Clang!
Mordred swiftly swung Clarent behind himself and deflected Elsa's blade in an off-handed manner. At the same time, he moved and covered Emilia with his body.
"Huff. I haven't seen that at all. Thanks, Mordred! You saved us," Puck called out as he appeared on Emilia's shoulder, and brushed imaginary sweat from his forehead.
"It's nothing," Mordred lightly said as he glanced back toward the cat spirit and Emilia. He was prepared for such a sneak attack from the very beginning and had his senses stretched to their limits.
"Spirit, it's a spirit, right? Oh my, how wonderful! And you too, boy, you reacted so splendidly even without looking at me!" Elsa said in a cheerful and joyful charming voice as she leisurely flared her dagger with a smile.
She looked at the dagger for a moment and saw that her blade was now chipped after being deflected by Mordred. Her smile deepened and her eyes scanned both Puck and Mordred. "What a pleasant surprise. I have never dissected a Spirit's stomach before. It will be so much fun to disembowel all of you."
"Hey, what do you mean by that?" Felt called out upon seeing her client suddenly appear.
Elsa turned toward Felt with a very gentle smile. "We can hardly negotiate if the item's original owner is here, isn't that right? So I have changed my plans. I shall slaughter everyone here and collect the insignia afterwards."
Elsa's smile was like that of a loving mother as she made this cruel declaration, she then tilted her head. "You failed to see your job through to the end. You talk a good game, but you do terrible work. You really are just another slum dweller."
Felt gritted her teeth in indignance; it seemed as if Elsa's words touched a sore spot.
Mordred's firm gaze didn't leave Elsa. He said, "Black clothes, black hair and a very unique blade. You are the Bowel Hunter, aren't you?"
A gasp was heard from Felt as she probably recognized the nickname.
Elsa smiled charmingly. "Oh, so you even know my title, but I know nothing about you. Who are you, boy? Please tell me your name before I gut you."
Mordred instead looked at Emilia meaningfully and pushed her deeper into the room with his arm while saying, "Let's move closer to the other two, so that we can protect them."
Emilia staggered for a moment, before she nodded her head and silently followed Mordred's lead, coming closer toward Old Man Rom and Felt who now seemed scared out of their wits after finding out Elsa's identity.
In the meantime Elsa didn't do anything and was only smiling. Mordred understood her well and knew that the Bowel Hunter wouldn't normally make a move on her 'prey' in the middle of a conversation.
Elsa said charmingly, "You're so rude, making a lady wait like this. Now that you're done, can you answer my question?"
"Sorry not sorry, but I'm a rude person. My name is Mordred," he said while he hit the tip of his sword against the wooden floor and at the same time caused heavy armor to form around his body with a flash of light, covering his body from his toes to his neck.
Elsa's visage turned to a very surprised, pleasantly surprised. "How wonderful, what a splendid set of armor! All my opponents today are so interesting, I'm very happy!"
Mordred looked sternly back at Felt and Old Man Rom. "You two stay in the back. We'll deal with her."
Felt only hummed. Finding out that her client was the infamous Bowel Hunter she was sure that there was no chance of making a proper deal with her in the first place, even if Mordred and Emillia didn't appear; very likely, they would all be slaughtered either way.
Emilia also nodded while gazing at Felt. "We'll take care of her, so stay put."
Mordred faintly smiled at Felt, before returning his eyes to Elsa. He also saw that Emilia's expression remained focused throughout and he couldn't help but slightly admire this silly young girl for that; although she didn't fight yet, she was far from useless as he previously thought.
"Mmm, Mordred, you're not afraid one bit. Are you that confident?" Elsa asked, her face riddled with excitement. She didn't smell a tinge of fear coming from Mordred and she would certainly enjoy distorting the boy's face into one filled with fright.
"I am quite confident. I don't think that a random low-tier assassin would be able to harm me," Mordred lightly said, unyieldingly looking Elsa in the eye.
If after fighting Elsa for a whole year Mordred would still not be able to deal with her cleanly then he might as well commit suicide for real.
Elsa frowned. "I believe I'm being underestimated."
Mordred looked at Emilia. "Emilia, I'll focus on defense and protect all of us. You and Puck can deal with her, I guess."
Emilia nodded after a moment. With a serious expression, she said, "Be careful to not draw mana from the atmosphere or you'll make it difficult for us."
"Don't worry, I don't fight like this," Mordred said. Unlike Reinhard he didn't have the ability to absorb mana from the atmosphere and was more like a typical magic user who utilized internal mana; or at the very least Mordred didn't know how to do it yet, because seeing how he was a spirit-hybrid it might not be impossible to learn it.
"So now that you are done discussing your strategy, shall we start?" Elsa asked with a charming smile.
"I think it's about time," Puck said with an aloof voice as he floated into the air. His arms were raised into the air and something seemed to gather in the air where he pointed, that something being mana. "You tried to harm my daughter. My name is Puck, remember it in the afterlife!"
In an instant, Elsa was bombarded by icicles from every direction. The icicles crisscrossed mercilessly, filling the room with a white mist and covering the black cloaked figure in freezing wind.
The speed of these icicles was similar to the speed of a bullet; an ordinary person wouldn't be able to dodge them nor even see them, naturally, it was different for Mordred.
The icicles' sharp tips would easily pierce through the human body and come out red with fresh blood. There were over twenty of them. If they landed, it would mean certain death. However…
"Is she finished?!" Old Man Rom asked after being silent for a long time.
Mordred faintly smiled as he silently watched the mist settle. 'Although these icicles seem to be physical objects, they are actually made from crystalized and frozen mana, and they would disappear shortly after being conjured. That's why something like Magic Resistance and Elsa's Anti-magic Cloak still work on them perfectly. Naturally, Elsa will be fine…'
A charming voice soon sounded out, "―I was prepared, you see. I quite dislike its weight, but it was the right decision to wear it."
Cutting through the white smoke, Elsa dashed forward a small distance with her black hair dancing behind her. As she brandished her kukri knife and nimbly advanced, there was no sign of injury on her body. She had cast aside her cloak and was now only wearing the form-fitting black clothes she wore underneath it, but there was no change besides this.
"Anti-magic cloak," Mordred lightly commented.
"That's right. My cloak had a spell woven into it that could negate magic just once. Seems it allowed me to keep my life," Elsa politely replied, and then swung her blade forward from a low stance.
Mordred explosively stepped in and intercepted Elsa's attack while using a low-level of mana on a Mana Burst, raising his speed greatly. Clarent traveled through the air akin to red lightning and slashed through Elsa's arm, cutting it off cleanly at the elbow joint. In the meantime he also moved in to block Emilia with his armor-cover body to prevent the loose dagger from landing on her; not that he expected Emilia to get hit without conjuring a shield anyway.
With her arm cut off and the attack halted, Elsa immediately backflipped away.
Immediately after a number of slightly smaller icicles were rapidly fired in pursuit and pierced the ground. This was Puck's attack - he floated by Emilia's silver hair as he waved his arms like he was conducting an orchestra.
"Nice one, Mordred! Leave the rest to us!" Puck called out as he bombarded Elsa with icicles. However, Elsa had already regrew her arm and agilely dodged his flurry of attacks. "So she's a vampire or something? That's a bit troublesome…"
Old Man Rom muttered in bewilderment as he watched the fight, "So She's the Bowel Hunter, eh? She regenerated her arm, but this girl still has no chance." He knew that just encountering a true Spirit Arts user is frightening enough, but with Mordred's backing, the situation seemed to be hopeless for the infamous murderer.
"Old man, what do we do?" Felt asked.
"Ah, we'll just stay put. If there's an opening then I'll help the elf-girl and the boy, they're actually trying to protect us. There is no chance to negotiate with the Bowel Hunter."
Felt only nodded in response.
Meanwhile, the battle continued. Countless lumps of ice formed one after another and were blasted all over the room.
Their sizes varied, the larger ones were about the size of a head, and the smaller ones were roughly fist-sized. They were all fired with the speed of a full power pitch, and it was clear just how dangerous they were.
However, even as Elsa was surrounded by all of this ice, with agile movements and superhuman speed she was able to dodge all of the attacks. She would twist her body, lower herself to the ground as if crawling, and occasionally even defy gravity by running the walls.
If Elsa judged that even this wouldn't suffice, she would strike the ice with her second blade that she pulled out from somewhere, shattering the white crystals. She matched quantity with overwhelming quality, her skill was exceptional.
"You handle yourself well for a girl," Puck muttered. Even he had to admire her combat sense that could only be described as godlike.
Pucks' words caused Elsa to smile broadly even in the midst of that chaotic battle. "It's been quite a while since I was last regarded as just a girl."
"Right, you're not human so who knows how old you are, but most of my opponents might as well be babies from my perspective anyway. But even so, you're so strong it's almost pitiful."
"Being complimented by a Spirit, I feel so honored," Elsa said. Genuinely delighted by this compliment, she swept away the ice surrounding her with her blade.
She was forced to regenerate her arm earlier in order to regain her perfect balance and avoid Puck's attacks, so her special ability of regeneration was revealed. But even so, she still seemed confident and delighted.
Puck must have fired close to a hundred projectiles by now, but not a single one connected. He was pressuring Elsa with the sheer quantity of his offense, but he was unable to land a decisive blow.
"Ah, this is bad. I'm getting a little drowsy. Actually, I was fighting in my sleep just now," Puck muttered in a low voice.
Puck seemed to be nodding off already, and Mordred could see that Emilia who had Puck on her shoulder was also starting to look at him with worry.
Seeing how the spirit was fading away, and losing its strength and speed, Elsa bent her knees slightly and prepared to leap.
Anticipating this, Puck shrewdly winked at her and said, "Fell for it!"
Puck didn't speak any more as he no longer estimated Elsa after seeing that she wasn't human. He thrust his hands out in front of him, a pose that suggested he was about to use a killer technique, and started gathering up the largest amount of magic thus far.
That magical power did not turn into ice, it was fired as pure destructive energy. The bluish white light froze everything in its path, and dyed the loot house white in one fell swoop.
The energy passed through Elsa like an avalanche and slammed into the entrance to the loot house, blowing away the poorly fitted door. The freezing waves left in the aftermath even reached outside.
Naturally, anyone who took a direct hit would inevitably be turned into an ice sculpture.
However, Elsa was completely unharmed.
"Aah, how splendid. I thought I was going to die." If she hadn't dodged it, perhaps.
"…Uh, she's even faster than I thought," Puck murmured. He now saw that Elsa had still been holding back all this time, hiding her true speed and strength, and playing with them.
"It was a really nice attack, but I'm afraid it was a tad too slow." Elsa smiled charmingly.
"Puck, can you continue?" Emilia asked, looking at Puck
"Sorry, I'm really sleepy. I underestimated her a bit. I used up too much mana, gonna disappear." When Puck responded to the girl's murmur, his voice had for the first time lost its composure.
The cat on Emilia's shoulder, by her silver hair, started to emit a faint glow and looked as though he could disappear at any moment. He was out of time.
"Don't worry Puck, I'll take it from here and protect Emilia. I can see that this woman is definitely not my match." Mordred sent a reassuring smile toward Puck and a thumbs up while he stepped up to finally confront Elsa himself.
"Uhh, then I'll leave it to you, Mordred," Puck murmured in a low voice as he felt the Saber's emotions - absolutely no fear against Elsa and pure good will toward Emilia and him.
"Mm. Just watch for a moment," Mordred responded with a faint smile. He had been standing back all this time and it was finally time to show-off. Red electricity crackled all over Mordred's body as he already faced Elsa.
Whether it was Elsa, Emilia or the others, their eyes all now landed on Mordred whose expressions seemed to turn serious.
"How splendid, I hope you can match my-"
Elsa, however, didn't manage to finish her words as with an explosion of crimson lightning Mordred suddenly appeared right in front of her as if teleported and then swung his longsword at her. Not a moment later, Elsa's body was cleaved in half at her waist. Immediately after, Mordred moved his body to dodge an attack armed at his armpit and raised his foot, sending out a high front kick with his armored sole to kick off Elsa's upper body.
Elsa's ribs all cracked and her sternum bent deeply inwardly as her upper body was sent flying through the air. She crashed against the wall into a wooden closet that broke into several pieces.
After Mordred's single move Old Man Rom, Felt and Puck stared at the scene in shock; Mordred's speed was such that they barely blinked their eyes and Elsa was already finished. Only Emilia seemed somewhat more calm, though she still appeared surprised.
"That boy is something else," Old Man Rom murmured. Could even Reinhard van Astrea the Sword Saint match such speed? He was not sure.
'Let alone his speed, but such powerful mana. I wasn't wrong earlier, Mordred's mana is even higher than Roswaal's…' Puck silently thought, his sleepy eyes regaining their shine for a moment.
In the meantime Elsa had already miraculously regrew her entire lower body and landed on the ground, crossing her legs in front of her to hide her private parts.
"Ahahahaha!" Elsa laughed out loud in joy, her cheeks blushing red. In fact, her happy expression appeared as if she was orgasming at this moment. "It was so wonderful, so painful! I feel so alive! No wonder you were so confident!"
Meanwhile Mordred kept his calm and had already slowly retreated to be able to defend the others.
Elsa's chest was heaving up and down as she stared at Mordred with a burning gaze and a smile. "Mordred, right? You're much better than I thought. Why is it that I never heard of you?"
"I'm new around here," Mordred lightly said.
At the same time as Elsa and Mordred chatted, Puck and Emilia also conversed between each other.
"Uh, Lia. I really have to go now. Mordred seems trustworthy, but if anything happens use your Od to summon me," said Puck.
"Alright, thank you for your hard work, Puck."
As if urged on by Emilia's tender voice, Puck's body suddenly scattered and vanished.
"―Aah, he's gone. How unfortunate," Elsa lamented, but she then smiled at Mordred. "But it's fine. I have to thank my employer for letting me meet such strong opponents. Mordred, how about we get serious?"
Mordred, instead, rudely ignored Elsa and turned to Emilia. "Emilia, focus on shielding yourself and the others. I might not be able to protect all of you."
Realizing that Mordred didn't need her support, Emilia was about to agree, but then a new voice sounded out: "There won't be a need for that. Let me lend you a hand."
Looking over, a red-haired knight appeared at the entrance of the loot house, calmly taking steps closer toward Mordred's group.
"Reinhard-san," Emilia said, recognizing the handsome red-haired young man.
"Mordred-sama, Emilia-sama. I felt a burst of mana in this area and appeared here as soon as I could. I'm glad that you're all unharmed," Reinhard said with a mild smile as he looked at the group.
Mordred faintly smiled and thought, 'The burst of mana that Reinhard felt must have been Puck's earlier attack, but I wouldn't be surprised if Reinhard simply dropped off Subaru somewhere as soon as possible and then spied on me and Emilia for quite some time now.'
Mordred couldn't bet his money on it, but his gut feeling was telling him that Reinhard was likely observing the encounter in the Loothouse from the outside from the beginning, being ready to step in at any moment if Emilia or him were in danger.
Elsa frowned. Reinhard van Astrea the Sword Sant, Mordred with exceptional speed and strength who still had no fear facing her. She would be delighted to fight either of them, but both at the same time?
As if to respond to Elsa's thoughts, Reinhard set his clear blue eyes on Elsa. "You must be the Bowel Hunter. I suggest you surrender now. You're overpowered and outnumbered."
Elsa eyes' dimmed for a moment, but then a smile still appeared on her face. Mordred could only guess that this crazy woman probably felt incredibly excited by being in such a cornered situation right now. Elsa agreed with a chuckle, "Yes, things are obviously not looking good for me. Unfortunately the Bowel Hunter doesn't know the word surrender. If I were to fail to hunt my prey then it would only be by dying. How could ever I do something as boring as surrender?"
She smiled deeply, looked at Reinhard and continued, "Reinhard, the knight among knights. From the line of sword saints. Incredible. And you boy, Mordred." She looked at Mordred. "Fighting such exciting opponents is not a bad end at all. I hope that we can have a nice life and death battle to our heart's content! I might even be able to take one of you down with me!"
Outwardly, there was no fear of death on Elsa's face at all. However, Mordred knew that despite everything that she said in truth Elsa would only cause a ruckus at the start of the fight and then aim to escape amidst the chaos - he saw it happen in a number of loops and he honestly admired her a lot for it.
Reinhard lightly chuckled and looked at Mordred and Emilia. "Mordred-sama, Emilia-sama, leave it to me and step backwards a bit."
"Wait!" Mordred called out and faintly smiled at Elsa. "I have a different proposition."