Reido Academy Cup Tournament Round 3 (3)

The ones who appeared were Haru, Setsuna, and Patty.

"Kyaaa! Patty～! Patty～!"

Silvana was overjoyed.

"Geez, this is embarrassiii～ng."

Patty got bashful.

"Watching how they've fought so far, what do you think?"

She steered the topic back with an exchange that made it clear this was probably the only person who could yank Silvana's ear and make her behave.

"Let's see. What comes to mind is two years ago. Up against Fergus's usual lineup, she struggled, wasted her skill counts, and barely managed to finish off the first party. Then lost to the second party by a wide margin…

Well, I think the gap was bigger than the difference in ability warranted, but maybe she took Fergus's taunts to heart.

This time, though, it was a complete turnaround — a cool-headed way of running the match. Against Fergus's true lineup, how would it have gone, I wonder?

Well, here we should praise Shaina, who suddenly got so much stronger in such a short time.

It's as if a second core, not just herself, has formed within her. That kind of feeling.

Now, on the subject of Shaina's growth, readily accepting rented hired guns is growth too.

Up to now she could have rounded out her ranks with mercenaries or rentals anytime, yet stubbornly refused to…

Well, maybe it's just that Haru happens to be a cute boy of the type Shaina likes.

Of course, Setsuna-chan and our Patty are cute too. Anyone fussy enough about their tastes to refuse these, I'd have to question their eyesight."

"So, the grown Shaina's camp is the one to watch, then."

She wrapped up Silvana's talk cleanly.

Now then, the situation was the same 3-vs-3. But there was no room for optimism. The opponent's skill counts were…

The fact that she'd fused and combined their skill counts at that earlier point became a hint.

Most likely, the Ruyi Staff's skill count being 20 is correct. Which means those Reginas, all three together, have something like 4200 HP.

… But the other side surely didn't know, either.

Patty was unchanged this time, but Haru and Setsuna had achieved dramatic growth.

The worry was that I had no choice but to let Haru fight on his own judgment. Shaina was knocked out, unconscious.

And even I couldn't give orders from outside the information masking.

The only one who could do that would be Silvana.

… But it's fine. Haru has kept honing his skills as my knight too. Even if he dropped back to C-Class now, I believe he's strong enough to climb back up to S-Class with ease.

"Haru, Setsuna, Patty, do your best!"

I conveyed only that… and left it all to them.

"Here we go!"

"Yeah."

"Yes sii～r!"

Battle start!

"Summon Laurier!"

Now then, right off the bat.

Don! A door adorned with beautiful trees appeared, and out from it emerged the lovely Tree Goddess Ameri.

In the moment they were overawed…

"Divine Art - Crimson Quartet, Radiant Symphony! (Everyone but Haru.) March of Passion - Allegria!"

Do-do-do-do!

In an instant, a seething 100% all-stat buff! Plus Attack and Speed +50%.

"Okaaay, here I go～!

Ogrification, Barrier Crush!"

Ooh, she's thinking. If she could land Barrier Crush, all defense via the Ruyi Staff would be nullified, and Ameri's Destroyer of Great Nature plus Hundred-Leaf Wild Dance would be an instant kill.

But…

Gyun!

That's if the Reginas didn't drive themselves at a speed transcending the system's limits. Even accelerated by Speed +150%, they couldn't catch up to the Reginas, whose base speed was that fast.

… Even so, the fact that a speed-based re-action triggers is pretty unreasonable. What even is the Speed stat…

"Aw… too bad～. Can't be helped. I'll save the fun for later～."

Patty gave up on attacking.

… Mm, if Destroyer of Great Nature plus Hundred-Leaf Wild Dance can't drop even one of them, then the rest is a war of attrition.

In that case, Patty and Setsuna become the more capable attackers.

"Now then… here I go. Hundred-Leaf Wild Dance!"

Oh, she didn't play Destroyer of Great Nature on the first move, huh. Well, since she can play it whenever, she might as well save it for a more decisive moment.

Now, a hundred leaves rained down like rain. Leaves, but conifer needles, so they were sharp.

As for whether they could simply move at high speed and slip through with no damage — that would be impossible even with Regina's and the Kinto Cloud's speed.

So would she ignore the minor damage and take it anyway?

But it seemed unlikely she'd dare take the risk against a never-before-seen technique when she had the Ruyi Staff to take it safely.

"… Tch, it kind of pisses me off that it's going just as you wanted, but… we'll block it! Ruyi Staff!"

Kakakakaka!

"Tch, just like it looks, 1 point of damage, huh!"

"… Hey, back when you were the Monkey King you'd have trusted your gut and charged in! You've been playing it safe lately, haven't you?"

"… Tch, maybe so!"

Oh, they're consulting among themselves and correcting their problem points! That's amazing… I'm a little impressed. Well, we have a lot of members who can do that too, I suppose.

"… Well, since you made me waste a volley, I won't be satisfied unless I lop off at least one head!"

And Regina came charging in.

"Reverse Element, Gaia Barrier!"

There, Haru applied Reverse Element to himself and deployed a barrier.

Regina's attribute is… by my read, Demon/Fire. If Haru read it the same way… then with Reverse Element, it'd flip to a clearly advantageous match-up!

Zuga zuga zuga…! Ooh, sturdy. Taking the Ruyi Staff's 9-hit combo, it came to a mere 50 or so damage.

"Tch… she's tough."

End of turn one. Ruyi Staff uses remaining, around 19, 19, 19.

"… A hundred of 'em is a pain. There's a limit to taking it with one body.

… But if it's only 1 point, charging in and eating the damage is an option too…"

Watching Regina think that…

"Divine Art - Crimson Quartet. March of Passion - Allegria."

Attack/Speed +200%, and then

"Destroyer of Great Nature, Hundred-Leaf Wild Dance."

Ameri unleashed her finishing move.

"Sha!"

One Regina flew out holding the Ruyi Staff. The stance was to block what one body could and ignore some damage to charge through for the rest.

If this goes well…

"…! Bad! This is strong! Abort! Deploy the Ruyi Staff!"

Too bad — with her impeccable crisis management, she sensed it instantly.

"Destroyer of Great Nature, Hundred-Leaf Wild Dance."

And then a speed-based re-action. Hmm, the Kinto Cloud is clearly a technique that boosts speed to around 600, yet having no numerical effect feels a bit pitiful for it.

Even the Reginas had no choice but to go purely on the defensive against 200 blades raining down.

Ruyi Staff uses remaining, 17, 17, 17.

… About there. Say what you will, they evaded half of them, which is amazing.

"Green Protect."

Judging there was no room to attack Regina, Haru put up a defensive buff.

"Okay, here I go～! Super Ogre God Charge into Demon Art - Plantain Fan! The attribute's Light～!"

Patty's attack power was 450% + Great Strength King + attribute double, for about 135 damage per hit. Forty-nine of those came flying with guaranteed-hit granted.

"… Seriously?"

A super-high-speed game of tag began.

"Speed re-action, heeere I go～!"

Buon!

Another 49 added!

"Quit screwing around, hey! Patty! I've memorized your face!"

Patty got locked on.

The Reginas put on an incredible display of motion. Leading along the scattered, oncoming meteors, they collided them head-on, trying to reduce the count as much as possible.

And the ones they absolutely couldn't dodge, they batted down with the Ruyi Staff.

Employing superhuman technique, even so…

Ruyi Staff uses remaining, 7, 7, 7.

… is where it stood.

"At this rate it's a slow bleed. It's all or nothing — we've gotta go!"

One devoted itself to defense, while two took a charging stance.

"Demon Art - Ruyi Bagua Staff!"

"Ameri, Reverse Element."

"Chaos Barrier!"

The combination of 1/10 damage + attribute halved + defense UP… tough…!

The furious combined onslaught of the two only landed about 60 damage.

"Ku… that's bad."

"Divine Art - Crimson Quartet. March of Passion - Allegria."

Again, Attack/Speed +200%, and then

"All right then… here I go. Demon Art - Plantain Fan, attribute Light～!"

"You little—!"

Super-high-speed combat began once more.

Ninety-eight darting meteors took aim at the three arrows.

Too fast — even with my prized dynamic vision, I probably couldn't follow it, even setting aside the information masking.

I could only tell that Regina was trying as hard as she could. So much so that I almost found myself emotionally invested in her side.

The bad habit of unconsciously rooting for the underdog. The one cornering her was my own Patty, after all.

Well, with the picture of the Ox-King cornering Sun Wukong, you can't help it…

But the glittering swarm clinging to the three of them dwindled little by little, and at last…

"… Aaah!"

Duuun!

The attacks vanishing, and one of the Reginas falling exhausted, happened at the same instant.

… Amazing! How did she block 98 attacks with seven defenses? I really can't make sense of it.

She must have pulled off something like batting back the Plantain Fan's meteors and collapsing several at once in a chain reaction.

That's no ordinary feat.

And doing it while riding a cloud bolting around wildly in zigzags at 600 km/h.

A feat impossible even for a major leaguer.

That said, Regina no longer had any path to victory.

If she still had plenty of clones left, and could repeat the same feat over and over, it might've been uncertain… but thanks to Shaina, she had no more leeway.

"Tch… can't be helped. This is my trump card, but… taking a beating without dishing one back just doesn't suit me."

"Agreed."

Yura…

The two stood side by side, backs together.

And then…

"""Demon Art - Ruyi Bagua Staff."""

With perfectly mirror-symmetrical movements, they came attacking.

"Ameri, Chaos Barrier!"

Haru's order. Normally it'd be the same 60 as before — no, even less, thanks to the Green Protect Haru had quietly applied the previous turn.

But… by adding force from left and right at the exact same magnitude and the exact same angle, the impact had nowhere to escape and stayed trapped within, sending the damage soaring.

By landing all eight hits perfectly, they roughly doubled the damage!

… Even so, it was about 110 damage — just barely not enough to finish Ameri off.

But amazing. I had no idea a technique like this even existed.

Is it possible only because it's Demon Art - Ruyi Bagua Staff, or is there potential with other techniques too…? Whoa, I want to research this!

"… Still not enough to reach, huh… I lose."

"Patty!"

"Yes sii～r, Demon Art - Plantain Fan～!"

Merciless to the very end, Patty pulverized the Reginas in a single blow.

"Match decided! Wow, that was splendid."

"Indeed. Our Patty was active too… But I'm not happy that Patty started looking like a villain partway through."

"Don't be selfish, please give a proper summary."

"Fine, fine… Well, the point is, by the time her clone counts had been whittled down, Regina was already plenty worn down. She just got passed off at the end, so you could say all Haru did was firmly protect the lead and carry it to the goal.

But that doesn't mean the three of them didn't do anything impressive. First, Haru. He gives nicely clever orders, doesn't he. I'll remember his name."

"Oh, high praise."

"Then, Setsuna-chan, popular with the Tri Angel set. This girl was slapping on some outrageous buffs. She's evolved before I knew it and become something incredible."

"That's right. Divine Art - Crimson Quartet. She seems to have learned an amazing technique."

"And Patty is cute."

"…"

"The way her boobs go bounce bounce when she swings the fan is the absolute best. Those huge boobs jiggling and bouncing for all they're worth in the gusts, it's just so—"

Bishi!

Whoa, she got backhanded…

"Now, please give us a word on your opponent, Regina, as well."

"… Ugh… Let's see. She was a real talent, and her way of fighting was fun too. With the Kinto Cloud's super-high-speed driving, ignoring all sorts of system constraints to dodge like crazy.

She showed us a way of fighting that lets us feel a fresh new wind.

Thank you, Regina. That was fun～."

"Yes, thank you for that lovely comment."

"Waah… we won! Haru, you did it!"

Shaina, having woken up, threw her arms around Haru.

"It's all thanks to you weakening them properly, Shaina."

"Ehehe～."

"Gah-hah-hah! I hired a mercenary to deal with the back-to-back matches, and to think I'd lose!"

"… What is it, Fergus. Got some complaint?"

"None. It's my complete defeat."

… He was a manly enough guy, at least.

"If you're going to come at me that honestly, then I've got no complaints either.

… Your hundred-in-a-row, no idea when you're doing it, but watch out for bankruptcy."

"Gah-hah-hah! … About that, I've got a little favor to ask later…"

To maintain his usual bold persona, Fergus apparently couldn't show weakness in front of others.

… Well, Shaina's the one who bet the highest amount. If she lowered her wager, he might be able to manage somehow.

… After all, we're squeezing a billion out of him here.

"Well, guess it can't be helped."

Having won, Shaina was in a good mood and seemed inclined to agree to a discount.

Anneroese-san and Silvana came down to the arena once.

"Shaina, congratulations on your splendid victory.

With this, Shaina becomes the 21st-ranked Shaina Rosenhearth, then."

"A-thank you. Last time I took that position by losing, so I hated it… but this time I'm happy."

The smiling Shaina answering the interview was cute.

"Shaina, in this tournament you've shown growth on a scale we hadn't seen before, I think.

What's the reason for that?"

"Eh, um… that would be, well, my… f-friendship, I guess? With Naoto… I think… ehehe."

Waaah…

So cute～.

Voices like that flew in. She really is cute.

"For the next match, you'll forfeit as is and entrust it to Naoto — is that correct?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then Naoto, please come up to the platform as well."

Oh, I've been called. I went up onto the platform too.

"Thanks to Shaina's victory, Naoto has splendidly defended his right to challenge Eclair.

A word on your resolve, please."

"Ah, yes. Shaina really fought hard for me… I'm extremely grateful.

Now that I've come this far, I think there's nothing to do but win."

Waaaaah…

Cheers for my voice too. Maybe I'm fairly popular?

"Yes. The final this evening, do your best. Now then, lastly, a blessing kiss from the goddess of victory, please."

… At that, nobody moved.

"… Shaina-san. Give Naoto-san a peck on the cheek."

Unable to watch, Anneroese-san whispered in Shaina's ear.

"Eh? Me? No way, no way! I'm not goddess material! Anneroese-san, you do it!"

"I-I'd really rather not do that sort of thing!"

"Aah, geez. Then both of you do it together."

Shoved by Silvana with a thud, the two squabbled.

"Eh, um… well then…"

"Um… excuse me…"

Chu…

Shaina's kiss… soft, a lovely scent…

Chu…

Anneroese-san's kiss… wow… so soft… floral…

I got the feeling the affection I'd built up dropped sharply from jealousy, though.

That said, having received the goddess of victory's kiss, my courage was a hundredfold. At last… the Eclair match!