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117. Senior Holy Knight and Sunny Land [8]

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Translator: Saitama-sensei Editor:Ryunakama

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117. Senior Holy Knight and Sunny Land [8]

After the surprise operation failed – we immediately moved on to the next operation.

Ria, Rose, Ben-san and the rest surrounded Rain, and I faced him in the center of the encirclement.

「Here I come, Rain!」

「Aa, come.」

Clad in dense clothes of darkness, I dashed with my sword in its scabbard.

The other party is one of the Thirteen Knights of the Oracle. I don’t have the liberty to wait and see what he does.

(Don’t think about pacing! Go all-out right from the beginning…!)

I stepped into the certain kill range and,

「Seventh Sword – Instant Flash!」

Gaining enough acceleration from within the scabbard, I unleashed my fastest slash.

(…Yoshi, it’s a success!)

Unable to react to the speed, Rain stared blankly at the Instant Flash approaching his side.

「-Hou, that’s fast.」

He muttered and pulled back his waist.

The horizontally unleashed Iai-slash, cut the air in vain.

(No way! He dodged it?! At this timing?! At this distance?!)

I was speechless. That agile movement did not match his big frame.

「Next is my turn…!」

Rain raised the long sword overhead, and swung it down with all his strength.

(Here it comes!)

I dropped my center of gravity and held my sword horizontally – and I defended the blow straight from the front.

「GUOOOOH…!」

From arm to shoulder, shoulder to foot – a tremendous impact ran through my whole body.

But I stopped his blow!

The difference in physique is obvious, but I am not completely defeated in a contest of strength.

「Huh, aren’t you quite strong? Or… Is it the power of that strange darkness?」

Rain said, staring in wonder. He probably didn’t think I’d be able to stop it.

「Well, I wonder which it is…!」

I sidestepped to the left and parried his sword to the side. And unleashed an attack with my full strength.

「Eighth Sword – Yatagarasu!」

A jet-black flash, branching into eight slashes, aimed at Rain’s whole body.

「Hou, that’s a good technique!」

He had a heinous smile on his face. And displayed a defensive technique frighteningly faithful to basics.

(This guy… It’s not just his soul dress and physical ability…)

A defensive technique so beautiful that it was like a dance. I was almost fascinated by it.

This is not something one can learn over a brief period of time.

It’s something you learn after repeating it endlessly day after day.

「Let’s continue.」

When Rain assumed a forward-bent posture, and took a big step forward,

「High King Style – Strong Strike!」

「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Evening Sakura!」

「Flower Blossom Style – Turbulent Flowers!」

From the side, Ria, Rose, and three other swordsmen, attacked at the same time.

「Tsk…」

Rain dodged, parried, and cut down the looming slashes. It seemed like he cut through them perfectly.

However,

「Tsk… Did it graze me?」

A drop of fresh blood trickled down Rain’s cheek.

It seems that even Rain could not come out unscathed if it’s a surprise attack from five swordsmen with remarkable ability.

「…I see. Allen ties me down in one-vs-one, and when I show an opening, the surrounding『insects』will strike, huh…」

Understanding our strategy, he evaluated it as『not bad』.

「But still… I’m surprised, Allen. To think you can hold your own in a one-vs-one against me…」

I threw a question when Rain said that.

「You seem to have a lot of confidence. Do you even understand this situation?」

『Numbers advantage』in battle creates a tremendous difference in power.

At present, it can be said that the battle is leaning towards us.

「Oh, of course. Surely, I am at a disadvantage as is…」he said, shrugging his shoulders.「It can’t be helped. Let’s increase the number a little – Mimic Drop」

From the tip of his sword, two silver drops of liquid dropped to the floor.

The next moment, it gave off a mercury-like luster and the water droplets changed shape greatly and transformed into two life-sized Rain.

「「「Wha!?」」」

Our eyes widened before the unexpected situation.

(I never thought he’d create a clone of himself…!)

This is completely beyond expectations

Two Rains with an eerie silver body, stood side by side with the main body.

「Now it is three-vs-one hundred -『Numbers Advantage』still belongs to you. How troubling…」

The guy said so on purpose. Smugness plastered on his face.

It seems that those two clones have considerable power.

「…You’re using a lot of unusual abilities.」

「Huh, the same goes for you too, doesn’t it? Even your darkness can be counted as a second body.」

The conversation was cut short. And then,

「Do it.」

Rain snapped his fingers. With that as the start signal, the two clones rushed at Ria and the others.

(……)

I focused on the Rain in front of me, suppressing my rash thoughts.

(If I tried to cover them… That would be a poor move.)

If that happens, this guy will be free to rampage around as much as he likes, and there will be more damage.

So there’s only one thing I need to do, which is to hold down the main body by myself.

(…It’s okay. Ria and Rose are strong. Ben-san and his fellow highly-skilled Holy Knights were assigned to travel outside the country. I’m sure they’ll kick down the clones soon enough.)

And as I held onto my Seigan no Kamae,

「Naa, Allen… I’m getting tired of this ordinary sword fight.」

Rain suddenly brought up something strange.

「…What do you mean?」

「Nothing much. I’m going to gear up by one. -Water Raiment」

At that moment, clear water thinly covered his blade.

『Gear up』was a comparatively smaller change than I anticipated.

(But the other party is one of the Thirteen Knights of the Oracle… Don’t let your guard down.)

As I braced myself,

「I’ll give you one piece of advice. No matter what, don’t make a mistake.」

Rain gave a piece of advice I couldn’t understand.

「……?」

「Well, you’ll know if you look at this.」he said, and slowly ran the sword clad in water on the surface of the floor.

The long sword sliced through the floor as though cutting tofu.

「…Wha!?」

「Do you understand now? The flow of water covering my blade is an ultra-high pressure water current compressed with spiritual power. Your cheap-looking sword won’t be able to stop it.」

「…Thank you for your kind consideration.」

After finishing the demonstration, Rain cracked his neck.

「Let’s start the second round.」

「…Come!」

After that, I was forced to fight a one-sided defensive battle.

In addition to the support from the surroundings Holy Knights being gone, his was a powerful sword which couldn’t be defended against.

I couldn’t even put up a proper fight.

「Haa, haa…」

I continued to dodge the imminent slashes, and jumped back greatly to create some distance between us.

(…Strong.)

As expected, one of the Thirteen Knights of the Oracle, he is not at all inferior in ability to Fu Rudras whom I fought before.

As I continued fighting the battle which could no longer even be called so, there was something that bothered me.

「Naa… Rain. Why do you seem to be in anguish?」

「…What?」

At that moment, his movement stopped.

「No, it was simply on my mind. This is the first time I’ve seen a guy swing his sword with so much pain.」

Yes. Rain seemed to be in anguish ever since the fight began.

Whether the battle was favorable or unfavorable. He fought with an expression of anguish on his face at all times.

(No doubt, this guy is suffering from『something』.)

There is that anguished look, but… Above all, there was a big『hesitation』in his sword.

「Naa, just what is so painful–?」

「Don’t pry into someone else’s circumstances so easily…」

「!?」

Rain emitted a terrible bloodlust, and following that, a strong kick sank into my abdomen.

「Ka, ha…!」

Air was knocked out of my lungs. I flew horizontally across the floor and crashed into the walls of the royal castle.

(Fast… No, it was too fast…!)

From the start of the movement to the end, I couldn’t see any of it at all.

By the time I noticed, I felt a convulsive pain rising from my abdomen.

『I was kicked』- I understood that fact only after my body was flying through the air.

(T-This guy… He was going easy on me till now…?!)

The current series of moves is definitely faster than Fu Rudras.

「N-Not yet…!」

I slowly stood up and assumed Seigan no Kamae.

But the damage from before was so great that my blurred vision hadn’t recovered.

(Damn, pull yourself together…!)

I bit my lower lip slightly and held onto my consciousness with that pain.

As my five senses became clear, I noticed something.

The sound of swords clashing that had been ringing from a while ago was now almost impossible to hear.

Keeping Rain at the edge of my vision, I fearfully looked around the surroundings and found – hell.

(T-This is a joke, right?)

Many senior Holy Knights, including Ben-san, were wiped out.

The only remaining swordsmen were Ria, Rose, and a few other senior Holy Knights.

(Damn it…)

It seems that those two clones had power far beyond my expectations.

(…What should I do? Escape?!)

If we continue to fight as it is, we have no chance of winning.

The opponent is the one of the highest executives of the Black Organization, Rain Glad, Thirteen Knights of the Oracle.

He is one of the best swordsmen in the world. A nation-class fighting strength.

(…Impossible. This is not an opponent who can be defeated by a student like me!)

Even a child can understand such a thing.

(But how do I escape…!?)

A great number of senior Holy Knights, including Ben-san, are lying here.

If I alone were to escape, I’m sure they’ll all be killed.

In the first place, it is difficult for me to escape even by myself.

His physical abilities are far above mine.

(Damn, what the hell am I supposed to do…?)

As I was lamenting over the absolute worst situation,

「-Kyaa!」

Ria’s scream echoed throughout the throne room.

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