The Absolute Godspeed of Infinite Worlds

"To gain the upper hand, senior sister was bound to make the first move—closing the distance between herself and Shizuku, pressing the attack in a field unfavorable to her opponent, using techniques she specialized in, and seizing control of the battle's tempo."

And just as expected.

Moments after Eiji's voice faded, Touka bent her knees low and shot forward with a burst of speed, body tilted in a forward-leaning dash.

"What incredible speed!"

"It's like lightning and wind!"

The twenty-meter gap vanished in an instant.

Her speed wasn't far off from Eiji's.

At this point, Eiji's physical capabilities had already surpassed his senior sister's—especially his footwork, which was extraordinarily fast. But as a lightning-based knight, Touka could stimulate her muscles with electricity, producing explosive bursts of speed far beyond the norm.

"Freeze all—Toudo Heigen!"

But Shizuku had already anticipated this moment.

As her words fell, pure, crystalline ice—free of any impurities—spread outward from beneath her feet.

The freezing speed outpaced even Touka's charge. In a heartbeat, it had extended across a full hundred meters of battlefield.

One cannot sprint at high speed on slick ground without losing footing.

Thus, Touka was forced to decelerate—exactly as Shizuku had predicted. With a wave of her hand, she fired three water orbs, each the size of a basketball.

"Suiroudan!"

Ordinary water bullets would burst into splashes upon impact.

But not Shizuku's. Her control over water was so precise that the orbs maintained their form even on contact.

Once they struck, they'd wrap around the opponent's face and seal their airways. That's why they were called Water Prison Orbs, and why Shizuku was known as the Witch of the Deep Sea.

Until now, every opponent had been forced to submit once caught in this combo.

If only this combo could secure her victory—

But suddenly, she was stunned to see Touka spinning like a top mid-dash, nimbly evading all three orbs, and unleashing a massive thunderous slash in one smooth motion.

"How could she react so fast?!"

Shizuku was caught completely off guard.

She wouldn't have been surprised if her technique had been broken, but her opponent's reaction speed had been beyond her expectations.

There was no time for thought in battle. Shizuku immediately raised a massive water curtain, meters tall, to intercept the incoming thunder slash.

"She ignored the elemental disadvantage?"

"Shizuku produces ultra-pure water, completely free of impurities. Lightning doesn't affect her."

"I see."

Eiji nodded in understanding.

Water, by nature, is an insulator—it's the impurities within it that conduct electricity.

But with A-rank magic control, Shizuku could create perfectly pure water, making her immune to lightning-based attacks.

"But creating ultra-pure water isn't easy. Can she really fight like this indefinitely?"

"Exactly…"

So even without a direct weakness, the elemental disadvantage still put her under constant pressure.

In the arena, the giant thunder slash struck the water curtain, shattering part of it—but failing to pierce through completely.

Touka, silent and focused, shut out all distractions. Without a word, she raised her sword again. A second, then a third thunderous slash followed.

Dozens of thunder slashes flew out in rapid succession like a machine gun, their continuous detonations blasting apart the water curtain piece by piece—until it was utterly destroyed.

Only a few meters now separated the two fighters.

Touka sheathed her previous weapon and gripped her katana, Narukami, with both hands. Violent lightning surged around her.

It was the prelude to Raikiri—Lightning Cutter!

The sight had everyone in the arena holding their breath, leaning forward in anticipation.

But the strike never came.

A hand suddenly reached up from the ground and grabbed Touka's ankle, disrupting the pre-slash stance of her draw.

At the same moment, a massive ice block—over ten meters in both length and width—descended from above and slammed down, pinning Touka beneath it amid a thunderstruck crowd.

"Phew…"

Shizuku exhaled softly, her tense expression finally easing.

Just now, she had simultaneously executed three different techniques—water curtain, water hand, and ice block—and successfully pinned Touka beneath the falling mass of ice.

In theory, anyone hit by such a massive ice block falling from that height should be pulverized.

Bang!

Shizuku's nerves instantly tightened again.

A massive slash split the ice block, and the entire thing shattered to pieces—revealing Touka beneath it, completely unscathed.

As expected of the Academy's strongest—she was no longer bound by human limits!

Shizuku's face darkened.

"A-Amazing! That was spectacular! Such a high-level exchange of offense and defense! Even as the announcer, I couldn't find a single chance to speak!"

"What's with that first-year? She's fighting the President on equal footing!"

"They're both monsters! In previous years, either of them could've been the Seven Stars Sword King!"

The Seven Stars Sword King was usually only a B-rank knight.

Occasionally, a C-rank knight might win it—but A-rank champions were exceedingly rare.

Now, both fighters were B-rank knights—standing at the very summit of all student knights in Japan. Either one becoming this year's Seven Stars Sword King would not be a surprise.

A match of this caliber should've taken place in the finals of the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival, not during a mere academy selection round.

The battle had the entire arena of hundreds buzzing with excitement.

"Equal footing… huh?"

Eiji murmured, smiling without saying more.

"Isn't it?"

Stella glanced at him in surprise.

"It seems that way on the surface,"

Ikki said, face unusually stern—even tense.

"But so far, this battle has taken place entirely at range."

Stella snapped back to her senses.

She'd been so focused on Shizuku's situation that she hadn't noticed.

That's right—Touka had yet to close in on Shizuku. All her attacks had been launched from range. This should've been Shizuku's domain.

And yet, even within her area of strength, she hadn't gained a single advantage over Touka.

Indeed, their exchange might've seemed evenly matched—but in truth, Touka hadn't even begun to fight seriously.

This match had already tilted decisively.

In the arena—

Touka's gaze was sharp and cold.

A fierce electrical current surged around her, and the released heat instantly vaporized the frozen ground beneath her into steam.

A breeze brushed across the field.

The next second, she vanished—and reappeared right in front of Shizuku, striking with Narukami.

Shizuku's breath caught. Her pupils shrank.

What happened?

How had she crossed dozens of meters in an instant—almost as if the entire process in between had simply been skipped?

Shizuku couldn't react at all.

***

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