"...Ah, I can do it myself."
After yesterday, Noah, for some reason, felt a desire to avoid Kuro, but Kuro was always by her side, so she ended up flustered. Plus, she was usually too accustomed to Kuro's help, so trying to do things herself all of a sudden...perhaps her hands and feet became disobedient when her mind was in disarray?
After the Nth time of accidentally dropping something and having to ask Kuro to pick it up and hand it to her, then having to suppress her inner shame as she took it, Noah surrendered.
"I give up! I can't do it alone! Kuro, help me!"
"As you wish."
Well, Noah's girlish emotional chaos only lasted one morning before she abandoned it due to its inefficiency. During this time, the phantom, which was originally quite responsive, remained a bystand throughout, showing no intention of helping. Occasionally, when its gaze met Kuro's, although its face was unclear, Kuro inexplicably felt that the phantom was scrutinizing her, with a hint of a test in its gaze.
Since its appearance, this phantom hadn't caused any major trouble, and Kuro was almost used to its presence—and this thing could even hide itself, which clearly indicated it had its own consciousness.
However, as long as it didn't speak, there was no way to prove it.
Noah herself didn't mind the phantom following her; after all, she could somewhat sense that the phantom held no ill will. Since there was no malice and it occasionally even helped, she often just treated it as if it didn't exist. Besides, the phantom never appeared when she was bathing or doing other private things, Kuro had even specifically confirmed it.
More importantly, Noah felt quite safe with this phantom by her side.
After last night's events, Manner even specifically thanked her. It was clear that for this older man, the weight of this thank you was not light, and it was mixed with many, many meanings... However, Noah didn't analyze it that closely. After all, to her, everyone in the Nearl Family family was family. Naturally, there was no need to distinguish so clearly. Besides, Uncle Manner had actually helped her block many things.
Although he hadn't arrived at the arena that day, seeing that there were no problems throughout the entire competition, Noah pretty much understood that Uncle Manner might have found a way to curb the Witch King Remnants even earlier than she had imagined. However, the other party hadn't actively told her yet, so maybe it wasn't time?
But the upcoming competition was the main focus. According to the schedule, Maria's next match would be against the Left Hand Knight, who had also entered the official competition and earned a title.
This Left Hand Knight was no pushover; her Stone source art was very tricky, and it was also Maria's first time facing an opponent of official competition level. The Left Hand Knight genuinely held a knightly title, which was no longer something those preliminary knights could compare to. If Maria won against the Left Hand Knight, she would directly enter the official competition, guaranteeing at least the top sixteen, and then Maria would naturally become the Head Knight of the Nearl Family family, achieving her initial goal.
However, things were different now. Maria now possessed the ultimate move, Repentance Sword. As long as the opponent hadn't figured out its weakness, the pressure was on them!
However... although Maria was very confident, Noah still saw the Left Hand Knight's overwhelmingly high betting amount in the place that best reflected audience approval, which was the betting odds for who would win.
Moreover, the odds were as high as 3.6:1, a three-fold difference in odds... It was clear that everyone believed Maria had pretty much reached her limit here. After all, it was her first time participating, and reaching this position was already excellent. Facing the Left Hand Knight, who was quite popular even in the official competition, losing was also reasonable.
These odds were so realistic that Noah didn't even want to show them to Maria, lest it dampen her confidence. However, Noah still had great faith in Maria. Putting everything else aside, her characteristic of being full of unexpected twists in matches was enough. People of the Nearl Family family could be weak, but they absolutely couldn't be boring. With Maria's current situation, she could stall for time, she could land a one-hit knockout, and she even had three uses of Repentance Sword limited per day. No matter what the outcome, Noah felt she could accept it.
Especially with these three Repentance Swords, as long as one hit, victory could largely be declared.
The problem lies here... how can the Repentance Sword consistently hit without missing?
This point has not been resolved; or rather, it cannot be resolved at all. The charging time for this move is not long, and its usage is quite flexible. However, the problem lies in the duration of its maintenance after the charge is complete. Although it hasn't undergone strict time measurements, if the Repentance Sword is fully charged and not swung within three seconds, its effect will be greatly reduced. When dealing with Kuro, it didn't even touch Kuro once during the entire process.
The hit rate is terrible... no matter how buggy this move is, it seems useless...
It was only when fighting the Rust Copper that the opponent had no intention of dodging, so it hit directly—otherwise, with the charging commotion and the urgent range, it would be a miracle if it hit.
Especially the commotion of charging. During practice, Kuro even had to wear sunglasses to watch without affecting his vision. Although it looked cool, when the Repentance Sword was charging, Maria herself would emit a strong light, and she also had to drop her shield, holding the sword with both hands. In gaming terms... this move is single-target, has a long wind-up, average attack speed, and an unsatisfactory hit rate.
While this charged ultimate can be used three times, if it misses, there likely won't be a second chance to use it. Knightly combat is definitely not an arena where you can casually charge up for a power clash. So, all things considered... the Repentance Sword, strong as it is, cannot be used as a regular tactic.
When Manner and Kuro informed Maria of this conclusion, she was utterly thunderstruck, "Then... in my match against the Left Hand Knight?"
"...Try not to use that move," Noah said, covering her face with a hint of reluctance. "That move isn't mature yet... in every sense of the word."
After all, in high-level matches, very few people will let you casually charge up and unleash a big move... It's not a martial arts tournament, and no one would consider a power clash. Not every situation allows you to pull off a super move to resolve it, so even if it's hard, she had to complain.
"Just consider it holding back for future matches."
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