The Strongest Eriri in History

"Mm, no problem." Eriri smiled and nodded.

She had originally planned to do this. Even if Nodoka didn't bring it up, she would still visit the world of Saki later on.

"That's great."

Hearing Eriri agree to her request, Nodoka's face immediately lit up with a very happy expression.

Soon, the final round of the mahjong game came to an end. The player in fourth place was still Akino. This result made Akino feel very dissatisfied, but she could only accept it as it was, thinking that she had picked the wrong opponent.

After finishing the late-night snacks made by Aoi Kujo in the mahjong room, everyone went back to their respective accommodations.

...

On the third day after coming to this world, everyone arrived at the arena before 9 AM as they had done the previous day.

When the time struck exactly 9 AM, the second round of the martial arts tournament, the twelve to six elimination, officially began.

As the space above the arena rippled, two illusory transparent figures quickly materialized.

"The second round of the martial arts tournament begins now. The first match will be—Kanae Kocho and Erica Blandelli. The two contestants, please come to the stage. The match will begin in five minutes."

Aoi Kujo's voice echoed over the arena as usual. With her voice falling, both Kanae Kocho and Erica appeared on the stage.

"Kanae, I didn't expect we'd be the first to face each other today." Erica looked with fighting spirit at Kanae, who was about ten meters away from her.

Yesterday's battle with Arche was far from exhausting for Erica. Among all the group members, the opponent she most wanted to face was Luo Hao or Jibril, but facing Kanae wasn't too bad for her.

"Ah, I'm also happy to be fighting you." A gentle smile appeared on Kanae's face.

At that moment, a loud shout suddenly rang out from the spectator stands.

"Sister, good luck, don't lose!" It was Shinobu Kocho, who had her hair in a ponytail, waving her hands loudly at Kanae.

Sitting next to her was Kanao Tsuyuri, who was also looking at Kanae with eager eyes. After such a long period of recovery, Kanao had gradually regained her emotions.

Looking at the two younger sisters who were continuously waving their hands at her, Kanae's smile grew even brighter.

"It seems like I need to go all out," Kanae muttered to herself.

She withdrew her gaze from her younger sisters and focused her eyes on Erica, a powerful fighting spirit rising in her, not one bit inferior to Erica's.

"Of course, seriously, if you're not serious, it'll be troubling for me." Erica shook her head helplessly.

Since there were people cheering for Kanae from the spectator stands, it was only natural that there were also people cheering for Erica.

Their names echoed continuously through the crowd, making the whole venue become even livelier.

Soon, five minutes passed. With Aoi Kujo's command, the figures of Erica and Kanae instantly vanished from the stage.

Immediately after, the sounds of rapid weapon clashes rang out from every corner of the arena, accompanied by the distortion of space.

"Breath of the Flower, Twelfth Form—Phantom Bloom." With a soft shout from Kanae, the longsword in her hand flew out, instantly splitting into dozens of identical blades.

These blades, both real and illusory, shot toward Erica one after another, while the number of blades floating above Kanae's head showed no sign of decreasing.

The weapon Kanae was using now was no longer the fragile Nichirin Blade, but a longsword personally crafted by Eriri.

Its appearance was identical to the Nichirin Blade she had once used, but the power and quality of the blade were worlds apart, vastly superior in both aspects.

As for Erica, she held her beloved sword, Cuore di Leone. Summoning Cuore di Leone no longer required the chanting of a long incantation; she could simply clap her hands together to summon it.

Looking at the countless blades rushing toward her at high speed, Erica's expression became slightly more serious. The terrifying aura emanating from the blades made it clear that their attack power should not be underestimated.

In less than a second, these blades crossed over a distance of hundreds of meters and arrived right in front of Erica.

Erica remained calm. In the blink of an eye, she transformed the knight's sword in her hand into a golden spear, then held the spear in front of her and spun it with all her might.

The protective circle formed by the rapidly spinning spear blocked all the blades that Kanae had shot at her, and those blades vanished into illusions once they were deflected.

At the same time, Erica began chanting the words of her divine power.

"I am the strongest, the one who holds all victories.

Whether human or demon—facing all enemies, I shall crush their will to fight! I shall defeat any enemy standing in my way!

O bull with the shining golden horns, grant me your aid!"

With the chant of the Bull divine power completed, Erica felt her strength multiply a hundredfold. The physical strength that had been reduced to Level 4 by the arena's barriers quickly returned to its original Level 4.

Gripping the still spinning spear with both hands, Erica stopped its rotation and swung it forward with all her might.

A massive shockwave instantly destroyed all the blades that had been flying toward her.

Caught off guard, Kanae was sent flying several dozen meters by the shockwave. However, thanks to the numerous blades blocking the impact, the shockwave had been greatly weakened, otherwise, Kanae would have suffered serious injuries rather than just light ones.

"Sister!"

From the spectator stands, Shinobu Kocho stood up, her face filled with worry as she looked at Kanae, who had been sent flying.

Wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, Kanae hurriedly swung the longsword she had retrieved at the side.

With a sound akin to metal clashing, Erica, holding her spear, suddenly appeared by Kanae's side, and Kanae was once again sent flying several dozen meters by a powerful strike from Erica.

"For victory, come before me! O immortal sun, grant me the shining steed. O horse with swift legs, bring forth the halo that symbolizes your master!"

Erica swiftly chanted the words of the White Horse divine power. A massive sun-flame descended from the sky, striking the spot where Kanae had landed after being knocked back.

The scorching sunfire spread across most of the arena, and even Erica could feel the intense heat emanating from the flames.

However, thanks to the barrier, the spectators in the stands felt no heat at all.

Before long, the sunfire on the arena finally dissipated, and Kanae's figure appeared once again, completely unharmed. Her aura was at its peak, and she was in perfect condition.

At that moment, Aoi Kujo's figure reappeared in the air above the arena, and a clear voice resonated throughout the entire world.

"The first match of the second round of the martial arts tournament, Erica wins!!"

After more than half an hour of intense battle, the first match finally came to a close. Kanae was eliminated after being struck by Erica's White Horse divine power.

"Ah, so I lost after all." Kanae said with some regret.

However, there was no sign of unwillingness on her face. She accepted her defeat with grace, fully acknowledging Erica's victory.

"Erica, you've become stronger and stronger. Congratulations on your win."

"Thank you, but I never thought for a second that I would lose," Erica replied, a confident smile on her face. Her goal was to win this martial arts tournament.

No matter who stood opposite her, she had the overwhelming confidence to defeat them. Of course, that was excluding Eriri.

After returning to the spectator stands, Kanae reached over and gently patted the heads of Shinobu and Kanao, saying apologetically, "I'm sorry I let you both down."

"Not at all, in my heart, you'll always be the strongest, Sister!" Shinobu quickly grabbed Kanae's right hand, speaking earnestly.

Though Kanae had lost in the duel, it did not affect her standing in Shinobu's eyes. She would always be the person Shinobu admired the most.

...

Half an hour later, two illusory transparent figures appeared above the arena, signaling that the second match was about to begin.

"The second match of the martial arts tournament, Round 2, will be between—Milim and Fubuki. The contestants, please head to the stage. The match will begin in five minutes."

With Aoi Kujo's announcement, Milim and Fubuki both appeared on the arena stage.

"It's my turn now, I'm so happy!" Milim, wearing a white sailor outfit, stood boldly on the stage, her hands on her hips and a big grin on her face, revealing an adorable little fang.

She then looked at Fubuki, who stood opposite her, and loudly said, "Your name is Fubuki, right? Let's have fun! Don't lose so quickly, okay?"

Although Milim had been in the group for over half a month, she was not familiar with most of the members, especially Fubuki, who rarely spoke in the chat.

Back when they were in the Black Bullet world, Milim had been focused on her own fun and hadn't interacted deeply with many of the other members, aside from Eriri, Arifureta, and a few others.

With her playful personality, Milim never bothered to get to know everyone in the group. As such, she still found Fubuki to be more of a familiar face than someone she truly knew.

"Uh... I'll do my best," Fubuki said with a sigh.

Unlike Milim, Fubuki had thoroughly researched every member of the group and had reviewed all the memory images from the group chat.

So she knew Milim's personality well and was fully aware of her strength.

To put it bluntly, after living for thousands of years, even a dog would become incredibly strong. How much more so someone with a dragon's blood like Milim.

In terms of combat ability, even Luo Hao might not be her match.

When Fubuki saw that her opponent was Milim, she knew the outcome of this battle was already decided, unless Milim decided to pretend and act as though she had been defeated.

But was such a situation even possible?

Five minutes quickly passed, and Fubuki was the first to make a move, attacking Milim.

Fubuki floated into the air, surrounded by a layer of cyan light, and unleashed a powerful telekinetic force aimed at Milim, attempting to strangle her. However, Milim effortlessly broke free from this attack.

Milim then flew towards Fubuki, and when she attacked, she didn't use her weapons or any of her three ultimate moves. Instead, she simply used her small fists as weapons, throwing punches at Fubuki.

Even though these were just regular punches, with Milim's immense physical strength backing them, their power was not to be underestimated. However, relying solely on punches to defeat Fubuki was clearly an impossible task.

Under Milim's regular attacks, Fubuki quickly gained the upper hand.

If the battle continued like this, it was possible that, after some time, Fubuki might be able to defeat Milim and win the match.

However, it was obvious that such a "pretend" scenario was never going to happen.

"I've had enough fun now, so it's time for me to use my ultimate technique. Fubuki, don't die too quickly, okay?"

After half an hour of fighting, Milim finally began to get serious. The magical energy that had been suppressed at Level 4, Stage 1 began to churn inside her body.

Purple energy and white starlight gathered around her, and soon her body was surrounded by a purple aura.

In less than a second, the purple aura rapidly expanded, transforming into a massive, square-shaped purple energy sphere.

"Dragon Star Explosion Supreme!"

With Milim's loud shout, a powerful cyan energy wave shot out from her hand, surrounded by purple lightning.

The immensely powerful attack instantly reached Fubuki, forcing her to use all her strength to maintain a telekinetic barrier, just managing to block the energy wave's impact.

But the energy wave wasn't a one-off attack. Its continuous power pressed against Fubuki's telekinetic defense, and the two were locked in a deadlock.

For Milim, casting this ultimate move, which required immense magical energy, had been as easy as eating and drinking when her magic was unlimited. However, now her magic had been limited to Level 4, Stage 1.

As a result, after releasing this move, Milim had already exhausted much of her magical energy.

If this move didn't defeat Fubuki, the victory of the battle could very well swing in Fubuki's favor.

But that wasn't going to happen. From the very beginning, Fubuki's defense had been very weak, and in this situation, there was no way for her to escape the range of this massive energy wave's attack.

After the two were locked in this struggle for half a minute, Fubuki was the first to lose control of her telekinetic power, and the cyan energy wave broke through her defense.

Finally, after more than half an hour of fighting, Milim emerged victorious in the second match!

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