Chapter 287: Edelweiss: I Lost!
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The bandages wrapped around the left arm and abdomen of that pure white swordswoman were extremely conspicuous.
They were things that absolutely should not have appeared on her body.
The instant they understood that fact, Kurogane Ouma and Pierrot both held their breath.
Sitting on the sofa, Edelweiss first carefully put away the food items in her hands before finally speaking.
"Mm, I was indeed injured."
"But it is nothing serious. The wounds have already been treated, and the mission can also be considered successfully completed for now."
What Edelweiss was wearing now was not only her light armor for battle. She also had a pure white coat draped over her shoulders.
It was something Luke had given her.
At that time, after she realized she could not use magic power and felt a slight chill from being drenched in the rain, the boy had taken out this pure white coat from his portable pocket and draped it over her.
Although she had already recovered her ability to control magic, she still kept the pure white coat around her.
Edelweiss tightened the coat around herself, feeling the warmth that seeped into her body, and was inexplicably happy.
However, compared to her happiness, Ouma and Pierrot, who were standing nearby, felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave.
Especially when Edelweiss personally confirmed that she was injured, the two of them even wondered if they had heard wrong.
Ouma and Pierrot would rather believe that the bandages on her body were some kind of unique decoration than believe that Edelweiss had been injured.
Even if Edelweiss told them at this moment that it was because she had fallen into chuunibyou, Ouma and Pierrot would have found that easier to accept.
"…You should have gone to stop that 'Falling Star Sword Emperor.'"
The first one to react was Ouma.
His tone carried a shock and gravity completely different from the disdain he showed when speaking to Pierrot.
"Did someone interfere midway?"
"In this country, there should not be many people qualified to fight you."
"The only ones I can think of are 'Yaksha Princess' or 'World Clock.' But if it were those two, even if they joined forces, it should still be impossible for them to injure you."
What Ouma said was the truth.
Because if she were facing Nene or Kurono, Edelweiss would definitely use the power of a Desperado.
At the level of Desperados, both Nene and Kurono were far too inferior to her.
Back then, Kurono had chosen to stop before the door of the Desperado realm because she wanted to get married and have children, and because she wanted to live peacefully with her family.
As for Nene, after losing Kurono, the rival she had always chased after, she lost her drive to move forward.
After becoming a Desperado, she never made an effort to improve herself again.
How could those two possibly injure someone as powerful as Edelweiss?
"Could it be 'God of War' Nangou Torajirou?!"
"…That makes sense. After all, the 'Falling Star Sword Emperor' was invited to this country by him. It would not be impossible to understand if he intervened."
"But in that case, I'm afraid this legend of the Far East has been removed from the list."
"To be able to injure you, 'God of War'… no, 'Flawless' Nangou Torajirou has enough to be proud of."
To a certain extent, Ouma blindly admired Edelweiss's strength.
But his admiration was not without reason. It was built on facts.
Ouma was one of the few people in this world who had truly witnessed the strength of the world's strongest.
He had once faced the Rebellion's leader, the "Tyrant," directly. If Edelweiss had not saved him at that time, he would probably have died by the "Tyrant's" hand.
Although it was only the tip of the iceberg, after witnessing the "Tyrant" make a move, he understood better than anyone just how terrifying someone on Edelweiss's level was.
In truth, even if it was Nangou Torajirou, Ouma did not believe he could injure Edelweiss.
But compared to "Yaksha Princess" and "World Clock," the "God of War" still had that tiny sliver of possibility.
The fact that Edelweiss was injured was right before his eyes, so he had no choice but to believe it.
However, Edelweiss's next sentence shattered all of Ouma's thoughts.
"No. The one who injured me was the 'Falling Star Sword Emperor,' Luke Ashburn."
That ordinary sentence entered Ouma and Pierrot's ears like a clap of thunder.
But before the two of them even had time to be shocked, Edelweiss continued.
"There was no interference from anyone in our battle. It was a very fair battle between swordsmen."
"…And the result was that I lost."
As Edelweiss's voice fell, the entire room sank into a deathly silence.
…
Elsewhere, Stella and the others, who had set out to find Luke, soon arrived at the edge of the battlefield where Luke and Edelweiss had fought.
Just as Stella, who was leading the group at the very front, was about to step into the battlefield, Ikki and Touka behind her cried out in alarm at the same time.
"Stella, be careful!"
"Hurry and pull back!"
At the same time, as the person involved, Stella suddenly felt a terrifying sense of dread rise in her heart.
Without the slightest hesitation, a massive amount of magic power instantly surged up.
Stella forcefully stomped the ground apart and retreated backward at high speed, leaving her original position at once.
Whoosh—!
Along with Stella's retreat, there was also a fleeting sound of something slicing through the air.
Feeling the magic armor that had been torn apart in an instant, and looking at the strand of red hair drifting down with the wind, Stella stared at the empty space before her in lingering fear.
Thankfully, she had retreated in time. Otherwise, that strike just now might have taken her life.
"Wh-what was that just now?!"
Still shaken, Stella took a few more steps back, then asked Touka and Ikki in a slightly panicked voice.
Touka and Ikki also looked forward with grave expressions. After carefully observing for a while, they glanced at each other, and in the end, the student council president opened her mouth to explain.
"That was probably… a problem in that space."
"Someone used a sword to leave a vacuum in the air through a slash."
"Moreover, it was probably an extremely high-speed slash beyond anything we can imagine. That is why it still retained its form even after cutting through the air."
"Not only that."
After Touka finished speaking, Ikki also added his own explanation.
"There is also a trace of power within it that I cannot understand. It is probably the 'Intent' that Luke mentioned before."
"That vacuum slash mark just now was probably something left behind unintentionally during the battle."
"In other words…"
There was no need to finish the rest. Everyone understood the current situation.
If that vacuum slash mark was not an accident.
Then in the battlefield before them, which had undergone an intense fight, there were probably countless hidden vacuum slash marks.
"…How are we supposed to get in?"
Looking somewhat lost at this field of "sword traps" before them.
Touka, Stella, and Ikki exchanged conflicted looks, and their gazes finally fell on Misogi Utakata, who was quietly trying to retreat.
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