Retreat!
He had to retreat!
Judging from Hada Anna's voice, she probably hadn't suffered much damage—at most, she had been delayed for a moment! Looking at the lightning and flames within the white mist ahead, listening to that cry of pain, Ikeda Ichiro's expression suddenly grew grave. A faint sheen of sweat had even formed on his brow.
He knew very well what this meant.
Although Hada Anna had been hit, it told him that even if he used his trump-card tactics against her, his chances of defeating her were still exceedingly slim.
"Smack!"
After that thought flashed through his mind, Ikeda Ichiro acted decisively. With one hand bracing against the ground, his half-kneeling posture immediately turned into a rapid retreat, and he shot toward the other half of the arena that was not covered by the white mist.
"Whoosh!"
In that instant, the white mist covering half the arena seemed to be suddenly swept away by a violent gale. With a muffled boom, it spiraled out and collapsed from where the lightning and flames had erupted.
"Crack!"
The instant the white mist dispersed, the ground beneath it suddenly split apart with a crisp crack. A figure wreathed in lightning and flames, trailing a tail of black smoke, streaked toward Ikeda Ichiro's position in the blink of an eye.
If Ikeda Ichiro had been even a second slower, he would likely have been sent flying. And judging by that momentum, this blow would probably have shattered his bones and killed him.
Yet even though he had anticipated it in advance—or rather, prepared for it in advance—the face of the girl covered in lightning, smoke, and fire was now only half a meter away from him.
That small fist, capable of producing a "boom" as it tore through the air, was