Manowa

ummoned creature with the Water element.
This time she fought a Tauros Knight, an ordinary summoned creature that was like an armored Centaur.
It seemed to be a pure battle type like the Sylphy Knight, and Knight type summoned creatures seemed to be in vogue these days.

「Well, that type has been going in and out of style for the past decade.
It's just like this right now.」

That was said by Louise.
For the last three days she had only visited them at the inn to take care of Minaka and seemed to have been staying overnight to plan measures to deal with the devil situation, but she was finally to join her companions today.
But her expression was grim.

「35 people are dead.」

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Louise said.

「They're all devil users?」

Louise nodded to Kazane's question with an irritated expression.

「There is no doubt.
The guys who lost to ordinary players were also killed, but when devil users faced each other the loser would only have the weapon that the devil resided in broken.
Those users still weakened and died later.」

Louise spat out, and no one could interrupt.

「The management is turning a blind eye because it's only a dispute between fellow devil users, and unlike the people from my family the devil hunters that came aren't useful and have started saying things like『If fellow devil users are voluntarily putting each other out of business that's good.』Are they fools? We should be preventing that kind of thing.
Aren't they only flaunting their own incompetence? Those idiots.」

「Ah, Louise Nee-san, that talk is dangerous.」

After Jinrai's warning Louise apologized by saying「Oh, I beg your pardon」and drained her chilled fruit juice.

「Nn, I can at least understand from what Louise-san is saying that it's terrible.」

「That's right.
It's terrible.
Moreover, even if I'm a daughter of my family, those guys are strangely sycophantic, and managing them has become unpleasant.
I was vetoed by such useless people.
I'm so pathetic.」

While saying that she embraced Kazane tightly.
Kazane patted Louise's back and thought (she must have accumulated a lot of stress) and sighed.

「Well, I could only be here because I will soon be relieved of the burden.
There are two remaining devil users.」

Everyone quieted again after Louise's words.
They were Vanil and Genzo.
In addition, among the four men Kazane saw pursuing Minaka, the final unknown man fought Genzo, and it was later confirmed at his hotel that his sword was broken and he had weakened and died.

「It seems that when a sword breaks the opposing devil's power is absorbed.
It looks like the winners are stealing the powers and souls of the losers.」

After Louise's explanation, Kazane recalled the explanation about devils she had previously heard.

「Umm, isn't a devil an aggregation of souls? So like you explained the other day, the winners now have the losers' souls, right?」

Louise nodded to Kazane's question.

「It seems that way.
Why they're meeting at this tournament is unknown, but the only thing that comes to mind is that the devils are absorbing each other for some kind of ritual.」

「So then, Louise-san, what are you going to do?」

If Yumika kept advancing in the tournament she would go against both of those devil users, so she asked, but Louise shrugged her shoulders with a cynical expression and told her.

「Absolutely nothing.
At present the general public hasn't suffered any harm, and although with the suspicion that the devil users were killed to steal their powers there are only two suspects, without one of them dying there's no evidence to specify either one as the culprit.
The only thing that was decided was that the winner would be monitored after the final.」

If it finished among fellow devil users they were leaving it alone.

「With what you're saying, shouldn't Yumika be safe? If the main course is ahead they shouldn't do anything to cause a problem.」

To Kazane's words Yumika replied「I hope so,」and Jinrai pointed out with a grim face「We shouldn't be careless.」

「Now now, master.
First I have to think about fighting against Minaka.」

Jinrai agreed with Yumika's words.

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「That's right.
That one is strong.」

「I know.
But she should see me as below herself, so I shouldn't be her aim.」

Yumika said.
As a matter of fact, Yumika guessed Minaka's inner thoughts.
She purposefully ignored them.
In order to win.

Even during training she dropped gears and didn't use her Wolf God Transformation, and since he guessed his disciple's motives Jinrai didn't say anything.
When Naoki looked like he was about to let it slip she only told him「Panties.」Naoki had trembled violently.

From the start, Yumika didn't think she was stronger.
Every day she continued to lose against her master Jinrai, and while she didn't understand the reason, her best friend was somehow amazing.
She could beat Naoki, but that was just Naoki, after all.
If she came at Yumika seriously she didn't think she could win, so this was the natural result.
She had been taking precautionary measures because she knew Minaka's strength.

Therefore, Yumika had been prudent in their battles so far and had always been holding back.

With their short relationship, Minaka didn't know about this part of Yumika's character.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Magic Accumulator, White Magic Accumulator

Level : 29

Health: 101

Magic Power: 170+420

Strength: 49+10

Agility: 40+4

Endurance: 29

Wisdom : 55

Dexterity : 33

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』

Skill : 『Warrior's Memory』 『Night Vision』 『Crushing Blow』 『Dog’s Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv2』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』 『Air Jump: Lv2』 『Killing Leg: Lv2』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Intuition』 『Cheat Death』 『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization』『Regenerate』『Rear Presence』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot』

Kazane:「Coward!」

Yumika:「I don't want to be told that when your main strategy is surprise attacks!」