Chapter 101: The Gap Between Him and the World's Strongest!
"Are you sure you want to fight? The title of world's strongest is very troublesome, you know."
Edelweiss looked helplessly at Torajirou Shiro, who was standing before her with obvious eagerness.
The two of them had already moved from the wooden cabin to one corner of the snowy mountain, and Edelweiss had summoned her Device.
It was a set of sacred white armor, along with twin swords that resembled wings.
Earlier, she had asked Shiro about the source of the food, only for him to answer that it could not be bought anywhere.
Just as she had faintly begun to feel disappointed, Shiro changed the subject and said that if she agreed to fight him once, he could provide more of those ingredients.
That was how the current scene came about.
"I'm not interested in the title of world's strongest either. But since I've finally encountered someone called the strongest, I still want to challenge you."
Shiro wanted to see just how far he currently was from the so-called world's strongest.
"Is that so?"
Edelweiss closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the aura around her entire body had changed.
Sharp and cold.
The Edelweiss standing there now was truly the [World's Strongest].
"I am the unreachable peak and the final end, the one who opened heaven and earth with twin swords. My name is [Twin-Wings] Edelweiss. Boy, you shall personally come to understand the vastness of the world."
Along with those words, the pure white Valkyrie vanished.
A silver-white, razor-sharp slash came attacking Shiro, frightening him into instinctively retreating. If he had not ranked up to Level 5 before leaving, Shiro might not even have been able to see that slash clearly.
Rip—
At the spot where he had just stood, the air was torn apart. A gale swept up stones and Shiro's body, dragging them toward the vacuum fault Edelweiss had cut open.
Only after great difficulty did he break free from the pull of the wind, but the silent second slash was already coming.
Clang, clang, clang—
More than a dozen crisp collision sounds rang out in succession.
Relying on his powerful physical ability, Shiro forcefully blocked every one of Edelweiss's swords.
"Your physical ability and magic power are far stronger than mine, but your grasp of force application is far too poor. Judging by your movements, your body becoming this powerful must have been something that happened only recently."
In the middle of the intense clash, Edelweiss still had enough composure to comment on Shiro's combat technique.
"You waste too much strength when swinging your sword. You haven't brought out your body's advantages at all."
Just as Edelweiss said, Shiro, who was born a Desperado, had the support of both Falna and his own powerful magic power. Even if one did not call his strength limitless, Edelweiss should not have looked so relaxed when receiving his sword.
However, this was not because Shiro's control over himself was poor. On the contrary, if placed within the system of Blazer Knights, his magic control would be at least A-rank.
The problem was that the enemy before him was far too strong.
A person's movement produced sound, and that sound was an impact created by the vibration of air.
In other words, making sound meant that power was being scattered.
Yet whether Edelweiss swung her sword or moved her body, everything she did was silent. This level of control had long since surpassed the human realm.
Edelweiss's offense continued. She crossed her twin swords into the shape of a cross, using one sword to defend while coordinating with the other to unleash cross-shaped slashes.
Both offense and defense were combined, leaving no openings.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—
Another ten slashes came.
The vacuum faults around him forced Shiro's space for movement to its limit.
There was no longer any way to retreat. After realizing this, Shiro began mobilizing his magic power, and in the next moment, a sword carrying the concept of severance struck toward Edelweiss.
The other party was also a Desperado, so the power of fate had almost no effect on her. In that case, he could only rely on his own Blazer ability.
But what Shiro did not expect was—
Clang—
The ability that could be called the bane of weapons was blocked by Edelweiss.
She saw the threat carried by Shiro's sword and wrapped a layer of her own magic power around her twin blades. When Shiro cut through the outer layer of magic, she continuously added new magic power onto her weapons.
This method also required a price.
If the amount of magic power Shiro used was 1, then the magic power Edelweiss needed to block it was at least 10. As the time their blades remained in contact increased, that number would continue rising.
Feeling the depletion of magic power inside her body, Edelweiss said in surprise,
"So this is your ability? Combined with your physical strength, it is somewhat troublesome. In that case, I will also use my full strength and end this quickly."
Immediately afterward, Edelweiss turned into a flash of light and rushed toward Shiro.
Shiro lowered his blade, doing his utmost to capture Edelweiss's figure with his gaze.
"Now."
The image of Edelweiss drawing her sword appeared in his mind. Grasping that instant, he thrust his own sword forward.
"It's useless."
Edelweiss used one sword to pin Shiro's blade in place. Then her other sword changed direction in midair at a bizarre speed and stabbed toward Shiro's shoulder.
When a person's speed increased from 0 to 100, there was an acceleration process from 1 to 99.
Her sword skipped that acceleration process entirely. Once it stopped, it was 0, and the moment it began moving, it was 100.
This transformation between absolute stillness and absolute motion allowed Edelweiss to react instantly when facing an enemy. Whether attacking or defending, she could change in a single moment.
This was the Twin-Wings Sword Style of the world's strongest.
Rip—
Shiro's right shoulder was pierced through, and a pillar of blood immediately sprayed out.
"That should be enough, shouldn't it? There is no need to continue any further."
Looking at Shiro, whose blood was flowing like a stream, Edelweiss withdrew her offensive stance and spoke calmly.
Shiro's abilities had all been broken down by Edelweiss.
Footwork techniques such as Nukiashi would have no effect at all before the world's greatest.
Edelweiss's technique was enough to react and evade before Shiro could even launch an attack. As for touching her with his palm, that was nothing more than wishful thinking.
Even if they continued, it would only be Shiro struggling one-sidedly.
"I still have one final move."
Shiro felt somewhat unwilling.
He had lost too thoroughly.
In terms of physical ability and power, he surpassed his opponent, yet he had still been defeated with ease. He resolved to make one final struggle against her.
After hearing those words, Edelweiss also took her stance again, preparing to crush Shiro's final attack.
Shiro ignored his right shoulder, which was constantly sending screams of pain to his brain.
There was no doubt that his opponent's technique was far stronger than his own.
However, the factors that determined victory in battle were not that simple.
If Edelweiss could react to any attack, then he simply had to make her body unable to keep up with that reaction.
In his mind, Shiro calculated the distance between himself and Edelweiss. Ignoring the vacuum fault blocking the space between them, he raised his sword with one hand while his other hand took on a grabbing posture.
Whether it was her sword or Edelweiss herself, the instant his hand touched her, his victory would be declared.
With that thought, Shiro swung his sword down.
In the next second, Shiro suddenly appeared between Edelweiss's arms, while her motion of raising her swords just happened to place him inside her embrace.
And judging by the area of contact between their bodies, the word "entangled" would be more appropriate.
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
Shiro lowered his head and looked.
The hand he had originally prepared to grab Edelweiss's shoulder with was currently placed on the girl's chest.
Instinctively, he squeezed.
Mm.
Very soft.
"Die, you pervert!"
…
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