Chapter 847: December 19th: That Fist, Unstained by Blood

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Right now, Argent Owl is an unaffiliated player who doesn't belong to either faction.

That is obvious from the fact that she has managed to reach Fifticia, which is located behind the New King faction's lines. If she had followed her sense of justice and joined the Former King faction, she would have had to expend an immense amount of effort just to reach this place.

Precisely for that reason, in her battle against Kaisoku, Argent Owl is currently suffering from a severe restriction.

───The Saint commits no vice, performs no evil deed.

An unaffiliated Great Saint who has not received a Special In-Event RulingGame-like Excuse is subject to the normal restrictions.

In other words, the moment she kills a player, her job will be stripped away......... a heavy restriction that makes participating in PvP completely out of the question.

"Nothing but dodging......! This is quite a fighting style of a different color from Metius......!"

"Oh, is it?"

Even though she counterattacked a few times, Argent Owl's movements were almost entirely skewed toward evading attacks — and as Kaisoku threw those provocative words at her, his thoughts continued to spin.

What is Sylvia Goldberg's "strength"? That is something debated over and over again among fighting gamers. Some said it is her endless stamina, others said it is her terrifying insight, and some simply said her reaction speed is monstrous.

Indeed, those are all probably correct. Concentration that wouldn't break for several hours straight, the insight to see through the opponent's movements and force her own through, and the reaction speed to instantly respond no matter how unexpectedly she is attacked. Sylvia Goldberg is the strongest precisely because all of her parameters are at such a high level. On top of that, Kaisoku believes that "Sylvia Goldberg's greatest strength is that she absolutely never bends her battle style."

───She is Metius herself.

These words, bestowed upon her by many fans and the author of the original comic, are the greatest honor for a fighting gamer...... No, for a Galaxia Comic fan, and the supreme accolade for a player of the Galaxia Heroes series.

Those words were given to her precisely because she has never bent the "Metius" battle style, because she has stuck to it without distortion. Everyone tries to formulate countermeasures against that single battle style, yet absolutely no one can compete against it. Uomi Kei had certainly accomplished the grand achievement of delivering Sylvia Goldberg her sole black star, but as far as Kaisoku remembered, there was only one person who had ever shaken her "Metius" battle style.

A fierce battle with a mysterious individual who didn't overlay a battle style, nor did he roleplay, yet was a "Baleful Star" even more ominous than Amelia Sullivan. The crisis involving the young girlNPC, and the series of conversations that accompanied it...... In that moment alone, it was undeniably her fighting spirit as Sylvia Goldberg, not Metius, that leaked out.

"Phew.........!"

While putting distance between them to recover the stamina exhausted from his fierce assault, his thoughts accelerated further.

Kaisaki HayateKaisoku is neither Uomi Kei nor "No Face." Precisely because of that, the fact that the Argent Owl he was fighting right now wasn't using the "Metius" battle style created a massive sense of incongruity.

It was true that Kaisoku was launching an offensive against Argent Owl, but it wasn't to the extent of having an advantage, nor was he cornering her. And it was hard to imagine that Argent Owl, who had accepted this duel, was holding back.

(Then, why doesn't she shift to the offensive? Why does she keep dodging......? Even her attacks are dealing almost nothing but chip damage, though it seems she's using some sort of skill........................)

Right then, Kaisoku's rapidly spinning thoughts took the shape of a single question.

(Wait, why is the damage so low? I've taken a few clean hits. I haven't healed either, and my armor has decent VIT...... yet it's strange that my HP is still over ninety percent, isn't it?!)

It couldn't be a bug. It was hard to believe that ShanFro, the main title of Utopia Corp, which was also involved in the development of that GH:C, would make such a blunder. There might be minor tricks, but no exploits; that was the users' evaluation of games Utopia Corp was involved with.

That would mean Argent Owl was actively dampening the power of her attacks with some clear intention.

(Inflicting status ailments in exchange for cutting her damage? No, I don't have any status ailments...... Increasing power based on combo count? I've been hit at least ten times as far as I can remember, so the multiplier is way too low.........)

There certainly were items and equipment that only brought demerits. But the reason to go out of her way to use something like that in this situation...... might exist. However, even if she found some merit in doing so, there was simply too little change.

In the eyes of Argent Owl as she evaded the swords Kaisoku swung, there was no bewilderment or doubt regarding the fact that her fists were dealing too little damage. Could that mean she's indeed aiming for something?

"Guh........."

If his stamina ran out, his movements would naturally dull. As long as Argent Owl's hand remained unrevealed, going in too deep was strictly forbidden. Creating distance, he attempted to recover his stamina............

(──────Wait, a second.)

That was when he realized it.

(My stamina is draining way too fast......!)

Kaisoku's stat distribution heavily favored the stamina parameter, specifically tailored to fight Sylvia Goldberg. It was so he could instantly respond to unforeseen situations even while on the offensive, and so he could retain enough reserve power to counterattack even while on the defensive.

Kaisoku is a theoretical gamer. Naturally, he fully grasps exactly how much performance the character data known as "Kaisoku" can achieve. That includes knowing exactly how much he can move before exhausting his stamina gauge.

But what was this? Right now, Kaisoku's stamina gauge was depleting abnormally fast.

No.

"My stamina gauge itself is......... decreasing?"

"You finally noticed? You seemed to realize there was something going on because the damage was low......... but in this game, it's even possible to interfere with status parameters, you know?"

───The Saint commits no vice, performs no evil deed.

These are the words bestowed by Saint Iristella upon initiating the Unique Scenario "The Great Pilgrimage." However, there is a continuation to these words.

───However, The Saint is not powerless.

"Kaisoku. This game's title is neither Galaxia Heroes: Chaos nor Galaxia Heroes: Burst......... I wonder if you properly understand that?"

The Great Saint, cloaking her fists in pale light, wore a fearless smile.

As if to declare that "No-kill" was not the "cannot kill" of the weak, but the "will not kill" of the strong.

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Author's Afterword

Today, Volume 8 of the Shangri-La Frontier manga went on sale.

There's almost nothing left to say about the manga because I've talked about it so much already... or rather, a hundred hearings aren't worth one seeing... it's in that realm now. So I'll talk about the Special Edition. I've always wondered if there's really a demand for this since it's just about different games every time. But when I tried doing a poll on Twitter, there was normal demand for it, so I'm relieved. However, it's tough because I explicitly want to feature characters who have joined "Wolfgang", meaning it'll be quite a while before I can include anyone besides those fiends... Why didn't I lock in the join timing for Rust, Mold, and Akitsu Akane during the Lycaon rematch? I direct a faint sense of hatred toward past Katarina for that. But setting that aside, this time I had a moment of, "Would it be bad if I asked to split this into two parts...?" for the first time in a while. I regret that I had to summarize his journey a bit.

But making it obligatory to buy Volume 9 just because it's a two-parter felt a bit wrong too, so I worked hard to fit it in. Writing the manuscript for the Special Edition booklet is always a battle against the character limit.

Anyway, please enjoy Volume 8.