tanks an ICBM

This girl is definitely… not just using colors! She can manipulate any concept she draws…!

Illusions that paint over reality. That kind of artistry was not unlike divine creation. Demiurge's—a false god's brush. Wasn't it a very appropriate name? And Kurashiki's surprise didn't end there. Because—

"Purple Caricature—"

—the next illusion was being drawn at that very moment, aimed at him.

Floating next to Sara Bloodlily was a white and long pole-like thing. No doubt it was—


"—Tomahawk." [10]


—a missile. Naturally, there was no possible way for a pair of swords to deal with something like this.

A flash and a roar and an explosion of heat reached into the sky above Osaka.

Part 8
At the moment of detonation, screams of agony sounded from all over the venue.

「D-Direct hiiit! What an immense blast from the cruise missile! It looks like the audience was protected by mage-knights, but the ring is so covered by flame and smoke that we can't see a thing! Is Contender Kurashiki safe…!?」

「No, he must be dead!」

「Even if that's true, there's no trace of him left!」

Naturally, because a Tomahawk was a cruise missile designed to destroy battleships or fortifications. It was not firepower for use against a single individual. A direct hit from that would leave not a single piece of meat behind.

And yet—

「Eh?」

As the black smoke cleared from the venue, it slowly became possible to see the ring, and both the audience and the broadcasters swallowed a breath. In the ring, Kuraudo was indeed not there. Well, that was expected. Anyone could've predicted that. But if so, then what was that?

Where Kuraudo had been standing, something that looked like a white cocoon was….

And in the moment everyone was thinking over the question, it was answered. The cocoon that had appeared in the ring began to come apart slowly. Layers upon layers of white ribbon separated with rustling noises. If one looked very, very closely, the ribbons that made up the cocoon… were blades. White blades of bone that didn't catch the light. And what came out of the cocoon was—an uninjured Kuraudo Kurashiki.

「Wh-What is thiiis!? Contender Kurashiki isn't wounded at all after taking a cruise missile's direct hit! How can this be!?」

「It appears that since the Device Orochimaru can be lengthened or contracted at will, he wrapped it around his body, and allowed it to absorb the explosion. Devices are not things that chip or break easily, so they can be used as shields to take blows.」

Indeed, what Muroto said was surely true. Kuraudo discerned that he couldn't use a sword to match a missile, so he drew Orochimaru as long and thin as he could to use as material for an improvised shelter. But this was also a feat that only Kuraudo with his Marginal Counter could perform. Actually, the timing was truly tight.

"…What a ridiculous thing to do."