A-Class Tournament Final (De Facto) (2)

While glaring into Aldis's eyes, I tried to predict what abilities his side held.

Behind that ironclad guard, the two knights also packed a fair share of attack skills. And the unmoving Lava unsettled me most of all.

Did Lava have piercing attacks? Did she have guaranteed-hit attacks…?

Could our attacks pierce their defense? Black Hole had worked since it was a piercing attack, but if it was truly an all-target attack, would Eternal Shine actually deal damage?

… No, even if it couldn't… that was still all I had.

Turn 2. First, both sides traded buffs back and forth: Morale Boost on our side, Golden Armor and Dark Battle Aura on theirs.

Their pace of buff application outstripped ours, and at this rate even the advantage from Sanctuary of Light would be neutralized.

I had to take them down quickly.

"Mearia, Guard."

Alternating Guards from the two knights, huh. In the early game, that combo was said to make ironclad defense rampage.

Pretty rudimentary stuff for a former S-Class Master.

If this really was all they had, we could handle it one way or another.

… But no matter how I looked at it, those Guards didn't strike me as plain Guards.

"Demon Art - Black Hole!"

For now, the good news was that the piercing attack got through. I'd shave off what I could.

… With this, Lava's group should be at one quarter HP. With only twenty-five dots showing I couldn't be sure, but even if their HP was close to two hundred, that was already down to fifty.

"… Alright, time to attack! Lyuka!"

"Yes! Divine Art Eternal Shine!"

"… An all-target magic Divine Art…! Mearia!"

"Yes! Demon Art - Dark Shield!"

In that instant, the fierce ray that had been unleashed got sucked into the shield Mearia thrust forward!

"…! It even absorbs all-target magic…!?"

Obviously, this opponent wasn't dumb enough to kindly explain her ability to me.

… Whoever it was, you know, the guy who'd always complain in stories about idiotic enemy characters politely explaining their own abilities… because of you, I don't have a clue what's going on!

Well, if I didn't know, all I could do was guess. Probably… a magic-attracting and defense effect that covered all-target attacks!

So those weren't just regular Guards after all… Still, it didn't seem to block piercing. They probably figured powerful magic defense would handle that.

If Black Hole hadn't been a percent-damage move, even with piercing it would barely have dealt any damage.

"… Heheh."

Mearia laughed. Just like that, she'd absorbed Lyuka's strongest magic and erased it.

… But don't get cocky. Lyuka's Eternal Shine was a defense-killer too.

"…? This light is…"

"…! Major slip damage!? This is bad…"

Aldis immediately checked the system and confirmed the effect of Lyuka's magic.

… That's right. The major damage from Lyuka's slip effect was unavoidable and dealt damage every turn. Combined with Yuria's Black Hole, even an opponent with rather hard defense could generally be taken down in three turns.

This time, unless they had recovery skills, Mearia would fall on the next turn.

"Oooh…! Amazing, a sudden devastating turn! Naoto-senshu has cornered the former S-Class Aldis-senshu!"

… Right, the commentary was hyped up, but I was anything but at ease.

… Because Lava's attack was still to come.

"Not bad. Better than I expected."

Aldis didn't drop his composed attitude.

"Master."

"Yeah… no time to spare. Wipe them out in one stroke."

"… Understood."

She bowed deeply… and started to move.

"Then, here I come. Heavenly Demon Strike…!"

Bouu…

She raised the sword in her right hand toward the heavens. Bouu… and the blade glowed pale blue. Not an attack… some kind of buff application?

Probably… piercing application!

"Demon Art - Chandrahasa!"

Bwooon!

With that blade, she suddenly slashed at us.

"Colette! Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Shield!"

"Yes… ah!"

Colette frantically tried to cover the others, but Lava's movements were far too fast and she couldn't keep up.

So it was guaranteed-hit application!? Lava's blade went straight… her aim was Lyuka!

"Colette, Hero's Armor on Lyuka!"

"Yes!"

"Light Protect…"

"No! Lyuka, brace for defense!"

Lyuka raised both hands and took a firm defensive posture.

Had she used a skill, her defense wouldn't have made it in time against a piercing attack!

In that instant, Hero's Armor enveloped Lyuka.

Damage halved. Plus, once per battle per person, Endure was applied.

I wanted to believe she wouldn't go down in one hit, but…!

Zan!

The far-too-keen blade cut into Lyuka. Lyuka firmly defended with her arms.

Even so, her HP plummeted at a tremendous rate. But…

"Ku… haaah."

It just barely stopped before zero.

Still, she was already at death's door from one strike, huh…

The skill itself was guaranteed-hit. In exchange for not putting out massive damage spikes, the damage dealt was stable, and the elemental-effect nullification wasn't bad either.

"… You couldn't quite finish her off, hm. Good judgement."

Lava seemed to be referring to me stopping Lyuka from using a defensive skill.

… A composed face.

"In that case, I shall finish her off here! Ultimate Art - Golden Divine Sword!"

Lewe slashed at Lyuka. But if it wasn't guaranteed-hit, then…

"I won't let you!"

Kakiin! Colette splendidly blocked it.

"…! Well-trained…!"

Lewe was stunned. It might not have been guaranteed-hit, but no random attack was slipping past Colette's Cover.

Super-effective vs all elements… that meant 2x, right? What was the difference between this and Conqueror's Sword, which had no super-effective and dealt absolute damage?

End of turn 2. On our side, Lyuka was at death's door. On theirs, Lava and Lewe were at HP 50, Mearia around HP 25.

If they'd started at 200, that was about right.

Mearia could be finished off by the slip damage at the end of next turn.

… But until then, I couldn't take her down.

What about Lyuka? Could I protect her completely?

Or should I abandon her and attack?

It was tough. A single choice would tip the scales of victory and defeat enormously.

… But Lyuka's slip damage was a useful damage source.

Even one or two more attacks, I wanted to land them.

Conversely, against guaranteed-hit and piercing attacks, keeping her alive any longer was difficult.

Turn 3.

"Yuria, Black Hole."

Once more, I shaved their HP. The state was 25-12-25 remaining. But Lava didn't seem to mind her own HP loss at all.

… Endure, huh. Was she planning on using Endure multiple times? If so, damage wasn't really the issue.

"Lewe, Guard."

"Holy Light!"

With nothing else to do, Lyuka unleashed Holy Light.

"Demon Art - Dark Shield!"

It got absorbed… But the recovery effect activated. Lyuka recovered a bit.

"Then, take this. Heavenly Demon Strike… Demon Art - Pushpaka Ratha!"

Lava raised her hand toward the heavens with a furious expression.

Gogogogogo…

The heavens split, and a massive chariot drawn by colossal horses appeared.

Dododododo…!

A trampling charge from the chariot.

A tremendous blow that seemed to pulverize the entire battlefield.

It was an all-target attack. And with piercing applied…!

But if it was an all-target attack, it surely couldn't be guaranteed-hit… Or so I'd like to think. Light all-target magic was guaranteed-hit, though!

"Lyuka, behind Yuria! Colette, protect Yuria! Yuria, brace for defense!"

"Yes! Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Shield!"

"…!"

"…!"

Yuria and Lyuka braced themselves behind Colette.

But the only one who fit fully behind the shield was Yuria; Lyuka was barely concealed at all.

There was no way she could cover both of them.

Dogogogogo!

"Haa!"

Gakiin!

Colette held up her shield and stopped the massive chariot.

Zuzuzuzuzu…

Her footing got gouged and she was pushed back, but directional offensive magic wasn't impossible to cover.

She splendidly… held it back.

With this, Yuria should take only minimal damage.

But it had been reckless to bring Lyuka into the shield's coverage range to begin with.

Lyuka was about to be trampled like scrap paper…

"Ku… even with Endure, it hurts…"

The Endure granted by Hero's Armor. That secured her one turn of surviving, but…

"Sorry, Lyuka."

"It's no problem. Please use what remains of me for your victory."

"… Thank you."

That was the effect. As I'd thought, neither piercing nor guaranteed-hit.

Magic! … Thank goodness. Thank goodness Colette could block magic too.

Heavenly Demon Strike was piercing application, huh… Was that really all?

Patty's Charge was way more amazing… No, wait, Patty's Charge was just too amazing.

If she could apply it simultaneously with an attack, that alone was plenty powerful.

Endure couldn't activate again. If I cast Hero's Armor on Yuria next turn and used her to cover Lyuka, since I couldn't cover her completely, if they pulled that move off again Lyuka would fall.

I had to abandon Lyuka.

That meant…

Aaah damn it, this party had been built around Yuria's Black Matrix adding the Dark element, then stacking Concentrate to push Dark Power to 6x, and finally slamming in a 24x Eternal Shine!

It had ended in misfire. So unfortunate.

Well, it was the nature of Garumon Battle for opponents to cancel out each other's strengths, so there was no helping it.

… Hmm, hold on a moment. Couldn't I still pull this off?

No, for that, Mearia was in the way… But Mearia was going to fall this turn.

In that case… I could do it. I could win!

If Lewe could pull off the same magic-attracting defense as Mearia, it'd be impossible. But…

If it were me, with Mearia handling magic defense, I'd put Lewe on physical defense.

That was the way to make it ironclad.

If they were attracting both physical and magic, well, then I'd just give up at that point.

Of course, that didn't mean losing the match. I was talking about the Black Matrix + Eternal Shine plan.

At end of turn, slip damage hit Mearia.

And… Mearia fell.

At that moment, Lewe and Lava's HP recovered by 50 dots.

Ugh, an on-death ally-recovery trait! What a pain…

"How dare you do that to Mearia. Prepare yourself!"

Lava's shoulders trembled with fury.

Now then, the next turn.

"Divine Art - Golden Shield!"

Lewe activated some skill or other. My prediction was anti-physical-attack defense. If I was wrong, I'd give up.

"Now, allow me to take you down! Heavenly Demon Strike! Demon Art - Pushpaka Ratha!"

… Right here!

"Colette, Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Sword!"

"Yes!"

Colette slashed at Lava. But she got drawn in and ended up striking Lewe.

"…!? You're not defending…?"

"Colette! Push through!"

"Yes!"

Colette's straightforward sword… It wasn't without its merits. With maximum power infused and unleashed at full strength, a straight strike carried tremendous force, enough to blow the opponent back and break their stance.

"!? Knowing it wouldn't go through, a strong attack…!?"

Lewe's stance broke. Now!

"Yuria! Black Matrix!"

"Right!"

Timing perfect!

And the wave Yuria released wasn't sucked into Lewe's shield. It got sucked into Lava.

We won the gamble!

"…!?"

"Lyuka, Light Protect!"

"Yes!"

Dogogogogo… The chariot bore down. But,

Pan!

It couldn't break through Lyuka's defense.

"!? You canceled out a Heavenly Demon Strike!?"

"Divine Art Eternal Shine!"

Dogoon!

And there it was… Lyuka's strongest magic, slammed home!

Against the Dark-element imbued by Black Matrix, Light-element Eternal Shine was 4x… I hadn't quite managed the 6x from Concentrate, but Faerial Light doubled it, making 8x damage total.

No matter how much magic defense they had, it didn't matter. In a single strike, Lava and Lewe's HP was wiped out.

Alright…

"Lava, Immortality Barrier!"

"Aaaah!"

But Lava Endured. So it really was Endure application!

Lewe's on-death trait, perhaps. Lava's HP recovered another 50 dots.

She meant to grind it out from here…?

"… You're strong. Surely, in time, you will surpass me and soar far higher.

"… Like that Eclair Feradria.

"But… it shall not be today.

"For today, I shall claim the medal of victory over you.

"… Allow me to give a piece of advice to such a one as you. When you battle and defeat someone with a one-of-a-kind unique skill like Lava's, that unique skill is registered to the system.

"… This time, I'll tell you in advance.

"The cause of your defeat."

So Aldis advised, manipulating the system somehow.

I immediately checked the system.

In the trait list, that display was there.

"Heavenly Demon Strike, Demon Art - Pushpaka Ratha!"

"…!?"

Gogogogogo…! The heavenly chariot rained down!

"Everyone, defend!"

Colette raised her shield, Yuria got behind her, and Lyuka draped herself over the two of them.

But our side couldn't use any more skills.

Gashan! Just like that, Light Protect was shattered, and…

Dogoon!

Immense damage rained down on the entire party. Thank goodness it was Non-element. Equal damage to all.

Colette and Yuria somehow held on, but Lyuka… there was no way for her to survive.

"Heheh… heheheheh! Now then, on to round two!"

Lava glared at us with the visage of a demon.