The invisible sword assailed the Earth Sage.

CLATTER!

The five rings scraped along the blade in succession, deflecting its course. Using Sky Cherry Blossom's speed, the Regressor aimed straight for the Earth Sage's neck, but instead of blocking or dodging, the Earth Sage merely tilted her head and thrust a fist at her.

Sword against fist. Normally, in an exchange of blows, the sword should have the advantage. But ordinary calculations did not apply to a duel beyond common sense. The premises themselves were different.

Keeping her earring in the sword's path, the Earth Sage released her energy. Her bullet-repelling energy was powerful enough to push back the wind itself. Swung from an unstable stance, Sky Cherry Blossom would, at best, leave a scratch on her neck.

By contrast, even if the Regressor shrouded herself in protective energy, that fist would deliver its full impact if it connected.

She was the one holding the sword, yet she was also the one who stood to lose.

"Tch!"

Abandoning the neck, the Regressor pulled Sky Cherry Blossom back and slashed the Earth Sage's arm. A long, shallow cut opened along the ringless left arm. For an instant, blood showed through.

"Hup!"

But the Earth Sage simply tensed, and the wound closed.

No, rather than healing, she had merely compressed it shut in an instant with her muscles and energy. It amounted to much the same thing.

The Earth Sage's fist mercilessly collected payment for the scratch on her arm. Her hardened hand drove through the Regressor. She hastily drew Sky Cherry Blossom back to block, but that single sword could scarcely stop such a ferocious punch.

"Ghh...!"

Even releasing Sky Cherry Blossom's reserved space failed to dispel the impact, and the Regressor's body sailed backward into the air.

Watching the Regressor fly, the Earth Sage opened her hand again. If her opponent failed to learn her lesson and set foot on the ceiling once more, she intended to crush her this time. If she fell straight to the ground, she would attack with vibrations.

But the Regressor chose neither ceiling nor floor.

Heavenly Sword Art: Dark Cloud.

Starting at the hilt, Sky Cherry Blossom slowly turned white. The sky was a vast expanse holding aspirations and wishes. Hot air intertwined with the freely roaming air and rose toward the heavens.

That was how clouds came to drift serenely across the blue sky.

Heavenly Sword Art: Stepping Cloud.

She swept the whitened sword through the air. Its tip fluttered like a butterfly, tracing a shape in empty space. It was a white, solid-looking cloud. As though a piece of cloud had been torn free and compressed whole, a snow-white, bricklike mass floated into being.

The Regressor flipped in midair and planted both feet on the Stepping Cloud. Its texture suggested her legs should sink straight through, but the cloud supported her firmly, taking the place of the earth.

"Hah..."

Braced against the cloud, she bent her knees.

Heaven and Earth reversed.

Standing upside down, the Regressor curled into her stance. Sky Cherry Blossom flashed.

She coiled her body.

Gathered her strength.

As the snow-white Stepping Cloud accumulated power, it gradually darkened. An immortal painted upon the cloud with a single sweeping stroke of an ink-laden brush. Blacker and blacker, its color deepened.

The clouds roaming the sky did not always show a white face.

On stormy days, when the sky was angry, clouds sometimes assumed a mischievous expression and roared down at the earth. White clouds turning pitch-black foretold a sky brimming with power.

By 'creating' a foothold to stand on, the Regressor had made the Earth Sage miss her chance to respond. The Earth Sage hurriedly used her earth arts to pull a concrete wall toward her.

But she was a little too late.

Heavenly Sword Art: Thunderbird.

Lightning flashed. Thunder rang out. The world's mightiest belated drumbeat filled the bottomless pit.

Lightning was a path linking heaven and earth. After its power descended, a startled trumpeter announced its march with thunder half a beat late. But by the time the thunder sounded, heavenly punishment had already passed its stern judgment upon the sinner.

Thus thunder was a belated drumbeat ringing through the heavens. The moment you heard it, you were too late.

The Regressor's blurred, vanishing figure reappeared behind the Earth Sage. Traces of lightning stretched between them.

CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

The air stirred to a rhythm. The trail of current leaping through empty space faintly revealed the route she had taken.

Amid menacing crackles, her hair lifted with the static surrounding her body. The Regressor exhaled briefly and turned.

KRA-BOOM!!

Lightning erupted between the dark cloud and the Regressor. Only now did the slash reveal itself, flashing in the form of a lightning bolt. The concrete shielding the Earth Sage dried out and split apart. Its fissures resembled lightning.

A swift, blindingly fast sword strike. At the same time, an inescapable blow charged with electricity.

And yet.

"How... electrifying...!"

The Earth Sage channeled the energy beneath her feet and lifted the corners of her mouth.

Since the beginning of time, the earth had weathered countless lightning strikes. It could hardly even be called endurance. The earth had embraced even lightning within itself.

It was the strongest attack the Regressor could muster, but it was not enough to reach her heart.

The lightning's aftermath sent a trickle of blood down from the Earth Sage's mouth, but that was all. One ring had broken, and sword cuts marked her arm and shoulder, but that was all.

Once she drained away the lightning energy lingering in the blade and tightened her muscles with suction energy, the wounds closed as though they had never existed.

Yes, just like Mother Earth's body, which eventually healed no matter how many times it split apart.

"Tch."

Ignoring the warning ache in her wrist, the Regressor raised Sky Cherry Blossom.

The path was already connected. Sky Cherry Blossom was here, and the cloud was on the other side. All she needed to do was join them again. Lightning coursed over her body as the dark cloud hanging in the air rumbled ominously.

Just before her lightning-charged foot touched the ground—

"Earth Dragon."

Earth, brought to its ultimate height, commanded the ground.

The Earth Sage raised her hand, and dust rose from the concrete. Impossible. The hard concrete had not been ground down, so how could it produce clouds of dust?

But the Earth Sage could do it.

The concrete forming the ceiling of the tilted Tantalus began to swirl of its own accord.

CRUNCH! GRIND!

Colliding and scraping together, the concrete turned to earth and dust in an instant. The Earth Sage immediately drew in the concrete, now returned to its primordial state.

Twisted concrete reared up like a coiled serpent, enveloped in a cloud of earth and dust.

The manifestation of the earth's authority looked exactly like a dragon rising from the ground. The Earth Dragon of dust and soil swallowed the dark cloud in a single gulp.

And so the dark cloud, hovering too close to the ground, disappeared.

'Tch. Earth Dragon. At least... it's a little smaller this time.'

Before the regression, when the Earth Sage had walked the surface with Earth's Ripple in hand, she had encircled an enormous temple with two Earth Dragons. She had even plucked the people inside out one by one in their jaws.

Marching at the head of those two Earth Dragons, the Earth Sage had truly been an earth serpent dreaming of defying heaven. An unstoppable nightmare approaching to hold the Holy See accountable for its sins.

Compared with that, there was only one Earth Dragon now, and it was barely large enough to constrict a single person.

'Of course... whether I can withstand it is another matter.'

Perhaps its smaller size would make it even more troublesome.

The Earth Dragon encircled the Earth Sage. Sand swirled as though guarding her.

Facing her, the Regressor swept Sky Cherry Blossom through the air. Lightning-wreathed clouds surrounded her. Her hair stood wildly on end.

"Here I come."

"Come."

It was scarcely enough of an exchange to call a conversation. Yet it was sufficient.

The Regressor leaped forward, swinging her sword. The Earth Sage raised both hands to meet her.

The Earth Dragon opened its jaws.

This was no ordinary earth art. The earth flowed like a serpent, moving in concert with the Earth Sage's punches and kicks. She lightly thrust a fist, and the concrete dragon surged like a wave toward the Regressor.

In response, the Regressor bounced lightly on her feet... and ran along the Earth Dragon.

It was a feat possible only with a light body, superb light-footed movement, and energy arts honed to mastery. Rather than opposing the wave, she rode it at an angle, scraping Sky Cherry Blossom diagonally along it as she slid forward.

Inwardly impressed, the Earth Sage punched.

Sword met fists and feet.

The invisible blade cut through the air. Its untraceable edge slashed at the rings, deflected punches and kicks, and nibbled away at flesh.

But wrapped in her Earth Dragon, the Earth Sage no longer allowed herself to be struck so easily. The dragon served as armor, keeping the attacks from reaching her. Just as the Regressor clicked her tongue—

The Earth Dragon, which had been watching keenly for an opening, sprang out with its jaws wide. Its speed was that of a coiled serpent. The instant its coils twitched, its head had already shot forward.

The Regressor barely evaded it with the Heaven-Reversing Realm.

'Seriously, thank goodness I at least have the Heaven-Reversing Realm...!'

Inwardly relieved, the Regressor severed the Earth Dragon's exposed neck. Headless, the dragon devoted itself to defense until a new head rose.

The tedious war of attrition continued, eating away at stamina and concentration. The Regressor was decidedly at a disadvantage.

'If she were fast instead, I could use the Heaven-Reversing Realm to fight a battle of speed...!'

Her opponent was as steadfast as the earth. The title of Earth Sage was no empty boast. Moreover, even when a cut occasionally landed on that rock-hard body, tempered over decades, it felt like merely scratching an outer shell. There was no satisfying bite to it.

But a single blow could critically injure the Regressor. Especially now, so early in this regression, when she was more fragile than ever.

A hand swept broadly on a diagonal. It scarcely looked like an attack, yet even this would be dangerous to take. Setting her blade against it and deflecting it aside, the Regressor complained inwardly.

'What's the point of training across regressions? My body stays the same! Tch, do I have to use that...?'

"You've left the ground."

As she spoke, the Earth Sage clenched her fist. The Regressor tried to react, but unfortunately, both feet were slightly airborne at that very moment.

'Damn!'

Before she could create any distance, the recoil from parrying had lifted her off the ground. She had let her guard down.

And the Earth Sage, with her feet firmly planted, sensed it through the vibrations traveling through the corpses and prepared her attack.

"Spatial Dust."

CRASH!

The sound of a shattering window came from empty air. Strangely distorted energy seized the world, space and all.

'Spatial Dust?! She could do it... with her body too?!'

In a previous run, that secret technique had warped the world to deflect incoming arrows and bullets and catch fleeing enemies.

'To think she could use it in single combat!'

Though there should have been no contact, the Regressor's body was dragged forward.

Heaven and Earth, brought to their utmost heights. An enormous amount of energy gathered in the Earth Sage's right arm. Intact rings and damaged rings resonated with one another, beginning to tremble. The sound of them striking together was just like the song of cicadas.

It was merely adhesive energy extended through her entire body. That was all, yet the airborne Regressor was pulled in, unable to resist.

She could have shaken it off, but that would take too long. Already caught in the technique, all she could do was grit her teeth.

Over her, the Earth Dragon twisted its body tightly like a twisted doughnut, then unleashed all that power.

"If you are sturdy enough..."

The Earth Sage threw a short punch into empty air. Uncoiling in a single motion, the Earth Dragon lunged out and tore into the Regressor.

"Kah... agh!"

The sound was as though her lungs were being wrung out. Something snapped. Swept away by the Earth Dragon, the Regressor slammed down far in the distance.

A corpse-like figure tumbled among the corpses.

"...you will survive."

The Earth Sage murmured as she wiped the blood from her cheek. As though answering her, the Regressor screamed in pain down below.

"G-ghhhh...!"

"... You are sturdy indeed. But already battered beyond repair. You will fight no more now."

Having delivered that brief assessment, the Earth Sage turned to head for the summit.

That was when the Regressor slowly rose.