Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
This was the first time Ayami had seen a counterattack spell so extravagant in appearance. The entire process looked amazing, not to mention the user was incredibly handsome as well. As a female, she felt that she was enjoying plenty of eye candy.
Ayami also liked the fact that the main Yin Yang Master on the other side who suffered from this counterattack was also a handsome boy. This was excellent.
This was exactly what she wanted to see in a duel!
Ayami placed some potato chips in her mouth and happily snacked while observing the duel.
Akatsuki successfully blocked the attack.
However, he still took a lot of damage. Large cracks appeared in all four of his spiritual pillars!
'Ridiculous! How did my ultimate attack spell rebound on me! Just how did he accomplish such a feat!?'
Akatsuki's loathing of Seiji Haruta was now increasing more than ever before! If only he had known how much power Seiji possessed, he would have eliminated Seiji via underhanded means before the duel no matter what!!
It was too late to regret things now.
So, what should he do?
Yashuu was being completely suppressed, so Yashuu being defeated was only a matter of time. Seiji would naturally then focus on Koogi and defeat her as well. Did that mean that he, Akatsuki Mitarai… would lose?
'No no no no no no no!!!!'
Just imagining the thought of losing made Akatsuki feel like he was about to go insane!
'I won't lose!
'Who cares if they have a way to suppress my power! I have another ace up my sleeve!!'
Akatsuki now had a vicious expression as he came to a decision and summoned over Shinobu the human puppet Spirit-branded Retainer.
Seiji, who was currently dealing with Yashuu, noticed that Akatsuki summoned Shinobu over to his side. It appeared that Akatsuki was casting some sort of major spell upon her.
Seiji felt an ominous premonition from this.
However, Natsuya and the others were currently locked in battle against the powered-up Koogi. Nobody had the free time to extract themselves and stop Akatsuki.
Seiji made a split-second decision and opened up his system. He speedily chose the [Mental suppression card - Desire to Retort] and chose to "activate" it!
Target person to use it on: Akatsuki Mitarai!
Seiji immediately saw the blue-haired handsome boy seemingly freeze for a moment. It appeared that Akatsuki was being attacked by something invisible.
So, the attack must have been effective. Still, Seiji was unsure just what Akatsuki's mental state was like right now. He felt that in theory, being mentally suppressed would make spellcasting more difficult.
The [Desire to Retort] card would last for 2 minutes and 22 seconds… He needed to defeat Yashuu as quickly as possible so that he could go and deal with Koogi, which would allow Natsuya to deal with Akatsuki's spellcasting.
'I hope that your 'retorts' are quite effective, dear sister of mine!'
Hana, who was currently playing an MMORPG on her computer, sneezed.
Akatsuki suddenly felt his head becoming dizzy.
An indescribably strong emotion came over him, causing his thoughts to become dull and hazy. He also kept having strange thoughts.
'Who am I? Where am I? Why am I doing such meaningless things?
'Nothing in the world has any real meaning to it. My existence is meaningless as well. Everything will return to the void anyways.
'I really just want to go home, go to sleep in my bed, not care about anything, and stop thinking about anything. After all, someone like me can't…
'No, something's wrong!!!'
Akatsuki forcefully shook his head in an effort to shake off this strange condition that suddenly came over him.
This was a mental attack! Did Seiji's golden counterattack spell even have such an additional side effect? 'Damn it!!'
Akatsuki cast a protective mental magic upon himself to try and regain a clear mind. However, it didn't work.
'I don't have any time left. I need to hurry…'
Akatsuki forced himself to bear with his mental condition and continued spellcasting.
He was currently forcefully injecting the spiritual pillars' power into the human puppet's soul core. This would temporarily allow the human puppet to gain incredible power!
He had never tested this spell out before. Akatsuki researched the mysterious soul core he received from the equally mysterious merchant for quite a long time, but was still unable to find out how exactly it worked. He knew that such forceful injection of power into the soul core was likely to cause irreversible damage, or perhaps even an overload that could cause an explosion!
However, Akatsuki no longer cared about potential consequences.
'It's fine even if she overloads and explodes in the end. Before that happens, use all this power to defeat all my enemies, Shinobu!'
Akatsuki's spell caused strands of black light to speedily enter the human puppet's body and enter her soul core.
However, since he was somewhat distracted by his current mental condition, he made a small error when injecting the power. Part of the power didn't enter the soul core…
There was the sound of another explosion as Yashuu collapsed yet again.
All the black crystals on Yashuu's body were now destroyed. His body appeared seriously injured with burn marks all over. He finally completely stopped moving.
Seiji immediately rushed over towards Koogi.
Hitaka who was currently wielding a shield and gun saw him rushing over and indicated towards him with a hand gesture.
Seiji understood her intentions. He jumped right at her and into the air, landing on the shield that she raised for him.
Hitaka threw her gun on the ground and threw the shield with both hands at full strength. She tossed Seiji in the direction of Koogi who was currently flying through the air!
When he was halfway there, Rana jumped up, meowed, and forcefully pushed the shield, helping to increase his speed yet again!
Seiji approached Koogi at the speed of a hurtling meteor. Koogi attempted to snipe Seiji out of the air. However, Natsuya cast a spell that prevented her from doing so.
*Boom!!!*
Seiji successfully reached his target thanks to all three of his companions' assistance. He landed a direct hit with his golden [Evolved Cleansing] spell on Koogi's body, which was super effective.
"Leave her to me. You all go deal with that bastard!" Seiji shouted.
Natsuya nodded in understanding and headed for Akatsuki.
However, that was when she saw the human puppet before him suddenly erupt with explosive, thick, blood-red mist! There was also an ear-piercing screech.
Soul core power-up, complete!
For the last step, Akatsuki removed the power limiter on the human puppet, transforming his creation into the most vicious and powerful combat weapon of all.
"Go, Shinobu," Akatsuki gave his order.
The screeching increased in volume as the puppet girl's eyes lit up with blood-red flames and she moved...
*Snap!*
She viciously bit into Akatsuki's neck!!
"Eh?"
Akatsuki made a foolish sound.
Human puppets were created with a spell that allowed the master total control. Theoretically speaking, it should have been impossible for a human puppet to harm its master. That was why he was completely off guard against Shinobu.
Not only that, the [Desire to Retort] card still hadn't expired yet. Akatsuki had been forcing himself to finish spellcasting while being mentally suppressed. Since he had completed his spell successfully, this was when his guard was at its lowest. He wasn't even able to react to this sudden sneak-attack.
Akatsuki felt tremendous pain coming from his neck as something within him was suddenly being devoured. Only now did he think to resist. Yet, he was too late.
Akatsuki's vision blackened, never to see the light of day again.
"What…" Natsuya widened her eyes in surprise.
She just witnessed the human puppet girl viciously biting into Akatsuki's neck, causing him to speedily become smaller… no, he had withered!
What just happened?
'A human puppet actually devoured its master!?'
Just like Akatsuki, the first thing that came into her mind was 'How is this possible!?' That's when she suddenly recalled what Seiji had told her before about Shinobu.
However, Shinobu's soul had already been stolen away by Seiji. Wasn't the human puppet turning into a demon and devouring her master no longer supposed to happen?
To be honest, Natsuya did indeed slightly mind when she learned about what Seiji did. Technically, he had assisted Akatsuki Mitarai by doing so, since Akatsuki would avoid the fate of being devoured by a demonic Shinobu. Still, Natsuya quickly put it behind her.
However, she never expected that Shinobu still ended up devouring Akatsuki!
A human puppet Spirit-branded Retainer ate her own master!!
The judge Ayami was equally astonished.
The Mitarai Family son was sucked dry by his own human puppet Spirit-branded Retainer!? Just what was going on!?
Normally, Spirit-branded Retainers were under the power of a magical contract that effectively forbade them from harming the Yin Yang Master they were contracted to. This was all the more so for human puppet Spirit-branded Retainers. Any person that wasn't an idiot would install a control mechanism in the puppet's body, making it so that there were two layers of protection against a puppet going berserk.
But now, a human puppet Spirit-branded Retainer devoured… and killed her own master!!??
Ayami found it difficult to believe what she'd just witnessed and sunk into a state of confusion.
What the hell just happened!!?