0 1 The Blue Rose Sword Eugeo held and the black sword I held drew out vivid streaks of pale-green in the dimly-lit space. The trajectories were utterly symmetrical. Identical first steps and techniques—that might have been only natural as we had both invoked the dashing-type sword skill, «Sonic Leap», but our timing were completely identical: the time the sword points passed through the peak of their trajectories, the time the gleam grew strongest to signal that the strength was at its maximum, and the time the silver and jet-black blades rushed into each other. I wasn’t mindlessly using the skill. The methology in kicking-off, the orientation of my body, and the motion of my arm accelerated the sword skill threefold. Despite that, Eugeo’s «Sonic Leap» didn’t lag behind mine by even a tenth of a second. In other words, he had accelerated the skill to its limits as well. And I hadn’t even taught him everything about the technique yet. Eugeo must have been steadily and stubbornly swinging his sword without my notice. Hundreds and hundreds of times, day after day. Until he could hear the «voice» of his beloved sword. “……How.” I forced a low voice out as the crossed swords struggled fiercely. “How could you lose to something like the «Synthesis Ritual». Wasn’t all that sword training… didn’t you set out from Rulid and target Central Centoria to take back your precious childhood friend, Alice?”