"Impressive," Jin remarked, his voice tinged with genuine interest.
He could tell at a glance that the Celuroa golem's movements weren't powered by a Form Drive.
"Well, this was a country where the Unifilar once operated, after all," Jin noted.
It made sense. Ever since his country's finest, the Adamas Warrior, had been defeated by Reinhard's Schwarzritter, King Richard of Celuroa had been obsessed with the development of combat golems. That he could not direct that passion toward anything more productive was a clear sign of his limitations.
The battle between the Schwarzritter and the Celuroa golem grew more intense. When the Schwarzritter delivered a downward slash, the Celuroa golem countered with an upward swing. When the Celuroa golem unleashed a horizontal sweep, the Schwarzritter parried the blow and immediately followed up with a thrust.
The Celuroa golem twisted its body into a half-profile to dodge the incoming blade, using that momentum to launch another horizontal attack. The Schwarzritter evaded it with a swift backstep.
"Hoh... incredible. I couldn't do that," Gloria murmured, a hint of frustration in her voice.
"That can't be helped," Jin said. "The speed at which commands are transmitted to the muscles is simply too different between a human and a golem."
Gloria seized upon Jin’s offhand comment. "Jin-dono, what do you mean by that?"
"Ah... well, for example, take the action of evading a sword. First, you see the sword with your eyes; then your brain decides to evade; then it issues a command to the body's muscles to move; and finally, the muscles react and the body moves. That’s how it works."
"Hoh, I see." Gloria accepted the explanation at face value, as was her nature.
"And so, there is a physical delay—the time it takes for the command from the brain to reach the muscles."
"Umu, that stands to reason," Gloria replied, refraining from interjecting with unnecessary questions.
"Now, the speed at which those commands travel is, as far as I know, about thirty to seventy meters per second."
"That is quite slow."
At fifty meters per second, that would be 180 kilometers per hour.
"However, it's different for a golem. Magical energy waves are essentially a higher-order equivalent to electromagnetic waves, so their speed is close to 300,000 kilometers per second."
"I do not quite understand what 'electromagnetic waves' are, but more than ten million times faster... that is certainly fast."
"Well, there's also the processing time within the control core, which acts as the brain, so it's not quite that simple," Jin added.
These were theoretical values. Factors like skeletal strength and muscle reaction speed also played a role, so one couldn't calculate a simple multiplier for the overall speed. Still, there was no doubt that golems were significantly faster than humans.
《This is quite a spectacle to behold,》 King Richard remarked, sounding impressed.
The battle between the Schwarzritter and the Celuroa golem reached a fever pitch. The Schwarzritter seemed to have a slight advantage; while its body remained unscathed, the Celuroa golem had sustained several shallow wounds.
The Schwarzritter's slashes grew even faster. The Celuroa golem was now forced into a purely defensive stance.
Finally, it happened.
With a sharp metallic ring, the Celuroa golem's sword snapped and flew through the air. The Schwarzritter thrust its blade toward the golem's throat, stopping it just a hair's breadth away.
《...M-Magnificent, Schwarzritter.》
His voice tight with frustration, the King of Celuroa acknowledged the Schwarzritter's victory. The delegates from various countries broke into thunderous applause.
"Reinhard-dono, as expected!"
"The Shouro Empire is truly impressive."
"What a wonderful masterpiece of a blade!"
"Reinhard, that was magnificent," everyone cheered.
"No, it was a hard-fought victory," Reinhard replied, though he looked quite pleased with the result.
《It seems to be a rather fine sword. Perhaps that was the reason for the victory,》 the King spat out, his words sounding like nothing more than sour grapes.
"Blaming the sword is laughable," Gloria scoffed quietly. "The Schwarzritter only took the opponent's sword head-on a few times; it parried almost every blow. In contrast, the Celuroa golem did nothing but block. The burden placed on their respective weapons wasn't even comparable."
"So, the way one defends also changes how much the sword is damaged?" Jin asked her.
"Yes, exactly." Gloria explained that at a master's level, there were ways to minimize damage to one's own blade even during a clash. "Receiving a blow with the tip versus the base of the sword makes a significant difference. The Schwarzritter seemed to understand that perfectly."
As Jin listened to Gloria's analysis, he felt satisfied that his decision to include tactile sense in his golems had been the right one.
The King continued. 《Now then, that makes it one to one. Next, let's see... I shall have the Klein Kingdom's golem face off against our Lanzer.》
The Lanzer was a golem equipped with a spear. Facing it was the Klein Golem crafted by Jin, armed only with a sword.
"Jin-dono, how do you think this match will go?" Gloria asked with great interest, knowing Jin was the creator.
"...Based on the battle just now, it's at a disadvantage."
"Jin-nii, why?" Elsa asked, sounding concerned.
"The reach. The range is simply too different between a sword and a spear."
The reach of a weapon was a major factor. Jin thought for a moment and then turned to Gloria. "Gloria-dono, do you know how the knights of the Klein Kingdom fight when facing a spear?"
Gloria nodded firmly. "Yes, of course. A knight's primary weapon is the lance, and the weapon used by infantry to stop those knights is the spear. Any knight would be intimately familiar with how to handle such an opponent."
"I see..." Jin felt a bit relieved. The combat techniques of the Klein Kingdom's general-purpose golem had been transcribed from those of the promising young knight, Heinz Rush.
"Jin-dono?"
"Ah, sorry. Well, since that golem's movements are based on Heinz Rush, if he knows how to fight against a spear, I think it should be able to manage somehow."
《Begin!》
While they were talking, the third match had started. The Celuroa golem, Lanzer, wielded a standard spear, while the Klein Golem held a one-handed sword intended for escort duty. To anyone watching, the match looked incredibly lopsided.
However, just as Gloria had suggested, the Klein Golem was skillfully parrying the sharp thrusts with its sword.
"But still, the spear has the upper hand..." Gloria murmured.
Jin, however, was watching with growing fascination. "No, I think it's still testing the waters."
He had a firm grasp of the performance limits of the golem he had built. Neither the Lanzer nor the Klein Golem was at full power yet. Jin estimated that while one was operating at perhaps forty percent, the other was at sixty. He felt a twinge of chagrin; if it were a fair match—sword against sword or spear against spear—his creation wouldn't fall behind. But in a handicapped match like this...
Even though it was a commissioned work, the thought of his golem being defeated or broken still felt personal and frustrating.
"Jin-nii..." Elsa whispered, perhaps sensing his inner turmoil.
"But still," Jin said.
"Eh?"
"The control core has more than enough processing power."
The magi-brain was independent of the physical materials. As a Magi Craft Meister, Jin had built it with specifications that far exceeded what was necessary.
"Even if it's inferior in hardware, our side is superior in software."
Just as he said that, the Klein Golem began to adapt to its opponent's patterns. It chose that moment, while the Lanzer was still holding back, to make its move. The movements Jin had clocked at sixty percent suddenly surged to a hundred.
Evading a spear thrust by shifting half a step to the right, the Klein Golem grabbed the spear's shaft with its left hand before it could be withdrawn. Since a spear's center of gravity shifts forward during a thrust, the Klein Golem used that momentum to give the weapon a sharp tug.
The opponent was skilled, however, and instantaneously shifted its weight back to counter. For a moment, the two units were locked in a struggle of pure strength. Being the less powerful unit, the Klein Golem was at a disadvantage.
Thinking quickly, the Klein Golem used the force of the Lanzer pulling the spear back to propel itself forward, leaping straight into the opponent's guard. It appeared to be a brilliant success.
...Or so it seemed.
The Lanzer, finally forced to drop its restraint, let go of the spear an instant before the Klein Golem reached it and drew its secondary weapon—a short sword.
The two short swords crossed.
《Enough!...That was impressive.》
King Richard’s voice rang out, sounding both frustrated and impressed.
The two golems stood frozen, their short swords buried in each other’s chests. The Klein Golem's tenacity had forced the match into a draw.
"However—and I'm not just being a sore loser—I believe our country's golem is the true winner," Gloria murmured.
When Elsa asked why, Gloria explained: "Our golem thrust its sword into the left chest, whereas the Lanzer's sword hit the right chest."
"I see. If it were a human, the heart would have been pierced," Jin noted.
Hearing that, Jin felt some of his frustration dissipate. In reality, the heart is located more toward the center-left than the far left of the chest, but since this was the established judging criteria for the match, Jin kept the thought to himself.