Mock Battle with Shaina

… After the S-Class meeting ended, we invited Shaina and the others over and were relaxing.

Ursula and Shaina had finally opened up to each other, and they were starting to talk more naturally.

… At that point,

"All right. Here, I'll lend you a chest to learn on. Let's go 3-on-3."

Shaina suggested.

This was a welcome proposal.

When I'd heard she'd climbed all the way to S-Class with just three, I'd felt envious; it was something I couldn't have done.

The chance to fight a Master that strong was precious.

"That's okay? I mean, I'd love nothing more, but…"

"Of course! Before you build a friendship, first you fight seriously. That's the shortcut to understanding each other!"

Shaina was cheerful and getting carried away. Well, maybe a thank-you for setting up things with Ursula?

From my end, the only goal had been to keep Ursula and Shaina from staying stiff with each other forever, though…

"… Naoto."

Ursula cut in.

"As to fighting Shaina 3 vs 3… in our current state, there may be no chance of winning.

"Brace thyself well before fighting."

"… That much?"

I was a little surprised.

That Ursula rated Shaina that highly. Sure, I had no confidence I could climb to S-Class with just three, but…

From Shaina's lack-of-confidence talk so far, I'd figured we could put up a decent fight 3 vs 3.

"Then, what to do…"

Shaina's side had no real choice; it was Shaina, Carla, and Shita.

My side, on the other hand, had loads of choice. But this wouldn't be the last mock battle, and if the point was to see Shaina's strength, an orthodox Attacker, Defender, Supporter setup might be best.

Actually, I wanted to try the Vivia, Miria, Cellas tricky high-speed Awakening party, though.

"All right, Ursula, Kanan, Lyuka — let's go!"

I decided to challenge with the three I'd spent today with — the S-Class meeting, Shaina's place — pretty much as-is.

"All right, here we gooo! Carla! Shita!"

Shaina lined up on the battle field with her three.

These were Shaina's classes…

"… Oh, Destruction Goddess… that's a class even No. 1 Satoru holds! Amazing."

"Fu-fu-fuun. Amazing, right! … Well, naturally, compared to Satoru's Furia Durga the gap in actual strength is huge, but…"

So the rank was Ultimate Job.

"Light God and Divine Shrine Maiden are pretty common Ultimate Jobs, but…

"Still, don't underestimate them."

"Not a chance. I wouldn't underestimate you."

Physically I'd love to lick them, sure (the pun on nameru "underestimate"/"lick"), but… no need for that sexual-harassment line.

"Mm… Destruction Goddess Carla. Coming."

The exotic dark-skinned beauty Carla instantly shifted into her battle attire. A jewel-encrusted combat outfit… just a loincloth and bra, with her large breasts spilling out, very lewd.

Her nipples and crotch weren't visible, so it wasn't technically Lewd Garb.

"Divine Shrine Maiden Shita, here I come."

Silver-haired beautiful girl, loli-style Shita. Her gentle eyes, her doll-like loveliness… I wasn't a lolicon, but like Lyuka and Colette, she drew me in powerfully.

Her battle attire was also a white shrine-maiden outfit… but see-through, very faintly showing the gentle swell of her breasts and her nipples. Lewd…

So she was the one Shaina and Carla had sex with every night… Thinking about it that way made it vivid.

"Hm? Eh～? You see those two's battle attire and got jealous of me, who gets to do it with both of them? Fufuun, jealous? Riight?"

So Shaina said, fully showing off the two of them.

"H-hmph. Not jealous."

When I was jealous, I admitted it honestly, but somehow this felt like a moment to be stubborn, so I denied it.

"… I'm having fun with these three every single night, you know."

So saying, I put my arms around the three girls' shoulders.

"…! C-cute…! Kanan, Lyuka, and Ursula-sama…! N-not jealous, not at all!"

We both put on a tough front, but we were both clearly jealous.

Knowing each other so completely through it, we shared a quiet laugh.

"… All right, why don't we make this a wager?"

"A wager?"

"… If you can win against us, I'll let you do lewd things with the partner of your choice on our side.

"But if not one of us is taken down and we win against you… we get to do lewd things with the partner of our choice on yours."

That was the proposal.

So if we knocked even one down and lost, neither side got anything.

That'd be a waste too… no, no. Losing was out of the question. The only ones allowed to do that with my companions were people I loved.

I really liked Shaina by now… or rather, I was rapidly falling for her… but I wasn't in love yet… meaning I hadn't slept with her, so I couldn't let her at Ursula and the others.

… In other words, I absolutely couldn't lose without taking even one down.

It was a high-risk wager with a hard-won return. But…

"That condition — I'm in."

I jumped on it immediately. The reward on winning was appealing.

… Ultimately, I just liked driving myself into a corner with wagers.

That fired me up.

"… Honestly, after I gave you advice."

Ursula glanced at me, then laughed.

"Kuku, my hopeless master… Very well. To grant our master's wishes is our duty.

"This match… we shall win, no matter what! All of you!"

"Naturally!"

"Yes. Let us do our best."

Everyone was fully fired up.

The match began.

"Here I come. Divine Art Possession - Lakshmi."

Shita moved first.

A goddess of unworldly beauty appeared in midair, then drifted down and settled into Shita's body. And the next moment… kah!

They fused.

What stood there was no longer the loli figure. Was this… Shita a few years from now?

She was an adult-figured Shita, her bouncy, ample breasts swaying like they'd burst out of her clothes.

… Whoa! Th-this is dead-on my type!

I was about to be fascinated despite myself.

But more important than that was probably the effect of this Divine Art Possession.

She'd had a goddess take her over, and powered up…

That goddess Lakshmi… was she a real goddess? The Indian goddess of love and prosperity.

Of course this was the translation function's doing, I figured.

The next to move was… Shaina.

"Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot!"

SHUBABABABA! Light, light, light, light unleashed!

"Lyuka, Light Protes!"

"Yes!"

Kinkinkinkin…!

Activate the at-will defensive barrier.

The light riot was 32 consecutive attacks in total.

This was awful. Right up there with Patty's Banana-Leaf Fan… by the looks of it, taking these meant large damage. In pure attack power it was beyond Patty's.

Count-defense-type techniques would be over in an instant. Kanan's Elemental Shell and teleport wouldn't cut it.

"Demon Art - Hegemonic Battle Aura."

Then Carla.

DOH…! DOH…! Tremendous battle aura filled Carla. But the moment it did, her HP halved.

A skill that drastically raised attack power in exchange for taking damage.

… My spine went cold. Wait, didn't her attack just go up about 3x?

… And it looked stackable too.

There was no way! Even with the HP-halving downside…

No, she went 3x with two activations. Meaning 100% UP + 1.5x maybe?

… Either way, absurd.

We couldn't lose either.

"Ursula, Demon Art - Belzebute."

"… Hmm. Demon Art, Belzebute!"

Ursula loosed her Demon Art. But…

"Divine Aura Embrace…!"

The aura unleashed by the Saraswati that Shita had summoned blocked everything.

Could it really break through every defense, and not even let Sickness/Poison touch?

"… Nuu… Full defense against every status ailment, you say…? … Madness. Demon Art Belzebute could not possibly be blocked… Or is it that, since I am not yet a Demon God, my status-ailment piercing is not yet complete…"

Ursula was momentarily shaken too.

"Kanan!"

"Yes, Phantom Mist Clone!"

First, increase our action count.

World's Blessing on Ursula.

"Lyuka, Sanctuary of Light."

"Yes."

With that, our whole side was Light-advantage, Atk/Def 50% UP. For the next turn only, first-strike + guaranteed-hit grant.

At that moment…

PIKAA! Their side was bathed in light. Was that Shita's Lakshmi power? Carla's HP soared back up… in no time, everyone was fully healed.

Eeeh? Wait a minute.

… Recovery magic in this world was always lousy on effect by convention. Yet recovering half HP was a pretty exceptional amount.

Did she recover this much every turn…? If so, chipping away with prick-prick damage might not work.

"… Eh, hold on, isn't she too strong…?"

Without thinking, I dropped my act.

"Fufuun. Well, yeah. I haven't fought in S-Class for three years for nothing!"

… Sorry, I'd underestimated Shaina. I'd thought she'd be a bit weaker… but she was insanely strong!

No, limited to three, she might be the strongest I'd faced.

Next turn.

"H-here we go. Dragon Art - Blast Storm!"

With the clone too, four consecutive tornados released. Shaina and Shita's HP shaved off about 35%. But Carla took no damage. Shita's Blessing power seemed able to defend one person.

… No good. If they recovered 50% every turn, prick-prick damage was meaningless.

"Ursula, Demon's Aura."

"Nay, Naoto. Let me try Belzebute once more.

"… Permanent complete nullification, I cannot accept it. Is it not only the summoned turn?"

"… I see, that might be it. Right, Ursula!"

"Hmm. Demon Art - Belzebute!"

She unleashed the poison-and-sickness mist again.

"Au!"

"Gu…"

This time the sickness/poison and 30% stat reduction triggered… Except on Carla.

So apparently the summon-turn was the only all-target complete defense, with one person under complete defense thereafter.

… That said, since they only resisted sickness/poison and not other status ailments, they apparently had some baseline status-ailment resistance.

"Good, sure enough, not every-turn-all-target complete defense."

"Gu… s-so this is Ursula-sama's Demon Art Belzebute… intense…"

Shaina wavered.

"Sanctuary of Light."

Lyuka stacked another buff.

It was their action order.

"Here we go… Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot!"

I couldn't take that super combo.

"Lyuka, Light Protes!"

She put up the turn-defense barrier.

"… Or so you think — Divine Art - Light of Ruin!"

But what she released was a different technique.

Light coiled and surged toward Lyuka.

"What…?"

Divine Arts were all intense, no room for letting your guard down…

If she went out of her way to feint with it, there had to be some special effect.

Lyuka was wrapped in light. Light Protes repelled it, but…

"!?"

I thought I'd misseen. In that instant, Light Protes's remaining uses dropped to 0.

"… A skill that forcibly reduces skill uses…!"

That a skill like that existed. How awful!

Plus, Sanctuary of Light's uses had also gone to 0. A skill that reduced uses of the skills used that turn.

This was bad. We'd been suckered in nicely.

"Demon Art - Hegemonic Battle Aura."

Carla stored more power. Yeah, the way that buff stacked. Definitely 100% UP × 1.5x.

… No, this was awful.

In 2 turns, Attack 6x. Absurd.

… So Shaina's tactic was easy to read.

Shita defends and heals, Shaina uses varied techniques to strip the opponent's defenses, and Carla stockpiles attack to one-shot the finish.

If we could drop Carla, the team lost its kill move, but Shita's absolute-invincibility skill kept her tightly guarded.

… Heal triggered. All three healed about 25 points.

… Oh, so it wasn't 50 every turn. Only the first turn was 50, then 25 each turn after.

If it was that much less… good. In 1 turn, I could take down Shita.

Next turn.

"Kanan!"

"Yes! Dragon Art - Blast Storm!"

Kanan's attack shaved another 35 points off Shita and Shaina's HP.

That brought them to about half. This was the moment.

"Ursula! Demon Art - Lævateinn! First take out the troublesome Shita."

"Hmm… farewell, Shita. Demon Art - Lævateinn!"

"…! Shita! Light Barrier Array!"

Shaina reflexively threw up a defense.

Pan!

… Piercing, guaranteed-hit, 100 fixed damage.

Defense was meaningless. Even if it had been complete defense, with the Penetration trait it would deal damage, and that damage was forcibly 100.

… In front of Ursula, dipping under 100 HP meant instant death.

Ursula brilliantly shaved Shita's HP to zero in one shot.

… Yeah, Ursula was a serious cheat too.

The combo of Penetration and Lævateinn was probably a bug.

Shita went down. Quota of one-down achieved.

… Or so I thought, when Shita Endured.

Her HP, having hit 0, rebounded back to MAX.

"Wha…!"

But in exchange, the Lakshmi who'd possessed her was gone.

Probably during possession was a skill or trait that meant absolute non-death.

"Tch, Lyuka, Divine Art - Eternal Shine!"

Lyuka's strongest skill. With Lakshmi gone now, no more complete defense…!

"Yes!"

"Nice. Light Barrier Array!"

In response, Shaina threw up three shields at once.

Like Lyuka's Light Protect, an at-will defense skill. Earlier I'd broken through with piercing, but…

Parin, parin, parin!

… An attack without piercing couldn't break it.

Light Barrier Array was still up. Probably… a skill that defends 6 times per cast.

The use count was maybe 5. That meant 30 blocks against single-target attacks.

"Right, then it's our turn next! Carla!"

"Demon Art - Black-God Possession!"

Dogogogogo…

Another buff thrown up. Something like a pitch-black Nio possessed Carla.

Unlike Shita, her appearance didn't change… but the black aura wrapping her was sinister.

How much had she powered up…

I couldn't get a clean read. 2 actions? Piercing? Maybe.

Piercing was definitely on.

"Now then, this time, here we gooo! Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot!"

And this time, 32 consecutive attacks really did rain down.

Kanan deliberately took one shot, and my spine froze. 12 damage. Medium-damage class, but with Sanctuary of Light buffs stacked, that meant the original was indeed large damage.

Quick calculation. Kanan would fall to 13 hits, the clone to 13.

With Light Protes, our turn-defense skill, eliminated, the means to block this…

"Kanan, Elemental Shell, Otherworld Gate! Clone, Elemental Shell, Otherworld Gate!"

I gave them disparate orders, freely in all directions.

In short, dodge what could be dodged, take with the shield what couldn't, and somehow ride it out.

Eating 32 consecutive hits, the clone took 5, Kanan took 5, the shields ate 6 charges, and we somehow got through.

… By a hair, we'd survive into the next turn. But the next one after, we were done.

Large-damage 32 consecutive. Just on its own, that's base attack power 800 damage.

It even exceeded base-attack-power-200 Demon Art - Apocalypse.

Patty's Demon Art - Banana-Leaf Fan was only base 480 damage. Well, that one had the cheat-tier attribute switching, but…

"Whoa, dodge dodge dodge… am-amazing. As expected…"

Shaina praised our evasion technique. But honestly… our disadvantage was undeniable.

Next turn.

"Divine Art Possession - Kali!"

Then Shita brought down a new god. Not the gentle mother figure from before, but a brave, fierce form like a wrathful god.

She'd called down an attack-specialized god.

Shita, who'd reverted to her loli form, took on her adult form again. This time her hair was wavy, an alluring-beauty look. If the last had been a saintly mother, this was a lustful mother… lewd.

Now then, what effect did this goddess have…

"Here I come! Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot, doubled!"

… Madness.

64 attacks. A staggering sheet of attacks rained down.

For 1 turn only, first-strike + attack-count 2x grant. So that was the effect of Divine Art Possession - Kali.

How staggering that was, anyone could grasp by looking at the squall of attacks raining down.

"Otherworld Wind, Otherworld Gate!"

Kanan and her clone flew desperately in every direction trying to stop the attacks, but… it was completely beyond their limit.

If we could defend somehow with the clone, then put up another clone to defend again…

if we could keep doing that, we'd get by, but obviously there are things you can do and things you can't.

If she put up a clone in this storm of attacks, it'd be instantly destroyed.

The clone got shot down, then Kanan too… no, if Kanan fell it was over.

"Lyuka, Ursula!"

I made Lyuka and Ursula take the shield duty instead, shaving their HP to the bone, and somehow…

By a hair, with Kanan's Otherworld Gate down to its last 2 uses, we made it through. But…

"Demon Art - Brahmastra!"

At last, Carla moved.

Out of midair she abruptly produced a giant chakram. It hurled forward, exuding a tremendous miasma.

Gogogogogo…!

The Brahmastra closed in, shaking space itself.

And then… there was another!

Kali's effect… no. Probably the effect of the Demon Art - Black-God Possession she'd used earlier!

In other words, if you factored in Kali's effect… 4 consecutive hits!

That's just stupid!

How could this exist…!

"Kanan!"

Dodge with teleport. But…

GYUN!

The Brahmastra didn't lose its momentum, sharply changed angle, and this time hit Lyuka directly.

"Agu!"

Lyuka's scant remaining HP burst apart.

"Eh… teleport evasion doesn't work!?"

Brahmastra's effect was absolute homing!

The same kind of effect as Cellas's Stormbringer, one tier above guaranteed-hit.

This chakram relentlessly closed in until it hit.

Once Kanan's Elemental Shells were exhausted, there was no stopping it.

And with the earlier Black-God Descent, piercing had been added too, so Elemental Shield wouldn't cut it either.

"… No use."

A resigned voice slipped out… Strong.

If it had been 6 vs 3, the skill-use-count issue probably would've given us a chance.

3 vs 3, we had no chance whatsoever. Completely outclassed in combat power.

But this time, if I could just take down one, I'd save face.

If I could keep Ursula alive…!

"… Hah, hah, one more, please!"

Lyuka… her Endure triggered, and she survived!

Zugaaan!

Lyuka couldn't Endure twice, and went down.

But if I had 2 more shots…

"This…!"

Kanan teleported in as Ursula's body-double.

Zan!

Took one hit, Endured, took another…

Kanan went down, and Ursula was left.

The remaining Ursula's attack…

Shaina, Carla, Shita… their HPs probably had all dropped below 100.

Shita was no good. Even taking her out just dispelled the possession.

So it was Shaina or Carla, which to take down.

Both would probably Endure…!

"At least let me get one back from Carla!"

"Hmm! Demon Art - Demon-Blood Awakening! Demon Art - Lævateinn!"

DOGOOOO!

Ursula's attack slammed into Carla.

Shaved her HP to zero in one go, and…

"Demon Art - Avatara."

She Endured!? An Endure via skill… this… had a feeling it wouldn't end at one. Damn it…!

"Ursula, switch to Shaina!"

"I won't let you!"

Carla covered Shaina. No good, perfect cover.

"Don't underestimate me! Demon Art - Lævateinn!"

Wait, Lævateinn was guaranteed-hit, so covering was meaningless. In my haste I got confused.

Zugaaan!

"Agu…!"

Ursula brilliantly skewered Shaina, and…

"Hah, hah…"

Shaina, normally, Endured.

… Turn end.

We were done here.

Ursula had granted first-strike via Demon Art - Demon-Blood Awakening, so she could attack first.

But if Shita's Kali was first-strike grant… probably with Ursula's Speed, no chance.

Aah… I should have, from the start, fixated only on dropping one without holding back…

"Demon Art - Demon-Blood Awakening, Demon Art - Lævateinn!"

Zugaaan!

… Eh?

Ah, so Kali's first-strike grant was also just for the summon turn. I took Shaina down.

After that I swung at Carla once more, and Carla Endured again.

Carla returned the favor and put me down. A loss is a loss, but…

Somehow, by dropping just Shaina, I saved face.

"… You were strong, Shaina."

I had no choice but to bow my head, honestly.

I think there were many points where my tactics were weak. But beyond that, I felt a clear gap in power. As things stood, I wouldn't win once in 10 attempts.

"Fufuun. Well, they say even with just three I can beat mid-S-Class, you know!"

So she said, sticking out her chest.

This was the strength that could beat mid-S-Class… wait, and they don't even call that upper-tier?

… If so, just what level was upper?

"That said, I did get taken down in the end… hauuu… as expected of Ursula-sama… so strong…"

Shaina was deflating completely.

If she'd won, was she hoping to do lewd things with Ursula?

Well, I hadn't won, and Shaina hadn't met her perfect-win condition, so both sides' demands evaporated.

Even so, we'd recognized each other's strength. A worthwhile mock battle, I think.

Shaina was strong.