kscans

Chapter 713 - Castle Lord

"Where should I attack from?"

"Straight ahead, of course!"

"Roger. Embrace it—"

Simultaneously with his partner taking a step forward, the [Undying] nodded once at the terse reply to his terse question, then tapped his own shadow with the tip of his toe and whispered.

"[Grimnote, Black Sky Roc Wings]."

He had awakened another version of himself with [Clad Form (Trance)]. The transformation converted his Luck (LUC) to Mentality (MID), and the further concentrated power produced a well of magic (MP) that easily surpassed that of a pure mage.

It was a form completely specialized for rear-guard support, achieved by sacrificing a certain characteristic of the [Undying]. Having resigned himself to the role of 'fuel supplier' as requested, Tetra connected his shadow to his partner, and in that instant,

—the form of the renowned [Adamant], a representative of the STR-focused power build, who had transformed into his other self via [Trance], vanished.

Only one thing was able to react to the anomaly.

In that moment, it was not the host, who obviously couldn't keep up. It was not the audience, who would likely struggle to comprehend what happened even after several seconds. And it was not the [Peerless] samurai on stage, who might have had a chance to perceive it with his own abilities… nor was it his partner, who remained with her eyes closed.

It was the one and only thing that reigned supreme in this virtual world.

"—Hah, well, of course…!"

And so, what stopped Auerin's greatsword just before it reached Irori was, without any exaggeration, a speed that likely rivaled that of the [Acrobat],

—a single, chalk-white castle wall.

A roar split the air, and a shockwave erupted. But the floating 'fragment' did not shatter. It appeared out of the void and, though it wavered, it took the full force of the mighty blow that could have split the very earth.

"…I'm glad you're awake."

"Haha, my bad. Looks like our sleeping beauty is giving you a hard time—whoa?!"

And so, through the 'wall' that was just transparent enough to see through to the other side, the [Peerless] and [Adamant], looking exasperated for various reasons, exchanged weary words.

Then, a giant pillar of black wood manifested, descending upon the latter from above. A deafening roar shook the ground, and the immense aftershock sent his body, which had barely managed to dodge, flying backward.

And still, it didn't stop.

"…Mm."

A languid voice, more than just a breath, carried a will that made the air tremble—and what poured forth were countless 'parts,' enough to fill the vast stage.

"Oh man… Seriously, what are we gonna do about this…?"

"…You steeled your resolve, didn't you? Do your best."

Auerin, who had been knocked back to his starting position, muttered with a wry smile, while Tetra, looking up at the absurd scene, replied with a sigh.

Floating before their eyes were walls, floors, roofs, and not just such easily identifiable things, but also a jumble of seemingly unrelated objects like tables, chairs, beds, closets, and even small trees and suits of armor.

However, they were all originally part of one thing.

Arcadia's unofficial Anima ranking, immovable number one in the armor category: the Sixth Tier Anima, [Fairy Tale, Castle of Chalk and Blackwood]—its true form was,

—the royal castle itself, existing in the imagination of a single girl, freely manifesting in the real world.

In other words, a massive structure of immeasurable mass that appeared with a single thought, flew through the air with a single thought… and at times, even automatically protected its master's other self without her will.

"Fah, nngh… —Alright then… let's do our best… I guess…"

It was the shield and spear of a young girl, who let out a carefree yawn and rubbed her eyes on the grand stage.

◇◆◇◆◇

"—Man, no matter how many times I see it, that's a ridiculous Anima…"

Before the truly lawless scene displayed on the screen, what escaped my lips was a mix of exasperation, admiration, and awe. The 'castle fragments,' freely divided and flying about as they pleased, were a fantasy so over-the-top it couldn't be anything else.

Of course, I was surprised by the initial super-high speed movement Auerin demonstrated with his transformed body… but as expected, seeing it in real time, even through a broadcast, was something else.

No matter how you looked at it, your attention was inevitably drawn to that.

"The South's one, two, and three, in no particular order, aren't just for show… To be honest, it just reaffirms how insane Uni (the second) is. He's sandwiched between this and Ashe."

"That's true… In a sense, Mei-chan is the embodiment of Arcadia's greatest talent."

"To have all this without any effort…"

Well, in a way, she has put in more effort… or rather, has more 'experience' than any other player in Arcadia, but let's put that aside.

"But Tetra-kun and Auerin-senpai are amazing, too. They're still making it a fight."

And Tonic-shi's words were true.

Tetra, for his part, still possessed an absolutely massive scale of power. The endlessly湧き出る 'shadows' and 'darkness' had the potential to be a countermeasure, with resources that could rival the [Castle Lord]'s 'castle.'

And Auerin was just as surprising. I had no idea what the trick was, but he had been stably maintaining a super-high speed movement that rivaled my own for over a minute, resisting the torrent of mass.

In fact, he hadn't given up on attacking either, showing nice guts by occasionally slipping through the castle walls and reaching the enemy duo's presence. He was by no means losing in terms of spirit and skill.

He wasn't losing, but—

"…Yeah, no, that's impossible."

—what they faced was not just the 'castle' that served the [Castle Lord], but also the 'ice' of the [Peerless], which stood tall with an output rivaling that of grand magic, forming layered barriers that blocked their assault.

I was genuinely cheering for my cute junior and good-natured senior as they fought with all their might, but… regrettably, and unfortunately,

"…Seems impossible, huh… probably…?"

"The matchup is just too bad…"

"What kind of combination could possibly beat that tag team…?"

—including myself, Hina-san, and Tonic-shi, we could only agree with the words that [Screen] had muttered, as if by accident.

And so, just over three minutes after the match began,

Ah… —Th-that's it! The winner is the [Peerless & Castle Lord] pair!

The applause and cheers for the [Undying] and [Adamant], who were defeated after a truly great fight, were unsparing. As for the two who had achieved a perfect game,

…Forgive me, Tetra. This was a complete bracketing accident.

Mm… good work… good nigh…t…

—they stood side by side, uninjured, with completely opposite expressions: one looking extremely uncomfortable, the other with a sleepy face that suggested they cared about nothing at all. Correction.

One was standing, and the other had sunk into a bed floating in mid-air.