"He actually went through with it! Hey, Chase! Have you no sense of chivalry?!"
Macao shouted emotionally, hurling insults at Chase in the ring.
"Chase, don't let him get to you! Mira in her Satan Soul form doesn't even count as a girl anymore!"
Wakaba's expression changed dramatically as he quickly called out a reminder.
The reason these two close old perverts had such distinct reactions wasn't about chivalry at all. It was simply because... well... they had bet on different people.
"Mira-nee! You man!!"
Elfman raised his arms high, his loud, booming voice completely drowning out the argument between Macao and Wakaba.
What exactly he was so excited about was anyone's guess. Maybe he was just cheering for his sister?
WHOOSH!
A sudden eruption of magical wind interrupted everyone's chatter. Demon wings snapped open, dispersing the thick smoke that had been lingering over the spectator stands.
Then, the sound of shattering rock exploded. A streak of deep purple light shot out from the deep, shattered crater and appeared before Chase in the blink of an eye.
Using the momentum from her high-speed movement, Demon Mira rammed her head straight toward Chase's skull.
Chase instantly guessed her intention. He pushed off the ground with his legs, shattering the rock beneath his feet, and leaned forward to meet her head-on.
THUD~!
With a dull impact, their foreheads slammed together. Their gazes were barely a finger's width apart, allowing them to clearly see the highlights in each other's pupils.
But at that moment, neither had any desire to admire the view. The recoil from the headbutt left both of them momentarily dazed.
"Not bad, Mira. This wild, brutal fighting style..."
Chase recovered from the dizziness first. He pushed Mira away with an explosive burst of strength, then dropped low, planted one hand on the ground, and swiftly kicked her in the abdomen.
FWIP!
Mira was sent flying by the heavy blow, streaking past Happy the commentator, and only managed to stabilize her backward momentum several hundred meters up in the air.
"Armor, Archfiend of Gilfer!"
Chase gave her no time to catch her breath. A crimson magical array spun into existence, and the white bone armor on his body quickly transformed into the Archfiend of Gilfer form. "Gilfer's Destruction Flame!"
A flaming orb radiating an aura of destruction howled through the air, tracing a line of fire. With a thunderous BOOM, it struck Mira, exploding in a sky-filling inferno!
"Mira-nee!" Elfman and Lisanna cried out simultaneously, concern etched on their faces.
The next second, a deep blue cape fluttered, and the raging sea of flames swirled into a vortex, rapidly converging at a single point.
"Demon fire is actually quite familiar to me, you know," Mira said with a soft laugh. She clenched her fist, and the furious flames gathered in her palm dissipated like foam.
Unlike Satan Soul's revealing, sexy attire, her current form was sharp-eyed and clad in a rather conservative blue-white battle outfit. Her white hair was slightly spiked, and curved demon horns had grown from the sides of her face.
A tattered cape blazed with deep, dark flames, making her look like a demon from the scorching depths of hell.
Demon Soul Halphas—Mira's full-body Take Over that surpassed Satan Soul, granting her the ability to control demonic power and terrifying physical strength!
"So the nature of your magic changes as you switch between Take Over forms. Quite intimidating, actually," Chase said, looking up and carefully examining Mira in the air.
He was naturally familiar with the Demon Soul Halphas form, but he didn't know its characteristics and power as well as he knew Satan Soul.
Even in the original work, Mira's Demon Soul Halphas never got a detailed battle display. The only time it appeared during the Grand Magic Games, when she one-shot Jenny from Blue Pegasus.
So, he couldn't help but feel a bit curious.
"Let me test its power—"
A fighting spirit flickered in Chase's eyes. He clenched his right fist, the gauntlet of the Archfiend of Gilfer glowing crimson.
"Don't blame me if you get knocked away~"
Mira smiled and gladly accepted the challenge. She took a deep breath, raised her magic power to its peak, and channeled it all into her right fist.
"Bring it on!!"
As the words fell, magical arrays lit up beneath both of their feet simultaneously. They transformed into two dark streaks of light, shooting toward each other and throwing their fists with explosive force.
CRASH!!!
Their fists, covered in different demonic armor, slammed straight into each other, unleashing a sky-filling explosion of electrical arcs.
Shockwaves rippled outward in rings, annihilating the clouds and shaking the entire sky above Magnolia!
Inside the halo of energy formed by crimson and dark purple magic power, wild winds howled, whipping Chase's clothes and Mira's long hair into a frenzy.
Both continued to pour power into their extended arms, but neither could gain the upper hand. They fell into a subtle stalemate.
Chase narrowed his eyes, feeling a hint of surprise.
Although as a Card Mage, he wasn't exactly skilled in hand-to-hand combat (not that that was true), and his deck was banned, forcing him to rely on the powers of Summoned Demon and Archfiend of Gilfer through Life-Link Magic, his own magic power was still very real.
He hadn't expected Mira to be able to hold her ground...
Having successfully gauged the explosive power of Demon Soul Halphas, Chase focused his gaze and actively released the defense on his fist.
The Archfiend of Gilfer Armor was instantly shattered, then just as instantly reformed on Demon Mira's body, transforming into negative equipment that weakened her attacks.
In the brief opening created by Mira's surprise, dark golden lightning surged. Chase, having re-equipped his Summoned Demon Armor, threw a powerful punch.
With one side weakening and the other strengthening, Mira could no longer hold her ground. She was sent flying by the thunderously charged fist, plummeting toward the distant lake surface like a shooting star.
KABOOM!!
A pillar of water shot skyward. Before it could fall back down, it was rendered in dazzling colors by a stylish magical array.
"Take Over: Demon God—"
"—Halphas!"
Ice-blue demon wings unfurled. Having transformed into Demon God Halphas, Mira's expression was cold as she stepped on the water droplets and charged forward at even greater speed.
Chase barely had time to react before her long, slender leg filled his entire field of vision.
As if delivering a small revenge for the Friendship-Ruining Punch to the face earlier, Demon God Halphas kicked Chase square in his handsome face, sending him tumbling from the sky and crashing heavily onto the Nirvana dueling platform below.
CRASH!!!
The platform shattered into pieces in an instant, collapsing into a massive crater that reached all the way to the bottom!
As a proper venue for guild members to settle personal disputes, the Nirvana platform was built from sturdy stone. But clearly, as a dueling ground for S-Class mages at least, it was somewhat lacking.
Fortunately, Chase had anticipated this possibility during the initial design. He had added a self-repair function, with Nirvana's power core at its heart.
A large-scale magical array activated, slowly beginning to repair the shattered area.
Unfortunately, no one present paid it any attention.
The lightning-fast offense and defense left Lucy and the others speechless. They all sighed inwardly: This really is a battle between monsters...
***
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