Eclexis (4)
Frondier had seen Aster's iaijutsu in person before.
That's when he knew.
That he couldn't avoid Aster's iaijutsu with his own eyes.
"Haa!"
Frondier's Obsidian consecutively blocked the space between him and Aster. A hard, layered black wall.
That,
Kwagaagwang!
Aster pierced through it all and reached Frondier.
"?!"
After breaking through all the walls, Aster saw it.
The Shield held in Frondier's hand.
'That's...?'
Kaaaang!
"Ugh!"
Frondier groaned at the dull pain in his arm.
Still, he blocked it.
With the shield, 'Aegis'.
'It absorbs most physical attacks! My arm's gonna break!'
Frondier wanted to scream out in frustration. But the shield's ability was accurate.
- War Goddess's Protection: Absorbs most physical attacks. Also, weapons below Legendary grade cannot break this shield.
The fact that weapons below Legendary grade couldn't break it meant that weapons above it could.
Aster's spear was Enkephalos. Clearly a God's weapon.
'If I hadn't blocked it with Obsidian, it might have really broken in one shot.'
After that, the two clashed fiercely, exchanging blows.
Aster's spear mercilessly pierced through every space Frondier occupied, and Frondier responded by throwing out all sorts of weapons and Obsidian as if he were throwing them away.
"H-Hold on! Aster!"
At that moment, Elodie stepped forward, trying to stop the two.
But there was someone who stopped her.
"It's alright."
"Selena?"
"It's still within expectations. Master Frondier knew Aster would attack."
"He knew? How?"
"...I don't know why either. But Master Frondier knew."
Selena's gaze was unwavering.
The only thing Frondier hadn't expected was that Aster would come so quickly.
But regardless of when Aster came, he knew Aster would attack him.
In other words, this fight was part of Frondier's plan. So there was no need to worry.
It sounded plausible, but...
"...You're saying we should just leave them be?"
The scene before her eyes was hardly one that could be described as planned, or a staged fight.
Thud! Crash! Clang!
"Your swordsmanship has improved! Frondier!"
"And your spearmanship has improved too!"
"You've never seen my spearmanship!"
"That's because you've never held a spear!"
Clang!
Frondier parried Aster's attack.
The two, now slightly apart. Frondier took a breath as if to compose himself and spoke.
"That's why I said it improved. It's not wrong, is it?"
"...Hmm. You're right."
Aster nodded as if convinced. His eyes turned to the sword Frondier was holding.
'...The sword in his other hand is a short sword. That sword hasn't changed. Probably because unlike the other weapons, that sword is real.'
Neil Jack' short sword. Frondier had an overwhelming level of proficiency with this sword.
'On the other hand, his left hand keeps changing weapons. Wielding any weapon without needing to retrieve them. It's too much of a cheat.'
Frondier's left hand held either a weapon or a shield. The weapon even changed mid-swing.
It was impossible to tell until the very last moment whether he was going to attack, defend, or even strike with the shield. It was nearly impossible for the human eye to react.
'Besides, my iaijutsu...'
Aster wasn't surprised that his iaijutsu had been blocked.
He knew that Frondier would block it, no matter how. Of course, it was only natural.
However, the shield Frondier used to block the iaijutsu was extremely small. To block the iaijutsu with that, he would have had to aim for a pin-point.
'He knew where I was going to attack.'
Frondier knew.
That Aster could never kill him.
So he couldn't aim for the head or the heart, and with a downward strike from above, he couldn't aim for the lower body either.
The right upper arm, or the shoulder. The area Aster could aim for was extremely narrow.
'Every time we meet, really.'
Aster felt the tendons in his forehead stand out for the first time in a while. It was usually Aster who made his opponents angry. Of course, he himself wouldn't think so at all.
And Frondier.
'...Seriously, how is this even possible?'
Although his expression didn't show it, he was fuming inside.
He looked at Aster, who was holding his spear with a troubled heart.
'Making Aster hold a spear and playing with him, well, that's a pretty familiar route for players.'
Aster, the protagonist of the Etius game. Players used to make Aster wield all sorts of weapons.
However, Aster had an exceptional talent for swords, and above all, he had his older sister, Ellen Evans, the best swordsmanship teacher, so his first priority was the sword.
'Why is he so good at it?'
In this world, Aster had hardly ever held a spear. Even if he had, it would have been a few swings at Constel as a kind of cultural experience.
But he was responding to Frondier's weapon combination.
Moreover, it had only been a while since they last met, and he was already flying in the sky, able to float in the air, so he used his iaijutsu consecutively from the air, and without even assuming a middle stance, there was no need to take a stance, so he could use the iaijutsu with any weapon.
Above all, he could feel something similar to divine power within Aster's body.
'All that training feels like a waste of time.'
Furthermore, Aster had a sword strapped to his back. It was undoubtedly Excalibur. It wasn't emitting any presence now and was sleeping quietly, but...
Aster already had his main weapon, yet he was facing Frondier with a spear.
Frondier was 'predicting' that Aster wouldn't kill him, but Aster didn't even entertain the thought of killing Frondier in the first place.
Because from Aster's perspective, Frondier had already predicted and set everything up, and Aster himself was just playing along. Aster had set Frondier as an insurmountable obstacle.
In his eyes, it only looked like Frondier was toying with him. Why would an adult playing with a child kill them?
'It's burdensome, Aster. Your trust is incredibly burdensome.'
Now he wasn't even sure if he could call it trust anymore. It was more like a belief that Frondier was playing with him. Meanwhile, Frondier was doing everything he could to avoid dying.
...This was really strange.
When facing other enemies, Frondier's emotions never strayed from the realm of hatred and anger.
'Whenever I fight Aster...'
At that moment, both Frondier and Aster had almost the same thought.
'This is so frustrating!'
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