By Gandire Alea December 13, 2022
Just how does a war shrine maiden wage battle? All of my classmates are swallowing with that anticipation in mind.
“Ara ara, maa maa.”
Ruiseine smiles at everyone. She doesn’t seem to be nervous.
Firmly holding her favorite naginata with both her hands, she proceeds to the area designated as the arena.
Everyone’s gaze shifts to her opponent.
“Ruiseine, don’t be too hard on me.”
Ceries-sama says such to her.
Ahh, that’s right. Our class has an odd number of students. Someone is going to have to fight a second match, and it looks like it’s Ceries-sama.
“Ceries-sama, I will be in your care.”
The two properly bow to each other and exchange a few words before moving to their designated spaces. Then, Ruiseine makes her declaration.
“I swear to conduct myself with integrity and diligently endeavor to improve myself.”
That is the conventional declaration of shrine maiden-sama, hence no one reacts to it. As Ceries-sama already made her declaration earlier, it’s finally time for the match.
Ruiseine lowers her center of gravity and holds out her naginata. Ceries-sama, remaining vigilant, nevertheless gracefully holds her sword ready.
“Begin!”
Cheers rise at the call.
Ceries-sama charges forward and thrusts herself towards Ruiseine. As the naginata is long, it grants a lot of reach. I get the feeling Ceries-sama is trying to get in close so she can make the first strike with her one-handed sword.
Ruiseine, however, thrusts back in response. She attacks twice, faster than the eye can follow. Ceries-sama quickly adapts to receive them.
When it comes to reach, Ceries-sama is at an overwhelming disadvantage against the naginata. In order to overturn it, she may turn to the blowback dragon technique she used earlier.
Everyone in the audience probably feels the same way. Her blowback from earlier left that much of an impact.
The air around Ceries-sama changes. I check her dragon spirit and find that the quality flowing through her is different from the kind she has been using to raise her physical abilities.
Ceries-sama attacks Ruisenin, swinging her one-handed sword at the naginata’s blade as itmoves to block her path. If their blades clash, Ruiseine will also be blown away. Then, that will be the end of the match. That is what everyone is thinking, everyone except me.
I know,
I know various things. Not only has Ruiseine trained with me a lot in the moss-covered plaza, she’s also had countless matches with Mistral and Mistral’s power is in a league of its own. It naturally stems from an unfathomable amount of dragon spirit, but it is something Ruiseine and I both have been facing off against. That’s why something as simple as brute force is useless against us.
The instant the naginata and the one-handed sword collide, Ruiseine deflects the sword with a flowing movement of her polearm and avoids Ceries-sama’s slash.
“You!?”
Ceries-sama’s expression fills with shock.
“Impossible!”
Ristia cries out in astonishment from beside me.
“No way! That isn’t something you can just deflect. If it touches you, then you’re done!”
Slatton’s eyes go round as he too is astonished.
“Could she have not used her blowback?”
“No, judging from Ceries’ surprise, we can surmise there was no blowback even though she did indeed use it.”
Cleisio’s question is refuted by Ristia.
“How?”
With that question, Ceries-sama starts her second attack. She swings her sword down from left and right, this time aiming for the naginata’s shaft, but she can’t even touch it. A flurry of attacks is unleashed, but not a single one hits.
The attacks aren’t avoided by a large margin either. Instead, Ceries-sama’s swings more often than not come quite close to Ruiseine. Despite that, they don’t hit her. It’s almost as if all of her moves are being read.
Ruiseine avoids all of Ceries-sama’s attacks.
“This…”
Ceries-sama’s dragon spirit swells. It’s flowing through her entire body. Using an unrestrained speed, she finally touches the naginata.
“Ah…”
Yet the one to lose balance is Ceries-sama. Even with her entire body behind that attack, Ruiseine still read it.
Ruiseine uses the centrifugal force of the repealed naginata to spin around and plunge at Ceries-sama. Ceries-sama, who had lunged at Ruiseine, is leaning forward and completely exposed for an attack.
Ruiseine wraps her arm around Ceries-sama who is falling over. Smiling at her, she says, “Ara ara, maa maa, is my winning like this truly alright?”
In the end, this is a match. All things considered, if Ruiseine wanted to, she could have instead jabbed the blunt end of her naginata into Ceries-sama chest to send her flying.
Ceries-sama also realizes she lost and calmly surrenders.
“Waa!” cheers erupt up from all around.
“Never would I have thought Ceries would lose with her blowback.”
“That was in-credible. Is that the power of a war shrine maiden?”
Ristia and Slatton are also amazed.
Fufufu, that really must have been quite the surprise. Not only were all of Ceries-sama’s attacks read, even one with her entire body behind it was parried.
Out of everyone here, I’m undoubtedly the only one who was convinced Ruiseine would win, aren’t I? To put it bluntly, in my opinion, this match was Ruiseine’s win without even needing to fight as Ceries-sama was her opponent.
Ruiseine has dragon eyes, after all. They make her the natural enemy of all who use dragon spirit. It is that overwhelming of an ability.
I know it very well. No matter what I try, Ruiseine always sees through it. It doesn’t matter if I try to overpower her or use swift techniques, if she knows what I intend to do, then it’s easily avoidable. What’s more, she has become able to see and even sever the weak points of techniques and the flow of dragon spirit.
Isn’t her ability already at an unfair level?
Standing against Ruiseine isn’t possible unless it with overwhelming power and speed beyond what she can handle, like with Mistral. In this case where Ceries-sama obviously doesn’t know any of that, I don’t believe she had the chance to win from the start.
We greet Ceries-sama and Ruiseine with applause as they return. They are tilting their head and smiling respectively.
“How strange, wa. No matter what I did, they somehow ended up being misfires.”
Ceries-sama is having trouble accepting the match just now.
“Sorry.”
Ruiseine apologizes.
“No, you have nothing to apologize for. It’s just, I’m surprised that my technique kept failing.”
“Ruiseine, you are strong.” (Slatton?)
“I never thought I’d ever see anyone defeat Ceries at close combat with her blowback.” (Ristia)
“Arere, Ristia, could it be that you can’t beat her when she uses it either?” (Ernea)
“Rather, today is my first time seeing someone defeat Ceries at close combat while she is using her blowback.” (Ristia?)
“Ah, I always thought there was no choice but to attack from long range.” (Slatton?)
“Uhehe, so it was like that?”
Ruiseine, you seriously did something incredible.
“Ruiseine, teach me how to defeat Ceries at close-quarters combat, too.”
Ruiseine is troubled by Neimie’s plea.
“Was Ruiseine always that strong?”
“What a miraculous victory–.”
Kiiri and Inea, Ruiseine’s fellow shrine maidens, are skeptical about the prowess she just showed.
Either way, that is Ruiseine’s current ability. Those who use dragon spirit are left without arms or legs to fight with against her.
Naturally, that includes me too…
While we are talking away, the matches continue. Then, eventually, my turn arrives.
T/N: Now to see Ernea dance.
~Gandire Alea
By Gandire Alea December 13, 2022
Just how does a war shrine maiden wage battle? All of my classmates are swallowing with that anticipation in mind.
“Ara ara, maa maa.”
Ruiseine smiles at everyone. She doesn’t seem to be nervous.
Firmly holding her favorite naginata with both her hands, she proceeds to the area designated as the arena.
Everyone’s gaze shifts to her opponent.
“Ruiseine, don’t be too hard on me.”
Ceries-sama says such to her.
Ahh, that’s right. Our class has an odd number of students. Someone is going to have to fight a second match, and it looks like it’s Ceries-sama.
“Ceries-sama, I will be in your care.”
The two properly bow to each other and exchange a few words before moving to their designated spaces. Then, Ruiseine makes her declaration.
“I swear to conduct myself with integrity and diligently endeavor to improve myself.”
That is the conventional declaration of shrine maiden-sama, hence no one reacts to it. As Ceries-sama already made her declaration earlier, it’s finally time for the match.
Ruiseine lowers her center of gravity and holds out her naginata. Ceries-sama, remaining vigilant, nevertheless gracefully holds her sword ready.
“Begin!”
Cheers rise at the call.
Ceries-sama charges forward and thrusts herself towards Ruiseine. As the naginata is long, it grants a lot of reach. I get the feeling Ceries-sama is trying to get in close so she can make the first strike with her one-handed sword.
Ruiseine, however, thrusts back in response. She attacks twice, faster than the eye can follow. Ceries-sama quickly adapts to receive them.
When it comes to reach, Ceries-sama is at an overwhelming disadvantage against the naginata. In order to overturn it, she may turn to the blowback dragon technique she used earlier.
Everyone in the audience probably feels the same way. Her blowback from earlier left that much of an impact.
The air around Ceries-sama changes. I check her dragon spirit and find that the quality flowing through her is different from the kind she has been using to raise her physical abilities.
Ceries-sama attacks Ruisenin, swinging her one-handed sword at the naginata’s blade as itmoves to block her path. If their blades clash, Ruiseine will also be blown away. Then, that will be the end of the match. That is what everyone is thinking, everyone except me.
I know,
I know various things. Not only has Ruiseine trained with me a lot in the moss-covered plaza, she’s also had countless matches with Mistral and Mistral’s power is in a league of its own. It naturally stems from an unfathomable amount of dragon spirit, but it is something Ruiseine and I both have been facing off against. That’s why something as simple as brute force is useless against us.
The instant the naginata and the one-handed sword collide, Ruiseine deflects the sword with a flowing movement of her polearm and avoids Ceries-sama’s slash.
“You!?”
Ceries-sama’s expression fills with shock.
“Impossible!”
Ristia cries out in astonishment from beside me.
“No way! That isn’t something you can just deflect. If it touches you, then you’re done!”
Slatton’s eyes go round as he too is astonished.
“Could she have not used her blowback?”
“No, judging from Ceries’ surprise, we can surmise there was no blowback even though she did indeed use it.”
Cleisio’s question is refuted by Ristia.
“How?”
With that question, Ceries-sama starts her second attack. She swings her sword down from left and right, this time aiming for the naginata’s shaft, but she can’t even touch it. A flurry of attacks is unleashed, but not a single one hits.
The attacks aren’t avoided by a large margin either. Instead, Ceries-sama’s swings more often than not come quite close to Ruiseine. Despite that, they don’t hit her. It’s almost as if all of her moves are being read.
Ruiseine avoids all of Ceries-sama’s attacks.
“This…”
Ceries-sama’s dragon spirit swells. It’s flowing through her entire body. Using an unrestrained speed, she finally touches the naginata.
“Ah…”
Yet the one to lose balance is Ceries-sama. Even with her entire body behind that attack, Ruiseine still read it.
Ruiseine uses the centrifugal force of the repealed naginata to spin around and plunge at Ceries-sama. Ceries-sama, who had lunged at Ruiseine, is leaning forward and completely exposed for an attack.
Ruiseine wraps her arm around Ceries-sama who is falling over. Smiling at her, she says, “Ara ara, maa maa, is my winning like this truly alright?”
In the end, this is a match. All things considered, if Ruiseine wanted to, she could have instead jabbed the blunt end of her naginata into Ceries-sama chest to send her flying.
Ceries-sama also realizes she lost and calmly surrenders.
“Waa!” cheers erupt up from all around.
“Never would I have thought Ceries would lose with her blowback.”
“That was in-credible. Is that the power of a war shrine maiden?”
Ristia and Slatton are also amazed.
Fufufu, that really must have been quite the surprise. Not only were all of Ceries-sama’s attacks read, even one with her entire body behind it was parried.
Out of everyone here, I’m undoubtedly the only one who was convinced Ruiseine would win, aren’t I? To put it bluntly, in my opinion, this match was Ruiseine’s win without even needing to fight as Ceries-sama was her opponent.
Ruiseine has dragon eyes, after all. They make her the natural enemy of all who use dragon spirit. It is that overwhelming of an ability.
I know it very well. No matter what I try, Ruiseine always sees through it. It doesn’t matter if I try to overpower her or use swift techniques, if she knows what I intend to do, then it’s easily avoidable. What’s more, she has become able to see and even sever the weak points of techniques and the flow of dragon spirit.
Isn’t her ability already at an unfair level?
Standing against Ruiseine isn’t possible unless it with overwhelming power and speed beyond what she can handle, like with Mistral. In this case where Ceries-sama obviously doesn’t know any of that, I don’t believe she had the chance to win from the start.
We greet Ceries-sama and Ruiseine with applause as they return. They are tilting their head and smiling respectively.
“How strange, wa. No matter what I did, they somehow ended up being misfires.”
Ceries-sama is having trouble accepting the match just now.
“Sorry.”
Ruiseine apologizes.
“No, you have nothing to apologize for. It’s just, I’m surprised that my technique kept failing.”
“Ruiseine, you are strong.” (Slatton?)
“I never thought I’d ever see anyone defeat Ceries at close combat with her blowback.” (Ristia)
“Arere, Ristia, could it be that you can’t beat her when she uses it either?” (Ernea)
“Rather, today is my first time seeing someone defeat Ceries at close combat while she is using her blowback.” (Ristia?)
“Ah, I always thought there was no choice but to attack from long range.” (Slatton?)
“Uhehe, so it was like that?”
Ruiseine, you seriously did something incredible.
“Ruiseine, teach me how to defeat Ceries at close-quarters combat, too.”
Ruiseine is troubled by Neimie’s plea.
“Was Ruiseine always that strong?”
“What a miraculous victory–.”
Kiiri and Inea, Ruiseine’s fellow shrine maidens, are skeptical about the prowess she just showed.
Either way, that is Ruiseine’s current ability. Those who use dragon spirit are left without arms or legs to fight with against her.
Naturally, that includes me too…
While we are talking away, the matches continue. Then, eventually, my turn arrives.
T/N: Now to see Ernea dance.
~Gandire Alea
