"Huff…"
Amid the shattered training equipment on the field, Ais propped herself up, dust clinging to her body as she looked straight at Sakura.
"…Was that magic?"
She asked seriously.
"Magic that turns a staff into a sword. Magic that suddenly boosts strength."
Were those two effects different applications of the same spell, or did her opponent possess two completely separate magics?
"And also… why did you use the back of the blade to block my attack earlier?"
Ais tilted her head slightly, puzzled.
"Were you holding back against me?"
She recalled clearly how, after Sakura turned her staff into a sword, she had deliberately used the flat of the blade to meet Ais's strike.
Sakura, still standing in place and holding the weapon formed from the [Sword] Card, shook her head.
"If I used the [Sword] Card's power directly against you, Ais-sister's weapon would break."
…Worried about damaging her weapon?
"If that's all, you don't need to worry," Ais replied earnestly.
"My weapon has the unbreakable effect…"
Weapons with the unbreakable property sacrificed some offensive power compared to others of the same tier, but in exchange gained near-absolute durability, almost never breaking in battle.
No matter how sharp Sakura's sword was supposed to be, it shouldn't have been able to damage the Sword of Despair.
So in Ais's mind, Sakura could go all out without concern.
However, before she could continue, Finn—standing at the edge of the field—spoke up first.
"Ais, since Miss Sakura said that, there must be a reason," Finn said thoughtfully.
"If I'm not mistaken, that sword likely has some special ability—one with extremely destructive properties."
"Mr. Finn is right."
Sakura nodded, affirming his guess.
"My magic is called Magic Card Creation. I can create different cards according to my needs, and each card has a different effect."
"The [Sword] Card can transform into a weapon, and it has the effect of cutting through anything. The [Power] Card consumes magic power to infinitely amplify my strength."
She had no intention of hiding her abilities.
Compared to Sakura's truly terrifying innate talent, the ability to create cards—aside from its nostalgic value—was actually not that remarkable. Any effect the cards could produce, Sakura could theoretically replicate even without them.
So while Finn and the Loki Familia executives were still speculating about the nature of her magic, Sakura simply laid it all out plainly.
At the same time, by openly revealing her abilities and subtly mimicking the principles of magical bindings, she even slightly reinforced their effectiveness.
"Magic Card Creation… a magic like that actually exists?"
Hearing Sakura's explanation, the Loki Familia members—who had only just barely recovered from the shock of seeing Lv.5 Ais sent flying by a Lv.2—were once again shaken.
Creating cards with different effects and using them to wield different powers…
Didn't that mean that for Sakura, every new card was equivalent to acquiring a brand-new magic?
The number of cards she had was effectively the number of magics she possessed.
And these weren't ordinary spells, either—they were comparable to the trump-card magics awakened through divine blessings, miracle-class abilities capable of completely turning the tide of battle.
Just judging from the two cards Sakura had shown so far, both Sword and Power were absurdly powerful.
And how many more cards did Sakura have?
Ais tightened her grip on her sword and once more took a combat stance.
"A sword that can cut through anything… Sorry, but if possible, I still want to test it myself."
Between the unbreakable Sword of Despair and Sakura's magical blade said to cut through everything—which one was truly stronger?
Seeing the determination—perhaps even stubbornness—in Ais's eyes, Sakura didn't insist further. She, too, tightened her grip on her sword.
"If Ais-sister really wants to try, then… let's do it."
"『Awaken』!"
A chant rang out from Ais's lips as emerald wind wrapped around her body, massively enhancing her attack power, speed, and defense.
The blonde girl flashed forward, instantly crossing the distance she'd been knocked back earlier and striking at Sakura.
Thanks to the top-tier swordsmanship granted by the [Sword] Card, Sakura predicted Ais's attack trajectory in an instant and raised her blade to meet it.
Slash—
The blades collided.
This time, there was no metallic clang.
No stalemate.
Not even a pause.
The sword formed from the [Sword] Card passed through the Sword of Despair as though it were cutting air. Ais felt no impact at all—
And then she saw it.
The weapon that had accompanied her through countless battles, the top-tier sword imbued with the unbreakable property, snapped cleanly in two on the spot.
"It really… cut through even an unbreakable weapon?!"
At that moment, not only the watching Loki Familia executives, but even Finn, Riveria, and Gareth—the three Lv.6s—visibly lost their composure.
With their heightened perception, they could clearly see it: the Sword of Despair, a weapon of the highest quality in Orario, completely incapable of resisting Sakura's blade, severed in an instant.
If even an unbreakable weapon ended up like this…
Didn't that mean that before that sword, all defenses were meaningless?
Armor, weapons, any form of protection—if one dared to face that edge directly, one had to be prepared to be cut in half along with everything they carried.
"Terrifying," Gareth muttered.
"Just this single ability alone could already be considered an extremely powerful magic."
"And yet," Riveria added quietly,
"this is only a part of that child's magic—or rather, merely one of its creations."
Meanwhile, back on the field, realizing her weapon had been destroyed, Ais immediately retreated to create distance, then began circling Sakura at high speed.
With Lv.5 stats and magic enhancement, Sakura—still Lv.2—clearly couldn't keep up offensively. Ais, on the other hand, used her speed advantage, gripping her broken sword and probing for blind spots in Sakura's vision.
Yet every time she found an opening and struck, her attack was blocked by an invisible barrier.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Her broken blade collided with a seamless, 360-degree defense surrounding Sakura. Each strike produced a heavy impact sound, but the barrier didn't even tremble.
"Another new magic card…?"
Though she often appeared absent-minded, Ais's combat instincts were razor-sharp. She immediately grasped the cause of what she was seeing.
A shield—one that granted absolute defense, protecting the user from all harm.
While using the Shield Card to defend herself, Sakura searched for an opening against the high-speed Ais.
But now fully aware of how dangerous Sakura's weapon was, Ais refused to give her a frontal opening, maintaining a distance where she could strike at any moment while remaining outside Sakura's effective range.
Facing this situation, two more Sakura Cards floated out from within the shield.
"Wind, please help me sweep away the enemy before me!"
As Sakura spoke, a howling gale erupted, centered on herself and Ais. This wind was fundamentally different from the wind enveloping Ais—its opposing nature severely disrupted Ais's movement, drastically reducing her speed.
Forced back, Ais retreated under pressure, trying not to give Sakura an opening.
But this time, she failed.
Because the other card in Sakura's hand lit up.
"Time… stop."
In that instant, the world turned gray and white.
Everyone and everything froze, as though a pause button had been pressed, or the scene captured in a photograph—suspended at a single moment.
And within this frozen world, one figure could still move freely.
Sakura.
Seeing that the [Wind] Card hadn't immediately incapacitated Ais, Sakura decisively activated the Time Card.
Like a certain blonde vampire from another world, Sakura successfully stopped time and calmly walked up to Ais.
Frozen mid-motion, Ais stood unmoving as Sakura approached and gently drew a shallow line of blood across the girl's slender, pale neck with her sword.
The residual power of the [Sword] Card passed through Ais's body and extended far beyond, carving into the training grounds behind her.
Sakura withdrew her blade and released the Time Card.
The world resumed, as if play had been pressed again—but everyone instantly sensed that something was wrong.
BOOM!!!
A sword scar over a hundred meters long ripped through the training grounds, sending up clouds of dust.
Sakura, who had been standing still moments ago behind her shield, was now inexplicably standing beside Ais.
Ais immediately felt the cut on her neck.
"Ais-sister," Sakura said softly,
"you lost."
Ais stopped, looked at Sakura, then at the broken sword in her hand, the blood on her fingers, and finally at the massive slash stretching hundreds of meters behind her.
After a moment, she nodded.
"You're right. This battle… I lost."
Though she didn't fully understand how she'd been defeated, seeing Sakura suddenly at her side and noticing the new wound, Ais guessed it must have been another card effect. Despite her reluctance, she acknowledged defeat cleanly.
"How could this be… Miss Ais actually… lost!"
Lefiya still couldn't accept it.
The others—Finn, the executives, even Loki—were deeply shaken, but managed to process it.
A Lv.2 challenging a Lv.5 was already absurd.
But that Lv.2 had actually won.
This battle completely shattered everyone's understanding of the world.
"Well?" Hestia said smugly.
"I told you my child could win. How do you feel now, Loki?"
Loki stared at Sakura in the field for a long time before finally squeezing out a single phrase.
"…Poetic justice."
In all her years in the Lower World, Loki had seen her share of absurdly talented children.
Back when the Zeus Familia and Hera Familia still existed, monsters like the Empress, Gluttony, and Silence—each one terrifying in their own right—had walked the land.
But among all of them, none compared to the Sakura before her eyes now.
The endless stream of cards.
The countless abilities.
The unknown number of trump cards yet unrevealed.
And the terrifying potential to casually defeat Lv.5 Ais at only Lv.2.
Once, Loki believed that among all of Orario, the one most likely to defeat the Black Dragon in the future was her own Ais.
But now, if there truly was someone destined to slay the Black Dragon…
It had to be Sakura.
This child was so exceptional it was as if she existed solely to lead the children of the Lower World against the apocalyptic crisis awaiting them.
So once again, Loki asked the same question.
"With a kid this ridiculous… where the hell did you even find her, you little shrimp?
Don't tell me you really just picked her up off the street?"
"Ah, well…"
Hestia's expression stiffened for less than a second before she forced it back down.
Sure, the circumstances under which she took in Seele and Sakura were… a bit unusual.
But in the end—hadn't she really met them on the street, and hadn't they joined the Hestia Familia?
"With this kid around, half a month from now at the Gods' Assembly, you're going to steal the spotlight, shrimp."
As for Hestia's earlier worries about other familias using underhanded methods to steal Sakura and Seele?
Please.
Sakura had just defeated Lv.5 Ais with ease.
Unless the Freya Familia or the Loki Familia themselves stepped in, who in Orario could possibly snatch people away from the Hestia Familia against Sakura's will?
And if Sakura was already this terrifying, then what about Seele—who had also leveled up in four days and was the captain of the Hestia Familia?
There was no way she was simple, either.
Before, if the Hestia Familia could just hold onto Sakura and Seele, they would become a rising new star in Orario.
Now, with Sakura's victory over Ais, it was clear—
The Hestia Familia had already shed the title of "new star" and become a brand-new sun hanging over Orario, on equal footing with the top familias.
Anyone foolish enough to target the Hestia Familia at this point was almost certainly headed for disaster.
In fact, given the timing, this whole situation might even be something Hestia had deliberately engineered—waiting for the first unlucky fool to jump out, just so she could make an example of them.
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