"You really can't take a loss!"
Leo complained outright as he looked at Tsunade.
The reason was simple.
In their earlier bout, he had been this close to victory!
And then—
Tsunade activated the Yin Seal.
The chakra she had stored instantly replenished her stamina, and because chakra was a fusion of physical and spiritual energy, it also restored her mental state.
What followed was a situation where she was admittedly clumsy—but absurdly durable.
The most outrageous part was this: every time Tsunade tapped into the chakra within the Yin Seal, the areas she had damaged would repair themselves again, and the freshly carved "path" would revert to its original state. This drained Leo's strength and focus to an extreme degree and ultimately led to his defeat.
After all, as a normal Earth human with finite stamina—and no way to eat endlessly—losing was inevitable.
There was simply no helping it.
"And whose fault is that? You're just too weak!"
Naturally, Tsunade wasn't about to admit that she'd activated the Hundred Healings out of pure unwillingness to let Leo look down on her.
There was no way she'd ever acknowledge that!
"You just didn't want to lose, right?"
Leo jabbed again.
"Shut up!"
Tsunade yelled reflexively, guilt flashing through her as she turned her head away and went back to digging at the ground, preparing the area so they could last longer next time.
Leo didn't push it further. There was a reason he'd said what he did.
"…The energy points went up."
Looking at his energy total, Leo fell silent.
Because this time, every encounter with Tsunade no longer gave him twenty-five points—it gave him thirty.
He could feel the change clearly.
They'd done it ten times.
Three hundred energy points in one go.
At this rate, even considering the toll on his body and waist, it wouldn't take many days to send Tsunade back.
More precisely—it was because he'd taken something special from her for the first time.
Although for Tsunade, "growing back" was a passive thing, there was no denying that she had developed some subtle feelings toward Leo.
After all, being taken to the brink so many times would naturally give rise to complicated emotions.
On top of that, she was a fairly traditional woman, which only made those feelings more delicate.
If Leo were in the Naruto world—if he were a ninja, or even just a landowning noble of the Land of Fire—he might've already found a way to marry Tsunade.
Unfortunately, this was a special situation born of special circumstances. Even if Leo wanted that, Tsunade wouldn't.
"So… should I tell her?"
Leo swung his pickaxe as he pondered the question.
As incredible as Tsunade's body was—and as tempting as it was to keep her here—there was no doubt that forcing her to remain in this world would be cruel.
Exhaling, Leo felt hunger creeping in from the nutrients he'd burned through. He looked up at the sky and sighed.
"Hopefully next time it's just some ordinary girls."
Rias Gremory only seemed casual—but she was only casual with people who had value. As for Lux, it went without saying. She was a pure little princess; doing that kind of thing with her…
She'd probably have a very hard time accepting it.
"It's kind of shameless, but getting some girls from normal worlds would really help me level my skills."
Scratching his head, Leo sighed—then suddenly thought of something.
"Wait… where did those two go?"
He was curious about the newcomers' whereabouts.
And as it happened, the newcomers were thinking about him too.
"Damn it… this is nothing like what that guy described…"
Rias stared at the dense crowd of zombies in front of her—creatures radiating ominous green energy, their eyes glowing yellow. Her beautiful eyes narrowed.
She was short of breath and more than a little frustrated.
After leaving Leo's camp, she'd planned to use flight magic to take Lux somewhere else to scout things out.
That was when she realized something was very wrong.
First, the cost of flight magic was abnormally high. Worse still, the moment she took to the sky, countless zombie birds began pouring out of nowhere.
They hurled themselves at them relentlessly. Even with a magic barrier protecting her, the birds kept charging without hesitation, burning through her mana with their lives.
Her mana recovery wasn't slow—but against this unending drain, it became unsustainable. After flying just five or six kilometers, she was forced to land at the factory beneath them.
There were simply too many zombie birds.
The longer she stayed airborne, the more appeared. By the time she realized something was wrong, they already filled the sky.
So her landing was effectively an emergency one—she needed a place to deal with the birds.
And while in the air, she'd noticed that this canned-food factory was still operating.
Convinced she'd caught Leo in a lie, she brought Lux down.
And then—
Everything spiraled out of control.
Zombies.
Countless zombies.
After she blasted open the factory gate with a fireball, the interior began endlessly disgorging the zombie monsters Leo had described.
Worse, they were extremely aggressive—packed so tightly together that there wasn't even a gap between them.
"Damn it! What the hell is going on with this Shamway Foods factory?!"
Rias launched another fireball, blasting a huge number of zombies away and carving a massive crater into the ground.
She could hear it clearly—the factory was still running!
Which meant that if there were people inside, they absolutely intended to kill them.
But after burning through so much mana, Rias could no longer sustain another long flight like before. Doing so would drain her completely.
Even if her strength was still considerable…
Beside her, Lux leaned on her staff, panting. Fear showed in her eyes as she watched the monsters trampling over their own fallen as they charged relentlessly toward them.
Taking a deep breath, Lux spoke to Rias.
"Miss Rias… I can do one more."
She had already unleashed several extremely powerful flashes of light. Each time, she wiped out massive numbers of zombies—but just like Rias, she found that the zombies emerging from inside the Shamway factory were virtually endless.
No matter how much they cleared, more poured out.
Rias nodded. Looking at the tightly packed zombies—already piling on top of one another—she clenched her teeth and decided to return to Leo's camp.
It was embarrassing.
But far better than being drained dry here.
"Get ready. We'll have to fly again and get out of here. If that man wasn't lying, once we're far enough away, these zombies should stop chasing us. I'll tell you when to unleash your light!"
She raised her hands again, activating her barrier and flight spells. Lux immediately felt her body grow lighter—but Rias's face grew even paler.
Gritting her teeth, Rias blasted a fireball toward the exit, opening a gap in the swarm. She surged through it, shot back into the sky, and slammed straight into the dense mass of zombie birds.
This time, she didn't bother killing them.
She focused entirely on speed, racing toward Leo's camp.
When she broke through the flock and looked down at the ground—just like Lux, whom she was carrying—her eyes widened.
Zombies.
Endless zombies.
They were pouring out of the Shamway Foods factory like a flood.
They roared toward her direction—but unlike the birds, once she'd flown far enough away, they lost their target, wandered aimlessly for a moment, then slowly returned to the factory.
"Thank goodness…"
Rias let out a breath, relieved.
Turning back toward the sky-darkening swarm of zombie birds, she smiled at Lux.
"Miss Lux, you're up."
"Mm!"
Still unaware of Rias's identity as a devil, Lux nodded and raised her staff high. Violent light energy gathered at her chest.
The next instant, a torrent of light blasted straight through the pursuing zombie birds.
"Final Spark!"