D-Class Championship Match

"And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, the championship match! Will our champion successfully defend her title a second time?! If she pulls off a second straight defense, she'll be promoted to C-Class! And the challenger stepping up for this all-important match is…!"

Bashuu!

Flashy sound effects and a burst of steam… ngh, walking out into all that was kind of embarrassing… but it couldn't be helped.

"The up-and-coming Master, Naoto Akai! Like the champion, he too is an otherworld Master! The otherworld that's been the talk of the town lately… the otherworld Masters from Japan's Reido Academy. They've already racked up plenty of legends, and our champion is one of them! And now, will a new name rise to join their ranks? Naoto Akai! … And the Garumon under his command number only two! But both are ultra-rare-class girls valued at over 5000 and over 6000! Otherworld Garumon Kanan Kazami, and… the Nekomata, Adelia!"

Whoaaaaa…!

A roar of cheers welcomed us as we took our place atop the arena.

"And now, the champion makes her entrance!"

And out came… Noda.

"Oh ho! Today she's… wearing the same outfit as the challenger! Maika Yukishiro's usual battle attire is excellent in its own right, but today she's matching challenger Kanan Kazami's outfit… This has its own appeal too… what is this feeling? My heart is pounding! Even with her clothes on, she's beautiful today as well! Maika Yukishiro!"

The announcer was pretty entertaining… apparently he was an NPC.

In any case, Noda was riding in a chair as usual. The three slaves carrying that chair, though… the lineup had changed slightly. The one in the lead was Alice, the Garumon the previous challenger had brought with him.

"Heh heh heh… I've been looking forward to this, Naoto! Today is a day worth commemorating. With this, Kanan becomes mine, the greatest reward for my promotion to C-Class!"

Noda seemed to be psyching himself up in his own way.

"In the future, in the legend of the strongest king of this world, the great Masaomi Noda-sama, that will be passed down for generations, you'll be remembered as Mid-Boss Number One, the guy who delivered Kanan to me. Be honored!"

I had no intention of getting into a war of words with him, but…

"… Sorry, my bad, but I have no intention of telling stories about you. If anything, I'd rather forget you as soon as possible. That said… I do thank you for protecting Yukishiro-san in your own way up to this point. Thank you."

"… The hell, you bastard?! What's with that condescending tone?! Top to bottom, I'm the one in the higher position here! You're nothing but a stepping stone for me, you got that?!"

No, if I became his stepping stone, I'd just get crushed flat. He should think about his own weight.

"Now get crushed!"

Called it.

The rules were 3-on-3. That said, there was no problem with fielding only two.

"Now then, this time as well, the first to take the field is the Beastfolk pair, Eine and Kleine. Up to now they've defeated many opponents on their own. The twin pillars who stand alongside Maika Yukishiro! However, the challenger has won every battle from start to finish with just two Garumon. Which is the stronger pair…?! Ah, no… wait, wait!"

Murmur…

"Maika Yukishiro has stripped off her clothes and is back in her usual battle suit! As erotic as ever! Boobs out, crotch barely covered, that classic erotic style! Yes, this is how Maika Yukishiro should be! … This time, she's serious from the start! Maika Yukishiro is coming out from the very beginning!"

I'd predicted as much.

… Frankly, if she'd tried to underestimate me, then with Wind's Blessing and Boost Power stacked to the max, the bare-form Yukishiro-san would have just gotten curb-stomped the moment she stepped out, and it wouldn't even have been a match.

… Of course, Noda wasn't that stupid.

"Then I'll be serious from the start too… Kanan. Get changed."

"… Haaah… So I do… have to change."

"… You don't want to?"

"… Of course I don't want to! Wearing something this embarrassing in front of a public crowd…! But this is the precious armor everyone made for us. The cloth Lyuka spun with magic from the fur you shaved off Adelia, that Leone painstakingly wove together… So I'll wear it! Take a good look, this is Kanan Kazami's finest battle attire!"

And then… Kanan stripped off her uniform too. And what lay underneath…

"Oh ho! Kanan Kazami strips off her clothes as well, and what's underneath… is so erotic! It's practically just string! It's nowhere close to covering those big breasts! A full string-bikini that just barely covers the crotch and nipples! … A super-micro reddish-brown swimsuit through which her yellow-green pubic hair is visible at a glance! And what kind of fabric is this? It seems to be made of strangely curly hair, and somehow, just looking at it makes my chest pound with excitement… Ohh, and the equipment name registered in advance is 'Adelia's Spirit Garb'… ohh, since it's a Spirit Garb, that makes it one of the highest-grade pieces of Garumon equipment! They say it's crafted from a Garumon's body hair. Then could that be… Adelia's body hair?!"

Whoaaaaaaa!

The men in the arena roared.

"Funyaaa… Adelia's embarrassed too, nya…!"

"I'm embarrassed too! But… more than that, I'm proud. That's right, this is the outfit everyone prepared for me…! We're going to win, Adelia! In this outfit, with your power woven into it!"

"… Yes, nya! After this is over, I want you to make Adelia an outfit out of Kanan's hair too, nya!"

"Sure! Let's make one!"

"… Um… that… I'm the one who'd be shaving it, aren't I…?"

"Of course you are."

So that was what Kanan's equipment really was. With so little fabric, it had turned into a ridiculously erotic swimsuit.

I'd thought she could just wear her uniform over it, but apparently that defeated the whole point.

In this world, Spirit Garb is like this: sexy and just barely covering the private parts.

If you put clothes on over it, it's no longer a Spirit Garb, and the effect is gone.

It was the same as saying, "I sheathed my sword because the blade was dangerous, and now its attack power is gone."

If that was how it worked, then there was no help for it.

Kanan would have to endure the embarrassment and fight in that super-micro erotic swimsuit.

… But Kanan had resolved to do it.

"Now then… Battle, start!"

And so… it began.

All right, here we go. Both of us had hit LV20, the level Leone had said she'd be amazed if we even reached.

Even if Yukishiro-san had grown since then, by my reckoning we should be able to fight her on even ground.

But if it was even, then the rest came down to whose orders were more accurate, mine or Noda's.

"Maika… I'll leave it to you."

"… Yes. Accel Mirage!"

What?

He was letting Yukishiro-san make the calls?

… Well, in the early phase Accel Mirage alone was fine, I guessed, but at least she could pick a target.

"Go, Eine, Kleine. Deadly Step!"

Shutaa, shutan!

The three of them lunged at us almost simultaneously.

"Kanan, Wind's Blessing! Adelia, Boost Power!"

"Yes!"

"Yes, nya!"

Adelia gathered her power.

A wind aura began to dance around Kanan's body.

The three of them targeted Kanan first. Rather than going for the attacker, Adelia, they must have decided from the start to commit to taking down the defender, Kanan.

"Wind Shield!"

All three of them were fast, so dodging was impossible, but the shield triggered automatically and blocked. However…

"Tch!"

Bish! Bishbish! Bishbish!

So Deadly Step was a two-hit combo. Five layers of shield stripped away in a single exchange.

Wind Shield is a strong skill that unconditionally blocks 10 attacks, but the catch is that it auto-triggers even against weak attacks. In other words, it's vulnerable to consecutive-hit techniques.

"Tch…"

At this rate, even those two flunkies would become a real headache…

I made a snap judgment.

"One more time. Kanan, Wind's Blessing. Adelia, Boost Power."

"Go, Eine, Kleine, Deadly Step."

"Accel Mirage."

Bish!

Yukishiro-san's kick.

"Wind Shield!"

Pan!

The shield deflected it, but a layer shattered.

Followed up by the twins' two-each, four-hit combo.

"Kanan, fall back!"

Please, even just once, dodge it…!

Bishbishshu, bish!

Yes! One layer left!

Thanks to the Wind's Blessing acceleration, Kanan somehow managed to dodge one hit out of the four-hit combo.

"Tch… no help for it. That's enough. Dance of Frost. Dance."

"… Understood."

"You can at least play the role of breaking that shield. Eine, Deadly Claw. Kleine, Cheer for Maika."

"Bind Whip on Kleine, Flame Claw on Eine!"

"Yes, nya!"

"Take this!"

At my orders, the two moved quickly.

Bishiii!

"Aghk!"

Kanan's whip wrapped around Kleine, leaving her unable to move. And Adelia intercepted Eine as she lunged in.

"Haaaaa! Flame Claw!"

"… Gyaaaaaaah!"

A blow unleashed with terrifying attack power. With two Boosts stacked, I knew that unless the target was a Defense type or had Fire resistance, even an LV40 character would go down in one hit.

Eine was blown away in a single strike.

"… Tch, so they have a move like that too."

He must have meant Bind Whip.

There was no way he didn't know about Flame Claw, since I'd used it plenty of times during the tournament.

But Yukishiro-san's dance had finally activated. The temperature around us dropped, binding our movements.

Kanan, with ice resistance from her equipment, was fine, but Adelia would probably end up unable to move once every few turns.

From here on out, it was the real fight.

"Here it comes. Bind Whip on Yukishiro-san. Adelia, Flame Claw on Kleine!"

"Kleine, you useless thing, just go and die already! Maika, the rest is on you! Like always… trample them!"

"N-no way…"

"Understood…! Accel Mirage!"

"Haa!"

I activated Bind Whip, but she dodged it with raw movement.

"Ugh, even with Wind's Blessing accelerating us, I still can't catch her…!"

That was how much Accel Mirage accelerated her. And she was still picking up speed…

Bish!

"Nya!"

Adelia took a hit.

Normally Kanan would serve as the evasion wall, but against the faster Yukishiro-san, she was easily breached.

But Adelia didn't stop.

"Haaaaa! Flame Claw!"

"Gyaaaah!"

One-hit kill. That was the small fries cleaned up.

But there was no room to relax at all.

Who was going to win this fight was still anyone's guess.

"Here I come… Accel Mirage!"

Shutaaan!

A magnificent leap. If she weren't an opponent, it'd have been a beautiful dance you'd want to watch in awe and applaud.

But the death-kicks she was dishing out were raining down on Adelia and Kanan.

I calculated from Adelia's damage. Adelia could endure six hits, Kanan could endure four to five.

Who would survive this damage race to the end…?

Bish!

"Nya!"

Adelia took the hit. It looked like the strategy was to take down Adelia, who had the stronger firepower, first.

… Or rather, against a single hit Kanan would just block with the shield, so she was dodging instead.

Or maybe her calculation was that her speed would soon be double Adelia's.

"Kanan, Wind's Blessing. Adelia… Curse!"

"Accel Mirage!"

Tahn!

She kicked off the ceiling and dove down again.

She targeted Adelia directly.

Even if Kanan tried to be a shield, Yukishiro-san was too fast for that to work.

But…

"Curse, nya…!"

"Ugh…!"

A dark, mist-like Curse from Adelia clung to Yukishiro-san. This one is first-strike and a guaranteed hit.

"Tch, annoying…!"

It's a skill that erases two buffs. It had just cut down Accel Mirage's acceleration effect in one go.

Good. If she'd accelerated any more, she would've gotten two attacks per turn. Great timing.

"Haa!"

A single kick from Yukishiro-san landed… Thank god, without the Curse, that would've been a two-hit combo.

"Funyau…!"

But Adelia was still getting pummeled one-sidedly. Her HP was already past half. Four more hits.

… But how much damage did Blizzard do?

Adelia, with no ice resistance, might not be able to take even a single Blizzard hit in that state.

I got why she hadn't unleashed Blizzard yet.

The strongest magic locks the user in place and triggers at the end of the turn. The moment that happens, if Adelia targets her, it's over.

So she was waiting. Waiting for Dance of Frost's effect to land and freeze Adelia in place.

… And I was waiting too. Until then, I just had to ride it out somehow.

Shooooo!

And then the freezing cold air filled the area…

"Funyaaa…"

That turn, Adelia froze and couldn't move.

"… Now's the time, Blizzard!"

The signature move Yukishiro-san had been holding back was finally unleashed.

"Now, Adelia, Awakening!"

"Unyaaaa!"

In that instant, shatter!

The frozen state broke. The moment Awakening is used, it recovers any action-disabling status ailments.

And on top of that, it boosts physical ability and grants a guaranteed-hit effect that ignores evasion! With this… we win!

"Flame Claw!"

Zubaaaan!

"Kyaaaaaaa!"

Adelia's strike landed on Yukishiro-san. Did we… do it?! The gauge plummeted all at once. But…

"… It stopped going down?!"

About half her HP remained. She'd just barely survived.

"Unya…?!"

"Hah, factoring in element countermeasures is basics of basics, you got that?! Did you think I dressed her like that just for the aesthetic?! Well, I won't deny that's part of it, but obviously there's fire resistance built in too!"

… He was right. He had been making money in D-Class for three months himself. It wouldn't be strange for him to have bought expensive equipment.

"Sh… shit…!"

Not enough…! Even if she survived, it should've left her with less. At this rate…

"Blizzard, activate…!"

Doooooooh!

"Nyaaaaaaa!"

"Adelia!"

The gauge dropped faster than I expected! Stop, please! But my prayers fell on deaf ears…

"Nyaaa…"

And Adelia went down.

Blizzard is an all-target spell. Naturally, the snowstorm came for Kanan as well.

But…

Shatter!

"… You can block magic too?!"

Yukishiro-san's eyes went wide.

"Yeah, I didn't know either. I always took out mages quickly…"

Bashuuu…

Wind Shield, triggering automatically, had blocked Blizzard outright.

"Wh-what the hell?!"

Noda was shocked too, but I was just as floored.

Wait, seriously?

I wasn't expecting that… wait, isn't that a bug?!

Blocking the strongest magic with an auto-trigger defense skill, this seriously needs an errata.

I hurriedly checked the system status display.

… And Wind Shield had changed to a different skill name.

So it was a skill that changed type based on usage count?

Wind Shield… such a generic-sounding name, and it had that kind of awakened effect?!

… That was way too lucky, but either way, if we blocked it, that was all that mattered!

The math worked out… no, math had nothing to do with it. If this was a miracle that Adelia, Kanan, and everyone's prayers brought about, then we'd be lying if we didn't win with it!

"Go, Kanan, all that's left is to fire off everything at full power! Tornado!"

"Yes!"

"Don't screw with meeeee! There's no way you can lose! Maika! Blizzard!"

"Yes!"

And so the two ultimate spells were unleashed almost simultaneously and clashed.

Clashed, but they didn't cancel each other out and vanish; they just battered each other's bodies.

Kanan's Tornado tore at Yukishiro-san's body, and Yukishiro-san's Blizzard froze Kanan's.

If that finished them off, that'd be great, but… it was tough. We could probably shave off about a third, but half was impossible.

"Go, take her down, fall, falllll! I'm the champion. I've never lost to anyone at any game. There's no way I'm losing here!"

Noda was screaming too.

… But there was no way Kanan went down. Kanan's HP was still in great shape, and on top of the armor woven from Adelia's hair, packed with everyone's feelings, Kanan was a Magic-Defense-specialized stat type.

So the problem was…

"Tch…!"

"All riiiight!"

Noda screamed in delight while my face contorted in agony.

… Just barely, but more than half of Kanan's HP had been shaved away.

Which meant: take one more Blizzard, and Kanan would be down.

On the other hand, Yukishiro-san wasn't down either. Her HP was at maybe 1/7, just barely hanging on.

"Haa, haa… I'm sorry, Kazami-san, Akai-kun… I… I can't lose. Making Goshujin-sama win is my mission as a slave…!"

"Slave or master, none of that matters…! What I have with Naoto isn't just that! … I absolutely won't lose!"

… From here, on the next turn, it would be a contest of which went off faster, Tornado or Blizzard.

… Wait, just now, which one had been faster?

Yukishiro-san accelerated with Accel Mirage, Adelia knocked it down with Curse, Kanan accelerated with Wind's Blessing… so which one was actually faster?

Without knowing Yukishiro-san's base speed, I couldn't calculate it precisely.

What about in actual practice? I didn't know. The exchange just now had seemed completely simultaneous.

But it didn't matter. Either way, there was only one thing I could do.

Trust Kanan. That was all.

Well, there was also the option of throwing out Bind Whip and hoping for a stun, but flinching at a moment like this was a flag for losing. Charge through!

"Kanan, Tornado!"

"Hahaha! I-I'm shocked you cornered me this far! But in the end, the protagonist always wins! Maika, Blizzard!"

And then the two spells activated again, simultaneously.

I still couldn't tell which one went off first. But the system had already worked it out.

In the case of a finishing blow, only the spell that activated first deals damage; the slower one doesn't.

Which one… which one…

No, that's not it. Have faith. Believe. We absolutely… will win. Kanan will win…!

And then, the moment Yukishiro-san's gauge started to drop,

"Yes!"

I shouted in spite of myself.

"We did it!"

But at the same time, Noda was also crying out in glee.

… Kanan's gauge was dropping too.

What… was going on?

No, it didn't matter. Believe. We win, we win. We win…!

"I… won't lose!"

"Neither will I… I won't lose…!"

But in answer to the two girls' fervor…

"Haa!"

Pikaaa! Glowing in response was Kanan's, Adelia's, our equipment.

Bashu!

"Guuuuuh!"

Kanan groaned in pain, but her HP… had stopped at 1.

"Eh…?"

I hurriedly pulled up the system's equipment screen. There was an effect description written there.

'Adelia's Spirit Garb. Grants Fire-element. Low chance of triggering Endure (when receiving a finishing blow, HP remains at 1).'

"… Ahaha…"

Now that I thought of it, I had had such complete trust in Leone and Lyuka that I hadn't even checked the equipment they had handed me.

To think it'd have an effect even better than I'd hoped for.

In a contest of speed, we'd lost. But thanks to Endure activating, it didn't become a finishing blow… and the counterattack went off…

That was, truly, a victory born of our companions' resolve.

"Aah…!"

Yukishiro-san… toppled over, just like that.

'YOU WIN'

A system message displayed.

"We did iiiit! Match decided! A new champion has been bornnnnn!"

"N… n… no way! I… I won't accept this, I won't accept it! This world is a world for me! It's the stage I was given to shine on, and you, you…! Aaaaargh, you bastard, you stupid bitch! How dare you lose?! After I dumped all that semen into you, hooooow?!"

Noda barged onto the battlefield and tried to stomp on Yukishiro-san.

"Stop right there, Noda, you idiot!"

Bishi!

"Abyu, boe!"

Daaaan!

His leg got snagged by the whip, and Noda fell flat on his face.

"Yukishiro-san belongs to Naoto now… As a fellow slave of Naoto's, I won't allow you to lay a hand on her."

"Uh… wha… aa… aaaaaah…!"

And then Noda ran off screaming, practically rolling away.

We had finally won…

For now, I was exhausted. I just sat down right where I was, slumped over.