Iroha Hasegawa.
The girl with curly green hair was still wearing the same outfit: the tight one-piece dress and red jacket. She was a strangely beautiful contrast to the abandoned amusement park’s rusting entrance, which she was currently standing on.
"You really came all the way to this place, honestly…" Iroha clicked her tongue.
"You told me to come here," said Seiji coldly.
"Yeah, yeah, but wouldn’t most people not want to come to such a haunted place? Plus, I was brutally honest with you. I even told you I would beat you up here! You actually came, and even arrived early—are you actually a masochist? Pervert."
Seiji was rendered speechless.
He felt that using logic and reason with this girl was impossible.
"If you didn’t come, I could have reported that to Milady, and then she wouldn’t have to care about you anymore. I could simply just kill you." Iroha’s gaze was icy cold.
But she quickly smiled again.
"Nah, just kidding~ I would never kill you; that would get me into lots of trouble. I don’t want to meet a terrible end just because of a bastard like you."
Seiji simply watched her quietly.
She grinned as she fixed her icy gaze on him.
The two of them quietly stood still for a moment.
"Come in… you’re not incapable of jumping over this little entrance, are you?" Iroha turned around and jumped into the amusement park.
Seiji took a deep breath, silently cast [Body-Strengthening Technique] on himself, and leaped up into the air. He stepped on top of the entrance sign and entered the amusement park.
There was an empty field inside with various run-down stalls, all in states of disrepair.
Iroha walked through this field, going further inside the amusement park.
Seiji followed after her.
They stopped nearby the merry-go-round.
Or, more accurately speaking, the former merry-go-round.
There were many deep crevices in the ground, including some that passed through the merry-go-round. It was as if huge, unseen swords had sliced into the abandoned ride. The merry-go-round’s horses all seemed as if they had been through a battle, and there was even a sliced-off wooden horse’s head sitting on the ground and staring at the sky. The scene was rather frightening to behold.
Apart from this, when Seiji looked closer, he also saw many other abnormal things, but it was currently nighttime and weeds were growing everywhere, so it was difficult for him to see clearly.
This was indeed a place for duels. Seiji felt that his guess had been on the mark.
This place definitely had experienced many Yin-Yang Master duels before, although he didn’t know the exact number.
If an ordinary person ignored the trespassing signs outside and broke inside here, would that person be killed to remove the evidence?
He doubted that was the case, but… if that person actively tried contacting the media or posting about this place on the internet, then perhaps…
However, since this place was rumored to be a haunted, scary, and dangerous abandoned amusement park, normal people wouldn’t come inside. People who truly had a death wish were a rarity, after all.
"What spells do you know?"
Iroha, who had stopped walking, suddenly asked him a question.
"I only know the ‘Body-Strengthening technique.’"
"Eh, you don’t even know how to use Astral Vision? Then you can’t even see the spirits. You are truly a piece of garbage," said Iroha condescendingly.
Seiji remained silent at this.
He indeed couldn’t see anything. Since he didn’t know how to use Astral Vision, not only was he unable to see demons and spirits, he had rather poor night vision as well; it was only at an ordinary human’s level. He could barely make out his surroundings with the help of the moonlight.
"Just this alone has taken off half of your points. You’re under 60 points, so you fail. Don’t even think about returning to the Haruta family; just give up, go home, and go to sleep." Iroha shooed him away with disgust.
Seiji looked and remained motionless. "I didn’t come here because I wanted to return to my family."
"Hm?"
"I wanted to speak with you… or, more accurately, speak to Yui Haruta through you."
‘It doesn’t matter what you think of me. The important one here is the person behind you.’ Seiji expressed such a meaning to her.
Iroha began frowning as she looked at him.
"Didn’t I tell you to address her as Haruta-sama?"
She was now exuding a dangerous aura.
"It doesn’t matter what I call her. If she wants, I can even call her Goddess-sama." Seiji’s expression remained calm. "But that’s not the case, is it? She didn’t request for me to address her like that; it’s just your own childish preference."
"Heh heh…" Iroha’s mouth rose in a vicious grin, and her icy gaze flickered. "You’re looking down on me?"
"I wouldn’t dare. But… you’re just Yui Haruta’s subordinate," Seiji said lightly. "Not to mention you’re a subordinate that’s been sent to do an unpleasant task, so perhaps you’re not that valued by her…" He didn’t get the chance to finish speaking.
Iroha suddenly disappeared.
Seiji was prepared for this and instantly began moving as well.
*Stomp!*
Iroha’s foot missed him, but she pursued Seiji with an icy smile on her face.
Seiji attempted to block and dodge her attacks to the best of his ability.
In the dark amusement park, their figures kept appearing and disappearing, and the loud sounds of objects crashing echoed throughout the otherwise silent night.
Moments later, the tall boy’s figure was sent flying by a massive flurry of blows, and he crashed into the ground at a high speed, his momentum sending him rolling towards the remains of the merry-go-round.
He forcefully adjusted himself and managed to stand up before he crashed into the merry-go-round, mitigating the remaining force of his momentum.
There was the taste of blood in his mouth. He spat some of it out.
‘It’s alright… I’m not seriously injured.’ Seiji wiped his mouth.
"For your remaining points, I suppose I can give you at least a 10 out of 100," said Iroha coldly. "That’s all that you’re worthy of, Seigo Harano. Now get the hell out of here. You’re unworthy to return to the Haruta family. Just use that weedy alias of yours to keep living like a weed."
Iroha turned around to leave when she finished speaking.
Seiji spoke up as he watched her back. "Didn’t you want to confirm what I was thinking?"
"That won’t be necessary. I’m sure that you’ll just say some disgusting words like ‘I know I was wrong; I’ve changed myself now, so please allow me to return home. I’ll work hard from now on.’" Iroha cackled in amusement at her own thoughts. "I don’t want these words to dirty my ears, nor will I allow these words to sully Milady’s ears."
Seiji furrowed his brows. "You’re not willing to tell her even one sentence from me?"
"I don’t want to~ Forget one sentence—I won’t even tell her half a word from you." Iroha smiled coldly as she walked away. "I’m still someone who takes my work seriously, though. If you had shown me enough strength, even if I hate you, I’d listen to you. But you don’t have such strength." She flashed a taunting thumbs-down gesture at him.
"Game over, you’ve already lost, garbage," she said mockingly.
Seiji clenched his fists. "Yui Haruta made a mistake when she sent you here."
Iroha, who had just retracted her gesture, stopped in her tracks at this.
"You’re disrespectful, you contradict yourself, and you do as you please… if I were your master, I definitely wouldn’t want to see such a subordinate."
"Shut up," Iroha snapped.
Seiji continued, undaunted. "You say you hate me, but what is it about me that you hate? How is your ugly, willful attitude any different from the garbage me in the past?" There was a short, cold chuckle; this time it came from Seiji.
"I said, shut up! Do you really want to die!?" Iroha’s words were laced with icy malevolence.
"The only difference is that you’re a beautiful girl, while I used to be fat. Willful beauties are always easily forgiven, how nice~ In the end, you just look beautiful on the outside, if it wasn’t for that, Yui Haruta would probably treat you the same way as me, and…"
*BOOM!!*
This loud sound was caused by Iroha’s sudden footstep.
The angry girl was now filled with murderous intentions, and she instantly rushed back towards Seiji, unleashing a full-force attack!
‘I was waiting for you to do that.’
[Bullet Time] activate!
[Light From the Brink] activate!
[Lightning Strike] activate continuously!!
He had three minutes.
Thanks to Hoshi Amami’s reward card’s first ability, [Light From the Brink], Seiji could use all his abilities at no cost for three minutes, and he had limitless stamina and Mana during this time, so he could maintain [Bullet Time] continuously while also using his fastest technique, [Lightning Strike]!
Iroha Hasegawa was one of Yui Haruta’s Spirit-branded Retainers.
Would she be able to block this?
In just an instant.
Iroha who was just about to send Seiji flying with her punch witnessed the light.
Before she could even react to this, her instincts automatically compelled her to respond by casting a barrier spell.
The light was blocked by her barrier.
But the very next instant, even more lights appeared, shattering her barrier!
Her punch had only reached halfway to Seiji.
Her punch was quite fast.
But in comparison to the light rushing towards her, her speed seemed like the darkness that was fated to be conquered by the light.
Iroha was unable to retract her punch.
She didn’t even have time to think about what was going on.
That was because all of this happened instantaneously.
The light broke through her defense, and one ray directly landed on her body.
That light was actually a fist.
*Smack!*
The powerful fist hit her stomach with a resounding sound.