Chapter 509: Sky-High Tension

Author's Preface
Two Sunstones and a Fire Atma Fist... There's no turning back now. Hello everyone, it's Katarina, the 3-Star Agni Wrestler.

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"I-Incredible brawling! Neither side is taking a single step back, doing nothing but relentlessly attacking!!"

"It might be the correct strategy for heavyweights, but for Cursed Prison to completely kill off his mobility just to get into a slugfest..."

"It's tension. I'd do the same thing."

"You would, huh... Ah, he chickened out."

On the screen, Cursed Prison was slammed into the ground upside down, and then the intruder blew Xenoselgus away.

"I see, so she got payback for what he did using the 'Colonel'."

"Because of the kill score, Xenoselgus is more likely to be targeted by the 'Valkyrie'. On top of that, since the opponent is Cursed Prison, clumsily destroying his armor will just end up buffing him..."

"What about the bonus for defeating a Target Enemy?"

"The reward for defeating a third Target Enemy is an increase in the accumulation rate of both the Heroic and Villanic gauges... I wouldn't say it's useless, but it hurts that it's not exactly an effect worth buffing your opponent for."

It likely wasn't all part of a master plan from start to finish. For Sunraku, the white-hot intensity of the situation was worth sacrificing a fraction of his win rate for. But even so, the complex three-way rules were finally beginning to converge toward a conclusion.

"Health-wise, Cursed Prison is at a disadvantage, but since he took a direct hit from the opponent's gauge move, CasPri has taken the lead in the Ult gauge."

And before long, Xenoselgus would also be able to use her Ult. If so, the final uncertain element would be the key.

"The key to this is the Ults, and the Ult Crystal."

"I see... The crystal will spawn after the next one..."

"The Ult Crystal is a random spawn, but it doesn't appear too far away from the two players. Meaning, if you seriously look for it, you'll find it fairly easily."

"The advantage of forcing out an Ult first, the advantage of reducing the opponent's gauge to zero with an Ult first... But there's also the type of Prison Break to consider."

If the Prison Breaker form is considered his Ult, its duration is thirty seconds. Even if it's activated first, that's more than enough time for Xenoselgus to finish the Ult process if she activates hers afterward.

"The mind games right here will be the deciding factor of the match. This is truly the climax."

Beyond the screen, the battle reaching the pinnacle of white-hot intensity was changing its stage.

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"Indoor combat, huh..."

If we rampage, the surrounding environment will naturally be destroyed. Rubble, dust clouds, and depending on the situation, the pillars and ceiling themselves... they'll obstruct movement regardless of friend or foe. And with the "Valkyrie" rampaging around with a "major disaster, bring it on" attitude, a collapse is inevitable. The environment itself is trying to create openings in both me and Amelia Sullivan.
In other words, it's a battle of rubbing bleeding wounds against each other. Naturally, whoever runs out of HP (Blood) first loses. That means having more health becomes a direct advantage.

"30% health remaining..."

Holy crap! I still have 30% left! I can fight for another 10 rounds!!

"Hide-and-seek ain't exactly your style! Come out!!"

"Get crushed!!"

Tch, you dried-up meatball bastard. An ambush from the second floor, huh. Don't act so cocky when you're just a crusty hunk of meat! Jack release, Mantis Shrimp Uppercut!!

"Go, gu, nuoraaah!!!"

I catch the massive mass of Xenoselgus plummeting from the second floor with momentum using just my left arm. Unable to bear the weight, the Hammer Jack on my left arm snaps, but even so, the final uppercut fulfilled its role.

"Gu, buo...!?"

"Sorry 'bout that, I didn't put my hips into those punches earlier... This is a full swing."

Backstep, simultaneously twisting the right side of my body back and bringing my left hand forward. Drawing back my right fist as if drawing a bow to its limit... Give me your front teeth!!

"Die, ora!!!"

"Guuuuh!!!"

Dammit! She guarded it at the very last second!! I wonder if pro fighting gamers actually practice real martial arts? Sylvia Goldberg's team members were all macho guys too.

"That didn't work..."

"You're breaking out in a greasy sweat, alien."

"No, this is oil..."

Oil...? Ah, don't tell me this bastard used Metamor-Cell to turn her constitution into an over-fried doughnut daruma...!!

"Get steamed!!"

Bzzzt! Xenoselgus's incredibly tough fingers snap. At the tip, the nails of the thumb and middle finger scrape together to scatter sparks... using that as a pilot light, the breath she exhales turns into flames in an instant.

"Uwooooh!!"

I instinctively dive toward the stairs leading up. Nice, how convenient... Stage select, heading to the second floor!!

Whoops, "Valkyrie"-chan is taking a walk on the second floor. Would be a shame to interrupt... Ah, right, since the aggro ratio is just different, she's gonna turn toward me too, yeah.

"Ubuo!"

I scramble up the stairs just as an explosion rings out behind me. I can assume the path back down via the stairs has been cut off, at least.
Up, up, up...

"No, this is too tough!!"

Let's use the elevator. We're on the eighth floor right now, and the elevator coming up from below is... alright, it's here.

"........."

".........Hello."

"Goodbye forever!!"

Mantis Shrimp Punch! Regular punch! Regular punch! Reset, Mantis Shrimp Punch!!

"Don't go actin' all high and mighty usin' the conveniences of civilization, you monster! Going down (Drop to hell)!!"

"Wait... you bastard, goraaaah!!"

I make her flinch with a furious rush, press the 'down' button on the elevator, and ship her off. Dammit, villains aren't supposed to take the elevator up...

Crash! G-G-G-G-G-G...

Whoops, if my guess is correct, that bastard just smashed through the ceiling of the elevator and is climbing up the shaft, isn't she?

"Kuh..."

Not yet, the height isn't enough. For a building of this scale, I have to go all the way to the roof. Uooh, do your best, my strong legs!!

...

......

.........

An attack by machines, a serious battle between a hero and a villain. Looking down from the building, Chaos City is a total mess of flames, black smoke, and rubble.

"Impact Convert has already been patched, you know."

"It kinda makes me both happy and embarrassed that they actually used that name exactly as it was."

I mean, it was just a name I came up with on the fly... Oh well, that's not why I came up here.

"A final battle looks way better under the open sky, right?"

With the smoke from the disaster, it's not exactly a perfectly clear blue sky, but... the wind blowing through carries the dust away, making it a spectacular sight from the audience's perspective.

"Right now, in this exact moment, we're the Main Characters, right? We aren't Mobs. If we can double as the scriptwriters, it'd be a waste not to hype it up."

"...So you even resemble her in things like that, huh, Real Cursed Prison."

A corner of the roof warps from the heat. Melting the concrete like magma, the "Valkyrie" emerges from the floor below. She's literally burning up. Got enough motivation, huh?
The actors are gathered, the stage is perfect... all that's left are the "Coordinates".

"Look at the sky, it's full of spineless cowards who lose even to the sun. But I'm different! I am the calamity star, a first-magnitude star that eclipses even the sun!!"

"If you wanna act tough, I'll let you scatter gloriously just like that!!"

The tension is at its absolute peak, the current location is the top floor, and all that's left is to simply fall straight down—

Author's Afterword
Silver Mask: "Foooo!!"
Meteos Creator: "Foooo!!"

I got asked in the comments, but naturally, Cursed Prison also has gauge moves.
However, since it's a bit hard for Sunraku to use, he's essentially playing with a self-imposed handicap... By the way, it's not an attack move.