Part 14 — Suspicion

“Graaaaaaah!”

“Haaaaaaah!”

Saiga and Ran began by fighting in their berserker state. Both are unarmed and do nothing but exchange blows. They’re both moving at a speed that lets them read their opponent’s timing, which is why they’re able to engage in an equal exchange.

“Got you!”

“Not yet!”

Of course, Saiga doesn’t have Ran’s talent as a berserker. However, he does have other powers that he’s accumulated up to this point. He armors himself with the Mystic Arts, enhances his physical abilities with Spirit Summoning, and uses his precognition to read Ran’s attacks.

Ran herself has been living in the world of Timing since birth. Like Sansui, she can actually react and alter her movements as Saiga reacts based on his precognition.

However, Saiga can now respond to shifts in the futures he sees. They’re standing in place as they exchange blows, but there’s a proper battle between the pair as they exchange blows and defend against each other’s attacks.

As such, it’s not like a battle against a Spirit Summoner, where there’s a huge gap in mass, nor is it a battle against an Immortal, with their far greater skill. It’s an almost even battle between the two.

“U-Um... Can I stop them now?”

“No, I’ll be the judge of that, so you stay put.”

For those watching the battle, they have to stand by as they witness a bloody battle between berserkers. Zuger, who is tasked with restraining both of them through her Hex Arts, can’t afford to faint, but she’d definitely like to stop them as quickly as possible. That’s just how tense it is to watch this battle. At a glance, both of them seem to be in a frenzied bloodlust.

“As I noted earlier, first, they need to use up their power without getting hurt. Sansui is about the only one who can do that, but he believes Ran should be killed. So, we can’t very well leave it to a man with that opinion. In which case...to have my master get used to being in his Marked state, that sort of exchange is perhaps most desirable.”

They’re both in an extremely heightened emotional state and, for better or worse, are completely fixated on the other. They seem to be enjoying themselves quite a bit as they trade full-strength blows. Despite their frenzied expressions, they’re also each properly defending against the other’s attacks.

While their movements are those of a berserker, they’ve still yet to land a clean hit on the other. Understandable, given that if the balance were to tilt to one side, the exchange would end then and there.

No doubt the one leading would force down the other in their frenzy, take a mount position and continue pummeling them. Because they know that’s what would happen, they’re carefully guarding against each blow.

“Besides...if the training is nothing but struggle, the spirit eventually wears out. Time handles it for Immortals, but they don’t have that luxury, so they need some time to enjoy some horseplay.”

Sunae couldn’t help but feel frustration at the display. It isn’t that she didn’t want this to happen. It’s in fact good to see her man seeking greater heights.

But, to put it simply, Ran has now ascended to a level where Sunae can’t beat her. And... Sunae couldn’t hope to come anywhere close to beating Saiga, at present. That was frustrating for her.

“The man I fell in love with is getting stronger... That’s a reason to celebrate, but it’s a bit lonely. It feels as though he’s going somewhere I can’t follow.”

“...Better than him moping around.”

Happine can’t agree with Sunae’s complaint. That’s because, in a sense, she has never been Saiga’s equal. She’s not exactly pleased that he’s having fun with another woman, but at least he seems to be enjoying himself. That’s very important.

“...He’s brawling with Ran.”

“Wow...”

“So this is this kingdom’s ace.”

“They look like they’re having fun.”

The Temperans are also watching the fight with both surprise and joy. In a sense, this might be the sight they had most wanted to see: the overwhelmingly strong Ran finding an equal and clashing with them. They were happy to see that.

“Of course, it might take a while, because they’re not healing their wounds as they fight, but that’s probably for the best. It goes without saying, but the thing that uses the most Tainted Blood among the Marked is their regeneration.”

To put it simply, just being able to fight while minimizing the amount of damage they take vastly increases the lifespan of a berserker. Given that they fight without knowing their limits, and that they die when they hit their limit, then it’s natural that they don’t know that they’re using their powers to heal themselves. Which is why, even at this moment, Ran is now stronger than any other berserker has ever been before her.

“To be able to fight as long as possible against a fun opponent, they’ll take care in their defenses. If they can do that as part of their daily training, then the resistance to defending and waiting will gradually go away. As Sansui noted, the reason the body tenses is because they’re trying to do things they don’t want to do.”

The ideal would be if they could act without giving in to their desires, but that would take an enormous amount of time. In which case, the shortcut is to make it fun to defend, ensuring that they’ll want to practice that day to day.

“If he doesn’t fight against an opponent who can break his precognition, he won’t learn to respond quickly when that actually happens. In that sense, this is a good opponent for him.”

Having learned how to use his Tainted Blood, Saiga has acquired an overwhelming amount of strength, even without using Eckesachs. However, he’s also very aware that he needs to learn to control it. He has no doubt there will be hard times alongside all the fun times, but that makes it that much more important to enjoy what he’s got right now.

That is, that’s what he needs to do to be able to match the monstrous Sword Apostle, who can defeat a beast that takes a combination of Tainted Blood, Divination, Royal Presence, and Holy Power just to fight to a standstill.

“...I think they’ve been at it long enough. Zuger, go ahead and stop them.”

“Alright! Both of you, please end your berserker state!” Zuger shouts, with tears in her eyes. And with that, the pair finally notice their arms are turning to stone, and sit down to try to settle down.

While Saiga can immediately drop his Mystic Arts and Spirit Summoning, it takes a certain amount of time to calm his burning silver hair. By contrast, having only recently learned the technique, Ran takes even longer for her hair to return to its natural color. Given that it’s so difficult for them when they’ve spent this much of their Tainted Blood, it gives some idea of just how dangerous it is when they’re overflowing with it.

“Phew... Thank you, Zuger.”

“It’s really scary to watch! The two of you when you’re berserkers! I thought I was going to die! Just watching you!”

Having settled down a bit earlier, Saiga gently comforts Zuger. It’s true that, right now, the berserkers don’t yet have the ability to control themselves. They need the restraining power of her Hex Arts. At the very least, they’re still in the process of developing a technique to restrain themselves.

“...Good, my hair’s dyed now.”

Ran confirms she’s calmed down by checking her long hair. Her Tainted Blood still feels like it might overflow, but a comfortable fatigue is helping to keep her calm. If, as a berserker, she recovers quickly from her fatigue, it means that she’s using her Tainted Blood for that purpose.

“Your hair isn’t being dyed, it’s returning to its natural color.”

“Don’t nitpick. It’s been silver since I was born, so having it turn brown feels like it’s being dyed.”

A slightly calmer Ran then stands and exchanges a handshake with Saiga. She appreciates the fact that she was able to spend an enjoyable time with him, and can continue to do so from here on.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I had fun, too.”

Saiga responds to the handshake, but he’s clearly exhausted. Even if he has all of the types of energy flowing through him, he doesn’t have nearly as much Tainted Blood as Ran. As such, it’s for him to succumb to fatigue before Ran, even when facing her with a combination of abilities. He’d likely have collapsed if they’d continued fighting any longer.

“In my case, to increase my Tainted Blood, I have to become a berserker more often... Right now, I’m still putting too much burden on you.”

“Heh... No need for that. I didn’t think I’d be able to fight someone who uses so many martial arts. To wait a bit... Well, that’s part of the training, I’m sure.”

A life that had nothing to do with training, with fulfillment. That would definitely be a meaningless life, even a hollow one. She’s now enjoying days that she would have never experienced if Sansui had killed her. At the very least, Ran’s happy with her life right now.

“But putting that aside, I didn’t know there were practitioners of the Testudo Style, or people with the Celestial Blood, in the outside world, as well.”

In their conversation, Ran remembers an opponent from Tempera Village that she had fought, or had tried to fight. They were a very boring opponent, and she really didn’t care about them at the time.

“Yeah, Ran, that was definitely Testudo Style.”

“So, there are users of the Testudo Style, even outside the village.”

“I suppose it’s not unexpected.”

“The Testudo Style’s actually strong when combined with other styles, isn’t it?”

Completely new terms spring up in conversation for the first time in a while. The Batterabbe party have never heard of Celestial Blood or Testudo Style, but they have a decent guess of what it means.

“Testudo Style... A Rare Art?”

“That’s right, Saiga. I don’t know what it’s called out here, but in our village, there was a style that read the opponent’s movements before they performed them and responded appropriately. You have that ability as well, right?”

“You mean Time Power and Divination?”

It was one of the four Rare Arts that Saiga had learned before he met Sansui. That’s the precognition stemming from Time Power...that is, Divination. There had only been references to it in written records, and Saiga had only been able to learn the basics.

“I can use it... But I don’t have an instructor, so I can only do the basics.”

“Oh, so you brought back an extinct style? Impressive... Honestly, to me it was a style that was boredom incarnate, but it’s quite a threat when combined with other styles.”

The friendly discussion continues, and they quickly bridge the gap in terminology. The arts known in Tempera Village as martial arts styles are known in the Arcana Kingdom as the Rare Arts. That’s about the only difference separating Divination and Testudo Style. Though, that doesn’t mean that the Diviners engaged in hand to hand fighting.

“Celestial Blood... Testudo Style? What is that? There were wielders of that in Tempera Village?”

No one would have batted an eye if anyone else had said it. But since it’s the living encyclopedia Eckesachs saying it, everyone is caught by surprise.

“Even if the name has changed over the long years since then, I’ve never heard of anyone creating a martial art that uses Time Power-based precognition as part of their art. Is this a new style that’s been developed over the last two thousand years?”

Tempera Village, the hidden village, whose secrets had all evidently been exposed to the world. It had seemed that there was nothing left to learn from the legendary secret village, but there’s now a new mystery to look into. That meant that, for Saiga to truly master his Time Power, he would have to go to the village.

“Wait, no... If Tempera Village is still around... Then could it be that...?”