1.
My breath came in ragged gasps.
"Fuck...!"
Adrian Coin had crashed hard.
I’d gotten Silver Wolf out, but my body couldn’t take it anymore.
Using Causal Manipulation had left me in a complete wreck.
My right arm was bent the wrong way, and my left ankle dangled uselessly. My body had become so asymmetrical it could win first place in today’s modern art exhibition.
"You really do nothing but pointless things."
"Why the hell do you talk so much?"
"I can’t help it when I’m speaking to someone who’ll soon be my comrade."
Who said I was going to be your comrade?
I have zero intention of that, so go home.
"...I really didn’t want to do this."
It felt like it was about time to hold down the reset button.
If I got caught, I’d be in for a miserable beating, so I gathered up imaginary energy and stacked it carefully inside my body.
Silver Wolf had probably escaped by now.
If I regressed again... my memories would be gone, but still.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t bitter.
Because I could feel the loneliness of a regressor.
My mind was getting worn down bit by bit.
"Haa..."
Before I blew my own head off.
As I took a deep breath and looked at the troupe leader.
Crack!
A massive fist slammed down from the sky.
"?????"
I practically had five question marks floating over my head as I looked toward where the fist had come from.
Under the sky, silver-gray hair fluttered like an angel’s.
I couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
"Fight."
The voice in my ears was Silver Wolf’s.
"If you fight, you can win."
Without even answering, my body reacted and I shot forward.
The troupe leader wasn’t looking at me either. He was staring at the girl crushed beneath the fist.
[Sky Leap]
A reaction without even a flicker of hesitation.
Like a rabbit, I jumped and charged at the troupe leader.
Too late, he tried to stop me by raising the earth itself.
[Sky Step] & [Sky Leap]
I hurled my sword toward the rising mound of dirt.
Then I stepped off into the air, leapt again, and shot forward like a bullet.
"Die!!!"
Throwing the sword was a feint. It was already too late to pull back the earth he’d raised. I closed the distance faster than he could even finish blocking.
"Adrian Servet!!!"
For the first time, the troupe leader let out a shout—apparently shocked that the girl had died.
A blade snapped out from inside his staff, flashing with a sharp light.
I focused my eyes hard.
Then, in a split second, I muttered,
"What I’m seeing is the me a moment later, the blade’s trajectory, and the attack I need to make against it."
I could see the sword’s slow-moving path, and I ducked in response.
It was impossible to avoid it completely. I had to take the hit and give as good as I got.
Asat-style martial arts — Liver Blow
I landed cleanly on the ground, planted my foot, and took a step forward.
Reading the blade’s path, I twisted my body with the mindset of giving as good as I got.
This was the one and only chance to land a direct hit. He wasn’t nearly as durable as I was. As long as Silver Wolf was with me, beating the troupe leader wasn’t impossible.
A punch drove in diagonally.
At exactly a 45-degree angle, it slipped past bone and muscle and slammed into his organs.
When Asat hit me with this, I really thought I was going to die.
It felt like someone had ripped out a live wire right in front of my eyes.
"Kuhk...!"
The troupe leader’s exhale burst out violently as he staggered back.
I didn’t know much about the human body, but if he was human, that was a fatal blow.
His sword had been planted in the ground and let go.
All he could do now was throw punches.
Fshhk!
The troupe leader’s staff-sword sliced through my body. I twisted away so it wasn’t a fatal wound, but I couldn’t avoid the blood loss.
All I could do was stay glued to him and fight at point-blank range with my life on the line.
Buying time so Silver Wolf could throw another punch.
"You fucking—"
The psychological mask he’d been wearing with that smug little grin shattered.
Maybe because he’d lost a precious card, I could see his face twisting wildly behind the white mask.
So what?
I’m the one about to fucking die!
After closing in so tightly he couldn’t swing his sword.
I grabbed the back of his head.
Asat-style martial arts — Collar Grab Knee Strike
"Kuhk... ugh...!"
He couldn’t respond.
He couldn’t even swing that sword of his.
He couldn’t use subspace manipulation.
And if he used shockwaves, we’d both get blown back.
So this is why our great Asat taught me martial arts!
When I was getting beaten by him directly, I wanted to kill the bastard, but now I finally understand his grand intentions!
I charged at the troupe leader as he retreated one or two steps.
Asat-style martial arts — Oblique Kick
Crack!
His range got pushed back further, and my kick collided with his knee.
And yet the troupe leader still didn’t fall.
"You can take this?"
"Shiro!!!"
"Fuck."
The troupe leader’s will answered the light.
A white glow blazed ominously and lit up the entire world.
Crunch, crack!!
Not a shockwave fired in one direction, but a round burst spreading outward in every direction.
I was blown back in an instant, bouncing away like a dodgeball.
I rolled across the ground and ate dirt.
If he hadn’t reacted, I was planning to keep pressing the attack.
So the bastard wasn’t just some brainless idiot after all.
"I don’t need anything else anymore! I’m going to kill you! Adrian Servet!!!"
"Eat shit."
He came charging at me with his sword drawn.
The dirt surged and the earth answered the troupe leader’s will.
"Did you forget something?"
The girl who had died in an unexpected strike.
Me, who’d lost my sword and was about to be forced into fighting with my fists alone.
And... Silver Wolf, still up in the sky.
Boom!!!
The troupe leader rolled his body awkwardly to dodge the fist that shot toward him.
Unlike when he’d been caught completely off guard, he must have been on guard this time.
"You little fly!"
"Looking at me?"
As the hand of dirt reached out into the air, I charged.
That shockwave attack from just now had an interval!
He wasn’t invincible.
Even raising the earth and using subspace manipulation, he couldn’t do both at the same time against us.
Asat-style martial arts——
Calf kick, strike to the calf.
Flying knee, strike to the face.
Back kick, strike to the solar plexus.
Left hook, strike to the side.
Uppercut, strike to the jaw.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
"Die! Just die already! Why the fuck won’t you die!!!"
The troupe leader endured attacks that would have had me sobbing and rolling on the ground long ago.
For a moment he was distracted by Silver Wolf, then mixed blades into the earth and drove them at me.
Bang! Boom! Bang!
At the same time, bright red flames stained the sky.
Silver Wolf, still not used to walking through the air, failed to dodge in time and fell.
"Catch me...! Ack! My back!"
"I’m not that heavy, you know!?"
"It’s not that you’re heavy, it’s that look at my damn body!!!"
And then she shouted at me for complaining about my back hurting.
Looking at her up close, Silver Wolf was clearly exhausted too, blood streaming down her body.
Both of us were a complete mess.
The troupe leader was in just as bad a state.
"Hah, ha, huff!!!"
"...O Laughing God, grant us your blessing!!!"
Without even time to rest, I charged him again.
He drew his staff-sword and aimed at me.
The dirt mound surged like a wave once more. Maybe all the blades he’d planned to use were broken by now, because this had become pure physical violence. I turned his attention away so Silver Wolf could get time to prepare.
Silver Wolf wasn’t just standing still either.
The troupe leader had been keeping a close eye on her the whole time.
He prepared to fire another shockwave at me and used thin hands of earth to disrupt Silver Wolf’s focus.
"Silver Wolf, can you use that fist as a running start?"
"What?"
"Hurry! We don’t have time!"
That was the whisper we’d exchanged a moment ago.
We hadn’t even had a proper conversation, but I was sure Silver Wolf understood what I meant.
My body, which had been dodging his attacks like a beast, creaked and groaned.
Like us, the troupe leader was bleeding from the nose and eyes as he kept attacking.
If the girl who’d been at his side just now were still here, our chance of winning would have been 0%, but Silver Wolf’s attack had created a one chance.
I didn’t know how Silver Wolf had gotten back here.
But this was a situation we could not afford to fail.
"Adrian!!!"
"I’m going!!!"
Silver Wolf pulled her body far back, as if the fist had finally been set.
A ridiculously exaggerated posture, bent back to the limit.
I could see her right fist glowing neon.
"You think I’m just going to stand here and watch!!!"
"Ah!"
I pulled out the pen I’d tucked inside my clothes.
A yellow sticker was stuck to it.
Work, damn it!!! [Blessing Warp]!!!
The pen with the attention-grabbing sticker flew through the air, and for a brief moment everyone’s eyes except mine were drawn to it. Taking that instant, I sprinted toward Silver Wolf.
Silver Wolf’s body was pulled back beyond its limit.
I crouched low over the fist larger than a person.
[Sky Step]
I stepped onto the surface of the fist, which should have been impossible to stand on.
And looked at the troupe leader.
With his body coiled to the limit, the troupe leader grabbed at the blades he’d been hurling.
Blood streamed from my hands.
I should have felt pain, but the adrenaline made it disappear.
Adrian No. 1!
Launch!!!
"Now!!!"
At my call, Silver Wolf added more rotational force to her body.
She drove her fist forward like she was throwing a knockout punch, even using the momentum from the run-up.
A huge neon fist modeled after Silver Wolf’s hand.
Standing on the fist’s surface, I thrust out my blade.
We decided it all in a single exchange.
My body was already beyond its limit. I would put everything into one strike and end it here. If I failed, I’d die—but I held onto the conviction that I wouldn’t fail.
The moment acceleration reached its peak.
I extended my leg.
The crushing gravity was heavy, but my creaking knee straightened.
My body had reached its limit and it hurt like hell. Still, I bared my teeth and aimed at him.
[Sky Leap]
One more burst of acceleration.
Boom!!!
The fist couldn’t withstand the impact of [Sky Leap] and shattered into pieces, scattering ether everywhere.
The coat draped over my body couldn’t withstand the wind and tore away, and my body turned into a meteor.
Of course it did. I’d dumped all my imaginary energy into [Sky Leap]. My legs couldn’t keep up and had already lost their function. With no strength left, they fluttered helplessly in the wind.
My body couldn’t hold out either.
My wide-open eyes stung.
The wind felt like blades cutting me apart.
I couldn’t breathe.
And yet, I wouldn’t fail.
Repaying the trust of Silver Wolf, who had come back for me—
My world overloaded and split into black and white.
Right before contact, I thrust out my blade, ready to break everything apart.
All I could see was the enemy.
The only thing with color was my blade.
The tip of the blade sliced cleanly through the world and dyed it in black ink.
Zephiro-style swordsmanship——
The troupe leader reacted too late.
Instead of raising layer upon layer of earth, he tried to lift the entire ground itself in response.
A white shockwave held in a spherical form.
I cut through it.
Even if my body shattered here.
I would definitely break through!
The sword soaked in black light.
Zephiro’s flawless sword technique.
——One-Point Thrust
It turned into a jet-black line and, ignoring everything else, tore straight through the troupe leader’s heart.
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