Chapter 694: Echo Upon the Mirror's Surface, Roar From the Skyscrapers - Part 12

As Me and "MeSunraku" engaged in a fierce back-and-forth battle, the struggle for the world's initiative between the two Divas was also reaching its peak.

While feeling myself on the verge of snapping over the plot-armor guard, I quickly distanced myself to avoid getting caught by a counterattack like last time. No, seriously, the whole "a cymbal out of nowhere!" thing is genuinely infuriating...... like, actually.

But I learned something good and something bad.

First, the good thing: as expected, the presence of a Conquista Doll provides a massive advantage when challenging Orchestra. In the struggle for the world's initiative through song, Orchestra cannot pull that bullshit plot-armor stunt of sprouting instruments from the ground within our side's territory. Those homemade instruments can only sprout from the red carpet; they can't break through the asphalt!!

The bad thing is simply the fact that it actively launches instruments at me. Damn it.

"Saina! Keep raising your voice even louder!!"

"───Pressing my cheek to the earth, I dream within an unshaken sleep. I do not wish to sleep within the sky, but while gazing up at it."

Her reply came back in the form of a song. Even if the battle between me and "me" looked like nothing more than standard PvP, the struggle for environmental supremacy was unfolding in spectacular fashion.

Asphalt spread like lava, swallowing the red carpet and crushing countless brass instruments as skyscrapers towered upward...... only for the red carpet to roll back out over the asphalt, tearing the buildings apart from the inside out as massive trumpets burst from the walls to demolish the structures like controlled explosions.

It was quite literally a fistfight between two worlds. The two melodies were actively trying to shove the other aside to force their own way through. It was a battle of such magnitude that it almost made you think the players were just side characters in this fight.

But that didn't mean I could just stand there with my mouth open, watching the singing battle between Saina and the "Diva." "Sunraku" was still radiating full killing intent, and the more I cornered him, the more the "Diva's" attention would shift toward me. Which meant it would lead directly to Saina's advantage.

"Then I'll just force it to use its plot armor as many times as it takes!!"

If Wethermon's battle was a scenario where the crucial objective was surviving for a set amount of time, this was the exact opposite. Rather than the time limit being infinite, it was simply unset! It was a scenario where you had to relentlessly beat down a superior opponent until they were utterly crushed! It felt like being forced to endlessly play a fighting game's training mode, specifically against a dummy that fully recovered its HP the moment your combo dropped and it stood back up from a knockdown.

If what I needed to do was clearly defined, then the way I fought would naturally change as well. Cutting off Overflow and doing a heal-gacha, I wrapped myself not in black lightning, but in a storm whose full extent I still hadn't fully grasped. Mobius of the Annihilating Storm, was it? It's an unnecessarily fancy name, but it boils down to an acceleration effect. As long as I know that, all I have to do is master using it......!!

"Premiering for the first time! Gear-Type Acceleration......!!"

I had my face grated against the wall like a radish more than twenty times trying to figure out this style!!

Stepping forward with my right foot, the rotational energy pulling leftward applied to my entire body the exact moment I stepped. But right before it could fully spin my whole body, I thrust my left leg forward to trigger a counter-rotation. Alternating these rotations repeatedly to move forward like a speed skater is the fundamental usage of the Vestige of the Raging Storm Emperor・Extreme...... but the evolved version of that is the Gear-Type Acceleration!! Just in case, I equipped the Stone Cloak of Obsidian CladdingAmursidius Uniform to boost my VIT. It might be a drop in the bucket, but it should still soften the blows a bit.

"Let's go, oraa!!"

『............』

This forced acceleration is only applied when you step a foot forward. To be more precise, it triggers the moment you propel your body forward using your planted foot as the starting point...... Meaning, simply jumping straight up on the spot doesn't trigger the acceleration, and there are other ways to utilize it. It's just that trying to walk normally while using it happens to be far too lethal (to both myself and others).

That's why a stunt like this is also possible!

Generating a counter-clockwise rotation with my planted foot, I intentionally surrendered myself to the spin without stepping my left foot forward. The rotational speed is proportional to the strength of the step. By stepping in forcefully, I initiated a spin with enough rotational force to make you forget about your semicircular canals entirely, allowing me to pull off this trick.

A spinning back kick utilizing the rotational force. In response, "Sunraku" took up a defensive stance with his sword drawn. If it connected directly, my leg would probably get sliced off the moment it touched the blade, but...... yep, mid-air jump right here.

Now, here's a question: what exactly does the rotational energy of the Vestige of the Raging Storm Emperor・Extreme use as its reference point to draw a circle? The correct answer is "the direction the head is facing"!

No wonder I kept messing up no matter how many times I tried; turns out looking away was strictly prohibited. But once you know how it works, that very annoyance becomes a weapon. If I change the direction of the rotation using the movement of my neck, just like steering a sailboat...... yep, and now I just bring my kicking left leg slightly forward.

"Eat this, modified Somersault!!"

A battle style that links together circles of different rotations like interlocking gears! It's practically useless against monsters, but exclusively in PvP, it's terrifyingly powerful.

The fact that stepping is the motion trigger is great. After that, it purely comes down to how long my semicircular canals can hold out, but...... it's just a game in the end. My actual brain isn't being scrambled in reality. Which means, I just have to try really hard to convince myself I'm fine. To think I'd end up adopting a pure-guts approach as the solution.

『.........』

The effect of Mobius of the Annihilating Storm is a combination of propulsion and rotational force. Strictly speaking, the most distinct feature of this unique state—rotating while advancing—is that the direction of the kinetic energy applied resets with every single step.

That's exactly why movements like chaining a spinning back kick into a somersault are possible. It's a maneuver that would be nearly impossible for an ordinary person, but entirely achievable for a player who is both a practitioner of the Iai Fist Style and a Benpi veteran intimately familiar with exploiting bugs!!

Unable to respond to the kick that suddenly changed its trajectory mid-motion, "Sunraku's" jaw was violently knocked upwards as my toe caught it perfectly.

"An opening!!"

Rotate! According to my testing, the rotational force generated by a single step forces you to spin exactly one and a half times, regardless of your posture! By utilizing this guaranteed 540 degrees of rotational energy...... eat this, Seiten Style・Custom!!

"Whirlpool 「HikinamiPulling Wave」!!"

A massive, wild throw launching him all the way to the edge of the buildingーーーーーー!!!