“Miss, do you need me to call it off?” Sebas asked in a low voice.
“…Hold on.” Morai Deville should have stopped this ridiculous fight, but she didn’t.
She was angry, yes, but she could feel the burning fighting spirit of the two girls, and the audience was holding their breath, captivated by this intense battle born from a love triangle.
No matter the reason, “offering a spectacular fight in honor of the family ancestors” was the main theme of the battle festival.
Look, even the statue of Ratan behind the stands was giving a thumbs-up.
Milora and Anna-veil were evenly matched.
They had no more hesitation, no more doubt—only the determination to settle things with their romantic rival.
The Smoke Knight sword style was unpredictable, and with the gravity runes, it became even more bizarre.
Milora was using everything she had ever learned.
Anna-veil’s spear techniques were fierce and fast, breaking through all defenses with sheer force.
She now truly saw Milora as a worthy opponent.
Their fighting styles were perfectly matched—sometimes countering each other move for move, sometimes blending strength and finesse, sometimes clashing with brute force.
Milora kept spotting flaws in Anna-veil’s rapid attacks, while Anna-veil used the shifting gravity fields to enhance her own moves.
It was like Carrot vs.
Broly, Steel Dragon vs.
Flame King Dragon, or Takeshi Iwakawa vs.
Retsu Kaioh.
Dozens of rounds passed with no clear winner.
Their skills and stamina were neck and neck.
The gravity runes they had just begun to master and the star runes without system support were evenly matched.
The fight was deadlocked.
At this point—they needed to overpower each other in mindset, in willpower, in emotion!
“Torina’s smile—is so damn cute!!!” Milora suddenly shouted, swinging her greatsword with all her strength and forcing Anna-veil back!
“Her smile is cute! Her dumb grin is cute! Her bitter smile is cute! Her spoiled smile is cute! Even her smug little smirk is cute!!!!”
With every word, her sword strikes grew heavier, faster, and stronger.
Anna-veil, who had been slightly ahead, was suddenly on the defensive!
“What the hell are you saying—of course Torina’s the cutest!” Anna-veil countered with magic of her own!
“Everything she does is cute! Showing off her body is cute! Showing off her face is cute! Forgetting her homework is cute! Getting scolded by the teacher is cute! Even faking period cramps to skip class is cute!!”
With every shout, her spear got faster and fiercer, holding her ground against Milora!
“She might do dumb stuff and say weird things, but she cares about me the most! She keeps me company, eats with me, bathes with me, and even cuddles me to sleep!! Can you do that!?”
“She cuddles you to sleep? Then I’ll cuddle her to sleep! I’ve been in her bathroom way more times than you! I’ve seen her whole body! I even know how many moles she has on her butt!!”
“Three! You think I don’t know!? Take this!!!”
“You little—!!!”
Boom! Boom! Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!
Sparks flew as sword and spear clashed across the arena.
The two of them moved and fought at high speed! The audience was completely absorbed, and the girls’ catfight was wildly entertaining.
Torina covered her face, while Patty gave her a sympathetic pat on the back.
As the fierce exchange continued, their stamina kept draining.
If they didn’t settle this soon, they’d both end up in the ICU!
And then—
Milora’s grip slipped.
Her strength was fading, and she couldn’t hold her greatsword steady.
Her movement lagged for just a moment—
(A chance!!!)
Anna-veil immediately poured all her strength into her spear, aiming to break through Milora’s defense with overwhelming force in a single blow!
“Thousand-Ton Thrust!!!”
A spear strike with the weight of a thousand tons shot straight at Milora—fast, precise, brutal, and unstoppable! Faced with such an attack, Milora—
“I left that opening on purpose! The strongest attack comes when your defense is weakest!!”
She stomped the ground, and the stone beneath her suddenly rose into the air! She too was lifted by the reversed gravity, dodging the thrust while stepping on a floating rock to launch a powerful slash! Anna-veil was surprised but reacted instantly, blocking with her spear and countering!
But Milora pushed the movement technique Torina had taught her to the limit.
Using the floating rocks as stepping stones, she bounced around like a pinball, moving at high speed between multiple surfaces! Every dodge came with a slash, every move launched a thrust from a blind spot.
She became a blur of sword light ricocheting through the reversed gravity field!
Faster and faster, more and more frequent, Anna-veil was forced into defense, spinning her spear into an impenetrable cage of water and fire.
But when Torina applied the final gravity boost to Milora’s twin swords, the powerful double slash finally shattered Anna-veil’s guard!
“You’ve lost!”
“Tch—keep dreaming!!!”
Anna-veil nearly lost her grip on her spear, but Milora’s momentum was spent too.
Both landed on the ground at the same time, each preparing to unleash a final, possibly fatal, blow—
“Stop! Don’t fight over me!”
—In that breathless moment, a round, perky butt blocked Milora’s view, and thick, curvy thighs filled Anna-veil’s vision.
Then, Torina’s spinning kick sent both of them flying!
“Ugh!”
“Wha!?”
“That’s enough.
That’s enough.
This is fine!”
“Torina…”
“You…”
Interfering in a match during the battle festival was considered a serious offense, but Torina had no other choice.
“Milora, step back.
Do what I told you before.”
“…Okay.”
Milora wanted to say something, but she knew they couldn’t keep fighting like this.
She gave Anna-veil one last look and stepped off the field.
Torina and Anna-veil stood face to face.
“Torina… you’re that desperate to protect her?”
“It’s not just about protecting her.
I’m protecting you too.
If you kept going, you two would’ve gone full berserk.”
“Tch, easy for you to say…” Anna-veil muttered, but she couldn’t even look Torina in the eye.
She looked like a guilty, anxious, scared little kid.
What should Torina say to her?
Call her a traitor?
Mock her for being a self-righteous idiot?
Tease her for being a tsundere way past her expiration date?
Torina scratched her head awkwardly, glanced at the crowd of gossip-hungry spectators, then looked back at Anna-veil and slowly said—
“…Thinking it over, since you’re so into me, maybe we could be, like, fire-friends-with-benefits?”
“Huh!?”
““““““““HUH!?”””””””
Anna-veil and the audience all shouted “Huh!?” in unison, while Torina shrugged and said:
“Just kidding.
Don’t take it seriously.”
“Don’t joke like that! You’re ruining the mood!?”
“If I don’t joke, I’ll get embarrassed.”
“Eh…?”
“I get embarrassed too, okay? Uh, how do I put this…”
Torina scratched her head again, nearly tearing her scalp off.
“It’s just… honestly, all that stuff you shouted earlier… it kinda moved me.
No one’s ever confessed to me that passionately before… I mean, I’m still a girl, I’ve dreamed about stuff like that too.
I used to really hate you, but now… I don’t hate you as much.”
“Eh? So that means…”
“Ahem, don’t get ahead of yourself.
I get that you like me, but the way you show it is super awkward.
I need time to get used to it.
And a lot of your behavior really pissed me off, that’s also true… So, how about we start as friends? I need time to sort things out after being confessed to by someone I thought hated me.
Until then, let’s just be friends—or maybe more than friends but not quite lovers.
That’s the best I can offer right now.”
“Eh…………”
Anna-veil didn’t even know what to say.
She knew Torina was just dodging the issue, and if you flipped the genders, her speech would be textbook scumbag talk.
But what more could she ask for? This might be the best outcome she could hope for right now.
“If you’re really ready to repent… then come on, Anna-veil.
Let’s put the past behind us and start over.”
“Torina…”
Torina smiled and opened her arms. Anna-veil couldn’t hold back anymore and rushed into her embrace—
[Opportunity detected. Puppet system activated. Control override initiated.]
—Click!!!!
The next second, her left hand moved on its own, and the spear pierced straight through Torina’s chest.
