The battle between Elina and Nyx to save Rana begins!
Enjoy!
Queen’s Blade: Elina vs Nyx
“His true master, you say?”
Nyx stopped in her tracks, as did Cattleya. It was a situation where the three parties had reasons to size each other up.
(Now, I wonder who I should fight?)
She had barged into the battlefield with quite the momentum, but she still couldn’t get a grasp on the situation.
Cattleya’s super resilience was probably due to Michel’s flute.
[Should I take him back after repelling the magician, or join the magician in her fight and get him...]
“Lady Elina! Help Rana.”
Michel’s voice helped decide her next move. However, she didn’t act right away.
“Lady Elina?”
“Michel, did you forget your manners? I wonder if it’s been that long since last time.”
Holding the spear as she was, she turned a rather cold look at the boy.
“Please, Lady Elina.”
He corrected his attitude and begged her.
“After that... maybe you could...”
“What?”
“I’m pretty certain... that Miss Cattleya has my flute.”
He whispered under his breath.
“Yeah, plenty of places to hide things in that body.”
Elina looked at the merchant’s plump body with narrowed eyes.
“I was wondering if you could get it back later...”
“You got that, Melona?”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re quite into using evil spirits any chance you get, aren’t you, Elina.”
The Vance girl called out to the shapeshifter, who had been listening to the conversation. After all they had been through, Elina trusted her. Melona could read her companion’s intentions, too.
Her first role was to retrieve Rana from Nyx, so that Elina could fight freely.
“You know... what to do.”
“Who do you think I am?”
The pink girl broke into a smile as she answered.
The boy was surprised to see a new evil spirit working with Elina, though:
“W-Who is she?”
“I’ll introduce her later. Let me do my work first.”
“Please, Lady Elina.”
“Good. First, we have to save Rana... that child over there.”
The ruler snapped her fingers. The woman in the pink costume lying in wait behind her suddenly fell apart, sinking into the ground.
“Eek?”
With so many unexpected events happening, Rana gave a short scream, his body going stiff, while Nyx—who held him under her arms—was thrown into disarray:
“Ah, hey, don’t do anything weird now.”
“Ta-ta-taan, Melona’s here.”
A pink liquid spouted from Nyx’ feet, with the force of a hot spring.
“W-What are you? An evil spirit?”
“You got it... and we’ll take this child.”
Her body smoothly wrapped around Rana, pulling him away from Nyx.
“You won’t escape.”
Without a moment’s delay, the magician threw a fireball; the evil spirit wouldn’t be able to avoid it while holding Rana.
And yet, Melona quickly protected the boy by increasing the thickness of the area exposed to the fireball.
“Hiyaaaaaah.”
The shapeshifter screamed, hearing how part of her body evaporated. For her, who possessed a highly malleable body barely affected by swords or blows, Nyx’ flame magic was her worst natural enemy.
“Crap, this is no joke.”
While holding the boy, Melona—now with a reduced volume—headed towards Cattleya.
“M-Mom!”
“Rana, are you okay?”
The mother opened her arms to welcome him.
“Now, mommy, don’t go letting your child out of your sight, m’kay?”
With words full of playfulness, the pink girl let go of the boy.
“H-Hey now, the way this is turning out...”
Nyx sent a bitter glare at the child, now in her mother’s arms.
“You’re making me look like I’m a villain who kidnapped a child!”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“I-I only wanted to help you, Rana.”
“Sounds like things didn’t go your way.”
Elina laughed, looking down on her.
“Still, I’ll get rid of that monster with the shape of a child!”
Nyx raised Funikura and turned her eyes to Michel.
...However, he wasn’t there anymore. As if protecting him behind her, Elina stood with her long spear in his stead.
“A-And who are you supposed to be?”
“I did introduce myself a while ago. Do you plebeians have bad memories, I wonder?”
The magician might have gotten irritated by being called ‘plebeian’, for a vein popped in her forehead.
“You don’t need to say anything else. I-I see you are my enemy.”
“That’s correct.”
Elina rotated her spear slightly, getting into a pose:
“As a beautiful fighter, The Inescapable Shadow Elina challenges you to a Queen’s Blade!”
An emblem shone before her.
“I-I accept.”
Another emblem shone in front of her.
“Master of Flame Nyx! The Queen’s Blade is accepted!”
The two emblems collided, and a pillar of light extended towards the heavens.
“Right, riiight, Lady Nanael is heeere!”
Following the declaration of a Queen’s Blade, the Referee Angel Nanael appeared with the moon behind her.
“Now, both of you, state your request.”
Urged by the angel, Elina raised her face.
“My request is...”
She stammered for a moment. She did declare a Queen’s Blade in the spur of the moment, but hadn’t thought this far.
“Let’s go with this: if you lose, you leave from here.”
“Oh? Is that enough for you, Ellie?”
The angel giggled.
“Who do you think I am? If I keep increasing the number of my servants, it’ll get hard to manage them.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
“Those serving the Earl’s house, even if they’re mere servants, must have a proper remuneration and position arranged for them, don’t they? Besides...”
She sent a half-disgusted gaze at her foe.
“I don’t need someone who has to obey her weapon accompanying me.”
The magician grinded her teeth; Elina had hit the bull’s-eye. Nyx’ power was something that was granted by Funikura. It was the truth that she could only invoke it by “asking” the staff, and she had no way to fine-tune the output.
“So, what’s your wish, Nyx?”
“M-My wish is... If you lose, *Lady Elina*, you’ll become my subordinate! Despite being a nobleman’s daughter, you’ll be a plebeian’s servant! You’ll have neither remuneration nor a position!”
The magician emphasized the ‘Lady Elina’ part on purpose, as if making fun of her.
“Now, show me a good fight! O beautiful fighters, show what you’re made of without reserves, fight with all your very best! A fight worthy of Queen’s Blade!”
The two sprung to action when they heard her declaration.
***
No comments:
Post a Comment