Arena Finals (3)

The blade aimed at my eyes cut through empty air.

Every Magic Knight engagement begins with Blink.

He hadn't closed the distance — which meant he intended to cast magic.

Without a second thought, I closed it myself.

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

Deep blue effect. Lightning type, as expected.

On Where the Tempest Sleeps, lightning magic is nearly impossible to dodge. The rain on this battlefield never stops, and the shipwreck decks stay soaked enough that water sloshes underfoot. Every electric-type spell receives a massive bonus to range and power.

That doesn't mean the inherent weaknesses of lightning magic simply vanish, though.

Projectile speed inversely proportional to cast time. And a mechanism that makes it all too easy for the caster to take damage themselves. Unlike other magic, where you only need to get out of range, lightning also demands distance from the target who got hit.

So if you stubbornly close that gap and refuse to let go, you can pull something like this.

I seized Kelberos's sword with my bare hand.

The sharp edge sliced into my flesh — but the current climbing up through the floor wrapped around both of us at once.

A dizzying jolt of electrocution. My muscles clenched and spasmed on their own.

Damage to both sides.

The price of misjudging an assassin's speed. If he'd gone with ice magic and its faster cast time, things might have been different.

With a standard shadow build this would have been impossible — but right now, I could just barely stick to him. Even Kelberos hadn't accounted for a physical-combat assassin's speed. It wasn't a popular build, and almost no one could actually pull it off.

In the end, even he was only human.

The usual Magic Knight versus Assassin matchup is straightforward. The Magic Knight tries to outfight with Blink; the Assassin rides the shadows, sticking close and stacking damage. It almost always becomes a battle of spatial awareness.

But… if the assassin side is confident enough. If they believe they can answer a Magic Knight's Blink without leaning on the long invincibility frames unique to shadows — then they can take the fight with a physical-combat build like this.

The fastest build an assassin can run. A flood of dash skills and razor-edged power, and in inverse proportion, paper-thin defensive frames.

Dare try a probing fight in front of me?

Victory or defeat was decided in less than a tenth of a second. A literal contest of blade tips had opened. No room for complicated thinking — only reaction speed, dynamic vision, and raw instinct to keep the exchange going. Drop every half-baked thought and fight like a beast.

A faint white aura settled over my body. An effect that was usually hard to see, but the darkness around us made it stand out sharply.

A kick aimed at my side met my elbow. I checked the hand reaching for my foot with a dagger, reversed my grip, and drove it down. As Kelberos Blinked away, I hurled a throwing dagger after him — then leapt. The distance between us collapsed at a speed even I could barely process.

I checked his longsword with my right-hand dagger, then dropped into a crouch. His ankle, right in front of me. With an overwhelming speed advantage, there was no reason not to take it. After landing the hit with satisfaction, I pushed off the ground with my planted hand and retreated.

"Ha…!"

"Feeling a little more manageable?"

"I misjudged. Today will be the last time I use Magic Knight."

"Would've been nice if you'd done that from the start."

A laugh of pure disbelief. I charged again at the guy who somehow looked pleased.

Kelberos's magic shifted from offense to defense. Left hand a shield, right hand a sword — drawing on the muscle memory of playing Dark Knight. A familiar style could cut down on thinking time.

The instant I dug into his flank, his form vanished. A silhouette flickered at the edge of my vision. Direction: upper left. Target: my rear? The angle made a counterattack impossible, so I dodged. Then I bored stubbornly back into the inside and went for the lower body.

Deflect the blade with a dagger — low. Draw his vision with a throw — low again. Dodge the magic, attempt a takedown, fail, and immediately go low once more.

The wind roared with every movement under that dizzying speed. Rain stung my face; incoming projectiles, fused with my approach velocity, registered as little more than flashes of light. I was careful even with my breathing, terrified of breaking concentration.

But the burden of this absurd speed contest weighed on Kelberos just the same. Through relentless pressure, I finally severed his Achilles tendon and the sinews beneath. My back took heavy damage in exchange — but it was a thoroughly satisfying trade.

When a brief lull settled, a snort of laughter escaped me.

"Say it again. What was that about my lower body?"

"I didn't say anything wrong. The completeness itself is still…"

"Still what?"

"Relatively lacking. But it's that much more aggressive. How did you end up with this form?"

"None of your business."

It wasn't exactly a great secret. Using my lower body aggressively made it harder for him to target my legs in return — a necessary choice to hide that my left leg was a weak point. A bit of a blow to the pride, but there was also the simple fact that my body was small. Against hulking knights like Kelberos, the height difference was significant; drop the stance low enough and I became hard to hit. Naturally, I had no intention of telling him any of that.

Anyway — that last exchange had cost Kelberos his mobility. A Magic Knight's Blink remained, but footwork is as vital to a swordsman as the weapon itself. When advancing and retreating becomes impaired, the damage compounds into something fatal. In our exchanges, Kelberos began to creak, little by little.

No matter how versatile a Magic Knight might be, they were never as sturdy as a Knight. Naturally, they weren't as fast as an Assassin either. Even if he tried a ranged war of attrition, he couldn't escape my speed in this state.

I smashed through ice spikes erupting at point-blank range, used the severed cross-section as a springboard, and took his back. Crushing an improvised shield, I landed a hit on his forearm. Taking an unavoidable counter, I drove a dagger into his thigh. I yanked free the hidden weapon I'd planted earlier, aimed for his collarbone, then recovered my original dagger in the gap as his body slipped away. On the retreat, a clean opportunity presented itself — I tore into his ribs. In exchange, I gave up a significant chunk of my right shoulder.

As time wore on, the match tilted heavily. Between Kelberos and me, the one a little closer to a beast was apparently my side.

Weapons leveled at each other. In the search for openings, a brief silence fell.

"No interest in going pro?"

"…Hard to say."

"A shame. If you change your mind, contact me anytime."

Words that tangled up my head. Not now. I consciously scrubbed them from my mind. He wasn't an opponent I could beat while carrying any wavering in my heart. Better to cut off his breath quickly.

I kept targeting the lower body — then something caught my eye. Behind Kelberos, at the edge of the shipwreck, there was no railing. If I pushed him, wouldn't he fall into the sea?

"Come to think of it, there was a promise."

"A promise? Did we make one of those?"

"It's fine. I'll help you remember."

The downside of this speed contest was that stable play was impossible. You had to continuously generate variables so dizzying the opponent's calculations couldn't keep up. So a little more boldly. I opened the engagement without sparing my body.

I deflected the face of his sword with my blade tip. Evaded magic with a skill that carried teleportation frames, then canceled a descending ambush from above. I drove a dagger into a rising ice spike and stopped mid-air. No need to linger. Pushing off the pillar and charging again, a massive opportunity opened before my eyes.

His upper body was exposed. Right now I could land a vital hit — neck, heart, anything.

But.

A trap?

My reason judged this as the opponent's scheme. Just before the match collapsed, Kelberos ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was attempting a gamble. If I broke through head-on I could end it — but the damage I'd take would run from abdomen to heart at minimum. A critical wound, no question.

Conversely, instinct whispered it was a chance worth taking.

No time for lengthy deliberation. In this terrible speed contest, I wasn't exempt from the pressure either. So I reached a conclusion immediately. A gamble worth taking. Risk or whatever — if it succeeds, that's enough.

I closed the distance at once, and each other's blades tore through both bodies.

"Ghh…!"

My dagger drove its ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠edge into Kelberos's neck. And yet the tenacious bastard still wasn't finished. His sword stabbed into my abdomen — from below, rising upward, the blade climbing with the force to shred every organ and bone in its path.

But I didn't lose consciousness, and my character was still alive. I completely wrecked my arm to stop the thrust. Then he used his knee. If that rose any further, it was the heart.

Could I stop it with raw strength? Borderline. My strength stat shouldn't lag much, but it would become a power struggle of arm against leg. I wasn't confident. Once again, time granted no leisure.

A little more boldness. My health still had room. I decided to pull the embedded sword free from my side. Using the dagger as a hook, I tore the longsword out as if ripping open my own body. My health bar shredded horribly — but I didn't die.

The bloodied sword tumbled across the deck, and Kelberos's last hope vanished with it.

With this—

"I win."

"…So it seems."

A tingling euphoria overlaid the pain. My dagger stabbed into Kelberos's neck again, and for good measure I drove the remaining one between his eyes. Finally, I kicked the lifeless corpse with my foot.

A system message rose as a single body fell into the seawater.

"I… told you. I'd dunk you in the seawater for sure."

The first set closed with my victory.