The Power of the Sword Saint

He leaped into her waist, and embraced her small body as they fell toward the ground.

The instant before he hit the floor, he felt as though steel had singed the hair on the back of his head which made him shudder. But he forced himself to ignore it due to the weight in his arms, and tried to create some distance as they tumbled.

He got on his knees and turned around to find Elsa standing still with an expression of surprise. He felt as if he'd gotten one over on her, and donned a twitching smile at his triumph.

His smile almost made her retaliate, but she switched to defending against the rapid-fire icicles coming from behind her. Thankful for Not-Satella's aid, he looked down into his chest,

"Are you okay?! It was a desperate situation, so please overlook it if I touched anything I shouldn't have!"

"I'd have thanked you if you didn't say that.― Wait, why?"

"No clue! My body just moved on its own! It's seriously a miracle! Make miracle! If I had to say, it's because I'm repaying a favor, although you probably don't know what I'm talking about! You don't!"

[T/N: Subaru says 'Make miracle' in English]

He released Felt and clenched his fist, congratulating himself for somehow doing a good job.

In the second world, Felt had saved him from Elsa. He was able to repay her for that. But that was a meaningless memory in this world, and now both Felt and Subaru had fallen before her blade.

―But even so, the kindness he received wouldn't just disappear. And if he could move now, he obviously had to see things through.

"Alright, I can move. Did that brush with death suddenly strengthen my resolve? Bravado is still bravery, recklessness is still courage. I'll do it, it's time to do it, gotta do it, have to do it, aren't I gonna do it?!"

"H-Hey, bro…"

"Listen up, listen me. Listen closely, Felt. I'm going to start buying time just like Rom did before he fell in battle. I'll create an opening one way or another, use that to run away. Run straight out of the entrance with all you've got, don't look back. It's what you call an escape, got it?"

[T/N: Subaru says 'listen me' and 'escape' in English]

"―! Absolutely not! Are you really telling me to just turn tail and run?!"

Her red eyes looked up at him as if glaring, and he accepted the challenge and brought his face close.

He immediately noticed when for a moment, his strong will caused Felt's expression to falter.

"That's exactly right, turn around, tuck your tail in, and run. To be honest, that's what I want to do. I don't want to stay in this violent hellscape a moment longer than I have to."

He patted her blonde hair with all his might and then took a breath, "But,"

"You're fifteen, and I'm eighteen. So you're probably the youngest one here. Therefore, we obviously have to choose whatever option gives you the best chance of survival. It's obvious!"

"W-What are you… Don't screw around, you were cowering in fear just moments ago."

"That was then! This is now! I'm not cowering now, so it's fine! Or rather, I'll have to do this before the fear paralyzes me again. That's how it is, so run!"

Subaru pushed on her forehead to silence any further objection, and then started warming up as he stood up. Rom's club had also fallen out of his hand and tumbled nearby.

He picked it up with great effort, despite its extreme weight, he could still swing it.

"I can probably keep her in check with at least one good strike… Looks like I was right to swing that pointlessly large bamboo sword every day. To think it was all for this moment, not bad, me."

He sang his own praises as he swung the club, and then held his breath as he waited for the right time.

Felt looked like she still had something to say as she held her breath behind him, but he didn't have the time to deal with her indecision right now. Their chances of survival were probably dropping with every second.

There wasn't any sign of sluggishness in Elsa's movements as she danced through the ice. To begin with, Subaru couldn't even begin to understand whether or not she was open considering his complete lack of actual combat experience.

Therefore, the instant Elsa's view was blocked as she cut down a particularly large icicle, he forgot to even breathe as he brought the club down.

"―Fush!"

It seemed the desperate situation had increased his strength, he swung the club even faster than expected.

It was a blow that could split a human head like a watermelon if he scored a direct hit, but,

"Your aim was excellent. But unfortunately, you exuded too much killing intent, it made your attack obvious."

"Killing intent?! I have no idea how I'm supposed to control that!"

Although he'd attacked from right behind her, Elsa slammed the back of her blade into the club, altering its trajectory to avoid it. As Subaru whined about the failure of his surprise attack, he bared his fangs,

"Now! Go, Felt―!!"

"―!!"

As if jolted by his shout, Felt's small body dashed forward, riding wind itself.

She'd reached her top speed in a single step. She ran through the room so fast the human eye couldn't track her, moving past the scattered icicles and frozen floor as her body headed toward the entrance.

"You think I'll let her?"

To stop her, Elsa drew a knife and threw it from right beside her.

Perhaps as revenge for Felt's interference earlier, the plain looking knife was going to plunge straight into her back as she ran. But,

"You'll have to let her go!!"

Kicking up a nearby table, Subaru blocked the knife's path.

His reflexive reaction produced results, the knife ended up piercing the table and thus could not reach its target. Subaru couldn't help but internally applaud his miraculous feat,

"Awesome! But my toes hurt more than expected…Bubugaru?!"

A long leg kicked him in the side of his head, interrupting his praise midway and causing him to crash into a wall.

The impact was to his shoulder so his head was fine, but this unexpected force halted his thoughts. The pain finally set in, and he once again tasted blood in his mouth.

"How unusual, I feel just a little annoyed."

"Well, that's just great! Hahaa, That. Is. What. You. Get! I made you lose one! Now, let me enjoy your whining, you loser!"

Putting on a show of courage as he got back up, he relentlessly provoked Elsa to draw her attention.

He didn't think it was a very reliable plan considering her personality, but as if reading his mind, her smile deepened and she completely disregarded Felt.

"Alright, I'll play along. In exchange, don't bore me with your dancing."

"Let me warn you, you'd better be prepared if you wanna dance with me. I'm rather unrefined, so I'll end up stomping all over your feet."

He ended up taking some mental damage when he remembered how he couldn't dance with the girl he liked at a certain folk dance.

He spat out the blood gathering in his mouth, and fixed his grip on the club he was holding.

He wouldn't have very many chances to use it. So instead of thinking about using it like Rom or whatever, he focused completely on meeting Elsa head on as she approached.

"Don't forget about me!"

As Elsa focused on the opponent in front of her, she was suddenly assailed by some ice from behind.

She swung her blade without even turning around and deflected the attack. Her senses transcended human understanding, even Subaru couldn't crack jokes at this point.

"I'm tired of that game, though… Do you think you can still entertain me?"

She asked in a low voice, her smile the color of blood.

This smile sent a chill down Subaru's spine, he then glanced at Not-Satella. When their eyes met, he gave her a slight nod,

"If you have some kind of hidden power or something, now would be a good time to use it."

"… I do have a trump card, but if I use it I'll be the only one left."

"I've got this! I can still do it! It's too early to use your trump card! Why give up so soon?! The fight is still even! Let's do this, me!"

Subaru waved his limbs around to show he was in good health, trying desperately to stop her from giving up on everything. His frantic expression caused Not-Satella's lips to relax even though they were in the midst of battle.

"I'm not going to use it. Not while you're still trying so hard. Let's struggle all we can― Running to daddy is my last resort."

Her resigned expression as she said this caused something to light up within Subaru.

He thought it was rather unlike him to have this sort of sentiment well up from within.

It wasn't like him, he wasn't that kind of person at all.

He was always apathetic toward his surroundings, he was unaffected by whatever went on around him, no matter what sort of problem arose, he would never choose to face it earnestly, instead he would just casually wait around for it to fade away, like a cloud or something.

Pinning his hopes on others or having others place their hopes in him, he thought he didn't care about any of that.

―Just now, he ended up hoping. And because of this hope, he was disappointed.

He had only ever seen her look tense or brooding as she looked for a certain something, so he wanted to see her smile.

But to think that this expression that looked like she was giving up, like she had resigned herself to whatever was going to happen, would be the first 'smile' he received from her, there was no way he would allow that.

"That doesn't count…"

"―Eh?"

"Ignore what I just said! It's all nonsense! I'm seriously fired up here!! I'm going to do this, damn it! I definitely won't let you use that trump card!!"

He thrust his finger out, and announced this to both Not-Satella and Elsa.

He stomped his feet and sent spittle flying as he howled in excitement.

"Don't make that sort of face, you're wasting your beauty! And you, you damned sadist of the year, read the mood! Don't make her look like that! You're wasting your beauty too!"

"… Seems you have a little too much energy."

"Because you haven't managed to spill a single person's blood! But this club, 'Kotetsu', has been lusting for your blood all evening! Fm! Fmm!"

He swung his club on the spot, like a bat.

Pulled by its weight, Subaru staggered around flustered as Elsa pointed her knife at him.

"That's enough fooling around. It's about time we started dancing, do try to keep up."

"You too, don't think this will be over too quickly. Don't underestimate me, I'll toss you with my right and slam you with my left!"

As Elsa leaned forward slightly, Subaru pointed his club at her as if he was announcing a homerun.

Because of this unnecessary gesture, he wasn't able to respond in time when she leaped at him. He readied the club in a panic, and prepared to strike the slender figure flying toward him.

There was a strong wind as he swung from the side, this attack would blow Elsa's head off.

He put everything he had into this merciless swing, prepared for the horrific sight it would create. It wouldn't be strange if a direct hit turned part of her into mincemeat.

"As if I could beat her by showing mercy!"

The urgency of the situation meant Subaru couldn't even think about holding back.

In response to this lethal blow, Elsa lowered her stance even further with practiced movements and continued to approach if slithering on the ground as she avoided his attack.

"You damned spider woman―!"

"Well, you are trapped in my web."

Seeing the blade reaching up to him, Subaru immediately threw himself backward. However, he still couldn't escape the blade's range.

In an instant so short you'd miss it if you blinked, the memory of the first time he stood up on his own two legs flashed through his mind, his parents clapped and exclaimed 'This kid might be a genius'.

"Damn it, looking at my current situation after that flashback, there couldn't possibly be a more pathetic memory―!!"

The embarrassment this memory caused made his knees shoot up.

He hadn't been aiming for anything, but Elsa ended up taking a direct hit to her torso as she slipped toward him.

She let out an erotic moan of pain and her blade's path was thrown off slightly. There,

"An ice shield― Nice cover!!"

"I'm not very good at forming it where I want to. ― I almost ended up creating an ice sculpture there."

"You mean her, not me, right?!"

A block of ice appeared near his face and stopped the blade, Subaru immediately spoke his thanks as he retreated, and Satella stated this as she wiped her forehead.

She then dodged his question and started firing another barrage of ice at Elsa to keep her in check.

"You insects are starting to become an annoyance…"

"Hey now, don't go underestimating insects. You might be allergic to our bite!"

"You're acting pretty cocky now that you're in a safe spot."

Elsa was focused on dodging the hail of ice, and Subaru was attempting to break her focus with his taunts.

He would have loved to slip behind her to attack, but if he carelessly stepped into that barrage he would probably be taken out by his own ally.

That was probably why Not-Satella had restrained her attack while he was fighting.

This was the level of teamwork you could expect from an impromptu team formed on the spot.

"However, the two worked together to overcome this trial and their bond deepened. Before they knew it, trust had turned into love and their burning passion could no longer be stopped…"

"I have no clue what you're whispering over there, but it's clearly something compleeeetely irrelevant."

"To think of another girl while you've got a woman right in front of you, how very boorish."

"They both hated it?!"

Elsa somehow kept her composure even in the midst of these rapidfire attacks.

Subaru continued to watch as Elsa deflected the ice, he would occasionally cut in with an attack of his own and then immediately retreat, he kept repeating this cycle as he thought.

Their steadily worsening situation hadn't changed, it was obvious that Elsa could easily take out Subaru just like she did to Rom if she felt like it.

It only seemed like he was able to put up a fight because she possessed an overwhelming advantage in ability and was making light of him. The fact that Subaru's fear would not let him step any further into lethal range was another reason.

If Subaru had more courage than brains, she'd probably end this equilibrium in a single swing.

Nonetheless, it didn't seem his cowardice could prove useful for much longer.

The severity of her slashes was gradually increasing, and Subaru was steadily accumulating cuts as he failed to evade in time.

There were cuts on his arms, his calf, under his armpit, and even a shallow one on his neck, his gray jersey was starting to turn red as his blood stained it.

"Getting cut hurts! It hurts real bad! Even wounds of this level could make me cry!"

"―No good after all, huh."

"Ah, sorry! I lied! Please ignore that! Don't give up, don't use that trump card! I can still do this! I'm completely fine, I've got this!"

He waved his hands to show Not-Satella he was fine, and then immediately performed a spinning kick.

He had aimed to catch Elsa off guard with an attack completely different from the pattern he established with the club. But,

"Right, got you."

"Geh."

She easily avoided his kick, and then grabbed his leg before it could pass by. She raised her kukri knife aiming to chop off his entire leg. The force would easily tear through his leg in one stroke, its speed and sharpness were more than enough.

The shock from the blood loss and pain of having his thigh severed would kill him― He could see the words BAD END 4 appear before him.

"Nuooo! Whatever is within me, burn up―!!"

He immediately tried to raise the club to block, but the weight meant he couldn't lift it in time while standing on one leg.

Not-Satella screamed in despair as the merciless slash reached his leg.

The premonition of horrible pain and fresh blood caused him to quite literally scream up blood―

"―That's enough."

Piercing the roof, a blazing inferno descended into the loot house.

The flame's dreadful aura swept through the room and even halted Elsa's brutal act.

Subaru stumbled backward when his leg was released and ended up falling on his butt.

And before him, within the swirling dust and smoke, he saw a crimson glow.

"It seems things were rather risky just now, but I'm glad I made it in time."

"Y-You're…"

The flame wavered as it stepped forward.

In its path was Elsa, who had retreated quite some distance. She adjusted her grip on the kukri knife as she faced the being before her, losing her composure for the first time.

Before this overwhelming sense of intimidation, she no longer had the leeway to enjoy herself.

Its dignified presence froze Subaru's, Not-Satella's, and even Elsa's expressions.

Even with all their eyes on it, its handsome features did not waver.

The young man only had a single-minded sense of justice in his sky-blue eyes as his lips formed a slight smile.

"Now, it's about time we finished this―!"

Brushing his crimson hair upward, the handsome youth loudly declared this.

Her body rode the wind out of the battlefield, she felt as if she was freed from the despair the moment she passed the entrance.

In the end, in that world she didn't even have the leeway to look back at, the battle raged on even now.

There was the dry sound of freezing air as well as the sound of steel shattering ice, and there was also the sound of a blunt weapon tearing through the air along with the occasional 'Hyoeh's and 'Fuah's as someone dodged while making strange noises.

The battle wasn't over.

Even though Felt had run away, leaving it all behind.

"What the heck am I thinking? Isn't it lucky that I was able to escape?"

If she had stayed there, she would be dead, that was obvious.

Felt didn't have the slightest change against a woman who could bring Rom down with one blow. It was the same for the silver-haired elf, she probably wouldn't be able to match Elsa now that she had lost her spirit's support.

As for Subaru, it was completely obvious that he was worthless.

Once could tell at a glance that he was just an ordinary fellow, and he hadn't the slightest hint of combat experience. His lovely fingers suggested that he had never held a weapon, and his unmarred hair and skin probably meant he had never been injured.

In other words, he had lived a sheltered life. His social status was such that he didn't need to think of combat.

He did bring that absurdly expensive meteor, so this way of thinking made sense.

She should just think of it as him getting his just deserts. Ignorant of the ways of the world and possessing just a little chivalrous spirit, he ended up trying to do more than he could. She should just laugh at his recklessness.

"Right, keep running. I can't stay in this town anymore. There's people that terrifying. Before they find me, before it's too late to run away, I need to, quickly…"

Even within the slums, she had to choose a route known only to those who stayed here. Narrow and tiny, it was like a path for animals, but it was an ideal escape route.

Considering her agility and small frame, she didn't think there was anyone who would be able to capture her here. If she was to prioritize her life, this was the ideal method.

After all, Subaru who was probably dead by now had tried to act cool by letting her escape, so if she ran away successfully, he could at least rest in peace. That much was obvious.

It was obvious, but,

"―Someone, isn't anyone there?!"

Even though her brain told her she should choose the narrow path, her legs took her to the slum's main road which connected to the main street. Her expression was one of panic and she was out of breath, even her line of sight was unsteady.

Sighting a rundown shack, she ran up the wall and stood atop it, she then sent spittle flying as she screamed.

It wasn't just anyone that she needed.

She needed someone who had the power to face that murderer―Elsa.

If anyone would do, she had already seen several figures as she ran here. But Felt was by no means someone well-liked around here.

Especially now that she was in trouble, Rom was probably the only one around here who would help her.

If she just left Rom like this, he would die.

Even Subaru who had helped Felt escape was probably fighting for his life right now.

It was a strange feeling. Without understanding why, she desperately rubbed her eyes that were on the verge of tears.

Setting Rom aside, what was so bad about some guy she just met dying? He seemed to have had a good upbringing, spoke a lot of nonsense, and to call him inconsiderate was putting it lightly.

But when Elsa's words almost made her cry, he got angry for her, and even now he was sacrificing himself so she could escape.

She didn't understand what she was feeling. However, because she was feeling it, Felt's heart urged her to run.

She had felt something in response to his actions. Because of this feeling that wouldn't stop heating up, Felt continued to run, desperately wanting to scream.

And then, once she had run through many, many streets―

"―Please, help."

"Understood. I shall help you."

She encountered a young man like a crimson inferno, and changed fate.

※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

"… Reinhardt?"

"That's right, Subaru. It's been very long, has it? Sorry to be late."

The tall figure turned its head toward Subaru who was still on the ground―Reinhardt's faint smile seemed apologetic.

Even though he had ripped through the roof and dropped about five meters, this didn't seem to have had any effect on him as he casually walked forward. His movements were refined even as he cleared the dust, Subaru felt that he was now somewhat different from when they had faced Tonchinkan, he felt that he was getting a glimpse at Reinhardt's true nature.

Reinhardt looked forward with his guard up, at the beautiful woman in black clothes whose hostility was directed at him. His blue eyes suddenly narrowed as if remembering something,

"Black hair and black clothes. And a curved blade characteristic of the north. ― With those characteristics, there's no mistaking it. You're the 'Bowel Hunter', yes?"

"What's with that super disturbing nickname…"

"It was given to her due to her distinctive method of killing. She's a rather infamous criminal who is known to be dangerous even in the capital. It is also said that she's just a simple mercenary, though."

Reinhardt sincerely responded to Subaru's mutter, and set his clear blue eyes on Elsa. His gaze caused her to stir,

"Reinhardt― Yes, the knight among knights. From the line of sword saints. Incredible, to think I'd encounter such interesting opponents, I suppose I'll have to thank my employer.

"There's a number of things I'd like to ask you. I recommend you surrender."

"You think a starving predator could resist a splendid steak dripping blood?"

She seductively licked her lips with her red tongue and looked at Reinhardt with an ecstatic expression.

Receiving her gaze, he scratched his cheek as if troubled, "I suppose not.".

"No choice. Subaru, step back a bit. Get the old man somewhere safe if you can. It'd be a great help if you could stay by that person's side after that."

"Understood… She's a monster of a woman, so don't let your guard down."

"Fortunately, hunting monsters happens to be my specialty."

With these promising words, Reinhardt advanced, completely calm.

He did not even reach for the sword at his hip, he approached her barehanded.

His composure made Subaru gulp, but what happened once the battle started shocked him even more.

"―Sh"

Exhaling sharply, Elsa brandished the knife in her hand, aiming for his neck.

She was no longer holding back like she was against Subaru, the flash of silver killed the air itself as it rushed toward Reinhardt's slender neck. Reinhardt seemed completely defenseless against this. Forget drawing his sword to block, he did not even attempt to dodge.

As the blade swung toward him, Subaru saw a vision of Reinhardt's head being torn off. There would be a spray of blood, and Reinhardt's head would fall later like in a manga.

That was the scene he saw. But―

"I'd prefer not to be too violent against a female opponent, but…"

Reinhardt said these gentlemanly words in a somewhat lower tone. Then,

"Excuse me."

With force that shattered the ground and created a shockwave, his kick sent Elsa flying.

The shockwave even reached Subaru, who was rendered speechless by the wind..

It looked like a normal front kick, and yet it held such power that the wind from the shockwave shook the entire building. Having received a direct hit, Elsa's body flew like a leaf until she sprang off the wall to reduce the impact and landed as if tumbling onto the ground. Ever her expression was one of astonishment.

"Woawoahwoah, seriously… What's with that?"

He had used the term 'off the charts' many times until now, but right now, for the time Subaru believed that he had been using it all wrong.

The term surely existed just to describe the man standing before him.

Compared to him, running like the wind, swinging a club like a twig, transcendent battle sense, and magical power boasting overwhelming quantity, all of these were completely overshadowed.

"You're as good as the rumors say… No, you're even better."

"I'm not sure I can live up to your expectations."

"Will you not use the sword at your hip? I would love to experience its legendary sharpness."

Elsa recklessly pointed at Reinhardt's sword, she wanted to face him at his best.

But Reinhardt shook his head in response,

"This sword can only be drawn when it is necessary. That it has not left its sheath means this is not one of those times."

"It seems I'm being looked down upon."

"I find this judgement rather troubling as well. Therefore―"

Reinhardt suddenly averted his gaze and looked around the loot house. He then found a worn down two handed sword among some loot that had been placed against the wall, but were now strewn about the ground.

He flipped up the handle with his foot and easily caught it as it spun, he then lightly swung it as if testing it,

"I shall face you with this. Are you dissatisfied?"

"―Not at all. Aah, wonderful. Simply wonderful. Please, do entertain me!"

As Reinhardt held the sword, Elsa took the initiative by spinning her body to the side.

Immediately after, she threw several knives as she spun. There were four of them, thrown near simultaneously. She had been holding back when she aimed for Felt.

These blades thrown at different heights weren't as fast as Not-Satella's ice, but the difference in their trajectories would make it difficult to dodge. In other words, he had to deflect them, but,

"Of course, I'll take advantage of that opening."

Elsa's body leaped like a wind-up toy. She flipped as if using the ceiling as footing, and then sprang back down aiming for Reinhardt.

A two stage attack, even if he managed to deflect the knives he would still have to deal with Elsa's attack.

There were four attacks and another one right behind them, in response Reinhardt raised his sword before him,

"Sorry, but― Projectiles won't reach me."

Immediately after he whispered this, Subaru saw a sight that defied the laws of physics.

The knives that were going to plunge straight into Reinhardt's body―Their trajectories suddenly changed, they missed his body and hit the wall harmlessly.

He hadn't used any special magic, nor had he swung his sword faster than the eye could follow. He had essentially faced her first attack completely defenseless, this was an unfathomable spectacle, an absurd sight.

"The divine protection of arrow avoidance―!"

"I was granted it at birth, you see… Please don't think of it as unfair."

The knives completely failed to impede him, so their next exchange turned into a direct confrontation.

Elsa's slash had all the speed from her leap, and Reinhardt was prepared to take it by swinging his sword directly upward.

Even though it was an exchange of an instant, Subaru could see everything in slow motion.

Perhaps that was because Reinhardt's movements were perfectly refined, his every action seemed to possess divine skill that was almost magical.

He was holding some crude sword he found in a warehouse in the slums, but in his hands it shone like a legendary sword spoken of for generations.

His swordplay truly seemed to push the sword to the limit of what it could do.

Reinhardt's blade hit its mark, the base of Elsa's kukri knife―Even though it was a clash between steel, that absurd cutting power easily dispossessed Elsa of her blade.

Flipping by placing her hand on the ground, Elsa was left speechless by the fate of the weapon she held.

With the blade sliced off, all she had left was the handle, and as for the blade,

"Now that you've lost your weapons, I recommend you surrender."

Reinhardt held it in its hand as he turned around, lowering his sword.

Reinhardt threw it with a flick of his wrist, and it did not even look as it pierced the wall with a sharp sound. Even Subaru could hear Elsa gulp.

"This guy's seriously out of this world. Even I can't find the energy to crack jokes about this."

This impression leaked out of Subaru as if he was being squeezed, he then excitedly distanced himself from the battle.

He approached Rom's fallen body, and somehow managed to drag him near the wall.

"Old man, Rom. Hey, baldy, listen here, are you still alive?"

"Uu… Who's… Bald…"

"You, obviously. As if it'd be anyone else. My only goals in life are to never go bald or become fat. From my perspective, you're a great example of what not to do."

Though frail, at least he was able to respond, Subaru struck his forehead and heaved a sigh of relief.

Setting aside the severe damage to his head, the old man was probably alright. His memory might end up getting a little worse, but that would be a small price to pay to keep his life.

"Is that person alright?"

As Subaru relaxed, Not-Satella called out while running over to him.

With her long silver hair flowing behind her, she analyzed Rom's injuries, she then whispered, 'I'll have to heal this' as a faint blue glow emanated from her hands.

"Hey now, this old man's one of the people responsible for your insignia's theft, you know?"

"That's the reason. Once I heal him up, he'll have to repay that favor by answering my questions. He definitely won't lie to someone who has saved his life. This too is for my sake."

Perhaps she needed to make such long winded excuses to justify her actions.

Smiling wryly at her roundabout nature, Subaru redirected his gaze to the battle.

Elsa was on her knees, he couldn't see her expression but it seemed that Reinhardt had concluded that she had lost the will to fight. Lowering the hand holding his worn out blade, he approached Elsa with his guard down.

This was probably because he was confident in his superiority, but conceit always led to the worst outcomes. Alarm bells went off within Subaru, and the moment before Elsa moved as if leaping,

"She's got another one, Reinhardt!"

The knife she drew from her waist sliced off a bit of Reinhardt's bangs as he leaned backward.

Now that her surprise attack had failed, she turned to Subaru,

"That was rather sharp of you."

"I've experienced it first hand, after all!"

He flipped her off with pride that barely even counted as pride, but Elsa seemed to think he was talking nonsense and simply ignored him.

"However, I have more than just two fangs… Shall we start over?"

"Will you be satisfied if I dispossess you of all your weapons?"

"If I lose my fangs, I shall use my claws. If I lose my claws, I shall use my teeth. If I lose my teeth, I shall use my bones. And if I lose my bones, I shall use my life― That is what it means to lust for battle."

"Well then, I'll have to shatter that declaration of yours."

Pulling out a third knife from her waist, Elsa took a two blade stance as she once again rushed him.

Blade met blade, the clash of steel caused sparks to fly. With the force against one blade, Elsa swung the blade in her other arm.

The curved blade was aimed at Reinhardt's neck, but his long leg shot up into her arm, ensuring it wouldn't reach him. Elsa used the momentum to withdraw and leap off the wall up to the ceiling. She then kicked off the ceiling to reach another wall.

In a manner befitting the 'spider woman' insult Subaru had lobbed at her, her movements around the room defied gravity and prevented Reinhardt from going on the offensive.

She would freely attack from any direction and immediately withdraw, and Reinhardt was completely focused on intercepting her attacks, not moving a single step from where he stood. However, it didn't seem like there would ever be an end to this.

"Don't tell me even Reinhardt can't finish her off…"

Elsa's inhuman skill was now at an entirely different level from when she was wielding a single blade.

It was like a boss character reaching their second phase. She had ascended to a higher realm.

And even Reinhardt who was facing her possessed his powerful divine protection (Subaru didn't really understand much about this stuff, though) and his supreme combat ability, he too had transcended the realm of humanity.

It truly was a battle between Gods. But even so, it did seem to Subaru that Reinhardt was superior in terms of ability, however,

"… He's being considerate of us."

Not-Satella whispered as she healed Rom, as if answering Subaru's doubts.

She sent a sidelong glance at Subaru when he went 'Eh?' and bit her lip restlessly,

"I'm using the spirit arts right now, so he can't fight seriously. At the very least, until I finish healing this person…"

"What's the connection there?"

"If he were truly intent on fighting, all the mana in the atmosphere would turn away from me.― I'm almost done here. When I give the signal, call out to him."

"Ye-yeah."

Her explanation didn't quite hit the mark, but since she was relying on him, Subaru accepted despite his confusion.

The blue glow continued to heal the blow to Rom's head, and a cut that had been bleeding slightly. His wounds and the traces of blood on him gradually disappeared, and Satella sighed deeply as Subaru looked on in admiration.

After wiping off the scar tissue with some cloth, there was no longer any sign of the blow that had knocked him unconscious. As Subaru gasped at her magnificence, she tapped his shoulder.

"Please."

"Leave it to me.― Reinhardt! I don't really get it, but do your thing!"

Subaru announced the completion of Rom's treatment to Reinhardt who was still on the defensive.

Reinhardt glanced at him for a moment. When his eyes met Subaru's, he gave a slight nod.

"―What are you going to show me?"

"The swordplay of the Astrea family―"

Elsa asked this mid-leap, and Reinhardt's answer was short and stern.

―Immediately after, Subaru felt the space within the loot house warp.