Chapter 197: Don’t Let Live but Don’t Kill

『Eh, is that okay?』

『Yeah. I’m sure that’s what that fake hero wants.』

Before the game started, Deris was giving instructions to Haruna. He told Haruna not to end this immediately such as making him fainted, but to give him a lot of attacks in various ways. He told her not to let him alive, but also not to kill him. She has to mercilessly attack him while adjusting the power so that he won’t lose consciousness until Nell stopped the match. Those are instruction to have a fun and moderate match.

『He’s someone who has an excellent body by nature. I’m sure he’s very ambitious and wants to see Haru’s various techniques by experiencing them firsthand. Since he seems to be willing to do so, let’s try to meet his expectations. He seems to be overly conscious, right?』

『I see! You are right, Toue-kun seems to be overly conscious!』

『Right? I can treat any injuries, so can go all out. It’s for the sake of the world, for the sake of people, for the sake of him, and above all, for the sake of your training.』

A terrifying promise was made just like that. Of course, Haruna is a girl who keeps her promise, so she’ll do as she’s told. When the match started, Haruna first aimed at Akira’s sword. Using a kind of martial arts, her arms became like snakes and attacked like whips. Since it has been boosted by her skills, just like her Aiki, that technique has set foot in the realm of fantasy.

The excellent sword that Akira swung was broken easily, and the blade was stabbed at his foot. It’s not only pain and damage that the blade caused, but it became a shackle that significantly reduces Akira’s mobility, which is even more troublesome. This means that Akira can’t move on the spot, and the option of evasion is sealed. The only other option is defense, but that is also difficult.

(Huh, the sword, wait, she’s close――)

Akira’s brain is on the verge of collapse as he can’t keep up with the information he’s seeing. Haruna is already in front of him, but Akira is still swinging his sword (now only the handle), and he has just entered the state where he’s defenseless. His mind and body are unlikely to be able to react in time. Or rather, it’s too late.

The next target of the attack is the two hands holding the hilt. Haruna kicked up against Akira’s arms from directly below. It was quite a kick that forced Akira to let go of the hilt and crushed his fingers as well. Pain ran through, but he has no time to scream in pain.

Receiving Haruna’s attack, Akira’s body was about to be blown away. However, the sharp sword that shackled his foot somehow stopped him from being blown away while giving an intense pain. Then, Haruna sent a palm attack under his chin, making his head look up at the sky.

「Hah!」

「~~!?」

He wanted to scream. However, he couldn’t even make a single sound. Just what did she do? Haruna’s palm was forcibly pushing up his chin. When Haruna, who boasts a superhuman strength of over 1000, raised Akira’s body while holding his chin, the shackle sword torn his foot, dyed with blood, and shattered after finishing its last role. Akira was attacked with many intense pains, but he couldn’t open his chin because it was being pushed by Haruna. Then, he was slammed against the ground from his back and he felt intense pain all over his body.

If Haruna wanted to, she could end the match at that point. However, the damage done to Akira was limited to “the whole body really hurts”. Using dark magic, Haruna covered the ground with a swamp that acted as a cushion and received Akira’s body. The squishy feeling gave a terrible discomfort to Akira, but the fact that he’s still alive is thanks to the swamp that gave that discomfort. But well, that swamp also poses a completely different threat.

(I-It hurts…! It hurts, it hurts ithurtsithurtsITHURTSITHURTS!?)

When Haruna released her hand from his chin after slammed him and he was finally able to regain his breath, Akira was attacked by a new pain. The swamp, which saved him from the collision, swallowed his body and began to poison him from the wound inflicted by Haruna. It’s a level 20 darkness magic, 『Advaal』. It’s a magic that creates a poison swamp on the ground.

(AAAAAHHHHHHH!?)

Akira is now looking up, but he can’t see the sunlight. What Haruna created wasn’t just the poison swamp, but also the darkness of Diesefilt that dominated the area around the poison swamp, including Akira. This magic, which was also used by Haruna at the graduation festival, also forbids the others to watch the match.

「Hm? Isn’t that the dark magic that I broke? The one that I broke!」

「Yeah, sure, you don’t have to repeat it. I can hear you.」

Karua calmed Dry who reacted excessively. It seems that he was very happy that he could break through Haruna’s magic.

「We can’t see them from here, huh.」

「Well, we have this many people here after all. Extreme depictions should be regulated, right? There are also students here. It’s a compliance thing.」

「It’s Deris-san’s instruction, huh… Also, I think it’s a bit different from compliance…」

Chinatsu intentionally doesn’t delve into the matter, but Akira is, more or less, a student too. The sound of something broken and crushed is leaked out from the darkness. It makes you don’t want to think about what’s happening, but strangely, no scream or shout coming from it.

「…Will it be okay?」

「Are you talking about Haru? There’s no way she will lose, just like there’s no way Lily will be useful without her acting.」

「I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about her opponent. Is he not going to die…?」

「I won’t let him die, so don’t worry. I’ll heal him with my all when it’s time.」

「I-I see…」

「Still, can the referees see them? They said about stopping it at the last minute, but wouldn’t it be hard to judge it?」

Karua’s question is reasonable. Haruna and Akira are now inside the darkness and the situation inside can’t be seen. Looking from outside, it’s hard to judge when to stop the match.

「That’s a needless worry. The referees are the knight leader and the prime minister, who are practically the heads of the country, you know? They can judge it even without seeing it with their eyes.」

Being told by Deris, their gazes moved from the match to Nell and Joseph. As usual, a striking sound can be heard from the darkness.

「……… *Glances*」

Joseph looks at Nell as if asking, ‘Isn’t it enough?’.

「……… *Shakes*」

Nell shakes her head as if saying, ‘The match just started, you know?’.

「……… *Touches*」

Joseph put his hand on his heart as if saying, ‘He’ll die if this goes on, you know?’.

「……… *Raises*」

Nell raises one finger as if saying, ‘Then, just one more minute’.

「Um, it seems that they are not on the same opinion, though…」n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

「Don’t worry, it’s okay. Even if he dies, I’ll make a fresh zombie to deceive the others.」

「…… Is he going to say gobugobu?」

「You sure understand it well.」

Joking aside, Haruna attacked Akira until the very limit of his HP as promised in advance. When Nell declared a stop, the darkness that ruled the area cleared up at that moment, and Haruna stood there unharmed. Akira’s condition is… there are some students, so let’s avoid expressing it directly. Anyway, Haruna won her first battle.