Debuffed Farmer

It was around this time when I found out that Clara had been holding back around me.

///

To be fair, during our fight against the Revenger, she didn’t exactly seem like the most experienced combatant. I guess she was just goofing around or following some other contention that I did not know about. A bit misleading don’t you think?

…

The concentration of EM-waves peaked around her blade.

It sounded like fireworks.

Filling its surroundings with bright yellow sparks, the blade flared up and aura danced around the perimeter of her body. Slowly pulling herself up, Clara raised her sword and concentrated even more EM-waves around the sword. The sound of lightning strikes filled my ears, blocking out all other sounds.

Well, aside from the sound of Giselle’s seemingly-omnipotent voice.

“That’s more like it, Clara. I wonder how far you can push yourself~. Protect Yuki like the weak servant you are.”

She didn’t respond.

…

Pieces of the wall splintered and fell to the ground as Clara dashed toward Giselle. There was an explosion of EM-waves emanating from her body.

Giselle slowly raised her sword.

Clang.

Blade clashed with blade.

Clara’s sword danced around the air as she rapidly slashed at the blue-haired girl. Electricity flared all through the smoke as she tried to cut her down. It was a complete step up from how she’s been fighting prior. The air was heating up and I really wish I had a towel to wipe the sweat from my brow. I wasn’t even fighting.

There was a black afterimage that followed Clara’s blade as she fought—it drew complex patterns in the air. Still, she wasn’t even close to getting through Giselle’s defence.

“Use your ability, Clara. Stop being a wuss.”

She has an ability? Was it the seeing into the past one? Probably not, I guess she has another ability of some sort.

With a look of animosity, she glared up at the confident girl.

“I don’t need it!”

“That’s a lie. Don’t let it hold you back any more, Honour Student.”

Clara desperately tried to slash past Giselle’s blade but it was all in vain. The concentration around her body was rapidly decreasing as it slowly evolved back into d-waves.

Giselle laughed and parried away Clara’s sword. In the opening, she raised her leg and kicked Clara through the building once again. The rubble from the collapsing hall was crashing on the many already-injured adventurers.

“Maybe you’ll be more inclined to if I say that I’m going to go speak to Yuki after this~.”

The concentration of EM-waves flared back up as Clara jumped up and charged at Giselle.

EM-waves were being transformed faster than I had ever seen before. It was like bacteria multiplying in a jar of agar—the concentration was increasing at an exponential rate. It was something that was completely unlike the normal conversion of d-waves.

“Come on. That’s pointless, you’ll only hurt yourself.”

As Clara rushed forward, it appeared that the EM-waves, which should’ve been bordering her, were instead being dragged behind like a sack of potatoes… or something. It was clear that her skin was also beginning to bleed and blister.

Regardless, she ripped the EM-waves toward her blade with all her strength and slashed at Giselle once more.

This time, the impact was big.

The blue-haired girl tumbled across tables.

“Giselle… what’s the point of instigating shit with me right now? Leave Yuki alone… she’s done nothing wrong.”

Giselle laughed a little.

“Orders, orders, okay? I’m just following orders from the higher-ups. That’s all. Anyway, Yuki has done more than you think.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. What could she have done?”

“You don’t know about her boyfriend?”

Ooh, I knew about her boyfriend. Ah, I should let them continue speaking before I come to any conclusions—this seemed interesting.

“What about her stupid boyfriend? They broke up a few days ago anyway.”

Giselle laughed a bit louder.

“Wow, for how close I thought you guys were, you sure don’t know a lot about her personal life~.”

Gathering EM-waves around her body again, Clara prepared another attack.

However, something weird happened.

All the d-waves in the atmosphere began to move. They circulated through the hall and concentrated around Clara. More and more filled the space around her until the concentration of EM-waves around her was critically low.

She looked around in shock.

“You don’t know about using d-waves, Clara?”

“Of course I do, you conniving bitch.”

“The concentration of EM-waves around your body is too low for you to attack me again. Maybe you shouldn’t have put all your eggs in one basket in that last attack.”

Clara frantically tried to convert more into EM-waves, but the rate at which she could do so was too slow.

“How can you control so many d-waves?!”

“What do you mean ‘how’? I’m much smarter than you. My Zone of Control overlaps with yours, but it’s way bigger than yours. Naturally, I can control more d-waves.”

All the d-waves that were rushing into her Zone of Control diluted the concentration faster than she could increase it.

After a moment, Giselle sighed.

“Do you give up? Or are you going to use your ability.”

Clara lowered her sword.

“What do you want then? What do you want to know.”

“Ah, you can’t just give up like that Clara. You gotta show your friend over there what your ability is—I’m sure he’s dying of curiosity right now.”

“He can die for all I care.”

Ouch.

“Ah, that’s a bad habit of yours. You don’t have to have such a poisonous tongue all the time. Maybe you’ll have a friend other than Yuki.”

Clara sighed.

I wonder what was going to happen now.

Suddenly, she raised her hand. Spreading out her fingers, she reached for the sky.

Giselle quickly took a step back.

“There, I knew you’d do it~”

[Smite]

A bubble of EM-waves formed in the air above Clara’s hand.

Giselle raised her sword and held it close to her body.