Seraphim is a Bystander

Group Battle – Performance Test
 
As the simulated wolves and monkeys lunged at me from all directions, I held out a hand to stop Sou, who was ready to fight.

“I’ll handle the first part myself. Can you run interference for now, Sou?”
“Woof!”
Sou barked once in response, then leapt high into the air, soaring over the approaching swarm of enemies to distance himself.
I couldn’t see him through the mass of virtual enemies anymore, but I knew he’d be fine.
…Now then—let’s get started.

“〈Destruction〉!”
I wrapped my fist in the ability ‘Destruction’ and threw a straight punch at one of the wolf-type enemies that had lunged at me, its jaws wide open.
“Hmph!”

“...!”
My right fist plunged into the wolf’s mouth before it could even growl, bursting clean through its head and out its back.
Just like the trash from the dango earlier, its body began breaking down into microscopic particles, the top of its head collapsing inward as if scooped out. The wolf crumpled, grotesquely missing a fist-sized chunk from its body.
“Kiiiee!”

“Ruff! Ruff!”
Seeing this, the other wolves and monkeys let out /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ alarmed cries and started to keep their distance.
…But with that, I could already tell which one of you is the leader.
“Hah!”

“Kii?!”
I dashed toward a monkey that had been issuing commands earlier.
On the way, I erased a few others by simply thrusting out my fists as I barreled through, until I was right in front of the boss monkey and raised my fist.
“Ukya!”

“…Figured you’d react.”
The boss monkey deftly knocked aside my incoming fist and backed away—clearly more intelligent than the others.
Of course, with enough smarts, you’d start dodging punches.
While I was thinking about that, more monkeys and wolves flooded the space between me and the retreating boss monkey.
“Countermeasure #1: Brute Force!”

“Kya?!”
“Yipe?!”
The incoming wolves and monkeys tried to attack, but I forced my fists through their defenses with sheer strength.
The simulated enemies fell, shocked and damaged, their broken bodies turning into particles on the ground.

“Hmm… Even without physical enhancement, these virtual bodies can’t match my base stats at all.”
“〈…These are supposed to be strong enough that it takes a full squad of five to take down just one.〉”
I could hear Ichijou-sensei’s voice, probably via the sim comms, but… come on, even if this is just my sub-body, you can’t compare me to a normal person from this world.
I made sure to keep the specs just within what’s tolerable for this world, though.

“Alright, let’s try limiting myself for the next part.”
I deactivated the ‘Destruction’ ability from my fists.
The simulated enemies immediately sensed it and pounced, thinking this was their chance.
“Hup! Haah!”

“Gyaw!”
“Kiik?!”
I punched through the closest ones as they came at me, one by one.
Their claws and fangs couldn’t even scratch me, while my fists reduced their bodies to splattered tomato-like explosions.
Bits of blood and meat flew everywhere—almost splashing on me. I barely dodged.

“Yikes! …Yeah, this fighting style makes a mess, and the blood blocks my vision. Not great.”
Even if the blood and meat particles dissipate later, it’s still not a very elegant way to fight.
Well, for a test, that should be enough.
“Sou! Come!”

“Woof!!”
Sou leapt straight back to me the moment I called, and I patted his head as I gave him his orders.
“That’s enough testing. Let’s finish this together. Go wild, okay?”

“...AwooOOOOOO!!”
Nodding to my words, Sou let out a mighty howl as his body began to change.
He grew until we were eye-level, and flames erupted more violently from his joints.
Once his transformation settled, he leapt at a nearby monkey, instantly reducing it to cinders.
“Alright! I’ll go a bit serious too!”

Not to be outdone, I wrapped ‘Destruction’ around my fists again and charged forward.
I obliterated everything I touched—target after target—being careful not to touch the ground too hard, lest I destroy the whole simulator.
I even kicked off the ground and briefly activated ‘Destruction’ on my legs mid-air, using all four limbs to wipe out wolves and monkeys alike.
“Hah!”
“Graaa!”

“Ukyah!”
“Gyaww!”
Sou and I finished off the remaining boss monkey and lead wolf.
With that, the simulation came to an end.

“〈Haaah… Still as overwhelming as ever. And Sou-kun has gotten really strong too, hasn’t he?〉”
“Phew… Thanks, Ichijou-sensei. I’m satisfied for now. You too, Sou—thanks.”
“Arf!”

“〈Okay then, let’s head back to my lab. I have some questions I want to ask.〉”
After that, back in the lab, Ichijou-sensei bombarded me with questions and tried to run various tests related to my ability.
It started getting annoying, so I cut things short, and Sou and I managed to escape the Virtual Division just as the sun was setting.