Decidedly, This Situation Isn’t Ideal. (16.1)

…

Though my new Mage Gauntlet was working, I couldn't help but not like my situation at all. With the Gauntlet I'd intended to have the best of both worlds. I wanted to be able to use my preferred two-handed weapons while still having the magic-enhancing properties of staves at my disposal. I spoke about it with Leona at length, decided on which stave I'd wanted after testing them out, and finally gotten the prototype… right when I needed it to compensate for having lost an arm.

Some happy-go-lucky idiot would call the situation fortunate, that it was working as intended and allowing me to direct magic and wield a weapon as I did with two hands, but I was neither happy-go-lucky nor an idiot. If I'd still had my damned arm, I would be so much more effective! Two hands for physical combat while I used a Mage Gauntlet made for Control to attack my enemies. It would've been a net gain, despite the amount of money and time I spent developing it, instead of just allowing me to work at 100%.

The glass is always half empty when it could be full, you stupid optimists! There's no such thing as a glass that's half full. Learn some goddamned grammar. Full means full! Half full is an oxymoron! Wait, half empty is too, now that I think about it! As expected, both pessimists and optimists are just foolish words meant to differentiate people! What a bunch of babies who just want to be special! Fuck off with your shitty shallow excuses to act differently! The correct way to look at the age old question is that the glass has been filled halfway, but there is more space left to be filled, and so you should complain or work until you get it filled to the brim!

Since to work is to lose, then I'll complain and bug Leona until I fucking get my arm back, dammit!

The battle had devolved into chaos… for the enemy that is. If they'd had a modicum of the skills I'd thought they'd had they would have stood a chance. Now, with lightning raining down on them, my students in their midst, and their trump card being harassed to hell and back? A bunch of headless chickens would've probably intimidated my students more. While I didn't know much about Yamato or Challia's training, everyone else on my side was used to fighting in a chaotic mess. I trained each of my students in the Dungeon and only in the Dungeon. They knew how to fight while wading through bodies and with yelling and screaming all around them.

So, in effect, I really only had to worry about two people once I started pumping magic into the arena like it was out of style: Laulos and the cloaked figure.

And it just so happened that the mysterious figure was actually known to Yamato and was now engaged in combat with the side character. Cranel, I hope you're paying attention, because you're about to raise some flags with your Yamato Nadeshiko real soon. I'll leave the romantic development in your hands, Harem Protagonist, while I go ahead and see to it that I get a few words with my student who accidentally changed warfare across the world for the next century or so.

Regular rapier in hand, I released the limiter on my coat before launching straight down toward the mess.

Wreathe self in lightning. Provide shell around self. Correction. Shell limits vision. Wings? Too dramatic. Cape. Better. Tacky. Better. Utilize lightning to attack and defend. Ensure shock and no fatalities. Focus down Adventurers of Level 3 and above. Mind excessive use of magic. Unlimited amounts of magic cannot be unveiled. Hide fact that Continuous Haste and Empower are active unless needed. Focus on split second dodging of attacks. Viewers will assume high skill is source of ability.

The pommel of my rapier saw some work as I applied it to the heads of several unnamed characters. There were a few girls in the mix, as expected of Apollo, but most were the muscled, square-jawed mooks that you'd expect the protagonist to win over every time. Their clothes were boring, their faces were normal, and their hair was colored naturally. Overall, they were stereotype cannonfodder for an unoriginal story arc. The only people of any actual worth were people who were dressed differently and had actual names. That meant that there were just a few actual threats in this farce of a Tournament Arc: Laulos, Lustra, Clio, and Jamil. Clio was the main adventurer/squeeze of Apollo. I didn't know if he was supposed to be special, but I wasn't going to take a Level 3 lightly.

Prioritize targets according to Level. Jamil being outfought by allies. Amazon Warriors facing students are being defeated. Auxiliaries attempting to break through but progressing slowly. Support auxiliaries. Provide cover from arrows with lightning. Cast Empower and Haste on frontline fighter. Provide support to caster and allow for casting of stronger spells. Enemy charges frontline fighter. Fighter engages. One slips through due to sheer numbers. Frontline fighter needs more training.

Clio of the Apollo Familia was your regular Level 3 adventurer. From my sources— Laulos and my various other employees— he was a fanatic. If Apollo wanted something, Clio got it for him. The man was the very picture of the receiving end. Hell, I was sure he was wearing makeup. Oi, buddy, you sure you're a dude? From what I'd heard, you sound like someone straight out of Ebina's BL delusions. Does your entire life seriously have to be about giving your Apollo-sama everything and anything he wants whenever he wants it?

Opponent attempts to speak. Insults being given regarding self. Ignore. Focus on destroying remainder of pike formations. Control of battlefield imperative to victory. Prioritize archers. Yamato has engaged cloaked figure. Cloaked figure skilled in combat but can't match Level 3 stats. Ignore insults. Continue only exchanging blows and focus on applying lightning where needed. Challia has finished chant. Beams of light collide with ground. Broken limbs and concussions. Good aim. Clio calls students failures. Call Laulos a failure. Riposte. Disarm. Break knee with side kick. Knee to jaw. Incapable of any more insults and no longer capable of battle. Refrain from using lightning. Not worth even the slightest amount of power.

I moved on to Lustra while making sure Challia was covered. The elf was decent in a fight and was well rounded for combat. I was actually surprised to see that there was someone like her. Most adventurers in Orario tended to specialize in combat. Which was idiotic. Your lives are on the line! Why the hell would you rely on someone else!? Work your ass off so you're not a liability the moment you overextend or make a simple mistake! Anyway, like I said earlier, Challia was a decent mage. The black haired elf wasn't someone I needed to look after. Surprising, yes. Unwanted, no. The less work I need to do the better.

Lustra afraid. Knees are shaking and hands trembling. Arde believes he wished to use her to tame monsters. Irrelevant. Use her as a tool for personal wealth. Not needed. Risk her life in the Dungeon as a Level 1 to pad his pockets for drugs. Don't need to keep in mind. Thrust blade into shoulder. Drops sword with scream. Stab into opposite shoulder. Drops shield. Still mobile. Two more attacks where leg meets rest of body. Lustra falls. Cognizant but incapable. Dealt with.

The Amazons were down for the count. Cranel worked well with Arde while Erisuis and Nelly covered one another. The new weapons they had basically smashed through what the Amazons used. After that, all they had to do was pummel the group of fighter-strippers into submission. The Barbelas, as they were known, were Ishtar's primary force. Jamil was arrogant to the extreme and went her own way most of the time, so it wasn't especially surprising to me that Ishtar sent a cohesive fighting unit to make sure her side won. I'd honestly expected more of Aisha Belka, given that she's known as an "Onee-sama" who helped kids out and the homeless, but here she was leading her fellows to try and enslave me. I suppose I shouldn't fully believe what my network tells me. Or, of course, there was the possibility that something odd was afoot. Either way, Arde and Cranel had to work together to deal with her. Arde went for an elbow drop and Cranel finished the battle with an Argonaut-enhanced uppercut while the Level 5 was trying to stand. Arde would've gone through a building with her attack and Cranel would've annihilated a concrete pillar. The Level 4 was just knocked out by the end of it. Jeez.

Final opponent.

"Challia, go ahead and finish off the stragglers. I'll deal with this." I stopped powering my lightning after I sent one last wave toward Jamil. The Level 5 was being set upon by my students from afar. Pikes were pelting her at a steady pace while Lyon and Orimoto did their work. Still, a Level 5 was a Level 5, and that meant it would take a while for them to finish her off. A quick, final barrage from me would help that along while I made it seem as though I was running out of steam. I turned to my last opponent of the day with feigned tiredness. "Laulos, how have you been?"

"…I'm doing alright." Yeah, Laulos was a bit worse for wear. Unfortunately, my student, you were a threat. That is the answer as to why I focused on making sure you did nothing while I set about demolishing your pike formation. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to apologize about the five or so strands of lightning I had following you. She splurged for a coat of magic resistance, but that didn't exactly mean anything when she got thrown around like a ragdoll due to sheer force. Sure, she wasn't smoking or twitching, but she was pretty much going to be black and blue tomorrow. My dear student you should really practice dodging lightning more often. "So, Sensei, how is this going to go?"

"It depends on you." I'd already known how this conversation was going to go. Laulos probably did as well. In the end, she and I both knew that we weren't going to be able to convince one another. She wanted me to swear I wouldn't risk my life for them, but we both knew that I wouldn't limit myself like that. My life was mine to spend to as I wished. Neither of us were the type to compromise. Even if we were beaten into the dirt and forced to face facts, she and I would never admit we were wrong. "If you surrender, you lose. If you don't, I'll make you surrender so you lose."

"And if I win?" Laulos was the student who took the best to my teachings. The red-haired girl before me was the most normal of my students. She didn't have Erisuis and Nelly's drive to become strong and reach their gods. She didn't have Cranel or Erisuis's broken skills. Though I most certainly wasn't normal, she took to my mindset of doing whatever it takes to win the easiest. Why? Because that's all she had. "What then?"

"Then you'll get beaten down by everyone else." Off all the people in this Coliseum, Laulos was the one I didn't want to fight the most. "So, why don't you just give up?"

"And just let go? Just let you keep risking your life and getting hurt every time you're afraid one of us might die?" Laulos lightly laughs and shakes her head. Bloodied glass clinks around her and she stands straighter. Tsk, she stole my own trick. She stood fully, a patch of blood on her shirt, but I knew she had healed and enervated herself by applying Elixirs through her wounds. "How about this, Hikigaya: you beat me here and now and I'll shut up and let you spend your life as you want… but if I win I'll go ahead and betray the Apollo Familia and have you promise me that you won't risk your life for me? Just me. Not anyone else."

It was a hilariously lopsided deal. Any idiot could tell it benefited me in every single way. Win or lose, the outcome was beneficial to me. All I had to do was take the infinitesimal risk that she might win.

"No." Naturally, knowing her and the dozens of tricks she had, I refused. "You're losing here and now."

"Shame." Laulos said, but the smile on her face said otherwise. With her foot, she brought up one of the discarded pikes to one hand and tested its weight. With her other hand, she reached for something beneath her collar. "A real shame."

Then, like some final boss or something, she turned invisible with the use of an obscenely expensive artifact.

You had me buy those clothes, dammit!

...