「…Ahem. For the sake of mankind and a better world, I shall vanquish you! You, evil Knight of the evil kingdom, you will face your destiny by this sword of justice!」
Inglis furrowed her eyebrows, then did as Rafinha asked.
「Yikes… That’s barefaced…」
Rafinha let out a small sigh. While what Inglis said sounded right, it was just too out of character for her, it gave Rafinha the chills.
「However, I’d prefer it if we could cross swords as many times as possible, so I’d appreciate it if you would kindly run away after some time so that we may fight again!」
「……aand that’s more Glis-like, but also just as messed up!! Whatever! Just get on with it! We still need to hurry to big brother Rafa!」
Inglis once again turned to Rochefort.
「And there you have it! Seeing that the both of us don’t have much time on our hands, why don’t we get this match started as soon as possible?」
On their way here, Inglis and Rafinha had been kept up to date on the information regarding Prisma that the Brigade was aware of, mainly about how the Prisma was only a few days away from Arlman.
Considering the travel to Arlman as well as the preparations to make once they were there. They would only have one day in the Royal Capital at most. They didn’t have much time.
Inglis would have preferred to fight an opponent as strong as Rochefort many times over many days at any other time, but seeing that it wasn’t possible, she’d resort to enjoying a short but intense battle.
When Rochefort saw the refined smile on Inglis’s lips, he smirked back, looking amused.
「I’ve no idea what you mean, but… it seems like our meeting is God’s way to tell us outlaws who strayed from the chivalric codes to crush each other!」
「No, I haven’t strayed from any codes. I don’t have any code to stray from, in the first place. Not to mention, God didn’t say such a thing. She said that we should live as we please! Truly generous, she is.」
「HAAHAHA!! You’re much better at this!」
「I would say the same to you! You seem to be very aware that your actions defied the chivalric codes, especially one in charge of a Hyrule Menace. Nevertheless, you risk what remaining life force you have to accomplish what you must. Surprisingly, you’re a much better person than others think.」
「Well, why don’t you stop this scoundrel and put a stop to this disgusting facade! Kukuku!! This is punishment time! I’ll destroy your perfectly beautiful face, you won’t be able to seduce a man anymore!!」
「By all means, do it! I don’t want to seduce a man in the first place, so feel free to go all out!」
With that being said, Inglis still enjoyed looking at herself in the mirror, so she wouldn’t let even her face suffer even a single scar.
「DON’T MIND IF I DOOO!!!」 Google seaʀᴄh NoveI[F]ire.net
A divine shimmering light gushed from one of the gems on Rochefort’s shield.
An exclamation escaped from Inglis’ lips. That was no ordinary magical light! Rochefort’s original mana had been sublimed by the Hyrule Menace’s power, so much so that it became a completely different power of its own.
In other words, the inefficiency of mana seemed to have been almost completely eliminated, all thanks to the Hyrule Menace.
Compared to Ether, mana as a form of power was incredibly wasteful. While indeed it was the base of all sorcery, a magical phenomenon created by 10 units of mana would only translate to at most 2 to 3 units of the phenomenon, while the rest would disperse.
The technique that Abel the Highlander used, the Refined Mana, would raise the result to 5 or 6 units, but that was all…
Rochefort, however, was now exerting 10 units of force for 10 units of mana, if not more. The Hyrule Menace functioned by converting that 80% wasted power into something effective.
In terms of efficiency and output, this power might as well rival Ether. However, it would be wrong to say that this power was Ether.
Ether was the spirit of the Gods, the base of all creations. Inglis primarily used it for battle techniques, but Ether was essentially a universal force that had as many uses as one could imagine.
In contrast, this power that Rochefort exerted was a power usable only for battle that Hyrule Menace provided him. There was no versatility of the Ether. A power much similar to Ether, but less multipurpose, Quasi Ether perhaps a good dub for it.
What all of that meant was…
「I see! Truly interesting!」
As she took a look at the quality of that power, her body reacted.
She drew her dragonscale sword as the light approached.
Her sword succeeded in repelling the light. However, the sheer force of it pressured Inglis to bend her body backward significantly.
Intense numbness attacked Inglis’ arms. The light, bounced away by Inglis, slammed into the ramparts, and… Just a single one of it managed to collapse the castle walls, leaving behind a giant tear for all to see.
「What marvelous power!」
This was the power of the Ultimate Artifact, Hyrule Menace. Not half-bad at all.