Reido Academy Cup Tournament Round 3 (2)

"My, what a cute girl. But I'm seeing her for the first time. Whose child is she?"

"Um… this person is Regina-san. She's said to be one of the comrades of the renowned mercenary, Servi the Wanderer.

Since Servi-san wanders off somewhere alone, it seems the comrades left behind take on jobs individually."

"Oh my, what a troublesome Master she is."

… I'm pretty sure everyone just delivered that retort in perfect unison.

"… Partly because of that, you often hear the rumor that Servi's true identity is Silvana-san."

"Oh, is that so? A wandering mercenary, whose true identity is that legendary…! Not bad. Maybe I'll do it.

But isn't Silvana-chan a bit too famous? Even with information masking I think it'd be impossible…"

"Please don't make things any more troublesome than they already are."

Now then, this isn't the time to be listening to Silvana's comedy routine. Let me focus on the arena.

What a way to be head and shoulders above the rest.

In this world, mercenaries are just too strong. It makes me feel like S-Class Masters' value is thin…

Also, Fergus, isn't that too many Guardian Knights!? Well, I get that Guardian Knight is a top-tier class extremely strong in defense and popular…

On that point, it does mean that just by bringing in an excellent attacker as a hired gun, you can immediately boost your fighting strength.

"All riiight, I'm looking forward to finding out just what flavor Shaina Fervey-chan is…!

Marie, Lily, protect me good!"

"Yes."

"Leave it to us."

"Divine Art - Guard!"

"Spirit's Sword!"

"Spirit's Shield!"

The usual defense, followed by the two buffing Regina.

"Oh, nice. Thanks."

Being so orthodox, the coordination seemed to have no problem even with comrades she'd just met. There's a strength in that too.

"Light of Ruin."

But this Light of Ruin of Shaina's really is wonderful. A defense-killer. With complete-defense-type skills, you've got no choice but to wait until they run out of uses, and being able to speed that up is truly excellent.

The fact that, whether free or automatic, if they take several actions in one turn she can knock down the counts on all of them across the board, is amazing too.

"This one doesn't look like it'll hold up long… well then, Kinto Cloud!"

A classic Sun Wukong skill, surely. Regina made a glowing cloud appear and hopped onto it.

"I need one more turn to get ready, so cover me."

"Yes, we'll manage somehow."

"You sure you should be saying that…?"

Regina seemed to be quite a free spirit.

"In that case, there's no need to wait until your prep is done, is there! Carla!"

"Mm… Demon Art - Brahmastra!"

Carla unleashed a giant chakram. It chases until it hits — an absolute guaranteed-hit blow.

A guaranteed-hit draw couldn't fully block it.

"… Hmph. Interesting. But can you actually hit me?"

Gyun, gyun!

A game of tag between two beams of light began!

Regina, riding the Kinto Cloud, moved at bullet speed, or even faster. Even Brahmastra couldn't catch up.

Still, the battlefield was a narrow box, only about 20 m on a side.

She'd surely be cornered eventually, but right now there were also Lily and Marie here trying to protect Regina.

Even if they couldn't manage to Cover once or twice, with ten, twenty, thirty chances at it, eventually they'd succeed. Or rather, it looked more like the Brahmastra itself failed to dodge.

Zugaaan!

… And then, the Brahmastra hit Lily. It couldn't quite hit Regina…

"Thanks."

Well, it's a defender's job to go down protecting the attacker, and Regina's response was breezy.

Even so, it was a good thing it hit Lily, who hadn't activated Guard.

As much as Carla has piercing, with the current amount of buffs, a one-turn kill via pierce damage was impossible.

And there's such a way to evade an absolute guaranteed-hit, huh…

Cellas's Stormbringer draws the target in to land the hit, so I don't think it can be evaded like that, but still.

I felt the appeal of the new skills — movement speed boost, flight.

Shita stayed in standby, still in Lakshmi.

The next turn.

"Demon Art - Brahmastra!"

Zugaaan!

With no means of defense, this would be a fine spot to attack Regina, but she judged it better to take Marie down first instead.

A 2-hit combo whittled her away with ease.

"Hmm. All alone now, how lonely～. Which is to say… Clone Technique!"

The moment she chanted it, Regina became three.

"Right, all set now. Shall we go!"

Clones… well, for Sun Wukong, that's coming.

I'd read this development… if anything, I thought the number was on the low side.

If she could multiply endlessly for every hair she plucked, it'd be game over, though.

"This… is bad! Shita! Divine Art Possession - Saraswati, grant me Divine Aura Strike!"

"Yeah! Divine Art Possession - Saraswati!"

Shaina seemed to sense the danger in Regina's clone skill.

"Light of Ruin!"

"Whoops, can't let this one hit me."

In a light tone, yet with movement like a flash of lightning, Regina dodged the attack with the utmost ease.

The Kinto Cloud — isn't that a bit too broken a skill…?

But…

Gyun!

The light curved sharply and bore down on Regina.

"Eh? Crap, Ruyi Staff…"

She'd tried to use a skill at once, but in the end thought better of it and took it in a defensive stance without using a skill.

The clone skill dropped by another three. And it dealt damage too.

What's more, big damage, close to half her HP.

Huh, was Light of Ruin's attack power this high? I found myself thinking for a moment. Well, it's light-attribute colossal damage. You just tend to think of the use-count reduction as its main point. Regina, too, having been caught off guard and then hesitated right beforehand, apparently couldn't take a proper defensive stance.

… Damaging the main body apparently had no bearing on the clones.

"Aw, got me.

… Heh, guaranteed-hit grant, huh. You're good, missy…"

Regina laughed boldly.

… This time my own judgment was clearly slower than Shaina's.

That's right — thinking it's only three at most, no big deal was way off.

The problem was that, for as many skill uses as she had, she could use the two clones as disposable bodies.

If she has five uses, it's the same as having to face eleven of her.

Thanks to Shaina's snap judgment just now, we shaved off six of Regina's clones in one go.

But Regina, too, was something else. From the flow up to that point, she saw through the fact that used actions get whittled down and deliberately didn't use a defensive skill.

This was the highest-level enemy yet. I really understood now why, if an enemy of this level had come at her in a six-member party, even Melvis and Shaina would have had no recourse and would've told her to give up.

Servi the Wanderer… just what kind of…

In my head she'd already become a female Tang Sanzang, though.

Well, in modern fiction a male Tang Sanzang is the rarer one these days.

"With mobility that fast, I couldn't have hit her as I was. Switching to Saraswati might've been the right call.

Shita, keep maintaining Saraswati. Grant me piercing and guaranteed-hit."

"My Brahmastra will keep chasing to the very end too, so it'll hit somewhere."

"OK. Then the instant it lands, I slam in Brilliant Light Riot. With this we'll reliably take down two. I'd love to aim for that low-HP main body, but…"

"I get the feeling she'll quietly switch the main body over."

"Ah, I thought so too. Let's not fixate on which is the main body — just whittle them down."

"Saraswati does have a per-turn 25% attack/defense buff and a big HP heal, you know…"

"Our main attacker Carla already has piercing and guaranteed-hit on her own, after all…"

The three consulted with glances. The fact that I could tell what conversation the three were having just from their eye contact meant I'd really become one of Shaina's group.

The reason Shita rarely uses anything but Lakshmi and Kali is that she's judged Saraswati's effects to be a bit halfway. The fact that its effect is weak on Carla is also a big factor. An enemy you can't beat without granting Shaina guaranteed-hit might be a first.

… On that point, Saraswati might be the optimal choice here.

By the way, Parvati specializes in healing, making its usefulness even more limited.

But I'd love for her to show that it's not as if she leaves them unused because they're weak.

"Demon Art - Brahmastra!"

Two chakrams aimed at two of the three Reginas. The two Reginas dodged, dodged, dodged with the Kinto Cloud's super-high-speed movement…!

"… If your hands are free, then I'll switch over to attacking.

Demon Art - Ruyi Bagua Staff!"

At lightning speed, the remaining Regina abruptly shifted to offense. Her target was Shita.

"Light Barrier Array!"

Shaina, putting up a defensive barrier at once, was as good as ever. But…

Light Barrier Array is a one-direction defense skill that deploys a single large shield across one face.

Seeing through that instantly, Regina circled behind and struck once.

"Ku, this…!"

Shaina swung the shield around at once, but Regina's movements were faster.

Doga! Kan!

She took one hit, but as expected, Shaina wouldn't let her chain into a combo just like that.

Regina circled around again at once and threw out a third strike, but…

"Shita!"

With Saraswati being the linchpin of their anti-Regina plan, Carla stepped in to block, judging this a spot she had to hold no matter what.

"Whoops… well, whatever."

Dogo dogo!

With the utmost ease, she whittled Carla's HP down in two hits.

"Yotto…"

Brushing Carla aside in a flash, with a casual motion like mowing grass, Regina moved to reap Shita's HP.

But…

Kaan!

The Light Barrier Array made it in time.

"I won't let you through!"

Shaina shielded Shita.

"How many hits is this…!"

"Hm? An 8-hit combo. Nice… try and see if you can hold up another three times!"

Regina closed on Shaina like lightning, then accelerated further and circled around right behind her.

To Shaina's eyes, this movement was surely impossible to even visually track.

Like a protagonist in a manga getting their back taken by an enemy commander.

Kaan!

… But Light Barrier Array stopped it. Of course. Shaina's covering the front, so she just had to guard her back with the shield.

"… Phew…"

Regina looked a little awkward.

… She was surely thinking how glad she was that she didn't, like a manga villain, go behind you!

"… So that means a frontal breakthrough of missy's defense? Can I do it? Yotto."

Kaan!

Once again the defense landed; Shaina's predictions were sharp.

"… You little—"

Dogo!

In the end, an annoyed Regina slammed one strike into Shaina.

… With that, the nightmarish 8-hit combo was over for now. But this would keep going on and on, endlessly.

Ah, and Carla revived properly with Demon Art - Avatara, you know.

By rights, they'd planned to stay on standby until Brahmastra hit, then slam in Brilliant Light Riot the instant it landed for one big burst of damage, but with Shita targeted, they'd had no room for that.

Meanwhile, Regina's two clones seemed to have stopped their high-speed game of tag.

"… Ruyi Staff, Defense Mode!"

"… Ruyi Staff, Defense Mode!"

The two stood back to back, took up a guarding stance, and…

Doga!

Dogoo!

slammed their Ruyi Staffs straight into the chakrams of the Brahmastras.

They batted the Brahmastras down. The pierce damage still got through, but it was negligible.

What's going on here? The current Brahmastra should have piercing granted too. With mere defense, it should pierce through.

… Could it be that this Ruyi Staff Defense Mode is a damage-reduction effect?

A damage-reduction effect reduces the damage you take, and… piercing apparently has no effect against it. Pretty nasty.

Pierce does work, fortunately.

If it's -200, say, then this effect makes sense, too.

"Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot!"

Then, Shaina, having finally finished the exchange with Regina No. 3, fired off light bullets.

For what it's worth, she fired them evenly at all three.

"Ruyi Staff Defense Mode."

"Ruyi Staff Defense Mode."

"Whoops, bad bad. Ruuun."

The Regina No. 3 who'd attacked went purely on the run.

The remaining two splendidly shot down the light bullets flying at them.

Kan… kan… kan… kan… "Ruyi Staff Defense Mode."

Kan… kan… kan… kan… "Ruyi Staff Defense Mode."

… Mm, they seem to be re-raising the defense once every four hits. The 200 damage — is it cumulative?

Whoa, way too much trouble…!

… Wait. Hold on. Just wait a sec. That Ruyi Staff, how many times can she use it? Ten wouldn't be enough!

What if she can use it fifteen times? Twenty times? That's effectively HP +4000! And that's for three bodies counting the clones!?

No, this is outrageous!

… This is the level of upper-tier S-Class…

The height of the summit I should be aiming for sent a chill down my spine.

The three Reginas dodged, dodged, dodged the light bullets bearing down at super-high speed… and took them in turn with Ruyi Staff Defense Mode.

As expected, after using an attack skill, defending with the Ruyi Staff didn't seem possible, so Regina No. 3 could only run, but…

It really drove home that "guaranteed-hit" is guaranteed assuming human-level movement speed.

It was as if I could hear the guaranteed-hit screaming, please don't ask the impossible of me, declaring guaranteed-hit against someone moving at Griera's fastest-bullet class, about 600 km/h.

When you try to catch a guaranteed-hit attack mid-flight it evades at uncanny speed, and even if you dodge it chases you at uncanny speed — but that uncanny speed has a ceiling of about a touch faster than Regina is right now, it seems.

You'd want to say, "if it's only a touch faster, then put in the effort and catch up," but that's the difference between a being moving with its own will and an autopilot, I suppose.

Also, there's the restriction that it must absolutely never hit an ally. In a pinch, the Reginas can use Shaina's group as a shield to escape and open up the gap in one go.

This drawback is huge — if anything, the gap keeps getting pulled wider. With this much speed difference, you just have to give up and accept that the guaranteed-hit attacks keep getting caught mid-flight one after another.

… Or rather, the amazing thing is Regina, who can dart freely all over a cramped 20 m box at speeds in the 600 km/h range.

Even an F1 racer couldn't do it.

… And so, the guaranteed-hit, piercing-granted Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot — about the worst kind of attack from the enemy's perspective — was slipped past with almost no damage.

"Amazing… this is splendid defensive technique."

"Yes. Shaina, too, factored in that Regina would do at least this much, and devised the coordination with Brahmastra, but Regina went one step beyond. She broke up the coordination and handled each individual attack splendidly.

Just as billed, on par with upper-tier S-Class. To see this much skill at a lower-tier S-Class tournament is a happy miscalculation."

Silvana and the others praised Regina's splendid technique.

… Sure, it's fun for the spectators, but for the ones fighting, it's no laughing matter.

How am I supposed to beat her…

"Demon Art - Hegemonic Battle Aura."

For now, Carla added another buff. Even if she lands a hit, at this rate the firepower's too low to finish her off.

"Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot!"

Meanwhile, Shaina fired off Brilliant Light Riot… Probably for the purpose of stalling. If she activates the Ruyi Staff to defend, she shouldn't be able to activate Demon Art - Ruyi Bagua Staff.

A 32-hit combo really would be hard to dodge entirely without a defensive skill.

If she could pin them down to nothing but defense like this, Carla could firmly re-apply her buffs.

"Hmph, good read. As expected of Shaina. Servi praised you, and it shows.

… But, you know, I can do this kind of thing too! Ruyi Staff!"

Each of them deployed the Ruyi Staff three times and blocked everything. From here it's a repeat, so I'll skip the description.

But with the Ruyi Staffs they'd used to defend, they came swinging right at her. So it's an offense-defense unified skill, then.

Use it for defense, 200 damage reduction; use it for attack, a 4-hit colossal-damage combo…

What's more, there's normally no switching between attack and defense.

You could even use it three times for defense and, with one left over, attack — that kind of usage was possible.

"Light Barrier Array!"

But this time Shaina guarded firmly.

Now Shaina, too, throwing decorum out the window, pushed Carla and Shita down, lay flat on the ground herself, and put up Light Barrier Array over the top — a complete defensive posture.

… This was my suggestion too, by the way.

"Eh, isn't this a bit unsightly…?" she'd said, but she remembered it properly.

"Whoops, looks like I was the one underestimating you."

Regina seemed, if anything, to highly rate Shaina's no-holds-barred defense.

That said, with more attack uses remaining, there might've been more she could do.

Light Barrier Array was down to two uses.

"Demon Art - Hegemonic Battle Aura."

Carla charged up further.

"Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot!"

Shaina's stalling Brilliant Light Riot.

"Well, getting stalled out just as you planned would be pathetic too… Let me get a little serious!"

Shuba!

To my astonishment, one of the Reginas dove into the storm of light.

"Ruyi Staff! Ruyi Staff! Ruyi Staff!"

… Divine skill.

The Ruyi Staff, when used for defense, gives 200 damage reduction, so it can defend four hits. What happens to the leftover damage is unclear, but.

Since it's a free activation, used repeatedly she can defend any number of times.

… Of course, that's "if she can use it." In reality, matching four-hit defensive skills, eight times over, to a 32-hit combo is an extreme feat that needs no explanation.

But for someone of Regina's skill, pulling it off against light bullets that only target herself was no longer all that surprising. Yet she pulled it off even against the guaranteed-hit attacks aimed at the other Reginas, too.

Of course, it was only possible with the three Reginas' deft position adjustments and a perfect, telepathic harmony… no, either way, it's amazing. A divine feat.

Even with the right and left hand of the same person, you couldn't achieve such perfect coordination.

But… Regina splendidly did exactly that.

"Phew… well, that's about it."

Regina played it cool.

I do think that was honestly about her limit, though.

But either way, it didn't change that it was amazing. A divine feat, truly.

If she weren't an enemy, I'd want to give her a round of applause.

"Amazing, amazing! Splendid! Did you see! Just now! That's a divine feat! Amazing, amazing! No, catching guaranteed-hit attacks so easily with an off-skill action — isn't that unprecedented?"

Silvana, naturally, applauded without a care.

That carefree attitude irked me a little. It's the brink of whether Shaina wins or loses!

No, I know Silvana's just spectating at her leisure, so it's misplaced to complain, but!

… Somehow, since up to now I'd been the one being praised, I hadn't realized it, but I understood now that from the receiving end she's a rather irritating commentator…

But it's precisely because she's so honest that you find yourself wanting her praise.

… Wait, I'm plenty carefree myself.

"Ku…!"

"Then, let's go ahead and end it. Demon Art - Ruyi Bagua Staff!"

The fact that one of them's actions handled Shaina's attack meant the two clones were free to move.

"…!"

Dogo dogo dogo dogo dogo…!

… Instant kill.

Demon Art - Ruyi Bagua Staff is a demon-attribute colossal-damage 8-hit combo. Powerful, but at least mercifully it has neither piercing nor pierce-through.

But… if you took it head-on without defending, it had more than enough power to instantly kill all three at once.

"… Oh? It's over already? No way, right?"

"… So you read it. Then…

Divine Art Possession - Parvati."

Shita's final goddess summon. Parvati's effect is to revive all members at full HP.

Shaina and Carla both revived at full HP.

It looks powerful at a glance, but it's no use except from a situation like this…

Still, it went as planned.

And it grants Endure to one member every turn thereafter. Its tenacity was actually the most extreme among Shita's possessions.

"Regina-san is strong, huh…"

Shaina laughed.

"… If we'd been fighting with just the three of us, my heart might've broken a lot sooner."

"Hmm. Then… I'm looking forward to your next party too. I'd better clean you lot up quick!"

"Don't go thinking you can clean us up quick! Don't underestimate an S-Class Master!"

Shaina's spirit was magnificent.

"Do your best! Shaina!"

All I could do now was cheer her on, but…

"You bet! Leave it to me!"

Shaina's voice was full of strength. She's not just cute. My best friend is… strong and dependable.

"Demon Art - Brahmastra!"

"Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot!"

That emptied out Brahmastra. The choice was between attacking two to disrupt their actions, or attacking one and, with the by-now sufficiently accumulated pierce damage, at least dropping one clone — she went with the latter.

"Whoops… no way you still think I'm the main body now, huh.

Ahah, out of uses? Too bad, Carla. With this, you're out of the fight."

"… No problem. My comrades will defeat you."

"… Heh. Big talk…"

Against the oncoming Brahmastra, Regina…

"Haaaah!"

Dogo dogo dogo!

A 3-hit combo of fury. With that, the Brahmastra finally stopped.

She can stop even a 200-plus damage attack like that!

Dogoo!

But the pierce damage slipped through. Apparently even she couldn't block the pierce damage.

One more…

"… I'll struggle to the bitter end!"

Dogo dogo dogo!

Showing her pride to the very last, she blocked the attack completely.

Dogo!

But again, pierce damage.

Razor-thin. Could she be whittled down…?

It was right at the edge, but somehow… it went through.

Shuuuuu…

The downed Regina began to vanish.

"Oh dear, Regina got taken down."

"Hehehe, did you think the Regina just now was the main body? … I've been waiting forever to pull that gag.

Until now, that desperate last attack always came up short.

Shaina's the first. Congraaats."

"… You mean they're all the main body, right?"

"Spot on… and, just for my reference, how'd you figure it out? I was guarding the main body in earnest, I thought."

"… There are tons of cases where the clones keep moving on their own even after the main body's taken down, so it's better to just assume from the start they're all the main body.

From talking it over with my best friend."

"… I see."

The Reginas nodded, and…

"Well, you're right. We clones are all the real thing and clones alike. So… this kind of thing's always an option, too."

The Reginas joined hands, and the next moment there was only one.

"…!"

… She combined their remaining skill counts?

"Clone Technique!"

"Don't underestimate me! Divine Art - Brilliant Light Riot!"

"You're the one underestimating things. No guaranteed-hit, no coordination with other attacks!

You think something like that can keep up with my speed!"

Dadadadadadada…!

The light bullets Shaina fired punched uselessly through empty air.

Too fast…

By now, Shaina's group couldn't even manage to shave a single one off Regina's skill counts.

"You were strong. Shaina Fervey! It's a bit pitiful for you to get done in by that gorilla, but…

this is a job too, for me!"

And the fact that she'd taken Shaina's skill without spending any uses meant…

"Demon Art - Ruyi Bagua Staff!"

this would come flying.

"Light Barrier Array!"

But Shaina's shield was still left.

"… Fufu, two targets, one shield. How much can you block?"

"…"

In a pinch Shaina could put up two shields, but there was no need to tell her that.

"… Let me tell you something good. This kind of thing's possible too."

Buon!

All at once, Regina hurled the Ruyi Staff.

The Regina who caught it immediately hurled it again.

"…!"

In the instant she lost sight of it…

Zugaaan!

"Gaha!"

A throw from straight above, straight down.

It looked like she'd thrown it in a triangle along the ground, but in reality she'd thrown it in a triangle with the apex up top.

Shaina, taking one hit, swung the shield toward her at once, but Regina, closing in on the Kinto Cloud, was faster!

Dogo dogo dogo dogo dogo!

Endure probably triggered a few times. But the high-firepower combo shaved away every last bit of it.

"Bonus!"

Dogo dogo dogo!

Shita got taken out too, as if for good measure. Two hits dispelled the possession, and the bare body left behind was pulverized in a single blow…

"Shaina…!"

"… The rest… is on you, Haru, Setsuna, Patty!"

Dosa.

And then… Shaina, who'd done her very best, finally ran out of strength.

"Now, she put up a tremendous fight but fell short… Shaina is defeated.

For the Shaina of old, this would be elimination, but this time there's a twist.

She's brought along three hired guns!"

"Hmm… who, I wonder. I'm looking forward to it."

Now, the final round.