"How pathetic, old man."
The greatsword plunging from the heavens whipped up a howling gale—an aura like a falling meteor, a streak of crimson, a flash of flying light in an instant, a roar that came in a single flicker, shaking earth and mountain!
"KA-BOOM!"
An impact force measurable in tons, like a fully loaded heavy truck.
Even though the broken horn imbued with Severance Magic had already blocked it, the immense force—beyond any ordinary person's reckoning—still sent Nanoda flying entirely, and the ground along the way split open into a small V-shaped furrow.
And in this blow, the opponent even seemed to have deliberately held his strength in check, so as not to harm old Wilhelm, who lay collapsed off to one side.
Unbelievable—was this thing even a Human?
Without using any magic at all, pure physical strength—a super warrior beyond imagination!
Power of this caliber, Nanoda had only ever experienced from that Hero, Himmel.
"You're..."
"In a fight, don't waste breath on nonsense—this is war!"
In midair, accompanied by a sonic boom, almost in the blink of an eye the heavy sword came rushing up once again, leaving not the slightest gap or chance to breathe; at her utmost speed, Nanoda deployed two layers of Defensive Magic to block.
Yet the very instant they touched, the Defensive Magic—capable of withstanding the piercing of Killing Magic—was like a sheet of papier-mâché, slashed apart with ease without slowing the blade in the slightest.
The Mana, beginning to be absorbed at breakneck speed, poured into Nanoda's body, making her total Mana climb once more; she used a small portion of that Mana to fix Severance Magic onto her weapons, and devoted all the rest to bodily reinforcement.
Another clash!
"DONG!" Like the toll of a great bell, vast and resounding between heaven and earth.
Two figures, one small and one large—a white one flung toward the sky, a red one plunging into a crater in the ground.
"..." Nanoda was a little speechless; though she had blocked the opponent, she herself had once again been knocked away to somewhere higher and farther, her field of vision climbing ever higher, the pressure of the gale at her back unceasing, her ears filled with nothing but a whooshing roar.
At this point she realized that this did not seem to be pure brute force—the opponent's attacks all carried subtle technique.
Two seemingly simple attacks had already pushed her clean out of the original battlefield.
She'd just struck down a powerful Mage, hadn't pried out a single piece of intel, and now an even stronger warrior had shown up. Thinking about it now, all that prattling from that old man had been to buy time.
The King of War, ever-victorious battle after battle—it seemed there was a reason for it after all.
Now, the real battle was only just beginning.
"Hahaha-gah-hahaha! To think I'd run into such a formidable foe before even crossing blades with the Hero! How exhilarating! As expected—war is the best!"
Anhadī III tore off the oversized, cloak-like outer garment draped over his shoulders, revealing yet another greatsword slung across his back.
Unlike old Wilhelm and Himmel, his was an explosively tall and massive frame; twelve abdominal muscles surpassing the limits of Humans, like a fierce, ghastly face; muscles bulging everywhere like crags of stone, hard and full, yet on the whole looking harmonious and broad, the intricate fibers of sinew and vein within him like a hidden dragon lying dormant and surging.
He did not draw the sword on his back but instead took up a two-handed grip stance; the already sunken ground broke apart once more, and amid the flying, suspended clods of dirt, Anhadī III shot up into the sky!
Flight, which not even Himmel could achieve—of course Anhadī III, without the aid of magic, could not achieve it either.
Merely by leaping with all his might, he had, in a manner of speaking, "flown" nearly a hundred meters, yet there was still some distance to the airborne Nanoda.
Just then Nanoda felt that the rebounding force she'd received earlier had dissipated; as the sensation of falling set in, she meant to store up a bit more Mana—but below her, a dazzling arc of light flashed.
Swung out from the blade, it was something that could be called "sword qi," its might no less than Severance Magic, hurtling toward Nanoda as though to cleave the very sky!
"..." Nanoda unleashed Severance Magic downward.
The two slashes met crosswise and broke apart, neither gaining the upper hand.
Paradox Magic—motion and stillness.
An unfolding near to the very stopping of time—everything around stood motionless, only Nanoda still falling, drawing near to the wildly laughing face of Anhadī III below.
By the time Anhadī III reacted, a low-heeled black shoe, neither large nor small, had already appeared before his eyes. "Wugh-oh!"
The kick landed square on his face, her black robe billowing upward against the fall; treading upon this King of War, Nanoda plunged down from a hundred meters in the air.
At that moment, Anhadī III swiftly freed one arm from his grip on the sword and lunged to seize Nanoda's ankle!
"Hmph!" With a cold snort, Nanoda gave a forceful stomp downward!
Before his arm could grab hold of anything, Anhadī III was the first to crash, utterly defenseless, into the ground; the earth caved in once more with a thunderous roar.
Nanoda arched backward in the air, executing a splendid backflip, and with a soft "pat," like a gentle feather, she landed almost gracefully and lightly upon the rim of the deep pit.
"This is exactly why I hate thick-skinned, tough-fleshed warriors..." Watching the muscle-monster clamber up out of the deep pit as if nothing had happened—he merely wiped away the bit of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, with not a single wound anywhere on his body, only smeared all over with mud and dust. Combined with the dense web of cracks within the pit, the opponent seemed to have used a rather ingenious technique to shed the bulk of the damage.
The heavy greatsword embedded in the earth was once again gripped in his hand; the red-haired, red-bearded man, brimming with boundless battle lust, leapt high once more, his long blade cleaving down through the air.
Again the two-handed grip of the broken horn met the heavy sword, and Nanoda deftly shed most of its force.
At odds with the unwieldy greatsword, Anhadī III's shifting techniques were swift as lightning and tireless; were she to dodge, his greatsword would follow right after to slash; spear-like continuous thrusts, longsword-like nimble swings—yet every one of them carried the impact force of a charging tank.
The residual gusts of air thrown off by the blocked sword strikes battered the ground, and sharp, harrowing gashes appeared one after another.
Amid the constant retreat, Nanoda bided her time for an opening.
No exaggeration—he was practically a superman, the kind that could even smash to pieces one of those big trucks that send people off to another world.
At the instant the greatsword came down for who-knows-how-many-th time, Nanoda unleashed the Severance Magic stored up in her weapon.
In the gap where the opponent's weapon stalled, the Paradox Magic of motion-within-stillness unfolded once again!
The target was the neck.
"Hm?" But her arm twitched as if it would not obey, and the strike that should have landed went askew, leaving only a gash upon the opponent's head.
Nanoda and Anhadī III brushed past each other.
Before she could even turn around, the greatsword came slashing again from behind; in the instant the Paradox Magic ended, the opponent paid no heed whatsoever to the attack he'd just suffered, and with reflexes faster than her own—as if from muscle memory honed countless times over—launched his strike!
Defensive Magic unfolded!
The Defensive Magic, which before had been of no use at all, this time blocked the attack.
A crisp shattering sound rang out—but what broke was the greatsword in Anhadī III's hand!
The charged Severance Magic from that earlier strike against the greatsword had not only created a minute flaw, but had also damaged that finely forged weapon.
____
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