Hamazura ignored the screwdriver in his ear and forcefully spun around.
"Wha-…?"
Unsurprisingly, Mugino seemed a bit shocked.
The screwdriver carved into the inside of his ear. An extremely intense pain exploded in his head and the sound from his right ear became muffled as if he had an earplug in it. On top of that, half of his vision became slightly tinged red for some reason.
Ignoring it all, Hamazura pulled the case of Body Crystal from his pocket.
It was a small rectangular case much like a mechanical pencil lead case.
Gripping it tightly, he used the corner of the case to cut at Mugino's nearby face.
Mugino's right eye was crushed at once much like a pirate captain's.
"Gh…ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
She held her red, wet face with both hands and tottered backwards.
Seeing that, Hamazura gave a silent smile.
"A Level 0 ear for a Level 5 eye, huh? …That's a pretty good deal, dontcha think?"
With those words, Mugino's face was dyed with rage.
"Hamazuraaaaaaa!!"
A bright flash swelled up.
Mugino Shizuri's left arm was blown away from the wrist to the elbow as if it had melted. The bright light it caused was aimed for Hamazura Shiage's face. She shot Meltdowner ignoring any kind of detailed aiming.
"…!!"
Hamazura swung his head to the side right before it hit.
It was only pure chance that he had managed to avoid that overwhelming attack.
Mugino stretched out her bloody right arm, shoved down Hamazura who had already lost his balance, and climbed on top of him. The Body Crystal case slipped from Hamazura's hand and clattered as it slid across the ground, but Mugino wasn't paying any attention to it anymore.
She stared at Hamazura's face with her remaining left eye and yelled in a voice filled with rage.
"That has nothing to do with this!! That has nothing to fucking do with thiiiiiisssss!! An ear!? An eye!? You can tear off my arms and legs and crush my organs, but you can't change the difference between our strengths! I'm a Level 5! I'm #4! I'm Meltdowner! Don't get so pleased with yourself, you motherfucker! I can kill a Level 0 like you 100 times without moving a fingeeeerrrrr!!"
Foam sprayed from her mouth and Mugino grabbed Hamazura by the neck with her right hand. If she activated her power now, Hamazura's head would certainly be annihilated.
Hamazura Shiage smiled as his neck was being held like a drink can.
He relaxed as if he had given up on something.
"…Y'know, I'm not an idiot. I knew it would end up like this." Hamazura said while listening to Mugino's erratic breathing. "You're the kind of person that can't stand it when you can't complete a video game without 100% accuracy. If you fuck up even slightly, you fly into a rage and won't accept it even if you complete the game."
"Ah?"
"When someone like that fucks up even slightly, they find another goal in order to write it off. When you aren't able to get 100% accuracy, you instead go for a high score and are satisfied with that. …There was no reason to get so obsessed with a Level 0 like me. You could have used the Level 5 power you're so proud of to pick me off at a distance."
"In other words," Hamazura smiled as he spoke, "that ridiculous obsession with victory left a decisive opening for me."
A metallic noise rang out.
It was the sound of the ladies handgun flying out of Hamazura Shiage's sleeve as he stretched out his arm.
"Wha-…?"
Before Mugino could say anything, Hamazura pulled the trigger.
Bang bang bang!! With that dry sound, multiple holes opened up in her upper body. Hamazura continued pulling the trigger until he was out of bullets and even continued moving his index finger for a bit once the clip was empty.
"…"
Mugino looked down at her bloody body in shock.
Before long, she wobbled to the side, collapsed, and stopped moving.
"That was too easy, Level 5," said Hamazura while got up as if he were dragging his battered body.
He picked up the case of Body Crystal that had fallen to the floor and put it back in his pocket.
If Hamazura Shiage had initially pulled out the handgun, he wouldn't have won. She would have used her power to easily defend against it. That was why it had been necessary for him to wait until the very last second to do so. He hadn't even taken out the gun when she stuck the screwdriver in his ear because he was getting her to lower her guard by making her think he didn't have any proper weapons.
Previously, the leader of Skill-Out, Komaba Ritoku, had gotten a step away from taking the life of Academy City's strongest Level 5 by sealing his power. Hamazura had done the same thing.
He stuck his pinky finger into his injured right ear.
His ear drum didn't seem to be damaged. He pulled out a clump of blood plugging the ear and his hearing improved a little.
"…Damn, that really was a good deal," he said in shock and started to leave.
"…mazura."
A shock ran down Hamazura's back when he heard that voice ring out from the depths of hell.
He slowly turned around and…
"Hamazuraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
The woman with dark red holes all over her body, her left arm up to her left elbow gone, and her right eye crushed forcefully stood up. An overly unhealthy-looking white light was gathering around her right hand. She was most likely looping the particle waveform high-speed cannon in her hand. One hit by that attack would definitely blow Hamazura away.
There were no bullets left in the ladies handgun in his right hand.
That was why Hamazura didn't rely on the gun.
"Oooooooohhhhhhhhh!!"
Throwing away the gun, he unhesitatingly ran towards Mugino.
Their arms crossed.
If he had hesitated even slightly, it would have created an opening.
If there had been the slightest opening, death would have come through it.
But Hamazura Shiage was resolute. He merely forcefully came in, clenched his fist like stone, focused on the face of the enemy he needed to defeat, and attacked with his strongest strike.
A tremendous noise rang out.
Strength left Mugino Shizuri's body and she collapsed to the ground. The ominous white light in her hand disappeared into the air as if it had dissolved. There was no more sense of danger.
Hamazura picked up the ladies handgun he had thrown aside and looked down at Mugino as he pulled his phone from his pocket. He called Yomikawa's number. He had it because she had given it to him saying something about giving him guidance if he ever needed someone to talk with.
"It's Hamazura. The Anti-Skill backup isn't needed anymore."
He walked through the destroyed floor and towards the exit as he spoke.
"That's right. It's all over."