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A Ruler’s Pride: Elina vs Nanael
The clouds covering the mountain top were torn asunder, light coming in. Through the meteorological phenomenon known as “god rays”, Nanael slowly came down the light.
“Got it, gooot it, here appears Lady Nanaeeeel!”
As her voice boomed, she looked around the place… and then made a confused expression.
“Huuh?”
Under her, there were only Elina and Michel on the summit where the gate to Maramaks was. No other Beautiful Fighters were in sight.
“There are no opponents to fight, so why did you even call the great Nanael here? …Or wait, do you maybe…”
She directed narrowed eyes at the blonde.
“That’s right!”
The other’s glare was filled with anger.
“I’m going home. You seem like you’ve blown your top.”
“You will certainly not.”
The angel was trying to turn around and fly back up, but Elina stated it outright.
“The Inescapable Shadow Elina challenges the Referee Angel to a Queen’s Blade!”
“Whaaat?”
The blue-haired girl was astonished enough, but the other wasn’t done just yet:
“I can’t believe an Angel of all people would run away without meeting a human’s challenge.”
“Are you serious?”
Nanael slowly turned around, her mouth crooked.
“I am!”
In contrast, Elina’s smile was full of confidence as she looked up above.
“L-Lady Elina…”
“Michel, step back. I’ll show you how a ruler behaves.”
[She’s going crazy.]
It was no wonder the kid thought that. Humans had barely any possibility of defeating an angel. There were no records of such feat ever happening.
“Is this maybe… because of me…”
“Don’t be so conceited.”
Elina roared when she heard his whisper.
“This is the pride of a ruler. I’ll show her that angels don’t control the current world; it’s humans who do.”
Seeing his companion oozing fighting spirit born from anger out of all the pores in her body, the boy had no choice but to retreat as he had been told to.
***
Melona and Airi saw the crepuscular rays and Nanael descending among them too.
“That’s…”
None of them could comprehend why the angel had come down.
“I don’t think this is the right time for us to be arguing.”
“Yeah.”
Both withdrew their weapons and started running the fastest way they could. After all, protean evil spirits and wraiths didn’t need to run normally like a human being.
***
“The Referee Angel Nanael accepts your challenge!”
Along with the declaration, the emblem emerging in front of each other clashed as they scattered light around; the beginning of an official Queen’s Blade
“I’ll teach you that you can’t win against an angel! Go, my sacred sword!”
The holy weapon obeyed the angel’s orders, leaving her hands to dance in midair.
Angels rarely flew to the ground to fight. Instead, they made their weapon fly by themselves, and stayed in a position where the opponent’s attacks wouldn’t reach.
“Making fun of me, aren’t you.”
The Vance girl clicked her tongue, then proceeded to knock down into the ground the saber that flew straight at her, helped with her long spear.
“Wha?”
“What are you so surprised about?”
She stomped on the fallen weapon, grinding it against the earth as she looked up at Nanael.
“You make it fly straight on like a fool. It’s slower than a fly. Which means, Irma’s throwing knives are tougher to deal with than this! Stop looking down on humans!”
The angel’s face glowed red. It was a fact that her practice with her weapon paled in comparison with that of the Beautiful Fighters on the surface, who improved every day by battling one another.
“If you don’t come down, I’ll go up.”
Using the gate to Maramaks as a foothold, Elina jumped into the air.
“What now? A mere human like you thinks she can fly?”
The other’s unexpected action did surprise her more than she cared to admit. Still, it didn’t matter how high she thought she could jump; someone without wings would never be able to reach the height she was at. That was a foregone conclusion, no matter how determined the other was.
That was why, despite the angel’s surprise, she didn’t feel compelled to do anything in particular against it.
On the other hand, right when Elina was about to reach the apex of her jump, she fired the steel wire from her weapon. Her aim: the bottle of milk hanging by the blue-haired girl’s waist.
If the angel hadn’t been so lazy and made even the slightest move, her plan would probably have failed straight away. The noble girl knew the range of the steel wire in her spear, and had calculated how far it would stretch to its limits. Furthermore, the angel had the geographical advantage; with the complex air currents swirling around the summit, even an arrow would have trouble flying straight.
[There’s no way that steel wire will reach me, let alone with all its drag.]
The angel thinking this was due to the laziness Elina was considering. Nanael never took into account the possibility of an unlikely event occurring. One could call that the arrogance pertaining to those with a superior ability.
“A futile struggle, is what it is.”
Around the hips of the sneering Nanael, a crack appeared in the bottle containing the milk.
“What… is thiiis?”
The bottle broke, milk staining the angel’s lower body.
“I won!”
Elina fell, drenched in the dripping Holy Milk.
There was no fear in that expression. It was full with the joy of winning.
***
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