Chapter 1010

Barbarous and savage, yet also with finesse.

Fran’s swordsmanship had a strange but effective mix of rage and calm.

Perhaps her killing intent sharpened her wild instincts to the fullest. She must have subconsciously understood that lashing out in anger wouldn’t be enough to defeat this man.

Her Sword God Transformation had long since been deactivated, and still, her movements only got sharper, and more ferocious.

Fran dashed through the air around Trismegistus in an attempt to bewilder him.

Aerial hops, wind magic, fire magic. She also created pillars with earth magic, connected with magic threads in between. By grabbing these threads while flying, she could make sudden turns in the air.

These tricky, speedy movements reminded me of a pinball bouncing erratically around the table.

It seems she had begun to use Swordking Mastery as second instinct.

After understanding the optimized perfect movements of Sword God Transformation, her experience must be getting reflected in her normal swordsmanship. However, this wasn’t the “simple perfection” she displayed during Sword God Transformation. Her current fighting style focused on more high-speed maneuvers and rapid strikes. Such a big difference felt rather strange to me……

Perhaps understanding her distance from true perfection was what allowed her to transform her swordsmanship into a form emphasizing her own strengths.

But even this wasn’t enough to break through Trismegistus’ defenses.

This man was also a Swordking. In addition, one with vastly more combat experience.

In contrast to Fran’s lightning-speed offense from all angles, he stood like a towering, unmoving mountain. He blocked our strikes after perceiving them with his sharp eyes, all without taking a single step.

「Haah!」

「Hmm.」

The swordking of speed versus the swordking of stillness. They were using the same skill, yet their styles were so radically different.

I guess everyone’s own talents and experience will lead them to different types of “perfection”.

And there was something else bothering me aside from Trismegistus’ combat style… His eyes. Just like when he noticed Urushi hiding in the shadows, those eyes seemed to see right through us.

Calling them “sharp” was an understatement. It felt as if his eyes stared into my very depths, and even deeper beyond.

The dragonkin’s unnerving eyes were constantly pointed in our direction, revealing all of Fran’s tricks along with everything else.

「I’ll kill you!」

「Go ahead and try.」

「Raaaaaah!」

The clash only got more intense from here.

The two traded feints and mortal strikes in rapid succession. A short, but very intense exchange between swordkings.

They seemed almost evenly matched to me. Fran couldn’t compare to Trismegistus in many aspects, but she managed to reach his level when it came to swordsmanship.

Yet even if equal in swordsmanship, Trismegistus had an overwhelming advantage due to his immortality. He could exert his full strength without worrying about any exhaustion or repercussions.

Meanwhile, Fran had the Beast-Bug God’s Blessing to reduce the recoil of the divine attribute, but she couldn’t nullify it completely.

As soon as Trismegistus gets serious, he’ll easily push us into a corner. We were at a heavy disadvantage the longer the battle drags on.

The only reason I didn’t immediately stop Fran from fighting this losing battle was because we had a shot at victory.

We’ve already heard about Trismegistus reviving in the throne room whenever he’s about to die. Considering his immortality and how heavily he’s underestimating us, there was a good chance of him exposing a huge opening eventually.

As the fierce battle continued, Trismegistus muttered something.

「……I see. I shall try it. Very well.」

「?」

『Fran! Fannabelta is plotting something!』

Trismegistus appeared to be talking to himself, but Fannabelta must be giving him instructions. Immediately after my warning, Trismegistus turned our way.

I didn’t sense anything happening with his sword, but…

「Succumb to panic. Original Sin Envy.」

「Eh?」

『Fran! Shit!』

What just happened? It went off so fast that we couldn’t avoid it! For a brief instant, I saw Trismegistus send out countless tentacles-like arms of mana, which wrapped themselves around Fran before disappearing. Then, her movements suddenly slowed down a lot.

And in contrast, Trismegistus started moving a lot faster.

The huge difference in speed was generated in an instant, which caused Fran to panic. Fannabelta’s blade chipped at her face.

If I hadn’t immediately pulled her back with telekinesis and wind magic, her head might have gotten sent flying off.

That said, I didn’t make it in time. Fran had a heavy cut from her right cheek to her ear. While healing her with recovery magic, I accelerated us backwards with flame magic to generate some distance. Fran’s back got covered in scrapes from getting dragged along the ground, but it’s to save her life!

「Little lady!」

After knocking the antidemon away, Izario came running to our side. He must have witnessed Fran almost taking a fatal injury.

「You okay?!」

「Nn. I’m fine.」

Fran stood up, wiping the blood off. Well, it wasn’t as serious as it looked, but anyone would get worried after seeing someone’s face almost cut open.

『Fran, what happened?』

（I suddenly started feeling heavy. All my buffs disappeared.）

『I see. So he had an ability for forcibly removing buffs! No wait, since Trismegistus got way faster, it could be a skill for stealing the target’s buffs.』

（But……）

『What’s wrong?』

（My mana’s recovered.）

『Huh?』

Now that you mention it, Fran’s mana has recovered to almost full capacity. So in other words, Trismegistus holds an ability for stealing his opponent’s buffs in exchange for restoring their mana?

That doesn’t make sense at all.

Still, it seems Fran calmed down a bit after seeing this unknown ability. Her killing intent had been reduced considerably.

「……What did you do?」

「Hmm. Since Izario is here, you will find out sooner or later. I may as well tell you. The name of the power I used is “Original Sin Envy”. This skill allows me to perform an equivalent exchange with the target. Just now, I took a portion of your powers in exchange for giving you my mana.」

「A completely ridiculous skill, no matter how many times I hear it. The only good news is that he can’t keep using it in succession.」

I see, so it’s an exchange rather than stealing! Unlike our Skilltaker, it seems he can forcibly exchange things other than skills, such mana and buffs.

「I can also take away your skills permanently if I so desire. How about you hand over the sword before you lose something important?」

「……Nothing is more important than this sword!」

『……Annoying little girl. Ugh, how can anyone be so obnoxious! Those eyes brimming with life make me sick……』

Suddenly, a woman’s screeching voice echoed through our heads. Just hearing her tone was enough to recognize the harsh hostility directed toward us.

「!」

『Is that… Fannabelta?』