Eclair Feradria (3)

Now then, at last, the final decisive battle with Eclair.

That Eclair Feradria was right before my eyes. Close enough that my attacks could reach her…

When I thought about that, it was, how to put it… complicated in all sorts of ways.

A flood of emotions, you might say.

Our slave battles had been started by Eclair.

She'd ordered Kanan and Yumi to procure slaves, and the slave Kanan prepared was me…

The long days of hell that began from there.

If Eclair hadn't done that needless thing, would I have suffered so terribly?

Thinking that way, Eclair was the root of all evil. It should've been fine to hurl all my hatred and resentment at her.

But, now that I'd transferred to this world like this…

You could say that leading slaves into battle, something that never could have happened living a normal life in Japan, served as advance preparation.

Well, how much it actually helped, I didn't know.

But, that I'd been able to fight my way this far after coming to this world was, you could argue, thanks to Eclair.

If I hadn't had a connection to Kanan, could I have transferred to this world together with her?

If so, you could say that Eclair was, at this point, a benefactor.

It should've been fine to face her with feelings of gratitude.

That said, by my temperament, I simply couldn't forgive the fact that I had a past in which I'd been oppressed as a slave.

And the most fitting target to vent that anger on was, after all, Eclair…

Still, it was also thanks to that anger that I'd been able to fight my way through this far…

Somehow, my emotional state facing Eclair was an utter mess.

Anger and resentment were welling up… or maybe not so much.

But I even felt something like gratitude.

My feelings toward Eclair were too complicated… it was, somehow… strange, even to me.

I didn't really understand it.

But, I thought Eclair was acting strange too.

How did she view this confrontation with me?

To her, the original me had been like a stone on the roadside, an existence of no real value.

And now I'd come to stand in her way… but how did Eclair feel about that?

Having gone through the confrontation with Shiraki, I think she now acknowledged me to a certain degree.

But, against me coming to challenge her like this, how high was she raising her own spirits to challenge me back?

She felt somehow passive.

It was like, if you're going to challenge me, then go ahead, and she didn't look fired up to avoid losing to me.

That left me feeling unsettled. If she lost, she'd become my slave, you know?

Shouldn't she be steeling herself, fully resolved not to lose?

Or did she think it'd be fine to become my slave?

That unease of mine had even come out in the opening war of words.

But there was no more… no more stage for going around and around fretting.

In any case, let's win. If I won, that was enough.

Whatever Eclair was thinking, whatever I was thinking, if I won here, everything would end.

Because right there, my battle would surely come to a stopping point.

For that…

"Lend me your strength. Yumi, Yuria, Suzanne!"

"Yes, of course!"

"Of course!"

"Fufu… victory to Onii-sama!"

Eclair stood quietly on the stage. Presea and Sario taking a stance of protecting Eclair, it seemed.

… As I thought, I couldn't fathom her state of mind. She somehow seemed low on energy.

… Argh, stop thinking about it any more! Whatever she's thinking, I can just ask her after I win.

… All right, here goes. The all-out blitz, as planned beforehand!

"Suzanne!"

"Yes. Divine Aura!"

In an instant, Suzanne finished plastering on buffs.

"Yumi!"

"Earth's Wrath! Earth's Resonance! Earth's Wrath!"

Yumi deployed buffs too.

"Yuria!"

"Black Matrix, Suzanne!"

All stats up 100%, they really had grown strong.

"Dark Aura!"

Furthermore, double the attack, and then…

"Concentrate!"

Buffs concentrated.

"Suzanne!"

"Divine Art Michaela!"

Gogogogogo… boaaaaaaah!

Flames erupted.

All right, hit the max. Outrageous buffs were swirling within Suzanne.

This, all at once…!

"Divine Art Testament!"

Ka…!

Dogooooooooooooo!

An all-out blitz of buffs that you'd normally never have in a single turn. Now then, how's this!?

"Gau! I won't let it through, gau! Divine Art - Guardian Barrier + Divine Art - Absolute Protection!"

Ka…!

Presea radiated light, trying to absorb and stop all of it.

The pouring light was intensely compressed. Down to 1/10… no, probably reduced to 1/20. So this was the power of a Guardian Divine Beast.

Impressive, but… even cut to 1/20, since the base was 48x damage, by any reckoning it was one-hit-kill damage.

"G-gauuuuu!"

Presea's anguished cry made me feel a little sorry, but there was no way I'd show mercy here.

Zugaaan!!

Presea's HP was carved away in one stroke, just barely gritting her teeth… She'd done well.

A 1/20 reduction was, normally, a considerably powerful defense. I could see that a Guardian Divine Beast being deemed extremely useful was no lie at all.

But…

"Divine Art Testament!"

Crackle crackle crackle… Dogooooooooo!

A re-attack via speed poured down on her.

"… Gauuu. Divine Art - Guardian Barrier + Divine Art - Absolute Protection!"

Zugaaan!

"One more!"

With speed at 4x, three actions. Suzanne's speed was the higher of the two, it seemed.

Zugaaan!

"Nyauuu…!"

Presea… while becoming battered and ragged, she gritted her teeth to the very end. Like Vyletta, three grits, was it.

Like Vyletta, probably Presea's trait. Multiple grits really is a subtle nuisance.

… One-turn kill, unfortunately, a failure.

Presea had done her best.

"To think it would be this much… Splendid.

Then, it's our turn next, isn't it.

Divine Art - Thunder Emperor's Descent!"

Crackle crackle crackle crackle crackle…!

A tremendous buff fell over Eclair. All stats 2x, and… an element-enhancement-type buff, perhaps?

"Divine Art - Thunderclap Keraunos!"

Attacking immediately on the turn she'd buffed!

Eclair too, as expected, was quite the cheat.

"Demon Art - Dark Protect!"

But Yuria put up a barrier. Complete defense + at-will activation. It wouldn't be pierced so easily.

"Ultimate Art - Godspeed Fang Rush!"

But in that instant, Sario cut in with an attack.

With a godspeed attack, he drove his sword like a fang into Yuria's barrier as it defended against the lightning.

Zan! Zan! Shatter!

… The defense was seen through and broken three times!

"Kyaaaaa!"

"Auuh!"

"Gh…!"

Zugaaan!

Yumi and Yuria took about 100 points of damage. Suzanne about 1/20 of that.

All three should have had thunder-element nullification through the earth-attribute granted by Yumi's Spirit Garb… but this must be the effect of that Thunder Emperor's Descent from before.

In addition to stat-ups, it heightened elemental effects.

If she'd used this, then even against nullification it dealt half damage, was it.

With Sario around, I couldn't defend against Eclair's attacks. With Presea around, I couldn't finish off Eclair…

Good coordination. As expected, I suppose.

I didn't think our aim of a quick strike was wrong, but it seemed we'd been a little short on action count.

That said, this match wouldn't drag on much longer now.

Presea had gritted her teeth three times, with 1 HP remaining. Defeating her wasn't far off.

And Sario, just how long could he keep standing?

The buff on Suzanne was that tremendous.

"Here I go! I'll settle it here!"

"Yes. Summon Valkyrie! Earth's Wrath, Earth's Resonance, Earth's Wrath!"

The reason I hadn't used Summon Valkyrie last turn was for Concentrate's sake.

Concentrate gathers everyone's buffs, but it has the drawback that only three people's worth of buffs get added.

If it weren't for that, using Concentrate with an eight-person party in an outside-of-battle battle would mean an instant 8x buff or something absurdly cheat-tier, so I supposed it couldn't be helped.

"I'll go ahead and use the new skill while I can. Demon Art - Darkness!"

"Gau… Gauuuuuu!"

Dogoon!

… Thump.

Despite being an ultra-powerful attack with ultimate damage + stat reduction, it ended up only shaving off the last 1 HP.

Presea ran out of strength. She'd long since been past her limit, it seemed.

"Dark Aura!"

One more round of buffs. I'd leave Concentrate off this time.

This put everyone at double attack.

"Then… here I go!

Divine Art Michaela!"

Crackle crackle crackle… dogooooooo!

Suzanne clad in flame.

A beauty starkly contrasting Eclair clad in lightning, but Suzanne had the edge in buff speed.

"Divine Art Testament!"

Ka!

Dogoooooooooooo!

An overwhelming light of destruction poured down, light, light, light…!

"Eclair-sama…! Ultimate Art - Infinite Parry!"

Shururururu…!

Sario, throwing himself over Eclair, frantically swung his sword against Suzanne's light.

Suzanne's immense firepower, he halved it, halved it, halved it… thoroughly reducing it to a degree that made me marvel that such a thing was possible with a sword,

he defended it completely…!

"… Amazing…"

"…Cough."

But Sario had apparently borne an abnormal strain, and abnormal damage went into him.

… Rather, Sario's HP was already down to 1. He'd already entered the gritting-his-teeth state.

Sario's abilities were that parry of his just now, defending Eclair when Presea wasn't enough, and the attack support like before…

In any case, his skill setup seemed designed to maximize Eclair to the fullest.

… But he didn't, of course, possess the kind of inexhaustible defensive ability to fend off Suzanne's overwhelming attack.

"… Sario.

That's… enough. Stand down."

"… My deepest… apologies."

Sario obediently withdrew. The meaning of one person stepping back in the middle of a Garumon Battle…

"Yumi… Yuria… Suzanne.

You are strong. Very strong, indeed.

… But, as a queen… I cannot afford to lose.

Take this, Divine Art - Thunder Emperor's Annihilating Strike!"

Crackle crackle crackle…!

Violet lightning unleashed. The target was Suzanne…!

"Earthen Treasure Sword!"

But naturally, Crea intercepted. She drew the lightning to herself. And then…

"Aaaaaah!"

Zugagagagagagaga…!

Eclair's technique began carving away Crea's HP with tremendous force.

… A continuous damage that lasted until incapacitation!

So Eclair hadn't given up at all, and was fully intent on winning.

If Suzanne had taken that attack just now, even Suzanne with her immense stats might have been driven to incapacitation.

Had that happened, the situation would have become utterly unpredictable in an instant.

Or rather, could anything but Crea's Earthen Treasure Sword have intercepted it?

That was close…

"To the very end, that posture of never giving up, truly splendid.

I'll grant you that it's as expected. Eclair Feradria.

… But, the sin of binding Onii-sama in the yoke of slavery, even for a moment, is worthy of ten thousand deaths!

Receive the light of my judgment!

Divine Art Testament!"

Given Suzanne's speed, there was no way the attack would be just once; a re-attack came pouring down.

"… Eclair-sama!"

Zugaaan!

Even while shielding Eclair, Sario at last fell too… Or so I thought.

"Infinite Ultimate Art!"

Sario's body radiating light, he unleashed a tremendous flurry of strikes!

"Flamberge!"

Suzanne received it with her sword. But… an overwhelming flurry. The linking of the attacks was far too perfect, and Suzanne was forced completely onto the defensive.

Sario's attack power was negligible. Against Suzanne's defense, more than twenty times his, it amounted to only negligible damage. The blocking itself was being done properly. It came to barely 1 point of damage.

… But Sario's flurry was far too perfect.

1 point, 1 point… Suzanne's HP was being shaved away at a frightening pace.

… What is this technique!? Activated upon death, unleashing a flurry until the opponent dies, a take-you-down-with-me technique, I suppose…!

To defend against this, the only option was a Skill Intercept.

For Suzanne, the best at Skill Intercept in my party, it shouldn't be impossible.

But Sario's attack was far too perfect. Could Suzanne cut in, or would Sario shave her down…!

… Sario, who'd been, as far as I knew on Earth, the strongest swordsman.

Suzanne, the finest swordsman I'd encountered in this world.

To think I'd finally witness the clash of these two directly.

"Splendid… indeed. But, do you know why this Flamberge has such a flame-like blade?"

"… Gh."

Sario, in complete concentration, didn't take the bait of chitchat.

To shred flesh and inflict tetanus-like grievous wounds, was what my chunibyo knowledge held.

"It's so as to entangle and capture the opponent's sword with this undulating blade."

Whether my chunibyo knowledge was wrong, or this was Suzanne's own swordsmanship, I didn't know.

But Suzanne caught Sario's precisely thrust sword between the undulations of her blade and splendidly parried it away.

"… Tsk!"

Sario didn't go so far as to be disarmed. Holding his sword loosely, extending his arm, he just barely gripped it and kept hold.

… But, for that one instant, the flurry stopped.

"Divine Art Testament!"

Suzanne wasn't one to overlook that fleeting opening. She splendidly slotted in a speed re-action.

"Aaaaaah…! Eclair-sama… my deepest… apologies…!"

Even Sario reached his end here.

The swordsman's duel ended in Suzanne's narrow victory, I suppose. In pure swordsmanship alone, Sario may have had the edge… but it was Suzanne's win.

Suzanne's Testament burned the entire field to ash, and at last carved away even Eclair's HP all at once.

… But Eclair gritted her teeth too.

"… Suzanne, was it. For me to rule over Naoto… what… is the problem?

I am a queen, and for me, a queen, to rule over all is inevitable!

The original world, this world too… I, as queen, shall govern!

For the likes of Naoto Akai to defy my rule cannot be permitted!

Thunder Emperor's Descent, Divine Art - Thunderclap Keraunos!"

Eclair's attack.

Zugagagagagagagaga!

A tremendous lightning bolt was unleashed.

Yumi and Yuria's HP were carved away in one stroke. But Suzanne's defense was immense. If she'd been shaved down further by Sario it would've been uncertain, but Suzanne's HP remained.

… The next turn. This… was the last.

"The true king is Onii-sama!

You foolish one who defies Onii-sama! Cool your head! Divine Art Testament!"

Zugaaan! A light of tyranny swirled.

"Thunder Emperor's Descent, Divine Art - Thunderclap Keraunos!"

Zugaaan! Lightning of destruction scattered, and…

"Divine Art Testament!"

Zugaaan! Yet another light of ruin layered on.

A clash of transcendent destructive force between Suzanne and Eclair.

… At the end of the fierce, ferocious collision of light against light…

"…Cough… ah… aah…"

Crumple…

Eclair sank to her knees on the floor.

The one whose gritted-teeth gave out first was Eclair.

"… So… I… was… defeated… you say…"

Sway… thump.

And then… Eclair fell flat on her back in the arena.

"… Ah… the sky… is… blue, isn't it.

… I am a queen… one who rules… over all.

I came to this world yearning for it, believing that's what I thought…

… Ah, but, after all…

Looking up at the sky like this… perhaps it isn't so bad… after all…"

Eclair… quietly, closed her eyes.

Whoaaaaaaaaa…!

"It's over…! It's over. Contestant Naoto Akai is the winner!

My, it was such a flashy battle I could hardly make it out for the dazzle… what kind of battle was this…?"

"Well, it was a fairly broad-strokes affair, boom boom, a clash of flashy finishing moves.

In any case, Naoto's side plastered on buffs furiously, amplified them further with Suzanne's Michaela, and tried to overwhelm Eclair through sheer, overwhelming stat violence.

Against that, Eclair countered with Presea and Sario's defense… and beyond that, with Eclair herself's attacking skill, retaliating as much as possible…

And, well, she put up a fight, but she couldn't match Naoto's side's buffs and stat violence, was about the size of it.

It's rare to see Naoto, who's always won elegantly through wits and ingenuity, push through to the very end with the blunt, unrefined approach of sheer brute force.

Does that mean the Eclair fight was a special battle, different from the usual?

Or did he want to prove that he surpassed Eclair in raw ability.

Well, whatever the case, congratulations, Naoto! If I can keep watching your battles from here on, I'll be happy!"

Whoaaaaaaa…!

Applause erupted. Many people blessed my victory.

Ahh… I'd finally… finally, won.

I'd defeated that Eclair Feradria.

That ruler… the absolute ruler who'd ruled over me, Yumi, and Kanan all this time, Eclair Feradria.

I got told the ending was brute force, huh. It really was exactly that, though.

I'd been, somewhere, afraid, maybe.

… No, if I lost here, all the spoils of war I'd gained until now would be lost, and I'd revert to being Eclair's slave.

There was no way that situation wasn't terrifying.

But, more than anything, Eclair's existence was, to me, like a symbol of the past chasing after me…

It was the watershed: whether everything I'd gained in this world would vanish like a dream, or whether I'd grasp it all just as it was.

That kind of fear was there, and I think there was a psychology of wanting to defeat her as quickly as possible.

That I could feel such fear was perhaps a sign that I hadn't yet completely escaped the influence of the past.

Normally, carrying that kind of strange trauma, you wouldn't be able to win, I'd think.

… But, I wasn't fighting alone.

When I was weak, my reliable comrades helped me.

Yumi, Suzanne, Yuria…

I'd managed to assemble comrades strong enough that there was no way I could lose. That was my victory.

With this… the curse of the past was over. I'd been set free.

At the end of a long, year-long battle, at last, I…

I no longer have to bow my head to anyone, no longer have to hand my own pride over to anyone other than myself, and as my own, sole, one-and-only master…

I'd become able to stand in this world.

The purpose for which I'd come to this world had, at last, been fulfilled.

It didn't even feel like an exaggeration to say so.