Leather Triangles

The magician tried to move quickly for the marine prison and lose Kanzaki, but her movements suddenly dulled.

She looked and saw that Kanzaki’s wires had sliced apart the triangular pieces of leather scattered about the ocean surface. The slices were curved rather than in straight lines.

“And I thought you wouldn’t be able to withstand my attack even if you had realized the theory behind it.”

“Well, I now know what the source of your power is. If I destroy those triangles of leather, you will return to being a normal magician.”

Even if triangles were sliced with a straight line, at least one half would form another triangle. However, that was not the case when they were sliced apart with curving cuts. She could destroy the triangles.

“But...” the magicians said and snapped her fingers.

That must have been a sign to strengthen the surrounding wind because the leather  remnants Kanzaki’s wires had sliced apart were sliced further. The fan-shapes made of two straight lines and one curve were returned to a triangular shape.

“The triangle is the basis of polygons. Any polygon can be split into multiple trianglesusing straight lines.”

In that case, their methods of fighting were clear.

Kanzaki would win if she could use her wires to slice the triangles of leather and destroy their triangular shape as quickly as possible.

The magician would win if she used Víðarr’s Shoe to manipulate the wind and water to return the sliced pieces to a triangular shape and increase her speed.

It was a simple battle of speed.

The one who created more of their shape would win and the one with fewer would lose.

So...

The two magicians sent slicing attacks out around themselves at extremely high speed.

The wind blew and the waves disappeared.

In an instant, dozens of the pieces of leather were sliced apart with curving lines and in the next instant, they were returned to a pile of triangles. The distribution of what amount Kanzaki and the magician controlled changed from moment to moment like two people trying to paint the same wall different colors.

They did not directly attack each other, but their actions indirectly led to striking a fatal blow to the other.

As that battle of stealing the realm of control back and forth spread, the magician smiled.

She could win.

No matter what shape Kanzaki cut the triangles of leather into, she could always create another triangle by adding on another cut. In other words, the magician’s power would not lessen. In fact, by creating a triangle out of both halves created by the curved slice, she could increase the number of triangles and therefore increase the source of her strength.

As long as she did not make any major mistakes, she could keep up with the speed. And as the number of triangles grew, the magician’s strength grew as well.

Eventually, her speed would outdo Kanzaki’s.

Once that happened, she could take out Kanzaki before the other girl could slice apart the triangles of leather. It was just a matter of time. If the magician could keep things going without making any mistakes, she would be victorious.

But...

“This is not merely an issue of speed,” Kanzaki said quietly as she wielded her seven wires a bit away. “You will realize soon that this is also an issue of accuracy.”

(...?)

Was she saying small mistakes would eventually show up in a protracted battle?

However, that was not it.

An exceedingly simple problem arose just as Kanzaki had predicted.

It was an issue of size.

The triangles of leather constructing Víðarr’s Shoe had only been a few centimeters long. Kanzaki was slicing through them with her wires and the magician was returning them to a triangular shape. Two things happened as a result of this.

First, the number increased which increased the magician’s strength.

Second, the size of the triangles of leather got smaller and smaller.

Even the original triangles that were a few centimeters across required a good bit of skill to slice through accurately from a distance. Once the size had gone down to half or even a quarter of that and they were only a few millimeters across, the success rate dropped.

It was similar to firing a gun at a target.

Even at the same distance, one’s accuracy would fall the smaller the target became. Once the target was only a few millimeters across, it was like firing through the eye of a needle.

And...

If the magician lost, she would lose her strength and be defeated by Kanzaki.

“Kh...!!”

The magician felt like her mental vision suddenly narrowed. It was like a game of chicken heading straight for the edge of a cliff. She had to slam on the brakes because she was getting to the point where she was not sure if she could handle it, but her  opponent continued heading on and on, so she had no choice but to go on herself.

Meanwhile, their battle had become an even more delicate one where both speed and accuracy had to be used in unison. As the battle escalated from a few millimeters, to a single millimeter, and then to the realm even smaller than that, the magician was made aware of something about her own characteristics.

It was true that her strength increased as the number of triangles increased.

However, an increase in strength was not necessarily a good thing.

It was the same as how a light jab was easier to hit with than a powerful straight.

The more her strength increased...

...the harder it became to aim carefully!?

(No...!!)

In all honesty, the magician wanted to quit.

Her head was warning her that she could not keep up if things advanced any further.

But Kanzaki Kaori was still accurately using her wires to slice the leather further and further and further and further as if she were a piece of accurate machinery. The spiritual items were smaller than a millimeter putting them at about the size of a grain of sand, but she was still swiftly and surely slicing them.

It was not just an issue of superhuman strength and speed.

One also needed the precision to accurately wield one’s power in that realm. Saints were said to have such rare talent because they had the precise control needed to fully wield their power.

(So this is...)

The magician gritted her teeth and felt a sensation escape her.

She had sliced through air.

That showed that she could no longer keep up with the accuracy needed at that scale.

And...

Kanzaki Kaori was still swinging her wires.

The triangles that were smaller than a millimeter were sliced to pieces in an instant.

(So this is a Saint...!)

The magician’s speed suddenly dropped.

She could feel the assistance from Víðarr’s Shoe quickly leaving her.

SS Kanzaki, Chapter 5, Part 5