As the most restless of the Four Elements, fire naturally produced more intense visual effects than the other three.
Thunderbolts streaked across the sky, while solar flares melted the earth. Neither yielded.
"Haaah!"
Magic power erupted beneath her feet, and Mordred leaped high, the King's Sword in her hands drawing lightning serpents into a slash straight at Gawain.
BOOM!!!
Flames roared. Gawain heaved the Holy Sword upward, forcibly intercepting Mordred's attack in midair.
Then Gawain swiftly twisted his blade, making the King's Sword slip to one side. Spinning toward the opening, he drove a full-strength kick at Mordred's flank.
Alarm bells instantly rang in Mordred's mind, and her muscles reacted faster than her brain. She raised her knee to meet him, intending to stop the kick before Gawain could bring his full strength to bear.
BAM!
Her alchemically forged mithril greave dented the instant it caught Gawain's kick, but that was far easier for Mordred to accept than broken ribs or internal bleeding.
Yet the tremendous force behind the kick did not stop there. Mordred was knocked off balance, her movements thrown awry.
To keep Gawain from seizing the chance to follow up, Mordred chose to retreat for the moment, riding that force to fling herself far away.
But that did not mean she would simply hand over the initiative-
"Clarent!"
The duel's first Noble Phantasm was finally unleashed. Flames laden with fury and hatred coalesced into lightning and shot toward Gawain at tremendous speed.
"Carnwennan, stop it!"
The Sun Holy Sword's blade blazed with light, answering its comrade's call. The next instant, a pillar of light formed from solar flares blasted from its tip, meeting the blood-red lightning head-on.
But the evenly matched clash Gawain had envisioned never came. His Carnwennan tore through Mordred's Clarent with unstoppable force.
*That