"Even after taking a hit like that, you didn't make any unnecessary noise. I suppose that barely counts as a passing grade."
Looking at Ais as she gritted her teeth and endured the pain, Alfia gave her assessment.
"But that last attack was only a warning."
"From here on, I'll be serious."
"!"
Ais's pupils contracted.
She immediately raised Desperate and reset her stance.
'Don't look away.'
She repeated those words over and over in her mind, fixing her eyes firmly on the woman across from her.
Seeing that, the corner of Alfia's mouth rose slightly.
Then she stepped forward again.
The next instant—
Clang!
A pale, slender arm slammed directly against Desperate's blade.
Instead of flesh striking steel, a sharp metallic collision rang out.
Had anyone been close enough to watch carefully, they would even have seen sparks bursting from where the two collided.
'So heavy.'
The weight pressing through the sword felt like an entire mountain, forcing the words from Ais's lips.
Alfia gave her no chance to breathe.
Her fists, wrapped in Magic, hammered against Desperate again and again.
Under the relentless barrage falling like rain, Ais's arms screamed in protest while her blue boots sank deep into the stone beneath the city wall.
Whenever Ais tried to use the surrounding wind to create distance, recover her posture, and begin another attack, Alfia seemed to read the thought before she even acted.
Every single time, she slipped through the gaps in the raging wind and blocked Ais's escape.
The tactics Ais normally used against monsters and adventurers alike had completely lost their meaning before overwhelming power.
All she could do was defend.
Desperate rang continuously beneath the assault.
"What are you still hesitating about?"
Just as Ais desperately searched for a way out of her predicament, Alfia's voice came from directly ahead.
At some point, she had opened her eyes.
Those mesmerizing mismatched pupils stared straight through Ais.
Before Ais could understand what she meant, Alfia's fist broke through the defensive wall woven from wind and struck her body.
The blow was far heavier than Ais expected.
The armor of wind surrounding her shattered completely.
The impact drove through her chest and launched her backward once again, sending her crashing heavily into the city wall nearby.
"Come to think of it, this should be the second time we've met as opponents."
Alfia walked toward the damaged section of wall and looked down at Ais lying among the rubble.
Her words made Ais's eyes widen.
"You don't remember?"
Alfia gave a faint sigh.
"Well, I suppose you were only eight or nine back then. Just a little brat who couldn't even hide her killing intent properly when attempting a sneak attack."
Seeing no recognition in Ais's eyes, Alfia silently lamented the fact that she had apparently grown several years older without even noticing.
"[Tentacles of the Divine Beast]."
"That name should sound somewhat familiar."
"In my memory, you even went berserk for a while because of it."
The familiar words stirred something buried in the deepest part of Ais's memories.
Something only those who had witnessed that era of chaos would remember.
Curved horns.
A split-open mouth.
A dragon's head covered by a demonic mask.
And...
A powerful [Hero] who had suppressed all of Orario.
Someone strong, just like Father and the others.
"What are you trying to say?"
As Ais connected the woman from those memories with Alfia standing before her now, an ominous feeling rose in her chest.
"You pour all your hatred into monsters and turn yourself into a doll that knows nothing except fighting."
Alfia spoke each word deliberately, as though tearing open every scar buried inside Ais's heart at once.
'No.'
'The monsters came out first.'
'They destroyed everything.'
'They created so much sadness.'
'Because of them, someone's crying never stopped.'
"Whether then or now, you haven't improved at all."
'That's wrong.'
'I've gotten stronger.'
'I'm stronger and faster than I was before.'
'I can kill monsters now that I couldn't defeat back then.'
All this time, Ais had continued moving forward because she wanted to become stronger.
She had been injured countless times along the way.
Riveria had scolded her again and again because of it.
But there was one thing Ais had always been certain of.
She really had become stronger.
Her rising Excelia.
Her increasing Level.
That strength had been reflected clearly in her own body.
So instinctively, Ais wanted to reject Alfia's words.
Yet the person denying her strength was someone who, in Ais's eyes, stood among the same kind of overwhelming figures as her father.
For the first time, that certainty began to shake.
As though trying to grab hold of something, Ais reached for Desperate where it had fallen beside her and used the blade to push herself back to her feet.
"You still haven't realized it?"
Alfia looked at her coldly.
"Whether in the past or now, whenever you face another person, the sword in your hand is always filled with hesitation."
"You show none of the decisiveness you have when facing monsters."
That single sentence killed every argument Ais had prepared before she could voice one of them.
As though to prove her point, Alfia threw another punch at the newly risen Ais.
There was no Magic in it.
No technique either.
Aside from its speed, it was nothing more than an ordinary straight punch from every possible angle.
Even Lefiya, who had only recently begun learning the sword because she wanted to become a magic swordsman, could probably have cut apart such a simple attack in battle.
And yet—
Clink.
A crisp sound rang out.
Alfia's fist stopped against the flat of Ais's sword.
"You don't need that much noise in your head during battle."
"That elf has protected you far too well over the years."
Alfia glanced toward Shiro.
"Maybe letting that brat serve as your guardian would've been better."
She had never personally watched how Riveria taught Ais to fight, but Ais's battle habits were enough for Alfia to understand some of it.
Had Finn been the one raising her instead, the result would probably have been very different.
"The heart."
"The throat."
"The brain."
"If you want to defeat your opponent, then use everything available to you."
Alfia's voice grew sharper.
"If you're going to hesitate even when swinging your sword, then I can say this with certainty."
"You will never defeat 'that.'"
Her words pierced Ais's chest like a blade.
A scene from long ago replayed within her mind.
A desolate winter.
A little girl who had lost everything, crying alone among the ruins.
And from that moment, a single wish had been born.
One destination she absolutely had to reach.
To reach that wish, the girl had to keep becoming stronger.
To never again cry because something precious had been taken from her, she had to defeat every enemy standing in her way.
So...
So...
So...
"————!!!"
The girl's will ignited into flame.
Ais swung Desperate.
The blade pointed directly toward the witch blocking her path.
This time, she would cut through both the woman before her and the hesitation within herself.
Only then did a genuine smile finally appear on Alfia's face.
"That's more like it."
"How could you ever surpass your limits without first seeing clearly where the boundary between life and death lies?"
Alfia raised her hands.
"Come."
"Let the real performance begin!"
A thunderous roar shook the earth.
And the battle erupted once more.
…