As Ruiseine falls into shock, Ristia appears before her and thrusts his holy sword into her chest .

He’s quick . However, Ruiseine, by a hair’s breadth, evades by twisting her body . Her incredible physical ability leaves me astonished . Except, right now isn’t the time to for being surprised .

I refine my dragon spirit and transfer it into my spirit tree wooden sword . I’m strengthening it because of Ristia has a flaming holy sword . That fire might burn my wooden sword . From the sword comes a strong reaction in response to the dragon spirit I’m channeling into it .

Then, I s.p.a.ce jump into Ristia’s blind spot . I jump and without hesitation, thrust my wooden sword into his back right when he’s stabbing at Ruiseine . Regardless, Ristia reacts quickly . He turns his head and receives my blow with his holy sword .

Ristia’s expression stiffens in an instant, “Guh . ”

I make three strikes, one after the other . Yet, even though he’s spinning around to face me, he repels all my strikes .

I’m well aware that the current me still has a ways to go before I can match Ristia in swordsmans.h.i.+p . It’s for that reason I can’t allow him to flip the situation around and put me on the defense . I’ll be destroyed the second that happens .

My only option is to attack . To make up for my lack of ability . But, more than anything else, my biggest handicap is undoubtably my current weapon . Worse, Ristia seems to understand my intentions and moves to place distance between us .

That’s when Ruiseine approaches him . She thrusts with her naginata, but Rista avoids it with a jump . She then follows up with a moonlight arrow . Ristia, in midair, looks over his shoulder and uses his holy sword to cut down the attack . His landing, however, isn’t flawless and his posture breaks .

I aim for his body on that opening and get a hit . Unfortunately, it doesn’t have much of an effect . I continue with my rotation by sinking down before once more unleas.h.i.+ng another strike . My wooden sword rises and swings down on him . The power of my rotation combines with weight of my strike and is somehow stopped by Ristia with his holy sword .

At the moment Ristia stops moving . Ruiseine thrusts her naginata at his foot .

“That! b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!!”

Ristia repels me off with an oni like expression I’ve never seen before and sends me flying . He then grabs the upper part of the approaching naginata and flings Ruiseine away with her weapon .

“Such a…”

Ristia’s unusual action surprises me . Being able to do such an instantaneous movement is beyond human ability . Except, now isn’t the time for being surprised .

Ristia is going after Ruiseine who is tumbling about after having been thrown by him . I chase after him and as I draw in on his back, he stops and turns around .

Flames envelop Ristia’s holy sword as he swings it down on me . I press onward without slowing down . Then, the moment I enter the holy sword’s s.p.a.ce, I s.p.a.ce jump into Ristia’s defenseless back and swing my wooden sword .

However, Ristia again displays an impossible reaction . He spins around at that exact moment and avoids my attack by leaping back .

I was positive that strike was going to be a fatal blow, Now I’m staggering after swinging into empty air .

Ristia attacks me again . He clads his holy sword in flames and swings it down on me . I s.p.a.ce jump out of the way only to instead stagger due to having used up my dragon spirit .

d.a.m.n, using my weakening technique and s.p.a.ce jumping twice has mostly brought my dragon spirit to its limit . I don’t have enough left for another jump .

Theholy sword slowly gets closer .  It’s going to cut me .

Just as I had that thought, an arrow of light hits Ristia .

Ristia screams in anguish as he’s sent flying . “Gaaaaaah!”

That was close . Upon being saved by Ruiseine’s. .h.i.t, I get further away from the confused Ristia .  

I express my grat.i.tude, “Thank you, Ruiseine,” and proceed to refine my dragon spirit . This is an advantage I have over magicians . Not only are they finished upon exhausting their magical power, they need a long time to recover that power . I, on the other hand, can draw from the dragon vein and replenish my dragon spirit before exhausting it and becoming debilitated .

I concentrate on adjusting my breathing and draw more energy from the dragon vein .

At the same time, Ruiseine confronts Ristia . She does her best to keep her distance from him, using the long reach of her naginata as much as possible . Ristia tries to close the gap, but Ruiseine prevents him by seemingly gliding through the air .

Is that another form of magic?

While I wonder such, Ruiseine leaps and moves horizontally with ground at a high speed . She readjusts the distance and attacks with magic . Ristia crushes the attack and once more closes in on Ruiseine .

Ruiseine is stronger than I expected . She isn’t very far behind that Ristia . Still, the longer this lasts, the worse the situation becomes .

That’s when I finish replenis.h.i.+ng my dragon spirit and rejoin the battle . This time for sure, victory or defeat will be decided .

I pour dragon spirit into my spirit tree wooden sword and approached Ristia . Ruiseine notices my movement and adjusts her positioning . We never discussed anything, but our coordination is flawless .

I swing down with all my strength, yet Ristia stops my attack with his holy sword . Without stopping, I continue with a flurry of attacks .

Ristia’s expression twists with shock at the renewed strength behind my attacks . He shouldn’t have time to spare for being surprised though . With a strong will fueling my strikes, I continue to swing my wooden sword .

Even if he’s a hero, even if he’s my best friend, I won’t overlook anyone ruining the reputation of the dragon tribesmen . No matter what happens here, Ristia will be stopped . We’re going to stop him .

Mistral and the others still haven’t revealed themselves . I don’t know what they are thinking, but I’m grateful that they’re leave this to us . Her watching over us is the same as saying she trusts us . Hence, I won’t betray their expectations .

I perform the dragon sword dance .

With flowing movements, I both ward off Ristia’s attacks and counterattack . Even though he’s deflecting my attacks, I return to my starting position and renew my a.s.sault .

Even though at first my dance was interrupted no matter how many times I tried to perform it, Ristia has gradually been getting weaker . We’ve now reached a situation where I can maintain a flowing offense .

I’ve been waiting for this .

I fight Ristia while cladding my wooden sword with my debilitating technique . Each time our blades clash, he receives my debilitating technique . Regardless of how much magical power he possesses or how well a hero can resist being debilitated, it isn’t a technique that can be endured .

I’ve been aiming for this since the beginning . There is no hope for me to defeat Rista in a fair fight . That’s why I opted to weaken him .  

The dragon sword dance is originally a relentless flowing flurry of attacks . It’s a technique that overwhelms the opponent . That’s the reason for my confidence in this .

Ristia’s expression strains with bitterness as my attacks increase . After exchanging 10, 20 blows, Ristia’s knees finally buckle .

At last, Ristia is caught by Ruiseine’s expanding spell .