49. Seal vs Layla (2)

“Did I overdo it?”

Well, it’s an unexpected firepower… Isn’t this bad?

I, who was far from the mark, could feel the blast and Layla, she was blown to the edge of the stage

“Are you okay!? Layla!!!!”

I start running towards the smoke as I’m worried about her.

As expected, with the current firepower, even the granddaughter of the Old Man ――

“Idoit! Seal! Above you!!!!!”

Hearing Shura’s voice, I look up overhead.

There… Layla was holding four knives in her right and left hands and aiming at me from the sky.

Her clothes have torn and there are some scars on her body, but she doesn’t seem to have suffered enough damage to slow her down.

” ―― “Rain Snipe” !!!! “

Eight knives thrown all at once. The throwing itself was simultaneous, but there was a difference in speed between the knives.

“I was worried for nothing…!”

I jump forward and dodge knife. 

The leading knife pierces the ground, crushing the ground and raising sand smoke. 

In the sand smoke, there were seven knives.

“It’s faster than I expected…!?”

Strange. I should have avoided all of it.

I feel hot pain in my right flank.

I turn my eyes to the tip of the pain.

…There, an iron knife was stuck from behind.

“Knife? From where ――”

It’s shallow, but why… I’m sure dodged all the knives.

Is it related to Layla’s Rainbow Mana?

Is it “Mana of Turning” or “Mana of Transparency”?

Or… was it a wind magic that manipulated the orbit of the knife to turn around? Did she move it faster with Blue Mana?

“No”

I saw the knifes once again.

The number of knives stuck in the ground is ――7. The number of knives thrown by Layla should have been eight.

One is missing.

If one of them is a knife stuck in my flank, the chance that she changed the orbit is thin. If it changed direction, it should be in my sight when I dodged it.

“You have no time to rest”

As soon as Layla landed on the ground, she closed the distance with me in one step.

Close combat, huh? Even though she knows the abilities of the sealer, to go directly at me… it’s just a suicide act.

” <Lutta> !”

I equip the dagger that came out from the talisman on my right hand. And parry Layla’s attack.

Taking advantage of my training experience with Pearl, I read Layla’s movements and swung the dagger, but Layla’s knives in both hands parried my attack. Then Layla’s stretched her legs and kick my flank.

“What!?”

The impact of the kick shakes the knife stuck in the flank, causing pain.

I immediately pulled out the knife and stepped forward to parry Layla’s attack.

“It’s a good sword handling. For an amateur like you.”

“Aren’t you a little too strong? Girls are more popular if they’re weaker…!”

What is the purpose of her action?

According to Pearl, Layla’s basic tactic is a long-range attack by throwing a knife. But why is she coming close?

I’m a sealer, if I can hit her with one direct hit, and leave a character stamp, it’ll be my win.

What is the meaning of approaching me even though she knows the risk?

Perhaps! Does this girl have the same one-shot kill skill that can be activated in a close combat as I do?

” ――Hummph!”

Layla crosses the knives with both hands in an X shape.

I paired it with the dagger, and while moving backward, I paired Layla’s pursuit attack.

If I hadn’t trained with Pearl’s Ossan, I would have been easily destroyed…

“There! There! Put your feet out! Aaah Seriously! What are you doing! You should do a hook there! Don’t pull, don’t pull! Press!!!!! “

Shura was rampaging outside the venue.

Shut up! I’m not as agile as you!

“Idiot! Don’t stop!!!!!”

Layla throws a knife on her left hand at a short distance. 

I reflexively close one of my eyes, twist my neck and dodge the attack.

Seeing a gap, Layla grabbed my right wrist with her left hand.

“Wait a minute!”

Layla turned her wrist, not hearing my restraint.

――My field of view has rotated.

I got thrown. My body turned sideways beautifully.

I noticed that my back was on the ground and Layla was about to swing the knife down from above.

“Seal!!!”

“It’s over!”

Great timing.

I swing my right leg up and turn the sole of my shoe toward Layla’s belly.

On the back of my right foot shoe, a circular magic circle is drawn there.

―― The magic circle with the word “獅” written on it….

” <Lion Spear>”

” ――!?”

At the moment where Layla almost got her win, the stretched out <Lion Spear> that was sealed on the back of the shoes came out.

The spear emerged and pushed Layla’s belly.

“Urgh!”

With the cooperation of Shura, the <Lion Spear> that was sealed was long enough to reach the audience seats even from the edge of the stage.

If all goes well, it will be an out-of-field KO.

It should end like that but,

The spear’s tip disappeared from her belly, as it lost its hardness and bent.

I look at Layla. 

She wore a swirling Blue Mana all over her body.

“As expected, it’s “Ruten” …!”

“Just now, it was dangerous… Seal-kun.”

The Mana that I put in the lion spear… did she scatter all of it with her Blue Mana?

The bomb that I prepared and the lion spear…

Both of it are supposedly an attack that can makes me win, but… it’s not enough huh!

“Seal, that’s enough”

Layla stopped moving and spread her hands.

“Let’s stop this fight here.”

“Hoo, what an unexpected proposal.”

“I can see how hard you have been training yourself by looking at your movements. You’ve been doing a lot of magic training since you were a kid, like I did, right? “

No, that’s not the case, though?

“I don’t think I can take away that effort anymore. I’m not telling you to quit being the sealer. If you go out of this city quietly, I won’t say anything anymore. So, let’s stop it he―― “

“What is it huh? Layla, are you scared?”

I’m not going to accept her proposal for reconciliation.

“I’m fighting better than you expected, and since you’ve got a slight chance of losing, you want to stop it huh? Hey, Layla. You’re scared to read the letter, right? “

“What do you mean?”

“You’re afraid to accept the fact that the Old Man died, you’re scared.”

“No, That’s not it. Shut up…”

“You know that the curse made the Old Man’s life short, right? That’s why, you don’t want to read it… By keep telling yourself that you hate him, you can avoid the sadness of his death.”

“I really hate Grandpa! It’s not a lie! I hate grandpa, I really hate him――”

“If you really hate the Old Man, you can’t bear to live in that house, after all, in that house full of memories of you with the Old Man… You leave the door plate alone and keep the stuffed animal that the Old Man gave you.”

“That’s… because there was no other place to live.”

“If you asked Pearl, he would have let you stay at his home as much as you want. He let me and Shura to stay in his place so easy. “

“Annoying ―― “

“You know it. That if you read the letter from the Old Man, you can’t escape from that feeling. You want to escape from the sadness of losing a loved―― “

“Shut up!!!”

Layla frowned, shook her eyelids and looked at me.

“If you keep speaking such a strange speculation, I’ll stick a knife in every finger. Seal-kun…”

She must’ve known somewhere in her heart that he hasn’t done anything wrong.

But she couldn’t keep her heart in piece unless she made the Old Man a villain.

Fierce bullying, expulsion from the academy…

And the existence of a disciple of her loved grandfather, me.

She instinctively felt that her heart would be broken if the death of an even more important human being overlapped there.

That’s why, she denies.

Denies the affection. So that she wouldn’t have to be sad.

She knows that she’s just turning the problem around.

“You, don’t know anything. How selfish Ain Freiheit is?”

She has to face it. I have to make her face it. Otherwise, she won’t be able to leave this city for the rest of her life.

I don’t like her so much. She has a troublesome personality. She’s like a walking bomb… she’s not good at cooking. Sometimes the light goes out of her eyes.

But I have to do my best to get her to read the letter.

I have to help her walk forward. I have to get her to laugh from the bottom of her heart again.

There is only one reason. 

Because I can affirm, that there is her existence in the Old Man’s regret.

Not for Layla, I swing the sword for you (Master).

“He only went home for a few weeks a year, He always looked lonely. He monopolized the rare technique, Sealing Technique, for a long time without teaching anyone. Many people came to Grandpa with a lot of money to ask him to become his disciple! With that money, my mom and dad could have had more fun, but that person refused! And after all of that, he passed that Sealing Technique to some stranger like you! “

Layla opens her eyes wide.

“You don’t know much about Ain Freiheit!”

Layla approaches me while scattering knifes.

I carefully parry the knife with the dagger in my right hand and the spear in my left hand, and wait for her next action.

Layla throws a knife.

With this, there is nothing left in her hands.

What are you going to do? I have a weapon. This girl’s dexterity is amazing, but still she’s――

“!!?”

When I parried the knife that was coming close, pain ran to my right shoulder again.

The pain made me dropped my dagger.

When I looked at my shoulder, I found a knife stuck there.

“From where…..!?”

No, more than that ――

“Tsk!”

Layla was already in the spear’s range.

I try to intercept with a spear, but Layla easily avoids it. 

Layla pulled her right hand and lowered her back.

She’s going to drive in and use the bottom of her palm. But, it shouldn’t deal a great damage…

“Hey Seal. Do you think that “Ruten” can only be used for defense? “

Blue Mana swirled around Layla’s right hand.

One theory came up in my mind.

“Ruten” is a technique to disperse the Mana of the target.

If you got hit by it directly, what will happen to the Red Mana that used for strengthening your body?

―― The worst ending ran into my mind.

“This is ba――!”

” “Rutenshou” “

Layla’s whole body, which has a swirling Blue Mana, explodes in my belly.

The impact of the spiral was transmitted to the back.

“A, argh …!”

The Red Mana that I used for strengthening my body was cracked.

The reinforced palm heel struck my ‘bare’ body.

” ―― Ugurh!!?”

The taste of iron spread in my mouth.