Marcosius asked for Reiko and Loubel to fight.
"Very well. It will be a mock battle, correct?"
"Of course."
With that, Jin D turned to Reiko.
"That's the situation. Reiko, please spar with her."
"Understood. Let us go outside, then....Loubel-san, please guide us to a suitable location."
"Ah, yes. This way, please."
Having grasped Jin's intention, Reiko headed outside alongside Loubel.
Marcosius spoke up.
"Marukonen, I'm sorry to trouble you, but could you have your Ruhf take a magic eye and broadcast the situation back to us here?"
"Understood....Ruhf, please."
"Yes."
And so, Jin D and the others settled in to watch the mock battle on the large magi-screen in Marcosius's living quarters.
Reiko and Loubel faced each other in the wilderness, a short distance away from the entrance to the settlement.
"How shall we proceed?"
When Reiko asked, Loubel replied:
"I will attack first. Please brace yourself and defend, Reiko-san. Of course, you are welcome to counterattack."
No sooner had the words left her mouth than Loubel kicked off the ground.
She lunged toward Reiko like a bullet.
Her kick was razor-sharp, gouging out the earth for several meters.
However, Reiko was not where the blow landed. Evading with a sideways leap, she unleashed a roundhouse kick from behind Loubel.
Loubel ducked low to avoid it, threw herself into a handstand, and launched a kick aimed straight at Reiko's chin.
Reiko dodged the blow with room to spare.
Riding the momentum of her kick, Loubel flipped backward, putting some distance between them as the two once again faced off.
"Oh, incredible."
An honest murmur of admiration slipped from Jin D's lips.
That exchange had likely taken place with Reiko operating at around twenty percent output.
He could only follow it thanks to the enhanced visual acuity of the Jin D proxy body; the naked human eye would hardly have caught a thing.
"That is truly something, Marcosius."
"Indeed. But there is still more to come."
"Not bad."
"Thank you. But you are still not taking this seriously at all, are you, Reiko-san?"
"You can tell?"
"Yes....However, I will show you that output isn't everything!"
Loubel vanished from sight once more.
This time, she darted in the opposite direction, putting distance between herself and Reiko.
"Thunder Javelin!"
A lightning attack shot toward Reiko at a blistering two hundred kilometers per second.
"Shield."
Reiko blocked it with a barrier.
This Shield was an original barrier designed by Jin, expanding not as a sphere or hemisphere, but in the shape of a circular shield.
It was sturdier and deployed faster, though naturally, it could not defend against attacks originating from angles it did not directly face.
"Impressive! That is a barrier I have never seen before! Then how about this? Thunder Attack!!"
Loubel unleashed an area-of-effect spell.
However, Reiko countered it with another barrier.
"I am not done yet!"
Loubel unleashed a continuous barrage of Thunder Attack spells.
Reiko calmly stood her ground, absorbing every single blast with her barrier.
The onslaught raged for over a minute until Loubel finally halted her magical assault.
Unleashing such powerful spells in rapid succession had caused her body to overheat.
"...As expected, you are not an opponent to be handled easily."
"Thank you."
"To think she weathered even that magical onslaught... Lady Reiko is truly remarkable."
Marcosius murmured in awe.
"No matter how many times I see it, Reiko-chan is simply astonishing."
Sion D was equally impressed.
"Still, Loubel is quite something as well. To think an automata could reach such a level..."
Even as Jin D offered his praise, Marcosius gave a somewhat wistful smile.
"Heh. Jin-dono, Lady Reiko, whom you inherited from the Predecessor Jin-dono, is without question the world's greatest automata. This merely reaffirms that truth for me."
"This is not over yet!"
Loubel closed in on Reiko once more.
Aiming to overwhelm her with sheer volume of attacks, Loubel unleashed a breathless flurry of strikes: punch, punch, kick, punch, kick, knife-hand strike, kick, backfist, kick, punch, knee strike, punch...
A continuous exchange of offense and defense unfolded, sustained only because neither of them needed to breathe.
"You can still dodge all of this?! In that case...!!"
Loubel began weaving magic into the gaps between her strikes.
Punch, punch, kick, punch, Fire Bullet, kick, knife-hand strike, Wind Cutter, kick, backfist, kick...
"Even this has no effect?!"
Yet Reiko neutralized every single blow without fail.
And then...
"Ah!"
The ground gave way beneath Loubel's foot as she stepped, throwing off her balance for a fraction of a second. Seizing that fleeting opening, Reiko executed a flawless hip throw.
Slammed hard onto the earth, Loubel rolled away to create distance and sprang back to her feet as if driven by coiled springs.
"As expected of you, Reiko-san."
Yet the fighting spirit in her eyes had not dimmed in the slightest.
"Th-that is an incredible battle."
Sion D stared with wide, astonished eyes.
"Mm. So Loubel is capable of fighting to this extent..."
Marcosius nodded in satisfaction.
"Yeah. Versatile attacks, speed, output... She is a truly top-class automata."
Jin D gave Loubel high praise as well.
"Without a doubt, this is a clash at the absolute pinnacle of the modern world."