by Aneko Yusagi
Apparently it worked by analyzing and understanding the pattern inherent in the system of magic casing. Once the pattern was perceived, you had to send out the opposite pattern very quickly.
Higher-level spells took longer to cast, and therefore were easier to block. But using magic interruption on mid-level magic was supposed to be very difficult.
“I’m not losing!”
Resolute, Filo ran for Fitoria. But how could she expect this attack to be any different than her previous attempts? Fitoria had said that Filo’s clothes were magic.
This was about defense. Defense was supposed to be my specialty.
Filo’s clothes were originally made out of magic. Focusing magic could restore them.
If so, then that meant…
“Wait, Filo!”
“What is it, Master? I’m busy right now!”
“Use your magic to repair your clothing! Focus your magic on your clothes. It’s the only way!”
“Okay!”
Filo jumped back to get some distance before holding out her hands and focusing on her clothes. They began to repair themselves.
Then they started to glow faintly.
I had a feeling that this would raise her defense while she was in human form.
Fitoria ran at Filo and started to punch at her.
“Ha!”
Fitoria’s punch was strong enough to shake the earth, but Filo had blocked it with her outstretched hands.
“Ugh… So… strong… But…”
I wondered… would she have been able to bear the brunt of the attack if she hadn’t focused her magic into her clothing?
Filo took the brunt of the attack then knocked Fitoria’s arm away before rushing forward.
Fitoria was open. Filo lunged with the claws.
The wind seemed to vibrate. She must have been raising her speed.
“Hiya!”
She threw the weight of her whole body behind the attack, and it connected.
Or so I thought. But…
“Weak.”
There was a small shower of sparks, but, other than that, Fitoria appeared unfazed.
I knew it. There was no way to get through her defenses.
This wasn’t good. What if Filo lost? What should I do?
Filo kept looking over at me. I didn’t have any more advice for her though.
That’s what I thought anyway, but she was actually looking to Melty, then me, then back to Melty.
…So that was her plan…
I snuck over to Melty’s cage and reached out to touch it.
There was a crashing sound as the blades of wind attempted to cut into me—but my defense was high enough to endure it.
Filo must have wanted me to break the cage and end the fight.
And she was right. If Fitoria was so much stronger than Filo, then there was no chance of victory.
“Melty.”
“N…Naofumi?”
“Don’t move.”
I reached my arm inside of the case and tried to break it. But then…
An incredibly strong wind blew up from beneath me, and I went flying.
“I do not like cheaters.”
Suddenly a tornado appeared and crashed into my torso. It felt like I’d been punched in the gut, and I flew backwards.
“Ugh…”
Did she just break through my defenses?
“Mr. Naofumi!”
“Ugh!”
I fell to the ground in pain, and my vision warped.
Damn… I looked down to see my armor dented. I was bleeding. If I didn’t focus and cast some restorative magic, I’d be in real trouble. The armor could repair itself… but I… dammit…
“Master!”
“Stay focused.”
“Muh…”
“Can you fight after you’ve used your magic?”
“I can!”
“Reckless. Let’s finish this.”
Fitoria’s wings opened and pointed to the sky.
“Suuuuuuu…”
She paused and took a deliberate breath. Something was flying around us. It looked like she was gathering the magical elements to herself.
What couldn’t she do?
I wished I could do the same thing… but I could barely manage to pull off a simple magic spell. Still, I guess the best way to improve was to copy someone that could do it.
It was something like stealing the contents of another person’s brain. Though if you really wanted to take it far, what were schools, if not constantly copying people from the past?
Basically all of our accomplishments were nothing more than that: copying other people’s successes.
Yeah. Someday I’d be strong enough to copy what Fitoria was doing. When I could, I’d make a point to learn it.
“I can do that too!”
Filo copied Fitoria, and she began to gather magic to herself.
“…Too slow.”
The problem was that Fitoria had already gathered all the magic up.
Fitoria rushed Filo and pummeled her with her fists.
“U… Mu… Ku…”
But Filo’s arms were crossed, and Fitoria hadn’t yet broken through her defenses.
Fitoria jumped back and then twisted herself in the air, delivering an airborne kick.
“Can you stop this?”
“Mkyaaaaaaaaa!”
She wasn’t able to block the kick, and she went spinning through the air before slamming into a wall of wind.
“I’m… I’m not losing…”
She rose to stand on shaky feet before, once again, gathering magic to herself.
“Mu…”
She seemed to have recovered enough of her magic. She broke her concentration and moved into her next attack.
“Hiya!”
Filo moved her wings up and down. She ducked down low, spread her wings, and held her claws forward.
She began to shoot forward, carried on a strong current of wind. It was readily apparent to any observer that her magic was greatly concentrated.
It must have been Filo’s strongest attack.
There were too many preparations necessary. I didn’t think she could use it in battle.
“Kuikku!”
Filo was flying at Fitoria like a bullet.
Her claws were out in front. She was flying just a hair over the ground, and spinning in the air. It was the fastest I’d ever seen her move.
How to describe it? It was like the final attack for a flying robot in a strategy game.
“Heh….”
Fitoria’s eyes widened in surprise.
Fitoria’s clothes were cut slightly, ever so slightly. They were covered in fine cuts.
Then Filo’s claws connected with Fitoria’s face. I couldn’t believe it, but there was a scratch on Fitoria’s cheek.
A drop of blood ran down Fitoria’s cheek.
Fitoria looked at the blood that Filo had torn from her face. She looked at where it fell. She smiled.
That was when I noticed. I looked over at Raphtalia, and she nodded.
Fitoria was just playing with us. She wanted to see how Filo would react when faced with an opponent much stronger than herself. That’s why she smiled when she was hit with such an unexpected attack.
The Legendary Filolial.
The description seemed to fit. Filo turned her nose up. She knew there was no way to win.
We’d known that the battle was not going to be simple, but we hadn’t even decided the victor yet.
“Mu…”
Filo grunted. At first I thought she was dissatisfied, but now she looked irritated.
“Is it my turn now?”
Fitoria stepped forward and sent a series of quick attacks flying at Filo.
She was so fast! She’d been faster than Filo up until this point anyway, but now she was moving even quicker.
She wasn’t moving so fast that she was invisible, like when using Haikuikku, but she was a blur—never where you looked for her.
&nb
sp; “Uh… Ahhh!”
Filo couldn’t block the attacks, and she flew through the air.
But before she landed, Fitoria was already there. She looked up at the falling Filo…
“Ha!”
And kicked her hard, sending her flying back to where she’d come from.
“Ugh…”
Then Fitoria settled herself. She looked at Filo, waiting for the next move.
Filo held her hand against where she ached, and magical light appeared there. She must have been using restorative magic, as her wounds were healing before our eyes. But she wasn’t very powerful anymore. She wasn’t able to heal herself back to normal, only until she wasn’t in immediate danger.
“Ugh…”
Filo was very weak. She once again began to gather magic to herself.
“Look at me now.”
Filo was done healing herself. Then she was on her feet and rushing at Fitoria.
Maybe I was imagining it. No, I wasn’t. Filo was moving much faster than she had been up until now.
Filo gathered power into her claws then copied the attack that Fitoria had just used.
“Ha!”
After three attacks, the wall of wind that Fitoria had made appeared to grow weak. It was shaking.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
I’d noticed it for a little while now, but Filo seemed to be learning from, and copying exactly, all of Fitoria’s attacks. No… Fitoria was TEACHING her. She just hadn’t been holding back at all, so it took a while to notice.
Yes… It was all training. It felt like Fitoria wanted to train Filo… She wanted to train her so badly that she didn’t care if Filo died in the process.
“Better hurry up. Meltan is in danger.”
Fitoria held a hand out in Melty’s direction.
The cage grew smaller around her, and the bars were slicing the ends of her hair.
“Kya!”
“Mel! Ugh!”
Filo opened her wings and used the bullet attack again. She flew at Fitoria, but she was even faster this time.
“HIYAAAAAAAAA!”
“Hm... Well, this is the end of the test. Do your best to stick it out.”
Fitoria used both of her hands to block Filo’s attack. When Filo spun away to recover, Fitoria planted a kick to her side.
“Ahhh!”
She went flying all the way to the cage made of wind, which she slammed into and kept flying.
Rolling along the ground, she came to rest finally, like a beaten rag doll.
I ran to where she fell.
But Filo held out her hand to stop me, and she rose on her shaking legs.
“I’m not… I’m not losing.”
She didn’t want my help, as if receiving help would disqualify her from the duel. She was shaking badly, but she took a step forward.
She looked so weak. It was like she could fall over at any moment. She wanted to win so badly that she refused to accept defeat.
“Filo! If you lose then we can’t get Mel back!”
“Filo…”
“Filo! It’s okay! It’s okay.”
“No… I… I’m going to protect you, Mel.”
Filo tottered over to where Fitoria stood. The power gloves had lost their claws, but she curled them into fists and punched at Fitoria anyway.
“Yaaaaah!”
But the attack was very weak, but her willpower was strong.
Filo’s fist connected with Fitoria’s stomach.
“…”
But it wasn’t enough to hurt her.
“Yes. That’s okay. That’s enough.”
Filo fell, but Fitoria rushed forward and hugged her. The cage of wind that had been holding Melty vanished.
“Filo!”
“Mel…”
“She’s okay. She’ll be all right.”
Fitoria began to cast a spell on Filo.
Before our eyes, Filo’s wounds began to heal, and all the tears in her clothing were mended.
“Huh?”
Filo quickly bat Fitoria’s hand away and resumed her fighting posture.
“It’s over.”
“It is not over! I have to protect Mel!”
“I know. But Meltan is okay. Look.”
Fitoria motioned for Melty to come over.
Melty looked very carefully at Fitoria before slinking over to stand by Filo.
“Do you understand? The test is over.”
“Test?”
“Just a little one. I have my own situations to deal with also.”
“Oh yeah?”
Filo didn’t immediately trust her but turned her head to the side as she listened to Fitoria.
They’d just been locked in battle, but all the tension seemed to have evaporated.
“Filo, she was just testing you.”
Raphtalia and I walked closer and tried to explain.
“Yes… It was a test. But I did truly intend to do as I’d said if she didn’t come through.”
Fitoria explained simply.
I didn’t know why she felt like she had to do this. But, because of the fight with Fitoria, Filo had learned some great skills for fighting in human form.
“Filo, you have to think about your opponent. If you fight against humans when you are in Filolial form, it’s like fighting with a giant target on your back.”
“Really?”
It was true that Filo was very large in her Filolial form. Even if she could move very quickly, it made for a bigger target when facing a powerful enemy.
Also, when she fought in her Filolial form she basically had to make all of her attacks into kicks.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t use magic or rush attacks, but it would be best to think about what kind of opponent she was facing. Fitoria was trying to get Filo to notice that there were other ways to fight.
It would be useful to switch tactics in the middle of a fight anyway. It could confuse the enemy.
So basically, Fitoria told Filo that she should stay flexible about her options—and she taught her some new moves.
“This is proof that you have passed my test.”
Fitoria said, and pulled out a tiara. She gave it to Filo.
“What? What’s this?”
“It’s your reward for passing my test. Now lower your head.”
“Filo, you’re supposed to go like this.”
Melty grabbed Filo’s sleeve and pulled her down into a bow.
Would you look at that? Melty was acting very princess-like for a change.
“Like this?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
Filo was bowing before Fitoria, who placed the tiara on her head.
“Filo, you will be my heir.”
“What’s that?”
“It means that you will be the next great Queen of the Filolials.”
“Oh…”
“Filo! Good for you!”
Melty was so excited. She jumped up and down. Filo didn’t seem so excited herself.
Suddenly the tiara on Filo’s head twinkled and shined.
It sent light out in all directions, and then…
Ping! A single cowlick appeared on Filo’s head. One strand of hair stuck straight up.
“…”
Raphtalia and I were both silent.
Was that some kind of prize?
“Huh?”
“Filo! You’re so cute!”
Melty was very excited and was practically dancing in place… But Filo didn’t seem to understand what was happening.
Melty hadn’t noticed.
Wait a second. I considered myself a real Otaku. Did that mean I was supposed to get excited by this cowlick?
Nope… I wasn’t feeling it.
“What happened?”
“Well…”
I pointed to Filo’s head, and Filo herself followed my gaze. She reached up and…
“What’s that? There’s something weird on my head!”
Filo screamed and nearly jumped. She grabbed
the clump of hair and…
Rip!
“Wh?!”
She pulled it right off.
Filo was really something. It looked like it must have really hurt.
“Ouch!”
It must have hurt, but Filo seemed proud of herself for getting rid of it.
Boing!
But after she’d torn it off, another strand of hair popped up to take its place.
“Another one?!”
“What?!”
Filo’s eyes filled with tears as, time and time again, she ripped the cowlicks off of her head. A new one always popped up to take its place though, and so she eventually gave up and hung her head.
It was a weird little cowlick,
“It’ll only keep growing back, so you’d better give up. The more you grow, the more cowlicks you’ll have.”
“What? But I don’t want…”
Filo was looking at the cowlicks on Fitoria’s head.
What did the Legendary Filolial have in mind by giving something like that to Filo?
I decided to have a look at Filo’s status screen.
Her stats had improved.
It seemed like the tiara had conferred some abilities and status improvements.
Considering that, for the time being anyway, Filo had maxed out her level up potential, it was a good reward.
“And for the Shield Hero…”
“Huh? I get something too?”
Fitoria pointed in my direction, then curled her finger up and beckoned for me to come over.
Wait a second. If I walked over there, was she going to give me cowlicks too?
“I don’t need a new hairstyle.”
“Hairstyle?”
I didn’t explain further. It would only cause a fuss if I did.
“It’s better than that. And it will heal your wounds.”
“Well, then…”
I didn’t know what she was going to give me, but I hoped it wasn’t anything too weird.
I probably couldn’t have refused anyway, so I walked over to her. She reached out and touched my torso, healing my wounds. I hadn’t been able to completely heal them, so there had been a dull pain in the area. She took the pain away.
“Show me your Shield.”
She pointed to the shield and motioned for me to hold it up.
“Like this?”
I held the shield up. Fitoria pulled out her cowlick and held it up to the center of the shield.
The shield immediately reacted and absorbed the hair.
Filolial Series Forcibly Unlocked!