kscans

Chapter 723 - The Selfish White Who Smiles on the Silver Screen, Part Seven

"—Nnyoh-hyai!!?!"

After more than three minutes of the stage being filled with silence, what suddenly pierced the ears and dazzled the eyes of the entire audience was the ridiculously grand signal for the start of the action.

It's no wonder that the emcee, who had been stalling for time with a desperate, near-tears commentary, let out a scream of shock at the unannounced roar.

The prison of great stone pillars, layered one upon another. In the instant that it shattered into dust, even the [Sword Queen] sitting beside her widened her eyes, if only for a moment.

Thus, it was a reaction truly representative of a non-combatant, an ordinary person. In the midst of the buzz that dominated the audience, which was similarly filled with astonishment—

"Oh man... what did you do, Senpai?"

Two shadows separated to opposite ends of the stage, mixed in with the debris of the stone prison that had exploded from within.

One of them. Seeing the 'Silver' figure crowned with a distorted 'crown' that looked like it was made of patched-together stained glass, Tetra, for once forgetting his cool expression, spoke with a twitching face.

And the other. Chasing after the 'White' figure, crowned with the now-familiar split 'crown'... it was inevitable. As if drawn to it, Iris, whose eyes were captivated, said,

"............Well, I don't know, but..."

While the others in the venue were awash in astonishment, confusion, and doubt. Truly, with an expression that only she could make—one that recalled the past,

"...his face... I've seen it before."

In that instant, inside the screen.

The two similar 'colors' charged towards each other with all their might, and common sense vanished from the stage.

"Ha, ae... ko, heeeeeeeh.....???"

And so, [Colorful Beauty], who began to let out a weak, mysterious cry,

"Ugh, whoa.................."

And so, [Undying], who watched on with an undeniably stunned and dumbfounded expression,

"..., ............"

And so, even the renowned [Sword Queen]... could do nothing but watch that scene unfold in a daze. In other words, there was no one who could follow this from the sidelines.

'Water'—it was no longer on that scale. The force unleashed with enough momentum to fill half the field was no longer water, but a great wave like the 'sea'.

The devouring clash of 'earth' and 'sea'.

And... with that apocalyptic hellscape as a background, two inhuman figures repeatedly clashed.

The gold and silver, or perhaps purple and navy light dwelling in their eyes, and the enhancement effects they wore, drew contrails, but the range and density were anything but ordinary. From one end of the stage to the other, no matter where you looked, the traces of their countless exchanges filled the space.

Was this, really—

"...Hey."

"...Mm."

"Can you see it?"

"Not really."

And so, the words exchanged by the rankers, the very antithesis of ordinary people—one from the 'East' and one of the 'Strongest'—were more than enough to describe the current state of the stage.

Then, the former, having gained conviction through confirmation, let out a smile of utter resignation...

"Well, it's hopeless then—Everyone, I think you should just enjoy the atmosphere."

"Mm... Let's have them explain it in the highlights replay later as penance."

As if they had given up on their duties, they threw their words to the audience in place of the now-silent emcee, and Iris showed her agreement...

The members of the emcee room, having lost their purpose, fell completely silent, abandoning their commentary.

◇◆◇◆◇

""—ORAAAAA!!!!""

In less than thirty seconds, another clash, who knows how many times, dozens of times, hundreds of times it's been.

As a 'rod' approached my forehead at high speed, as if to say 'smash my face in and die,' I parried it with the back of my hand, and at the same time, I loaded everything I could onto my free hand and returned the favor.

However, the target vanished, and my right fist cut through empty air. The aftershock that was released took the storm of magic bullets flying around with it and dissolved into the air.

And then, directly above.

With my eyes wide open and my thoughts and attack predictions running at ten times speed, I had already sensed the approaching onslaught. Without panicking at this point, I did a smooth, casual backstep and instantaneously moved about twenty meters, and in a flash, a ridiculously sized rock spike thrust up from the ground with a rumble.

It was an absurdly ridiculous spectacle, but whether it was thanks to my thorough mental simulations beforehand, or because my ridiculously strong clutch performance in real battles—which even I sometimes think is idiotic—was kicking in...

Not bad, I'm getting into the swing of things—and then, behind me!!!

""————!!""

A spinning strike, another clash. Two individuals who have thrown off all their shackles and entrusted themselves to a rampage, two individuals who have come full circle and are now trying to beat each other up with extremely meticulous movements guided by strangely calm minds.

The moment the drawn jade blade and the vajra rod it carried touched each other without fail, an even more ridiculous shockwave was scattered, and the 'water' and 'earth' attending each of us burst and scattered.

And of course. So as not to have our own bodies burst from the intense impact, we were both thrown back by the recoil...—clash, clash again, clash a third time.

Clash, clash, clash, clash, we collided, collided, collided, collided, collided, collided, just relentlessly slamming our own selfish desires against each other.

I'm having fun, I don't know about her.

I feel like she's smiling, but she also looks like she's just furious. In fact, considering she activated her 'crown,' which she had consistently refrained from using in public, it's highly likely the latter.

Is it natural to think that she's furious at her damn cheeky junior's selfish ranting? —Well, whatever, it doesn't matter. Besides, this is super fun.

The special title 'Screen's' enhancement effect, [Vollend Rafted (The Conductor of the Final Act that Leads to Ruin)], is a simple, add-on enhancement type that expands the operational methods of an Anima.

It can only be described as the 'removal of restrictions,' and it allows the strange Anima, [Invertia (The Inciter's Sharp Tongue)], to perform a simultaneous screening... In other words, right now, the field where [Screen] and I are rampaging has the rules of all three programs applied to it.

One, [Zel Celeste Zeatese (The Innocent Fool's March)], which enhances... or rather, frenzies [Status].

Two, [Al-Angasha Apolysim (The Blood Dance that Scatters Heroes' Blossoms)], which frenzies [Skill].

And three, [Hell Hecalitu Heistio (Madly Drunken Song of Decadence)], which frenzies [Magic].

Furthermore, it is assumed that the two-slot seal from normal operation is not functioning—and so, this is the current situation: a truly lawless domain manifested, a full-power, all-out festival.

All stats are more than doubled. Skills have greatly increased power and effect, plus greatly reduced cooldowns and consumption costs. As for magic, it's the same as before... but.

"—[Water Enchant]."

The blue that dwells in the rabbit short sword I drew and unleashed. It took on the form of a great tower, surpassing a greatsword, and as it cut down and crushed the great stone pillar that approached from the front, my magic was not the same as before.

Not only was my [Water Spirit's Blessing] skill, which was sealed until just a moment ago under the 'Decadent Song,' released, but it was now also being frenzied by the 'Blood Dance.' Multiplication upon multiplication upon multiplication, things have gotten out of hand, and frankly, it's uncontrollable.

However, the output is now so ridiculously insane that just scattering it around is enough to get the job done. If it can chip away at her barrage by relying on sheer numbers—

"Tch...! Don't you dare adapt to this on your first try, you bastard!!!"

"I'm trying my hardest! Praise me, Senpai, dammit!!!"

—I can slip through the gaps and go for a punch.

I throw my fist, swing my blade, hurl my words, and carve a smile—Ah, this is fun. Yes, fun. What a cruel joke, where is there room to find boredom in this?

You should have gone looking for me.

No, not me, but a playmate. If you're not interested in fighting, fine. Then you should have tried to find someone you could seriously fool around with like this.

Even if not with fists, then someone you can trade barbs with without holding back.

Listen up, you bastard [Screen]. I'm going to be me, for me, and I'm going to slam my 100% self-centered, bratty, selfish moves on you!!

"It's a world of dreams, after all—"

"Tch..."

"—No matter how selfish, the one who dreams is justice!!!"

Complaints and dissatisfaction be damned. We have the right to seek fun.

"Gah...!!—"

My right fist flashes, piercing through the great shield of a rock wall erected to block my attack, and connects with the silver... but she too is in the midst of this lawless vortex, with her thought acceleration skill constantly active, just like me.

Therefore, it's no surprise that she can react in an instant, and it was within my expectations that she blocked my fist with the shaft of her rod, inserted at the last possible second—but,

Of course, it was a 'Sextuple.' Its power wasn't something that could be blocked head-on.

And so, [Screen] was sent flying like a piece of paper... however, after taking a blow that would normally be excessive overkill against a player, she only lost about twenty percent of her health.

Her avatar's durability has more than doubled due to the status enhancement, and her defensive skills have also been boosted to insane levels by the skill enhancement, so that's to be expected.

By the way, since my base VIT is non-existent and I have few defensive skills, the base for multiplication is paper, so even now, I'm only about as durable as thick cardboard—but that's beside the point.

The silver screen stage, which is so damn fun I wish it could last forever, is, of course and unfortunately, on a time limit. This dream made reality is limited to a mere ninety seconds, with only about a third of that time remaining.

And in thirty seconds, everyone will be gone—when the curtain falls, the actors simply exit. Those who agreed to take the stage are subject to a forced death when the effect ends.

Of course, I want to avoid such an ending. And that's why... hey, you know what to do, right?

"Come on, Senpai, let's have fun—'It is not a sword made by a god.'"

"Tch, damn it...—'The earth that beckons the heavens is a single star.'"

Thirty seconds left. Let's fight to the death.