by Aneko Yusagi
“I have—I have seen hell! How hard do you think it’s been for me, trying to become an equal to you?”
“Isn’t it just crazy, trying to create someone to fit into the hole I left behind? Someone who can do exactly the same things that I could?” she said. Seeing as Sadeena was so exceptional, had they thought a younger sister would just be the same? These were some really twisted parents.
It also looked like they really had evaluated Sadeena highly. Mocking her for not being an oracle had clearly just been harping on her single weak point.
“I can see why the water dragon would abandon you, doing all this even after you could talk with him. I’m going to have to go and have some words with those two, as well,” Sadeena offered with no condemnation but also no sympathy. She sparked with electricity. “You stipulated me for this battle, and as one who was the water dragon’s miko priestess, I’m going to have to take this fight seriously, aren’t I?”
“After all this, you’re the one the water dragon turned to! I will never accept that!” Spilling over with intent to kill, the present water dragon’s miko priestess pointed her katana. Sadeena already had her harpoon raised, ready to fight at any moment. She was clearly in a better place, mentally, and starting out, that looked to give her an advantage.
Huh? What now? Her opponent was starting to be wreathed in wind?
“Sadeena. I hear you’ve received the blessing of a spirit implement. You’ll need to fight me at full strength!” the opponent roared.
“Oh my. I’m far stronger now than I was when I left this place behind. Are you sure you want me to use everything?”
“Of course. I’ll reply with all of the powers that the Heavenly Emperor has bestowed upon me. You’ll also get a taste of my own powers! The powers of an oracle!” The other miko took more wine from her pocket and drank it down again. Huh? It looked like the patterns on her skin were starting to glow.
“It would be rude not to share my name with you, of course. I am Shildina, the current water dragon’s miko priestess and the priestess of carnage. That’s also the name of the one who has surpassed you, Sadeena! I am most proficient with wind magic. Now you’ll learn to fear the power of the oracle!” Her voice had changed from a voice filled with anger to a tone more like the one Sadeena normally used.
“Oh my! You actually are an oracle?” Sadeena exclaimed.
“Let me show you the power of the voices of the heroes and our ancestors!” With that, Shildina took a rectangular card-like object from the holder at her waist and threw it into the sky. It fell back to the ground, depicting a beautiful arc—almost as though the moment it landed was the signal for the fighting to start.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaah!” she screamed, and the instant it landed, Shildina dropped her body low and charged in, swinging her katana in a wide arc. Sadeena lightly deflected that attack with her harpoon while at the same time using that energy to spin on the spot and attempt a pound with the harpoon’s handle.
“You swing that katana like a broom! Try to be more elegant!” Sadeena prodded. For a moment, it looked like the handle of Sadeena’s weapon was going to land on Shildina’s back.
“You’ll need to do better than that!” Shildina replied. The wind that Shildina had deployed behind her absorbed Sadeena’s attack and blew up into a massive gale.
“That’s a clever little trick. I’ve got a few of those myself.” Sadeena caused lightning to flicker across her entire body in an attempt to forcefully push back the wind.
“Hah!” Seizing the opening, Shildina thrust her hands in front of her and pressed what looked like a ball of wind into Sadeena’s stomach.
“Getting too fixated will only slow you down!” Skillfully exploiting the opening in the incoming attack, Sadeena used her tail to strike Shildina on her waist, and then she followed up with a kick for good measure.
“Uwah.” Sadeena won the first attack, then. Shildina swiftly swung her own tail, however, as though repelling those attacks, and struck hard at Sadeena’s thigh.
“Oh, so you hit me too!”
“You mock me, sister. Ancient magic can also be used like this! As the source of your power, I order you! Read the truth once more—”
“Do you really think that will work on me?” Sadeena sneered. She could use the Way of the Dragon Vein. There was a possibility she could even stop Zweite-class magic using that.
Sadeena too began to chant. “Oh Dragon Vein, oh power of the earth—oh my, impressive! You have some resistance to enchanting impediments too. Well done.” It looked like even Sadeena’s powers of disruption weren’t enough. Then it all came down to the skills of the user, meaning Shildina and Sadeena were likely around the same skill level.
I tried reading the spell too, just to see if I could cancel it.
What the hell was it?
The magic being cast by Shildina could be called both magic and Way of the Dragon. It was bordering on cooperative magic!
“Wind God, become the power to defend me and blow away my enemies! Drifa Wind God Armor!” Shildina completely took her hands off her katana and crashed into Sadeena with her entire body. Of course, with wind also wrapped around her.
It looked a lot like Filo’s Spiral Strike. No, perhaps more like Sadeena’s Water Dragon Destruction?
“Cheeky!” Sadeena skillfully twisted her harpoon to leap into the air, avoiding the attack. “Here I go!” One instant Sadeena was attempting to use the opening to attack, striking at her opponent’s back. The next moment she canceled the attack and back-stepped away.
Why didn’t she attack?
“Maaaster, that girl is incredibly skilled with wind magic. If Sadeena had finished that attack, she would have only got cut herself!” Filo explained. So she was fighting someone with command of invisible blades? I narrowed my eyes and looked more closely.
Yeah. Using both Way of the Dragon Vein and life force, I was able to perform an analysis. Didn’t help me work out what was going on though! It could be called magic, maybe. But what was it—some kind of attack that continuously emitted wind?
“Oh my, you’ve got some interesting moves,” Shildina quipped, continued to be wreathed in blowing wind. It was almost like armor swirling around her. Then she used her magic to make the katana she had previously discarded rise up into the air. It was like Float.
That reminded me. Ren had Float skills unlocked, but he didn’t like to use them. He said that moving the sword used too much of his concentration. Did Raphtalia also have similar skills? If so, they might be useful, I thought idly, spinning my Float Shield.
“Mr. Naofumi, are you thinking about something else?” Damn, Raphtalia had noticed me. I needed to concentrate on the battle.
“That’s not enough! Not enough to stop me!” Sadeena spun her harpoon, causing a rain of sparks. She was clearly being assaulted by multiple wind blades. Into that was mixed Shildina herself and the floating katana.
Sadeena jeered, “Oh my. Such an interesting line of attack! I think this might be fun after all.” It was frankly a little scary that Sadeena could keep up with the pace of her opponent. “After all those attacks from Raphtalia and Atla, this is nothing.” She was incredible.
Personally, of course, I would just throw out Shooting Star Shield and block them all. It wasn’t easy to visualize wind magic, but there were still ways to handle it.
“Hmmm. Wooooow! I wanna try it tooooo!” Filo chirped.
“I bet you could, Filo, if you put your mind to it.”
“I don’t know how to speak with two voices like that though.” That did raise an interesting point about Shildina’s spellcasting. She only had one mouth, but it was like she was speaking using two voices, each saying different things.
Was that magic-casting using her oracle powers?
“Now then, after the little show you’ve put on for me, time I gave you a performance of my own.” With that, Sadeena quickly incanted some first-class magic.
“First Lightning Bolt! First Chain Lightning!”
Lightning sparked around Sadeena.
“That won’t work on me! I can simply blow magic of that caliber out of the air!” With that confident response from Shildina, wind sliced across Sadeena’s magic and knocked it away. “In fact, I’ll even use that lightning for myself!” Shildina’s wind gathered Sadeena’s lightning together and then unleashed it back at her, mixed with her own katana and the blades of wind.
The conducted lightning, the slashing katakana and wind, and then Shildina’s own body tackle all closed in on Sadeena.
“Well now! Did you think that’s the only level of magic I can use? Next try this!” Sadeena looked up at the sky. “If you think wind magic is exclusive to you, that’d be a big mistake.” Sadeena drew in power from the clouds and the air.
“I, Sadeena, draw on the power of the air and beg that you fulfill my request. Dragon Vein, defend me and repel my enemies! Wind Seal!” With an audible crunch, magic with wind resistance appeared in front of Sadeena.
“I’ll shred those defenses in an instant!”
“Oh, did you think I prepared all this just to stop your attacks? Magic can also be used like this!” In the same moment that Sadeena stopped Shildina’s attack, she also used the wind defenses to stop the impact of her opponent’s wind.
It was little more than water thrown onto a hot stone, however, and her defenses were shredded in an instant. Of course, for just that moment, the density of Shildina’s wind armor also looked to drop considerably. That was all though. Nowhere near close to actually stopping it.
“That’s it? Really? Talk about a disappointment!” With a confident smile, Shildina unleashed an attack of wind and lightning at Sadeena.
“Oh, I’ll meet your expectations yet, sister! The very idea of using lightning against me was a foolish one!”
“What!”
Sadeena snapped her fingers and the lightning Shildina had been using increased in output and bounced back from her. “I unleashed it knowing you would make use of it with your wind, so of course I also expected this!”
“And so what if you did?!”
“Oh my. Can’t you tell? Can’t you see what’s happening around you right now?” At Sadeena’s words, Shildina took a startled look around.
Static electricity was crackling in the air, and the ground was starting to spark as though—yes, as though lightning was about to fall. Right where she was standing.
When using the Way of the Dragon Vein, too, and perhaps on purpose, clouds had gathered and formed.
Indeed, the sky had quietly been filling with thunderclouds.
“I’ll just summon up a gale and scatter those clouds!” Shildina spouted.
“No, you won’t. There’s too much of my lightning spread through the wind,” came the reply. With a mocking tone, Sadeena swung her harpoon down at the ground. “It wasn’t easy to set this up without you interrupting it. So I’ll cast it quickly. Let’s see which of us can endure the most. Drifa . . . Thunder Bolt!”
Shildina tried to get some distance, but Sadeena skillfully drew her in with the harpoon and then dropped the lightning on both of them together. Amid a brilliant, sparking flash, a thick bolt of lightning dropped from the clouds above and struck the two of them.
Shildina was the one who let out a cry, her wind armor being forcibly stripped from her by the lightning, gradually being peeled away and turning into mist. The wind blades were already gone, and then the katana became a lightning rod and sucked the lightning into the ground. Shildina was left breathing heavily.
“Oh my, you did well to withstand that. However, I’m not going to stop attacking you now,” Sadeena bellowed. They had been bathed in a massive amount of magic, and yet neither had suffered any substantial damage. Shildina at least had the decency to be breathing heavily.
Sadeena continued. “Drifa Lightning Speed and Thunder Guard! Come on, you’re not done entertaining me yet! I’m going to start incanting even faster!” Once imbued with lightning, Sadeena had the ability to drop attack magic onto herself and make use of it. Certainly not someone I wanted to fight. She pressed her attack with precise, tight movements.
I still ached, sometimes, from the Zeltoble coliseum.
“Don’t get too full of yourself!” Shildina reformed her wind armor, narrowed her eyes, and pointing her katana at Sadeena. “We’re just getting started! I’ve got plenty more power than this!”
“So go ahead. I’m not stopping you from using it!” Sadeena shouted, and she and Shildina had both dropped back a little and glared across the intervening gap. The lightning and wind from each were still clashing around them, but this wasn’t magic they had unleashed on purpose. Just a secondary effect of their preparations for their next attack.
“T-this is quite incredible,” Rishia muttered as she observed the fight. She wasn’t wrong. Had sibling rivalry ever been taken to quite this level before? Not to mention it was all being unleashed by two killer whale therianthropes. Seriously, there was no telling how deep Sadeena’s well of power went.
Still, watching this battle, with Sadeena using lightning and Shildina wind, it looked like a battle between the gods of those respective elements. I probably felt like that due to Descent of the Thunder God, which I had used before as cooperative magic with Sadeena. They also probably both had water magic, acquired from the Way of the Dragon Vein.
Lightning that seemed alive struck at Shildina, who dodged an attack from the harpoon while diverting the lightning with a stream of water mixed with wind.
“This is quite odd. This entire battle is starting to, well, look quite beautiful,” Raphtalia remarked.
“I was thinking the same thing,” I noted.
Both sides had no choice but to watch the unfolding struggle, captivated by this clash of incredible techniques.
“Think you can handle this? Lightning Strike Harpoon!” Sadeena threw her lightning-charged harpoon at Shildina, who repelled it using her katana enwrapped in wind. Sadeena raised her hands and the harpoon made a circle in midair and flew back to her.
She even had control of magnetic forces? Lightning was pretty versatile.
“Want to push this harder?” Sadeena entreated. The harpoon took on more lightning with a further crackle, growing three massive prongs. Sadeena herself also took a moment to top up again, more lightning striking her.
“Hmmm. I need to refill my magic a little,” Sadeena mentioned as she took a bottle of alcohol out and started to drink. Even now, she seemed totally at ease. Shildina, however, did exactly the same, knocking back her own drink with a satisfied sound. “Oh, you like to drink? We can settle this with alcohol, if you’d prefer,” Sadeena remarked.
“I won’t lose to you at that either! I’ll show you, hic, the true power of an oracle!” Hah, was she starting to get drunk?
“Sis, please. I’ve had my suspicions for a while now, but don’t tell me, you’re already drunk?” Sadeena asked, somewhat in surprise. For her part, she always acted like she was drunk even when she was sober.
“I’m not drunk. I’ve got this,” Shildina turned to look at her own troops behind her, and a single harpoon was thrown at her feet. A rusty harpoon?
“Oh my! That’s quite the blast from the past. My old harpoon!” Sadeena gasped.
“That’s right. The harpoon that you left here in Q’ten Lo,” Shildina explained while gripping it tightly in her hands.
“Rafu?” Raph-chan started to look intently.
“What’s going on?” I asked her.
“Rafu, rafu!” I couldn’t tell if she was trying to explain something or just upset. I turned to Filo.
“Right, she said something moved from that harpoon and went into the little sister,” Filo translated. Was this another oracle thing, then?
“It’s not often I’m forced to do this. Very well! Allow me to show you the true power of the water dragon’s miko priestess!” With that, Shildina tossed the harpoon aside again and gave Sadeena an unsettling smile. What was going on? The very air surrounding Shildi
na seemed to have changed in quality.
“Drifa Lightning Speed, Thunder Guard!” Hold on! Shildina activated the same lightning support magic as Sadeena! “Of course, I’ll be using this too.” She also reapplied her wind armor, looking very pleased with herself as she was enveloped in both lightning and wind.
“Oh my! You can even use lightning magic? That’s odd though. Your magic felt the same as mine, right there,” Sadeena remarked.
“This is the power of an oracle! You, the miko without any oracle powers, will now be defeated by the very ideals that you cast aside!” That sounded like the crux of her resentment, but what ideals? “After one extraction, I can then seal them in a card like this!” I saw it for myself this time. She took out a white card and sealed some kind of magical power inside it. That caused a pattern to appear there—an illustration of lightning and a killer whale?
It looked suspiciously like the card that Zodia gave me.
“I see. So this is what it really means to be an oracle. You can transfer the intent imbued in objects and other things into cards, carry them around, and then replicate them for yourself when needed. That’s quite incredible!” So the reason she was reaching the realms of cooperative magic was perhaps due to some application of this oracle power.
Shildina used wind magic. That made it possible to perform simulated incantations using the vibrations of the air. So she used the oracle power for the awareness and her magic for the incantations. Maybe that would allow one person to use cooperative magic?
Hey, and maybe Filo could copy that to perform cooperative magic alone too.
“You can use wind magic too, right, Filo?” I asked. “Think you could use it to create incantations and cast two spells at once?”
“Huh? Hmmmm—” Filo crossed her arms and thought, then tilted her head as she tried to cast the magic. “I tried to make two spells from a single spell, but I couldn’t do it. The magic all just spins around,” she concluded. Yeah, while Filo’s explanation was inept and difficult to understand, it was clear that this was an extremely high-level technique. It wasn’t something that could be copied easily.