Black Iron Magician

(She is only half as tall as me, but she’s hitting me with an unbelievable power! Each blow is powerful enough to gouge my steel muscles, and they are so heavy that they ignore my defense! It’s as if I’m being hit by my own serious punch, no, maybe more than that! Where the hell did such power come from in such a thin arm!?)

The identity of the destructive power is due to the correction of the status difference by 『Little Peerless』. No matter how strong Zuha’s steel body is, Haruna’s fist is far above it. Moreover, she cast her magic on her fists to apply gravity manipulation, mental attack by Heart Hash, and All Break to decrease the opponent’s status. Zuha was looking for a chance to counterattack, but in fact, he sank deeper with each attack from Haruna.

「Nuuuhhh…!」

No matter how much he puts his strength into his thick arms, there’s no sign that would be freed from Touko’s birdlime bullets. On the contrary, he feels like he’s losing to the adhesive power. Zuha, who was overwhelmingly confident in his body, begins to notice that something is wrong with his body. However, it was already too late. Even if he noticed, he couldn’t come up with a plan to overcome this situation.

(Did this little girl do something!? She’s so young, but she has that kind of eyes! Damn it, it feels like my head is being disturbed and I can’t think straight…!)

The only thing left is his pride as a guardian. If he faints here, it would lead to the breakthrough of the sixth island. He has to prevent that at any cost.

「Haruna, stop. More than that is dangerous.」

The one who stopped the rush of quick fists was Chinatsu who came next to Haruna. Touko was behind her as well.

「Yes, I also thought that it was about time to stop.」

Haruna easily agreed with Chinatsu’s words, perhaps because she judged that attacking more than this was unnecessary. Then, she stood up from her mounting position. But at the same time, Haruna began to place her foot on one of Zuha’s arms.

「You are Zuha Baha, the last guardian who controls the sixth island, right? The match has already been decided, so we will continue to head to the seventh island. I don’t think we need to ask your permission, but I’m going to ask you just in case. Can you admit defeat gracefully?」

「… If you’re going to go, you have to properly beat me first…. I can still do it…!」

Zuha managed to let out his voice somehow. At the same time, he began to take a deep breath. It’s a preliminary action to shoot the breath. It seems that with Zuha’s power, it is possible to use the breath even if he is in human form. It’s a super-close-range breath attack that can melt even iron instantly.

「You can’t.」

「Guoh…!」

However, there’s no one here who would overlook it. Haruna tramples on Zuha’s arm, causing the bone to creak and giving off intense pain. The torture from Haruna, who knows well about the opponent’s painful spots, is very painful. Thus, the breath immediately dissipated into nothing.

「Hey, if we don’t get going soon, Chinatsu’s master will start to release her bloodlust again, you know? Someone like him has guts, so asking him that is pointless. Let’s just ignore him and get going.」

「I want to do that too, but Haruna is the type who wants to clear the trial perfectly.」

「I want to break his heart and make him acknowledge it, both physically and mentally!」

「… Haruna, that’s a distorted way of thinking. It will definitely increase the workload of Deris-danna later.」

Haruna’s goal is to assess the strength of the enemy and defeat them while keeping them alive at the very limit, and when fighting an equal, she wants to make them yield from the bottom of their heart. Zuha falls into the latter category, so she wants to hear the words of defeat from his own mouth.

「Well, what Touko says is correct. Even I think so too. But Haruna is determined…. So, I will take the quickest way.」

「「The quickest way?」」

「Yes. I’m giving you a final warning, Zuha-san. Please accept defeat.」

Chinatsu pulls out her Iwatōshi from the scabbard and points it at Zuha’s throat. Then, the tip of the sword pierced Zuha slightly.

「Hmph. You might be trying to threaten me, but I definitely won’t admit―― ahh, I’m tired and my arm hurts…. I guess it’s okay if I lose… yeah, that’s okay…. Just go to the next seventh island, yeah…. I’m fine with a complete defeat….」

「Yes, I got your words. Now that settles it, right, Haruna?」

Chinatsu activated her 『Hardship Clearing Sword』 and put the darkness on her katana. She transferred the stress from Nell’s bloodlust to her katana and sent it to Zuha. With his personality, Zuha is almost free from stress, but if such a thing is sent in this extreme state, there’s no way to prevent it.

「Y-Yes. He did acknowledge it, I guess?」

「Chinatsu, your ability is really nasty, huh…. It was also effective against Lily-shishō. To be honest, isn’t that the ultimate weapon for the battle against the Great Eight Demons?」

「It isn’t something that great, you know? It won’t work against Deris-san since he’s the same type as me, and if I mistakenly use it on Nell-shishō, it will only increase her fighting power. I have to choose the opponent and the timing properly.」

Anyway, it seems that Chinatsu is a little refreshed after handing over the stress. Deris, her first believer, would be smiling at this.

「Haa

, is that so? Well, as expected of Deris-danna.」

「Did you call me?」

「Whoa, Danna!?」

Speak of the devil. Deris came with Nell before they knew it.

「It seems that you’ve successfully completed the cleaning of the sixth island. You three, Hund-kun has transformed into a ship and is waiting over there.」

「Hmm. Well, in the end, they are just lower rank opponents, so it’s a reasonable result. By the way, did someone fall from the sky around here? From the presence I felt, I think it was an executive-class dragon.」

「Ah, do you mean this big guy?」

Touko pointed at Zuha who has lost his spirit.

「Yep, that’s it! Wait, he’s already in that state. Haruna, it seems that you’ve won completely as instructed!」

「No! The one who broke his heart was mostly Chinatsu-chan!」

「「…… Eh?」」

Nell began to praise Haruna. But on the other hand, Chinatsu and Touko raised their voices of doubt at the same time.

「Nell, did you tell Haru something strange again?」

「How rude. I just taught Haruna, who was full of motivation, how to win perfectly. Deris, even you have done it many times, right?」

「In my case, I choose my opponent. Besides, it’s troublesome, so I basically won’t do that. …… Hm? You two, what’s wrong?」

「「………」」

‘If there was such an instruction, please tell us from the beginning’. The soundless cry of the heart became fuel for Chinatsu’s Hardship Clearing Sword. As for Touko, she neutralized it by approaching Deris one step closer and calmed down.

「I want to be a pig… or a water flea….」