All-Out War: Versus the A-Class Master

"Luna, Lyuka, Yuria!"

"Come forth, Crisilla, Olga, Rosemary."

Those were the three Stein had brought out.

"Crisilla, at your service."

Crisilla, in her maid uniform, bowed. She was apparently Stein's secretary as well.

So that was how it went. From B-Class on up, a fair number of Masters seemed to take their secretaries on as companions.

"… Olga."

A taciturn, tan-skinned girl, every inch the woman warrior in bearing.

Her abs were chiseled, and frankly, she wasn't all that pretty.

But for her to see use despite lacking looks, among Garumon who combined beauty and strength, meant her strength had to be all the more outstanding.

I'd need to be careful.

… Or wait, maybe Stein simply had a taste for getting plowed by buff Garumon like her.

Bleugh… Better to stop thinking about it.

"Heheh… Rosemary, present."

A beauty in a white coat. Like Ursula's Mira Kongouin, she was an alchemist.

I doubted she had combat ability on Mira's level, but I'd been made painfully aware that alchemists possessed all sorts of debuff abilities.

I'd have to watch out for her too.

And so… at last, the final battle was beginning.

"Luna, Angel Halo. Lyuka, Light's Blessing on Luna. Yuria, Black Matrix on Luna!"

Our tactic was simple: pile every buff possible on Luna, then plow through with Divine Art Balmung or Divine Art Cláu Solas.

"Yes…! Angel Halo!"

Pikaaa!

An angel's halo and four wings of light appeared above Luna's head. It could only be used once per battle, so this was enough.

"… Against me, you still cling to such folly as leveling up… Be defeated, and regret your own arrogance!"

Stein was angry.

"Don't worry. I just picked the companions I needed to ordinarily beat you."

I corrected the man's misconception in turn.

"Then, here we go."

Crisilla swept the ground at her feet with a broom, swish, swish. With that, somehow, all her allies received a buff.

"It is a maid's accomplishment."

"H-Huh…"

I answered her in spite of myself.

"Acid Bomb!"

Following up, Rosemary proved to be an alchemist as advertised.

The acid attack brought Mira's trauma flashing back… No, I was fine. This wasn't Mira's Acid Storm.

That ridiculous skill, the one that lowered the defense of one to three targets by 50%, was something else entirely.

… Still, having taken the acid, Luna's defense felt like it had dropped by about 30%.

And then…

"Grrrr… Graaaaaah! Beast Transformation!"

Olga roared. A thick coat of fur sprouted from her body, turning her into a Beastkin…! It was visibly clear that a powerful attack-and-defense buff had been applied. And then…

"Sword… of Destruction!"

She raised a massive sword overhead. And then she swung it down without ceremony!

"… Kyaa!"

Crack!

The Angel Wing Luna had tried to block with was shattered straight through.

Damn it, a piercing attack.

15 points of damage to Luna. Her defense was doubled by Angel Halo's effect. Even after being knocked down 30% by Acid Bomb, that was on the strong side for a low-power piercing attack.

… Of course, if I set Ursula's Demon Art Lævateinn aside as a thing apart.

"… They're doing the same thing, then."

Concentrate buffs on Olga, attack with Olga's piercing.

Each side had a one-vanguard, two-rearguard formation, with the vanguards slugging it out.

When it shaped up like this, the rearguards had a hard time attacking.

Not for any "fight fair and square" reason, but simply because it was physically difficult to slip past the person in front of you to attack the one behind.

Of course, attacking each other's rearguard was no problem in itself, and forcing it wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

… However, if you slipped past to attack the rearguard and got attacked from behind, it would land as a critical hit.

So unless there was a notable difference in speed, against an opponent of equal caliber it was hard to aim for that.

… In other words, this was a serious head-on clash with the vanguards trading blows directly.

"… Bring it on."

If you couldn't win head-on, you weren't qualified to be A-Class.

"Lyuka, Cure Shine. Yuria, Dark Saber! Luna… Divine Art Cláu Solas!"

I piled buffs on Luna without compromise. And healing too. The damage from earlier was almost fully recovered.

"Maid's Accomplishment!"

"Sharp Edge!"

The other side was piling everything onto Olga as well. Hmm? I'd picked Cláu Solas to be wary of defense, but they were throwing defense to the wind and just attacking? In that case, I should have gone with Balmung. My mistake.

Stein really was an A-Class Master. From the start he hadn't used skills, holding back until after we moved, properly thinking about acting on the counter-initiative.

… Then again, for someone unable to handle this level of battle to climb to world-top-tier A-Class would be the stranger thing.

"Graaah!"

Olga went Beast Transformation again… Apparently she got attack-and-defense buffs every turn. And then…

"Sword of Destruction!"

Wham! About 20 points of damage. So their side's buffs were stronger than the attack-and-defense UP from Cure Shine.

… No, since I could heal with Cure Shine on top of the rest, unless their buffs surpassed mine by a fair margin, they'd never get me down.

For buffs they were stacking with two helpers, that was rather weak.

That Maid's Accomplishment was a 15% buff to all stats, maybe? With equivalent skills, an all-stat buff was weaker in effect than an attack-or-defense buff.

That said, having Strength, Skill, Speed, and Defense all rise was powerful in the long run.

Olga's Beast Transformation was probably also an all-stat type. So around 15%.

If Sharp Edge was attack-only, it should be at least 50% UP. If they were 80% UP and we were 30% UP, the differential was 50% UP, so 22.5 or so.

Our side had 100% UP, 30%, 30%, 30%, totaling 290%, and on top of that doubled, so 5.8x. Subtracting their defense buffs from there…

"Go, Luna!"

"Yes…! Here I come!"

Luna held out her hand, and a sword glowing with light appeared from midair.

"Now… here we go! Divine Art… Cláu Solas!"

Whoosh! Luna raised the sword.

"Wh-What… You possessed Divine Art Cláu Solas…!?"

Stein's eyes bulged. As expected, he knew the power of the Divine Arts his own subordinate possessed.

"Acid Shell!"

But a wall of acid manifested, trying to block Luna. So that was Rosemary's at-will defense skill.

It was the same defensive technique Mira had: an alchemist's powerful defensive move that not only blocked attacks but inflicted damage.

But…

Shubaa!

Rather than slicing through with piercing, Luna slipped through the wall in a magnificent movement.

It was the guaranteed-hit motion granted by Light's Blessing.

In a guaranteed-hit state, she could slip past obstacles with unnatural movement and reach her target.

A wall manifesting wasn't enough to stop a guaranteed-hit.

The Light-element advantage and Dragon-effective enchantment didn't apply, but Luna's God-element was advantageous against Normal-element to begin with.

Ka!

The sword came down.

Olga's HP plummeted at a tremendous rate.

Oh, even without Balmung that was plenty for a one-shot kill. Magnificent.

"Impossible… Olga, with her high durability…! Crisilla!"

"Life Offered!"

But in that instant, Crisilla activated a skill.

"Guhh!"

Major damage to Crisilla… But she didn't fall. Life Offered, the same skill the priestess Wira had used earlier, had apparently evolved differently or produced different effects per user. Crisilla's version seemed to be a skill that, instead of killing the user, took the damage in another's stead.

"Graaaaah!"

Olga's HP held at 1.

So in exchange for major damage, an Endure was applied. Would she die from this damage? If percentage damage didn't take her out…

Unless I took out Crisilla, this wouldn't end.

In any case, with Acid Shell in play too, going with Cláu Solas had been the right call.

I could keep plowing through with Cláu Solas like this, but the guaranteed-hit-granting Light's Blessing had already run out.

Could Luna slip past Olga to take down Crisilla? With Suzanne maybe, but with Luna…

No. That Olga had Beast-Transformed, and her Cover ability was probably quite high. Add Acid Shell on top, and Crisilla's hand-to-hand probably looked solid too. Slipping past all of that to attack Crisilla without guaranteed-hit would be tough even for Suzanne.

Which meant I'd have to take down Olga repeatedly to drain her skills, but…

If they kept stacking 30% all-stat buffs on her like this, eventually she'd hit double-attack and the damage race would tip badly against me.

Letting it drag on would be bad.

If I could just nullify Crisilla's Life Offered…

"Ah, that's it. Yuria!"

I gave Yuria the instruction.

"… Yes, I'll show you what I can do!"

Alright, the next turn's attack.

"Luna, Divine Art Cláu Solas!"

"Yes…! Here I go! Divine Art Cláu Solas!"

"… Acid Shell!"

A wall of acid sprang up before Luna. With piercing she could cut through and attack, but she'd take damage.

Instead, Luna soared up sharply on her wings, then dove down from on high. With a magnificent flight technique inherited from Suzanne, she sliced through Olga.

"Brilliant!"

I let out a cry of admiration in spite of myself. I felt ashamed for having thought If only it were Suzanne.

It was a wonderful technique. Luna was growing properly too.

"Crisilla."

"Yes. Life Offered…!"

Gou! So Crisilla's version paid out 3/4 of her HP and could be used repeatedly.

She'd revive Olga again and again until she herself was taken down.

But I wouldn't let that happen!

"Now, Yuria!"

"Yes! Take this, Black Matrix!"

The super-convenient spell that changed effects between allies and enemies: Black Matrix.

When cast on enemies, it applied Dark-element enchantment, and… wiped all buffs!

In other words, the attack-and-defense UP they'd been piling on, and the Endure they'd just applied, all of it nullified!

"Wh-What did you saaay!?"

Stein was stunned.

"Gu… ah…"

Alright, Olga was down.

"Rosemary, Dangerous Drug!"

"Yes, understood."

"What!"

She had chained an at-will skill on top of it!?

"Graaaaah!"

That applied Endure too? And on top of it, attack and defense had spiked up.

"Sword of Destruction!"

Slash!

"Augh…!"

But even though Black Matrix should have stripped the stat UP, Luna took 30 damage. The damage was up?

So some skills nullified buff-erasure, huh!

Tch. Luna's HP was getting precarious. She had two turns left, but only two.

If Luna got taken down, a team without an attacker couldn't finish them off.

How to take her down… but Crisilla's HP was already low. With this, could I do it?

"Luna! Divine Art Cláu Solas, one more time!"

"This time for sure… Acid Shell!"

A barrier was raised to block Luna. Luna tried to evade again, but this time Rosemary had her own pride at stake, and the barrier was raised high.

"Tch…!"

Luna gave up trying to dodge and sliced through the barrier to spring forward.

Damage to Luna. Any more and she'd be in the danger zone. She'd go down on the next turn.

I had no more grace period. But…

"Divine Art, Cláu Solas!"

Slash! Luna's strike first dropped Olga's HP to 0.

"Life Offered!"

Once again, a major-damage trade for an Endure!

"You used it. Now, Lyuka!"

"Holy Light!"

Lyuka's area-attack spell came down from directly above!

Dogo…!

"Damn it…!"

It caught both Olga and Crisilla, whose HP was already minimal, all at once.

"Dangerous Drug!"

Rosemary tried to bring her back again, but…

"Black Matrix!"

Nullified once more.

"That's impossible! Between applying Endure and Endure activating, there's not even a second!

"How are you that good at timing! This is ridiculous!"

Rosemary was losing it.

"Sorry. My Master is… simply, truly, that strong."

Yuria smiled boldly.

In the end, Olga and Crisilla both fell, leaving only Rosemary.

"Member change."

Stein swapped his members out without hesitation. Well, with only one left, of course.

So, what to do. We could still fight a bit longer, but…

"No, member change here too. Good work, Luna, Yuria, Lyuka."

I went ahead with a member change of my own.

Now then. Second half.

The ones Stein brought out were:

Those three.

Quite an obviously-themed lineup he'd put together.

Demon-element Demons, Dragon-element Dragonkin, and God-element Angels were called the three strongest races.

Their ultimate jobs were Demon Lord, Dragon King, and Virtue～Seraph.

Dragon King was an Ultimate Job, and Cherub was a powerful Angel just below Seraph. A strong formation.

Going forward, in battles against A-Class and above, it might be a parade of Demons, Angels, and Dragonkin.

That was, in its own way, a lack of variety, and dull.

I thought it was more fun when you had to put creativity into your deck, but in a game balance where the "strongest" characters were predetermined, there was no helping it.

… Still, our combination of Strange Demon-God, musician, and Thunder Beast had no intention of losing either.

"Kanan, Phantom Mist Clone. Setsuna, Soul Refrain, March of Exhilaration two times. Leone, Thunder Stun."

First, buffs as usual, but Leone went straight in with an area attack. The aim was to check the opponent's shields.

Bzzt bzzt bzzt! Sure enough, the lightning Leone unleashed struck all three enemies. No shields? Probability-based ones could still be in play, though.

"Ngh…!"

Alicia got numbed. Alright, no stun resistance. That helped.

For one thing, Thunder-element was one of the few elements super-effective against Demon-element.

No reason not to make use of that.

… The problem was rather Dragon and God. We'd have to fight saddled with elemental disadvantage.

"Divine Blast!"

Next, Dura loosed a flash of light.

"!"

Kakeen!

She'd gone for Kanan. We deflected it with Element Shield.

But… that power. Single-target massive damage, I'd say. Taking it head-on would be dangerous.

"Dragon Art Dragon Claw!"

Then another attack rained down at the same time. Dragon Arts, no less!? One of the three great strong-skill groups.

Taking that head-on would be bad! But this time, she went for Kanan's clone. No problem there.

Kakeen!

Element Shield bounced it back.

Single-target strong skills were perfect prey.

Their turn had ended in essentially nothing, but Stein still wore a relaxed look. Hmm? What was going on?

By now, he had to know from our previous battles that Kanan possessed Element Shield.

If he had counter-shield measures like piercing attacks or multi-hit combos, it would be strange not to use them.

Next turn.

"Setsuna, Soul Refrain, March of Exhilaration two times. Kanan, Wind's Blessing. Leone, Accel Speed."

I kept stacking buffs.

… With this, attack was 200% UP and speed 50% UP. If I took out Alicia in one hit with Leone's Gale Thunderclap, we'd have the advantage.

"… Child of man. When we attacked her shield without any countermeasures, did you find that strange?"

Dura spoke up.

"… If you did, you have promise yet.

"Learn. The miracle of god.

"Shield Diffuser!"

Crack!

"Wha…!"

Five layers of Element Shield, across Kanan and her clone, suddenly shattered.

… Well, that was pretty strong, but compared to ten consecutive attacks…

Actually, multi-attacks could be evaded. As an unconditional shield-breaker, it really was powerful.

"With the next, your annoying shields end. Dragon Art, Dragon Claw!"

"… Tch. Kanan."

Seeing she couldn't dodge with body-skill alone, she dodged with teleport.

"…!? Teleport… I see. So that's how you avoided that earlier Demon God Descent!"

Nebilia looked frustrated at having her attack evaded.

"Tch… A skill that destroys five shields with a single-target attack is just plain annoying.

"… With my Demon Art, defense is meaningless! Watch and tremble!"

Goh…!

Wind swept in.

This girl. She was the lowest Value of the three on the opposing side, and…

No, I'd never think a Demon was weak. But knowing the Demon Lord Ursula, I'd unconsciously assumed that no matter what, this girl had to be weaker than Ursula.

… To underestimate Alicia, though, was a huge mistake.

This presence. She, too, was strong. She was a UR-Class Demon.

"Demon Art Bloodthorn!"

A Demon Art!

Red thorns shot out.

"Kanan! Hold Setsuna! Have the clone hold Leone!"

It was a first-time skill.

But I could see the skill's area of effect. It was a dodgeable attack.

A roughly 1m-thick layer of thorns rained down across the entire battlefield, top to bottom.

… In other words, with teleport-capable Otherworld Gate, this skill could be easily evaded provided the timing wasn't off!

"Otherworld Gate!"

I gave the two of them their timing. And…

Shuba!

Splendidly, the four of them vanished and reappeared on top of the Bloodthorn.

"Wha-, what, you missed me…!? Impossible, how!?"

"Teleportation. Your Bloodthorn is slow. With a teleport skill, dodging it is easy."

"Slow, it isn't that slow…"

"Our quarrelling is meaningless… Children of demon, of dragon. Let us strike down the enemy."

"… I know! I'll hit you next time for sure!"

The three of them were apparently consulting and acting in concert.

Next turn. Still buff up, or attack?

Delaying action any further would be bad. But…

"Kanan, Wind's Blessing. Setsuna, Soul Refrain, March of Exhilaration, Radiant Symphony on Leone.

"Leone, Accel Speed!"

I went for one more turn of buffing, trusting in Kanan's defenses.

… But what was Stein's aim? Was he really just going to launch scattered, piecemeal attacks like this?

Who was playing defender? Buffer?

Even with the three strongest races assembled, attacking piecemeal without any synergy didn't seem like it would work effectively.

No, this was no time to worry about my opponent.

If they were going to attack ineffectively, that just made it easier for me to win. No problem at all.

But Stein didn't strike me as that incompetent.

For starters, the way he gave commands. Most Masters up to now had been the type who barely watched their opponent's actions and just did whatever they wanted.

But by A-Class, you read your opponent's moves, or kept them from reading yours.

In the game system, both sides input their commands simultaneously, and once all commands were entered and battle began, the Garumon with the highest speed acted first.

But in reality, watching your opponent's action and acting after gave you the option to respond accordingly. Even Masters of this world were aware of that, I thought.

Yet most Masters didn't bother. They gave instructions before turn-start and let their Garumon act on those instructions.

The reason was simple: it was hard. Watching your opponent's action, judging instantly, and immediately giving an instruction was tough.

Without my approach of preparing combined hand-signal cues and training my companions in advance, it wasn't easy.

Well-timed instructions were apparently hard, too. Awkward timing on commands could obstruct a Garumon's movement and invite mistakes.

In the end, it was easier just to issue an initial instruction and leave the rest to the Garumon's judgment, so that's how it tended to go.

But that was only because the Masters and Garumon involved were of low level. When possible, giving proper instructions was always more advantageous.

Stein was carrying out properly high-level, wait-and-see plays, letting our side move first and then responding.

… Although it was strange that no one else up to A-Class had been doing even that much.

Still, a proper gamer-level opponent had finally appeared.

The only one who had performed at this level so far was Ursula. Well, Ursula was at a level even I had to bow to, on a much higher tier still.

His Garumon were properly conferring and coordinating, too. Like this:

"Let's combine our attacks! Demon Art, Bloodthorn!"

"Yes! Dragon Breath!"

"… Striking without even breaking the shield first lacks elegance, but… no helping it.

"Judgment!"

Three area attacks in succession! Was Dragon Breath a 2-hit combo?

But of these, only Bloodthorn was a piercing attack.

We dodged Bloodthorn again with teleport, while Dragon Breath and Judgment were absorbed by Kanan and the clone acting as shields.

By body size, Setsuna was almost perfectly defended, but Leone took a little damage.

This kind of directional attack could mostly be defended against by Cover.

"Dragon Breath!"

Lastly, a 2-hit combo. Tricky!

"Element Shield!"

Kanan and the clone guarded. In total, Leone took about 50 damage, Setsuna about 20.

Even so, Element Shield was down to its last layer on each. Anything beyond, and we couldn't defend.

Simple plowing-through with area attacks was effective after all.

So Stein really had no aim, just attacking piecemeal?

If not, what was it? Counter? Self-destruct? Some other defensive skill?

No good, no decisive evidence. No use worrying further. I'd just have to be ready for anything.

"Alright, let's take her down."

With Leone's current attack power, she should be able to take down most opponents in one turn. But the surest target was Alicia, against whom Thunder was super-effective.

Take down whoever you could take down for sure. That was the ironclad rule.

"Setsuna, March of Exhilaration. Leone! Demon Art, Gale Thunderclap! Take out Alicia!"

"Yes!"

Bzzt bzzt bzzt… Leone, clad in violet lightning. And then she charged at Alicia.

But in that instant, I definitely saw it. Stein's face faintly twisting into a smile.

"Alicia… Demon Art Furfur!"

"Yes…! Now, take this. The strongest Demon Art that defines me, my namesake! Furfur!"

A pitch-black void spread between her hands. Attacking into that would be bad!

"Kanan!"

I instantly gave Kanan an instruction. Leone, charging at the speed of lightning, sensed it and slowed her feet for a moment.

This was the limit. Changing direction at this speed was impossible.

But that was enough.

"Leone!"

Kanan, who'd teleported in with Otherworld Gate, embraced Leone, who'd briefly slowed her pace.

"Kanan, once more!"

And the two of them vanished into Otherworld Gate together.

The next instant, they appeared behind Alicia!

"!?"

"Demon Art, Gale Thunderclap!"

Dogooooon!

A strike clad in tremendous violet lightning punched through Alicia from behind, right around the heart.

… Thank goodness this was a world where HP protected the body. In a world where you took normal injuries, that would unmistakably have been a strike that pierced from spine to chest, gouged out the heart, and burst it open.

"Gha… ha…! This… my Demon Art Furfur's power…!"

She Endured. But it didn't matter.

Dogo!

Leone swept across her face with her left arm. Whoa, that was a strike that would unquestionably have torn off her head. I had to admit I was a little put off by it.

Of course, no such gore actually played out, and Alicia was unhurt, only knocked unconscious as she fell.

Leone's third hit went unfired, naturally. Her 3-hit combo was even more continuous than Adelia's, so attacking different opponents with each hit took a bit more training.

Especially this time, since she'd pulled the rough trick of teleporting mid-combo. No helping it.

"Wh-What!? Impossible… Alicia, taken down…!? Wh-What just happened…!?"

Stein was stunned. That had probably been his trump card. If we'd taken it, what on earth would have happened…

"…!? Stein-sama, with Alicia falling…!"

"Gunh… but…!"

Alright, while he was rattled, this was my chance.

"Leone, take Nebilia!"

Re-action via doubled speed activated.

"…! Dragon Scale!"

But she activated some skill. Again!? A thoroughly counter-based tactic!

I see. Area attacks to whittle us down, and when we attacked, a counter for the kill. So that was Stein's strategy.

What to do. By the look of it, a skill that dealt damage when attacked. If it dealt the same damage in return, we'd be done for.

"Leone, cancel re-action. Kanan, the clone!"

"Yes!"

Kanan's clone teleported in front of Leone, then teleported away to a safe distance.

The other side could catch their breath for the moment.

We could afford to slow down, or push through in one sweep. Alright, push through.

"Leone, Demon Art, Beast-Blood Awakening! Demon Art, Gale Thunderclap! Attack Dura!"

"Yes…!"

"!? Heaven's Barrier!"

Dura deployed some shield, but with Demon Art Beast-Blood Awakening cut loose, it was meaningless. Leone broke through the shield easily and…

Dogooooon!

Drove a full-power fist into the solar plexus.

"Goha…!"

Yep, that probably came out as a critical, too.

Leone's attack power was now around 4x. Thunder was halved against God-element, but at 2x, around 100 damage was within reach. With a roughly critical hit on top…

Dogo! Dogooo!

A flowing 3-hit combo!

Whether she'd Endured or not I didn't know, but in any case, Dura went down.

Then, leaping on toward Nebilia! Re-action again! Against the last opponent, even mutual destruction was fine!

"This time, don't stop! Goooo!"

"Yes! Demon Art, Gale Thunderclap!"

"Dragon Scale! Aaaaah…!"

Dogooooon!

… The damage I'd been wary of wasn't quite 1:1. About 1/2 reflected. Still, a skill that halved the damage and returned half was undoubtedly a powerful defensive skill.

The effect was halved against Dragon-element, too. So basically 100 damage. Even with a critical, it would double to 200, halved back to 100, splitting that between us.

"Oooooh!"

"Take thiiiis!"

As expected, on the second hit she had a proper defensive stance ready. 25 each, 12 each.

Nebilia barely survived, near-death. The Leone who'd attacked her was also near-death.

… But the situation had completely tipped. Alicia and Dura defeated, only the near-death Nebilia left.

Unless they had some ultimate skill to wipe us out from here, this was decided.

"… So be it. Unleash it, Nebilia. The Ultimate Dragon Art."

"Understood. Goaaaaah… Ultimate! Dragon Art, Ultimate Breath!"

Nebilia loosed her last attack. But that was…

"The attack power's pretty high, but it's not piercing. Or can you fire it twice?"

Kanan and the clone neatly guarded Leone and Setsuna. The last remaining layer of Element Shield broke.

The breath was over 10m in diameter. It would have been hard to dodge even with teleport.

… Well, Kanan alone could've leapt forward and used teleport to get past it before it hit, sure.

"Uu… uuh…"

Having spent all her strength, Nebilia was reduced to 1 HP. Her attitude of never giving up to the end was admirable, but this was as far as it went.

"For the finishing blow, would you prefer it given full force, or ended with a light hit?"

"… Then, go all out, please."

Nebilia smiled and said it.

"Then, Leone, with Demon Art, Gale Thunderclap."

"… Understood. You were a formidable foe, Nebilia."

Dogo! Dogo! Dogo! Dogo! Dogo! Dogo!

Utterly without mercy. Three hits, plus three more from re-action, hammered in even though her HP had hit 0 on the very first hit, and sent her crashing into the outer wall of the battlefield.

… With this, it was decided.

Alright… we won.

And then…

"Oooooh! There it is, there it is! Keep going!"

My excitement was rising!

No alternative options again, huh.

"Lyuka, can I ask for an explanation?"

"Yes. Setsuna-san falls under the bard-type classes that fight by giving buffs through music, like instrumentalist, performer, singer, and so on.

"Among them, I believe I mentioned when explaining Performing Princess that it is regarded as the best.

"From here, when she class-changes to the highest-tier job, one character is added.

"The most common is an element character, like fire or water… but for non-element types like Setsuna-san, some other character is added instead.

"I haven't heard of 'Phantom' often, but it's likely a perfectly reasonable evolution form."

"Thanks, Lyuka."

So I went ahead and selected Yes.

One skill changed. Death Requiem became Ultimate Art - Underworld Requiem. A straightforward upgrade where the damage doubled.

"You've gotten even stronger… Onii-chan is so proud. Thanks, Setsuna. For always being our unsung hero… thanks to you, we won."

We'd been able to wipe out the enemy in one go thanks to Setsuna's buffs, but support roles really were a thankless job, with no spotlight unless they came under attack.

In this whole battle, I didn't think Setsuna had said much beyond skill names.

I patted Setsuna's head.

"Mm… Well, you don't really talk while playing music…"

"But fighting in the middle of Setsuna's music really does pump us up. The power of BGM is amazing."

"Yes, thank you, Setsuna-san. Congratulations on your level up!"

Patted on the head with a good girl, good girl by Kanan and Leone, who'd fought alongside her, Setsuna narrowed her eyes contentedly.

"… Impossible…"

Stein stood there in stunned silence.

His Garumon, who'd just regained consciousness, also looked a little pitiful.

Alicia in particular was unfortunate. Come to think of it, neither Demon Art Bloodthorn nor Demon Art Furfur had ended up landing on us even once.

What kind of techniques had they been, I wondered.

But this wasn't pro wrestling, so taking an opponent's technique on purpose was impossible.

This had been no weak opponent. He'd properly aimed at my weak point of having few companions, and his Garumon had been fairly well trained and strong.

There had been several Ultimate Job-tier members, plenty of Demon Arts and Divine Arts.

No, looking back, it was a wonder I'd won. For all that, I didn't feel I'd struggled all that much.

It had to mean I'd gotten stronger too.

But I couldn't get cocky. With elements and tactics, if one piece had failed to mesh, I might have been the one cleanly defeated.

I'd have to take that to heart.

But for now, I'd just enjoy the victory.

At last, I'd been promoted to A-Class.

The right to obtain Ursula, the first ticket toward it, had now been won.