In the battle against the Gertler family, Shinji's top priority was to kill Gertler, while Loreley's first goal was to stop Shinji and mediate the conflict, so both of them had reservations.
Today is different. Neither Shinji nor Lorelaya have any burden or encumbrance. They fight simply for the sake of fighting. They can do so without any scruples and display all they have learned.
For example, Shinji finally found out where Lorelei's physical skills that could compete with his own came from - it turned out to be the sword fighting skills of Queen Boudica of Britain, who was active around 50 AD, which has a history of more than 1,900 years.
However, the whip technique used by Lorelaia has changed a lot compared to the sword fighting technique inherited by Boudica. Although the Barthelmero family values bloodline and history, they are not pedantic. They have not stood still, and both magic and self-defense are constantly developing.
Today, this "Barthomero Bodyguard" (tentative name) has integrated the strengths of various Western schools and has become a unique school. With hard practice, it is possible to compete with those famous heroes. It is indeed an ancient family that is a living fossil of the Clock Tower. If it were not for Scathach's cheating, Shinji would not be a match for Lorelaya even if he worked hard all his life.
Even Shinji today could have his bow and sword knocked away by Lorelaia's whip using its toughness.
"Beautiful." Shinji praised from the bottom of his heart. The timing, angle and strength of the strike were impeccable.
Lorelaia was neither humble nor proud, she just nodded calmly, gestured to Shinji to pick up his weapon and fight again, and continued to talk about business.
"The safe I took from you a few days ago was cracked by the Legal Affairs Department. It contains the clues I want."
After destroying the entire Gertler family, Shinji did find a safe with encryption magic in the ruins. He tried to crack it violently, but was stopped by Loreleija, who took the safe away as a reward for his help.
"Is it related to Lord White Wing?" Shinji rubbed his sore wrist and handed the bow and sword to his right hand.
"I'll give you a piece of advice. Don't use the title 'White Wing Lord' in front of me and my family. Just say Oteng Luoshe." Lorelei said as she flicked her whip, and a wind blade struck at Shinji's feet. The White Wing Lord was Barthelmero's mortal enemy, and any respectful title would cause Barthelmero's dissatisfaction.
"Keep that in mind."
Shinji nodded, then retaliated with a fire rune.
This was not the first time that this had happened. Shinji had once put a knife on Lorelaya's neck, and Lorelaya had once put a whip against the back of Shinji's head, but no matter who had the upper hand, they would immediately stop and continue this evenly matched contest. On the one hand, it was because they had to evaluate each other's strength and decide on the future direction of their relationship, and on the other hand, it was because it was hard to find a good opponent.
The Bartmero family is a perfectionist family. Family members will only appear in public after they become qualified magicians. Before that, they can only stay in the Bartmero mansion for secret education. It is considered the greatest shame for this family to go out with only a mediocre level. Therefore, once they enter the association, they are qualified to lead a department alone.
Lorelaya is the best among them. It is a bit exaggerated to say that she has been invincible since her debut, but Lorelaya has never met an opponent who is less than ten years older than her. (If she were twenty years old, the director would definitely be able to fight Lorelaya, after all, Lorelaya has not yet been engraved.)
Shinji is similar. Now that the Holy Grail War is over and all the Servants have left, he really can't find an opponent with whom he can compete in magic and physical skills - Orange's close combat is a mess, Araya Souren can't be found, Kariya is completely unable to fight, and Yustiza has no energy.
After learning about the characteristics of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Shiki and Shiki are no longer worth fighting. Unless they fight against Ryougi Shiki's hidden third personality, the "Root Shiki" who is connected to the "Root" and claims to be omnipotent. However, after knowing each other for so long, this person has no intention of coming out. It seems that she will not show up in front of anyone except Mikiya.
As for Sakura, who comes from the same origin and has even better talent for magic, she is quite capable, but her tactical thinking and ability to respond to emergencies are insufficient. She is fooled around by Shinji in every battle, and they can only have a wonderful duel when she matures mentally.
One can imagine how excited the two were when they saw each other, especially since their fighting styles and ages were so similar. The excitement grew even more intense, to the point where they would not stop until they had a good fight.
The so-called "negotiations" would only take place when the fighting was not so intense and the tempo was eased, which was why they had been fighting for such a long time without getting to the point.
"Wind!"
Loreleija uttered a magical syllable, wrapped the flame with airflow, and returned it to Shinji, fully demonstrating Barthelmero's precise control of airflow.
Shinji was inspired to compare, and he carved the rune "Gebo" on the magic blade of the bow sword, which symbolized tacit understanding. Under the effect of Gebo, the flame rune was fixed on the magic blade, turning it into a "flame sword". This not only used the rune magic taught by Scathach, but also the alchemy learned from Justis, which is a basic version of "Form of Life".
"And then? Did you find any information about Ottenroche's followers?"
Immediately afterwards, Shinji rushed towards Loreleya with a flaming sword in his hand - I, Shinji Matou, am going to play the "Magic Swordsman" today.
Shinji played around with weapon enchantment, and Loreleija was not to be outdone. The family hue representing Barthelmero appeared on the surface of the whip. With its high concentration, the solid air could be vaguely seen.
"Hey, it's actually a battle mage." Shinji's eyes lit up, and he thought to himself, "I want to see whether the magic sword (knife) is stronger or the battle method is stronger."
The dagger clashed with the whip.
The boy and the girl retreated together, the strong wind and the flames were the same color, as if what were colliding were not swords and whips but bombs and grenades.
Lorelaia coughed twice to get rid of the hot air she accidentally inhaled, and while regrouping, she said:
"That's not the case, but I found information about another Dead Apostle. No, it would be more accurate to say Dhampir."
"who?"
Shinji stood firmly on his feet and quickly wrote a spell in the air with his left hand.
The moment the last rune was completed, the blue spells arranged in an equilateral circle quickly spread outward, causing the temperature of the entire experimental field to drop.
In the center of the circular spell, a huge icicle with a diameter of more than one meter quickly formed. The tip of the icicle was irregularly jagged and crashed into Lorelaia.
Rune magic—"Icicle Blade!"
"Be confused, Fenghua."
For a moment, Shinji seemed to see white roses flying around Lorelei.
Countless white roses were like a planer, crushing the icicles released by Shinji at an astonishing speed.
When the ice and frost melted, Loreleija uttered a name along with the wind and flowers.
"The son of Einnashe."