Chapter 90 – ９０ – Post-Match Review: The Battle Against Greater Arm

Sports Festival Arc

“Phew…”

After flashing my charm and good looks as I stepped off the stage, I returned to the designated waiting room and deactivated my Masquerade.

“Good work, Naru. That was a great Duel.”

“Mr. Naru, you were magnificent.”

“Naru, that was a wonderful, spectacle-worthy Duel!”

“Yeah. Thanks, Suzu, Ichi, Marie.”

As soon as I deactivated the Masquerade, Suzu and the others entered the room to offer their congratulations.

At the same time, a notification popped up on my smartphone. It was a message from Ms. Morikuni: Congratulations on your victory. Your defense was splendid.

Yeah, that’s a nice thing to hear.

That said…

“I was helped by my opponent’s poor choice of Skill this time. If they had chosen a different one, I might have been the one who lost.”

To be honest, my sincere feeling was that the fight had been much closer than it looked.

“Naru. It seems your modesty isn’t quite reaching the level of being obnoxious… though it’s close.”

“Greater Arm’s strike was certainly more powerful than Tomoe’s was in her debut match. But was it really something Naru needed to be so wary of?”

“May I ask for more details, Mr. Naru?”

“I guess so.”

And so, I shared my thoughts on the Duel.

The heat from the ‘Enchant Flame’ Greater Arm used had melted my shield, but that actually made the shield soft, allowing it to absorb the impact while simultaneously neutralizing the opponent’s blade.

Greater Arm had used ‘Vertical Down,’ and because of that, I was able to catch and support the blow accurately from the front.

But what if the opponent had used a different Skill?

There was a definite possibility that the shield would have been shattered and the attack would have hit me directly, or that the sheer force would have blown me away, leaving me open to a follow-up attack.

Or, what if Greater Arm’s weapon had been something primarily designed for slashing, like Tomoe’s naginata?

Or what if Greater Arm had used some trickery to prevent me from aligning my shield properly?

It’s easy to dismiss these as “what-ifs,” but in areas that are easily tweaked—simple adjustments, Skill changes, positioning—there were certainly factors that could have led to my defeat.

If I had actually encountered those situations, I probably would have taken a different approach, but there’s no guarantee I could have pulled it off.

That’s why, personally, I feel that this victory was quite precarious.

“I see. Now that you put it that way, it might have actually been a close call.”

“Which means the counterattack after absorbing the blow was necessary. If another hit had come, who knows what would have happened.”

“However, watching from the stands, Mr. Naru didn’t let that atmosphere leak out at all. I think that in itself is a wonderful thing.”

It seemed they were convinced. I could tell by the looks on Suzu and the others’ faces.

Furthermore, since Ichi hadn’t noticed my anxiety, I could assume that most of the audience hadn’t either. I was glad I’d managed to hide it.

“But is it common knowledge that my shield is relatively weak against ‘Enchant Flame’—or rather, fire and heat in general?”

“Hmm. Fairly common, I’d say? Everyone knows from the Fuchibeni incident that Naru’s shield was added to his Masked Form later, and the manufacturer of the original shield it was based on is known. If people assume the basic properties remain the same even after being enhanced with magical power, they’ll likely reach the same conclusion. That’s probably why Tomoe used it too.”

“I see…”

It seems I should assume the weaknesses of my shield are known.

Then again, the fact that reinforced plastic melts when heated, becomes hard but brittle when cooled, and explodes due to mediocre conductivity when electricity is passed through it… that’s the kind of thing anyone could figure out just by examining the actual object.

Yeah, if things get dangerous, it’ll be safer to just discard it and regenerate a new one. With my agility, I should be able to manage by focusing on dodging anyway.

Also, regarding attributes, apparently there are various others besides fire, ice, and lightning. I heard there might be specialized classes for that in the future.

“But that’s as far as the fame goes. I think this was the first time it was shown that blunt force isn’t ideal even when accompanied by fire. Even I didn’t quite expect that.”

“I see, I see.”

“Heat is effective for piercing a shield. But for taking down the shield and the user together, heat is inefficient. Is that the gist of it?”

“It seems like another frustrating element has been added for those who have to face Naru, yes?”

For now, if I ever Duel Greater Arm again, I won’t expect a fluke in my favor like this time. Given my position, it’s only natural that people would research and develop countermeasures.

“Hmm. I need to think of a counter-strategy.”

“True. But, Naru.”

“What?”

“I think the people at ‘Silk Cloud’ would scream if you did, so maybe wait until the prototype Device arrives before you think of a counter-strategy.”

“Exactly. It is a given that prototypes have devices for data collection. It would likely be better for Naru to wait until that arrives, yes?”

“The prototype arrives… just before the Sports Festival, right? Mr. Naru’s next Duel is in June at the earliest. It’ll almost certainly be after the Sports Festival, so there should be plenty of time.”

“…”

Hmm, would it really cause that much of a change to my Masked Form? I was just thinking I might be able to do something by slightly changing how I infuse magical power when enhancing the shield.

Well, as Ichi said, there’s no rush right now, so I can put it off.

“Oh, come to think of it, isn’t it almost time for Suzu’s Duel?”

I remembered that today’s Duels weren’t just mine, but Suzu’s as well. And that her time was almost up.

“Ah, you’re right. I’m off!”

“Yeah. Win this for me.”

“Hmm, it might be a bit tough this time… my opponent seems like the pinnacle of the rush-down type. I’ll do my best!”

“I see…”

“Ms. Suzu is more of the type to take her time, after all.”

“There might be a one-hit reversal, so she will do her best!”

And so, Suzu headed off to her Duel… and lost quite miserably.