A noxious sense of oppression came, casting an illusion that had Subaru feeling as if the sun had been blotted out. The air hung thick with pollution. He would be hard pressed to find words with which to express this discomfort, this disgust. The disgust of the peeling of a scab, the discomfort of a stench exhaled to the face, the aversion of a sticky tongue over bare skin.
The origin of this turbid air, was the evil which had turned his head to look back.
The instant that he met its gaze, Subaru’s body began to tremble involuntarily. Expressionless and empty, those eyes, like a curse, plunged deep into his soul. As if pierced by a rusted needle, even his lungs and heart were frozen by terror. However, even as Subaru found himself immobile, overcome by such feelings—―
Reinhard: “Do not look anywhere unnecessary. Your opponent should be me!”
Turning to regard Subaru, meant turning his back to the Sword Saint. Raising his hands high, Reinhard had clasped in his hands what could only be described as broken signposts and scrap metal. Such materials which were only ever destined to be waste, but in Reinhard’s hands, they were no inferior to a treasured blade.
A long blade slanted through the air struck the back of Regulus’s suit. The bursting shockwave expanded in midair, leaving a sorrowful wail from the assailed atmosphere in its wake, raising vortexes in the large canals where thin sheets of ice floated. This was the aftermath of that sword’s strike. Had the force of evil been shattered to pieces, it would have come as no surprise. However, before he could take a single step.
Regulus: “Don’t get me wrong, Sword Saint. I’ve been entertaining you because my heart is obliging and considerate. But even my gracious self has limits.”
Reinhard: “————”
Lightly, Regulus patted the place where he had been struck by the sword, and tilted his head. Reinhard, alerted by this motion, tossed aside the scraps in his hands and made to leap backward at a wide angle―— just as he prepared to jump, his feet froze in place.
Reinhard’s superhuman intuition.
It informed him of dire, imminent threats to his self, and preemptively detecting incoming attacks. His keen instincts told him that he could not dodge to the rear. He immediately straightened and began to search for alternative routes.
Regulus: “The air there, it has already been touched by me.”
Due to the sharpening of his senses locking him into place, at that moment, Reinhard had been left unprepared. His opponent had him trapped in an invisible yet present envelope. Reinhard’s judgment told him to slip by the force of evil’s side, but, in order to do so, he would be forced to make a defensive strike.
Reinhard: “Haa!”
The blow that he dealt had enough force to shear through stone. The hilt of the Dragon Sword pierced into Regulus’s chest, but the force of evil grasped it easily.
Regulus: “Futile effort, thanks for your trouble. Just pray that you won’t be hurt too badly.”
Reinhard: “Just as Subaru said, your heart doesn’t seem to be beating.” –A City of Strife