Chapter 693: Echo Upon the Mirror's Surface, Roar From the Skyscrapers - Part 11
The world shook with a deafening roar. The majestic Theater was being consumed, and a skyscraper was breaking through and actively reconstructing itself over it.
Did a Conquista Doll have that kind of overwhelming power? Or was it due to the mystery data Andrew installed? I didn't know, but it probably wasn't either of those.
In gaming terms, meeting Andrew and updating the Conquista Doll was likely a necessary event flag for clearing Orchestra, but narratively speaking, that probably wasn't the actual core reason. The reason for this phenomenon was......... a struggle for control over Orchestra. Not between the "Diva" and Saina. It was the feelings of someone from Sternenblume—recorded inside Orchestra and funneled through the Conquista Doll—clashing directly against Elise's.
"Drop dead!!"
『............』
Due to the effect of Levin Trigger・Hazard, my HP was reduced to 1. I couldn't take another hit, but I had no intention of taking one anyway. I stomped my legs, currently dominated by Overflow, into the ground with everything I had. The rampaging kinetic energy generated an excessive amount of propulsion, launching me into a standing backflip. I righted my posture before "Sunraku" even managed to stand up.
"Sunraku's" choice was to fire the revolver while getting up, but it's too slow, too slow, too slow! Being bare-handed isn't a handicap for me anymore! Eat this and drop dead, Exordinary Skill 「Warphan」!!
Landing from the backflip, a light push off my legs violently triggered forward propulsion this time. I closed the distance created by my retreat in a single breath, moving in an upward, gouging motion to evade the revolver's bullet. I poured everything I had into my swung fist and unleashed an upper.
However,
"What!?"
The jaw I was supposed to smash vanished...... No! He's using Overflow too!!
As expected of "me." Leaning backward with a movement even more reckless than my backflip, "Sunraku" placed one hand on the ground and dodged my fist with an absurdly dangerous back-handspring. Even if I wanted to follow up, grazing even my toe right now would kill me. I don't trust RNG enough to rely on pure luck.
I lightly kicked the ground to retreat one meter. During that time, "Sunraku" stood up while readying his equipment, putting the distance between us at about three meters. Too far for close-quarters, but too close for long-range. We both already had our next weapons drawn. I had the Aspiring Blades of the Hero and the Final Blade of Aspiration's End With the Hero, while he had a massive gauntlet that looked exactly like the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlets.
The copy's armaments merely looked "somewhat similar" and were aesthetically different from the real ones, but their actual specs were identical. Having to figure out what was reproduced based purely on its rough outline was annoying, but with a shape that distinct, I already knew exactly what he was going to do.
"Tch!!!"
『............』
We both aimed for an infight, but that gauntlet had a specific gimmick. Just as expected, "Sunraku" thrust his fist toward me and fired a crystal bullet. The bullet itself had almost zero destructive power, but it would probably still deal about 1 damage if it hit. Leaning forward to deflect it would be slightly too risky.
Being targeted dead center on my torso forced me to twist my body no matter how I tried to resist, and "Sunraku" wasn't naïve enough to overlook that slight opening. Treating it as payback for earlier, he launched a punch aimed straight for my face. I deflected it using my right sword with a self-parry, and right before the deflection connected, I activated the skill 「Hekaton Slash」 to multiply the number of hits from the second strike onward! I'd counter his heavy, singular blow by overwhelming it with sheer hit-count multiplication!!
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 rounded down to 100, lasting for 8 total hits. I've already won the impact clash for the first three slashes; can I overwhelm him with the remaining five? Let's test it out in actual combat, oraah!!
『............』
"What's wrong, what's wrong, Superior Upgrade! Looks like you're losing the output clash!!"
The 8-hit slash. Unable to withstand the impact, "Sunraku's" right arm was violently repelled backward. Since he was also under Overflow, I thought I could whittle him down, but although he's the spitting image of a player, he's just a reproduction and doesn't need to manually operate UI windows. The soft light effect I briefly saw was from an HP recovery item. Pull from the heal gacha too, damn it!?
The 16-hit slash. It seems he figured out how to deal with my attacks in that split second. Damn system assist. Since a whiffed attack doesn't count toward the hit multiplier, he was apparently treating my attacks as a threat by actively "letting them miss." Swatting down the straight sword that looked very much like Areadbhair which he casually tossed at me, I pushed forward even further to prevent him from doing so.
The 32-hit slash. I closed in even tighter on the continuously retreating "Sunraku." As long as we were both executing high-speed maneuvers under Overflow, even a single grazing hit from either of us would end the fight. Therefore, whether it looked like a relentless assault or a desperate counterattack, we were both operating with absolute optimal movements that didn't permit even the slightest graze.
A massive shield blocked my path. I activated Orbit Movement to evade using a semi-circular trajectory. Scanning my surroundings as I circled around, I pinpointed "Sunraku's" position and swung my sword......... Tch, I guess if I'm constantly attacking, he's just going to focus entirely on defense. I deflected a sword flying toward my face that was probably modeled after the Blue Predator.
The 64-hit slash. No, I'm forcing the end right here. If I just keep slashing one at a time, he's just going to keep countering them individually.
The radiance of skills enveloped my entire body. Realizing I was leaning in for the kill, he boosted his mobility just the same, but......... even a reproduction can't stack every single buff simultaneously. I was the one who took the initiative, meaning I was the one who finished activating all the necessary skills first, which meant I got to move first!!
I stomped down and accelerated in one burst, taking the high ground over "Sunraku" with a mid-air jump to rain down a flurry of sword strikes. However, even though my attacks definitely should have connected with "Sunraku," there was zero physical feedback. It felt exactly like hitting empty air...... An illusion from 【Fading Mirror】! A chill ran down my spine, my personal instinct honed in Bakumatsu detecting an incoming strike. But I already read that far ahead!!
"Solid Maneuver!!"
Even if my posture couldn't recover in time to intercept, as long as I visually confirmed the incoming attack, I could trigger the dodgeball-style evasion skill. Bouncing through the air in a blatantly unnatural trajectory to dodge the thrusting halberd, I deliberately......... abandoned the final 100-hit slash.
Because think about it: rather than closing into range to land a single slash, just hucking two swords at him gave me more hits.
"Get crushed, oraa!"
CLAAAASSHHHH!!! (The sound of my swords being repelled by a cymbal flying in from the side.)
Ngaaaaaaaahhhhh PLOT-ARMOR GUAAAAAAAAAARRRDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!
Author's Afterword
This entire sequence lasted roughly thirty seconds!!
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