Chapter 297

Chapter 297: Chapter 297

After having his Wood Clone deliver the letter to Finn and the others, Kiriya went to find Ryuu and Jeanne and brought them to a secluded patch of forest elsewhere on Floor 50.

Since he had already decided to teach Afterglow, there was no reason to teach it only to Ais while keeping it from his own girls.

"Afterglow... What an incredible technique."

It took a long while for Jeanne and Ryuu to finish digesting the memories Kiriya had passed to them.

When they finally opened their eyes, both let out long breaths, each able to see the excitement reflected in the other’s gaze.

During the battle on Floor 59, the two of them had joined Riveria and Ais in fighting the Corrupted Spirit clone, only to be repeatedly beaten back.

Without Kiriya constantly rescuing them with the Flying Thunder God Technique, there was no telling how many times they might have died.

Yet that same opponent had failed to survive even a single move from Kiriya.

The gulf between them was almost impossible to describe.

Neither woman had said much afterward, maintaining their usual composure, but how could they not have felt something inside?

They wanted to become stronger too.

They wanted to truly stand beside that man, becoming both the strongest shield at his side and the sharpest sword in his hand.

Unfortunately, the gap between them was still too large.

Raising their Status normally would take too long, which meant they could only place their hopes in exceptional Skills, Magic, and techniques.

And now, Afterglow had appeared at exactly the right time.

If they could master it, their offensive power would rise dramatically.

How could they not be excited?

"How do we train it?"

Even the usually composed Ryuu looked eager to begin.

"Right here?"

"Yeah. Try it first."

Kiriya stepped aside and gave the two women plenty of room to experiment.

Afterglow was an ultimate technique that fused enhancement Magic with a sword strike.

Its core principle was simple: the user first activated Magic capable of enhancing their body, then poured that power into their weapon before releasing it in the form of a slash.

At its heart, it was a fusion of Magic and swordsmanship.

Once mastered, it gave the user an immensely powerful long-range finishing move with no chant and virtually no delay between uses.

Its combination of range, speed, and destructive power was enough to make many mages of the same Level—or even higher Levels—green with envy.

Naturally, something that powerful was extraordinarily difficult to learn.

There were two basic requirements for anyone wishing to master Afterglow.

First, the learner had to possess Magic capable of enhancing their own body.

Second, they had to be skilled with a weapon capable of delivering slashing attacks, such as a sword or blade.

Ryuu fulfilled the first condition through Astraea Record, which allowed her to borrow the Magic of her fallen Astraea Familia comrades.

In particular, she could use Alise’s flame enhancement Magic, Agaris Alvesynth, to greatly strengthen herself.

Jeanne had originally possessed nothing similar.

However, when the Greater Grail incarnated her permanently in the world of Fate/Apocrypha, part of her Saint Graph had been unexpectedly altered, granting her the Skill Mana Burst, which likewise allowed her to dramatically enhance her physical power.

It was an offense-specialized Skill, however, and while using it she could not employ her strongest defensive abilities.

Since their party already had Kiriya and Ryuu as extremely powerful offensive fighters, Jeanne had happily settled into her role as the group’s primary tank.

Still, there were situations where she needed to attack.

In short, both Ryuu and Jeanne theoretically possessed the qualifications necessary to learn Afterglow.

But possibility was only possibility.

Actually mastering it was another matter entirely.

"Hah—!"

"Haah—!"

An hour passed.

Both women tried everything they could think of, yet neither managed to reproduce that breathtaking slash.

Kiriya was not surprised.

Even a monster like Ottar had required years of brutal tempering under the lunatics of the Zeus and Hera Familias before finally mastering the technique.

Kiriya himself had cheated.

With the perception and copying ability of the Mangekyō Sharingan, he had been able to grasp the technique in one go.

Ryuu and Jeanne had no such advantage.

"Maybe... we should give up."

Jeanne sighed.

She understood that people simply had different talents.

Perhaps she really was better suited to protecting others.

"Agreed."

Ryuu lowered her sword.

"Even without this technique, my Magic is enough for most situations."

Her mastery of concurrent chanting already gave her extraordinary mobility and offensive power, while Astraea Record provided an enormous range of tactical options.

Countless adventurers would have killed for advantages like hers.

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

Kiriya rubbed his chin.

"Who complains about having too many trump cards?"

He thought for a moment.

"I do have one method we can try. Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

Jeanne nodded without the slightest hesitation.

"Why are you even asking that now?"

Ryuu gave him an exasperated look.

If she did not trust him, why would she have followed him all the way down here?

"Good."

Kiriya’s expression became serious.

"Then do exactly what I tell you. Don’t resist at all, understand?"

Both women nodded.

Kiriya activated his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and cast a powerful genjutsu over them.

It had no complicated effect.

It was simply hypnosis.

Whenever someone learned a new skill, stray thoughts and deeply ingrained habits inevitably interfered with their movements, preventing them from reaching their absolute peak state of concentration and efficiency.

But what if hypnosis stripped those distractions away?

What if mind and body could be placed into a state of complete emptiness, free from everything except the technique itself?

Normally, achieving such a state would be extremely difficult.

The subconscious naturally resisted foreign interference, especially for people like Ryuu and Jeanne, whose mental strength was exceptionally high.

But Kiriya possessed the ocular power of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, while both women trusted him completely and willingly cooperated.

Together, those conditions actually allowed him to create the state he had imagined.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ryuu and Jeanne closed their eyes and began swinging their weapons according to the guidance embedded in their memories.

Every strike gathered all of their concentration, strength, and spirit into a single motion.

Again.

And again.

Without rest.

At first, each swing produced only faint ripples of magical energy.

But as they continued, their movements gradually became smoother and more complete, while the flow of Magic through their bodies and weapons grew increasingly natural.

Finally—

On the three-thousandth strike.

Their magical energy compressed into the slash and erupted outward.

Shhk—!

A sword scar dozens of meters long appeared in front of each woman.

Everything along the path was severed cleanly in two, the cuts perfectly smooth.

"They did it!"

Kiriya clapped his hands in excitement.

His words seemed to press a pause button.

Both women abruptly stopped moving.

Then their bodies went limp.

Kiriya flashed between them and caught both around the waist before they could collapse.

He lowered them carefully until they were sitting against his shoulders, then gently stroked their heads.

"You did it."

Ryuu and Jeanne barely managed to open their eyes.

They looked at the scars their attacks had carved through the forest and smiled faintly.

Then both fell unconscious.

Pouring every ounce of their concentration into three thousand consecutive sword strikes was too much even for Level 5-class adventurers.

Right now, all they wanted was sleep.

Kiriya kissed each of them once before carrying them back to their tent.

Yang Power: Everflowing Vitality helped ease their physical exhaustion, while potions restored their depleted Mind.

The rest could be left to sleep.

Afterward, Kiriya repeated the same method with Ais.

Several thousand strikes later, she too successfully unleashed Afterglow for the first time.

Naturally, Ais ended up completely exhausted and had to be carried back.

When the Loki Familia saw Kiriya returning to camp with Ais in a princess carry—and saw just how utterly drained she looked—they nearly grabbed their weapons and jumped him on the spot.

Finn and Riveria had to work together to calm everyone down.

Once the situation had finally been explained, both of them were left speechless.

"You call this training?"

Riveria pointed toward Ais’s face, which was pale as paper.

"Her Mind is almost completely exhausted. Even with high-grade elixirs, she’ll need at least two days to recover properly."

"Uh..."

Kiriya scratched his head awkwardly.

"It was my first time trying it. I didn’t have much experience with the method. It’ll be better next time."

The training method was certainly fast.

Unfortunately, the burden was just as extreme.

"You—"

The moment Riveria heard the words next time, she nearly blasted Kiriya with Rea Laevateinn on the spot.

It took visible effort for her to control herself.

Her hand trembled as she pointed toward the outside of the camp, wordlessly ordering him to get out of her sight.

"Looks like our little princess learned one hell of a technique."

Gareth stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"She pushed herself far too hard."

Riveria shook her head, looking every bit like a mother worrying over an unruly child.

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