Episode 41: Presented in Digest Form
Kaede launched a follow-up attack, crushing buildings with her Telekinesis. Karin gave the order to the Earth Manipulation Gifted, who surrounded the area in a dome, deliberately leaving the ceiling open. Into that opening, the fire and Wind Ability Gifted, Yukihime included, unleashed a high-powered barrage.
Their flames, intensified by the wind, swirled up like a tornado, and the interior of the earth dome transformed into a scorching inferno.
It was no longer an environment where humans could survive; Kazuma should have certainly perished.
Everyone wanted to believe so, but Kazuma would far exceed the imaginations of the challengers and spectators alike.
“The plan was good, but your skill wasn’t up to par.”
“Kuh! When did you—!?”
Kazuma should have been trapped within the earth dome, yet he stood behind Karin with a nonchalant expression.
“Letting me out of your sight isn’t a good idea. Didn’t you learn that during the Academy Battle Tournament?”
“I understand that all too well! But there shouldn’t have been any escape route!”
“An escape route certainly wasn’t there, but the speed at which you tried to trap me was slow. If the proficiency of your earth-type Gifted had been a little higher, it might have been dangerous, though.”
“You shouldn’t be able to move around inside that trap set with wires…”
“You think that would work on me, who can easily tear Hayato-senpai’s Threads apart?”
“～～～Kuh! As usual, your strength is monstrous.”
“So, what’s next? Don’t you have any other moves left?”
Flaunting the composure of the truly strong, Kazuma wore a refreshing smile.
Karin, facing him, felt as if she were looking at a devil’s smile and broke out in a cold sweat.
“Yukihime! Kaede-chan!”
The trap they had set was easily broken, and they had no moves left.
Karin, intending to initiate an all-out battle, shouted their names as she unleashed her Gift at Kazuma.
“Explosive Destruction!!!”
Kazuma stomped forward with tremendous power, shattering the ground beneath him and crushing the ice Karin had unleashed.
The students around Karin couldn’t remain standing against that terrifying stomp and collapsed along with the crumbling ground.
“It seems you lacked both the resolve and the courage to fight me!!!”
“All units! Begin interception! Consider the opponent a colossal Ibinom!”
Yukihime shouted instructions to the gathered students while heading to support Karin.
The students, who had been flustered seeing Kazuma right before their eyes and not just through a screen, unleashed all the Gifts they had as per Yukihime’s instructions.
“Fuhahahahahaha! Gifts shot straight at me without a thought? From my perspective, that’s no different from playing a bullet hell game!”
Kazuma dodged the Gifts raining down like by a hair’s breadth, slashing apart the panicking and flustered students with the spears he held in both hands.
“Hieeeeeeeh!”
“Uwaaaaaaaah!?”
“Nooooooooh!”
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
“Gueeeeeeeh!”
“Hahahahahahaha!!! What’s wrong, is this all you’ve got?! Weren’t you going to defeat me?!”
Thrusting, sweeping, slashing.
The sight of Kazuma, dressed as a Sengoku warlord, laughing boisterously as he trampled the students was gruesome.
“N-No way… We can’t beat him.”
“S-Shouldn’t we run?”
“Run where!? There’s nowhere to run!”
“But if we stay here, we’ll just be killed!”
“Curse yourselves for joining with a festival-like attitude! I won’t show any mercy!”
Saying that, Kazuma turned towards a group trying to escape, grandly swung a student he had impaled with his spear, and launched them as a human cannonball.
The group hit by the human cannonball was sent flying spectacularly, like bowling pins.
It might have been amusing for those watching, but for those on the receiving end, it was unbearable.
If this were the real world, it would have been far more tragic.
The only salvation was that this was a Virtual Space. After all, humans were sent flying apart, yet no chunks of flesh scattered.
Students who were judged as deceased turned into particles of light one after another, ascending one by one.
It might have been a divine sight, but for the students, it could very well become traumatic.
“Doesn’t anyone want to defeat me and become instantly famous?!”
Most of the students were long past caring about that.
How to escape this place, how to get away safely—that was all they were thinking about.
A few individuals, like Yukihime, Karin, and Kaede, weren’t thinking of defeating Kazuma to gain the spotlight; they were struggling, wanting to somehow land even a single blow.
In the first place, they didn’t think they could win.
He was an opponent the elite Gifted chosen for the Academy Battle Tournament couldn’t beat even when they ganged up on him. No matter if their allies increased to hundreds, there was no way they could win.
But, even so, if there was even a sliver of a chance, it was natural to want to bet on it.
“Reality is harsh…”
“It seems so. Are there about thirty percent remaining now, perhaps?”
“It’s tragic. Most of them have lost their spirit and don’t look like they can fight. Those with fighting spirit seem few.”
The three of them—Kaede, Yukihime, and Karin—assessed the battle situation while looking for students who could still be a fighting force.
Fortunately, Kazuma was preoccupied with the students trying to escape and wasn’t paying attention to them.
However, just because he wasn’t paying attention didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed.
Kazuma firmly kept in mind that the three of them were looking for a game-changing move.
“(It’s not just those three. The ones trained in the Academy Battle Tournament are all colluding, selecting the spirited ones from those still remaining who have the courage and resolve to fight. They’re probably keeping next year’s Academy Battle Tournament in mind too. They’re quite calculating.)”
Despite being an idiot, Kazuma was shrewd in these aspects.
It was almost certain that Kazuma would become student council president, and the student council members were practically decided.
In that case, the next thing to consider was the selection of members for next year’s Academy Battle Tournament.
At this stage, strong candidates were the students currently facing Kazuma, trying to stand up to him even while trembling.
Kazuma acknowledged that point as well.
It was uncertain how much potential for growth they had, but at least their spirit was admirable.
Originally, the student council president selection battle was expected to be a long battle royale, but as an unprecedented result of all participants gathering solely to defeat the formidable enemy named Kazuma, it ended up being shorter than expected.
Currently, a dozen or so participants, including Academy Battle Tournament members like Kaede, Yukihime, and Karin, along with Kazuma—who shone as the number one in takedown counts throughout history—remained on the battlefield.
“It seems those who remain have a little bit of fight left in them.”
Where Kazuma was looking was not a disorderly mob, but a fighting force, however small, still capable of combat.
“That’s right. These are the only ones who can fight properly.”
“They’ve decreased considerably compared to the beginning, but…”
“At least we can deal damage to Kazuma.”
“No, unfortunately, that’s impossible. Because half of you will disappear right here.”
Simultaneously with those words, Kazuma disappeared from sight.
Instantly, Yukihime and the others shouted, “Scatter!” and dispersed, but the students who were a step too slow were mowed down by Kazuma, and just as he said, half of them disappeared.
“You’re too absurd!”
“Show some mercy, please!”
“Hmm, as expected of Kazuma.”
The members of the Academy Battle Tournament team, trained by Kazuma, each tried every means, devised strategies, utilized everything they could, and fought with all their might.
“At least one hit, ooooooooh!”
“Clumsy! And slow! Next!”
Kotou Taiga, a second-year Body Enhancement Gifted like Yukihime and Karin, attacked bravely but was defeated anticlimactically.
Thus, only Yukihime, Karin, and Kaede remained.
If Kazuma hadn’t been there, these three would undoubtedly have won, but this time, their luck was just too bad.
“Now then, come at me from anywhere.”
As Kazuma smiled fearlessly, Kaede levitated the surrounding rubble with her Telekinesis and launched an attack.
Yukihime and Karin hid behind the rubble Kaede sent flying, concealing themselves to launch a surprise attack on Kazuma.
“You think such petty tricks will work on me now!”
Kazuma swept aside the rubble flying straight at him with the spears in both hands, and while remaining wary of Karin and Yukihime hiding somewhere, he rushed towards Kaede.
Kaede, floating in mid-air with Telekinesis, moved backward to create distance from the approaching Kazuma, continuing to hurl rubble with her Telekinesis.
“One, two, three!”
“Kuh!”
As usual, Kazuma used the rubble flying via Telekinesis—as if ignoring the laws of physics—as footholds and closed in on Kaede.
“With this!”
“There!!!”
“Ngh!?”
Just as Kazuma was about to step on his next foothold, Karin, who had been hiding behind cover, jumped out and froze solid the rubble he was about to use.
Unable to change direction instantly, Kazuma slipped on the frozen rubble and lost his balance.
“Now!”
Yukihime, who had also been hiding behind cover, launched a desperate charge.
She leapt towards Kazuma, who had lost his balance and was full of openings.
“You utter fool! Did you think you could get me with something like this?!”
Naturally, Kazuma wouldn’t expose an opening so easily; he flipped his body in mid-air and thrust his spear towards the lunging Yukihime.
“Of course, I’m well aware of that!!!”
“What—!”
As Yukihime parried the spear coming straight at her, she twisted her body and snatched the weapon from Kazuma.
At this, Kazuma also let out a cry of surprise and was impressed by Yukihime’s growth.
“But, have you forgotten! That I have Transposition!”
“Of course not! But, if we can just figure out the moment you Transpose!”
Just as he was about to Transpose the pebble in his hand with the stolen spear, Karin formed her fingers into the shape of a gun.
Then, aiming for the exact moment Kazuma Transposed the spear and the pebble, she shot the spear, which he hadn’t yet gripped, sending it flying.
“Brilliant! But I still have a weapon!”
“This is our real move!”
Kaede controlled the spear that had been sent flying by Karin’s ice with her Telekinesis and launched it towards Kazuma.
“Hah-hah! How kind of you to return my weapon!”
“Who said we’d return it for free?”
“Mph!”
With his terrifying kinetic vision and reflexes, Kazuma caught the flying spear, but there was condensation on the grip.
Realizing this was a trap, Kazuma tried to let go of the spear, but before he could, Karin activated the trap she had set.
Icicles shot out from the condensed part. Kazuma swung the spear he held in his other hand to sweep them away, but he couldn’t block them all and took damage.
“Not bad at all!”
“It wasn’t a fatal blow, huh!”
“But we did manage to damage you!”
“Mm! There’s hope now.”
They were rejoicing at finally being able to land a hit, but they mustn’t forget.
That the one before them was none other than their perverted master, Kazuma.
His disciples’ growth was a joyous thing for Kazuma, and at the same time, it meant he could stop holding back as much as he had been.
“Fuffuffuffu… I’m pleased.”
“…Could it be that… we messed up, didn’t we?”
“It seems likely…”
“I feel more pressure than before.”
“I’m shifting up a gear! Try to entertain me even more!”
“””Nooooooooooooo!!!”””
Just as he declared, against Kazuma, whose mobility and attack power had increased even more than before, the three of them were utterly defeated, unable to do a thing.