“The idea of a shared level is a broad concept, since no two people in this world are identical.”
“For instance, among our familia members who are also level 3 adventurers, how many could defeat Kaguya in a direct fight? Should we say Kaguya is being unfair too?”
“That is right!” Alise immediately found theoretical support and clapped her hands vigorously.
“Celty makes total sense! So Kaguya is not breaking any rules!”
She looked around and waved her hand enthusiastically.
“Stop arguing and let us keep watching! Win or lose, this kid Mizuki is already doing great.”
At the same time,
In the center of Orario,
At the top of Babel!
A goddess of peerless beauty was watching the distant courtyard through an ocular device with great amusement.
It was Freya, the goddess of beauty.
“Heith.”
Freya parted her crimson lips, her voice carrying a trace of lazy allure.
A slightly fatigued woman dressed in a healer robe quietly appeared behind her.
“Go to the Astraea Familia residence and bring a boy back to me.”
The corner of Freya’s mouth curved upward in a playful arc.
“He is very handsome, with a unique set of eyebrows. You will recognize him right away.”
Heith, with her pink twintails, did not seem particularly keen to go.
“Lady Freya, Ottar and the others are still training, so I need to keep providing healing…”
Freya replied, “I will grant you a day off.”
“Really? I will head out immediately.”
Heith felt so delighted that her tired eyes sparkled, quickly rushing off before Freya could change her mind.
Once Heith was gone, a figure emerged from the shadows.
She wore a dark robe, long gray hair covering half her face, and exuded a chilling presence.
“How strange, Lady Freya. You found such an intriguing target, yet you are not going yourself?”
Though she addressed her as a deity, her tone held no genuine reverence.
Faced with such bluntness, Freya did not mind in the slightest.
She merely offered a faint smile, turning her gaze toward the robed figure.
“Horn, that boy is currently at Astraea’s base, so I cannot simply walk in.”
Horn said nothing further.
She walked over to the window and looked out into the distance.
“I wonder what kind of person could capture Lady Freya’s interest like this.”
Freya answered smoothly, “A very unusual one.”
At the Astraea Familia base,
Kaguya held total dominance over the duel, every strike she made carrying the speed and sharpness of a gale.
Although Mizuki appeared unsteady, he consistently managed to avert disaster at the critical second.
Even so, any onlooker could see that Mizuki’s defeat was only a matter of time.
Alise had stopped treating the match as a simple spectacle, her expression shifting to genuine amazement.
“Even though he is being pushed back, holding on like this is well beyond what an ordinary person should be able to do.”
Ryu’s eyes held deep respect.
“If he becomes an adventurer, he will surely accomplish remarkable things.”
“Unfortunately, this is where it ends.”
As the referee, Lyra possessed sharp judgment.
She could clearly tell that Mizuki’s breathing had turned ragged, and his movements were slowing down.
“His physical stamina has hit its limit.”
She swept her wooden blade forward to push Mizuki back.
Seeing him breathing heavily, the irritation in her chest lessened considerably.
“You are strong. I admit I underestimated you, and you are a capable man.”
“Still, this is the end.”
Hearing her words, Mizuki slowly straightened his back, a calm smile returning to his face.
“Are you trying to soften the blow with compliments?”
“Well, my warm up is about finished.”
“Thanks to you, I have finally grasped the technique completely.”
“It is time to wrap this up, my lovely fiancée.”
Kaguya knitted her brows, completely lost by what he meant.
Mastery?
Complete grasp?
Kaguya could not make sense of Mizuki’s claims.
What did he mean by finishing his warm up?
Had he not been entirely suppressed and battered by her strikes the entire time?
Before she could process the thought, Mizuki’s demeanor shifted entirely.
The casual smile on his face vanished.
He lowered his stance slightly, resting the wooden sword before him with the tip angled down toward the ground.
It was an unassuming stance, yet exceptionally solid.
The second he assumed the form, the phantom cry of a swallow seemed to ring through the air, sharp and clear.
“What was that? Did anyone hear something?”
Being an elf, Ryu had exceptionally sharp hearing.
Alise glanced at Ryu with a puzzled look.
“A sound? What sound? I did not hear anything.”
Celty nodded in agreement with Ryu.
She adjusted her glasses, pressing her lips together.
“I heard it as well. It sounded like a bird, though I cannot name the species.”
“Really?”
“I did not hear a thing.”
“Asta, you were probably chewing too loudly and drowned it out.”
“No way!”
Kaguya had caught the strange sound as well during their exchange.
Did that come from Mizuki’s wooden sword?
As she looked over, Mizuki’s silhouette seemed to blur for a split second.
Focusing again, she saw him standing firmly in his stance.
Had she imagined it?
“The wind is rising, so let us finish this.”
Mizuki spoke softly, yet every word reached the surrounding crowd clearly.
The moment the words left his lips, he moved with the flow of the air.
Without lunging or gathering momentum, he swung the sword right from where he stood.
An arc of light cut upward from below, rising against the current.
Finally, a third arc struck downward from above.
No, that was incorrect.
Everyone present, even the veteran level 3 adventurers, could not properly process the scene before their eyes.
Those three slashes did not come in sequence.
They seemed to break free from the flow of time and bypass spatial distance entirely, arriving before Kaguya at the exact same moment.
Three overlapping arcs of sword light from distinct paths formed a tight, three-dimensional enclosure, targeting the hand holding her sword with absolute precision.
For the first time, utter bewilderment showed on Kaguya’s face.
Dodging was impossible.
Attempting to parry was meaningless, because deflecting one trajectory meant taking the other two simultaneously.
It was a technique without a counter.
Should she rely on her adventurer abilities?
Kaguya immediately abandoned that thought.
She had already pushed her pride aside for the sake of this match.
If she broke the restrictions and utilized her level 3 power, she would never forgive herself.
A sharp snap echoed through the yard.
The wooden sword in Kaguya’s grip broke apart at the intersection of the three arcs, bursting into splinters that scattered into the air.
The gust generated by the strike swept past Kaguya’s face, lifting strands of her hair.
She stood frozen in place, her right hand still held up.
Her fingers felt numb, gripping nothing more than a broken hilt.
Wood shavings drifted down slowly before her eyes.
She had lost.
A decisive, total loss.
How could this happen?
In an unrestricted fight, Kaguya would never lose to him.
Yet this duel was under strict terms.
From the moment she agreed to the challenge, she had staked her engagement on the outcome.
When the match began, she had taken the initiative against an opponent who seemed far weaker.
After her first strike was turned aside, she had pushed her physical speed and power to the peak of unblessed limits.
Even after all that,
She had still suffered a complete defeat.
A deep sense of loneliness washed over Kaguya’s expression.
Mizuki lowered his weapon and straightened up, his relaxed demeanor returning.
“That is the sword technique that grounds the flying swallow.”
Standing behind Mizuki, Haruhime covered her mouth, trying her best not to make an impolite sound of joy.
She had feared Mizuki would be humiliated, and she had lacked confidence in his chances.
Yet he had won, and done so brilliantly.
And yet,
A new worry crept in.
If Mizuki won, Kaguya would truly become his wife.
Kaguya did not seem easy to get along with, so would she forbid Haruhime from serving Mizuki?
Anxiety and sadness welled up inside Haruhime, and she struggled to keep tears from forming at the corners of her eyes.
“That makes no sense…” Celty lost her cool for once, quickly pushing up her slipping glasses.
The look behind her lenses was pure disbelief.
“Three strikes landing at the exact same moment, that is impossible for an unblessed person, and even for seasoned adventurers, pulling off something like that is virtually unthinkable.”