CH 66

"You both seem to be ready. Now, we will begin the second match ".

Elias's voice sounded high in the air.

Asuna is holding a side wooden sword in her left hand and an ordinary wooden sword in her right hand, standing quietly without any unnecessary effort.

There is a hint of a smile on her face.

In contrast, Rid is holding the wooden sword in both hands and looking at Asuna with his right eye, as if he is watching her.

And it was Asuna who made the first move.

......Asuna Lanmark, is going to push

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and held the wooden sword as if she were carrying it on her back.

The moment Rid readied himself, he heard a sound like a ground kick.

At the same time as the sound, Asuna disappeared from Rid's sight in an instant.

The moment he thought, "What⁉", he heard the sound of the ground scraping slightly to his left this time.

Rid noticed the sound and looked to his left, where he saw Asuna, still in the same posture as before, with her body turned toward him. She flew into Rid's death spot in this instant.

(No good !) Rid hurriedly concentrated on his evasive maneuver.

Asuna rushed to Rid's side while still in that position.

She then cut through with the sword she was carrying on her shoulder, crossing it in front of him.

However, Rid managed to avoid it by concentrating on evasion.

And she was forced to turn her back to Rid as she did so.

Rid took this opportunity to attack.

"I got it!"

But Asuna grinned and leapt high on the spot, flipping her body and landing behind Rid, on his back side.

Rid was speechless at the sight of her, following her with his eyes, and was amazed at her rapid, , and furious movements.

The movement made her military cap come off and fall silently to the ground.

'...... I've never seen a moonsault before."

'Hmph, ahaha. Rid is the best. There are not many people who can handle this move."

There was an obvious change in Asuna's speech.

At that moment Rid remembered Farah's words and was surprised to see that t

Asuna noticed this and muttered with a wry smile.

'What, are you surprised?　You don't mind my wording at all, do you?"

Yes, I was surprised at the change. It doesn't bother me that much.

"Thank you, master . Rid.

Rid and Asuna are now looking at each other with a little distance between them due to the current movement.

In an instant, all the spectators who were watching the series of moves that the two had made had their mouths hanging open.

They were shocked to see Rid hang in there with as Asuna's moves.

What Lacis said was true.

The first match convinced him , even if he didn't like it, that Lacis and Rid have a big gap in their abilities.

The audience looked at them in awe

The reason why Rid and Asuna can move so fast is because they are both using magic power to strengthen their bodies.

It sounds simple enough, but to do so is need a certain level of training in both magic and martial arts.

In other words, the two are strong people with that a lot of training.

They looked at each other as they held each other up.

Rid was the first to make his move.

He begins to walk in a clockwise direction, keeping his eyes on her.

Asuna, watching his movement, grinned and began to walk clockwise as well.

Then they began to walk in a circle, looking at each other.

Then, step by step, their walking speed increased and they began to run.

As they ran in a circle using body reinforcement, dust began to rise on the spot.

As soon as the dust started to fly up, Rid started to strike at Asuna.

Asuna, on the other hand, does the same.

At that moment, the wooden swords clashed with and heavy sounds echoed around the area repeatedly.

However, the audience is unable to see that due to the flying dust .

Eventually, the sounds cease to be heard, and the dust that had been flying up disappears.

When the view cleared, Asuna and Rid were in the center of the circle, engaging in a fierce battle.

The crowd's roar spread around the area as they saw the scene.

Asuna was catching Rid's wooden sword with her two wooden swords crossed.

In the midst of the fight , Lid told her

"..... you could go a little easy on me, couldn't you?"

"...... because that would be going against the orders of the princess.......Hmph."

If she turns on the switch, Rod will never win. Rid thought,

(She has more experience, more ability, and more flexibility than me.)

(But there is a part of me that wants to win.)

"......Asuna is strong. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it. But I don't want to lose easily either. ...... ".

"Excellent , Rid-sama is really interesting , then ...... how about this?'

As she finished her words, she loosened her grip on him and fell backwards.

The Rid is off balance due to her actions and almost falls slightly forward.

As soon as she falls back, something comes up from below towards Rid, Asuna's kick.

The Lid quickly caught Asuna's kick with his wooden sword and jumped backward with the momentum of the kick, doing a somersault backward.

On other hand, Asuna is still standing in the same position as before and smiling wryly as she watches Rid jump away in a backward somersault.

Asuna looked at Rid with sharp eyes, unusually sharp for , and said, holding a wooden sword in his right eye.

"You're very nimble, aren't you?　And isn't a kick to the face a bit much?"

I thought you would have ducked, didn't you?"

"Asuna is strong. I'll do everything to win "

"What's more?　She entertains me with her ....... ...... ."

Her body trembles at my words.

But that should be called a warrior's tremor.

Still, he didn't expect a kick.

And while his tongue was wagging at her strength, Rid was becoming wrapped up in a sense of elation that he hadn't felt in training with Rubens and father.

(Fun, she is stronger than I am, but I still don't feel as overwhelming as Rubens and my father.)

(It seems to be within my reach, but it is not.)

(It's the kind of match that makes you feel that way.)

(That is why I will do what I can do.)

(Measurement of magical power)

Numerical values of magical power

Rid: 548

Asuna: 220

Rid chanted in mind and measured her and his magical power values.

As was expected, his magic value itself was greater than her . This was thanks to his usual magic practice.

In contrast, Asuna's magic power is less than Ridf's .

(She probably trained up to this level of magical power by swordsmanship training and physical strengthening alone.)

Although there are some concerns, the only way to win for Rid from this figure is to wait for her magic value to run out in an endurance battle.

But that would mean being exposed to her swordsmanship for an extended period of time.

It felt as if what he had done to Reicis was coming back to Rid .

He raised his wooden sword up against her and pulled it to the right hand side of his head, and held it in an eight-phase stance with his left leg out in front of him.

Then, Rid muttered quietly.

'...... karma, huh?'

Rid decided that it would be a bad idea to create distance considering the speed of the power she showed in her first move, so he turned to face her and kicked the ground and rushed forward.

Asuna smiled and rejoiced at the sight of Rid jumping into the bosom herself.

Next time, Rid have to get up close and personal.

Rid move into the gap and start to attack with a sword, but she catches the attack with her left wooden sword and then attacks Rid with her right wooden sword.

He ducked and took a short distance before striking again. The sound of wooden swords clashing violently rang out in the area in unceasing succession.

◇

The two were in a heated match, a performance that moved the audience.

The spectators were caught up watching the match and could not take their eyes off the match for even a moment.

In the midst of all this, Fara said in a whisper.

" please do your best ...... , both of you."

The surrounding nobles, noticing the tone of her voice, were embarrassed by the scene they were now witnessing, thinking back to how they had initially viewed her and Rid.

They are both swordsmen, and they are competing with pure hearts, without the same feelings as themselves.

Sometimes, a match with determination and the thoughts of others shakes the heart and moves people.

This was happening right now at this match.

Hearing Fara's voice, a member of the Hua family said with a tremor in his voice.

I want her to win ...... and show Magnolia the pride of Renalute, Asuna-dono!"

As a member of the Hua family, those words may not have been right on this occasion.

But no one warned him of that.

Rather, the words and emotions were contagious and became loud cheers that were delivered to the two players in the match.

"Asuna-dono, show the empire your swordsmanship, Renalute!"

They said, "Keep up the good work!"

'Excellent swordsmanship, Asuna, you are the best swordsman ".

The match was filled with great enthusiasm when they noticed it.

There were no more Hua family members here who believed in the Rid bad reputation that had just been there.

Reiner's stern face relaxed a little as the atmosphere of the Match changed.

Then Rubens called out to him.

"Master Rainer, may I also cheer for Master Rid?"

"No problem."

"Yes, but you should support him too, Master Rainer."

"I have my own position."

After hearing Rainer's words, Deaana and Rubens laughed, then turned to Rid and sent him words of support.

"Master Rid , it is time for you to show the results of your daily training."

"Please show the power of the Bardia family to the fullest."

As they cheered loudly, Rainer muttered quietly so that no one could hear.

'...... My son cannot lose.'

Watching match, Lacis was reminded of how pathetic and miserable he had been in his match.

And he was so frustrated that he burst into tears.

Liesel, who saw this and understood his feelings, said to Lacis gently,

"I understand your frustration. But you should express your feelings in words and support Asuna. She will surely respond to your feelings."

'Mother......'

Lacis wiped tears with the sleeve of dress and raised his voice in support of Asuna.

"Asuna-dono, win te match , win for outr country ."

The Empire and Renalute are allies, though they have a secret agreement.

However, even those who were unaware of the secret agreement were somewhat depressed that Renalute was no match for the empire.

This was probably where Norris and the others could take advantage of the situation.

Now, this feeling was making the nobles more emotionally involved with Asuna.

Asuna herself probably didn't care about that.

Elias was silently watching the match between the two with a passionate gaze.

◇ ◇.

The royalty watching the match cheered for Asuna and Rid.

Asuna smiled at the sound of their voices and muttered to herself.

'It's getting noisy."

Kuk‼."

In the midst of the exchange of blows, Asuna has time to smile and talk, but Rid does not.

The reason is that Asuna's two swords are so vicious.

The right and left wooden swords move in completely different ways and attack sharply.

And Rid can't pay attention only to the two swords, because he also uses footwork.

She is so transformative that it is impossible to attack her.

Rid is always on the defensive.

But Asuna, on the other hand, was also astonished by Rid's moves.

(What gall! ...... Asuna's swordsmanship is relentless.)

Once they had met, no one would have attacked her, horrified by the harshness of her technique.

But Rid was different.

He is conscious of avoiding Asuna's swordsmanship at the very last moment, and he tries to reduce his unnecessary movements as much as possible.

It is easy to put it into words, but Asuna's wooden sword was snatching at Rid's whole body.

Asuna, who is wielding the wooden sword, even cringes inwardly.

(Why are you so bold at your age, Master Rid?　What kind of training do you usually do ......)

She has no way of knowing.

Rid's gallantry is gained by pushing forward toward his father, who wields a serious saber in what he calls gallantry training.

The swordsmanship and realistic movements she acquired through Rubens' spartan education without holding back.

However, Rid himself is unaware of this.

Because Asuna is the first time Rid has truly fought an opponent.

Rid was able to learn about his own abilities for the first time thanks to Asuna.

In the midst of being defended against Asuna, Rid was painfully aware.

(Earlier I I couldn't win if she turned on me, but it was a problem before that.)

(It is next to impossible for me to beat her in swordsmanship at this point.)

(Because her two-sword style is probably as powerful as a two-handed sword.)

Generally speaking, it is said that two swords cannot beat a single sword because a single-handed sword cannot be suppressed against a two-handed sword.

And the same can be said for offense.

However, even with a one-handed sword, she boasts the same power as a two-handed sword, probably due to her physical enhancements.

And she even has footwork. In other words, the number of moves is overwhelmingly insufficient.

When Rid attack once with wooden sword, Asuna attacks twice with her left and right hands, and in some cases once with her legs.

In other words, Asuna would attack Rid three times at most.

When Rid attack once, Asuna always attacks two or three times.

This number of attacks reminds Rid of the last boss in the famous game "Tale of the Dragon.

Another worry came true.

At that moment, the sound of wooden swords clashing violently echoed around the area.

And then, Asuna and Rid were poised a short distance away from each other.

"Hahahah ...... damn ......."

What's up, Mister Rid?　Are you done?

The concern Rid had, that is the magical power used in physical enhancement.

(Measurement of magical power)

Rid: 164

Asuna: 190

Rid was ahead in the magic power figures at first, but it has already been reversed.

Yes, the amount of magic power consumed for physical enhancement increases or decreases depending on the state of the person using it.

Or should it be said , the degree of proficiency?

This was something Rid had also felt during training with father and the others.

Asuna and Rid have been using the same physical enhancements for a different number of years.

Asuna also had the advantage of experience.

On the other hand, Rid had only just learned to use the physical enhancements.

In addition, this was the first time for Rid to fight an opponent outside of training.

As a result, he consumed more magic power than he thought he would during the physical strengthening process.

Rid could no longer win even in an endurance battle.

Then, Rid came up with his next move

Rid took a deep breath to catch my breath.

And then, Rid said to Asuna, .

"I'm going to put everything I've got into the next blow.　Asuna."

"...... all right. Let's see Master Rid's blow ...... ."

The spectators who had been watching the match noticed a change in the atmosphere between the two of them.

The cheering stopped and silence fell as the crowd gasped in intuition that the next blow would decide everything.

"Here i came "

After Rid said this, he kicked the ground with wooden sword in the upper stance and rushed toward her.

Asuna, on the other hand, made a crossed slash with her left and right wooden swords held in both hands against the wooden sword swung down from Rid.

The moment the wooden swords of Rid and Asuna collided with each other, a heavy, dull sound echoed around the area, and at the same time, Rid's wooden sword broke.

Seeing this, Asuna muttered triumphantly.

"The end is near. Rid ......."

"Not yet "

(I've been waiting for this moment.)

The moment she is convinced of victory, she relaxes, and Rid did not miss this momentary opportunity.

He threw away the broken wooden sword he was holding and leaped into Asuna's bosom to execute a move that would have sent her flying into the air.

"Master Rid is still wonderful. ...."..

The moment Rid heard her words, his vision turned and he slammed his back gently into the ground.

"!"

"This time, it's over. Master Rid?"

"...... I guess so."

Unfortunately, i that Rid throw technique was easily answered back by her.

Rid looked around and saw two wooden swords lying around that she was holding.

She must have let go of them as soon as he jumped into her bosom and was about to launch a strike.

As soon as he muttered, "Asuna is too strong!.He heard kin's high voice

"The winner of the match , Asuna Lammermark."

At these words, the nobles of Renalute let out a joyful, trembling cheer.