There was a ceremonial magic spell called Judgement that brought lightning down from the sky. It was the same one that the high priest of the Church of the Three Heroes used on me in his surprise attack. All by herself, Nadia had just hurled a magical attack at me that was pretty much on the same level as Judgement. This monster of a woman blew my mind. She was so powerful it made me want to lecture her about not showing up to help when we were out fighting enemies like the Spirit Tortoise.

I hugged Filo close and protected her with my shield and cape as I kept running. The magic that Nadia had cast smashed into me with a loud crackle. Speed was everything when it came to lightning. Only an instant after I first laid my eyes on it, it was right there in front of my face. It was a formidable attack, and “burnt black” wouldn’t even begin to describe the damage it would have done to anyone other than me.

“Eat this! Our true joint attack!”

I could feel myself being electrocuted by the bolt of lightning, which I deflected with my shield, before hurling Filo with all my might.

“Un . . . unbelievableeeeee! Rock Valley just took Nadia’s finishing move head-on and launched a counterattack of his ownnnnnnn!”

The announcer was practically screaming at the top of his lungs, and the spectators erupted into cheers. Who cares about that! Right now, I needed to focus on defeating the enemy in front of me.

“Take thiiiiiissss!”

Filo channeled all the magic power she had stored and launched her haikuikku-Spiral Twist combo straight at Nadia.

“Oh my! Impressive! That was my finishing move, too, you know?”

Nadia shouted excitedly when she saw Filo flying at her at a speed even faster than her own lightning had been. I couldn’t tell if she was flustered or just happy. Surely there was no way she could outmaneuver Filo’s attack, right?

“From what I saw in your other matches, she can maintain that increased speed in her movements for three seconds. That means she’ll deliver a powerful attack during that time, right?”

“Yah!”

“In that case . . .”

She’d predicted that I would counterattack by throwing Filo? No, that wasn’t it. She must have realized that we would use the time she was casting her magic as our chance to launch an attack. Nadia hugged her harpoon close and began casting another spell. Yeah . . . She was practically announcing that she was going to reuse the thunderclouds that had appeared when she made her previous attack.

Her incantation was fast—too fast! I’d never seen anyone use magic like that!

“As the source of your power, I command you! Let the true way be revealed once more! Lightning! Become the force that protects and supports me!”

“Drifa Lightning Speed!”