What I expected after the Devil King said to start the questions was something like a tsunami of questions. This was a rare chance, after all, all 22 Candidates were at one place.
And I wasn't wrong, there were most definitely a lot of questions being asked by a lot of people. It's just… not one of them came to ask me anything.
I mean, I wasn't planning on answering anything, but it still hurt to be so thoroughly ignored. Even Hisoka got asked something, though she ran away immediately. Lost and Rinne soon followed.
Guess I should go as well… that's what I thought at first, but then I noticed Neith seemed a little uncomfortable with all the people trying to talk to her. I'm going to leave anyway, might as well see if I can bail her out.
"Hey, Neith, wanna leave?"
"Yuuto-kun… thank you."
I extended my hand to Neith and she took it. I could hear people shouting "hey wait" or "you can't just take her from us" but I don't care. She was uncomfortable and I may or may not have been a little resentful, so this was a good chance to do a good act.
But, right before we left, someone called out to me. I didn't recognize the voice at first, but it wouldn't be long before I saw who it was.
"Leaving so soon, Lovers?"
That person landed right in front of me, with enough strength to break the stage we were standing on. His face was covered with a hoodie, but it wasn't Lost.
No, that creepy smile belonged to Haida.
It seemed the commotion was enough to get everyone's attention, including the other Candidates. Aspite was the first to react.
"Haida?! What are you doing here?"
"Please watch, Aspite-sama. I'll defeat Lovers and wipe my honor clean. Please take me back as your Ace after that."
"You idiot, I already Released you and have no plans to take you back. Stop this before they think I have something to do with it!"
I would only learn this later, but apparently Aspite used Haida's defeat against me to kick him out of his group. With that, Haida had lost a lot of his privileges, that's why he wanted to be taken back.
At the time, I had no idea about any of that though. I only knew that Haida would come to attack me, and I'd have to defend myself.
Haida launched himself towards me. I had to dodge, but his attack was stopped way before it ever reached me.
"You know, I like your style. That said, I can't just let you kill my friend like that."
The other hooded guy, Lost, stopped Haida's attack. I thought he had already left, but maybe he was still around.
As if that was some kind of cue, Lizel-senpai, Miyabi and Reina arrived at the stage. They'd probably rushed here once they saw Haida.
"Haida Cluzaz, you've got courage to invade the Unveiling and attack a Devil King Candidate. Give up now before you dig an even deeper grave."
Amon voiced out. He and a few other Candidates started encircling Haida. He would have difficulty escaping.
This seemed like the perfect resolution. I got off without even having to fight. Miyabi, Reina and Lizel-senpai eased up, it seemed like we'd gotten a stroke of good luck. But…
I wasn't satisfied with this… I know it doesn't even make sense, but I feel like I should overcome this with my own strength.
"Wait… Haida came here for me, so I'll deal with him myself."
"Yuuto!"
"What are you saying?!"
"Yuuto-san!"
Lizel-senpai, Miyabi and Reina called out to me. I know what I'm doing is dumb, but I can't just hide behind them or the other Candidates.
A week ago I couldn't have beaten Haida. Today, I have to prove to myself I can do it.
All the other Candidates had their eyes fixed on me and Haida. I could even hear murmurs from the guests, wondering if I'd gone mad.
"I suppose there will be no problem since it would count as self-defense. But are you sure about this, Yuuto?"
"Heh, let Yuuto do what he wants. If he says he'll handle this, why not let him?"
After hearing Lost, Amon was convinced to back off. Now, there was no one between me and Haida.
Everyone was surrounding us. Lizel-senpai and the others didn't seem too happy, but they stayed put for now. I don't think they'll try to interfere.
Neith tugged my sleeve. It seemed she wanted to ask me something.
"Yuuto-kun… why are you doing this?"
"I'm sorry. I know it doesn't make any sense, but it's something I have to do. … Oh, and could you please hold this for me?"
I took off my suit's jacket. I don't think Lizel-senpai would charge me for it, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't care for it.
Only a few seconds after I asked that did I realize how it seemed. Neith was a Devil King Candidate, and a pretty popular one from the looks of it, and I just told her to hold my jacket like that. It must have seemed pretty disrespectful.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean-"
"No, it's fine. I'll hold it."
Despite that, Neith did get my jacket and held it as she retreated to where Lizel-senpai and the others were.
Now there was nothing more to get in the way of my fight with Haida. Even though I couldn't see his face properly, I could tell he still wasn't quite believing the situation he found himself in.
"You're dumb, aren't you, Lovers? Or maybe you lost your memory from last week when I beat your ass?"
"No, I still remember. It's true you beat me up pretty bad last week, but that's in the past now. You won't defeat me now."
"There's no way a week will make that much of a difference you fucker!"
Haida dashed towards me. I dodged his attack, but just the pressure from his fist already made me feel an impact.
My turn now. Activating Stride, Maximize and Armored all at once, I tried to take advantage of the opening Haida had left.
But, when I tried punching him, it felt like I was trying to punch a wall. It was a similar feeling to last week. I'd hit Haida's barrier.
"Heh, now you see it, Lovers?! You should have just hid like a coward!"
Haida prepared two magics, Figa and Iza, fire and ice magic. There was one of them in each of his hands, but then Haida started slowly putting them together.
The fire and ice combined. I already knew about combining magics, so this wasn't much of a surprise. The fire became bigger, and it also changed into a blue color.
"Barricade!"
Haida immediately threw the blue fire at me, and I defended myself with Barricade. I felt heat and cold at the same time.
This magic was powerful, but not so much that I couldn't defend against it. The floor was left with scorch marks and a few pieces of ice on it, but I was completely unscathed.
"My turn now. Figa!"
I threw my own Figa at Haida. He didn't even make any effort to dodge, he just stood there.
But my Figa never hit him. As I expected, Haida's barrier protected him. Smoke was rising from everywhere around Haida, but not in the place his barrier was. If I focused my eyes, I could see… something.
The best way I could describe it is like when you look at the ground and it's too hot. It looks like space is waving around. Is that his barrier?
"Hehehehe! Do you see now, Lovers?! You can't beat my Keep Out."
"So that's what it's called. Doesn't matter, I already know how it works."
"Oh yeah? Though act there. Then why don't you tell everyone-"
"You're cutting space, separating the inside from the outside of the barrier. That's why it seems like an absolute defense, the attacks aren't actually reaching you."
"…"
No answer? I'm pretty sure I'm correct though.
[Yuuto is most likely correct. He is just surprised you arrived at the correct answer. As for how to counter it-]
Aah, it's fine, Arcana. I've been thinking about it since last week, so there's something I have to try.
Just like with Lizel-senpai and the others, I can't just always depend on you, now can I? Rather, just listen to my plan and tell me if you think it'll work…
[It… will probably work. Well done, Yuuto.]
Heh, there may be some hope for me yet. Let's finish Haida for now.
"… So what? What are you going to do about it?! Nothing! That's what you can do!"
"I'll defeat you with my next attack."
I said it with a smug, but that's because my next magic would require all the mana I had stored. So I won't have an attack after that.
Haida was completely out of composure. He was using Keep Out to attack me. He was gouging out the floor, but I kept dodging while jumping around.
Because Keep Out cuts space, it can also be used in an offensive way, like Haida's doing right now. It's sure to leave a nasty wound if it hits.
Luckily, because it works on space itself, it's fairly easy to dodge. Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself as I'm trying to survive.
It would be nice if he ran out of mana soon, but I can't count on that. Rather, I'll be done with my preparations soon enough.
Alright, now I just have to adjust the size on the formula-
[Allow me.]
The Arcana gave me the adjusted formula. That was a lifesaver! Now, I just have to feed it mana and activate it.
"What's wrong?! Weren't you going to beat me?!"
"It's already done."
Haida didn't understand it at first, but then he looked at the floor. There were many magic circles all around everywhere I'd jumped while dodging Haida's attacks. All of them were linked to each other, that's because they were a single magic.
"Y-you-!"
"Detonate!"
I slapped my hand on the floor, making another magic circle that linked with the others. And then they all exploded.
That's right. Cutting out space might seem like an absolute defense, but I know Haida isn't completely cutting himself out. If he was, he wouldn't hear anything and would only see darkness, like I saw when he cut off my home.
But I didn't have enough mana to look for an opening. But the solution for that is also simple. Just blow everything up, something will hit him.
"Guuaaaaah!"
The explosions were hitting Haida at weird angles. It wasn't long before he was sent flying out.
It just dawned on me that there were still people that weren't involved with the fight around. I'd focused on Haida so much I didn't even hear them during our fight. And I also needed to protect myself somehow.
Before I could do anything, a Barricade popped up in front of me. I turned back to look and saw Stella there.
"Geez, at least remember to protect yourself if you're going to do that."
It wasn't long before the explosions ended. Stella lifted her Barricade. I saw Lizel-senpai staring at me. I also noticed Miyabi and Reina running towards me.
"Yuuto! That was amazing! You went 'bam' then 'pow' and then 'blam' and send him flying."
"Yuuto-san! Reina was, Reina was so worried desu! Waaaa!"
Miyabi seemed to be in high spirits, and I guess I made Reina worry too much. I'll apologize to her when I get the chance.
But first, I have to thank Stella.
"Thanks for protecting me, Stella. I hope the explosions weren't too tough to bear."
"Oh, it was nothing. Really, look around. Other than the guy you were fighting, no one was hurt."
I did what Stella said and looked around. It seemed the other Candidates had deployed their own Barricades and defended themselves and the guests.
It's not like I wanted anyone to be hurt, but still. I guess this goes to show the difference between fighting an Ace and fighting a Candidate. I still had a long way to go.
I started feeling sluggish, then my sight kept coming and going. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Lizel-senpai coming my way.
/
"Pah! Fuckkk!"
Haida had ended up somewhere in the forest that surrounded Ginsei Academy. After Yuuto's Detonate and being thrown all the way here, Haida seriously had come really close to death.
He was so beaten up that he couldn't move. He'd have to spend some time, maybe even a whole day, healing himself before he could get out of this place.
"I'll kill him! I'll kill that Lovers fucker!"
Haida's rage had hit an all time high. He would have pulled out all the hairs on his head if he could move his hands and didn't have all his hair completely burned.
Haida's rage had grown so much that he was thinking of a million different ways to kill Yuuto, each more gruesome than the previous one.
He didn't care about anything anymore, as soon as he got out of here, Haida planned to go directly to Yuuto's house and kill him. Nothing else mattered to him.
*snap*
But then, he heard a sound. A twig had snapped under someone's feet. That meant there was someone near.
But Haida could hardly care. Beaten as he was, he could still use Keep Out to protect himself if it came to it.
"Oh, there you are. As I thought, Yuuto wasn't quite strong enough to kill you."
The person who had shown up was Death's Candidate, Lost. Haida hadn't paid much attention, but it seemed he was friends with Yuuto or something.
For Haida, it meant he wasn't worth paying attention to. He clearly couldn't be a big deal if he considered someone as weak as Lovers as a friend.
But this did present Haida with a good chance. If Death and Lovers really were friends, then Haida could do some stress relief by killing him here.
Or so Haida thought at least.
"Humm… if Rinne was around, I'd ask her to heal you just so I could kick your ass, but I did tell her I'd come alone. Oh well, anyway, you're exactly the type of shit I hate, but I liked that magic of yours. Keep Out, was it? I'll make good use of it."
A sudden bad feeling took over Haida. He felt death creeping up on him. During his whole life, this was the first time Haida had left true fear.
His instincts screamed at him to run, but Haida couldn't. He was too hurt. For as much as he considered Yuuto to be weak, his fight would be what brought Haida to his end.
"W-wait, wait a second-!"
"Nope. Now, let's see how long your Keep Out will protect you against me."
A black miasma surged from Lost's feet. Haida looked like he was about to piss himself. He had never seen such a thing, but he didn't need anyone to tell him how dangerous that thing would be.
Haida tried crawling away, but there was no way he could escape. He was a prey that had already been caught by his predator.
Haida's body was slowly sinking on Lost's miasma. Once his hands had been swallowed in, he was unable to remove them. Keep Out was protecting him, but he could tell it was only a matter of time until Lost beat his barrier.
"No! Please no!"
"Bye bye now. Don't worry, you'll be part of me soon enough."
It took less than a minute for Haida to be completely swallowed up. The miasma returned to Lost.
"I want to test your barrier, but try to not give me indigestion, will you. Now then, I wonder how long you'll last."
Lost calmly walked away. It didn't even look like he had just murdered someone.
Haida was never seen again after that, many believed he was killed by Yuuto, but only few would know the truth.
