Chapter 717

「I'm just getting warmed up! Let's get serious!」

There's no lie in her words. Immediately after, the amount of magic flowing through her body increased at once, and red magical power overflowed from her entire body.

The pressure she exuded is no less than that of the strong person we've fought so far.

As if to show that her tremendous magical power was not a mere flashy show, Sibylla's speed increased not just one step but several steps faster.

「Shyaah!」

「Guh...!」

It may look like that Sibylla has become accustomed to Fran's movement, but it was actually because Fran was hesitating and it has slowed her movements slightly.

Fran, who should have been superior in speed, was beginning to get pushed back by Sibylla's attacks. The lack of vision of a successful attack was even beginning to affect her evasion.

But even if we continue to evade her attack, we will not get out of this situation.

『Fran, let's go on the offense』

(...Okay)

Seeing Fran, who dared to use the aerial jump to keep her distance, Sibylla stopped her movement. She must have sensed that we were about to use our trump card.

「Kuhahaha! Suddenly your hesitation is gone! All right, come! I'll wait as long as you want!」

She's even laughing in this situation huh!? But we're gonna shut that laugh right away!

「Fuh...!」

If Sibylla is willing to wait, then let us take advantage of that leeway.

Fran then concentrates like never before. She circulates her magic power as if to unite herself with me, and focuses it as if to put everything she has into a single blow.

I can feel a strange feeling as if I had become an extension of Fran's body. Accompanied by a sense of elation that makes me feel that I could demonstrate my fullest potential as a sword. Even before she wielded me, my body trembles with delight.

It was almost similar to when I was wielded by Fran in her Sword God Transformation.

「Haaa...!」

In front of Fran, who was kneading an enormous amount of magic power while holding me above her head, Sibylla is smiling like a wild beast and braced herself.

It seems that she's serious when she says she's gonna take it without interrupting.

Then Fran closed the space between them at once.

「Fuh...」

「Geh!」

Sibylla does not respond to our advance. I wonder if it was because she can't react at all or she won't.

「Heaven's Judgement!」

Just like that, the god-speed slash was swung down to Sibylla body, but――

「!!」

『What!?』

「That was awesome! But it's not enough to bring me down!」

Ridiculous! If that's not enough, then is there even someone who can cut Sibylla?

It wasn't that we couldn't cut her at all. After all, my blade managed to slice six inches deep through Sibylla's shoulder, making she bleed for the first time.

But it's the Heaven's Judgment delivered by Fran with all her might in her Brilliant Lightning Rush state, you know? Even so, this is all it could do to her?

『Even though that attack was slightly clothed in divine attributes!?』

(? Really)

It seems that Fran herself was unaware of it.

But I, who had acquired divine attribute manipulation skills, was able to sense it well.

Considering the Sword God Transformation was the final form of the Heaven's Judgement, it is not strange that it was clothed with the divine attribute.

I guess that means Fran has finally taken that step.

But Sibylla didn't seem to be troubled by it. Besides, the wounds that should have been inflicted by the divine attribute were beginning to regenerate instantly.

Overwhelming defense and unbelievable regenerative power. That's what tends to catch one's attention, but there were other strange aspects as well. Even if it didn't cut her, it was still a super-fast blow, remember? There should have been quite an impact from it.

The fact that my blade was caught without slicing through should have meant that the impact should have hit Sibylla. But even though the impact should have been able to blow her up, she didn't seem to take any shock at all.

Then I remembered this sight. She looked just like Fran, who used physical attack nullification at last year's martial arts tournament.

『Was it really the Physical Attack Nullification skill?』

However, the divine attribute should have greater power than normal skills. Even the Physical Attack Nullification skill should not be able to defend against the divine attribute. Then why it could only cut that much? But there's also the possibility that we managed to cut her was thanks to the divine attribute.

If it was a resistance type skill, I wonder why did it could prevent all of my magic attacks.

(Master, can you draw out the divine attributes?)

『...Let's give it a try』

Using the divine attribute seems to be the key after all. By using my Divine Attribute Manipulation, I could convert my magic power into divine energy. It's not going to be easy, but I won't give up before giving it a try.

I then tried to remember the sensation of when we used the Sword God Transformation and the previous Heaven's Judgement.

As I felt like I can do this, my own presence increases rapidly and I was struck by the feeling of overflowing power.

『Here it comes... It's not as powerful as the Sword God Transformation, but let's do this』

(That's more than enough)

Fran then began to advance once again. She's not going to use the Heaven's Judgement this time, but just the Sheaths of Wind drawing technique. However, it was packed with as much magic power as the Heaven's Judgement.

Though the cut was shallower than the Heaven's Judgement, we managed to slightly cut Sibylla's cheek. It seems that it really can't completely block the divine attribute attack.

In addition, Fran followed with more attacks that didn't uses my sword body.

With her fist covered with my string form, Fran unleashed multiple punches to Sibylla's torso.

「Guh...」

『Eh?』

But to our surprise, Sibylla was taking damage from a punch that was far less powerful than our previous slashes. She then exhaled from the lungs where she had been struck and held her chest with a bitter expression.

But rather than being in pain, she was probably feeling discomfort from having her internal organs shaken.

「So punches do more damage than a slash with a sword?」

「Kukuh... So, you noticed」

I see now. It seems that it's not a skill that could prevent against all attacks.

It seems invincible because it could hold against most of our slashing attacks, but it was actually not so much against punch. Was the reason Colbert managed to injure her was because of that? Or could it be that it was weak against penetrating damage?

It's certainly a pretty solid defense, but knowing that it was not invincible are enough for us.

And we also knew that both slashing and punching attacks would be more effective if they're imbued with the divine attribute.

『In that case, let's cut and hit all over her』

(Nn!)

『Leave maintaining the divine attribute to me』

(I'm counting on you)

Using the Sword God Transformation will be our last resort. It's something that can't be used for long periods of time after all, and if using it couldn't even finish her, then we'll be at a disadvantage.

「Hahahahah! This is where the real fight begins!」

「Nn!」