Heh, not bad, let's hope she becomes a bit more popular now...? :3
Next poll is about the OVA PV from last week, what'd you fellas think?
And we continue the story, with a Elina vs Tomoe that might mirror that of a previous novel~!
Speaking of which, my partner did leak in Discord that we have begun translation work on the Unicorn stuff, but we just can't release it if we don't get any more editors/proofreaders to help out... And the same goes for other QB mangas or drama CDs really, so if you wanna see even more flavors of QB and think you can lend a hand, don't be shy and help us release all the QB stuff evaaaar! :D
Enjoy!
Chapter 2 : A match before her Majesty the Queen (Part 3)
Ultra High Speed Battle: Tomoe vs Elina
“So yeah, Lady Nanael’s a busy gal, you got a nickname yet?”
The angel casually turned to Elina.
“Cuz if not, no worries, I’ll come up with something that’s timeless AND awesome for ya. Okay, lessee... so Meow-Meow Ears for starters, then...”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Whuh?”
“I’ve put some thought into the matter.”
The Vance girl boasted, puffing out her chest.
“I am the Inescapable Shadow, Elina, let all those who hinder my pursuit fall to my blade!”
The instant she called her new title out, Elina’s shining emblem appeared.
The Inescapable Shadow, she who tracks her targets without fail, a tireless pursuer who will chase Leina to the ends of the earth as if her own shadow.
“‘Inescapable,’ huh? ...Bit of a mouthful, isn’t it? That with one N or two?”
The angel jotted the name down, completing Elina’s title registration.
“And I am the Warrior Priestess, Tomoe! Let us have a fair and proper match!”
A second emblem took form, this time in front of Tomoe.
“Alrighty then! Both of you, state your wishes!!”
“If I win, you are to set your slaves free!”
Both Airi and Michel turned to look at each other after hearing the raven-haired girl’s wish. It seemed Tomoe still had something of a fundamental misunderstanding of the group’s dynamic.
“Free my slaves, huh...? But what if they want to stay that way?”
“I’ll have you free them regardless!”
“Fine, fine, whatever you say. Not like I was planning on losing anyways, so I’ll agree to asking them about it.”
The aristocrat shrugged, holding back a laugh.
[Now then, how to go about this...]
“Sooo~ Elina, what’ll it be?”
Elina looked about ready to answer but Tomoe butted in without giving her the chance.
“There is little need to ask. Obviously, she wishes to make me her slave as well. She is naught but a tyrant.”
“You got me there. I know a thing or two about handling slaves by the way, so make sure you look forward to it.”
Elina flashed a deliberately vulgar smile, allowing Tomoe’s worries to take root.
“Even if you should rule over my body, know that you will never rule over my heart!”
“Yeah sure, that’s what they all say, in the beginning.”
Their gazes clashed.
“Ah~ right whatever, we don’t got all day so that works for me!”
Clearing her throat, the angel took to the skies.
“Now, fight well! O ye beautiful fighters, may all bear witness to your struggle! Fight courageously and without restraint! Give us a battle worthy of the Queen’s Blade!”
The moment the words left the angel’s lips, the two emblems met and vanished in a burst of light.
The fight was on.
(I’d better watch our distances.)
Under normal circumstances, one would be right to assume that as long as the blonde kept her distance, Elina’s spear being longer than Tomoe’s sword, she would have the upper hand, but...
Her opponent being a Warrior Priestess; there was no telling what manner of hidden trick she might pull out from those long sleeves of hers.
Staying sharp, Elina concentrated on keeping Tomoe at a respectable distance.
***
(She’s not jumping in?)
This had the the priestess somewhat concerned. Between swords and spears, spears held the clear range advantage in a fight and yet, despite that, Elina seemed content with preserving the distance between them, forgoing the first move entirely.
[She must be plotting something.]
Aiming to pressure her into making that first move, Tomoe reached for a hidden talisman within her top.
(With this, the trap is set!)
It was a simple ploy, she’d send forth a talisman and then, depending on her opponent’s reaction, reduce the gap between them in one go.
[Will she focus on the talisman or will she ignore it?]
If the blonde gave it her attention, Tomoe would simply close the distance.
If she ignored it, then Tomoe would activate the talisman instead, thus immobilizing Elina altogether.
And so, the move was now Elina’s and she chose... being wary of the talisman, she jumped away.
“You’ve no escape now.”
Unlike a street corner match, space within the fighting arena was very limited.
And with a burst of speed, the Priestess dashed forward, to where she expected Elina’s landing spot would be.
***
(She’s even faster than she looks.)
Even as Elina jumped away, she never let the priestess out of her sight.
The moment she reached the highest point in her jump arc, Elina made her move. Spinning her spear, she fired off the butt end of the steel wire, custom made for capturing purposes.
Her target: Tomoe’s red hakama. Shot off before Elina landed, the spear tip sank into the priestess’ lower garbs with ease, pinning Tomoe down, then dragged the Vance girl out of the air and towards her opponent at an alarming speed.
“Kuh!”
However, the priestess’ response was just as swift: without even an ounce of hesitation, she removed her still trapped hakama then quickly drew and slashed out with her blade at the incoming Elina, all in one fluid spin.
Sparks flashed before Elina’s eyes.
They were both nearly on par when it came to speed. If the blonde hadn’t been using such a long weapon, she’d have likely suffered a serious blow right there.
“Ooh, not bad.”
“Likewise.”
But before Elina could have a chance to adjust her stance, Tomoe pressed on.
The blonde had heard that Warrior Priestesses were severely averse to exposing themselves in public due to some kind of religious precepts, so she’d half expected Tomoe’s movements to dull after losing her hakama and having her legs exposed, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
If anything, it only felt like Tomoe was getting faster.
“Kuh!!”
The initial plan having been to keep her distance and wait, Elina now found herself on the receiving end from an unexpected storm of attacks from Tomoe.
High pitched wails and sparks flashed throughout the arena.
***
(That spear is sturdier than I would have assumed.)
Tomoe’s sword was forged by the legendary swordsmith, Kuchinawa, the greatest weapon’s craftsman in the history of Hinomoto. It was a peerless weapon, always managing to bisect her opponent’s weapons during exchange of blows like this.
But not this time, instead, all it seemed capable of was giving off a dazzling array of sparks.
(What is that sword even made of?)
Meanwhile, similar thoughts were running through Elina’s mind as she marvelled at her opponent’s weapon. Parrying with her mithotil-made spear, she’d expected the blade to at least take SOME sort of damage but thus far, she hadn’t noticed it getting nicked even once.
So not only were they near evenly matched when it came to speed, but weapon performance as well.
Meaning there was only one thing left that would determine victory here...
***
“Amazing... they’re both so fast you can hardly even see the swordplay.”
“Have you noticed it yet, Lord Michel?”
Airi and Michel watched on, both on the edge of their seats as the battle progressed.
“You mean... how the burst of sparks and the sound of metal clashing don’t quite match up?”
“Indeed, that Warrior Priestess’ flurry... Were I to hazard a guess, she’s at least three times faster than your average fighter.”
“Three times?”
“More or less, yes.”
“Do you think you could have beaten her, Airi?”
“You forget, I’m a Wraith. When it comes to Warrior Priestess and Wraiths, I’m afraid there’s a bit of a compatibility issue to worry about.”
The maid smiled sweetly.
“Ah, although it would be nice to sample Tomoe’s essence at least once.”
Airi joked while keeping her sights set on the fight.
Far as the maid could tell, there was just the smallest amount of leeway allowing Elina to keep up and react to Tomoe’s sword strikes. Slight, but it was there.
(In which case, I suspect this will be over with soon enough.)
“Hey Airi, does Lady Elina really plan to enslave her?”
“Does that worry you?”
“Yeah... I mean, she has an important mission to fulfill.”
“I imagine this has been on your mind for a while now, hasn’t it? Well, rest assured, Lady Elina will always honor her promises with you, Lord Michel.”
***
“It is time to end this!”
Loudly declaring her intent, the foreigner went for yet another talisman but, not one to miss an opportunity now that the stalemate had finally broken, Elina responded by launching out her wire a second time the instant Tomoe let up her attack.
Like a writhing serpent, the wire shot out and coiled itself around the priestess’ body.
“Too bad, but looks like I win.”
However, Elina’s confidence swiftly took a turn when the entrapped Tomoe suddenly burst into flames.
“What the-?”
An unexpected surge of searing heat coursed through Elina’s weapon by its cable, causing her to drop it.
And it was at that very moment that Tomoe, whose flames had now scattered to reveal her to be in little more than her underwear, came jumping in.
A one-two trump card, used by combining her talismans’ flames with a substitution technique.
[I can bear with the shame if it means reaping victory. All I need do is land this one blow while she no longer has the means to counter it.]
It was the first time Tomoe had ever been forced to resort to this.
Having dropped her spear, Elina was now unarmed.
(This is it!)
But just as when victory finally seemed to settle in Tomoe’s grasp, after having it go from her to Elina repeatedly already throughout the battle, the tides shifted once again.
“And you call me shameless.”
Tomoe heard a slight mutter... just as her last shred of clothing got torn to ribbons.
(How?)
Grinning, the noble girl waved with her left arm, her metal clawed fingertips sparkling.
(The clawed gauntlet... I was much too careless.)
Now stripped of all her clothing, the brunette sank down to the ground on the spot, clearly unable to suppress her shame a moment longer.
“I’d call that a match... wouldn’t you?”
“Winner! The Inescapable Shadow, Elinaaaa!”
Seeing Tomoe lose all fighting spirit, the angel declared the match in Elina’s favor.
(I couldn’t even touch her in the end...)
Tomoe’s eyes welled up with tears as she bit her lower lip. The fight was over and yet, Elina didn’t have a single scratch on her while she on the other hand, had been fully stripped, forced to expose everything she’d been so desperately tried to hide her entire life.
(My apologies, Lord Emperor, it seems I will not be able to fulfill my duty.)
***
Now looking down on the tearful, nude priestess, Elina finally took a moment to wipe the cold sweat off her brow.
(That was too close...)
Unlike her spear, Elina’s armor wasn’t made of mithotil at all, so the likelihood of it getting shattered without even absorbing a single blow from one of Tomoe’s strikes was high.
She may as well have worn a paper bikini for all the good it would have done against a sword like that... Not only that, but the platform being the way it was severely limited her steel wire mobility techniques too... keeping her aerial game--a specialty of hers-- restricted.
Add that to the fact that Tomoe never would have given her the chance to unleash her secret technique and well...
The one advantage Elina held over Tomoe, the priestess’ sense of shame, turned out to be key... without it, had the priestess opted to simply continue fighting without paying any mind to being seen in the nude, the outcome of the battle would have likely turned out a different way.
Those watching from the sidelines no doubt had little idea just how brittle a victory this had really been.
(Hm... and yet, what is this sensation...)
Still in the midst of catching her breath after the heated battle, the noble girl took another deep breath, puzzled by an unknown sensation welling up in her chest.
She’d have to set that aside for now however, as she wasn’t quite done with the priestess yet.
“Now that I’ve won, you know what that means, right?”
“T-That’s...”
Imagining all the misfortunes about to befall her body, Tomoe trembled.
“Lady Elina, wait!”
Michel called out, leaning in from the VIP seats as Airi hugged him from behind to keep the boy from falling off.
Elina cast him a gentle smile and mouthed out.
(It’s time I honor your ‘favor.’)
Reading her lips, the boy sighed in relief.
“Now then...”
Elina turned her attention back to Tomoe.
“As the Winner, I hereby demand the Warrior Priestess, Tomoe, to...”
The brunette braced herself for the worst, looking up at the blonde.
“...take us to Hinomoto.”
“Huh?”
“Did you not hear me? I said, take us to Hinomoto.”
“B-But what about making me your slave?”
“I don’t recall ever making that wish. Besides, if I wanted a slave, I’d only ever want one that’s harder working than Airi anyways.”
Chuckling, Elina beckoned back to her maid.
“Certainly, Lady Elina.”
The wraith floated down to the arena and gently placed a robe on top of Tomoe to cover her.
“It would be unseemly to have my guide walking around in the nude.”
The foreigner could only cast her eyes down at Elina’s kindness.
“Elina. Simply magnificent, you fought well and brought pride to the Continent’s beautiful fighters.”
Aldra’s voice echoed throughout the stadium.
“Here is your reward. Take it.”
A sparkling brooch fell from the Queen’s hand.
“It is our mark, so long as we are Queen, it will aid in thy journey.”
Picking up the brooch engraved with the Queen’s seal, Elina raised her fist up high.
--
Spoilers? As I mentioned above, a previous novel seemed to also feature an Elina vs Tomoe battle.
Also, it's a true pity we couldn't hear the full title Nanael was gonna christen Elina with. If you ask me, it was totally going to be "Cheater of the Meow-Meow Ears" :)
Whatever Nanael was going to say, it has to be better than Elina's own attempt. The Inescapable Shadow? That's so chuunibyou.
ReplyDelete(I'm sticking with Avatar of Obscenity myself.)