hahahaha! That’s also a joke-like move there, Raidou-kun! As I thought, we really do have similar tastes!!” (Aznoval)
The speed of the sword didn’t show signs of slowing down.
Thanks to that, I was able to grab the blade of the sword with my elbow and knee just as I aimed.
But…it was tough!
It was far tougher than the armour that the eldwas make!
This…won’t break.
I could tell from my elbow and knee that the blade was closing in onto my body.
At the same time, because an object of gigantic mass had collided onto me at high-speed, my body was also swept to the right along with that sword.
“…At this rate…it seems like I might be needing my silver arms.” (Makoto)
This floor is quite robust, so if I am careful, it might withstand.
My basis of that is mostly on the experience I had digging the bedrock of this floor though.
“Big is great!” (Aznoval)
I still have time before the blade reaches my waist.
I cast as many barriers I can arialess.
I also recast my body strengthening.
With the approaching blade held in between my elbows and knees, I heard the hearty creed of Aznoval-san as I put my all into defense.
And at the same time, I thought this: ‘No matter how you look at it…this attack doesn’t fit a graceful name like Moonlight Slash!’.