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Nevertheless, her gut punch was powerful enough to send Avon Laura flying despite her wearing that plated platinum armour, so she was satisfied enough.

"...Tsk."

Witnessing her get up from the ground and brush off the collected dirt and grass as if nothing had happened, however, caused Sophie to click her tongue.

And then, Avon Laura stood still.

Grasping the hilt of her sword, she faced Sophie and closed her eyes.

"This bitch...?"

There was absolutely no way she had somehow fallen asleep; in fact, Sophie had heard from Cipher in advance about the Measurement of Destiny, but was her arrogance such that she dared close her eyes in front of her face?

She knew that what the opponent was doing must be related to her ability, but it still felt like she was making a mockery by shutting off her most important sense in this situation.

Crack.

Cracking her knuckles, Sophie began moving her feet to quickly deal with her when she heard something.

FWOOSH~~!!

"!!"

Reflexively waving her hand, she conjured a wall of spatial fabric to block the roaring flames, diverting them as they scorched the grass on either side of her.

\'Crazy bastards! Fuck, do they not care if they kill someone, or are they just that confident in my abilities to take care of it?!\'

She felt pressured, having to wield her abilities in a fight like this when she had only ever really used them in training, except for in a few sparse incidences.

Would she be able to utilise her power effectively in this situation? Enough to achieve victory?

She was doing well so far, but for how long would she be able to keep it up?

Moreover, it was a three-against-one.

That peculiar girl, Araceli, was keeping Cipher and Selina contained within that protective aura, and everyone else was immersed in their own fights; no one was going to come to her rescue.

Could she do it?

"..."

No, that was the wrong question.

No outcome existed aside from winning; there was no choice but to, after all.

Rather, how long would it take?

\'Fuck...\'

Just as the flames resembling a mythical dragon\'s breath subsided, Sophie erased the spatial tear and dashed towards its origin.

\'It\'s you, first, then...!\'

"...!?"

The two Playground employees, astonished that Sophie was unscathed by their joint attack, didn\'t have time to react.

Approaching them, she jammed her fist into the first guy\'s stomach, causing him to fall to his knees and collapse.

"Guh...!"

But then, jerking her head towards the second one, she felt something dangerous.

\'What...?\'

She wanted to get both of them at once, but being distracted by the odd premonition, she stopped, giving the other person time to come to their senses and flee.

Confused, Sophie was about to look around when―

Crunch.

All of a sudden, she shuddered. Her body reacted instinctively.

Clang~!

Beyond the black barrier of space she had summoned, the sharp edge of a blade could be seen; its owner; a woman with hair of the coldest white winter and eyes of the brightest blue sky.

It was those eyes, however, that could not be seen; hidden behind closed eyelids like gates.

"O-oi... That was a bit close, wasn\'t it...?"

"..."

Beads of cold sweat trickled down Sophie\'s nape as she barely defended against the would-be lethal attack, but there was no response.

"...Tsk. Cold bitch."

She wanted to attack, but she wasn\'t close enough to the opponent to use her ability, and the weight of the sword pressing down on the barrier was too heavy for her to risk an attempt to move.

Soon, however, Avon Laura moved first. Backing off by a few paces, some distance had been generated, allowing Sophie some relief.

It didn\'t last long, though; almost immediately, Avon Laura lunged and swung again.

Clang~!

"Ugh...!"

The hit was strong, causing Sophie\'s posture to alter slightly as her feet slid across the dirt.

"..."

Pausing for a moment, perhaps in realisation of something, Avon Laura continued with a series of successive sword swings.

Clang~! Clang~! Clang~!

"Mgh, shit...!"

Each of her attacks was immensely powerful, forcing Sophie to take a step back to resume a stable posture.

She knew thanks to prior experimentation that tears and distortions in space could not be "broken" because they consisted of the fabric of the universe itself and were said to be indestructible, but that didn\'t mean they were entirely immune to physical forces.

Due to the fact that Sophie\'s influences could only exist within one metre of her surroundings, so long as a strong enough force impacted the guarding space she controlled, it could force her to move.

Clang~!

Avon Laura realised this swiftly and was using it to her advantage.

Clang~!

"Fuck! Tsk, hey, gimme a break, damn it!"

Sophie, who had never experienced being in an actual fight before―let alone being on the receiving end of such a dominant blade―had no idea what to do and so could only tank the repeated hits with gritted teeth.

"..."

Clang~! Clangg~!

Like someone trying to break a rock by hitting it with egg after egg, Avon Laura pursued her with the relentless assault with an expressionless face.

Clang~!

"Ugh!"

From left to right, from up to down; even diagonally she swung her sword without pause.

Clang~!

Each individual strike contained enough power to shatter concrete, but the fact that the fabric of space could nevertheless withstand so many hits so effortlessly was wildly impressive.

And every one of those blows transferred that force through the shield via vibrations to Sophie\'s body, shaking her physically and causing minimal, but noticeable damage that pierced through even this impenetrable defence.

Sophie had considered things like trapping the sword within the spatial fabric and perhaps even sending it straight to the void to disarm her opponent, but the force of each swing was so much that her legs were trembling.

No matter what she wanted to use it for, her Supernatural Ability, Proximate Spatial Ordinance, could only work alongside her body.

All Supernatural Abilities were like that, as they were fundamentally linked to the physical body rather than the \'soul\' like a Measurement.

Their efficacy, speed and power were wholly dependent on the user\'s physical state; and since Sophie\'s was rapidly deteriorating―her stamina and endurance draining with each strike she guarded against―the chances were high that such an attempt to move quickly and adjust the state of her shield from \'blocking\' to \'pass-through\' would not bode well.

She worried that, by letting the sword fall through the fabric, the enemy would simply thrust forward to stab her before she had enough time to change it to absorb and erase the weapon.

Clang~!

"Ugh...!"

So, all she could reliably do was defend until a moment of respite or opportunity came.

Internally, all Avon Laura was doing... Was following the single thread she had gently tugged.

"..."

Ever since that first fight in the Aurigan Arena, the ball of yarn in her soul had not been the same.

She didn\'t know what it meant, but the yarn had been dyed jet black from then on.

As if it never were, gone was the beautiful blood-like redness of the previous ball of yarn.

It gave her the feeling of an omen, but there was nothing she could do about it and there was no one she could ask about the matter, either... Well, aside from one man, perhaps.

But that was never going to happen.

In any case, following the trail of this blackened thread, Avon Laura pulled it, giving her body for fate to borrow, controlling her every move as it was intended to be and without resistance.

"..."

Clanggg~~!!

"Gh...!"

Eventually, Sophie felt like she had been pushed to the edge of a cliff.

Projecting the air around her to push Avon Laura away, lightening the space itself to reduce the sword\'s pressure, distorting space, et cetera; there were many actions she had thought about taking, but none of them were currently viable.

Not only was her strength and energy waning, but many spatial techniques that involved specific control or had a great effect required a corresponding and exponential amount of concentration to use successfully.

With the extreme fast-pacedness with which Avon Laura was pressuring her, a constant stream of mental and physical strain being placed on her mind and body, and the inexperience of battle adding to the cause, there was no way Sophie would be able to maintain enough focus and composure to use the higher level spatial techniques like that.

She could manifest the fabric of space to defend herself, but that was all.

If it were possible to get in range, she might have been able to hit the enemy with a spatial attack directly, but Avon Laura was attacking in such a way that only the very tip of her sword would collide with the barrier.

She knew about the one-metre limitation and was playing around that vulnerability perfectly.

Vho~o~o~o~hm~~!!

At some point, a bizarre pulsating sound resonated throughout the air.

"What the...?!"

Before she even had time to think, Sophie found the soft and malleable grass beneath her feet had abruptly transmuted into rigid and condensed permafrost.

Clangg~!!

"Agh, the shit...!?"

Then, Sophie felt a weird sensation in her right knee when the sword connected with a particular intensity.

"...!"

The sudden discomfort caused her already-quivering leg to fold, placing her into an awkward and disadvantageous position as she flinched and fell backwards.

In the blink of an eye, she collapsed on her behind without a chance to even process what was going on.

"Ah!"

With a hard impact on the now-frozen ground, she naturally flinched once more, causing the spatial fabric barrier to accidentally undo.

"!?"

Belatedly realising this fact, Sophie hurriedly snapped her head to the opponent in front of her and waved her hand to resummon the fabric.

However.

Swish-!

Avon Laura swung her sword.

"...!"

She moved too fast.

Splatter.

Thud.

There was no sound of metal colliding with metal, but instead of carved flesh and spilt blood.

"...A-a-a-ah..."

There, dyeing the white canvas that was the frosted floor with a fresh carmine hue, gradually seeping into the hardened ice―was a tanned, severed human hand.

"Kyaaaah...!!?"

Selina, who was spectating the whole ordeal from beginning to end, let loose a harrowing scream.