I had to expand my awareness—diffuse my focus.
The deadly arcs advanced slowly, inexorably.
Priority order: lower right, upper left, upper right.
Assessed. Then concentrated on just one swing.
First—lower right.
Simple. A kick off the ground would evade it.
But of course, she anticipated that. The blade from upper left came next.
I responded by—fully extending my arm.
Rotational slashes favor cleaving over thrusting.
Which also meant there would be moments when the hilt faced me.
Timing it perfectly, I stretched my arm and activated [Separation].
My backhand strike deflected the fifty-kilogram longsword.
Now off-balance, the next slash came from upper right—
——Just as I spotted Rui, gliding toward me with a fourth blade in her right hand.
Her empty left arm drew back.
At the edge of my vision—
A fourth projectile hurtled toward me.
A candelabrum.
The metal fixture torn from the cathedral’s pillar was more than capable of being a lethal weapon.
───Screech!
I instantly altered my response to the upper-right slash.
Twisting my body in sync with the sword’s rotation—I grabbed the hilt.
——[Separation] Targets: Self & Longsword.
With both the blade’s momentum and weight nullified, I let the twist carry me into a full spin—
——Batting aside the incoming candelabrum with the stolen sword.
——And then Rui was right in front of me.
While I was still mid-swing, she had already wound up for her next strike.
——I’m dead.
Near-instinctively, I [Separated] the longsword in my grip.
Pushing myself downward while twisting aside.
The blade grazed past my nose.
——Too damn close…!
Then—
“───What the!?”
My body froze mid-air, as if stitched to the sky.
The reason became immediately clear.
——Rui had used telekinesis to seize my robe.
“Tch…!”
Glancing at my sleeve and the exposed hand within—[Separation].
I canceled the telekinetic grip on the fabric.
The moment I thought I’d broken free—impact slammed into my abdomen.
“Gh—Hah…!?”
A white leather boot.
Rui’s downward kick had found its mark.
For an instant, our eyes met—hunter and prey, her gaze like frozen hellfire.
“────”
Helpless, I was sent flying like a scrap of paper.
The high-pitched shattering noise came again—
this time, blasting through the stained glass behind the cross.
My body was hurled 250 meters into the sky.
◇◇◇◇◇
This is bad.
Panic surged through me.
The sky, the earth, the colossal white fortress—everything was dyed orange by the setting sun.
Falling headfirst from this height? I’d probably lose consciousness before I even hit the ground.
Yet, even in this situation, my vision and thoughts remained strangely clear.
And thanks to that, I found a way to escape the freefall.
The shattered stained glass.
Fragments of rainbow-colored debris swirled around me.
One of them floated right beside me.
I punched it.
Same principle as pushing off a longsword to propel myself.
If all inertia was nullified, then right now, I was lighter than a shard of glass.
It was something I’d never imagined—visually impossible—but theoretically, it worked.
Just as I’d predicted,
the impact sent me flying sideways—straight toward the [Sky Corridor].
I tumbled onto the intersecting pathways, woven like a spider’s web.
The moment my knees hit the corridor’s ceiling—
“Guh…!”
A sharp pain shot through my abdomen, forcing me to clutch it with one hand.
That’s when I remembered. Those cold, beautiful eyes.
A conductor who controlled the battlefield with ruthless efficiency—no wasted words, no hesitation.
—She was absolutely here to kill me.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
This was no time for it, but the corner of my mouth twitched upward.
“What’s so funny? Have you lost your mind?”
The conductor who’d chased me through the broken stained glass spoke.
Now, I was on the ground.
She was in the sky.
The exact opposite of before. And yet—this was how it was supposed to be.
—Welcome back.
First Victory Condition: Utsurugi Rui’ Revival—Achieved.
And now—Second Victory Condition.
To overwhelmingly defeat the awakened Utsurugi Rui.
For Kushina, who was waiting for me.
For Hinata, who adored me.
For Rui, who came to kill me.
And—for myself.
I couldn’t die here.
Now that Rui was coming at me with everything she had, I could no longer half-heartedly escape like before.
In short, to survive, I had to defeat her.
—To stand at the frontlines and face the my oshi, even as my enemy… I had to become stronger than her.
Rui narrowed her eyes, sensing the shift in my demeanor.
She was wary.
Seizing the moment, I checked my available options.
First, Compensation Umbra.
Instinctively, my [Contact] Impulse was about halfway to its critical limit.
Huh. More leeway than I expected.
I almost laughed at myself.
Originally, separating just my own weight wouldn’t have incurred much of a cost.
But compared to Hinata or Gouki brute, whose meters visibly filled after just one or two uses, mine was practically nothing.
The real issue with my Compensation Umbra wasn’t capacity—it was the payment method.
The fact that it activated the moment I touched someone was its biggest drawback.
Beyond that, there was the creeping pressure near the critical limit and the mental fog during payment.
…Damn, this is still such a pain to use (for the nth time).
But usability aside—
Luxes had affinities.
In this world, it was as fundamental as water flowing downward.
Nothing special.
A fire-wielding Lux user would naturally have an advantage over a water-wielder.
…Well, that’s just an elemental example. Reality wasn’t always so clear-cut.
Still, accounting for that, I actually had good compatibility with Rui.
Because she only used physical attacks.
For me—someone who could nullify most physical attacks with sheer willpower—that was a perfect match.
If she had a Lux like [Flame Manipulation], I’d have been dead long ago.
And since she couldn’t unleash overwhelming energy attacks like Gouki brute, our compatibility was even better from a Compensation Umbra standpoint.
But even with all these advantages—
Rui simply outclassed me in raw Lux performance.
Or rather, I had no means of attack to begin with.
Beating her was nearly impossible—
Or so it should’ve been, until now.
“Really… I can’t even hold my head up in front of you, little sister.”
I smirked and stood.
Then—activated the bracelets embedded in both arms.
◇◇◇◇◇
[Niisama, you’re gonna transform, right!? Transform!]
This was after she’d given me the Emergency Security… whatever. The “Decoy-kun Mark something”).”
Tsukumo stared up at me, her breath oddly excited.
[Then use those bracelet gauntlets! You can hide yourself and become [Separation]!]
Her eager gaze locked onto the silver bracelets on my wrists.
(Note: The reason I had two was because Tsukumo forced the second one on me.)
“[Hide myself? Did you really stuff that much confetti in there?]”
“[Yep.]”
“[How much?]”
“[Dunno. I stuffed a lot in. Wanted to see how much fit.]”
“[And?]”
“[Got bored halfway.]”
“[Are you stupid?]”
“[Also, cutting them small got annoying, so I just shoved them in roughly.]”
“[They’re like smartphone-sized???]”
I pulled one out and placed it on my palm.
This wasn’t confetti anymore—it was practically a talisman.
[Go on, Niisama…! Do it!]
[Ugh, fine…]
Reluctantly, I nodded—and the moment I activated them, a crimson blizzard erupted from the bracelets, engulfing me.
◇◇◇◇◇
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