Who Da Boss Lady? 26 (Patreon)

Commissioned by InfiniteChaosRai

Who Da Boss Lady?

Chapter 26

-VB-

Honestly?

Mari was a little scared about this “spar.”

For one, she knew that while she might be strong… She wasn’t strong-strong. Like she could take on any of the devils at school, and maybe even each of the peerage all at once, but someone like Serafall? 

Her skin crawled when Serafall unleashed just a bit of her energy. 

“So the school is safe even if I go all out…?” she asked.

She was, once again, back at the school gym. This time, the Satan had done something to it and all of the devils attending Kuoh were at the bleachers, waiting to see the spectacle. 

A spectacle that was about her ass getting kicked. 

Honestly, she knew that she was going to lose and she was going to lose hard, and that irked her. 

She didn’t like losing.

She’ll simply have to go as hard as she can!

Dad did say something about getting paid more if she was able to show that she was strong in our own right. 

… Yeah, let’s do that. She wanted to do this, and if she wanted to do this, then she should be trying to get the best ever deal that she could, and if that meant fighting like a dog against the Satan to impress her, then that’s what she had to do! 

---

Serafall wasn’t sure what to make of the girl.

She insisted on calling herself an “evil magical girl,” though there was definitely a sense that she wasn’t wrong to say it. The energy that flowed out of her was definitely not holy or even neutral. It leaned toward the uncanny and dark. It wasn’t anymore evil than mana that might float around graveyards and ruins, though.

At the same time, the girl was able to use the energy for a whole bunch of things she wouldn’t have expected out of her. Like flying or making light, two things that weren’t associated with darker manas. 

And despite calling herself evil, she was naively bubbly and honest. She was also bright and more than willing to talk with her, despite the fact that she held the title of satan, something which couldn’t be said for many non-light inclined individuals. 

Hell, even other “evil” magicians and magical beings tended to run first, ask questions later. That was how much influence and infamy she had, and yet this girl, who definitely was receiving quality education at Kuoh Academy, wasn’t too phased by her appearance. 

In fact, she seemed … unconcerned. 

Okay, well, not unconcerned.

The girl standing ready across from her definitely looked a little worried, but despite that, she stood ready to fight. 

Most people who shriek and run away at the thought of fighting her. 

It’s … actually been a long time since she’s sparred anyone. 

She smiled. 

“Okay, Mari-chan~! I’ll try to be nice and let you go first!” she waved gleefully. 

Mari took a deep breath in.

“Okay. I’ll go all out!” 

And then light.

‘Oh. That could actually hurt me a little if I let it hit me.’

So she dodged. 

A piercing light burn through the space where she’d been standing just a second ago, disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared. 

‘Efficient use of mana. No chanting or grandstanding. Where is the magic circle, though? Internalized? Memorized?’

Mari-chan became just a bit more fascinating than before. 

Serafall fired off three fire shots, spears of burning plasma that burned and seared anything they touched. They were mid-tier spells among Devilkind but something Devils at or above High-class was expected to have better variations of. 

Mari moved instead of wasting mana trying to block it. 

‘Why? She definitely has the mana to shield herself. And Rias and Sona both told me that she knew how to make a shield for herself.’

Rias’s rook sparring with Mari-chan before she even knew about her had already provided her with plenty of information.

As she jogged around waiting for Serafall’s next attack, Mari-chan casted two dozen lights behind her. 

Then those lights began to slowly move toward Sera.

“Oh? Homing? But why make them slow?” she asked, genuinely curious as to why she chose to do that. 

But then she quickly noticed how the lights weren’t moving directly toward her but moving as if they were surrounding her. 

‘Ah, she must have learned something when she fought Rias’s rook.’

A smile blossomed on her lips. 

Good! 

A magical girl should be quick on their feet and adaptive tacticians! She was liking her more and more! 

“How about this?!” Serafall shouted as she raised her wand (she didn’t need it but she was a magical girl and thus needed a wand). “Fiery Friendship!" 

A circle of fire lit up half of the sparring ground.

Mari skidded to a stop and finally pulled out her own wand. 

“Negation!” A spark of light erupted from the tip of the wand and washed over the entire arena.

And, just like that, both the fire circle and Mari-chan’s own tracking lights dissipated.

Serafall blinked in surprise. “Mari-chan, are you sure you only became a magical girl a month ago?” she asked in surprise. 

Mari-chan smirked. “Yup! I’m just good at this!” 

Cocky. But she deserved to be if she learned how to do all of this, planned it out, and even had multiple spells.

All in the span of a month! 

This was why devils couldn’t keep their hands off of humans! Devils were slow. They were made to be weapons against Him, so they always lagged behind on innovation of any kind! 

And a magical girl who could potentially propel the magical arts forward? 

Serafall was very tempted to offer her a position in her own peerage.

Because smart magical girl!

“Then how about this?” Serafall grinned as she let out a burst of ice. Ice quickly cracked and expanded in waves of spikes toward Mari-chan.

“Negation!” Mari-chan tried again, but the ice didn’t disappear. They did stop spreading, though. When she saw that she now had to fight with a terrain disadvantage, Mari-chan pouted. “That’s not fair!” But even as she said that, she was quick to cast that same blinding and piercing light that was her first move. And this time, she fired off three of them at once. 

The light beams shattered the ice around Serafall and curved to try to hit her. 

Serafall dodged them easily. 

And then her eyes widened when her senses screamed at her to dodge but she didn’t see anything. 

She tilted her head to the side as quickly as she could.

Snic.

Something cut across her cheek.

Invisible. 

She stopped and looked at Mari-chan in surprise.

“What was that?!” she asked giddily. 

“Ah, well, attacks can be sneaky, so I made a sneaky attack. An invisible and condensed heat wave.”

Heat wave?! That could be made into a spell like that?!

Serafall grinned. 

---

Mari did not like that grin. 

“Okay, Mari-chan! Try to survive this!” 

And then -.

Cold.

Her body nearly froze stiff, metaphorically, from how cold everything became instantly. She shivered as frost started forming all over her. 

“Uh d-d-d-d-d-d-...!”

She was shivering already. Violently. Her mouth was clattering and clicking from trembling. 

S-s-she needed to heat herself up…!

But she didn’t know any warming spells! 

Her mind raced and raced but couldn’t find an immediate answer. 

And then it did. 

The sun warmed people up.

So she’s going to make a sun. A mini-sun.

Her mind squeezed as she tried to think of how to use her magic to make a mini-sun…

And the words came to her naturally. 

“&!%@$*!”

It came out of her lips as a garble. 

But it did it. 

She winced as half of her mana disappeared … and a fiery black thing appeared next to her. All ice around her immediately disappeared. 

She felt warm.

But for some reason, she didn’t feel clean.

She turned to look at what her magic had made and she froze.

Because standing next to her was some kind of a fire elemental with four arms. The black fire that covered all of its body and didn’t show her anything underneath them rose from its body and licked at the air “gently.” 

It looked around and then saw Serafall.

And immediately launched into attacks. 

From atop its cupping hands, smaller black hole-like stars began to form.

And then it threw them.

Serafall must have noticed something because she dodged. 

And Mari was glad she did, because when those black suns landed, they erupted not like fire but … anti-fire? How the hell was she supposed to describe fire that ate itself and imploded?! 

“Wow! Is that your mascot, Mari-chan?” Serafall asked her, but Mari could see that she was a little on edge. 

“Umm… No? I just made it up on the spot…?”

Serafall stared at her.

Mari stared at her.

And then Serafall did something when she swept her hand silently mid-jump while she dodged the third consecutive black sun.

It was a burst of ice. 

A colossal spike of ice erupted right underneath the black fire elemental. It trapped it completely and killed it at the same time. Mari felt it. Somehow. 

“Well, Mari-chan~!” Serafall giggled. “I think that’s enough for today!”

Mari nodded slowly. 

So she could’ve done that any any time? 

… Yikes.

Satans really were strong. 

“So how did I do?” she asked cautiously as the barrier around them came down.

“Very well!” Serafall clapped her hands with a smile. “I will definitely have to pay you more just to keep you around.”

Goal achieved? 

Yay? 

… Yay.