When the main culprit Gothmol was defeated, the knight of jet-black returned.
Nina glared at the enemy.
“Is he still here? He’s so persistent.”
Blood, likely from the wounds we inflicted, stained the jet-black armor. Was it possible to fight after sustaining so much damage? The knight drew his sword and pointed its tip at Philiana.
“Draw your sword. I will kill you.”
“…Why are you so desperate? I left your life intact, do you really want to die that badly?”
“Understood,” Philiana said, drawing her sword as if giving up. The dirtied blade told the tale of the battles fought. Was she angry about being shown mercy? Then, Gothmol, who was lying on the ground, chuckled.
“Gulp, gulp, Claudio, you’re alive. Ge-he-he, where have you been all thi—”
“Shut up, you worm.”
Claudio stepped on his fallen companion with his heavy boots.
“I am Claudio. Hmph, so you were incompetent like the rest of them. All right, let’s go, Philiana.”
He then used Gothmol as a stepping stone and lunged at Philiana. A beat later, the sharp clang of metal striking metal echoed. Philiana managed to withstand the blow. Claudio pulled his sword back and began attacking relentlessly with one hand.
“What’s wrong, tired already?”
How could he move so much even after losing so much blood? Philiana was struggling to parry the onslaught of slashes. Time and again, the tip of his sword grazed her throat. Philiana slid her sword against the downward strike and deflected it to the side. Seizing the opening, she took a step forward.
However, just as her sword was about to reach him, the enemy knelt and recoiled, evading the attack. He then spun around and moved to the side. This was bad; a Centaur couldn’t change direction quickly.
As if anticipating this, Nina intervened. She deflected the enemy’s attack upward with her dagger. In that instant, Philiana grabbed Claudio’s sword. With a firm pull, she drew it towards herself. Simultaneously, she thrust the sword in her other hand towards his throat.
Just before being impaled, Claudio braced himself and shifted his body slightly. His sword pulsed with purple flames and slipped from Philiana’s grasp. Fresh blood, undoubtedly Claudio’s, dripped from her remaining sword.
“Hmph, I dislike you even more now. A weakling who can’t even swing a sword properly without clinging to someone. Losers always flock together and deceive themselves into thinking they’re strong.”
A muffled voice emanated from the dragon-headed armor. It trembled slightly with irritation. Nina laughed scornfully at Claudio.
“Hah, say whatever you want. The one who wins in the end is the victor. You don’t have any friends, do you? How pathetic.”
“I don’t have to listen to a clown wearing ill-fitting makeup.”
“Wh-what did you say! You, I’m so annoyed!”
Nina retorted, angered and embarrassed. In reality, despite her words, she now happily applied lipstick every morning. She owned several tubes, but I couldn’t tell the difference between them; they all looked red to me. When I said that, she got angry.
“You know what? I saved your life, but now I’ll kill you!”
Nina lunged forward, bypassing Philiana. At that moment, Claudio swung his sword. The slash attacked her like a wave of fire. Nina twisted her body in mid-air, barely evading it.
“Tsk, he can do *that* too?!”
Before Nina could finish speaking, Claudio kicked off the ground and leaped up. The sheer force of his jump made the earth tremble as if an earthquake had occurred. He leaped incredibly high, as if he had wings. Moving like that with such heavy armor, what kind of training did he do?
He then ignited his sword with flames in mid-air and dove towards the spot where Nina and Philiana stood.
“Ah, dangerous!”
Nina’s voice was drowned out by the rumbling earth. A thud shook the entire area, and purple flames erupted from the cracked ground. The impact sent both of them flying. The shock was so great that even my heart, which was far away, felt like it stopped. With a click, Claudio stood up. He then moved towards Philiana, who was off balance, with his sword planted on the ground.
Claudio, looking down at her, seemed to be smiling beneath his thick armor.
