Chivalry of a Failed Knight Vol. 3

The item she held was a medal that proved she had been selected by Hagun Academy to be a representative at the Seven Stars. Stella had already completed her final battle by defeating another undefeated student in record time, a mere three seconds. She had done that just to be there for Ikki during his final battle.

She had wondered what she should do—what she could do—to help Ikki in his solitary war. The answer she had come up with was to keep her end of their promise and to come find him. It was a surefire way to give him courage.

“So go out there and win, Ikki! Then we’ll go, together, to the peak of knighthood!”

Ikki felt tears welling up in his eyes. He really did have an amazing girlfriend. It wasn’t just that she had come so far to support his exhausted self. In that moment, Stella had given him so much courage, so much strength.

Her love is the best thing I could have ever hoped for.

Ikki had to keep being worthy of her love; a proud man who was just as strong as she was.

His weak-spirited thought of “I’ll do what I can” was shattered by the sound of her voice. Ikki had to leave his friends with better parting words. “Off I go” wasn’t good enough, so instead, he declared:

“I’m off to win!”

◆◇◆◇◆

“Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. Thanks for calling.” Utakata thanked the caller and pulled his student handbook away from his ear. He then sat down in a chair in the waiting room before telling Touka, whose eyes were closed while she focused herself, “Renren called. Ikki’s here.”

“Mm,” Touka replied shortly, groaning.

Her bangs hung over her face, hiding her expression. Utakata couldn’t begin to understand what was going on in her heart.

Ikki had arrived. Faced with a truth that she had initially wanted to avoid, Touka—

“…Heheh.”

Utakata felt his body hair stand on end as Touka’s lips warped with delight. Lightning crackled in the air around her as a result of her exhilaration, causing Utakata to swallow speechlessly.

That really flipped her switch.

The last time he had seen Touka like that was when she’d fought Moroboshi at the Festival the year before. It was out of sheer kindness that had Touka worried about Ikki’s health and wished he would surrender, but in their world—a world of fighting—kindness alone wouldn’t bring anyone to the top four in the nation. The ferocity and brutality necessary to submerge one’s foe in a pool of their own blood ruled the other side of Touka’s personality.

At least she doesn’t show this side too often.

Ikki had forced Touka to get serious. The sheer nobility of the boy known as Ikki Kurogane had made her accept him as a powerful foe. She wouldn’t hold back in the slightest; she was going to give the half-dead Worst One all she had. He didn’t have even a fraction of a chance at victory.

“Touka Toudou, your battle is about to begin. Please make your way to the arena.”

“All right. Here I go, Uta.”

She slowly stood from her chair and disappeared through the door to the red gate. Utakata watched as she left, her form overflowing with vitality. He couldn’t help but pity the dying boy who had to face her.

I’m sorry for what’s about to happen to you, Worst One. Consider this matchup just bad luck.

◆◇◆◇◆

“All right, everyone. We apologize for the long wait, but now, it’s time to begin the final selection battle for the Seven Stars Battle Festival! From the red gate, Raikiri appears!

Nineteen wins, zero defeats. She’s the student council president and it shows—her overwhelming strength has helped her come out of every battle unscathed! Despite Hagun’s overall poor performance as of late, her continuous victories have shone the light of courage on all of us! Hagun Academy’s pride and joy, our radiant number-one star! Walking the path of glory, this star is off to battle to secure her final victory and her place at the Seven Stars! It’s the third-year student Touka Toudou, everybody! With everyone’s anticipation at her back, she has taken the stage!”

Touka showed herself in the arena. She stood with her back straight, watching the blue gate with dignity.

“What amazing concentration.” Stella, watching from afar, could feel just how energetic she was. “Even at this distance, my skin is tingling!”

Shizuku, however, having experienced Raikiri’s power firsthand, felt differently. The moment Touka appeared in the arena, she felt fear run through her; the terror was so great that she wanted to look away.

But she did not. Instead, she held her trembling shoulders and continued looking down at the arena, suppressing the urge to flee.

“Shizuku, are you okay?”

“I’m not, honestly. But my brother is doing his absolute best, so I can’t leave him now. I’ll watch this battle until it’s over, no matter how it ends.”

“And from the blue gate, we have another undefeated nineteen-streaker—although the road he took to get here was entirely different from Raikiri’s! Never given the time of day, never accepted by anyone, a lone wolf left for dead in the abyss. But he’s clawed his way back up! The Crimson Princess, The Hunter, and even Runner’s High! He mowed down Hagun’s most famous knights like nobody’s business! There’s not a single person in this school who doesn’t know his name! Hagun’s favorite Rank F: first-year Ikki Kurogane, the Worst One! This wolf bares his fangs toward the sky, ready to sink his teeth into a star!”

Following Touka’s entrance, Ikki appeared from the blue gate. He entered the arena with sure steps and a stalwart stature that betrayed the fact that he was half-dead.

“D-Doesn’t he seem a little different?”

“Yeah. His expression isn’t any different, though, is it?”

“He’s scary to look at…”

The audience stirred. They felt something in the way he stood, even if they couldn’t put it into words—though some members of the crowd had an idea of what it was.

“Oho, so that’s Touka’s opponent? He’s strong, that’s for sure.”

“You can tell, Master Nangou?”

“Of course I can, just look at how tense he is. This little man is ready to die here, if necessary. He’s walking into battle with that much determination; even the audience is taken aback by his resolve. I didn’t know Kurogane was that sort of man, but I have a feeling this battle will be a treat to watch.”

“For real. Then again, while he’s not showing it on his face, the fatigue is definitely wearing on him. You think he has any chance of beating Touka like that, Kuu?”

“Mhmhm. Whether he can or not, he has to face her. This is his duel, after all.”

Ignoring Akaza’s interruption, Kurono looked down as she answered.

“Well, the outlook is bleak. I doubt he’ll be able to fully swing his sword more than once or twice. Kurogane has to be careful here; he ought to know Raikiri’s killing tactic well by now.”

“Hm? Does she have one?”

Kurono thought of ignoring his question as well, but decided she was tired of listening to such a greasy fatass speak. Thus, she turned to Akaza and explained.

“Basically, Raikiri is a quickdraw attack. If her sword isn’t sheathed, she can’t use it. Through repeated, careful in-and-out attacks, he can apply pressure that will neutralize Toudou’s Raikiri and other Noble Arts. The moment she unsheathes that sword, she’ll become unable to use Raikiri. If Kurogane has a chance, that’s where it lies. But, to make that chance a reality, he’ll have to fight a patient, drawn-out battle despite his pain.”

It was a disadvantageous battle, but rushing to end it would hurt his chances even further. He was up against the close-range queen, Raikiri, after all. If he charged right in, he would eat her all-powerful trump card. Ittou Shura, which multiplied his strength by dozens of times, still wasn’t enough to break through Raikiri, so a drawn-out battle would be his best bet.

Saikyou was of the same mind, but a single knight there had a different opinion.

“Oho, I see. You suggest a drawn-out battle, then, Kurono?” It was Nangou. Behind his wrinkled eyelids, his eyes shone with the shrewdness of a hawk’s. “I bet this battle will be settled in a single slash.”

Meanwhile, the crowd was beginning to go wild watching the two fighters in the arena. In the midst of the tempest, Touka offered a few words to Ikki.

“I have to apologize to you, Kurogane.”

“Why’s that?”

“I kept on hoping you wouldn’t come here. I even begged your sister to make you forfeit the match. But while I was doing those hypocritical things… I was still desperately looking forward to this fight!”

“Ah!”

“Kurogane, I know you’re already deeply hurt all over, and your fatigue is plain to see. But I’m still so helplessly excited, because ever since the moment I met you, I’ve always, always wanted to fight you!”

She spread her feet as her lips drew into a smile. Lightning ran through the air, converging at Touka’s palm until it became Narukami. Her expression showed that she could hardly wait for the battle to begin—and the same went for Ikki.

“I agree wholeheartedly,” he declared, materializing his own katana in his right hand.

It was true that he had always thought the same thing. Who was stronger, him or Raikiri? Could he defeat such a foe? At times, he would get so worried about it that his mind would be taken over by doubt, like fog seeping in, but there she was, directly in front of him.

“As long as I stand here as a knight, I won’t swing my sword in a way that would bring shame to me, you, or the people pushing you forward. So here I swear…” Ikki said, raising the sword in his right hand and pointing the tip at Touka. “I’ll use my greatest weakness to shatter your indomitable strength!”

He swore that he would win. That was why he had come, after all.

“After a short exchange, these two greats now face each other, Devices in hand! A girl who has seen the summit, and a boy who crawled up from the depths. Who is truly stronger? With their place at the Seven Stars Battle Festival on the line, these knights begin their final battle! Now, everyone, say it with me! Let’s go ahead!”

◆◇◆◇◆

When the buzzer sounded, everyone present at the scene saw something unbelievable. Before it had even fallen silent, blue light radiated from Ikki and he charged at Touka.

“Wh-Whoa! Kurogane opens with his trump card, Ittou Shura! He’s attacking at the very start!”

The crowd was restless—Ikki had never used his Ittou Shura at the start of a match until this point.

Why would he? The technique had a strict time limit of one minute; if his target fled in that time, he’d be done for. Instead, he would trade blows with his opponent, reading their plans from top to bottom and learning their methods. He would never use it before doing so.

However, Ikki had discarded that pattern, because he didn’t have the stamina to read Touka’s plans from even the smallest of engagements. Had the fatigue forced him to rush the battle that much?

That was a reckless decision, Kurogane! Kurono gritted her teeth at the sight. He should have been prepared to take some risks and draw out the fight. Forcing the end of the match while he still had stamina would may have worked in a more favorable situation, but in his current position, it was beyond foolish. Doesn’t he know that he’s up against the Raikiri?!

She was among the top four student knights in the country. A suicide attack wouldn’t work on her. He would either fall to her Raikiri, or she would escape him with Shippuu Jinrai. Either way, this decision left Ikki with no chance at victory.

Kurono and Saikyou looked down on the fight with grim expressions. Shizuku and Alice, other powerful students, did the same. The recklessness he was displaying caused their faces to warp with despair.

From among them, however, Stella Vermillion, the Crimson Princess, grinned slightly.

Jeez, Ikki. Even when your livelihood as a knight is on the line, you’re still so crazy. She knew why he had chosen the path he did. Raikiri was a quickdraw attack, so all one had to do to stifle it was to attack while Touka’s sword was unsheathed. Even I know as much, so of course you’ve noticed.

Still, Ikki hadn’t chosen that option. Why? Was it because he judged that he had too little stamina to follow through with that plan? No, there was more to it than that. Stella knew his wasn’t a clever decision, and she was right to think so.

I’ve known this from the very start!

Ever since he met Touka, Ikki had known that he would defeat her by defeating Raikiri. The super-electromagnetic quickdraw Raikiri was so powerful that it became her title as a knight, after all. How could he claim victory without challenging and defeating that attack?

Frankly, his body was at its limit. He had enough magic left within him to use Ittou Shura without difficulty, but his stamina wouldn’t be able to keep up with it. In fact, he probably only had one swing worth of energy left within him.

However, that was all he needed. No feints, no wasted stamina. Ikki would move in a straight line until he was at point-blank range, where he would put all of his strength into a single stroke, and in doing so, he would defeat the invincible Raikiri. That was the utmost form of sincerity he could show Touka, who had risen to the field of a battle swirling with conspiracy.

This is my own challenge!

However unfavorable the odds, Ikki would not fight a battle he would regret, nor would he fight in a way that disappointed his opponent. With that determination in his heart, he ran, shining with the light of life.

“I’ll use my greatest weakness to shatter your indomitable strength!”

As she watched him, Touka Toudou came to understand that the words he’d said before the match were his genuine thoughts. She didn’t even need Reverse Sight to read his impulses; the sheer determination approaching her told the whole story. Ikki Kurogane had decided that the first slash in their battle would also be the last, so he charged in, aiming for her Raikiri counterattack.

Her victory was assured. She simply had to fake using Raikiri before jumping far back, forcing him to fumble his full-body attack. Then, once he was completely exhausted, she could harass him from outside of his range. He would be helpless, leading to her victory.

As if!

Close-range combat was the domain of Raikiri, in which it had never been bested. It was where Touka was at her most powerful, so she didn’t even entertain the idea.

What would a queen be if she shamelessly fled from her territory just because an enemy attacked? Where would she fight if not where she was the strongest? Most of all, why would she flee from a knight who, despite the pain and fatigue he faced, challenged her invincible technique with all his strength? Who could take pride in a victory like that?

I’m not here to protect my number-one spot at Hagun! I’m here to defeat this proud knight and become the Seven Stars King! I’ll accept his challenge with the indomitable strength of my Raikiri!

Touka widened her stance and sent lightning coursing through Narukami’s scabbard in preparation to use her trump card: a single strike that had cut down every single person to ever fall victim to it.

Ready to draw her sword, she unleashed her counterattack upon the approaching Ikki. Like her foe, she would bet everything on a single slash in a fair fight that would bring mutual pride to both knights. That was the noble path of knighthood—the path on which the two knights faced each other.

Ikki would unleash his Seventh Secret Sword: Raikou. An invisible swing that made his swordplay impossible to trace, it was the fastest of all his seven sword arts. Its speed was like that of lightning as it struck the earth, which made it all the more fitting that the counterattack directed at him was Raikiri, an electricity-based quickdraw that could tear through even lightning.

Both swords were guided by superhuman speed, so the result of the matchup would be decided by the depth of feelings behind them: the prayers of those who supported each fighter from the bottom of their hearts, and the knights’ pure desire to defeat the foe before them. They put all of that and more into the embodiments of their souls, and with every last ounce of their strength, both knights swung their swords.

“Haaahhhhh!”

“Yaaaaahhhhh!”

Their blades were as lightning bolts. Though their point-blank strikes both tore through the air at incredible speed, Raikiri was slightly faster.

No! This isn’t enough! The approaching plasma blade burned so brightly that its color was imperceptible. I can’t make it like this!

Faced with her speed and power, Ikki foresaw his own defeat. The unsheathed Raikiri was unfettered and merciless, controlled by a woman who was prepared to kill if necessary. It was a gorgeous exhibition of swordplay; Touka Toudou was truly a powerful knight.

So what?!

Ikki knew that she was strong. He also knew that he was inferior to most, but he had never turned away from that fact. He kept fighting, not once trying to escape that unbearable truth. That was why he knew what he had to do in such a situation.

If he was inferior, he had to gather his strength. If he couldn’t make it, he had to strain himself further. A minute was too long; all he needed was a single second.

Ikki honed his soul. Sight, taste, hearing, touch, smell—not one of his senses was useful to him as he swung. In that single instant, Ikki didn’t even need to breathe. He abandoned everything irrelevant and concentrated his remaining power.

His muscles, his marrow, his bones, his cells. From it all, he wrung every last drop of vitality, stamina, magic, and potential in his body, all to break beyond his limits.