C-Demnovel The Dance of Silver
The Dance of Silver
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ZRAAAAAAAKISH—BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM...!!!!!!!!)The concentric shockwaves generated by the continuous and frenzied impact in the heights continued to sweep across the clear sky of Ky'lar, expanding in invisible vibrations that made the continental barrier groan and distorted the moonlight.
"Royal Style..."
However, on the left flank, the existential focus was completely concentrated on the martial and surgical dance of the silver valkyrie.
(¡¡¡CRRR-CRAAA-CRAAACK...!!!)
Confronting her, Eldora-Gideon's telluric pressure surged abruptly.
(¡¡BRRRUM-KRAK-SHINGGG-CLASH!!)
The wall of living stone shook as hundreds of geometric replicas of the Great Earth Spirit charged in perfect synchrony.
(¡¡VROOOM-TZAK-TZAK-TZAK-CRUSH!!)
From the ground and the flanks, an omnidirectional flurry of ochre crystal needles and colossal rock formations projected into the air, seeking to impale Silver's body in an inescapable network of stone.
"Inverse Cascade Threshold!"
But in response, Silver demonstrated lethal flexibility and agility...
(¡ZSHAK-KRAK-SHING-SHING-BOOM!)
At a speed that surpassed human perception, suspended in the vacuum, wielding her greatsword with the firm grip of a single hand, she began to trace fluid, continuous, and elastic arcs that curved through the air like threads of liquid silver.
"Royal Style: Dance of Continuous Thrusts."
Each movement of her right arm was not only a defense, but a surgical counterattack.
(¡SSSHING-KRAK-ZASH-ZASH-DZIN!)
The gray and spectral flames of her blade hissed with a shearing static, slicing through the earth formations and floating crystals with the ease of someone cutting through the wind.
(¡¡VZZZZ-SHING-SHING-SHING-KRUNCH-KRUNCH-KRUNCH!!)
As a result, the slashes were so swift and fluid that they created a perimeter shield of ashen flashes around her, pulverizing the living stone into a dense shower of debris that didn't even graze her armor-dress.
(¡¡FSHHH-TZAK-TZAK-TZAK-PRRR-SHATTER!!)
And at the same time, harnessing the inertia of her own spins in the air, Silver did not limit herself to merely repelling...
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡KRAAA-BOOOOOOOM—KRRRRRRRR...!!!!!!!!)
Instead, using the floating debris as fleeting footholds, she propelled herself directly toward the swarm of replicas surrounding her.
"Royal Style: Descending Pressure Slash..."
Without breaking her icy gaze fixed on her target, Silver, wielding her sword imbued with gray flames, continued to dance with a sinuous and devastating rhythm.
(¡¡KHAN-ZSHAT-SHING-KRUNCH!!)
Harnessing the inertia accumulated in the air, Silver unleashed a pressure slash.
"... Superficial."
However, the instant the edge of her sword made contact with Eldora-Gideon's shield and the gray flames completely negated all mystical or physical phenomena upon touch...
(¡SHIIIING-ZSHAK... ¡KRA-KROOOM!)
The expression on the Valkyrie's face darkened instantly, transforming into a grimace of annoyance and boredom.
"..."
Even though the blade devoured the rock and the compacted earth, slicing them cleanly into two perfect halves that sent debris flying with a tectonic roar, there had been no solid, gratifying vibration in her hands, through the hilt, of having claimed a life.
"... I still haven't cut it... Why...?"
Still without understanding it, she intuitively comprehended that the steel had not stumbled, nor cut, nor felt the resistance of a true enemy will.
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡JUE-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!)
It had been like slicing through a hollow shell, a simple pile of soulless mud.
(¡¡ZUM-KRUNCH-SHATTER-ZOCK!!)
And as if in response, more and more attacks emerged from the ground...
(¡¡FSSS-SWISH-KRA-ZUUUM-SLAM!!)
However, what Silver was unaware of at that moment was that the Spirit Queen, in her previous clash, had foreseen a contingency.
(¡¡RATATAT-KRUNCH-VROOOM-CRUSH!!)
While Silver evaded the continuous bombardment of the omnidirectional rain of projectiles saturating the environment, she was unaware of how the Queen, in her former clash against Mireya, had learned...
(¡¡¡TZAK-TZAK-TZAK-BRRRUM-ZSHH-ZOCK!!!)
While Silver's gray flames could negate all phenomena, the Queen, during her previous clash, had discovered that Silver's flames required direct contact for negation.
(¡¡KRA-SHAAK... ZUUUUUUMMM!!)
Therefore, understanding this, the Spirit Queen matched her against the Great Earth Spirit, who acted as a suppressor.
(¡¡BRRUM-TZAK... VROOOOOOOO!!)
And immediately from the ground, flanking Silver from both sides, two extensions of compacted earth, molded into gigantic arms, emerged.
(¡¡KRUNCH-ZSHHHHHHH-BOOM!!)
Eldora-Gideon did not care about the danger or how many of his own bodies were destroyed; as long as his astral core remained intact, he could sacrifice mass without limit.
(¡¡¡¡¡SHWIIII-ZUUUUU~!!!!!)
Nonetheless, despite this and without losing the fluidity of her dance, Silver reacted with instantaneous agility.
(¡¡SWUUSH-SHING-FUMM... !!)
Through a perfect vertical flip in mid-air, her silver armor-dress spun on its own axis, evading the collision of the arms by a mere few millimeters.
(¡¡WUSH-SHHHH... ¡VOIID!!!)
And mid-inverted motion, she swung her sword in a single hand; causing the gray flames to graze the stone limbs, negating their existence and making them disappear into nothingness within a fraction of a second.
(¡¡¡CRRR-CRAAA-CRAAACK...!!!)
But before the vacuum left by the negated matter could stabilize, Eldora-Gideon's core, completely unharmed in the rearguard, immediately generated new shards of sharp stone that projected rectilinearly toward the heights, molding new matter from the ground to impale her.
(¡KLANG-TACK-TACK-SWUUSH-ZVISH!)
However, Silver, reacting instantly, used the intermediate rock fragments that had not yet been touched by her flames as fleeting footholds, driving her metallic boots to rebound in the middle of the vacuum, dodging the new mineral surge and gaining a new tactical vantage point on the left flank.
(¡TIK-TIK-TIK-BOOM-SHWIP!)
Immediately after, as she accelerated, she extended her free arm into the vacuum, thus materializing her shield.
(¡CHOCK-KLING-KLING-VROOOM!)
And immediately circling in a zigzag, Silver channeled her gray and spectral flames from her forearm, molding the negation energy into a dense binding of ashen fire that linked directly to the shield's structure.
"I need... More reach..."
And with a violent and fluid flick of her wrist, she hurled the weapon forward; as the ashen flames imbued the metallic edges, transforming it into an abrasive circular saw that began to rotate at absurd revolutions.
(¡¡FZWUUUUU-ZVISH-VZZZZ-SUT-SUT-SUT!!)
Harnessing the whip of flames as the axis of a lethal pendulum, the knight-princess spun the shield in elliptical, retractable, and omnidirectional orbits around her.
(¡¡WUSH-VRRRRRRR-FSHHH-VOID-VOID!!)
As a result, the rock formations and ochre crystal needles that Eldora-Gideon continuously projected to halt her were intercepted in mid-flight; upon contact with the sawed edge, the mineral matter collapsed without resistance, instantly negated and reduced to non-existence before they could reform their structure through natural energy.
(¡¡SHWIP-VZZZZZ-TZAK-POP-POP-POP!!)
But while the rotating shield tore through the frontal siege, danger emerged in her blind spot.
(¡¡FROOOSHH-CRASHHH!!)
Harnessing the modular mass of the ground, dozens of stone replicas of Eldora-Gideon manifested suddenly right behind her back, raising their rigid appendages to crush her in a silent ambush.
"..."
However, Silver did not even bother to turn around.
(¡BRRR-KRAK-BOOM!)
Keeping her icy, electric-blue gaze fixed to the front and maintaining remote control of the shield with her left hand, she slipped her body into a lateral feint in evasion.
(¡SWHIIP... FSSS)
And with her right hand, she swung her sword in reverse, tracing a blind and perfect arc behind her back with the fluidity of a royal dance.
(¡¡VUUT... SHHH~¹)
The flame-imbued edge sliced through the geometric torsos of the replicas within a fraction of a second...
(¡¡ZING... KHHE...!!)
Consequently, the bodies formed of energetic stone simply evaporated upon touch in a deathly silence, leaving the silver valkyrie suspended untouched in the air, dictating the rhythm of the combat.
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡BRRRR-KABOOOOMMM-SHWWWAAAAA-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)
And it was at that point that Eldora-Gideon began to understand...
(She. Is dangerous.)
... what kind of monster he was facing.
(¡¡¡¡KRRR-KRAK-SHHHTT!!!!)
The ground fractured into shifting plates, unleashing high-frequency earthquakes and sonic vibrations that shattered rocks into dust.
(¡¡¡¡¡BRRR-RUMMM-ZINGGG!!!!!!)
Immediately after, avalanches of dense mud and fortress-sized blocks of stone plummeted from the surrounding hillsides, while thousands of ochre crystal needles were shot from the ground like infinite, ascending shrapnel.
"Royal Style: Dancing Butterfly..."
But in the midst of that collapse, Silver transformed into a whirlwind of absolute lethality and grace.
(¡¡SSSHHH-HUFF-HAFF-TSUUU!!)
Defying gravity and the oppressive mass falling upon her, the knight-princess linked one martial art to another in a fluid sequence that bordered on the divine.
(¡¡VROOOM-SCHHH-FSSS!!)
Harnessing the binding of gray flames, she hurled her saw-shield in a horizontal sweep that sliced through the crest of an avalanche, evaporating half of the landslide before it could crush her.
(¡SWUUSH-WOOOSH-ZIIIN!)
At the same time, her body spun in the air with an improbable flexibility to dodge the trajectory of the crystal needles ascending like spears.
(¡¡¡KRAK-GROOOW-CHOMP!!!)
The moment her boots touched a floating rock fragment, the ground beneath her turned into an emerging replica that raised its stone maws to devour her.
(¡VUUSH-SWHIIP-CRASH!)
But, without a shred of hesitation, Silver pivoted on her own axis, utilizing the inertia of the movement to unleash a descending reverse slash with her greatsword.
(¡¡FIZZZ-FSSS-WOOOSH~!!)
In this manner, sparks danced in the air while the earth trembled...
(¡TAP-SWHISH-CLANGGG!)
And without stopping for a single breath, the silver valkyrie continued to chain martial feints in mid-air, running laterally over the falling blocks of stone, using them as fleeting trampolines while her sword and shield traced perfect defensive orbits.
(¡¡¡¡BRRR-KRAK-ZUUUM...!!!!)
In an attempt to stop her, the earthquakes made the air vibrate and replicas emerged by the dozens from every blind spot...
(¡STACC-SWIISH-ZVUUUT!)
But unphased, the Valkyrie responded with a display of consecutive thrusts that pierced the air, elastic spins that deflected the pressure of the telluric waves, and blind counterattacks that cleared her periphery in a blink.
(¡¡¡¡¡RUMMM-ZUUUM-BOOOM!!!!!)
From the firmament altered by the shockwaves, an avalanche of colossal blocks of basaltic stone plummeted like rectilinear meteors, seeking to bury her under the weight of a mountain.
(¡VROOOSH-ZUUUM-KRAK!)
But Silver, in response, ascending in an oblique diagonal trajectory, did not dodge the impact.
(¡¡¡¡¡VROOOM-SCHHH-FSSS...!!!!!!)
Instead, extending her left arm, she tightened the binding of ashen fire and projected her saw-shield in a hyperbolic ascending arc; upon contact with the base of the first massive block, the flames negated the concept of its physical density, causing the colossal structure to vanish into non-existence as if it were simple smoke, opening a vacuum tunnel through the fall.
(¡¡¡¡BRRR-ZINGGG-KRAKKK!!!!)
But immediately, exploiting the breach, the ground beneath her erupted in a high-frequency earthquake that shot an intertwined network of thousands of ochre crystal needles, ascending omnidirectionally to block her path and impale her mid-flight.
(¡¡CLINK-SWIISH-ZVUUUM!!)
However, in response, she retracted her shield with a sharp tug of the chain, beginning to spin on her own axis at a speed that blurred her figure into a flash of liquid silver.
(¡¡SWHIIP-KHHE-FSSS!!)
Each counter-blow was blocked...
(¡¡ZUUUT-KHHEEE-FSSS-PFFF...!!)
... And as her single-handedly wielded sword pressed forward...
"I will cut it."
... Silver, more and more, was evolving.