A Single Strike

Mana.

In Ero Ability Shooters, it was the most versatile ability there was — and the hardest to control. It also happened to be the one I handled best.

"P-please take care of me~"

The moment I stepped onto the sparring floor, Maya — the girl waiting at the far end — dipped her head in a polite little bow.

"Yeah. You too."

I flashed her a grin and waved. She lit up with a shy hehe and beamed right back.

Was this a strategy? Win me over first, then bury me in guilt?

I slid my left foot back, settled my weight onto my right, and dropped into an iaido stance. Maya's smile vanished in a heartbeat. Her whole face went ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠serious, every ounce of her attention locking onto me.

Yeah. Probably not that kind of person.

A mechanical beep cut through the air. Maya's brow furrowed, and she thrust both hands forward.

Maya was an Ability User. The first round of class ranking matches was already over, so I had a complete read on everyone's powers — and hers was Nature-type, Water attribute.

With my latent ability, Enchant, our matchup was the worst one she could possibly have drawn.

A jet of water exploded from her palms, high-pressure and vicious, and roared straight at me.

The flavor text on Enchant — affinity with all attributes increases — was not written there for decoration.

I didn't even put mana into the blade. I just brought it down, a clean cut from high to low.

The water had no texture, no substance at all. And yet it clung to the sword and split apart like paper.

"H-hieeeek?!"

Maya shrieked, her voice cracking into a startled squeal.

That single, almost irresponsible word — affinity — had taken the old me countless beatings to truly understand. And this was the result.

I wrapped a thin veil of mana around the tip of the blade. The water that had been splitting apart coiled itself along the steel, winding from the point all the way down to the hilt.

With the barest minimum of mana control, I could command Nature-type elements now. Which meant that as long as my opponent was a Nature-type Ability User, the matchup was hopelessly stacked against them.

I treated the coiled water like a whip and swept the sword in a long, crescent arc.

The water unspooled and came apart, then surged toward Maya in the shape of a crescent moon.

"Kyaaah!"

The jet caught her square and sent her flying. The badge on her chest shattered.

A mechanical beep announced the end of the ranking match. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I gave the sword a lazy twirl and stepped down from the floor.

"Whoa, Player. Your mana control is actually insane. I finally get why the management team skimmed off the top."

Angel — who already knew I'd cleared Hard Mode — stuck out her tongue in disbelief.

Right. Angel already knew, and she was still this impressed.

So what about my class?

Every last one of them was staring at me, mouths open, wonder written across their faces. And of course, the most delicious expression of all belonged to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Violet.

She looked like she wanted to sprint over and interrogate me on the spot, but her pride had her hovering there, itching and unwilling. That face was the real deal.

Ah, I really shouldn't get a taste for this… ahem.

"Player, want me to turn that into a skill?"

Hm?

Angel spoke up just as I was getting drunk on my own reflection.

"That slash you just used — we can call it Crescent Moon Slash and register it as a skill!"

A chime rang out, and Angel pulled up an interface window as if to demonstrate.

"But isn't that basically the same as what I just did? What's the difference?"

"Of course there is! Once it's a skill, the power doubles — and you can use it mechanically!"

Ah. That.

"Mechanically" meant that no matter what state I was in, as long as I paid the mana cost, the technique would fire.

"If I register this now, I can't add anything else?"

"Um… nope! You're right at the limit as it is…"

"Then let's save the slot. I'll show you something fun later."

Angel's eyes sparkled. She looked at me with a shining, I knew it! kind of face.

A beep sounded. This time, the ones stepping onto the floor were Violet and Alice.

Both of them had stood out from the very first ranking match, so the entire class locked in for the big one. And I already knew how it would end.

The winner: Violet.

Violet already knew Alice. Alice did not know Violet. That alone decided it.

The beep sounded again. The match began, and Alice immediately tumbled sideways, both Uzis — her primary weapons — roaring in her hands.

A magazine-shredding snarl filled the air as a storm of bullets streaked toward Violet, only to freeze in midair against a telekinetic barrier she had already put up. Alice didn't even flinch. She'd expected it. She swapped magazines in a flash, and her eyes flooded a vivid, burning red.

Bullet Time.

The bread-and-butter skill of every Shooter — cranking every sense to the breaking point and slowing the world's playback speed. That red-eye phenomenon was the tell.

It's over.

Alice, that is.

That infinitesimal gap when Bullet Time activated. Violet knew the skill. There was no way she would miss it.

Violet made a pulling motion from below. Alice's ankle yanked out from under her, and she went sprawling across the floor.

From the very start, Violet had laid a telekinetic whip low along the ground and waited ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for that single opening. The moment Alice failed to notice it, the match was already decided.

The whip flung Alice into the air, let her hang there for a weightless second, then slammed her to the floor.

A beep. The ranking match was over.

The badge would have absorbed the full impact. Alice wouldn't be hurt.

But my heart was already sprinting toward her.

"Alice!!!!"

I screamed her name, vaulted onto the floor in a single rush, and closed the distance to where she lay.

"Uh… huh?"

Alice stared up at me in a daze, still face-down, startled by the sudden appearance of me.

"Are you okay?!"

"U-uh…"

I scanned every inch of her from point-blank range. That cute, faintly sensual cat-like face. A chest that ran a little modest, but not so much you'd complain. A tapered waist flowing into those hips and legs.

Yep! No injuries!

"You're really okay, right?"

I pressed her hard, voice sharp with leftover panic. Alice's cheeks flushed pink as she raised her voice.

"I said I'm fine! You idiot!"

She mashed her palms against my forehead like she was trying to shove me off the planet. I pushed back and asked again.

"For real?! For real?!"

"I-I said yes! Get off me! Everyone's staring weird!"

I turned and looked down from the floor. Some of our classmates wore fond, amused little smiles. The rest looked like they'd just swallowed something greasy and nauseating.

"Go! Go!"

Alice shoved at me with both hands. It felt weirdly like a cat making biscuits.

"Alright. I was just really worried about you, Alice."

The sincerity in it seemed to land. Alice's cheeks burned even redder.

"I get it, so go! Go!"

She kneaded even harder.

This creature was way too cute. The thought I want a blowjob from her, ASAP slipped out of my mind unbidden. Ah…

"…Don't you two think that's a bit much?"

From a distance, Violet was watching us with an expression of pure disbelief.

"Violet."

"Yes?"

"Even you. I can't forgive throwing my adorable Alice around like that."

"Hey! I told you to stop!"

This time she tapped my face with a limp, cotton-soft fist.

Th-this murderous level of cuteness!

"Fine, whatever. We'll have our own ranking match next anyway. Take your revenge then."

Violet shot the two of us a look of utter exasperation as we nuzzled at each other, then stepped down from the floor.

"Want me to carry you, Alice?"

"Would you seriously just stop already?!"

That one actually hurt a little.

Once we were back off the floor, I stuck to Alice, trying to keep the conversation going however I could. She shoved me away with a merciless hand and a cute little Go awaaay~!, so I finally gave up and backed off.

Still, it was obvious her mood had loosened compared to the start.

Ahh~ thank god!

Being the childhood-friend tsundere type, she was secretly weak to being pushed hard.

"So romantic, Player."

Angel was squealing with delight beside me, practically bouncing.

"Damn right. This is what real love looks like."

Leave it to Angel — my partner in crime — to have an eye for these things.

Wait a second.

A thought flashed through my mind unbidden. If I actually ended up having sex… would Angel be watching that too?

"What are you thinking about, Player?"

She'd caught the uneasy look I was giving her and tilted her head, puzzled.

"Ah… nothing."

I'd find out when the time came. Right now I had something else to focus on. That problem could wait.

A beep. The names on the display this time: me and Violet.

It was finally here. The most important moment.

For Violet, I would be the man who was a variable. For Alice, I would be the cool childhood friend who took revenge on her behalf.

"Watch close. You'll need to register this as a skill."

"Ooooh!"

I spun the sword once, settled it at my hip, and stepped onto the floor.

My eyes met Violet's across the way. She looked tense as hell.

I let out a quiet snort of laughter in her direction. Her face twisted.

That's it. Show me those emotions. That composure, that languid boredom — I was going to drink every last drop of it.

"Prepare yourself."

Violet clenched her teeth, a growl sitting in her throat.

"Try to block it. I'll end this in one strike."

"Are you being serious right now?"

I was. This strike was one Violet could not stop.

"Yeah. For real."

"Hah! Unbelievable!"

Violet's brow furrowed, the look of someone whose patience had just run out of road.

"Then how about a bet?"

"Excuse me?"

"If you block the strike, I'll grant you a wish. If I land it, you grant mine. How about it?"

"Don't regret this."

Perfect. Another point of contact, just like that. Icing on the cake.

I stretched my left foot back and settled my weight onto my right, dropping into the iaido stance.

The strike that would end this was iaido. Not ordinary iaido — iaido in my own style, layered with Enchant.

The line at the front of Enchant's description. The words that said any attribute could be infused into one's weapon.

Think simply, and you'd assume that meant one attribute at a time. Think a little further, and you'd realize infusing several at once wasn't impossible either.

And the iaido I was about to perform was the technique that best captured Enchant's true essence.

I pictured wind, and poured it into the scabbard. At the same time, I overlaid the image of flame across the blade. Through the tsuba connecting blade and hilt, I ran a current of electricity.

Focus. I opened every sense I had.

Hyper-awakened perception warped the world around me and melted it into my eyes.

Thump. Thu-ump. Thu——ump.

In the slowing of time, my heartbeat filled my ears to the brim.

The first note of the deep mechanical beep sounded — and I used the thumb of my left hand, gripping the scabbard, to push up on the tsuba.

Electricity exploded between the hilt and the slightly drawn blade. As if accelerated by it, the wind packed inside the scabbard burst free, launching the sword like it had been waiting its whole life for this.

I clenched my right hand around the hilt and surrendered my body to that tyrannical current. The flames clinging to the blade flickered, riding the wind.

An Enchant built for a single, solitary strike.

Accelerate the gap between blade and hilt with electricity. Detonate the wind packed into the scabbard and fire the sword. Then let the flames on the blade bloom.

That was my iaido.

A crimson thread of light stretched taut, drawing a line through the space between me and Violet. And then, one after another, like flowers bursting into bloom, the flames unfurled.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

And the last place those flames blossomed—

I slid the blade into the scabbard in my left hand. A quiet click.

Boom.

It was Violet.