"So... if I recall correctly, all I need to do now is amass enough time. That ought to be doable."
The metal on the blade whistled as the arm moved, and it was then pointed directly in front of Ayana.
"I'm assuming you're considering challenging me to a Duel? That's plausible, but can you really get "your" friend back, despite the fact that he has no desire to befriend you?"
"That may be true, but we have our own method of returning him; after all, Miyazaki is our friend, right? Believe it or not, none of his friends, including myself, would want him to succumb to the fear of losing his status."
"Your friend, huh? Is he, however, actually your friend? He's diverted into two bodies, one of the ruthless killer and one of the friendly individual?"
"... you shouldn't have to worry about his returning, and I apologize for the bothersome statements..." Tomomi popped out of nowhere, her face lit up with zeal and eagerness to help.
"Oh, you're one of the people Saraki has never mentioned? Is it possible to comprehend that you are a vital figure in his rescue?"
"... gosh, I have no idea who I am... I just came here to provide a hand.... I know I'd be useless in a battle, but that shouldn't bother me..."
"In any case, if you're connected to Yujiro Sagayama, should I make this a dueling affair? I should? Okay, then I'll proceed with what I'm ordered to do."
Elliot and Ayana, the two Duelists, exchanged looks shortly after her sword was pulled.
("Based on her appearance, she may be an adversary who will act in an unfriendly manner toward me; yet, even if that's the case, there's no way I should back out now.")
It was probable that a clap of thunder struck between the two Duelists as they stood facing each other, imagining the possible rivalry, but the operation began right away.
Nina and Motomi remained silent behind Elliot, believing in his ability to triumph, and with an instantaneous sprint forward and an extra twist to his body, the blade he wielded hit.
Despite this, Ayana's arm sliced with the same sword, and the metals reverberated, giving them an easy start to a duel.
When Elliott sensed his opponent approaching, he swiftly backed away and dove. His adversary's blade grazed him, but he was unharmed. He then pierced forward while enveloping his blade with yellow lightning.
Ayana vanished in an instant as the blade approached her abdomen, and as Elliot's blade came to a halt, a tremendous lightning rod flew and struck into a neighboring stairwell.
That was an accident; the attacker ducked and struck again from behind in a couple of seconds, nearly injuring Elliot, but only after he dodged the blow and kicked behind.
Elliot ran in her direction and sliced with his sword from the side of his right shoulder as Ayana braced herself for the blow and allowed herself to be pushed.
Ayana ducked and pressed her blade into the earth, imbuing the ground with a unique ability. The shock reached the earth and, after selecting one place, broke out from beneath Elliot's feet, surprising in color green but radiating radiance, and with it, Elliot's body was launched into the air.
Of course, the initial hit wasn't enough to stop him; all he had to do was roll his body in the air, absorb the lightning, and the Godspeed, his primary technique, was instantaneously activated.
That's when Ayana's mind finally understood.
Elliot's body was gone in the blink of an eye.
But it was then that she began to notice every fragment of shock rushing around her, as well as the remaining fractures of yellow electricity dispersing exceedingly quickly.
She swept her left arm in response to a shock movement behind her and immediately came into contact with something.
She grabbed Elliot by the face and unleashed a powerful shockwave, flinging Elliot's body back and totally blocking the Godspeed.
Elliot used his balance to squat and grip the floor with his bare hand after quickly flipping to a safe landing.
Along with his primary electricity, his feet swept the floor and raised the dust, and in a flash of swirling dust, he sprinted back to the very front of his adversary, Ayana.
She couldn't detect him because it had only been a few seconds - and her ability had a cooldown - so she just stabbed the sword forward, but our Hero rolled to the side of the blade.
He dodged and struck his punch with a fist contact, then launched his body into a front flip to balance off his landing. Of course, his adversary was pushed back from it, giving Elliot another chance to strike, thanks to his quickness.
After resuming his attack, he sprinted and circled around the back of Ayana's body, cutting upward and leaving a severely heated trail of electricity behind him.
Ayana couldn't do much about it, so she spun around and grasped Elliot's blade with her bare hand, which was the only way she could avoid being terribly harmed.
Our Hero dropped his guard as a result of the unexpected event, not realizing that her palm's blood had spurted out. Ignoring the pain, Ayana launched her left leg backward and blitzed ahead.
She knocked Elliot back with a heavy hit to the forehead, then swiftly followed up by stretching her leg even further and unleashing a huge jolt through the bottoms of her soles.
Elliot's body was the next to be knocked back, and that's when he acted immediately to stop his opponent from doing any more harm. He needed some form of assault technique, and it smacked him square in the face. He was looking for a method that...
Nothing extraordinary, he simply dropped to the floor and hurled himself back at Ayana, but it was all a ruse; instead of assaulting her, he reached for her breasts and embarrassed her.
"W-What are you doing?"
He struck Ayana with his elbow and stunned her, then let go of her chest and vanished through her body, because that was generally the girl's vulnerability.
Doing so summoned a swarm of his energy, which slashed Ayana in the shape of a cross.
Her garments were completely torn into her clothes, and she had significant cuts on her skin as a result.
Then, attacking again, Elliot blitzed Ayana's upper side of the back with a jumping kick, and because he combined his assault with his aura augmentation, he had the option of adding pressure, which is why Ayana's body was thrown forward.
"Hah! Bingo, that's it! I just had to strip her top and that instantly made her lose her cool, lol!" Elliot yawned as he crossed his hands behind his neck.
"W-Well, it... c-certainly was something.... who'd have guessed his perversion would come in handy, even in battle?"
"... that's why I'd never pick him as a travel companion..."
Tomomi was even observed with an unimpressed expression, but at least she didn't have to be concerned about him.
"I mean, your boobs are nothing compared to Ayuka's, so I didn't have much entertainment dealing with it."
"I-I just realized... Elliot is 17 years old, and she's meant to be an adult?"
"Hey! I'm eighteen, so shut up!"
"However, I always assumed you were seventeen... weren't you?" Nina gave off the sense of being perplexed. "Man, I'm serious... It's no surprise that no one wished me a happy birthday because they had no idea. In any case, I'm not in the mood to make a snide remark about my birthday, but I'm glad to have struck a blow."
However, when he stated those precise words, he spotted the opponent slowly approaching, and despite the fact that she had her back to Elliot's view, he noticed she was infuriated.
So as she reached for her trench coat and put it back on, her right eye lit, and a symbol appeared beneath it. "Dude, you're a moron... So, by stripping me, you're attempting to win? Then I suppose your death will not be a problem."
The shaking in the neighborhood soon became abnormally loud.
"Uh-Oh... Elliot, if you're reading this... I'm guessing you irritated her because she's acting more aggressive than she was a few seconds ago."
"...I completely forgot, this isn't Ayuka.... I might or might not have made a catastrophic error." Elliot chose a combat position and activated his Godspeed with his (likely final) words.
At the same time, Kiyoshi entered his positioned room and exchanged eyes with Shijo, a tough-looking man clothed in scarlet attire and crossing his arms, while the shards of wrath were happening in the adjacent room.
("So, this is who he is, huh? Who is the opponent I must defeat? He *does* appear a little terrifying and strange, but I assume that's how he's supposed to be designed.")
"Well, now that I've arrived, should we just get to the hard part?"
But there were no words.
"I'm guessing you're not much of a talker? So, I've been assigned the most uninteresting opponent imaginable..."
Kiyoshi scratched the back of his red-curly hair and called his blade, which was red with black undertones.
"Are you going to draw your weapon or just stand there like a bodyguard?" Shijo finally spoke after a few seconds of silence.
"What's the point of having a weapon? Crushing someone like you shouldn't be a problem." Shijo raised his head and the scorching eyes roared out with a blue light-emitting from them.
Immediately, his clothes began to wave upward, and Kiyoshi's eyes began to spin with nonsense. Suddenly, the entire room swung around, and they were now standing on the ceiling, rather than on the floor.
"I'm not sure what this is intended to be. Whoa! W-What the hell is going on?! Where's the physics in the stairwell being beneath me?!"
"It's something I'm capable of... It dramatically alters the gravitational field in the room I'm in. As a result, instead of being on the floor, you appear to be standing on the ceiling."
"A-And you think I'm going to fight like this?! I'm getting nauseous just gazing at this strewn-about region!"
"It wasn't my choice. You and your pals came here for a reason: to be punished. And I'll be the one to punish your blunder and crush you down to your last skeleton, so prepare yourself, Duelist. This is the end of your journey."
("He's wrong if he thinks I'll just let him deceive me with the room's appearance. I'm going to prove him wrong, defeat him, and get to Tim.")
However, back in the dorm, Codey had been feeling sad and had been working out instead, sweating like a pig.
Ayuka returned to the dorm just a few moments later.
"You've begun exercising? That's something new."
"My muscles need to be strengthened... When I was fighting Alexis, I realized that."
She gave him an odd look.
"You battled Alexis in an f-fight? W-Why?"
"Oh, no, there was no reason; I simply wanted to better myself, and there was no doubt about it. I have a rudimentary understanding of how my ability works... and you, we need to communicate; I'd like to know why you're on a time limit."
"I've already started... I don't want to talk about it, and I have no intention of telling anyone about it."
Just then, Codey took a step forward and walked over to Ayuka, grabbing her jacket. "What are you doing? H-Hey, what are you doing?"
She assumed she'd be stripped down to her underwear once he yanked her top off, but he grabbed her by the hip and lifted her up.
"H-Hey! What are you doing, C-Codey?!"
He took a stride toward the water and tossed her over.
"How come you're doing this?" Her eyes widened in surprise, and a tremendous splash erupted, her body sinking beneath her, while Codey simply crossed his arms.
He waited for Ayuka to reach the pool's edge, and she glanced up at him, her hair dripping wet. "W-Why did you do such a thing?" "Wow, that was unexpected!"
Codey avoided noting that her underwear was visible through her white top as much as possible before speaking.
"You're absolutely ineffective when it comes to emotions! I did it so that you may grasp a sense of assurance! You had a lot of energy and were always like this! And, just so you know, I'm already aware of your status as Tim's wife."
"H-Huh?! Y-You're aware of it?! No, no, no! That's not proper, is it?"
"Come on, just stop being this careless! That's not the same as you brightening up and becoming your own cheerleader alike, and not hiding it. Saraki has already informed me that you are his wife."
"But, I..."
"Due to the Black Storm, we forgot, and just so you know... Tim is aware of it as well."
"Does he know we have a child?"
"That's right, and if you think your unpleasant personality will impress him, you're completely mistaken. So get your act together, okay?" He knelt in front of her and gave her a thud on the head.
"Come on, you know you want to... You know, that did sting a little bit."
"Then go back to being the girl you were before."
Ayuka shifted her hair behind her ear to the side and averted her gaze. "Yeah... I'll give it a whirl..."
To be continued...