Chapter 26 - Martial Arts

At the center of the corpse-filled chamber, two swordsmen stood facing each other.

Siren had eagerly accepted Ash's proposed wager. As a result, the bloodstained chamber had become a sparring ground steeped in a strange silence.

Their respective teammates had retreated to opposite ends of the chamber to watch the fight about to begin.

"... What the fuck is this?"

Ifrit muttered without realizing it.

The situation was utterly absurd.

Her gaze shifted to Siren, who was warming up with an ecstatic smile. What was she so happy about?

Ash, by contrast, simply stood there holding his blade. At most, he seemed to be observing his opponent.

"What the hell is he thinking?"

To her, Ash was a strange, peculiar humanoid she couldn't sum up in a single word.

How should she put it? More human than a human, perhaps.

And a little old-fashioned at the same time.

One moment he was a stubborn old man, rigid and inflexible; the next, he was making colder, more rational judgments than anyone else.

He was like a straitlaced researcher, yet also like a ruthless back-alley fixer.

An utterly inscrutable bundle of contradictions, as though everything that conflicted had been gathered into one being.

This time was no different.

A wager, out of nowhere?

Seriously, why a wager all of a sudden?

Normally, he acted as though he would hate that sort of thing.

And that wasn't all.

Before stepping forward to spar, Ash had exchanged a few words with Ifrit. More precisely, she had offered him some advice out of an abundance of caution.

["I know you're strong, but be careful anyway. She's ranked number one, after all."]

["Thank you for the advice."]

["Damn it. I'm telling you not to take this lightly."]

["I am not taking it lightly."]

["... Haah. Then remember this much. If the tattoo on that arm starts glowing blue, get away from her. No matter what."]

["Keep my distance? Does it have some special function?"]

["It's a high-output cooling unit. It lets her push her overall output to the absolute limit without overheating her neuro matrix."]

["Cooling? You mean she practices ice arts?"]

["Ice arts, ice farts, whatever. All I know is, when that thing switches on, she can move fucking fast. She can swing her sword ten goddamn times a second!"]

["Interesting. Go on."]

["There's not much else to say. Oh, I guess it has the combat data from every battle Undine ever fought? It probably has swordsmanship software, too. I bought her a few programs as presents myself."]

["For Siren?"]

["... What the fuck are you talking about? I bought them for Undine!"]

["Hmm."]

After that brief exchange, Ash seemed to sink into thought for a moment. Then he murmured to himself.

["In that case, I shall have to alter my plan a little."]

"Hey, big sis! Big sis!"

Jack O' Lantern's voice snapped Ifrit out of her thoughts, and she turned her head.

"What?"

"Who do you think will win?"

"... What?"

Akina suddenly cut in.

"Mister Ash, obviously!"

"Right. Of course you'd say that. But could you calm down for a second and hear me out?"

Jack O' Lantern continued, though it was hard to tell whether he was trying to soothe her or add fuel to the fire.

"Akina. Siren is ranked number one. You think she won that spot at a gambling table? Just watch her stream clips. She's seriously no joke. Ash is amazing, sure, but against Siren, he's a little..."

[Outclassed?]

Dullahan had come closer and joined the conversation.

[I've seen her in person before. We did a collab with Witchcraft. Yep. She's not human, seriously. Total monster lmaoooo]

Akina snorted.

"Hmph! My mister isn't human either, you know!"

[Lmaooo fair. You're not wrong lol]

"Akina. When we say she's not human, we don't mean she's literally not a human..."

"Ugh! Shut up!"

Ifrit shouted and smacked Dullahan and Jack O' Lantern on the head.

"You're putting a damper on things before it's even started! What are you, Witchcraft members? Then fuck off over there!"

Her thunderous scolding struck both men dumb. Watching them, Akina burst into peals of laughter, then sidled right up against Ifrit.

"You think Mister will win too, right? Don't you?"

Ifrit looked at the girl for a moment before stroking her hair.

"I'm hoping he will."

At that moment, the two facing each other finally moved.

Ash went first.

Silently, he raised his blade upright, then turned it through a full circle in the air.

Rather than an attack, it was an old-fashioned gesture that seemed intended as a show of courtesy.

"I am Ash Blade. I currently serve as a mercenary for Team Elementary Girls. I shall face you with this sword."

Siren's eyes sparkled with interest at the unexpected formality.

"What's that? What did you just do?"

"... An opening salute. It is a way of showing one's opponent respect."

"Oh! What should I do...? I don't have anything like that..."

"It matters not."

"No! It does matter! This is my historic first spar with you, Mr. Ash. I have to show you every courtesy, too!"

She seemed quite taken with his old-fashioned manner. Or perhaps she wanted to learn everything about him.

Siren thought for a moment, then swept her blade through a wide circle, took it in a reverse grip, and held it across her chest as she bowed deeply.

The gesture itself had a certain antique elegance, but with drones circling her, it also looked rather like an idol's closing pose.

Raising her head, Siren spoke.

"I'm Siren, the leader of Witchcraft. I, too, will face you with this blade, Mr. Ash. And..."

Her black eyes shone.

"If I win, I want to learn your swordsmanship."

That light quickly turned to obsession and madness.

"Especially that final strike in the video... I want to make it mine."

Ash's reply was brief.

"You ask too much."

"Uh, um, I... Is that not allowed?"

"I did not say that."

"Th-then! What would you like, Mr. Ash?"

Ash remained silent for a moment at her question.

Then a low electronic voice emerged from his voice module.

"Credits."

Siren's opening stance wavered.

"What?"

"Why so surprised? What could be more important than money?"

"Uh... So you're saying you want me to give you money if you win?"

"Precisely. With that in mind, how much could you offer?"

For a moment, Siren couldn't find her words.

"Uh... How much do you need?"

"Well, I am not particularly knowledgeable about such things. How does roughly two million credits sound?"

Two million credits.

It was an awkward sum: a great deal to Ash, but very little to Siren.

"No! Ask for more, Mister!"

Akina shouted from where she was watching in the distance.

"Another million!"

"Another million?"

"Yes!"

With that consultation concluded, Ash promptly amended his request.

"On second thought, three million seems appropriate."

"..."

"Would that be possible?"

Siren blinked a couple of times, then immediately nodded.

Credits were of no consequence.

All that mattered was that she would be able to cross swords with Ash.

"I'll pay. No problem."

"Good. Then let us begin."

"Yes!"

As Siren answered, a bright light flashed a couple of times inside her eyes.

It must have been some sort of signal, for the drones circling the two swordsmen all spoke in unison.

"Beginning countdown!"

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

BEEEEEEP!

As the piercing beep rang out, the two swordsmen staring at each other moved simultaneously.

* * *

Siren attacked.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

A relentless flurry of strikes allowed not a moment to breathe.

They were vicious, powerful sword blows, worthy of Halloween's number-one rank. Ash had no choice but to retreat several steps as he met her assault.

But that was all.

Even amid that fierce offensive, Ash immediately realized that his assessment had been correct.

'A powerful yet flashy combination of strikes.'

Ash Blade.

He was undeniably a humanoid made of machinery, but what resided in his main core belonged to a martial artist who had relied on the sword his entire life.

To him, a sword was not merely a weapon.

At times, it had been his only means of conversing with the world. At others, his sole companion on the harsh path of spiritual discipline. At still others, it had been like Yama, king of the dead, endlessly testing him on the boundary between life and death.

He had to wield it with intent infused into every breath, every step. Only along that sword's path could he be wholly himself.

Even in his final years, when he sold his soul to vengeance and destroyed everything, his sword had always remained with him.

His had truly been a life at one with the sword.

To such a man, Siren's swordsmanship looked crude beyond compare.

Powerful yet flashy?

That was where it had gone wrong in the first place.

Power should embody the subtleties of weight and strength. If one sought the splendor of endless variation, one should focus on speed and illusion.

A master who had reached unity of self and sword could, of course, wield these principles freely as the situation demanded. But Siren was no such master.

She was merely powerful and flashy at the same time.

Relying on the tremendous output her cyberware provided, she forced her sword through its motions without philosophy or insight.

Just then, Siren attempted a horizontal slash.

It was already her third.

Her blade came flying along precisely the same trajectory as before, without the slightest deviation.

It was presumably the optimal strike location suggested by Undine's combat data and the Melee Combat Algorithm.

This was no sword's path.

It was merely a sequence of "moves" dictated by data.

Just as he had suspected.

Exactly as he had thought.

"My lady."

Ash addressed Siren as she continued swinging her sword without pause.

"Is this all?"

She couldn't answer.

Running her combat protocols left her with insufficient computational resources.

Siren swung her sword.

The same horizontal slash again.

Four completely identical attacks.

For some reason, Ash felt irritated.

So he stopped blocking her attacks.

He advanced half a step and twisted his sword. Siren's strike met it and bounced away in an unexpected direction.

"...!"

Her stance crumbled in an instant.

Ash did not miss that fleeting opening.

His sword slipped in like a snake and lightly tapped Siren's shoulder with its spine, rather than its edge.

"Ngh!"

There was no force behind it.

But the meaning of that light touch was unmistakable. You have just died once.

Startled, Siren hurriedly put distance between them.

Ash did not pursue.

He merely watched her in silence.

"What is the matter?" he asked.

"Is the spar you so eagerly awaited rather different from what you imagined?"

"... Grr!"

Siren grimaced and charged again, faster and sharper than before.

The problem was that her sword followed exactly the same paths.

A thrust came at him.

Ash knocked it aside.

A diagonal slash came at him.

Ash knocked it aside.

A downward vertical cut. A low slash aimed at his legs. Three consecutive thrusts darting in at irregular angles.

He knocked them aside, again and again and again.

As though even that were not enough, Ash took a step toward Siren the instant her stance faltered.

One step.

That alone scrambled her balance, and she landed on her backside.

"... Huh? Why did I..."

Even after falling, Siren seemed unable to understand what had happened. She sat there wearing a blank expression for some time.

"Hmm."

Looking down at her, Ash let out an electronic sound tinged with a sigh.

"This is rather disappointing."

At those words, every thought in Siren's head stopped.

But Ash wasn't finished.

"Forgive the impertinent question, but do you truly wish to learn the sword?"

Naturally, Ash had no expression to speak of. But to Siren, gazing up at him, that was not how it seemed.

"W-wait! Please wait, Mr. Ash!"

Siren scrambled to her feet and readjusted her grip on her sword. Then she cried out, almost in tears.

"It's... It's not over yet! I-I'll show you what I can really do...!"

In truth, Siren had been prepared for a certain gap in their abilities. Ash had looked that magnificent in the video.

Still, part of her had thought she might stand a decent chance.

She was Halloween's number one, after all.

The strongest idol, undefeated no matter whom she faced. That was who she was: Siren.

She had confidence in her swordsmanship, too.

But look at her now.

A gap in ability?

This was not a problem on that scale.

Like a child confronting a towering mountain, she felt as though an impossibly vast, insurmountable cliff stood between them.

She had no idea what she could possibly do.

Then, suddenly, she realized something.

A horrifying fact she had failed to notice until now.

'Mr. Ash... '­

Both hands trembled around her sword.

'He hasn't swung his sword even once.'

It was true.

Ash had not attacked once.

While Siren swung her sword like a woman possessed, he had merely blocked, parried, or deflected her blows.

She had been dancing with every ounce of her strength, while her opponent took it all with a single finger.

'The gap is this huge? This huge?'

Admiration blossomed deep in her chest. At the same time, his word "disappointing" weighed down on her entire body.

"Just once! Could I try just one more time?"

Watching Siren, who was now practically shouting, Ash slowly nodded.

A brief nod.

Permission.

A faint hope appeared on Siren's face.

'Give it everything.'

She couldn't let it end like this.

She couldn't end it having given him nothing but disappointment.

'Everything!'

For an instant, her black eyes seemed to shine. Then a chilling blue light began flowing along the wave-patterned tattoo on her right arm.

A piercing noise rang out as the high-output cooling system activated.

PSSSHHH!

A burst of cooling vapor enveloped her entire body in an instant.

Within the vapor obscuring the view like thick sea fog, only her blue-glowing arm flickered like a will-o'-the-wisp.