Chapter 20

Master's Technique (の) is the twentieth chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Sousou no Frieren.

Summary
Right after the events of the previous chapter, Fern blasts Lügner, who only survives through reflexively defending his heart. Lügner then responds with an attack of his own, purporting to crush Fern with his full strength. Meanwhile, Linie states that Stark has lost, but Stark stands up to continue fighting her. Lügner begins to lose ground against Fern and urges Linie to finish her fight. Linie initially appears to overwhelm Stark, but Stark remembers his Master's words and stands up again. He tanks a hit from Linie and uses the opening to slash her across the chest. In the midst of fighting Fern, Lügner's attention is drawn away by Linie's defeat. In his moment of distraction, he is blasted in the chest by Fern.

Plot Details
Right after the events of the previous chapter, Lügner tells Fern that he has devoted the greater part of his life in pursuit of magic. He then uses his blood manipulation magic to attack Fern, but before the spell can hit her, she blasts Lügner with offensive magic. Lügner reflexively defends the attack by forming a shield with his blood magic. Since he protected his heart, it reveals to Fern that his heart is in fact his weak point.

Realizing that he cannot afford to underestimate Fern, Lügner uses his full force, attacking Fern with Blood Manipulation: Balterie. Numerous tendrils of blood appear from Lügner's body and fly towards Fern.

Meanwhile, Linie notes from afar that Lügner and Fern have begun fighting in earnest. She then turns toward Stark, who lies crumpled against a felled tree, and comments that her own battle was disappointing, as she has already defeated Stark. Linie then begins to walk away, stating that she will just watch Lügner and Fern's fight, or else Lügner will get angry at her for interfering.

However, Linie's attention is drawn back to Stark when he rises up off the ground. Despite sporting numerous injuries and bleeding from a head wound, he tells Linie that their battle is not over yet. Linie returns to a defensive stance, saying that perhaps she can have some more fun after all.

Back within the city, Fern blocks Lügner's Balterie with defensive magic. All the while, she blasts Lügner with blows of offensive magic, which he holds at bay with shields of blood. Despite being superior to Fern in mana, technique, and control, Lügner is struggling against Fern simply due to the speed of her attacks. He briefly considers dragging Fern into a war of attrition, but Fern slices through his defensive blood magic and lands a blow on his shoulder, making him reconsider. Lügner realizes he just needs to create an opening, no matter how slight, and yells at Linie, who is on the offense against Stark, to hurry and finish Stark off so she can assist him.

Linie mutters that Lügner is being selfish, and not taking into consideration how difficult Stark's defensive style is to deal with. With his axe still raised defensively before him, Stark questions how Linie learned how to use an axe like that, as she is mimicking his Master's technique. In response, Linie returns the axe back to mana and manifests a broadsword. She tells Stark that she is good at reading mana, and by memorizing the flow of mana in someone's body as they move, she can imitate their actions. In demonstration, she brings the broadsword down in a heavy crash that Stark must leap back from.

Linie proceeds to tell him that the first time she saw Stark attack Lügner at the mansion, she recognized his movements as that of the strongest warrior she ever encountered. Linie recalls watching from behind a tree as the Hero Party attacked Aura's army. She moves forward to attack Stark, ducking under the guard and musing how interesting fate is to create a coincidence like this, then confirms that she is imitating the moves of Eisen the Warrior. With that, she brings her axe upwards in a blow, knocking Stark backwards through the air.

Stark despairs about how he is supposed to win against Linie. Linie, noting that Stark is finally down, goes to assist Lügner, confusing Stark because he hadn't realized he'd fallen.

He then recalls his Master telling him to get up during a training drill. Stark lies face down on the ground as Eisen prods him with a stick, telling him that no matter how beaten Stark is, he can never fall. Stark tells Eisen that that is easier said than done, for there is no way Stark could defeat Eisen. While Eisen agrees, since he is far stronger than Stark, he tells Stark that he still hasn't lost yet, as he is still on his feet. The trick to winning against a strong opponent is simply to keep on getting back up and striking them, for in a battle, the last warrior standing wins.

After recalling his Master's words, Stark pushes himself off the ground again. He thanks Eisen for his muscle-headed advice. Linie tells Stark he should have just remained on the ground, asleep, since he has already lost, but Stark rebuts that he is still standing. Approaching Linie, he tells her that he remembered now that his Master's moves felt heavier. After all, Linie's technique was merely the work of a copycat.

Hearing this, Linie tells him she will defeat him with those copycat moves. She manifests an axe from her mana and uses Imitation Spell: Erfassen in order to duplicate Eisen's movements. Linie and Stark both charge towards each other. Stark draws his axe back for a big swing, leaving his defenses open, and Linie thinks that Stark must have lost his mind. She swings her axe straight into Stark's side, but to her shock, she is unable to cleave through his body.

Stark states that he was ready to die in order to land his next blow, but it was stupid for him to be scared, as Linie's hits weren't very heavy at all. He then swings his axe straight downward in a Lightning Strike, cleaving clear through Linie's chest and leaving her disintegrating into black dust.

From atop the city walls, Lügner sees Linie's defeat and calls out to her, but in his one moment of distraction, Fern uses Flight magic to get above Lügner and sends a blast of Zoltraak past his defenses and through his chest.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Lügner
 * Fern
 * Linie
 * Stark
 * Eisen
 * Heiter

Locations

 * Graf Granat's Domain

Battles

 * Lügner and Linie vs. Stark and Fern
 * Lügner vs. Fern
 * Linie vs. Stark

Events

 * Linie is defeated

Spells

 * Unnamed large scale offensive magic (possibly Zoltraak)
 * Unnamed blood manipulation magic that forms a shield
 * Blood Manipulation: Balterie
 * Imitation Spell: Erfassen
 * Flight magic
 * Zoltraak
 * Zoltraak