The moment former Eishou Muratti Tricolori appeared in the arena, the hall was filled with an unusual heat.

　The cause of that reaction was his outfit (...).


　It's a good thing that you're able to get a good idea of what you're going to do with it.


Or should I say, "The Magician in White. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to say that I look like a "mad scientist" from the perspective of Second and Raspberry Bell.

　They were dressed quite strangely.


　Facing Muratti in the center of the arena was Kevin, who had defeated Nil and advanced to the semifinals. He opens his mouth, hiding his slight upset.

''It suits you, ex-emperor (...)
Oh, ......
............
...... Huh?

　Thank you. Muratti tried to return it in that way, but his mouth did not move well.

　He had been living a life of not talking to others for a long time, but the last six months had spurred it on and he hadn't had a chance to talk to them. He's been further honing in on his original communal skills.


　Not that this was why, but Kevin's off-the-board tactics hadn't worked at all.

　Seeing him in such a state, Kevin gave up on him prematurely.


''Is that outfit a fresh start?　I think there's something to it,
'Huh?　Uh, what?　It's kind of, uh, no. ......
What's going on?


　Instead of attacking with words, he attacked by getting the words out. Kevin's storytelling seemed to be skillful - but there was only one miscalculation.

　He had underestimated Muratti.


'Oh, I mean, you're going to scrape your guts out more, aren't you?　I was thinking, or rather, I thought, "Nuh-uh, nuh-uh, that's lukewarm. Yeah, yeah.
Tepid?
Oh, no, you see, I was bullied by your employer in the past, you know, if you don't get to the point...

　Yeah, yeah ......," Muratti says with difficulty, nodding vigorously.


'You can't win, always.'

......!


　Kevin suddenly didn't understand what Muratti was trying to say - you don't stand a chance unless you do everything possible to attack your mind.

　The reason being that Muratti had said it as too obvious.


　How in the world was he going to win without even being an outsider?　That question, which Muratti felt honestly, made him say the words blissfully and purely.

　At the same time, it was also Muratti's own confusion. 'Is it okay to be so cholo?' It was the first time in my life that I felt positive confusion.


...... You should correct your habit of saying 'A' every time you start talking, Mr. Muratti.
Ah, su-...... ah, sah-see.

"Bow to each other!　Ready!


　The off-the-board tactics ended in an untimely victory for Muratti.
　Kevin could only come up with a way to attack him in the end, beyond imitating his teacher.

　In other words ...... At this point, in Muratti's mind, his own victory was assured.


'-- Begin!'

　The call to start the match was given by the referee.

　Immediately afterwards, Kevin sprinted forward and approached the Iino type to the very edge of its range.

　A hit-and-away strategy. This was what Kevin was aiming for, just like the first game. It's a surefire, safe, winning strategy.


"WALLORIN

　In contrast, Muratti muttered to himself while grinning to himself in a whisper that was inaudible to Kevin, who stopped at range, and began chanting.



　--Fire Attribute, Ichino Type, Wind Attribute, Ichino Type, Earth Attribute, and Synergy.



''What, is that ......?


　Kevin let out an involuntary gasp of astonishment.

　It was unmistakable fear.
　It's as if the reaper, who can never compete, suddenly appears in front of you and is about to swing that scythe down at any moment.

　In an instant, my mind went blank and I couldn't even think of a word for it.

　What am I supposed to do about this?

　The correct answer is - I can't do anything about it (・・・・・・・・).


......k!

　A little later, Kevin chanted "Water Attribute, Ichino Type".

　He decided to cancel out the fire attribute alone as a stopgap measure.


''Three minus one is two.

　As Muratti said aloud, 3-1 = 2.

　The fire attribute can be prevented, but the rest of the wind and earth attributes cannot be prevented.


''!

　And Kevin took a direct hit for two Iino types and went down ...... (...).

　Why in the Ichino type!　And he would be in the middle of a mess right now.

　But if you ask Muratti, this is also a natural phenomenon.

　The INT is too different.

　There was a ...... difference between Kevin, who at best had raised the first to the ninth level of the water attribute and the other attributes to a modest extent, and Muratti, who had raised all four of the major attributes to the first to the ninth level of the first to the corporal.


''Aren't you too strong ......?
'Oh, phew, the Okan style (・・・・) seems to be the foul grade.'

　Kevin, who had just gotten up from being down, saw Muratti waiting in front of him, who had charged the Fire Attribute Samno Type and Tame-Gamma.

　A dead end, that is.


''--That's it!　The winner, Muratti Tricolori!



　...... only two blows.

　It was less than thirty seconds after the start of the game.
　The victory is too dumbfounding.


　It's the first time I've been made to understand it after it's over.

　It was a natural progression.
　It was an irresistible match for Kevin.


'...... haha, hahaha'

　As soon as he regained consciousness, Kevin couldn't help but laugh.

　Muratti had been right.

　If he didn't make a difference off the board, he wouldn't even be able to compete on the board.
　Even before the game, Kevin had been completely defeated.

　It's too late to realize that now, but it's too late.






'The War of the Eishin may be moving into a new era.
.......... huh...
From now on, Mr. Muratti and the Second Sixth Crown will lead the way.
It's obvious that Mr. Second is the leader of the pack, and I'm not the most degraded version of a pig, so I'm not afraid to call myself a degraded version of a pig, but I can't stop sweating, you know?
...... You're awfully talkative when it comes to him.

　The final of the tournament to determine the challenger to the Eishin Tournament, Zephyr vs. Muratti Tricolori.

　Even before the match started, the atmosphere in the hall was rather bleak.

　It could be said that it was inevitable.

　It was too obvious who was going to win.

　After seeing that thing with Kevin, no one could imagine anything but a Muratti victory.

　And some of them sent out ...... mindless chants of "Hurry up and show me the Second and Muratti game.


......f.......

　Naturally, his voice was heard by Zephyr as well.

　But the man in question only meditates quietly and smiles, the wrinkles on his face growing even deeper with age.

　Muratti is silent, not knowing what to say to him.

　It's a good thing that you're able to do that.


I'm going to ask you to do one thing for me.

　He was already prepared to face a defeat he couldn't escape.


'......!'

　Muratti is unexpectedly reminded.

　Zephyr's words are a warning, namely, don't go easy on me.


　--tolerance.

　I had never had that idea, not even once.


　Now that I think about it, I wonder how much the ...... second was going easy on me?


............

　The moment I thought that, I felt an unearned cold air creep up Muratti's back.


''--Courtesy of each other!　Ready!


　Not yet,

　Muratti tells himself.

　The words he has repeated over and over again.

'Duh.'

　Words that make me smile.


　Magic is an infinite treasure chest that cannot be solved, even if it can be solved.

　Magic is also like that, and so is witchcraft.
　And so was the man called Second First Test.


Begin!

　The command to start.

　At the same time, Muratti chanted "Wind Attribute Type Sanno" and "Tame Attack" and Zephyr chanted "Wind Attribute Type V".

　No matter how high Zephyr's HP and MGR are, it's impossible for him to withstand the Tame Attack from Muratti's high INTs without going down.

　However, Zephyr didn't have any other options available to him other than this self-destruction.
　No, he knew that even if he took any other tactics, he would lose.

　There was no contest between [magic] and [sorcery].

　It was only on that day that he finally realized such a natural thing.


''...... no pros and cons?''

　Zephyr's corporal type was not able to chant in time, and Muratti's tame attack was released after he had finished charging enough.

　While staring at the mass of wind-attribute magic looming in front of him, Zephyr muttered to himself.


　Defeat. The sense of being old, out of power, unable to adapt, left behind by the wave of a new era. It is not a good time to be a part of a new era. The distance between us is getting further and further away. More and more, more and more away from each other.

　Zephyr, the leader of the First Court Martial Arts Division. He is fifty-six years old this year. The energy to chase, the energy to bite, is no longer .......



''--That's it!　The winner, Muratti Tricolori!


　A blow.

　The man who had never known anything about going easy on him before now was still unable to go easy on him.

　And he didn't want to go easy on them.


　To be honest, he didn't care about winning or losing.

　As long as he could do his best to thank the Second, that was all that mattered.


　More importantly, he was having a lot of fun in the present.

　Every day he narrowed down the conditions for learning magic arts. Days of trial and error in order to learn. Days of research immersion after mastering it.

　It's just like when a new element was updated to the game he loved so much, he never got bored of it and continued to pour his heart and soul into it day after day.


　I still am.

　He's still not satisfied. He is still not satisfied.


　And he still doesn't know.

　Not to mention the abyss of witchcraft and ...... further witchcraft.




'Come on, let's do it.'


　And that's what this man will tell you.

　The four hundred and sixty-sixth Eito General Second First Test--.