Lightweaver redeployed her retracted threads of light around her. The arrangement of the threads was looser than before, as if they hadn't fully recovered from the previous sonic impact.
Meruru didn't miss this detail.
She saw the brief lag in Lightweaver's threads of light as they retracted, assuming her musical note disruption had worked.
She didn't rush to attack. Instead, several new glowing notes flew out from the gemstone, filling the vacancies left by those she had just used.
“Your threads of light are more vulnerable to soundwaves than I thought.”
Her breathing hadn't fully steadied yet, but she was starting to feel a surge of excitement. She felt like she had discovered her opponent's weakness.
“Maybe,” Lightweaver replied noncommittally, pulling her web of light back a bit further to widen the distance between them.
She looked as if she wanted to create space to buy time to adjust.
In reality, she was simply playing along with Meruru's expectations.
It was best for her persona as Lightweaver to leave the impression of being just slightly stronger than an average Magical Girl.
So, she made Meruru feel like this spar was a back-and-forth contest, convinced her that the soundwaves could indeed disrupt the threads of light, and would make her feel like she had lost by only a hair's breadth in the end.
Meruru raised her staff. The gemstone at its tip glowed brighter than before, and the glowing notes orbiting her sounded a single note in unison, forming a pale pink ring of light around her.
She took a step forward, the ring of light moving with her.
“Watch out,” she said. As the words left her mouth, she vanished from her spot.
She was using soundwaves to fold space.
Lightweaver's pupils shrank slightly. Her threads of light instinctively formed a shield by her side, but they blocked nothing.
Meruru appeared directly above her, staff pointed downward. With the gemstone aimed at the crown of Lightweaver's head, a beam of concentrated mana-infused sound shot out.
Lightweaver pushed off on her toes and retreated rapidly. The sonic beam grazed the hem of her skirt and slammed into the ground, blasting a bowl-sized crater into the mana-absorbing tiles.
Before she could even steady herself, another sonic beam shot straight at her from the front.
She slipped to the side to dodge it, her threads of light weaving into a net in front of her in an attempt to intercept any follow-up attacks.
But the defense was useless. The attacks passed through the net of light, merely stirring up a ripple without losing any of their power.
Meruru waved her staff like a conductor waving a baton.
Dozens of glowing notes flew out from her side, arranging themselves in the air like a musical staff. Every single note emitted a soundwave at a different frequency.
The soundwaves resonated, sending visible ripples through the air of the entire training ground. In this environment, the threads of light vibrated violently, becoming difficult to control.
Then, even more sonic beams shot in simultaneously from multiple directions. Lightweaver dodged and leaped within the limited space, while a few of her threads of light drifted uncontrollably in the wrong direction.
She retracted her threads of light to her side, leaving only a few for close-range defense. She looked completely suppressed, unable to launch an attack.
Tapping her toe on a mana-absorbing tile, she lowered her center of gravity and lunged toward Meruru's left flank. She was incredibly fast, almost gliding along the ground.
Her threads of light reached out in front of her, darting beneath Meruru's skirt in an attempt to wrap around her ankles and pull her to a halt.
Meruru clearly anticipated this.
A ripple of soundwaves expanded from beneath her feet. The moment the threads of light touched the soundwaves, they were violently deflected backward, throwing Lightweaver's own defensive line into disarray.
Meruru seized the opportunity to leap backward and widen the distance, while more musical notes flew out to fill the gaps in her formation.
Lightweaver knit her brows slightly, looking as though she were in trouble.
Standing in the center of the training ground, Meruru's breathing was somewhat ragged. Her mana consumption was higher than she had anticipated.
Victory was within her grasp—
She only needed one more hit to end this spar.
Both of her successful hits so far had landed. The sonic disruption was indeed effective against Lightweaver. As long as she maintained this oppressive rhythm, the third hit would only be a matter of time.
Yet, she didn't pursue her immediately.
She stared at Lightweaver's furrowed brow. That always-expressionless face had finally cracked.
So she can make that kind of face too. A sense of relief welled up in Meruru's heart.
Meruru pointed her staff forward, speeding up the rotation of her formation. The entire training ground's air vibrated violently.
The threads of light trembled violently under the sonic resonance, and Lightweaver's defensive line was compressed thinner and thinner.
She silently resolved to win. Her staff glowed once more as she prepared to launch the final, decisive blow.
But...
Was that really the case?
Internally, Lightweaver gave her own acting a perfect score.
She glanced down at the scorch mark left by the sonic beam, thinking she would have to use a cleaning spell to get it out when she got back.
This level of distress was just right. It showed Meruru that her soundwaves could indeed graze Lightweaver's clothes, yet remained just a hair's breadth away from landing a true hit.
Alright, that was about enough. Time to reel in the net!
Suddenly, Lightweaver stopped retreating.
She stood her ground, looking up at Meruru in the air.
Meruru was still midair, her staff already halfway through its downward swing. All the soundwaves unleashed by her attacks were surging toward Lightweaver.
Meruru's heart suddenly skipped a beat, but her body's momentum was already unstoppable.
Lightweaver didn't meet the attack head-on. She tapped her toe lightly against the ground, and her figure vanished from the spot.
Meruru's soundwaves chased after her afterimages, blasting a series of craters into the mana-absorbing tiles, but not a single one hit.
Soundwaves were fast, but Lightweaver was faster.
She moved through the training ground, each step landing precisely in the gaps between the expanding soundwaves.
The red streak in her hair left an afterimage in the air, flashing past Meruru's field of vision.
Meruru's pupils dilated. Her own rhythm was completely shattered.
Lightweaver continued to weave through the gaps of the soundwaves with even tighter footwork.
Her musical notes were being depleted faster and faster.
Yet, the mana fluctuations she could sense from Lightweaver were actually weaker than they had been at the start of the match.
Then, Lightweaver stopped, standing directly beneath Meruru.
She looked up, her gaze locking with Meruru's.
“...Are you done?” Lightweaver asked.
Lightweaver stood in a relaxed posture. The red-streaked tips of her hair hadn't even fully settled yet.
Her high-speed movement just now had been so fast that even her hair hadn't caught up.
Meruru couldn't see a single opening in Lightweaver.
Were all those moments of being suppressed just now... a lie?
Lightweaver looked at her with an innocent expression, as if to say, “You did your best.”
“...It's not over yet.”
Meruru bit her lower lip and raised her staff. All her remaining musical notes flew toward her, orbiting her.
If all that suppression was fake—if that was really the case—then this spar had been utterly meaningless from the very beginning.
Lightweaver looked up at her, slowly raising her right hand.
“Then let's end it now.”
Her mana threads weren't aimed at Meruru herself, but at the ground beneath her.
The threads pinned themselves into the mana-absorbing tiles, weaving into a precise net of light with Meruru at its center.
Meruru instinctively tried to fly upward, but the space above her head was already blanketed by the same threads.
Rate on N.U.
