“Ri-chan’s pumping it up! You’re totally prepared! Now’s the time! The only time!” Rami cheered. “Raise the roof with lightning speed! Yaaay!”
Her shouts crashed into my ears. Meanwhile, I was thinking, Agghh, what a loud voice! My ears! My eeeaaarsss!
The ringing in my ears was awful. All of it was because Rami-chan had suddenly shouted really loudly. Just like intense light, humanoid bodies weren’t made to withstand intense sound. There was no defending against it.
“Oh well, it’s not like I can’t heal myself.”
I didn’t want to miss anything, so I immediately used White Magic to heal myself. Great, now I can hear.
“I’m glad to hear you so enthused about cheering, Rami-chan, but please watch your volume, you’re causing trouble for those around you.”
“Ah, soz! I didn’t think of that. Are your eardrums okay?” Rami asked.
“Barely, but yes. Also, uh...were you involved in making that lightning that’s covering Rion right now? You said ‘lightning speed’ earlier, didn’t you?”
“Ohhh, you can tell? Ri-chan’s so cool, huh? Crazy cool!” Rami exclaimed. She immediately admitted to it. In fact, it sounded like she had no intention of hiding it in the first place.
“Huh? Does that mean you’re helping Rion-chan during the match? Come on, that’s not right. Isn’t it against the rules?” Serge asked. Strangely, she was making a good point.
“You’re right. Casting support magic on Rion or attacking Dorothy would be a violation of the rules. But in this specific case...it’s not,” I replied.
“Huh? What’s this? Nepotism?” Serge asked accusingly.
“No, no, nothing stupid like that. You see...” I started explaining. In essence, this was like during Gaun’s Beast King Festival. Though the festival banned magic in all its forms, magic that had been cast before the match began was allowed. This was a clear bending of the rules, but it was officially permitted, and that was true here as well. Anything that had been cast on Rion before the start of the match was treated like equipment she had prepared, and there was no obligation for anyone to undo that spell. In other words, whatever Rami-chan had used on her was allowed.
Still... Oh man, I never thought Rami would do this. Isn’t she attending the academy on Gaun’s recommendation? Maybe she was the one to suggest this?
“So that’s how it is, Serge. Are you satisfied?”
“What do you mean, satisfied? I believed in Rion-chan and Rami-chan from the start! I would never doubt them!” Serge exclaimed.
I paused for a moment. “Yeah, okay. Actually, Rami-chan, I’m curious: What kind of effect does whatever you used have?”
“Hey! Heeeyyy! That was the perfect moment to make a witty retort!” Serge complained.
“Sorry, Serge. I’m currently out of those.”
“Awww.”
I mean, I want to concentrate on this fight now.
“Oh, so you really are curious? Okay, I’ll tell you,” said Rami. “I lent Ri-chan my Unique Skills, Swift as the Wind and Thunderclap!”
It took a moment for me to say, “Why not just combine the names into one? Like ‘Swift as Lightning’ or something?”
“I’m not the one who named these skills, so I dunno,” Rami replied. “But both of them are super electric, so they’re like my reliable buddies or something, maybe? Anyway, I’d say that Rion’s on a whole new level now. Not that I’d know.”
“You don’t know?! Ah...”
“There, that was a retort,” Serge said sulkily.
Damn! I wasted one of my precious remaining rounds!
Dorothy took a moment before saying, “I see. This is Rami-san’s power. Putting the power of a Dragon King into your hands as the peak of humankind certainly makes for a big threat. Will you show me, Rion-san? I want to see if that strength can reach me.”
“Of course I will,” Rion replied. “Okay...here I come!”
While we were acting like fools, the fight was progressing to its next stage. Obviously, though I was messing around, I would never miss that. I dedicated several partitions of Parallel Processing to watching the battle and processing the changes in the situation. As Rion had said, preparation was important. I caught the moment she disappeared with a sound like a cracking whip, but then...Serge, Dorothy, and I let out surprised noises in unison.
Rion was so fast, I immediately lost track of her. Serge, Dorothy, and I widened our eyes in surprise, not fully understanding what had just happened. Green and purple lightning was being left behind, spreading out from where she used to be like tracks. I could feel something with my detection skills, so she hadn’t disappeared completely. But her speed was so absurd that I could only catch the afterimages.
“That’s the effect of the green lightning, Swift as the Wind,” said Rami.
“I know it’s too late to point this out, but why is it still lightning when it has ‘wind’ in the name?”
“Hey, Kelvin, if you keep sweating the small stuff like that, you’ll go bald, you know?” Serge pointed out.
“What?! Really?! Oh crap, it’s probably already happening!”
“Yep, so watch out!” Rami agreed. “Anyway, about the Unique Skill: It makes you crazy fast!”
She was met with silence from Serge and me.
Uh, yeah. That’s obvious. I think the effect of that Unique Skill is greater than when I cast Sonic Acceleration on myself overclocked to the maximum. And she looks like she’s equal in speed to Ange, our fastest member, with that buff on her. That was how speedy Rion was at the moment.
“Well, you can see the effects in front of you now,” said Rami. “You know, that thing tends to grow as fast as it makes you, so it’s pretty hard to use in a real fight. That’s why I couldn’t use it during the exhibition match; it was a total vibe killer.”
“Oh... Is that so? So...it grows, huh? Does that mean it won’t take effect until a while after you’ve granted it to someone?”
“Rather than time, you need to really discharge a lot of electricity before using it,” Rami explained. “Comparing it to Red Magic, it would be like casting several Rank S spells, I think? Use a whole bunch of electricity to get the engines revved up, you know? Heh heh, I know it’s my own skill, but it’s pretty funny how unusable it is. On top of that, I can only give it to my BFF. It’s seriously sad, like a puppy dog in the rain...” One second she was laughing, and the next she was looking fairly sober and sad.
I see, though. It has a variety of restrictions on its use and startup in exchange for being extremely effective upon activation. Sounds like Sonic Acceleration is easier to use, but Swift as the Wind is better for turning the tide.
“Hey, Rami-chan! Rami-chan! Now’s not the time to be sad,” said Serge. “I mean, there’s still your other skill, Thunderclap, right? What about that one? Serge here is super interested in hearing about it!”
“Ah, you wanna know about that one too? Oh, fine.” Rami relented, sounding flattered. “Rami here will teach you the ins and outs of it! But Thunderclap has the same activation conditions as Swift as the Wind. The only thing to explain, really, is the effect.”
“So, if the activation condition is the same, that means Rion-chan can use Thunderclap too?” Serge asked.
“Yeppers!” Rami confirmed, pointing excitedly at the arena.
“But what kind of skill is it?”
“It’s a super simple one. It barely needs any explanation,” said Rami. “Thunderclap turns your speed into destructive power! So speed equals power in her case!”
Both Serge and I replied with silence once again.
Isn’t that totally insane? I thought. And it seemed to me like Serge was thinking the same thing. My expectations were right on the mark.
“Instant Prison of Slashes,” Rion called out.
“Gah...hah!” Dorothy grunted.
She had taken absolutely no damage up until then, but now, countless slashes had been carved into her.