Horizon:Volume 9B Chapter 37

Chapter 37: The Pair Off to the Side

You think we’re similar

Because we aren’t

Our circumstances are similar

But that doesn’t mean anything else is

Point Allocation (We Are Not the Same)

●

After watching Angie nod and fly up, Yoshiaki directed her gaze downwards.

She was about 120m off the ground and thinking of setting down in the “forest” once it settled down but before it acclimated and disappeared. For now, she shouted to those down below.

“You’re Kasuya’s people, right? I’ll cover you.”

“Thanks! Focus on the ones coming straight for us instead of the ones that are moving around more!”

So if the enemy came in like a wall, Yoshiaki was to break it down. She only had to break a hole in it, which she could do easily. But then the girl who appeared to be commanding the group below asked a question.

“So...what was that our leader did?”

“You mean when she got so excited she began singing?”

The girl said “testament”, so Yoshiaki knew she had guessed right.

She had seen Kasuya’s beast transformation a few times before. She well understood its meaning and its flaws.

...It eats up her stamina fast, so it doesn’t last long.

In the battle against Takigawa, Kasuya had run out of steam after getting past her opponent’s physical copies and landing a single attack. Takigawa had decided to end the battle after her technique was defeated and she was attacked.

Yoshiaki’s assessment of Kasuya was “powerful but dangerous”.

She appeared to have improved her fundamental strength at the training camp in Aki, but that meant the fragility still remained.

Would that be her next task to deal with? Or would all of that lose all meaning?

“What do you think?”

Yoshiaki heard another question from below.

“Is our leader’s identity and all that kind of thing going to lose all meaning?”

“Probably,” confirmed Yoshiaki. She sighed at a report from Angie saying she had caught Kasuya up above. “That’s what we’re working toward with the Genesis Project. Because we believe it’s best if we end it all but don’t let it end. So...”

Yoshiaki set down on a hill in the “forest”. New ghost warriors were already emerging in new forms and numbers in the part of the clearing within the enemy formation. And they were equipped with mobile shells.

She went ahead and fired on a few of those as she spoke.

“So we need to hurry. Because we can bring the world in that direction if we arrive at Honnouji in time.

“Isn’t that right?” she called to someone out in front of her. “Maeda-senpai. Will we be able to face Musashi like we want?”

●

What a pain, sighed Toshiie.

Matsu placed a hand on his shoulder, laughed bitterly in his ear, and returned to her simplified form. And…

“Let’s do this!”

She’s such a great woman.

Yes, we need to rejoice in this and be proud of it. Because…

“Have you proven yourselves worthy of me joining you, Hashiba?”

He was not like Shibata or the others. Because…

“Then take pride in that.”

In the Testament, Hashiba’s Seven Spears were seen as the likely leaders of the next generation. Three had been added to make the current Ten Spears.

They couldn’t have eliminated his greatest fighting force without cooperation from the Azuchi.

And they had not yet stopped his ghost warriors.

“Now, how will this turn out?”

He twirled, scattering silver coins in all directions with his thumb.

“What will happen to the world tonight? Whatever the answer, I plan to enjoy the result.”

●

“The north gate has opened.”

Niwa accepted Kiyomasa’s words with a quick nod.

...Maeda-kun is such a nice guy.

The Shibata Team really was thoughtful. They could have just moved on without all this.

Niwa wanted to call the men stupid for giving in to the guilt of moving on in that way, but was she really much better?

Regardless, her opponent here was proving unexpectedly troublesome.

“Kiyomasa, we are a lot alike. We both let someone else take the lead role while we stick to the assistant role.”

She kept some intensity in her voice to avoid rattling the djinns. And she pressed further while stepping closer in the south gate clearing.

“But you can’t board the Azuchi if you continue stalling with these defensive tactics.”

●

Kiyomasa saw this as obvious provocation.

Niwa was saying this: “If you don’t defeat me, the Azuchi can’t go to Honnouji even if you win here at Shizugatake. Got that?” Yes, and the taunting “got that” seems important. To me.

But she had no reason to respond to that provocation.

Provocations were made when your opponent wanted to know your plan or abilities. So responding only hurt your position.

So she again stepped forward and spoke.

“I could say the same thing!”

To find a way of delivering an effective blow, she used smaller techniques and observed what happened.

After all, Niwa was wielding power on the level of a great spirit. Her instantaneous attack power was probably greater than Shibata’s. She primarily used spells, so you could say she rivaled Sviet Rus’s Ivan the Terrible.

She was doing so even now.

“There!”

Niwa spoke like she was commanding an animal and swung her hand forward. Lightning dropped from her hand like it was running out to fetch a thrown ball.

This was not an artillery blast or a beam of light. The lightning phenomenon filled a wide space.

And it came straight toward Kiyomasa.

The light and sparks were bright enough to dazzle her eyes and a thunderous boom traveled down to up, back to front.

The boom was a collection of breaking sounds. It made Kiyomasa think of someone slamming down an open window.

The attack covered a space 500m long and 100m wide.

Electrified light danced through that entire space.

“…!”

Kiyomasa had never before seen lightning being blasted by lightning.

The wind carried a bitter-smelling heat as it crashed into the south forest.

And after the scattered lighting pieces soared into the air along the distorted line of an afterimage, only scorched air and earth and a burnt smell remained.

Kiyomasa focused entirely on evasion.

She used Caledfwlch’s rear thruster to escape Niwa’s attack range. She tried to dodge to the west or north whenever possible, but Niwa would not allow the latter.

“Oh.”

She used quick steps wrapped in lightning to move in Kiyomasa’s way.

So Kiyomasa back-stepped to the east and used the clearing to prepare for her next move.

She could not afford to come to a stop.

She could keep up with Fukushima’s movements while unequipped. And at the moment, she was wearing a mobile shell. While it was designed for defense, it also had a focus on mobility since she was meant to use it to command from the front line. So…

“There!”

She kept moving while learning the range of that lightning attack.

It had a wide-range version and a more concentrated version meant for use against an individual. It could probably be expanded and contracted to varying degrees. There was a pattern to that expansion and contraction, so she made sure to learn that too.

...She may have patterns she hasn’t shown me, though.

As long as she stayed focused, she would know.

Now she only had to focus on Niwa’s speed and movement.

Niwa’s movements were primarily a dance, but there were patterns to it. There were different types of movements and the shift from slow to fast and vice-versa created a pattern.

Plus, Niwa was human.

She had bones, she had muscles, she had organs, she wore clothing, and it all created a certain balance.

There was an optimal way of moving based on her build and her athletic abilities.

There wouldn’t be much difference in the strength displayed in the gap between fast and slow movements and that optimal answer. After all, this wasn’t Niwa’s dance alone – it was being guided by the djinns.

If she made a bad move, the djinns wouldn’t be happy.

...So…

Kiyomasa’s first task was to investigate.

So while avoiding her enemy’s attacks, she worked to predict Niwa’s movements.

●

...What an irritating person!

Niwa smiled bitterly at Kiyomasa’s obstinacy while she sent a lightning blast from an uprising of crust.

After all, Kiyomasa showed no outward sign of concern despite the situation on the battlefield.

And each time Niwa attacked, she made excessive-looking evasions. At times, she would even use the thruster on the bottom of Caledfwlch to move away. At first, Niwa had thought the girl’s mobile shell or Caledfwlch were too powerful for her, or that she was simply a coward, but neither of those was the case.

“You want to eliminate any possibility of failure, don’t you!?”

What would happen if she made a smaller evasion and it failed?

That might spell the end for everything.

So even if it looked bad or made her look cowardly, she made large evasions.

It seemed pointless, but it was a problem for Niwa. Because moving that far away allowed the girl to observe all her movements.

She could observe Niwa’s dance, the range of her attacks, and their timing.

She could take measurements.

...So how should I deal with this?

Just as Niwa wondered that, an insha kotob appeared.

It was from Maeda.

“Sorry, Niwa-senpai, but they got through the north gate even though that’s supposed to be an unlucky direction for them. I’m trying to hold them off, but it’s too much for me to handle alone.”

He sounded weirdly relieved. He had a tendency to bottle things up, so he must have found some kind of resolution in this battle. And…

“Niwa-senpai,” continued Maeda. “We are strong, but it would seem we aren’t in style anymore.”

●

...Not in style, huh?

It’s true no one asked us to be here, thought Niwa.

She had chosen to come here herself. Shibata hadn’t actually asked her.

The same was true of Sakuma, Maeda, and Fuwa. Mori-kun will be staying behind, which is a bit of a shame.

There was someone here they had to help. He was truly powerful, but also an idiot. He loved heading out and waging war, but he had said he would be following the Testament and fighting a defensive battle.

So help had arrived and here they were fighting.

They had come without being asked, but Niwa knew their feelings had gotten through to Shibata. They all knew each other well enough for that.

So Shibata had left her in charge of this part of the battlefield. Whatever might happen here, he would be ready to fight a defensive battle and take on whatever came his way.

But, thought Niwa.

Are we actually working together toward a single goal here?

Each of them was powerful, but were they actually assisting each other or waiting for assistance here on the battlefield?

Turning that thought around, how were Kiyomasa and the rest of the Ten Spears doing in that regard?

“–––––”

She felt like a lot was beginning before her eyes here.

Kiyomasa was there and her warriors were doing their part because they trusted her.

She was sure certain things were much the same to the north with Katou Yoshiaki, Wakisaka, the nonhuman unit, and their leader Kasuya.

Not to mention the Azuchi providing covering fire from afar.

That had to be how Hashiba and the Ten Spears did things.

They were bound by mutual trust.

Niwa didn’t know how things had been before, but after Novgorod, they had improved their skill and expanded their options at the Siege of Bitchu Takamatsu Castle, the Keichou Campaign, and their summer training camps.

What would they do with those greater options? Increase their own personal strength, or…

...Strengthen their bonds with each other?

Based on this battle, Niwa could tell the Ten Spears had chosen the latter.

Whether they were there or not, they knew the others would come running.

Whether they were there or not, they knew the others would wait for them.

What did you call that relationship?

And what happened when it all fit together so well?

...That’s right.

Niwa had lost twice to that kind of cooperative strength.

To Musashi.

At Novgorod and Nördlingen, they had done quite well against her and the others. They all did crazy things, but they got through it all by helping each other out and with pure stubbornness.

What had led to that?

At Novgorod, it had been Sviet Rus’s valiant efforts to protect the city.

At Nördlingen, it had been there drive to reach the one they wished to protect.

If any one of them hoped to accomplish something on the battlefield, their friends’ power would reach them.

What about Niwa and her group?

They were strong. But Maeda had been defeated. Which was why he had said they were strong but not in style.

And what about Niwa? Instead of sticking to her usual assistant role, she had borrowed Takigawa’s name to fight here.

Her opponent was Kiyomasa, a defender who assisted the attackers.

Niwa thought they were a lot alike. But right now she was an attacker. And if she was playing the lead role instead of the assistant…

“Katou Kiyomasa!”

She sent in her attack. Were her thoughts accurate? She used her continuing attacks to test herself. She didn’t hold back. She hadn’t from the beginning, but it was even more true now.

She had always been the assistant who watched as the others departed, but now she was playing a primary role on the battlefield.

…What will I see here!?

Her barrage of attacks rang loud through the air.

●

Angie heard that sound from behind the opened fortress wall of ships on the north side of the Shibata formation.

Her current role was to defend the ship that had acted as a gate. While the nonhuman unit attacked inside the formation, the ordinary warriors set up a frontline base within that ship.

Angie used a wide-range sight spell to check beyond and around the ship. She sent the data to the others while standing on the bow and firing sniper shots when necessary.

But she was effectively pushing the frontline forward, so more and more often, she had to descend from the distinctive P.A. Oda galley-style bow.

She was doing so now. And behind her, the giant metal blade of the galley’s ram was reverberating from the surrounding noise. But…

“Hm?”

The bow was producing an odd sound. This wasn’t the metallic resonance caused by the echoing artillery blasts.

It was a deeper and lower sound.

…Is that thunder? It’s resonating with something from the south.

Come to think of it, wasn’t Niwa providing a lightning extravaganza to the south? But this wasn’t the roaring or rumbling of the air caused by distant thunder. It was a simpler sound of impact.

But it also seemed unusually loud. So…

AnG: “Kime-chan, would it be best if I didn’t check what’s happening in the south?”

Kimee: “Probably. Kiyomasa’s causing some trouble there.”

What could that mean? Yoshiaki explained over the echo of her sniper shots.

Kimee: “Those two are increasing their divine density.”

●

For Kiyomasa, it was like putting a god in “check”.

She preemptively stopped Niwa from making a divine-level attack with 3000x pressure.

But Niwa’s attacks contained the lightning beast’s speed. Even if Kiyomasa could identify the initial movement, responding to that speed was no easy feat.

...But fighting a defensive battle against Niwa-sama would be even more dangerous.

That was the same as letting a god call the shots. If Kiyomasa chose to be driven back and to run away, she would be letting Niwa choose everything from when the attacks began to the distance between them when the attack was made.

So what should she do?

…Move in!

Even when she identified the beginning of Niwa’s attacks, she couldn’t respond in time.

So she would close in and eliminate each of her opponent’s movements as soon as she detected them.

She had often done this when sparring against Fukushima. When Fukushima’s attacks got sloppy, she would correct them by preventing the initial movements. And she realized something.

This was the same.

Niwa’s djinn-led movements were excessive and easy to read. And this tendency grew the faster she was moving. So…

“…!”

So she put her in check.

Whenever Niwa began an attack, Kiyomasa would deflect the movements she could deflect, evade the ones she could dodge, and block the ones she could do that for. Her footwork was not on Fukushima’s level, but she could manage the steps needed to keep up with Niwa. But more than that…

…I can read her!

Everything she had done here allowed her to put Niwa in check.

And she realized something about this.

Niwa was converting the djinns’ powers into something else. She had been using lightning, fire, and stone walls before, but she must have realized those wouldn’t work with Kiyomasa preventing all of her actions.

So she converted those into something else.

The lightning beast became lightning that handled Niwa’s speed, the phoenix became erupting fire that accelerated those movements, and the stone hardened her attacks at impact.

Her moves were meant to let the djinns have fun. When they failed, it stressed out the djinns. So to relieve that stress, she provided them different forms with which to attack Kiyomasa.

The power that had previously been activated and spread out was now flowing through her body and providing physical blows.

And those forms changed further.

What had taken the form of lightning, fire, and stone was now transformed into currents of ether light based on those things.

Because Kiyomasa had put her in check.

Niwa was converting her power like this because she had been put in check.

The impacts and evasions now sounded like a great rumbling instead of booming thunder, roaring flames, and bursting stone.

When Caledfwlch’s attack hit and was deflected, white light scattered and a sound like split thunder scattered into the air.

The sound was deep and it alone destroyed a double-digit number of Kiyomasa’s lernen figurs providing physical adjustment divine protections. She would have been in trouble if not for the ether fuel in her mobile shell. This wasn’t something you could manage with external Blessings.

Had Takenaka sent her here because she had predicted Niwa would be waiting here? Either way, she was the best person for this position.

“…!”

She sped up.

She did her best to boost her strength like running up a set of stairs.

Her attack would put a god in check. But…

“Here I go!”

She gave herself permission.

She had read nearly all of Niwa’s initial movement patterns. So…

“Here I go!”

She held her weapon in both hands as she attacked.

And since she wouldn’t be using the thruster anymore, she split Caledfwlch in two.

●

The enemy could now attack twice as fast.

Niwa realized her initial movements were being suppressed.

When she would swing her fists before, they had been deflected mid-swing.

But later they were deflected at the start of the swing and then they were deflected as soon as she pulled her clenched fists back. Now they were deflected when she simply clenched her fist, followed by a close-range attack.

...Is she going to attack when I so much as move my shoulders!?

This went beyond having her attacks predicted.

It came from experience.

How many offensive actions had Kiyomasa seen and learned?

That question reminded Niwa of the 1st Spear who was always with Kiyomasa.

Fukushima Masanori.

#1 of the Ten Spears had defeated Celestial Dragon Katou Danzou at the Siege of Bitchu Takamatsu Castle.

That humanoid dragon had taken human form but also possessed the strength of a Celestial Dragon, who could be seen as living divine weapons, but Fukushima had forced him into submission as an attacker.

But Niwa had heard that girl’s objective wasn’t defeating a Celestial Dragon or even Shibata. The ultimate opponent in her mind was Musashi’s Vice Chancellor. Fukushima probably wanted to get back at her for her defeat at Novgorod.

Niwa doubted it was actually that simple, but Musashi’s Vice Chancellor was certainly “superior” to her.

Based on the records, that girl was extremely inconsistent, but when she fought Shibata at Novgorod, she had optimized her movements to an expert level.

That meant the enemy Fukushima Masanori sought was on Shibata’s level.

What did that mean for Niwa’s current situation?

If Fukushima was working her way up toward Shibata’s level, then what about this girl here?

Kiyomasa had been on the receiving end of Fukushima’s attacks and had built herself up in response.

“Would she be the next generation’s greatest assistant!?”

So what? thought Niwa. I’m P.A. Oda’s current greatest assistant.

Maybe Maeda-kun was right about us being out of style. But…

“One-on-one, an upperclassman’s stronger than her underclassman!”

●

Niwa saw Kiyomasa’s instantaneous reaction.

She must have sensed danger in Niwa’s movements because she swung her arms back to intercept.

The lack of hesitation was excellent.

Her prediction of this action had likely gone beyond the initial movement.

Instead of seeing what Niwa was doing now, she had predicted what Niwa would do next based on how she chained her actions together previously.

She was learning to predict the flow of the dance Niwa used as a base for her attacks.

The backwards swing of her arms was probably meant to send out two quick attacks. That way, if the first attack wasn’t enough to deal with whatever Niwa did, the second one was already coming.

Niwa responded to Kiyomasa’s rapid reaction by accelerating. The three djinns were no longer just in her arms or full body – they had entered the joints and other movable parts and into her trunk.

She of course moved with a dance.

She swung her right hand out from her chest as an appeal to the audience.

The actual movement was a jab.

A simple attack.

But that required speeding up every part of the dance.

The lightning beast accelerated all of her joints, from the stepping foot to her jabbing hand.

Then the phoenix’s erupting flames burst from her moving parts, providing an extra push.

To support all of these movements, the earth dragon’s stones reinforced the bottom of her stepping foot and the backside of her joints, stopping all of the reactive force.

Every part of her action possessed the greatest speed she could manage.

This one was so fast that simply recognizing it from the initial movement wouldn’t be enough.

Getting this attack out would mean her victory. When it landed, it would provide a 3000x-compressed djinn attack.

Her stepping foot sliced through the air. Her entire body briefly tore free of the air and her right hand swung forward as if shooting out from her shoulder.

“Hell yeah!”

To keep the dance going, it was best to keep some forceful MC’ing going.

Her arm raced out. The motion extending from her elbow split the air and produced a rumbling sound. Vapor explosions burst from the twisting and moving parts, so she felt like she was being ejected into the world.

Kiyomasa stood before her.

…What will you do!?

The girl still had her arms pulled back.

It looked like she was leaning forward and building up strength.

But then Niwa noticed the lack of Caledfwlch in Kiyomasa’s hands.

●

…She’s unarmed!?

Just as Niwa questioned Kiyomasa’s empty hands, Kiyomasa lowered her head. The tall eboshi-style head armor tilted, lowering its height along with her body.

A light was visible in the air behind her.

The light of a thruster.

Caledfwlch’s thruster.

The separate right and left halves were united once more and light filled the thruster on the bottom.

When it had looked like Kiyomasa swung the halves back on either side, she had in fact thrown them behind her.

She was using her greatest speed and strength against Niwa’s acceleration attack.

It was the obvious move for her.

She was a defender.

She didn’t focus on her own attacks.

Her greatest attack was a counterattack using the force of Niwa’s own attack.

So that was what she did.

With light in its thruster, Caledfwlch was already shaking so much it seemed to hop up into the air.

“…!”

Niwa had no way of dodging this while stepping forward and throwing her arm forward.

The color white split the air as the double sickle spear flew.

Kiyomasa grasped its grip to guide its course and then she moved to slam her entire body into Niwa.

“That should do it!”

The sickle portion of the blade struck Niwa on the right flank and continued on through her.

Everything from her right flank to her right arm was severed all at once.

●

Kiyomasa exhaled.

Even with the power assistance and cooling of her mobile shell and spells, all of her actions had been based on her own movements and decisions.

She was out of breath and suddenly found herself pouring with sweat. But…

...I got through!

And it had a real effect. Both the severing of Niwa’s right shoulder and robbing her of one of her powers by getting the blade through to her back.

When Kiyomasa regained control of her stance and turned around, she saw a small form bouncing on the ground.

It was the earth dragon.

It had been possessing Niwa, but it must have been boosting her movements in this attack. While the lightning beast and phoenix had been helping bring Niwa forward, the earth dragon had been supporting her from behind, allowing it to be pushed out when Caledfwlch sliced through Niwa’s shoulder.

The earth dragon didn’t seem to know what had happened.

Its small dragon body looked all around in obvious confusion.

Not too surprising. It had been playing around using Niwa’s dance and then was suddenly thrown free of her. Kiyomasa felt sorry she had to interrupt its fun for her own purposes, but…

“––––”

It looked up into the sky and shook in a satisfied way.

Tonight was a full moon. This night energized nonhumans and spirits.

The earth dragon gave another gentle shake before raising its stony scales as if brushing itself off and then sinking into the ground.

It disappeared.

Then Kiyomasa sighed and turned toward Niwa.

She had taken one of Niwa’s powers. Being worn out from only that made her feel inadequate, but…

“Niwa-sama.”

The woman no longer had her right arm.

Of course, she was a lot like a spirit at the moment. She would regenerate an injury like that soon enough. Which was why Kiyomasa readied Caledfwlch.

“Here I go!”

She raised her voice and prepared to move in.

But that was when she noticed Niwa had used her left hand to swing her severed right arm toward Kiyomasa.

…What?

The raised right arm did not carry the light of a djinn.

The severing didn’t seem like enough to explain that since Niwa was so much like a spirit right now.

So if the djinn light was gone from her right hand…

…Where did it go?

Would it be the lightning or the flames? Neither of those 3000x-compressed attacks were in evidence.

Kiyomasa was unharmed. She simply didn’t know where Niwa’s power had gone.

She was certain of one thing though: Niwa’s attack had not just failed.

In that case, she thought.

At that very moment, light and heat erupted skyward behind her. And there was enough of it to reach hundreds of meters high.

She didn’t need to turn around to know what had happened. In front of her, Niwa was awash in a crimson light.

That meant the phoenix fire was burning in the forest behind her. The forest she had told her subordinates to withdraw to.

●

Kiyomasa sensed the heat of the fire wall on her back.

She didn’t need to ask who was back there.

She wanted to immediately check to see if her 500 subordinates were safe, but…

“Katou Kiyomasa. Do you understand now what it means to be a defender?” asked Niwa. “You thought you just had to hold out long enough and someone else would win for you, but if you follow that conceited idea, then someone else gets burned when you face an opponent greater than your defenses.”

“I…”

“I already understood this. It was a lesson I’d learned more than enough already.”

Niwa went on to make a pronouncement.

“You can’t defeat me. Because…”

Because…

“I’ve had to put up with so much more. And I finally couldn’t take it anymore, so I came here. Because I couldn’t forget the people who matter to me.”

With those words, Niwa rushed in.

Quickly. Ether light mist scattered from her severed right arm, but by tilting her left shoulder down, she angled her body and then swung it…

…From the right!

That meant to the outer right for Kiyomasa. This attack came along a different course from Niwa’s past ones.

That large swing of her body was only possible with an arm missing, so Kiyomasa couldn’t immediately react to it.

It hit her. And…

“Kh!”

Niwa’s rush of attacks came next. She provided an endless series of god-powered strikes.

●

Niwa asked a question. She asked while delivering impacts to her opponent.

“How about now!?” she demanded. “You know what it means to be a defender! But are you aware that pure defense can only lead to losing the way of life entrusted to you by others!?”

She kicked up and felt the impact rattle through the white armor.

“You know you have strength, but you refuse to act on your own and you haven’t experienced loss yet!”

Yes, thought Niwa. This is something I need to tell myself more often.

Niwa Nagahide was the Oda clan’s coordinator. He was the final former Oda leader to join Hashiba. But…

…That meant he had to see so many of his allies leave.

How would it have turned out if he had been more proactive? In the Testament, Niwa had supported Hashiba.

But what if he had participated as part of Shibata’s forces and fought against Hashiba? How would that have changed history?

…Yes.

She was currently fighting against Hashiba at Shizugatake as “Takigawa”. So…

“You can only sit back and let others act because you’ve never experienced that kind of loss!”

Niwa attacked during that accusation, but Kiyomasa spun around in midair. She angled Caledfwlch’s handle diagonally and defended against the next attack. The knockback sent her flying through the air, but…

“I have!”

Kiyomasa’s voice reached Niwa directly as the girl landed and corrected her stance.

“I have experienced a loss that my actions couldn’t prevent – in fact, my very presence was irrelevant!”

“What did you lose!?”

Niwa sent out an attack along with the question and Kiyomasa shouted back while guarding.

“The people who had protected us!”

The impact scattered wind and Kiyomasa’s feet dug ruts through the dirt as she skidded a few dozen meters back. But Niwa soon caught up with her.

“Then why won’t you act!?”

Niwa questioned and attacked, but she wasn’t actually expecting an answer. She swung her regenerated right arm back to show off the space behind her.

The burning forest there was beginning to completely burn down.

“You lost them because you refused to act!”

That’s a lie, thought Niwa as she attacked. Because Kiyomasa had acted. When Niwa first tried to attack them, she had prevented it by attacking with Caledfwlch. Niwa had then sent more flames there later on.

Kiyomasa had acted, so she hadn’t lost those people. Niwa had taken them from her.

Niwa was shifting the blame. Yes, Niwa’s presence here just barely qualified as the same thing.

By supporting Shibata, she wanted to believe that she had done something to prevent the loss of Shibata and the others.

From a negative viewpoint, that best described it.

…From a positive viewpoint, I’m enjoying one last battle with Shibata!

On this front, Takigawa hadn’t held back at all. She had made the decision all on her own and then left. Niwa wanted to tell her to think about the people she was leaving behind, but she was also certain Takigawa would have made the same decision regardless.

Maybe Niwa was only here now because she hadn’t liked that. And…

...What about me?

What would she think when it was her turn?

“Do you expect someone else to act for you!?”

Well?

“That expectation is what leads you to loss!”

Selfishly feeling irritated, Niwa launched another attack.

She lifted Kiyomasa from the ground and aimed her additional attack for just before the girl landed. There was no avoiding this attack, so…

“Phoenix!”

The fire kept up with her speed. It followed behind her rapid barrage. By bringing her right arm in alignment with her left and turning the combination attack into a dance, the djinn would play on the leading edge of it. So…

“You can burn along with them!”

The close-range attack contained a flame blast meant to cover hundreds of meters.

●

I did it, thought Niwa.

It’s been a while since I let an attack pass through my entire body before I released it.

The force and range of the attack had been small, but the movement had been excellent. You could call it a nearly perfect attack. In a way, this may have been what it meant to truly demonstrate her skill.

…I wish I could’ve done that with all three djinns.

A scorching wind whipped before her and flames soared into the sky.

The fire burning over a wide area, but it wasn’t especially impressive. This was a dirt clearing. There was very little to burn, so while the dirt could burn by replacing the “mold”, the burning couldn’t permeate all the way to the crust. Thus, the flames spiraled into the sky, leaving only the burnt ground behind.

And Niwa noticed something there.

The ground glowed in places as some small fires smoldered, but it was deserted.

“…Huh?”

She twirled from her follow-through pose to continue the dance.

Strange, she thought. She should have seen Kiyomasa’s burnt remains, or at least something, there.

She had slain her underclassman. She had been prepared to accept that fact, but…

…She…

Niwa spun around to find Kiyomasa there.

She was near the fortress wall of ships. She had her moonlit back to Niwa and she was repeatedly bowing.

She was alive. In fact, she didn’t seem to have been harmed by the fire at all.

And she was bowing toward a pair of contrasting figures.

One was tall and also bowing repeatedly. That one wore a black mobile shell.

The other was a glowing warrior of only about 20cm. For some reason, he was arrogantly crossing his arms and pushing out his chest.

Niwa recognized them both.

“Shima Sakon and Ootani Yoshitsugu!?”

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