Chapter 565 Defense-Specialist and Evasion-Specialist

Maple blinked with surprise when she accepted Sally’s offer — it was not at all what she had expected.

“Me…with you!?”

“Yeah.”

“But…uh, I think you’ll win, Sally.”

“Ha—well, even so.”

“Hmmm…okay, I’m in! Let’s do it! You did say you’d accept my thanks!”

Maple agreed cheerfully, as if this were the simplest thing in the world.

“Thanks. Just once, okay?”

“Yeah!”

Maple bounced to her feet. Sally quickly set the match rules: no other players could enter, spectator cameras off, time limit runs until the event ends, and the duel continues until one player’s HP drops to zero.

Sally showed Maple the rules and confirmed Maple had no objections. Then the duel began.

They stood in an empty plain with no obstacles — a world for only the two of them, with nobody to get in the way.

“Alright, I’ll give the signal.”

“Okay. We’ll stand apart and wait.”

“Right. Don’t get close. I beat Maple’s fake before. At range, Maple’s better… but that’s enough talk.”

“Got it!”

Maple turned her back and walked away, putting careful distance between them while thinking over a tiny strategy for fighting Sally.

Then a voice called from behind her.

“…Kaede!”

“Huh…?”

That name wasn’t used in this world. Only one person ever called her that, and Kaede turned at the sound.

“Ah…”

It was Risa.

She had been watching from behind, controller in hand, and today she stood right in front of Kaede — the strongest player Kaede had known since childhood.

Now Kaede faced Shiramine Risa.

Risa’s call pulled Kaede back from Maple. Risa was Risa, Kaede was Kaede — each standing on top of all the days they’d shared, facing this moment. It felt like everything they had been through had led to this.

“…Let’s play. Full power.”

“O-okay!…I’ll do my best!”

The duel began.

Overflowing excitement, and a little fear. Risa looked the way someone looks when they finally start a game they’ve been waiting for — like it might be the first and last time. From their long, chance-made journey to today, fate had brought Kaede and Risa to this single match.

At the signal, Risa ran forward. The thing to watch for was [Defense Break].

One hit of that alone wouldn’t beat Kaede.

Be calm. Stay cool. She’d fought with Risa enough to know all her skills.

“…?”

A tiny sense of unease crept through Kaede’s mind — something forgotten, something missed. But Risa gave no time to think. Kaede put one of her prepared plans into action against the approaching Risa.

“[Paralyze Shout] [Deadly Breath]!”

“Nice.”

“Huh!?”

Unlike Payne or Mii, Risa was still vulnerable to paralysis and poison. But Risa knew that already, and facts both of them shared were not decisive.

A crystal shattered with a snap at perfect timing — the anti-status crystal. Kaede saw, too, the resistance item from Iz she had brought. And finally Kaede noticed the pouch at Risa’s waist she didn’t usually wear.

If Risa planned to fight, she’d already prepared counters to any skill that could instantly neutralize her. Kaede only then realized what was obvious.

“[Wind Blast].”

A sweeping wind spell blew away Kaede’s combined offensive-and-defensive [Deadly Breath].

“[Poison Dragon]!”

“[Water Dragon].”

As in the fight with Payne, Risa used a water mass — the [Water Dragon] — to catch Kaede’s poison ball and sweep it behind her. Kaede’s attacks simply wouldn’t land. Everything slid off perfectly — a feeling Kaede had never experienced.

“[Water Path].”

“…Whoa!?”

A jet of [Gushing Water] burst at Kaede’s feet in reaction to Risa’s movement. Even though Kaede knew the mechanisms perfectly, Risa’s [Disguise]-style attack still hit her. Knowing how something works doesn’t tell you when it will happen. Right now, Kaede had no winning bait-and-switch left against Risa. By the time Kaede fell and hit the ground, Risa was already a few steps away.

“[Ancient Weapon]!”

Kaede quickly deployed the [Ancient Weapon], firing multiple lasers. One pierced Risa’s shoulder; Risa’s figure flickered and began to vanish.

“[Mirage]…!”

Where was the real Risa? As if to answer, Kaede felt a hand graze the armor behind her. A voice rang out — a voice that pointed out what Kaede had missed.

“[Pierce Armor].”

“Ah…!”

A powerful damage burst exploded; Kaede’s HP vanished and [Unyielding Guardian] activated.

Yes — in that oddly slow moment Kaede recalled many things: beating the fake in the second event, winning against a boss in the seventh event that stole Kaede’s skills and gained high defense, winning in the cloud castle where the boss seemed to harden its defense before Kaede could — now she finally understood how.

“…”

Risa was amazing, impossibly strong. Kaede couldn’t match her.

That acceptance felt reasonable and inevitable. Pushed by a massive hit from behind, Kaede turned to face Risa and fell.

“…”

“Risa…?”

In the tiny gap before death — the short pause before the next skill — Kaede, blurred by damage, still saw Risa. Her face was a little lonely, a little sad, and somehow resigned; she looked down and then began her next attack motion.

That sight — Risa’s sad face — somehow told Kaede she must not give up now. There was no detailed reason. Kaede simply felt, intuitively, that she shouldn’t end this match yet.

Don’t give up.

“[Rampage]!”

That small spark of impulse flared first. Faster than thinking, Kaede cried out the emergency skill she knew by habit.