"I get where you're coming from, but I have no intention of marrying you."
"...Whew, that's the most reassuring thing I've heard this year."
"...Seems like you've been through a lot, too."
"...Yeah, I guess."
As you might have noticed since Chapter 1, I'm not really interested in harem stuff.
Maybe I thought that way when I was younger, but now that I'm older—or maybe because I got married in my previous life—my priorities have shifted.
Honestly, I think it's mostly the latter.
On top of raising a child, there's barely time to pay attention to the household. A harem? I'd kill myself before thinking about that now.
Marriage means taking someone who's not family and making them part of your household.
That's not one or two things to worry about—it's countless—and it takes effort to keep a marriage running smoothly.
That's why I've often ignored any good intentions people showed me. But I never thought I'd end up here because of a mess I made in the future.
"Then why keep sparring with me?"
"Nagami-tsu mentioned it earlier, didn't she? If you want to marry me, you need strength beyond mine or you have to be fully comfortable wielding ki."
"...I see, understood."
You said you don't plan on marrying me, so the former is out.
That leaves the latter. There's no better way to learn and hone your own body than through sparring.
That's why you chose someone strong like me.
Right now, the ki I sense from you has already far surpassed [Super Saiyan 3].
At this point, in terms of pure strength alone, you're on par with the likes of Kiana, Mei-senpai, and Bronie at Super Saiyan God level.
Granted, you're using ki rather than your Yulja form... Unlike us, who grew to god-tier with help, you've reached this realm with your own power, and that deserves awe.
"Shall we begin then?"
"Not yet. First, let's have anyone who's not participating in combat or might be endangered move back."
"...Makes sense. You still don't fully control your strength, so the aftermath could be unpredictable."
"Exactly. You really have a sharp eye."
After all, this is a clash of god-tier fighters.
It's questionable whether even the sparring grounds can withstand the fallout.
The basic layout is tailored for me as a Saiyan God, but Saiyans grow during battle.
I have no idea when I might exceed the limits I've set, nor what effect that could have on the kids, the elders, or the non-combatants.
By the way, Ichan and Susannah, who are hosting the event, have already moved the broadcast booth far away and are ready to go.
They're really fast in moments like this.
We cleared out the area, letting only those confident they could handle the fallout stay.
We needed at least two Super Saiyan 3-level fighters, so Kiana, Mei-senpai, Bronie, Jere, and Bianca remained.
There could be more, but they said it was enough just to watch from a distance.
"All right, shall we start?"
"Yes. Raging Heart—return to necklace form. I'll need you for the spell calculations."
[Yes, master.]
At her command, Raging Heart reverted to its usual necklace form.
But we can't let our guard down.
As we saw earlier, Raging Heart can manifest as a spear when needed.
"Here we go!"
With that shout, I shot into the sky, and my aunt followed, her ki bursting around her.
The rest of the fighters used their own qi to take to the air and pursue.
[Accel Shooter.]
"Shoot!"
Countless [Accel Shooter] blasts surged from around her in the direction I flew.
"Ha!"
I weaved through the dizzying pink beams, momentarily releasing ki.
As the blasts dissipated like melted wax, my aunt closed the distance and swung her fist at my left cheek.
"Kuh?!"
Because that blow wasn't simple, I controlled my momentum and countered like an explosion of ki, crashing my head into her abdomen.
She didn't expect a headbutt and was thrown backward by the impact, but she quickly regained her footing and swung back.
This time, I was ready. I parried her strike while launching my own, and the exchange of blows accelerated in an instant.
"Ha!"
"Yah!"
She blocked my arm with her arm and jabbed my face, snapping my head back. Clenching her teeth, she unleashed an even more powerful strike.
Yet the larger the opening, the more vulnerable she became, and her weakness began to show.
The blow was charged with so much ki that even the air around us warped, but in the end, a person swings a fist.
I sensed her muscle movements and drifted aside like flowing water, then spun and slung her empty torso to the ground.
Of course, she had a shield up in her abdomen, so it wasn't a clean hit—but sending her flying like that was enough.
"Now it's your turn to take one!"
I'm not incapable of ranged attacks.
I brought my hands above my head, gathered ki, and thrust them forward like firing an energy wave.
The technique called Stardust Fall, a fusion of expansive and consecutive energy waves, raced toward her.
It unleashes a meteor-shower barrage of blasts to rain down damage over a wide area, so it has very few openings and forces the target to defend with all their might.
"Raging Heart."
[Wide Area Protection.]
Realizing she couldn't dodge, she cast a wide-area defensive spell.
In the original, Wide Area Protection blocked a wide-diffusion spell like Starlight Breaker. Here, it's a fitting counter.
Still, as long as she doesn't dispel her shield, can she withstand this assault—?
"Gotcha!"
"What?!"
She vanished before my eyes and reappeared behind me, throwing a punch. I swiftly canceled my attack and blocked it with my arm.
High-speed movement spells are one thing—but finding the right moment to activate them is on another level.
From the moment she manipulated Raging Heart, I sensed her spatial awareness was probably the best among us.
"Divine...!"
"What?"
"Buster!"
She's doing a bare-handed [Divine Buster]?!
As soon as I dodged, she anticipated it and gathered ki in both hands before firing a Divine Buster at me. I hurriedly gathered ki in both hands and returned fire with my own blast.
Little did we know, our clashing attacks would trigger an unexpected chain of events.
"...The time has finally come."
Everyone except one person was about to see it happen.