A-Class Tournament Final (De Facto) (4)

I had no prior intel on these new members Aldis had brought out.

But… the aura the dark-skinned beauty Lasha gave off didn't fall short of Lava's at all.

I see, so it was a two-pillar setup of Heavenly Demon Lava and Celestial Maiden Lasha.

Two beauties of similar atmosphere flanking each other made for an artistically beautiful sight, like a single painting.

… Well, personally, I preferred moe art.

Come to think of it, Celestial Maiden was the same class as Anastasia-san, who was handling the play-by-play right now.

I wondered if Anastasia-san would have any comment.

I pricked up my ears, hoping so.

"Now then, Aldis-senshu has made a member change.

"Celestial Maiden Lasha, Guardian Knight Mare, Shrine Maiden Feria… and the only Ultimate-Job is Lasha."

"They say every class with 'female' in its name is powerful, except for Shrine Maiden.

"That's right, Celestial Maiden is said to be a class powerful enough to rival Goddess. Right, Celestial Maiden Anastasia-san?"

"Fufu, thank you so much for your consideration. But that's right, Celestial Maidens are very strong indeed.

"As a fellow Celestial Maiden, I'd love to expect great things from Lasha's performance, but I'll also be paying close attention to how Naoto-senshu stands up to that mighty Celestial Maiden."

That was the gist of Anastasia-san's comment.

Now then, what about my own members?

Should I keep fighting with Colette in this state, exhausted and battered?

… Well, no matter how tired she was, she could still fight as long as her skill counts held.

Buffs were stacked plenty, but her skill counts were precarious.

… If at least Yuria had survived, it would have been worth pushing on just to land one Black Hole…

As things stood, swapping members was the smarter play.

If I knew for sure the opponent's skill counts were low, I could've used Colette alone to burn their skills uselessly.

"All right, Colette, good work. We're swapping members on our side too."

"Yes… please do your best!"

Colette stepped down, and then Kanan, Luna, and Leone took the stage.

"Now then, this is where it begins! Let's go, Naoto."

"Let's do our best, for Colette and the others' sake too! Kanan-san! Leone-san!"

"Yeah… we'll win. Absolutely."

All right, battle start.

"First Skill, Divine Art Messiah!"

The first move was ours. The strongest skill: all stats doubled, plus buff-strip and debuff prevention.

With Speed doubled, everyone got first strike!

"Holy!"

After Messiah, attacking quickly seemed better than leisurely stacking buffs.

That was the thinking, so we put it into practice. Either way, Luna had nothing else, and the others had brought mostly attack skills anyway.

Garumon Battle was about canceling out each other's strengths. The greatest example of that was taking the enemy down before they could act.

"Defensive Stance, Divine Art - Sacred Domain Guard!"

But Mare immediately activated a defensive technique.

It drew in the all-target magic attack Luna unleashed… Tch, the surprise attack failed.

Even guaranteed-hit didn't get through; everything was nullified for zero damage. And that was after Speed-2x had given us a 2-hit combo.

All-target attack magic wouldn't work. The next question was whether piercing would. I'd test that next turn with Luna's Cláu Solas.

If she had complete defense, we'd have to wait until her counts ran out.

By Colette's skill standard, complete physical/magic defense would be at most 5 uses, I figured.

"Realm's Blessing!"

"Demon Art - Thunder Beast Aura!"

So I had Kanan stack buffs onto Leone.

… Maybe I'd screwed up. Kanan had brought attack skills in case she ended up alone as the last one, but it might've been better to just bring Phantom Mist Clone normally…

Now then, their turn.

"Feria."

"Yes… Kagura Dance, Phantom Dragon Summon."

Sharan… On their side, the first to move was Feria, dressed in shrine maiden robes.

One was probably an optional activation, the other automatic. She used two skills right off the bat.

She began to dance with a shara-shara rhythm.

Then… a buff applied to Lasha… Judging from the effect, it was an awfully potent buff. All stats 1.5x… no, 2x?

It wasn't quite at the level of Messiah, which doubled all stats on everyone. But it was a powerful skill close to it.

… And on top of that, she activated a prayer skill at the same time.

Through her skill,

"Kishaa!"

A dragon appeared from midair. Not a Garumon, but a normal dragon. Whiskers, horns, green scales… exactly the kind of dragon I'd typically picture. Such a fantastical monster appearing as a real, physical entity was an extraordinary, intimidating sight, and I felt overwhelmed.

Huge… though its full length was hard to gauge with its body twisting around, it looked over 20m long, maybe a meter thick?

Plenty huge.

… And obviously strong.

But my beautiful, cute companions were stronger than that huge, fearsome dragon, so there was no need to be intimidated.

It didn't move on its first turn, huh. That was a relief.

Plenty of summoned beasts moved the same turn they were summoned… Our Ameri, Crea, and Kishilia's Magical Beast Moruna-chan were like that too, so we couldn't complain if the opponent moved on the first turn. Well, complaining wouldn't help anyway.

"Lasha, go, Divine Art - Black Lotus."

"Yes… now then, let us proceed."

Bo…!

A huge lotus flower bobbed up beneath her feet. It rotated with a bo… and…

How fantastical…

I was momentarily entranced, then snapped back to my senses at the sight of Kanan's group's gauges dropping.

… Crap, it was an all-target attack! For a moment I'd been spaced out by the fantastical, beautiful sight!

"Everyone, jump!"

… It wasn't gentle enough to be dodged that way. The wafting fragrance enveloped everyone.

We failed to evade. Around ten-something damage to each. Close… thankfully the damage wasn't much.

For attack skills, I could check the system right away to read the effect.

What a vicious effect!

And it could be stacked! If Atk/Def got halved every turn, we wouldn't be able to fight properly in no time!

But Divine Art Messiah nullified status ailments and had high resistance to debuffs too. I was really glad to have it.

… Still, it wasn't complete defense, so a few debuffs were unavoidable.

The lowering effect I'd just spotted hit Kanan's Defense. Even so, it was still at 100%…

If we kept eating Black Lotus like this, we'd be steadily worn down.

… I wanted to settle this quickly.

I'd checked in mock battles how much buff got stripped from a fully-buffed state when Divine Art Messiah or Hero's Shield was up and then Black Matrix or Tranquil Water Surface was applied.

… According to that, 80% blocked.

About 20% of buffs got stripped. With Atk, Def, Speed, Skill, and HP buffs all up, it'd be like one of them disappearing.

Incidentally, an Attack buff applied to both Strength and Magic, and a Defense buff applied to both Defense and Magic Defense.

… Way too late to be bringing this up after using them so much, but yeah. Strength/Magic = Attack, Defense/Magic Defense = Defense, treated as one each.

Adding to that, Messiah and Hero's Shield could be stacked, so there was actually high value in deploying Luna and Colette together.

I'd assumed it would be a multiplicative 96% block, but it was surprisingly additive. Meaning, stacking Miracle's Shield onto Messiah blocked 100%.

Well, you couldn't stack the block onto both 1st and 2nd parties, so it was tricky.

Anyway, back from that aside: having one of the six parameters (three people's Atk and Def) disappear was about right by the probability. Sometimes two would disappear.

… I see, if multiplier debuffs existed, then 2x wasn't necessarily more useful than 100%-UP.

After taking 1/2x twice and ending up at 1/4 (25%), 2x put you at 50%, but 100%-UP put you at 125%, letting you recover immediately.

So you needed to use them case by case.

… Also, another aside, but… that just now was really shameful. I'd failed to deploy Kanan's Element Shell.

I'd thought the defense skill becoming optional-activation rather than auto-activation was a complete plus for me.

It wouldn't trigger on weak attacks, only on strong ones.

… But "optional" also meant you could fail to deploy it if you spaced out.

The damage ended up weak as it turned out, and from the look of it, Element Shell probably couldn't have blocked that mist-like debuff anyway.

So it was alright as a result, but…

Failing to deploy a defense skill without even judging whether to use it was truly disgraceful.

True, the skill just now hadn't looked like an attack at all, but still, pathetic.

I had to reflect on this hard.

That said, I couldn't be reflecting mid-battle. Next turn.

"Luna! Divine Art Cláu Solas! Aim at Lasha. But be ready for it to get drawn to Mare."

"Yes!"

"Defensive Stance, Divine Art - Sacred Domain Guard!"

The same stance as before.

Luna's sword, which should've been aimed at Lasha, was drawn toward Mare.

Physical, magic, all-target… drawing all of them in. Even if it was two skills layered, it was incredibly convenient.

If it were complete defense on top of that, we'd be stumped, but…

Zan!

Sure enough, even she couldn't block piercing.

Luna's swordwork was magnificent. She feinted a downward swing to make the shield raise, then cleaved horizontally.

She must've landed at least equal-multiplier damage in a good way.

… But the damage was low. With Attack-2x for large damage, attack power should be around 50. The way it was loaded in now, 80 wouldn't have been strange.

… However, the actual damage was less than 1/20. Even with the 2-hit combo, less than 1/10.

HP being 2000 was hard to credit, so it seemed the damage was being held to about 1/10.

"… Defense + Great Defense (1/10), huh!"

Non-piercing attacks got stopped by Defense; piercing attacks got received via HP through Great Defense… An impregnable defense!

This was going to be quite a bone to crack.

The result was incredible defense, but Defensive Stance and Divine Art - Sacred Domain Guard layered together made it work, and I couldn't believe it was a skill with that few uses.

If she could use it 10 times… having a Defender hold us off for 10 turns would be unspeakable.

We'd lose first.

Over those 10 turns, we'd eat Black Lotus many times. If Leone's Attack got lowered, it'd be irrecoverable.

This turn too, Attack might get halved.

… Then wasn't the best chance of taking her down right now, by attacking immediately?

What to do? Going all-out with Leone's Gale Thunderclap, was it enough? Not enough?

I had less than a second of leeway before issuing instructions. Once that passed, the Speed advantage would be wasted, and they'd start acting.

Doing mental arithmetic that fast on a calculation this complex was brutal!

Aaah, I had no choice but to go on momentum without calculating! Attack!

"Kanan, Realm's Blessing! Leone, after Thunder Beast Aura, Demon Art - Beast-Blood Awakening, all-out! Combo Gale Thunderclap to take down Mare!"

"Got it!"

"Go, Leone!"

Kanan used Realm's Blessing while pushing Leone's back.

"Demon Art - Thunder Beast Aura!"

Buffing herself, Leone dashed.

"Demon Art - Beast-Blood Awakening!"

Then she activated the optional skill, granting both piercing and guaranteed-hit…

"Demon Art - Gale Thunderclap!"

She slammed in the strongest thunder strike attack.

"…!"

Gaun!

From above to below, she drove a downward fist with the force to crush Mare's eyes.

"… kh"

The instant Mare closed her eyes, a left combo to her face, then a right third strike again to her face from the opposite side.

Then another action. Dogo dogo dogo!

Then another action. Dogo dogo dogo!

"Demon Art - Beast-Blood Awakening, Demon Art - Gale Thunderclap!"

A second helping. Dogo dogo dogo

…

Mare regathered herself, re-set her shield, and tried to block Leone's attack with it, but Leone slipped through the shield, grabbed her arm, and pummeled her face mercilessly.

Then she circled around to the opposite side, going from Mare's back toward her neck, into her spine…

… Going completely for the kill.

Awesome… I muttered, somewhat dazed, then slowly started calculating.

Leone's Gale Thunderclap had a base attack power of 50, and a 3-hit attack made it 1.75x. Attack power was 100% from Messiah, plus 120%-UP from Realm's Blessing and Demon Art - Thunder Beast Aura, totaling 320%.

Speed too was 320%. With Gale Thunderclap doubling that to 640%, it was a 3-action turn. Demon Art - Thunder Beast Aura had been used twice, so Beast-Blood Awakening was 3 times for x9.

50 * 1.75 * 3.2 * 9 / 10 = 252.

Ah, that was enough. Even at UR-Class LV50, the HP cap was only around 200.

Even if she Endured a few times, the math gave us several extra attacks to spare.

Of course, if Mare's defensive technique exceeded Leone's offensive technique, it would approach 1/2 from there and there was a chance of falling short, but…

Less than 1/3 of the 27-hit combo got blocked.

It would come out at theoretical value or higher.

Zugaaan!

… And after a torrential storm of combos like a lightning strike passing through, what remained were Mare, beaten so badly she looked charred, pummeled into incapacitation, and Leone, draped in beautiful purple lightning.

"Uwawawawa…! Amazing, too amazing!

"Naoto-senshu's Leone, with that incredible combo, took down Aldis-senshu's Mare, known for high defense, in one go! Wh-what was that attack just now!?

"A combo of that level isn't even something our Stella can pull off…! Well, Stella's individual hits are heavier, of course.

"In any case, she pulled off an attack on par with the upper ranks of S-Class…! This is shocking! Amazing!"

"Yeah… last year, Eclair Feradria showed off similarly fierce attacks… and this calls that to mind.

"My, my, this match isn't one I should be commentating on. Please bring an S-Class commentator."

"No no, Deeds-san, please don't say things like that."

The audience too was wildly excited at Leone's overwhelming firepower.

… But we couldn't let ourselves get carried away. We'd only shaved off the Defender.

The opponent still had two more plus the summoned beast intact.

Leone had fully unloaded her firepower to do it. The same attack couldn't come out again right away.

The match had only just begun.

We had to stay focused and not lower our guard.

"… Master."

"Hahaha… So this is it. This… is the power of one beloved by heavenly fortune. Of course, it's not only that…"

"But I have you. Right? Lasha."

"… Yes. Master. It's just as Master says."

"… Then there's no choice but to throw away appearances. Dance, Lasha. Divine Art - Kichijoten."

"Yes, Master."

Sharararara…

Lasha began to dance beautifully. A fantastical, beautiful dance.

But I didn't relax my guard, since I didn't know what kind of attack it might be.

… It didn't seem to be an attack, though.

Then what kind of effect was it?

Auspicious… same as Kichijoten and such, huh. It meant good fortune, if I recalled correctly.

Good fortune… no way.

My whole body broke out in goosebumps. Their good fortune was our misfortune.

Was she going to cause something terrifying with the power of bending fate…!?

"Kanan!"

"Miracle Descent!"

The instant I called out, Feria, while still dancing the Kagura Dance, activated a skill.

Zubaan!

In that instant, something rained down with thunder.

… A Nio-like divine statue holding a sword had driven its blade into the earth.

… Kanan had jumped back beside me.

"Ohhh, what was that exchange just now…!?"

The commentator was confused.

… Honestly, I didn't get the meaning either.

I'd just instinctively ordered Kanan to fly back beside me.

System check.

If it was an attack, this would tell me.

What the heck, was there really such a useless technique! God-element ultimate damage with piercing + guaranteed-hit was incredible, but a 10% activation rate didn't trigger often, and not being able to pick the target… what kind of gamble was that…

… I see. The skill that made this 100% useful was Lasha's dance, Divine Art - Kichijoten.

Probably a skill that made probability-triggered effects activate at 100%. A devastating combo.

"Fufu, you seem to have noticed… That's correct.

"But to evade that divine strike, your discernment is even more terrifying than rumored… However, that won't last long."

"Concealment."

Suu…

And then… Shrine Maiden Feria simply vanished.

What remained were the Phantom Dragon and Lasha.

"Phantom Dragon, defensive stance."

The Phantom Dragon enveloped Lasha and stood on standby.

Eh, ehhmm… in other words…

A super-powerful but completely uncontrollable attack: that was Shrine Maiden Feria.

Since it wasn't a skill she activated herself, she could keep using it forever while concealed.

To break this, I had to defeat Lasha and stop Kichijoten. But the Phantom Dragon was solidly guarding her.

Defeat the Phantom Dragon, defeat Lasha. Until then, I had to keep evading that divine strike from Miracle Descent.

… Wow, this had settled into a really simple development…

"Haha…"

A dry laugh escaped my lips in spite of myself.

That divine strike from Miracle Descent just now… I hadn't been able to see it at all!

… If it targeted Kanan, leaving it to luck and using teleport could somehow handle it.

… Maybe.

But if it targeted Leone or Luna, it would be hopeless!

If Leone and Luna fell and Kanan was left alone, no matter how I thought about it, lack of firepower meant we couldn't take them down.

If we burned the skill counts on Otherworld Gate and Dragon Art Blast Storm, we'd be done.

What was I supposed to do with this…

The tactic was simple, so there was no room for ingenuity on our end either. I couldn't stop the cold sweat.