Chapter 一一: The Joy
Yuki had realized she wasn’t dealing with an ordinary opponent from her first exchange with Ulura Nightsong in Sunbird’s inner yard.
She was clearly a very experienced fighter and more than that, she had an unusually strong deva. The partial reason for the latter had been explained to the white-haired beauty earlier by Hikaru – the chips implanted in their bodies limited a deviant’s deva output to 15%, but within Sunbird’s grounds that output was increased to 50% for the students and to 30% for the teachers.
Even when taking that into account, though, Yuki got the feeling Ulura could use more than half of her powers because of the scope of her attacks so far. If she was indeed cheating somehow, winning was going to be even harder, but the amnesiac was not about to back down after her opponent had tried to hurt Hikaru and Seiren.
It was clear Miss Nightsong could get through Miss Iceflame’s defense with relative ease, so what she needed to focus on was offense. The type of offense the enemy would not see coming.
That’s why when faced with the black-haired beauty’s roar-like barrage, she feigned defense with a number of ice walls while hiding herself amid a number of waves of ice spikes that were meant to be destroyed. Upon the destruction of the spikes by the wide laser beams created by the Queen of Sunbird , Yuki came out of the particular spike she had hid herself in, now being right in front of Ulura.
Finally, an opening for an attack had presented itself.
The white-haired beauty wasted no time in seizing it by smashing her fist in the face of the villainess, channeling freezing waves through her body as she sent her straight to the pair of oak trees in the center of the inner yard’s grass area.
Only Miss Iceflame’s classmates had been cheering for her up to that point but now other students started supporting her with their loud shouts as well. Yuki was overwhelmed by the attention focused on her, especially considering her half-naked appearance, and was not sure how to respond to it, needing a few moments of peace to put her mind in order.
Ulura didn’t give her such time as many green laser beams cut parts of the oak trees, changing their trajectory toward the girl who had probably become the most famous person in Sunbird at the moment. Seeing those beams come in, the amnesiac thought her opponent was going to use her earlier trick against her by hiding in one of the beams and appearing right next to her for a surprise attack.
Unfortunately. she was wrong.
Miss Nightsong had actually dug her way underground after being smashed in the trees and while the ice maiden dodged all the lasers aimed at her, their creator came out underneath her with the widest green laser beam used so far.
Yuki tried to jump beyond the range of the beam and protect herself with layers of ice armor, but even that was not enough. A number of lasers contained within the main one ripped apart her armor and dug into her flesh, feeling as if a thousand needles pierced her at once. The sheer force of the attack also pushed her away, so as the world turned upside down in her eyes, Miss Iceflame felt a dull hit on the back of her head, meaning she was crushed in the ground again.
Beyond the smoke that had risen from the inner yard’s surface in the beam’s aftermath Sunbird’s newest student could see that beam had shot out all the way to the sky before disappearing. Among the deviant attacks Yuki had seen so far, that was undoubtedly the biggest and most powerful one.
Ulura gave no pause for further thought yet again, coming out of the smoke and swinging with her arms, the tips of the fingers of which were wrapped in her deva to form long, thin and very sharp nails.
These nails seemed to the amnesiac like the type of thing she’d best avoid, so she twisted her body in ways she didn’t know were physically possible to dodge her opponent’s first strike. The white-haired beauty’s suspicions about the deadliness of the attack were confirmed when she saw the holes with cracks around them that were left in the ground where the villainess’ nails had pierced.
And then upon the combatants’ eyes finding the other after that exchange, Miss Nightsong revealed a terrifying grin that took up the whole lower half of her face.
(Ulura) ‘You don’t really think you dodged that, do you?’
Yuki’s confusion turned to shock as five thin laser beams shot out from the air next to where the black-haired beauty had swung her arm, the quickly formed partial armor on the ice maiden’s body managing to minimize the damage from that.
Just when she had started getting used to Ulura’s speed, she had switched to the type of attacks that made keeping up with her irrelevant. Her nails were clearly not just for close-range fighting – each swing seemed to create the same number of lasers as the number of fingers used for that attack.
So with that in mind, Sunbird’s newest student jumped back to put some distance between herself and the queen of the school.
(Ulura) ‘Creating more distance between us won’t save you. Or are you trying to think of a strategy to counter me? A miracle like the one from earlier won’t happen again, so might as well stop trying.’
If Yuki had any advantage, it was the fact her enemy was still underestimating her. That meant victory was still achievable and the thought of that inevitably brought a confident smirk to her face once again.
(Yuki) ‘That’s a very pessimistic view. You don’t believe in miracles?’
Apart from giving a verbal answer, Ulura also swung with her left arm.
(Ulura) ‘I only believe in myself!!’
(Hikaru) ‘Which is why you’re going to lose!!!’
(Seiren) ‘GET HER, YUKI!!!!’
There was nothing like support from her friends to motivate the amnesiac to turn the tables on her adversary. She dodged the beams formed by the left arm swing with a smile, Ulura having used one of those beams as a teleportation medium, however, and coming out right next to the white-haired beauty. And despite the perfect execution and speed, she was forced to stop her attack mid-swing because of the many big ice spikes that came out of the right half of Yuki’s body.
After having seen what those nails were capable of long-range, there was no way the ice maiden was going to let them get near her again, after all.
Tens of green lasers cut the spikes before they could wound Miss Nightsong, but she was definitely surprised by that move and that was all Yuki needed. She slammed her foot against the ground, causing ice blades to come out under the high school tyrant’s feet, that tyrant swinging a number of times with her arms to cut the coming waves of blades. While Ulura did that, the amnesiac jumped and landed behind her, simultaneously dodging the next batch of lasers aimed at her and giving the command in her mind for a number of long ice spikes to come out of her body’s left half.
That attack connected successfully as well, cutting the Queen of Sunbird’s uniform in several places and leaving scratches on her skin before the spikes were cut by a couple of lasers. Although that was what Miss Iceflame had been hoping would happen, actually seeing her manoeuvre succeed still surprised her.
Upon being exposed to the atmosphere in the inner yard when the fight had started and all the support Ulura had received along with the fear she had struck in the hearts of many, Yuki had been certain she would be defeated. A conviction further strengthened by every attack she had taken that had been more destructive than the previous one.
And yet, she was still on her feet in the present.
Wounded on several occasions and with a body left bleeding and wrecked by pain, but still on her feet. What’s more, she had not lost control of the flow of the battle.
While thinking about this, the ice maiden felt something burning inside her. It burned ever so strongly with each second that passed after its discovery. It wasn’t a sudden spike in the level of pain she experienced, though.
No. This was stronger. If made her feel on edge more than ever. As she looked around, every detail of the environment felt so vibrant, it was almost overwhelming for her eyes. And yet this vibrancy seemed to fuel her.
Yuki had no words to describe this feeling. So she thought of something Hikaru had described he felt sometimes. It was probably the closest to what she felt right now.
THE JOY OF BATTLE.
(Yuki) ‘I guess I got you again.’
(Ulura) ‘Having my uniform damaged is a small price to pay to watch you writhe in pain!!’
More and more laser beams and bullets formed around the white-haired beauty while she used the spikes cut earlier to create many more, but smaller ones, pressing on her attack against Miss Nightsong while she unleashed her beam-bullet barrage with an angry roar.
The speed the ice spikes formed with led to more damage for Ulura’s uniform, eventually causing her to lose that uniform completely while receiving a couple of deeper cuts this time. Thus, she was left in only her lingerie that matched her hair color much like Yuki’s, causing a new wave of happy and lustful roars from many of the boys in the crowd around the combatants, but such a thing was no longer of any concern to Miss Iceflame.
She had taken some of the beams and bullets from the high school tyrant’s last attack head-on, whole parts of her body being covered in blood now and having taken considerable damage, the pain from her wounds having reached an almost numbing level.
And Yuki reveled in every ounce of that pain, this just adding to the surreal experience the whole battle had become.
Ulura and the crowd around her looked amazed by this behavior, the ice maiden realizing the smile on her face had actually become wider now. Maybe wider than it had ever been.
(Ulura) ‘You … just how much damage can you take?!’
(Yuki) ‘What’s the matter? Are you doubting your abilities because you still haven’t taken me down?’
The black-haired beauty was clearly enraged by that taunt, swinging with her arm again, but this time using only her index and middle finger, to Yuki’s surprise that move not leading to the formation of two laser beams.
Instead a single very thick beam was formed, moving at a much higher speed than the earlier attacks that had come from the villainess’ nails.
That beam cut the white-haired beauty in spite of her attempt to dodge, inflicting the deepest wound she had suffered yet between the neck and the left shoulder. It almost felt like her whole left arm had been separated from her body and those two things no longer existed in the same plane.
Thankfully, the risk of her losing consciousness because of the new wave of pain that passed through her body was neutralized as her excitement from the battle took over again.
(Ulura) ‘You thought the number of beams formed by my nail attacks is the same as the number of fingers I use for them, didn’t you? And that I was using all five fingers to finish you off faster?’ – to add a dramatic effect to her explanation, Ulura paused with a confident grin before continuing – ‘Wrong. As long as I use less than all five fingers of my hand, a single beam forms, but it’s thicker and faster than the five formed during the normal version of the attack.
And the less fingers I use, the thicker the beam and the higher its speed.’ – Yuki then heard the sound of something cracking and turned around, realizing the beam formed by that last two-finger attack had reached a part of the main school building, carving a vertical cut long at least 10 meters in its structure, the sight of which only seemed to please Ulura more – ‘Of course, the trade-off is I can’t control the attacks with less than five fingers that well, so I don’t rely on them too much. But it this case, that’s fine. I’d gladly destroy this school to hear you scream in agony.’
Hearing those words snatched Miss Iceflame away from what had felt like a dream state for a while now, another feeling filling her up instead.
It was anger. Anger at the monster in front of her so blinded by its ego that it now threatened to destroy a whole school and whoever was still inside.
(Yuki) ‘This is insane! There’s no point in going that far!!’
Ulura’s grin became even wider with an air of mockery about it as her opponent started pleading with her.
(Ulura) ‘What’s this? You’re the one backing out now? Are you scared you won’t be able to stand anymore after taking more attacks like that one?’
(Yuki) ‘No! I don’t want to involve the school!! The building and the people inside have nothing to do with this fight!!’
More green laser beams than ever started swirling around Miss Nightsong after that plea, her face now being twisted by anger to a disturbing extent.
(Ulura) ‘Whatever must be done to ensure the suffering of my enemies, I’ll do it!! That’s how strong a Nightsong’s will is!!!’
Yuki then realized that talking to Ulura wasn’t going to solve anything. She had to stop her without delay. No matter what, the attack she was preparing in the present could not be allowed to reach the school.
So the white-haired beauty needed to be faster than it – faster than her increased speed would ever allow her to be.
Instead of running or jumping, she would need something like Hikaru’s teleportation – the fastest thing she had seen.
If Yuki could teleport as fast as him, faster even, it could work. It was the only way she could think of to stop the queen’s rampage.
With that in mind, Miss Iceflame focused her whole being on achieving the maximal possible teleportation speed despite not having teleported even once up to that point.
Meanwhile, her opponent swung, but now using only her index finger. First she swung vertically with her right arm and then horizontally with her left, the very wide beams formed from those movements combining in a cross-like structure upon contact.
(Ulura) ‘NIGHTSONG’S CRUCIFIX OF PAIN!!!!’
Yuki’s body burst into ice shards, all of which vanished into thin air, darkness being the only thing her eyes could see now.
Until a second later when she saw Ulura’s back amid a burst of more ice shards.
Although unbelievably happy by her first successful teleportation, Miss Iceflame couldn’t let herself be consumed by this feeling yet. Not before she had secured the safety of her school.
She sent Miss Nightsong to the Crucifix of Pain with a flying double side kick just before her attack reached the main school building, the students in the way having already moved aside in panic. The crucifix’s volume was so great that even though it was made of her own deva, Ulura had to weaken the pair of beams, falling on the ground after that, which coincided withYuki getting up after the double kick.
If there was ever a moment to not hold back, it was now. Visualizing her objective, the ice maiden teleported in front of the Queen of Sunbird, crushing a fist covered in ice needles in her stomach. As she planned to finish it all with this attack, she thought it apt to name the move, following the example set by her opponent.
(Yuki) ‘EVERFROST NEEDLE-BARRAGE FIST!!!!’
A number of needles made of her deva came out of Miss Iceflame’s fist, piercing and cutting the high-school tyrant as she was thrown a couple of meters away, leaving a trail in the grass while rolling aside.
The white-haired beauty now cautiously observed the black-haired villainess in the silence that had fallen over the whole inner yard, seeing how the bloodied Ulura only made a brief attempt to rise again, but ended up falling hard on the ground.
So in retrospect, Yuki could boast two feats from her first day at Sunbird – beating the strongest student in school and saving the entire campus.
