The common weakness of magic users was close-quarters combat.
In this country especially, the foundational magic — Bloodline Magic — required a Chant to activate. Therefore, in any combat situation where chanting was impossible, what a magic user could do was extremely limited.
As a countermeasure, the profession of "Knight" had developed in this country alongside magic users.
Those who couldn't pursue that path had instead learned close-range techniques through other means.
Naturally, Ermes was no exception. His master Rose had taught him not only Enhanced universal magic that could be cast without a Chant, but also hand-to-hand combat techniques, making him capable of holding his own in solo combat. If anything, he was probably the type who was considerably stronger in close quarters than most magic users.
—However.
This was, no matter how you looked at it, a difference of an entirely different magnitude.
"Guh!"
A flash of silver lightning shot past his ear.
A split second later, a violent blast of wind buffeted his face. The sword flash was impossibly sharp for someone with such slender limbs. He had already lost even the luxury of breaking into a cold sweat.
"—Tch!"
Moreover, Nina's assault didn't end there. Despite the devastating force behind each flash, she kept the recoil of her movements to a minimum — sometimes even using that recoil to fuel her next attack. She unleashed a relentless barrage of strikes, each one completely devoid of wasted motion.
Enhanced universal magic without a Chant—
even
that, she hardly left him room to use. That should give you some idea of just how threatening she was.
And this was with a training sword whose blade had been dulled. Imagine what it would be like with a real one.
Right now, he was barely managing to dodge or parry everything — but that, too, was only a matter of time.
Unlike Ermes, who had only learned the basics — or, to put it bluntly, had barely scratched the surface.
Her fighting was the perfection of the blade. It was a realm reachable only by those who had devoted no small amount of time to that single pursuit. Naturally, when standing on the same stage, the gap would manifest as an overwhelmingly lopsided difference in ability — and that was only to be expected.
Furthermore.
"──!"
Even she couldn't maintain her relentless offensive without pause — there was a gap, however brief, the space of a single breath.
As if driving into that opening, he unleashed his magic. A wide-spreading net of lightning, designed for face suppression yet prioritizing speed.
At nearly zero distance, the high-speed magic hurtled toward Nina — and yet.
(Why──
can she dodge it
!?)
Super-reaction. From the instant the lightning was released — or perhaps even before it was launched.
A fluid backstep flowed into a lateral leap. Reading the spacing with perfect precision, she evaded the net of lightning entirely, then exploited the opening he was left with after casting and charged in, resuming her offensive.
This was it.
No — he had already grasped the reason.
It was simple, really. She simply *understood*. What magic was coming, in advance — most likely from the flow of magic power.
What came to mind was the incident before this morning's assembly. She had known everything Ermes had done after his self-introduction the day before.
And now, her super-reactions in this current battle. From that, one could deduce.
──Her magic perception ability was abnormally high. Perhaps even more so than Ermes's.
With that ability, she could accurately detect the opponent's magic, and at times even read its contents to dodge accordingly.
On top of her extraordinary close-combat capability, this perception. At this range, in a one-on-one fight, she was essentially invincible.
(...Alright.)
That said, Ermes had not the slightest intention of giving up on victory.
More than anything, this was a fight against a truly magnificent opponent. It would be a waste not to give his all for the sake of victory.
First, he needed to create distance. There was the option of using his specialty — reading his opponent's movements to wait for an opening — but he'd probably be crushed before he could learn anything. Besides, her sword wouldn't be generous enough to leave him an obvious opening.
If that was the case, then first he had to escape Nina's dominant range. He set that as his top priority.
Fortunately, if he narrowed his focus to that single objective, there were factors that worked in his favor.
Because she —
had to
keep
herself
at
close
range.
If he withdrew, she had to pursue. Having seen the power of Ermes's magic, she had to know that the instant he created even a sliver of distance, her current overwhelming advantage would vanish immediately.
Working backward from that, he could narrow down her actions to some degree. He would use that.
First, Ermes pulled back. He was willing to accept a slight positional disadvantage, retreating with a touch of force.
Naturally, Nina charged after him, unwilling to let that slide — but in other words,
at this moment, she had no option but to charge.
!?
Nina showed surprise for the first time since her opening strike.
And who could blame her. Ermes, who had been playing defensively this entire time — had, incredibly, done the opposite. He had closed the distance himself.
Caught off guard yet seizing the opportunity, she swung her sword at him as he lunged into her range.
Naturally, he couldn't avoid it entirely. Her sword bit into his side, but—
"—Guh."
This was exactly what he was aiming for.
He'd anticipated the point of impact and raised a barrier there. At this close range, there was no escaping the shock—a violent jolt of numbness ripped through him, but—
—he deliberately didn't resist.
On purpose
,
he was sent flying
far away.
"—! I see!"
That was when Nina realized what he was after—and where she'd gone wrong.
Yes—the same thing he'd done with the opening strike. Deliberately taking a hit, then using the recoil to put distance between them.
This time, he'd aimed for it more deliberately, launching himself farther. The risk was real, and he'd taken some damage, but Nina had been thrown off by Ermes's unexpected maneuver and couldn't land a clean blow—and so his plan succeeded.
Nina charged after him at full speed, trying to recover, but for Ermes this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even as he was sent flying, he locked his aim onto Nina and raised his hand toward her.
Sensing the buildup of magic, Nina kept sprinting even as she braced herself. It was a declaration that no matter what spell came her way, she would dodge it—and in truth, she had the ability to make good on that.
—But this was a bluff.
Ermes knew perfectly well that a straightforward attack would be dodged.
So he raised his magic power as though about to unleash a devastating spell—when his real target was the ground right beneath her feet, just ahead of where she was charging.
Timing it perfectly, he used an earth-attribute General-purpose Magic to raise the ground and catch her off balance. She probably wouldn't trip, given her skill, but even a slight disruption to her stance would be enough.
Combined with the current distance, that would put her squarely within the range where his magical superiority gave him the advantage.
A quiet, decisive blow—camouflaged behind a convergence of overwhelming magic power.
Having precisely calculated her charging speed, the trap would activate at the perfect timing—
But Niina's response far exceeded anything he had anticipated.
"No way—"
He had expected the trap to be seen through. In that case, he'd planned to exploit the time she spent analyzing and countering it to make his next move.
But would you believe it—she
timed it to coincide exactly with the ground's rise, placing her right foot squarely onto the upheaving earth,
then drove her weight down, using the upward momentum to lift her body while simultaneously kicking off the ground and launching herself forward and upward,
and in one fluid burst, came hurtling straight toward Ermes.
That's right. She neither fell for the trap nor spotted it and countered it.
She used the trap—
—and brute-forced her way back into her preferred range.
"—!!"
Even for Niina, it was perhaps too reckless—her lunging strike came as she was already falling.
But combined with the element of surprise and the momentum of her jump amplified by the speed of her descent, the impact was devastating.
He barely managed to raise his guard in time, but the sheer force sent his body airborne and utterly shattered his stance.
Still, he wasn't so naive as to crumble completely here.
If anything, he saw this as his last chance—despite falling, he locked his aim on her and surged his magic power.
Niina sprang to her feet in an instant, launching a godspeed dash to cut into him before he could release his spell.
And then—
"———"
Dead stop.
Niina's blade rested against the side of Ermes's neck.
At the same time, Ermes's right hand—extended from his faltering stance—was poised before Niina's nose, magic power coursing through it.
They had both frozen at the instant before unleashing their killing blows.
(...Now then)
Ermes considered who had won this exchange.
If the clash had continued as it was, his spell almost certainly would have gone off in time.
—But her sword flash had been nearly simultaneous. If this had been a real battlefield, in earnest combat, his head would have been cleanly severed without question.
In short, at best, it was a draw.
And when he further considered that his Enhanced universal magic couldn't have been guaranteed to finish her off, this was—
"......Impressive."
By his own judgment, he had lost.
He admitted it cleanly, pouring his heartfelt admiration for this remarkable young swordswoman into those words.
Raising both hands in surrender, he flopped flat onto the ground.
It's getting long, so I'm splitting it into two parts. Next chapter will be posted soon!