Chivalry of a Failed Knight Vol. 3

When their steel blades collided, a gale of wind blew in all directions. The impact created a flash that robbed the world of color momentarily, and the rumble that accompanied it was akin to a thunderclap that could be heard from hundreds of miles away, with not a sound to be heard once it subsided.

Clang!

In the silence, the sound of metal breaking echoed through the venue, followed by that of someone falling. The crowd had been forced to close their eyes from the sheer brilliance of the lightning strike-like clash, but slowly, timidly, they opened their eyes and looked into the arena.

The shattered weapon was Narukami, and the one who had fallen along the royal path of knighthood was the Raikiri, Touka Toudou.

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“H-He broke iiiiit! I-I can’t believe it! All it took was one crossing of blades, one trading of blows, and Toudou’s Narukami—along with her very own Raikiri—has been shatteeered! Toudou has fallen, and she isn’t getting up! A referee is running over now! Can she continue the fight, or…?!”

The crowd watched with bated breath as the referee approached Touka and made his decision. He squatted down for a moment, looked her over, then finally stood and crossed his arms to form an X.

“The referee has ruled her unable to battle! The duel is oveeer! What a finish! What an end! It only took a fraction of a second, but the strongest knight in Hagun Academy has been bested! The last one standing, the victor of this match, is the Worst One, Ikki Kuroganeee!”

The moment the winner’s name was announced, the crowd erupted into cheers, shaking the venue. The audience turned into a crucible of excitement, with many members expressing their shock.

“N-No way…”

“H-He really won! He beat the Raikiri!”

“Unbelievable! The president lost at close range?!”

“Hey, I’ve never seen someone break a Device before. Is she alive?”

“Yaaaaay! Ikki, you’re the best!”

Watching Ikki as he dragged himself out of the arena, Stella immediately ran over toward the blue gate to meet him.

“Aren’t you going, Shizuku?” Kagami asked the silver-haired girl, whom she had watched the battle together with, but Shizuku just shook her head slightly. “Are you waiting so he can be alone with Stella? On a day like this, I don’t think they’d mind you being there.”

“No…”

“Shizuku?”

The tiny girl merely sat down in place. Kagami then realized that Shizuku wanted to go, but couldn’t get her body to move. Her beloved older brother had dragged his near-dead body into battle against a woman who had put all her strength into a single strike against him, unhesitating despite his poor state.

Though Ikki had won, it was only by a hair. If he had made even the tiniest slip-up, he could have lost his head. That tension—and the resulting relief from being released from it—had drained Shizuku of all her energy.

“I’m so glad you’re okay. So glad…!”

Shizuku was so overcome with emotion that she could only sit and cry in relief. The poor girl had been so tense since the night before.

“Did you see that, Nene?”

“Yeah, duh. That Kurogane boy is one hell of a guy.”

Nangou and Saikyou—two of the esteemed Mage-Knights watching from the very top of the stands—had seen something. When the two steel lightning bolts that were Raikou and Raikiri collided, Ikki had accelerated even further.

“Ittou Shura, a technique that uses all of Ikki’s power in one minute, couldn’t defeat Raikiri. He knew that, so the man did it all in one swing instead of one minute! With even more staggering concentration than in his one-minute-transformation, he multiplied his strength not by dozens, but by hundreds, putting it all into the power and speed of his swing!”

If the normal use of Ittou Shura could be seen as using all of one’s strength to run a hundred yards, then what Ikki had just done was to condense all of those hundred yards into a single step. That was no human feat; it was something possible only for a man who had descended into the very depths of hell, the domain of the Asura. A limit that surpassed limits, eclipsing even humanity to become a demon. Its name: Ittou Rasetsu.

“But that was a mere trick. It wasn’t what decided the match.”

“Master Nangou?”

“What’s that supposed to mean, you old shit?”

“Touka used her Raikiri with the resolve to kill that Kurogane boy. It was the most beautiful, unhesitant swordplay I’ve ever seen, and there’s no doubt it was faster than the boy’s. But the moment he reached his limit, he evolved. It all happened in the nick of time, for the sole purpose of defeating Touka.

“I can only imagine that’s what he’s always done. With nothing to his name, nothing given to him by anyone, he always fights tooth and nail, believing in his own potential. He endlessly hones himself to become faster than he was one minute ago, stronger than he was one second ago.

“In the end, it was that minor difference. Touka used the limits of her strength in her attack, that much is certain, but during their battle, that boy forced his own limits to grow. His persistent effort to increase his own potential was what earned him this victory. Very fitting for a man like him.”

Nangou squinted his eyes, already narrow from his sagging skin, and watched Ikki exit the ring as though he were an old friend.

“I-Impossible! Do you even hear yourself?! He was half-dead! For that to lead to this, there must have been some kind of mistake! That’s it, it’s all a mistake! Something went wrong! You think I’ll accept this outcome?!”

Akaza, unable to process what had happened right before his eyes, screamed as he ran out of the stands.

“Kuu, you’re not gonna follow him?” Saikyou asked, shooting a glance at his round form as he waddled away. “He’s definitely up to no good.”

“Honestly, I wanted to make him pay for everything he’s put us through, but it feels stupid now,” Kurono replied, having also assumed he was scheming. “It doesn’t matter whether or not we leave him; he can’t do anything anymore. No matter what he tries, it’s too late. The situation’s out of his hands. A nationally-renowned knight, family ties, injustice, an absurd fight—Ikki Kurogane faced all that and more head-on, and with a single slash, he cut the Gordian Knot.”

Nobody would entertain any objections to the result. News cameras had caught the entire spectacle, including the moment the great Raikiri fell to the Worst One.

“It doesn’t matter how much Kurogane’s family wants to abuse him anymore,” she continued. “The world’s not going to let him go that easily. Thanks to this battle, the name ‘Worst One’—or perhaps ‘Another One’—is echoing around the world as we speak.”

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Their cheers sound so distant, Ikki thought, as if listening to rain outside his window. His consciousness had separated entirely from his physical form; if he relaxed his grip on himself even a little bit, he would probably collapse.

Maybe it was okay for him to collapse. He had already won the battle, after all. Despite that, however, he continued to push his legs forward. There was somewhere he needed to go, someone he needed to see.

I have to tell her something… right now.

So he walked through the blue gate, leaving the cheering crowd behind.

“Ikki!”

There, the person he wanted to meet came to him from beyond it.

Lucky me.

Ikki wasn’t sure if he could make it to the audience stands. Stella opened her arms to receive Ikki as he fell into her chest. She embraced him, her large chest pressing into him as she spoke.

“Great job out there, Ikki. Hic…!”

She was sobbing. Ikki looked up and saw that her face was wet with tears.

“Did I make you worry that much?”

“YES! Yes, you did! Hic! You got abducted! I didn’t see you for weeks! And when you come back, you’re half-dead! Worst of all, you start going on about fighting Raikiri head-on despite all that! How stupid can you be, Ikki?! I can’t believe you, you big, stupid dummy!”

Haha… he thought. Guess she didn’t like my joke.

“But y’know, I’m a dummy, too.”

“Huh?”

“Because I fell in love with you even though you keep doing things like that.”

She held him even tighter.

There’s that warmth…

The heat of Stella’s body had given Ikki’s frozen self so much strength. Back when he fell into that snowstorm, he had thought it was all over. He hadn’t had an ounce of energy left within him.

It was her warmth that gave him the power to go on. Though Ikki couldn’t even remember her name at that point, she had brought his corpse back to life.

Thank you.

If Stella hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have been able to make it as far as he did. He would have been left buried in the snow, thrown away definitively by his own father, unable to cope with the feeling of loss.

Because she was there, he had been able to dig himself out of it. Because she was there, he had been able to keep fighting. That was the reason he chose to say it. He had decided that when his battle was over, if he had won, he would tell her.

“Stella.” Ikki inhaled deeply and held Stella with all the strength left in him. He had decided that when his battle was over, once he had won, he would tell her. “I want us to be a family.”

All the love in his heart was poured into those few short words. Decisive words that he could never have said before. Words that would take their relationship beyond just boyfriend and girlfriend.

He felt Stella start to quiver, but it only lasted an instant. She quickly squeezed him even tighter and replied with a voice that sounded as though she was ready to cry, her expression a mix of bashfulness and unimaginable joy.

“Me too. Marry me, Ikki.”