Defense Specialization and Revenge 4.
After concluding the strategy meeting, the two women called Pain and stood facing each other.
The preparations seem complete.
I am fine!
Yes
I look forward to it. If I am defeated by that unknown coordination, I shall have to question every member watching from the spectator area again.
Pain and Ray, Maple and Shiroppu, Sally and Hinata.
Three humans and three beasts took distance, entering combat stance.
Let us go! Ray, [Blessing of the Sacred Dragon], [Sacred Guardian]!
"Maple, as usual!"
Leave it to me!
The signal for the duel's start. Pain and Sally dash forward. It is as Pain expected. A favorable turn of events.
Pain can kill Maple with a single strike—the power of Maple’s [Devouring]—and Maple is not one to draw near more than necessary.
From that distance, Maple could not affect Sally without drawing her in—Sally’s battle was the focus, as intended.
It should have been.
“[Full Armament Deployment][Attack Initiated]!”
“……!”
Pain’s eyes widen in shock. From behind Sally, a barrage of bullets rains down.
The risk-reward ratio of this attack—Pain’s mind instinctively calculates the damage it could inflict, and the risk Sally bears. They do not balance.
One strike. Instant death. From behind.
The glaring flaw in Maple and Sally’s strategy floods Pain’s thoughts with static.
“Surprised?”
Sally closes the distance. She twists her body. Perfect timing. A bullet emerges from behind her, piercing Pain’s abdomen.
A slight wound compared to the hit delivered to Velvet earlier. Yet the momentary hesitation is real.
Sally charges forward with momentum, but Pain deftly counters.
Ah…! I never thought this would be no risk!
Continuing the clash of blades with Sally, Pain registers Maple’s presence behind. Each time Sally twists her body, a bullet flies without fail.
Can this truly be called mere trust?
Maple attacks without hesitation, assuming Sally will avoid every strike with absolute certainty.
One hit would end her. Pain sees this as a risk with no return.
Yet if Sally truly avoids every attack, then Maple’s actions are reasonable.
Then! — [Light-Brilliant Sacred Sword]!
[Leap]! [Ice Pillar]!
Pain’s sacred sword flares with light, emitting an unbroken barrier of radiance ahead.
In response, Sally raised a pillar of ice and leapt high to evade.
But Pain’s aim was elsewhere. Even if Sally could react instantly, Maple could not. The bullets scattered by Maple were spread across a wide area, restricting Pain’s movement.
If Sally flew, the bullets would strike her at an unexpected moment. That was the true objective.
"I’m in fine form."
Mid-air, Sally twisted her body and swung her daggers. Two bullets, already deflected by the blades, changed course and struck the ice pillar. They rebounded, then drew toward Pain as if pulled by unseen force.
"Surprised...!"
Pain blocked one with his shield and severed the other with his sword. A certainty formed—this ricochet was no accident.
You may be more engrossed if you wish. There is still much to show.
Sally runs in a spin, drawing cover from Maple.
One bullet from behind always veers to avoid Pain, the rest deflected into ricochets that leap like living things toward Pain.
Is this possible...!
Yes, as you see.
A divine skill beyond human form—unbelievable to witness with one’s own eyes.
Each step forward, each lunge, the ricochets anticipate Pain’s future movements. Sally’s dagger cuts through him.
A skill so honed it surpasses Pain’s reach by far.
Sally deflects what amounts to two fighters’ attacks with flawless precision, converting half into her own strikes.
All against Pain, the strongest player.
Ray, [Holy Dragon’s Breath]!
Pain rejected Sally once with Ray’s breath.
Sally sensed it swiftly, stretching threads to the ground, retreating at speed while redirecting Maple’s bullets into strikes aimed at Pain.
The shot struck Pain directly, inflicting damage. Sally narrowed her eyes at the sight, signaling Maple to cease attack.
“Seems she understands.”
“Yes. I don’t suit Pain.”
A bullet hidden by her body.
A bullet redirected to aim.
A single slash, struck through an opening.
Despite Sally’s one-sided assault, Pain’s damage totaled only thirty percent—quickly healing through automatic recovery.
Sally’s hit-and-run was precise. No counterattack came.
She surpassed in technique, but fell far behind in raw ability.
Pain possessed no special skill akin to Maple’s extraordinary phenomena. Her strength lay in her high stats and a vast array of powerful passive skills that amplified them.
Sally’s attack could inflict damage, but could not finish Pain.
Cut through flesh, sever bone.
In Pain’s combat style, evasion ranked low. The risk of counterattacking after receiving a blow was minimal. She could return damage greater than what she had taken.
A body of overwhelming stats— unmatched, unimitated.
It shattered nearly every opponent’s damage trade.
“Yet I’ve already been startled twice. And still, she holds cards hidden.”
“Who knows. But I’ll make sure you can’t look away.”
Pain’s single use of 【Heal】 restored his HP to full. Sally’s meticulously honed skill, refined through every effort, was shattered by mere stats.
The simplicity of it—unbearably vast.
Absolute, just as Sally deflected Maple’s bullets.
Thus, Sally sensed precisely where Pain’s awareness was directed.
The one loss scenario Pain always watched for—the one he feared—was Maple’s 【Malnutrition】.
Pain remained vigilant only about whether Maple would close the distance.
Knowing this, Sally now stood before Pain, ready to drive Maple’s 【Malnutrition】 into him.
“Resetting… let’s go!”
“Yes. This is only the beginning.”
As Maple resumed firing, Pain and Sally surged forward once more.
“Hah!”
“Fuh!”
The screech of blades colliding, sharp and unrelenting.
Sally manipulating Maple’s bullets with ease, Pain countering with the advantage of his own status.
Ten, twenty, the clash of blades repeating. Pain searches for an opening to break Sally.
“[Poison Dragon]!”
“[Path of Water]!”
“Ah… [Purifying Holy Sword]!”
Pain intercepts Maple’s [Poison Dragon] with [Path of Water], subduing it under his control, then forces the poison into the water.
[Poison Immunity] applies, yet Maple’s poison cannot be absorbed. Pain, using the skill deactivation of [Purifying Holy Sword], severs the poisoned water and dissolves it. Sally does not relent in her attack.
“[Wave Ride]!”
The summoned wave obscures Sally’s form. Pain moves around to prepare his next strike, calmly choosing to withstand the wave.
“[Ancient Weapon]!”
“What…!?”
A slender blue laser pierces the great wave. The afterwave splits the water open in a wide rift.
Maple, on the other side of the wave, fires her transformed [Ancient Weapon]—now a sniper rifle—precisely through the gap, striking Pain.
“Anywhere you go!”
“Yes.”
No. Pain understands the mechanism instantly. Sally, moving in mirror motion on the unseen side, was the true target. Maple aimed at Sally.
Sally avoids the high-speed laser as if it were natural. Aim at Sally, and Pain is exposed.
That certainty has long passed beyond trust. It borders on devotion.
Maple does not question Sally’s slightest mistake. Her movement declares it: such doubt does not exist.
Maple’s shot pierces through. Sally slips through the hole in the wave.
“[Double Slash]! Obscure [Foxfire]!”
Sally’s weapon glows crimson. Obscure releases a burst of flame.
Pain registers that the damage from Maple is not fatal. He remains calm. He catches Sally’s dagger midair.
Sally’s Double Slash is not truly Double Slash. He anticipated this.
As another skill enters his awareness, Sally acts.
“Cannonwater!”
At the instant Pain braces his feet, the dagger—now grown to the size of a longsword—veers off the trajectory of Double Slash. It pierces his shoulder, carving a deep wound. Cannonwater. The declaration’s true nature is Shape Shifting. The weapon’s reach extends abruptly, striking Pain off guard.
“Destruction’s Holy Sword.”
Pain pays it no mind. He steps forward. From the holy sword, a blinding light erupts—pure destruction.
“A Step to the Underworld!”
The attack unleashes a wide-area strike ahead. Sally dodges at the last possible moment, taking position directly above Pain.
Maple’s second sniper rifle rounds impact precisely then.
Offense and defense in one motion. With flawless coordination, Maple and Sally press their assault on Pain.
All evaded. All struck. At the moment their perfect sequence reduces Pain’s HP below fifty percent—
“Rei, [Light of Regeneration]!”
Rei’s light envelops Pain, restoring his HP to full.
“Truly…!”
A perfected individual. A powerful force unlike Sally. Pain leaps upward, pursuing the airborne Sally.
“[Crimson Wave] [Holy Rain]!”
No powerful magic or skill required. Any damage dealt to Sally is fatal.
Flames erupt from the ground. Light descends from the sky, drawn from swords. Forced to respond in midair, constrained by the elements.
Maple, who would normally concern herself with attacks, cannot deploy Love That Offers the Body this time.
Sally, seen beyond the wavering flames, turns her back and flees into the sky.
"Obfuscate—[Black Smoke][Divine Concealment]!"
Sally vanishes beyond the black smoke. Pain had trapped her perfectly, yet this was only enough to force the use of [Divine Concealment].
Still, it was sufficient—she had forced the use of a precious defensive card. The difference between her and Pain, who could endure with nothing but a healing skill, was stark.
"Did she actually escape?"
"Of course… [Companion’s Aid]."
Pain reactivates [Divine Concealment].
The inherited skill is unclear in exact form, but Pain judges it the most fitting and commits it to mind, raising the sword.
"Time to press forward."
"Would you not wait until I’ve reduced you to half? Oh—no healing this time."
"An unreasonable request."
"I understand."
[Hyper Acceleration]!
"...! [Hyper Acceleration]!"
Sally matches Pain's acceleration. Yet, burdened by the status down from [One Step to the Underworld]'s aerial platform generation, Pain's speed outpaces Sally's.
[Poison Dragon]!
[Water Dragon]!
[Holy Sword of Demonic Destruction]!
The two dragons' entwined torrent splits apart. Pain's feet do not halt. Sally performs repeated back steps, creating distance.
[Wind Cutter]! [Fireball]!
[Stillness]
She counters the [Disguised Iron Cannon Water] with [Stillness], anticipating its release. She leaps over the gushing water, swinging her blade toward Sally.
"Ugh...!"
[Flame Wave]!
[Ice Spikes]!
Magic assaults Sally in a wide area. Sally dodges upward and downward, barely deflecting the attacks with superior vertical mobility over Pain.
"Ray, Gigantification, Sacred Flame, Flow of Light!... Sacred Dragon's Light Sword!"
"Continuing...! Path of Water!"
From Ray, a blazing flame erupts into the sky. From Pain, a massive wave of light erupts.
Sally dodges. At this scale, area attacks make millimeter-level evasion impossible. Without gaps, evasion is impossible.
As she lands, Pain advances. His eyes seem fixed on Sally’s death, seconds away.
"Ku...!"
"Hah!"
"Not yet!"
"Ray, Sacred Flame Chain."
The repeated formation of platforms drops AGI upon her. Pain’s assault overwhelms Sally.
After several clashes, the moment one of Sally’s daggers is flung upward with a sharp *ginn* sound, balance collapses completely.
"Break-Demon Sacred Sword!"
The divine concealment activates—cut down from above. Invincible after the chain of sacred flame’s follow-up effect. No strategy, no matter how clever, will be allowed.
“Lost in the moment?”
“Cobalt Move!”
Sally’s voice echoed too sharply. A sudden, violent impact from the side.
The sensation of full HP loss, then a single point of HP preserved by survival skill.
Pain instinctively turned toward the direction of the impact.
A moment’s absence from consciousness.
No—forced from it.
There, Maple dissolved from the air, her transparency fading.
An impossible skill—Maple’s unknown transparency. Cobalt Move—outside range. Even if it had been usable, how could she have arrived? From where?
Thoughts jumbled. Yet, setting aside all comprehension, Pain regains footing.
“Ray! Come! Heal!”
“Wall!”
“……!”
Pain activated the Wall. To prevent Ray’s arrival. To trap Pain and their allies within a cage of stone. There, Pain understood everything.
“Shiroppu, Hinata…!”
“Hinata, Disguise!”
“Shiroppu, Great Nature!”
Hinata, perched on Sally’s shoulder, reacted to Maple’s voice and dashed forward, shielding Maple from every attack.
Shiroppu, clinging to Maple’s shoulder, reacted to Sally’s call and sprouted thick vines, cutting off Pain’s escape.
Yes. The two Bond Bridges had been swapped before the fight. Their respective Tamemonster riders were different. The Black Smoke Sally used was a smoke grenade. The Foxfire was a disguised Fireball. The Divine Hide was merely a wild technique, avoided only by Sally’s sharpened skill.
Allies can activate Cover Move. Even if Sally cannot fly, Maple can reach the Shoulder of the Mist.
In the instant Sally draws full attention, severing her from Pain’s awareness, Maple will retreat—using Instant Shadow’s self-destructive flight and Cover Move—until within range of the Shoulder of the Mist.
Maple had been given only one secret strategy.
Thus Maple waited.
She did not press the attack beyond necessity. She watched only Sally’s distance, ensuring her own departure from Pain’s awareness was certain—waiting, waiting, for this one moment, this one strike.
Thus Sally lured.
She drew attention as a shield, deflected attacks, pretended the Mist was her own Teim Monster, and kept Cover Move’s survival hidden—so that only one true attack could follow.
“Yaaah!”
Pain had no means to resist as Maple advanced, struck by the Divine Concealment.
Invincible, Maple closed to within reach and swung her great shield in one motion.
“Guh… hahahaha… indeed, another rare experience gained.”
The direct impact of the great shield triggered the Curse of Gluttony, tearing Pain’s body apart.
“Again, shall we?”
“Yes!”
“I will not lose.”
With that, Pain vanished, her expression serene, as if she had witnessed something wondrous.
As promised, she disappeared at the moment of defeat—vanishing into the viewing area to exchange thoughts with the members of the Gathering Holy Sword who had witnessed the battle.
Only Maple and Sally remained.
By the time they noticed, the sky had shifted, as if the event field’s end were near—growing quiet, fading into a crimson dusk.
They no longer needed to walk. Without speaking, both lowered themselves to the ground and began to speak.
“Huh… nice fight, Maple.”
“Yeah! I’m glad it worked out…”
“Really, really. If Maple hadn’t stepped in, I’d be dead.”
In that final moment, the performance could not be faked. Only the real scent of death could be there.
Sally had known she was at a disadvantage. She had charged forward, forcing a clash, and drawn Pain past the line where retreat was impossible.
If Maple had not been able to leap in, Sally would have had no choice but to die.
“Did you fight hard, Maple?”
“Yeah! I fought with Mii too!”
“Really?… How’d it go?”
“It was dangerous, but I won! Um, like the… [Flame Prison]…”
Sally listened intently, nodding along with quiet amusement, as Maple spoke of the event.
The event alone offered endless topics, and Maple continued speaking with a smile, pointing out one thing, then another.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”
“Yeah… I think it was even more fun than I expected!”
“Hmph, yes.”
“Hehe.”
They exchanged glances and laughed without reason.
Perhaps because the end was near, memories surfaced without effort.
“I never thought I’d play this game for so long.”
“Neither did I. I joined late, and when I checked in, it had already grown so much.”
“Aha… never thought it would come to this.”
“Nobody could have predicted it.”
“So many adventures. Meeting everyone. Seeing so many sights. Eating delicious things!”
“Satisfied?”
“Of course!”
“First time I’ve seen such a successful outcome from a recommendation I made.”
There’s a certain charm to it once you get into it.
"Oh, quite the expert now?"
"Ah? Not yet, not yet."
Trivial talk.
Yet for the two of them, no matter had ever been so important.
Sally must be thanked. Thank you for inviting me to something so interesting!
It was surely Maple herself who made it interesting... but I shall accept it honestly. You're welcome.
"Ne-ne, what would you like as thanks? One... no, three! Something delicious, or help with homework, anything!"
“Ooh, three of them? Generous of you.”
A generous heart—perhaps a little too much so...
A generous display, indeed.
"Over there!"
But… you don’t need to worry about it.
Sally is fine, but I wish to thank you. For all the joy you have given me!
Maple smiles faintly, looking at Sally.
If you're going to say that much... then yes... is there one thing I might ask?
Yes, yes!
Sally closes her eyes, draws in a deep breath, and looks back at Maple, who gazes at her.
"Will you fight me?"
Carrying every thought she has had until now.
The words, finally formed, echo in the quiet dusk.
On this day, the two finally catch up to a dream they once saw.