The ice dragon, that suddenly appeared, had quite the presence.

Unless you have some power to your name, you won’t be able to endure the pressure that covered the whole field. Fortunately, there were no weak people here.

「Oi, oi, you just unleashed an outrageous thing here」
「Not really, I won’t be able to defeat Raiga-dono unless I do something like that」

There were no lies in his words, the same goes for flattery. Those were his true thoughts.

He seriously thought that he wouldn’t be able to defeat Raiga unless he unleashed the ice dragon. However, this spell was clearly an overkill.

「Try releasing this monster on the streets. It will result in a panic」

As Raiga said, once the ice dragon appears on the streets of Moru city, a great panic will occur. However, Bagil didn’t feel like winning without this.

The ice dragon, that was far more powerful than Lily’s Gedo-chan, moved.

The ice dragon opened its mouth and released an ice breath towards Raiga.

Gurururu, gugyaaa

The snowstorm-like white-colored breath enveloped Raiga and enclosed him in the ice.

But in the next moment, the lightning around Raiga destroyed the ice, and he just stood there like nothing happened.

「This is?」

At this time, Seiya felt his body getting heavier. Together with Raiga, they looked at their own hands.

「Hee, calming, right?」
「Correct. The breath wasn’t an attack; its purpose was to spread the ice attribute mana in the atmosphere」

As Raiga said, what Seiya felt earlier was a calming effect from the ice attribute. As a matter of course, the ice attribute, being derived from the water attribute, inherited the calming effect.

And every time you take a breath air, the ice mana particles calms your body from the inside.

It was his trump card. But at the same time, he was in the area of the effect himself. Bagil too felt his body getting heavier.

The more you breathe, the heavier your body gets. The rest is the battle of attrition. Just who will be able to last longer?

「So this is the power of the thirteen apostles」

Raiga looked at the ice dragon and said that.

With every breath, your body will be getting calmer and will stop moving in the end. That being said, you can’t just abandon breathing. Under such circumstances, Raiga must fight the ice dragon and Bagil.

From Seiya’s point of view, Raiga was in a pinch.

However, you can understand from his expression that Raiga still had some leeway. That is because he still had a trump card to play.

「It’s about the time for me to become serious」[¹] 「Serious?」

Hearing his words, Bagil scratched his neck. But he understood the meaning very soon.

「Unite, together with my lightning soul, the sword of the maiden of lightning, I dedicate『Lightning God Strengthening』」

In the next moment, the lightning around him distorted and changed. The armor made from lightning appeared shining with the green light.

This armor covered Raiga’s whole body.

「So this is the Thunder God’s true form……」
「That’s right. With this, I won’t receive the calming any more」

Bagil looked at his Raiga’s appearance and lost his words. After all, Raiga’s appearance in the lightning armor is an appearance of the Thunder God, renowned across the whole Aquaristan. Bagil never expected to lay his eyes on this form.

It’s said that this armor won’t ever break. It’s said that this armor is the strongest armor. It’s said that you can’t win against armored Raiga.

Seiya remembered the legend about the Thunder God.

「This is Raiga when he is serious」

It was the first time for Seiya to see the Thunder God’s true strength. Seeing his appearance, the desire to fight him was born in Seiya for a moment.

Gugyaaaa

With a loud roar, the ice dragon released another breath toward Raiga, but facing this attack, Raiga only swung the Thunder God Oni once.

The green lightning flew from the Thunder God Oni with a bun and stopped the ice breath.

Gugyaaaa

With its breath deflected, the ice dragon prepared for another one, but Raiga wasn’t kind enough to wait for it. [²]

「Fun!」

The Thunder God Oni moved again. The lightning, far more powerful than the previous one, pounced on the ice dragon.

Gyaaa

Being hit by the lightning, the ice dragon raised a scream. However, there was no way Raiga would let it go.

「I will end it with the next one」

To put an end to the ice dragon, he launched his final attack. This was Raiga’s ultimate; you can call it the secret technique of his.

「The divine protection of lightning, the maiden of lightning, it is time to manifest in this world, your great existence…..」
「I won’t let you. The wrath of the ice god. 『Absolute Zero Barrier』」

Immediately after the chant, the barrier of ice appeared around Raiga.

This spell is a unique spell of Bagil’s Naveria family. At the same time, it’s Bagil’s finishing move.

Raiga’s arm was getting heavier by the second. At the same time, the strongest calming came attacking at him. Even the strongest armor was of no use.

Simultaneously, multiple ice vines wrapped around Raiga’s body and restrained him. In addition, thorns appeared on the vines and touched the armor.

The thorns didn’t pierce the armor, but just touching was enough.

「This is the end. Unless you managed to disrupt its activation, there will be no opportunity to escape. The thorns will gradually suck away your mana. You lost」

Bagil was convinced of his victory.

Even if he somehow breaks out of 『Absolute Zero Barrier』, the lost mana won’t return. There is no chance to win against the ice dragon in this state.

It was clear even from Seiya’s viewpoint.

Multiple vines with a myriad of thorns wrapped around him, these thorns even sucked at his mana. Truly a desperate situation.

Despite the armor, the calming effect of 『Absolute Zero Barrier』was still applied.

This fight is Raiga’s lose. Seiya though like that.

But only Raiga himself thought differently. His expression was still unchanged.

「I will be troubled if it ends like this」
「What!?」

The change came abruptly. The color of the lightning armor suddenly started to change. The green armor gradually became red, and the vines restraining him evaporated in a flash.

「So you raised the ratio of the fire attribute」

Seeing Raiga’s change, Seiya quickly determined the reason.

Raiga’s lightning attribute is a compound attribute of fire and wind attribute, just like the lightning beast from the Great Dalis Canyon. Usually, it is proportioned one to one, however, in Raiga’s case, the ratio has changed.

As far as Seiya could see, the ratio between wind and fire attribute changed into three to seven. Basically, the lightning armor became closer to the fire attribute.

As a result, the degree of activation increased accordingly. Thanks to that, he was able to break out of『Absolute Zero Barrier』.

「I never expected for you to use such a method……」
「This is the power of special magician」
「Sorry to interrupt, but the next one will finish it」
「Ho, try it」

The atmosphere around the two instantly changed.

Their aura became much sharper. From their aura, you can understand that they planned to end it with the next exchange.

Bagil moved all that was left of his mana into the ice dragon and prepared for the final attack.
Raiga too increased the quality of his armor and assumed the most serious attitude yet.

「This is…..」

The two’s aura twisted the space around them. As soon as Seiya noticed it, he thought that this was bad.

However, the two were too focused on each other to notice.

If their attacks collide, the barrier will collapse and Moru city will be implicated. Is this happens, it will be a calamity.

「Damn it, I have no choice」

Seiya lifted his right hand and created a purple magic circle. However, there were no symbols on this circle, he didn’t have time to properly construct it.

「Go, Dark Cannon」

As soon as the magic circle took form, he immediately shot his mana. This was just mana, not a spell. In the same way as Lily’s Water Cannon, it was launched towards the two.

And the chaotic mass of darkness erased the ice dragon and lightning around Raiga in a second.

「This is!?」
「Seiya?」

The two were still surprised after suddenly being shot at. To such two, Seiya said.

「Just stop already. Did you want to blow Moru city up? 」
「What?!」

And then Bagil noticed. If they continued as they were, Moru city would have been destroyed.

There would have been no problem for ordinary magicians. But they are a special magician and an apostle respectively. The barrier won’t be able to endure their full strength.

「I’m sorry. Please accept my gratitude」

Once he realized his mistakes, Bagil swiftly apologized. The duel didn’t matter at this point. If Moru city, his hometown, is safe then it’s fine.

「Well then, what should we do?」

Raiga asked Bagil. He meant, of course, what they should do with the duel.

However, Bagil had no intention to fight any longer.

「you can count it as my loss. I inconvenienced you today. I will go home」
「I see. Melena! 」
「Yes」

Once called, the servant, Melena, appeared and escorted Bagil away.

And once Seiya couldn’t see his figure anymore, he asked Raiga.

「In the end, did you force me to erase it on purpose?」
「Who knows. However, an apostle now owes you a favor. Isn’t it fine? 」
「Haa」

Towards grinning Raiga, Seiya assumed a troubled expression.

For an experienced magician like Raiga, the lack of control, in the end, is impossible. In other words, he forced Bagil all out and made him owe Seiya a favor.

And since he owes Seiya a favor, he will protect his secret. You can say that he unknowingly entered Seiya’s camp.

「How frightening」

Seiya thought, looking at Raiga’s back, who was at the time returning to the mansion with the Thunder God Oni in his hand. And at the same time, he decided to morally prepare for future developments.

Then, after the girl squad returned, he was forced to watch a fashion show until dinner.