10 minutes passed from the start of the battle between Iris, Kaito's proxy, and Agni, the Head of the War King's Five Generals... and the battle has stopped in a standstill.
In terms of simple ability, Iris, who has almost the same power as the Phantasmal King, outperforms Agni by a considerable margin. With such a power difference, the battle wouldn't have been prolonged. In fact, if Alice herself had been fighting, Agni's consciousness would have sunk into darkness within seconds.
However, the reality is that the battle between Iris and Agni stopped in a standstill. The main reason for this is that Iris couldn't completely control her own body.
Before she died, Iris was originally one of the best in her former world... but it was only within the realm of "Humanity".
This isn't the case with Alice, who has spent tens of thousands of years and has completely mastered her monstrous physical abilities.
What Iris is feeling now is that when she regained consciousness, her body is suddenly much stronger than it used to be.
In addition, Iris has been out of practice for tens of thousands of years, so in other words, she like an amateur who was suddenly made to ride a g*ndam.
And now, Iris couldn't move... Unable to control her own body, she could barely fight as a fixed turret, which was what she was good at before her death.
Even so, if it had been against an ordinary warrior, she would have won immediately. However, even if her strength is incomparable to the Six Kings, Agni was still one of the best in the world and she had a vast amount of combat experience. She also knows how to fight against opponents more powerful than her.
The sound of blows striking against the barrier Iris put up... Just as Iris thought Agni's fist would collide with her barrier, Agni took a large distance away before Iris could even look at her.
Hit-and-run... Deploying a powerful barrier consumes a certain amount of magic power. It was a standard practice to keep exhausting the magic power of a constantly deployed barrier, and Agni had the power to do it.
Of course, Iris wasn't going to sit back and just let her attack. Unleashing Maximum Magic so that Agni won't be able to run away... a counterattack that affects the entire attack.
A jet-black ball of magic power flew from the heavens as if to crush the arena, but Agni concentrated her magic power to the utmost limit in her fist and evaded it by punching out a section of the magic ball.
Since Iris couldn't use No Chant Magic, Agni had more than enough time to knead her magic power, and thanks to that, she had been able to handle Iris' attacks so far.
(...Excellent. What a refined warrior she is. If I had fought with her with my body back when I was alive, I would have been killed in a blink of an eye.)
Gazing at Agni's efficient fighting style, Iris admires her skill in her mind.
And at the same time, a faint smile began to appear on Iris' lips.
[You call yourself Agni, right? A well-trained body and the skill to make full use of her strengths... I give you my generous praise.]
[...Thank you. You've got a lot of power, but you don't seem to be used to fighting huh?]
[Ahh, I'm sorry... It's been an incredibly long time since I last fought. I can't move my body like I want to.]
[And yet, you're challenging me in such a state... You're really underestimating me.]
Agni is not an opponent that can be pushed out by the difference in physical ability alone. After nodding to Agni's words, Iris slightly tugged her chin and bowed her head.
[...I don't have anything to refute. I have certainly underestimated you... Thinking that "I don't need to be serious to win"... My apologies.]
[Did I hear you correctly? Did you just say that you've been going easy on me until now?]
[...Yeah, that's what I said. And now, I'll be going at it at full strength!]
[!?]
A fierce smile appearing on Iris' lips, soon after, black magic power began to spin around her body like a vortex.
[Awaken, Tyrannical Beast sleeping within mine heart———– Rip the earth with thy black claws, devour the sky with thy black fangs———— Thou are the predator, the Beast of the End, bringing ruin to the heaven and earth————]
[Another chant magic? No, what in the world is this...]
A voice that seemed to echo through the space came out of Iris' mouth, and in response, her magic power blew like a storm, gradually converging on a single point.
[——-Fangs of my heart, burst forth! ———-Reveal thyself! Magic Staff! ———-"ἀποκάλυψις"!!!]
(T/N: Apocalypse)
With the powerfully uttered words, the black magic power takes on a definite shape.
It was a huge staff, more than twice Iris' height... Looking at it, one could see its black, sinister shape looking like sharp fangs.
[A magic that creates a weapon? However, this dreadful amount of magic power...]
Looking at the staff covered with overflowing dense magic power, Agni muttered in astonishment. Her body, with its vast amount of combat experience, was fiercely warning her———- That the thing Iris was holding is dangerous.
[Now then, with this unleashed, I won't be able to hold back anymore... Show me how you would struggle to survive!]
[Guhh!?]
[The twilight bell tolls, listen to the song of destruction as the Beast of the End roars.]
The ability of Iris' heart tool, Apocalypse, is very simple. Apocalypse explosively increases the amount of magic power poured into it. Increasing the tremendous amount of magic power to hundreds and thousands of times... The strongest attack that can be unleashed with this staff, a Bombardment-type Maximum Magic bearing such a name, is truly a tyrannical blow that swallows up and obliterates everything in its path.
[Swallow, Tyrannical Beast———- ἀποκάλυψις!]
A flash of black light filled everyone's field of vision from the giant staff in Iris' hand.
Seeing the incoming attack, Agni's eyes widened and stiffened.
(What... is this... this abnormal magic density... Defend against that? Impossible. I would be obliterated without even the slightest resistance. ...Evading ...It's no good. Exposed before this magic power, my body won't move... I'll die...)
In the face of the oncoming bombardment of the Maximum Magic, Agni was convinced that she was going to die... but that didn't happen.
Alice, who suddenly appeared in front of Agni, caught the incoming magic bombardment and "flipped it into the sky"...
After making sure that the blow, which had completely scraped the ground of the arena, subsided, Alice shouted to Iris.
[What are you doing, idiot Iris!? If you shoot it with your current magic power, it will "vanish everything beyond the horizon"!!!]
[...S- Sorry. I also didn't expect it to be this powerful...]
Hearing Alice's words, Iris obediently apologized.
Even she didn't expect it to be so powerful, and she thought she had killed Agni the moment she shot her blast, so she had no words to argue.
Well, part of the reason why this happened is Alice, who prepared a vessel with an abnormal amount of magic power...
[Hahhh... Errr... Agni-san. Are you alright?]
[Phantasmal King-sama... Yes, thank you very much.]
[No, I'm really sorry. This fortress girl with the breasts as flat as one had a tendency to lose control when she's having fun in battle...]
After Alice apologized to the still stunned Agni, Iris also approached Agni and bowed to her.
[I'm sorry. I almost ended up killing you... I apologize from the bottom of my heart.]
[...No, there's no need to apologize. If I had been killed by that blow, it was only because I was inexperienced. It is not your fault. Rather, I would like to thank you for using your everything when you challenged me.]
[...Thank me?]
[Yes, it made me realize that I'm still inexperienced. I never intended to be arrogant, but I had somehow become conceited. For there to be powerful people besides the Six Kings... F- Fufufu, my blood boils at the thought. After the Six Kings Festival ends, I'll start training from scratch again.]
[I- I see...]
As War King's subordinate, Agni is just like Megiddo, having the thought that those who hold the power are right. With excitement blazing in her eyes, Agni held out her hand for a handshake.
[Iris, for the great fight, I give you my heartfelt gratitude... You have won this time. However, I will train myself again and one day, I will definitely challenge you again. When that time comes, I hope you'll fight me with all your strength again!]
[U- Umu... Got it.]
[Thank you! Ahh, today is a great day! To be able to meet a strong person like this is my greatest fortune!!!]
Even though she felt slightly bewildered because of Agni's sweltering excitement, Iris nodded her head and shook her hand.
(Oi, Alici... Alice! Is this something normal for War King's subordinates!?)
(...To be honest, most of them are like this... They're all battle junkies. That's why our Pandora doesn't like War King's subordinates. She doesn't like how they're excited about battle...)
Thus, the battle between Iris and Agni ended with Iris' victory.
However, Agni's fighting spirit was ignited by this, and she will be challenging her quite often in future... But well, that's a story for another time.