Black Iron Magician

「Sorry for the wait. You three, everything is ready. I will take you to the battlefield―― well, it’s almost the same place as the one we were in before. Now, follow me. Ah, Therese and the others too.」

Nell, who came to pick them up, said so. It seems that it’s time for the decisive battle.

「A battle to surpass the master, huh? It’s a fiery development desuwa! I, Therese Batten, will be cheering on all three of you with all my might desuwa! Please fight without regrets!」

「Me too…. I will be cheering on you from the shadows…. Yes, if Therese-san is a radiant light supporter… I’m a jet-black supporter dyed in darkness….」

「Weerel sometimes says incomprehensible things de gozaru. The other day, she said that her eye and arm were aching…. Ah! Is this some kind of a bad disease!?」

「Ufufu, it’s a disease for children of this age. You see, Yuba, Zuha, and other children had similar periods. Ah, and of course I’ll be cheering on you too! Do your best!」

「Zex-sama is on Deris-sama’s side, so I am in a position to cheer on Deris-sama, but… personally, I will be cheering on Haruna-san and the others. Please do your best.」

「Yes! I will give it my all!」

「Yeah, let’s do this! Depending on this result, it will be my big moment!」

「Phew…. Alright, let’s go!」

With the cheering from light, darkness, their former comrade, undead, and dragon, the three of them headed for the stage of the decisive battle. And when they went outside, they found a large barrier.

(W-What a powerful barrier! This one is more powerful than the one that surrounded Crocus!)

Just as Chinatsu thought, this barrier is extremely powerful. It looks hemispherical, it’s thickly layered, and the area it covered is about half the size of Judah. Although can’t be seen, the same powerful magic power can be felt from under the ground, so it seems that it also covers the area directly below.

「Surprised? This is the combined work of me, old man Vakala, and Agalia, who copied our skills! Even if the world were to be destroyed, I don’t think this barrier could be destroyed~」

「This is why I was conserving my magic power and keeping my motivation high. It wasn’t like I was enjoying myself, you know? Now that I’ve finished my work, I’ll be able to relax and watch the match.」

「Ugh, I think old man Vakala and Maria alone would be enough…. I’m going to die from exhaustion even before it starts…. H-Hund-kun, please replace――」

「――Guoooohhh…」

「Damn it! He’s still sleeping!」

Agalia is completely paying for his own mistake. Still, even if he acts like that, the barrier they created is the real deal. Just looking at the complex and bizarre patterns floating on the surface is enough to make you lose consciousness.

「It’s better not to stare at them carelessly. After all, this powerful barrier has some extra abilities.」

「One of them is that you can freely enter from the outside, but you can’t go out from the inside. Also, it prevents the space inside from being teleported, so you don’t have to worry about it~」

「I see, it’s a countermeasure for Shishō!」

「After all, he moved the battlefield to an advantageous place during the fight against Maria.」

「That’s right~. There’s a saying that what happens once will happen twice. If it’s Deris, I’m sure he will do something like that. If that happens, we won’t be able to watch the battle! I will have to hold a concert to fill in――ah, that’s not bad, I think?」

It’s a no-no.

「Thank you for your consideration! So, um…. where is Shishō?」

Haruna looked around, but Deris was nowhere to be seen.

「If you’re looking for Deris, he’s on the other side of this barrier. Well, you can’t see the other side from here because the barrier is in the way. Also, we told Deris to enter at the same time you enter the barrier. This is a countermeasure to prevent him from making traps.」

「Rimudo is with him on the other side, so there’s no need to worry about injustice. Also, you can decide when to enter.」

「But, there’s a chance that Deris will attack you the moment you enter, I guess? We’re not responsible for your actions within the barrier ♪. Then, I’ll be watching over there with a glass of wine in hand~」

「Me too~」

After the explanation, Vakala and Maria skipped to their seats. As for Agalia, he entered the barrier first as the judge.

「The rules are as decided beforehand. You can do whatever you want. There are no restrictions on weapons, and you can use as many items as you want. Within the barrier, there’s no such thing as losing because of out of arena, but as for whether it’s possible to give up, you can decide that on your own. But well, I’m sure those demons won’t be satisfied with a half-hearted battle. If you want to win, you have to hurt him enough to break his heart.」

「Even if it means that Shishō will die?」

「Fufufu, you’re so confident, huh? But you don’t have to worry about that, Haruna. He is the man I fell in love with, you know? I know him well that he won’t die even if heaven and earth were turned upside down. So, don’t think about anything else and just think about defeating him with your all. Otherwise, you will be hunted as soon as you start, you know?」

「「「Understood!」」」

The disciples replied to Nell’s encouragement. Then, they stood in front of the barrier and readied their weapons.

「Are you ready?」

「Yes!」

「Let’s go!」

The girls sharpened their nerves to the limit and walked through the thick layer of the barrier. They felt a gentle yet strange sensation, as if they were walking through a pool of warm water. They could breathe, so there was no worry about oxygen. However, the path through the layer was longer than it looked from the outside, and it seemed to be several dozen meters.

After a considerable time has passed, they exited the layer. Deris, who exited the layer of the barrier at the same time, seemed to have noticed them just now. And then, their eyes met naturally.

「…… Should we decide on the signal to start? Or should we start without it?」

There’s a considerable distance between Deris and the girls, who are at both ends of the huge barrier. If they were ordinary people, they could only see each other as a small dot. The reason why they could still hear and see each other is because they have superhuman hearing and sight.

「No need.」

「Right.」

Deris took out something long and narrow and pointed it straight up.

――――BAAM!

After Deris pulled the trigger, a bullet with tremendous magic power was shot from the tip of the object. The target was the black ball that Haruna threw secretly just before leaving the layer of the barrier. Haruna’s black ball, which was falling like a meteorite, collided with Deris’s bullet. Then, with a violent sound, both flew into the distance. It seems that the power was completely equal.

「Come, my disciples. I will end this final trial with this staff (gun).」