The distance between Kamijou and Oriana was only 10 meters.
But Kamijou's fist couldn't reach her.
Oriana's left hand moved, as she tore out a flashcard.
The green words written on the thick piece of paper were 'Wind Symbol'.
An ice wall about 50cm thick appeared on the road, separating Kamijou and Oriana.
Kamijou and Oriana exchanged glances through the transparent ice wall.
Not looking at the 3m tall ice wall in front of him, Kamijou hit it with his right fist.
Piang!!
The sound of glass breaking could be heard.
As if there was gunpowder inside, the ice wall shattered the instant it was hit.
But Kamijou couldn't see Oriana in front of him.
Like a portrait drawn on a piece of glass shattering, her figure shattered together with the shattered ice.
Kamijou gasped, wondering what was going on.
(The function of ice is—)
Suddenly, he felt a chill.
(—light…refraction!?)
Besides him, something started to bounce.
Just as his eyes narrowed due to the approaching gust of wind.
Pow!
He felt that his cheeks were cut by something.
A thick liquid flowed down his wounded face before feeling this pain.
"Hm. This sharpness is rather stimulating, isn't it?"
From the far end of Kamijou's vision, Oriana immediately tore another flashcard with her mouth, activating a new spell.
The super-thin stone blades flew over, cutting deeply into Kamijou's face.
"Hoho, I felt it the first time I held your hand. To think that there are so many strange kids gathered in Academy City."
The lady must be referring to Kamijou's right hand.
But Kamijou didn't have time to reply.
There was no need to touch the wounds in order to know how deep they were.
To think that Oriana could use this spell to knock out any enemy who was injured to some extent by using the sound created by the thick piece of paper!
(Damn, damn it…!)
Kamijou felt a chill flow down his body, and inadvertently covered his ears.
Seeing him like this, Oriana put another thick piece of paper between her lips.
"The next one will be a shadow sword. This nee-chan won't let you get tired of this, okay?"
As she tore the card, swinging her left hand about, a dark sword appeared in her hand. The sword, which could be reshaped to any length, extended to 7m long, and stabbed onto Kamijou's shadow that was on the ground. At that moment,
POM! The shadow near Kamijou's feet exploded.
Like someone stepping on a land mine, Kamijou's body was blown up into the air. He spun in the air like a dragonfly, getting into a protective posture before he landed on the ground.
The arm that smacked onto the asphalt pavement hurt, but compared to this,
(Why? Why didn't she use that technique that knocked out others like Tsuchimikado!?)
Compared to being relieved over being saved, Kamijou was even more troubled now that he couldn't understand what the enemy was thinking. Since the enemy had a trump card that could beat the opponent, she couldn't possibly have forgotten this.
Oriana, who was in an advantageous position now, jumped away from Kamijou, pulling the distance apart.
Seeing Kamijou's puzzled look, Oriana subtly giggled,
"Humph, this nee-chan has no interest in using the same spell over and over again."
With a relaxed expression, she said,
"The five elements form the basis of modern Western Magic. From an alchemist's viewpoint, anyone can have them, but this is just a prelude. Though it's easy to use, on the other hand, it's easy for the enemy to read one's own attacks, and come up with a defensive spell to counter it. Wouldn't anyone be worried about being too simple if one keeps using this in an actual battle? This nee-chan doesn't want to make my enemy feel bored, so she prepared a lot of these cards, so these grimoires that I prepared must be torn away like a calendar. This—is—how—it—is."
Kamijou ignored Oriana's words, and intended to close the distance.
Seeing Kamijou act like this, Oriana tore another flashcard.
After that, a huge gust of wind appeared behind Kamijou. Being pushed by the wind from behind, Kamijou's speed continued to increase, as he continued to stumble. Now that the distance was shortened, Oriana raised the billboard on her right side, and smashed it into Kamijou's jaw with a hook-like manner.
Right before Kamijou fell from that impact, Oriana then thrust the corner of the billboard into Kamijou's stomach.
With a blunt sound, Kamijou's body bent into a '<' shape, falling backwards.
"Ke…AHHH…!!"
Kamijou's thought process and breathing stopped at the same time, and he couldn't even tell which side was the right side up. To him, the four directions were all messed up now, rotating all over the place. Even so, Kamijou still placed his hand on the ground to support himself, trying to get up.
"Hm."
Oriana tore another flashcard.
"So useless, we're only in the prelude, and yet your legs have no strength left?"
A certain power was activated.
Between Kamijou's back and the ground, something that was like steam erupted, tossing Kamijou into the air. This time, Kamijou didn't have enough time to defend himself as he rolled on the ground.
Kamijou tried his hardest to gather his consciousness that was about to fail at any moment, as he considered the situation that was right in front of him.
"Ugh…"
Now even his thought process was painfully cut off.
Kamijou gritted his teeth, enduring the extremely sharp pain that was spreading throughout his body.
"Damn it…why?"
Kamijou continued to think, only doubts appeared in his mind.
"…She did say that she won't use the same spell a second time. So why are there so many different…"
He didn't know what the four or five main things are that she was talking about. All he knew about was mixing the color and the name together. In this situation, by continuously using magic like that over and over again, all the combinations would be used up in an instant.
"Hohoho. Combinations don't just work like that. You should be able to tell from this nee-chan, right?"
Oriana put another flashcard into her mouth with her left hand.
"!"
Kamijou inadvertently prepared himself, but he was unable to transfer his strength throughout his body.
Seeing the boy in front moving rather slowly, Oriana didn't attack, only choosing to lick the thick piece of paper with her tongue, from the short rectangular side, then the corner, then the long side.
Stunned, Kamijou stared at what Oriana was doing, and finally said with much difficulty,
"…The edge? It got something to do with the edge when you held the thick piece of paper in your mouth…?"
"Un. That's also one requirement. This is the basis of Western Astrology. From zero degrees to 9 degrees, 171 degrees to 189 degrees, 81 degrees to 99 degrees, 111 degrees to 129 degrees, 54 degrees to 66 degrees, 0 to 1 degree, and there are more laws for these coordinates. The theory is that 'the relationship between the planets and the constellations will have different functions due to different angles. Do you need me to give you a lesson on the relationship between stars, colours, and elements?"
Oriana grinned.
"Because this nee-chan added in page numbers to identify them, so strictly speaking, I can't re-use the same spell again. Like how lost time can't be retrieved again, the pages that were flipped can never be retrieved again."
She moved the flashcard, now slightly damp on the edges, and moved it along her upper lip.
"This is the limit of nee-chan. No matter how hard I continue write grimoires, the 'original' won't stabilise, and will continue to lose control and self-destruct. Also, my words are too messy to be understood. Whether as a magician or a mage, my strength is only half-baked."
Oriana slightly narrowed her eyes.
"However, because of this, this nee-chan continues to write grimoires to create new spells. Since nee-chan knows she's using a half-baked original, the most each book can last is one hour, if it's fast, it'll self-destruct in several seconds. Because I'm aware that I'll lose if I ever stopped to compromise, this nee-chan wants to continue improving—this is called 'not forgetting one's original intention,' right?"
After saying this, Oriana used her teeth to bite the damp piece of paper.
But she didn't tear it off this time.
She placed the thick piece of paper on her tongue, and without moving her mouth too much, she said in an obscure voice,
"Right now, I'm going to use the symbol of wind that's in red. The angle is at 0 degree conjunction, total number of pages, 575, disposable-type spell, 'Blade Crater'. You've been warned."
She paused,
"You'll die if you move."
She declared,
"But if you don't move, you'll surrender on the next move. You're not a kid anymore, so decide what you should choose — pick your poison."
—Oriana pulled the thick piece of paper aside. On the thick piece of paper, pulled from the metal ring, were the red words 'Wind Symbol'.
(…)
Kamijou placed his hand on the ground, supporting himself as he tried to get up, but his body, which was still shaking, was unable to respond immediately. Just trying to put a knee on the ground was difficult for him.
He thought, it's good that no one else is around. If anyone were to see this, it'd cause a commotion.
(Don't move…huh?)
—Remembering what Oriana had said, Kamijou felt something crawling below the ground. With Oriana as the center, there was a circle on the ground of a meter radius. Outside the circle, there were patterns similar to those of tree branches. It looked like those capillaries around the eyeballs that were filled with blood. The patterns passed by Kamijou, through the roads, below the bicycles, the vehicles and the billboards, all the way in front of Tsuchimikado, who was lying on the ground.
"—You'll die if you move."
—The patterns on the ground gave off an irritating vibrating sound.
I might as well admit defeat, Kamijou thought weakly. He was totally unable to predict what kind of attack Oriana would use next, and thus he couldn't think of any counter-strategies. Also, she did say that the damage would be enough to stop his heart if he took the next attack directly.
(If I don't move, the next move will be checkmate…)
The difference between the two choices was, the latter 'would solve this without killing him'. He'd probably be knocked unconscious like Tsuchimikado. Just like that.
After this, Oriana would run away, but Stiyl would still chase after her. Victory wouldn't be decided just because Kamijou fell. Even if the amateur fell, no one would blame him. Didn't the specialist, Tsuchimikado, suffer defeat as well? It was unreasonable for him to continue to resist.
(Then, what should I do next…)
But, Kamijou continued to clench his right fist.
He clenched it tightly, till his fingernails sunk into his palm. The sudden influx of willpower filled his hand with strength.
He then gave the order to his weak legs, and steadily stood on the ground.
The feelings of fear and resistance continued to swirl about inside him, but he was thinking, (Can I forget about Fukiyose Seiri's "Do you have any plan on letting Daihaseisai succeed? You useless fellow."—)
(—No matter whether the enemy is a professional magician, or whether it involves some important deal, I don't care about these! Fukiyose-san herself chose to be member of Daihaseisai's Organizing Committee, and continued to work hard till this day. Right now, her efforts are about to go to waste! Should I sit here and do nothing!? Will this Kamijou Touma settle down with ease just like that?)
"WO...…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
Kamijou roared, using his entire strength to run forward. He hadn't regained his balance, and he looked like he was standing in a plane that was in the midst of turbulence, but he was definitely running forward.
At this moment, Oriana spit out the piece of paper that she was biting on.
The spell was instantly activated completely.