Reido Academy Cup Tournament Round 1

"Zeiros VS Shaina…

"Just looking at it normally, it's a rehash of last year's S-Class swap match. But since this time it's a one-day tournament, they'd no doubt have thought up ways to juggle their limited forces… We might get to see an unusual sort of battle."

The roster sheets had surely already been submitted, but as usual Silvana wasn't looking at hers. Was she just thinking it through and talking it out on the spot?

If she really didn't know, then her reads were precise as ever.

"Now then… let us introduce them.

"In Zeiros's camp… the Silver-Winged Fallen Angel, Jakes! In Shaina's camp… the King of the Dead, Melvis!"

Whoooaaaaa…

Hiiiii…

Kyaaaaa…

Amid the murmuring, shrieks broke out.

"Oh my, how cute — Melvis!"

"Both renowned as Mercenary Four Heavenly Kings, S-Class equivalent, even said to surpass S-Class — a battle between two famed mercenaries."

"Wh-what's this!? Me, Melvis… no, surely not… but that ghastly skull figure… no mistake about it… hiiii!"

Zeiros was shaking.

"…? Somehow, the venue's been split in two from earlier. Or rather, isn't there a higher number of people scared stiff?"

"Um… to my eyes, and to Silvana-san's, all I can see is a most adorable girl with pale-blue hair, white skin, and cute upturned eyes standing there. However, since she is an extremely death-adjacent being, the translation system sometimes misidentifies her and renders her as a skull."

Anneroese-san offered that explanation.

"… Hey now, isn't that a system bug? What do you say, Ms. System NPC?"

Grind-grind, Silvana poked Anneroese-san.

"Y-yes, exactly so… B-but it's difficult. Having the translation system automatically distinguish Melvis-san from death itself…

"We're considering methods, but…"

Anneroese-san shrank, downcast.

So Anneroese-san was aware of Melvis's curse too.

"It's the system's negligence, then. Sorry our Anneroese is causing such trouble～"

Silvana, who was usually the one causing trouble, seized this rare counterattack opportunity.

"I-I'm sorry…"

The shrinking Anneroese-san was cute.

"It's no inconvenience to me as-is, so I don't mind.

"… In this world, there's only one person I want to think me cute…

"As long as he thinks me cute, that's enough."

Melvis replied that to Silvana and the others.

"Ooh, cute! A maiden in love～ How adorable.

"Well, maybe there's some superiority in there being people who can't recognize this cuteness. Like, having the cuteness all to oneself."

"… The system aims for daily improvement… I apologize for the inconvenience."

If even the system NPC was aware and working on it, then Melvis's curse would eventually get sorted out too.

… But, that one person thinking she's cute being enough…

Melvis happened to glance at me, and smiled.

… Happiness.

"Hold for a moment in time," at that point Jakes began to say something.

"Beauteous King of the Dead… Yon miasma defileth my silver wings.

"… Zeiros. Thou wouldst be able to resist the miasma of death.

"Shouldst thou take up the sword, I shall withdraw… what sayest thou?"

… Um… in short, since Melvis's Spirit attribute was unfavorable for him, he was saying wouldn't it be better if you fought yourself, Zeiros?

His chuunibyou tone made it needlessly hard to parse…

"… D-don't be ridiculous! Th-this noble I, fight that ghastly skull — how could I!

"I'm paying you a high fee! Fight, and fight properly!"

Zeiros seemed to be parsing it just fine.

"… It can't be helped, then.

"Beauteous King of the Dead! To think… that thou wouldst show thyself.

"But… my silver wings shall pierce thee without fail…

"And present thee as an offering for angel summoning…!"

So basically, he'd resigned himself to fighting.

The fact that he prefixed it with beauteous meant Jakes properly recognized Melvis's beauty.

Well, chuunibyou are friends with death, after all.

"In this tournament, player substitution is also possible if the opponent approves… but you don't wish to swap them out?

"Then with renewed spirits, let's get underway!

"Jakes-senshu VS Melvis-senshu, a proxy bout standing in for Zeiros-senshu and Shaina-senshu!"

"Fufu, both being proxies makes it interesting.

"I was thinking we'd see a rehash of last year's swap match, so this sort of thing is rather welcome.

"A one-on-one duel between famed mercenaries — I'll be enjoying this."

Silvana was looking on with anticipation.

"D-don't be ridiculous… s-such a fearsome, ghastly thing, set upon the glorious S-Class stage…

"D-don't mess with me! Shaina… when I emerge victorious, I shall properly discipline you!"

Zeiros was hollering something, but I let him be.

I decided to watch with Shaina.

Now, much of how this battle actually unfolded I learned in detail later, but for narrative purposes I'll describe it as if I were watching it together with her in real time.

"… Come, my angels. Fallen Angels!"

Basa…!

Jakes spread the wings on his back and summoned angels.

All Cherubs! Quite a lopsided lineup.

"Activate! My silver wings…! Enigma Emeth Lapradia!"

Paaaa…!

… And then Jakes spread the wings on his back to their fullest.

In that moment, a system message abruptly displayed before Melvis's eyes.

"!? Could it be — a Master, possessing a trait…!? Is that even possible!?"

Was it thanks to that bizarre equipment?

If so, then that strange getup must have meaning after all.

Or so I thought, but…

"Oooh…!"

What is this! Seven members' worth of traits all shared!? This guy's something else. Strong!

… Or so I thought, but it was rather scattered across attributes, with not much synergy worked in.

Well, if we'd had Thunder, Wood, Water, or Light on our side, we'd have been in trouble.

If he'd thought through the combinations a bit more, he could be even stronger…

The back three are the troublesome ones.

That said, you can't gather Cherubs that easily. Five, plus two Thrones, must have been no easy task either. Add the condition of having Cherubs with ideal traits on top and it gets harder still.

The back two clearly had the air of being Thrones grudgingly slotted in for their traits…

No wonder he'd want Seraphs…

If Luna were on his side, everyone would get First Act. That'd be amazing. From battle start, all of them could deploy Angel Halo.

For an angel Garumon, I get why he'd ferociously want her.

Conversely, Cellas's trait wouldn't be interesting to copy onto everyone. No matter how many shared it, it's still 50pt. If it added per person, it'd be too invincible.

… But there was one more thing I noticed…

LV74 Fallen Angel Guzaphan's trait, Silver-Winged Fallen Angel…

One Garumon whose level was leaps above the rest: Fallen Angel Guzaphan.

By any reckoning, this Garumon was Jakes's ace, and…

The bearer of the Silver-Winged Fallen Angel trait.

"…? Then, Jakes himself's silver wings are…?"

"Just for show. That's why it's why."

Melvis sighed.

… So even as a strange Master, that part didn't change in the end.

Right, so for now, the first trait, all traits of all party Garumon are shared with the entire party, was settled.

The attribute effects basically amounted to four duds.

Attribute-attack UP, well, that much is normal.

What about the other trait, all buff effects of all party Garumon are inherited by oneself?

It didn't look like the overpowered effect of every buff stacking on oneself on top of that.

For example, right now all of them had attack-power +75%.

If this were it applies to ○○ at 75% so +75%, applies to ×× at 75% so +75%… added up, it'd be 8x = 600% UP.

Permanently maintaining Concentrate on an 8-person party would be a bit too absurd.

Yuria's Concentrate has no description, but there's a restriction that even when three or more use it, it only consolidates up to three. If no such restriction existed, that'd be too absurd.

But since it's inherit, maybe it's a pass-on when downed?

… Even so, the fact that the opponent is angels was itself the problem.

The angel feature, above all, is Angel Halo doubling all stats, which every angel can use.

If five members' worth of Angel Halo were consolidated and then Guzaphan herself used Angel Halo, that'd be, get this, 64x all stats.

That's tame compared to the Black Cyc's final form? Yeah, well… no, the comparison subject's just too bad. There aren't many Garumon like that lying around.

Or maybe just the stat-UP amount adds up? Even so, after five members' worth of stats consolidated onto her, with her own Angel Halo it'd be about 10x stats.

Even that's plenty formidable.

… Oh, this is a pretty interesting trait, and pretty strong.

As expected of the Mercenary Four Heavenly Kings. Not just interesting.

Nice. I'd love to fight this kind of opponent.

… But this time, let's leave it to Melvis. I can trust her with it.

"Go, Yufi, Tytis, Ia."

Melvis… oh, she switched up her roster. Leading off with her trump card, Ia.

Since I'd just told her Jakes was coming, that was probably why she'd changed.

"… Gu, Ia… no… my death, Immortal Abyss…!"

Jakes was clearly shaken.

… Well, of course he'd be shaken. Once Ia came out, Abyss alone rendered single-target and consecutive attacks useless.

One wrong move and he was checkmated by that alone.

If he knew Ia's abilities, this level of shaking was… yeah, probably checkmate. Poor guy.

But the match began all the same, mercilessly.

"Spread your wings! My angels!"

"""Yes! Angel Halo!"""

First, Jakes's three angels used Angel Halo. Stats doubled.

On top of the trait's +75% attack power, +50% agility, and +50% defense, then doubled. This was tremendous. Attack 3.5x, defense and agility 3x.

… Strong.

But if strength was what we were talking about… Melvis too was strong.

"Demon Art: Necromantic Aegis."

First, an orthodox buff from Tytis.

"Demon Art: Dainsleif."

Yufi's attack. The first strike dealt only minute damage, but… from here it doubled and doubled.

What about Ia…? She did nothing. Seemed to be standing by with Abyss at the ready.

… And then… turn 2.

"Come, my angels! Offer your lives to me!"

"Yes! Power Charge! Divine Art: Thunderbolt!"

"Yes! Guard Charge! Divine Art: Rosenthorn!"

"Yes! Speed Charge! Divine Art: Aqua Splash!"

The three angels activated arbitrary-trigger buff skills and then attack skills.

And then… each unleashed an attribute attack.

… But aimed at each other.

Each abandoned all defense, deliberately aiming for vital spots to land critical damage on the others…

Thud, thud, thud.

In an instant, all three were downed!

"Whoa-ho!? What's the meaning of this. Jakes-senshu's players have suddenly self-destructed…!"

"Hmm… I see. They both know each other well, then. Can't win as is… On top of that, there's probably a trait that empowers allies upon death.

"Well, that much is predictable… but watching from outside it's incomprehensible.

"Still, this decisiveness isn't bad. He's at least doing his best as a top-tier mercenary, perhaps.

"That said, from the attribute angle, Jakes is clearly disadvantaged.

"How he fights from here — I'll be paying attention."

Silvana praised Jakes's decisiveness.

… Well, if you knew the effect of Ia's Abyss and your 1st party only had single-target or consecutive attacks, there was no method besides member-change.

And then, the Silver-Winged Fallen Angel's second effect: inheritance.

As I'd predicted, this was the effect of passing the buffs on a downed Garumon to Guzaphan. That's why the three had to be downed immediately.

"Go! My true wings, Silver-Winged Fallen Angel Guzaphan!"

Indeed, finally the headliner appeared.

Guzaphan had finally come out. Quite a pretty Garumon.

Well, what we needed to worry about now were the buffs on her.

The three with Attack 350% / Defense 300% / Agility 300% each applied 50% buffs and went down, so Guzaphan ended up with 800 / 650 / 650 buffs…

Guzaphan: Attack 900%, Defense 750%, Speed 750%.

That was her state. Plus another doubling when Angel Halo was used. Quite strong.

Would Melvis be all right?

… But if she couldn't power up without her allies going down, they couldn't fight consecutive matches, could they?

Zeiros would be satisfied just to beat Shaina, since he'd temporarily get her. But he wouldn't be granted his wish for Luna unless he won three matches and beat me…

Well, whatever. He couldn't beat Melvis anyway.

Turn 3 begins.

"… Guzaphan, go, my silver-winged angel! Angeeeel Halo!"

Every instruction was theatrical, self-intoxicated, and flashy…

"Yes…!"

Guzaphan immediately activated Angel Halo.

But almost simultaneously…!

"Demon Art: Abyss Destruct."

Gogogogogogo…!

Countless wraiths erupted from the pit of the abyss. Ia's arbitrary-trigger disruption skill.

"Ag, u, uuu… th-this is… you…!"

"Hiu!"

"Aah…!"

Hanael and Adonakiel's movements were completely sealed.

But Guzaphan somehow at least managed to activate Angel Halo successfully.

… However, any further movement itself was sealed.

"Nuoh! Th-this is…! Y-you, coward!"

"Demon Art: Necromantic Aegis."

Tytis's additional buff. And then…

"Demon Art: Mortal Fatality."

Ia activated her strongest skill. Erupting miasma of death. The image of a death scythe being swung down.

"Hi, ah, u, ga… a, aaah…!"

Guzaphan groaned in agony.

Ia, with her high magic, activated it. High-probability instant death… and even if it didn't trigger, ultimate damage.

Plus, x2 effect from Spirit attribute. Buff at 400% attack power.

Taking something like that…

"…"

Thud, thud.

Hanael and Adonakiel went down to instant death without doing a thing. They might have had Endure, but unfortunately Mortal Fatality… nullifies Endure.

"Gah! Guuuu…!"

But Guzaphan alone, as expected, was made of sterner stuff. About 1/3 HP remained.

With 15x defense and still this much damage… brutal. An attribute disadvantage meant a gap this wide.

"Gu… uuu! D-damn it! Damn monster…!"

Guzaphan glared sharply at Ia. By stats she should be overwhelmingly advantaged, but…

She was already cornered.

"Dainsleif!"

Zan! Yufi's attack was only minor. As expected, with 15x defense, half-hearted attacks wouldn't damage her.

… But Ia's Mortal Fatality wasn't a half-hearted attack.

One more and it would be over.

Turn 4.

"Don't mock me, Reaper! That overwhelming defeat from before! To close the gap and at least get one back… I've re-honed my skills!

"Divine Art: Hollow Flame!"

A tremendous flame blasted at them.

"…! Demon Art: Wraith Barrier!"

Tytis protected Ia.

But it seemed to be a piercing all-target attack. However…

Gashaaan!

Against a piercing attack, if it was just one shot, Tytis's defense could block it.

As the wraiths burned out, they let no damage through to Ia.

"Blocked! But agility is overwhelmingly higher! With a re-attack…!"

And just as her speed-based re-action was about to trigger…

"Demon Art: Abyss Destruct."

Once again Guzaphan's movement was sealed.

"Ag…! S-so it doesn't… reach… after all… th-this level of wraith…!"

Even if it was a mere 1-2 seconds…

"Demon Art: Mortal Fatality."

It was more than enough of an opening for Ia to slot her action in.

"Aaaaaah… s-such… regret…"

Bata.

Guzaphan, taken by the wraiths, breathed her last.

… Too overwhelming. Or rather, Ia was too strong!

"Decision. Decision. In an instant, victory for Melvis-senshu!"

"Oh dear… well, attribute compatibility played in, but the skill gap is plain to see.

"He seems to have a fairly interesting trait, so if he thought his composition through and trained hard, he could grow stronger…

"But Melvis was far the better. It's a pity we didn't really get to see Melvis's true skill, but the unusual style of fighting was, well, fairly interesting."

Silvana's summary.

Well, it'd be a pity to call Jakes weak. There aren't many Masters who can beat Melvis.

And in a state of complete attribute disadvantage… well, nothing for it.

"Oooh… strong! Melvis is strong! Cute and strong and amazing!"

Shaina was overcome with emotion.

"Melvis! Congratulations!"

"Melvis～! Thank you～!"

We sent cheers to Melvis. A great omen of one win. I wanted things to keep going this well.

… Next was my turn.