B-Class Promotion Match

And so the B-Class swap match began.

The Master facing me was B-Class rank 501, Arsh Lagas.

A middle-aged man with the look of a yakuza about him. There was something oddly clinging in his eyes.

"… kuku… a young fellow, are you. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

I'd also looked into B-Class Masters, especially the lower ranks, through various books.

The bottom 12 B-Class Masters had to fight a swap-match qualifier once every six months.

They fought in three-way matches of three each, and two consecutive losses meant elimination. The four winners became the swap-match representatives.

Some Masters fought desperately because they didn't want any part of the swap match… but others didn't.

There were the type who actually enjoyed challenging the swap match and knocking down C-Class Masters.

Those types willingly stayed below rank 501, took money from their qualifier opponents, and lost on purpose.

Arsh Lagas was the standard-bearer of the three B-Class Masters who delighted in knocking down their inferiors.

Number 502 Idosen and number 503 Maizu were the same breed, though rumor had it the two of them simply admired Lagas and ended up that way.

His hobby, apparently, was to enslave the C-Class Masters who challenged him and violate them in front of their Garumon.

… Yeah, a truly worthless bastard, by all accounts.

But strong.

The reason C-Class Masters had such a low win rate in the B-Class swap match was, in large part, because Lagas and the other two, who actually had mid- to upper-B-Class strength, were entrenched in it.

And, well, they got fat off the money other B-Class Masters paid them for the privilege.

Only the remaining slot was a true B-Class bottom-ranker, and against him C-Class Masters' win rate was decidedly not low.

… That was what the Garumon Bulletin had written.

Lagas's own bad reputation was hinted at very vaguely, but that was the only way you could read between the lines.

Through sheer bad luck, I'd run head-on into the foremost specialist in C-Class hunting.

… Well, fine. If I couldn't beat this guy, I had no future anyway.

"… All righty then, B-Class swap matchhh… the B-Class Master gets to set conditions on the Garumon Battle.

"If you really hate the terms you can refuse, but your rankings won't swap. You're not gonna tuck your tail and run, are you?

"You wanna become a B-Class Master, dontcha?"

Lagas smirked.

"… So, what's the condition?"

"Just this!"

• The losing Master will be enslaved to the winning Master.

Just the one condition. But… a Master becoming another Master's slave meant every Garumon that Master held could be taken freely.

A condition that put absolutely everything on the line.

"Haha, simple, right?"

"… I accept the condition for my loss. But I want to change the condition for my win."

"Ahn? What do you want?"

"…10,000,000G, or all the cash you have on hand. Whichever's higher."

The going rate for matches between C-Class Masters was 10,000G; between B-Class Masters it was supposedly 1,000,000G. I set the floor at ten times that, plus all his cash on hand.

He'd apparently piled up his savings by taking various payments from other B-Class Masters in exchange for entering the swap match, so he had to have more than that.

"… Lagas-shi's total cash holdings are 26,800,000G."

The operations staff member informed me.

"Then go with that."

He'd had quite a bit, hadn't he.

I'd thought through various conditions. Lagas was about as bad as they came, and I'd considered just stripping his entire fortune so he could never recover…

With Nezu, he was a person from my world, so I'd punished him by my own values. But this man was a resident of this world.

Whether it was right for me, an otherworlder, to punish him by my values was something I wasn't sure of.

… If I'd firmly decided to settle here permanently, anything I couldn't forgive by my own values I'd have punished openly.

Losing all his cash would sting, but as long as his Garumon were safe, recovery would still be possible.

"Also, no participating in the C-Class-to-B-Class swap match from now on. If you do, automatic forfeit. Those two terms."

… At minimum, I tacked on that much.

It would help future C-Class Masters a little.

"… Hoh? Looks like you've properly looked into B-Class Garumon Battles.

"And you've properly looked into me too, huh. Knowing what kind of deal I'd offer, you came in with your reply already prepared.

"… So you're not running."

Lagas wore a relaxed expression.

"That's right. Will you accept?"

"OK, I'll take it."

Conditions agreed.

"Heh heh heh… I like you, kid… Masters as reckless as you… This'll be fun."

Lagas licked his lips.

At that moment, the announcer's commentary started up.

"Oh, this is… Lagas-senshu's condition is Naoto-senshu's enslavement, and Naoto-senshu's condition is all his cash on hand plus a ban on future C-Class match participation…

"It's not that all his cash is a light cost, but if his Garumon are unharmed and he restarts as a C-Class Master, someone like Lagas-senshu could climb back up easily.

"Meanwhile, Naoto-senshu's loss means total enslavement.

"At first glance it looks odd that the C-Class Naoto-senshu offered the lighter condition. Matt-san, what do you think?"

"Aah, there's a system-side mechanic called Value Assessment.

"A C-Class Master's value isn't as high as a B-Class Master's, so even if a C-Class Master bets his life, it doesn't balance out against a B-Class Master's. Frankly, 20,000,000G is more than generous given a C-Class Master's value."

That's what they were saying.

"Nooo waaay! Naoto-san's value isn't a measly 20,000,000! That's just him being lenient!"

… Some kid was raising a fuss. It was embarrassing, please stop.

The Garumon Battle started.

"Out you come! Edna! Falka! Janna!"

"Let's go, Kanan, Adelia, Yuria."

I glanced at his side and, oh. Red hair, red hair, red hair… so all three of them were Fire-element.

Lagas's lineup was on file from his past battle records, but he'd never fielded an all-Fire team before.

He had clearly analyzed my party and reorganized.

"… Anticipated, though."

I'd factored in the chance everyone would come Fire, so I'd brought out Yuria instead of Maika.

By element, only Kanan was at a disadvantage; Yuria was at an advantage. (No pun intended.)

Adelia was neutral… and not bad off either.

On top of that, Kanan was wearing Adelia's Spirit Garb this time, which gave her Fire-element enchantment, so fire wasn't her weakness.

… You could say our meta-counter had clicked nicely.

"Now then, here we go! I'm gonna take everything from a youngster like you, with all his future ahead of him… I love it… ahahahaha!"

Lagas laughed crassly.

… This guy was strong. I shouldn't take his rank as a reflection of his real strength. He was on the level of mid-to-upper B-Class.

"Kanan, Wind's Blessing."

"Ahahahaha! Falka, Flame Bee summon!"

"Yes… Flame Bee summon."

Buzz buzz buzz buzz!

The bewitching woman summoned a great swarm of buzzing flame-shaped bees.

"… Summon magic, huh."

Same as Haru's Wood Golem. They didn't seem as strong as a Wood Golem, but to make up for it, they came in numbers.

"Now, go!"

Bishi, bishi, miss, bishi, miss, miss, bishi, bishi, bishi, miss.

They tore through Kanan's shields at terrifying speed. So that was their angle!

Six already in one turn! She wouldn't last the next turn either.

What a troublesome opponent…

"… Then I'm glad I aimed for it! Adelia, Fire Boost! Yuria, Dark Saber, Flame Claw!"

"… What do you think I summoned the bees for?"

The bees blocked Adelia's path.

… At this rate, even our 4x-buffed attack would only take down a single bee.

"… No need to worry. I have a method for this too. Awakening!"

Gyun!

Adelia's movement awakened. An absolute, guaranteed-hit blow. Slipping past the bees, she clobbered Falka…!

Dogooooo!

A frail Summoner was no match against a 4x strike. A single blow could blow her to pieces…!

"Sorry, but that's been part of my hand all along.

"… Don't you know what a Demon is? Before me, who exists at a higher dimension than the lifeforms of this world, all is meaningless."

Pan!

Adelia's unavoidable blow… vanished!?

Falka stood there safe and sound, and Adelia's attack had disappeared.

"'Causal Erasure.' Even for me, the Demon Edna, this is a final art usable only once per battle.

"It erases the cause-effect relation along with the events themselves.

"I cannot use it again from here on… but for you, was that not your once-in-a-lifetime move?"

The Demon… Edna explained smugly.

She had appeared in two battles in Lagas's records. She and Mathfene were probably Lagas's aces.

I'd predicted she would come out since she was Fire-element, but I hadn't grasped her abilities at all.

"… Tch…"

I see, she'd read our biggest attack and nullified it.

So our tactics had been seen through…!

"Slow!"

Gunh.

"Agu…"

Kanan's movements were slowed. Her action this turn was completely nullified…

"… Tch."

If Kanan didn't function as an evasion tank, things would get pretty rough.

Next turn, first priority: clean up those bees.

"Adelia, Flame Riot!"

"Nya!"

Bashu! Adelia swung her tail around, and flames whirled and danced. The flames blew the flame bees away in an instant.

"… Tch! An all-target attack… agh!"

"Wha… a new technique?"

Good, I'd locked Falka's movements too. A new technique that hit all targets and stunned. The stun rate was on the low side, but I was thankful it triggered.

"All right, here we go. Kanan, Phantom Mist Clone!"

"Yes…! Phantom Mist Clone!"

The moment that skill activated, another Kanan appeared. Now there were two.

"Slow!"

Kanan took a Slow, but only one of her was slowed.

"All righty, more incoming… Black Matrix!"

Dou!

Adelia got piled with buffs at terrifying intensity. Attack buff, defense buff, speed buff, skill buff, plus Dark-element enchantment.

A powerful new technique.

"… Another new move… tch, leveled up and learned new skills, eh? You stayed low-level on purpose for this…!

"I see. I figured this was going to be another one-sided rabbit hunt, but you've got some bite to you.

"… Cocky little brat!"

Lagas grinned and bared his fangs.

Nah, I wasn't low-level on purpose. If I were LV50, I'd overwhelm you on raw power.

Next turn.

"Kanan, Tornado x2. Adelia, Flame Claw! Dark Saber on Adelia!"

"Flame Bee summon!"

Falka summoned 10 bees again. Summons could attack the same turn they were called.

"Kanan, clone, defend!"

"Yes! You heard him, me!"

As for what happened to consciousness during cloning: another personality with the awareness "I'm a clone" took over the body. When the skill ended, the memories merged.

So controlling the clone wasn't much trouble. I just gave the two Kanans instructions normally.

But, with low speed, she couldn't really evade.

Bishi, bishi, bishi, miss, bishi, bishi, bishi, miss, miss, bishi!

Attacks rained down evenly on Kanan's clone and her real self, breaking shields.

The clone hit zero. Real Kanan had two shields left.

"… Maybe she's lost count by now?"

Falka, on the attacking side, didn't seem to be tracking how many hits had landed on each target… If this fooled her, great.

"Energy Boost!"

Janna was casting a support spell on Edna.

"Demon-Blood Awakening…"

Edna, like the previous turn, hadn't moved. She was probably still stacking buffs.

Letting her stack two turns in a row was pretty bad, but… whatever.

"We drop her here, Adelia!"

"Yes nya! Flame Claw!"

"… Don't you ever learn? With the summons in the way, you can't land an attack on the summoner."

"I know. So… Awakening!"

"Eh…!?"

Zugaaan!

"What the… you, that move was supposed to be one use per battle, was it not?"

Edna gaped in shock.

"… When I leveled up, the use count went up.

"You taught me Causal Erasure was once-only, so I'll tell you mine.

"… I can use it three times now."

"Such… kuku! How thoroughly you entertain me. Isn't that right, Arsh!"

"Aah… heh, this one's a top-grade jewel like I haven't seen in a while! I can't wait… to dig your asshole open with vigorous strokes!"

Lagas was practically drooling.

"… Kyuu."

"Nya!"

With Dark Saber 2x + Dark-element enchantment + Awakening, Falka went down in one hit.

"Tornado!" "Tornado."

Last, Kanan's magic hit home. The clone could use the same techniques, and skill counts cloned along with her, so it didn't deduct twice.

Attack count doubled. The clone was an unexpectedly powerful skill.

The Tornadoes finished off the bees and wiped away Falka's remnants.

I checked the magic defenses of the other two.

Janna was, well, average. Halved in one go. Setting her aside for now, two more Tornadoes and she was done.

… The problem was Edna.

"For real…"

A Tornado took off just over 2%. Two of them shaved off about 5% total. How insanely high was her defense?

Next turn.

"Kanan, two Tornadoes." That'd drop Janna.

"Tch… so Janna's going down."

"Whatever. Janna, last thing, lay a buff on me. After that, your role is done."

"Yes…! Elemental Aura!"

And so Janna laid the buff. The instant she did, her entire HP gauge drained and she fell.

"… Tch… wha…"

In that same instant, Edna's body shone with light… Buff strength was readable from the brightness. Light this powerful, I'd practically never seen.

Probably a buff technique that, in exchange for total HP, transferred her own stats onto an ally.

Already-strong Edna had been strengthened to an extraordinary degree.

"Now then, my preparations are done. Behold the strength of the strongest race, the Demons!"

Edna laughed wickedly.

"Mark this well. Demons may be many in this world, yet only a handful reach the ultimate technique of Demonkind, the 'Demon Arts.'

"Demon Art, the first…"

Thanks to Edna's preface, the timing was easy to read.

Which would it be…? Single-target? Or all-target?

… All-target, I'm reading!

"Kanan, cover!"

"Yes!"

Kanan grabbed Adelia, the clone grabbed Yuria, and they tackled them to the ground.

Cover was a Skill-less Skill I'd been using over and over.

Even against all-target attacks, in most cases if one party stood in front and another hid behind their back, the effect was reduced.

It didn't work against complete area attacks like Shining, Tornado, or Blizzard, but for linear attacks the effect was striking.

If you read the timing, it could be triggered any time on command.

Now, what kind of effect would come?

"Demon Art - Inferno!"

Don! The instant Edna struck the air… bishi, bishibishi! Space itself cracked, and from inside, countless flaming lava balls erupted out, raining down all at once.

"Uwaaa…"

A scene like literal hell unfolded.

"Aaaah…!"

Shuwaaaa!

The clone, who was supposed to have endurance and HP equal to the real Kanan, was wiped out in a single blow.

Super-effectiveness immunity meant nothing. Outrageous destructive power.

"Whoa… if I'd taken that, I'd have been done for…!"

Yuria had paled too.

… But she was unhurt. It came down to the shape of the all-target attack. Since the form was lava chunks raining down, as long as you weren't hit by the lava, no damage.

In other words, this was a skill Cover could effectively work against.

"… Haa, haa, my Wind Shield is amazing, even by my own standards…"

A bee strike, a hellish flame storm, none of it mattered. As long as the physical attribute was there, unconditional perfect evasion.

… Truly a lifesaver.

Even so, our attack came next.

"Dark Saber, Fire Boost + Flame Claw!"

"Tch, Fire Boost was supposed to be one-time too! So you can use that one three times per battle now as well…!"

Exactly. With 4x Flame Claw + Dark-element enchantment 1.5x, that came to 6x. For an ordinary Garumon, a one-shot kill was natural.

To block it, you'd have to stack rock-solid buffs and use a defense skill.

But…

Zun…! Damage was… barely 40%. Meaning we hadn't even halved her.

"She's hard…"

Tornado chipped maybe 2%. Margin-of-error level…

"Kuu… this is the first time I've ever taken this much damage. You're strong, you are…"

This was bad. Fire Boost had one use left. Dark Saber still had room to spare, but the issue was… whether I could land it.

Edna's HP was around 53%.

Ideally, if I could land Fire Boost + Dark Saber Flame Claw once for 40%, then Dark Saber Flame Claw once for 20%, I'd shave her down completely.

But how would I block that Inferno? I couldn't cast another Kanan clone. The only one I could protect was Kanan herself.

Without Dark Saber, damage was 20%. Shaving the remaining 33% would be extremely hard.

At minimum, on the next turn, I'd need to shave it all off in one turn with the Leone, Setsuna, Lyuka combo…

In the few seconds between turns, I desperately spun my head, and…

I came up with it.

Cover would have to…

"All right, the rest is simple. I will keep loosing Demon Arts until all of you turn to ash… Here we go."

"Yuria, Dark Saber on Adelia. Adelia, Fire Boost Flame Claw! Kanan, cover Yuria, then Tornado!"

"Got it nya!"

Even knowing she wouldn't be the one covered, Adelia didn't flinch in the slightest. She just tried to carry out what she was told.

When I thought about how an action that's normal for a game character was being performed by a real human being, something welled up in me…

"Let's see what you do! Demon Art - Inferno!"

Dogooooooooo!

Lava poured down.

"Aaaaah…!"

Pan! Kanan, with her last Elemental Shield, protected Yuria.

… Adelia, exposed head-on to the storm of Inferno…

"Unyaaaaaaah!"

Her HP gauge dropped sharply. You could tell from the speed alone. Not "barely surviving" levels: a drop that made survival absolutely impossible.

Adelia, with high defense and no element disadvantage, in one shot. If this was the strength of an all-target attack, what kind of monster were we dealing with?

She must have stacked some incredible buffs.

Endure, come on…!

The probability was low but not negligible. Especially in absolutely-cannot-lose battles, it had pulled us through crises many times before.

But it was no good. The gauge didn't stop, and went all the way to 0.

Adelia fell.

"Awakening, Adelia!"

… In that very instant, I used the last Awakening.

"Nyaaaaa!"

Adelia squeezed out her final strength.

With Awakening, any incapacitation state was nullified, and she was guaranteed to act.

… Even in a defeated state.

A final action was possible.

Setting up a strategy like this, then having the gall to say Adelia was precious to me, with what face? Self-loathing crept in, but nothing began without victory.

"Dark Saber!"

Carrying Yuria's buff, Adelia found her final strength…

"Flame Claw!"

Zugaaan! It struck home!

"Gufuh! Impossible…!"

Awakening's buff was about 20%. Which meant the gauge would drop by 48%.

5% remaining. Whether I could shave that down was the final fight, but she'd done well.

"Nyaaaa…"

Drawing on power beyond her limit, Adelia collapsed.

"Thank you, Adelia…"

"Tornado!"

Last, Kanan whittled Edna down.

Final turn, Edna's HP was a sliver, around 3%.

"To corner me this far… but this is as far as you go! Demon Art - Inferno!"

For the final action, one of Yuria or Kanan covering the other was enough.

… Yuria's attack magic was Dark Sphere. Darkness might have been enough, but she didn't have it equipped.

Kanan's Tornado was… not enough.

So…

"Kanan, cover Yuria. Yuria, Black Matrix!"

"Hm…?"

"Aaaaah…"

Kanan was blown away.

In the middle of that…

"Black Matrix!"

She cast the support spell on Edna.

"Mmgh, ku…!"

Deuh!

Yes, this technique's effect changed depending on whether you cast it on an enemy or an ally.

Used on an enemy, all stats were debuffed.

… However, the Dark-element enchantment was the same.

Dark was a powerful element with super-effectiveness against most others, so granting it to an enemy normally amounted to a disadvantage, but…

"To hold out this long is impressive. I won't be careless! Demon Art - Inferno!"

"Aaah…!"

And Yuria was blown away. The first party had… lost.

But the real fight started here.

"Counting on you! Leone, Setsuna, Lyuka!"

"Still more new Garumon, huh… You only had six out, but…

"So at C-Class, you had two held completely in reserve…?"

"Yes, that's right. This is our first sortie… pleased to meet you."

Leone smiled fearlessly.

… Now, here we go.

"Now then… I'd like to take my time and witness your power, but… unfortunate.

"Can you move faster than my Demon Arts? Can you endure my Demon Arts?

"Either is impossible. Farewell before nice to meet you."

Edna readied herself.

In a party-swap match, the moment of the swap was the most dangerous. After all, the first party had buffs piled high, while the fresh second party was coming out bare. It wouldn't have been strange to be steamrolled outright by buff-violence.

I myself had ridden that advantage to victories at C-Class.

The buffed-up Edna was fast. But…

"No need to worry. We'll take the first move properly."

"Lyuka."

"I know. Light's Blessing on Leone…!"

Pikaa～. Lyuka's Light's Blessing. Limited to once-per-Garumon-per-battle though it was, it granted atk/def 30% UP (permanent), Light-element enchantment (permanent), guaranteed-hit (1 use), and first strike (1 use). A powerful buff spell.

What mattered was that this skill itself was first strike, and that it granted first strike and Light-element enchantment.

Light was 4x super-effective against Dark. Yuria had cast Black Matrix, and Lyuka's Light enchantment created the synergy.

"First strike triggered, here we go… Thunder God!"

Leone, with both fists clad in violet lightning, opened them wide and clapped.

Dogooooooooo!

"Mmgh… uooooh! Impossibleeeeee…!"

Catching Edna completely off guard, Leone unleashed massive damage, and…

Dosa. A one-shot kill.

"Setsuna, don't get careless. Stack more buffs while we have the chance."

"Yes, Soul Refrain… Symphony of Brilliance!"

Setsuna's new skill, Soul Refrain, repeated the same performance twice.

Once-per-battle Symphony of Brilliance, a powerful all-stats 50% UP buff. It could heal too, which felt a little wasteful since the heal would go to waste, but using it on the opening turn was most effective. Now it triggered twice, so all-stats 100% UP. A super-powerful buff.

"Tch… I didn't expect you to go this far… but, interesting! The livelier you are, the more interesting!

"Out you come, Mathfene, Lasha, Saryah!"

"Hoho… fancy that, Edna being beaten. I'll have a hearty laugh about it later."

Obvious at a glance: Mathfene was the leader, with Lasha and Saryah as her subordinates.

I mean… they weren't human. Were they dolls…?

Their limbs had ball joints.

"First time seeing Mechanical Dolls, hmm? Such is their species. They can bear children normally, but they only truly shine when used by a Puppeteer like myself.

"I am the leader, but these two are strong, mind you."

Mathfene smiled bewitchingly.

"Setsuna, Soul Refrain + March of Exhilaration!

"Leone, Accel Speed!"

"Now, I'm well aware you stack buffs to high heaven. Allow me to erase them.

"Lament of Nothingness!"

"Lyuka, Light Protect!"

Kan!

Yet another new skill. Light Protect, evolved from Light Protes, protected the entire party for one turn at will, debuff effects included. Its sole drawback was that it couldn't be used the turn after a use.

But combined with Light Shield, that gap could be covered well enough.

LV-wise she was the lowest, but Lyuka had become exceptionally outstanding as a Defender.

"What, you had Light Protect?"

"Tch, that runt… how many techniques was she holding back?

"How quality is she, dammit…!"

Lagas was unduly delighted. He had his bad habits, but his desire to fight strong opponents was pure.

"Well, fine. Here we go… Slaughter Dance! Annihilation Dance!"

The two automaton dolls turned their hands into blades and slashed wildly.

Kakikakikaki…

Four-hit combos x2. Shun, shun! Plus an attack-up effect after acting. Equivalent to Sword Dance.

But against Light Protect, the damage itself was meaningless.

"… Just buffs this time, huh. But Light Protect can only be used once per battle… you won't be able to block the next one."

Mathfene still wore a relaxed expression. Just what else was she hiding…

… For my part, I was startled by the new info that Light Protect was normally once-per-battle.

Lyuka had evolved both Light Shield and Light Protect. Just how excellent was she?

Now then. With a buff-erasing technique on their side, and our buffs piled high right now, I wanted to take down at least one of them.

… Of course, taking down Mathfene would be best.

And I had a technique to take her down.

"Leone, Thunder God. On Mathfene."

"Hmph."

As expected, Mathfene had her two automaton dolls cover her.

By rights, Leone's speed ought to have been overwhelmingly higher, but their movements were fast. Did a Puppeteer's manipulation also override the speed stat?

"… No helping it. Awakening. I'm counting on you."

"Yes… haaaaaa!"

Bachibachibachi…! The effect spiked, plus guaranteed-hit. Dropping Mathfene here would put me at an overwhelming advantage.

"Sacrifice!"

But the instant the strike landed, Mathfene's figure swapped with Saryah's.

Bakii!

Sacrifice: take control of an ally to forcibly cover. Discretionary activation.

She said cover, but it seemed to be a teleport-type technique, used to slip past guaranteed-hit.

… I still couldn't shave her all the way down, even with Symphony of Brilliance x2 and March of Exhilaration x2 stacked. Damage was about 60%.

She had a pretty defense-oriented stat build.

"Whoa… such power. To shave Saryah down this much…! But as long as these two stand, no attacks reach me."

"Then I'll take down one of them.

"… Thunder God!"

Speed at over 2x meant a continuous attack. Leone's current speed was over 2x her base.

There was no opponent Leone couldn't get a continuous attack against.

Bakii!

Saryah fell.

"Oh dear, how pathetic… but I told you, did I not? These two are strong.

"… This isn't the end. Death Marionette!"

Then Saryah, with mechanical katakata sounds, rose back up.

A skill that let you control them even after they fell.

The Moon Rabbit's Madness was a similar skill. Running into this kind of opponent back-to-back…

… No, wasn't this worse than Amira at Lasheid's place?

Death, or rather "incapacitated" technically, but for convenience let me call it death.

A dead character, no matter how much further damage you dealt, couldn't die more.

In a real battle outside the battle, they would die, but during a Garumon Battle the system protected them.

If she could be forced to use that as a shield…

Amira couldn't be forced to cover.

The earlier Sacrifice could probably only swap with living characters, but either way, unlike Adelia, Leone's Awakening was a one-time thing.

Mathfene might keep using the Skill-less Skill, Cover, indefinitely, and I might not be able to take her down.

Well, I had to figure something out.

The plan had been for Leone to be the ace attacker, but… change of plan.

"Now, take this, Lament of Nothingness!"

"Tch."

Leone's buffs were… wiped to zero in one go. Cruel skill.

But it was for the best.

"Lyuka, Light's Blessing on yourself. Setsuna, Soul Refrain, March of Exhilaration."

This time I plastered the buffs on Lyuka. Was Light's Blessing once-per-battle? No: once per character. I could cast it on each of them once.

… Now, if I fired Shining next turn, that alone might settle it.

But that Lament of Nothingness, even if Setsuna and Leone both covered, there was no guarantee of blocking it.

In that case…

Next turn.

"Leone, Accel Speed! Setsuna, Death Requiem, Lyuka, Shining!"

"Slaughter Dance! Annihilation Dance! Lament of Nothingness!"

The first effect to trigger was Setsuna's Death Requiem.

Good, Lament of Nothingness wasn't fastest-in-turn.

"Listen well! Death Requiem!"

Sharararara～!

Setsuna played a beautiful melody.

The strongest Non-element sound spell. No element bonuses, but as a benefit, it was unaffected by elements.

It had area effect, so Cover couldn't block it.

… Well, the Masters of this world rarely used Cover, despite how useful it was.

For Setsuna too, March of Exhilaration's buff was active.

Gyun, bashi! Gyun!

Lasha took about 30%, Mathfene about 25%.

"Tch… so this one can also put out an attack of this magnitude…"

Naturally, the instant-death effect's probability was too low to matter, but the fact that it dealt damage even without instant-death was helpful.

"Shining!"

Next to trigger was Lyuka's Shining.

The strongest Light spell, an extremely powerful technique that didn't take up a turn's final action.

With buff strengthening on top, against Dark-element Mathfene, it could be a fatal blow.

"Sacrifice!"

Whoa. The forced-cover skill activated even against an area spell.

… But as I'd read, you really couldn't sacrifice a dead character further. The one she covered with was Saryah.

40%, 40%, two reductions, and Saryah would also fall. No, she didn't. Endure, huh. Plus, thanks to the cover skill, no damage to Mathfene.

Lament of Nothingness triggered. Lyuka couldn't use Light Protect this turn.

"I won't allow it!"

Leone tried to step in to cover, but she couldn't cut into the irregular area of an area spell.

Lyuka's buffs got erased.

"I'm sorry…"

"It can't be helped. On to the next."

In succession, the two of them did 8-hit dance combos.

Bishibishibishibishi!

"Au!"

Lyuka took 1 hit, Leone 3, Setsuna 4.

"Tch, the damage Lyuka takes is too much…"

About 20% damage. Five hits and she'd fall.

Plus their attack power was rising. Next time, four hits would bring her down.

… If Lyuka fell, it was over. We had no leeway at all.

Next turn.

"Leone, Accel Speed, Setsuna, Death Requiem, Lyuka, Shining."

Could I push through with brute force?

First to trigger: Setsuna's Death Requiem.

"Sacrifice!"

A skill that could force cover any number of times, apparently, as long as the character was alive.

Saryah fell on the first hit; the next damage went to Saryah too, but Mathfene was unscathed.

"Death Marionette!"

And Mathfene also rose back up, indistinguishable from while she was alive.

"Lament of Nothingness!"

And Setsuna's buff was nullified. As I'd thought, covering with Leone seemed impossible.

There…

"Shining!"

Lyuka's strongest spell. Light filled the surroundings.

Mathfene desperately had the two cover her, but covering against light was impossible.

Gyugyun, the gauge dropped.

Maybe because all the buffs had been erased, the damage wasn't as much as I'd hoped. But it was over 50%.

If I landed one more Shining, I'd win. The path forward was clear.

Next turn.

"Leone, Thunder Aura! Setsuna, Death Requiem, Lyuka, Shining!"

Don't get careless until the very end. Just in case anyone survived, Leone would deliver the finishing blow.

"… Don't you dare mock me! With my ultimate technique, I'll slaughter you all this instant! Overboost!"

Then another of Mathfene's skills triggered.

"… Leone, Setsuna, cover Lyuka!"

The technique that came forth was 4 hits x 2 people x 2 times: a skill that forced her allies into 2 actions.

On top of that, by bad luck, 8 of the 16 hits went to Lyuka.

Slashes also rained on Leone and Setsuna. In the middle of that, triggering the Skill-less Skill, Cover, was extremely difficult.

Even so, Leone managed 2 covers and Setsuna 1, but the remaining 5 hit Lyuka.

"Aaah…!"

Lyuka's HP…!

"Lyuka… I see, the 2-action let her attack power rise partway through…!"

Dosa…

Lyuka, our Light-magic lifeline, fell.

"Tch… Death Requiem!"

Damage to Mathfene was about 10%. Her magic defense was high to begin with.

"Hooohohohoho! What's the matter? I'm still alive and well, you know?"

"Lyuka…"

The fact that she'd held this technique in reserve until now meant it was probably a once-per-battle big one.

… Even so, the rise in those two's attack power was already serious.

Leone and Setsuna had been chipped considerably as well. The next 8-hit attack: if Leone took 5 and Setsuna 3, if neither could evade once, both of them would be brought down.

A do-or-die crisis. That was where we were. If I couldn't take down Mathfene for sure next turn…

But such a method…

"… All right, everyone, you've all done well."

"Onii-chan!?"

"Oh? Have you given up? Hoho. There's still possibility left, you know. If you can just barely dodge my attack… and repeat that 4 more times while landing Death Requiem each time!"

"Tch…"

"Hoohohoho. Struggle to the end. That is what's beautiful…!"

Mathfene shrieked as if convinced of her victory.

"No, I won't even give you room to struggle.

"… I just thanked them because I'm certain of victory."

"… Hah? Apart from area spells, there's no way to deal damage to me! And without that runt who uses Light magic, only weak area spells exist! Are you saying you can stack enough buffs from here on!?"

"There's still one more, isn't there…?"

"…!? Could it be… is Leone's Awakening usable three times like that catgirl's…!? Impossible, then it'd already be settled. You said it was usable only once, and that's why you couldn't put it out!?"

"Nope, Leone's Awakening is one-shot only. But about the Thunder Aura I cast earlier.

"It's a skill that boosts all stats, but…

"… somewhere along the way, it picked up an effect that recovers one skill use."

"… Impossible…!"

"Leone, Awakening, Thunder God."

"Yes. I've stacked Accel Speed three times, so this is… it might come out as 4 hits."

"It'll be over in 2."

"Impossibleeeeeee!"

Mathfene desperately had the two cover her, but a Skill-less Skill couldn't dodge Awakening's guaranteed-hit effect.

She slipped through easily and struck.

"Ga… ha…"

A few dots of gauge barely remained, but of course…

"Awakening Thunder God, double shot!"

Zugan!

The next strike ended it.

Leone, as declared, looked like she wanted to fire two more.

YOU WIN

… A tough one. But we were stronger than them. That was all.