by Yuu Miyazaki
“You’re fast on the uptake. I suppose I should expect no less from a Strega.” Claudia smiled.
Julis smiled right back at her. “What you’re saying is that there’s a limit on how much you can use it, right?”
“Correct,” Claudia answered with a slow clap.
It took him a moment, but Ayato finally understood what the girls were saying. “So… If, for example, you were to look ten seconds into the future right now, you’d be left with two hundred and ninety seconds in your stock?”
“Indeed, that’s how it works.”
“So you can’t keep using it forever…”
“That reminds me, you said the Pan-Dora has a weakness. What did you mean, exactly?” Julis asked.
She was probably referring to the conversation that they had had on their way to Lieseltania, back when Claudia had first asked them all to join her team.
“Indeed. If I were to use up the entire stock, this darling would be no more than any other pair of swords. I’ve worked out a technique to use up the stock as little as possible, so that I can avoid exhausting it. I started laying the groundwork in my first match.”
“Your first match? You mean back when you were in middle school?” Julis asked.
Kirin caught on immediately. “You battled against the student ranked twentieth, right?”
“My, is it really so famous?”
If it had been back when she was in middle school, that would mean it must have been before either Kirin or Julis had come to Asterisk.
“You haven’t been in many matches, but that’s the most famous out of all of them. Most people who think of challenging you will no doubt watch that video and quickly change their mind,” Julis answered bitterly.
Perhaps she was referring to herself, too, Ayato wondered.
“U-um, I’ve got some data on it,” Kirin said, promptly opening an air-window displaying a video of the match.
The figure standing in the middle of the stage was unmistakably Claudia, though she looked somewhat younger than she did now.
Her opponent was considerably older, perhaps around twenty years old, holding a sword-type Lux in his right hand and a gun type in his left.
“Oh, a sword and a gun, huh?”
He looked to be focusing entirely on offense.
“Back then, people tended to put too much emphasis on offensive strategies. And he was quite skilled, too,” Claudia told them.
“…You sound like you’re boasting. We already know the result,” Julis muttered.
Meanwhile, in the video, the combatants’ school crests announced the beginning of the match, and the man opened fire with a barrage of glowing bullets.
Claudia, however, dodged them all easily, with only the slightest of movements.
“Wha—? Hold on… Your eyes were closed?!” Ayato murmured in astonishment.
There was no mistaking it. Claudia wasn’t even maintaining a fighting posture, merely slouching forward with her eyes closed.
Even the people in the gallery seemed to have noticed, as a hushed buzz was spreading among them. Claudia’s opponent had turned red with anger. He’d probably thought she was making fun of him.
He began to close the distance between them, sweeping his sword from side to side.
Claudia, stepping back to dodge his slashes and twisting her upper body to evade the bullets he fired off toward her one after the other, still hadn’t opened her eyes.
The gallery exploded with excitement.
The man kept launching one attack after another, but Claudia evaded them all, blade and bullets alike.
This wasn’t to say the man was weak or lacking in skill. As Claudia had said, he was quite proficient with his chosen weapons. He wasn’t throwing all his weight behind any one attack but kept launching a considerable number of strikes at close range that would have overwhelmed all but the most skilled of opponents.
But no matter how fiercely he attacked, Claudia’s expression remained tranquil as she stepped around his every blow, as if in the middle of a dance.
“…This is it. Watch carefully.”
Seemingly with no warning, Claudia leaped through the air over one of the man’s wide lunges. Her opponent, no doubt thinking she had left herself open, unable to evade his attacks in midair, fired off a barrage of bullets.
But then, while spinning through the air, Claudia swung the twin swords for the first time since the match had begun.
She swept aside the bullets of light, scattering them in every direction, before landing next to her stupefied opponent, gently stepping to the side as she sliced clean through his school crest.
And with that, the usual mechanical sound signaled the end of the match.
Claudia opened her eyes slowly, smiling toward the audience and bowing with her usual grace.
“…That was unbelievable.”
“Tell me about it…”
“Well, it was a performance designed to create a certain image,” Claudia said, lifting a hand to her mouth as if to conceal a smile.
“This must have been what started the rumor about you seeing the future…”
There was no doubt about it. That kind of performance would be impossible without the power of precognition.
And there would be very few students crazy enough to challenge her after watching that.
“Yes. I saved up a lot of time for that match, but thanks to that, I was able to give off that impression. Ever since then, even after I reached number two, there haven’t been many people willing to challenge me.”
The amount of time that the Pan-Dora could see into the future decreased the more she used it, so it stood to reason that she would want to employ it as little as possible.
If that match had been a performance to achieve that goal, then it had been quite a cunning plan indeed.
It reminded Ayato of another aspect of the Pan-Dora.
“…I have a question,” Saya said, raising a hand. “Seeing as you chose that plan, does the precognition stock replenish over time?”
It seemed Saya was thinking along the same lines as Ayato.
If the Pan-Dora had only ever had a fixed stock, then it would be rendered useless once it had all been depleted. In that case, Claudia’s performance would have been meaningless.
“That’s a very good question. The answer is yes. Even if I don’t do anything, so long as my contract with the Pan-Dora remains valid, the stock will increase gradually over time.”
So that’s it…
It would have become easier to stock more time after first making an initial investment that reduced the total amount of matches she had to participate in. That must have been her plan.
And it had succeeded.
But in that case…
“Um, how quickly does it recover?”
“Roughly speaking, around three days for each second.”
“Three days for one second…? I see why you can’t afford to waste it,” Julis muttered, her expression unreadable.
Ayato had realized something else. “And it has the worst personality…”
“Huh?” Julis turned toward him quizzically. “What are you talking about, Ayato?”
“Ah, well… The truth is, Claudia’s told me a little about the Pan-Dora before. That its user ends up experiencing their own death in their dreams.”
At that announcement, Julis’s and the other two girls’ expressions underwent a complete and utter change.
“Th-that’s too cruel…” Looking on the edge of tears, Kirin glanced toward Claudia.
Claudia merely nodded, flashing them all a brief smile.
But that still wasn’t the Pan-Dora’s worst quality.
Given that it took three days to be able to use its abilities for one second, mastering the Orga Lux meant that its wielder had to remain close to it for a long period of time. Essentially, that meant that they could only draw upon its power by experiencing their own death, not only once but every single night, prolonging their suffering without en
d.
Claudia had once said to Ayato that the Pan-Dora had the worst personality, and he could see no reason to disagree with her.
“So, there’s a steep price for that kind of ability… But in spite of that…,” Julis stammered, unable to finish her thought.
“…It sounds awful,” Saya added, her expression morose.
“Hee-hee. Please, there’s no need to worry for my sake,” Claudia said with a chuckle. “It isn’t so bad as you all seem to think. And besides… As its user, I can tell you that its power isn’t absolute,” she said nonchalantly. “As I said earlier, it might be precognition, but it isn’t invincible. Allow me to explain… Ayato, do you think you can take a fighting stance?”
“Huh? Ah, all right…” He broke his seal and activated the Ser Veresta.
“Now, then,” Claudia said with a grin, when—
“!”
Ayato, feeling a chill come over him, jumped back reflexively, swinging the Ser Veresta to his left.
Claudia had drawn the Pan-Dora with a delicate flourish, then lunged forward with a blow that he had been able to parry only at the very last moment.
“…That was fast, Claudia,” he said with a forced smile.
She withdrew her sword, shrugging. “As I thought, it doesn’t work on you.”
Judging by how much strength she had put into the attack, he could tell that she hadn’t intended to hit him, but he still felt a rush of alarm at how close she had come to doing so.
“Now then, as you all saw, Ayato parried my attack wonderfully. If I had used the Pan-Dora’s precognition one second before striking—strictly speaking, even half a second is enough to judge the success of an attack, but let’s just go with one second for the sake of the argument—I would have been able to foresee what just happened.” She paused there for a moment, returning the Pan-Dora to its holder. “In that case, how would I plan my next move? Just then, I attacked from the right, so maybe I would consider attacking from the left. While the Pan-Dora never lies, the future is always changing. And so, if I decide to change my actions, the future will change as well. So you might say that the Pan-Dora’s ability lets me judge the best course of action through repeated trial and error without any risk of failure.”
“The future is always changing…?” Ayato found himself muttering.
It seemed so obvious, but for some reason the words kept echoing in his head.
“Now, I just consumed a second of my stock to see what would happen if I attacked from the left, but Ayato might have blocked that, too. So let’s try seeing what would happen if I attacked from above and below. I’ve now consumed four seconds of my stock, but I still haven’t found an outcome where I manage to succeed. That’s to be expected. If you take into account the differences in our fighting abilities, it would be all but impossible for me to land an attack in a head-on fight.”
“N-no, you came close enough as it was…”
“Not at all. I’m confident in my own skills, of course, but I’m not too proud to admit that yours and Miss Toudou’s are a step above.”
“…” Kirin lowered her eyes, but judging by the fact that she didn’t say anything, she was probably in agreement.
To be honest, Ayato had to agree with her, too.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m out of options. Let’s say, for example, that out of those four attacks, Ayato’s defenses were a little slower responding to the one from below. So maybe I could try changing the trajectory of the attack, taking his movements into consideration. I could see what happens if I were to try to attack with a clockwise rotation… But oh, what a shame. Ayato has managed to parry it wonderfully. So let’s try a counterclockwise rotation, perhaps? This time, he manages to parry it again, but maybe he’s had to shift his stance a little. So I would keep that in mind for the next test. Do you understand? I ended up using six seconds just to get this far, but I still haven’t been able to land a single blow. In this kind of situation, no matter how much stock I have, it wouldn’t be enough.” Claudia stopped there, letting out a tired sigh.
“…So it doesn’t work against stronger opponents?” Saya asked.
“It isn’t that it doesn’t work, it’s just a very inefficient use of the stock. The best exception would be when countering, as my opponent’s actions would be rather limited, so I would be more likely to find a successful approach. But if my opponent knows about my ability, they would no doubt be on guard against that. Moreover, there’s nothing I can do about projectile or long-range attacks.” Claudia forced a smile. “That being said, I can’t deny that precognition is a very powerful ability. As you all no doubt realized when you watched the video, it’s particularly useful for defensive purposes. After all, I would already know how my opponent is planning to attack before they do it.”
“I guess that would still work no matter how much higher they are in rank.”
“Yes. But there are exceptions. I can’t respond to area attacks like Erenshkigal’s, and it isn’t well suited to dealing with consecutive attacks like Miss Toudou’s Linked Cranes, as the stock would end up getting depleted too rapidly. And even if I can see it coming, I can’t evade an attack that’s moving faster than my own physical ability to dodge it. So I can be defeated.”
Ayato remembered when Claudia and Kirin had debated who was the stronger of the two.
They had agreed to disagree, but Claudia’s explanation seemed to settle it. If the only thing that mattered was their respective fighting techniques, Kirin would no doubt come out on top, but with the Pan-Dora’s precognition, her attacks could end up being unsuccessful. It would probably come down to how much of her stock Claudia was willing to use for the fight.
“That’s everything that there is to know about the Pan-Dora’s abilities. You can probably see why I would prefer to focus on the Gryps rather than, say, the Lindvolus.”
Julis nodded. “If that’s how the Pan-Dora works, then a one-on-one tournament would be out of the question. If you were to be matched up against a stronger opponent, you would end up using too much of your stock, even if you did win. But in a team battle, there’s no need to go up against a stronger opponent by yourself. And if you’re the team leader, the likelihood of being defeated will be pretty low, I guess.”
“Precisely. If the team leader’s school crest is destroyed, the match is over, even if the other team members are still standing. Or if you look at it the other way, only the team leader needs to be defeated. That’s why it’s so common for matches to take unexpected turns.”
“…So everyone will gang up against the leader?” Saya asked plainly.
“That would depend on each team’s strategy, of course,” Claudia answered with a broad grin. “It would certainly be fastest to try to take out the leader as quickly as possible, but it can also work to one’s advantage to gain a numerical advantage by defeating the opposing team members one by one… Oh, and by the way, because team leader and team representative are separate roles, the current regulations allow teams to change their leader with each match. Some teams’ strategies might involve changing the leader based on the strengths of their opposing team.”
“…Hmm. There’s no denying that your skills are good for defense, but I’ve heard that lately the team leader tends to be whoever is in charge of logistical support.”
“The vanguard always faces the highest risks. But let’s put that aside for a moment.” Claudia stopped there, turning to Ayato. “It’s not only my Pan-Dora that we need to talk about.”
“…Huh?”
“Ayato, we need to know about the Ser Veresta in detail. It does seem to be rather unstable.”
“Ah… Well, the thing is…”
Claudia’s barb stung, but seeing as he had yet to master the Orga Lux, he couldn’t exactly deny it.
“To begin with, it burned right through the Gravisheath’s abilities in your battle against Lamilexia. It would be good if you could use that at will, but with the situation being as it is…”
“Ev
en I don’t really know how I did that…”
The Ser Veresta had the power to burn through anything. The abilities of Stregas and Dantes, and even of other Orga Luxes, were no exception.
However, when it came to actually cutting through an opponent’s abilities, he tended to only be able to do it at the very last moment. That had certainly been the case with Lamilexia’s gravity manipulation. He wasn’t sure whether he would be able to do it on call.
“I wasn’t thinking when I did it. I was focusing only on the battle. And it felt more like it was the Ser Veresta lending me its power than the other way around.”
“Oh? I see. So that one has a will of its own, too.”
“Basically, it’s always testing me,” Ayato said, shrugging his shoulders.
Even though he hadn’t had to break his seal the first time he had activated it, ever since then, he had only been able to do so when channeling his full power. It seemed that the Orga Lux kept on raising new hurdles in front of him, as if it were subjecting him to a Spartan-like training regimen. He could all but imagine its voice. “You’ve come this far—let’s see how you fare with this.”
“And you still can’t shrink it down like you did in the final of the Phoenix without Julis’s help, can you?”
“Ugh…”
“It looks that way. He’s not very good at carefully adjusting his prana,” Julis answered for him.
Indeed, even though he had attempted it several times since then, he hadn’t been able to pull it off by himself.
“If you need Julis’s help to do it, you’ll both end up leaving yourselves too open. I don’t think we’d be able to incorporate that into our tactics. So, at the very least, I want you to be able to do it by yourself.”
“…I’ll do my best,” Ayato answered.
Claudia smiled, lightly clapping her hands. “Well then, there’s no point just talking about it. Seeing as Ayato has gone to the trouble of breaking his seal, why don’t we begin with some practical training?”
Ayato and the others, having split into two groups, stood facing off against one another in the center of the training room.