It felt like all time stopped for a second the moment Signum saw Olivie phase back into her vision, right within striking distance. Even with the high speed approach of the technique, the earlier posture that the Kaiser had taken indicated that she would go for a direct strike.
In a sense, the Knight felt that she shouldn’t be too surprised that her opponent would choose that type of finishing move to wager the outcome. The woman seemed to be simple, direct and honest. It was reflected by her choice of finishing technique.
Since Olivie chose her move to bet on to decide the outcome of the fight. Signum would have to respond in kind. And she knew just the move to do it. It was a technique that she had developed when serving a previous master which recently resurfaced in her memory, thanks to the intensity of this battle. Whether or not she would be able to execute the technique properly for maximum damage is another question. There would be a sheer amount of stress on both her body and device to achieve the attack’s optimal momentum and she would need to sacrifice her device’s sheath in order to bait her opponent.
But it was her only chance for victory.
As Olivie’s glowing red hand shot forward, Signum drew her sword and moved to have the sheath intercept the blow. Just as expected, the glowing red gauntlet was breaking through the sheath’s dense material fairly quickly but the attack speed stayed within her earlier estimates.
Now in order to get the best possible starting position for her technique, she would need to cast her initial spell to give her the ideal opening. That meant the gauntlet had to make contact at a specific point on her upper garment. Since the hand trajectory stayed steady, focused and did not deviate from the target, it made planning her next steps easier.
The weight carried in her left hand felt lighter which meant the sheath has been destroyed and the red gauntlet was on its way. With that in mind, she prepared to move in three…
Two…
One…
“Reaktor Säuberung.”
Just as one of Olivie’s fingertips brushed the fabric, the jacket detonated. All of the Kaiser’s senses from sight to smell were thrown off temporarily as the magic that had been used by Signum ran its course. Uncertain of what exactly happened, Olivie chose to back off and put some distance between her and the explosion of magic that just happened a second ago. “What was that?”
“Just a new trick learned by an Old Knight,” said her opponent from within the explosion before she darted forward to close the gap in distance and go for her counterattack. Already, the sword had consumed one cartridge and was covered in flames.
“Ätherbarriere!” For the first time in the duel, it was Olivie’s turn to be on the defensive as she cast a defence spell, a variation of Panzerschild which had an additional defensive layer to back up the primary shield.
Something as simple as that would not bother Signum. With the opening slash, the first defensive layer was shattered easily. “TENRYU…”
‘Reinforcing second layer!’ Olivie poured whatever mana she could generate on such a quick notice in an attempt to protect herself but the momentum of the match had turned in favour of her opponent as the sword consumed a second cartridge to increase the intensity of the flames.
“… RETSU…”
‘… …!’ The second slash cut through the reinforced shield like a hot knife through butter, leaving the Kaiser in a poor position to defend herself. And to make things worse, Signum had just loaded her last cartridge into Laevatein, transforming it into a living inferno before it descended for the final blow.
“… … ISSEN!!”
Hayate had a look of surprise on her face. “Where did she pull that move from?”
“I dunno but that attack nailed her! There’s no way she could get up from that!” Seeing that woman get smacked down by Signum filled Vita with glee.
“We won’t know for sure until the flames and the dust settle down so that the cameras can capture the images clearly,” commented Carim.
“Still doesn’t change the fact that she’s toast!”
Touma didn’t like the way that little girl was talking. “No way! Mom’s tougher than that!”
“Are you blind or something, kid?” snapped Vita. “You saw the second slash break her guard and the third slash went through! She lost that fight!”
“No, she didn’t!”
“Yes, she did!”
“She didn’t!”
“She did!”
“Vita-chan’s… really into arguing with Touma-kun, huh?” said Nanoha with a little laugh.
“I’m not arguing!” The small Knight crossed her arms. “I’m just trying to get the last word in. And the last word is that your mom got beaten!”
“She didn’t get beaten! She didn’t even activate her Super Mode!” complained Touma.
“S-super mode?” Olivie had already proven to be ridiculously strong but the idea of her reaching a higher level of power was mind boggling to Subaru. “What super mode?”
“Can it be…?” Yuuno gave it some thought as he searched his memory for whatever information he could recall about the Sankt Kaiser. It only took him a few seconds to come to a conclusion. “Her bloodline…”
“Eh?”
He glanced at the young corporal. “If Olivie is truly who she claims to be, then the power of her bloodline will manifest itself.”
As the dust cleared, they could see the standing figure of Olivie Segbrecht. Her rainbow aura was surrounding her body while the blue garments of her armour had changed colour to red. And there wasn’t any sign that Signum’s last attack had done any significant damage.
Even if it looked a bit different from how Vivio had used it on the Cradle, Nanoha could still recognize that power. “The defensive fixed skill: Saint’s Armour.”
“Not only that. The computer readings have picked up the activation of a Relic inside the Combat Simulator. Origin… seems to be from that young lady’s Linker Core.” On cue, the camera zoomed in on Olivie’s face, which remained neutral and focused on her opponent.
‘Signum…’ Hayate was clearly worried about how this would all turn out as were the rest of the occupants in the room.
Except for a certain young boy. “I told you that my mom wouldn’t lose!”
“Touma!”
See other episodes by Yasanagi
(Posted Sun, 17 Jul 2011 07:50)
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