A-Class Tournament Final (De Facto) (5)

"Oh-ho, next up, Aldis-senshu's… that's another tremendous attack! But Naoto-senshu narrowly evades it!

"As one would expect from a master of evasion, even an attack at that speed couldn't connect!?"

"I-I can't believe it… I, I couldn't see it at all. C-could he really have evaded that intentionally? It's nothing short of divine skill at this point…"

I listened to the commentators and silently answered, No, I just got lucky on that dodge.

Lucky, sure, but Feria praying had stayed at the edge of my vision, so I'd more or less been able to read the timing.

But now that she'd gone into hiding, how was I supposed to read it?

There was no way to anticipate.

… No, maybe at the moment of activation the hiding would drop and… no, best not to get my hopes up.

… In any case, our tactics were already limited.

Take down the Phantom Dragon with Luna's Balmung, Leone's Gale Thunderclap, and Kanan's Blast Storm.

That was it.

As for their Miracle Descent, Kanan would gamble it all on a teleport to dodge.

But how, if the timing was unreadable? … Surely it wasn't impossible. I'd dodged it once on a fluke, after all.

No, think back. At that activation just now, hadn't there been a tremor in the air? A faint rumble of thunder?

Some kind of presence, a smell, a flash of light, anything. A premonition… no, I hadn't sensed one.

A gorogoro… of dark clouds had risen up, but if I could read the timing of a lightning strike from storm clouds alone, I'd be a meteorologist.

Although what I wanted to be was a Garumon Master.

Anyway, think it through. Before their attack turn.

… In any case, the timing shouldn't be totally unreadable.

Even hidden, the interval from when she started praying to activation should be the same.

Recall Feria's movements just now.

After Lasha started dancing, that's right, she'd dropped to one knee, clasped her hands, and begun praying.

After that… 4 seconds.

That was about right. Then the thunder had rained down from the heavens.

This time she should start praying immediately at turn start. So 4 seconds after turn start, we'd attempt the make-or-break teleport.

Not a fraction of a second off. To dodge a guaranteed-hit attack, she had to teleport in the window between activation and impact.

… No, that attack just now had been one or two orders of magnitude faster.

A hundredth of a second, something like that. There was no way to dodge it, even by chance.

That's right, thanks to Lasha's Kichijoten, with chance eliminated, Feria had to be aiming with her own intent.

Since she was activating it under her own intent and aim, there absolutely had to be a 0.1- to 0.2-second margin.

So as long as I matched the timing, it was dodgeable.

All right, then on top of that, let's also protect Luna or Leone.

No, Kanan wasn't even guaranteed to dodge, so adding Luna on top was probably greedy of me.

But Kanan alone didn't have enough firepower.

Luna or Leone, which one to protect… Luna.

Leone had her HP boosted by Thunder Beast Aura, so she might be able to take one hit.

Or rather, Gale Thunderclap had only two uses left, and she'd burn through them this turn either way.

… If she could survive one more turn, she could restore Gale Thunderclap with Demon Art - Thunder Beast Aura for one more strike, but…

Even so, this… it pained me to say, but for tactics taken by a former S-Class, A-Class rank-1 Master, it lacked a certain elegance.

Well, "the winner is always justified," so this kind of criticism was probably misplaced.

But still, "go all out, no matter what it looks like" fit. That was how cornered he was.

His actual combat style was probably to defend with Mare, build around Lasha's Black Lotus and the like, and win beautifully and elegantly.

This no-holds-barred fighting style was his second arrow, prepared for when Mare fell and he could no longer maintain that approach.

Impressive, that he'd prepared two tactical setups within a mere 12-skill total.

That was a former S-Class for you. I could only be impressed.

Now then, turn start.

While counting down 4 seconds…

"All three of you, into Spirit Garbs!

"Kanan, Realm's Blessing on Luna. Luna, Divine Art Balmung! Leone, restore Demon Art - Beast-Blood Awakening with Thunder Beast Aura, then Gale Thunderclap twice in a row!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

The three of them stripped off their clothes in a single instant and started moving.

"Divine Art… Balmung!"

Zan!

A 4x super-effective attack delivered with 2.3x the attack power. The damage came out to… about 1/4!

Hmm, I guess that was on the higher end? I'd hoped for a little more… If her HP weren't an absurd 2000 or whatever, maybe the damage would've come out to 1/10 after all.

Geez, I envied them, getting to throw out such a great defense skill so casually.

Over on our side, Sawako's Water Spirit Barrier was 30% and Ameri's Gaia Barrier was 25%. I wanted a reduce-to-10% skill on our side too…!

"… gh… ngh…"

But Luna's movement… was that some trait of the Phantom Dragon? Something obstructing consecutive attacks…!

Wasn't this thing too good?

"… It's not working!"

But Luna kept moving! Thank goodness for Divine Art Messiah.

"Haaah!"

Zan! A re-attack. 1/2 damage. If she could land one more, the Phantom Dragon would go down… no good, 48 dots. Just barely not enough.

"Leone, you're up!"

"Yes!"

Leone slammed in. But Dragon-element halved her damage, and each individual hit was weak. On top of that…

"… gh… ngh…"

The consecutive-attack obstruction hit her too. Without Beast-Blood Awakening active, she got stopped midway.

But this was where…

"Haaaah!"

Dogo dogo dogo!

Leone's Beast-Blood Awakening nullified incapacitation. On the re-attack she unleashed her full barrage in one go.

The first hit shaved 10 dots, the second 20. In one stroke she'd carved off close to 30 dots.

Good. With this, Luna could finish it next turn with one strike.

Now then, exactly 4 seconds had passed.

… It was coming.

"Kanan!"

Zugaaan!

"… gh"

"… gohk"

… Thud.

… What was left behind was the figure of a Nio swinging down its sword, and Leone, taken out in a single hit.

"Leone…!"

In one hit!? Defense was up by 3.2x. No matter how much it was God-element ultimate damage…

No…

Damage scaled in doubling tiers: Large (25) < Super-Large (50) < Tremendous (100) < Ultimate (200).

On top of that, that Kagura dance, could it possibly be God-element doubling or something?

In which case, double again.

If so, getting taken out in one hit wasn't strange.

In case her opponent had been Earth-element, Leone had been wearing Sawako's Water-element-bestowing Spirit Garb, but unfortunately the 70% Endure hadn't triggered.

Well, these things happened… Or wait, was that another effect of Kichijoten? If so, this was way more dangerous than I'd expected.

"I'm sorry… the rest is… up to you…"

Leone lost consciousness on the spot.

"It's all right… leave it to me."

I called back to her.

That made it 2 vs 2.

Aah, but… I might be able to manage. Leone's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.

In that latest activation of Miracle Descent from hiding, there had been the faintest tremor in the air, a premonition.

Aah, geez, I hadn't noticed at first. If I'd focused to the absolute limit and roused every nerve in my body, I might have caught it.

But with this… next time, I could dodge with higher probability.

Aah, but my spine ran cold. He was tough. I still couldn't see victory at all.

I'd said I could dodge, but the probability was awfully low. If she shifted the timing even slightly, it'd be over.

If I lost… aah, that would mean losing my bet with Seika Shikina, and losing my bet with Ursula.

Losing didn't mean death. But it would mean the death of the soul of me, Naoto Akai.

Really, why… was I in a battle this brutal?

… But I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a certain thrill in it.

Aah, that's right, precisely because it was a knife-edge fight where I didn't know if I could win, it was thrilling.

Loving and having sex with everyone was fun too, of course. It was bliss.

But fighting alongside everyone with our lives on the line, this moment was fun too. I felt the meaning of having been born.

… Aah, that's right. If it weren't so, then how could so many forms of entertainment besides sex have developed in this world?

I really did… love everything about this world. Even the brutal contests where losing meant losing everything!

So in this world I loved so much… I would win! That's what I resolved.

Now then, next turn.

"Luna, Divine Art Balmung! Kanan, Realm's Blessing on yourself."

Anticipating the case where only Kanan would be left, the last buff went on her.

Of course, I had no intention of letting Luna die.

"… Divine Art Balmung!"

Luna raised her greatsword high… and brought it down!

Zubaan! In a single strike, the Phantom Dragon's HP was carved away. But…

"Gwaaaaah!"

The Phantom Dragon screamed. It had Endured!?

Damn it, this thing too… how many times was it going to Endure?

"… Balmung!"

A re-attack. But…

"Guaaa!"

The Phantom Dragon Endured again. Aah, geez, don't tell me it's another 10 times!

… Switch gears. Attack was attack. On to the next.

Miracle Descent was… coming!

This was the third time. Dodging it on first sight had been pure luck.

But that meant: with Lasha's Kichijoten, system probability could be manipulated, but true luck couldn't.

On our side, the timing-reading talent I'd been born with, the evasion technique I'd cultivated up to now, and the luck I'd built up in this world.

Mobilize all of it, and win, no matter what!

Extreme concentration.

Every sound vanished, an instant of silence.

And after that…

Piri!

Faintly, an electric current ran through the air.

"… Kanan."

It felt strangely slow.

With a hand signal, I issued the order: teleport to Luna's position.

In response, with reflex-tier latency, Kanan instantly activated Otherworld Gate and teleported.

By teleporting into a position overlapping Luna, the two of them repelled each other, sending each other flying forward and backward.

Into that gap, in the blink of an eye, the sword-bearing Nio drove down a strike that split the earth.

Dogooooooon!

Whaaaaaaaa…!

"Wh-what just happened, the dust cloud is so thick we can't see… uhm…

"Ah, they're safe! Luna and Kanan are both unharmed!

"Eh, uhm? Eh? They… dodged it? An attack like that, can it be dodged!?"

"I-I, I can't believe it. Eh, what was that? I don't quite understand it myself, but maybe there was some premonition and he caught it…

"Whatever the case, it was divine skill! That was incredible!"

Dowaaaaa…!

The moment sound came back, the place erupted.

… No, really, I… did well to dodge that.

But I couldn't keep up that level of concentration many times. If they dragged things out too long, even I'd hit my limit.

I had to train my mental endurance more.

Still, I had to do my best. Time and time again, concentrate to the absolute limit. With everything I had, seize that faint premonition.

… Aah, on that point, turn-based battle really helped. There was a 10-second-or-so interval to catch my breath.

Next turn.

"Kanan, Dragon Art - Blast Storm!"

"Yes!"

Four whirlwinds rose up. A 4-hit attack via Speed-driven re-action. If the Endure count was 5, this should carve through cleanly!

"… Gwaaaaaah!"

Zuzuuun! Exactly 5 times! Finally… the Phantom Dragon collapsed and vanished.

For once, Kanan had also racked up some attack credit.

Lasha appeared. And so did Feria.

Aah, I saw. She'd been hidden inside the Phantom Dragon's defense without me noticing. Well, of course.

"… Oh, hidden…"

"… Tch, to think you'd take down the Phantom Dragon this quickly. But… it isn't over yet. Don't think me so easy to defeat!"

So saying, Lasha stood her ground with both arms spread wide.

"Luna!"

"Mm! … I'll defeat you. Divine Art Balmung!"

"… hiii"

Zan!

A horizontal sweep with the greatsword, no mercy and no hesitation, a strike sent in a straight line for the neck. A shriek slipped from Lasha's lips.

… Yeah, scary, wasn't it.

But the head wasn't actually going to come off. That was precisely why even gentle Luna could swing the sword without mercy.

Well, partly because I'd taught her too sternly. Or rather, that was 100% it.

Even amongst comrades I had them aim ruthlessly for the eyes and throat, because they wouldn't get hurt anyway.

The basic standard, in my view, was being able to handle an attack aimed at your eyes without even blinking…

Even so, having put in the hard practice, she landed a beautifully clean strike.

"Kah…!"

Lasha's HP was halved in one go. If we could keep Luna alive next, our chances of winning were plenty good.

Even if Lasha survived, Kanan's Blast Storm could finish her off.

"… I won't allow it! Master!"

"Aah. Lasha! Divine Spirit Possession!"

"Yes…!"

And then, when Lasha offered up a prayer… she just collapsed on the spot.

"Eh?"

HP 0… incapacitated all of a sudden. But… Lasha's shadow descended over Feria, who emerged from hiding…

Zun!

And then, Feria's abilities shot up.

"… Now, this is the final round. Allow me to show you my power in full."

Feria's voice came through layered with Lasha's, the two of them speaking together.

Possession… she could do something like that too!

It was probably pure enhancement, like the sum of Lasha's and Feria's abilities combined.

This was the final round.

Their action was set. With Lasha's possession activating Kichijoten, they'd just keep repeating Miracle Descent.

Could we take Feria down before two hits connected?

That was the contest.

"Luna, Balmung; Kanan, Blast Storm!"

"Yes!"

Zan!

Dogoooo! Dogoooo!

Luna's attack landed about 30% damage. Kanan's two-hit Blast Storm landed about 10% damage.

… Hm? Re-action wasn't triggering.

Including the buffs that had been on Lasha, all the stats were perfectly added together, huh.

… This was bad. We had to survive 2 turns to win.

Worst case, if Luna could land just one more hit, the rest could be managed by Kanan dodging everything thoroughly and landing all of Blast Storm, but…

Given the choice between concentrating to the death twice or six times, I wanted to keep it to twice.

Concentrate. It was fine, I could do this. The kind of extreme concentration where every sound disappeared. Trusting only in that faint air-vibration from before, focus every nerve…

"Aaaaaaah!"

Suddenly, Feria let out a piercing scream like silk being torn.

For an instant, my concentration broke.

This was bad!

"Kanan!"

Don!

I'd failed…!

Kanan teleported, but with the moment's timing slip… rather than both being saved, Kanan ended up taking the hit in Luna's place…!

"Win, Luna… I'm leaving everything to you!"

And then… Kanan fell.

Uwaah… shit! I'd failed, failed, failed!

Eeeehh!? What now!? With one more hit she'd be down to 30%… one more strike and we'd win… it was plenty possible, but!

Luna couldn't dodge that Miracle Descent!

She'd have to take it on HP. Defense was doubled by Messiah, but whether she'd survive a direct hit from that monstrous firepower was…

I didn't know.

If it had been Irana's or Setsuna's Spirit Garb, the Endure rate would've been 100%.

Libera, Saria, Mira would've tanked it; Moruna could've inflicted incapacitation. Lizalind could've taken her down this turn with guaranteed re-action.

Out of all those options, I'd whiffed.

Trying to broaden the elemental coverage, I'd put her in Griera's Spirit Garb. Sorry, but in this scenario it wasn't effective.

Aah, geez…

There was no point in flailing. The only thing left for me to do was trust in Luna.

"Luna. It's all right. Go all out… I'm leaving the rest to you."

"Mm. Without fail… I will win. Watch me, Naoto-kun!"

Luna spread her Seraph wings… and looked utterly dependable.

"And at last, Kanan too has fallen…! 1 vs 1! Celestial Maiden Lasha-possessed Feria, against Seraph Luna, a one-on-one duel!

"Which one will win…!"

"… Whew…"

She was calm. Luna let out a quiet breath… and from a relaxed, unwound stance…

"Divine Art Balmung!"

Zan!

… A magnificent strike. The damage was more than 30%. With one more strike, she could surely take her down. But…

In the end, the outcome of the fight came down entirely to whether Luna could withstand the next Miracle Descent.

Luna, divine sword in hand, glared up at the sky.

"Luna."

"… It's all right. There's no need for any more words.

"… Naoto-kun, if you believe in me, I will… make your wish come true! Making dreams come true is what idols do!"

"… Aah!"

Tan!

Luna leapt up into the sky.

She spread her six wings and rose higher. And then…

"Haaaaah!"

Gakiiin!

… What kind of miracle was this?

The sword Luna had thrust toward the heavens met perfectly, miraculously, with the sword swung down by the Nio of Miracle Descent.

Paaan!

It was like leaping into a storm. The Nio's strike hammered Luna down to the ground, but thanks to having risen high into the sky, by spreading her six wings to their fullest she could decelerate enough.

Shutan!

Luna landed on the ground.

… If this weren't this world, it wouldn't have been strange for her to come through with no damage at all.

Of course, in this world running on the HP system, she still took damage, but…

She bottomed out with about 1/3 of Luna's HP remaining.

Oooooooooohhh!

"She's still standing! She's still standing! Luna's HP held!

"Deeds-san, what was that!?"

"D-don't ask me!"

Luna couldn't read the timing the way I could. But she'd understood the launch point of an attack raining down from above.

By approaching it from above, she received the attack before it could fully accelerate, while also gaining distance to be blown back.

With those two layered tricks, she'd cut down the damage.

"… If you can't dodge an attack, deliberately step in to receive it, and the power gets reduced… just like Naoto-kun taught me!"

Luna proudly proclaimed.

Aah, I had taught her something like that, sure!

But to remember it instantly and put it to use was without question Luna's combat sense at work.

Aah, this child… how wonderful was she?

Maybe getting an angel like her was the greatest stroke of luck behind this victory.

"Divine Art Balmung!"

The final strike, too, was magnificent.

Luna… my angel, magnificently brought me victory.

YOU WIN

I'd won…!

I had won. Against Aldis, the former S-Class and A-Class rank 1.

Uwaaaaaa…

I bathed in the great cheer.

Glory, brilliance. Acclaim. Praise. People calling out my name…

Aah… back in the original world, I'd given up on ever obtaining such honor in the first place.

But in this world it was different.

Honor, acclaim… It was okay to seek it.

More and more. Higher and higher.

Climb upward without end. In this world…

Luna, radiant, looked almost like a guiding angel illuminating the path I would walk.