Chapter 95

EP.95 Black Rock - 2

She couldn’t say anything.

Until now, she had thought that Leo’s heart was frozen.

Trapped in the cold of pain, his heart was covered in ice.

So cold that he couldn’t show any emotion.

She thought that if she could warm him, he would get better.

She believed that she could truly make Leo happy.

But now she realized.

It wasn’t just frozen.

It wasn’t a trivial emotion covered in ice.

It was the opposite.

Self-torture, pouring hot molten metal to the point of drowning.

Emotions locked away, never to be forgiven, sealed in a prison.

The burning anger and self-loathing were buried as they were.

It couldn’t be compared to emotions that thaw with time.

Rather, as time passed and the emotions cooled, the prison began to act as a torture device.

Like iron that hardens as it cools.

Leo’s emotions, the ones of the knight she loved, were buried and reinforced with cold, hard metal.

It was an overwhelming story.

And at the same time, she felt a revolting emotion.

She was still, deep in her heart, jealous of the woman who had taken Leo’s heart.

***

Clang!

The situation was so complex and intricate that it was incomprehensible.

There were counters to deception, traps to counterattacks, and continuous attacks to retaliation.

It was far too sudden to be a typical battle between knights.

It was more like a scene from a duel between assassins, a display of intricate artistry.

"...Impressive, but..."

Lios, who had been eavesdropping from a distance, came to the training ground where Chris and Leo were engaged in a fierce duel, looking embarrassed.

"...Yeah, impressive, but..."

Marken was also amazed, and at the same time, found it absurd. It was surprising to see such a high-level psychological battle, but even more shockingly absurd.

"...Do warriors really challenge each other to a duel during a love consultation...?"

Silica had seen many knights, but she had never seen a situation as incomprehensible as this.

Even if it was an act, it was incomprehensible for the one receiving the love consultation to suddenly draw their sword to unload their emotional burden without saying a word about their own love.

What was even more peculiar was that Leo had accepted the proposal.

"...That’s the problem..."

"What do you mean?"

Everyone at the scene felt a killing intent.

It was definitely a familiar voice, but the emotion in the words was colder than ice.

"...A...Aria...?"

Behind her, Aria was smiling. It wasn’t a smile she ‘made,’ but one that was ‘drawn’—and it wasn’t a positive smile.

"Aunt is giving Leo a love consultation... to confirm Leo’s feelings?"

In Aria’s eyes, a deep abyss was present. Confusion and madness swirled beneath the hero’s halo, like black waves in her pupils.

"Really an interesting story, isn’t it? Dad?"

At that moment, Gladio Reinhardt realized.

If he said even one wrong word, his only daughter would slaughter his younger sister.

***

[...There’s such a magical artifact? I can understand the principle, but I’ve never seen anything like this before.]

It was understandable. This magic sword was created about 50 years ago by a blacksmith who intended to make a pair of swords but only completed one. Just as he was about to make the second, he died suddenly, and his spirit cursed the sword with a curse of proliferation.

[So it’s a cursed sword. Isn’t it dangerous?]

<If the user is ordinary, yes.>

A cursed sword is a sword of curses before it is a magic sword.

Naturally, a weapon that exceeds the user’s capabilities is bound to be toxic.

But Chris was not an ordinary person.

<The cursed sword would be the one to panic.>

[That’s true...]

People often misunderstood, and he had once misunderstood as well, but Chris had always had these symptoms. Getting the cursed sword didn’t make her go crazy; it just made her sound more bizarre because it seemed cooler.

"Even if they are clones, they can’t be created infinitely. There are limits."

He already knew this from his regression. The number of clones is increased by dividing the user’s mana in half.

Maintaining them also consumes mana, so it’s not an overly powerful weapon.

At most, four clones would be the limit.

But if this weapon were in Chris’s hands, the story would be different.

[Clones with afterimages...]

It was the perfect synergy for Chris. Creating afterimages doesn’t require a large amount of mana.

"But the range of afterimages is quite wide. Like this."

Smoke spread around like a smokescreen, and Chris hid in the shadows beyond the fog.

[You fight quite intelligently for someone who acts so recklessly?]

It sounded like a backhanded compliment, but considering the sage’s intelligence, it was a high praise.

Leonardo himself acknowledged this. His technique and strategy-centered combat style were largely learned from Chris.

<So in this situation...>

He could counter with his own sword technique. The black sword gradually extended like a long whip, clearing the surrounding fog.

•Slash 4th Form: Chop - Rotating Slash

The fog was cleared by the rotating sword blade, slicing through the nearby area.

Clang! Clang! Clang!!

"...Ugh!!"

But it was futile. Chris clones from both the front and back simultaneously leaped and began throwing proliferation swords.

The original ability of the proliferation swords is to replicate the sword itself.

The front was defended with a transformed spear, and the back with magic. But after about two seconds, he realized something.

'The other two...'

Meanwhile, the two other Chris clones, hidden, rushed forward with daggers. Blocking them was impossible.

Chris’s encirclement strategy, once caught, was even challenging for Aria. The proper counter was a high-powered mana attack that would obliterate everything in a wide area.

But that required more mana than even the Reinhardt geniuses.

That was fundamentally impossible.

In fact, the triple casting earlier had already significantly depleted his mana.

"...Then..."

Boom!

Leonardo stabbed the ground with the spear and leaped into the air, using the recoil to create distance from the Chris clones throwing daggers and the ones swinging them.

"But in the air, evasion is even harder."

The Chris clones on the ground immediately threw proliferation swords at him. There was nowhere to stand in the air, and using wind or similar magic to precisely change direction or deflect daggers was impossible.

Even with the clones, his mana was only a quarter of Chris’s.

So.

Swoosh!

He had to use the ‘Martial Arts and Magic of Aria’ and his spear technique.

The spear flew vertically into the ground.

"Blink."

Without calculating coordinates, his body teleported at super-high speed. Grabbing the spear embedded in the ground, Leonardo charged back at Chris.

"Ah...!"

One of the four Chris clones barely managed to block Leonardo’s attack but ran out of mana and disappeared like a shadow. He had expected this to some extent, but it was still a bad situation.

"...Beyond impressive, it’s terrifying. If you were my age, you would have already overwhelmed me."

After several hundred rounds, Chris showed more than just recognition; she expressed respect for the knight Leonardo.

If Leonardo had grown as much as she had by her age, she was certain she would have lost.

"I don’t know. It’s uncertain."

Even reaching her 95th level was uncertain, and the loss of her first teacher was also uncertain.

"Even now, I find you terrifying. Seeing you like this."

Chris didn’t use the clones as shields without thinking. She just needed time to prepare ‘that technique.’

The clones that were supporting the technique had already hidden to conserve mana.

Squeal!

A sharp, high-pitched sound, like teeth grinding at high speed, emanated from the black sword, which began to emit light.

[...An interesting technique.]

The sage smiled, finding it entertaining, because he knew the light wasn’t just ‘glowing’ but ‘reflecting.’

"Shining Dark Orbis, named after the light caused by the rotating aura blade on the black sword."

[Maybe Magic Hot Super Knife would be better.]

Both were bizarrely peculiar, but the true nature of the technique was not to be underestimated. Small aura blades formed at the tip of the sword and rotated.

If the blade was as thin as a single molecule and rotated, theoretically, it could cut through anything.

The length of the blade could also be adjusted, making it hard to avoid, and it could even be thrown in certain situations.

Despite the crude name, it was a sophisticated technique.

"...Is explaining this part of chivalry?"

"That’s part of it, but..."

Chris smiled with curiosity, holding a dagger with a rotating blade.

"It’s also an expression of my intention to clash with you in a fair and honorable battle."

Now it made sense. The excessive talking might have been part of this.

"Then I’ll have to use my full strength as well."

Leonardo shortened the black stone into a dagger and stabbed it into the clavicle above his shoulder.

"Of course, in accordance with chivalry."

Chris seemed to be responding to this, expecting the technique and waiting for it to be completed.

"The black stone has a technique that connects to the body, the red lines."

The black stone gradually became liquid-like and began to envelop Leonardo’s body like a living organism.

"At the time, the limit was 10% of the body, but now, for a brief 10 seconds, the entire body is possible."

Not only did it envelop, but it also formed the best armor based on the current mana and battle situation as it covered different parts of the body.

"The only flaw in this technique, which complements my body, is that it lacks a proper name."

As it completely covered his body, including his face, red lines connected in each part, and eventually, red light shone from his eyes.

《Black Stone - Red Lines [100%]》

"...But now, I’ve decided on a name."

The respect for his teacher who brought him to this level.

"Black Rock... how about it?"

"...Arrogant. No matter how great you are, how dare you covet my title?"

While saying this, Chris also seemed to be looking forward to the attack of the black-armored warrior, taking a fighting stance.

"It’s more of a form of reverence."

Reverence for his first teacher who took him in.

An homage.

"...Then, let’s see who truly possesses the darkness...!"

Leo’s Black Rock and Chris’s Blackness clashed.

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