Then it was finally time for the main star. Christina had been channeling her mana for ten minutes, and now she jumped down, using her shield as a foothold and accelerating down. Even though she was the youngest sister, she was still a Valkyrie. She fell many times faster than the Ashen Knights, and she held her sword ready.
「Let’s gooooooo!」
She pierced through the thick armor, cutting through it with no resistance. It was the perfect winning hit made possible by Isenfald, the Sisters, and the Ashen Knights. Having to carry out such an important duty did not weigh Christina down, and instead she was excited about it, feeling like she was the hero of some legend, dealing the final blow to Machina Guardian.
But before long, there was a high pitched clink as the sword Christina held so magnificently snapped in half.
「Ahhh! The sword handed down from my sister to my sister to my sister to my sister to my sister to my sister to meee!」
The sword had not finished cutting through Machina Guardian when it snapped, making Christina splat down on the ground with the remaining momentum.
「Why noww!!」
Christina looked at her broken sword, though she looked more disappointed that she had not been able to complete her attack properly in such an important situation, rather than from the fall.
The antique…or rather valuable sword, as they liked to call it, had been passed down from Alfina all the way down to Christina over the years. Now it was cleanly snapped in half. But she felt like she had cut through a lot before it broke, so she turned around to see the result of her attack.
「…Huh?」
Christina saw a red glowing crystal inside Machina Guardian’s cut up body.
She had actually cut deep into it. Even though her sword broke, the inside of Machina Guardian was largely exposed now.
But this also made it easier for Machina Guardian’s strongest attack, Ancient Ray, to be launched. The boss would use it once its health fell below ninety percent, and would shoot it at the enemy it deemed as most dangerous.
In this case, the obvious option was Christina, who had just left such a deep cut on its torso.
Chrstina was almost instantly covered in a surge of destructive light.
「She got it below 10%, we can do this!」 Mira sounded confident seeing Machina Guardian use Ancient Ray.
「Yes, that worked well. I could see its eyes go from yellow to blinking red in an instant. I didn’t expect that it would work so well.」 Soul Howl was also paying attention to the fight, and said that with an impressed voice.
When Machina Guardian’s eyes turned red it meant it only had twenty percent health left, and if they were blinking then it was further down to ten percent. If Christina had managed to complete her attack, then it would have likely been enough to defeat the boss. But exerting that much force was also the reason why the blade ended up breaking.
「…」
Christina had nearly been the MVP of the fight. Now she was standing next to Mira, striking a nervous and clumsy defensive pose.
「You did well, Christina. Despite that unfortunate accident.」
Sadly Christina’s blade had snapped halfway through, but the stealth mission had still dealt more damage than they expected. Mira congratulated the leader of that troop, patting her shoulder.
Hearing that, Christina finally opened her eyes and looked around in confusion, then she noticed Mira standing in front of her and spoke with a confused voice, 「Wait…Master? Where did I…what…」
「I used Evacuation Guidance. It almost got you there.」
Evacuation Guidance was a Summoner Skill, which could teleport summons to the caster’s side. Mira had used it to bring Christina next to her an instant before Ancient Ray got her.
Once Mira explained what happened, Christina finally understood what happened and relaxed her stiffened defensive pose, then seemed to remember something and knelt as fast as she could.
「I’m sorry I couldn’t complete the mission…」
Christina looked dejected that she had been entrusted with such an important mission, and then failed because her sword broke. But Mira tried to comfort her, saying 「You did well, you did well.」 Then again, that mission had not been meant to be the last hit, and Mira was happy with whatever damage it left. In a way, it was just a test to see if such an attack could work.
Christina had still performed much better than Mira expected, so she praised Christina, and told her there was nothing to apologize for.
「It took you some time to charge up that attack though. Was it a new move? It carried quite a punch.」
That last attack looked like Christina had turned into a falling star with a long trailing light, slicing through Machina Guardian’s torso. Mira had never seen that attack before, so she assumed it was a new Skill Christina had learned in the last thirty hours.
Seeing that her friend had improved so much also made Mira feel even better. Christina had felt nervous, feeling like she failed her mission when her sword broke, but Mira was not chastising her, and instead praised her saying that she had fulfilled her duty.
Hearing all of that, Christina gradually regained her energy.
「It was a Skill I came up with to help you, Master! It’s an honor being praised so much!」
Christina realized this was her time to improve her image. Her attack of jumping down while making her sword glow was an attack she came up with on the spot as she channeled mana in preparation. But she did not like how that sounded, so instead acted like it was the product of long and arduous training.
「I see, I see. I really owe you Sisters a lot.」
「Not at all. It’s our duty!」
Mira thanked her again, which was almost too much for Christina to handle.
Christina did have the desire of serving Mira, though instead of harsh training, she preferred to spend that time gaining wisdom.
「The fight is almost over now, Christina. I’ll be counting on you until the end.」
Saying that, Mira summoned the Holy Sword Sanctia and gave it to Christina in exchange of her broken blade. The second weapon Christina carried was a shield, which she could not use to attack. So Mira decided this would be optimal, while also being curious what kind of power a Valkyrie would have armed with a Holy Sword.
(I also feel like Christina and Sanctia would be really good friends anyway!)
The weapons carried by the Valkyrie Sisters were strong enough to compete even with some Holy or Demonic Swords.
Even though Christina’s had broken, and had been passed down across all Sisters, it was still way stronger than any common sword. That was why Mira felt hesitant to suggest one of them discard their sword to try Sanctia instead, but now that one had broken, it did not seem unnatural to do that.
Christina was the youngest of the Seven Valkyrie Sisters, but her abilities were far superior to those of a Dark Knight, so Mira wanted to see just how powerful Sanctia would become in her hands.
Her eyes were blazing with expectation as she observed Chrstina.
Meanwhile Christina felt like Mira was expecting a lot from her, which made her feel more important than her sisters, and basked in that feeling.
「Thank you very much!」
Christina had not expected to obtain a new sword from her master either, which also made her feel proud of herself. She stored her broken sword in its scabbard, then respectfully took Sanctia from Mira’s hand.
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