"——!"
Sharp claws, like sharp sickles, slashed through the space, cutting through the water vapor pervading the air, leaving distinct claw marks.
On the turbulent ocean, within the obscured mist, Giada, like a cheetah, fiercely pounced towards Rozen's direction, her sharp claws transformed into countless flashes, attacking Rozen with astonishing speed.
Facing Giada like this...
"Order!"
Rozen chanted a brief spell, unleashing the power of the talisman in his hand.
The talisman being released was the Metal Element Talisman.
With the infusion of magical power, the Talisman radiated light, transforming into a sharp single-handed sword, falling into Rozen's hand.
"Clang!"
The next moment, the sword clashed with the claws, sparking a crisp collision.
"Clang, clang, clang, clang..."
As if triggering a chain reaction, after the collision sound, the sword and claws continuously clashed, creating a flurry of sword lights and collisions, with the sound of steel lingering in the air.
Rozen wielded the sword in his hand, continuously deflecting Giada's incoming claws, causing sparks to fly incessantly.
"So you're also skilled in close combat!"
This revelation brightened Giada's eyes, her expression becoming increasingly joyful.
Obviously, Rozen repeatedly exceeding Giada's expectations truly delighted her.
However...
"Compared to you, I wouldn't call myself skilled...!"
Rozen barely kept up with Giada's movements, once again deflecting the claws coming towards him, his face showing a gritted teeth expression.
To deal with Giada's close combat, Rozen not only used Rigid Body to enhance his physical abilities but also applied various spells like Magic Resilience to himself, just enough to keep up with Giada's movements.
This Chaos Bride not only possessed formidable strength but also excelled in close combat, probably not inferior to some top-tier servants.
On the other hand, Rozen was a complete novice in close combat. The reason he could keep up with Giada was partly due to enhancing his body with magic and spells but more importantly, using Mind's Eye to see through all of Giada's attack trajectories, then using Telekinesis to control his body for evasion and defense.
So, Rozen couldn't be considered an expert; defense and evasion were one thing, but delivering effective attacks to Giada was another.
It should be noted that Rozen's true swordsmanship skills were only copied from SAO's sword skill system.
Though not mere showmanship, to construct a complete sword skill system, all the game technicians, including Kayaba Akihiko, definitely referred to various martial arts styles from around the world, even consulted experts for design, which resulted in SAO featuring such a diverse array of sword skills, numbering no less than two thousand.
However, compared to modern styles and Giada's combat techniques honed through years of actual combat, naturally, Rozen's skills fell short.
Therefore, while defense, parrying, and evasion were near-perfect for Rozen, mounting an effective counterattack was difficult.
Of course...
"Don't think I, a magus, will keep playing close combat with you!"
Rozen, while once again deflecting Giada's claws, chanted.
"————"
Rozen chanted the Minor Exorcism Mantra, causing flames to rise from under him like fiery serpents, burning the atmosphere as they rushed towards Giada.
"Boom!"
The fiery serpents instantly fell onto the sea surface, causing a huge splash and once again raising a large amount of water vapor.
However, this attack did not hit Giada.
"Swoosh!"
Giada avoided the incoming magic in the space shift and instantly moved behind Rozen, with a genuinely happy expression, continuing to pounce towards Rozen.
"Your back is completely exposed!"
Giada mercilessly swung her sharp claws towards Rozen's back.
Unfortunately...
"—"
Rozen suddenly sang out a syllable.
"Pound!"
A thunderous shock burst behind Rozen, sending the unsuspecting Giada flying.
It was the seed syllable of the Dakini Vajra, a spell favored by Kagami Reiji, with a very powerful repelling effect.
Giada's figure was instantly blasted like a cannonball, bouncing countless times on the surface of the water, finally stabilizing her figure after many bounces, rubbing against the water surface all the way, causing waves to surge and retreat.
But...
"Boom!"
The next moment, a burst of flames erupted on Giada's body, which had just stabilized with difficulty, causing a tremendous explosion.
Rozen just turned around, directing a pair of burning mystic eyes towards this side, hitting Giada with the power of the bursting mystic eyes.
However...
"This level is not enough to defeat me! Minamiya Nichiyo!"
Giada loudly exclaimed, her body surging with terrifying magic power, completely repelling the flames on her body.
Her body was completely unscathed.
During that time, a violent storm surrounded Giada, shielding her from all harm.
Undoubtedly, the true form of the storm was Giada's beast vassal.
Giada then summoned a new beast vassal and, facing Rozen's direction, extended her hand and clenched it with force.
"Buzz————!"
The space around Rozen suddenly seemed to freeze, completely immobilizing him.
"Go!"
At Giada's command, the storm swirling around her rose up, and together with a blazing flame descending from the sky, turned into two dragon-shaped torrents, roaring towards Rozen.
Rozen, however, couldn't move at all.
This space was also Giada's beast vassal, completely imprisoning Rozen.
"Come Forth!"
Rozen immediately shouted with all his might.
"The third beast vassal————〈Al Meissa Mercury〉!"
Responding to Rozen's summon, a beast vassal broke through the water behind Rozen and appeared there.
It was a two-headed dragon covered in mercury-colored scales.
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
The two-headed dragon roared, and with a speed completely disproportionate to its huge size, rushed forward, fiercely biting into the storm and pillar of fire attacking it.
"Bang————!"
At that moment, the surrounding space, the storm, and the pillar of fire were all fiercely crushed by the two-headed dragon.
This was the ability of 〈Al Meissa Mercury〉, capable of devouring space itself with its dimensional consumption.
Giada's spatial beast vassal, encountering this beast vassal, was like encountering a natural enemy, and it disappeared without a trace in the scene reminiscent of shattered glass.
"Very good! Just like this! This is what we need!"
Giada's eyes and face were already filled with a battle intent and fighting spirit akin to madness.
"This is the fierce battle that us, the eternal undead, pursue!"
On Giada's body, magical power violently flung the surrounding seawater while causing the heavens and earth to mourn, burning wildly.
"My beast vassals! Here is an opponent worthy of satisfying you! Give it your all!!"
Amid Giada's impassioned shout, a large number of beast vassals began to appear.
There were thunderclouds flashing like lightning.
There were flame columns erupting like volcanoes.
There were raging storms running wild.
There were howling skeletal giants.
All of these were beast vassals seen before.
In addition to these, many beast vassals that had not appeared before were also summoned one by one, roaring as they charged towards Rozen.
Giada completely released the twenty-seven beast vassals in her blood, exerting her full strength in the truest sense.
In response to this...
"I'll accompany you to the end!"
A large amount of blood mist surged from Rozen's body.
"Come forth! My beast vassals!"
In the blood mist, beast vassals appeared one after another.
Diamond sheep surrounded by countless crystal gems.
Bull-headed giant wielding blazing battle axes.
Ferocious twin-headed silver dragons.
Giant silver armored beasts.
There were also thunderlight lions, three-cobalt greatswords, lion-headed lion-bodied scorpion-tailed beasts, and water spirits with snake hair, all of Rozen's previously summoned beast vassals appearing one after another.
And also...
"Hokuto!"
Rozen called out to the shikigami that had accompanied him from past to present.
So, in the blood mist, the golden divine dragon also appeared.
"Roar————!"
Hokuto emitted a clear dragon roar, emanating a power far surpassing any other beast vassal present.
As an existence at the strategic pinnacle, in terms of strength alone, Hokuto towered above all the other beast vassals present, standing at the top.
Both sides summoned their own legions.
"HAAAHHH————!"
Under the full roar of Rozen and Giada, countless beast vassals rose up, fiercely colliding with each other.