...Can We Still Have a One-on-One?

He could be certain that he had thoroughly ruffled Kiana's feathers.

Kiana's feathers were ruffled.

There was no reason Rita's feathers would not be ruffled too.

The current situation was undoubtedly dangerous.

So he had to quickly summon back the entire Shadow Clone Army and arm them.

Russell wore a solemn expression.

"Uh... Father definitely has weapons, but what exactly are you doing, Russell?"

Having just returned home after watching a movie, Megumin looked at Russell, who was begging for supplies, with a subtle expression.

"Robbery? A ticket heist?"

"Buddy... does a robbery require this much stuff?"

Valmont looked even more astonished.

He was an expert at robbery.

So long as they did not run into the Justice League, the three useless fools under his command would quickly regain the qualities expected of underworld elites and lead District 13 around by the nose.

Who needed hundreds of guns to rob someone?

"Well, I have a feeling that some assassin who specializes in stealth kills is going to solo me just to show off in front of his sister-in-law."

Russell answered Megumin's question seriously.

"To stay alive, I think I should upgrade my shadow bodyguards' loadout."

"...All right."

Megumin hesitated for a moment, but still agreed.

"Should I send the stuff to you in red packets, or have your Shadow Clone Army pick it up themselves?"

"They'll pick it up."

Then, he resumed replying to Valmont.

"Oh, I'm doing the preliminary preparations for the preliminary preparations of dealing with Mobius. Yeah, I need to take care of an assassin with high attack and low defense. I think saturation fire is a pretty good choice."

"Ah, where did you get so many soldiers?"

"I reforged the Shadowkhan masks. In theory, those things can use malice as an anchor to gather Yin energy from around the world and create soldiers. The greater the malice, the more they can create. I can barely summon a few hundred. Damn it, my mines have shut down just to ambush that guy."

"Oh, that's truly tragic."

"By the way, is that thing hard to get? I want one too."

Valmont quickly sent over an invoice, while also asking about the Shadow Clone Army.

"It's not too bad. If you can get your hands on a Shadowkhan mask, I can help modify it."

"Oh, I love you, buddy."

Russell readily signed his name, then had Valmont send the supplies to Megumin.

They would store them with Anti-Entropy and wait for the Shadow Clone Army to collect them.

After finishing all that, the young man thought for a while before privately messaging Skadi.

"Skadi, I think I've run into some danger. Can you come protect me?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, he smiled in satisfaction.

"Mm, that should be enough."

...Can We Still Duel?

"Everyone needs a nemesis at some point in their life."

A character in Uncle's favorite Aranoto animated series had once said that.

Kiana had never believed such nonsense.

Everyone would certainly encounter enemies in life.

But those enemies had their own reasons for opposing them.

Perhaps it was a conflict of positions, perhaps a difference in beliefs, or perhaps they belonged to different organizations... and thus became enemies.

The notion of a nemesis, someone born purely to make another person miserable, was obviously strange.

But now, she believed it.

The white-haired girl stood at a crossroads, watching as pedestrians and vehicles continuously dispersed under Schicksal's will, storefront shutters came down, and businesses closed.

Only one furniture store remained brightly lit.

"Phew... calm down, Kiana. Calm down."

The girl took deep breaths, trying to settle her emotions.

Russell.

An utterly vile man of mysterious origins.

She had known him for less than three days.

Yet, during those three days...

A pained expression appeared on Miss Kiana's face.

In that brief time, she had been used as a housekeeper, the engagement of the person she loved had been stolen by him, and even her first kiss had been tricked away with that engagement... Then, after forcing her to give up the engagement, that bastard had gone and started dating Mei!!!

Well, described that way, it sounded more like she had run into a natural predator and been toyed with rather than meeting an evenly matched opponent.

But that was fine—

Kiana looked beside her, where an incomparably alluring woman stood.

At Rita's side, the Carbon-based Hunter was already in position.

Rita, an S-rank Valkyrie invincible in one-on-one combat.

A grin like someone on a winning streak appeared on Kiana's face.

Perhaps noticing her sister-in-law's smile, Rita smiled faintly as well. She thought that bringing enough equipment when she came out had truly been the right choice. It would not be difficult for her to stop someone roughly A-rank with her fists, but crushing him after coming fully equipped would certainly be more entertaining.

Once she finished this round, Kiana's favorability toward her would probably be maxed out.

Things should go smoothly afterward, right?

"Please open that door."

Thinking this, Rita gave Kiana a slight bow, every movement graceful and elegant.

"I will bring you victory."

"Rita, you're amazing!!"

Stars practically appeared in Kiana's eyes. An S-rank of Schicksal truly was different.

"Not at all. You flatter me."

Rita chuckled, a trace of cunning in her smile.

"If there are five hundred machine guns set up inside, I'll definitely lose."

Those words made Kiana immediately straighten up.

With Rita putting it that way, what was there to fear?

Could Russell possibly have deployed five hundred machine guns in there?

They were launching a prepared attack against an unprepared opponent, and it was an S-rank against an A-rank!!

How could they lose?

Encouraged by Rita, the girl completely forgot the terror of being toyed with by Russell. She strode up to the furniture store and pushed open the main gate.

The figures of the young man and the store owner entered her sight.

The handsome young man was stuffing a rag into the owner's mouth.

Ah...

What was happening?!

Kiana instinctively took a step back, shut the door, then opened it again.

She felt that something was not quite right.

But facts were facts.

When she opened it once more, the nearly two-meter-tall owner was still lying on the ground in humiliation, while that certain someone was seriously conversing with thin air beside him.

"Ah... so your weight is actually around 130?"

"Oh, sorry. I thought an Abyssal Hunter's muscle and bone density would be rather astonishing..."

"Mm-hmm, the toilet has been bought."

"We're friends. No need to thank me."

The young man seemed to be talking to someone on the phone, yet he held no phone in his hand.

Even while chatting, his hands did not stop moving. Amid the humiliated expression of the nearly two-meter-tall store manager, he completed the final touch on a tortoise-shell bondage tie.

After finishing, he stared at it as though Michelangelo examining a sculpture, then revealed a satisfied smile.

An aura of art washed over her...

Kiana's delicate body shuddered.

She had heard of rope bondage before, but seeing it with her own eyes—and seeing a nearly two-meter-tall man tied up...

Wasn't this a little too absurd?

She wanted to turn around and shut the door again, trying to reboot into a normal timeline, but the young man seemed to have already noticed her.

"Yo, long time no see, my dear ex-girlfriend."

"How have things been lately?"

The young man smiled.

His smile was sunny and bright.

Kiana's motion to shut the door stopped. Not a trace of expression remained on her beautiful face.

Russell seemed to possess a strange kind of magic. He could always provoke her with the smallest gesture.

"Rita."

She called out the name of her backer without expression.

With that call, the elegant and alluring beauty and her hunting hound appeared soundlessly before Russell.

Rita truly excelled at concealment.

Kiana had not even known that Rita had been standing right beside her all along.

"Ah?"

"No, this is just a relationship dispute between the three of us. Why are you bringing in outside help?"

"Are Schicksal's S-ranks all this idle these days?"

The young man's eyes widened. His ice-blue eyes were filled with shock, and he practically let out a scream in an instant.

He swiftly retreated, shadows seemingly surging behind him.

He looked entirely ready to flee.

But before he could retreat into the shadows, the hunting hound had already circled around from behind...

The young man's expression completely froze, and Kiana felt as though she had chugged three huge cups of soda.

So you have this day too, damn it!!!