Gazing Into the Abyss (7)

Panzy had a simple, straightforward reason for favoring dual swords.

Instead of wasting time on defense, she could take down just a little more enemies.

It was one of Panzy Vlad's famous lines from her story in Spirit Savior, titled 'Dual Swords Aren't Bad.'

The dual-sword character archetype, once mocked as "the game breaks the moment you split the sword," had undergone a complete reversal thanks to Panzy Vlad. That wasn't an exaggeration.

Panzy's dual-sword technique was elegant, efficient, and nothing short of artistic.

Completely opposite to her upright and righteous personality, her swords moved in irregular, unpredictable arcs.

Blades that came from unexpected angles left any opponent unable to read the pattern and got sliced apart.

And right now, that opponent was me.

Fuck.

"Stop making those pathetic wheezing noises, Cain! Your left side is wide open!"

Panzy said my left side was open, then instantly came in from the right and stabbed toward my left. Because she'd announced the direction, I barely managed to raise my sword and block her strike.

This monstrous woman didn't care whether her own body got hurt or not. She burned with fighting spirit, spinning around me in circles, carving me up while simultaneously giving me instructions. It was the perfect way to make me feel utterly miserable.

After blocking Panzy's sword, I immediately created several of Undine's water spikes and fired them around her. My plan was to restrict her movement, limit her next options, and drag her into my own pace of combat.

Panzy froze for a split second when she saw the sharply spinning water spikes. I didn't miss the opening and ordered Gnome to create a rock wall.

A rock wall shot up rapidly around Panzy.

When she tried to leap high to escape, I used Sylph to stop her.

A fierce gust of wind blew in instantly, slamming Panzy back down to the ground.

I clicked my tongue, thinking how nice it would've been if Kasa were here, but I had to make the best possible result with what I had.

"It's not that I'm getting serious... I've been going all out this whole time..."

Whatever. No point talking.

Her eyes were completely glazed over with battle lust, and she was grinning like an idiot.

I created a massive hand beneath the rock wall and clenched it into a fist to crush her.

Above her was Sylph's razor wind, and in the gaps were Undine's water spikes.

There was no hole for her to escape through.

At least, that's what I hoped.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

What? What the hell...?

Cracks began spreading across the rock wall with a loud grinding sound. Then, with a long horizontal fracture, Panzy burst out with both arms shielding her head as she smashed through the wall.

Through the gap in her arms, I could see her purple eyes.

Those were the eyes of a predator.

But I had no intention of keep getting hit by the same tricks.

I levitated a large number of rock fragments into the air and used the debris from the wall she'd broken through. With Sylph's wind giving them propulsion, the rock shards shot forward like cannonballs, preventing Panzy from charging at me and buying me a brief moment of breathing room.

"Huh?"

In that instant, one of the fragments grazed her left shoulder. For a very brief moment, she grimaced in pain.

At this point, a single rock shard wasn't going to inflict a fatal wound on her.

It might seem a little cowardly, but a match is a cold-hearted thing, Panzy Vlad!

Real enemies won't worry about your injuries or go easy on you!

Consider this an adult's lesson!

The spirits nodded without a word in response. There was no need to argue here, and they already knew that a fight was exactly that kind of thing.

Sylph and Gnome looked at each other and began channeling their power together. Wind and earth met, creating a massive cloud of dust.

After obscuring Panzy's vision, Sylph and Gnome continued their linked assault.

Sylph sharpened countless stone fragments and launched them like blades.

Tentacles made of Undine's water rose from the ground, taking shape and grabbing Panzy's legs and arms.

Inside the dust cloud, I could see Panzy perfectly.

The view the spirits saw was crystal clear to me.

I unconsciously manipulated them to execute the attacks I wanted.

I kept striking at Panzy's weak point, and while she was distracted, I landed hits on other areas as well.

She said that and smiled with clear satisfaction.

Then she suddenly stopped, sheathed her wooden swords at her waist, and gave a slight bow.

"..."

I didn't answer.

Beyond the pounding headache, I could taste blood in my mouth.

To be honest, just standing here was my limit. The moment Panzy figured out my position and even a single finger touched me, I would collapse.

That's why I stayed silent and stubbornly continued my attack.

A beastly gleam flashed in Panzy's violet eyes.

The wooden sword she swung suddenly moved so slowly it seemed like time had stopped.

This was dangerous.

I could see the air itself splitting along the trajectory of her swing.

If I couldn't block it, it would undoubtedly be a fatal blow—her final technique.

One of the killing moves that appeared in the game under the specific condition of 'when she fights with only one sword.'

Iai - Dragon Tongue.

In the story, when she was cornered, it was the drawing technique she used after correcting her last remaining sword and exhausting all her mana.

The power was so strong that even she couldn't control it, capable of slicing through space itself.

The good news was that she didn't possess that level of strength right now.

Sword energy rapidly spread out with her at the center.

The dust cloud vanished in an instant, and like a beast that had lost its prey, the sword energy charged fiercely toward me.

I instinctively realized that I couldn't block sword energy with physical means.

I poured everything I had into blocking it.

I infused the tightly gripped stone sword with the power of Sylph, Gnome, and Undine.

I squeezed out the last of my life force and poured it into the blade.

A pathetic body that couldn't raise magic power, strength, or agility no matter what.

All I could rely on was my life force, so I could only hope this power would stop the sword energy.

It wasn't the power of spirits manifested through life force, but life force manifested through spirits.

In my half-crazed state, I felt that the power wrapped around my sword was something incredibly pure.

Instinctively, I raised the sword high and brought it crashing down.

The moment my life force touched the sword energy, I saw it burning away in an instant. The spirits' mana and my life force united for a single purpose, burning their entire being to block the sword energy.

Amid the pain of my whole body burning, I saw Panzy staring at me with a shocked expression.

I blocked it.

I actually blocked it.

With all my life force and everything the spirits had.

I smiled.

Then my vision went completely black.

I could hear Professor Faust shouting something, but my consciousness had already fallen into an endlessly deep sea.

"Good grief."

Faust seriously began wondering once again if he had been suffering from a lack of sleep lately.

The spar between Panzy Vlad and Cain.

Anyone watching would have thought it would be an overwhelming victory for Panzy. He'd heard rumors that some students were secretly running a betting ring on the outcomes of student matches.

Panzy's odds were probably extremely low. Her martial prowess was that dominant.

Just as expected, Panzy had taken control of the early flow with ease.

The biggest weakness of a mage was close combat, after all. She had accurately identified that point and approached with irregular patterns so her opponent couldn't pinpoint her coordinates.

Cain was barely managing to block Panzy's attacks using a 'talent' that even Faust, as a professor, had never seen before.

It's over.

While Faust was thinking that and watching the match indifferently, astonishing things began to happen.

Cain, who had slowly started catching up to Panzy's movements, eventually succeeded in damaging one of her dual swords.

It was impressive. He watched the match with pure admiration.

When he had examined Cain's physical condition, it was so terrible that he wondered how the boy had even gotten into Class D—hell, how he'd gotten into the academy at all.

He had an impediment in mana manipulation and was congenitally weak, a body incapable of learning any martial art.

Yet somehow, this boy was freely using magic without any incantations or spells.

Probably everyone watching the spar right now was thinking the same thing.

When Panzy 'fired' her sword with one hand, the movements she displayed afterward were enough to leave even a professor like him speechless.

But what surprised him even more was Cain's skill.

The way he sacrificed part of his own body to draw her into close range before casting magic.

The close combat he began the moment he realized he could no longer create distance, and how quickly he identified Panzy's weakness.

"Just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a little longer. Those children are taking another step forward right now."

A student from the student council, who had been assigned as support, quietly asked him to stop the match, but he shook his head.

It had been a long time since his heart raced like this.

Panzy's sword flashed, slicing through the dust cloud and the very air where her blade passed, creating sword energy.

At some point, Faust had begun watching him with great expectations.

In a split second, Cain closed his eyes and raised his sword high.

The energy gathered on the blade was neither mana, nor aura, nor any power the professor knew.

It was pure power.

An unknown, formless, pure power.

Had the momentary storm passed?

Silence fell over the training ground.

After carefully examining the condition of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠both students, Faust blew the whistle to signal the end of the match.

"Waaaaaaaaah!!!!"

The training ground was filled with heated excitement.

Panzy lay sprawled out, completely exhausted, while Cain had collapsed unconscious.

The students were sending passionate cheers toward both of them.