Chapter 27: Allen’s Strength, Come Forth, Thunderous Cumulonimbus!

[Further progress in gaining favor with Rudeus and Sylphy, Childhood Arc participation increased.]
[Current Phase: Childhood, Cumulative Participation Score: 54.]
[Evaluation: I didn’t expect that showing off would also earn favor.]

Allen frowned as he looked at the system panel floating before him.
"Wait, where did I show off? And where did this favor come from?"
He turned his head toward Sylphy on the hillside. She was staring blankly at him and Rudeus.
He then looked at Rudeus, who was also lost in a daze.
"...How bizarre."

"Hey, Rudy, stop spacing out. Crank up your mana and fire another one. Look, Sylphy is already mesmerized by you."
Rudeus blinked, shaking off the bridge effect, then glanced at Sylphy on the hill and his mouth twitched.
*Here it comes, the dense protagonist trope. Damn it, this is the path I chose for myself...*
*Still... Allen’s strength is... even greater than I imagined. He definitely didn’t just glare the water column into pieces. I couldn't even see him draw his blade. No wonder he said we should keep our distance... If this were a real fight, my head would be on the ground by now... No, he’d probably be holding his blade to my throat, casually saying something elegant like 'you still have a long way to go'...*
*I can't let this slide. I have to get serious. If I don't, when I meet Roxy later, who knows whose attention she’ll be on...*

Overwhelmed by a sudden sense of crisis, Rudeus took a deep breath and held his palm out toward Allen.
"Alright! Take this!"
Allen’s pupils constricted. In his field of vision, water gathered rapidly in front of Rudeus, instantly forming a torrent larger than the head of the boar they had just finished off. This time, it even soaked the grass blades beneath Rudeus’s feet.
With a resounding "boom," the surging water column blasted toward Allen’s face!
"Twenty-Slash."
Accompanying Allen’s barely audible whisper, the water column that had consumed his entire vision split apart once more. However, unlike what he had anticipated, it wasn't Rudeus’s face behind the water.
It was a rough, jagged rock.
"Water Cannon! Stone Cannon!"
Their movements were simply too fast; it wasn't until Allen cleaved the water column that Rudeus’s voice echoed beneath the hill!
The Stone Cannon pierced through the spray, aiming straight for Allen’s face!
Because it had been hidden by the Water Cannon, this follow-up Stone Cannon was only about the size of Rudeus’s head. Even so, in this fleeting moment, Allen’s heightened dynamic vision perfectly captured the rough edges of the stone. The surrounding environment seemed to enter slow motion:
Ambient noise vanished abruptly.
Wind pressure drummed against Allen’s chest, bringing with it the scent of moisture and damp earth. The Stone Cannon rotated "slowly" in a clockwise motion, reflected in Allen’s deep gray pupils.
Allen narrowed his eyes slowly. The previous breath still provided ample oxygen in his lungs. A surge of heat welled up at his waist; from the embryonic core in his abdomen, dragon-saint battle aura flowed out, staining and infusing his own constant, native aura.

"...Interesting. So you held back a Stone Cannon this time... Using Twenty-Slash again would wear down the blade... In that case..."
"Water God Style—Flowing Secret Technique."
"Plucking the String."
Allen suddenly broke free from the slow-motion perception. He slightly shifted the blade he was about to sheath, letting the tip graze the scabbard as it swept toward the ground. Simultaneously, Allen released his grip on the hilt, flicked his aura-imbued knuckles against the handle, and gave it an upward pluck.
In the blink of an eye.
The hilt sprang from his waist! It struck the underside of the incoming Stone Cannon with a metallic *ding*.
A gentle aura, soft as flowing water, altered the trajectory of the Stone Cannon. It jerked upward and flew past Allen’s cheek with a "whoosh," blowing his bangs back behind his head.
The blade itself was knocked back by the Stone Cannon, clattering against the ground before Allen’s feet and vibrating with a lingering hum.
Allen reached out to retrieve his sword, performed a flourish in the air, and sheathed it.
Then, he began to clap for Rudeus, who was currently striking a comical posture as if transmitting internal energy.
"Not bad, not bad. Preparing the Water Cannon with one hand, and the moment the water obscured my vision, you were already preparing the Stone Cannon with the other. Even if it’s not combined magic, it’s even more unexpected than that."
"Anything can be North God Style. Even if you haven't learned it from the Master, it seems you’ve grasped its essence quite well."
Rudeus looked at the ground beside Allen, which had been torn up yet again by the water, and felt quite defeated.
Although he had expected Allen to be able to neutralize the two-hit combo without a scratch, seeing his effortless demeanor still left him feeling discouraged.
"Is the gap between us really that big? ...And you were just standing there letting me attack."
Allen blinked.
"Just lucky, just lucky! Keep up the good work. Next time..."
"Stone Cannon!"
Allen kicked aside the Stone Cannon that Rudeus had suddenly tried to sneak in with a hand gesture. The rock flew into the side, embedding itself deep into a mud pit.
Without pausing, Allen finished what he was about to say with a smile.
"...you'll definitely manage it. But this one didn't feel as fast as the last one. Was your concentration slipping?"
Rudeus lowered his hands again, gritting his teeth in frustration.
"That’s the fastest I can trigger it for now. Any longer and you’d definitely dodge it."
"Do it again, it’s interesting."
"No!"
"Oh come on, just one more time~"
"No! Sylphy saw it too, right? Why do it again? Besides, our duel is in two months!"

"But in two months, I’ll be moving! This time, I’m letting you do whatever you want~ If you don’t do it now, you might not hit the bullseye when the time comes."
"Heh... you'll just dodge it anyway... Ice Blade!"
Allen caught the low-level magic spell—an Ice Blade—that came flying his way, examining it with curiosity.
He didn't dodge this time because the shape of the ice was like a blade, and as a swordsman, Allen had precise control over things with sharp edges, so he caught it effortlessly.
Seeing this, Rudeus’s face fell. He immediately turned and ran toward the top of the hill, wailing mournfully as he fled.
"I’m not doing it, I’m not doing it!! You couldn't pay me to do it again!"
Allen casually tossed the ice blade to the ground, where it shattered with a *snap*, and he turned to walk up the hill.
"Wait for me~ Just one more time~"
"No!"

—
However, things took a turn Allen hadn't expected. He stared, dumbfounded, at Sylphy, who stood with her hands pressed together against her chest, eyes sparkling, her ears ringing with the request she had just made.
"I want to learn swordsmanship! The one where you caught the ice with your bare hands!"
"Ah... that requires a very high level of battle aura and swordsmanship... I'm afraid..."
Rudeus, seeing things go south, tried to tiptoe away, but was snatched back by Allen mid-sentence.
He glared at Allen with resentment.
"I did the demonstration! If Sylphy can't learn it, there's nothing I can do! Why don't you teach her swordsmanship instead!"
Unexpectedly, Allen turned to him, his expression suddenly serious.
"She’s really not suited for swordsmanship... However, I think the little scuffle we had just now was too small-scale. You need to show her something truly shocking."
"Huh?"
The two exchanged a silent look for a moment, then Rudeus blinked and considered.
"You don't mean..."
Allen glanced at Sylphy, who was standing obediently with her hands behind her back, and nodded with a hint of excitement.
"Yes, the Saint-class magic you learned from Roxy—Cumulonimbus!"
*It’s here, the place where the dream begins! If I don't see this magic, what was the point of transmigrating into the world of Mushoku Tensei anyway!?!*