Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

96 – With My Fist and Your Black Magic

「In the best-case scenario, I can support you with Black Magic after defeating Mark. It would be great if I could turn Philip’s attention towards me.」

This was the conversation I had with Lem at the strategy meeting before the tournament.

The worst-case scenario would be if Lem lost to Mark, or if I lost against my brother even earlier than that.

「Yeah」

「I’m probably late at asking this but…you don’t disagree with this?」

Lem’s gaze seemed anxious.

「Eh? No way. Of course, I’ll try to win even in a one-on-one match, but this is a tag battle. I have no complaints about winning with the help of my partner. 」

「I see, if that’s the case, then that’s good.」

Lem smiled in relief and continued.

「So, about the magic that I’m going to cast on Philip, I’m thinking about using『Confusion』. Since even if he uses『Diamond』, this will disrupt the thoughts that maintain the skill. Although the armor will only loosen for around the range of an instant to a few seconds, if you strike him at that moment with your completed right arm, you should be able to defeat him, right?」

「Yeah…」

「Nicola?」

After hesitating for a short time, I somehow managed to say it.

「Um, you see. Lem, about that…can’t you cast Defense Down instead?」

Lem put his hand on his chin to think about it, without denying my opinion.

「…Well, that’s true, and I also think that the audience would be more excited to see you smashing the『Diamond』rather than me making his armor become shaky. Moreover, it also fits the purpose of making the audience charmed with the fighting style that you wish to have, but…」

He had a complicated expression.

「Black magic cannot be cast on objects. Also, since it also can’t be cast on others’ magic, the only thing that can be lowered by Defense Down is Philip’s own durability. It can’t make『Diamond』turn brittle though…?」

The reason why White Magic and Black Magic are effective on Avatars is that it was configured to be that way during the creation phase. Otherwise, since Avatars are made out of Magical Energy, White and Black Magic won’t have any effect against it.

「Yeah, I know. In order to make the best use of Lem’s support, I must first get past my brother’s impregnable fortress.」

I thought he would say various other things to me.

Lem is kind, but that doesn’t mean that he’s lenient. He is greedy for victory, is committed to helping his friends win, and even though it doesn’t look like it to the audience, he has been thinking about ways to win more than anyone else.

I wonder if that part of him would be a little bit more shown through this tournament. I would be happy if that was true.

Anyway, he never compromises when it’s about a match.

If he thinks that my idea won’t lead to victory, he’ll tell me the reason why.

「Then, I’ll leave the rest up to you.」

He smiled and only said that.

I was so happy to hear that short sentence.

He decided that this was possible.

「I’ll cast Defense Down at the same time you smash his armor. However, even if you can break through『Diamond』, most of your power will have been used up by that time.」

「Yeah.」

「But you’ll win.」

「Yeah…!」

「With Berith’s fist.」

「And Lem’s Black Magic.」

◇

I’m not going to verify…

…what kind of situation Lem is in now. Of course, I’m worried, but I’m not going to pay any attention to it.

He will definitely do what he said he would do. I have no doubt about that.

That’s why I will also do what I said I would do.

I started running.

Not towards my brother. I ran toward the vicinity of the remaining『arms』on the field. As I ran, my right arm slowly became larger.

My opponent didn’t interfere with it. Is he focusing on increasing his defense ability, or is he unable to chase after me because of the damage he received earlier?

「It’s gotten a lot bigger.」

All of the『arms』I’ve created so far have been retrieved.

The only thing left to do is to clash with him and crush him.

「I’m going, to hit you, with this.」

He seemed to be planning to attack me as I sprinted toward him.

The ground shook with each step.

Without any other interference, the distance between us dropped to zero.

My right arm thrust out and he stopped it using both of his arms.

A moment later, a thunderous sound on par with an earth tremor resounded throughout the venue.

His body slowly went down, but the『Diamond』is still not broken.

「I told you. Breaking my body is-」

「I’ll definitely do it…!」

Because I’m the one who made this decision and my partner has entrusted me to do this.

Then, there was another thunderous sound.

「…What, is this-?」

Phil looked surprised. His body went down even further.

I made my right arm become gigantic only by using absorption. Although it also consumed Magical Energy to operate the『arms』and create the walls, I am a Hero. Moreover, it’s not like I’m new to this. I’m already 16 years old. 　

I have been training for six years, ever since the identification of my Job. So, I have enough Magical Energy.

The arm was already enlarged to the limit of the size that I could handle.

That’s why my brother never doubted that this was the best I could do. Because in fact, it really was my best.

It’s just that I received some support.

A silver『arm』was hitting the elbow of my right arm.

After hitting, the arm was absorbed by my right arm.

Since I’ve already hit him, I don’t mind even if it enlarges to a size that I can no longer handle.

I repeated the process again and again, as long as I still have enough Magical Energy.

Hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. I kept on hitting him. Again and again. Even if it doesn’t seem to be effective at all, I just continued to do this.

And then, one step at a time, it started to break.

「Arghhhhh…!」

「Guuoooo…!」

The next thing I knew, my opponent’s back was against the wall of the field.

He was in between my right arm and the wall.

krk krk, there was the sound of something creaking.

There was a crack in『Diamond』. But that’s not all.

My right arm also had a crack.

…but I didn’t care about it.

I continued to push. Kept on hitting him with my fist.

As if to crush him with the impact.

Eventually, it broke.

His armor.

And my right arm.

There was an expression of disbelief on his face.

In that instant, I closed the distance between us.

The silver that was wrapped around my arm at the very beginning was the only part remaining. A right-arm wrapped in thin silver.

This alone might not be enough to finish him off.

But there was no need for me to be worried.

「Punch him.」

I felt like I heard a voice saying that. I’m sure it’s the voice of the best Black Sorcerer.

I swung my fist as hard as I could toward my brother who had a fist clad in a thin golden color.

The other party also did the same.

We punched each other’s face with all our strength.

There was a dull, heavy sound.

Although I previously thought that it would be bad to receive another blow in the head, I ended up completely receiving it.  　

Nevertheless, I didn’t end up collapsing. I guess that was probably because his armament had also become weaker.  

On the other hand, he-.

「……」

Was not there. That’s not accurate. I merely missed the moment when he disappeared.

There were still traces of his presence.

The magic particles that looked like scattered stardust showed it.

He left the field.

Lem’s Defense Down was cast at the best possible timing.

『Contestant Mark, contestant Lem…and also contestant Philip has left the field… Th-the winner is…Lem and Berith pair…!』