chapter 51
51. Priest Yaiba 2
Gildia and Yaiba circle each other, each on guard.
Swords clash, fists intersect.
In the midst of it all, Gildia ponders the nature of his opponent’s teleportation.
There must be some mechanism behind that teleportation.
Two patterns come to mind.
The first is the revelation itself.
But if it’s a revelation, there must be some underlying principle.
For instance, someone like Rainer converts all his magical power into lightning, using that to transform his body into lightning.
This is a classification close to what is known as an internal magic system.
Generally, revelations tend to be closely related to internal systems,
However, some have devised ways to create external effects.
—
If it’s Pattern 1, then unless the trick is uncovered, the transfer won’t break.
The second pattern is
a technique or a special weapon like a divine artifact.
Basically, weapons have a capacity.
Only the most renowned artifacts in the world possess multiple abilities.
That’s why the sword is a dead end. That ability to burn what it cuts is far too incongruous.
Thus, that armor is suspicious.
From the earlier strike, the armor has been dented.
The transfer attempted at that moment was far too brief,
Moreover, the attacks from earlier have been mostly movements to maintain distance, like feints.
This is likely to prevent a momentary paralysis caused by the <Order>.
Then,
“I <am fast>.”
Close the distance!
Gildia dashes forward like a bullet.
Yai-ba, perhaps having heard the <Order>,
vanishes from sight due to the transfer.
Seeing that, Gildia pivots and delivers a kick.
Behind him, Yai-ba had his sword ready, barely managing to defend.
“Transfer!”
Yai-ba shows signs of panic.
“Don’t <move>.”
Yai-ba, unable to evade, loses his stance, and in that opening, he is hit repeatedly by a knuckle duster, completely shattering the armor and sending him flying.
“It’s over.”
As Gildia tries to leave,
“Not yet.”
Yai-ba rises like a specter.
The armor on his upper body has already come off, and perhaps because the lower half’s fittings are broken, the only intact part is his legs.
“Still standing? You should have just fainted.”
Gildia clenched the knuckle duster tightly,
determined to deliver the finishing blow,
but Yaiba drove the blade of his sword into his own left shoulder.
Juuhhh
A foul smell of burning flesh spread through the air.
“You b*stard, what are you doing?!”
Yet the sword emitted an impossibly high heat,
as if it were scorching the very space around it.
“My revelation, you see, should be called weapon enhancement.
This allows every part of my body to draw out power that surpasses the limits of weaponry. By cutting into my own flesh like this, I can unleash the sword’s true potential.”
Yaiba relaxed his shoulders and bent low,
abandoning any form of swordsmanship,
leaping forward like a hunting dog. The sword continued to burn the air around it, radiating intense heat.
“Now, shall we?”