Final Event - Cavalry Battle
The so called "cavalry battle" did not actually involve horses, instead, people formed something similar in teams of five. With one person as the center, one behind, two on the sides, and one on top, they created a sort of structure that imitated a horse.
Yuuji was quite surprised not to be participating in this one, apparently it was because most people had been looking forward to this event and wanted to take part, so of course, they would not give up their spot.
He was able to confirm this when, sitting on a bench next to the courtyard, he heard the excited shouts of all the participants.
"This event seems really popular, huh? Rito, aren't you participating in this one?"
"No."
At his mother's question, filled with a certain expectation, Yuuji could only shake his head. Although he felt a bit bad that she had come to watch him and he was not even participating in this event, he could not, nor did he really want to, do anything about it.
At the same time, in the courtyard, each class had formed several "horses" and all of them were positioned at the front, forming three large groups, one for each class. This was because normally they would try to eliminate the other classes first and then face those from their own year.
Or at least, that is how it should have been.
Instead, the entire school was divided into only two large groups, each with a leader at the center.
One side had Saki as its leader, radiating confidence and authority while looking at Lala competitively, while the other had Lala, simply excited about the game, not fully understanding what was going on.
"Now then, we officially begin the final event of the day, the cavalry battle. We start in 3... 2..."
"Stop!"
Before the commentator could finish, Saki interrupted her with a shout. In the tense silence just before the battle began, her voice echoed strongly, completely silencing the announcer.
Saki, acting completely naturally, as if the world existed to follow her will, pointed at Lala and declared out loud,
"Lala, let's finish this once and for all."
"Me?" Lala pointed at herself, confused, not having realized that apparently they had been competing in every event they both participated in.
But Saki gave her no explanation.
"Aya, Rin."
Upon hearing their names, both girls took out controllers with a single button, which they pressed immediately.
A loud rumble spread across the entire place as the ground, previously a huge school courtyard of several hundred meters of dirt, began to rise while splitting in half, carrying both teams to opposite sides of an enormous pool that emerged from the ground.
WOOOOSH.
Before anyone could react, large gates opened and the pool filled completely with water in a matter of seconds.
"Lala, let's finish our competition in the water! Any objections?" asked Saki, looking toward the principal, who was watching everything with a perverted smile before quickly nodding.
...
As if by magic, within a few minutes everyone was wearing swimsuits, and the new format of the event was approved.
"Well... I guess that's fine" came the confused voice over the speakers. "Then, the final event, the cavalry battle in water, begins in 3... 2..."
"Stop!"
Before reaching one, she was interrupted again, this time by Lala.
"What's wrong, Lala? Are you giving up?!" Saki asked mockingly.
"Ah, no. It's just that Ren suddenly fainted" Lala explained somewhat embarrassed, pointing at Ren, who had sunk into the water while bubbles rose to the surface from his position.
"Just find a replacement and let's start already" Saki exclaimed, not caring about Ren's condition.
"Here! Here!"
While everyone watched the spectacle, a distant and cheerful voice drew everyone's attention.
...
Among the audience, Yuuji watched everything with interest alongside his mother, thinking it would be quite fun to watch, until he noticed something strange.
Clara raised her right hand, or rather her wrist, where she had a watch, toward her left eye as if it were a scope, and then pressed a small button.
Yuuji managed to see a tiny, almost invisible needle shoot out from the watch the moment she did.
"What did you do?" he asked suspiciously.
"Of course, if the Tenjoins can use artifacts to make this more entertaining, so can I" Clara replied with a proud smile.
Yuuji followed the direction of the needle and saw it hit directly into Ren's neck, who was carrying Lala, instantly beginning to sink into the water unconscious.
As soon as a replacement was requested, Clara did not hesitate to grab Yuuji's hand and shout,
"Here! Here!"
"Are you seriously going to make me participate?" Yuuji complained.
"Of course, take your girlfriend to victory" Clara replied, smiling as if she could see right through him.
...
"And that's how we got to the current situation."
"What?" Lala asked upon hearing him mutter.
"Don't mind me. Let's just focus on winning this" Yuuji said.
Calculating quickly, there were around sixty teams of five people, so their side would have to take down about thirty to win.
"Alright, I swear if you interrupt me one more time, I'm quitting and handing the commentary over to the pervert who wanted to replace me" the commentator complained. "Now then, the final event... you know how it goes. 3, 2, 1... begin!"
Despite the rushed and completely unenthusiastic voice of the commentator, it did not discourage any of the participants, who charged forward forcefully upon hearing "begin".
"Let's go!"
"Take them all down!"
"Leave no one ali... standing!"
Both sides advanced shouting fiercely, finally meeting in the center of the pool and beginning to push against each other to knock the others down. Some managed to stay standing and began direct confrontations against those who attacked them, while others were easily knocked down and fell.
However, there were two exceptions, one team from each side that stayed at the starting line without moving.
"Lala, why did you ask us to stay here?" Yuuji asked, and the others, classmates whose names Yuuji did not remember, nodded, just as confused.
"Hehe, because we're not going to fight directly." Lala smiled with her characteristic confident smile, the one she made right before pulling out something crazy that would go wrong.
"You don't mean..." Yuuji, knowing her, guessed what was about to happen.
"That's right. We'll use one of my inventions. Aquas, I choose you!"
Lala interrupted Rito and took out an object from her D-Dial. A small pouch that she threw into the water like a Pokéball, inside it were several small rainbow colored gelatinous spheres.
Seconds later, nearly transparent spheres the size of basketballs began to emerge and move through the pool, ramming into anyone they encountered and knocking them down before bouncing toward another target as if they had their own intelligence.
"Alright, with the help of the Aquas, we'll definitely win!" Lala declared with a confident smile, then looked at Yuuji seeking approval. "What do you think?"
Yuuji watched the spheres as they quickly overwhelmed the teams.
"What happens if they hit people from our team?"
"I'll leave defending us to you" Lala replied, as if she had planned it from the start.
Yuuji thought about it for a second and nodded, it was actually a good plan.
Even though the Aquas did not distinguish between allies and enemies, it did not matter much, in the end only one team would remain standing, regardless of the side.
At least, that is what he thought for a few seconds.
"Lala... aren't they speeding up too much?"
Now the spheres were not just pushing, they were moving at high speed, knocking down entire teams instantly before bouncing with even more velocity.
"Argh!"
"Ouch!"
"What is that thing?!"
"It hurts!"
Lala watched the situation nervously, realizing that something had gone wrong.
"Y-Yuuji... can you fix it?"
"Alright, with this we'll definitely win."
Before responding, Yuuji heard another confident voice.
It was Saki, who had deployed a small army of flying robots.
Unlike the Aquas, which Yuuji did not know, he understood perfectly what these were for.
One of the robots headed toward Haruna, who Rito was carrying, and latched onto her swimsuit, starting to pull it enough to expose her pale skin.
"What is that?" she asked while covering her chest, after years in this school, it was easy to guess how that would end.
Haruna received no answer.
Bang!
Instead, a projectile passed at high speed, destroying the robot into pieces that fell into the water and sank, disappearing from sight quickly.
Bang!
Another sphere exploded near them, covering both of them with a slime like substance.
This caused Rito, who was holding her, to slip and end up in an awkward position, similar to a 69, with Haruna's swimsuit slightly displaced.
But Yuuji paid no attention to that.
"Yuuji... is that a weapon? Is it safe?" Lala asked somewhat nervously, despite having built inventions far more dangerous than a weapon, the difference was that a weapon is meant to harm someone.
"It's fine, I can make sure not to hurt anyone" Yuuji replied.
Although shooting in the middle of students sounded bad, it was actually an ability, not a conventional weapon, so when it came to damage, Yuuji could control it precisely.
Bang!
"Kyaaa!"
Bang!
"A weapon?!"
Bang!
"What's happening? Someone is shooting?"
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Yuuji ignored the screams and continued firing, destroying both the robots and the Aquas one by one.
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80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)