Hero Vs. Hero Vs. Bear (?)

“Thunderbolt.”

“Fireball.”

The instant the cymbal rang, the Hero cast Thunderbolt while Nick cast Fireball.

Oh, they were opening with a magic duel right from the start.

Both of them took the other’s attack head-on, but neither seemed to suffer much damage.

Casting defensive magic in advance before the match began was permitted under the rules, after all.

Nick gave a faint smile and chanted another spell.

“Illusion Magic (Nayvision).”

It was magic that bewildered an opponent by making them see illusions.

Red rose petals danced through the arena.

The instant they appeared, shrill cheers erupted from the female spectators.

Rather than being aimed at the Hero, this might have been more of a performance meant to entertain the audience.

“Magic Nullification (Canset).”

When Vanrost chanted the spell, the swirling rose petals gradually vanished.

This time, it was the Hero’s turn to cast a spell.

“Illusion Magic (Nayvision).”

Even when using the same illusion spell, what appeared varied depending on the caster.

White mist enveloped the area around Nick.

Then countless bats emerged one after another from within the fog, confusing their target.

‘Oh! Nick showed us a beautiful illusion of roses, while Vanrost has answered with an illusion of mist and bats!’

‘It’s rare to see illusions rendered this vividly.’

If too little mana was poured into Illusion Magic, the illusion would appear faint and disappear almost immediately.

Applause rose from the spectator seats.

The Hero’s illusion was likewise erased by Nick’s Magic Nullification.

“Van’s taste is as awful as ever…”

Yuri muttered under her breath.

She had a point. Summoning a swarm of bats made him look more like a villain than a Hero.

Though it suited that face of his pretty well.

““Water Cannon.””

This time, they cast the same water attack spell simultaneously.

They chanted it at exactly the same time, almost as if they’d planned it beforehand.

Water Cannon fired a high-speed jet of water, and the streams unleashed by Vanrost and Nick collided head-on.

With two equal forces crashing together, water sprayed all the way into the spectator seats.

Oh boy. It was practically raining in here.

More applause erupted from the audience. They seemed to be enjoying even accidents like this.

When Nick raised his sword, Vanrost readied his own.

The two lifted their swords simultaneously and smashed them together.

Claaang!

Even when the Hero and the great hero clashed swords, the sound was still oddly light. It couldn’t be helped since they were competition swords, but it was a little anticlimactic.

The two continued trading sword blows for a while.

After the opening exchange of magic, the sword fight sent the spectators into an even greater frenzy.

“Go! That’s it, Nick!”

“Hero-sama! Do your best!”

“W-What!? They’re moving so fast I can’t see anything!”

“A-Amazing! This is on a completely different level from the last SS-rank match!”

The arena was engulfed in heat and roaring cheers.

Even the announcer sounded more excited than ever.

“This truly is a nonstop exchange of offense and defense! I’m starting to lose track of them myself!”

“Their battle has gone beyond the limits of common sense. Right now, Nick is unleashing a rapid series of thrusts, while Vanrost is bending his body backward to evade them.”

At this point, ordinary people were probably doing all they could just to follow the paths of their swords.

Yuri, on the other hand, stared intently at their fight.

It looked like she could actually see their movements.

She was probably trying to learn something from watching them fight. That was a good sign.

Maybe I should follow her example and study their movements carefully too.

…

…

…

…Yeah, there didn’t seem to be anything in particular I could learn from those two.

Watching the same monotonous sword exchange over and over was starting to make me yawn.

Since I was inside the costume, Yuri probably hadn’t noticed me yawning.

These guys sure loved clashing swords.

As a spectator, I would’ve preferred them to throw in some magic every now and then.

See, right there. He left himself open. You should’ve blasted him with a Fireball.

Hey, use Wave Shock there.

Nope… All I could think of were pointless criticisms.

They probably didn’t have enough breathing room to use magic.

That was how evenly matched they were; if either one showed even the slightest opening, they’d lose.

Yuri muttered while continuing to stare at the match.

“They really are amazing.”

“…Yes, Indeed.”

I found it so hard to agree that I accidentally slipped into stiff, broken formal speech.

In complete contrast to the feverish excitement surrounding me, I watched the match through the bear costume with a thoroughly unimpressed expression.

A battle between the Hero chosen by the gods and the great hero hailed as the darling of the age.

My impression after watching the two of them could be summed up in a single word.

…………Boring.

After continuing to push against each other’s swords, the two simultaneously leaped backward and put some distance between themselves.

Then both of them readied their swords again.

Vanrost caught his breath, chanted something, and lightly jumped. His body then floated upward until he was nearly level with the fourth-tier seats.

So he’d cast Levitation Magic (Fuwaris). It was a spell that allowed the caster to float temporarily in midair.

Vanrost then cast another spell.

“Light Ball.”

A sphere of light shot toward the opponent like a cannonball.

And more light projectiles followed one after another, raining down like a meteor shower.

Nick cast defensive magic again.

The projectiles that struck the defensive barrier were crushed and vanished, but the other balls of light smashed apart the walls and floor.

Oh, viewed like this, a shower of Light Balls was actually pretty beautiful.

I had been watching the Hero’s light magic with one paw raised over my eyes when one of the projectiles came flying straight toward us.

As expected of an attack from the Hero.

The damn thing broke through both layers of defensive barriers and kept coming right at us.

I stood up from my seat and smacked the light projectile back with my paw pad.

So the armor-shop lady had been telling the truth when she said that pouring mana into the paw pads would let me reflect offensive magic.

Since it was an attack from the Hero, though, the paw pad had been scorched completely black.

The Light Ball shot straight back upward and struck Vanrost while he was still floating in midair.

BOOOOM!!

Apparently the Hero hadn’t had time to dodge such an unexpected counterattack.

The Light Ball hit him cleanly and exploded.

It wasn’t an enormous explosion, but the spectator seats shook up and down slightly.

The Hero emerged from the smoke, still floating in midair.

Naturally, he hadn’t taken any serious damage, but his light-brown hair had turned into a frizzy, exploded mess.

Vanrost glared directly at me.

“What the hell are you doing!? You there, Bear!”

“I just returned the stray shot you sent into the audience. If you don’t like it, make sure your attacks don’t hit the stands.”

The spectators immediately burst into applause.

Even the mighty Hero apparently felt somewhat guilty that his attack had gone flying into the audience, because after clicking his tongue, he descended from midair back to the ground.

Nick’s eyes sparkled as he gave me a thumbs-up.

That was definitely a Good job! gesture.

Maybe he was thanking me for protecting the spectators?

Or perhaps he was thanking me for turning the Hero’s hair into a frizzy mess.

More than simple gratitude, though, I felt like Nick was staring at me with an incredibly intense gaze, and I instinctively looked away.

The spectators sitting nearby also showered me with thanks.

“Mr. Beaaaar! Thank you!”

“Mr. Bear, you saved us! I thought we were done for!”

“We’re prepared for accidents like this every time, but if you hadn’t been here, we would’ve gotten hurt!”

Despite desperately wanting to avoid attention, I had only managed to attract even more of it.

Thank goodness I was wearing a costume.

After that, the match resumed as though nothing had happened.

Once I saw that the spectators’ attention had returned to the arena, I quietly stood up and took Yuri by the hand.

“Ah… Mr. Bear…”

The people sitting around us looked like they were about to call me back, but I pretended not to hear them and hurried away from the spectator seats.

In the end, the battle between the Hero Vanrost and the great hero Nick Bluestar continued as a clash of swords until time ran out without either one managing to settle the match.