Rurune, in Battle

"Time for me to launch an attack back!" Alt-nii exclaimed.

Very unexpectedly, at that moment, Rurune's dissatisfied growl could be heard.

"Ruruuuu....!!"

It seemed that she was annoyed that we continued to fight while ignoring her paralyzed state.

"Sorry, Rurune! Wait until the effect wears off, okay?!" Alt-nii brushed her off just like that.

"Ruuuuu!!" Rurune's dissatisfied voice raised.

At that time, Alt-nii's hand which was directed at me, ready to attack me, was suddenly pulled to Rurune's direction as a wave of [Void] magic was unleashed to Rurune.

"Eh?!" Odd enough, Alt-nii yelled in his surprise.

...Huh?

After the wave of [Void] magic touched Rurune, she suddenly could move again... without suffering any effect from the [Void] magic wave. Rather, it seemed like she was invigorated after receiving the [Void] magic!

"How did you do that, Rurune...?!" Alt-nii was still surprised.

My mind was about to wander off in my curiosity before I realized that the match was still ongoing.

I looked at Kiri and Harvey's direction... and I had an idea!

Without further ado, I dashed off to Harvey from behind him and...

[Frêosan] (Freeze)!

I cast a spell to freeze the target—and ice began to envelop Harvey.

"Aah?!"

Harvey managed to let out that scream before my ice magic trapped him frozen completely.

I knew I should just break his crystal brooch, but this was what I could do from my position. After all, freezing him like this would have the similar effect like destroying his crystal brooch. I just had to keep Alt-nii occupied to prevent him from using his [Void] magic to cancel my [Freeze] spell.

Yep, if my opponent's team had the idea of ganging up on one person and eliminate them one by one, then I could take their strategy as well!

Kiri seemed to be taken aback for a moment before he locked eyes with me. I tried to tell him via my eyes that it was time for us to go to the next target: Clavis.

As he seemed to catch my intention, Kiri nodded and we dashed off to Clavis.

Alt-nii seemed to snap out of his daze and noticed the situation turning sour, so he dashed off to help Clavis defend himself against us.

In the meantime, Ein let out some commands to direct their team's defense to a better method. That was how—although it was three against two, Alt-nii and Clavis could still defend themselves well.

While we were focused on attacking the two of them, Rurune stealthily went to approach the frozen Harvey and... that was when the unthinkable happened.

The moment Rurune's paws touched my ice magic that enveloped Harvey, the ice started to thaw... and thus, Harvey was freed.

I noticed the whole situation happening from the edge of my vision—and it surprised me a lot that I had my eyes taken off from my opponents.

Is that Rurune's power...?!

"Lyra, careful!"

Iris seemed to notice how the enemies wanted to attack me while I was caught off guard.

I was about to think that it was already too late when a small ball was thrown from behind—before the ball dissolved smoke that hindered our eyesight.

I noticed it was Iris trying to help me evade the attack, so I quickly reacted and stepped back. The others also did the same, and it was as if we were back to square one.

I didn't forget to grab my magic sword on my way back to square one. Everyone was caught off guard by the smoke, so that was enough for me to withdraw my sword.

"Rurune, that's awesome! Please continue to assist us like that, okay?"

Alt-nii seemed to forget the mysterious event that occurred when his hand was moving against his will to free Rurune, and he asked Rurune for her aid.

Unexpectedly, Rurune responded by flying onto the nearby tree and laid comfortably on one of its branches.

"Rurune...?" Alt-nii was dumbfounded.

"Ruuu...," Rurune yawned.

"...," We were all speechless.

But well, to be honest, Rurune displaying her power and contributing to the match like that was beyond our expectation.

And now, she was playing truant.

"Are you tired after all that? ...Okay then, you go rest," Alt-nii smiled bitterly, trying to compromise with Rurune.

"Ruuu..."

Honestly, Rurune's face didn't show that she was tired. Was it just me or she only seemed to be bored?

Anyway, this turn of event was beneficial to my team, so why bother?

"Take Harvey down first!"

I commanded after thinking that Ein's strategy of taking the enemies down one by one might be the strategy that worked better than doing one-on-one fight like before.

Luca and Kiri seemed to agree with me, with Kiri silently following my command, while Luca said a bit grudgingly, "That's my line!"

Well, Luca, why compete over something like this? Mutual agreement is the thing that matters the most at the moment.

"Graahh!" Clavis showed his beastman ability as he quickly and powerfully leaped to us, trying to prevent us from ganging up on Harvey.

"Lyra, hold him back and don't approach him!" Iris then commanded.

I quickly stepped on Clavis' shadow and stopped him mid-air as he was jumping up using my [Dark] magic. Yeah, I could at least do this with my [Dark] magic, although I didn't continue training my [Dark] magic after knowing the basic of it.

Then, after all of us distanced ourselves from Clavis, Iris' potion pouring ceremony happened again. This time, Clavis was the target.

"Eeeh?! My power...!!" Clavis yelped.

"T-that's a potion that can decrease your power for a while! Now, you can't really use your beastman cheat again!" Iris exclaimed.

Yup, Clavis' movements were faster and stronger than our normal movements, and that was his cheat. Now, he didn't have that cheat anymore, making him an easy target!

However, Harvey came first. Among Alt-nii, Clavis, and Harvey... Harvey was the easiest target! He seemed to be quite exhausted as well after all the fight we did.

I decided that Clavis and Alt-nii could still hinder our "Harvey-targetting" operation, so I quickly moved to freeze Clavis' feet after my shadow stopping technique dissolved, locking his movement. He couldn't really launch any ranged or magical attack, so locking his movements worked wonder.

As for Alt-nii... I decided it would be best for me to distract him while Luca and Kiri attacked Harvey!

With that kind of arrangement, Harvey's crystal brooch was destroyed in no time.

One down, one more to go before we could target Ein directly and end the game!

Clavis was now an easy target after I froze his feet... or not.

[Spêd oferfylnes]! (Physical reinforcement)

Unexpectedly, Clavis chanted a magical spell!

Then, he seemed to put his whole power in his feet—and that cracked my ice!!

Right, [Neutral] magic user could at least do that!!

Magical aura seemed to glow from Clavis' hands and feet.

...So, even after all the trouble Iris went through to erase his 'cheat', he still could activate his cheat this way... Though this seemed to be better than having him reinforce his beastman power further. Anyway, Clavis' physical reinforcement magic shouldn't last that long. And it was two-against-one—Luca and Kiri against Clavis, while I was trying to keep my big brother busy fighting me.

Sure enough, Luca and Kiri's duet managed to overcome Clavis' 'cheat'.

As Alt-nii's back was against Clavis and I was facing Alt-nii, I could see what was happening on the other side sometimes, when I could steal a few glances there.

Luckily, I managed to steal some glances at my team's victory flag!

Luca enveloped his rapier with his signature fire magic, making Clavis busy dodging his burning rapier. Just as he was dodging one of Luca's attack—I knew Luca must have thought this movement thorough—perhaps he had practiced it together with Kiri?

...Because their duet was flawless.

Clavis' attempt to dodge this one burning rapier's slash caused his crystal brooch to be vulnerable and open to attack on the other side—that was where Kiri came out, pointing his sword to the crystal brooch...

Ein's warning wasn't that useful, as everything happened in the blink of an eye... Beside, Ein's attention was also divided among Clavis and Alt-nii.

And thus, Clavis' crystal brooch was shattered to pieces.

Two enemies defeated, it seemed that my team's victory was certain!