Read Novel Full Chapter 570 「That was definitely not fair!」
570 「That was definitely not fair!」
「You… aren’t you a lot stronger than you used to be?」
In the dojo-like space set up beneath the sword workshop, Isolde faced me head-on and asked the question, sweat beading on her brow.
「Well, I’ve been through a whole lot since then.」
The last time I crossed blades with Isolde was back when I’d only just started swinging a sword. That was when His Imperial Majesty ordered that match in the imperial capital, so it was quite a while ago now. Since then, I’ve boarded pirate ships for close-quarters raids, fought bio-weapons on a planet mid-terraform, traded blows with some spider-like thing that had disguised itself as a mysterious sphere the size of a large armful, gone on a rampage against nobles’ private troops, and even sparred with folks from the Vuelzarus Holy Empire who slung psionic powers around like they were free samples. Yeah—lots happened.
On top of that, my psionic abilities have strengthened a ton. Back then, all I could really do was that ‘slow down time by holding my breath’ trick. Now I have telekinesis, lightning, mental sensing, precognition, spatial awareness, spatial control, and even fate manipulation. While I’m at it, it also feels like my brain’s processing power has gone up as those abilities awakened. I’ve never measured it, so I’m not completely sure, though.
Bottom line: compared to the last time I sparred with Isolde, my personal combat ability has gone up by way more than double. Honestly, at this point I can’t picture myself losing a melee fight at all. If we’re doing ‘anything goes,’ I’m pretty sure I could beat even a small combat ship bare-handed at point-blank range. If it sat at max range outside my awareness and just pummeled me, then yeah, there’d be nothing I could do—but still.
「Anyway. You coming or not? If you’re not, I’m going in.」
「…Come, then!」
「Okay.」
I went at Isolde in my usual dual-blade style—though the weapons in my hands weren’t real ones, just practice swords.
「Kuh—why!?」
「Yup, yup—right there, you go like this, and then you’re done.」
「Nngh…!」
I drove her back with alternating rhythm between left and right, then slipped past the counter she threw out when she couldn’t take the pressure anymore—tagging the wrist of her sword hand.
In reality, the ‘blade’ of the practice sword only touched her wrist. But if this were real, that wrist would’ve dropped clean off. Realizing that, she groaned with a face full of frustration.
「This is strange. It makes no sense. Aren’t you cheating somehow?」
「Feels like I heard that line not too long ago… I’m not cheating.」
While reading her thoughts—or rather, the near-reflex ‘intent’ behind her next movement—through mental sensing, I tracked every tiny motion with spatial awareness, and peeked a few moments ahead with precognition. And what happens when you stack all that?
To me, it looks like the other person reacts about one second late.
Even if Isolde’s physical specs are higher than mine without enhancement, a gap of roughly a second in reaction speed means it’s not even a match. It’s like solving a mate-in-three puzzle. And if you call this cheating, then I’d have to call Isolde’s physical enhancement cheating too, wouldn’t I?
「Besides, if I really cheated, it wouldn’t look like this.」
「You’re not denying you can, then…?」
「Anyone who fights with their life on the line keeps one or two trump cards in their pocket. You’ve got one too, don’t you?」
Isolde didn’t answer—just knit her brows. She probably has access to high-grade enhancements reserved for the imperial guard and the upper nobles: combat drugs that turn your body into a fortress, or high-load battle implants, that sort of thing.
「If we go any further, you’ll have to use that trump card—maybe not all the way to ‘killing,’ but close. Want to stop here?」
「At the very least, I’d like to make you use one of your ‘trump cards.’」
「If I were against you plus the other four all at once, I might have to.」
「You’re saying I’m not enough alone?」
「Not even close. If you want me to get serious, you’ll need to throw, like… a hundred fully equipped infantry and noble soldiers at me.」
Still holding my practice swords, I shrugged.
「I get it. You’re Imperial Guard Knights—of course you’ve got opinions about swordsmanship. But can we not get this serious when we’re just killing time until the blade’s finished?」
「After you shredded a knight’s pride into ribbons, you’ve got the nerve to say that?」
「Yeah, yeah!」
The other four knights—whose pride I’d already turned into confetti—started yelling from outside too. You all got a lot less restrained after crossing swords with me, huh?
「As expected, this is weird! Did you see that movement? It’s like his first move is about a second faster!」
「Well, he is Hiro… I don’t think there’s a single human alive who could beat him straight-up, from the front, without heavy weaponry.」
「Huh!? You’re that certain…?」
Serena, Elma, and Lucia were whispering on the sidelines.
Okay, I’m not claiming I’m the absolute number-one in the whole galaxy. There are exceptions—Tamamo can half-ignore the physical laws of the world, and there are other Visitors besides me. I’m sure there’s someone stronger out there. Lately, I’ve honestly started feeling like I quit being ‘just human,’ so I can’t say anything too definitively, though.
「Fine. Then maybe we should really jump you as four and smash that smug little face of yours…」
「Is that how an honorable Imperial Guard Knight fights…?」
「Our honor was smashed by you.」
With eyes that had fully gone dead-serious, Isolde made a hand sign with her free hand. The other knights filed in from the waiting area—each holding a practice sword.
…Oh, you’re actually trying to surround me and beat me with sticks… Seriously?
「I’m tired after taking on four of you in a row, you know? I can’t exactly go all-out anymore.」
「Don’t lie. You casually beat all of us up. Our pride is already beaten to a pulp. Take responsibility.」
「You challenged me first and that’s what you say? Aren’t you ashamed?」
「We’re ashamed, so we’re going to crush the source of our shame.」
「Could you maybe not throw your intelligence in the trash and go full barbarian all of a sudden?」
「No more talking!」
With Isolde in the lead, the four knights charged in, blades raised.
Normally, having multiple people rush a single opponent with swords is really hard. If the attackers aren’t perfectly coordinated, swings that miss the target can easily end up cutting allies instead.
That said… these four really were skilled—
「Nng—GYAA!?」
BAM! All four went down at the exact same time, without even getting their breakfalls in. Faces, stomachs—didn’t matter where—they slammed full-force into the floor with the momentum they’d committed to, writhing in agony.
Aaand they even dropped their swords. Done.
「Alright. My win. And since you won’t understand why you lost even if you think about it, you can just forget it.」
I patted each of their heads in order with the tip of my practice sword—tap tap tap tap tap—and declared victory.
What did I do? The instant they lunged, I grabbed both legs of all four with telekinesis and tripped them. I even ‘helped’ by stretching their arms out so they couldn’t breakfall.
「…Huh? What was that just now?」
「No comment.」
「There’s no way that fall was normal. That was definitely weird.」
Serena and Lucia practically had question marks popping over their heads, while Elma stuck to an exasperated no-comment. As someone with psionic ability herself, Elma had basically clocked what I did right away. More than that—Elma already has a decent idea of what I can do with psionics in general.
「That was definitely not fair! What was that!?」
「Dunno. You all slipped together, so I just took the opening.」
Isolde, teary-eyed, pressed a hand to her battered nose and shouted at me—but I ignored her completely. Practice swords still in hand, I left the dojo.
It already happened last time; if I keep humoring Isolde until she feels satisfied, there’s no end to it. Their swords should be about done soon anyway, and I’m also curious what the other girls have been doing. So I’m calling the time-killing mock battles here.