The Elemental Sword Demon King
Episode 148: Threats of Team Salamander
"Kaizo, Kaizo!"
"Mhm..." Kaizo opened her eyes and found Tiana looking at him anxiously.
"Kaizo, are you okay?"
"I-i fainted?"
"Mmm, but only for a few minutes."
"Is that so?"
He felt as if he had been unconscious for a few hours, but it appeared as a memory if not the case.
Hilda, who was panting on the side, went on to say, "I've successfully deleted «Bind of Darkness» on Kaizo's sister."
"really?"
"Yes, but..." Hilda's face fell down and she muttered in a low voice, "I'm afraid Kak Kaizo's sword spirit has not..."
Kaizo turned his gaze towards the spirit mark on his right hand. The sign that had just shone brightly was now completely unresponsive.
"Nyxx..."
"Sister Kaizo, during your period of unconsciousness, did you see what was on your mind?"
"In my mind?" Kaizo rubbed her aching temples, then she suddenly seemed to recall something.
A sword, falling in endless darkness. And was rejected raw as he extended a hand towards her.
At that moment, Kaizo recalled his memories. He recalls Nyx's memories with a girl who made his first contract with him. What he did not understand, however, was why that memory would make Nyx reject him.
"Unforgivable sins, huh?"
(Is that what trapped Nyx in the darkness, her unforgivable sin?)
Then, Hilda suddenly became limp and fell to the ground with a soft voice, "Ouhhhh!"
"Are you okay!?" Kaizo quickly rushed to support him. His slender body lay weakly on Kaizo's arm.
"Should we take you to the hospital?"
"Y-yes. Sorry, I'm a little tired."
"The magic ritual is exhausting, especially just yesterday Hilda had to perform a ritual listening to the statements of the Elemental Lord His Majesty."
"Sorry, it's all because of me..."
"Don't say that, my body is always weak."
As Hilda shook her head in denial, Kaizo laid her on the bed to rest.
"We must make a move, the daughter of the girl in charge of taking care of the Queen is coming soon."
"Mmm, I know." Kaizo nodded in agreement, bowed deeply towards Hilda and said, "Hilda, thank you for saving me. I won't forget this debt to you."
"It-it doesn't need to be that."
"We'll meet again next time. Then, I'll meet you as the winner of the «Style Festival of Sword»."
Tiana and Hilda, the latter still resting on the bed clasped hands tightly together.
"alright. Although I cannot support a team representing a certain country at the opening ceremony, you can rest assured I will support the senior team in my heart."
****
POV: The Victoria Blade
_____________________________________
Inside the bag sent by the school envoy to Victoria's room was the latest update on their enemy.
"In conclusion, the main priority now is to formulate an attack plan for Kaizo to take action outside the battlefield."
Alone, Victoria was pacing around in the empty room while reading the materials, thinking deeply about battle tactics.
"Eve will find it too difficult to attack on the frontline alone, should I also stay ahead or not, huh?"
The alternative he was thinking about now was to move himself, who would initially be in the middle of orchestrating the entire attack, forward, and have him attack along with Eve.
While this arrangement is unlikely to penetrate enemy defenses, existing ones like Kaizo attack alone. The fire and wind elements naturally complement each other very well, which gives them a lot of offensive potential.
"But, then I'm afraid something happened to Tiana in the back."
Tiana barely received combat training, and her usual role was to provide assistance from behind through her rituals, which would increase spirit power.
In the previous plan, Victoria would protect her from the middle, but if Victoria was moved forward, she had no way of ensuring Tiana's safety.
In this case, it all depended on whether Aura, who played a dual role as a sniper and supported the shot could protect him alone.
"This plan must also be reconsidered." Victoria squeezed the paper on which she made the note and threw it away. Salamander helped him turn the scrap paper on the floor into ashes.
"I've been thinking for so long and I still haven't come up with a good idea."
Any plan he could think of had a clear flaw, and there was no suitable solution.
"It turns out we're relying too much on Kaizo and Nyx." Victoria sighed, and returned to the documents given to them by the Academy.
In addition to formulating their own strategies, it was important in the protracted battle time to also analyze the situation of their opponents, in order to take advantage of their weaknesses. It goes without saying that the opponent we need to be most aware of is that person.
Victoria opened the document and looked at the first page. What is written there is the Team Representing the Religious State of the Alphen Territory. This document is about the strongest of the Sword Style Festival team, «Team Inferno».
However, the forms on the documents were almost all empty, as they had no way of knowing even the names of the team members.
The only information they had on the military capabilities of this enemy was the elementalist girl who had attacked Victoria and the others last night.
Mia Vialine's. Frankly, if there were three other elementalists as skilled enemies as him on their team, their chances of winning were nil.
"Overall, let's remember this for later consideration."
He placed the document in his lap, and began to browse through the other reports. There were a total of twenty-four teams competing in the Sword Style Festival.
In general, each country could include one team, but a country like the Eldant Empire, which was large and had many elementalist advantages, could field several teams.
The Bonia Empire to the east and the Innoha Island Country had two teams each, and the only country other than Eldant represented by three teams was the Holy Kingdom of Lugia.
Teams from these countries, the most they need to watch are «Four Dewa» from Bonia, «Sacred Knights» from Holy Kingdom of Lugia, and Karmila Freya, among others, the most talented young elementalist in the literacy of this Sword Style Festival who represents the Rossvale Kingdom as part of «Rupture» Division.
"And then there's Public enemy Number One, «Knight Emperor Naga» Draconian Empire."
The Draconians had won in many seasons of the Sword Style Festival before, and it was indeed a powerful country with an incredible track record. And Victoria herself had seen Viona's power up close before.
«Death Gaze» Destructive Nidhogg has been displayed with tremendous immense power to destroy the military spirit of the aircraft.
Documents provided by the Academy list its strengths as AAA grades. Victoria got AA marks while at the Academy, as did Eve.
Aura is A, while Tiana is D. However, Tiana's grades were recorded when she wasn't studying officially, so it wasn't an accurate measure. Incidentally, the lone man defeated «Team Salamander», Lucia Eva, rated AAA.
Of course, since this was an overall analysis conducted by the lecturers in the Academy, one could not fully rely on it to predict the strength of an elementalist.
For example, although Aura was rated one level lower than Victoria, when the two of them fought, they were often balanced.
"In conclusion, it's just a rough guideline."
Viona Spellister was an extremely outstanding elementalist, that was the indisputable truth. But here at the «Style Festival of Sword» in the gathering of the best elementalists, there is actually nothing extraordinary about him.
However, the Viona file contains something very important. It was information about «Dragon» Blood, the power he gained from his bloodline in particular.
Seeing the new evaluation of Viona's strength after her special discovery, Victoria could only stare, her eyes widened in surprise and muttered, "Stage S."
Historically, there were only a handful of elementalists who ever got such a grade. In recent years, the young Aidenwyth Miel Kais had been ranked SS level, but that was really the exception among the exceptions.
Viona's powers were first revealed to the public when she was fourteen years old. He woke up in a trial rally for the Dragon Emperor Knight.
During the match, in a matter of minutes, he destroyed all the other competitors who were also hoping to join the ranks of the Knights.
...
*Connected.....
*Note: This story is fictitious. If there is a similarity in the name of the character, the scene, or the story, it is a mere coincidence and there is no element of intentionality.