as Asayuki's thumb pushed a single inch from the scabbard.

  No time to think! Erina twisted aside, narrowly dodging the thrust and then hitting the floor under the following slash. A small light green Menger sponge floated into the air between them as she rolled back onto her feet, eyes wide as she hastily commanded the sponge to multiply into a small field.

  A flurry of scarlet crescents filled the air and vanished. The sponges exploded like little mines as Erina backpedaled as fast as she could. Asayuki ran straight through the smoke a moment later, hand hovering at the handle of her sheathed blade as she rushed forth. What had Erina done to deserve this?!

  A spell circle formed on the ground, catching Asayuki dead center as the spatial distortion field formed. Erina needed distance—

  Asayuki was already halfway through the field! Erina swiped her arm down and intensified the effect from ten to fifty. Her heart felt like it was trying to burst out of her chest.

  She couldn't stay in this tight alley with nowhere to maneuver away from that sword of hers. Erina leapt up, forming a seal under herself at the peak of her jump to leap up again, and one more to the rooftops.

  She ran across the top of the building, jumping onto the ventilation pipes and from there to a higher roof as the heavy thud of metallic greaves hit the floor behind her. A Menger sponge formed in her hand and she threw it behind her on her way to the next roof, green light tracing her other arm as she whipped it back and forth. Each movement multiplied the cube again, leaving a field of them as Erina finally turned around, readying an array of light orbs at her back.

  Her first barrage hit the lip of the roof, dissuading Asayuki from jumping up to her at the last second. The swordmaster backed up, looking for a clear trajectory through the minefield as she dodged and weaved through the rain of lasers coming down from above. The red katana flashed from its scabbard several times, not deflecting the beams but completely nullifying them at the point the blade met them.

  What was that? Who was that? The thoughts left Erina's head as quickly as they came. She had to keep her enemy pinned while she had the chance. Still conducting the movement of her orbs with one hand as they repeatedly split, fired, condensed, and split again, Erina traced her spear into being and grasped it with her other hand.

  Asayuki saw her throw the spear not at her, but at something behind her. She turned on her heel to keep both sides in her peripheral vision. Behind her, a spell circle had formed with a bright point of light at its center.

  She pulled herself into a handless cartwheel, letting the spear fly underneath her as her blade blocked another laser from the other side. Her boots barely skimmed inches away from the floating cube mine overhead. Asayuki landed, darting back and forth across the rooftop between the mines, dodging and cutting the two-sided bombardment. Under the visor, icy blue eyes snapped every which way, tracking the movements of the orbs and incoming projectiles while monitoring Erina as she danced and spun along the edge of her higher ground, every motion and flourish conducting another attack.

  Asayuki neutralized one more spear and then sheathed her sword, on the run and sliding under both a Menger sponge and the laser aimed at her chest. She rose back up and set her eyes on Erina as she drew her hand back from her thigh holster, an ofuda between each of her fingers.

  "Ngh?!" Erina seized up as a sensation like an electric jolt shot through her. A paper talisman stuck to her neck and wouldn't let go. The flow of mana throttled. Her orbs ceased to divide. Her fingers immediately went to the edge of the ofuda, trying to pry it off her—

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  She looked back to the minefield, but Asayuki wasn't there anymore. Asayuki was in the air six feet away from her.

  Erina's hastily-made spear shattered on impact with the crimson blade, deflecting the beheading strike. The tip of the sword barely grazed Erina's cheek. It was a shallow cut, so light that her mana shield would harmlessly absorb it… except that it didn't.

  Rather than her bright green ether flecking the floor, vivid red blood flew off the blade and hit the ground. Erina's mana shield was supposed to soften blows, and it wasn't doing a thing! If anything, when it came to mana usage, if using her attacks felt like opening the drain in a tub, that one touch was like cutting out the entire bottom for a split second!

  Erina spun away with the direction of the cut as Asayuki fell short. Sparks flew from Asayuki's boots as they grated down the side of the building, slowing her fall until her fingers caught the edge of a windowsill.

  "Tenacious," muttered Asayuki. With barely inches of purchase, she flipped onto the sill and launched back onto the rooftop.

  Backing away from the edge, Erina might as well have waxed herself by finally tearing off the ofuda, leaving an angry red rash where it used to be. Still affixed to her fingers, she pasted it to the floor and held it in place with her foot to get her hand free, just in time to stagger back another several paces as Asayuki touched down.

  "Give it up." The swordmaster pointed her blade at her target as she stalked forward, her expression unreadable behind her visor. "You're outclassed."

  The katana caught and refracted the light in a brilliant red hue. It almost looked like it was glowing. What kind of sword was that? One way or another, it cut through mana like it didn't even exist. Blood oozed from the cut on her cheek as Erina took another step back.

  She couldn't believe she was doing this. Faint green light shimmered over Erina's entire body in waves and then vanished. Her mana shield turned off. She needed to make good use of every drop she had.

  Hundredfold spatial distortion iteration. A glowing seal formed, encompassing the entire rooftop—

  Asayuki pushed off, darting down the rooftop towards her. Erina summoned her spear again. It self-destructed into little pieces on contact with the blade, but one hit was enough to knock the skull-crushing blow off course—

  Almost too fast to register, the blade twisted through the air and struck again from its low stance. Erina felt it tear across her leg, carving a raw red line up her thigh as she dodged too late.

  Finally, the distortion field activated, stretching the distance between them. Erina landed on her behind with a pained grunt. Adrenaline pounded through her veins as she hurried to her feet, staking a spear in the ground before her that collapsed into a glowing point.

  Asayuki rushed forth to close the gap and Erina activated the spear. The hundred lightning bolts blasted into the air in less than a split second, numerous branches severed and pruned in the same instant as Asayuki leapt back. Her scarf settled behind her, several new holes in its tattered cloth as the last of the branches crackled and split overhead. Smoke sizzled from the burn marks on Asayuki's clothes.

  Free to move unhindered in the altered space, Erina backed off further as she set up a new array of floating orbs around herself. Every step she took demanded a hundred from Asayuki. Dulled by shock, she could still feel the exposed flesh of her wounded leg, but she could walk, at least for now. A hundredfold distortion had to be enough, right?

  She saw Asayuki try to dash forward again before stopping and looking around. Erina couldn't get any hint of what she was thinking under that visor, but she was ready for the ofuda to come at her this time. Erina's heart felt like it was on fire. She had to repel her assailant in the next minute or two, battered and exhausted as she was.

  Asayuki sheathed her blade and stepped back. She settled into a low stance, her hand on the sword's handle as she drew back and focused.

  Erina felt a deathly chill. Every orb fired at once, a barrage of lasers flying—

  Blazing red light flared from within the scabbard as Asayuki's blade exploded forth and hacked into the air itself. Sharp jagged lines ripped through the air around them, spreading like fractures in the fabric of space, and then reality shattered like glass. Disintegrating shards of broken distorted space hung suspended around Erina as she stared blankly, unable to process what just happened.

  The red blade moved again.