The duel begins.

Lagil felt flustered.

People might have thought Lagil backed the Saintess's faction, but he was a conservative — firmly in the pro-Pope camp.

His proposal had been a stalling tactic from the start.

By rule, the Saintess was prohibited from becoming Pope. By daring to suggest "then why not make the Saintess Pope," he intended to buy time until His Holiness returned.

So he never meant to actually enthrone the Saintess.

But precisely because it was a delaying ploy… it would have been a problem if the possibility of the Saintess becoming Pope were crushed here and now.

 

 

Magni was resigned.

Though Magni was neutral, her past as a Saintess candidate made others assume she sided with the Saintess.

Therefore, she thought it would be just right if the Saintess were to lose to Narikin.

As the Saintess faction cozied up to her, she told them that, to preserve her leverage over the rudder, "this trial was to show how suited the Saintess was to be Pope." Deliberately ambiguous wording that could be taken either way.

When pressed to state plainly whether she supports the Saintess or not, she answered, "My, my, do you mean you don't think the Saintess will win?" That shut them up.

Of course Magni did not think the Saintess would win. If anything, her winning would have been troublesome. But she expected Narikin would make something of it.

 

 

Ronesky was content.

A reformist, he did not care whether it was the Saintess or Narikin, so long as it was not the former Pope.

In this fight, no matter who won or lost, Ronesky did not come out behind.

If anything, he could just support the victor.

… In a sense, among the three, he might have been the most "pro-Saintess."

Amid the overlapping designs of these three high priests, the duel between Narikin and the Saintess began.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

Saintess Alka, clad in her usual vestments, faced Narikin, the full-plate-armored papal candidate well known from his dungeon streams.

Narikin drew his weapon and took his stance: an orthodox two-handed sword, held in chūdan — center guard. A swordsman's style that walks the royal road even in the Holy Kingdom.

In dungeon delving, full plate was the mark of a tank. Many would leave defense to the armor, carry a shield, and let allies handle offense. In contrast, the greatsword kit suggested a solo delver balancing offense and defense.

The one to move first was Saintess Alka.

Dungeon fights favor the first strike. If you can finish the enemy in one blow, you proceed with no losses. If you thin their numbers by surprise, you seize advantage. Such combat experience was seared into her.

She produced a poleaxe — a long shaft bearing a heavy axe head with a spear point — one of the anti-armor weapons. Seeing Narikin in full plate, she chose without hesitation and charged. With a large windup, she brought it down, aiming to cleave him from crown to crotch.

For his part, Narikin surged forward, wary that it was no mere wild swing. It was the sort of strike that left a huge opening if evaded, but the Saintess would not expose such a gap without a plan.

As expected, the moment she saw him rush in, she discarded the poleaxe, drew a small knife, and thrust for the gaps in his armor.

But that was an attack Narikin was used to. Knives to the joints… he had tasted that again and again in recent training. He deliberately delayed his response a hair before moving to clamp the blade in an armor gap and stop it.

A blade catch — using his armor.

It was a technique he had acquired under Niku's instruction.

Even if he failed and got stabbed, he didn't have anything inside it so the blade had no flesh to pierce. However, that would expose him being a Living Armor. In that sense, it is a read that dances on the edge of ruin.

And to seal the gaps he must constrain his movement, deliberately make wasteful motions, even break his posture on purpose — disadvantages all.

— That is, only if he were merely a person wearing armor.

In that state, Narikin twisted further, clamped the knife like a vise, and not only wrenched it free, but snapped the steel blade with a crack.

"What!?"

Weapon-breaking, leveraging the overwhelming defense of orichalcum-coated armor. There is leverage at play, yes, but without knowledge of armor construction, experience moving in full plate, and the raw strength to match, you cannot do it.

Even the Saintess was startled by this and took Narikin's kick straight on.

A blow from a blunt instrument wearing the mass of armor.

With damage taken, the Saintess leapt back, opened distance, and reset.

… The blade catch was not mere showmanship. It was a demonstration: henceforth, strikes at his armor gaps would be futile.

"How hard you are to attack… As expected of you, Narikin-sama!"

"Fufufu. As expected of you as well, Alka-sama."

Thus far, only a few seconds had elapsed. The Saintess had lost her weapon and taken damage while Narikin was unscathed.

In the feeling-out portion of their fight, Narikin held the advantage.

Even this much proved that Narikin was more than a match for the Saintess.

Even if the Saintess's true forte laid dungeon conquest, Narikin was no worse there either. In these scant seconds, you could say the Saint faction's backbone had been shredded.

… That said, this result came with razor-thin margins.

Had the Saintess not been fatigued beforehand and moved a touch quicker, the blade catch likely would have failed. From there, Narikin would surely have been the one on the back foot.

Even orichalcum-empowered, Narikin felt as much. If they were to duel once more, it likely would not work again.

He flicked a glance to the stands. There sat RokufaRokuko and KyouKehma, SceiverRokufa, and — having slipped in secretly — Niku as a kobold, who had entrusted her collar's leash to Kyou and was watching.

He could not afford to make a fool of himself in front of them.