"Takao Yamamoto…" Natsuya muttered the green monster’s name under her breath.

'Oh, that’s right—it was Takao Yamamoto.' Seiji recalled the name as well.

Takao was the blonde bully who had ambushed and killed Mika long ago. He had disappeared from the hospital after Seiji crushed his ability to ever have children again. Okubo must have taken Takao, and Seiji a.s.sumed that he caused Takao's abnormal state.

"What exactly happened to him?" Seiji asked.

"He was reared as a Zombie Demon—" Natsuya started.

"Rrr… Roar!!" A strange shriek interrupted the president’s words.

The green, monster-like Zombie Demon lunged at Seiji and Natsuya, its arms spread wide open. A rotting, disgusting stench emanated from its body.

Seiji, who was in front of Natsuya, was just about to defend against its attack, but he saw Natsuya drawing a seal in midair with both hands.

"Be sealed, unclean object!"

Numerous magical chains materialized and entangled the Zombie Demon's body, preventing it from moving.

Immediately after, several dozen white talismans appeared and attached themselves to its body.

"Cleanse!!" Natsuya changed her hand-seal.

*Boom!*

There was a brilliant white explosion!

A terrifying roar could be heard from within the blinding light.

The next moment, a black mist erupted from the Zombie Demon's body, scattering the white light.

Seiji could faintly perceive that the Zombie Demon had broken free from the magical chains.

Its eyes were glowing greenly, and its body seemed… no, it was definitely larger than before.

And it was still expanding in size!

Hey, hey, was this supposed to be the Zombie Hulk!?

Seiji’s cheek twitched as he watched the Zombie Demon expand rapidly.

"He’s been cultivated into quite a powerful Zombie Demon," Natsuya stated calmly. "It seems that Okubo has spent a lot of effort on him."

"Is he still alive?" Seiji inquired curiously. "As a human, I mean."

"He’s already dead, both in body and soul…"

"Then there’s no need for me to worry about anything at all."

Seiji reached out his hand and drew out a longsword that appeared in a blue flash and entered a ready-for-combat pose.

"Allow me to send him off."

"Haruta-kun…"

"I don’t have any sympathy for this guy," Seiji said in a heavy voice. "I... only feel slightly responsible." 

Natsuya blinked her eyes upon hearing this."I wanted to say that there’s no need for you to deal with him, since I can take care of it on my own."

"Eh?"

The Zombie Demon that seemed like an undead version of the Hulk took another step forward while roaring, but even more magical chains appeared in midair, wrapping around him and stopping him from advancing!

"While this Zombie Demon may indeed be powerful, I’ve already been prepared for such a scenario."

Together with the president’s calm words, a seemingly endless amounts of chains appeared, tying the enormous Zombie Demon in many layers.

At first, the Zombie Demon was able to break loose from the chains, but before long, it was unable to even struggle and could only roar helplessly.

Finally, it was swathed in chains.

It almost looked like a big yarn ball.

Seiji was speechless as he stood there in his self-styled cool combat pose.

He suddenly felt rather embarra.s.sed.

Seiji stopped posing, ashamed of himself.

He was just a bystander to begin with, so why was he posing like that!? Plus, he said something so pretentious! Honestly...

"Haruta-kun, do you really want to fight it?"

"Er, um…" Seiji scratched his face awkwardly, unable to come up with a reply.

"You want to send him off because you feel slightly responsible… Is that how you truly feel?" Natsuya had a serious expression as she looked at him.

Seeing her expression, Seiji also put on a serious face. "Yes… it might be a little bit arrogant, but that’s how I truly feel."

After a brief silence, Natsuya spoke.

"Then go ahead," she said calmly.

She looked towards the pile of chains and made yet another seal with her hands.

A huge number of white talismans furiously attached themselves to the chains to the point where nothing but white was visible.

"Cleanse!!"

A white light at least ten times stronger than the last one exploded, sending a pillar of light shooting up into the sky!

After the light gradually dissipated, the Zombie Demon returned to its original form. It was now kneeling on the ground somewhat pitifully.

"Its power has been greatly diminished. You should be able to handle the rest." Natsuya turned around to leave. "Okubo’s already begun breaking my defense, so I need to go deal with him. Go ahead, and… do your best at sending him off." Right after she finished her last sentence, the president dashed off to find her enemy.

Seiji and the Zombie Demon were the only ones remaining here, and they stood facing each other.

‘She is such a gentle girl.’ Seiji smiled and expressed grat.i.tude towards Natsuya within his heart.

He then raised the longsword in his hand once more.

"Stand up, Takao Yamamoto."

The Zombie Demon gradually rose to its feet, making it seem like it really could understand Seiji.

"I don’t know you. Nor do you know me. But, rather than being cleansed like this, you would probably prefer for someone to send you to h.e.l.l."

Takao wasn’t Seiji’s friend, nor was he really an enemy, and this was about as far from a fated battle between rivals as could be.

This was merely one stranger sending off another slightly familiar stranger.

The Zombie Demon roared as it lunged at Seiji.

Seiji greeted it with a flourish of his sword.

And so their clash began.

Ayami Himiki was fond of battles.

Well, she wasn’t fond of personally battling. She enjoyed watching other people fight, and she especially loved watching fights where the partic.i.p.ants were wagering their most precious possessions or even their lives—the so-called Yin-Yang Master duels.

The Himiki clan was well known in the mystical society for being an excellent judging clan. Although Ayami was still young, she was renowned for her fair att.i.tude and appropriate supervision. Her record of the duels were neither too detailed nor too simple—they described the situation perfectly while protecting both sides’ secrets. As a result of this, she always received glowing reviews from both sides in the duel.

That was why her "business" was excellent and she always received requests to judge duels. But she was still young and inexperienced, so it was mostly the younger generation that invited her to judge duels.

This time, it was a duel between the daughter of the Yoruhana family and the son of the Yos.h.i.+aki family.

Just like always, Ayami stayed outside the battlefield but not too far and watched the proceedings with a spell. There was only one husky dog accompanying her.

This husky was her Spirit-branded Retainer.

That’s right—the dog had been raised using a special method, and possessed Spiritual Power! Ayami had signed a contract with the husky and recruited it as her Spirit-branded Retainer.

As a vessel for a spirit, it was difficult for an animal to match a human’s power. But there were also advantages, such as never leaking any secrets.

That was why Ayami was always able to take her husky retainer with her while judging.

"This is a rather boring duel, isn’t it, Tairou?"

Ayami was snacking on potato chips while watching the duel unfold before her.

"Woof!" Her husky, which had a strict-seeming black-and-white face, responded with a bark.

"So you agree as well… there’s too much of a difference between their powers, so there’s nothing to even enjoy."

Ayami continued chewing on her potato chips as she a.s.sessed the duel using her long experience as a judge of many duels.

Well, this didn’t actually even need that much experience to a.s.sess. Even an ordinary human who had watched fantasy movies before could probably come to the same conclusion after watching for a while.

The red side, led by the Yoruhana family's daughter, was certain to win!

First was the red-haired girl’s battle against the armored boy, who was part of the blue side and the retainer of the Yos.h.i.+aki family's son.

The armored boy had extremely high defense and was quite spirited, but it was all rather useless. It was almost impossible for his attacks to hit the red-haired girl, and instead the girl’s attacks almost all managed to connect, steadily depleting the boy's Mana level.

Next was the red-side cat girl's battle against the blue-side white gauntlet girl.

The white-clad gauntlet girl’s movements were swift and her attacks were fierce. Many of her attacks connected with the cat girl, seemingly giving her an advantage. However, the cat girl had actually mitigated most of the attacks’ force with her highly agile footwork, and in actuality, she took very little damage.

By now, the white-clad girl’s speed was already much lower than it was at first, while the cat girl was still as agile as ever; it was as if she were merely toying with her opponent. It was easy to determine the superior party.

And as for the red-side windbreaker boy’s battle against the blue-side Zombie Demon...

In this battle, it was even easier to tell who would emerge victorious. The Zombie Demon's power had been greatly diminished. As long as the windbreaker boy wasn’t a total idiot, he would be able to defeat the Zombie Demon by using physical attacks alone.

To Ayami, this handsome boy seemed like a newbie to battle. His combat outfit and weapon were all totally standard with zero customizations, and his movements seemed rather... er, stiff. Ayami could hardly believe it when he was actually injured by the brainless Zombie Demon's swipes! How stupid of him to make such a low-level mistake!

Why the heck did the Yoruhana family daughter recruit a temporary Spirit-branded Retainer like him? The teenage female judge’s mind was filled with questions.

Was there some special purpose? Or was there some other particular reason, like love…

Ayami coughed. 'I must have watched too many television dramas.’

There was nothing interesting about this duel at all. If she had to find something watchable, the only slightly appealing part was the fact that the windbreaker boy was incredibly hot.

If only his opponent wasn’t an ugly Zombie Demon... It would have been so much better if he was fighting against a handsome opponent that he was entangled in a love triangle with. That would have made for an amazing story!

Ayami turned her attention to focus on the final and most important battle after sighing in her heart.

The red-side Yoruhana family's daughter versus the blue-side Yos.h.i.+aki family's son.

"So unsightly," she muttered, crunching on the potato chips in her mouth.