Defense specialization and evasion specialization.
Maple’s eyes widened as she accepted Sally’s proposal, the content of which had been unexpected.
“W-what, me and… you!?”
“Yeah.”
“B-but… umm, I think you’ll win?”
“Aha, even so.”
“Hmm… okay, got it! Let’s give it a try then! I said I’d repay you, didn’t I?”
Maple accepted Sally’s offer with an expression that clearly said she was fine with such a thing.
“Thank you. Phew… just once, okay?”
“Yeah!”
Maple hopped to her feet. Sally quickly finished setting up.
No other players could enter. Spectator cameras were off. Time limit: until event end. Until one of them reached zero HP.
Sally showed Maple the rules, confirmed she had no objections, then began the duel.
A plain, unbroken by obstacle, unfolded a world for two—no one else’s interference, no one else’s presence.
Then, there will be a signal.
Yes. Stay apart and wait.
Yes. Listen, you must not get close. I am better than a counterfeit Maple. At a distance, Maple is... too much to say, really.
Yes, I understand!
Maple turns her back to Sally and walks away.
Keeping a sufficient distance, considering Sally’s tactics with a slight pause.
A voice called from behind Maple.
……Maple!
“Huh...?”
A name not spoken in this world.
The only one who called that name stood before her. Maple turned, as summoned.
“Ah…”
There, standing still, was Risa.
Viewed from behind, holding the controller beside her, and standing before me today.
The strongest player Maple has known since childhood.
Now facing her is Risa Shiraumi.
Risa’s call pulls Maple from the controller beside her.
Risa as Risa, Maple as Maple—standing before each other now, upon all the days they have shared. This feeling.
“…Let’s play—fully, seriously!”
“Y-yes!… I’ll do my best!”
The duel begins.
Overflowing expectation. A slight unease.
The moment she launched the game, long awaited, Risa’s face had looked just like this.
First and last. The journey of Maple and Risa, from a distant meeting to this very moment, reaches its end. A battle guided by miracle and fate has now begun.
The signal to begin—Risa dashes forward.
Defense Break is the threat to watch for.
But just once will not be enough to defeat Maple.
Stay calm. Stay composed. They have fought side by side. They know every skill the other holds.
“………?”
A faint dissonance in the mind. Something forgotten. Something not yet noticed.
Yet Risa gives no time to ponder what it might be.
Maple, approaching Risa, executes one of the strategies she had prepared.
“[Paralyze Shout] [Deadly Breath]!”
“Nice.”
“Huh!?”
Risa, unlike Pain or Mii, is still vulnerable to paralysis and poison. Yet Risa knows this fact well. Knowledge shared by both is not a decisive edge.
The crystal cracks with a sharp snap at perfect timing.
Maple, too, bears Iz’s resistance-enhancing item.
Only now does Maple notice Risa wearing a pouch she never carries at her waist.
If Risa intended to fight, Maple would have already prepared for a skill capable of neutralizing her in one blow.
Only now does Maple grasp this obvious truth.
“Wind Blast”
The gale magic sweeps away Maple’s combined attack and defense, the Deadly Breath.
“Poison Dragon!”
“Water Dragon”
As if fighting Pain, the Water Dragon intercepts Maple’s poison orb and pushes it backward.
The technique lands nowhere.
It is perfectly deflected—Maple feels this for the first time.
“Path of Water”
“…Uwah!?”
At Maple’s feet, the Iron Cannon Water erupts, anticipating Risa’s movement. She knows the mechanism perfectly. Yet the attack, masked by Risa’s Disguise, cannot be avoided.
She understands the mechanism. But not when it will strike. At this moment, no tactical advantage remains for Maple over Risa.
By the time Maple is flung upward and descends to the ground, the distance between her and Risa has closed to just a few steps.
“Ancient Weapon!”
Maple’s swift deployment of the [Ancient Weapon] fires multiple lasers at Risa.
They pierce Risa’s shoulder with precision. Risa’s form fades, dissolving into nothing.
[ Mirage...! ]
The true Risa—where is she? A hand touching the armor from the diagonal rear answers the question.
A voice echoes.
A voice that makes Maple aware of what she has failed to notice.
[ Armor Through ]
“Ah...!”
A violent damage effect detonates. Maple’s HP vanishes completely. [Unyielding Guardian] activates.
Yes. That’s right. In the strangely slow passage of time, Maple remembers.
Defeated the fake in the second event. Overcome the boss who stole Maple’s skill in the seventh event and gained high defense. Surpassed the boss who fortified defenses before Maple did in the cloud-bound fortress at the tenth layer.
How? It dawns on her at last.
...
Risa is strong. Truly remarkable.
No match for her at all.
With reluctant acceptance and resignation, Maple sways forward, falling toward Risa under the unprecedented force of a devastating blow from behind.
«…………»
"Risa...?"
Death waits in the next instant—just a breath. Through a blurred vision, blurred by damage, Maple sees Risa clearly, in the moment between activating the next skill.
A loneliness that seemed to linger, a sorrow that could not be helped, yet still a quiet resignation to it all.
She lowered her eyes as if swallowing all those feelings, and he saw the next motion of attack unfold.
The sight of her, the lonely expression on Risa’s face—something about it made Maple feel she must not fall behind.
There was no deep reason. She simply felt it, instinctively.
Nothing more than that.
Something within Maple insists: not yet time to end this contest.
Do not give up.
"Brutality!"
On this day, the first impulse, a small flame kindled, spoke before thought—its voice the most familiar emergency evasion skill, drawn from habit.