A-Class Tournament Semifinal

Dalido took the first round in a normal win, and next was my match.

I won't put on a pathetic showing this time, I told myself, psyching myself up as I stepped in.

That was the party I'd be facing them with. Two members of the 1st party wore Yumi's Spirit Garb.

I wanted to make use of Yumi's Mire in the other party, too.

A risk, but I figured that while we held the line with Mire plus Yumi as defender, our two attackers Maika and Adelia could crush the enemy with a quick assault.

Honestly, I'd wanted to exploit the halved Speed and pair Maika with Leone, but I held off on putting Leone in two consecutive matches.

With Speed halved and an opening Demon Art - Gale Thunderclap, that meant a near-guaranteed three attacks.

And of course, Maika's Accel Mirage on top of that.

For the 2nd party, since I wanted to save the Luna-and-Suzanne Seraph combo for the finals, Patty would be the centerpiece for the semifinal.

To make the most of Patty, the healers Yumi, Sawako, and Lyuka would be useful, and although it ended up being the same combination as before, I went with Sawako.

After that, I added Haru as a normal defender-cum-supporter. If defense was lacking, pairing her with Sawako should pull us through, no?

That was the lineup I'd put together, factoring in all of the above.

A-Class rank 2, Romos, was not the crisp, handsome, looks-like-he-could-do-his-job type like Aldis. At first glance, he was rather unremarkable.

Well, I wasn't really one to talk.

He gave off the vibe of an ordinary mid-career salaryman in his thirties. Not that I meant to mock mid-career salarymen.

But for someone said to be the 26th-strongest person in this world, by Earth standards that put him on the level of one of the 100 people who moved the world.

Imagine kings, oil tycoons, and heads of major corporations turning up, and then a salaryman from a small-or-mid-sized company shows up too. You'd go "Huh, why?" I think you can sympathize.

… No, I really wasn't one to talk.

Anyway, the Master being unremarkable wasn't a problem. After all, this was Garumon Battle, where the Garumon were the leads.

Maybe it just meant he had Garumon strong enough to make up for it.

I was looking forward to it.

Oooh! Thumbelina, of the Fantasy Princess class! That was something to look forward to.

Maia was a cute girl who looked every bit a princess.

She was a normal human size, so I had no idea where the "thumb" part came in.

If I had to point to something, maybe the size of her breasts.

A pity. If she'd been busty, she would have been right up my alley.

I hadn't intended it, but oddly enough, this had turned into a Fantasy Princess showdown. A happy surprise.

… Well, I didn't really know the story of Thumbelina. I'd keep that to myself.

Flower Princess and Frog Knight, I didn't really know either… were they classes derived from Thumbelina somehow? I hadn't seen them much elsewhere.

Flower Princess Frieda was, true to the name, an adorable princess with a flower crown on her head.

Kelri wasn't actually frog-faced; she was a cute girl wearing a frog costume.

All cute, but unfortunately, all tiny-breasted…

Girls with small breasts didn't, at first glance, look like they could be the target of erotic things.

Like Colette, where I stayed by her side and got won over by how cute she was, and once it got to that point, then I'd be raring to go.

… But Lyuka and Colette had stirred my desire pretty soon after we met.

Maybe the girls I felt strongly about wanting to make my own had some sort of fated quality I was drawn to.

Or maybe I could tell whether they'd grow up to be busty.

In fact, Lyuka had grown, and Colette was steadily growing.

Maia and the others probably wouldn't grow any further. I knew there was demand for that, but unfortunately, it wasn't to my taste.

Today's commentator was Lavinia. The expert commentator was Mr. Galim.

The two of them were pretty unflappable.

"And so, this round has unexpectedly become a Fantasy Princess showdown! Thumbelina vs. Snow White!"

"Yes. Fantasy Princess is a class modeled on famous fairy tales we're now familiar with, but originally these stories were told on Earth, contestant Naoto's homeland.

"For Earth-born contestant Naoto, this is a match he can't afford to lose."

"Now, this has already been said many times, but contestant Romos was originally a knight who languished in C-Class for a long time, but at one point he obtained Fantasy Princess Maia, and everything changed.

"He climbed to A-Class in no time, and even rose to S-Class! In recent years he's been blocked by the wall of S-Class, but he's a top-class talent in A-Class, and last year he fought contestant Eclair Feradria in the finals and gave her a hard time!

"Will he achieve promotion to S-Class once again?

"His opponent is contestant Naoto Akai. Having claimed victory in the deathmatch against contestant Aldis the other day, he's A-Class rank 1! He's now the leading favorite to win it all!

"However, just how much of a burden was yesterday's deathmatch?

"In this brutal A-Class Tournament where intense battles continue day after day, there are plenty of cases where contestants are unable to display their true strength due to fatigue and end up eliminated.

"Will he avoid such an unsatisfying result, and call forth another miracle today?

"Let's pay attention to the threat that is rookie contestant Naoto Akai!"

It seemed I was being highly rated. Well, just having beaten Aldis was probably enough for them to treat it as something amazing. I had to put in a performance worthy of that evaluation.

All right, here we go.

"Yumi!"

"Yes. Quagmire of Binding!"

Yumi's Mire activated right out of the gate.

Frieda and Kelri were slowed, but Maia was unaffected. Hm, Thumbelina was Earth-element.

That was rare.

Earth-element had a lot of weaknesses, so it was considered weak, and you didn't see it much.

It was strong against Non-element, so apparently it was useful at lower ranks where Non-element was common.

As you climbed the ranks, Non-element became scarce, so it became less useful. Around D was apparently the cutoff.

So at C and above, Earth-element was rare, and accordingly, Yumi's Binding was a skill that shone.

Light-element, weak to Non-element, was the opposite.

Just an aside, though.

"Gale Dance, Divine Art Accel Mirage!"

Maika activated immediately. She targeted the slowed Kelri first.

Water-element, by the looks of it. A troublesome opponent for Yumi. Drop her first.

Well, Frieda also looked Grass-element, equally troublesome, so either way it was the same.

The vague impression that Water was strong against Earth probably came from Sawako's influence.

Also, Grass was weak to Ice, so Cocytus could clean it up easily.

"Kero!"

A frightened Kelri.

"Flower Shield!"

But Frieda covered for Kelri. Grass sprouted in a swirl and formed a shield.

The grass moving in fast-forward was creepy, but since it was a magic effect, that probably wasn't strange.

A normal physical defense, maybe. Since it didn't break in one strike, it had to be turn-defense. Optional activation, then.

How would it fare against magic attacks? Cocytus looked like it could break it…

Maika immediately switched her attack target from Kelri to Frieda, but Flower Shield properly tracked along and defended against Maika's attacks.

Good defense.

"Maika, delay. Adelia! Crush them in the order you can crush quickest!"

"Yes!"

"Nya! I'll match my timing, nya!"

"Delay" meant to slightly slow down the consecutive actions, letting the ally act first.

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

A swift strike!

Adelia tore through Flower Shield like scrap paper and lunged at Frieda!

BOOOM!

"…! Flower Defend!"

40 dots of damage in one shot. For a 2x Grass-element multiplier, doubled attack power, plus Adelia's sharp attack, the damage was low.

Another self-defense, damage-reduction-type skill, maybe.

Then…

"Now!"

Dogo!

In sync with Adelia's attack, Maika threw out a kick. How would that fare?

… About 5 dots, but not bad at all. After all…

Dogo-dogo-dogo-dogo!

Maika could attack any number of times.

"Flower Shield!"

Optional activation, after all. So she'd use it twice in a turn? But…

"Nyaaaaah!"

The shield Frieda desperately conjured up again, Adelia smashed through with a single re-attack.

I'd ordered Adelia to delay precisely in anticipation of this.

The instant the shield broke, Maika's strikes resumed.

Since I'd had Maika delay too, not a single attack went to waste.

Dogo-dogo!… Dogo!

"… N-no…"

A beautiful combination ground Frieda's HP down to nothing.

"… But!"

She Endured.

Yeah, everyone Endures. I knew. But…

Dogo!

That's it. Frieda fell.

Even Enduring within Maika's storm of consecutive attacks, well…

Maika immediately turned to Kelri.

"Kero, keroo!"

Dogo-dogo-dogo-dogo!

She blocked twice. As for how many times Maika could attack…

The opponent was at 50%. From Speed 200%, with one-attack 30% UP for 4 attacks at 320% UP. With 3 actions, 560%, exceeding 8x and triggering 4-action activation.

In other words, 16 times. Since I'd spent 5 attacks defeating Frieda, 9 more remained.

And since Maika's attack shaved off more than 1/9 in a single hit…

Dogoo!

"Keroo…"

Sorry…

Kelri, along with the eyes of her frog hood, had her own eyes spinning as she fell.

Aww… Despite her being a Fantasy Princess, were her companions just not blessed?

I'd downed two in one turn.

Adelia's re-action stopped. Against Kelri and Frieda the 2x Speed had triggered re-action, but Maia's Speed wasn't halved, so re-action wouldn't trigger. Couldn't be helped.

Maika's Speed on turn one had hit an incredible 580%. Using Gale Dance, she'd get 4 actions against any opponent.

For the remaining Maia, 4 hits of Cocytus or 16 hits of Accel Mirage?

Either could finish her.

At that moment…

"Help me…! My friends! Emergency Call!"

Shuba shuba shuba!

Whoa, three rear-guard members burst out at once!

Swara flew through the sky, and Chiroru and Ruura were also Earth-element, so they weren't slowed.

Quite an Earth-heavy party. Rare.

Hearing "swallow," I remembered that some Thumbelina picture book had an image of the princess riding one.

"You've done a fine job of toying with us! I won't forgive you!"

Swallow Cutter!

The Swallow Knight attacked. A girl in swallow cosplay… but with swallow wings sprouting from her back, she came flying in at high speed.

"Tch! Yumi!"

"Earth Reflect!"

Yumi drew the attack to herself.

Zan zan zan…!

8-hit combo. Pretty strong. It dealt a full 60 pt of damage in one go.

"Shaaaa! Mouse Clone!"

Just as I noticed Chiroru had become two, the cloned Chiroru came slashing in.

"Mouse Slice!"

Zan zan! A 2-hit combo. Also quite strong. 40 pt damage.

This was bad. Yumi wouldn't hold up at this rate.

"Yumi, you could have halved that just now. Look at the opponent's eyes a bit more, and properly dodge their aim point."

"S-sorry!"

Yumi's defense technique was iffy, you see. Because Shiraki had a different defender, she'd picked up a strange habit of being slow to react to attacks.

Over these two months I'd corrected it considerably, but there was still a long way to go.

"Tch, you've made fun of us! But quick attacks are my specialty, too!

"Demon Art - Great Digger!"

Ruura swung down a giant fist! Her attack power looked absurdly high.

… No good. If Yumi took it, she'd fall.

"Maika!"

"Yes!"

Maika instantly became the shield. As long as it wasn't a guaranteed-hit, she could cover.

Dogoooooooo!

Tremendous destructive power. I checked the effect right away.

Whoa, ultimate damage plus piercing!? Wasn't that too powerful? Things were getting serious…

The notion of "since it's piercing, attack power must be low" wouldn't hold up anymore.

The very risk of incapacitation probably justified this effect.

But, you'll nullify it, won't you? I knew that.

But…

"Demon Art - Cocytus!"

You probably didn't know about the effect of Snow White's Poison Apple.

"!?"

Ruura took about 1/4 damage. Chiroru and the others about 1/3. Swara about 1/3.

And Maia took no damage. Oh, she had a solid defense effect.

Good.

"Demon Art - Cocytus!"

After all, from here on it was a 4-hit combo.

… Only Ruura survived with HP 1 via Endure. Maia survived even within Cocytus's raging blizzard, taking no damage.

… Probably a trait that prevented damage as long as her companions were present?

A pretty troublesome ability… but it was probably over now.

Hmm, had Eclair really struggled?

… Ah, the heavy Earth-element presence.

Earth-element nullified Thunder. For Eclair, a Thunder-element attacker, that was just impossible.

But if Sario was there, they should manage somehow…

No, the headcount was 6…

If Sario was a Swordsman with only single-target attacks, then once Eclair was neutralized, struggling quite a bit wouldn't be strange.

Judging from the level of A-Class with Aldis absent…

• Hizaki-san, Himuro-san, and Vyletta's 1st party advanced through almost every match on their own.

• Figuring it'd be a problem not to fight in the A-Class Tournament at all, Eclair came out as the 1st party for the finals.

• The opponent was full of Earth-element and they unexpectedly struggled.

That was probably how it went?

If they'd switched members they would have won, but Sario, unwilling to embarrassingly drop Eclair down, probably fought hard.

"Haa, haa, ah… Maia… I-I'll protect you…"

Battered to a pulp, Ruura still stood in the way.

"Everyone…"

Zupu

Just then, Maia stabbed Ruura from behind.

"That's enough. I don't need dead weight."

Maia smiled bewitchingly as she said it.

And then…

"Ahahahaha! You're strong, Onii-chans! Now, on to round two!"

The five fallen (combat-incapable) ones, Kelri and the others, plus the cloned Chiroru, six in all, sprang back up.

A skill or trait of Thumbelina, maybe?

I'd be able to see it if I won. I'd check it later.

Turn 2.

"Demon Art - Cocytus!"

Maika's first-strike attack came right away. She tried to freeze them all in one go, but couldn't stop the movements of the six combat-incapable ones.

With the six guarding solidly, almost no damage got through.

Just barely… a hair under 10%? Quite a hard defense.

But…

"Nyau… Fire Boost, Demon Art - Beast-Blood Awakening, Demon Art - Flame Severing Claw!"

Even Adelia's guaranteed-hit piercing attack couldn't be avoided.

… But the six moved chaotically, doing their utmost to obstruct Adelia's path.

Pretty effective interference. So this kind of defense existed too.

"Nyau, ku, nya… Nyaaaaah!"

Dogo

Somehow she managed to attack at fingertip-grazing distance, but even that grazing dealt about 30% damage.

For this kind of off-skill skill defense, with Fire Boost on top, holding it to 30% was no small feat.

"Adelia. Go straight in from a little to the left; the layer's thinner there. Ignore minor interference."

"Nya! Got it, nya!"

Dogo

Following my instructions, Adelia's next attack landed more solidly.

… About 40%. Still being reduced somewhat.

I thought Adelia's 2-hit and Maika's 4-hit would shave it all off, but Maia Endured. Her last gasp.

… I almost wanted to say, You can Endure ten times, you know?

Hmm, this Fantasy Princess. I'd hoped to enjoy the match a bit more, but was this all there was…?

Or so I thought, but when they went on the offensive, they were pretty strong.

The six companions launched all-out attacks.

"Swallow Cutter!"

"Maika, defend!"

Kan kan kan kan, kan kan kan kan!

Maika used her Speed to kick countless feathers aside. Her defensive technique was solid.

Even so, she took about 40 pt of damage.

"Frog Slice!"

"Mouse Slice!"

"Earth's Resonance, Earth's Guard x2!"

Yumi activated defensive skills.

Kelri and Chiroru's attacks were defended with skills, but they ran out after 6.

"Demon Art - Great Digger!"

This one was impossible. If Maika halved it she had a chance to survive, but no need to make my attacker take that risk.

"Yumi, be the shield."

"… Yes!"

Yumi spread her arms and stood in the way.

… Yeah. Good.

If she had the guts to leap in front of a furiously rotating, gigantic drill like that, Yumi could grow into a proper defender in time.

"Agh!"

Yumi became the shield and blocked it, then collapsed right there. Combat-incapable.

Well, as she was now, there were still some worries.

If Mire worked, she was overwhelming, but against opponents Mire didn't work on, she was unexpectedly weak.

If only Earth Reflect or Earth's Guard could be used at-will…

Well, that'd come in time.

"Demon Art - Flower Blade!"

Frieda's sword.

"Maika!"

Kan!

Maika kicked it back cleanly, but… 60 damage. Against Ice-element, her weakness, that was a pretty strong attack. That Frieda had been quite an excellent Garumon.

Even Maika probably wouldn't last another turn.

If Maia had survived one more turn, things would have gotten dicey.

So they put up surprisingly stiff resistance, but…

"All right, Maika, Gale Dance, Divine Art Accel Mirage. Just in case she Endures multiple times."

"Yes… well then, here I go."

"… I-I can't Endure that much…!"

A frightened Maia. She had her six companions stand as desperate walls, but…

Maika, outpacing her by 10x in Speed, instantly circled behind and struck in a single blow.

"… Ku… If only I'd had stronger companions…"

"That kind of thinking won't do.

"You have to think about what you can do for your companions. Now, sleep."

… Dosa.

Maia fell. And so, the Fantasy Princess showdown ended in Snow White's victory.

Match decided.

Hmm… weak, she… wasn't, I thought.

But honestly, a bit of a letdown. The vaunted A-Class rank 2's Fantasy Princess?

… No, probably… judging from Romos's dissatisfied look, that look of being unfulfilled…

That guy held back.

He could probably have stretched it out a bit more if he'd tried.

But he gave up, figuring there was no way to win.

Of course. Even if he beat Maika and Adelia, we still had a 2nd party.

Even if he held out a while, he'd lose anyway. That was a fact.

Ahh, this kind of thing pissed me off.

Yeah, I knew I was being unreasonable.

Even if he'd gone all out, we definitely would have won.

I was the one most certain of that.

But on a stage as big as the A-Class Tournament semifinals, holding back…?

There were people who'd lost to him and couldn't make it this far! Going all out was the bare minimum of courtesy, I thought!

For our side, we learned that Yumi's issues against Earth-element opponents, where Mire didn't work, still hadn't improved much, so we got a fair amount out of it.

But… we were the ones left unfulfilled.

Well, no use complaining. Throwing a match when you knew you couldn't win happened everywhere in any world.

Even so…

The Garumon weren't silent shogi pieces. They were all giving their all for victory.

To never give up until the end, and to seek out a path to victory no matter how thin: that, I believed, was the Master's responsibility.

This time taught me a little something too.

I'd absolutely never give up and throw a match, no matter how hopeless. That was the resolution I made.

"… Tch, congratulations. You won't lose to someone like Dalido.

"Well, I guess I'm 3rd this time… can't be helped."

Romos said as much, looking dissatisfied.

He probably wasn't actually weak… but he wasn't the kind of guy I could come to like.

In any case… I beat Romos, A-Class rank 2 who'd be 3rd this time around, and advanced to the finals.