Chapter 14 - Heightened Fighting Spirit

◆◇◆◇◆
After the end of the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival’s second
semifinal round, Ikki fainted in the waiting room. By the time
his cardiac arrest was discovered, the shock and anxiety had
spread beyond his inner circle, to the tournament staff and
spectators. Many of them seemed to expect the worst outcome.
In reality, the tournament staff had to at least consider that
possibility, so they revised the schedule for the next day.
Fortunately though, due to the power of Japan’s greatest
doctor, there was no need to worry. Ikki was saved from death.
However, Ikki had still not awoken by the time the final round
was scheduled to begin. But was that really a big deal? As long
as Ikki was alive, what was waiting a day?
Everyone’s hearts were united in this.
Kurogane Ikki and Stella Vermillion.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that this 62nd Seven
Stars Sword-Art Festival had been the highest level ever.
The two knights who had fought their way to the summit, the
finals.
The tournament should not end without seeing the conclusion
for oneself.
An attack after the end of the match. Not to mention taking a
stray hit after protecting the umpire. With such an unfair end,
there was no good excuse to end the festival there.
Therefore, they waited for Ikki to come to the stage of battle.
To this end, everyone offered a hand. The staff ran about
apologizing and moving forward an exhibition that had been
planned for the last day, the media coordinated special
coverage, and the spectators accepted these changes without
complaint. All for one young man’s sake, countless people gave
their all.
And then… He came.
The sun had already gone down completely. His clothes were
disheveled and he still had a bed head.
Even so, he was there in the ring, ready to face his fight,
showing his strong will.
The hopes of the fighters, the desires of the staff, and the
feelings of the audience were all the same.
There were no longer any obstacles.
Thus, with many people’s support and good will and the great
spirit of the fighters, the final match was ready.
Dawn broke at last, coming from the eastern sky with a first
light that seemed to burn white-
And the morning of the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival’s final
day, which so many had been longing for.
◆◇◆◇◆
“Wow, What a huge crowd. Everyone is so fired up even though
it’s still morning, huh.”
It was 9 am. Tomaru Renren, from the Hagun Academy Student
Council, had taken the bullet train to the station nearest
Wangan Dome, where the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival was
taking place. The moment she got off, she found herself both
amazed and astonished by the massive congestion, and
murmured this complaint.
Everything, from the platform to the ticket gate to the road to
the dome, was filled with an uncountable number of people.
Naturally, they all had one goal. The Seven Stars Sword-Art
Festival finals.
“But with this many people, can they even get inside?”
“There’s no way they can all fit inside. They’ve even installed
monitors outside.”
The one who answered Renren’s question was the one who had
come with her to Osaka, another member of the student
council.
It was a large man with a physique like a rugged boulder, Saijou
Ikazuchi.
Just like he had pointed out, most of the people were there to
watch the fight from outside the venue.
Even though normally a lot of people gathered, the semifinals
simply couldn’t compare to the finals.
Considering that it was a confrontation between the A-Rank
Knight Crimson Princess, boasting magic power that could be
said to be the greatest of mankind, against the Blazer with the
worst evaluation of F-Rank, Worst One, who had advanced by
continuously defeating one strong opponent after another
starting with Seven Stars Sword King, it's even more so.
Moreover, with such an unprecedented turnout, many
merchants had gathered to do business as well.
Some sat with their backs to the hedge, guitar in hand, singing
songs.
Other performers juggled or did magic tricks.
And then there were the local stalls.
Even though it was but morning, the area around Wangan
dome was already festive.
There was another person currently with Renren, the Student
Council Vice President, Utakata Misogi, whose face was blue
and trying to hold something back from his mouth.
“Somehow this large crowd is making me feel rather sick…”
“Are you okay? Vice Pres-?”
“I’m not okay. I’m hot. Frazzled. Tired. I can’t take it.”
“Then it would have been better to leave you at school.”
“That’s no joking matter. Wouldn’t I look like an idiot if only I
had stayed behind to work while everyone was playing? Let’s
just hurry and get to the hotel. If we stay in this kind of place, I
think my brains will melt out through my ears.”
Utakata whined while pulling at the hems of Saijou’s shirt.
Well, even if one’s brain didn’t melt, staying much longer
would probably lead to heat stroke.
It would be no laughing matter to have spent the two and a half
hours to come from Tokyo only to watch the game from a
hospital bed.
“Even if you say that, with a crowd like this, finding Kanata-
senpai will be such a pain-”
“Nah, that’s not true.”
As he said that, Saijou pointed at a spot in the crowd.
“Everyone, over here~”
Amongst the crowd, dressed in mainly short sleeved shirts and
shorts, with at most a thin cardigan, was the figure of Kanata
Toutokubara, completely clad in a white dress that did not
reveal even her fingertips, which could already be said to be a
partially suspicious getup.
“That was a needless worry, huh.”
“Kanata-senpai, aren’t you hot?”
“I’ll be fine if I just endure it~”
“Endure… Why endure through that…”
Perhaps there was some spiritual reason? It perplexed Renren.
Utakata tilted his head questioningly at his junior, then asked
Kanata a question.
“Eh? Kanata, whatever happened to Touka?”
Though they had without a doubt been traveling with her, the
figure of Hagun Academy Student Council President, Touka
Toudou, was nowhere to be found.
“Since it’s Touka-chan, she probably slipped out for some
urgent business that just came up this morning.”
“Urgent business?”
“Fufu. Yes. Urgent business.”
Though Kanata would not explain the matter further, her
bemused expression told them that it was not a serious matter.
Since it seemed that forceful questioning wouldn’t be
necessary, Utakata closed the matter with a “hmm.”
“Well, she did say that she would come back before the fight,
and that we should all watch the finals together.”
“I see.”
“But, finals, huh… Once, we were wondering what would
happen, but it would be good to have a meeting about it. Being
surprise attacked after a match, moreover losing by default due
to an injury taken while protecting someone else, Kurogane-
kun is too pitiable.”
“That issue is something for the management committee to
consider for us. Such a special measure is an unprecedented
exception. ...According to the information Toutokubara
collected, to make this extension happen, Prime Minister
Tsukikage pulled a lot of strings.”
“The Prime Minister who put us through all that?”
“...Again, that’s a separate matter.”
“Nonetheless, there’s no way they would have delayed the
schedule just for one student. It just so happens that the
rampage Stella went on that shortened the festival by a day
may have been a blessing in disguise... It looks super
unfortunate, but kouhai-kun is pretty lucky.”
Renren nodded in agreement at this as well.
Then she looked up at Saijou behind her and asked a question in
her friendliest classmate voice.
“Hey hey, who do you think will win? Saijou-”
At this, Saijou put his hand on his chin and contemplated for a
moment.
“...Both are from our school and are developing their abilities
quickly. However, just looking at how they fought during the
semifinals, Vermillion has the edge in ability. I can’t imagine
how to handle that dragon’s power with just sword techniques.
My assessment is that Vermillion will triumph.”
With that answer Renren came to an understanding.
Stella’s true power was what she pulled out in the semifinals,
Noble Art Dragon Spirit.
It was natural for Saijou to come to such a conclusion.
However- Renren’s thoughts differed.
“It’s true that Stella-chan’s true power, the embodiment of a
dragon, was amazing. I do think it’s already beyond what one
person has the power to handle; it’s just that abnormal a
power… But, it’s by repeatedly overturning such unreasonable
odds that Kurogane-kun came to be standing in the finals ring
tonight.”
“...You think Kurogane will win?”
Renren nodded.
“I understand because I’ve fought him directly. Though Stella-
chan’s power surpasses human understanding, Kurogane-
kun’s skill can also be said to be superhuman, something in the
realm of the abnormal. Do you remember? What Kurogane-kun
did when he defeated me at the Hagun selection battles?”
“If I’m not mistaken, he sidestepped your supersonic charge 「
Black Bird」, then caught you by the nape of your neck and
smashed you into the ring.”
“That’s right. Normally, doing that would get your arm torn off.
Despite that, Kurogane-kun countered that power completely
and instead diverted it into the ground. That skill is definitely a
match for Stella-chan’s violent power.”
“...It’s not that I can’t understand your point of view, but your
understanding of Vermillion is a little naive. She effortlessly
stopped my Crescendo Axe’s heaviest strike. Because of Dragon
Spirit, that brute strength probably rose even more. That
offensive power is beyond the domain of things that can be
stopped with techniques. I was crushed by it, after all.”
“Kurogane-kun has the speed to completely dodge that. I saw it
myself, Kurogane’s speed throwing Stella’s figure off her feet!”
“That’s an illusion. Fights are won by by those who are strong.”
“What a thoughtless thing to say! Speed is the key to modern
wars!”
“In the end, it seems you just want the opponent you lost to to
win.”
“You’re the one who wants that!”
“Hnnnng!”
“Mmmmm-!”
“Ah okay okay, let’s stop it there you two.”
Within the heat that only gave rise to a haze, those two held an
argument so heated, it gave off sparks.
Unable to just watch, Utakata got between them and tore them
apart.
“Have your sweltering conversation in a place with air
conditioning. If we stand around here any longer, we’ll end up
with heat stroke.”
“That’s right. Then, everyone, let’s go to the hotel. There’s even
food prepared, so let’s continue there.”
It seemed Kanata agreed with Utakata.
She immediately took the lead to guide them to the
Toutokubara group’s hotel and began walking.
“Eh? Food? Awesome~ There’s food, Food~”
“...Apologies. I, of all people, got unusually fired up.”
“Nah, the lightning god image was quite scorching, so it didn’t
seem out of place.”[1]
“!?!?”
With a shocked expression, Saijou hardened like a statue and
got left behind.
◆◇◆◇◆
“Fuhaha~ Look, the people are like trash!”
“What the hell are you doing?”
A long line of people stretched from the station to Wangan
Dome.
Watching from the hotel terrace, Nene Saikyou let out a
strange, feigned voice, at which Kurono Shinguuji shot her an
incredulous gaze.
“Now look here, when you look at a crowd of people from
somewhere high, don’t you just want to say that?
Instinctively.”
“I do not.”
“Seriously? Kuu-chan, are you sure you’re Japanese?
“Is this really something you’d involve nationality in?”
While grumbling in a sighing voice, Kurono pulled out
cigarettes from her suit.
She put one to her lips and lit it before tossing words at
Saikyou.
“It seems you didn’t agree to do commentary for the last day,
even though it should be a profitable job.”
“Well, yeah. It’s the finals of my favorite pupil. Wouldn’t I want
to watch from the front row?”
“It was only for a week, I want to say, but… She did improve
considerably.”
“I was surprised too. I thought I’d just try more or less shoving
her around. Who would have thought that such a beast would
be sleeping.
“When I think about it, that huge appetite of hers that doesn’t
match her constitution must be the influence of the dragon’s
power as well.”
As she said that, Kurono glanced at the top of the table
fleetingly.
There, stacked on the table, was a mountain comprised of the
ruins of what had once been a room service meal.
Farther in, on the bed, the red haired girl who had created the
mess… Crimson Princess Stella Vermillion was sleeping with
her body curled up like a baby.
“...Nene. About today’s finals, what do you think?”
“I think it’ll be a great fight. Since they’re both knights who
obtained great power in their own ways, neither should get
done in easily. Though it could also become an appropriately
high level mudslinging contest.”
“A mudslinging contest eh.”
“You know, since they’re lovers and all. It’s kind of messy.”
“If such a pleasant quarrel were to occur, the viewers might just
feel relieved.”
After responding to Saikyou’s banter with a dry laugh, Kurono
puffed out a breath of smoke.
“I don’t think that’s likely to happen. Especially between these
two.“
She muttered, though her tone betrayed a tinge of nervousness.
At this, Saikyou also returned a small nod.
“True. If something goes wrong, someone might die. Just like in
the match between you and me.”
Though Saikyou was joking, Kurono could see that her eyes
carried the same nervousness.
What she was recalling was the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival
of their own generation.
What she clashed with back then were her own feelings.
─Back then, she believed she didn't mind dying.
To beat that person, she would even throw away her life.
It was to that extent… The girl named Kurono Takizawa had
pined.
Saikyou was sure that Kurono thought something similar
might happen.
That, with the same feelings as they had held back then, these
two might-
“Still… It seems the one in danger here in the end is still Kuro-
bou.”
“Does Yaksha Princess see Crimson Princess as better?”
“Yes, after all, I can’t picture it. The image of this princess
losing, that is.”
Saikyou momentarily looked over the sleeping Stella.
As she was deep asleep, all Stella did was make sleeping sounds.
She was saving her strength.
Not even using the energy to open her eyes, she accumulated
strength from head to toe.
All so that tonight, she could erupt at the finals.
“...”
While laying her on the bed, the two had visions of the dragon’s
giant body several times.
At that overwhelming pressure, Kurono couldn’t help but gulp.
And so she thought.
Tonight, the one to face this monster will be a single knight.
(Kurogane. What are you thinking now? How are you spending
your time?)
Was he, like this girl, accumulating strength?
Perhaps he was waiting eagerly for the finals, unable to sleep
from the exhilaration?
Or possibly...
“...Either way, in this match, even if we interrupt it, things
could get deadly. We can’t leave this to some half-hearted
knight. If it comes down to it, you and I will stop it… Just like
Nangou-sensei and Kurogane-sensei did back then.”
“I know, I know.”
Saikyou agreed with Kurono’s sentiment without showing
distaste on her face.
From the start, in order to focus on the fight and not miss such
an important timing, she had turned down the commentary.
She didn’t have to be told such a thing.
Saikyou regarded Kurono with a serious expression. Right now,
even more important was-
“Hey, Kuu-chan.”
“Hm? What?”
“This place is a non-smoking room, you know.”
“...Next time, please warn me before I light up.”
“I’ll use my best discretion.”
With a mean grin on her face, Nene smirked at the blushing
Kurono.
◆◇◆◇◆
Stella had stored as much strength as she could in her body.
Her opponent, Kurogane Ikki, was in a training facility owned
by the National League near the Wangan Dome.
For the duration of the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival, this
training facility was free for use by contenders.
Ikki was carrying out a mock battle in one of that facility’s
rings.
Acting as his opponent was a tall, thin, and handsome person.
It was his friend, Black Sonia Nagi Arisuin.
“-Huu.”
With a fast attack that whistled through the air, Ikki charged at
Arisuin.
In response, Arisuin shifted his weight backwards and took a
retreating stance.
“Shadow Beast-!”
Arisuin threw three copies of his dagger shaped
device, Darkness Hermit, at the ground, and left them standing
there.
In an instant, they melted into puddle-like shadows on the ring.
From those shadows, a black spray splattered and two giant
tigers and a bear flew out of them attacking Ikki.
However, Ikki was not even perturbed by these wild beasts,
simply kicking off the floor and charging at the enemies that
now stood in his way.
With one stroke he dealt with the shadow tiger snapping at his
head, lightly sidestepped the bear trying to claw his head, and
cut it at the torso as they passed. Then, with his fastest secret
technique, Raikou, he used the weakness in the second tiger’s
offensive stance to overtake its movements and bisect it.
The shadow beasts dispersed into a seemingly harmless black
mist.
However, it had never been Arisuin’s intention to use Shadow
Beast to stop Ikki’s movement.
It was just a distraction.
The black mist that had dispersed from the crumbled shadow
beasts blocked Ikki’s field of vision for a moment-so he could to
use his shadow jumping technique, 「Shadow Walk」, to jump
to Ikki’s shadow!
After his machinations went through smoothly, Arisuin moved
from his own shadow to Ikki’s.
From Ikki’s shadow, stretching out behind him thanks to the
lights in the ring, he sprung out, thinking (I’ve got you…!).
From this position, facing Ikki’s back, he flourished Darkness
Hermit to strike at Ikki’s neck.
However, in that instant-
“!!!”
Even sooner than Arisuin could strike at Ikki’s neck, the jet
black tip of Ikki’s device, Intetsu, appeared from under Ikki’s
arm, stopping just at Arisuin’s brow.
Without facing Arisuin, Ikki had completely read the plan to
flank him, and counterattacked instead.
“!!!”
Arisuin promptly used the knife he’d been striking down with
to guard.
By doing so he narrowly avoided being skewered, in that one
beat, his action was stopped.
What Ikki Kurogane just took advantage of had been a fatal
weakness.
“-Gah, ha!”
The thud of a heavy strike reverberated throughout the ring.
It was the sound of Ikki’s kick striking the pit of Arisuin’s
stomach.
The impact of the kick to the stomach sent Arisuin flying three
meters, where he rolled out of the ring and started coughing
painfully.
“Cough! Cough! H-harsh! To kick a maiden in the stomach is
incredibly unchivalrous.”
“Er, Sorry?”
“Why do you seem so unsure?”
“Because I am unsure”
Arisuin couldn’t help but smile at Ikki’s answer, even as he
continued to cough.
“Haha, well, jokes aside… Despite sleeping for an entire day,
your body doesn’t seem sleepy at all. Ikki. You’ve given me
some peace of mind.”
“It’s all because you came with me for some warming up,
Alice.”
While expressing thanks, Ikki lowered Intetsu.
After all, Arisuin was lying on his side on the floor and not in
any condition to fight.
In the end, this mock battle had just been to warm up Ikki after
he’d slept for a day.
There was no need to deal a finishing blow.
Thus, a petite girl rushed over with small steps to the two who
had stopped fighting.
With neat, short, silver hair, the girl was Ikki Kurogane’s
younger sister, Shizuku Kurogane.
As soon as she arrived at Ikki’s side, she gave her honest
opinion while looking slightly astonished.
“Isn’t that enough? Tonight is the final and you’re still here
holding a mock battle. You’re being too unreasonable.”
“Haha, sorry. But I’ve been sleeping the whole time, so I’m
checking the condition of my body.”
“Well, I know how you feel, but if you don’t restrain yourself,
your condition will only worsen. Look at how much sweat
you’ve worked up… Eh?”
Shizuku unexpectedly used a towel to wipe the sweat that had
collected on Ikki’s face, but her expression hardened.
That was because the sweat that he’d shed was as cold as a
winter stream.
“Onii-sama, this is…”
“...I’ve been exposed, huh.”
With a bitter smile, Ikki received the towel from Shizuku.
“This sweat isn’t borne of exhaustion. It’s from fear… Of
fighting with Stella, that is.”
Ikki grumbled while continuing to mop up cold sweat.
Right, this wasn’t sweat from exercise.
Nervousness, anxiety, weakness… it was something that came
from an emotions, that could only be described as chills.
It was because he was scared.
Scared of Crimson Princess Stella Vermillion.
But that was a matter of course.
The ease she had shown in her first irregular match against Icy
Scorn Mikoto Tsuruya and others had demonstrated a power up
within Ikki’s expectations, but the power she showed in the
semifinals far exceeded his imagination.
“She is already different from the girl I fought before. Up until
now, she had only been fighting with the dragon’s breath. But
now, she has realized what she really is. Moreover, she now
possesses the ability to freely control the power of the dragon
that burned her as a child. She is not just a flame user anymore.
Skill, power, tactics… She is the incarnation of the prideful, all-
powerful monster with the strength to force any enemy to
yield.”
And tonight, he would have to face that monster himself.
What’s more, this time, Stella now had even more information
on the man named Ikki Kurogane.
When he had beat her in the past, he had used her lack of
knowledge to launch a surprise attack. She would not let that
happen again.
A veteran of losing battles. Stella knew about Ikki Kurogane’s
struggles better than anyone else.
In this final, there was definitely no room for slack in Stella’s
heart.
With such a Stella as an opponent, in the ring where there was
nowhere to run or hide, the only option was to conquer her
head on.
“Because of that, I cannot waste even a minute, no, a second.”
Sharper by the minute and stronger by the second.
He would sharpen himself up until the last moment before
entering the ring.
“That is my best condition.”
“Onii-sama…”
Shizuku responded to her brother’s unusually stiff expression
with an uneasy voice. At that moment-
“Oi~ I did it!”
A call in a familiar kansai dialect hit everyone present.
Upon looking at the entrance to the room they were talking in-
“Ara, it’s you guys.”
“Moroboshi-san! And Toudou-san too! You came for us!”
In front of the open fire door stood the one Ikki had defeated in
the first round of the tournament, Seven Stars Sword King
Yuudai Moroboshi, and the one he had eliminated in Hagun’s
selection tournament finals, Raikiri Touka Toudou.
Shizuku let her bewilderment at these unexpected visitors seep
onto her face.
“Why are you guys here...?”
Touka answered while happily grinning towards somewhere
else.
“This morning we got mail from Ikki saying he wanted our help
with training.”
“From Onii-sama?”
“Exactly. Well, I was free anyway. Incidentally… At the hotel, I
called over some of the other losers to come.”
As he said so, Moroboshi pointed at the fire door behind him
with his thumb.
“Who’s a loser? You’ve said a little too much, Boshi!”
“Well, in reality, that’s exactly what we are.”
“Gahaha. True, True. Even if you try to say it nicely now, there's
nothing you can do”
“We didn’t even participate in the Seven Stars Sword-Art
Festival, so we didn’t lose!”
“...Even though you guys got beat up by two people at the
training camp?”
Behind the two, faces that anyone would recognize streamed
in.
Moroboshi's fellow representatives from Bukyoku academy,
Eye of Heaven Byakuya Jougasaki and Demon Flame Momiji
Asagi.
Making the entrance seem small just by stepping his huge build
through was Rokuzon Academy's Panzer Grizzly Renji Kaga.
And finally, two original representatives from Hagun who had
withdrawn from the festival, Kikyou Hagure and Botan
Hagure.
Ikki's eyes opened wide in surprise at their entrance.
“Did, did all of you came for my sake? Hagure-senpai and
everyone else too?”
“Hehe. Well we arrived early and had nothing to do.”
“...During the training camp, you taught us, so we’d like to
return the favor.”
“Though we’re not sure how useful the ones who were KO’d the
quickest will be.”
“Actually, we were also called upon by Sensei. It was because
that procedure looked to have taken a lot of your strength, and
it seems to be as bad as she thought. ...But the people here are of
the same calibre as those who entered the tournament. I think
we'll be just right as practice opponents.”
Ikki shook his head at Moroboshi’s words.
“Don’t even mention things like being just right! Everyone,
thank you so much!”
“Good, good. All of us wanted to try going up against the
rumored Worst One once as well.”
“So, what do we do? Before we came here, we also had some
mock battles. Should we take a break?”
“No.”
Ikki refused Touka’s consideration with a single word and once
again took up Intetsu.
Then, he faced everyone with eyes burning with fighting spirit.
“Immediately though… Please!”
His passion instantly spread to everyone.
“”“Yessir!!!””
As if responding to Ikki’s spirit, everyone else’s devices
manifested.
◆◇◆◇◆
“Guhaa! Th- This is…! Poison? Assassination? My Twilight
Crusaders…! Such an underhanded method…!”
“Ojou-sama is saying ‘This is so bitter!’”
“If bitter is not acceptable, it would’ve been better not to
request coffee.”
They were in a cafe slightly out of the way of the long line to
the venue.
At the terrace seats, Sara Bloodlily shot an astonished look at
Rinna Kazamatsuri, who had coffee dripping from the corners
of her mouth.
The one who wiped Rinna’s mouth with a handkerchief was
her attendant, Charlotte Cordé.
Together with the three girls at their table was one other
person.
He was an elderly man, dressed stylishly in a suit.
It was Japan’s Prime Minister, Chairman of the school the girls
attended, Akatsuki Academy’s Bakuga Tsukikage.
“Even so, Sara-kun’s Color of Magic is truly convenient. Even
with so many people around, nobody can see us. I’ve always
wanted such a convenient power.
“Even without a special power, something similar can be done.”
“Is that so?”
“Ikki did it.”
“...That only makes it feel more impossible.”
Tsukikage’s wrinkled face twisted into a bitter grin.
“Sorry, Prime Minister. Could you pass the sugar pot?”
“Yeah, here.”
Responding to Charlotte’s request, he slid the sugar pot near his
hand toward Rinna.
Rinna blushed shyly at this.
“Ah, thank you, Oji-sama…”
While expressing her thanks with a sincere tone, she drew the
sugar pot towards using her small hands.
However, Rinna’s movement stopped there.
Without even putting sugar in her coffee, leaving her gaze on
the sugar pot in her hands-
“...Sorry.”
In a single word, she remorsefully apologized to Tsukikage.
“What are you apologizing for?”
“Every one of us ended up losing…”
“Ah, that.”
Tsukikage understood Rinna’s reason for apologizing.
To begin with, Akatsuki Academy was a group of mercenaries
gathered via the connections of Tsukikage through one of
Rebellion's Numbers, his old friend Kouzou Kazamatsuri, in
order to sever the connection between Japan and those who
utilize the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival, the League of
Knights.
However, they had been completely eliminated by Hagun
Academy’s Worst One and Crimson Princess.
Remorseful over being unable to carry out the duty they had
been entrusted with, Rinna had said that.
However, Tsukikage hadn't placed any blame upon Rinna.
He put his hand on her apologetically drooping head.
"Don't worry about it. You all did well. I understand that
perfectly."
"But..."
"Giving up easily does not befit a politician. If Akatsuki fails,
then I will think of a different direction to go in... At that time,
if I need you, will you lend me your power again?"
While stroking Rinna's head gently, he asked her that.
Rinna finally raised her head at this, and with a smile like
blooming flowers nodded "Yes!"
-It was precisely 'that time.'
"...She's here."
Sara mumbled curtly while focused on the line of people.
Everyone gathered at the table responded to her voice by
following her gaze.
There, in the dense crowd without a single gap in it, without
pushing her way through, calmly weaving through the crowd
with steps as if walking across an empty field, was a girl.
While her long, pure white hair swayed, she stepped directly to
the four people who should have been hidden by Color of Magic.
Nonetheless the four of them raised no suspicion toward that.
For her, it was only natural.
That she could see them even when they should’ve been
invisible.
Someone who could pass through a crowd without any
difficulty.
Additionally, while doing so, she didn’t alert a single person she
crossed paths with.
Today, the person they had come to wait for-
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it. Sara. Rinna. Char. And also…
Tsukikage-sensei too.”
The strongest swordsman in the world, Twin-Wings Edelweiss.
◆◇◆◇◆
“Thank you for waiting. Here is your blend coffee.”
“It’s for her.”
“Thank you.”
While expressing her gratitude with a friendly smile, Edelweiss
pulled the sugar pot to herself.
Then she looked at Tsukikage.
“Thank you for today. For listening to my sudden selfish
request.”
She lowered her head slightly.
The selfish reason she mentioned was the reason she was here
today.
Last night, Edelweiss had contacted Tsukikage.
...Wanting to watch the final of the Seven Stars Sword-Art
Festival.
“Unexpected, that you would be interested in the battle of
someone who is just a student, Ede.”
“Perhaps there’s some relationship we don’t know about.”
“Fufu, if I remember correctly, when we carried out Operation
Beowulf on Hagun Academy, the one who faced Another One
was Brynhildr.
“Be, Beo?”
Sara offered an advice to Edelweiss, who tilted her head and
was making a bewildered face.
“Don’t think about it too much. It’s just Rinna’s usual sickness.”
“Ojou-sama is saying ‘When we made the attack on Hagun
Academy, she fought Another One.’”
“A, Ah. So that’s what it was. Yes, it’s exactly as she’s saying.”
Edelweiss confirmed as she scooped up a spoonful of sugar
from the sugar pot.
“I saw the semifinals on TV. It surprised me to see Ouma lose in
such a one-sided fashion, but… even more than that, seeing
Amane in such a helpless state was beyond my expectations.
Amane’s childhood and the attachment he had to Ikki because
of it.
Edelweiss had known about that.
Because of that, Amane’s existence was an obstacle blocking
Ikki’s destiny.
That’s what she’d thought. -However,
“He took no notice of him.”
He’d faced the defeat Amane had thrust at him head on and
crushed it for all to see.
“...He’s an amazing young man. Truly.”
“That’s why you want to watch the finals in person?”
Edelweiss nodded at Tsukikage’s question while adding yet
another spoonful of sugar to her coffee.
“For Crimson Princess it is natural, but Another One as well…
He is climbing onto our stage. I decided that when I saw he had
the willpower to undergo extraordinary training and obtain the
physical prowess needed to defy fate that he showed at the
semifinals. Thus… even I cannot ignore that. Another exciting
moment will happen soon. I might cross swords with him
again.
“...”
“More importantly… Another party with the same thoughts as
mine came here today in order to overcome the menace of the
future, we are willing to be audacious.”
“Eh?”
When he heard those disquieting words, Tsukikage lifted his
gaze from her hands, which were busy scooping a third
spoonful of sugar.
Edelweiss was looking at the crowd instead of Tsukikage.
-Her eyes glinted sharply.
Following that dangerous gaze, Tsukikage also noticed.
In the crowd, there was a man looking at them astutely
through a visor.
“That’s… America’s…!”
“It’s not just him. At this place… Agents from various factions
have already gathered.”
Edelweiss’ words made Tsukikage recall a certain scene in his
mind.
A red and black memory that he’d seen.
Tokyo, engulfed in flames.
The permeating stench of protein being scorched and human
fat that stuck to the skin…
With fists shaking from fear and anger, Tsukikage informed
Edelweiss.
“Front row box seats have been prepared.”
“Thank you very much.”
Edelweiss returned a slight bow and put her coffee, which she
had just added a fourth spoon of sugar to, to her mouth.
“Yum.”
“If you can’t handle bitter, then it would be better to not order
stuff like coffee.”
◆◇◆◇◆
(Too, too strong…!)
Bukyoku Academy’s third year and finalist at last year’s Seven
Stars Sword-Art Festival, Momiji Asagi, was struck with
admiration at the physical prowess of the man she was
crossing blades with.
As the disciple of God of War Torajirou Nangou, she had
confidence in her blade.
However, that was exactly why she couldn’t help but
understand the magnitude of the difference between herself
and the warrior in front of her, Another One Ikki Kurogane.
“Hah!”
“...!”
Countless clashes later, a particularly loud strike rang out and
Momiji was sent flying backwards.
Her vision went blurry. There, at the edge of the ring, Momiji
fell down and exhaled roughly before looking at the trio.
The Hagure sisters and Jougasaki, who had already carried out
mock battles with Ikki.
Ikki had kicked the three around in front of Momiji.
He hadn’t even been scratched.
If this went on, she too would-
“Asagi! Show your determination!”
“Enmaku...!”
Responding to Moroboshi’s encouragement, Momiji deployed a
wall of fire in front of her.
Frustrating though it might be, she couldn’t compete with
swordsmanship.
She would just have to show her determination by fighting
with magic.
Thus she switched over. However-
“Seya!!!”
Her determination was short lived as Ikki cut through her wall
with a single shout and a slash.
From an overhead stance, Ikki had swung Intetsu down, and by
sheer force, blasted away the approaching Enmaku.
And at the same time, -Momiji’s spirit as well.
(...)
Having cleared Enmaku away, Ikki’s eyes shone like a wet
blade.
Momiji’s blood ran cold seeing this.
Head and chest, mind and body, would be cut apart.
Ikki wasn’t foolish enough to waste that moment.
He closed to space between them now that there was no
obstacle-
Fast.
Though she’d frozen for only an instant, Momiji lost her chance
to respond.
Clash was now inevitable. No, rather, if there was an ability
that could still allow her to evade, it would be the Trackless
Step Master Nangou had taught her.
(Even if I were to try to enter his blind spot... he doesn’t even
have one!)
Standing against Ikki, Momiji came to a realization.
Ikki’s discernment was just like her friend Moroboshi’s Happou
Nirami[2], in that it could perceive the entirety of the arena, not
overlooking a single movement from the enemy. Her own
Trackless Step would not be precise enough to outmaneuver
the owner of those eyes.
In that case... there was nothing to do but intercept him with
her sword.
Despite the knot in her stomach, Momiji clad her
device, Hibachi, in flame.
One hit would be enough.
If she just grazed him, Hibachi’s flames would capture Ikki’s
whole body like a snake.
(Just one stroke…!?)
However, she was only eager for an instant.
She had lost sight of Ikki Kurogane.
“Crap.”
Momiji realized in an instant that it was due to Trackless Step.
“Aku-”
But by that point, it was already over.
Ikki had passed by Momiji’s side and cut her torso with his
device in illusionary form.
That attack had, without a doubt, been a fatal wound, cutting
through her stomach all the way to her spine, causing an
appropriate amount of strength to drain out of Momiji as a
magical red light- Blood Light, which dispersed into the air.
One moment later, Momiji’s body collapsed onto the ground.
“Ha, ah, …!”
Sudden fatigue hit her as she was gouged of strength
appropriately for an illusionary fatal wound.
Despite also feeling a burning pain in her abdomen, Momiji
somehow managed to raise her head. Then-
“Thank you!”
Ikki bowed his head deeply and thanked Momiji.
Just as he had done earlier with the other three.
“Aha, you’re welcome… I don’t feel like I was very useful
though.”
“That’s not-”
“Armor Piercing Bullet-!!!”
“Hu-???”
A deep voice like a cannon’s roar suddenly interrupted their
conversation.
While Ikki was facing Momiji, an attack came from directly
behind him, aiming for the back of his head- It was Panzer
Grizzly Renji Kaga’s iron palm strike.
It was a most unexpected, barbaric surprise attack for a mock
battle.
Momiji was petrified at this. However-
Ikki’s expression didn’t even waver.
Momiji saw it during that moment.
“-True at all.”
After completing his statement towards Momiji, without even
an ounce of confusion, Ikki moved half his body, almost
casually, and stopped Kaga’s palm strike with his own palms.
His body was nearly twice Ikki’s size.
The palm strike from the man who boasted weight four times
that of Ikki’s, didn’t even move him a bit.
-Impossible.
There was a trick to this impossible feat.
That trick was in Ikki’s feet.
As he received the blow, the ground below Ikki’s feet sank
noticeably, cracking and being crushed.
Witnessing that, Kaga understood in an instant.
-He had redistributed the force.
By moving his whole body and perfectly shifting his center of
gravity, Ikki had received the blow and released it into the
ground through his legs without having it reverberate in his
body at all.
Just like a lightning rod.
After receiving the surprise attack, Ikki matched the movement
of Kaga’s attempt at retreating and pushed him back using the
arm he’d received the hit with.
(...!)
In that instant where he shifted his weight back, more force
had been added from the front.
With his own weight being so heavy, Kaga was bent backwards
greatly-
In that instant, Intetsu cut open his robe.
“Gu, Nuu!”
Kaga’s great body collapsed at the knees and he hit the floor.
Towards that Kaga-
“Ah, you! What were you thinking, attacking so suddenly?!”
Shizuku shouted angrily.
After all, it was an unthinkable thing.
He had launched a surprise attack on a fighter who was set to
fight that same day, even if it was in Illusionary form.
Ikki himself was far calmer.
“It’s fine, Shizuku.”
“O, Onii-sama!?”
Then, of all things-
“Kaga-san. Thank you very much.”
He thanked Kaga as he had Momiji and the others.
For a moment, Kaga stared in puzzlement at this expression,
then broke into a broad smile.
“Gah, hahahaha! On top of not having any weak points, you
don’t even have a single complaint about a surprise attack, eh.
Even though you have a girly mug if you look at it right… Being
combat ready at all times. It looks like you know that well.”
Knights were not sportsmen.
Therefore, they had to maintain high concentration outside of
matches as well.
Even when they are walking, sleeping, or eating, they must
always keep their senses sharp.
They can’t afford to be careless.
If one became used to slacking off, they would surely fail when
it matters.
Sometimes, the flow of battle goes to the one who can
transition quickly.
Going about it in small steps is out of the question.
This was all the more true against an opponent who’d easily
overwhelmed Ouma, whom he had been so powerless against.
That was why Kaga decided to attack in the moment when Ikki
was preoccupied with Momiji.
However-
(I’ve been preaching to the choir, at most)
To this man, it was a pointless warning.
At the same time Kaga realized that, he came to believe it.
“You’ll win! You will!”
Kaga thumped Ikki’s chest with his fist as he insisted on this.
Stella was certainly a formidable enemy. Her attack power was
nothing normal.
However, Ikki knew how to use and stop force.
His special skills shouldn’t be outdone by her attack power.
Kaga believed this based on what he’d witnessed.
Ikki smiled at the encouragement.
“Then, I shall be your next opponent.”
“...!”
Ikki’s expression stiffened as a wave of numbness ran through
his neck.
When he turned his head, he saw a girl climbing slowly into the
ring with a katana in a black sheath in her hands, Raikiri Touka
Toudou.
The opponent Ikki had defeated at the finals of Hagun’s
selection tournament.
Though their battle had consisted of a single stroke, her
strength was vivid in Ikki’s memory.
She had been in the top 4 last year, falling behind Byakuya and
Momiji, but the impression on Ikki’s skin was betraying that
fact.
No doubt she was the best of the members that Moroboshi had
assembled.
She was a difficult opponent to face with no abilities.
“What will you do? Including Arisuin-kun, you’ve fought 5
consecutive battles. Will you take a quick break?”
“No, don’t worry about that.”
His fighting spirit was overflowing.
Ikki wiped away the sweat from his hands and renewed his grip
on Intetsu.
“Please don’t hold back!”
He raised his sword to point at Touka.
◆◇◆◇◆
In the instant Ikki raised his sword, Raikiri began to move.
From ten meters away, she unsheathedNarukami and fired a
crescent slash formed of lightning towards Ikki.
The golden lightning charged at Ikki like a bird with wings
spread open.
It was the same long ranged attack she had used against
Lorelei, the Noble Art Raiou.
However, while it was a quick opening strike, it was made from
a considerable distance.
Far from distressing Ikki at all, he immediately took an evasive
maneuver.
Namely, he took a big sidestep to the right.
It was a style of moving that he’d learned from Twin-Wings
using his Blade Steal. That was how he managed to evade so
easily at high speed as soon as he raised his heel.
Truthfully, it didn’t pose a threat to him.
However, the moment Ikki dodged the first attack, Touka
launched a follow-up Raiou right at him.
The technique he had just dodged so easily was launched again.
Of course, that one didn’t reach Ikki either.
With a leap in the opposite direction, Ikki evaded that as well.
As expected, it didn’t even graze him.
Even so, Touka fired a third Raiou.
Was she just being stubborn?
Of course not.
Touka had a reason for her actions
(This is…!)
“As expected of Toudou. After watching his match with me, she
has recognized his weak point.”
Murmuring this with a spirit of admiration was Moroboshi,
who was watching their battle from the sidelines.
“Onii-sama’s weak point?”
“Well, more accurately, it’s a flaw in that technique. It’s a
technique he’s been using since his match with me, a technique
he took from Twin-Wings using Blade Steal where he uses all of
the muscles in his body simultaneously to accelerate rapidly to
top speed. Most people cannot follow such acceleration with
their eyes. That being said, constantly moving at full speed
is…”
“Ah…”
Once said, Shizuku realized as well.
Since earlier, Touka had been unleashing Raiou left and right in
order to force Ikki to dodge in different directions constantly.
“I get it. When moving at full speed constantly, it’s difficult to
make sudden stops and turns. All that switching makes puts
excessive strain on his lower body. Dodging will slowly become
more difficult, and eventually he’ll get caught.
Moroboshi’s prediction was coming true up in the ring.
While Ikki had avoided the first two by a good margin, that
margin started shrinking, and the amount of near misses began
to rise.
“Ikki should also understand Touka’s intention, though. If he
stays on the defensive, he’ll just remain pinned down from long
range.”
Ikki started to change his movements, just as Moroboshi
predicted.
He stopped his sideways evasion, faced the scattered Raiou
strikes aimed at him, and started running.
Just as he was about to take a direct hit, he dropped to the
ground like a crawling animal to get past the Raiou.
“Wow..!”
“He’s doing the unthinkable as usual. Passing through a gap
like that!”
“It’s possible because it’s Onii-sama!”
Once he slipped through that, he was in range to cross swords.
It was close range.
Having closed the range so much, Ikki could now launch
attacks as well.
Both of them moved so quickly that only the trails left by their
swords were visible.
Touka fought back well, but no longer had any opportunity to
resheathe her blade.
And when Touka is unable to sheathe her blade, she cannot
bring out the strongest close range noble art she boasts, Raikiri.
(This is good…!)
Ikki thought this while carrying out an orthodox Raikiri
countermeasure.
Ikki understood the power of Raikiri from personal experience.
Only by using Ittou Rasetsu to put his all into one daring strike
was he able to overcome Raikiri before.
Since he was preparing for a match with Stella, he would be
unable to use such abilities. In order to beat Touka, he had to
first ensure that she could not use Raikiri.
If it was used on him, he would lose right then and there.
Thus in that manner, he would pressure her with swordplay
and suppress Raikiri.
(I’ve got this! My swing speed is faster…!)
Though Touka’s attacks were sharp as well, they were a far cry
from Ikki’s, which mirrored those of Twin-Wings.
As long as it didn’t come to a sword lock, he shouldn’t have to
worry about being shocked either.
(At this rate, I can overwhelm her!)
Ikki made up his mind. He shifted forward again and put his
power into the sword.
Then, suddenly, he struck out like a flying swallow and forced
Touka’s Narukami to the side.
(Alright, she’s off balance!)
After exchanging blows with Touka, he had finished measuring
the speed of her swings.
With her sword pushed to such a position, she would not be
able to block his strike.
Next, Ikki would-
(I’ve got her here! It’s decided!)
Believing so, Ikki struck forward again-
Rather, he tried to.
(!?!?)
Immediately after, a sharp numbness ran up his neck.
It was sixth sense he’d honed by toeing the line between life
and death so many times warning him.
At this warning, Ikki's body ignored his previous assumption
and moved- Touka's sword had moved faster than Ikki's
expectation and, just barely, had managed to return to defend.
(That’s crazy…!)
Based on Touka’s swing speed, the speed of that counter was
impossible.
Ikki gulped in astonishment.
What on earth was that?
Ikki thought about the unexpected counterattack.
However, Touka wasn’t about to wait around for Ikki to think.
Narukami and Intetsu clashed once again.
From the contact point, Touka channeled an electrical attack
into Ikki.
“...Ah!”
Zap! Sparks crackled between Narukami and Intetsu as
electricity ran through Ikki.
Though his skin wasn’t burned thanks to Illusionary form,
receiving a shock made his muscles spasm intensely and cry
out in pain.
In the end, his movements were stopped instantly.
Touka took aim at this opportunity-!
She raised Narukami overhead nimbly, and struck down at Ikki.
However, Ikki had baited that attack out.
(She's flustered!)
Just as Touka began her strike, Ikki steeled his writhing body.
Using the full body control he had cultivated, he took control of
his heart and forcibly restored function to his peripheral
nervous system.
Recovering from the shock in that instant, Ikki avoided the
strike towards his head with the smallest possible sidestep.
Thinking that the shock had immobilized him, his opponent
had gone for a finishing blow.
It was a move made after seeing through Touka's thoughts,
outplaying her thoroughly.
That was Ikki's chance-or it should have been.
"Ku!?!?"
Once again, Ikki's predictions were overturned by Touka's
blade.
This time, having sidestepped Narukami, Ikki did not need to
lock swords with Touka, which prevented her from using the
same move again. Their close range battle continued in this
manner.
Ikki would have to rethink his close range tactics from square
one.
Despite being able to clearly surpass her swing speed, he could
not land a decisive blow on Touka.
Moreover, Ikki was slowly starting to fall behind.
The cause must be…
(This switching around!)
Ikki saw it in her movements while being pressured.
Touka’s blade would strike out with the sharpness of the
legendary sword technique Swallow Counter, then return with
unnatural speed, leaving a trail like a flash of lightning.
Squeezed into the moments between blows, these strikes threw
off Ikki’s rhythm.
This was the technique Touka Toudou had polished in order to
win at this year’s tournament. By creating a special magnetic
field around her, she could use electromagnetic attraction and
repulsion to move her sword at speeds exceeding the limits of
her body. It was her Noble Art, Inazuma, devised as a counter to
Yuudai Moroboshi’s superhuman technique, Houkiboshi.
The burden on the wrist made it impossible to use it
haphazardly, but by occasionally mixing it in while trading
blows, she could interrupt her opponent’s rhythm. Once their
rhythm was interrupted, forcing them back was simple!
“Aha!”
“Ku!”
Touka lunged at Ikki’s chest.
In order to avoid the blow, Ikki threw himself backwards,
ending up outside of engagement range.
He escaped with his tail between his legs.
“Onii-sama…!”
Ikki had been forced out of his comfortable range.
Shizuku realized this and let her worry show, while on the side
Moroboshi’s expression hardened.
It was only natural. Ikki knew well the close range superiority
of Twin-Wings' sword, which he had learned. That being said,
someone had pushed it back.
(This girl is... powerful. She can’t be compared to herself from
last year.)
Not intending to let Ikki get away, Touka stayed hot on his
heels, keeping up the pursuit.
(Kurogane-kun. Your sword sword skills are certainly amazing.
When I saw your match with Moroboshi-san on TV, I got
goosebumps. Your techniques don’t even seem human.
However!)
That much was expected of Blazers.
It was incredible that Ikki had gotten this far on physical skill
alone.
However, that was a product of Ikki’s circumstances, having
not been blessed in terms of Blazer power.
Touka and other Blazers hadn’t needed such single minded
focus on martial artistry in order to reach this point.
If they simply used their magic power along with their abilities,
then surpassing an ordinary person was no big deal.
His skill alone would not be enough.
With sword techniques that merely surpassed average people...
(Forget Stella-san, he can’t even handle me…!)
“Gah…!?”
In response to Touka’s fierce attack, Ikki stayed on the
defensive.
Beyond avoiding clashing, Ikki was forced to constantly retreat.
In the end, that turned out badly for him.
“Ah!?!”
Suddenly, while jumping away, Ikki’s balance wavered.
What had happened?
The answer was under his feet.
Shizuku and the other spectators looked on with dismay.
(That’s what was left behind when he took Kaga-san’s attack!)
(No way! His foot got caught in the cracked part of the ring! An
attack is coming, Ikki!)
(...No, this is-)
“Haaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
As Arisuin expected, Touka took the opportunity and attacked
with all her spirit and might.
Having caught his foot in the broken ring, Ikki’s balance was off
and he was not able to defend. However, with a dull ‘Gagi!’ the
two returned to having their swords locked.
Of course, Touka followed that with a lightning blast.
“Bzzt!”
With a soft bursting sound accompanied by sparks, Ikki’s right
arm and upper body snapped back from the shock. Touka saw a
decisive opening.
(This is it!)
Touka decided to unleash her trump card.
Touka had already seen Ikki’s resilience towards electrocution
earlier.
A mere slash would simply be dodged. However, even if he
were to dodge Raikiri, her supersonic blade would hit Ikki with
a blast through the air.
At close range, the damage from receiving that would be able to
take down any single human.
There was no reason to hesitate.
Believing this, Touka returned Narukami to its scabbard.
“Eh!?!?”
To be more accurate, she tried to.
However, she was unable to.
Why? Well, the reason was in Narukami’s scabbard.
Right at the opening of the scabbard and the tip of the sword,
preventing the sword from returning to the scabbard, was a
small chip from the broken ring!
(!!!)
In that moment, Touka realized that she had been trapped.
Ikki’s foot had not gotten caught on the broken part of the ring.
In order to kick up a shard from the ring, he had stuck his foot
in a crack. Then, while he was bending back due to the electric
shock, he launched the shard into the gap
between Narukami and its scabbard.
This prevented the resheathing of the sword, leaving Touka
defenseless.
“Ka, Ha-”
In that instant, Ikki finished recovering from the shock and cut
Touka at the throat.
◆◇◆◇◆
After receiving such a fatal wound, Touka felt that she was
about to lose her consciousness and collapse.
However, with sheer force of will, she managed to stay on one
knee and addressed the victorious Ikki.
“To think that Raikiri would be defeated in such a manner…”
“It’s a surprise attack that will only ever work once, though.”
Touka smiled bitterly.
Using a shard from the ring to block her scabbard was
definitely a surprise. She wouldn’t let it happen again.
However, reading her intent to use Raikiri and then using the
damage to the ring was nothing short of creative.
Even during their fierce sword fight, he’d had the ability to
nonchalantly lead her to a predetermined location.
Most impressively, he had completely deceived her ability to
directly read intentions from biological signals in order to get
his plan past her, taking decisive action without letting her
realize anything.
Without a doubt, that was the power of Ikki’s experience.
Ikki’s strength definitely consisted of more than just
swordplay.
He had widened her view. He was constantly thinking about
the best way to win.
(I’ve been thinking only about sword techniques this whole
time.)
“Amazing. Even though I came to help you train, I ended up
learning from you instead.”
“Learning from me? I’m only fighting this way because I can’t
afford to reveal my hand… Toudou-san. Thank you for having
this match with me.”
“Oh, don’t men-”
“Alright, alright. It’s very Japanese of you to be throwing
thanks around, but face me, Ikki.”
Something hard prodded Ikki in the back with an audible
thunk.
It was Moroboshi’s device, Tora-ou.
“That was an interesting path to victory you took, though I’m
not surprised. After all, you turned the tables on me in similar
fashion, didn’t you?”
Ikki turned his attention from Touka to Moroboshi and nodded
slightly.
“That I did. You and I have a similarly sneaky way of thinking.”
“Haha. Of course. I’m a merchant from Naniwa.”
Even while he laughed deeply at Ikki’s jesting, Moroboshi
flipped Tora-ou around, pointing its tip at Ikki.
“I will be the last. Since you have a match today, I will not use
Tiger Bite, hehe. I’ll tire you out in a good way. I’ll take this
opportunity to pay you back for the first round. Are you
ready?”
Moroboshi wore a boorish grin on his face.
However, even as he played with his expression and words, the
fire in his eyes was honest.
Even while feeling thankful for the warm feelings Ikki saw
flickering in Moroboshi’s eyes, he raised his sword.
“Let’s do this.”
◆◇◆◇◆
It was time for a mock battle with Moroboshi. The beginning
proved much calmer than his battle with Touka.
It was natural, as Ikki and Moroboshi were knights with similar
styles at heart.
He wouldn’t engage in long range combat with magic the way
Touka had.
Basically, until he entered spear range, he wouldn’t attack.
(At least, that’s what I’d like to think, but he seems like he
might throw his spear.)
Even though Moroboshi hadn’t entered spear range, Ikki could
not let his guard down at all.
While paying meticulous attention, Ikki circled around
Moroboshi.
All that time, Moroboshi’s gaze never left Ikki.
Tora-ou, which had been lowered, tracked Ikki’s heart with its
tip.
(Facing him again, the pressure really is incredible.)
There was no point at which he could break into Moroboshi’s
range.
(I don’t think I can use speed to disturb his zone like I did in the
tournament’s first round.)
Ikki reasoned this out.
He was referring to how close his victory against Moroboshi in
the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival had been.
That victory had been less through true power and more about
a surprise attack. Moroboshi hadn’t known enough about Ikki,
which let Ikki get a major cut in on him before his eyes had
gotten used to Ikki’s speed.
The bleeding from that cut had lowered his oxygen circulation.
With his eyesight weakened by that, Moroboshi had been
unable to follow Ikki’s sudden acceleration.
However, Moroboshi was different now.
He was in perfect condition, and moreover, he now knew about
Ikki’s use of Twin-Wings' style.
Relying on speed to attack such an opponent was dangerous.
(However-)
Right, even so, in the end, it was the same as in his match with
Touka.
Dangerous or not, Ikki did not have many options to choose
from.
He had his own fighting distance. Take the battle to the range
of a sword, and cut them down.
Besides that, he had no other way of fighting.
That said…
(He’s scary.)
Moroboshi’s pressure was certainly strong.
However, if he flinched from just this, he would never be able
to approach Stella.
If there was no hope of victory given by his opponent,
(I must go, without fear!)
Ikki steeled his heart and accelerated, running up to Moroboshi.
In response, Moroboshi took a deep breath.
“...!”
As Ikki stepped into his spear’s range, Moroboshi unleashed
three lethal thrusts towards him in the blink of an eye.
It was Moroboshi’s high speed strike, Sanrensei.
Ikki took them on with lightning-like slashes, which left only
afterimages in his vision.
The downpour of steel was like that of falling stars.
He pushed forward, trying to cut through, but…
(This is…!)
Try as he might, he could not advance.
Countless Sanrensei strikes rained down in a flurry.
The speed and density of the strikes were beyond comparing
with those in the previous match.
Even using Twin-Wings' technique, he could just barely repel
the strikes.
“Are you surprised? Kurogane.”
“...!”
“During the tournament, I was using Sanrensei as bait for Tiger
Bite. You prepared to enter my range by depending on your
speed. However, if I don’t mix in Houkiboshi, don’t use Tiger
Bite, and focus on speed, even I am capable of this much. If you
can get through, then show me!”
“Ku…”
His voice was full of confidence.
He was by no means overestimating his own ability.
Slipping through Moroboshi’s thrusts would be no easy matter.
(There are no gaps during which I could recover. This is not like
Sanrensei so much as it is a meteor shower.)
The downpour of steel like a falling star had no gaps.
Put simply, stepping into range would be impossible.
That being the case, Ikki used a technique.
It was his technique where he moved left and right at a high
pace, generating afterimages to deceive his foe.
Fourth Secret Sword- Shinkirou. It was the technique that had
caused Moroboshi grief during the tournament.
With this, Ikki would press Moroboshi to choose between-
“Don’t underestimate me!”
“!?”
Ikki’s shallow plan was crushed in an instant.
Ikki used Shinkirou to send an afterimage right while he moved
to the left, but in that instant, Tora-ou bent with deceptive
agility, adjusting its trajectory to follow the real Ikki.
Ikki managed to turn the attack with a hair’s breadth of space.
“Oraaa!!!”
“Ku, oof!”
Moroboshi used all his strength to strike at Intetsu when Ikki
blocked, sending Ikki’s body flying to the edge of the ring.
Moroboshi then smiled daringly at Ikki, who just managed to
break the fall.
“If you try to create illusions, I’ll have my spear in you in an
instant. I already know the movements you use to set up that
technique. Don’t think you can get the same move past a first
class fighter like me again. That’s naive of you.”
“...Eh? Didn’t it work twice, Botan-chan?”
“Yeah, that’s why he lost in the first round.”
“So he’s second-rate.”
“Sh-shut up! Onlookers stay quiet!”
Moroboshi objected to their disruption.
Even then, he remained vigilant towards Ikki.
It seemed obvious that he would; Ikki was grasping his sword
strongly as if to say it wouldn’t be over after just that.
(I still have a way to get out of spear range!)
Ikki rushed at Moroboshi for the second time.
“You’re incorrigible! That said, even if you’re caught, this is
your only way, huh!”
Moroboshi prepared to combat this approach from spear
distance again.
He wasted no energy while Ikki was out of range, but the
moment Ikki entered his zone, he swooped in like a raging fire.
Fundamentally, Moroboshi preferred this kind of patient spear
technique.
That’s what Ikki decided to aim for.
The first blow Moroboshi would put out as he approached.
(I’ll hit his interception with Dokuga no Tachi!)
He raised his sword diagonally above his head. His sixth secret
sword- Dokuga no Tachi.
It sends shockwaves into the enemy through the Device,
attacking them from the inside.
It was an attack that passed through weapons.
Unlike Shinkirou, he hadn’t shown this technique to
Moroboshi.
Therefore, the first attack should definitely get by-
“What might this be?”
“...?”
Ikki was left astonished the instant his Dokuga no Tachi
intercepted Tora-ou.
Moroboshi had quickly withdrawn his spear.
Then, aiming at Ikki, who was full of openings after being faked
out, he struck out again.
“As if I’d take such a poisoned strike!”
“Ku, Uoooooo!!!”
Immediately after, that light of strength leaving someone,
Blood Light, danced in the air.
Moroboshi’s strike had caught Ikki.
However, it had not been a serious wound.
It had only slightly scratched his side.
To pull that off, Ikki had used the hilt of Intetsu to strike the
blade of Tora-ou and turn its trajectory.
He then promptly escaped out of spear range.
“Skillful as usual.”
“What makes you say it was poisoned? You should not have
seen this technique before.”
“It’s because you left your weight behind unnaturally. I just got
a bad feeling from that.”
“...I see.”
Ikki laughed bitterly at that.
Even though he’d intended to make an opening, somehow
there’d been another oversight.
He suddenly understood then.
(Tactics that expect mistakes from the enemy won’t work on
this man.)
Perhaps it was due to the lack of tension during a mock battle,
but Moroboshi's concentration had too few holes.
He had been in a natural stance this whole time, leaving no
openings to attack.
In that case… There was only one thing left to do.
Having decided thus, Ikki brought Intetsu into Seigan no
Kamae and focused on Moroboshi with both eyes.
“---”
Moroboshi observed Ikki’s gaze and stance.
“What’s that? The nature of his pressure has changed.”
Moroboshi’s veteran 6th sense immediately sensed something.
(His back foot is well planted. He can’t dash effectively from
that stance.)
Just as Moroboshi had judged, Ikki’s third approach was
different from those until now; this time he approached slowly.
Without changing from Seigan no Kamae[3], Ikki shuffled
forwards slowly, feet never leaving the ground.
“What’s wrong? If you move at such a turtle-like pace, you’ll be
filled with holes the moment you get in range.”
“---”
Ikki showed no response to Moroboshi’s provocation.
Ignoring him-that wasn’t quite it.
(He’s simply not listening. He can’t even hear me.)
After looking at Ikki’s eyes, he understood.
He wouldn’t respond to sound.
With his eyes focused on Moroboshi, he would just slowly
advance and close the gap.
(When focus exceeds normal limits, you become unable to hear
anything around you, and also become unable to perceive color.
I’ve experienced being in that zone before...)
Well, if it was the man before him, he could probably enter that
state intentionally.
The problem was, what was he thinking, using that focus?
With such slow movements, what was he trying to start?
Finally, Ikki’s toes encroached upon Moroboshi’s domain.
(Tch, I’m so confused! But what I have to do doesn’t change!)
Moroboshi made his move.
Focusing on speed, he unleashed a violent storm of steel.
Ikki blocked it in the same way as before, with Intetsu flying in
to deflect the spear.
The sound of weapons clashing. The rain of sparks. It was
exactly the same as earlier.
“!?!?”
Moroboshi felt it in the hand wielding Tora-ou first.
There was an abnormal weight coming from this opponent.
It felt like a massive tree rooted in the earth.
No matter how many times he struck, Ikki would not back off
like he had earlier.
He didn’t dodge horizontally either.
With his eyes fixed on Moroboshi, he advanced straight
forwards, bit by bit. Only forwards.
“...!”
Seeing his form, Moroboshi understood Ikki’s idea.
(This guy, he didn’t have a specific plan or anything…! He cut
off nonessential senses, lowered strength spent on things other
than movement as much as possible, and put all his focus into
his sword…! I’ll put my all into my blade and break through
with all my strength!)
He wasn’t an opponent you could get past with a half hearted
plan and a cheap trick.
Knowing that, he would meet the blade that Ikki honed with
his all.
Ikki understood his own weakness, and made use of everything
before his eyes for victory.
Contrary to that, when it mattered, he had the courage to trust
in his own strength.
At a glance, these two seem contradictory.
The one who united them was Worst One Ikki Kurogane.
He is aware of his weakness.
Despite that, he believes that he can be stronger than anyone.
To achieve this, he does everything he can.
That everything resides in the black blade he grasped in both
hands.
Therefore, Ikki Kurogane would no longer back down. He
would no longer run.
If it was himself, it was possible.
Believing that, he advanced slowly, but surely, towards Yuudai
Moroboshi.
This was no last stand. Nor was it a desperate attack.
Absolute Victory. He held such a conviction.
His pressure was fierce.
“Guh!?”
He overwhelmed Moroboshi soundly, driving him into a corner
of the rectangular arena.
“Awesome, Onii-sama! To drive that Moroboshi-san against a
wall head on!”
“Forwards, slowly, but surely. He did it through incredible
pressure.”
“Yeah. That said… Kurogane-kun’s stance is also amazing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Against Moroboshi-san, without being shifted laterally or
front-to-back, he maintained a straight trajectory. It makes it
hard on the attacker. Anyway, he guarded with his blade well
centered in Seigan no Kamae and made it difficult to attack,
and his opponent did not change his stance at all, continuously
aiming for a fatal strike at the same place, from the same angle.
He inevitably ended up repeating the same motion. As a result-
”
Right after that, red light fluttered in the ring.
It was Blood Light spilling from Ikki’s limbs.
It was just a graze, though.
And surely enough, Moroboshi also understood the ‘result’ that
Touka pointed out.
(I’ve shown too much motion! He’s optimizing his strength and
approach to repel me!)
Precisely. If one ends up repeating the same attack, then you’ll
end up exposing it.
The power, angle, and speed necessary to deflect the enemy
was all shown in detail.
And now Ikki had analyzed it and optimized.
While avoiding any fatal wounds, Ikki used the minimum
defence necessary, contracting his defensive movements as
much as he could, making his attack and defense stronger than
before, and stepping into Moroboshi’s zone.
Forwards. Powerfully. Quickly.
“Moroboshi-san lost his patience after being backed into a
corner. He’s attacking unreasonably out of impatience!”
That was Touka’s prediction.
“Come no closer!”
It came true in the next instant.
Moroboshi sent a single flashing strike flying towards Ikki.
Because of his impatience, he sent his elbow too far to return
easily, making it a sloppy thrust.
Without any spirit put into it, the strike lacked power and aim.
“!!!”
Ikki didn’t overlook that.
“Shit-”
By the time Moroboshi realized his misplay, it was too late.
Ikki stepped forwards with the sloppy thrust, letting his own
shoulder be pierced.
Using his own body he trapped Tora-ou, denying Moroboshi
any counterattack.
“Haaaaaa!!!”
With Tora-ou stuck in his shoulder, he broke into Moroboshi’s
space and thrust his blade into his heart.
◆◇◆◇◆
“Damn… Lost again!”
Moroboshi cried as his heart was pierced, and with his strength
drained he collapsed on the floor spread eagled.
“Damnit… I thought I’d be able to win this time, too.”
“At the… real… match… this wouldn’t do…”
Ikki’s words, spoken while gasping for air, were not born of
humility.
In reality, the fight just now Moroboshi had, worrying about
Ikki who had low magic power, held back Tiger Bite. He
couldn’t go all out on the contestant who was about to go into a
big match. Even in that state, they had devoted as much power
as they could.
Ikki knew this after crossing swords with him.
So, with Moroboshi included, Ikki once again thanked all his
friends who had gathered today.
“Moroboshi-san. Everyone else as well. I am truly thankful. I
have gained valuable experience before my match with Stella.”
“I don’t need thanks. You can return this favor by returning as
the champion.”
“Isn’t that a little unreasonable?”
“Are you not confident?”
Moroboshi asked Ikki while sitting up, and after a brief silence,
Ikki nodded slightly.
“Honestly, I think this fight is going to be the toughest thing
I’ve done in my life. I can’t say I’m confident… But I’ll give it
everything I have.”
“That won’t do, you big idiot.”
Moroboshi prodded Ikki in the head with Tora-ou’s hilt.
Then he spoke in a chiding tone.
“This is the stage you’ve always aimed for. You can’t take it
with such half hearted feelings. No matter how strong your
opponent was, you must always enter the ring believing that
you will win, 100%. Even if you don’t have confidence, force it
out. You can think about losing after you lose. If you end up
losing, that’s all you’ll be able to think about anyway.”
“Moroboshi-san…”
“If you still don’t feel confident, I’ll stick with you until you do.
So, do me a favor and don’t say such a pitiful thing.”
Everyone gathered there today for Ikki silently agreed with
Moroboshi’s sentiment.
They all had the same expectations as Moroboshi.
“If you’ll go that far for me, I’ll take you up on your offer. Will
you accompany me a little longer?”
“Hehe, then, how about we go again after a rest?”
“Yeah, sure-”
With a heavy scraping sound, the training area’s fire exit
opened.
“!!!”
A cold, wintry wind blew in and brushed against everyone
inside.
They all noticed immediately.
This was not cold air, but that crisp swordsmanship that made
one get the chills.
At least someone in there recognized that aura.
Could it be?
Thinking that, they turned to the door.
“What is it? Every one of you looks dumbfounded.”
With eyes as sharp as those of a bird of prey, glaring at all
present, was a tall man with long hair.
Sword Emperor of Wind, Ouma Kurogane, stood there.
“O, Ouma!?”
“Why are you…!?”
Nobody was able to hide their surprise at the unexpected
newcomer.
Ouma saw this and tossed the sack he’d been carrying on his
shoulder onto the floor.
“I’m here for the same reason most of you are. I got a text
asking for a training partner before the finals.”
“Eh, er, is that so? Onii-sama.”
Shizuku looked back at Ikki in surprise, who nodded.
What he said was true.
Besides Moroboshi and Touka, he had also contacted Ouma.
Of course, he had only done it because there was no harm in
trying.
Ouma had never acted for Ikki’s sake before, after all.
“I didn’t think that you would actually come, so I can’t help but
be surprised.”
“It’s only because I’m free, since I had planned to fight in the
finals. Also… I thought that I’d see your power myself.”
“My… power?”
“After all, it’s F-rank vs A-rank. Your defeat is all but decided by
the fate. I have no interest in such a spectacle. It’s just… To
have even survived with such a meager power, until you were
able to stand in front of that dragon… It is my duty as your
older brother to beat the dullness out of you before you are
killed.”
Ouma’s whole body then welled up with wind magic, which he
focused into his right hand, manifesting his device, the
nodachi Ryuuzume.
“...!”
When he manifested Ryuuzume, the aura he emitted became
much sharper.
Shizuku felt disquieted, and immediately moved in front of Ikki
as if to protect him.
No- More accurately, she tried to.
However, Ikki stopped her by putting his hand on her shoulder.
Even as Shizuku’s eyes shook with worry, Ikki told her “It’s
alright,” and stood in front of Ouma.
“Thank you for coming. Brother.”
“Cut the idle chatter and prepare already. I’m not here to chit-
chat.”
(As usual, not even a hint of friendliness.)
Even as he smiled wryly, just by feeling the pressure he felt just
from standing in front of Ouma, he found himself in awe.
(Amazing…)
He had felt the intimidating aura the first time they had faced
each other.
Ouma’s body seemed twice as big.
It was clear that he was a cut above fighters like Moroboshi and
Touka.
Ikki’s palms began to sweat.
However, the thought of backing down didn’t even occur to
him.
After all… there was some truth in what Ouma said. If he
couldn’t fight off Ouma, then he had no chance of prevailing
against Stella.
Might as well start praying then.
For the purpose of forcing life back into Ikki when he was
feebly panicking in fear of Stella, there was no better opponent.
Ikki shook off the sweat from his palms once, and took
up Intetsu in his grasp once again.
“Let’s do this…!”
◆◇◆◇◆
Ouma made the first move as the start was announced.
With his kimono sleeves fluttering, he moved to close the
distance to Ikki directly.
Ikki was not idle, however.
He kicked off the floor to meet Ouma.
Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to simply attack Ouma
straight on like that.
He knew what kind of superhuman physical endurance and
strength Ouma’s mad training had granted him.
Therefore-
“That’s…!”
Moroboshi, watching from the sides, noticed.
The instant Ikki entered the nodachi’s range, he changed his
step, adding sudden changes to his speed.
Moroboshi knew that technique well.
Ikki used those movements to confuse his opponent’s vision
and create afterimages.
It was the Shinkirou he spread around him.
And, according to Ikki’s plan, Ouma snapped at the
afterimages.
With one breath he swung Ryuuzume down from above as if
cutting bamboo, cutting Ikki in half.
However, he had cut an afterimage.
As a result, he exposed himself to a flank from the real Ikki.
"He got him!"
Moroboshi clenched his fist upon seeing Ikki take the initiative.
Next to him though, Raikiri was squinting while taking her
glasses off.
“No, not quite.”
She pointed out a mistake in Moroboshi’s analysis.
Ouma knew his next move from the signals his body gave him.
“!!!”
Without bringing his lowered blade back up, he took a low,
diagonal swing.
Using that force, Ouma rammed Ikki with his shoulder.
“Shoulder charge…! He even read through Shinkirou!”
Ikki used Intetsu, which he was going to attack with, to block
instead.
However, Ouma was heavier than he looked.
The shock of a nearly five hundred kilogram man’s ramming
attack was easily lethal.
“...!”
With the low sound of two people colliding, Ikki’s body was
pushed back and he stumbled backwards with his balance
destroyed.
Ouma swooped down on Ikki like a raging fire.
Without giving Ikki any time to recover his stance, he fired off
several slashes and stabs.
Fast.
It approached Moroboshi’s Sanrensei in speed.
Without taking a breath, he fired off 10, 20, an endless barrage
of attacks.
Such astounding rotation-Shizuku recognized it.
“Kyokujitsu Isshin-ryuu, Retsu no kiwami Amatsukaze...[4]!”
“What the heck is that?”
“It’s a secret technique within the Kyokujitsu Isshin-ryuu style
passed through the generations in the Kurogane family. It’s a
continuous 108 strike combination.”
From the first strike to the 108th, everything from the angle
and power of each strike was tuned for efficiency.
By repeating them over and over countless times and carving
them to his very core, he was able to abolish all thoughts and
bring out the fastest speed that his flesh and blood body could
handle. It was meant to crush the opponent with an
overwhelming number of strikes.
“There’s no better technique than this to defeat someone whose
stance has been broken…!”
“But if I’m not mistaken, didn’t Ikki grow strong by stealing the
techniques of others? In which case he should definitely know
of a technique passed among the Kurogane, shouldn’t he?”
“...I don’t know. All of this talk is over my head. But… even if he
does, with just that he can’t do anything about this assault.”
Just as Shizuku said, in the face of Ouma’s overwhelming speed,
Ikki could not even bring Intetsu to face the attacks. He had to
do everything he could just to dodge Ouma’s fierce onslaught.
He definitely wouldn’t be able to turn the attack in this
situation.
Bringing about such a situation was the point of Amatsukaze,
after all.
With almost excessively optimized constant attacks, it held
down the enemy, preventing them from taking any actions.
Now, Ikki was completely stuck in that situation.
That’s how it seemed, looking from outside.
However-
(He’s waiting for something...)
Even as Ikki was being overwhelmed by Ouma’s strikes, Touka
Toudou saw a glint of cleverness in Ikki’s eyes.
He was being neither held down nor overwhelmed.
He was waiting for something.
That something was an opening in Amatsukaze.
No matter how much time had gone into developing such a
technique, in the end, it was created by humans.
Creating something perfect was impossible.
And if it was anything short of perfect, Ikki’s penetrating
insight wouldn’t miss it.
It wasn't a first sighting either, especially since it was the
Kurogane style, which he’d spent the most time watching.

“---”
Suddenly, a particularly sharp sound rang out, and the
situation changed.
After that sound, the one who was thrown off balance was
Ouma.
Ikki had pulled out his seventh secret sword, Raikou.
It was a technique with such speed that, before he had grasped
what he’d stolen from Twin-Wings, he hadn’t been able to
discern its swing by sight.
Worst One’s fastest strike had been further refined by Twin-
Wings' swordsmanship, and in the instant between Sword
Emperor of Wind’s Amatsukaze’s fifty-seventh and fifty-eighth
strike, Ikki cut in with a strike to Ryuuzume’s side, ruining the
combination.
After he disrupted the combination, Ikki launched a full body
attack at Ouma, whose stance had been broken.
It was a slash with all his weight thrown behind it.
Moroboshi noticed something in that motion.
(The way he’s using his weight is just like the time he fought
me.)
It was his sixth secret sword-Dokuga no Tachi.
Whether it strikes sword or armor, the opponent would be
destroyed from within starting at the point of contact.
Using this technique, he could render Ouma’s steel body
meaningless.
Not knowing that, Ouma took Ikki’s attack without blocking or
dodging, accepting it with his tempered body.
His body was attacked from within as if it were a bag of water.
The shock that entered Ouma had nowhere to escape, and so it
ran over his muscles, bones, and organs-
“Tenryuugusoku”
“...!”
The shock should have hit him, but Ouma looked like he didn’t
even care.
Dokuga no Tachi had not failed.
The vibrations from his blade had definitely made it to Ouma.
However, Ouma had not been moved.
That was, in short, what made Ouma Kurogane a terror.
He had a force of will that transcended flesh.
He hadn’t spared any effort, realizing his resolution with steel-
like sense of purpose.
Half-hearted attacks would not even be noticed.
Far from crying out in pain, without swaying even a little, he’d
clad his body in the stormy armor Tenryuugusoku.
Then, Ouma reached past Intetsu, which had been touching his
chest, and sent Ikki flying back.
Ikki’s body tumbled in the air like he’d been hit by a car.
Aiming for his landing spot, Ouma
swung Ryuuzume horizontally from where he was.
With the sharp sound of cutting through air, he released a
vacuum blade.
It flew towards Ikki’s landing spot, with just the right trajectory
to strike Ikki’s neck.
However, Ikki ended up deciding not to evade.
“Fu.”
Ikki took the impact of the landing by sinking into his knees,
lowering his body.
He bent as far as he could, then released the energy coiled in his
lower body.
With enough power to gouge the ring, he kicked the ground
and thrust Intetsu’s tip at the incoming vacuum blade.
First secret sword-Saigeki.
Within Another One’s original sword techniques, it boasted the
fastest charging speed and the strongest penetration. With that
thrust, Ikki met the vacuum blade head on and destroyed it
with all his strength, sending the force right back at Ouma like
an arrow.
Ouma had tried to use Tenryuugusoku to form a gap and
engage in long range combat, but Ikki's speed completely
destroyed that plan. He would unable to respond to Ikki
charging back into range again with such timing-supposedly.
However…!
(It’s no use!)
Touka and the other spectators all shivered.
At the same time, Ikki noticed it too.
When he destroyed the vacuum blade, the distortion
disappeared from his field of vision.
Ouma brandished Ryuuzume, twisting as far as to face his back
towards Ikki.
Everyone knew what technique would be fired from that
stance.
Kyokujitsu Isshin-ryuu, Jin no kiwami- Amaterasu[5].
It was a secret technique where he used his whole body’s
strength to twist his frame down to the bone, then slashed by
releasing that wound up power. Though it was but one stroke,
unlike Ikki’s Blade Steal, this, Sword Emperor of Wind’s fastest
strike, was more truly within the territory of Twin-Wings.
Moreover, Amaterasu was not long ranged, but a close ranged
attack.
Ouma had understood.
After breaking through the vacuum blade, Ikki would
immediately return to sword distance.
Having read his opponent, he amassed his power and waited.
This was the worst development for Ikki.
Saigeki was an assault technique. He had put all of his power
into the starting kick, as it was a technique that shot oneself
like an arrow towards its target.
Therefore, once in the middle of Saigeki, it would not be
possible to stop.
Ikki could now only move forwards.
As Ouma’s Amaterasu would win in reach and
speed, Ryuuzume would behead Ikki before Ikki’s blade reached
him.
However-
Ikki was not such a naive man as to be unable to improvise in a
pinch.
“Wha…!?”
In the next moment, the spectators all widened their eyes in
surprise.
In the instant Ouma fired Amaterasu, Ikki
pointed Intetsu down and stabbed the tip into the ground.
As a result, Saigeki’s assault pitched forward, launching Ikki
over Ouma’s head like a pole vaulter. He then kicked off the
ceiling hard enough to break it, and once again charged at
Ouma with Saigeki.
Amaterasu was a technique in which one devotes their all into
one move’s speed.
That meant it left one vulnerable until it ended, leaving Ouma
unable to avoid this Saigeki.
...Direct hit.
The close range Saigeki pierced Ouma’s wind armor,
Tennryuugusoku, and Ikki’s sword dug in right above his
collarbone.
That was by no means a random target.
Ikki had seen through Ouma’s muscle shape and density based
on his movements, and attacked so as to slip through a gap.
He realized that without doing so, his offensive power would
not be enough to pierce Ouma’s body.
His judgement was correct.
Even something like Touka using her Takemikazuchi was
unable to cut Ouma. The only one who could damage him with
a simple slash would probably be someone as powerful as
Stella.
However, the plan hadn’t gone that well. Intetsu had not cut
muscle. It had seemed to pierce Ouma, but before it turned into
a serious wound, Ouma had flexed his muscles. His swelling
muscles caught the blade as if it had been tucked in there.
Ikki immediately tried to extract his sword.
However, the cost of not bringing Ouma down was too great.
Ouma grabbed Ikki by the lapels before Ikki even landed on the
floor, then threw him onto the ring with his full power.
“!!!”
Ikki’s body made a large, deep depression in the hard stone
ring.
He just barely managed to use an ukemi, distributing the
impact into the ring, but his stance was left in a terrible state,
with one knee propping him up on the ground.
Ouma struck there, putting his full body weight into a
downward swing.
Ikki also brought up Intetsu to bear.
Unfortunately, his stance was too poor.
With a position like that, there was no way he could take a blow
with Ouma’s weight.
“Onii-samaaa!”
Ouma crushed Ikki along with Intetsu with his weighted blow.
But in the moment it seemed that would happen, something
nobody could believe happened before their eyes.
Somehow, in the next moment, the one who was blown away
was Ouma.
Ouma immediately gathered power in his toes, but couldn’t
stop.
While scraping the surface of the ring, he moved backwards.
Even when he thrust Ryuuzume’s blade into the ground, he
could not fully contain the force-
Not until he finally reached the side of the ring.
◆◇◆◇◆
Ikki had certainly been at a disadvantage.
However, the one retreating had been Ouma.
The spectators outside the ring were all baffled by this turn of
events.
“Wha, what was that just now?”
“I, I don’t know…”
Moroboshi and Touka knew they hadn’t mistaken the statuses
of the combatants.
That only left them all the more confused.
The attack just now clearly far exceeded Ikki’s strength.
What had just happened before them?
Unable to understand even after pondering it, they could only
stare intently at Ouma, who had been forced to the edge of the
ring.
However, there was one person who understood what had just
happened.
It was none other than the one who had been pushed back,
Ouma himself.
He understood the trickery from the numbness in his arms,
and glared irritatedly at Ikki.
“...Such trickery is just like you.”
“But you fell back, brother.”
“...”
“My swordsmanship does not seek to become powerful. It seeks
to win. Therefore, I will do everything I can possible do to
defeat my opponent. Even if my opponent is more powerful
than me, I will win. Even if that seems like trickery to you,
brother, it is the answer that I, the weakest one, came up with.
That is Ikki Kurogane’s swordsmanship. I do not intend to
apologize for it.
Ikki did not avert his gaze from Ouma’s scornful glare.
He boldly threw out his chest, having nothing he felt ashamed
about.
Ikki’s pose made Ouma think.
Even though he couldn’t understand, didn’t want to
understand, that was one of Ikki’s strengths, wasn’t it. Then…
“Are you satisfied with your swordsmanship, having pushed
me to the edge of the arena with stolen techniques?”
He had once again entered the ring, brandishing Ryuuzume.
The blade was clad in wind.
It was a dragon’s claw, clad in a wild tornado.
While his blade shaved parts off the ceiling and walls, Ouma
called out to Ikki.
“Take your stance, Ikki.
I will give you everything I have.
Use everything you have, and show me you can overturn fate.”
“...”
Hearing those words, Ikki showed surprise for a moment.
He never thought this brother of his would accompany him so
far.
However, towards that fighting spirit which brought shivers to
his skin,
“Yes!”
Ikki thanked him sincerely and took up a stance
with Intetsu again.
At some point, his cold sweat had stopped.
◆◇◆◇◆
“...”
When Stella opened her eyes, she found the room full of deep
red light flowing in from the evening sun.
She sat up in bed.
Her eyelids were light, and not so much as a yawn escaped her
mouth.
Her mind was clear, and it even seemed like her vision was
broader.
She threw off her bathrobe and stood in front of a full body
mirror.
It reflected a white body with beautiful curves and proportions.
Without any hesitation, she understood that her blood, cells,
everything was full of energy.
It seemed the excessive amount of food she’d eaten before
sleeping had been stored away without waste by her draconic
body.
There was no mistake. She was in peak condition like she’d
never been before.
Stella felt confident in the heat her body emitted.
Tonight, she would learn things about herself that she didn’t
know.
Well now, everything was ready.
Time to go.
To the ultimate stage, where the strongest opponent would be
waiting.
References
1 Renren is making a pun on Saijou's given name, Ikazuchi (雷),
which can mean lightning god. ↩
2 Happou Nirami, 八方睨み: An all-directional observation
technique. ↩
3 Seigan no Kamae, 正眼の構え: A basic defensive stance with
blade held low, pointing at enemy’s eyes. ↩
4 Kyokujitsu Isshin-ryuu, Retsu no kiwami Amatsukaze, 旭日一
心流・烈の極 天津風: Rising Sun One Mind Style · Highest of
Sequence - Amatsukaze. ↩
5 Kyokujitsu Isshin-ryuu, Jin no kiwami- Amaterasu, 旭日一心
流・迅の極 天照: Rising Sun One Mind Style · Highest of
Swiftness - Amaterasu. ↩
Final Chapter A: The Promised Moment
◆◇◆◇◆
The long summer dusk mingled with the late nightfall, forming
the twilight hours.
Over a million people had gathered in and around the Seven
Stars Sword-Art Festival venue, the Wangan Dome.
However, despite the crowd that had gathered, a heavy silence
loomed over the area.
Nobody uttered a word. They were all waiting.
Finally, in the silence, the dome’s lighting quietly dimmed until
it became dark.

In this darkness, Iida, who was handling live coverage of the

Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival, opened her mouth.
She prepared to pose a question to the crowd.
「Everyone, have you heard of this?
Abusing old fashioned customs like genpuku[1], young children
are treated like adults and forced to kill each other with swords.
That’s such a stupid thing to do.
True strength is in the heart, not reliant on physical strength.
It’s the strength to not fight.
Adults should give their utmost to raise the younger
generations with strong and kind hearts.
...Lately, the public and the Diet have been talking about this
idea.
There are probably many who are aware of it.
And there shouldn’t be a shortage of sympathizers either.
It’s true that the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival is a dangerous
event.
Throughout its long history, the number of student knights
who have lost their lives during matches has not been small.
Though advancements in medical technology have prevented
unfortunate accidents in recent years, the risk has not been
eliminated.
Such criticism is only natural.
I can’t help but sympathize with this as well.
Even so… There is one point that I simply don’t understand.
...Foolish.
But in the end, is that really true?
Sure, force isn’t the only source of power.
There is also true strength in not fighting.
That is also a truth.
However…. In this world, there are dreams that cannot be
fulfilled without taking them by force.
There is pride that can only be shown in battle! To fulfill such
dreams, 32 fighters gathered here of their own accord, from the
whole nation.
Betting their dreams and pride, every single one of them fought
desperately in these 25 matches.
Each one of them was more beautiful than any gem, and more
noble than any epic tale!
Those are my honest thoughts」
In an instant, a sound burst out.
It was the sound of a million people clapping.
They were not accompanied by cheers. It was just solemn
applause for how she had expressed her thoughts.
「Times have changed, and values have evolved. Society is like
that.
Regardless, at the festival known as the Seven Stars Sword-Art
Festival, customs aside, the time had come for the curtain to
rise.
However! We have not forgotten! We definitely must not
forget!
For their pride and dreams, none who come to fight in this
festival can be considered fools!
Betting their lives and following their chivalry, these knights
are our pride!!!」
Another round of applause.
It was stronger this time. It sounded as if it would hurt to clap
that loud.
Even without saying it, the noble image of those who had
fought desperately to chase their dreams had been etched into
the hearts of everyone there.
They were definitely not children. They were no fools.
However the world might change around them, their pride
would not be defiled.
Having shared this thought, Iida announced the beginning.
「So tonight, the two knights who remain after twenty-five
fierce matches, having defeated all thirty-two, no, the best
knights from the eight schools of Japan, will cross swords.
And so, let the final match of the sixty-second Seven Stars
Sword-Art Festival commence!!!」
「「「Woooooooooooo!!!」」」
After waiting for so long, the crowd virtually erupted with
delighted cheers.
The applause from inside and outside of the venue reached an
uproar, completely blowing away the silence that had been
there.
At the same time, the lights in the stadium turned red,
illuminating the red gate.
Guided by the light, below the downpour of applause, appeared
a girl with hair that burned fiery red.
「First, from the red gate, Hagun Academy first year, The
Crimson Princess, contestant Stella Vermillion enters the stage!
Right before the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival began, the
newly created Akatsuki Academy demonstrated its might!
This contestant gathered their members who were in B block,
along with Icy Scorn Mikoto Tsuruya, who placed in the top 8
last year, and cut them all down in one dominating match!
After that she fought the winner of A block in the semifinal, a
knight sharing her A ranking, who hadn’t been seen in matches
in Japan for many years, Sword Emperor of Wind Ouma
Kurogane, and crushed him with overwhelming power!
This is the fastest anyone has ever advanced to these finals!
She is truly a rising dragon!
As the knight who embodies the mythical dragon, will she use
that ultimate power and take the summit of the Seven Stars?」
「Stella-san is sooooo cool!」
「Princess! Just one more win! You can do it!」
「Is Worst One even a real opponent? Crush him under foot!」
Amongst the cheers raining down, Stella faced the ring with a
dignified expression.
As she walked, crimson flames erupted from either side of her.
Of course, that was not Stella’s power at work, but stage
production to stir up the crowd.
Though it was a match between student knights, the Seven
Stars Sword-Art Festival Final was more high profile than any
half-hearted pro league event.
Thus, for the finals, special staging was included, starting from
their entrances.
Then again, even if they were amazing talents who had made it
to the finals, they were still students.
When greeted with fanfare that put pro leagues to shame, it is
normal for the fighters to end up smiling a little.
However, Stella was royalty. As one might expect, she made her
entrance unfazed.
Whether or not she was used to the spotlight, she showed none
of the stiffness or unsteadiness that might’ve betrayed her
nerves.
Without sparing a glance at the flames spouting at her sides,
she looked forward.
While watching Stella’s profile, beautiful even to girls, Renren
inadvertently sighed.
“Stella-chan is so gallant. She’s so tall too, so cool~”
“The staging is amazing too. Isn’t it like a pro match?”
“I guess they do this with the finals every year.”
“President. What do you think? How is Vermillion’s condition?”
Touka, having reconvened with the others, gave Saijou a nod
before answering.
“Hmm. She looks a little more eager, but that is to be expected.
She doesn’t look injured or drained, and her fighting spirit
looks strong. You could say she’s in peak condition.”
Meanwhile, at a different place from the Hagun crew, watching
Stella from the highest rows of audience seating…
“So that is the Crimson Princess? I’ve never seen her in person,
but I see now… She really is remarkable. I could not hope to
match her in magic power.”
Edelweiss, having been accompanied into the dome by
Akatsuki staff, let her admiration show.
Even Tsukikage was surprised by this.
“Even you are going that far?”
“Yes. That girl will, without a doubt, be the one at the center of
the world.”
“Kuku, as expected of my rival, Red Princess Knight.”
“...Is that title a thing?”
As Sara tilted her head questioningly, Stella had reached the
end of the path lit in red and entered the ring.
At the same time, the stadium lighting cut out, enveloping
everything in darkness.
Was it a malfunction?
No, it was more staging, for the entrance of the other main
character.
「Even the Crimson Princess, who is able to use the power of
the dragon at will, has one person whom she has lost to!
I’m sure everyone has seen it at least once on the internet, in
the video of the mock battle that shook the world!
Just as she arrived in Japan to great fanfare, she suffered an
impossible defeat!
And tonight, the Crimson Princess’ opponent will be the very
one who put that blemish on her record.
Should we call this destiny?
If you think so, then this battle may have been preordained
ever since that fateful fight.
Well then, let’s invite the next main actor to enter the stage!
From the blue gate enters fellow Hagun Academy first year,
Another One Ikki Kurogane!!!」
「「「Woooooooooooo!!!」」」
Cheers erupted even louder than they had for Stella’s entrance.
The venue lighting returned again, this time illuminating the
other side with a blue glow.
Where the blue light pointed, accompanied with a cloud of
smoke underfoot, was a black haired young man.
「Within the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival’s sixty years of
history, he is the only F-ranked knight!
Surely, even when he defeated Raikiri and announced himself
to the nation, nobody expected such an incredible man!
But at the same time, you must be thinking, even though he is
amazing, he is still an F-rank.
To have gotten through the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival
with such a risky fighting style is hardly believable.
Not only that, he came from the perilous C block, which
contained last year’s winner and the runner-up.
Having come so far, he is here to win!
Even as he defeated the Seven Stars Sword King Yuudai
Moroboshi in a hard fought battle, he crushed Eye of Heaven
Byakuya Jougasaki with record breaking speed!
After that he faced down Akatsuki Academy’s secret weapon,
A-rank knight Sara Bloodlily’s criminally powerful magic
without yielding, proved his willpower by overcoming Bad
Luck Amane Shinomiya’s malicious foul play, and finally, at
last, come to the final stage of the Seven Stars Sword-Art
Festival!!!
If Crimson Princess’ power could be called the Ultimate Power,
then Another One’s swordplay can be called the Strongest
Techniques!
This is by no means an unfair judgement. They are opposites,
but represent the ultimate!
Will the dull yet shining black blade be able to pierce the
dragon’s heart tonight?」
「Kurogane! Don’t go easy on her just because she’s your lover!
」
「Ikki-kun! Just one more victory! You can do it!」
「Since you came so far, make it to the top!」
The cloud of smoke that had burst from the blue gate had
spread along the path to the ring.
As Ikki Kurogane made his way down that path, his gait was
beautiful, almost as if he was gliding toward the ring.
Just like Stella, he paid no attention to the flashy production or
cheers, and advanced with gaze set straight forward.
It wasn’t that he was accustomed to the big stage.
The only thing he saw was the girl waiting for him in the ring
ahead.
“It looks like his cold sweat has subsided.”
“If it hadn’t, then all the time we spent with him would have
meant nothing. Rather, I’m more worried about his stamina…”
“He’s not the kind of man who would do something as dumb as
tiring himself out during warm ups that he can’t fight. It’ll be
fine.”
Moroboshi announced this to his classmate, who had helped
Ikki warm up along with him.
Arisuin and Shizuku were also nearby.
All of them were watching over Ikki from the fence at the front
row seats as he approached the stage.
“Fufu, as expected of Ikki. I can see that, without shifting down
any gears since the warm up, he has recovered his stamina.
There’s nothing to worry about, Shizuku.”
“Even so, I’m still worried, with his opponent being who she
is…”
"Oh? Kuro-bou seems well, even though he also slept a whole
day."
A petite woman dressed in a kimono laughed cheerfully while
watching Ikki’s walk.
It was none other than Hagun Academy’s temporary
instructor, Nene Saikyou.
Next to her was Hagun Academy’s Principal, Kurono Shinguuji.
“His gait is light and smooth. He seems to have been polished
considerably, Kuu-chan.”
“I can tell just by looking. It’s a foregone conclusion. The
difference in power has been clear from the start. He doesn’t
have the option of fighting head on. If he entered the ring in a
low gear, he would, without a doubt, be killed instantly. To
compete with Vermillion, Kurogane will have to be in high gear
from start to finish. If he relaxes even for a moment from that
state-”
“At that point Kurogane would lose. This is truly a match where
he has to focus.”
“Yeah. But it's the same for us. I should have said that this
morning, with you being in vacation mood and all.”
Kurono glared at Saikyou, who sat down with an extra large
bucket of popcorn in her hands.
She was totally ready to just spectate the match.
“I mean, today is supposed to be a day off for me you know? I
even turned down the live reporting gig and all~”
“...I was stupid for expecting anything from you.”
“It was a joke, a joke, Kuu-chan. Don’t make that scary face,
you’re scaring me. It’s okay. I’ll do my part when the time
comes. After all, I’m the one who spurred Stella into releasing
her monstrous power. I’ll at least take responsibility for that.”
“Good grief…”
Kurono let out of a long sigh.
She could tell how serious she was. This girl’s carefree attitude
hadn’t changed since her days as a student.
Somehow, the feeling that she was the only one getting older
got on her nerves a bit.
Kurono recrossed her legs dejectedly.
“Oi.”
“Yeees?”
“...Can I get some?”
“Nah.”
「Commentary will be given by the Chairman of the
Organizing Committee, Thunder of Judgement Yuuzou Kaieda-
sensei. Kaieda-sensei, let me first express my gratitude as a fan
of the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival for the delay of the final
match. Thank you very much.」
「The Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival is a festival for the
students. It is only natural for the Organizing Committee to go
out of their way for the fights the students wish for. It is
through the strong will of the competitors, and thanks to
White-Robed Knight Kiriko Yakushi helping Ikki recover in just
one day that we can be here today.」
「I see. By the way, it seems to be a well-known fact that the
finals’ contenders are lovers this time around. Do you think
that had influenced the decision?」
「If there was such an influence, then it was to our advantage.
」
After answering, Kaieda let a strained smile show on his face
and looked at the pair in the ring.
「Just looking at the expressions of those two fighters, this
match looks like it’ll be quite a battle.」
After walking through the path of smoke, Ikki finally reached
the ring.
Just as he did, the smoke and colored lights disappeared,
leaving the dome lit by normal nighttime lighting.
The only thing in Ikki’s vision was the hundred meter wide
reinforced stone ring, shining white.
He’d already fought here four times.
It was a sight he’d long gotten used to.
But, interestingly enough, even though it was the same place…
The scene was different.
The white of the ring, the surrounding turf, the colors of the
audience’s clothes… It all seemed so vivid.
The world he was in was so beautiful.
Somehow that brilliance made him feel satisfied.
There, Ikki felt relieved again.
“I finally made it.”
That sense of satisfaction.
There, he addressed the particularly radiant girl in the
beautiful world.
“This is what we promised. Stella. Ever since we made that
promise, I have been looking forward to this day.”
Ever since they made their promise underneath the blue moon,
he had aimed for this place.
However, it was not only Ikki.
“I feel the same, Ikki.”
Stella had also worked hard to protect their promise.
In fact, knowing her, she had probably come to long for it more.
“You know, back when I lost to you, the director told me this.
‘Just for a year, try chasing Kurogane.’ Without stopping for a
single moment, you have pressed forward all this time, and you
have proved worth following. I only came so far because I
followed you, but while I have been watching you for a year, I
have been active too.”
Precisely. She hadn’t just been watching.
“Today, in this arena, I will surpass you!”
As Stella pledged to restore her honor, she raised her right arm.
In an instant, crimson flame jetted out from her hand.
The flames swirled as if dancing, forming the shape of a sword.
Stella closed her open hand, grasping the handle.
“Serve me! Lævateinn!!!”
As she yelled her summoning incantation, she thrust the blade
into the ground.
The impact sent the flame scattering into the air, leaving
behind the steel blade, still shining with heat.
It was the Crimson Princess’ Device, Lævateinn.
Stella’s manifested her soul as a sword, to show her fighting
spirit.
Ikki responded to her pledge.
“Is that so? To be honest, I never saw myself as running ahead
of you, Stella, but if that’s how you see it, then I can’t very well
let you overtake me. I too have built up my strength for this
day!”
Ikki then manifested his soul as well.
“Come forth, Intetsu!”
Ikki struck his chest with his clenched fist, then stretched his
arm forward and opened his hand.
Blue flame gushed out from his open palm and assumed the
shape of a katana.
Ikki seized the handle, grasping his jet-black sword.
It was the Worst One’s device, Intetsu.
Seeing the two manifest their devices, the stadium shook with
excitement.
They were excited because it meant that preparations were
complete.
All that was left to wait for was the signal to start.
「Now, both contestants have arrived at the starting lines!
Let’s start this off, the 62nd Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival
finals!
The final match before the Seven Stars Summit.
Give it your all, and turn it into a battle with no regrets!」
With that, live commentator Iida took a big breath and yelled
together with the audience.
「「「LET’S GO AHEAD!!!」」」
And so, it began.
The final fight of the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival.
◆◇◆◇◆
As soon as the signal was given, everyone lost sight of Ikki
Kurogane.
Using the instant acceleration from Twin Wings’ technique,
Ikki broke out of everyone’s line of sight and moved towards
Stella.
「Whoah! The instant the signal was given, contender
Kurogane disappeared! How fast!」
「He’s a short ranged fighter. It goes without saying that he
will try to take this fight in his own range. That conclusion is
obvious, yet-」
Kaieda also found himself wide-eyed.
Such speed was incredible.
It was clearly faster than even Ikki himself in his last fights.
Except, that was to be expected.
Ikki’s excessive warm-up had brought him into the ring already
in high gear.
(Feeling great!)
His body felt light as a feather, without losing any power.
He was in perfect condition.
Ikki silently thanked those who had helped him achieve this
state again.
He would not let their goodwill go to waste.
(First, to get a head start! I’ll grab the initiative in this battle!)
Stella was not an opponent he’d be able to take down in one
attack.
This fight would definitely stretch out.
All the more reason for Ikki to try to dictate the pace of the
match.
Given such an opportunity to take the initiative, he absolutely
had to take it.
Now resolute, Ikki rushed into Lævateinn’s range and
established a rhythm, moving left and right. With those
movements, he dazzled Stella’s eyes, creating afterimages.
「Those steps… it’s Shinkirou!」
「He not only forestalled her attack with a quick advance, but
also added illusory movement. The princess has not yet
completely assumed a stance! Has he taken the initiative?」
Moroboshi, watching the match from next to Shizuku, clenched
his fist upon seeing Ikki’s excellent surprise attack.
Ikki’s preemptive strike was almost perfect.
It was no ordinary surprise attack.
Having warmed up since that morning, he was able to move at
top speed from the very first step to take the initiative, and
furthermore, using footwork to generate an illusion, thus
snuffing out almost any chance of a counterattack.
He had prepared it since before the match even began, putting
everything he had into it.
There was no margin for weaknesses.
It had none.
It was a peerless opening move. However, his opponent was the
one who had the absolute power to bend those giving their
utmost to her will!
“Dragon Stomp!”
Stella raised her long, beautiful leg and dropped a heel kick
upon the ring.
The ground broke along a fault, accompanied by the sound of a
blast.
“!?!?”
「W-whaaaaaaat!?!?」
「Kyaaaaaaa!!!」
「Th-there’s no way!」
Shrieks arose from the audience. It only made sense.
「W-w-what is this? As soon as Stella struck the ground, a
powerful earthquake splintered the ring like a spiderweb
centered on Stella!」
There wasn’t even this much damage when that Panzer Grizzly
performed his shiko[2]!
Who would have thought such destruction could be wrought
by the thin legs of such a lovable girl?
Of course, Stella’s main goal with this move was not to destroy
the ring.
(Crap! The shockwaves sent me flying!)
That was it. Dragon Stomp was a technique that used inhuman
strength to shake the ground and stop opponents’ movements.
Naturally, having one’s movement stopped almost prevented
the upkeep of afterimages.
“Haaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
A flash. The Crimson Princess swung her white hot blade at the
real Ikki.
Ikki’s reaction to this could be summed up in a few words.
He had read the trajectory of the coming attack and
prepared Intetsu to parry before Stella had even swung her
sword.
However, he was unable to parry that awesome force.
The instant Lævateinn struck Intetsu, the terrific power
transmitted through the blades uprooted Ikki from the ground
and sent him flying like a toy.
While Ikki just barely landed at the edge of the ring, the reality
that attempting to parry an attack that he had read perfectly
had sent him flying fifty meters left a cold sweat on his
forehead.
(As I expected, taking Stella’s blade head on is an absolute no-
no…)
“You’ve prepared well, Ikki.”
Stella shouted at Ikki, who had retreated to the ring’s edge.
“So with that I guess you were trying to hit me as soon as the
match started, before I could get warmed up? But your
expectations were a little off. I have been in top gear this whole
time.”
Her voice was full of confidence.
That was something the Stella that Ikki knew did not lack.
It was the pride of someone who knew they were stronger than
anyone else in the world.
It wasn’t like Stella lacked self-confidence.
She had always known that she was strong.
However, bearing in her mind her natural talent, one couldn’t
help but say that something was lacking.
She should be more haughty, more arrogant. Ikki had always
thought this too.
However, if he were ever to say that to the earnest Stella, she
would just be excessively strict with herself.
Thus, while Ikki had never been able to say it, it seems Saikyou
had skillfully managed to awaken that pride within Stella.
Having confronted her, taken her blade, he could clearly tell
that Stella was different.
“Expectations off? No way.”
To say his expectations were off was a big mistake.
While pushing back in the shoulder that had dislocated from
taking the earlier blow, he faced Stella with a joyous expression.
“This is just how I expected it.”
It was just what he’d expected from Crimson Princess Stella
Vermillion.
「Fighter Kurogane just barely managed to prevent a direct hit,
but he has been blown to the edge of the ring! Such physical
strength! That is the absolute power of the Crimson Princess!
Fighter Stella used her power to turn the tables on Fighter
Kurogane, showing off the presence of an A rank knight!」
The flashy trade of blows raised the excitement in the arena.
Relentless applause broke out for Stella.
Within the audience, Utakata Misogi let out a small shriek at
the spectacle below.
“Uwaa, such power. The ring’s been shattered all the way to the
audience seating.”
Renren Tomaru nodded in agreement from beside him.
“It would be simple for someone like Saijou though.”
“The power is terrific, but the thought behind it is unexpected
as well. To stop Kurogane’s movements by shaking his
foothold…”
“Even so, Kurogane-kun is performing as expected, isn’t he.”
Upon hearing Kanata Toutokubara, Touka, who was watching
from the fence, nodded ‘yes.’
The ones who stood out even among the student council, Touka
and Kanata, noticed what Ikki had done in that instant.
“In the instant of the impact, he intentionally dislocated his
own shoulder and completely distributed the force behind him
like a bamboo mat. Thinking when pushed to the brink is
normal for us too.”
“Eeeh, did he do such a thing?”
“If he hadn’t, he’d be stuck in the wall below us right now.”
If we call Stella, who relied on sheer physical strength to
retaliate in that situation, a beast of power, then the one who
cut through that, Ikki, is a beast of skill. Neither are incomplete.
At the very least, it’s safe to say that the exchange so far had not
decided anything yet.
But then, Touka narrowed her eyes.
(The exchange just now left Stella in control of the center of the
ring. Isn’t this bad, Ikki-kun?)
In the center of the ring, events began to unfold as Touka feared
they might.
“Fufu, I see. I’m glad I could answer your expectations.”
Stella let out a chuckle and began to warp the air in the middle
of the ring.
Her fiery hair began to glow, sending scarlet incandescence
into the air.
“Next I’ll have you answer my expectations, Ikki.”
“!!!”

The increasing heat could be felt even from the edge of the ring.
Ikki’s expression stiffened.
“I’ve already affirmed this-with you as my opponent, I cannot
hold back.”
In the next instant, when Stella cast out enough heat to warp
the light along with almost tangible bloodlust, Ikki understood.
(This pressure, there’s no mistaking it! That is coming!)
“Bahamut Howl!!!”
Just as Ikki realized what was coming, Stella unleashed the
flames of her largest area attack.
Light and heat gushed out from Stella in every directions.
「Th-, This is the Noble Art Stella used to dominate the
tournament’s first round!」
As Stella made her move, Kurono and the other magic knights
hurriedly moved to protect the audience.
They had to. This Noble Art’s effective range was far beyond
the ring alone; it could easily envelop the entire dome.
Even so, Stella went beyond what she did in the first round,
firing off this Noble Art without using illusionary form.
If the magic knights were to fail in their defense, the dome and
everyone inside would be evaporated.
However, the magic knights were specially chosen for their
skill.
To allow the fighters to unleash their power unbridled, they
could instantly form a defense strong enough to withstand
even Stella’s Bahamut Howl.
The audience was safe.
But within the ring, there was nowhere to hide!
「A scorching hot heat wave has come from Fighter Stella in
the center, covering the ring! Fighter Kurogane has nowhere to
run! He’s suddenly cornered!」
「Not quite, please look!」
The one who called that out was commentator Kaieda.
He’d noticed.
Before the wave of heat that would cover the ring, Ikki stood his
ground, dropping low to the floor.
Then, from that low stance, Ikki fired out-
“Saigeki!”
Ikki kicked off the ground hard, flying forward straight into the
wave of heat.
「F, Fighter Kurogane has charged into Bahamut Howl of his
own accord! What is he thinking!?!?」
His decision left the commentator bewildered. However-
「No, this is the correct decision.」
「Kaieda Sensei!?!?」
「If he controls the speed himself and charges in, he can
minimize the time spent in contact with the heat wave, and
thus minimize the damage too. Look carefully. Fighter
Kurogane is pushing into Bahamut Howl with his sword
perpendicular to the heat wave. By doing so he is lowering the
surface area that contacts the wave. With this, he can break
through without a problem!」
Just as Kaieda said, Ikki thrust himself into the heat wave with
Saigeki.
They crossed for an instant. With the damage limited to some
singed hair, Ikki flew straight towards the source of the wave,
aiming for Stella like an arrow.
He thrust Intetsu into her heart!
“...”
The image of Stella, with her chest run through, suddenly
rippled and vanished like an illusion.
It was Stella’s Noble Art which created illusions by warping
light, Flame Veil.
Not even Stella thought that a wide area attack such as
Bahamut Howl would be enough to defeat Ikki.
His breakthrough was within her calculations.
Her strategy had been to momentarily cut his field of vision
with Bahamut Howl and deploy Flame Veil in that time.
The resulting projection would be used to bait Ikki.
“I’ve got you!”
Stella appeared behind Ikki, having made herself invisible with
the same Flame Veil, now ready to attack!
However!
“...!”
After making her appearance and preparing to strike down at
Ikki, Stella suddenly shuddered.
Ikki was already looking over his shoulder at her with his keen
gaze, as calm as a lake without a single ripple in it, despite the
situation.
She had been read.
No doubt about it, seeing as her opponent was Worst One.
Once, this situation would have left Stella in turmoil.
But that had changed.
(That’s okay!)
Even if she had been read and had a plan prepared against her,
it would be fine.
Whatever the plan might be, she could subdue him with force.
Without a single worry, Stella swung her sword down without
holding back.
However-
“Third Secret Sword-Madoka.”
The attack that struck Stella immediately after far exceeded
expectations.
“!?!?!?”
The sound of the resulting hit would best be described as an
explosion, and this time Stella was the one sent flying.
Even as Stella braced her legs to try and stop, she slid
backwards while chipping the concrete. Like Ikki earlier, she
was driven to the edge of the ring.
「Wow! This time, as if paying her back for earlier, Fighter Ikki
has sent Fighter Stella to the edge of the ring! It’s a complete
reversal!!!」
By turning around a desperate situation with an unthinkable
power play to answer the blow he took at the start, Ikki further
fanned the excitement in the arena.
Stella remained calm despite the clatter.
She calmly analyzed the numbness left in her sword hand.
(This numbness… This power… This isn’t Ikki’s, is it)
Stella understood Ikki’s specs for the most part.
That’s why she understood.
With his strength alone, he was unable to output such
offensive power.
In fact, it should be impossible for anyone but Ouma.
On the topic of people with such attack power, there was
nobody else except for herself. In that case…
“You stole my power, didn’t you.”
In response to Stella’s surprisingly pleased tone, Ikki returned a
smile.
“Good insight.”
Precisely. The one who had sent Stella flying was none other
than Stella herself.
First, he took an enemy’s attack with his blade. Then he would
take that power and rotate his body as if drawing a circle, then
take the power riding in his body and send it all back as a
counter.
“That is the principle of my Third Secret Sword, Madoka.”
Even among Ikki’s many secret techniques, this one stood out
with its difficulty.
If even a slight error was made in reading the enemy’s power
and timing, his body would be shaken about, causing a fatal
moment of weakness.
It was a delicate technique such that even with Ikki’s skill and
perfect concentration, there was still a risk of failure.
That’s why, besides his bout with Runner’s High, he had come
thus far without using it in battle.
“Thanks to my copying of Twin Wings’ swordplay, the
precision of my body control has grown exponentially. This
would have been impossible for me at the time you transferred
here, but now I can even counter a sword of your caliber head
on.”
With Stella in her current state, he needed Madoka to fight her.
Because he thought so, he had driven himself to extreme
situations with his excessive warm up before taking the stage.
Ikki was most definitely at his peak performance.
His eyes could see the hairs on Stella’s cheek despite the
distance between them.
His ears could accurately distinguish the flow of his own blood.
He understood the flexion of every muscle fiber in his body.
His skin could feel dust blowing against it with such acuity that
he could count the specks, as if his nerves were bare.
In this condition, he felt invincible.
Thanks to that…
“I am no longer afraid!”
◆◇◆◇◆
「Fighter Ikki launched three attacks on Fighter Stella, who was
forced to the edge!
What Speed! Another One is even more intense than usual
today!
He crosses the ring in a flash! He’s upon Fighter Stella!!!」
After Ikki skirted the wind and closed the distance between
them, Stella knitted her eyebrows in irritation.
“Tear him to pieces! Satan Fang!”
She spurred on Lævateinn’s raging flame dragons.
“Fighter Stella isn’t a fan of Ikki’s approach attempt! She is
countering with the long range attack we saw in her bout with
the Sword Emperor of Wind!”
The dragons blaze shone brilliantly in the battlefield and
rushed towards Ikki to rip him apart with jagged teeth.
Seven heads bared giant jaws at him as the approached.
However, even as that nightmarish scene unfolded before him,
didn’t slow his charge at all.
(That’s an overwhelming technique, but it’s a little on the slow
side if she wants to catch me!)
In fact, far from slowing down, just as the seven heads
descended upon him…
He sped up.
Even as he charged forward, he weaved among the draconic
heads, leaving them in the dust.
He’d seen Satan Fang once during her battle with Ouma.
He knew Stella would respond with it.
That’s why he had maintained his speed.
The flame dragons couldn't respond to their prey's sudden
acceleration.
The seven heads crashed into each other and vanished.
Ikki redoubled his efforts, closing the distance to Stella.
“Gah! You little…!”
Seeing Satan Fang fail to bring down Ikki, Stella prepared for
close combat.
“Empress Dress!”
She wreathed her entire body in blazing flame and stepped
towards the incoming Ikki.
The plan was to use the radiant heat of the flame to achieve
superiority at close range.
(If I use Twin Wings’ body movement to step in and out of
range incessantly, then Empress Dress is not a major threat. In
fact, I’m grateful that she decided to come towards me!)
Having read Stella’s thoughts, Ikki continued his advance
without hesitation.
However, no matter how fast Ikki moved, the difference in
their reach was evident. The initiative would be taken by Stella.
What she unleashed was...
(A straight thrust towards my throat with the smallest motion
possible.)
“!!!”
Stella’s expression stiffened.
Quite understandable.
The enemy had taken the tip of her thrust with the tip of his
own blade, a rather acrobatic move.
Ikki then took the impact he’d taken through Intetsu and, as if
drawing a circle, brought it around by spinning his body.
With a sweeping horizontal strike that carried all the force
from Stella’s blow, he struck Lævateinn in the side.
With terrific power, the strike turned Stella’s device away
easily.
In that instant, Stella was defenseless.
Ikki did not overlook this opportunity, driving home a triple
strike even faster than Moroboshi’s Sanrensei.
「R- right here, Another One’s blade has reached Crimson
Princess!」
He stabbed at her right shoulder, left side of her chest, and her
solar plexus. Each landed nicely.
Still, even with a blow that would normally be fatal, no
significant damage was dealt to Stella.
The overwhelming magic power Stella harbored in her would
not be pierced by Intetsu like that.
It had just missed scraping her skin, but the shock sent Stella’s
upper body reeling.
However, with no damage dealt, Stella would not flinch.
(Her response will be to increase Empress Dress’ output to
create an area attack)
“Haaaa!!!”
Stella counterattacked immediately.
She increased the intensity of Empress Dress in order to force
Ikki out of close range.
However, by the time Stella inflamed Empress Dress, Ikki had
read her intent and already pulled out of close range.
From there he accelerated and leapt into the middle of the
flames, and as he passed Stella, he sliced at her torso.
With his top speed he executed a quick hit and run.
By moving at such speed, he avoided the flames’ touch.
Ikki repeated this slashing attack three times, toying with
Stella.
Like this, he attacked her while running through her flames.
These strikes carried little force and would not so much as
scratch her, but-
(Stella’s pride won't escape unharmed.)
Stella was not a particularly patient person.
With the many techniques she had, she couldn't stubbornly
stick to one.
She wouldn't remain in this state of being constantly harassed
without doing anything for long.
(Once she realizes I’m not making any progress, she'll come at
me with a different plan of attack. That time is now!)
In the next instant, just as Ikki had predicted, Stella dropped
Empress Dress.
Why? There was just one reason. While it was a powerful
technique for area control, it had a major drawback.
It's blaze greatly limited the user’s field of vision.
In a close range duel, that was a considerable handicap, even
more so against a fast opponent.
With the flames as an obstruction it becomes impossible to
track an opponent visually.
Thus, once Stella determined that Empress Dress was no longer
effective against Ikki, she cancelled it.
She gathered magic power in Lævateinn.
But that was the instant Ikki was aiming for!
“Ku, Ah!”
「Fighter Kurogane! No sooner than Empress Dress is
extinguished, he closes on Stella! A powerful blow lands! Some
blood is flying from Fighter Stella’s head!」
This was no dashing strike, but a powerful blow with Ikki
standing his ground and putting his weight in it.
Using his full power, which had been improved by Twin Wings’
technique, he was still not able to take Stella down through her
magical defense, but for the first time, he managed to inflict
visible damage on her.
Stella retaliated with a slash even as she recoiled from the blow,
but it was in vain and her blade found only empty space.
「Th- this is…!」
「Oi oi, is this for real?」
「No way...」
Even though they were at the same distance, only Ikki’s attack
had landed.
None of the spectators understood this implausible situation.
He was overwhelming her.
The F-ranked Worst One was overwhelming A-ranked Crimson
Princess.
「What is going on? Both should have been in effective range!
Only Fighter Kurogane’s strike lands, while Fighter Stella’s
longsword finds only empty space! Nothing is going well for
Fighter Stella in close range! It's one sided! She is being
unilaterally pushed back by Fighter Ikki! This is an
unbelievable sight! Fighter Ikki’s dominance at close range is
well established, but still… To think that there was such a
difference!」
「She may have gotten too close to Fighter Ikki. Fighter Ikki’s
Perfect Vision can even track the movements of invisible
enemies. It's a . Since they are lovers, this is not their first time
facing each other. The more time you spend together, the more
you know. I daresay Fighter Ikki is not only 100 steps ahead of
Fighter Stella, but that he knows all her timings perfectly.」
「It- It’s that much?」
「Truthfully, Ikki begins his evasions before Fighter Stella
swings. He evades just enough, with not even an extra
millimeter of movement, showing unparalleled accuracy in his
defensive movement. He won’t be getting hit. There should be
no way.」
That level of analysis would be inadequate for this match, was
what Kaieda said.
「B-but, Fighter Stella has that trump card she crushed the
Sword Emperor of Wind with, Dragon Spirit.」
「Haven’t you noticed? Fighter Ikki has been boldly attacking
her since the match started. Even when Fighter Stella clad
herself in Empress Dress, he didn’t relent, giving her no time to
perform the motion for Dragon Spirit, stabbing herself in the
chest with her device. He has been suppressing her from the
start.」
「Ah...」
「If she tries to use Dragon Spirit anyway, in close range
Fighter Ikki’s Ittou Rasetsu will be far faster. At any rate, even if
she can continue to take Fighter Ikki’s fierce attacks, her
opponent is Another One. Even if these individual attacks don’t
do damage, eventually he will find a fatal weakness and break
through it with Ittou Rasetsu.」
Both attacking and defending are bad options.
At this rate-
「At this rate Fighter Stella will actually be beaten one-sidedly.
」
Even for the veteran Kaieda, seeing the Crimson Princess
overwhelmed so one sidedly had not been within expectations.
His explanation trembled with uncertainty.
On the other hand, the crowd was all about this unexpected
development.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. As Ikki did so, cheers
began to arise for him.
「A- Amazing! She’s really feeling the pressure!」
「At this rate she’ll be completely defeated!」
In the throng, Shizuku’s voice was, of course, there as well.
“Onii-sama! You can do it!”
Shizuku was pressed up to the fence, screaming with all she
had.
“Even now, Stella is doing well. While normal Blazers would
have been shredded already, she has received at most grazes. If
this continues the match won’t be decided no matter how
many strikes land.”
“But big brother has a technique that can break through Stella’s
magical defense!”
“Right. Ikki is probably waiting for the right time to use it.”
And once Ikki used that, the match would be decided.
Shizuku, Arisuin, and the rest of the audience had no doubt
about that.
However-
(It’s kind of… Strange, this situation)
Moroboshi furrowed his eyebrows next to them.
Watching the exchange unfold below him was making him feel
inexplicably uncomfortable.
(Kurogane’s form reminds me of me in the first round…)
Then-
“This is definitely strange.”
Moroboshi wasn’t the only one who thought so.
Watching the match from somewhere else was Akatsuki’s
chairman.Tsukikage felt the same thing.
“Sir?”
“So Tsukikage-sama felt it too?”
Tsukikage nodded in response to Charlotte, Rinna
Kazamatsuri’s maid.
“Yeah. At first glance it seems like Kurogane-kun is
pressuring… But it just looks to me like he doesn’t know what
else to do.”
“I think so too. From what I can tell, there have been seven
chances for fatal strikes if he had used Ittou Shura or Ittou
Rasetsu. And yet… He didn’t.”
“Naturally, he couldn’t.”
Edelweiss, sitting with them in the spectator seats, legs
crossed, casually inserted herself into the conversation.
“Right now, he’s afraid.”
“Afraid?”
Edelweiss nodded at Sara.
“Yes. More accurately, his instincts are.”
And, particularly problematic for Ikki…
“Those warnings from his instincts are completely accurate.”
◆◇◆◇◆
The restlessness and unease that Arisuin and the others felt.
The one in question, Ikki, was feeling the same.
(This feeling, what is it?)
As he continued his onslaught, Ikki knit his eyebrows.
He was clearly the one in control of the match.
Since the beginning, the match had gone according to plan,
completely suppressing Stella’s trump card, Dragon Spirit,
what he had hypothesized was her greatest form.
If she tried to perform the motion for Dragon Spirit anyway, he
would counter with Ittou Rasetsu and bring her down with one
strike. If he continued attacking, the difference in their abilities
would show and in twenty moves, Stella would reveal a fatal
weakness. If he used Ittou Rasetsu then, it would be The End.
Yet,
(-How many such timings have I already let pass?)
There had already been many such opportunities to use Ittou
Rasetsu.
Yet, he hadn’t been able to close it out.
He could see it.
If he prepared himself to take even one step forwards, there
would be a dragon waiting, snapping its jaws open and waiting
for its food to jump in.
Ikki knew.
This was… A warning.
It was the instinct Ikki gained from countless times struggling
through life and death situations as the underdog.
His sixth sense sensed the stench of death.
-It was correct.
“Kusu.”
Suddenly, Stella, who had been taking Ikki’s attacks by the
dozen, cracked a smile.
Then, of all things-
“...!”
Far from counterattacking, she stopped defending herself, and
faced Ikki with arms spread wide.
She was defenceless.
As if to say “Come hit me however you like.”
Seeing this bizarre action, Ikki stopped attacking.
At this, Stella, while laughing ‘Kusu kusu,’ posed Ikki a
question.
“What’s the matter, Ikki? Why aren’t you attacking? I’m leaving
nothing but openings.”
With a bewitching expression, she beckoned him as if it was to
her bedroom.
However, Ikki didn’t move.
Of course he didn’t.
“Nothing but openings? As if.”
Ever since Stella had opened her arms, the only outcome he
could see was that if he took even one step towards Stella, a
dragon would rip him into pieces with its jaws.
Stella sighed with regret at Ikki’s caution.
“How unfortunate. This was my secret plan… In that case, I
guess you won’t move how I want no matter how long I wait.”
“Then… It can’t be helped.”
And in the instant Stella muttered that, the world distorted.
“!!!”

Along with a sudden spike in Stella’s body temperature,

incandescent flames scattered from her hair and heated up the
surroundings until they distorted.
At the same time, a sound echoed in the arena.
Thump, Thump.
It was a massive heartbeat that shook the earth; it was
unimaginable that it would be a human’s.
Matching the heartbeat, throughout Stella’s body, the marrow
of her bones pulsed with light, and before long, as if oozing
from her chest, a shining scar appeared.
“■■■■■■!!!”
Stella opened her mouth, baring giant fangs, and bellowed at
the sky.
That was no longer anything like the voice of a girl, but rather
the roar of the ocean.
There was no longer room for doubt.
「Th- This is- This light! This scar! There’s no doubt! It’s the
Dragon Spirit which toppled the Sword Emperor of Wind!
Fighter Stella is bringing out her trump card!」
“Why!? Stella hasn’t performed the Dragon Spirit motions she
showed in the match with my eldest brother!”
And yet, Dragon Spirit activated.
Stella’s raised a perplexed cry at this unusual situation.
Behind her, Byakuya Jougasaki muttered “I see” in an
impressed fashion.
“It seems that with all Crimson Princess’ enthusiasm for this
match, she has exceeded all of our expectations in a grand
way.”
“Shiro[3]. What do you mean?”
“I mean that the preparatory motion of sticking her sword in
herself was never needed in the first place. Showing us that
exaggerated motion in the match with the Sword Emperor of
Wind was part of her strategy for this match. I don’t think it
was meaningless. With that in mind, for the finals, she sought
to land a critical counter on Another One while he attacked her
defenseless self in order to prevent her from using Dragon
Spirit.”
It’s true that the first time around, while fighting the Yaksha
Princess, she stabbed herself with her sword in order to
instantly raise her blood temperature and forcefully draw out
the dragon’s power.
However, after the first use, once she understood it, it was her
own body, and her own power.
Even without stabbing herself with the sword, she could heat
up her blood and activate it.
Performing the ritual-like motion in the battle with Ouma was
all a set up for the finals.
Stella had been setting this trap for Ikki since the semifinals.
Just as Jougasaki said, by making it seem like she’d need a
motion to use Dragon Spirit, in the instant he used Ittou
Rasetsu, she would retaliate with an incredibly powerful
counter.
However, that plan had been foiled by Ikki’s instincts.
“I couldn’t help but think things were going too well.”
“You haven’t survived all those bad experiences for nothing. As
expected of Ikki.”
Stella had to commend him.
This plan was concocted to land a certain fatal hit with Dragon
Spirit and guarantee victory.
To think that Ikki just barely managed to see through the plan.
It seemed she wouldn’t win through strategy.
“I guess waiting for you to make a mistake was not realistic.”
There was no longer a plan.
Defeating a knight of Ikki’s level would take quality over
quantity.
That’s why Stella had staked everything on this one plan.
But it had all come to nothing.
So then, what to do?
Only the path of thorns remained.
Breaking through with raw power.
Through the master swordsman known as Another One.
That was a risky tactic even as the one who mastered Dragon
Spirit.
The difference in knowledge and thinking in battle between
her and Ikki was huge.
Frankly, she couldn’t even imagine when or where she’d be able
turn the fight.
Nothing was certain.
The fight had become a lot more dangerous.
That’s why she had wanted to decide the fight with the trap if
possible.
Now that it had come to this, it was unavoidable.

“!!!”
Stella brandished Lævateinn at the sky.
In an instant, air launched by inhuman force struck Ikki,
sending him flying backwards several meters.
After scattering explosive force with a simple swing, Stella
spoke.
She seemed almost joyful, as if she didn’t care if her plan had
been seen through.
“I’m not waiting for your mistake. It doesn’t matter how well
you know me, Ikki. I’m going to force my way through directly
with power. To the Seven Stars Summit!
◆◇◆◇◆
「This time it’s Fighter Stella making the first move and closing
distance with Ikki!」
Her own ability. Her own strength.
Stella would believe in those, and dive into Ikki’s territory.
(Calm down. I didn’t expect Dragon Spirit to be usable with no
motion, but I always expected that it would be used), thought
Ikki.
Yes, Ikki was a veteran at being the underdog.
He hadn’t come believing he could completely prevent Dragon
Spirit’s usage.
Of course, he hadn’t avoided simulating it being used.
The current situation was within his expectations.
Therefore, he was quick to adjust his mind and body to the
situation.
He had seen Dragon Spirit once during Ouma’s match.
From that he was able to guess the approximate power
increase.
Additionally, it’s not like activating Dragon Spirit changed
Stella’s true identity. Her thought patterns would be the same.
In which case, what he needed to do was the same.
(The first move will be a straight thrust towards my forehead!
I’ll counter the same way I did earlier!)
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
However, just as Ikki was about counter with Madoka, he saw a
vision of his head vanishing.
“!!!!”
Following that instinct, Ikki immediately tilted his neck to the
right.
Instantly, wind pressure like that of a passing cannonball
assaulted his eardrums.
(The air next to my face just disappeared…! What an incredible
thrust…!)
It was faster than he’d expected, and far stronger. It was a
thrust that blew away even the atmosphere.
The increase in physical power from Dragon Spirit far exceeded
Ikki’s estimate.
Had he taken that with Madoka, the timing would have been
off and his head would have been blown off.
His estimate had been off.
(But this is still within expectations…!)
He’d gotten that information while watching Ouma’s match
from very far away anyway.
It was never likely to be that accurate.
That’s why Ikki was able to retreat so quickly.
He then immediately crouched low, avoiding the following
sideways sweep.
From there he did a backstep, putting some distance between
them.
There he returned to Seigan no Kamae[4].
Right now he needed information more than anything else, so
he needed to slow down the match and defend without using
Madoka and gather data on Stella.
「Fighter Kurogane has been stopped! Of course, Fighter Stella
won’t let him escape! Her dance-like attack is fierce and
splendid, a strike with her full weight! It’s an onslaught!
Literally a flaming barrage! But her opponent is Another One!
Even as the fierce attacks trample the stage he endures! He has
it under control!」
Ikki took the powerful swings with his single thin blade.
He released the shock into the ground with his legs, not even
forced to use his entire body.
It was a superb defense, to fend off Stella’s herculean strength.
Bringing down Ikki while he was on the defensive was difficult.
In the meantime, Ikki was getting a grasp on Stella’s current
strength.
(I’ll pretend to mess up here!)
Ikki chose one of Stella’s sweeping attacks to take with his
sword and stumble backwards.
This was to invite a full powered attack from Stella.
Then again, this level of trickery shouldn’t work on Stella.
Stella should definitely recognize that he was baiting a full
powered attack.
(But Stella’s nature is to say “So what?”)
Just as Ikki had read, with her returning fire just because she
could, she threw a low attack at Ikki.
(I’ll retaliate with this!)
He had finished re-measuring Stella’s potential.
Just as he predicted, her response was a Karatake-wari.
Neither the angle nor speed estimation would be off at all.
He would respond with just enough. If he used just that much
power, Stella should show an opening.
Then he would use Ittou Rasetsu and end the match.
“~~~!!!”
Ikki discarded that thought in an instant and twisted his body
away to avoid the Karatake-wari.
Lævateinn found only air and as its force continued and struck
the ground-
The ground ripped.
「S- Scathing! As soon as Fighter Stella’s longsword hit the
ground, fissures opened in the ring all the way to the audience
seats! What power!」
Seeing the crevasse that extended all the way to the audience
demanded the attention of all in the arena.
Even Ikki shuddered, his breath taken away at the sight of
those scars in the ground.
Calculating based on the destruction, the power of the slash far
exceeded Ikki’s expectation again.
Just like the first time.
However, there was a crucial difference.
In the second time, Ikki had observed Stella to measure her
specs and as he sought to turn the fight with Madoka, her
attack’s power increased.
More power, to overcome Ikki.
She was developing. In the middle of the match.
(Within expectations…?)
Don’t lie to yourself, Kurogane Ikki.
This was not expected.
More accurately, this level of attack power was not expected.
However...
(Stella, those eyes…)
Her scarlet eyes faced him.
A fiery fighting spirit dwelled within them.
Burning deep within… Was dazzling respect, betraying Ikki’s
expectations.
He hadn’t anticipated that.
That Stella would fear the knight Kurogane Ikki this much.
He was confident that he could handle any heavy attacks.
If it was just a superhuman swinging their power around, he
could manage.
Her arrogance as a superhuman would be Ikki’s chance at
victory, he’d thought.
But Stella was different.
Sure, she had awakened to her superhuman powers through
Nene Saikyou’s training.
She recognized that she was born a lion, who must know the
importance of arrogance.
Yet even after undergoing that awakening, she did not see the
man known as Kurogane Ikki as below her at all.
That’s why she’d gone as far as to set a trap spanning matches,
in order to win, with no regards to appearance.
A girl with that much power and talent faced him, at most F
rank, with complete diligence, trying desperately from the
bottom of her heart to win. To surpass herself, she was
improving in this very moment.
Is there anything more awe inspiring than this?
This Stella had complete confidence in her own power as a
superhuman, yet also the utmost respect for the opponent she
faced. These two feelings, though fundamentally opposite, now
resided within her in complete harmony.
Full of confidence, but with no conceit.
One could say that is an ideal of knights and warriors, the
ultimate state of mind.
Even for Ikki, this was his first time fighting such an opponent.
That’s why he didn’t understand.
There weren’t even small weaknesses he could take advantage
of.
Those eyes looking at him full of sincere respect…
He could not come up with a single strategy to fool them.
(How do I even fight such an opponent…!?)
“!!!”
「Ohhh! Here Fighter Kurogane takes a big backstep! He’s
withdrawn from close range! Perhaps he was overpowered by
the earlier blow?」
“Onii-sama stepped back!?”
“He has no choice. After being shown that absurd power...”
However, in response to Arisuin’s murmur-
“...That’s not it.”
Moroboshi rebutted with a serious voice.
“Eh?”
“That’s not why he stepped back. It’s more serious.”
How nice it would be if it was just being overawed that caused
the retreat.
It was obvious that Ikki was no match for Stella in power.
But it wasn’t that.
It was nothing so simple.
As Moroboshi ground his teeth in annoyance, Stella shot the
retreating Ikki an angry gaze.
(That idiot…! Now he’s lost the mental battle!)
Moroboshi wasn’t the only one to realize that Ikki was losing
the mental battle.
“I can’t believe it.”
Touka, seeing his internal electric currents, said in surprise.
“Kurogane-kun is… Cowering…”
Touka knew Ikki’s courage very well.
That’s why she was incredulous.
After showing such courage despite the predicament during his
battle with her, Another One now had a weak flow of energy.
He was being completely overwhelmed by the spirit of the
prodigy Stella.
(But that’s why…)
They couldn’t pass such judgement.
Retreating there was a bad move from Ikki in this match.
(Stella is accustomed to battles where she is chasing cowering
enemies! This development is right up her alley!)
Touka’s fear quickly became reality.
Ikki, who could only fight in close range, was retreating.
Even though only retreating would put him at a disadvantage.
Stella knew this reaction well.
When she was in the Vermillion Empire, most knights she
faced reacted the same way.
It was the panicked cowering of a dog with its tail between its
legs.
(I’m not sure why, but he has a rather pitiful expression.)
Stella thought this as she watched Ikki breathe laboriously.
He looked as if her gaze alone would kill him.
It was clearly not a normal mental state.
In which case, this was the chance of a lifetime.
(I won’t give him time to recover…!)
Stella abruptly reversed her grip on Lævateinn.
“Dragon’s Nest!!!”
She stabbed the ground with all her might.
Blinding light erupted from the countless fissures in the arena,
before crimson effusion tore up the ring.
「Kyaaaaaa!」
「H- Hot!」
「Isn’t this a bit much…!?.」
The cries of the crowd reverberated throughout the arena.
It wasn’t just them.
“Oi oi… There should be a limit to how absurd this gets.”
“...This is astonishing.”
Even magical knights of Kurono and Saikyou’s caliber were
dumbfounded by Stella’s sheer power.
But even that was expected.
「I, I can’t believe this! Of all things, Fighter Stella has melted
the ring’s floor!」
Just as the commentators reported, Stella had used Dragon’s
Breath directly on the ground and turned the ground into a sea
of magma.
The only remaining footing within the sea of magma was
scattered slabs of reinforced stone.
But even those were melting, with small shards being engulfed
by the magma.
It wouldn’t even be ten minutes before all the slabs finished
melting.
If that happened there would be nowhere to step, and Ikki, who
had no resistance to flame, would automatically lose.
Stella had used Dragon’s Nest to establish a time limit for this
battle.
With this, Ikki was no longer able to run around.
But even more so than that fact, the hellish scene before Ikki
crushed his spirit.
(This power…!)
Even if he trained for hundreds, no, thousands of years, he
could never cause such a ludicrous phenomenon.
The difference in what they had was too great.
The difference in what they’d been given was too great.
(I intended to win… Against such a monster…)
Ikki looked at Stella with eyes trembling in fear.
Reflected in those eyes was no longer the figure of a girl.
It was a dragon.
A giant flame dragon that brushed against the sky.
It wasn’t his first time seeing that vision.
But now, after trading blows with life on the line, he
understood for the first time.
It instilled a terrible sense of intimidation.
Compared to this dragon, how small was his own existence?
Worst of all, this dragon which brushed against the sky faced
the tiny human Ikki with complete earnesty.
She wished strongly for victory, striving with all she had,
preparing anything she could beforehand without contempt,
trying to surpass Ikki- And now she bared her fangs in this
struggle.
Such a thing-
He’d be killed.
Other than what was caused by Amane’s power, and the
instant he had faced Edelweiss, he hadn’t feltDeath so strongly
before.
Fear.
Fear so strong it was all he could think of.
He shivers arose from his very bones.
This time he spent cowering in fear was not overlooked by
Stella.
Stella’s long legs stomped down powerfully onto a floating slab.
「Dragon Stomp.」
The shock smashed and scattered the slab, sending the sea of
magma into upheaval.
The waves shook the slabs.
The sudden move destroyed Ikki’s balance.
He somehow managed to stop himself from dropping to his
knees, but-
(Oh, shit!)
He’d given Stella an opening to approach.
She charged through the magma like it was nothing, in a
straight line towards Ikki, and leapt on him at full force, aiming
for his neck with Lævateinn.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
But Ikki’s prompt response to this could be described simply.
He dropped his center of gravity, shifted it forwards, and rolled
on that small platform.
He rolled under Stella as she flew in, successfully taking her
backside.
Then he immediately rose and struck at Stella’s unprotected
back.
There was… No effect.
(「Flame Veil」...!)
As soon as he struck her back, sparks scattered off.
At the same time, Stella, brandishing Lævateinn overhead, cast
a shadow over Ikki.
After being forced to his knee, Ikki would switch immediately
to evasion. No matter how terrified he was, defeating him there
never even occurred to Stella.
That’s why, after Dragon Stomp, she put up Flame Veil and
baited him in.
To that extent, now, after his standing attack, Ikki would also
be unable to evade quickly.
There’d been no move other than to take that blow.
Just as Ikki had evaluated, Stella’s merciless and calm offense
had finally cornered Ikki into a decisive situation.
So she swung with her right hand, to crush Ikki’s head with one
stroke.
(Calm down! I’ll use this falling strike to make distan-)
“Onii-samaaa! Don’t do thaaaaaat!!!”
By the time Shizuku yelled that, it was already too late.
(Eh…)
Lævateinn fell.
Ikki tried to take it with Intetsu and let his body retreat, but he
found that he couldn’t put any power in it.
Why the heck?
In the instant Ikki realized that-
An incredible impact had run Ikki through the stomach.
“!?!?”
The thing that had pierced Ikki’s stomach was Stella’s left fist,
glowing like heated iron.
The strike from her right hand had been a decoy.
The main goal was the body blow with the fist.
It was the combination she’d used against The Unturning, Yui
Tatara, in her first round match.
The strike, which hit Ikki like a superheated cannonball,
punched through his abs in one hit and shattered his ribs. Not
only that, the heat scorched his insides.
That was far more damage than the human body could take.
“Geh, eh, a....”
With that one body shot, Ikki Kurogane’s consciousness faded.
Ikki vomited a mixture of blood and vomit, and his body
shuddered.
He didn’t fully collapse, but the light had already left his eyes.
His consciousness was gone.
It was a completely hopeless situation.
Stella grasped the situation.
(I got him!)
She raised the fist that delivered the final blow.
In order to reach the Seven Stars Summit,
In order to surpass the one who she’d be chasing,
She’d put her all into that blow…!
And then a blade reacted, as if just passing by, cutting through
flesh and bone alike.
Blood redder than the magma dampened the floating slab they
stood on.
That blood was hot enough to be on fire.
“Eh…?”
It could be no one else.
That was the Crimson Princess Stella Vermillion’s, dragon’s
blood.
◆◇◆◇◆
「「「OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!」」」
「A C-Counterattack! Just as we thought the match was
decided! An impossible counterattack from Fighter Kurogane,
who we thought to be in a hopeless situation! He cleaved her
diagonally from below! What a reversal!」
「It’s Ma, Madoka! The impact of Fighter Stella’s attack was
returned by his ingrained swordsmanship! I can’t believe it! He
could still do something in that state!」
“Gah, Haa!”
「Fighter Stella has dropped to her knees! Boiling hot blood is
spilling onto the white stone! This amount of blood is not
normal!」
(This damage is… Not good…!)
While pressing down entrails that threatened to spill out, Stella
moaned.
For Stella, within whom a the power of a dragon resided, this
was not fatal.
But even with the vitality of a dragon, this injury would take
time to recover from.
She would at least be unable to really move for dozens of
seconds.
If she was attacked now she would be finished.
Sensing this, Stella mustered all her willpower to stand and
beat a retreat.
「Fighter Stella is staggering away! She’s put some distance
between them!」
“Ahhhh..!”
However, once she got an island away, Stella collapsed again.
Her vision wavered. Her limbs had no strength.
The blood loss was extreme. She couldn’t produce enough to
offset the loss.
Even worse than the physical damage though, her spirit was
seriously shaken.
A single question filled her head.
Why?
He should have been knocked unconscious.
Not just then. Even now, Ikki should not have recovered his
consciousness.
So then, why had he been able to retaliate with Madoka?
She didn’t understand.
While Stella was confused by this mystery, Ikki finally regained
his consciousness in front of her.
“...”
At first he was surprised by the sight of an injured Stella
retreated some distance away.
(...Did I do that?...)
He’d been unconscious, but the feeling of having cut Stella
remained in his hand.
While he was unconscious, he had countered in the best way he
could.
That feeling, of having used Madoka to recover from a helpless
situation, remained in his body.
How had he managed to move his body? He didn’t understand
it all.
But that’s why he realized.
That movement had not been anything special.
It was not a miraculous critical hit, nor a poor movement.
It was just normal.
It was the movement of intercepting an attack with Stella’s full
strength, which he had simulated thousands of times.
Repetition had carved this motion into his very flesh.
It was that which had come out while he was unconscious.
He didn’t want to lose.
His body, his flesh, pushed away his cowering spirit.
It believed in itself.
Even now his earlobes throbbed like they were beating.
“...”
Hearing his body’s cry, Ikki silently apologized.
Sorry.
As an F rank, he had nothing but the pittance of power a
normal person would.
With that power, he had aimed for the Great Hero Ryoma
Kurogane and started on the path of knighthood.
He had put this body through hell and back.
So much so that its survival instinct would not give up.
That is what his body had been through.
It shouldn’t be losing so easily. No-
It wouldn’t lose so easily.
(I see…)
He hadn’t made it with such soft training techniques.
Yet his spirit frightened on its own, overwhelmed by Stella’s
enormous power.
How foolish; one with no confidence in themselves had no
chance to win in this critical moment.
(I thought I should have known that)
That he was inferior to everyone else.
Even knowing that, this was the path he’d walked, believing
that even he, if he mustered all his power, could defeat the
strongest.
Wasn’t that always the point?
He had fought until today with just that feeling.
And thought it hadn’t been smooth, he’d pushed through.
And yet why now, now of all times, did he stop believing
himself?
Was it so unbelievable that he, so small, could defeat this
dragon which brushed against the sky?
He had steeled himself, dragging his body forwards even as it
cried out, borrowing strength from many others, having
crushed the prospects of victory for many others.
Isn’t that how he’d made it to this moment!
(There’s no moment more important than this one, you idiot!!)
“!”
Ikki kicked the ground powerfully, jumping off his island.
His goal was not the island where the injured Stella lay, but the
particularly large slab in floating in the middle of the sea of
magma.
There, he stopped and took a deep breath.
「Th-th-this is! This light is…!」
「O, oi, no way!」
「This-」
A blue glow slowly arose from Another One’s body.
The entire stadium was astir.
Naturally. There was almost no mistaking it.
The emanating magic power’s ferocity, that radiance, it was his
treasured once a day trump card.
Using this meant Ikki would try to decide the match.
But many people had doubts regarding this decision.
-Why now?
While Ikki was regaining consciousness, Stella’s injury had
hindered her.
Her potential was lowered, and that would remain true for a bit
longer.
This opportunity would be short lived.
But that was for Ikki alone to judge.
Even if there wasn’t an opportunity to take advantage of, the
timing was fine.
There was just one thing left to do.
Only one thing he could do.
He had made it here to this moment with, while being an F
ranked idiot saying ‘I don’t want to lose to anyone,’ dragging
this body through so much; it was time to believe in it!
He mustered his strength.
Energy, stamina, magic power, all of it.
All the experience, the recollections of being on the precipice of
death-All of it.
This body, this spirit, this moment, everything Ikki had.
All of that would burn in the next minute.
No thinking about what would come next.
If he lost he would think about it afterwards.
For now, he would only look forwards.
Until he burned all his power, forwards.
Win or lose, after this fight, there wouldn’t even be ashes left.
“CoooOOOOOooommMmEEee,
STELLAAAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAA!!!”
Along with the blue glow, a roar reverberated throughout the
arena.
It stung the air and dashed against the magma.
Within that voice dwelled unbridled fighting spirit[5].
Ikki was speaking.
Calling for a duel in the center.
Stella smiled incredulously at the invitation.
So that’s how it was.
He wasn’t the kind of man to let it end like that.
It was inevitable that it would come to this.
So how should she respond?
Perhaps evade for a minute, the limit of Ittou Shura?
That was just plain inane-
Or so Stella decided.
As a first-class knight, she knew.
There was no longer room for such calculation in this battle.
If she retreated, Ikki would pursue her relentlessly and defeat
her.
One step.
Whoever backed off even one step would lose.
For the next minute, it would be such, a battle of spirit.
Then, there was one response.
No retreat! Push through with everything she had!
No problem there. She would love just that.
That’s what she’d always intended!
“AAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAA!!!”
“OOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOOooohh!!!”
Right after, the two knights clashed.
And everyone in the arena who saw this would remember.
The next sparkling minute.
◆◇◆◇◆
「The blue glow and the crimson light clash! A complete
reversal from the tactical battle from before! Both fighters clash
in their optimal range, with swords, with souls! Neither retreat!
Not even one step! It’s a clash of wills in the middle of the sea of
magma!」
「What a sound!」
「My ears hurt…!」
「Crush him just like that princess!」
「Don’t lose Ikki-kun! You can win!」
Ikki’s activation of Ittou Shura forced this deciding moment.
Stella responded by facing him directly.
The clash of their emotions prompted thunderous cheers from
the audience.
But none of it reached their ears.
All of their focus was on the foe before them, and they had eyes
for only the figure of their opponent.
To defeat that opponent, every cell of their being was roused.
“Taaaaah!”
“!”
Taking Stella’s thunderous strikes made numbness run down
Ikki’s arms.
(Her counterattacks are gradually getting faster!)
Madoka was a technique that took the shock absorbed by the
sword and returned it by turning it through the body.
However, while exchanging these countless blows, Stella’s
slashes grew gradually faster, and his body was starting to be
unable to cycle the force in time.
She was growing.
Within the fierce exchange, Stella’s body and blade were
changing at a terrific pace, in order to surpass Ikki.
At this rate, she would overtake him with the next blow.
However-
(I too am growing right now!)
“Oooooooooooohhh!”
“...!”
Suddenly, a counterattack, with a flash of black and
accompanied by a great shout, left Stella’s eyes open in
surprise.
Why?
Ikki’s attack pattern had changed.
(Just now, he didn’t turn his body…!)
Up until now, after taking an attack from Stella, Ikki would spin
like a top and immediately return the blow.
That’s how he’d been dealing with Stella’s powerful blows.
But now, Ikki was answering not with defense, but his own
attacks.
In other words, this was no longer attack and defense, it was
simply attacks clashing.
Normally, such a situation would be completely in Stella’s
favor.
For Stella to lose in a match in power was unimaginable.
However, that unimaginable outcome was happening now.
In this clash of offensive power, Stella’s blade was being pushed
back ever so slightly.
Why.
There was one reason.
As Stella’s own arms received numbing blows, she understood.
It was Madoka.
In this high speed battle, Ikki felt the spinning Madoka he’d
used up til now start to fall behind, and quickly revised his
technique.
Instead of spinning his entire body to cycle the force, he used
his upper body muscle control to cycle the force through his
back muscles and channel that force into his next attack.
To do that, he couldn’t be stiff anywhere in his body.
If he stiffened anywhere, the force he absorbed would explode
there.
He had to relax as much as he could, so that the muscles in his
body were almost fluid.
Even more deeply relaxed than as if he were asleep.
In the middle of that high speed clash.
Stella shuddered at the sight of the man capable of doing that.
What an guy. He was incredible.
At the same time, her chest burned with a feeling like a raging
fire.
She would not succumb.
If her opponent grew stronger again, then she too-
(I’ll hit him with a blow he can’t take!)
“HAAAAAAAAAH!!!”
As Ikki’s Madoka evolved, the battle grew ever more fierce.
No more attack and defense, just the clash of attacks.
Neither side defended, both simply answered full power
attacks with full power attacks.
Ikki surpassed Stella in speed.
Stella pushed through with power.
They exhausted everything they had.
Their souls, manifested as steel, clashed.
The sparks from their clash were brighter than fireworks
lighting the night, and the din of their blades echoed in the ears
of even those in the farthest audience seats.
It was plain to all eyes and ears.
Both swung their blades with the intent to kill.
There was no hesitation in any of their strikes.
Falling behind at all would mean death.
These two were supposed to be lovers.
Yet, nobody who beheld this spectacle would doubt their love.
Why?
「Beautiful…」
While looking at only each other, their figures seemed almost
like they were dancing hand in hand.
While looking at the two, Shizuku grumbled aloud,
“I envy Stella-san.”
“Shizuku?”
“If I was his opponent, Onii-sama definitely wouldn’t have been
able to express his passion to that degree. He would certainly
take care to hold back so as to not injure or break me. But…
Stella is different. He can give Stella everything he has. With
her, he believes she can take what he throws at her.”
That’s what Shizuku thought.
‘Seriously, what a disagreeable girl.’
Every time Shizuku herself made any advance towards her
brother, Stella would get indignant and sulky; what was she
complaining about?
“You really are the only one in Onii-sama’s eyes.”
“Shizuku…”
“How terrifying, Vermillion and Kurogane both.”
Speaking in wonder was Shinguuji Kurono, watching a short
distance away from Shizuku.
“While they cross swords they are growing at terrific speed.”
Skill, strength, speed, everything.
The spectacle was like two gemstones clashing, each polishing
the other.
Its brilliance was quickly increasing.
However, besides her, Nene Saikyo pointed out that it was only
natural.
“Of course. Those two are rivals after all.”
“...I see. That’s true.”
Kurono agreed with Saikyo’s point.
They also just remembered something.
At the same time, Stella and Ikki did too.
They had opponents they were willing to risk death to triumph
over.
Ruthlessly competing with such an opponent at the Seven Stars
Sword-Art Festival finals.
In that same second, Kurono and Saikyo remembered.
That fulfilling time.
In order not lose to them, only them, how desperately they
pushed themselves.
At no other time in their life had they been pushed to their
limits like that.
An opponent you hated enough to want to kill, yet loved
enough that you wanted to embrace them.
Right now, Ikki and Stella were, like them some time before, in
such a bright moment.
Probably even more so.
Those two were not only the greatest rivals, but the greatest
lovers as well.
Loving someone as your ultimate rival, and loving someone as
your ultimate lover.
Both aspects of their passion were irreplaceable, and combined
in the same person.
“As knights like us, how joyous they must be.”
“You can tell just by looking at their expressions.”
Saikyo pointed with her fan at Ikki, who was showing a toothy
grin, and Stella.
How many times had their blades clashed now?
How many times had steel clashed?
How many times had they thrown their strength at each other?
Still, the opponent before them would not back down.
Without taking a single step back, their devices clashed faster
and more powerfully.
In order to defeat such opponents, they had to get faster and
stronger.
Limitless improvement. Ascending to the top. Most likely, had
they never met their counterparts, they wouldn’t have realized
their potential within even decades.
In this moment, the two certainly felt that.
That’s why they would go. The two of them. To the heights of
knighthood.
They were fulfilling the promise they made that day.
But all good times must come to an end.
And when everything was over, only one would remain in the
ring.
Only one would arrive at the summit.
Those two, who lived in a world of conflict, knew that.
So they had to aim for that lone peak, and keep getting faster.
“!!!”
One clash of their blades rung out particularly loudly, and the
stadium shook with excitement.
It was almost as if the two were transmitting their passion,
stirring the audience’s heart and putting a fire in their eyes.
Within that incensed crowd, just one girl looked upon the ring
with an expression of anguish, as if enduring great pain.
It was Twin Wings Edelweiss.
(As expected, this development came to be in the end)
She looked gazed at their battle with pity.
It was certainly a beautiful battle.
Both of them mustered their potential, in order to keep
improving.
That was… A gloriously splendid sight.
This was the ultimate battle that both of them had wished for.
But Edelweiss knew.
After this development came to be, there could only be one
result.
And that result… Was an incredibly tragic, cruel end.
That result would soon become obvious to everyone who was
watching.
Their struggle broke apart, and Another One was forced far
back.
◆◇◆◇◆
「They suddenly broke off their melee! Fighter Kurogane is
staggering away!」
This was a battle of spirits where the first to retreat would be
defeated.
A clear advantage had appeared.
Overwhelmed, Ikki’s gaze trembled in shock.
This shock… It had nothing to do with his being overwhelmed
in this battle of spirits.
(...This is…)
Ikki could see it.
They appeared suddenly, black iron rings.
They encircled his limbs like snakes, countless steel chains,
stealing his movement.
Stella took this critical moment and pursued Ikki like a wildfire.
Her longsword hummed as it approached.
But though Ikki tried to prepare to take it with Madoka,
Clang!
The chains that crept over his whole body strained and held
him back with weight like he was attached to a mountain.
「F- Fighter Kurogane isn’t attacking back! He’s not making any
moves! He’s only defending!」
“O- Onii-sama!?”
Upon seeing her brother being overwhelmed, Shizuku shouted
in surprise.
Next to her, Arisuin was equally baffled.
“Why? Just now, Ikki’s movements suddenly grew sluggish…”
“No way, did he hit Ittou Shura’s limit?”
Then,
“That’s not it.”
Moroboshi flatly denied that thought.
As one of the strongest people in the nation, he saw far more
than those two did.
“Ittou Shura is still going. His movement hasn’t grown
sluggish. It’s relative.”
“By relative, you mean…”
“Kurogane suddenly couldn’t keep up with the princess’
movement anymore...!”
And seeing this development,
“So it’s finally come, huh.”
Edelweiss said in a lamenting tone.
This is exactly the result that she had predicted.
“Do you know? Why their struggle broke off…”
Sara’s hand stopped sketching to ask, to which Edelweiss
responded.
“If I had to say… It’s fate.”
“F- fate…?”
“A Blazer’s magic power is determined at birth.
Those who shoulder a great fate have power to match.
Magic power is the power that surpasses logic and the power to
change the world.
That also means that what you’ll be able to do in this world is
determined at birth.
They were improving each other at terrific speed just now.
They just made decades worth of progress walking a path in an
instant.
And the result… Another One has arrived.
At the limits of his potential, that is.”
“...!”
That was precisely why their struggle had come to an end.
Within this minute, Ikki Kurogane had pushed to his limits,
reached the potential this world had permitted him.
There was no farther for Ikki Kurogane to go.
The fate he’d been given when he was born would not permit
him to go any farther.
But Stella Vermillion was different.
When she was born, she became an existence that was
permitted to go farther than anyone else.
She could keep going.
She had room to grow.
She was different from Ikki, who was now chained to the
ground.
She was born with wings to reach the skies.
So the difference between the two was clear.
“It’s unfortunate, but… He can no longer reach the Crimson
Princess.”
There was nothing further that technique or hard work could
do; this was the absolute hierarchy of their existences.
Just as Edelweiss said, their standing in that hierarchy had
decided their battle.
Ikki could no longer keep up with Stella, whose growth only
continued to accelerate.
Thus he couldn’t do anything about Stella’s pursuit, either.
“Yaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
“!”

Her blade crashed against Intetsu and the explosive force

flicked it away.
Ikki lost his balance and his stance collapsed.
Stella stepped in and sent an uppercut to his body.
Earlier she had gotten him with a sword and fist combination.
This time she didn’t land a direct hit.
Ikki had brought Intetsu just in time to block her fist with its
hilt.
Since the blade wouldn’t make it in time, he had used the hilt.
Even with the overwhelming difference in their fate, he
wouldn’t allow the decisive blow to land so easily.
That masterful defensive ability was par for the course.
Even so, it was little more than a vain struggle.
As soon as he took the punch, Ikki’s feet lifted clear off the
ground.
With the dragon’s power, Ikki’s body was blown into the air like
scrap paper.
Then-
“Pierce the sky, flames of purgatory.”
The Crimson Princess prepared a special attack to end the
match.
She brandished Lævateinn upward, and it began to emit
scorching heat.
The raging flames raised the surrounding temperature and
brightness in an instant.
"They were not wavering flames that lit the surroundings
shakily, but flames whose light burned away even shadows.
Before long, a massive sword of light and fire that touched the
sky had formed.
With that sword of light and fire-
“Burn to ashes! Katharterio Salamandra!”
She swung down at Ikki, who was still mid-air.
Ikki was unable to dodge.
Of course he couldn’t. He had no footing.
All he could do against that falling blade of light was to hold his
own device up in an effort to take the blow.
But of course, there was no way he could defend as the torrent
of light that would burn everything engulfed Ikki’s
consciousness.
Ikki’s world turned from white to black as he blacked out.
◆◇◆◇◆
「Fighter Stella lands a direct hit with her powerful Katharterio
Salamandra!
Unable to move mid-air, Fighter Kurogane was sent right
through a giant monitor!
At the end of the parted sea of magma, at the back screen seats,
a big black scar has been carved.
At the bottom of that scar, in a valley full of burned rubble,
Fighter Kurogane is nowhere to be found!
I believe he has probably been engulfed in rubble!」
「Holy shit, he ate the technique that he most needed to not
take.」
「Ikki-kun...」
「This must have decided it...」
The audience restlessly stared at the melted, blackened gash at
the back screen seats.
It seemed like a clearly fatal blow to everyone.
Within the commotion, the referee began his stage-out
countdown.
「The referee has begun his stage-out count! If Fighter
Kurogane cannot return to the ring within the 10 count,
Fighter Stella will win! But is that for the best? It feels like they
should be helping him without waiting on this count.」
However, Analyst Kaieda rejected Iida’s words.
「...No. There was no direct hit.」
「Is that true!?」
「More accurately, I mean it wasn’t a full hit. In order to hit
Fighter Kurogane while he was floating, Fighter Stella used a
very quick motion to release Katharterio Salamandra. This is a
skill that gathers flame, so it requires action to amass power.
This time around, that collection was extremely short. The
power to split a sea we saw in the battle with the Sword
Emperor of Wind did not come out. Considering the magic
power increase from Ittou Shura increases his defense against
magical attacks, it’s not out of the question for him to regain
consciousness within the 10 count.」
「So you mean, there’s still a chance?」
But Kaieda shook his head at that question.
「...No. It’s unfortunate. Even supposing he does wake up, he
will have already passed Ittou Shura’s time limit. There should
be nothing left for Fighter Ikki to use. If he wakes up, I don’t
think there’ll be anything he can do.」
So Kaieda thought this countdown was in good faith from the
referees.
「A, Ah! Fighter Stella turns her gaze away from where Fighter
Ikki lays buried! She must be confident in her victory!
Confident that Another One will no longer get up!」
Just as the commentators said, Stella was confident that there
was nothing further in this battle.
All that was left was to hear this count out to the end.
Once the referees’ counts hit 10, she would finally surpass Ikki.
She could surpass Ikki.
At that moment, she would raise her sword to the sky.
She would make it known to all present that she was the
summit.
「Three! Four! Five!」
Stella wasn’t the only one who believed this battle had been
decided.
(...You’ve done enough, Onii-sama...)
Even his relative, Shizuku, recognized that there was no farther
to go in this battle.
Ikki had lost to Stella.
It was an almost certain reality.
But it wasn’t sad.
Nor was it frustrating.
In fact, she was proud.
Of course she was. The brother she was so proud of had fought
valiantly until the end.
He had used potential that would have otherwise taken decades
of normal training.
After seeing this fight, nobody would call her brother weak.
(Onii-sama is already a fine hero…)
Nobody would be embarrassed to hear Great Hero Ryoma
Kurogane’s words from him.
People other than Shizuku looked at the back screen seat area
not with sympathy like her, but expressions of admiration.
The audience, his friends, teachers, rivals who strove with him
for the Seven Stars’ Summit with him, everyone.
Nobody said 「Don’t give up!」 or 「Do your best!」.
Those who saw this battle up close understood.
Ikki had truly used everything he had in this battle.
Therefore, nobody shouted such crazy things.
Their eyes simply overflowed with respect as they listened to
the count that would bring the match to an end.
Those who had cheered for Ikki, those who had cheered for
Stella, all decided that once this count ended, they would
applaud both from the bottom of their hearts.
Everyone waited for that moment, with their mouths shut.
And so, a moment of silence.
Within that silence, something stirred.
Everyone heard a scraping sound like that of metal on metal.
◆◇◆◇◆
“...”
When he came to, Ikki found himself in darkness.
He was perched on a cold, wet boulder like one in a cave, about
to fall forward.
His limbs were still bound by those dark chains, which
extended into the darkness behind him.
At that time-
During his melee with Stella, those black chains suddenly
appeared.
Ikki understood their true nature.
These chains were his fate.
Of course. It couldn’t be anything but himself.
He understood that well.
This cave-like place where light didn’t even shine would be the
farthest he went.
This hole in the earth was certainly befitting of an F rank.
This body didn’t have the right to go any farther.
The chains of fate wordlessly held him back with their weight.
Regardless, even before that, that body had barely enough
strength left for another step.
He had truly used up everything.
Energy, stamina, magic power, everything he had.
He’d given everything to bet on that one minute.
That’s why he was empty.
So empty it felt like he’d fly away if the wind blew on him.
But that was okay.
It was enough.
He’d devoted all the power of his life, and even exhausted his
potential.
Even so he couldn’t win.
Then, there was nothing left he could do.
Rather, he had done too much.
Though only for a minute, he had faced the Crimson Princess
head on.
That memory would remain in everyone’s hearts. It would go
down in history.
He hadn’t been able to fulfill his goal of winning the
championship, but nobody would blame him for that.
Anyone who saw would agree that this conclusion was not one
to be ashamed of.
It was full fight, but it was a loss.
That fullness-
Ikki could not feel even a shred of such cheap fullness in his
chest.
“...Tch.”
Within the darkness, the chains scraped together.
Ikki lay face down on the floor. This man, who shouldn’t have
had the energy for a single step, reached out his right hand.
Then he dug his nails into the wet rock.
With a grunt of effort he put strength into his swollen
fingertips in order to crawl forward.
Of course, there was no way he should be able to.
Those chains of fate still tied his body down.
The chains creaked and tensed up, and weight like a mountain
held his body.
His hand slipped.
His fingernails started to tear off.
Pain. Blood. He was only hurting himself with this pointless
effort.
“...ouuuu…”
Not caring, Ikki again dug his now nailless fingertips into the
rock.
With even more strength than before, exhausting his spirit and
his origin, he pulled his body forward.
Why was he doing that?
What could he do that?
How could he still keep moving this body when he had
exhausted all of its potential?
Was it his pride as a knight?
No. That had turned to ash long ago.
Was it his admiration of Ryoma Kurogane?
No. That had long since burnt away.
There was one thing keeping Ikki moving.
It was a feeling that couldn’t be exhausted no matter how much
he burned.
A feeling he could not use up in the span of a minute.
His undying passion for one particular girl.
“Ooouuuuu…”
Ikki thought, if he hadn’t met Stella, or if he’d met her as a
stranger, then he would have been satisfied here.
He would have accepted this outcome as complete, having
completely exhausted himself.
But they had met.
Met, touched, and fallen in love.
They had spent so much time together, gingerly shrinking the
gap between them, sometimes even squabbling, always
deepening their feelings. Every moment was more precious to
Ikki than the last.
I love Stella.
More than anyone in this world, I love her.
That’s why I can’t stay down here.
“Oouuuuuu-”
He got up on his knees, stood up, and pulled against the chains
covering his body.
The chains stretched, creaking, tightening across and trying to
break his body.
His skin peeled, his flesh was crushed, and his bones creaked.
The pain, the monolithic weight, was trying to address Ikki.
Stop this futility.
There is nothing further for you.
Because this is as far as you can go.
Ikki spurned all of that, spitting out a “So what?”
So his fate wouldn’t permit him to go further.
What about it?
Hadn’t he known about that?
He wouldn’t let such a thing be what stopped him.
Naturally. Even during this time, Stella was steadily moving
forwards.
She could beat the wings she was born with and forth,
anywhere.
Then eventually, she would meet a new rival, with the same
wings.
He could not accept that.
Stella’s heart, body, love… her strength too, everything… As if
he’d hand it over to someone else.
So, burn!
What he set aflame was the limitless emotion overflowing
from his chest.
With the power of those emotions, he took another step
forward.
It shouldn’t be impossible.
As the one who had always disobeyed fate more than anyone
else, Ikki knew.
Sure, it might be natural talent that determined fate.
But no matter how much natural talent one has, without
emotion, one cannot move forwards.
These emotions couldn’t be crushed even if his whole body was
burnt.
They were emotions he couldn’t give up even if he were told he
was beyond recovery.
Even if dealt a defeat so crushing that the mere thought of it
made him quake, he would keep challenging.
It’s because of those emotions that people keep stepping
forwards.
Those emotions made him stronger than he was a minute ago.
So then, that should be the power with which he cut through
fate!
Time to go.
With limitless power of emotion overflowing from his chest in
hand.
Even if that was the bottom of the earth, he would pull those
chains into pieces, and move forwards.
Even if his body doesn’t have wings, he would dash into the
sky, to her side.
Forever, no matter what, to stay in front of the one he loved
most in the world,
「WHEN YOU'RE IN FRONT OF ME, ALWAYS BE AS COOL AS I
KNOW YOU ARE, YOU IDIIIOOOOOTTTTT!!!」
He wanted to be the coolest he could be…!
“OOOOOUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAA!!!”
In an instant, as Ikki took one more step forward with his right
foot, the chains shattered-
And that world of darkness gave way to light.
◆◇◆◇◆
That had happened just as the count had hit nine.
Suddenly, every gaze in the dome gathered on that scar in the
back screen seating.
The debris there had suddenly been launched as if bursting, cut
into small pieces.
「「「Naaaaaaah」」」
As the blackened rubble flew up, blue light shot out like an
arrow, striking the large island Stella stood on.
Of course, it wasn’t an arrow.
With his whole body burning with blue light, it was none other
than the Worst One, Ikki Kurogane.
Everyone had thought this match to be decided.
That was now turned on its head.
The dome shook in confusion seeing this.
「Whaaaaaat!? I can’t believe it! Even in that situation, Fighter
Kurogane returned to the ring after a nine count!! Not only
that, this is…! His whole body is overflowing with magic
power! Magic power that is clearly stronger than before! Even
though he should have used up his magic power with Ittou
Shura! What exactly could this be!?」
Iida posed this question to Kaieda, requesting analysis.
But just like Iida and the other onlookers, he was simply
dumbfounded by the reality before him.
「I, I don’t know! I have also never seen such a situation…!」
That was a reasonable response.
Magic power wasn’t something that increased.
Magic power was logic-defying power to change the world.
It was the fateful power to carve out meaning for oneself in the
world.
That’s why it was determined at birth.
Consequently, one’s fate was determined even before birth.
That was humanity’s prevailing view on magic power.
It was common sense for magic knights.
「But this…! The only explanation is that his magic power
increased!」
What was happening before their eyes transcended that
common sense.
Mysterious, confusing, and baffling.
Everyone there had the same response as Kaieda.
Even Edelweiss stood from her seat with an astonished
expression.
Of course.
His magic power total had increased.
This impossible phenomenon, where Ikki had turned his
emotions into magic power and trampled on his fate, turned
the entirety of prevailing theory on its head from its very roots.
But the one most bewildered by this situation was without a
doubt, the Crimson Princess Stella Vermillion.
“But… how…!?”
Just as Kaieda had said, Katharterio Salamandra didn’t have
enough stored energy.
It wasn’t unbelievable that Ikki had gotten back up.
But Ittou Shura’s one minute duration had passed.
Ikki should have used all of the magic power stored in his own
body.
The human body had systems to create some energy by using
itself, so scraping together some more stamina was possible.
However, recovering magic power was not like that.
Ikki addressed the bewildered Stella.
“Stella.”
He began to move.
He smoothly raised the tip of his black sword.
“I won’t lose.”
He announced with a smile.
“...Tch.”
Those words caused tremors to rise from Stella’s marrow.
Was that fear?
No. It was delight.
Ah, right. That man was always like that.
He didn’t lose, no matter how absurd, and he didn’t yield, no
matter how impossible.
He never gave up on himself, continued moving forwards, and
always overthrew common sense.
So the common knowledge he just kicked away was just one
more on the list.
If anyone could do this much it was him.
Knocking aside common knowledge, overcoming fate, and
standing before her as her greatest foe.
Of course. After all, he, Ikki Kurogane, was-
The man she loved…!
Her eyes did not deceive her.
She believed from her heart.
It was possible with him.
To reach any heights, to go anywhere together!
“---”
But for that very reason… She didn’t want to lose.
No- She definitely wouldn’t lose.
In order to stand with that amazing man, she needed to be
worthy!
“■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!”
The instant the referee gave the signal to continue the match,
the dragon roared at the sky, drowning it out.
At the same time, Stella’s body began to change visibly.
A flickering, pulsing light arose from her body, increasing in
brightness.
It began to change Stella’s silhouette.
The light and heat she proceeded to emit surpassed everything
she had shown.
Forget lighting the night, Stella lit the surroundings like
midday, and set the sea of magma boiling again.
But even more than the heat and light, the spectators could feel
another change in Stella.
They sensed she was drawing something in.
It wasn’t their imagination. The small rubbish and rubble was
being drawn in by Stella and the light.
The phenomenon was quickly recognized by the user of Gravity
Manipulation, Nene Saikyou.
It was gravitational force.
(The gargantuan amount of heat energy has warped the space,
causing attraction…!)
As soon as any rubbish and rubble got close to Stella, there
would be a flash of light like lightning, and it would disappear,
leaving nothing behind. That heat turned anything that
touched it into plasma with a spray of liquid and gas.
That existence was basically a planet.
Having gravity, emitting light, a glittering crimson star.
(Wow, what a woman…)
Stella’s power left Kurono speechless too.
Sure, Ikki had surpassed his limits.
Surpassed his limits, overturned common sense… Suddenly
Kurono had a momentary premonition about the end of this
battle.
She brushed away that fleeting feeling.
In order to surpass Ikki after he surpassed his limits, Stella had
transformed herself even more.
She realized.
This girl was beyond common sense at birth.
As it were, she was a demonic being.
(This is… Stella Vermillion…!)
And against Another One, who surpassed his limits, the
Crimson Princess once again squeezed out all her power, and
raised her sword.
She faced half of her body to her opponent and raised her sword
of light to the side of her face.
With arm pressed to her side, and the sword aimed right at her
opponent’s life, this stance did not try to hide that the next
attack was a stab.
“Ikki. The next clash will probably be our last. So right now, I
swear this.”
Stella announced directly to Ikki.
“Even if this next clash ends your life, I will love only you for
the rest of my life.”
The absolute love in her would not waver.
Ikki showed a wry smile at this.
“Then all the more important that I not lose here.”
Of course. What kind of man would want their beloved to be
unhappy?
He wasn’t about to make her a widow.
So what to do?
The answer was obvious.
“With my weakest, I will defeat your strongest!”
And thus began the final fight of the long Seven Stars Sword
Art Festival finals.
◆◇◆◇◆
Another One and Crimson Princess.
The final clash of their battle.
The one who started charging… was Stella.
She had already put aside fighting from range with Katharterio
Salamandra.
The reason was simple.
If he activated Ittou Rasetsu, he could run in before she could
swing Katharterio Salamandra and cut her down.
Creating more distance had the same problem. With Ittou
Rasetsu, Ikki’s speed was such that he could run on the magma
without his soles being burnt.
There was no chance in going backwards.
So she just had to go forwards.
Having decided this, Stella raised her heat until her body was
on the verge of being extinguished, cladding herself with armor
of light and heat.
The heat was so strong that even a Device would scatter the
moment it felt it.
Ikki’s blade could no longer reach that.
If Intetsu ever touched Stella’s radiance, it would be destroyed.
It was a perfect defense. All that was left was to stab her blade
in him.
Then it would be her victory.
“Tch…!”
She rallied herself, and dashed.
Just like her name, she had become a vermillion shooting star.
(Amazing.)
Without closing his eyes or squinting, Ikki gazed at the
approaching radiance, and thought so sincerely.
What they had was truly different.
He couldn’t cut through that even if he surpassed his limits
twice more.
It was bottomless natural ability.
And now, Stella was leaving it all up to that natural ability.
(She wants to use this heat so powerful it warped the space, and
blast away Intetsu as soon as they touch.)
The power to do that resided in Stella’s entire body.
If it ever touched that light, Intetsu would be blown away with
no effort.
So what to do?
It was obvious.
He just had to strike faster than Intetsu can be reflected.
There was no other way.
At any rate, for the moment this body was exhausted.
He dismantled some of the proteins in his own body, netting
him energy for one swing.
But Ikki decided it would be enough.
Enough for one thing.
One cut.
That’s how he had lived his life.
What else could he do but believe in this play?
That’s why Ikki addressed himself.
Addressing everything that made up the man named Ikki
Kurogane.
(Alright, shall we go?)
In an instant, Ikki set his emotions aflame and with the magic
power he summoned up, activated Ittou Rasetsu.
He magnified his physical strength by hundredfolds, and he
would pour his whole soul into this one fastest strike.
His body knew the stance for the strike.
How to move his body and how to swing his sword, to attain
the highest speed.
Thus without his mind’s help, his body naturally took the
necessary stance.
It was a diagonal stance, with his waist twisted.
His sword was held in only his right hand.
The blade passed his torso, wrapping around to his back, where
his left hand grasped the base.
It was an Iai[6] stance, albeit without a scabbard.
Stella understood Ikki’s intentions with a single glance at that
stance.
Ikki wanted to defeat her with his speed before her heat could
blast his sword away.
Even though he had no scabbard, this stance had all the
necessary components.
The crux was the left hand grabbing the blade.
The sword was pulled by the right hand, and held back by the
left.
Doing so recreated the effect of the scabbard holding back the
blade trying to arc out, and the between the two opposing
forces, power accumulated.
The speed brought forth by the release of this power was
magnitudes greater than what a normal swing could generate.
Another One already boasted slashes so fast they were difficult
to see.
Stella could not imagine how fast they would be if he utilized
Iai.
It was quite possible that his blade would cut her down before
she could blast it away.
But Stella deemed that it wouldn’t be a problem.
Even if that one strike reached enough speed to pass through
her armor of light, a slashing attack from Ikki would not be a
threat.
Of course. No matter how fast he swung, he couldn’t cover up
the difference in their reach.
Whatever happened, the first attack to reach would be hers.
So then-
(This is my win!!!)
Confident in that, Stella stepped forwards boldy, leveling her
sword of light at Ikki.
This was the moment of truth.
Stella was completely focused.
The scenery flying past barely registered in her consciousness,
reflected in her vision as a white world, completely focused on
Ikki’s sword coming to meet her.
In this white world where everything but her enemy
scattered…
…?
Stella felt a mysterious discomfort.
Something… Something was definitely strange.
This strong discomfort felt almost silly, like waking up and
finding that the sky had turned pink.
What was it? What was off?

Where was the source of this discomfort?

She stretched her focus to the ends of the earth.
Like a spinning lantern, she searched in that slowly stretching
moment, until she found it.
The source of her discomfort.
It was Ikki, swinging his sword- The black shadow below him.
It. Wasn’t. Moving.
Even though Ikki was preparing to swing at Stella, his shadow
was just staying still-
No, not quite.
It was moving, but like a bad impersonation, its movements
lagged behind.
Stella tried to guess at why Ikki’s own shadow couldn’t keep up
with his movements.
Was that even possible..
No way.
That shouldn’t happen.
But by and by, more people noticed this impossible
phenomenon.
They watched the spectacle.
Being one with his sword, believing in his sword, surpassing
his limits to arrive here…
Even his own shadow could not keep up with this strike’s
extreme speed.
He was the concept of a slash incarnate.
The goal of so many people, the peak they pursued.
This final strike, combining the phenomenon and the awe it
inspired, would be called thusly by people:
Final secret sword- Oikage[7].
◆◇◆◇◆
“Ka, Haa…!”
Their shadows crossed.
The one who bled was Stella.
「Cr, Crimson Princess’ body is gushing with fresh blood!
Crimson and blue light intersected for an instant! The one who
came out on top was Another One, Fighter Ikki Kurogane!」
「I don’t even understand what happened...」
「Kyaaaaa! Ikki-kun is the best!」
「Seriously! Turning the match around from there was so cool!
」
After Ittou Shura had been defeated, everyone had already
given up on him.
After overturning the expectations of everyone in the arena
and turning around his situation, Ikki had everyone in an
uproar.
However, most of them had no idea what had happened in the
instant they crossed.
Touka’s fellow student council member, Ikazuchi Saijou, was in
the same boat.
“H, hey Tomaru. What just happened?”
But Renren also shook her head at this.
“Even if you ask me… It was so fast I couldn’t see.”
Even for the eyes of two of the toughest fighters of Hagun,
following this battle between Crimson Princess and Another
One was too much.
Touka informed those two.
“It was Battou-jutsu.”
She had been just barely able to see what had happened in the
instant they clashed.
“So then… Kind of like your Raikiri?”
Touka had to say no to Utakata’s question.
“No, while my Raikiri is also Battou-jutsu[8], the mechanism at
work is different. My Raikiri uses electromagnetism to
maintain speed, but Kurogane-kun just used something
unexpected to fill the crucial purpose a sheath usually does. He
grasped his blade of his sword tightly enough to hold the power
like a sheath would, and achieve speed and power a normal
slash could not. In simple terms, the mechanism is like flicking
your finger.”
“Ah, I see.”
Utakata indicated his understanding of that explanation.
A finger would fly silently no matter how hard you swung it,
but if you held it back with the thumb and gathered power
before releasing it, you could hear it whoosh through the air
sharply.
Ikki had put that effect to use in his last attack.
“But Prez, no matter how fast he swings his sword, if you
consider the difference in reach of their devices, Stella’s sword
should hit first. How did Kurogane-kun make up for the
difference in reach?”
“Kana-chan. You will see the answer if you look at the handle of
Intetsu.”
Kanata focused on Ikki in the ring.
Then she realized.
The black sword he held in his hand.
The handle was unusually short, having been broken to the
point where Ikki’s pinky didn’t have any handle to grasp.
“That, no way… Did it get dissolved!?”
“Yes. In the instant they crossed, before Stella’s sword reached
him, Ikki drew his sword. With just that, the difference in reach
would have still caused him to take the attack first. So Ikki-kun
swung with the handle first instead of the blade, using the end
of the handle to strike Lævateinn.”
“So with that he diverted the trajectory of her stab…!”
“Executing such a strategy so fast it couldn’t even be seen…
What a man.”
“Really, what a crazy guy…”
In that blink of an eye, he had come up with and executed both
attack and defense.
The way he handled a sword was in another dimension.
(...I’m learning so much from this.)
Next to the reverent Touka-
“But shouldn’t Stella be able to quickly recover from such a
wound?”
Just as Utakata asked this fairly obvious question, there was
movement in the ring.
“Geho! Geho!”
While coughing up blood, Stella was staggering.
「Fighter Stella’s abdominal bleeding isn’t stopping! The
wound isn’t healing! While she is just barely remaining
standing by using her sword as a cane, you can see the damage
is deep! The healing from the dragon’s vitality isn’t working!」
If one looked closely, the blood flowing from Stella wasn’t
aflame.
At this point in time, Stella’s Dragon Spirit had been broken.
Why?
Kurono sensed the reason for it.
“I see… Kurogane wasn’t the only one fighting a taxing battle.”
“What are you talking about, Kuu-chan?”
“Dragon Spirit has a major weakness. It’s obvious if you think
about it, but it’s not like she’s just conveniently borrowing
Dragon Strength and Dragon Vitality. Her power is the
embodiment of a dragon. It’s because Vermillion understands
that she ate so much last night.”
Those words made Saikyo understand too.
“Ah, so the weak point is the calories it burns!”
Precisely.
While using Dragon Strength and Dragon Vitality, along with
magic power, she was using a large amount of calories. Stella
had forcibly heal fatal wounds previously with Dragon Vitality.
In using Dragon Regeneration she had consumed a huge
amount of calories.
Stella was now totally out of gas.
Let alone healing a wound, she was having trouble just
maintaining consciousness. Suddenly a high pitched sound
rang out, and cracks ran through Lævateinn before it shattered.
「Ahh! Lævateinn just shattered as she was using it as a cane!」
After losing her support, Stella collapsed on the ring.
Or she should have.
“...!”
But Stella refused to.
(Don’t give… Knees…)
She planted her toppling body to stay up as she instructed
herself.
Even if she had used all her strength and energy, and her device
was shattered, if she had even a shred of consciousness…
(Don’t… Hang my head…)
No matter how weak, no matter how pitiful, even if it was
laughable for her to not give up here,
(Don’t look away from your target…!)
That was the minimum requirement for a challenger.
Even while staggering, Stella turned to face Ikki, and stuck out
her fist.
Ikki looked on with calm eyes, and did not move his chest to
avoid the slowly approaching fist.
He knew it didn’t have the strength to knock him down.
However, he knew that fist grasped something extremely
important.
So he received the fist with his chest, stopping it.
“Next time… *cough*, I definitely… won’t lose…”
With her face twisted with frustration, she informed him with
her remaining willpower.
Having used up her last bits of willpower, Stella’s body
collapsed.
However, her body never hit the hard ring floor.
Ikki took a step forward and caught her in his arms.
He then answered her while holding her with all his strength.
“No, next time I’ll show you another victory.”
Immediately after, the referee crossed his arms.
The buzzer rang the end of the match, and the Seven Stars
Sword Art Festival Finals came to an end.
◆◇◆◇◆
「The match is overrrrrrrrr!!!
Just as Fighter Stella used the last of her strength, the referee
called the winner of the match!
Reversal after reversal! It was a mortal struggle between their
desperate efforts!
After the mortal struggle, the one standing in the ring in the
end…
It’s a Hagun Academy First Year! F rank! Fighter Ikki
Kuroganeeeeeeee!」
「「「OOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU!」」」
Seeing the result below, every last audience member stood and
clapped fiercely.
Cheering for Ikki, cheering for Stella, and simultaneously
congratulating the winner.
Those defeated by Ikki, who had their dreams crushed, were in
there as well.
“A, amazin! You, you really did it! You defeated that monstrous
A rank!”
“So magnificent… I can’t find the words.”
Moroboshi jumped for joy like a child.
Even the calmer Jougasaki’s pale skin was flushed all the way to
his ears with excitement.
Next to them, Ikki’s friend Arisuin was mopping up tears from
the corners of his eyes.
Arisuin knew how much he had sacrificed to reach this
summit.
Constantly overworking himself, not even listening to the
screams of his own spirit.
That’s why he felt joy for his victory as if it were his own.
But there was someone even more overjoyed than him, who he
looked at.
“Isn’t this great, Shizuku.”
However…
“...!”
Shizuku said nothing back to Arisbuin, but changed her
expression and jumped on the fence.
From there she jumped towards the sea of magma.
Suddenly, while holding Stella, Ikki swayed violently and
started to fall backwards.
“Plain of Frozen Soil!!!”
「What!? The sea of magma froze…!」
「If I’m not mistaken, that’s Worst One and Sword Emperor of
Wind’s sister’s-」
「Lorelei!」
The sudden intrusion surprised the audience.
Ignoring all of them, Shizuku ran over the icy ground towards
the two. Her expression changed again when she arrived, and
she shouted.
“Hurry and bring stretchers! Please bring my brother and Stella
to the sickbay!”
At these words, gates opened and out flew men bearing
stretchers.
The two ragged knights were loaded onto the stretchers.
They were completely unconscious. They didn’t even twitch.
「So they both lost consciousness...」
「...They tried their best.」
「Yeah… It was amazing. They were both truly strong…!」
「An unceasing downpour of applause rains upon the fighters
as they part from the shattered ring!
Winner and loser, neither can even stand on their own
strength!
That’s how far they went, these two competing knights!
The way they shone like gems will not be forgotten by anyone
who was here today!
Even if times change, and expressing your pride through
strength becomes foolish,
Even if the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival is buried in the
shadows of history,
We will… Never forget!
True strength definitely dwells within them!」
Applause rained upon unconscious winner and loser both as
they left.
Among them were two who had faced them, Akatsuki
Academy’s Sara and Kazamatsuri.
“Ikki… Congratulations…”
“Kukuku, as expected, my demonic eye of twilight was not
amiss! He is definitely fit to be my butler when I rule the
world…! If only I could lure him…! Hey, Charlotte!”
“Grrrr”
Charlotte growled with no expression.
Behind them, Edelweiss watched Ikki leave amidst the ear-
ringing applause.
“...Really, what an amazing young man. He always exceeds my
expectations.”
Her voice belied wonder.
“To think that someone so young would achieve Brute Soul...”
She wasn’t whether sure whether she should be happy about
that.
Living within your fate meant that while you were a prisoner
of your fate, you were also protected by it.
There was definitely happiness to be found within one’s means.
Anyone who wanted to live peacefully would definitely not
step into such a domain.
Actually, while she had entered that domain, she knew a knight
that had turned back of their own will.
But Ikki hadn’t stopped.
He had stepped in. Ignored the warnings of the gods.
Outside of fate. The domain of demonic beings.
(With that one step, Another One became a being that existed
outside the cause and effect of this world.)
An existence that rewrote the world’s future instead of tracing
fate.
In other words…
“Those two may have the power to destroy the future of despair
that you saw. Your dedication wasn’t for naught”
Edelweiss smiled at Tsukikage.
Tsukikage chuckled slightly at that.
“I see. Do you think so, Edel?”
“Yeah. I do. I’m sure the other desperados also-”
As she replied, Edelweiss scanned the venue.
People from around the world with immense strength were
gathered.
Like Edelweiss, not understood by the public, but imposing.
Surpassing humans, however the world’s future was decided,
they would clash.
“They should all believe it. Right now, a new future was born
for the world.”
Tsukikage closed his eyes when he heard Edelweiss’ words.
He remembered the sight he’d seen when visiting the Kurogane
household while running for the house of representatives.
A young man, partner-less, not wanted by anyone, even so not
losing spirit, not giving up on himself, dripping with sweat all
alone, continuing to swing a sword.
“That is reassuring.”
The world that that boy puts together would be a far more
wonderful, hopeful, and kind world than the one he had
foreseen.

References
1 Genpuku: Historical male coming of age ceremony. ↩
2 Shiko: Ceremonial leg stomps performed by sumo
wrestlers. ↩
3 The first kanji in Jougasaki, 城, is read “Shiro” on its own,
hence this nickname. ↩
4 Seigan no Kamae, 正眼の構え: A basic defensive stance with
blade held low, pointing at enemy’s eyes. ↩
5 This refers to Kiai, a concept in Japanese martial arts where
fighters shout in conjunction with exertion. ↩
6 Iai: A martial art where strikes start with the sword in the
scabbard, emphasizing readiness with the blade at any time. ↩
7 Oikage: Lit. Seeking Shadow. ↩
8 Battou-jutsu: Lit. Art of Sword Drawing. Describes techniques
where the sword originates in the scabbard, such as those used
in Iaido. ↩
Final Chapter B: Standing Side by Side
◆◇◆◇◆
After collapsing on the ring in the finals, Ikki and Stella were
quickly transferred to recovery capsules in the sickbay.
There, they were treated.
“...”
It was around midnight when Ikki regained consciousness.
“This is…”
It was a familiar square patterned ceiling.
He quickly recognized it as the sickbay he was in last night.
He also noticed the silver haired girl sitting next to his bed.
“Good evening, Onii-sama.”
“Shizuku… I see, I lost consciousness in the ring at the end…”
“How are you feeling? Does it hurt anywhere?”
Once asked, Ikki turned his focus to his body.
Sure enough, he still felt as heavy as lead.
Yet, at the same time there was a sense of fulfillment.
“I see… I beat Stella…”
He’d beaten that terrifyingly powerful knight.
Sure that it wasn’t just a dream, Ikki clenched his fist.
“By the way, where’s Stella?”
“She’s here.”
The voice came across from where Shizuku was sitting.
He turned his neck to see. Sitting on a folding chair was
Arisuin, while lying on a bed like him was Stella.
“No surprise that Stella is fast asleep even now.”
“Stella…”
Ikki focused his gaze on her sleeping figure.
Her breathing was steady, and her complexion was good.
There didn’t seem to be any significant damage remaining.
“That’s good.”
“You’re the one who cut her down though.”
“Oh don’t put it like that…”
“Ufufu. Sorry.”
After apologizing, Arisuin stood from his chair.
He then addressed Shizuku.
“Well, now that Ikki has awoken, I think it’s about time for us
to return to the hotel. It’s already pretty late.”
Shizuku nodded at that.
She had also been waiting for Ikki to wake up before leaving.
“Yeah… Big brother. I left you a change of clothes next to the
bed. Tomorrow morning, I’ll come to wake you up before the
awards ceremony, so please take this time to rest.”
“I will.”
“Also-”
Shizuku grasped Ikki’s gnarled hand in her small hands and
broke out in a smile.
“Congratulations, big brother. You were the coolest you’ve ever
been today.”
She blessed his victory.
“Yeah… Thanks.”
“Let’s celebrate another day, after we return to Tokyo. I’ll show
you a nice restaurant.”
“I look forward to it.”
“Leave it to me. Later!”
“Please take it easy today.”
The two left the sickbay.
Only Ikki and Stella remained in the sickbay, dimly lit by
moonlight.
The only sounds echoing in the stillness of the night were the
clock’s needle and Stella’s breathing.
Ikki’s gaze naturally wandered to Stella in the bed next to him.
“...Ik...ki…”
“...!”
His named suddenly escaped from her lips.
Had she awoken?
Curious, Ikki got out of bed and went to the one on which Stella
lay, but her breathing was still regular and she seemed to be
sleeping peacefully.
It was just sleep talk.
Slightly jilted, Ikki sat down in the folding chair Arisuin had
used.
What was she dreaming about, he wondered.
Even as he watched her sleeping face, he couldn’t guess.
Except-
“...”
There was a feeling he couldn’t get out of his chest.
It was the satisfaction of that day.
Her expression as they resolutely battled to surpass all limits.
Her burning eyes.
Her ferocious grin.
Ikki recalled her brilliant presence.
*Dokun, dokun.*
Each time he thought about it, his chest throbbed. The
throbbing grew faster.
It was because she had been there for him that he had been able
to get so strong.
Because she had faced him so earnestly to such a degree.
“Stella…”
When he thought of her, he felt like the love overflowing from
his chest would drown him.
As if stirred by those emotions, Ikki began to stand.
He hovered over Stella and gently touched her cheek with his
hand.
That might have been a mistake.
“Ah, Ik...ki, funyu~”
Even though she was asleep, she knew it was Ikki’s hand.
Stella smiled and nuzzled her cheek against his hand like a cat.
“~~~”
Stella’s actions made something explode in Ikki’s head.
So incredibly cute.
His heart was beating out of his chest, boiling his blood.
His body felt hot, and his throat parched.
His gazed naturally drifted to the moist…
It was drawn in by her lips, softly shining in the moonlight.
He wanted to embrace her right then and there. He wanted to
kiss her.
...He couldn’t wait for her to wake up.

It’s only natural to want to kiss the one you love.

No matter, Stella would forgive him for that.
With this convenient excuse, he knocked out any guilt he had
over stealing a sleeping girl’s lips, and like a bee tempted by a
flower, he was drawn to Stella’s lips.
“Itadakimasu…”

“Eh? Food?”
Her eyes snapped open to reveal her scarlet pupils, and their
gazes crossed.
They were so close that a sigh could bridge the gap.
“...~~~!?!?”
She awoke to Ikki’s face in front of her.
This situation was easily enough to excite Stella’s head.
“Uh, morning, Stella.”
“KYAAAAAAAAAA~~~!!!”
“Doof!?!?”
Like a flash of light she kneed Ikki in the solar plexus.
◆◇◆◇◆
“I, I’m sorry Ikki! I know I just kicked your stomach super hard,
but are you okay?”
Stella asked Ikki, who was doubled over and shaking in pain on
the floor, while stroking his back.
Ikki replied,
“Y-yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine.”
But his face was breaking out in a cold sweat, and he looked
anything but fine.
His expression made Stella feel increasingly apologetic and a
guilty look showed on her face.
“Err… I’m really sorry okay? But It’s because you were hovering
above me…”
“Yeah. I was 200% wrong there. So, you don’t have to worry
about it.”
After reminding Stella of that, she finally stopped apologizing.
Then she finally had the chance to realize where she was.
“Speaking of which, where are we?”
“This is the Wangan Dome sickbay. After the match, we were
carried here.”
“Ah, since I haven’t been taken to the sickbay during this
tournament, I didn’t know.”
Stella grumbled and sighed.
“...I see, so I lost.”
Ikki felt discomforted by those words.
Just as he had felt the satisfaction of winning when he had
woken up, frustration must be welling up in Stella’s chest
again.
With those thoughts, he felt that he shouldn’t be around at the
moment.
“Um, I think I’ll step out for a bit?”
“Hm? Why?”
“Well… I just thought that since we just had our match, it
might be awkward for me to be here.”
“Not at all!”
Stella shot down Ikki’s suggestion without hesitation.
“Ikki, are you perhaps thinking that I was going to cry? I
wouldn’t do something so pointless.”
“Pointless?”
“Yup. Sure, there is frustration seething in my chest, but I
wouldn’t do something pointless like trying to cry it out. This
frustration will make me stronger. I’ll foment it, cultivate it,
and next year, I’ll send it back at you, Ikki.”
After that declaration, Stella flashed a white, toothy grin.
It was a powerful smile. She was serious.
She was already turning her emotions towards revenge next
year.
Her optimism reaffirmed his thoughts. She was truly strong.
“...No less from Stella.”
“Also, It’s not just frustration.”
“Eh?”
“I know now that my hunch wasn’t wrong.”
The hunch Stella was referring to was the feeling that nothing
was too far for Ikki to try and aim for.
Considering their difference in talent, it was a heavy
expectation for Ikki.
But he answered her expectations perfectly.
Now they could go anywhere together.
Nothing could bring her more happiness than the strongest
man and her most loved being one.
So she reached out a hand to Ikki, who was still on his knees on
the floor.
“Ikki. Now and forever, continue being my Number One,”
She announced with some bashfulness.
That was… Not a good idea.
It was a very bad idea.
Those words reignited Ikki’s heart, which had just calmed
down after the earlier trouble.
There was no going back now.
“Eh- Kya!?”
In the next instant, Ikki ignored Stella’s outstretched hand,
took her by the shoulder, and pushed her down onto the bed.
◆◇◆◇◆
“...”
“I- Ikki…?”
Stella, taken aback by the sudden move, looked up at Ikki with a
surprised expression.
The Ikki she saw... Was blushing even redder than her eyes.
It was embarrassment.
Just thinking about putting it to words made his face seem to
spout fire.
But even so, this feeling rising from his chest could not be
resealed.
So Ikki forced his tight throat to put together words.
“Um, Ste… Stella. Do you remember what I said in that
mountain cabin when we went to Okutama with the student
council? That we couldn’t do… erotic things before I met your
parents.”
“Yeah… I remember… I was very happy.”
She had been very happy.
Ikki groaned a little at that.
He had said something really inconvenient.
No, he was confident that those had been his completely
genuine feelings at the time.
But now he couldn’t hold back.
“After showing off like that, it’s really hard to say this, but…”
He said as if apologizing.
“Please let me take that back!”
“...Wut?”
Stella didn’t immediately understand what he meant.
However, what with being pinned down by Ikki, and seeing his
face being red all the way to his ears, after making the
connection to his earlier words in her head; before long she
understood what he was trying to say.
Ikki’s fever was instantly transmitted to Stella.
The heat spread from her cheeks to her ears, and her voice
jumped up half an octave.
“That’s, tha, that is, m-m-m-might you mean~~~!?”
“Well, that is, just that.”
“~~~~!!! Ho-ho-hold on! Wait! What are you saying so suddenly
Ikki!? Are you serious!? For real!? Where is the Ikki that was
strong enough to not succumb to my immodest figure?”
“He died”
“DIED!?”
It was a very rough way to put it, but Ikki couldn’t think of any
other way to put it.
After all, with such an attractive lover before him, could he
really manage to put the brakes on his feelings and understand
how he felt that day?
“Today, after fighting you, when I arrived at my limit, I
couldn’t help but think to myself, ‘If I stop here, Stella will rise
alone.
Then… She’ll find someone else to be her strongest, to compete
with.’
However… As soon as I imagined that, I felt jealous from the
bottom of my heart.
I hated that ‘someone’ so much my head almost rang.
I don’t want to yield any part of you. I want to keep it all to
myself.
That was the feeling that spurred me in that moment.
Those feelings… They set fire to my empty heart.
That fire still hasn’t gone out…!”
Ikki wouldn’t be stopping.
He knew what he was about to say would advance their
relationship, but he was ready to say it anyway.
He wasn’t trying to look cool.
It was more like pleading, begging even.
He put his sincere thoughts into words.
“Stella, I want to make love to you now…!”
The image reflected in Ikki’s gray eyes wavered.
There was surprise, confusion, unrest, but also…
“Is that… Okay?”
“You idiot…”
Overflowing joy.
With a small smile she reached her hand out to Ikki’s cheek and
pinched it playfully.
“How long do you think I’ve waited to hear those words?”
She had been waiting for a long time.
Showing how much he treasured their relationship and saying
that he couldn’t do such a thing without at least meeting her
parents had certainly made her happy.
But that joy didn’t change what a girl like her wanted of the
man she loved.
If Ikki so wished, then anytime-
That’s what she’d thought.
“So now… I’m really happy.”
Warm tears streamed from her crimson eyes.
Ikki’s courage, that brilliance that affirmed him, now pressed
him onwards.
“Stella…”
“Ah, but wait!”
Stella forced the impatient Ikki off with all her might.
“Stella?”
The unexpected occurrence had Ikki looking quite perplexed.
Stella looked at Ikki curiously.
“Ikki, you say that, but have you prepared that?”
“That…?”
Stella answered his parroted question with a hesitant “Y-You
know…”
“Well, it’s true that I’ve been waiting for you to say that, but
we’re still students, and we haven’t met each other’s parents…
Also, I intend to battle you next year too, so… It would be a
problem if I got pregnant, you know?”
“...ah.”
Even the confused Ikki understood after she said that much.
But of course, he hadn’t prepared such a thing.
Ikki was abashed at his own thoughtlessness.
“S-Sorry! This idiot only thought of his feelings!”
“...I figured. You are pretty impulsive.”
“Ugh…”
Ikki moaned regretfully after receiving Stella's reproachful
stare.
Of course Stella was cross.
It was something he needed to consider as a man.
Forgetting such a thing, and running only on lust.
He wanted to hide in a hole.
If there wasn’t a hole, he’d dig one up.
His own pathetic self made him want to cry.
Whatever he did, he couldn’t just force things as they were.
“Uh, okay, I’ll go buy some real quick right now…!”
After his rather awkward declaration, Ikki stood up to leave.
“H- Hold on!”
Stella grabbed his arm.
“You lose points if you leave after making a girl feel like this!
Lots of points! You don’t need to go buy them now!”
“There’s no way that’s okay.”
“It’s fine! Just wait a moment!”
With an embarrassed look, Stella reached for a cosmetics pouch
stored next to the bed with her clothes and opened it. After
fiddling around inside for a bit, she found what she was looking
for, and after gathering her resolve for a moment, spoke up
quietly.
“...Here, use these.”
She pulled some square plastic packets with things sealed in
them, and handed them to Ikki.
“!?!”
Ikki had never used them, but he knew what they were.
It was, without a doubt, that.
But the fact that she was pulling them out now meant…
“S-Stella, could it be that you always have these ready?”
“~~~”
Stella blushed like she was about to spout fire.
“It’s not like I’ve always been hoping for this, that’s not it at all!
That’s not it, okay?!? It’s just that, you know, as your l-lover I
wanted to be prepared for your requests! Yeah, this is just
expected manners for a princess!”
(E-expected… Princesses are amazing…)
“Co...Could it be you’re thinking that I’m a shameful girl?”
“I think nothing of the sort.”
Ikki quickly assured the uneasy looking Stella.
If anything, he was grateful that her concern had covered for
his oversight.
“Thank you. Next time I’ll make sure to take care.”
“Please do… Going to buy these was extremely embarrassing.”
With this promise, Ikki nodded and took the packets from
Stella.
(Huh, they’re somewhat heavier than I expected.)
Suddenly, with a lot of crackling, the folded packets were
pulled down by gravity and stretched out tenfold.
(What kind of bout is she expecting us to have!?)
It turned out to be ten connected packets.
Well, it’s not like they had to use them all just because they
were connected, he decided. As if that would happen.
Telling that to his trembling heart, Ikki tore one off along the
perforation.
The plastic crackled as it ripped open.
That was the sound of all their preparations being in order.
“...We’re really going to do it… Right now?”
“...Y-yeah…”
Now that they were ready, their embarrassment welled up
again.
Ikki was unable to look straight at Stella.
Similarly, even while she stole glances through blurry eyes,
Stella turned away whenever their gazes met.
This pattern continued silently for three minutes.
(What the heck are we doing…)
They couldn’t keep that up.
He needed to find the courage to face her normally.
(In times like these the guy needs to remain level-headed…!)
So Ikki took a deep breath to clear his mind, and faced Stella on
the bed.
“Stella!”
“Y-yes!”
“I may be incompetent, but please bear with me.”
“Ah, me too, please take care of me.”
And so, despite having some worries, they began their first
night together.
◆◇◆◇◆
Pale moonlight shone dimly on Stella, who was stretched out
on the clean white bed, her upper body resting on the rolled up
sheets.
The faint glow outlined the uneven curves of Stella’s bright
white dress and body in shadow.
Even that alone was making him feel hot headed.
An odd prospect.
He had seen more immodest sights, after all.
But this time, they weren’t stopping there.
He traced her body with his palms, fingers, and lips.
The sensation filled him with nervousness and exhilaration,
sending his heart on an unstoppable rampage.
It was no wonder.
He had longed for this day ever since he fell in love with this
girl.
“This is embarrassing…”
Stella felt the same.
Though she was short, her bust was huge in comparison. Her
chest restlessly strained up and sank down as if she was
nervous, but her blurry eyes, looking up at Ikki, glowed with
anticipation.
It was anxiety, from not knowing what would happen to her.
It was excitement, from not knowing what would happen to
her.
They mixed, forming a charming, sensual glow.
Ikki had to answer it.
Quelling his hesitation and embarrassment, he climbed over
her, and reached his hand to her dress.
“W-wait…”
When Ikki’s finger reached her top button, a small voice called
for restraint.
“H-hey… Right now, I’m not wearing a bra… It’s embarrassing
if you start there so suddenly, so… Please come from below…”
“Oh, sorry…”
He unconsciously apologized upon hearing her request.
It wasn’t like he particularly felt like he needed to apologize.
He had no idea what was going on.
Regardless, if Stella didn’t like it, he wouldn’t approach from
above.
It would end the same whether he started from above or below.
Whatever stressed Stella out less.
Thus Ikki moved his hand to her knee, and began undoing
buttons from there.
He took great care to not hurt the precious gift inside while
unwrapping.
One by one-
With each one undone, Stella’s white skin was slowly revealed.
Round knees.
Thick, well-built thighs.
Her crotch, protected by just simple hospital underwear, even
with her thighs swung shut.
And, above her fair belly, a small dent, wriggling with her
breath like it had something to say.
(Uwa… This is dangerous…)
Ikki realized that he was so excited that his pores might go
from perspiring just sweat to blood as well.
He was walking among some dangerous landmines.
Frankly, starting from the top would have been somewhat
predictable.
He’d had a similar experience at the mountain shack.
He’d been prepared.
But he wasn’t prepared for this.
You would think that it was the same result, but changing the
sequence completely changed the impact.
So he couldn’t prepare himself, and as more and more was
revealed, the visuals overwhelmed his sense of reason.
He wanted to pry open her trembling thighs, which were closed
from embarrassment.
He wanted to rub her fair belly, and tickle her pristine belly
button with his fingertips.
Those crass desires blazed up in his chest, inflaming his whole
body.
Then- Once he released the button covering her belly button,
sparks went off in his head.
As Stella’s breath made her chest rise again, her dress began to
part from the next button at the peak of her breasts, and the
lower half became exposed, quivering like the dress had been
constricting them.
“!!!”
His gaze was immediately drawn to that flesh which was like
squashed white mochi.
...Just how supple were they?
His boiling lust and curiosity tempted his fingers.
Stella trembled when his middle finger touched her breast.
Her eyelids snapped shut, and she pressed her lips together as if
to muffle a squeal.
But she offered no resistance.
He interpreted that as an ok and increased the strength in his
finger.
His finger sank easily into her flesh.
This sensation from the opposite sex, found nowhere on his
entire body, sent a shiver down his spine.
Ikki then added his index finger as well.
It crept over to the line drawn by the bottom of those squashed
mochi breasts, and then sank right in.
“Hyu.”
Her breasts were being felt from the inside.
This new sensation made Stella’s ruby eyes snap open with
bewilderment.
Still, she raised no objection.
Thus, Ikki continued.
He left the sunken fingers as they were.
Her skin was so smooth that they might not even retain his
fingerprints.
Pressing on his fingers, was a certain mass, however supple it
was.
It was warm. It felt like his fingertips would melt.
“~~~~Ah…”
Stella’s body reacted to the sensation of having her breasts
rubbed from within.
An adorable sound leaked out from her lips.
Ikki wanted to hear it more.
He curled the fingers in her breasts into hooks and raised them
slightly.
The effect was immediate.
“Fu; Kuu!”
Stella’s body jumped, and the last button popped off.
Her compressed breasts sprang up like jelly and opened the
dress.
But it wasn’t fully open.
The dress had actually been stopped by the top of her breasts.
It had gotten caught, but only just barely.
Although the peak wasn’t visible, there was clearly a differently
colored area now half visible-
Open for biting.
Suddenly Ikki remembered what Stella had said earlier in a
similar situation.
Right, she had already told him.
It was basically a promise.
It was a mutual agreement.
Then there was no need to hold back.
Time for a bite.
“W-Wait!”
He wasn’t waiting.
This is what Stella had given him permission to do.
No waiting.
Ikki had moved to clear off what had gotten stuck on her
breasts when-
“...I’m so embarrassed I feel like my chest will burst…”
Her voice, which sounded like a suppressed shriek, stopped
him.
His gaze shifted from her chest to her face, where her eyes were
tearing up as she drew short, restless breaths.
There weren’t enough tears to overflow, but he saw her
apprehension.
She’d said she’d be okay, but there were some things she would
just be afraid of.
...Hadn’t Stella always worked hard despite that?
She had mustered her courage and showed herself.
To make their bond stronger, deeper.
“How long do you think I’ve waited to hear those words?”
She’d really been waiting for a long time.
When he thought about her devotion, the wild lust that had
ignited him faded.
What took its place in driving him was powerful affection.
He wanted to treat her gently.
He didn’t want her to have memories of fear on this day she’d
been waiting for.
“Stella…”

“...!?”
Ikki took his hands away from her dress and leaned forward,
pressing his lips to hers.
It wasn’t a lust fueled, bitey kiss, but more like their usual
messy kisses.
“...”
After several kisses, Stella’s body loosened up again.
It seemed the sensation of their usual kisses reassured her.
But- That wasn’t enough.
Today they weren’t stopping where they always had.
Thus Ikki deepened the kiss.
“...!”
His tongue, wet with saliva, split Stella’s lips and intruded
within.
The sudden, sensual stimulus made Stella’s body jump a bit.
But even this deep kiss was not their first.
Stella showed no fear.
In order to meet Ikki’s tongue, she mobilized her own.
Just as she always did.
But this was the last thing they would be accustomed to.
“...”
Stella finally realized.
The deed was the same, but the timing differed.
Normally, even when it came time to separate, Ikki wouldn’t
stop, wouldn’t separate their lips.
Wouldn’t let her go.
As if licking at sweet candy, his tongue would melt away her
sense of reason.
A tiny bit a time.
And it would melt before his persistence.
“~~~”
*Smack, slurp.*
The wet sound of viscous liquid echoed in the sickbay.
Their saliva was mixing into a froth, and spilling from their
lips.
However, Ikki would not permit any to spill.
He raised her chin, pouring it all back in.
*Gulp gulp*

As he did so, Stella drank it down, the liquid made by their

arousal.
It carried the heat from her throat and warmed her marrow.
At the same time, Ikki’s finger slid to Stella’s inner thigh, still
closed by her knees.
Still, he did not touch her crotch.
He traced her inner thigh, letting her relish the thrill of
uncertainty.
He started beside her knee. Slowly, moving back and forth, his
finger approached her crotch.
Finally, his finger was next to her underwear.
He could feel the minute spasms of her thigh muscles begin
through his fingertips.
Looking into her eyes, he saw that fear was already melting
into arousal, and her focus was growing fuzzy. Her white body,
stimulated from outside and within, was tinged pink with heat,
and her arousal made her sweat give off a sweet odor.
It was proof that her heart and body were prepared.
“Are you ready?”

“...Yeah…”
“You said you were afraid. I’ll do this as long as it takes to help
you calm down.”
“...I’m ready.”
She couldn’t put any strength in her words.
Her smile was feeble.
Even though her eyes showed such infatuation they lost focus,
they did their best to keep Ikki in sight.
That courage was unbearably lovable, and Ikki gave Stella three
tender kisses on the lip.
As he parted from the last kiss, he put his hands on her
shoulders and disrobed her.
Her body, slightly flushed pink, was laid bare before the
moonlight.
The base of her neck was lovely.
Her arms were feminine and slender.
Even though she was partly lying down, her hanging breasts
were still springy, and the disrobing sent them and her peach
colored nipples jiggling.
Her beauty made Ikki forget to breathe.
“So beautiful…”
His fried brain could only produce such a trite phrase.
He immediately wanted to grapple with them.
His own lower half was already raging painfully in his pants.
Still, Ikki admonished himself.
Even when he forgot to breathe, he wouldn’t forget his concern
for Stella.
He held firm, and make one final check.
He scooped up some of the saliva that had spilled from their
mouths onto her collarbone and smeared it into her right
breast, as if rubbing cream with his finger.
“Ahhhh…nn”
It was the first time he’d heard such a seductive voice from
Stella.
If he teased that nipple with his hand, it would look clearly
different from the other.
Her untouched left, and the right, slick from saliva.
The lascivious imbalance assaulted Ikki’s sense of reason.
It hurt.
His breath became ragged.
His temples pained him.
Holding back any longer was too difficult.
-But was it okay now? Could he really begin now?
He was inexperienced after all. And because he was
inexperienced, he wasn’t sure.
She said she was ready, but if he started now, would she be
hurt?
As Ikki worried, Stella raised her arms and gently placed her
hands on the nape of his neck.
She smiled up at him and said,
“Thanks… For being so gentle with me. I really am ready.”
So, you don’t have to hold back anymore-
“Ikki, do everything you want to do to me…”
“---”
Those words became a trigger.
No more wavering. No turning back.
Below the moonlight, their forms melted into one.
Immersed in passion, atop one another.
They embraced so deeply, that it became unclear where one
ended and the other began.
Their voices lost meaning, their lips only desperately seeking
their beloved.
Within all that, Ikki swore.
He would never let this girl be unhappy.
Ikki would not make her regret choosing him.
Upon his soul, he swore.
◆◇◆◇◆
Ikki came to hear the chirps of unseen birds.
As if calling for him, they woke him up.
The morning sun flowed into his open eyes.
The sky visible through the window was delightfully clear.
It was a good morning.
Yet, his body felt completely sluggish.
Like lead, he sank heavily into the bed, unmoving.
His consciousness too, sank far below the surface of awareness,
even as his eyes received the sunlight.
Deciding he couldn’t stay like that, Ikki inhaled once to guide
him towards awakening.
Just as he did, a flowery scent gently tickled his nose.
Ikki knew that scent well.
He turned his head there to see her still there, of course.
Her pale body was sunk into the futon to her shoulders and she
wore a gentle smile.
And when their eyes met, Stella’s scarlet pupils narrowed
bashfully.
“Morning, dear.”
“...!”
“Ehehe, I wanted to try saying that once.”
Those words made his heart skip a beat and his face flush red.
That special word was full of her love.
As soon as he heard it, his sleepiness scattered away, and Ikki
remembered everything that had occurred last night.
(I see, that explains why I feel so heavy.)
As he realized this, Ikki noticed that beyond his gaze was a mess
of plastic.
(I can’t believe we actually used all of them…!)
Where had the trepidation and fear from the beginning gone?
It all disappeared after the first time.
-Stella’s love switch had been flipped.
After he climbed atop her, the fear had slowly disappeared.
Well, he’d also forgotten himself, so it wasn’t just Stella who’d
flipped a switch.
Nevertheless, there needed to be a limit.
It seemed the ascetic life he’d pursued since the opening
ceremony had haunted him.
If he went that hard he’d be left unable to move properly the
day after.
(I need to be careful from now on…)
Neglecting his training to indulge in Stella’s body would be
totally counterproductive.
Warning himself thusly, Ikki directed his attention at Stella,
who almost certainly took more damage.
“How’s your body?”

“It still hurts quite a bit. It might even be hard to walk. You’re
quite a fiend, despite this being your first time making a girl a
woman.”
“You can’t pin all the blame on me for that. Clearly.”
“W-well, I guess.”
She was well aware that she went too far too.
Stella averted her gaze in embarrassment.
“Can you heal with the dragon’s regeneration?”
“It’s not that I can’t… But I’d like to stay like this for now.”
Ikki tilted his head at that reply.
Wasn’t it better to heal herself if she could?
For Ikki, the constant pain was also a constant reminder of his
guilt.
“After all, it’s proof that Ikki loved me.”
“~~~”
Saying such a thing with such a happy face left Ikki speechless.
Even after all the lovemaking they did last night, he loved her
so much his chest hurt.
What a terrible, unfair girl.
He needed to control himself, to not overly indulge.
To do such a thing just as he decided that.
He had to express this affection.
He had to let her know how much he loved her.
With such thoughts, Ikki’s hand spontaneously made its way to
Stella’s cheek.
Stella did not resist.
She felt his emotions through the heat of his palms, closed her
eyes, and prepared her lips.
Just as they were going to intertwine-
“Onii-sama. Stella. Are you awake yet?”
Along with knocks, Shizuku’s voice echoed from outside.
“”Hii!?!?””
Both of them let out a strange shriek at the sudden event.
Not only Shizuku, but also Arisuin, had arrived.
“Seems like they’re awake.”
(I-Ikki! Hurry and get back to the other bed!)
(Ah, Stella, your robes…)
(There’s no time to put it on! Just hide it! I’ll hide the trash on
the bed!)
(Got it…!)
Ikki grabbed Stella’s robes from the floor, dived onto his own
bed, and hid it in the futon.
At the same time, the door to the sickbay opened and Stella and
Arisuin walked in.
“Good morning. Onii-sama. Stella.”
“Did you two sleep well? ...Oh?”
Arisuin paused as soon as he stepped in the room.
“Hmm. Ehh. I see.”
A suggestive smile appeared on his face.
Seeing that knowing expression made Stella sweat buckets.
“W-What are you grinning about Alice!?”
“Hm? Nothing~ I just thought, you two must have had fun last
night.”
“W-w-w-we didn’t do anything though!?”
Shizuku interjected with a “What, where?” at this response.
“But the two of you had such a fun battle.”
“Ah- So it’s that.”
“That?”
“N-nothing!”
“...?”
(Stella… You’re acting too weird.)
This was getting bad.
Ikki addressed Shizuku, pulling her attention away from
Shizuku.
“Shizuku, thanks. You came all this way to wake us up.”
“No, this much isn’t worth thanking me for… I’d actually prefer
if you rested more after trying so hard, but with the award
ceremony in mind, I thought it best to come get you for
breakfast.”
“I see. Then, I’ll change and get ready, so could I get you to wait
outside?”
Suppressing a sense of guilt at taking advantage of his sister’s
concern for him, Ikki asked Shizuku to leave the room. Shizuku
didn’t doubt him at all.
“Okay. I’ll be waiting outside them. Let’s go, Alice,” she said
before turning back.
But first-
“By the way, Stella. I’ve been wondering since earlier, what are
all those rubber balloon looking things under your bed?”
“EHH? No way! I thought I picked all of those up- Ah.”
It was all over.
Stella saw nothing when she peered below the bed, but her
careless words gave it away.
“Stella…”
“Ahhhhhhh”
The boys let out a sigh of defeat, while the girls paled.
One paled from being flustered, while the other paled from
such indignation that their blood drained from their face.
“I see, I see. So it was that all along. I thought you two were
acting rather funny.”
While feigning a smile, Shizuku’s eyes let up with a demonic
green flame, and instantly dropped the temperature in the
room below freezing.
The window panes crackled as ice formed despite it being
midsummer.
“Sh, Shizuku… Um, hey, about this…”
In the middle of it, Stella tried to somehow appeal to Shizuku.
“No no, you don’t need to say it. Simply put, it’s that. Last night,
after competing so seriously with each other, you earnestly
thought about how to express your gratitude, and so you two
must have been Dragon Fanging the night’s Ittou Shura.”
“H-hey!? I was going to find a better time to talk to you
Shizuku…!”
“About your will?”
“No-”
“I see, so you don’t need a will.”
There was never any point in trying to persuade the inflamed
Shizuku.
In the next instant, the magical green glow on the Shizuku had
summoned onto the windows disappeared.
“Then, now dieeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!”
“Kyaaaaaa!”
“Hey, Shizuku! Calm do-”
“Shaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
“Sorry! It’s nothing!”
“Ikkiiii! Why are you just hiding there!”
“I don’t know!”

“Hasshaaaaaaaa!!!!!”
And that is why a blizzard of blood blew through the sick bay.
◆◇◆◇◆
It was finally time to meet the end of the long Seven Stars
Sword Art Festival.
「32 warriors, the elite of Japan’s 8 schools, fought here around
the summit.
Those battles ended in yesterday’s finals.
26 fierce battles.
I will remember how amazing every one of them was-」
Yuuzou Kaieda of the Organizing Committee's speech
resonated with the excitement still lingering from yesterday’s
battle.
The audience was not looking at Kaieda, but was instead
concentrated on the victor’s podium in front of him.
More accurately, they were focused on the fighters who were
about to climb onto it.
They eagerly awaited them.
There, they would receive laurels from the tournament
organizers.
Because one of the top three, Amane Shinomiya, committed
foul play after his match, he was automatically disqualified,
leaving third place to Ouma Kurogane. Ouma had already
returned to Osaka, leaving only Ikki Kurogane and Stella
Vermillion in the waiting room.
“Seriously,” she wheezed.
“Baka Shizuku got way too serious…! Anyone other than me
would be dead, for real..!”
“Are you okay, Stella?”
Ikki patted Stella on the back as she slumped in a chair and
breathed heavily.
Shizuku had been chasing Stella for a while.
“To be honest, even though I managed to get away for now, I’m
still afraid about later.”
“I’ll explain properly then too.”
But after a deep breath to fix her breathing, Stella replied, “It’s
fine.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s my job to get Shizuku’s understanding.”
“Not at all. This is for both-”
Stella shook her head at his words.
“Sorry. I know that. I know, but I want to do it myself.”
Stella had decided that long ago.
She had stolen Ikki away from a girl who loved him to bits.
She had to do this herself.
“If I don’t do this, I’ll never be able to face Shizuku head on.
That’s why, just for this, I can’t accept your help, Ikki.”
Ikki understood, which he expressed.
It was a girly sense of responsibility.
But Ikki loved it, so he couldn’t help it.
“...I understand. Do your best.”
“Why are you speaking like it’s someone else’s problem?”
“Eh?”
Ikki was understandably confused, seeing as she just said she
wanted to do it alone.
But Stella had a reason for saying that.
“Don’t you remember? After your battle with Touka, he told
you, right? My father.”
“...Ah.”
Now that it was mentioned, Ikki remembered it.
The scandal that started because of the ethics committee’s
recklessness.
At the end, the King of Vermillion, Stella’s father, sent Ikki a
message through Stella saying “After the Seven Stars Sword Art
Festival, come meet me in the Vermillion Kingdom.”
“Now that you mention it, that was a thing…”
It was definitely not someone else’s problem.
It would be a critical moment.
“By the way, we have a flight in a week.”
“Eeeeeeeeh!?!?”
“Hasn’t this been decided for a while?”
“It’s not that, that’s true, but… I need to prepare myself. Can’t I
get an extra week?”
“If this country’s army can do their best for a week.”
Was that a threat to go to war if he didn’t go on time!?!?
“You wouldn’t run away after deflowering an entire country’s
second princess, right?”
“Oh…”
“Father is just as scary as Shizuku~. Do your best, dar-ling ♡.”
All obstacles had already been dealt with.
He could but accept his fate.
“I- I’ll do my best…”
As Ikki nodded, he suddenly felt a cold sweat break out.
「Ladies and Gentlemen, let us commence the Sixty Second
Seven Stars Sword Art Festival Awards Ceremony. A round of
applause for our winners!」
Just as their conversation wound down, Kaieda called out.
Stella hopped out of her chair and faced Ikki.
“Let’s go then, Ikki.”
She reached out a hand to him.
As winner and runner-up, they would be awarded separately.
She wanted at least their entrance to be heralded together.
“...Yeah.”
Sensing her feelings, Ikki took her hands.
So the two entered, hand in hand, through the same gate.
Immediately-
「「「WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!」」」
Applause and cheers rained upon them.
「Ikki-kun! Congratulations!」
「Ah, look! They’re holding hands!」
「Wew! Looking good together!」
「Stella, Your Highness! I’ll get my revenge next year!」
「You were both amazing!」
Within the praise, the two continued down the path together.
When at last they reached Kaieda and the podium, the voices
quieted down, giving way to a dignified silence from tens of
thousands.
Having waited for that, Kaieda called the name of the runner-
up.
「Hagun Academy first year. Stella Vermillion.」
“Yes.”
Stella released Ikki’s hand and approached Kaieda.
「You achieved second at the sixty-second Seven Stars Sword
Art Festival, a magnificent achievement. That is henceforth
acknowledged here. Congratulations.」
Stella accepted the certificate he presented with both hands
and bowed.
Then, she pivoted on her heel and bowed to the audience.
The audience wordlessly applauded in response.
Stella then stepped up to her place on the podium on the second
highest tier.
Her movements were dignified, as if she was walking within a
temple.
It would seem she was used to the stage.
Once again, silence fell.
「Hagun Academy first year. Kurogane Ikki.」
It was finally Ikki’s turn.
“Yes.”
His voice carried clearly in the silence, and he stepped forward.
He wasn’t as used to the stage as Stella, but he carried himself
well.
His posture was every bit as dignified.
Once Ikki arrived before Kaieda, Kaieda began the conferral.
「Through a series of fierce battles, you have ascended to the
peak of the sixty-second Seven Stars Sword Art Festival. In
recognition of your achievement, you are hereby awarded the
title of Seven Stars Sword King. Congratulations.」
Together with his certificate, he received the title of strongest
student knight in the country.
It was what Ikki had always aimed for.
Emotions raced through Ikki’s heart.
His meeting with Kurogane Ryoma.
The days he spent training.
Running around the dojo even as he tasted blood.
A year spent shut up in Hagun Academy.
A chance meeting with his beloved.
This was the answer those days had culminated in.
That the path of shura he’d walked hadn’t been wrong.
“Thank you.”
Ikki accepted the certificate as emotions continued to swirl
inside.
But there was no applause.
Everyone there understood.
There was something left for the winner to do.
“Kurogane.”
In order to carry out that duty, he was handed something by
the principal of Hagun Academy, Shinguuji Kurono, who was
standing beside Kaieda.
It was something Toudou Touka had entrusted to him as the
group leader of Hagun Academy, the school flag.
Even with no explanation, Ikki understood what to do.
He had already promised.
He passed his certificate to Kurono for safekeeping and
accepted the flag.
He took his place next to Stella, on the podium’s highest level,
the Seven Stars Summit, and raised the flag to the sky.
「「「----------!!!!!!!」」」
A deafening torrent of applause struck them like a waterfall.
「Kurogane-kun, you’re the best!」
「Nice! To the new Seven Stars Sword King!」
「I’ll definitely come cheer for you again next year!」
「Nice job! Ikki-kun!」
It wasn’t just the audience seating. The cheers resounded
outside.
Countless strangers sent their blessings.
Of course, it wasn’t just strangers.
People Ikki knew very well also sent their blessings to him on
the summit.
“So he finally made it.”
“Mmf-”
Arisuin waved, while next to him, Shizuku clapped reservedly
with cheeks puffed up like a hamster.
“Congrats Kurogane-kun!”
“...Fuu.”
Kurashiki Kuraudo sat with his arms crossed, looking
interested. With him was Ayatsuji Ayase, who’d managed to
drag him there, saying she wanted to attend her benefactor’s
award ceremony.
“Thanks, Kurogane-kun!”
“As expected of the man who beat Runner’s High!”
The Hagun Student Council, who had risked their bodies to stop
the Akatsuki Raid, were there too.
“Woo, Kurogane! Get ready, I won’t lose next year!”
“Are you planning to repeat a year?”
“Ah… You’re right. I won’t be here next year. What to do…”
“I’d love to hear if you think there’s anything you could actually
do about that.”
On this stage called the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival, only a
few could be considered worthy opponents to compete for the
summit with.
Receiving blessings from those made Ikki renew his
determination.
He would become strong.
So he wouldn’t betray those blessings or the Seven Stars Sword
King title, or embarrass himself.
Even stronger than he was now.
Constantly more so.
So-
With those blessings, the last program of the Seven Stars Sword
Art Festival came to an end.
Kaieda addressed all present.
「With this, the sixty-second Seven Stars Sword Art Festival
ends.」
But, just then-
「「「Wait a minuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!」」
」
Dozens of female voices cried out at the same time, from all
over the stadium, and dozens of people could be seen climbing
over the fence and surging into the ring.
Everyone was astonished.
As if it wasn’t surprising enough, the intruders all shared the
same face.
「Wh- What’s this!?」
「This many of the same person!?」
Of course, in this situation, the adults began to respond
immediately.
Their goal, to apprehend the girl and bring calm back to the
situation.
But whenever one was close to getting caught, they would
disappear in a puff of smoke.
It was a clone type noble art.
By scattering her clones, she overwhelmed the adults’
defensive line in a flash.
She reached Ikki and Stella at the victor’s podium.
They stared, dumbfounded, at the intruder’s face.
But of course. The intruder was-
“You…!”
“Kusakabe-san!?”
It was their friend and classmate.
Kusakabe Kagami from the Hagun Academy Newspaper Club.
What was she doing there?
They wanted to ask her, but the camera in her hands explained
everything.
“Stella-chan! Stand next to senpai! Don’t just stand there!”
Stella and Ikki understood what she meant immediately.
“Stella!”
“Ok..!”
As Kagami pointed the lens at them, Stella’s dignified
expression bloomed into a smile and she jumped onto Ikki’s
platform.
Ikki caught her in a solid hold and held her there.
His chivalry would continue on.
Now he would continue with his beloved, irreplaceable Stella.
After seeing them standing together, everyone in the stadium
reached an unusual understanding, as if the last piece of a
jigsaw puzzle had been placed.
Like, ‘Ah, I see.’
The results of battle, victory and defeat, are hard to change,
recorded as they are, but the way those two were was meant to
be.
From now on, forever.
“Okay! Say cheese!”
Afterword
Thanks for reading volume 9. Can’t believe I managed to finish!
I mean that in more ways than one! With this, Rakudai is
concluded. Thanks for supporting me for so long!
I'm just joking, the story will continue in the Vermillion
empire.
But make no mistake, the ending of the Seven Stars Sword-Art
Festival marks a major event in this story, the resolution of one
of Ikki’s long time goals.
There will probably be readers who choose to part from this
story here.
So, I stressed out a lot over this final between Stella and Ikki. I
thought there might be readers who were afraid that the story
would end here, and wondered if I should somehow stall.
There’s so much more I want to do with this story (like meeting
Stella’s parents), so I worried it might be risky to definitively
set Stella and Ikki’s relationship so.
But this is the stage of their dreams, and I couldn’t help but
depict it. Ikki and friends are roused up and fighting so
earnestly, so I couldn’t take any half measures.
So I steeled myself and wrote this volume like it would be the
last.
I think I did a satisfactory job.
It’d make me happy if readers fell more in love with Stella and
Ikki after this volume.
Even for those who will part with us at this volume, if this
work left you with fun memories, then I couldn’t be happier.
To the editorial staff. To the artist. To the manga creator. To the
manga staff.
And to everyone that supported this work up to now.
I was able to give shape to Ikki and Stella’s promise because of
your support.
Thank you so much!
Next volume, the stage expands to the world. Will Ikki survive
the meeting with Stella’s parents? What are the reasons for
Tsukikage’s movements? I hope you’ll keep following Rakudai.
Alright, see you in volume 10! Bye!