*!*

  Mari rushes towards Arthur and jumps high up to the height of his head. She clenches her fist and swings it at Arthur’s forehead. Arthur reacted quickly and swung his right hand to clash with Mari’s.

  *WHAM*

  *BWWWOOOOSSSSHHHHH*

  Their fists clash and send a shockwave across the entire stadium, though the audience is protected by water barriers raised by Lukia.

  “Heeee? Your physical capability is impressive, Old Man Arthur!”

  “Thank you for the compliment, Kobayashi-san! Please release the hostage, though!”

  “No!”

  Mari exerts more of her strength, and she easily pushes Arthur’s fist away.

  “URGH!!”

  Mari moves forward and swings her left fist to punch Arthur’s forehead.

  “HYPER JET BLAST!”

  All of a sudden, Megumi appears right in front of Mari with both of her hands open and aimed towards her face. She sends a powerful air blast at point-blank range.

  *BWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH*

  *!*

  Mari’s Vein Armor lets her stay in place in midair despite Megumi’s attack. She punches Megumi right in her face instead.

  *WHOOSH*

  *BWOOOOOOOSSSHHHH*

  Mari’s punch went through Megumi’s face as if there was nothing there. She doesn’t feel any feedback when her fist touches Megumi’s face. At the same time, Megumi blows a powerful windblast behind her to push Arthur away.

  “Thanks, Megumi-san!”

  “No prob! Erika-san! Kenichi-kun! Let’s coordinate our attacks and go after her at the same time! It’s no use attacking her in turns! She took down almost every fighter with extreme ease!”

  “GOT IT!!!” said Erika and Kenichi in harmony.

  Kenichi jumps high above Mari. He straightened his right palm and raised it upwards. His entire hands were engulfed by a blue aura as well as flowing water, whirling around outside the aura.

  “KENICHI SWORD STYLE: AQUA CUTTER!”

  Kenichi swings his hand downwards and sends a flying sword slash imbued with water.

  At the same time, Erika has arrived directly behind Mari in the air. She has already drawn two giant elephants with wings on each side next to Mari. The elephants were drawn in light gray, and they are 5 meters in height and 4 meters in length, not counting their tails.

  “ELEPHANTO BOOM BOOM!!”

  The two giant elephants charge forward with their tusk towards Mari.

  At the same time, yet again, Arthur sends his giant blood hands to stretch, clench them into fists, to uppercut Mari diagonally from below.

  *GRABS*

  *BAAAAM*

  *BAAAAMM*

  All of their attacks reached Mari at the same time, but she reacted quickly. She catches the two giant elephants on her side with her bare hands. She threw the elephant on the right above, and Kenichi’s attack struck the elephant, while the left elephant was thrown downwards to block Arthur’s blood hand punches.

  The two giant elephants turned back into paint after they were attacked by Kenichi’s and Arthur’s attacks.

  “HYPER JET BLAST BARRAGE!!”

  Megumi shoots multiple air blasts consecutively towards Mari’s face. At the same time, Kenichi falls down reaching Mari, bending his right leg. His leg was covered by the same aura and the same flowing water as well.

  “KENICHI SWORD STYLE: AQUA SWEEP!”

  He swings his leg and sends another flying water slash towards Mari’s neck. Arthur runs to Mari’s right and swings his giant right fist at her.

  “TITANAMOUS RAGE!”

  Mari raises her left arm and blocks Kenichi’s attack, while she takes all of Megumi’s attacks without batting an eye. She raises her right hand to the side and stops Arthur’s gigantic fist from coming at her.

  *!!!*

  None of their attacks amounts to anything, and the three of them have very defeated expressions.

  “There’s no need to feel offended or down about this. My strength was never meant to clash with your kind!”

  “What does that mean, Mari-san?” asked Arthur.

  Without answering, Mari pushes Arthur’s hand away, and his giant body falls to the grassland. Kenichi’s attack was neutralized, and Megumi stopped her attacks, seeing how unbothered Mari was.

  Mari loses her jump momentum, and she finally descends and lands in the arena.

  Kenichi refuses to get depressed about how durable Mari’s vein armor is. He put both of his hands together and raised them. His hands are engulfed by the same aura, and flowing water whirls around them. He falls towards Mari and swings his hands directly at the top of her head.

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  “KENICHI SWORD STYLE: AQUA SLICER!!”

  *DESH*

  Mari stands still as she accepts Kenichi’s attack with her head. As per usual, she is protected by her strong Vein Armor, and she receives no damage.

  *BAAAAAAAAMMMM*

  *AAARRRGGHHH!!!”

  Mari punches Kenichi on his stomach, and he is sent flying outside the arena and lands on the grass on his two feet. He slides for a bit, but he stops and is still standing.

  “UURRRGGHHH!!!”

  He is holding his stomach with both of his hands to ease the pain.

  Megumi descends to the arena right in front of Mari. The whirlwind on her hands rages wildly, and they grow significantly bigger.

  “EF 9 DOUBLE TORNADO!!”

  Megumi thrusts both of her fists forward, and the two whirlwinds rage at Mari. The two whirlwinds merge and explode in size. A gigantic tornado rages, and its height reaches the roof of the green flame dome, but it cannot go past it.

  Although Arthur and Erika were inside the tornado, they were completely unharmed as per Megumi’s will, though they were still blinded by the giant tornado. Eissen has already gone outside the arena to completely get away from the tornado. After a few seconds, the gigantic tornado fades away quickly.

  *!!!*

  In the arena, Arthur and Erika saw that Megumi was lying on the floor in front of Mari. Mari is holding her giant scythe in her right hand. Megumi’s Second State appearance is gone, and she has returned back to normal. Kenichi and Eissen also witnessed what happened from outside the arena.

  “OOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! THE GREEN REAP---I MEANT, KOBAYASHI MARI-SAN HAS TAKEN MEGUMI OUT OF HER SECOND STATE!!”

  “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WE LOST ONE MORE FIGHTER TO THE TERRORIST!!!”

  “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

  “MEGUMI-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!!!”

  “HOW DARE YOU HURT OUR MOMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!”

  “PLEASE RELEASE US, GREEN REAPER-SAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!!!”

  “KOBAYASHI-SAN!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MEGUMI-SAN?” shouts Kenichi.

  Mari slowly turns her head towards Kenichi.

  “I just put her to sleep.”

  Kenichi jumps forward in anger. He prepares both of his hands to do the same attack as previously.

  “KENICHI SWORD STYLE!!”

  “WAIT, KENICHI-KUN!! DON’T CHARGE AT HER ALONE!!” said Arthur.

  “WATERFALL CROSSING!!”

  Kenichi slices Mari with both of his hands in an X-fashion. Mari simply takes a few steps back and narrowly dodges his attack. Arthur suddenly jumps ahead and swings his gigantic right leg towards Mari.

  “TITANOMOUS SWEEP!!”

  *BAAAAAMMM*

  “AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!”

  Mari punches Kenichi once again, but this time, on his face. He was sent flying outside the arena once more. Mari catches Arthur’s kick on time, and then she punches it away, causing Arthur to lose balance and fall on his butt.

  “AAAWWWWWW!!!”

  And then she turns her head to Erika.

  *!!!!*

  Mari was a bit surprised because now the arena is being crowded by Erika. She has divided herself into nine different colors, including their skin. Each of her divisions has mostly the same appearance, but with two key differences. Every version of her consists mostly of one color each, but with different shades across their appearance, and they have different parts of the appearance of her formerly white self.

  Here are all nine Erikas.

  Red Erika has a pair of horns, now in red, with a crazy and insane glare in her eyes, just like the one everyone witnessed during her fight against Megumi. She draws and wields two giant red hammers in each hand. She represents anger.

  “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I’M NOT SCARED OF SOME RANDOM TERRORIST!!! LET ME AT THEM!!! GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

  Blue Erika, the face on this Erika looks like they’re always crying, add to the fact that she has her tear marks under her eyes, now in blue. This Erika is always wiping her tears away and cannot stop crying. She drew two giant pitchforks that floated on each side.

  “*Sobs sobs* Can we. . . can we stop terrorizing people? *sobs sobs* Please? *sobs sobs*”

  Green Erika, this Erika is very timid and shy. She is very afraid of communicating with anyone other than other versions of herself. This Erika always looks around while keeping her head down as she also twiddles her index fingers, mumbling very quietly that only other Erikas were able to hear what she’s saying. She also has one wing growing on the left side of her back in green. She drew a giant humanoid muscular creature that is 5 meters tall, with next to no details anywhere.

  “P-p-p-p-p-p-p-please. . . release. . . the. . . hostage. . . Mari-san. . .”

  Yellow Erika, the face on this Erika always shows joy and laughter. She cannot stop smiling, no matter what horrible things transpired in front of her. This Erika has a wing that grows to the right on her back in yellow. She is very high-spirited and is currently jumping and hopping around with her arms wide open, trying to spread her excessive joy around. She drew and wields a bow in her hand.

  “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! EVERYONE, SMILEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! WOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I HAVE NO IDEA WHY, BUT I AM SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY!!!! LIFE IS GOOD!!! LIFE IS FUN!! LIFE IS JOY!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!”

  Pink Erika, this Erika is really lustful towards anyone of the opposite gender. She has the arrow tail growing from her tailbone in pink. She keeps biting her lips every time she gazes her eyes upon any man she sees. She drew and wielded a baseball bat in her hand.

  “Mhhhhhh. . . That big man seems really wise! I would love to be lectured about life by him! And then that guy who looks Japanese with no shirt on. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! I AM IN LOVE!!”

  Brown Erika, this Erika is very anxious about everything. She doesn’t know the concept of confidence. No matter what happens in front of her eyes, she only has negativity towards it, and she will tremble and shake herself. Currently, she is crouching and putting both of her hands on top of her head with her eyes closed and saying negative and depressive things. This Erika has the long hair from her Second State form, but it is brown. The other Erikas don’t have the same hair length as hers. She drew a giant brown cat that is 2 meters tall and 3 meters long.

  “Noooooooooooo!!! Everyone will die today! There are so many corpses going to be lying on the streets outside! I can feel it! I can see it! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee!!! Someone help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!”

  Gray Erika, this Erika is very nonchalant and unbothered by anything. She doesn’t really speak or utter any words. She just stands there for existing. This Erika lacks any specific feature from the original white form of hers. It’s like she’s the husk after every personality trait of hers has separated from her. She drew and wields a gray giant sword in her hand.

  “. . . . .”

  Purple Erika, this Erika is very prideful and arrogant. She is incapable of seeing someone else’s worth beyond her own. Her body language and language are very rude towards anyone but other versions of herself. She has the floating scarf coiling around her neck and her arms in purple. She drew and wielded two giant Gatling guns in both hands.

  “Tch! Taking people hostage in a gigantic event like this one. Tarnishing an event that everyone really looks forward to is such a shitty move. What a fucking loser, Mari, you pig! Kneel on the ground and say you’re sorry to everyone else! Pathetic asswipe!”

  Black Erika, this last Erika is the embodiment of all animosity and hatred. She will remember every single wrongdoing anyone has done to her, even the most minute and petty stuff. She will never be satisfied until she has delivered her vengeance to anyone who wronged her or any of her other versions. She has the halo in black, floating above her head. She draws and wields a set of claws growing out of every finger on her hands.

  “If you hurt any of us, Mari-san, I’LL FUCKING DISMEMBER YOU INTO TINY LITTLE PIECES AND I’LL KEEP DISMEMBERING YOU UNTIL EVERYONE IN THIS AUDIENCE GETS AT LEAST ONE TINY PART OF YOUR FLESH!! DO YOU HEAR ME?”

  *BANG*

  Eissen teleports to Mari’s side.

  “W-Wow, that is certainly a very unique Second State. Never seen anyone do that!”

  “Y-Yeah, even I was dumbfounded! These people have very beautiful Faith powers.”

  “Well, too bad you’re going to crush all of them, right?”

  “I mean, they’re coming after us! I honestly would have preferred it if we just waited it out until that woman arrived.”

  “True. . .”

  The pink Erika catches a glimpse of Eissen, and she is immediately captivated by the way he looks.

  “A-ARMY-MAN-SAAAAANNN!!! Oh wait, EISSEN-SAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!”

  The pink Erika is waving her right hand at Eissen with enthusiasm and calling out his name with such a seductive tone.

  “PLEASE GIVE ME A LECTURE ABOUT WAR STRATEGY AND SITUATIONS WHILE I SLEEP IN YOUR ARMS!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

  “Eh? What? What’s wrong with that one? How perverse.” said Eissen.

  *!!!*

  All of a sudden, Eissen felt a great animosity flowing from the person next to him. He slowly turns his head towards Mari as he also starts sweating.

  “M-M-M-Mari-chan. . .?”

  Eissen saw a nightmare, and Mari’s facial expression simply spells ‘MURDER’.