“Well then, it’s time for the second objection match! Ready... STAAARRRT!” Ange shouted.
She was standing between Dorothy and the Rion-Alex team. This time, there was no announcer or color commentator, so the starting signal was given from the center of the battlefield. It might have seemed dangerous at first blush, but Ange had already activated Uncontainable, so everything was fine. It looked like she’d gone out to give the signal on a whim, but in a sense, she had the best seat in the house.
“Alex!” Rion shouted.
“Woof! (Yeah!)” Alex barked in reply and sank into Rion’s shadow.
Were they planning to do something with Alex’s Creeping Darkness, which allowed him to control shadows?
“In question form? Does that mean you don’t know their plan either, Kelvin? Even though you’re going to marry her?” Serge asked.
“You’re just reading my mind now all the time with no qualms whatsoever, huh? But yeah. Rion’s completely taken over the match this time, so I have no idea how she plans to fight Dorothy.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Serge asked. “I know I’m not one to talk, but Dorothiara-chan’s super strong now. I heard she fought you before, Kelvin, but compared to then...”
“There is no comparison, right? I know.”
It didn’t matter to Rion how hard her opponent was to fight or how strong they were. Even against family or best friends, she would have no mercy or hesitation once they became enemies. She would use her allies to the fullest and wouldn’t hesitate to use psychological warfare either. That was the nature of Rion Celsius the Black Comet, our family’s demon of antihuman combat.
Meanwhile, Dorothy’s advantage was her unreasonable strength. Her original Time Magic was supplemented with Heroic Recollection as well as the powers of each of the Divine Pillars she’d fused with. She also boasted frankly unfair physical prowess befitting a god. It was enough to easily allow her to handle Rion and Alex working in tandem, by my reckoning, at least.
However, Dorothy was soft on Rion. So soft it potentially ruined every bit of that advantage. It was enough that I managed to sense it even during the short time she’d been staying over. Sparks had been flying before the match as she managed to put up a fight in the verbal prelude to this battle, but I had considered even that a miracle.
As for what would happen in this battle, I surmised that while Rion would use any and all options available to her to win, Dorothy would only be aiming to knock her opponent out of the designated area. And in a very gentle way at that. She truly didn’t want Rion to experience any pain, after all. What about all her super dangerous abilities like making someone decay with Time Magic? Yeah, there was no way she would use something like that. At the very least, she would never do anything like what she’d attempted on me during our fight. To Dorothy, Rion herself was a sort of handicap. I had to assume this weakness was something that would give Rion an opportunity, but I had to see if Dorothy would overturn my expectations.
“Superconductive Lightning!” Rion incanted. Electricity coursed through her body, sword, and shadow. Superconductive Lightning was a buffing spell that greatly increased the entire party’s agility and reaction speed. It was one of Rion’s standard openers and served to strengthen Caladbolg as well.
“Uh, hey, am I just seeing things, or is there something weird going on with Rion’s shadow?” Charles asked.
“I hate agreeing with anything you say, Charles, but unfortunately, I do. It looks that way to me too,” Edgar agreed.
“Oh? It is waving like the legs of an octopus. How strange,” said Graham.
“Is that one of Rion-san’s abilities?” Perona wondered aloud.
Rion’s shadow had stretched out in tendrils along with the intense lightning, making her look both divine and unsettling. The moving shadows were actually Alex’s doing, but it would seem like Rion’s power to someone seeing it for the first time.
Wait, they don’t know about Alex’s abilities?
But Dorothy didn’t say anything in response. While Rion had been making flashy moves from the start of the match, Dorothy was content to watch carefully. There was no sign of her casting any magic or even opening her tome. Of course, there was no change to her body either. In fact, Dorothy’s expression seemed somehow serene.
Erm, Dorothy-san? This is awkward to bring up, but don’t you think you’re displaying far too little will to fight?
I had to wonder what Rion thought about Dorothy not moving a muscle. Unlike Serge or Rami, I couldn’t read her mind by looking at her face. Not to mention, Rion tended to go completely expressionless when fighting against people.
“Gigas Keravnos!” Rion cried.
She was definitely taking steps to gain the advantage. Her next spell created a large guard dog out of lightning to stand by her side.
“Thee-chan,” Rion said after a pause. “You’ve just been standing and watching silently. Are you sure you don’t want to do anything?”
“Of course I am,” Dorothy replied. “A Hero’s transformation sequence must never be interrupted. This is a given in both our worlds.”
But Rion isn’t a Hero, and she wasn’t transforming. Ah, actually wait. She was summoned as a Hero, so I guess that fits. But as far as those of my house are concerned, attacking during a transformation sequence is totally allowed. It’s their fault for showing an opening, after all.
Once again, Serge started to whistle.
Ah! You’re the one who taught Dorothy that nonsense, aren’t you? Hey, Serge, you know you just helped your opponent’s side with that, right?
“Uh-huh. By the way, Thee-chan, watch your feet,” said Rion.
“Huh?” Dorothy said.
Uh...yeah. I have no idea how to retort now. I stopped having an idea since that talk about transformation.
Dorothy followed Rion’s advice and foolishly looked down at her feet. The shadows stretching out from Rion were making their way to her, crawling along the floor. They were clad in electricity and traveling incredibly fast. However, this was a very obvious attack that anyone could predict with a good understanding of the situation, even without Rion’s warning. Someone as strong as Dorothy should have even less trouble.
“Wow, Rion-san. That would’ve been close without your warning!” Dorothy exclaimed.
That flattery was accompanied by a big leap backward. Dorothy would normally have been able to dodge it without even looking. If she’d been fighting me, she would have scoffed at me as she dodged. But this was where the problems started. The shadows weren’t just creeping in along the ground but also from directly above, along Dorothy’s blind spot.
What will you do now, I wonder?
“Ugh?! So you launched an attack from my blind spot too?!” Dorothy yelled.
Astonishingly, she was captured by the shadows during her leap backward. Several tendrils bound her quickly, successfully restraining her.
“Wait, you got caught like it was nothing?!”
“Oh! Your retorts are sharp today, Kelvin!” Serge exclaimed.
I mean who would expect her to just get caught so carelessly, even if the attack came from her blind spot?! Even back during the exhibition match before she fused with the others, Dorothy would have, like... Anyway, this wouldn’t have happened to her!
“Lightning Skewer!” Rion incanted.
While I was busy being terribly shocked, Rion acted as usual, greedily going after nothing but victory. She launched a thrust from her Caladbolg at the bound Dorothy while giving orders to the dog she’d created with magic. She was in that Beast King mindset, where she wouldn’t waver no matter what her opponent thought or did.
Wait...huh? Is this match over already? Like, seriously?