After the calm before the storm passed, each of the confronting people began to move.
The first one to move, Anima, dashes and closes in on Eta and Theta, who scattered to the left and right, in which she opted to attack the big shield-wielding Theta who was nearby.
Anima has combat power comparable to that of a Viscount-level high-ranking Demon, and although she’s currently quite fatigued because she’s been running tirelessly, she still has a head start in the group.
In response to Anima who had her fists raised while fiercely running to her, Theta held her ground and held up her large shield against Anima.
Anima slams her fist into the shield held up like a wall in front of her without hesitation.
The strike of the former Black Bear and she who holds overwhelming strength, Anima, managed to push Theta away even when her attack was blocked with her shield but…… the one who got knocked down on her knee is Anima.
[Anima!?]
[……That was……]
Kaito looked flustered as he called out her name, but Anima just stayed on her knees with a puzzled expression on her face.
[……How does it feel to receive your own attack?]
[My own attack, you say?]
[Yes, my shield will return the same impact to my opponent that it receives.]
[……I see, that impact just now was Reflection Magic huh……]
It seems that Theta is proficient in Defensive Magic, and her main method of attack was Counters.
For Anima, who mainly uses close-range physical attacks, she was truly the worst enemy she could have met.
[……You are indeed strong. I think your offensive and defensive abilities are far superior to mine, My attacks may not be able to do any damage. However, it’s different if it’s your own attack……]
[……………….]
[You think you can just get around and go through the shield quickly?]
[ ! ? ]
[It’s no use. You’re slow, I’m faster than you…… and there would be no way you can get around my shield. And looking at you, you don’t seem to be very good at magic…… You have no way of getting through my defense.]
[………………]
While Theta indifferently said that with a composed expression on her face, Anima’s face lowers slightly while she’s kneeling down.
She understands the hopelessness of her situation…… is what Theta thought but contrary to that, Anima’s mouth had a vicious smile on it.
[Fu- Fufufu…… Ha- Hahaha!]
[Wha!?]
Anima gets up laughing and slams her fist into Theta’s large shield without any hesitation at all.
Naturally, an impact with the same strength she used returned back to her and damaged her, but Anima swung her fist again, as if she doesn’t care about it at all.
[Go around? Slip through your guard? Stop speaking stupid things!]
[Huh!? …… Are you an idiot? No matter how much you attack, it’s useless. The strength of my shield is……]
[I don’t care!!!]
[Guhh, uhhh……]
The impact of the fists swung continuously, pushing Theta backwards.
[Unfortunately, I don’t know how to fight other than smashing things apart!]
[Aghhhh!?]
[Return the same impact as it has received? So, that should mean that it doesn’t invalidate my attacks! Then, I’ll just strike until it shatters!!!]
The fists that Anima swings slammed deeper and heavier with each blow, gaining more power with each succeeding strike.
The impact was so great that the shield finally began to scream and small cracks began to appear.
The returned impact also accumulated, and blood was flowing from Anima’s mouth…… But instead of loosening up, her fists didn’t loosen up and become more and more severe.
[What the heck is with this person…… She’s too much of an idiot. As if, she’s just, a wild beast…… Guhhh!?]
[Oraaaaaa!!!]
[Hiiihhhhh!?]
Roaring like a fierce beast, Anima slammed her heaviest, sharpest fist ever struck…… and finally, the big shield shatters.
While Theta’s eyes widen in astonishment, Anima reaches out without stopping at all and grabs Theta’s collars.
[Guhhh…… (W- What is with her brute strength…… She didn’t even twitch.)]
[Graaaaahhhh!!!]
[Gaahhh!? Fuhhh!?]
After easily lifting Theta with one hand, Anima slams her to the ground.
With the tremendous impact she felt from her back, Theta has an expression of anguish on her face, and before long, it gradually turned into one of fear.
[……A- Ahh……]
Sharp eyes looking down on her. The moment she saw them, Theta completely understood.
This beast isn’t going to loosen up on her at all…… She would just swing her fist without any hesitation until she was unable to fight herself……
It was exactly the despair she had been trying to inflict on Anima earlier.
There was no longer any way to escape. What’s in front of her is a predator, and she’s just a prey…… The moment she realized that fear, the ferocious beast swung its fist down.
[Damn you! Stop moving around!]
At the same time as the battle between Anima and Theta, Eta and Sieglinde were also engaged in a fierce battle.
Contrary to the battle between Anima and Theta, it was Eta who overwhelmingly surpassed the other in terms of physical ability, and the powerful attacks released from the large spear were so powerful they could render Sieglinde unable to fight with a single blow.
However, those powerful attacks…… not a single strike reached Sieglinde.
[It’s like you’re a different person than the one I clashed in the first attack, you’ve been hiding your power huh!]
[I wasn’t hiding it. I lost it.]
Sieglinde quietly said white catching the large spear swung to the side lull with her twin swords held upwards.
[Lili…… I have hidden it to my friends, but my body was rather battered. The most serious injury I received was in my throat, but the rest of my body was torn up too…… Up until now, even in normal times, I’ve been able to deceive them by using Body Enhancing Magic.]
[Huh!?]
[I guess it’s as the rumors say…… No, it’s even better than what the rumors say. My whole body truly is completely healed…… Thanks to this, it’s like I’m now in my prime, no, even better than my prime. I’m grateful that my body works the way I imagine it does in my head.]
[Don’t make light of me!]
Her fast thrusts released in frustration were easily swept away and deflected to Sieglinde’s left.
It had been a repetition of this for a while now.
Thrusts, cleaves, swings…… Eta unleashed a variety of attacks, but Sieglinde just warded all of them off.
[Why!? Why won’t it hit!? I have far more power and speed……]
[However…… You’re unskillful.]
[Wha!?]
[You’re certainly much more physically gifted than I am. However, you became conceited with that gift of yours and poorly honed your attacks. With that skill of yours…… your blade can’t reach me!]
[Kuhh!?]
Yes, the current situation was due to that one point.
Although Eta is overwhelmingly superior in terms of physical ability, Sieglinde is far superior in terms of skill.
Honed and polished over a long period of time in actual combat, her technique that can be described as graceful and refined, comes from an overwhelming amount of training and experience…… Sieglinde has far overwhelmed her in terms of skill.
[Indeed…… I must admit that your skills are impressive. However, you’ll never defeat me just by simply warding off my attacks. In the first place, your attacks can’t even deal any damage to me……]
[Ten and eight…… It’s about time huh.]
[What?]
Eta understood that Sieglinde’s skills far surpassed her own.
However, if Eta outperforms her physically and moves the battle into a fight of endurance where no decisive strikes are dealt, she will definitely win.
Just as Eta was thinking about that and told her opponent about it, Sieglinde swung her sword sharply for the first time at the spear held by Eta.
[Wha!? T- This is impossible!?]
Though I say that, she just used enough power to catch the strike. That’s also what Eta thought, as she tried to catch her sword with her big spear, but when the flaming sword Sieglinde wielded struck the big spear…… The big spear shattered into pieces.
[…… W- What in the world just happened……]
[It’s a good spear, isn’t it? Even though I’ve already piled up 10 stacks, it just barely broke to pieces.]
[I’m f*cking asking you what happened!!!?]
[……Ever since I realized how powerless I was, I’ve sealed the magic I was best at in order to learn.]
[……Your specialty is magic?]
Sieglinde calmly tells Eta, who completely lost her composure and shouted.
Yes, Sieglinde had once dared not to fight the way she did best since the attack on the Second Division…… to become stronger.
But now, she was in a situation where the safety of someone dear to her was at stake, and she would use everything she can for his sake.
[The magic I am most skilled at is “Endowment Magic”…… Everytime I warded off your attacks, I would increasingly endow it with “Impact Technique”, and I had just invoked it.]
[……!? F*ck!?]
[……If you see that you’re at a disadvantage, you should take a step back…… It may be the basics, but it’s exactly because it’s the basics, that’s why you should have thought that I could predict what you’ll do.]
[Wha!?]
Seeing that she’s at a disadvantage, Eta quickly leaped away and tried to get away from Sieglinde.
However, Sieglinde seemed to have predicted she would do that and threw one of her twin swords at the fleeing Eta.
[8-fold Acceleration Technique Endowed…… Activate!]
[What!?]
The flaming sword that flew from Sieglinde’s hand rapidly accelerated in the air, turning into a red flash that pierced Eta.
[I missed the vital point…… With your strength, it won’t kill you.]
After muttering that, Sieg swung her other flaming sword and extinguished the flames that had replaced its blade.
In Eta and Sieglinde’s battle…… It only ended with one conclusion, with Sieglinde, who is inferior in physical abilities, winning unscathed.
Honestly, I could hardly see what happened…… but when I saw Eta falling to the ground and Theta slumped on the ground, all I could see clearly was that Sieg-san and Anima had won.
[W- Wait!? Anima, stop! Stop already!!!]
I hurriedly stopped Anima, who was about to continue slamming her fist into Theta, who has already lost consciousness.
As for Theta, she already looks really miserable…… Arehh? Is she still alive?
Anima stops her fist following my instructions and walks up to me along with Sieg-san…… before taking up their stances again.
Neither of them has relaxed their vigilance at all…… So it’s probably because there’s still the blue-haired man left.
In the end, even after Eta and Theta were defeated, that guy didn’t interfere at all……
[……Good gracious, I watched in silence as Bacchus-sama insisted on giving experience to the underlings but…… what a pathetic display it was.]
The blue-haired man, who has been silent all this time, turns his sharp gaze towards me after muttering that as if he’s about to throw up.
[To tarnish War King-sama’s name…… It can’t be helped. I guess I’ll have to clean up for these fools……]
Saying that, the blue-haired man takes a step forward, slowly looking towards us before opening his mouth.
[My name is Sigma…… A “Baron-level high-ranking Demon.”]
[ [ [ ! ? ] ] ]
I had expected it, but when I heard the words “Baron-level high-ranking Demon”, I was shocked.
It would be bad if they were to fight a powerful demon now…… Anima has injuries all over her body, and Sieg-san may look composed, I could see her shoulder going up and down, showing her fatigue.
It’s not that Eta and Theta weren’t weak by any means either, as even though they were quickly settled, I don’t think they’re in a very good shape.
Feeling the cold sweat running down my back again, Sigma drops down his back and takes an iaido-like stance.
[I hope your head doesn’t get bigger just because you defeated those fools fumbling around on the ground. After all, those two are just underlings…… They’re not even a bit close to my power……]
[………………..]
[Now then, enough talk…… Here I go!]
[Stop~~ right there~~! That’s enough!]
(T/N: Cho~~ tto, matta~~!)
[……Eh?]
Just as Sigma was about to dash our way…… In that evidently explosive situation, a completely out-of-place voice resounded around us.
As if led by that voice, I moved my gaze to a nearby building……
[The heavens call! The earth cries out! The crowds roar! All calling on me to protect my regulars! Touuu!!!]
[…………………]
The strange object that jumps off the roof and lands in front of us looks very familiar.
[Envoy of love and justice! The Helping Beauty Riddled in Mystery! Magical Lovely Mahou Shoujo! Alice-chan has arrived!]
[………………..]
Schwingg~~ the stuffed cat made a pose…… There’s only one such bizarre person I know.
This is, how should I say this……
[……Change please.]
[There’s no change, you know!? No returning of goods! Nor is there a cooldown time for you to get any change!]
……It’s the merchant unreasonably filled with vices.
Dear Mom, Dad——– Sieg-san and Anima have successfully defeated Eta and Theta, but that’s when the even more powerful Baron-level high-ranked Demon turned its claws to us. But in that situation, a new helper has arrived but…… could I ask this once again, just in case—— change please.
<Author’s Notes>
Kaito: (Impossibruuu!? S- So fast!? T- This guy…… How many boke chances did she show right in that instant? In that statement of hers, she just went and conveniently counted me as her regular, she’s calling herself “filled with mystery”, and she even bundled up MAGICAL(in engrish) on top of Magical Girl (mahou shoujo)…… Damn it!? My tsukkomis can’t catch up!? N- Not yet, I won’t give up! I won’t give up on your onslaught of bokes! Think…… The ultimate tsukkomi that would turn the situation around……)
Or something like that, an incomprehensible exchange of offense and defense might be happening somewhere else.
T/N: 9/13
What a long-ass chapter it is.
T/N: Shameless : How about checking out Saikyou Juzoku Tensei Cheat Majutsushi no Slow Life?