Chivalry of a Dark Knight [Batman x Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry]

CH16: No more (prt 1)

The girl was finally backed up against the edge of the ring, feeling the electrical hum and heat from the force field behind her. She was forced to crouch while desperately holding her shield up.

"Oh, you're so adorable!" Venomous gave a maniac laugh, her facial expression contorting in glee. "You're like a poor turtle hiding in its shell!"

The woman's lashes became more aggressive and faster. Her arm swung so wildly that it appeared like it was bending along with her whip, like it had become a part of it.

Sophia was scared out of her mind and she could only whimper as tears welled up at the edges of her eyes. She probably would have stayed in her place had the speaker of her earpiece not buzzed with an angry voice.

"What are you doing, you little bitch! Use your powers already!"

She knew she had swallow her fear and comply, knowing full well what would happen if she didn't.

"G-Gemini Strike!" she had at last yelled.

Something suddenly materialized behind the whip wielder in a flash of white light and the crowd roared in excitement as a perfect copy of Sophia charged with it's own sword and shield.

"An unexpected countah-atakku! Sophia has at last activated her Noble Art but Venomous reacts in time!"

It was just as Kashiwagi's commentated; the woman twisted her body halfway back and lashed out Ouroboros behind her. The clone managed to duck under the slashing cord as she closed the distance but she didn't expect Venomous to suddenly pull the handle back as the cord contracted in lenght.

Like a sentient tendril, the cord of Ouroboros wrapped itself around the clone's leg and yanked at it just as she reached her target. She laid helplessly on her back as Venomous lifted her own leg which glowed blue with Mana before violently smashing her foot through the clone's torso.

The construct shattered like porcelain, glowing white cracks quickly spread all over its body until it could no longer hold its form and crumbled into nothingness.

"Kore wa itai!" Kashiwagi exclaimed dramatically into her mic. "Venomous took care of that technique like it was nothing! However, this has bought Sophia some time! Will our underdog use this chance to gain the upper hand!?"

It was indeed during that time when Sophia managed to scurry away from where she was.

But despite having some breathing room, she appeared quite worse for wear: panting with beads of sweat around her forehead. Although it was only her clone that was destroyed, it didn't mean that it didn't effect her in any way.

As a matter a fact, the clone was linked to her own Mana and its destruction made her feel like her own magical defense has just taken a big hit. Her depleting Mana reserves left her struggling against her own weakened state.

Bruce looked on with no change in his expression but his thoughts, however, were laden with a sense of pity.

He felt that had the girl been enrolled in Hagun and given the proper training, she would've been faring much better. But there was no room for that here in the Midnight Hell Festa. Their caregivers needed warriors and fast, to fight for the entertainment of their patrons. It was kill or be killed. It was fate.

And so in desperation, the young Blazer realized that the only option she had left was to go all out. And with what little Mana she had left, she only had one trump card left to play.

"Triad Strike!"

With the activation of her Noble Art, two clones materialized by her sides and then the three of them charged with their speeds enhanced by their remaining Mana. As they blitzed towards their opponent, they quickly criss-crossed and changed their positions in an attempt to confuse her.