Angel Suzanne

"Nice to meet you… I suppose. We've apparently had a few near-misses up to now, but this is the first time we've actually met face to face. Isn't that right? Naoto."

A haughty tone for our first meeting. Her attitude was practically declaring, I am the queen here.

"Ah… y-yeah. Nice to meet you."

My voice cracked a little… Hey now, I was a B-Class Master, wasn't I? What was I doing getting nervous in front of a C-Class Garumon?

"Suzaa-nya…"

Ah, that was right. Adelia knew about Suzanne. They'd been comrades, after all, so they must have met in person at some point.

"… It's been a while, Adelia."

Suzanne softened her demeanor a touch and addressed Adelia a bit more gently.

"So… what brings you here today?"

… With a quiet sigh, Suzanne smoothly swept her hair back, and then…

"You're late!"

She scolded me.

"Eh? Eh?"

As I floundered, she pressed on.

"You're late! Just what on earth have you been doing!?"

Suzanne pointed at me, scolding me haughtily.

Eh, eh? It made no sense. Had I kept her waiting on something…?

"H-hey… what's your deal!? What about Naoto is late!? You've got no business saying that to him!"

Kanan argued back on my behalf.

"… You can't tell unless I say it? In that case, you're a colossal fool. And naive.

"Do you really think you'll make it from here on with that kind of naivety?"

"Eh, um…"

What this girl was trying to say was, um… could it be…

"… You knew that I was in Reichhardt's hands, didn't you?

"… So why didn't you come and take me? Common sense should tell you the very first thing you do upon reaching B-Class is exactly that, isn't it?

"To get this Suzanne in your possession. What event could possibly take priority over that?"

She declared, haughty as ever.

… Eh? She had come to sell herself to me? A Garumon, doing this without her Master's permission, on her own? … Well, of course. There was no way Reichhardt would have allowed it.

She'd slipped free of Reichhardt's grasp and come to me on her own.

And she was egging me on… to come take her.

No, "egging me on" wasn't quite right. She was complaining at me. Saying that, at face value, of course I should be coming to take her.

"… Naoto-san came all this way to assist with my research. It was a long-standing promise."

"… You're Lyuka. I see. Well, if it was a long-standing promise, that can't be helped.

"… But it's still late. You should be prioritizing me."

"… What kind of selfish thing is that to say!? My promise with Lyuka was my promise too! Of course Naoto would prioritize it! … Well, the promise itself is settled now… but for us, it became a kind of milestone. It was something really important! Thanks to it… Naoto, w-well, me… l-l-l…"

"You're Kanan. Hmph! You're already with Naoto, aren't you. So you can wait. That's the long and short of it.

"I'm under that small fry Reichhardt, you know? It only makes sense that I can't sit still!

"To not be bothered by that… what are you even thinking?

"A good Garumon is something a Master should naturally try to obtain.

"If it's a peerless, greatest-of-all-time Garumon like me, it's only natural to want to obtain her even at the cost of your own life!

"The fact that you didn't, no matter how successful you've become, makes you a failure as a Master!"

A harsh way to put it.

… But somehow, this cheekiness felt good. Comfortable, even.

I wanted to talk with her more.

"… Sorry about that. Maybe on that point I really am a failure as a Master."

I smiled and spoke to her.

"Geez, Naoto…! That isn't true. There's no way a finer Goshujin-sama than you exists!"

Kanan was indignant. Kanan and Suzanne might not be the most compatible pair. They were the same type, after all.

… Well, types like that sometimes ended up the closest of friends once they did get along.

"I want every good Garumon. That's a natural feeling. But if a Garumon is living happily, I don't want to take that happiness away.

"I had no way of knowing how you were spending your days under Reichhardt."

"… Are you saying that I, this very me, am the kind of petty Garumon who'd be content under someone like Reichhardt?

"You really did underestimate me. This is quite the insult!"

Suzanne's eyes glowed an even brighter red with her anger. Even her angry face was beautiful…

"No, no, first meeting! You and I just met for the first time, right!? … When we had our near-misses, if you'd shown your face even a little, if you'd shown the slightest hint of dissatisfaction with Reichhardt, I would have taken you without a moment's hesitation.

"… But Reichhardt's your real older brother, isn't he."

"… Hmph.

"The number of Masters born in a year is said to be about 100,000 worldwide.

"After fifteen years of school life, those Masters all step into the world of Garumon Battle at once.

"The weak lose easily, get their Garumon stripped from them, and end.

"The strong survive… and so the Masters are sifted.

"About half a year has passed since this year's season started… Among the 100,000 of this generation, you of course know who the number-one Master is."

"Eh, who is it?"

I genuinely didn't know.

"It's Naoto, of course!"

That was what Kanan said. More than actually believing it, it had the feel of her bluffing to play me up as someone amazing.

"Yes, that's right."

So I was actually surprised when Suzanne agreed so readily.

"Out of this year's 100,000 graduates, only one. The only one to reach B-Class is you. Naoto Akai.

"Reichhardt only barely managed to reach C-Class, and he won't make it to B-Class promotion in time this year.

"And Reichhardt isn't the only one who's reached C-Class. There must be about a hundred others, no?

"In other words, you're an unparalleled No. 1. Reichhardt is just one of around a hundred number-twos.

"Going by the order they reached C-Class, it's hard to call him No. 2 at all."

Yes, she evaluated Reichhardt with proper grounding for her arguments.

"And the number of Garumon who debuted this year is about a million. Among them, who do you suppose is No. 1?"

"… Huh? Are you saying it's yourself?"

"Of course, that's the intent. Though it most likely narrows down to one of four.

"… Kanan Kazami."

Bishi. Suzanne pointed at Kanan.

"Adelia."

Bishi. She pointed at Adelia.

"Lyuka."

Bishi. She pointed at Lyuka.

"And me, Suzanne. One of these four will take the top spot among the million Garumon who debuted in year 299."

Yes, that was her self-assessment. The evaluation didn't strike me as either over- or understated.

… I see. If April was the start of the season, then three months before us put us in the previous year.

Which meant Maika had debuted last year. Haru, Setsuna, and Yuria's debuts were all even earlier, so also last year.

And Leone's debut was further back still. None of them counted as this year's debuts.

"… In that sense, Patty and Luna here also count as this year's debuts."

I introduced the two of them.

"… I'm Patty～. Good evening～."

It seemed Patty and Suzanne already knew each other. Patty greeted her with a cheerful smile.

"… Why, if it isn't Patty… So, you decided to debut. Setting your sights on Naoto Akai shows a keen eye indeed. Your level's still low for now, though… Yes. You could become a fine rival to me as well."

Suzanne said with a smile.

Next, she looked Luna straight on.

"… What a beautiful girl. Quite something. You have the air of pure talent made flesh. Your name?"

"U-um… I'm Angel Luna."

She introduced herself.

"I'm Suzanne. As fellow Angel Garumon, we should make for good rivals too."

Suzanne offered her hand for a handshake.

Luna obediently shook it.

"… S-somehow… my heart's racing… such a beautiful girl…"

Luna, who was probably usually the one being asked for handshakes, blushed like a fan who'd just gotten one.

"Then let me revise that to six.

"… Naoto Akai, who's already monopolized five No. 1 Garumon candidates, why aren't you trying to obtain a sixth?

"And do you understand that the one with the right to obtain me, this No. 1 Garumon candidate Suzanne, is yourself?

"Have you finally repented for the negligence of not trying to obtain me?"

… This girl was, how should I put it… a logical-argument tsundere.

Fascinating… and charming, on top of that.

"… I'm sorry. It was negligence."

I bowed my head honestly.

"As long as you understand…

"It will be very soon now. Receive me properly, with the courtesy of three visits."

"… Ah, got it."

… Eh, what was with this girl… She was so ridiculously charming!

When I'd first seen her photo, I'd already wanted her badly. The second time, I'd seriously wanted her.

… Third time was the charm. I was captivated. Now, no matter what, I couldn't bear to not have her.

That's what I thought.

… By the way, how had she known where we were…?

In this wide world, there was no way she could have just guessed our location on a Path of Radiance like this.

"Oh, by the way, you're being targeted."

"… Eh?"

"Ten C-Class Masters. Acting on the orders of one B-Class Master, they're targeting you. They've been discussing attacking tomorrow morning."

"…!"

"Now you understand why I finally gave up on Reichhardt.

"… Honestly, even pulling a dirty trick, if he'd shown the leadership to be the one directing it, that would be one thing. But riding someone else's coattails, just one of the supporting cast? He's lost his pride and spirit as a noble.

"He's my brother, but it's truly pathetic…"

"Pulling dirty tricks at all is fine?"

"I'm not saying dirty tricks are fine. But scheming to close the gap with an opponent you can't match is within the bounds of ingenuity.

"Just running from an opponent you can't beat, or charging an opponent you can't beat with no chance of victory and losing anyway…

"Compared to those, it's relatively better."

That's what Suzanne said.

"… Thank you. This lets me get my mental preparations in order. But is it really all right to tell me?

"I would have thought you'd be the type to say something like, only by breaking through that level on your own do you earn the right to obtain me."

"… The opposite. It's my final hope for my brother."

Suzanne let out a sigh, and then… she began to talk.

It wasn't that I had any interest in Reichhardt's story, but anything told from Suzanne's cute lips was bound to be interesting. Or rather, just listening to her cute voice was pleasant.

If they were going to attack in the morning, there was still plenty of time, so I listened at my leisure.

Well, the details would get long, so I'll skip them.

I heard about the sorrows of Reichhardt being born as an elite.

"… Anyway, pathetic though he is, that's the kind of brother I've spent my time with…

"Even if the surprise attack is exposed, if he can muster his last shred of spirit and challenge me in a proper fight, then after losing me, I think there's a chance he might one day rebuild himself."

"… Ah, but you're coming to me, then."

"Of course. Why on earth would I, this me, have to put up with Reichhardt any longer?

"Bringing him as far as C-Class this quickly is more than enough to fulfill any obligation.

"… Reichhardt should just take Garumon befitting his own talents and do Garumon Battles at his own scale.

"Even he, if he put in proper, serious effort, might possibly become B-Class over the course of a dozen-odd years."

… I see. Even B-Class was one of the world's highest tiers, with only 512 people worldwide.

That should be enough to save face for the son of a great noble house.

"Naturally I'll be S-Class. My goal is to be called the world's greatest Garumon, surpassing even Mother!

"For that, I need you. You need to put in even more effort than now. For me!"

… Suzanne burned with that ambition fiercely.

… Cute.

"Ah… yeah. The winner of that match should have taken Kanan, Adelia, and you, all in a row… Sorry I was late coming to get you."

"… Fufufu, as long as you understand, it's fine.

"… Then, tomorrow morning. The schedule may be moved up, so be on full guard today, but rest in moderation so you don't tire yourselves out."

With those parting words, Suzanne floated up softly into the air.

And with a smile and a wave, she flew off, shining brightly.

"… What a whirlwind of a girl…"

Kanan said, impressed.

"I liked Suzaa-nya, nya. I'm happy to be with Goshujin-sama, but I was a little lonely without Suzaa-nya, nya. I'd be happy if we could fight together again-nya."

When Adelia said that…

"What, are you saying I'm not enough?"

Kanan got jealous of Adelia.

"That's not it at all-nya～ I love Kanan-nya～"

Adelia clung to her.

"Geez, I'm joking. I love Adelia too! … If we'd lost back then, I would've spent my time with Suzanne and Adelia, the three of us…

"Being under Reichhardt would have been the worst, though.

"That girl and I… we definitely wouldn't have gotten along!

"But now… especially under Naoto, who knows."

Kanan laughed.

… I felt the same. Kanan and Suzanne seemed like a bad fit… But if they clicked, they could surely become best friends too.

I was already very much looking forward to the days the three of them would spend together.

"Even so, how did they figure out we were here?"

"Maybe because we went out to do shopping…?"

Leone fretted.

"Leone and I out shopping was witnessed by a fair number of people.

"There's no way busty beauties and pretty girls like us walking around town could go unnoticed.

"So I think it's known that we were planning to stay out overnight.

"But where the Gate's destination was shouldn't be knowable from the outside. We didn't openly declare we were staying on a Path of Radiance…"

Yuria thought it over.

"… There's one place where we did openly declare we were heading to a Path of Radiance, I think."

"Hm, where?"

"Patty-san's accompaniment authorization form. We submitted that to the office, so other people may have seen it."

"Ahh…"

That was right, there was that. When Colette had filed it for us, she'd tripped and scattered the paperwork everywhere.

It would have been clearly visible to anyone, even without trying to peek.

"…! Is it Patty's fault…!? I-I'm sorrryy…"

Patty shrank, dejected.

Colette would probably do the same when she found out, so I'd have to make sure not to tell her.

"Haha, no, it's fine, Patty. Thanks to that, we even got to meet Suzanne.

"Being able to adventure with Patty makes me really happy.

"I learned a way to return to the original world, of course I made up my mind that we'd live here forever, I got to meet Luna…

"Ah, this trip down the Path of Radiance has been wonderful, nothing but fun from start to finish.

"… So, it'll stay fun all the way to the end."

I said that and patted Patty's head.

Ten C-Class Masters, plus a B-Class Master.

The ten C-Class Masters aside, the B-Class Master promised to be a tough fight.

I wondered who it could be… well, I had my suspicions.

And so we rested our bodies while keeping our guard up, and spent a somewhat restless night.

… The next morning.

"I see them."

"Nya."

On guard as we were, we noticed instantly. Even without Suzanne's report, we'd been on enough alert against monster raids that we would have caught it.

Garumon shadows were visible in the distance. Up to eighty in number. Suzanne would be among them.

Most C-Class Masters held SR-Class Garumon. Some of them held SSR-Class.

At that moment… was it my imagination? I felt like I heard a voice. Maybe it was because I'd been thinking about Suzanne's story from yesterday…

"… Heh… hehheh, that's right, that guy… that guy's the one to blame. He stole Adelia from me.

"That's where the whole mistake started. By rights, this me should be in his position…!

"I… this me, this Reichhardt…! I'll defeat that guy, Naoto Akai, and prove I'm Leonhardt's successor! Everyone, simultaneous attack!"

"… Sigh."

"You too, Suzanne, do it!"

"… Yes, yes. Well, you'd better get through this much properly…

"Here I go… Tempest!"

And then… a torrent of attacks rained down.

… A blazing inferno that vastly outstripped all of them.

… That was Suzanne's attack.

Crap, she was serious!

Without a party-wide one-turn defensive skill, there was no defending against something like that.

But that wasn't an issue.

"Lyuka."

"Yes, Light Protect."

Pakiin!

With that, no attack other than piercing types would get through at all.

… And the piercing types were maybe four out of the eighty attacks. That was just how rare piercing attacks were.

Haru and Kanan blocking that few was no trouble at all.

"Fuhahahaha! Naoto… Akaaai! Now, give me back my Garumon!

"Adelia! And Kanan too, by rights they were Garumon I should have won and obtained!

"In other words, your current position is all, all all all! Stolen from me!

"By rights, this me should have defeated my brother Lasheid and been promoted to B-Claaass!"

Reichhardt screamed.

Come to think of it, when I'd first met him, I'd obtained Adelia.

From there, my wonderful days in this world had begun.

In that case, those bonds of fate would end here, too. By taking everything from him.

"Now go, my comrades! That guy has been unjustly monopolizing top-grade Garumon! It's the greatest treasure chest!

"Other than Adelia and Kanan, you can split the Garumon among yourselves!"

"Uooh… t-that girl, I know her, it's Maika Yukishiro! That snow dancing princess, mine to make…!"

"That girl, that girl is the best… I love loli girls! If I could get a loli girl that cute… I could die happy! Lyuka-chaaan…"

"That woman… Leone-saan… so beautiful… I want to be healed by those breasts… so sexy…"

"Oh man… c-cute, Haru Midoriya-chan. A k-kind-looking girl… so soothing…"

"… This is a vulgar act, but as a connoisseur of high art it's worth it to me. Setsuna Akai. Play me a beautiful song."

"Yuria… beautiful, cute, lewd…"

"What are those breasts, lewd! Way too lewd! Patty! NPC, you say? Doesn't matter! Even an NPC can be taken while she's a guest participant!"

"W-who's that, what cute girl is that? She wasn't in the prior intel! What's that beautiful… angel…"

"Ooooh, awesome, awesome, my eyes can't stay still! Every one of them is a top-grade Garumon parade! Is this heaven? It's a treasure island!"

"Even if you're our generation's top Master… you can't hog all those top-grade Garumon to yourself… this is just rightful punishment…!"

… I see. I hadn't understood how he'd managed to gather ten, but it turned out he'd taken ten from among the hundred-or-so who'd reached C-Class out of this year's debut Masters.

I could understand that, just by being from the same generation, they'd have a vague jealousy and resentment toward me.

"… All of you. The fact that you came to take from your opponent means… you're prepared to be taken from yourselves.

"Especially you, Reichhardt. Don't complain when you lose Suzanne due to your own folly!"

"… S-shut up! You're going to die! No matter how B-Class you are, against ten C-Class Masters, you can't possibly win!"

"… What's this. I was going to let you live… Did you come to commit suicide?"

When I said that, they fell into a momentary panic.

"D-don't joke around…"

Now then. Attacked by ten C-Class Masters. An outrageous situation.

If it had been just Kanan and Adelia… we would have been completely finished.

Even adding Maika to that, the chance of getting through would have been slim.

If Lyuka and Leone joined in… the chance of getting through rose considerably. But casualties wouldn't have been preventable.

… But with Yuria, Haru, and Setsuna also joining in…

The answer was about to be demonstrated. Ah, naturally, Patty and Luna were still combat outsiders.

"Setsuna! Soul Refrain! Death Requiem, twin chain!"

"Yes!"

Sharara, sharara…

She began to play her violin. Even though she was alone, playing a single violin, a beautiful duet rang out.

"… Beautiful."

The C-Class Master Lafitte, who appreciated the arts, had his heart stolen by that beautiful tone.

But many of the other Garumon…

"Ah…"

"Hyuu…"

"Aah…"

Bata, bata, bata…

At terrifying speed, their lives were taken.

"… W-what!?"

"Death Requiem. All-target attack. Non-element extreme damage. And an instant-death effect.

"… The instant-death effect is probabilistic, but against weaker opponents, it works extremely well.

"Against opponents of equal rank it's only about 1 percent, but against weaker opponents, it lands around 50 percent of the time.

"Chained twice, three-fourths drop out from this alone.

"For the surviving one-fourth… Kanan, Tornado! Maika, Blizzard! Yuria, Darkness!"

Gyaaaa… uwaaaaa… They went flying.

In a normal fight, the other side would also have a Defender activating defensive skills, so an annihilation this easy wouldn't have been possible.

… However, believing they had the element of surprise, the other side had committed everyone, including their Defenders, to all-out attacks.

As a result, this turn their Defenders couldn't switch to defense, and they took the all-target attacks head-on.

"H-ha… ha…? I-impossible…?"

A heap of corpses…

Behind them lay piles of annihilated Garumon, a mountain of bodies.

"All of you. Even I don't want to slaughter seventy-nine Garumon… If you take your own Garumon and quietly withdraw, I won't pursue you any further.

"… Or rather, Lyuka. Open a Gate and send them back to town."

"… How kind."

"No, I'm just in a good mood. It was my first time blasting off a top-tier spell at full power outside of a battlefield…

"It felt great. Wow, that was something!"

A roughly 100-meter radius had been blown up, frozen, eaten away by darkness…

A spectacular sight. Damage of around 300, in rough terms. No way any Garumon could have survived that.

Zoro, zoro… The Masters, with eyes like dead fish, retrieved their fallen Garumon and withdrew. Just like that, they passed through the Gate and vanished.

… Reichhardt was the only one left behind. Plus seven of Reichhardt's fallen Garumon.

"… I-impossible… impossible. Impossibleee!"

Reichhardt was panicking.

But there was still one more…

Fuwa, shuta.

"The effective range of all-target attack magic per element is about 100 meters. If you put 100 meters between yourself and it, you take essentially no damage.

"In Out-of-Battle Battle, where the field doesn't matter, concepts like the range of a technique become important too."

The one who taught me that, descending from the sky, was the beautiful Suzanne.

"… Suzanne! Ohhhh! That's right, I still have you!

"… Suzanne, do it, defeat them!"

"…"

Suzanne stayed silent and didn't move… No, she was openly defying the order! So this was what a powerful Garumon was like. Amazing. I wanted her even more… Oh, but right now I had to focus on this guy.

"… Reichhardt."

I called out to him.

"Let's have a match. You wager Suzanne. I… wager Kanan and Adelia.

"Kanan, Adelia, and Lyuka vs. Suzanne. Let's do a Garumon Battle."

"… Haaaah!? D-don't joke around, don't joke around, what's the point of doing that!"

Reichhardt was indignant.

"… Even I don't have the conceit to claim I can win 10-on-1.

"I'd be pulverized in no time.

"After that, they'd either pulverize you into letting go of me, or, faster still, kill you.

"… Win the Garumon Battle and it's a one-shot reversal. Lose, and the only one you lose is me.

"… This is the last chance Naoto is offering you."

When Suzanne said that…

"U-uaaah… I'll do it! I'll do iiit! My Suzanne is the strongest, I won't lose to the likes of you…!"

Reichhardt accepted the final match.

… A match it was.

"Right then… here I go. Angel Halo!"

Shuba!

At that moment, a halo of light appeared above Suzanne's head. The wings on her back multiplied to four, and she began to radiate the very majesty of an Archangel.

"With Angel Halo, all stats other than HP doubled. With Angel Wing, attacks dodged 60 percent of the time… her attack skill is Tempest. All-target 100… no, with stats doubled, 200 damage now."

… Thinking about it normally, an absurdly powerful enemy. Even with three on our side and one on theirs, by any reasoning we were at a disadvantage.

"Lyuka, Light's Blessing on Adelia. Kanan, Wind's Blessing. Adelia, Boost Power."

We'd push Adelia's firepower to the absolute limit and finish her in one strike. That was the only way.

But how many turns of buildup would I need? If I miscalculated, it was over.

… Suzanne's level was 41. Her base stats were inferior to Kanan's and Adelia's.

HP was about 100. Defense, however, was doubled. The problem was that Fire-element was halved against God-element.

Lyuka's Light-advantage element-conferral wouldn't matter either. Light-element was also halved against God-element.

In other words, I needed to deal around 400 damage.

If I used Boost Power for three turns and finally doubled it with Fire Boost on the last turn, that would do it for sure.

So I needed to keep Adelia alive for four turns, but…

… That might be a little tough. Did I have enough hands?

Aah… actually, if I'd brought out Adelia, Yuria, and Lyuka, the combo of Black Matrix's Dark-element conferral plus Lyuka's Light-element conferral could have done a one-turn kill.

I'd just gone with the flow and picked Kanan. Because I'd wanted to see Kanan and Suzanne fight!

… Oh well.

"Then, here I come. You'll be able to stop this much, won't you?

"Tempest!"

"Light Protect!"

Bashuun!

Lyuka stopped the swirling inferno… Yeah, the Nezu fight would've been so much easier with Light Protect.

"Splendid."

Adelia used Boost Power. Kanan used Wind's Blessing.

"Iron-clad guard via Wind Shield… that's your specialty, I see.

"Then next turn, I'll drop your prized Kanan. Try and stop me."

Suzanne declared.

"…! I-I won't be dropped!"

Kanan braced herself.

"… Among this world's techniques, there exist the strongest of arts: Divine Arts, Demon Arts, Dragon Arts, and Ultimate Arts.

"And of those, the truly strongest art… Divine Arts.

"I'll show you!"

Suzanne held her hand out, and suuu, a beautifully shining blade emerged from her palm.

In just two or three seconds, a brilliant sword sat in Suzanne's hand.

"Divine Art Flamberge!"

The instant she chanted, the sword was wrapped in flames.

Ba…!

Suzanne flapped her wings, soared up into the sky for an instant, then dove.

She was aiming for Adelia!?

"Kanan!"

The instant I gave the order to cover Adelia, Suzanne shifted her angle slightly, aiming for Kanan!

Zan!

Suzanne's sword cut Kanan's body in a diagonal slash.

"Ga… ha… no way…"

Dosa…

Just as declared…! A piercing attack. And Fire-element… With Angel Halo's stat-doubling, plus Fire-element doubled against Wind. With that, even high damage was enough to defeat Kanan.

Splendid execution of the technique…! Reichhardt had taught her this?

… There was no way. He didn't seem to understand at all just how skillfully Suzanne had woven feints into that strike, or how the slash had come in from a blind angle.

… Which meant she'd done it on her own.

"… Amazing. Suzanne, you're a genius."

"… Thank you, to someone who understands that…"

Suzanne smiled, looking very sad.

Next turn.

If she pulled that attack on Adelia…

But Adelia was Fire-element, so a Fire-element attack would be neutral damage.

So she'd be okay? But if I could, I wanted Lyuka to cover.

If it was Tempest, though…

"Tempest."

"Light Protect."

It was easy enough to defend against, though.

… All right, three turns built up. This should be enough. Which meant if I could fully block this turn…

"Suzanne! You idiot! Why did you use Tempest last turn!? If you'd used Flamberge, it would've been over! Go, Flamberge! Attack Adelia! Just take out the attacker and it's over!"

"… Well, you're not wrong."

Suzanne, looking a little sad,

"This is the end."

She smiled as if to say that, and gripped her beautiful sword.

"Divine Art Flamberge."

… This was not safe at all. There was a chance she'd land a critical on Adelia.

So I needed Lyuka to guard with iron-clad solidity.

For that…

"Lyuka, drink the Tonic of Growth!"

"… Yes."

Make her body even a little bigger. In the time lag while Suzanne drew her sword and took flight, Lyuka downed the Tonic, and her body grew one size larger.

"Adelia, lie down! Lyuka, full-body cover Adelia!"

"Nya!" "Yes!"

… And then, if even standing in the way risked being circled around, just lying down and being covered over would do. Visually… it didn't look cool as a battle stance.

No, it looked like girls piled on top of each other; kind of erotic, even. But in terms of Garumon Battle, it was an effective defense.

"… She grew…!? There's no gap. Splendid!"

Zan!

Suzanne's sword struck Lyuka.

Maybe surprised by the sudden growth, she didn't manage to land a critical, and Lyuka's HP held up.

"Here I go-nya!"

Adelia crawled out from Lyuka's back and braced herself. And then…

"Fire Boost, Awakening, Flame Claw!"

"Nyaaaaaaaa! Suzaa-nyaaaa!"

"… Adelia!"

Suzanne's last Angel Wing. The chance was 60 percent, but…!

Zakuu!

Adelia's claws sliced cleanly through Suzanne.

"… You've gotten… stronger, Adelia. From now on, I'll also…"

"Nya! Under Goshujin-sama, you can absolutely get stronger-nya! Let's get strong together-nya!"

Dosa.

Suzanne was defeated.

If you tapped no here, it didn't kindly ask, "Do you really want to release her?" so caution was needed!

I tapped 『Yes』. If I screwed up here, I'd have no choice but to kill Reichhardt.

Of course, no such mishap occurred, and at last, Suzanne came into my hands.

… Strong. It was the first time I'd seen the words "extreme damage." And on top of that, more strong techniques just kept coming…

Overcharge could be interesting depending on how I worked it. Aura felt like a basic buff skill. There was room to strengthen it a bit more…

I found my thoughts drifting toward future training plans.

"…"

Reichhardt just stood there in a daze.

It felt tasteless for the winner to address the loser, but…

"Take your fallen comrades and head back through the Gate."

That much I really did want him to handle, so I urged him on.

Reichhardt moved sluggishly… and stopped one last time, but… he said nothing and walked away.

"… Goodbye, Reichhardt-niisama."

Suzanne, who had woken up but was still in HP-0 unable-to-fight state, called after his retreating back.

Reichhardt paused for an instant, but walked off without a word.

"… Sigh. As my older brother… and as your rival…

"If only he'd been the kind of person worth sending off with cheers, things wouldn't have come to this."

Suzanne sighed.

"… Now, let's forget about people we have nothing to do with. Looking forward to working with you, Naoto.

"… The next danger, we'll handle in a flash!"

"Yeah, that's the plan."

And so I returned her to her capsule… and turned my eyes in the direction the man was approaching from.

"… Hahaha! Looks like you're a bit worn down, eh…? Naoto, you weakling!"

"… Yo, long time no see, Ishiguro-kun."

The mastermind behind this whole affair… Yuma Ishiguro had finally shown himself.