"YOU FUCKING BASTAAAAARRRD!!!" Kouki swore, gaining the attention of everyone present when they heard the uncharacteristic word come from his mouth along with a few drops of spit. He then continued as his thoughts ran rampant,
"I get it now, you enslave any woman who catches your attention, and force them to attend to your disgusting desires! There's no other way so many women would be drawn to such a despicable person! Don't worry, I'll free you all and you'll never have to follow him again!" As Kouki finished his declaration he reached to draw his sword, but was stopped when Grayfia stepped out as if to meet him if he started fighting. Looking around many of the girls with Alex were in similar states as, even though he was talking to Alex, they all felt personally attacked by his declaration to some degree, with even Anne shuddering slightly from Kouki's statement. As he saw all the women he intended to free standing against him, Kouki reluctantly released his sword and said,
"Even now you hide behind those you force to do your bidding, if you're a man then fight me yourself! As the hero I challenge you to a duel, and when I win I'll have you release those women!" Everyone was silent as Kouki ran wild with his delusions and declarations, both from being stunned by his behavior and being unable to keep up with his delusions; even Shizuku was somewhat absent minded while she was still wrapped in Alex's arms, as she struggled to comprehend what Kouki was doing. Alex however was calm, and released Shizuku before stepping forward while Grayfia respectfully stepped aside for him, and said,
"Since you intend to delude yourself until the end, even though I've given you several chances to think about how you do things, then I'll accept your challenge. I'll ask the princess and her mother to stand witness to the duel and our agreement, and I'll request two favors upon winning as the one who was challenged." After he finished speaking Alex looked towards Liliana who also seemed to have trouble keeping up with what was happening, before she quickly nodded her head and replied,
"Of course I'll be the witness, and as the challenged party I don't suppose there's much reason to deny your request, but I would like to know what they are." Alex smiled a bit evilly as he turned back towards Kouki and stated,
"The first one I'll strip him of everything that Kouki holds dear, his status of hero. He'll have to return his Heroes armor and the holy sword and never again refer to himself as a hero. The second one will be that he undergoes a punishment of my choosing, don't worry I won't choose something like physical torture, maiming, or death. And finally I also request that this fuel be a non lethal one, meaning neither of us will intentionally try to kill the other." Kouki paled slightly when he heard the conditions for losing, but when he recalled his hidden trump card that he attained during training not too long ago he regained his composure. Even though he knew Alex was extremely powerful, he expected that with his trump card he would more than close the gap, and as the hero he didn't doubt his victory in the slightest. Liliana however nodded in acceptance of Alex's terms, though she was confused slightly on why he specified that they couldn't intentionally kill each other, since he was the only one she could see possibly going for the kill.
"The duel will be in one hour in the courtyard, you have until then to prepare." After saying her piece Liliana swiftly left the room to have some people prepare for the duel, while the students started worrying about what was about to happen. Though they wanted to cheer for their classmate and the class leader, Kouki had demonstrated his capability for powerful delusions in full force, and so it was hard for them to do so. The person himself swiftly left to prepare while Alex casually plopped down on the couch once more, the girls fawning over him as soon as he sat down. The one who was worried the most about the duel however was Shizuku, as she definitely didn't want to see her childhood friend and the one she pledged herself to fight.
***
An hour later everyone found themselves standing in the courtyard with an assembly of Knights, nobles, and the castle servants surrounding them, as they looked on at the two figures facing each other. On one side was Kouki who was now in his shining armor after it had been repaired from Alex poking it the other day, his hair was lightly floating in the wind and he struck an imposing yet heroic figure as he glared at Alex, seemingly the perfect hero who was defending the maidens honor if not for the touch of insanity one could see in his eyes. On the other side was Alex who was garbed in his orange combat gi with his tail swaying behind him, much to the surprise of those that hadn't seen it before, as he took a more casual stance showing his obvious lack of wariness of his opponent. As the tension built before the match started, Alex broke the silence by saying,
"You know what, I don't think this match is fair. To even things up I won't use any physical or magical attacks at all." When they heard the first half of his statement everyone was curious what he meant, but after hearing the second half there was a collective groan from the audience while Kouki's glare intensified as he started grinding his teeth in annoyance. He then glanced over at the girls that came with Alex and said while smiling as if to appeal to them,
"Don't worry, soon you'll no longer have to listen to a cocky man like him. I'll free each of you from servitude and we can actually do some good together!" Though he meant to appeal to them it appeared his words had the opposite effect as a chill ran through each of the girls, while Kuroka pushed Shia forward as if to say 'take the rabbit', and Yue even tried to hide behind Rias to escape Kouki's gaze. Even Grayfia had momentarily broke character as she covered her mouth with one of her hands and muttered in response,
"I think I just threw up a little." Kouki's smile was strained before he returned to glaring at Alex, believing he had even manipulated them to respond in such a way to one who was trying to help them. Alex just sighed at how Kouki was ignoring his own stupidity, while Meld awkwardly made his way between the two of them and said,
"I'll be announcing the rules and guidelines for this duel before we start, first off there is to be no killing. If there is even the slightest killing intent from either of you its an automatic forfeit, other than that the match will go on until one side either gives up or can no longer fight. Do you nth understand?" At both sides Alex and Kouki nodded in affirmation as Meld stepped back, and Liliana stepped forward this time with a scroll in her hands.
"At the bang the duel will start, ready, set," As she spoke Liliana activated the scroll and after she said 'set' there was a loud bang with a flash of light, and Kouki disappeared to all but a few of the viewers.
"'Light that tears through all of creation, Wind that erodes time itself, rage like a thousand flower petals and coalesce Ito a blinding storm- HEAVENREND!'" Kouki chanted as he slashed his sword in Alex's direction. Not only did his attack speed up more than it already was, but several blades of light formed around his sword as they sped towards the seemingly casual Alex. A small smile spread on Kouki's lips as he saw Alex stand still even while his attack closed in, seemingly completely incapable of dodging the multitude of attacks. He was soon dumbfounded however when with speed that even he couldn't keep up with, Alex blurred as each of the blade of lights flew right past him harmlessly before dissipating and his sword also missed its mark. Though he was annoyed Kouki kept his temper in check and said through gritted teeth,
"I suppose I should have expected as much from a coward, all you can do is run from my attacks!" Alex laughed out loud and retorted as Kouki renewed his attacks once more,
"And this is coming from someone who didn't refute my decision to refrain from any kind of actual retaliation, so which of us is the actual coward?" Kouki snarled in response as his attacks gained more fervor from Alex's taunts.
"HOLY SHOOTING STARS!!!" Kouki shouted without chanting, unleashing a flash of light that actually blinded the unsuspecting Alex and shot out several light attacks. Though one would expect that having his sight temporarily stolen would hinder Alex, his smirk never left his face as he still managed to perfectly avoid each of Kouki's attacks by the smallest hairs breath, moving his body now as if he was dancing.
"ASTRAL UNLEASH! DIVINE DELUGE! HEAVENSTRUM!" Kouki shouted as he omitted the usual chants and unleashed attack after attack, first several blades of light that flew from the front before the second attack soared above him and rained down light on an area several meters around Alex as if to prevent him from escaping. To conclude his barrage Kouki swiftly moved to the side to unleash his 'heavenstrum', which generated a massive pillar of light that flew towards Alex's side and was intended to corner him to be unable to avoid these attacks. By this point Kouki was less focused on dealing any real damage, and was more focused on actually hitting his opponent. As his attacks of light blinded everyone and kicked up dust, they lost all sight of Alex until the brightness died down, and the dust started to settle.
"Where is he?" Someone muttered from the sidelines as they saw nothing where Alex was supposed to be. Even Kouki was stupefied as his eyes scanned the area for his absent opponent, before a voice questioned in his ear,
"What are we all looking at?" Kouki jumped and spun quickly while putting his sword at the ready, only to see Alex standing behind him looking questioningly at the spot he had just been standing seconds before.
"How did you do that?!" Kouki demanded. Alex smirked before responding,
"Why should I reveal my secrets? Not all of us are willing to shout and announce our every attack to our opponent, or do you think it's fun to let your enemy know exactly what you're about to do so they can counteract it?" Kouki snarled at Alex's quip, before launching himself forward once more and started a barrage of attacks with just his sword. If him using spells was wrong, then he'd use the wordless sword skills he had polished from his years spent at the Yeagashi dojo. Even Shizuku watched in awe at the perfect thrusts and flawless slashes Kouki executed as he attempted to strike his opponent, though the display was marred somewhat by the fact that each attack missed its target who had now started to lightly hum his own tune while literally dancing away from Kouki's attacks. Each time Alex dodged his attacks in such a manner Kouki's face would grow progressively redder, until finally Alex seemed to reach the end of whatever tune he was humming. Finally Kouki swept his sword towards Alex's side, causing him to spin in response before sticking his hand out front and sweeping it up with his finger pointing at an angle, ending in a pose just like one in disco. At the end of Alex's finger however was the tip of Kouki's sword, which he caught and redirected with just the single finger.
"He stopped Kouki's attack... With just a finger!" Someone muttered dumbfoundedly while several others made similar remarks. Alex smirked and declared,
"Of course! My fingers are one of the parts of my body I exercise most, just ask anyone who's shared a bed with me!" Though it took a second, it dawned on everyone what Alex was talking about and several people looked towards his travel companions as if for confirmation, only for Rias and the other to suddenly put their full attention on something outside the duel. As if this confirmed their suspicions, every guy in the audience suddenly looked at Alex with either awe or envy; while almost every girl, both married and single, looked at him with definite interest as most of them were now interested in experiencing his fingers firsthand. As for Kouki however, though his glare deepened he wasn't given a chance to respond before Alex stepped forward before he could react and whispered in his ear,
"You should have seen what my fingers did to Shizuku last night, her moans were amazing." Kouki's expression blanked at what Alex said, before a look of rage like nothing he'd shown before surfaced and he shouted,
"YOU FUCKERRRRRRRR! LIMIT BREAK!" As he shouted his power suddenly skyrocketed as every one of his stats were suddenly multiplied by three, though it also added a shorter time limit for his fighting. Alex fought back the smirk, as this was exactly what he was aiming for. Since Kouki didn't know how to handle rage, it would be too hard to push him into a berserk state where he would simply self destruct after powering himself up repeatedly. This was also why Alex even went so far as to lie about his interactions with Shizuku, who he had yet to do more than kiss so far. After powering up Kouki then launched into another barrage of attacks, however they seemed to lack the masterful precision of his earlier assault. Of course Alex was still under no pressure whatsoever, however he now wasn't just being passive as he continued stepping in to whisper provocative things to Kouki to infuriate him even more.
"Shizuku also seemed so cute and subdued, imagine my surprise when I found out how vocal she was in bed."
"SHUT UP!!!"
"I've thoroughly enjoyed my time with her, from dusk till dawn more often than not."
"I SAID SHUT UP!!!"
As Alex continued taunting his opponent, everyone was wondering what he was saying to get such a response from Kouki. Two of the girls however were well aware of what Alex was saying due to their fluffy ears, and Kuroka was trying to hold down her laughter while Shia hesitantly went to Shizuku and asked,
"You still haven't actually done anything with Alex, have you?" Shizuku blushed at Shia's question, and wanted to hide behind her ponytail when she saw several people suddenly look away from the battle and towards her in interest at the question. Her blush deepened as she quietly replied,
"I don't see how it's relevant, but no we've only kissed..." Shia simply nodded and said,
"I figured, Alex is using you and lying to mister fake hero over there to make him angry." She then repeated some of the things Alex had said, causing Shizuku's blush to deepen even more until she finally hid behind her ponytail and shouted,
"Nooooooooo! We haven't done any of that!" Seeing the cool beauty lose her cool off the first time, the girls of the class were going 'kyaaaaaa!, while the guys were gaping at the gap in image Shizuku showed. Their attention was drawn back to the duel however when there was a sudden surge of power as Kouki shouted,
"SUPREME BREAK!!!" Everyone momentarily covered their eyes as a blinding flash of light and power radiated from Kouki, and his strength increased to five times his original strength. This was the same power he had unlocked during their struggle against Cattleya and the monster horde she had commanded, but everyone present knew that with the increase in power the burden his body bore was increased. This wasn't what concerned everyone however, it was that fact that due to Alex's provocations, Kouki's aura now carried traces of what was obviously killing intent. Meld narrowed his eyes and muttered,
"To think, the same Kouki that refused to deal a fatal blow to someone who was an enemy, is now wanting to kill the very person who's saved his and his comrades lives, twice. If things escalate then I'll have to put an end to the duel." No refuted what Meld said as it was even stated before the duel started, there was to be no killing their opponent. Though no believed he was capable of it, if Kouki was truly trying to kill Alex then it was as good as him forfeiting the match. Sadly Melds misgivings soon proved to be correct, when Alex whispered something else to Kouki, who stood there momentarily before shouting,
"I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!" What happened next shocked everyone, as the traces of killing intent coming from Kouki turned into a raging waves as he charged forwards and attacked Alex once more, except now he was intending to take his life. In his frenzy Kouki had abandoned all forms of control and precision, instead only focusing on trying to hurt, and eliminate his opponent. With each swing of Kouki's sword generating devastating attacks of light that dug into the ground, Meld decided it was enough and shouted,
"That's enough Kouki! The fight is over!" At first the berserking hero didn't seem to hear Meld, but then he growled,
"Not yet, not until I remove the plague that is his existence! I will kill him and save everyone he's ever wronged! Shizuku and Kaori who he gave to Hajime, and all of those he's enslaved like Eri and those poor girls over there! They would all be much happier by MY SIDE!!!" Seeing that Kouki wasn't listening, Meld turned toward Alex's and shouted,
"THE DUELS OVER, PLEASE STOP KOUKI!" Alex didn't hesitate, and moved in to land a punch on Kouki's chest. Admittedly he held back because he wasn't sure how much of his strength Kouki could take, so Alex was only slightly surprised to see Kouki still standing with a new dent in his armor and a bit of blood dripping from his mouth. Kouki spat out the blood in his mouth and said,
"I figured going this far wouldn't work on you, so I guess I'll have to use my other trump card, ULTIMATE BREAK!" Kouki's shout surprised everyone, but none so more than Alex who thought,
'I don't remember that from the novel!' Kouki's power then grew once more, doubling in size for up to ten times his original strength. He then said,
"You thought I wouldn't notice didn't you? The reason you specified that neither of us could kill each other, the reason you avoided all of my attacks! Devils are weak to light! You've barely avoided my attacks this whole time, and now I'm faster and more powerful! With this one attack, I will wipe you from the face of this world, and cleanse it of your filth!" He then stared a chant, which made Meld and those who had fought beside Kouki before pale in fear, especially since they were standing behind Alex and in the line of fire.
"Kuroka, protect everyone." Alex said calmly as Kouki finished his chant and declared,
"HEAVENS WRATH!!!!" As he swung his sword down, a pillar of light like nothing any of them had seen yet soared towards them. Alex stood there calmly before a sword also appeared in his hand which he raised and swung at the attack, effectively cutting a hole for himself. Meanwhile Kuroka summoned the strongest barrier she was capable of and erected it in front of the panicking audience, while Grayfia, Rias, and Yue all put their hands up and helped by supplying more energy to her barrier. As the light faded everyone saw a trench cut into the stone courtyard from Kouki's attack, and no Alex.
"Haha, I did it! You can all rest easy, I defeated the villain!" Kouki declared to the silent audience as the power that fueled him started dissipating, who just stared back at him in pure horror. While Kouki was declaring his victory and feeling proud of himself however, a voice suddenly said,
"You really shouldn't celebrate your victory too early you know, that's one of biggest cliches in the book for getting your ass kicked." Kouki turned while startled at the now hatefully familiar voice, only to see Alex standing there with his sword casually swung over his shoulder. The last thing he saw was a large fist heading straight towards his face and, due to strain from using limit, supreme, and ultimate break consecutively, he could do nothing as it approached before he lost consciousness.
***
When Kouki opened his eyes he found himself sitting on the ground, without any of the familiar weight of his armor, all of his fatigue from the fight vanished, and his hands behind his back with something cool and metallic around his wrists.
"Oh good you're awake, I'm glad it only took a couple minutes for you to recover since it means my regeneration magic is improving, even if I have to deal with you being awake." Kouki looked up to see Alex standing above him along with Meld, Liliana, Ryutarou, Kaori, Hajime, and finally Shizuku. Shizuku especially was glaring down at Kouki and stated,
"You're lucky Alex was willing to heal the damage you inflicted on yourself, and that Kuroka and the others were able to block the attack you directed at us." Kouki looked away from her shamefully, which caused Shizuku to narrow her eyes in response while Liliana explained,
"Due to you deliberately trying to kill Alex during your duel, it was decided that you were disqualified and Alex won. Your behavior in the end however also led us to believe that we should separate your armor and sword from you while you were unconscious, lest you try to avoid giving it back after losing." Though she didn't seem happy to do so, Liliana was treating Kouki like a criminal since he had in fact directed a massive and nearly unblock able attack in their direction, towards the remaining three members of the royal family. If it wasn't for Alex's companions then they could have very well died. Kouki glanced towards Ryutarou and Meld, those he believed would still side with him, only for both to look at him sadly for a moment before looking away. Seeing no one was going to help him, Kouki bitterly muttered,
"Everyone's just giving him what he wants, and now he's going to get me out of the way so no one stops him..." Though several people wanted to refute what Kouki said, they didn't get a chance to as Alex walked up and summoned Ascalon once more, before placing the tip under Kouki's chin while everyone held their breath. Alex then said,
"So how do you want me to do it? Cut your head off? Or maybe I'll use my staff and hit you with it as hard as possible? Or maybe I'll create a tiny black hole and crush you with it bit by bit, slowly and painfully until you're no bigger than a marble." Kouki and everyone present paled at Alex's threats, as he was also releasing a mild amount of killing intent, showing he wouldn't hesitate to carry out what he said. However the killing intent suddenly disappeared and Alex put away Ascalon before continuing,
"If I wanted you dead then I would've killed you already using any of the thousand ways available to me, openly or in secret. I would not have gone through all of this trouble just to get rid of you, it was to teach you a lesson. I know you have the capability to grow up, but you refused to do so any of the times I have you a chance. So now comes the hard way, the punishment I mentioned before we started the duel." Kouki's eyes narrowed at what Alex said while everyone looked uncomfortable at the thought of him receiving further punishment. However as it was one of the conditions Alex put forward beforehand they didn't say anything, and decided instead to only intervene if he intended to kill Kouki. No one imaged that Alex's punishment would be so much worse than death. As a somber mood stared settling over everyone Alex declared,
"Your punishment, is to become an outstanding magical girl!" A stunned silence spread over everyone as they tried to comprehend what Alex just said, before Grayfia broke it by asking,
"What exactly did you say?" Alex smiled and repeated,
"I said he is to become a magical girl. He will join the other maidenly women and learn the way of magical girls from them. It was a secret group that only Serafall knew about, so it's not surprising none of you were aware." With Grayfia and Rias both giving him looks that meant there was to be a discussion later, Alex then raised two fingers to his mouth and whistled. As the shrill noise carried over the castle, the window to the room Alex had been resting in prior to the duel was blown open, and several figures were seen jumping from it before crashing down in front of them.
BOOM!!!
As the sound of impact echoed a cloud of dust rose, and Meld organized the Knights into a defensive formation out of caution. As it settled however, a sense of nausea spread through the onlookers when they saw the dozen newcomers.
"We came to pick up our new recruit-nyo!💕" A deep voice thundered from the lead thing, a hulking figure that had Catt ears on it head and wore frilly clothing that was obviously too small, including the skirt that did nothing to hide the bulging contents underneath that was barely contained by a poor pair of panties. Though he didn't seem to actually get over the shock, Meld at least got out,
"W-who are you?" The giant acted surprised and said as if in an attempt at a cutesy voice,
"Oh silly me-nyo, I forgot to introduce myself. I am one of the co-leaders of the magical girls that follow the boss, Mil-ton!💕" As it finished speaking the thing jumped as if excitedly and did a pose, making the view the onlookers had so much worse. Meanwhile another thing stepped forward from the group of freaks, and also posed next to Mil-ton and declared,
"Master of fashion by day, defender against evil at night! Introducing the other co-leader of the magical girls, Crystabel!💕" As it posed next to Mil-ton no one knew how to react except to try and not lose their lunch. The only one seemingly unaffected was Alex, who turned back towards Kouki and said,
"You'll be joining them, and will also become a splendid magical girl Kouki." As he finished speaking everyone looked at him, before Kouki seemed to understand what Alex said and he pleaded,
"Please no!" Alex however didn't mind him and said to Mil-ton,
"This is Kouki, he has been bad so I want you to train him in the way of magical girls so he doesn't loose his way." Mil-ton nodded enthusiastically and said,
"Of course boss, we won't let someone we can save become bad! I'll make sure to beat the way of the magical girl into him thoroughly-nyo! 💕" Alex nodded and went to Kouki's side before removing the specially made azantium handcuffs Hajime made, as one of the magical girls that followed Mil-ton came forward and looked Kouki up and down.
"Ooooo, I'm Annabelle and you're definitely my type! Let's go back and have some fun dreamboat! 💕" the thing then grabbed Kouki by the collar and started dragging him towards the other magical girls, while Alex opened a most portal to their island.
"No no please! Don't let them take me! Shizuku please, HELP MEEEEE!" Kouki cried as he disappeared into the mist. As the portal closed Shizuku asked,
"Was that really necessary? I don't think Kouki really deserved all of that, and will he even be the same when we see him again?" It was obvious what Shizuku meant by Kouki being the same, however Alex disappointed her when he replied,
"No he won't, you might as well consider Kouki to be dead. Chances are when you see him again he'll be Cookie instead or something, and I did give him several chances to grow up before resorting to this." Shizuku sighed and silently hoped her childhood friend wouldn't change too much before they met again, not realizing she should in fact be more concerned about his chastity lasting through the next hour.