Chapter 43: Do Villainess Fight Fairly?

"Besides, there is power and satisfaction in serving someone; that’s what I learned during my time with Reyn. That is all."

Trish raised both arms, and her shadow stretched wide beneath her, three times her size, as a volley of swords began to rise from the darkness.

The other Trish saw it and answered in kind. Same maneuver. Same number of swords. Same size of shadow. Exactly as the trial had promised.

Two women with completely different lives, yet completely identical capabilities.

I took the chance to grab the pistol my counterpart had left behind, snagging it with a radiant chain and pulling it into my hands to inspect.

It could prove useful.

Who knows?

"A Brimstone is a Brimstone; they’ll just discard you when you’re no longer useful. Especially Reyn."

The other Trish laughed. The same Trish who had made multiple noble houses fear the name Fillaunete even after its downfall. A shadowy noblewoman with her fingers wrapped around every underground organization that mattered.

She’d only been defeated after Lucius, the protagonist, broke her in battle and through his alliances.

"You’ll learn the hard way in the future, I’m sure."

She attacked first. Her swords surged forward, and my Trish met them head-on. Their blades clashed in the air between them like two miniature armies colliding.

They were mages, after all. Relying on range and magical micromanagement rather than dominating both close and long-range warfare.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

Steel rang against steel. The two sides were nearly identical, each Trish directing every sword with precision, the space between them a killing field no one could cross without being cut to ribbons.

And here I was, standing behind her, arms crossed, enjoying the show.

I wondered if my Trish had an ace up her sleeve.

As strong as she is, the Trish in front of her still had way too big a gap, experience-wise.

"Serving someone means you have less experience leading an army of your own. That’s where you fall short compared to me."

The other Trish wasn’t just boasting. My Trish’s swords began to fall one by one, their blades snapping in two against the other Trish’s better battlefield control, and I caught the glint of sweat trailing down her forehead.

"May I?"

I stepped beside her, handkerchief in hand. Trish nearly lost her focus, and half her remaining swords, before I gently placed a hand on top of her head to steady her gaze back on the battle ahead.

"Focus. Just tell me if you’d like me to wipe it or not."

"Y-Yeah... I’d like that."

More swords rose from her shadow as I wiped the sweat from her brow. The other Trish didn’t even bother switching tactics. If I had to guess, she was deliberately holding back, taunting my Trish, trying to prove her superiority in an even battle.

Pride, her most distinct trait in the novel.

The clash dragged on, neither side giving ground, until the space between them was choked with steel, a wall of blades no one dared cross.

Then Trish turned to me, a small smile on her face. One hand rested behind her back, a dagger made of darkness hidden in her grip.

"What are you...?"

I asked, genuinely curious, but Trish only smiled.

"Reyn, can you blast a hole through the wall for me?"

The look she gave me made it impossible to refuse.

Well... It wasn’t like I’d refuse in the first place.

"Sure. I can do that."

I summoned a ball of light just left of the clashing wall of swords and, just as I had back in the tournament, overloaded it with mana until it detonated, wiping out everything in its vicinity without mercy.

My Trish’s swords, the other Trish’s swords, all of it disintegrated, leaving nothing behind.

Then she moved.

Shadows coiled around Trish’s feet, and she glided across the grey floor toward the opening. The other Trish saw her coming and responded with more swords.

But she could only manage a few. Her mana was running low. Both of theirs were. It seemed my Trish had been waiting for this exact moment.

"W-What kind of magic was that explosion...?!"

The other Trish tried to pull swords from the wall of blades to intercept, but the moment she did, her battle line collapsed. My Trish parried and dodged the few that reached her, her dagger flashing as she closed the distance.

She was surprisingly skilled with a blade. I couldn’t remember the novel ever mentioning that, or if it had been part of her characterization in the original timeline at all.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

"You’re cheating—"

CLANG!

The other Trish summoned a wall of shadow just as Trish drove the dagger forward. The blade sank into the dark barrier, stopped cold. But the moment the wall formed, the rest of her swordline faltered.

Her focus split, and my Trish pressed the advantage, pulling her dagger out of the wall.

"Cheating? I think it’s quite fair."

Trish replied smoothly, sidestepping and striking again with the dagger. The other Trish twisted the wall to block, losing more of her hold over the swordline with every passing second.

"You’re better at leading a horde of weak men. But that doesn’t really matter when you’re alone."

Trish found a gap in the failing wall, a crack in the other Trish’s faltering defense, and threw her dagger clean through it.

The blade buried itself just below the other Trish’s heart.

The wall of swords collapsed instantly. The other Trish’s focus shattered with the pain, and she stumbled, clutching at her chest. My Trish’s remaining swords rose around her, surrounding the other version of her in a ring of gleaming steel.

She was finished.

"You know, for someone who’s supposed to be the strongest version of myself, and, I presume, older as well, you didn’t seem to account for the obvious fact that I still had an ally beside me."

The other Trish froze, caught off guard by the sudden assessment from her other self.

"Did you really think I’d play fair the entire time? Honestly, I’m a little surprised you trusted me, of all people, to honor a one-on-one. Guess my whole ’let me handle this’ speech really got to you, huh? I just didn’t want Reyn wasting effort unless he had to."

"So everything you said was just...?"

I asked, walking toward her. She folded her arms like a proper maid and gestured toward the other Trish.

"I just said it so you’d get to rest while I handled most of the fighting. You’re kind, after all; if I didn’t make a grand speech like that, I’m sure you’d insist on helping more than you needed to."