All-Out War

Round 1.

"Alright, let's go. Maika, Colette, Patty."

"Yes."

"Go, Yuti, Amera, Marna!"

This was the quality at C-Class, huh. As expected of an A-Class Master's Knight.

"Maika, Dance of Frost. Patty, Ogre's Blessing. Colette, stand by."

"Yuti, Thunder Boost. Amera, Cover. Marna, Elemental Boost."

I started with stacking buffs. The formation had Yuti reinforced and Amera covering her.

"Patty, Ogre's Blessing. Colette, Cover. Maika, Neue Accel Mirage on Marna."

"You won't get through! Heavy Wall Guard!"

Amera was shielding Yuti.

Dogo, dogo! Nearly half damage on Marna… That's strong. Probably because she was LV50 now and held the stat advantage.

"Marna, Elemental Boost. Yuti, Thunder Bolt!"

"Die! Thunder Bolt!"

Zugagagaga! A tremendous lightning strike came down. A direct hit would have been more than we could shrug off, but…

"… I'll protect them!"

Gakeen!

Colette pulled the attack and tanked it. Good, OK.

The next turn, the freeze activated. The other side, all of them, became unable to move.

"Now then, let's go. Patty, Ogre God's Great Spirit Strike!"

This was Patty's newly learned super-powerful attack.

"Okaaay～! Ogre God's Great Spirit Strike!"

Patty hefted up a bludgeon she'd produced from somewhere… and slammed it down!

Doggooooo!

It shaved everyone's HP at once to near-annihilation. So far, so good. The problem started here.

"Maika, Wild Sword Dance! On Yuti! Colette, Strike on Marna!"

… A turn-end-prefacing action meant acting just before the turn ended.

It wasn't impossible to slip in an attack between an action and the turn's end.

But…

"Awa, s-sorry…"

If the timing slipped even slightly, it wouldn't make it before the turn ended, and the spirit would dissipate.

For Colette, who was unfamiliar with battle to begin with, the threshold was just too high.

When that happened, the result was the same as Stun: an action count consumed and no movement.

"No, it's fine. Practice, practice."

But Maika was as good as ever. She moved with perfect timing.

Zan zan zan zan!

With a magnificent four-hit combo, she finished off Yuti, whose HP had already been whittled down, in one go.

No Endure equipment, huh.

"Wh-what!? Yuti went down in one turn!?"

Lukai was rattled. Wasn't he going to do a party change? Could he still fight, I wondered.

"Tch, Marna, Elemental Bomb!"

"Maika!"

Maika sprang out and absorbed the 3-hit combo with her HP. Gan, gan, gan! 20 damage across three hits. She got chipped a bit.

"Patty, Barrier Crush. Maika, Accel Mirage on Marna. Colette, V-Slash on Marna."

"Okaaay～! Barrier Crush!"

Pareen! Patty smashed through Amera's heavy wall. And there…

"Neue Accel Mirage!"

Maika's elegant kick sent Marna flying. First hit, second hit, and Marna went down. Third hit, fourth!

That shaved about a third off Amera's HP.

"V-Slash!"

Colette's combo. Probably did about half damage.

"Good, that's it everyone, keep it up."

"Tch… Cover, Amera!"

"Everyone, take a break."

… When you saw the opponent Cover, could you stop in time and let it pass? Well, sometimes you actually could.

A hack opponent would Cover preemptively, see.

A strong opponent would wait and Cover only after confirming you were going to attack…

But up to now, I hadn't run into anyone at that level.

"Gh… you blanked me out…!?"

"Maika, Neue Accel Mirage."

Dogo dogo dogo dogo dogo dogo!

It killed on the fourth hit, but for the Speed UP I let her squeeze in two more strikes. With that, the 360% UP put her past quadruple. From here, she'd attack three times.

"Gugugu… Go!"

The next opponent recklessly came at me with attacks. But Colette's Cover shut them down completely. No piercing attacks then. And among URs, it looked like the first Yuti was the only one… hmm, not much to this.

"Then time for the unveiling. Maika, Demon Art - Cocytus."

"… Yes, here goes… Demon Art - Cocytus!"

And then… a horrific blizzard raged. The three opponents went to near-death in one strike. And then…

"Demon Art - Cocytus."

A consecutive attack. With that, she annihilated them.

One win.

"Ooooh, strong, too strong! Is he… is Naoto Akai really going to win 8 in a row!? The first assassin Lukai instantly pulverized!"

Doyo… A buzz ran through the crowd.

Colette's level rose by 2. Patty's by 1. Good, on track. Solid leveling.

Colette learned one new skill.

… Hmm, small damage wasn't going to be very useful. Even though piercing was so nice.

But better than nothing.

Round 2.

"Next is me! Knight Arudd, advance!"

"Then swap Patty and Luna in. Let's go."

"Yes!"

"Th-this is… Leveling up! In this all-out war, Mr. Naoto is leveling up his low-level Garumon! What audacity! What gall!"

"… Don't underestimate me. Go, Olgia, Suila, Merib!"

"Ohhh, by some twist of fate this has become an angel showdown! Throne Angel is the third-rank apex of Angels! Against her, Luna is still an Archangel… but which is the higher-rank angel? She holds her own against the apex angel Olgia… what a beautiful angel!"

A Throne, for a UR Angel, was on the loser side… or maybe it would be rude to say that.

Probably why he sent her to C-Class…

"Maika, Dance of Frost. Luna, Angel Halo. Colette, Shield Bash on Olgia."

""Angel Halo!""

The two angels emitted light. A pure, sacred radiance. But… Luna's was far more beautiful.

"Light Protect!"

Suila was a Light-magic Defender, huh. Same as Lyuka… this could get troublesome with Patty benched.

Colette's attack got bounced.

"Kee! Ogre Arts!"

Merib buffed Olgia.

Next turn.

"Beautiful angel… bow before my power! Divine Art Cláu Solas!"

Oh, he came at me with a Divine Art…!

"Colette, Cover!"

"Yes… ah!"

But Colette's defense was broken through. Piercing attack…!

"Colette!"

Zan!

But Maika took the attack on her back, shielding her.

About 40 points of damage. Pretty strong.

"Light Protect!"

Suila raised the barrier again. Mmm, troublesome.

"Kee! Ogre Arts!"

Olgia got buffed again.

… A lot of people, you know, didn't attack right after stacking attack buffs. By any reasonable measure they should have attacked to maximize damage, but plenty just let them go on Speed.

So, third turn. Suila and Merib froze up.

"… Tch, what is this… but I'll at least take you down here! Divine Art Cláu Solas!"

Zan!

Nearly 60 damage on Maika. That was harsh…

"Luna, Divine Ray! Colette, V-Slash on Suila!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Picking off the immobilized Defender. And…

"… Here we go. Demon Art - Cocytus!"

The strongest ice magic activated.

Their entire team froze up just like that and stopped moving.

Same thing the next turn. The freeze didn't melt for them.

"Luna, Divine Art Balmung on Olgia. Maika, Accel Mirage. Colette, V-Slash!"

"Haaaaa!"

Zubaaan!

With Luna's sword, Olgia went down in one strike, defeated.

Maika's Accel Mirage took out Merib, and Colette's V-Slash polished off Suila… easy.

"Damn it! Next, go!"

The next one too: Colette's Cover plus Demon Art - Cocytus to freeze them. After that, an energy-saving cleanup.

Round 3.

"Gh… damn it! But we'll defeat that woman no matter what! Even if she is the Legendary Snow White, there's nothing the Stein Order of Knights can't take down!"

"Ah, sorry, time to skip ahead."

Colette's Cover plus Cocytus to freeze. Then finishing them off with the rest.

Two repetitions of that, and done.

Round 4.

"Gh… so that's how it is! You took down knights of that caliber so easily… but I won't go down so easily! Behold!"

"Behold! My brilliant UR-Class Garumon! Kukuku… You aren't the only one who holds nothing but UR-Class! Among many classmates we sharpened each other's skills, and we who climbed to the very top all hold many UR-Class!

"Now, know it well: the power of the highest-quality Garumon!"

"… From here on, I can't just Cover anymore. It'll get tough on Colette, but… at last, I want you to protect your allies."

"Yes! Leave it to me!"

"Right, Colette, Greatshield. Maika, Dance of Frost. Luna, Angel Halo!"

"Farin, Blood Sword on Cramie! Cramie, show them, this is the ultimate Demon Art. Demon Art - Meteor Sword!"

"… Meteor Sword!"

"I won't let you!"

Gakeen!

Colette caught the first strike with her shield, but it flowed straight into a 6-hit combo.

"Aaah…!"

Colette couldn't catch all of them on Greatshield, and ended up taking around 40 damage.

If that was the halved version, then a 6-hit combo's full hit would have been massive damage.

A significant strength.

"Kukuku… You can't move on the third turn, can you? In that case… I'll bring you down here!

"Cramie, Demon Art - Meteor Sword! Farin, Ice Brand! Romi, Shield Bash! … Take Maika down!"

Damage piled onto Maika. Even with each attack carefully defended, her HP was steadily whittled down, until at last…

Maika's HP hit zero.

At that moment… her trait Poison Apple activated.

"Demon Art - Cocytus!"

Yeah… a skill that could be used unconditionally, you'd assume, just meant being able to immediately use Cocytus, the slowest-acting end-of-turn skill, right?

But that wasn't it. "Unconditional" was outrageous.

… Even with skill uses at 0, even when not selected among the four skills, she could still use it.

… Right then, in Maika's skill loadout, the out-of-uses Demon Art - Cocytus wasn't even slotted.

But the moment she was downed, it could still be used.

… With a skill this absurd, of course I'd put it in for this string of battles.

… Let me say this up front: the trait was once per battle. Meaning, in an all-out war, since each battle ended individually…

If she won, she could use it again.

All three of them froze. After that, it was simple work to smash them apart.

"… Aaaaaahh!? Impossible… impossible, impossible! Impossiiible!"

Luenza screamed in semi-hysterical agony.

… Sorry. I really did think it was an absurdly broken trait. So this was the legendary class, Snow White…

To self-revive without a prince's kiss and unleash the strongest attack, that's just too strong.

… However, the issue was the battle right after revival. That one really did fall within the one-battle frame. Meaning if Maika went down again, she wouldn't revive this time.

But, well…

"… Tch, sh-she's dodging…!"

With Shadow Step swapped in to replace Cocytus, the chance of Maika going down dropped considerably.

The 2nd party's three desperately tried to defeat Maika, but on our side too, I had Colette and Luna shield her, and we protected her the whole way.

"Divine Art Balmung!"

"Gale Dance, Wild Sword Dance!"

"Shield Bash!"

Balmung, Gale Dance plus Wild Sword Dance for a powerful 8-hit combo, and so on, and we managed to bring them down.

"Uahhhh… I… was the most successful… of this year's debuts… the most…"

Luenza hung his head dejectedly. Well, he hadn't been all that strong…

Then…

Colette's level has gone up.

"Oh, here it comes."

The long-awaited LV30 system message. The messages kept coming.

Colette can class-change.

What appeared was…

Knight

Lesser Hero

… two job classes.

"… Lyuka, Yuria, what's a Lesser Hero?"

"!? Did you just say Lesser Hero!?"

The two were startled, peeking at the system screen.

"It really does say that…"

"As expected of Naoto-san. You have it…"

The two were astonished. What in the world was that?

"The Lesser Hero class itself is actually said to be a loser class.

"Alongside Divine Arts, Demon Arts, and Dragon Arts, it learns excellent skills including 'Ultimate Arts,' a group of strong Non-element skills, but it has the terrifying drawback of halving all stats of every ally.

"Furthermore, levels are slow to rise, and at first glance there's nothing to recommend it."

"… Yeah."

I prompted her to continue. If it were just a loser class, they wouldn't have been this surprised.

Ultimate Arts… so there was something like that too.

Alongside Demon Arts, Divine Arts, and Dragon Arts, Ultimate Arts… nice. It tickled the chuunibyou heart.

Was it just me, or did names like Hidden Move, Secret Technique, or Special Move feel a bit lacking in cool factor, already worn out from being so common and mainstream?

Ultimate Arts was a good name.

"However, when a Lesser Hero reaches LV50… she undergoes a second class change.

"One option is 'Hero.' The stat-halving drawback is removed, and her excellent skills come into full play.

"It's said to be a Strong-Class above the Top-Tier Job, within the Ultimate Job tier."

"Ohh…! That's amazing."

"But people who hold a 'Hero' tend to think they got the loser, and aren't all that happy about it."

Yuria added.

"Why is that?"

"Because 'Lesser Hero' has the possibility of reaching the strongest class within the Ultimate Job tier: the 'Brave.'

"Several dozen Lesser Heroes worldwide compete with one another, and the very few most outstanding among them are permitted to claim it. That's the Brave's title.

"Colette-san has the potential to reach this Ultimate Job… the strongest class on par with Demon Lord, Dragon King, and Seraph: the Brave.

"… Conversely, if she fails, Colette-san will only become a Hero.

"Of course, even Hero is a fine Strong-Class in its own right… but if you'd been hoping for a Brave, you might be disappointed."

"… I see."

"…?"

Colette, a little ways off, didn't seem to be following our conversation.

Brave… Yeah, I really wanted that. As a computer-RPG fan, I couldn't pass it up. And on top of that, Brave was the one who defeated the Demon Lord.

There was a chance she'd be super effective against Ursula.

"Right, Lesser Hero it is… From now on, I'll thoroughly train Colette.

"I'll be putting everyone through the wringer too, so I'm counting on you all."

"Yes!"

… She'd come away with unexpected growth.

Round 5.

"You have talent, but at the end of the day, you're still a newbie… I am the Stein Order of Knights Vice-Commander, Maicos the Gale. Now, advance!"

Now then, what to do. By any normal measure, I shouldn't have been doing it. With A-Class promotion and Kanan riding on this match, I shouldn't have been taking a risk like this.

But… if I had a real chance to win and I backed down, could that kind of person become a Brave?

As for the method…

"Let's go, Colette, Maika, Suzanne."

I wasn't enough of a smartass to level up two of them.

If stats got halved, then I'd push back with Suzanne, whose stats doubled.

The moment Colette became a Lesser Hero, she'd learned one skill. With that, we'd settle this.

"Our duty is to whittle him down as much as possible! Go, Efimera, Tornado! Saze, Bladeless Slash! Fimita, Shuriken Volley!"

On the offense right out of the gate, huh.

"Colette, Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Shield. Maika, cover Suzanne. Suzanne, Angel Halo."

"Yes!"

Don! Colette readied her shield. A radiant, even aura-emitting magnificent shield.

"Haa… wha!"

Kakeen, ka-ka-ka…

Saze's and Fimita's attacks were repelled.

"Piercing is being repelled… Absolute Defense!? A B-Class Master, possessing a skill of this caliber…!"

Ah, so that was what Absolute Defense meant.

Defense < Piercing < Absolute Defense.

That was the order, then. Was there an Absolute Piercing that could pierce through that, too? Well, for now I was just glad to have a way of blocking piercing attacks.

That said, Tornado couldn't be blocked. Maika threw herself over Suzanne to shield her… but the damage to her was substantial.

Stat-halving really lived up to its name. But thanks to Maika, Suzanne's damage was negligible.

"… Angel Halo!"

Suzanne powered up… though even so, that only brought her stats back to even.

"We can't drag this out either. Suzanne, Tempest. Maika, Accel Mirage.

"Colette, defend with Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Shield as much as possible!"

"Yes!"

"… Here I go. Tempest!"

"Shadow Clone - Empty Cicada Shell Art!"

But the instant Tempest's flames seemed to have hit, Fimita split into three doppelgangers, and they switched in as substitutes.

What was that, an evasion skill!? Even dodging a full-AoE attack… seriously, watching it I couldn't tell what mechanic was actually letting her dodge. As expected of a Ninja, dirty.

"Accel Mirage!"

"Shadow Clone - Empty Cicada Shell Art!"

But it was auto-activating in response to attacks… This had to be drained fast with consecutive hits.

Guaranteed-hit… wasn't an option. Vanish would have been, but I hadn't brought it.

"Damn, like this Efimera will just stack Tornados. Saze… switch to Wind Emperor Slash, an AoE attack! Fimita, Shuriken Volley."

"I'll defend! Behind me!"

With Colette out front readying her Conqueror's Shield, the Tornados and Wind Emperor Slashes that slipped through, Suzanne dodged with martial arts and Angel Wing.

But Maika, her movements slowed, couldn't dodge… no wait,

"Shadow Step!"

With the help of a skill, she somehow dodged it… HP hitting 0 here would be bad. Even Cocytus would get dodged by Empty Cicada Shell… Tch, formidable!

"Accel Mirage!"

"Tch… if only I had St. Elmo's Fire… Divine Art Flamberge!"

That made 6 evasions… 10? 15? Either way…

"Maika, Gale Dance, Wild Sword Dance. Suzanne, Flamberge!"

That should do it!

"Haaa, Wild Sword Dance!"

Maika's elegant dual swords carved into the enemy. Each time, Empty Cicada Shell triggered… A 15-times party-wide dodge. Pretty potent.

But surely it didn't stretch to 30 times…!

Suzanne's Flamberge got dodged too. But with that…!

"Tornado, Wind Emperor Blade!"

And then trait Poison Apple activated. Maika's Cocytus, this they couldn't dodge!

"Demon Art - Cocytus!"

Bikiiin!

Just as planned! The opponents all froze. But the damage was low…! As expected of all-stat halving.

Still, locking them in place was a tremendous effect.

"Dragging this out is bad for us. Crush them in one shot, Suzanne!"

"This time for sure… I'll show you! Tempest!"

Dogaaan!

With elemental advantage on top, a clean one-shot kill. They were all annihilated.

"Gununu…! But for the next, I'll smash you for sure!"

"Member change! Let's go, Kanan, Adelia, Leone!"

"… Wha—"

Well, I wasn't simply being a smartass.

In case the 1st party got wiped, the 2nd party was a serious all-LV50 lineup, so we could absolutely win.

"All Protection! Elemental Shield!"

The opponent's Defender had spread her defensive skills party-wide. A Wind Defender.

That sort of thing was…

"Adelia, Demon Art - Beast-Blood Awakening, Demon Art - Flame Severing Claw."

"Nyaaa!"

Dogo dogooo!

Smashed mercilessly by a single strike from Adelia.

"Thunder Stun!"

Swift Leone stunned the enemy, and…

"Tornado!"

"Buster Hand-nya!"

Without letting the enemy move, we whittled them down. Well, the skill loadout itself had a bit of smartassery to it.

By the way, Kanan also had abilities well suited to consecutive battles.

… Phantom Mist Clone, you see. That one could copy her current skill counts.

No matter how many skills the clone used, Kanan's own skill counts wouldn't decrease.

After the battle, if she summoned a clone again, it'd be back to normal. Usable any number of times.

That said, since Phantom Mist Clone's own use count got drained, I'd been holding back until then… but with the remaining battle count getting smaller, it was probably fine to bring it out now.

Battle over. Colette's level rose too, all good. She learned a new skill as well.

Hmm, hmmm…

Was this a skill to use immediately as damage-halving, or one to save for a pinch as a 1-turn invincible? Its utility came down to use case.

Either way, useful. I overwrote Strike to learn it.

Secretary skill couldn't be erased, huh… well, she'd been born and raised as a secretary, so erasing it would have been a shame.

"… I-I'm sorry…"

Colette was apologetic since she was acting as a constraint, but…

"Fufu, it's alright. Let's win the next one too!"

"… Yes, all-stat halved? Just the right kind of handicap!"

Suzanne and Maika were plenty motivated.

One more battle.

Round 6.

"… So you've come this far. Stein Order of Knights Commander, Harid of the Inferno, advance!"

… Gege, against a Fire-element opponent Cocytus wouldn't work, and Maika wouldn't be of much use.

… Whoa, Fire-element Ultimate Job, Fire God! Apex of the elemental Ultimate Jobs alongside Thunder God, Wind God, and the rest.

To think a C-Class would have a Garumon of this caliber…! This was going to be tough even fighting normally.

How far could we get in our restricted state?

But…

"Fufufu… a worthy opponent!! In order to become a Seraph, I can't just be fighting tepid battles!"

Suzanne, illuminated by the opponent's heat-haze, her red eyes blazing brilliantly… was beautiful.

"Right, full power for now.

"Colette, Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Shield! Maika, Neue Accel Mirage. Suzanne, Angel Halo!"

"Be filled with the prayer of flame! Inferno Prayer!"

The Fire-element of the field intensified, while other elements were diminished.

"Inferno Bulwark!"

"Kya, ahh!"

Maika, who had attacked Meira, took 20 damage in counter. She was fast! Melee attacks were no good. They got blocked.

"Hmph… You seem to have gotten quite full of yourself, but in the end Garumon Battle is just the strong winning and the weak losing!

"The ones you've been beating until now were all just lowly small fry!

"Divine Art - Bolganon!"

The strongest Fire-element magic, Bolganon, further elevated as a Divine Art, huh.

A horrific vortex of flame filled the entire battlefield.

"… Suzanne!"

Colette and Maika together shielded Suzanne. Thanks to their efforts, Suzanne's damage was minimal.

But that wasn't enough to save Maika. Her HP was scoured to nothing in one strike.

"Demon Art - Cocytus!" The revival skill activated, but…

About 1/6 damage to all of them. Freeze didn't trigger either. Maika had been able to rampage like that until then only because she hadn't faced a Fire-element opponent.

… No good. To get Maika through this battle, the only option was a member change.

But even Kanan, Adelia, and Leone couldn't beat this opponent unscathed. The worst outcome would be them getting unnecessarily worn down.

Here… I'd have to abandon Maika. A bitter decision, but it couldn't be helped.

Next turn.

"Inferno Prayer!"

The Fire-element rose further.

"Inferno Bulwark!"

A defense of flames was wrapped around the enemy line.

… Breaking through this would be no small task, but…

"Maika, Gale Dance, Wild Sword Dance! Attack Lavera! Colette, protect Suzanne with Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Shield!"

"Yes, I'll go…! My final attack, watch me!"

Maika, dual swords already in her hands somehow, charged at the wall of flame.

Her Spirit Garb was lewd, but viewed as a dancer's costume, it surprisingly came across as ordinary, beautiful attire.

Maika's figure dancing while illuminated by the flames was incredibly beautiful.

She magnificently leapt across the wall of flame, and then…

"Wha—!"

Zan! Zan! Zan! Zan!

She unleashed a flowing slash combo on Lavera. Halved, then 60% UP, then doubled… whether a 2nd attack would come out was the question.

"Haaa!"

Zan!

There it was…! Two attacks!

"I won't let you!"

But at that moment Meira interposed with a shield.

"Ag, gh."

Maika's remaining 3 hits were stopped by the wall of flame.

"You… how dare you! Divine Art - Bolganon!"

Dogooooo!

"Aaaah…!"

Within the vortex of flame, Maika met a beautiful end.

Thank goodness for the system that prevented further damage once HP hit 0. I didn't have to worry about her getting burned for being left in the flames.

Colette readied her shield while throwing herself over Suzanne.

Suzanne's HP was severely reduced but somehow remained.

Now then, next…

"Suzanne, can you slip through Meira's guard with Flamberge?"

"… Hehe, that level is twice as easy as slipping through Kanan's defense."

… Suzanne's chance of slipping past Kanan's defense was 50%. In other words… she was declaring she'd absolutely succeed.

"I'm counting on you!"

"Yes, the chunk Maika carved off… I'll deliver the finishing blow, properly!"

Tan! Suzanne glided. Just before Meira, gyun! She rapidly ascended… and immediately dove sharply down.

"Divine Art - Flamberge!"

Zan!

While everyone was enthralled by its beauty, Suzanne's sword had splendidly taken Lavera's head.

A one-shot kill.

"… Wha… what a sword! And it's enhanced by Fire-element!"

"Uuuu…"

Meira and Wira were quaking.

Next turn.

"Wira! It's a life to be offered!"

"Yes! I offer my life unto Lavera!"

Wira drove a knife straight into her own heart. The instant she died, gooooo!

Lavera resurrected.

"You all… made fools of us, didn't you!

"I will not waste this life Wira granted me! Take this! Ultimate Destruction Magic! Divine Art - Bolganon!"

No, that was the same one, I thought, but the momentum was different from before.

The resurrected turn probably had effects like double damage and piercing + guaranteed-hit tacked on. A horrific firestorm raged.

But…

"Colette, Hero's Armor. Suzanne, Overcharge!"

Dogoooooooo!

… Both of them, survived with HP 1.

"Wh… what did you say!?"

"Right…"

But how to handle the next turn? With Flamberge, Suzanne could take down either Lavera or Meira, but only one of them.

However, at HP 1, an attack from the surviving one would take her down. It'd be fine if Endure activated, but that was a 1/2 chance.

Tempest might get guarded and fail to finish them.

Leaving Meira would be more troublesome thanks to the counter damage… but —

"No. Leaving the Attacker alive is more dangerous. Finish off Lavera!"

"Yes, Divine Art Flamberge!"

Suzanne, this time, faked a leap and dashed along the ground. With magnificent footwork she slipped past Meira's flank, and with one stroke severed Lavera's head.

Or rather, since the head was protected by HP, it didn't actually fly off.

But she instantly cut the consciousness and the body collapsed, so it really did look like the head had flown.

"Gh, uuu… s-strong… swordsmanship of this caliber, even Stein-sama…"

Meira, having defended, couldn't attack.

Ohh, big success. Going by that opening move, I'd thought she'd realized she couldn't defend and was about to attack.

"Suzanne, Overcharge. Colette, Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Shield."

"Meira! Flame Strike!"

Dogooon! But again, the two survived for their respective reasons.

"Suzanne, finish her."

"Yes."

Suzanne, ta, ta, ta… with light steps, walked toward Meira, and…

"Divine Art - Flamberge!"

Zan!

Slipping past Meira's shield, she took her head in one stroke.

Suzanne's swordsmanship was truly beautiful… I was completely smitten.

But it seemed even swordsmanship of that caliber couldn't avoid the counter. Suzanne took counter damage…

"… Tch, no good. This is as far as I go…"

"Thank you, Suzanne."

And then, Suzanne fell.

"Great work, Colette!"

Colette was at her limit too. Time to swap in the 2nd party.

A thoroughly Fire-element party, by the look of it.

Wira's Fire-element buff was still in effect. Well, in that case…

"Adelia, Beast-Blood Awakening, Demon Art - Flame Severing Claw!"

"Nyaaaaa!"

Dogoooo!

Mao the Defender once again sent flying in a one-shot kill, and after that, Leone's Thunder Stun and Kanan's clone-driven Tornado wrapped them up.

Battle over. Colette's level rose again, and she learned a new skill.

Ohh, that was a great skill I'd want desperately for buff-stacking battles like mine!

Uhh… what to overwrite. The most useless was the Heat Slash she'd just learned, but maybe I should keep a piercing attack…

"Right, farewell V-Slash."

Time to have Colette serve as Defender.

… But this wasn't a skill that could keep her in battle from this near-death state. Well, she might still hang on with Hero's Armor and Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Shield…

The next opponent up was bound to be A-Class Sub-Master. With Maika and Suzanne both down, this was as far as we could push.

"Colette, great work. Thanks to your hard work, your level went up by 8 from before the battles."

"No, really… the one who pushed through was Maika-sama…"

"Yeah, of course Maika did her part, but so did Colette.

"I'm convinced now: from here on, Colette is the one who'll protect everyone. Colette's going to grow strong… I'll be counting on you going forward."

"… Yes!"

Having pushed through tough battles, Colette seemed to have gained great confidence.

After that, Suzanne's level went up too.

Just two more battles. We could face them with more strength remaining than I'd expected. With this… we could do it!