Chapter 30: If You're Going to Reflect, Use It Next Time

Once I finished laying out the plates and bread on the table, Raiga and the others returned.

They all looked like they'd taken a serious beating. Their faces were grim.

"Welcome back. …Think it'll work out somehow?"

"More or less. Fortunately, it looks like we’ll be able to keep training while heading toward the 'Demon Dragon.'"

It was Myudy who answered.

"I see… Well then, let’s eat."

I began ladling out the soup.

Normally, Raiga and Rizel would be devouring their food from the crack of dawn, but maybe because of the shock of their defeat, they weren’t making much progress today. I’d anticipated that and prepared a light meal in advance.

"Did any of you try a 'Power Release' even once?"

Though still lacking an appetite, they managed to get some soup down. Just as their plates were finally starting to empty, Myudy spoke up.

"Release? What’s that?"

I said I’d never heard of it.

"We were chosen as Irregulars. We don’t know what this 'Power Release' is."

Yuto agreed.

When I looked at Karen, she shook her head. She didn’t know either.

"Well, I suppose it hasn’t been passed down, seeing as it’s been so long since a 'Hero' last appeared in Elgrand..."

Myudy’s eyes took on a distant look.

Come to think of it, Galatine was a sword meant to be wielded by a 'Hero,' and yet there were no signs it had ever been used. Maybe that was because it had been so meticulously maintained, but even so, you’d expect it to at least have a name by now.

"'Release' is exactly what it sounds like—unleashing the magic sealed within the Stigma. It dramatically boosts your physical abilities and combat power. That’s what makes a 'Hero' a Hero. Of course, there are drawbacks too."

"And those would be…?"

Karen asked.

"The body can’t handle doing it over and over. Most 'Heroes' can only use it once. Once you hit your limit, the Stigma vanishes. That’s it. You’re done. Well, some can manage it a few times, but even then, three’s usually the max."

That was Myudy’s explanation.

"If you’ve never used it even once, then there’s no problem. You’ll probably be able to use it against the 'Demon Dragon.'"

"…How do you do it?"

Yuto’s voice was trembling for some reason.

"Who knows. Strangely enough, when the time comes, a voice just speaks in your head."

"I… see…"

"'Saint'—your role is to control the Stigma. A 'Hero' on their own doesn’t have the soul capacity to fully perform a Release. That’s where the 'Saint' steps in to supplement the rest. For some reason, it has to be a woman to do that."

"…"

Karen fell silent, her head lowered.

"Well, you lot haven’t even reached that point yet. First things first—we start with the basics."

And so, it was decided we’d be setting out tomorrow, and Myudy’s training began.

The training that Rizel and I received was... unexpected.

Since we were told our fundamentals in swordsmanship were lacking, I assumed we’d be doing things like swinging practice or repetitive drills—something closer to kendo.

What we actually got was sparring.

Face to face, at a distance where our blades could reach each other, we fought in close quarters.

There were only two rules.

First, we had to stay within a circle about 0.5 meters in diameter.

Second, only one foot was allowed to move.

That was it.

And two conditions for defeat.

One: take a clean hit from your opponent.

Two: move the foot you weren’t allowed to.

It was less of a swordfight and more like a form of push sumo.

At first, I underestimated it—but once I actually tried, I realized just how brutal it was.

First of all, there’s no room to breathe in close combat like this.

In a normal fight, you could back off and reset your stance. But under these rules, that was impossible. Fending off Rizel’s relentless assault was no easy task.

Later on, Rizel told me dodging my heavy strikes was just as hard for her.

Second, it was hard to attack.

The two of us usually relied on charging in at full speed and striking from there—that was our go-to strategy.

But here, in close quarters where movement was restricted, we couldn’t run. We couldn’t confuse the opponent with feints or momentum. It wasn’t about forcing an opening—it was about waiting patiently, looking for one. It was a battle of endurance.

Lastly, it was hard to defend.

If you took a hit, you’d be pushed back and might end up moving the wrong foot. That meant you lost. So the only option was to evade—but even then, you could only move one leg.

You had to read the opponent’s moves and avoid them with the bare minimum of movement.

By that point, I understood what this training was meant for.

It was to sharpen our sense of distance and body control.

It made sense—up until now, we’d relied on brute force and raw physical ability.

Which meant we had a lot of wasted movement.

Rizel was especially bad. Even though she’d enhanced her physical abilities through partial beast transformation in our last battle, she was out of breath in no time. That alone said everything.

We’d never really paid attention to distance.

That’s because most of our fights ended with the first blow. Get in close, cut them down. That had always been enough.

But that’s exactly why we lost so badly in the mock battle.

I failed to account for Myudy’s counters and completely misjudged her range.

As for Rizel, her excessive movement left her exhausted before she could even throw off the opponent.

We had clearly identified our weaknesses.

"Next time for sure—we’ll win!"

Rizel declared between ragged breaths.

"Our real goal is the 'Demon Dragon,' but... yeah, if we can’t beat Myudy, taking on the 'Demon Dragon' is nothing more than a dream."

I nodded back.

We vowed to win—together.

And after that, we kept training nonstop until the sun went down.