And sure enough, Angel’s body trembled as she watched, and Yuugo counterattacked with his violet armor.
Hercus infused magic energy into his hatchet to stop this bad momentum, and with his hatchet sharper and his strength buffed, he ran straight towards Yuugo.
“How about this!? Hard Slash Armor Breaker!!
Clack! The surging magic energy made sparks run through the blade.
It was obvious that attack was stronger, and hit Yuugo’s chest cleanly, but…?
“…Nice. That attack resonated a lot.”
“Wha…!?”
Yuugo did not budge. In fact, he was composed enough to compliment Hercus.
Hercus was dumbfounded by how Yuugo was hit with his strongest attack and took no damage, while Yuugo clenched his right hand and infused it with magic energy.
“Now’s my turn. It’s probably gonna hurt… But don’t hate me for it!!”
“Uu!?”
Hercus tried to back away, but his left arm was grabbed, and he took a right straight punch without being able to dodge or block.
Yuugo yelled as he unleashed this punch with plenty of magic energy infused.
“Blaster Hard Punch!!”
“Gafuuuh!?”
The tightly clenched fist caught Hercus right in the chest.
The heavy fist made heavier and tougher by the armor was strengthened even further by magic energy, and carried an abnormal amount of power. A clean hit from it took away Hercus’ consciousness immediately, and sent him flying.
“…It’s over. I feel like I might’ve gone a bit too far, but don’t think badly of me for it.”
Hercus hit a wall, and Yuugo picked him up and carried him out of the testing space.
He left him with Melt, who could use healing magic, and undid the Blaster transformation. And then Angel, unable to contain her excitement, spoke to him with her eyes sparkling.
“Fascinating! I’ve never seen a Blaster that could change shape! Can I investigate and see what kind of mechanism that is!?”
“Sure! I’m glad you’re that excited. Let’s power up Blaster together from now on!”
“Oho! As someone who aspires to be a magic item technician, I don’t get something that rouses my interest like this very often! I can’t wait to see how much more we can get out of it through analyses and modding!”
It seemed Yuugo and Angel hit it off somehow, and were already on the same wavelength.
Melt and Phi watched them talk, feeling just a little weirded out.
“Hum, could it be… That Angel is a bit strange, like Yuugo?”
“Maybe…”
Yuugo said strange things and got on his own pace sometimes, but Angel seemed to have the personality to keep up with it.
Maybe it was otaku mentality, but as the two who seemed to be the same at their core hit it off quickly, Angel turned to the other technical students who watched the duel.
“Don’t you want to join us? What technician can stand by and do nothing in front of such an interesting magic item!?”
“Ah? Who wants to work on that trash… And who said you can just use our studio!? I told you we aren’t using it for that guy…”
“Hey hey, is that any way to talk to the guy that solved that problem for you? If Yuugo didn’t fight Hercus, who knows what that hot head would’ve done? It’s thanks to Yuugo that no one got hurt, and the studio wasn’t damaged. I think it’d make sense to show a little bit of gratitude.”
“…!!”
His personal feelings told them not to let someone he did not like use the studio, but Angel countered by pointing out they owed Yuugo for settling that mess.
The way he struggled to respond showed he thought that logic made at least some sense, but Angel tapped his shoulder, and forcibly continued the discussion.
“That settles it. Yuugo, Phi, Melt, leave Hercus with them, and follow me… Ah, that’s right. Give Hercus the materials he left with you when he wakes up. He should back down then.”
As Yuugo watched Angel’s back, who seemed to have taken the right to use the studio by force in the end, he wondered if she proposed the duel with Hercus with this in mind to begin with.
Win or lose, the fact that Yuugo fought for the technical students stayed the same. If he lost, her workload might have gotten heavier, but if she took all that into consideration when she proposed that, she was quite the scammer.
But she did solve that problem.
From the point of view of Yuugo, who received enough of a benefit to make up for the duel, he had no reason to resent her. If anything, he was thankful.
He thought about that as he walked behind her into a small room deep inside the studio.
It seemed furnished with equipment and materials that seemed to be for analysis, and had a space for people to talk. They looked around, and Angel spoke with a cheerful smile.
“Let’s start experimenting. First, we’ll analyze Blaster. There’s a lot I want to hear from you all… You’ll cooperate with me to strengthen the magic item, right?”
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I can’t wait to hear the explanation lol.
“We powered it up through the power of hope and friendship!”
“….are you crazy?”
When Angel discovers that Yuugo’s power of will can create outrageous magic items, she will never let him go!