Ruria Arc: D-Class Tournament Begins

Meanwhile, just around the time Naoto was making Miria a companion…

"… Somehow just now… I feel like the seat I'd return to is gone…!"

"What's wrong? Farida. Did you say something?"

"No, it's nothing… I-it's just my imagination…"

"Fufu… Naoto-sama is in the middle of a brutal, harsh attack operation. I understand being worried, but…

But Naoto-sama will surely be fine!"

Ruria, who must have felt a great deal of worry for him herself, encouraged Farida.

Mounting an attack into Magical Beast territory, the attack operation, was said to be low in success rate and high in unforeseen events.

It was worrisome, but… they had to focus on their own situation right now.

Ruria had signed up for D-Class tournaments in two towns.

Eoura's D-Class Tournament — 1st place earned a challenge to the D-Class Champion, and defending for 2 months earned C-Class promotion.

Drefes's D-Class Tournament — 1st place earned a challenge to the lowest-ranked C-Class Master, and a win earned C-Class promotion.

Ruria, Meifa, and Farida — the three of them would take on the tournaments in a grueling double-header.

The three's levels were as follows.

"(Ruria-san and Meifa-san have both… really grown stronger. I'm the only one dragging them down, I'm sorry…)"

Farida thought.

She felt she hadn't learned many good skills.

Quick became 2x in effect. That wasn't bad. In that case she wished Slow's effect would have also become 2x.

The newly learned skill… Stop, at a glance, was powerful, but 1 second was far too short.

… What's more, allies stopped too.

Within the halted time, Farida alone could act, and only once.

Among Farida's skills, there was nothing absolutely powerful.

Within the time stop, annihilating enemies or stopping attacks…

If only Ruria's and Meifa's time hadn't stopped, it would have been quite powerful.

As things stood, Farida's performance was rather peaky.

… So Farida herself thought.

"(Somehow, I have to not drag the two down!)"

"Well now, today's Eoura D-Class Tournament has begun.

Appearing in the opening match is… D-Class 4th, Ruria!"

Waaaaa…!

Cheers rose. Beautiful, strong, and not snatching her opponents' Garumon, Ruria had already become quite the talk in Eoura, a popular figure.

"Now, this year's debutante, Ruria.

Upon ascending to D-Class this month, she's racked up a torrent of matches, all wins!

A bamboo-splitting advance, she's bounding up the D-Class ladder!

The terribly strong and beautiful trio of Ruria, Meifa, and Farida have all the men smitten!

Now, just who is the lucky Master who can snatch the three of them away!

The opening match opponent is… D-Class 2nd! Waio! With 12 years in D-Class, the veteran Waio is finally ready to challenge the Champion!

Will the opening match become a de facto final? Waio versus Ruria… starting soon!"

"Going up against the D-Class top right in the opening match…"

"Perfect… No holding back, going at full power."

D-Class 2nd Waio

LV50 Reery　Throne 　　Value 5500 LV50 Rerya　Beastkin Swordsman　Value 3600 LV40 Sucla　Beastkin　Value 3000

"And here, Waio's prized Garumon, said to be on par with C-Class.

Especially noteworthy is the Throne, Reery!

The highest-tier class within SR-Class, rarely seen even in Eoura! The Throne, ranked above even the strong angel class!

How will Ruria's beautiful-girl trio stand against this strongest of angels! Worth watching!"

"Now, here we go!"

Ruria's party took on Reery's group, who had double their level, head-on.

LV25 Ruria Samurai

Power Charge　　　 5　Self attack +50%, stackable Infinite Blade　　10　Non-element physical medium damage, Skill% for 2-hit + 2x + guaranteed hit Sword Demon's Descent　 5　Self Skill 2x, non-stackable, at-will activation Slash Block　　　10　Auto-activate, 50% block attacks aimed at self

LV25 Meifa Maid

Leaf Dance　　　　10　1 turn, all enemies, blind and bewilder. At-will activation Shadow Clone　　　 5　Once per battle, fight as two. Action-impossible activation turn Earth Barrier　　15　1 turn defense damage halved. Draws all-target and single-target attacks. Shadow Bind　　　10　Strike the shadow for medium damage, 1 enemy action-impossible, preemptive

LV25 Farida Manager

Speed Reset　　　 5　Set the Speed of one ally or enemy target to 100% Quick　　　　　　 3　Raise one ally's Speed by 50%, stackable Free Act　　　 5　Grant 1 at-will activation to one ally's skill Stop　　　　　　 1　Halt time within the battlefield for 1 second

Really, would this be all right? Farida felt anxious, but…

The match began.

"Here we go. Meifa!"

"Leaf Dance! Shadow Clone!"

Basa!

First, Meifa stole the enemies' sight.

"Free Act!"

Farida granted at-will activation to Ruria's Power Charge.

"Sword Demon's Descent, Power Charge, Infinite Blade!"

Sha!

Ruria unleashed a sharp slash.

Attack up 50%, Skill doubled, medium damage, 2x attack 2-hit combo!

Until now this would have basically one-turn-killed an enemy, but…

"Angel Halo!"

Gou…!

As expected of the higher-level Throne, she outstripped Ruria in Speed.

With all stats except HP doubled…

Gaki, gakiin!

"Tsuu…"

A 3-hit combo, somehow whittling away 30%.

… That a double-LV angel with doubled stats took 30% damage was as expected from Ruria.

Non-element, with equal multiplier against all elements, was useful even against divine-element, which boasted overwhelming strength against most elements.

"As expected of Ruria-san. Even my desperate attack would, in 3 turns, only barely whittle away the remaining 10%…"

"Now, High Power!"

Rerya cast an attack buff.

"Hard Coat!"

And Sucla cast a defense buff.

Turn 2.

"Leaf Dance."

Meifa's bewilderment continued each turn.

Without a guaranteed-hit attack or the high skill to land through this bewilderment, attacking properly would be impossible for 5 turns.

Against D-Class-level Masters, this had basically been unstoppable.

But…

"Banish!"

Even a guaranteed-hit attack couldn't be blocked. And Reery had a guaranteed-hit attack.

A guaranteed-hit would hit someone no matter how blind the shot. In that case…

Zubaan!

Meifa's clone took it as a substitute.

If you didn't clearly intend to target a specific person, you couldn't hit your target.

And that targeting was being obstructed by Leaf Dance.

So even guaranteed-hit attacks got led astray from their intended targets.

"… As I thought, strong! Ruria-san, Meifa-san…!"

Could I really be of use…

Farida was anxious.

"At this rate, letting Reery do as she pleases is bad. I want to bring her down fast.

… Counting on you, Farida!"

"Y-yes…"

My turn. Farida quietly steadied her breath…

"Stop."

Shin…

In that moment, time within the battlefield halted.

The only one able to move was herself.

Since time was stopped, in principle she could move freely as much as she wanted.

… However, the usable time was just 1 second.

Being told to act freely in just 1 second, the possible action was limited to one round's worth.

Even that required deciding the move first, building the schedule in her head, and executing it fluidly.

Only if that was achieved could Stop + one more action be possible.

"(This is meaningless… me alone dragging things down, is this fine…? If only I could act twice…)

Speed Reset!"

While anxious in her heart, Farida pulled the skill off cleanly within the halted instant.

Farida's initial skill, Speed Reset.

Useful when an ally had been Speed-debuffed or when an enemy's Speed buffs had stacked, but otherwise meaningless.

Without a guarantee the enemy had Speed buffs or debuffs, it was a dead skill — quite hard to use.

But Speed Reset under Stop had a hidden special effect.

The special effect of normalizing Speed from any state to a 1x multiplier was…

"Thank you, Farida!"

It could move an ally within this halted time.

"(As expected of Farida… within this halted time, the ally can perform one at-will attack.

It must be triggered without missing the brief sliver inside 1 second — it's hard, but…

Absolutely cannot fail! If I fail…)"

"This Stop skill of mine, with no parallel in the world.

… You failed? The grand opportunity I, entrusted to her by Akai Naoto-sama, created for you — failed without warning?

… I see. You're that level.

I should report to Naoto-sama too… Ruria was a disappointment."

The Farida in Ruria's heart blamed Ruria.

"Watch me, Farida! This is my power… Infinite Blade!"

Zan!

Stop's duration was 1 second. For Ruria to use Speed Reset, however fast, took 0.5 seconds.

So the time left to Ruria was only 0.5 seconds.

Activating a skill in this blink-of-an-eye span required extreme concentration and skill, and Ruria pulled it off splendidly.

… The skill timing was hard enough, and Infinite Blade itself was an 80%-activation skill.

Doubly hard, but she managed to succeed.

Acting once within halted time… was nearly the same as at-will action grant.

But the biggest difference from Farida's other skill, Free Act, was that the opponent was in a state of complete defenselessness.

Zubaan!

The feedback was completely different from when she'd attacked moments earlier.

"(An attack during halted time enables a 100%-guaranteed Critical Hit!)"

"… O-ohh? Am I seeing things? In Eoura's leading strong Garumon, Reery's HP, has suddenly dropped to a sliver…!?"

"(And after the time stop releases, normal turn actions resume… that's 3 actions' worth of damage!)

Finish it, Infinite Blade!"

Zan!

"… eh…?"

Dosa.

Reery was downed before knowing what had happened.

"(Amazing… this skill, Stop.

Time stop, I've never seen! Such a rare and powerful skill…

How amazing, Farida. As expected of Naoto-sama's Garumon…

Compared to me, much… n-no good, Ruria, don't go feeling jealous like that…)"

"Ohhhh…!? S-strong, fast! W-what happened just now!?

This tournament's top championship favorite, Reery… incapacitated in an instant! W-what happened, I can't tell at all!"

Steal sight, halt time, and strike fast.

A combo that left the commentator weeping.

"Thank you, Ruria-san. Splendid.

(Amazing…! That strong-looking Garumon in an instant…! My skill, so hard to use, and she succeeded with it like it was nothing…!

As I thought, I just keep dragging her down, am of no use at all…)"

"No way… it's thanks to Farida-san.

(Somehow… did I meet Farida-san's standards? The level she demands… I have to meet it whatever it takes.

… If I show poor fighting, I'll be cast off.

I, too, absolutely… I'll show I can become an amazing Garumon Naoto-sama would want at all costs, like you…!)"

"No, no…

(Ruria-san, this strong, being modest… letting me have the spotlight, but… she really thinks she could win on her own, doesn't she…

I have to grow stronger and truly be of use…! Naoto-san's Garumon and this weak, sorry…)"

"No, no…

(Ah, but a super-rare time-stop skill… amazing! Honestly, I'm jealous!

At this rate I'll be told 'she can't win without her'… but, true, in C-Class fights, without her, can I win… ah, I have to grow stronger…!)"

… Each on her own, assuming herself the loser, Ruria and Farida were stimulating each other.

Meifa, having fully grasped the situation, was nimanima-grinning in enjoyment.

"Now, let's hurry the mop-up. Drefes's drawing is today, so we have to hurry."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

And so the three splendidly took victory in their opening match.

————

A bit before the attack operation began.

『… So, how are the two looking? Meifa.』

I asked Meifa about Farida's state.

If I asked Ruria, it'd be all praise — Farida is amazing, I'll definitely catch up, with bare ambition.

If I asked Farida, it'd be Ruria is amazing, Meifa is amazing, I can't be of use, I have to be more useful — pessimistic.

That both were pumped up was good, but the discrepancy in what they said was so large it was hard to grasp.

Well, both probably had low self-evaluation…

Thinking the surest was to check with Meifa, who was likely watching most calmly and panoramically, I asked Meifa.

『Naoto-sama, thank you.』

Suddenly thanked. What was it. I read on through her message.

『Days are too enjoyable.

Farida, with her rare ability without parallel in the world, is peaky and hard to use…

She's a Garumon who demands a high level of her allies.

By this, Ruria has to draw out her abilities beyond her limits each day to fight.

By Ruria showing such high technique, Farida's inferiority complex is stimulated, she's depressed, applies herself harder to do better…

In this way they hold inferiority complexes mutually, stimulate each other, and grow stronger.

… Being shown the sight of these two cute girls suffering and worrying like this from such a special seat… is utmost bliss.

How should I thank you?

While rapidly growing the two, you've raised even my affection — how many birds with one stone is this?

How far have you calculated? You are once again amazing.

About Ruria and Farida, don't worry. They'll surely, at top speed, fly into your arms.』

… So she said. Honestly, Meifa.

I smiled wryly.

Well, Ruria, Farida, and of course Meifa too, were all working hard.

I'd best apply myself too, in encouragement…

So I thought.