Every other minute, the dueling between multiple heroes and villains proceeded to drive itself wild.
Around the Rukaze City's Hideout, where Spiritual Hoaxers had been secreted, there were flashing lights, thumping noises, and elemental discharges.
Kiyoshi is in a Duel with Shijo, Elliott is fighting Ayana, and Shigeru is lurking at the corner of the hallway, ready to strike if necessary. Yumi and Shion, meantime, proceeded to reduce the number of Spiritual Hoaxers in the gathering room, while Alpha must have engaged Yujiro at the top of the roof.
Starting with Kiyoshi, his body behaved normally while Battling in a disoriented gravity; nevertheless, his opponent was Shijo, a Duelist who appeared to be dueling bare-handed, despite the fact that Kiyoshi was wielding his sword.
Even though Kiyoshi slashed forward with his blade, Shijo lifted his body off the ceiling and appeared on the floor, and Kiyoshi's blade missed.
"So you're able to change the ceilings? This appears to be a little unfair."
"I'll let you in on a little secret... whenever you lift your entire body off the floor, or in your case, the ceiling, you'll be transported to wherever you stare or how you twist your body."
So Kiyoshi put it to the test, and the moment he leaped and faced the ground, his corpse vanished on the same platform as Shijo.
"You're telling me that the entire room is being exploited by you?"
"That's accurate... why do you think I chose a rectangle space? Because otherwise, movement throughout the room would have been difficult."
"It doesn't matter; this will be a new experience for me, and if I win, it will be an intriguing victory."
"We'll see how the Duel goes... after all, unlike you, I'm already familiar with professional movement in this room."
"Tsch... you may talk big all you want, but it won't help you win."
Kiyoshi, on the other hand, became stuck in his thoughts. ("So, based on what he stated, we can battle using both the left and right walls, as well as the floor and ceiling, and our eyesight will be entirely normalized... I guess I'd best get this down immediately.")
Kiyoshi bowed forward and sprinted for Shijo, cutting his edge obliquely till Shijo ducked and quickly closed his hand and punched forward, without saying anything else.
Kiyoshi reacted by leaping, but his body only flickered, and his body quickly rolled against the left wall.
"What the hell is going on?! I didn't want to relocate here in the first place!"
He sat on the floor, staring forward to where Shijo was standing. "I told you that as soon as you move your body off the ground, it will switch your location, and because you rolled to the left, it flung you against the left wall."
"I'm going to be irritated by this logic... I can only dodge by ducking or leaning to the side; if I jump, I'll get swapped out.... oh well, it's better that it happened; at the very least, I have a lead."
Finally, Kiyoshi clutched the wall's floor and jumped forward, gazing down at the floor and appearing in front of Shijo. Even if he tried to cut, his balance damaged his rhythm because he was still unaccustomed to such movement.
So, after slipping and tripping to the ground, Shijo kicked forward and rammed his toes into Kiyoshi's stomach, knocking him into the air, and because he had lost physical ground, his body smacked with the ceiling, damaging his back.
Shijo leaped to the ceiling and kicked his foot forward once that was out of the way. Kiyoshi swiftly lifted his left arm to resist, but his body was forced to roll to the side, and just as he smacked against the wall, Shijo sprinted forward, intending to punch him again.
Kiyoshi, on the other hand, rapidly rose up and jumped to the side, his body emerging on the right wall, and he was safe from the kick.
"I mean, this ability is difficult to move around with, but it has benefits, such as making dodging simpler."
"Hmph... that's true, but there's no way for you to take less damage if you don't know how to turn your body when switching platforms."
("He's correct... I need to learn how to move, so that's exactly what I'll do!")
Kiyoshi stood up and, upon seeing Shijo leap to the side, quickly crossed both arms, which were instantly smashed by a powerful fist, causing Kiyoshi's soles to slide across the floor, causing him to crash into the wall, hitting himself off the wall forward, before suddenly noticing Shijo in front of him.
Shijo's fist slammed into Kiyoshi's stomach without resistance, and his body sunk deeper into the wall with ease, blowing out the dust.
The forceful pressure continued to radiate from Ayana's body, causing the floor to tremble and leaving Elliot in an uncomfortable situation.
"... Masahiro... I believe you've aggravated the situation..."
"Thank you so much for informing me, Tomomi!" He braced for the oncoming attack by quickly twisting the blade, and Ayana appeared in front of him, her sword slashing into his face.
Elliot, on the other hand, was spared by quick reaction, as he vanished in a yellow flash of electricity, flipped on the floor in front of Tomomi and Nina, and then bent forward and dashed in high voltage.
The thunder flowed behind Ayana from the right side of her shoulder as he increased his speed and accuracy, and Elliot cut forward from one side to the other a split second later.
But all he offered was a failure, and he quickly realized that Ayana's right eye was already staring behind her. ("I didn't even realize it, but she saw me before I vanished, or what?")
Thoughts were futile, and Elliot's right wrist was quickly grasped by Ayana's powerful hand, and she yanked him into the air and to the front, hurling him far into the air, his back pointing down towards the ground.
But that was only the start of her assaults, as she leaped behind him and braced her knee. She slammed her knee into the center of his back, causing him to spit saliva, then flipped and appeared over Elliot's stomach in a blinding flash. She slammed her ankle into his stomach and forced out the green aura that slammed the ceiling, not wasting any time.
Elliot braced himself for the impact and swiftly moved his body sideways, allowing him to roll around on the floor, where he soon discovered Ayana had been falling like a meteor.
So, just as he was about to be hit, he drove his palms into the ground and twisted them, then rapidly stabilized his body and propelled himself backward using only his hands. Ayana's blade sliced directly through the wall and blasted sharp waves of green aura in every direction as he backed away with a leap.
Nina was being pursued by one of those waves at the time. Tomomi slid in front of her, threw her arm forward, and pointed her palm into it, exactly as she expected to be crushed. She created white aura trails that served as a barrier.
And as soon as the green waves smacked into her palm, the white aura merely deflected them, leaving only a whirlwind.
"Huh? Tomomi? Y-You think you can accomplish it?"
"Of course I can... I say I can't fight like a professional, but I can still use my other skills to help someone..."
"Whew... that's helpful... thanks a lot, Tomomi,"
Tomomi then slowly lowered her hand and nodded. "... thank you very much..."
On the other hand, Elliot hurled his body backward and slid his feet to the floor, his blade crossed in front of his chest. Then felt the green energy slam into the metal.
He slid back with power while maintaining his equilibrium. He rushed out of the way as swiftly as he could, noticing the green force crashing into the wall as he dropped to the floor.
He sped forward in magnificent speed of thunder and flickered in front of Ayana's body before sending a kick after fast sliding on the floor and generating the dust.
But that didn't work since Ayana protected his kick.
The contact created a chilly wind show that caused Tomomi's skirt to wave and almost reveal her panties, but just as Ayana was concentrating on defending herself, the black shadow flew from the opposite door and slashed a line through Ayana's shoulder blade.
Her eyes shook as her body shook with pain. However, the blood that spurted from her back spilled on the floor, and Elliot tossed his body into a spin and kicked her on the side of her cheek at that same instant.
Her body gyrated through the air and drove her into the wall, and Elliot and Shigeru's feet reached the floor at the same time.
The dust began to cloud up, and Ayana's body was entirely obscured by it.
"I was under the impression that you would never attack... Jeez, I thought you were going to leave me alone..."
"You never gave me the chance to get a proper strike... this was the best I could get."
"Now, Elliot, hurry up and join Tomomi and Nina. It was all planned. You three would rush to confront Tim the instant I struck."
" Y-Yeah, Tomomi! Nina! Let's get started! Ascending the stairwell!" The three of them hurried up the stairs to the second level in simple directions, leaving Shigeru alone.
"Lady, the clock is ticking... This is where your game comes to an end."
But, unlike others, Alpha's movements struggled, and trapped behind the smokescreen, she kept hearing Yujiro's laughs, which echoed and infuriated her.
"So, how long are you going to lurk under that homemade sunscreen, diddle-demon? You're boring me to death..."
But there was an instant of metal sharpening, and the smokescreen swirled at one place, and Alpha leaped out of it, closing in on Yujiro in a matter of seconds, cutting her sword forward from one side to the other.
She fired a barrage of pressure and hundreds of slashes aimed at Yujiro, but it caught her off guard and made her appear like a fool.
Yujiro had only recently begun to avoid. He ducked first, then took a small stride to the right, hopped, and rolled to the side. Then he vanished and reappeared amid other incisions, bending four of his limbs, landing in a pushup posture, and sweeping his hands across the earth. That allowed him to roll through the air, and he was able to dodge the straight cuts that swooshed beneath and above him.
He landed with his knees apart and moved his right arm to protect his face after completing his twist. He seemed to notice another cut coming his way, but instead of injuring his face, he put his right arm at risk.
The slice sliced through the skin of Yujiro's right arm and sleeve, then vanished, leaving thousands of tiny fragments on the floor, and Yujiro didn't move an inch after that.
"I'd be surprised if you managed to avoid all of those cuts... but you were still hurt by one in the end... I assumed you were-"
The visual of Yujiro's body vanished from Alpha's perspective at that very moment. She was lifted into the air in an instant, her neck clutched and her throat constricted by Yujiro's right arm.
While gripping Yujiro's wrist, she began to lose the ability to breathe, and as a result, sweat began to flow down her face.
But there was no way out, and Yujiro stood there, his eyes and forehead shrouded in the shadow, staring at her.
"So... pitiful... a Half Demon... from this reality... can't even match the strength of someone like... me. Maybe you don't deserve that title... after all, the Half Demon... I believe his surname is "Nomura"... he at least doesn't wield exalted power... but... you're absolutely pitiful... Half Demons are said to be beings... possibly humans... who can compete with the "Holy" Race. However, what you've shown me is wretched and dismal..."
"...does it even make sense to keep you alive...? Stop hiding your strength and go all out... that's what matters in a Duel... so, if you don't reveal your strength's secret right now..."
Yujiro bent his knee and exhaled a frigid breath. "Then I'm going to smash your entire skeleton," Yujiro thrust his knee forward with all his might, and the moment he crushed it within Alpha's abdomen, her eyes widened.
Her coughed blood sprayed on the ground, and her entire body quickly became exceedingly soft. Her limbs and legs started to dangle, and her breathing became shallow.
Without reservation. Yujiro took a step forward and hurled Alpha's corpse through the air, landing on the ground with no reaction from her.
Yujiro's arms slowly into his pockets at the conclusion, and he did not linger.
To be continued...