Warning

Roskellifa floated above the clouds like a ring forgotten in the night sky.

But tonight, through the curtain of rain, metal clashed again and again on the Government Administration Bureau's observation deck. Remiel kept attacking; Elda Wanzhou kept defending.

Clang—

After yet another feint, Remiel folded her wings and used the recoil of their clashing weapons to spin upward. Her blade traced a silver arc in midair before she plunged straight down.

Elda Wanzhou raised her sword across her body. The blade fell; the sword rose.

Their weapons collided, and the force from both sides crushed the rain into a spray that flared around them like a silver curtain.

Clang!

Remiel pulled back her blade and retreated. Her left wing spread as her right folded, and she slipped in toward Elda Wanzhou's right flank.

Her blade swept through a short arc: three consecutive slashes.

The first tested her guard, the second accelerated, and the third changed direction.

Elda Wanzhou turned aside from the first slash and shifted her sword to parry the second. When the third changed course, she angled her shoulder and knocked Remiel's blade off line.

But its deflected edge still skimmed her waist and sliced a gash in her outer coat.

"Senior, you've gotten rusty! Or is it..."

Remiel moved again before she could finish. Her fourth assault came from the left.

Elda Wanzhou finally brought her blade fully to bear and pushed sideways with the flat. Remiel's knife scraped past it, throwing sparks.

"They all say you're the hero who dissolved Hive Lord Hollow. But what they don't know is that it's a lie!"

As Remiel spoke, her fifth assault came from the right.

Elda Wanzhou lowered her sword tip to cut off the knife's path, then counterattacked!

Bang!

Remiel caught the middle of the sword