Smoke billowed from Hagun Academy. Its campus was embroiled in the war between the school’s student council and the students of Akatsuki Academy, and in the eyes of the student council, the outlook of that war was getting bleaker by the minute.

Even excluding the student guest Ouma Kurogane, every Akatsuki Academy student was a powerful fighter with deep ties to the underbelly of society. They all stood out amongst the underworld’s ranks, having been hand-picked from the myriad of people who had been witness to terror and bloodshed unimaginable to everyday members of society. Each one of them was strong enough to match the ace of their school, and at least on par with any of the top eight student knights from across the country. It was that difference in strength had driven Touka and her companions into a corner.

“Argh!”

Runner’s High Renren Tomaru, one of the student council members, cried out in pain in the midst of her high-speed dash. Her Noble Art, Mach Greed, canceled out any sources of deceleration, allowing her to accumulate more and more velocity. Boasting no more than a handful of failures in battle, she’d left every person she’d battled—save for one—in the dust upon reaching top speed.

“There’s no point, weaklings!” Despite her high success rate, her opponent was hot on the heels of her high-acceleration Mach Greed. The reason for that was, of course, because her opponent was not a person, but a massive black lion. It was no mere lion, either. On top of its incredible physical strength that was incomparable to a human’s, it also used mana emission to propel itself to a speed that approached even Renren’s. “My loyal servant, Sphinx, is so much more than a mere magical beast. Thanks to the wicked stigmata carved into both my blood and soul by a demonic curse, I can use the power of my bloodline to draw out its dormant, dark power to the fullest extent. Mere mortals can only tremble before our strength!”

“What my master means to say is the following: ‘Any living creature that wears my Collar of Subjugation becomes my Device. Lions have much greater brute strength than humans, so if it’s able to use magic as well, it becomes even stronger!’”

The eyepatch-wearing girl on the lion’s back, Beast Tamer Rinna Kazamatsuri, spoke in a bizarrely theatrical way. Her maid, Charlotte, then translated the intended meaning of her pomp.

“Now, accept your extinction, weakling!”

“What my master means to say is the following: ‘Moving will only make this hurt more, so stay put!’”

“You’re a bunch of weirdos!” Renren shouted an insult at the two in response to their jarringly silly back-and-forth.

There was no way she’d stop just because they told her to. Considering that the black lion was likely the weight of a small truck, letting it catch up to her meant certain death. What made it all the more problematic was that it would be nigh-impossible to stick to a hit-and-run fighting style with how well it matched her speed.

That’s it! The sight of a light pole just ahead of her gave Renren an idea. If I’m up against a fast enemy, I’ll use their speed to my advantage and feed them a counter! That way, I can end this with one punch!

Her foe was staying behind her while matching her speed. In that case, she would do the same thing that Ikki had done to her and use its speed to strike it that much harder. With that determination, Renren ran by the pole, grabbing on to it with her left arm to perform an instant U-turn.

The instant reversal in her velocity sent Renren careening straight toward the lion in pursuit of her, with Renren aiming for its vulnerable brow. Her abrupt U-turn that led into a counter would leave no time for it to evade, and unlike people, animals couldn’t take defensive stances.

“Black Bird!”

She lunged forward, ready to settle their battle in the blink of an eye. However, her all-in ambush was met with boisterous laughter from the Beast Tamer.

“Haaahahaha! Unenlightened fools like you fail to see the truth governing this world! Did you not hear my venerable voice?! My demonic curse is not limited to the power to control magical beasts! Come, Sphinx, and show them the dark power that lies dormant within your tainted soul! Make them cower in fear before King’s Pressure!”

“Rooooooar!”

The lion’s eyes suddenly began burning with red flames, and Renren felt the force of a roar that would startle people miles away. Then, an unusual change occurred within her.

“Wha—?!”

I can’t move!

Somehow, her body had stiffened, unable to move from the position she was in. She had no time to wonder what had caused it, though, as the small truck of a beast slammed into her frozen body at full speed, sending her flying.

“Gah!”

Renren was launched dozens of yards away, her small body bouncing across the earth until she slammed into a concrete wall. By the time she fell to the ground, she had already blacked out.

“As I said, my demonic curse draws forth the powers of darkness! The power dormant within Fenr—I mean, Sphinx, is the dark King’s Pressure! Only the king of the beasts can wield the immense power required to make any enemy who locks eyes with him freeze and cower in fear!”

“What my master means to say, with a very proud look on her face, is the following: ‘Because I’ve made him my Device, he can use both magic and Noble Arts! Cool, right?!’”

“Tomaru!”

Seeing in her periphery that Renren had fallen, Touka bit her lip. It wasn’t just Renren who had been taken down, though.

Saijou, Uta, and even Kana, too!

The two groups had been fighting for just over ten minutes. At the end of those ten minutes, Touka was the last member of Hagun’s student council who remained standing.

“Ready to give up?” Ouma asked, exasperated, as despair clouded Touka’s face.

Unlike her companions, she wasn’t wounded in the slightest, but that wasn’t because she and Ouma were evenly matched. Once Stella and the others had escaped, Touka took each student council member’s strength into consideration and, deciding that she was the only one who could face him, chose to challenge Ouma herself. Shockingly, he’d responded to her challenge by dematerializing Ryuuzume, leaving him defenseless.

“I’m not one to point a sword at a woman weaker than me,” he’d told her. “If you want to fight me that badly, I’ll let you have the first hit. If you can manage to wound me in any way, then I’ll face you in battle.”

Ouma had then waited motionlessly with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, as if saying that a knight as weak as her wasn’t worth wasting his time on. Seeing him like that had infuriated Touka, but his arrogance in underestimating her had lent itself to providing a rare opportunity. There was no question that he was tremendously strong, as shown by how easily he had overpowered Stella, yet he had carelessly opened himself up to attack when faced with a drawn sword.

An opportunity like that wasn’t something she was going to let slip. She was going to remove Ouma—the most troublesome factor—from the equation, and had wasted no time in taking advantage of his carelessness to do so. It was possible that she had misinterpreted his arrogance, that he’d known that she had only a fraction of his strength, but nonetheless, she had unleashed a full-power Raikiri against him. The draw from the sheath, the angle of the attack, the speed of the swing, and the power behind it were all immaculate—it was a perfectly executed strike.

She’d landed a direct hit with her Raikiri, yet it hadn’t left even a single scratch on Ouma’s body. For the full ten minutes that followed, she’d tried over and over, each attempt ending the same way. Every last slash had reverberated violently off of him as though she were bludgeoning a mountain rather than a man. The best she’d done was cut into his clothing; she’d never managed to pierce his skin.

What?! His defensive power is out of this world! Altogether, one Blazer being unable to hit another wasn’t an incredibly rare phenomenon. Much like what had happened during Ikki and Stella’s first fight, it was often due to the two knights doing battle having vastly different magic capacities. But the difference in our magic capacities shouldn’t be that high!

“The way you and I have trained is very different,” Ouma said as if witnessing the conflict taking place in her mind. “Accept that you have no chance against me.”

“Tch! I’m not done yet!”

Touka dashed at Ouma. All of her allies had fallen, which meant the other Akatsuki students would be on their way to take her down as well, putting her directly in harm’s way. To avoid the coming danger, she needed to land just one hit.

I’ll get him while he’s still mocking me!

Touka stepped back to create some distance between them and pointed the tip of Narukami at Ouma, holding the sword parallel to the ground. She formed a magnetic field in front of her using her magic, at the same time using Shippuu Jinrai to send electricity flowing through her muscles.

“Takemikazuchi!”

She plunged into the tunnel of electromagnetic forces, which propelled her forward with destructive speed. It was as if she had created a railgun that fired her own body as a projectile. The technique was incomplete, pregnable, and excessively dangerous. It was a flashy special attack that warranted no real practical use, but its destructive potential surpassed that of even Raikiri and its incredible propulsion.

Making use of that monstrous offensive power, Touka had taken up her final attack stance and charged, sending blood flying through the air. The red mist hadn’t come from Ouma, however; it was coming from Touka’s right arm, thrust forward to attack. Narukami had only chiseled a fraction of an inch into Ouma’s skin, just enough to let out a tiny bit of blood. He had remained completely motionless like a mountain, otherwise unaffected by Takemikazuchi’s charge.

“What even… are you…?” Touka asked with a quivering voice, her right arm broken and limp. “Wha—?!”

Her eyes opened wide in shock, but not because Ouma had shrugged off her attack. It was because she had seen the countless scars that littered his chest, which she had poked using Takemikazuchi. Incisions, lacerations, punctures, bullet wounds, crush injuries—any and all kinds of pain had been inflicted on Ouma’s body frequently enough that the wounds layered and overlapped, never able to heal.

iPS Capsules were advanced enough that they could heal the majority of wounds without leaving scars. Their existence was a medical miracle that made it very strange for a Blazer to have as many old wounds as he did—a bit too strange, even. For the first time, Touka had come to fear Ouma Kurogane from the depths of her heart.

“Wh-What in the world have you been doing since you disappeared?!”

Five years had passed since Ouma had left the spotlight. What kinds of horrors had he witnessed during that time?

“I’m not one to talk at length about myself.” Shaking his head, he remained silent about the past five years of his life. “In fact, I have nothing to tell you. My parents, my brother, my sister, my fame—I threw it all away. All I have now is this sword and the vow I entrusted to it.”

He then materialized Ryuuzume.

“Gh…!”

“Though small, this is indeed a wound. As promised, I’ll fight you.” In no time at all, a gust of raging wind had enveloped the two, with Ryuuzume at the center. “Kusanagi.”

Just as it had done when it was used to fight off Stella’s Katharterio Salamandra, the tornado sword descended upon Touka. The electrical overload in her body left by Takemikazuchi was making her convulse uncontrollably, leaving her helpless to act, let alone sidestep the attack.

I’m sorry, everyone…

The dragon’s claw, cloaked in wind, mercilessly dragged Touka into the darkness.

◆◇◆◇◆

After putting Hagun’s student council to rout, one member of Akatsuki, Amane Shinomiya, sighed and looked up. The sun was setting, allowing indigo to seep into the orange sky.

“Phew,” he sighed. “That took a lot longer than I expected.”

“Geh heh heh. That’s because you idiots keep standing around and wasting time. I had mine done in seconds, too,” Tatara complained hoarsely as she dragged her chainsaw Device along the ground.

“Heheheh. Boasting about receiving fortune’s favor is quite impudent for one such as The Unflinching.”

“What my master means to say is the following: ‘Get your head out of your ass. Your matchup just happened to be against an easy target.’”

“That so? How about we check my ‘matchup’ with you, huh?”

“An amusing proposal!” Smirking at Tatara’s challenge, Kazamatsuri slipped a finger under the eyepatch that covered her right eye. “Behold the strength of my Twilight Devil’s Eye! Be sure not to lament your mistake when you’re writing in pain! Seal, be broken!”

“…It’s just red, like your other eye.”

“Master, you forgot your contact.”

“Heh. Hahaha! It seems I’ve used up all my MP for the day. Consider yourself lucky!”

Great, when Hiraga’s not here, I have to be the brains for this gaggle of fools. Amane sighed, clearly tired of watching them bicker. Guess that’s just how it goes.

“You two gonna keep playing around all day?” he asked. “We still have things to do. First, we have to go find Stella and Ikki, since they escaped. Let’s start by splitting into two groups.”

Taking up his new role, he proposed a search. Ouma immediately refused the proposal, however.

“There’s no need to do that.”

“No? Why not, Ouma?”

“My younger brother and sister have chosen to pursue death. The One-Armed Sword Master should be more than enough to deal with them, but should the worst happen, she is there as well.”

That word, “she”, jogged Amane’s memory. Their true alma mater, Akatsuki Academy, operated quietly in a corner of Tokyo. It happened to have a certain visitor spending the day there.

“Oh, right. That’s today, isn’t it? She’s visiting Akatsuki today, right?”

“Yes. They don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell with her there. The wisest move would be for all of us to pursue the Crimson Princess.”

Amane had to agree with him. “She” was not a part of their strategy, but she was sympathetic to their cause. As thanks for a bed and a meal, she would gladly take up her sword for them. If she was willing to act, then following Ikki and Shizuku to Akatsuki Academy was pointless.

“You sound pretty detached. You’re their brother, right? Aren’t you worried?”

“Idiotic,” Ouma spat venomously. “I abandoned them long ago. I have no reason to regret it now.”

“Ahaha! Man, poor Ikki’s got one heck of a family.”

“Tell me something, Amane. Seeing as you’re so infatuated with the boy, are you not worried?”

“Me, worried? Ahaha, yeah right!” Amane giggled at how off-the-mark Ouma’s assumption was. “I’m not worried one bit. In fact, I’m delighted. See, Ikki has to keep suffering more and more. He has to hurt more and more. Unbearable pain, impossible distress—the whole story of the Worst One is about how he keeps overcoming desperate circumstances. That’s what I reeeally love about him! I want to rough him up as much as possible!”

The more despair Ikki faced, the better. Exhausting himself to the point of coughing up blood yet still having the courage to fight against fate gave Amane chills.

“Geh heh… Vomit-inducingly crazy, as always.”

“Aww, don’t be mean. Isn’t it normal for a fan to want to see more of their hero in heroic situations?”

Just as Amane puffed out his cheeks in indignation, he received an email on his student handbook. He checked to find that it was from the still-absent leader of the group, Reisen Hiraga. According to the email, Alice had been handed over to Wallenstein, the supervisor of Akatsuki who doubled as a teacher. Furthermore, Reisen would be heading back to rejoin the others on their hunt.

Guess I really am the temporary brains, then.

That was the reason Amane had been the one to receive the email. Accepting his fate, he replied to the email, stating that they all would begin pursuing Stella, who had escaped thanks to Touka’s intervention.

“Okeydoke, let’s bag us a princess.”

Leading the Akatsuki students, Amane initiated the search for Stella and the Hagure twins.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Son of a bitch! Of all the days for them to be delaying planes, it just had to be today!”

The students of Hagun and Akatsuki weren’t the only ones taking part in the fighting. The person shouting in anger was a young woman in a stunning kimono: Demon Princess Nene Saikyou, a temporary instructor at Hagun Academy.

“Tell me about it.”

Chiming in as she kept pace with Saikyou was World Clock Kurono Shinguuji, director of Hagun. The two had spent the past week in Osaka, where the Seven Stars would be held, each on separate business. They had just received word from faculty at their school that an attack was under way, so they had hoped to rush back to Tokyo. Unfortunately for them, the fastest mode of travel between the two cities—air travel—was delayed due to issues on the runway.

With no other choice left to them, they ran atop the track of the Tokaido Shinkansen toward Tokyo. Using their abilities together, they could run far faster than even bullet trains moved.

“Though maybe… it’s because it’s today.”

“Don’t say that!” Saikyou made a disgusted face in response to Kurono’s hypothesis. “I don’t even wanna think about it.”

The way things stood, the pair lacked information. All they knew was that representatives from every school had gathered to attack their school; they didn’t even know what the kids were after. They had a feeling, however, about the surprise attack with no media coverage and the abrupt grounding of airplanes: that it had all been very meticulously planned.

“Well, either way, it’ll all be clear when we get there. And that means…”

We need to get there as soon as possible, Kurono thought, and prepared to put more power into her legs.

“Gh…!”

Both Saikyou and Kurono grunted. Though they were desperate to not waste even a second on their way, they were stopped by what seemed to be a gust of wind. There was no actual wind blowing, however. Even the sea was calm. Still, the faces of the two world-class knights were clouded with agitation and panic—enough to make their legs tremble and excessive sweat form on their brows.

What had stopped them in their tracks was not wind, but a bizarre fighting aura so powerful that it could be felt even from as far away as they were. A presence that was akin to having a blade against one’s throat, despite the beautifully clear horizon ahead of them. Their preeminence as knights allowed them to experience it all the more acutely, causing them to recoil. Going that way would be plunging into danger. Being subjected to such overwhelming pressure set off alarm bells in their minds, causing them to stop.

“C-Could that be…?”

“H-Hey, whoa, hang on. Seriously? There’s someone super dangerous among those lame-ass rebels!”

They knew just who that abnormal fighting spirit belonged to. There was only one person in the world who exuded an aura of that caliber.

“It was only for an instant, so that must have been a threat. Hurry up, Nene!”

“I-I know, jeez!”

Their faces pale, Kurono and Saikyou surged ahead at full speed, caring not for the toll it took on them.

This fighting spirit is hers. If she’s interested in all this, she must be after Kurogane! Kurono theorized about what was happening far beyond the horizon and prayed. Don’t rush things, kid! This is one stage you still can’t stand on!

◆◇◆◇◆

With Ikki piloting the motorcycle per Shizuku’s directions, the pair exited the populous city and passed through mountain roads. They traveled deep into the mountains in search of the hidden Akatsuki Academy. Just as they arrived in a forlorn area full of abandoned homes and came into view of the school building, something happened.

“Khhhnnnnnnnn?!”

An abrupt pressure as powerful as if the sky itself were falling. Its incredible weight fell heavily on Ikki, as if crushing his intestines. He slammed on the brakes, bringing the motorcycle skidding to a stop.

“B-Big Brother? What’s the matter?!” Shizuku gasped at the sudden stop.

She, still inexperienced as a warrior, had no idea what was going on, but Ikki was painfully aware that he had entered the realm of demons. That awareness left him speechless; he was completely unable to respond to Shizuku’s question.

Forcing himself to swallow down the fear that seized and froze his very being, he calmed his breathing. He then materialized Intetsu in his right hand and gazed up at the roof of the main building of Akatsuki Academy. There, at its highest point, he saw a white gleam, but not that of the moon. What shone vaguely in the night sky was the figure of a human being, a woman resembling a Valkyrie from Norse mythology. In each of her hands was a sword, both pointed in Ikki’s direction.

“The enemy?!”

Following Ikki’s line of sight, Shizuku noticed the woman’s presence. She quickly jumped off of the motorcycle and materialized Yoishigure, readying herself for battle.

“…”

The snow-white shadow, however, showed no interest in Shizuku. She merely gazed down in silence. Ikki knew that her stunning eyes were trained on him, thus he made a decision.

“Shizuku. Alice is inside this school, right?”

“Hm? Oh, yes. That’s right.”

“Then you should go in alone. I can deal with this woman by myself.”

“No! This is an all-out war that they started. There’s no reason to obsess over one-on-one—”

“Please, Shizuku. Go.”

“Big… Brother?” Shizuku looked to Ikki’s face and gulped. His tone of voice had taken her by surprise, seeming to have tried shoving her away, unwilling to take no for an answer. His expression, too, was more hardened, more grievous than she had ever seen before. “Is she that dangerous?”

“I’d say so.”

“But that just proves we should both—”

“No.” Though Shizuku persisted, Ikki shook his head. “I meant what I said before, Shizuku. I’m here to help you do what you want. If I hadn’t meant it, there would have been no point in me coming with you. You have to go find Alice now, or you might not make it in time. Just leave this to me.”

Ikki remained stubborn, stating his case, but Shizuku knew her brother. She could read between the lines. He had made it more than clear to her that if she stayed, he wouldn’t be able to protect her. That was just how dangerous the snow-white woman was.

“…Okay. Good luck out here, Big Brother.”

Shizuku nodded in understanding and left Ikki’s side to enter the main building of Akatsuki Academy by herself. She went in unobstructed; the pale-white girl did nothing to stop her. She remained in place atop the building, staring down at Ikki.

“Are you just going to let her through?”

“I am, as Sir Wallenstein is in there with the others. Regardless, whether I defeat you both here or defeat you alone before following after her, it will take the same amount of time.”

Her voice came like a song, echoing throughout the night with a refined tone.

“Maybe, for someone like you,” Ikki groaned, barely letting the words out.

I’m so screwed. Considering that they call themselves a school, I figured they’d have teachers. I didn’t expect this, though…

Considering how strong the students were, Akatsuki’s instructors being Rank A knights would have come as no surprise to Ikki. Such a fight was even something he had prepared for, but the woman facing him was more than just a Rank A knight. Much to his dismay, he knew exactly who the pale Valkyrie was.

“Everyone who adheres to the path of the sword knows who you are,” he said. “The white glow that envelops you makes you seem angelic, with your twin swords as wings. The world’s most detested criminal, but also its strongest swordsman, standing at the pinnacle of swordplay. In fact, you’re so strong that governments all over the world have given up on trying to arrest you. There’s no question about your strength, because you’re Edelweiss, the Twin Wings, aren’t you?”

“That’s correct. You’re not mistaken in knowing me as Twin Wings.” The woman nodded, confirming Ikki’s suspicion. Then, she cast a suspicious look down at him. “But I don’t understand. You know who I am, yet you still draw your sword? Surely you’re the kind of man who can see the difference in strength between us without needing our swords to cross. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t cower so.”

“Man… And here I thought I was acting tough enough that you wouldn’t see it.” Ikki chuckled dryly, his fear identified.

She’s right, though. I’m being really reckless right now.

He knew he couldn’t win. Because of his skill as a knight, he could tell that the chasm between them was gargantuan. The woman before him was truly the strongest in the world, so he didn’t even stand a chance. Far beyond even the summit of the Seven Stars, she was an enemy that he wasn’t supposed to meet for several, perhaps even dozens of years, after tirelessly training and wholeheartedly devoting both body and soul to the way of the sword.

By no means was he supposed to face such an otherworldly foe at this point in time. It was too early a meeting; he wouldn’t stand a chance. Twin Wings had said just as much, likely in order to give him a chance to withdraw. Ikki assumed as much, which made him realize something.

She’s actually kind. If Ikki did withdraw, she would probably be more than willing to let him go. She really was a very nice person. But that doesn’t mean I can just give up and leave.

Yes, she was terrifying. Her glare alone was enough to make his body tremble and cold sweat roll down his back. His knees buckled and his teeth chattered. It was by far the most intimidated he’d ever been by an impending duel. But he had a reason to overcome his fear, a reason to stand his ground. Thus, he mustered up all the bravado he could and forced a smile.

“…This is surprising. The strongest swordsman in the world asking a man with his sword drawn if he’s ready to fight?”

Ikki then pointed the tip of his blade, black as a crow’s wings, at the snow-white knight above him. In doing so, he displayed his clear intent to fight. It was enough to get the pale white knight to nod in response.

“Hmm. I suppose it was a pointless question.” That was the signal of the beginning of the end. “If I weren’t a member of this plot, I’d have no grievances with you. However, if bandits would choose to assault the place of my night’s sojourn, then I must prevent them from causing damage.”

The angelic swordswoman descended noiselessly from the tall school building. She seemed to glide down elegantly, her wings fluttering as she did.

“Kh…!”

The moment she touched down, Ikki felt such intense fear that it was almost as if his heart was exploding. His body, instincts, and even his very soul cried out, Run. Run! Get out of here, damn it! If you don’t, you will die here!, but he did not listen. He gritted his teeth and faced the immense pressure head-on.

“I am demise, awaiting at the distant peak. I am she who rends heaven and earth with twin blades. I am Edelweiss, the Twin Wings. Little boy, it’s time you learned how vast this world truly is.”

In that moment, the Worst One and the Twin Wings, the world's strongest sword fighter, began their clash.

◆◇◆◇◆

Around the time their battle began, Alice finally awoke from her forced blackout at the hands of Amane’s Device.

This is…

While she slowly reawakened, she analyzed the circumstances. A high ceiling was in her line of sight, brightly illuminated; judging by the sound of flowing air, she could tell that she was lying in a very large room; despite the season, she was chilled to her core. She must have been underground.

“Finally awake?”

“Ah!”

Alice tried to jump up at the sound of the voice, but in doing so, she made a haunting discovery.

They tied up my hands and feet!

It wasn’t ordinary rope that bound her, either. It was the strings of Reisen Hiraga’s Black Widow, as thin as the strings of a piano.

“Fool.”

While Alice wriggled like a caterpillar in her restraints, a shadow hissed at her. She looked up at the shadow to find a familiar man’s face.

“Wallenstein… Gah!”

“It’s Master Wallenstein to you,” the man replied, digging his boot into Alice’s solar plexus. The pain threatened to gouge out her guts, forcing her to fully awaken.

Well, I guess I failed.

That had become all too clear to her. They’d known of her betrayal beforehand and had devised a countermeasure. But that was what made it all so bizarre. She hadn’t done anything so foolish as to give herself away.

“How did you know I’d turn on you?”

“One of our Blazers has an ability that helped us figure it out. Nothing more to it.”

“…I see.”

That was all Alice needed to hear. It was by no means strange that a Blazer could do even something as illogical as that. After all, Blazers were able to do things that defied common sense.

I knew not knowing more about them would come back to bite me.

Not that there was any point in lamenting it now.

“When I first heard his prediction, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Of all the Akatsuki students, how could it be that the one who served us most faithfully and obediently would come to betray us?”

“Sounds like I had you fooled.”

“Of course you did. I was the one who’d chosen you, after all. I wanted it to be a lie, a mistake, anything that made him wrong, because I believed in you. Even today, of all days, right up until the end, I kept believing in you. But now…” Wallenstein’s voice had been getting steadily shakier, but it suddenly turned to anger. “Why, why, why?! Why did you betray my hopes?!”

“Gah! Hngh!”

In a fit of rage, Wallenstein kicked Alice over and over as she lay on the floor of Akatsuki Academy’s underground training field.

“You should know! You should be painfully aware of this! This world is full of lies, and it’s meaningless to love anything! I taught you all of this! Yet here you are, making the same damned mistake again! Didn’t you abandon it all?! Didn’t you realize the same truth we had awoken to?!”

“Gah! Achk! Kahah!”

Bones broke, internal organs bled, and Alice began to cough up black blood, but Wallenstein continued his rampage. His fiery rage burned hotter the more he battered her, his knowledge of her past making the situation all the more incomprehensible. How could the talented child he’d picked out and raised have been so foolish as to deny power?

“What was the point of all this?! Answer me!” Wallenstein demanded, halting his kicking as he nearly hyperventilated.

“You’re right,” Alice said, smirking self-derisively. “I thought I could do all that.”

She began to think about how, when she’d lost Yuuri and the others, she’d wanted to abandon it all. That was why she’d requested the money from Wallenstein. The act of giving so much money to the nun—enough to raise Alice’s former little siblings—was for the sake of cutting ties with them completely. But when Alice had delivered the sum and told the nun that she’d killed the mafia and sold herself as an assassin, the nun had brought her that green bottle of liquor from within the church’s storage shed.

“Take this and leave,” she’d said as tears flowed from her eyes. “You’ll need it more than we will. I only hope that one day, it will help you to remember the promise you and Yuuri made to each other.”

Alice had had no intention of taking it, of course. It was the remnant of a dream to love and protect others, despite the two children never receiving love and protection in their own upbringing. She hadn’t wanted to see it. She had planned to abandon it like everything else when she left with Wallenstein, and to hate all the world forevermore.

“But in the end, I just couldn’t part with it.” She’d fallen so far as to abandon her morals and stoop to murder, but not even that could make Alice bring herself to leave the bottle. And then, with it still in her possession, she’d met the one girl that she was willing to risk everything to protect. “When I met Shizuku, I finally remembered the kind of adult I wanted to be. I also remembered my own desire—one that I was never able to let go of even after I ran away from home, got corrupted, and fell into the abyss. I’ll keep her dream alive! I won’t let you people do as you please!”

Back then, Alice had made a vow. Even if Shizuku were to find out who she truly was and never love her as a sister again, she would still do everything in her power to protect the girl that helped her remember who she was. She had every intention of upholding that vow, so she quickly broke her confines—unworthy of being called as such by an assassin as skilled as she—and leaped to her feet. Wasting no time at all, she instantly materialized Darkness Hermit and pointed it at Wallenstein’s shadow.

“Trash.”

The moment she tried to bind him, his foot once again smashed into her solar plexus. It was an immediate counter, as if he’d predicted her attack, but in actuality, he’d merely known that the Black Assassin wouldn’t be held down by such weak restraints. Because he’d known that, he was able to get a head start.

“Ngah!”

Darkness Hermit fell from Alice’s hand as she collapsed back onto the floor. The impact to her diaphragm made it impossible to breathe. Wallenstein looked down on his disciple, who writhed in agony.

“I know just how shortsighted you are. You’ve fallen in love with her. Well, that’s just perfect,” he said with a grin so sadistic that it sent chills down Alice’s back.

“Huh?”

Before Alice could ask what he meant by “just perfect”, part of the underground training area’s ceiling boomed as it caved in. A giant chunk of semisolid ice fell through the hole as it formed, crashing into the floor but not losing its shape. Inside the orb was a small, silver-haired girl.

“Sh-Shizuku?!”

Lorelei, Shizuku Kurogane, had found her friend.

◆◇◆◇◆

“I finally found you, Alice.”

When Shizuku revealed herself after descending from the ceiling, Alice’s face grew paler than ever before.

“Wh-Why are you here?! Didn’t I tell you to forget about me?!”

“Yes, and I heard you.”

“Then—”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that, though.”

“Ah…” The matter-of-fact way Shizuku said it left her speechless. Indeed, she hadn’t agreed to it, but that didn’t explain anything. “Did you forget that I’m a murderer? That I was lying to you the whole time? So why…?”

Alice struggled to suppress the agony in her expression as memories of that day once again flooded her mind. The faces of her little siblings as they looked at her blood-soaked form in horror. She was an awful murderer. There was no worth in Shizuku having come to save her.

“Because I care about you, Alice. Do I need another reason?” Unafraid, unmalicious, Shizuku gave a blunt, direct answer. Her green eyes were filled with the same kindness as ever, unaffected by the knowledge of who Alice truly was. “It doesn’t matter what secrets you have or how many crimes you’ve committed in the past. The Alice I know is stylish, cool, calming to be around, good with hair care, really good with makeup, willing to listen to my constant worries—even worry with me—and always helps cheer me up. You’re the one friend who’s been willing to fight for me and the person I love, and that’s all that matters. I can’t just forget about my loving sister, can I?”

“Shizuku…”

“Don’t think our friendship only goes one way. I care about you just as much as you care about me, Alice. Did you really think I’d let these fools take you away?”

Alice had no words to respond to Shizuku’s steadfast determination; the emotions welling up in her heart left her unable to string more than two words together. She’d thought Shizuku hated her, she’d expected to see the same look in her eyes as she’d seen in her long-lost siblings, yet Shizuku loved her just as much as ever, not changing in the slightest. That unwavering love brought back a fierce emotion Alice thought she’d lost. The one desire she’d never dreamed of even asking for, the one she’d thought she didn’t deserve, had returned to her.

Shizuku, I…

“Enough talk.”

“Gah!”

Just then, Wallenstein’s boot slammed onto Alice’s back. The kick ruptured an organ, causing Alice to nearly faint from the pain. She curled into a ball, coughing painfully.

“Stay there where you belong and watch. This is what you get for betraying me.”

He looked down at his student with a cold glare and materialized a giant broadsword in his right hand before slowly approaching Shizuku. Finally, the meaning behind his “just perfect” had been made clear to Alice: he intended to kill Shizuku before her very eyes.

“No… Stop… Ack!”

Though she tried to stop Shizuku, her spasming diaphragm prevented the words from coming out. All she could do was pray.

Run, Shizuku! Your water abilities have no effect on him! Just run, please!

They weren’t master and pupil for show. Alice was well aware of just how strong Wallenstein was despite having only one arm. She knew the Noble Arts he had at his disposal, unparalleled in both offense and defense.

Sadly, her desperate pleas went unheard. It made no difference, though, for even if Shizuku had heard her, she wouldn’t have listened. She was prepared to face whatever challenge awaited her, and showed no signs of fleeing. Instead, she posed a question to the approaching Wallenstein.

“So, you must be the boss of my oldest brother and the rest of Akatsuki. Am I right?”

“I’m Wallenstein of the Rebellion.”

“I don’t care about your name. My only demand is that you return Alice to us.”

“Do you think I’ll just hand her over to you?”

“No, but I figured you would at least hear me out.” Shizuku waved Yoishigure like a baton, taunting him from within her watery sphere. “After all… this gives me a good excuse to end your life.”

As if responding to her motions, the mass of water that surrounded her transformed into a huge whip. Moisture gathered at the end of it and solidified, forming a weapon. The hammer of ice that she’d created, a spike on its face, then descended toward Wallenstein.

◆◇◆◇◆

The icy mallet smashed into the ground, breaking the floor with a loud bang and a cloud of dust.

“Well, aren’t you cool, girl?”

She’d missed; it had fallen just to the side of Wallenstein. Still uninjured, he continued his slow walk toward Shizuku. If the mallet had hit him directly, he’d have been smashed to bits. Despite what she had said, perhaps she’d hesitated?

No. Shizuku alone was different. Among Ikki’s gaggle of friends, she was, without a doubt, the cruelest and most ruthless when it was necessary for her to be. She’d meant it when she’d said she would kill him. She had fully intended to crush Wallenstein with the spiked mallet, but for some reason, she had missed.

Did he evade it? Wallenstein didn’t look as if he had moved, but for Shizuku, a girl with the highest possible level of magic control, it was hard to imagine that she would miss. Did he use some sort of ability? Well, it doesn’t matter either way.

Even if she didn’t know what sort of trick he’d used, it just meant that she had to blanket the area so that her foe couldn’t hope to avoid all of her attacks.

“Toudo Heigen. Keppuu San’u. Fire away.”

With that supposition, she started off by freezing the floor. Once she had profoundly limited her opponent’s mobility, she then transformed the giant mass of water around her into the shape of a hedgehog. The moment her attack had been readied, needles of water were sent flying in all directions like an unmanned machine gun’s fire. In the space of a second, tens of thousands of high-pressure bullets dug at and carved away pieces of the arena.

The amount of water she used was an order of magnitude greater even than when she had fought Raikiri, but that was to be expected. As she had been up against a knight who used electricity, Shizuku had needed to purify every last drop of water that she’d used in order to make it act as an insulator. That necessity had limited the amount of water she could use at once, but fortunately for her, she no longer faced no such a restriction. She could use hundreds of times the amount of water that she used against Raikiri. She had more than enough water to riddle the floors, walls, and ceiling of the underground training area with holes.

Her attack was like an endless storm of suppressive fire. In the closed space that was the underground training area, there was nowhere to escape to. Wallenstein was no exception, as he could not evade the shower of bullets. Just as Shizuku had planned, Keppuu San’u was a direct hit on her target.

“Huh?!”

Though he had taken the attack head-on, Wallenstein’s advance did not stop. Far from being made into mincemeat, he continued to walk with the same composure, his gait undisturbed. Leisurely, smoothly, even on the frozen floor.

What in the world? It’s like Toudo Heigen and Keppuu San’u are doing nothing!

Mist and dust blanketed the debris that surrounded them, yet Wallenstein was completely undamaged. Incredibly, even his clothes were still bone dry. How in the world such a thing was possible bewildered Shizuku, but Wallenstein only chuckled slightly as he watched her.

“Damn shame. If it weren’t for us being enemies, I’d be interested in you. But hey, I guess that’s fate.”

Within ten yards of Shizuku, he slowly lifted his sword until it rested on his shoulder. Seeing him in that stance sent a shudder through Shizuku’s entire body. Her instincts were telling her that the One-Armed Sword Master was preparing for his ultimate move.

Something’s coming!

Shizuku rushed to retract the bullets of Keppuu San’u and form a barrier of ice to protect herself. The resulting rampart was stronger even than permafrost. Her fortress made for perfect defense.

“Shizukuuu!” Alice cried. “Don’t try to defeeend!”

“Wha—?!”

“Bergschneiden.”

With a swing of Wallenstein’s sword, the entirety of Shizuku’s defenses were instantly, easily cut through.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Haaaah!”

Against the world’s strongest sword fighter, Edelweiss, the Worst One, Ikki Kurogane, enveloped himself in a fierce blue aura. He had activated his Noble Art, Ittou Shura even before the first crossing of their blades. Though the technique limited him to only one minute of fighting, he wouldn’t stand a fraction of a chance if he didn’t use it at the outset of their battle. The difference in strength between them was easy for him to see, so if he wanted to fight the world’s strongest, he would be limited to a single minute.

His judgment was correct. Ikki became certain that he had made no error in using Ittou Shura when Edelweiss charged in to attack, enveloped in wind. The moment she swung her twin swords, he lost sight of them.

“Kh?!”

Panicked, he jumped back, and the air in front of his face tore immediately after. Something ridiculously sharp and invisible had just barely grazed the tip of his nose. Based on its scent, Ikki knew that this invisible object was one of Edelweiss’ swords.

I can’t see her slashes! Far too fast and far too sharp, even the afterimages of the snow-white swords guided by Edelweiss’ hands were imperceptible to the naked eye. All that he had just barely perceived was a slight sheen in the air as it was nearly ignited by the friction of a blade passing through it. She’s so agile! If I drop my guard for even a second, I might lose my head!

It was then that Ikki abandoned breathing for the rest of the fight; he literally did not have the time to breathe. To fight off Edelweiss’ repeated twin flashes, he would have to mobilize every nerve, never falling behind her speed. If he wanted to keep up with her, he would have to use the nigh-invisible sword slash that boasted the greatest speed among his techniques.

Using his Seventh Secret Sword: Raikou, an attack that was only possible through the use of Ittou Shura, he countered the incoming slashes. One, two, three, four—a total of ten slashes in which every entanglement of steel sent white sparks flying into the night air. Each of her invisible attacks, released in the space of a single breath, was fended off by Ikki as he used the movements of both her body and eyes to calculate the arcs of her next moves. Yet despite his ability to withstand the first assault, Ikki’s expression was warped with shock.

I-Incredible!

Both of his arms were tingling from having blocked every last attack. Her swings weren’t just fast; they were extremely strong as well. More so than even Ikki’s Raikou, despite her using only one hand. Of course, he had already guessed how that was possible.

“Hrk!”

Ikki once again used Raikou to defend against Edelweiss’ continued pursuit. Amidst a shower of sparks, he became certain that his guess was correct.

That’s it! None of this woman’s actions make any noise whatsoever!

Her steps and her slashes were all perfectly silent. In essence, shockwaves created by vibrations in the air were what created sound. In other words, it could be called the dispersion—the loss—of physical force. But if one could control all the energy created by their actions and use it in a way that avoided such waste, the result would be that their actions would be inaudible, as both speed and power approached the absolute limit of their potential.

Such a thing would seem impossible for humans, but it was clearly possible for the woman Ikki faced. Drawing that conclusion, Ikki shuddered as he swallowed the saliva that had collected in his mouth.

So this is the world’s best swordplay! In her approach, in her swordsmanship, she was clearly on a different level. Ikki couldn’t find a single moment to go on the offensive; he could only continue to defend against the fervent, rhythmless assault. But I can’t just sit here guarding the whole time! Even with Raikou, I can just barely defend myself; my speed and strength just aren’t enough! If I can’t turn this around, I’ll be down within five seconds! I’ll just have to throw everything I’ve got at her!

Thus, he would have to change up his tactics and find a way to attack her. It would have been silly of him to blindly believe that a good offense was the best defense, but there was an element of truth to those words. Even if he wasn’t able to damage Edelweiss, his attempts would be worthwhile if it meant he could break her posture. He was determined to go on the offensive against the world’s strongest sword fighter. He wouldn’t be stingy with his attacks, either; he couldn’t afford to be against an enemy like her.

Steeling himself, he converted his determination into action, first backstepping to escape the high-speed assault from Edelweiss’ twin blades. She quickly pursued, jumping forward with her blades held in the shape of a cross. It was a stance that perfectly balanced defending her front and preparing to attack. Hers was the optimal action against a foe in front—and it also was exactly what Ikki had predicted she would do.

Here goes!

Ikki stepped toward the approaching Edelweiss. Then, using special footwork that alternated between decreasing and increasing in speed, he created afterimages in front of himself. He was using his Fourth Secret Sword: Shinkirou.

His mesmerizing footwork fooled Edelweiss into attacking one of his afterimages. Her blades crossed once more as she slashed with both left and right hands at once, but because it was only an afterimage, she had only cut through air. As a result…

Her chest is open! Thinking he had her, Ikki prepared Intetsu to attack. However, just as he planned to plunge his sword into her, he jerked his body back. Immediately after, the space where Ikki’s neck had been was assailed by an invisible blade. No! Her counters are faster than my attacks! I won’t be able to finish it like this! But I’m not going to give up after just one or two tries!

If he’d stayed in her range carelessly, his head would be separated from his torso in no time flat. To avoid that, Ikki once again went on the offensive, shifting his focus from speed to power. Twisting his upper body against his lower body like a spring, Ikki put all of his weight and every last bit of power in his disposal into the point of his sword and charged. It was the Worst One’s most powerful sword skill, a thrust known as the First Secret Sword: Saigeki.

Ikki’s strongest attack, one that could pierce through even massive boulders. Its propulsion and penetrative ability were extraordinary. Even to Edelweiss, the only option available was to move out of the way.

“What?!”

The naïveté of that belief was instantly made clear as Saigeki lost its propulsion and Ikki’s charge halted. The cause of that shutdown lay at the tip of Intetsu, where Saigeki’s power was concentrated. Incredibly, Edelweiss had stopped its charge using the tip of one of her own swords. Intetsu’s tip was as thin as even a needle, yet she had perfectly matched its position with that of the tip of her own sword. With one hand, she had calmly, coolly stopped Ikki’s strongest attack.

“Urgh!” Ikki faltered somewhat as she seemed to show off the difference in ability between them. Edelweiss did not fail to notice his faltering, and seized the opportunity created by the momentary dulling of Ikki’s reflexes. “Ngah?!”

Her sword finally cut through the skin of his forehead, causing it to spew blood. To make matters worse, that blood had flowed down into his eyes.

I can’t see!

Naturally, Edelweiss wouldn’t miss a fatal opening when it was presented to her. She began her white-hot pursuit once more, repeating her ten-strike combo from the start of their fight. Her blades again cut through the air at blistering speeds.

“Haaaaaah!”

“Gh?!”

Much to her surprise, Ikki had reacted to every single slash, driving away every last potential killing blow. Though robbed of his eyesight, he showed no sign of fear, because he had no need for vision.

I may not be able to see her swings, but from her movements, I can at least estimate where they’ll go!

Edelweiss’ breathing, swordplay, tempo, and footwork. The Worst One had spent their fight gathering all of that information, uncovering his opponent’s very nature with his peerless observational skills. Perfect Vision, the other weapon at his disposal, had allowed him to read all of Edelweiss’ swordplay. He no longer needed vision because he could read all of her incoming moves without it.

“You’re quite good.”

The world’s strongest was even moved to admiration for Ikki, whose mind’s eye made up for the failure of his physical eyes. Even so, her assault didn’t let up. She continued to attack head-on, making full use of the absolute advantage granted to her by her twin swords.

Edelweiss knew that even if Ikki knew every last bit of her swordplay, the chasm between them was so great that he could never hope to fill it with mere prediction. She had no need for cheap tricks; she just had to overwhelm him with strength and speed. Ikki, too, knew that her conclusion was entirely correct, that he would quickly be defeated if she continued.

It’s time to decide this battle!

He had one final method to change the tide of battle. To make it work, he began to think while continuing to fend off the invisible, inaudible assault.

Edelweiss hadn’t fallen back even once during their fight. She would occasionally defend herself while still advancing, but she had never evaded an attack. Why? Simply because she had no need to. Evading was pointless; defending with one hand while attacking with the other was more than enough. Judging by the difference in power between them, Edelweiss was certain that Ikki’s sword would be nothing against her own. Therefore, she did not choose to evade.

And if that’s the case… That was where Ikki’s chance of survival lay. It was because of her certainty that the situation was so easy to read. I’ll use this as a starting point to break her rhythm!

Ikki assumed his final offensive stance. Repelling her white blades with a powerful blow, he delayed his counterattack, then forced a diagonal strike from below. Intetsu’s blade scraped just slightly against the ground, carving the earth away as it moved for Edelweiss. The swing was as fast as a gale despite its large arc, but it wouldn’t be enough to reach Edelweiss.

If Ikki’s sword was the wind, Edelweiss’ twin blades were a flash of lightning. There was no doubt that she would block his slash, but that didn’t matter. There was a reason he was going to make her block the attack. The moment she blocked Intetsu, he would contract every muscle from his fingers to his toes, creating a shockwave.

The human body was little more than a sack of meat filled with water. Thus, it was easily influenced by vibrations, with mere ripples created by specific vibrations able to disrupt its inner workings. The principle behind the technique was an element of a certain style of Chinese martial arts, Ikki was simply using his sword to do what a martial artist would use their hands or feet for.

Like a poison that disrupted the nervous system, as long as the strike connected, its target would be hindered. If a direct hit on the target’s armor, it would disrupt their internal organs; if blocked with the target’s own sword, it would affect their arms by traveling through the sword. That was the methodology behind the Sixth Secret Sword: Dokuga no Tachi.

Taking into account the difference in strength between them, Edelweiss would not evade Ikki’s strike. Her actions were proof that she had accurately judged the chasm between them. Unbeknownst to her, however, a situation in which the enemy would not try to evade was exactly where Dokuga no Tachi flourished.

Completely unsuspecting of his plan, she blocked the poisonous blade with her own. Though she was the world’s strongest, she was still human, with a body constructed quite similarly to anyone else’s. Knowing that she had no way to stop the poison, Ikki used all the muscles in his body to create a shockwave to travel through Edelweiss’ sword. What resulted was a mist of blood that sprayed from Ikki himself.

“Huh?”

Skin all over his body tore, sending blood through the air. The reason was quickly made apparent to him, as it was quite simple: Edelweiss had done the exact same thing that he had attempted to do to her, but with much greater speed and force. As a result, Ikki’s own shockwave had been overpowered by the one coming from Edelweiss, disrupting his own body.

Ikki had believed that he had seen through Edelweiss’ swordplay, but that was no more than an illusion. She had intentionally led him to believe that he could outsmart her, but in truth, he was nothing but putty in her hands. That fact became a chilly shiver that shook Ikki’s very being.

It’s even worse than I thought. The top of the world is just too far away.

Though he had used all his strength, all his skills to the greatest possible degree and exhausted every possible ploy, Ikki was still unable to even touch Edelweiss. Faced with strength that went off the charts within his mind, he was shocked beyond belief.

A moment later, the end came for him. Edelweiss swung her right sword at Ikki, whose last angle of attack had been exhausted. The snow-white blade, invisible as it swung, tore through both Intetsu and Ikki.

“Ah…”

The blow dealt to Ikki by her blade was not deep, but as his Device—the manifestation of his soul—had been destroyed, so went with it Ikki’s consciousness. His collapse marked the end of Edelweiss’ assault, for she knew that she no longer needed to continue. She recognized that the battle was over and turned away from Ikki.

“Ngh… Aaaaahhhhhhh!”

“Tch!”

However, just before Ikki’s body could finish crumpling, he squeezed out the last bits of his strength in rejection of his defeat. Ikki grabbed a shard of Intetsu from the air and, with a roar, once again attacked Edelweiss. Though it was easily fended off by her white blades, his actions caused a tremor somewhere deep within Edelweiss.

“You’d choose to continue?” she asked the swordsman before her, who still stood to fight despite his heavy breathing and the fact that he held a shard of his crystallized, shattered soul. “It’s evident that our levels of strength are too far apart for you to even have a chance. Your sword, the materialization of your soul, has been broken. It has left you at the brink of consciousness. You’re in no condition to fight, so why do you still hinder me? I don’t want to hurt a child any more than absolutely necessary. Far from it, I have no desire to kill you or your sister. Continuing to try to stop me only puts her in yet more danger, as Wallenstein will likely have no mercy for even a person as young as her. I’m sure you are aware of that, are you not?”

“Yeah…” Ikki nodded in response, still breathing hoarsely. “I know… that you’re a kind person.”

“Then why do you not cease?”

“Because… Shizuku wouldn’t want me to.” Clinging desperately to the last thread of his consciousness, Ikki stared fixedly through his foggy field of view at Edelweiss as he explained why he would not yield. “If I let you through… sure, you might save Shizuku, but what about Alice?!”

“That child is a criminal of the underworld. How else would you expect her to meet her end?”

“You might be right, but that’s not what Shizuku wants. That’s why we’re here! I promised that I would help her do what she needs to do! I’ll die before I let you through!”

“You’ll die?” Edelweiss cocked her seemly face in confusion. “Surely your life isn’t that cheap. As we just traded blades, I can say with certainty that I know how bright the fires of ambition and yearning burn within you. You have a dream, and a loved one as well. Can you really claim that you’re willing to lose your life here, despite all that?”

Her question was met with a slight grin from Ikki.

“This is… the first time.”

“What?”

“The first time… Shizuku’s ever asked anything of me.” Ikki continued to speak as he thought of his relationship with his sister. “Even though I’ve only ever made her worry about me, even though I’ve never been anything like a big brother should be, she’s always loved me. But today, for the first time, she asked something of me for her own benefit. That’s more than enough reason for me to risk my life!”

She had entrusted her needs to such a failure of a brother. More than ever before, Ikki refused to yield. If a brother couldn’t risk his life for the sake of his sister’s one wish, the wish of such an incredibly bright girl who supported him through thick and thin, what kind of brother was he? He would never give up on helping her, so he screamed:

“I’ll use my greatest weakness to keep your strength at bay!”

As long as there was life left in him, Ikki would not let her through. Relying solely on his willpower and determination, Ikki stood, blocking Edelweiss’ path.

What incredible strength of will. Are these the eyes of a young man who’s finally begun to find himself? Even Edelweiss could see the depth of his determination through the light in his eyes. Her breath was taken away. A boy with so much strength and ambition, yet with such a virtuous soul that he would risk his life for another. It’s been so long since I last met someone I could consider to be beautiful.

“Boy, would you tell me your name?”

“…Ikki Kurogane.”

“‘Kurogane’. I apologize for my discourteousness, young samurai,” Edelweiss said, gracefully hopping backward to create a greater distance between herself and Ikki. “You’re no child in need of protection. You’re a man worthy of fighting with all my strength as a swordswoman. Now, using the greatest swordplay ever known to this world, I will slay the swordsman known as Ikki Kurogane.”

Finally, the world’s strongest sword fighter had gotten serious. Immeasurable fighting spirit radiated from her, more palpable than ever before. She was a veritable storm of light.

Sand was pulled into the air as the trees seemed to shriek. Glass windows in the vicinity all shattered instantly. Exuding such an incredible presence despite her small form, the lone woman extended her twin swords like wings and flew.

“Prepare thyself.”

Edelweiss then took aim at her foe—not a child, but a swordsman deserving of respect—and aimed to end his life.

“Gh…!”

Just before their renewed conflict, Ikki sensed the Reaper’s footsteps, accompanied by the honed blade that would permanently sever his future. If he did not defend, he would die. The situation he was in had changed, however. In their earlier fight, Edelweiss had cut corners, fighting humbly, but after recognizing him as a warrior, the speed of her advance became greater than ever. The flash of light that followed her was not from her swordplay, but from her very form as she moved.

The final confrontation between the two swordsmen ended soundlessly in the space of a single second, followed by a bloody haze that disappeared into the darkness. Denied even the opportunity to cry out in agony, Ikki Kurogane fell.

◆◇◆◇◆

If Alice hadn’t screamed, I would’ve been in real danger.

Shizuku gulped, cognizant of the fact that if her judgment had been delayed slightly, she would have lost her life rather than just an arm.

“Hrk…” she groaned as the numbing pain coming from her injury finally reached her brain. Her left arm had been severed just above the elbow. She had no time to yelp from the pain, however; the enemy she faced had already penetrated her fortress of ice and severed her arm with one slash, and he was ready to unleash another.

“Byakuya Kekkai!”

“Hmm?!”

Shizuku took appropriate action, evaporating all the moisture around her to use as a smokescreen that hid her from Wallenstein. In the precious moment she’d bought herself, Shizuku froze the wound left by the loss of her arm to stop the bleeding and ran. She circled around Wallenstein, to the one place that she hadn’t directed the missiles from Keppuu San’u: Alice’s side.

If his ability is what I think it is, he’s dangerously close to having one of the strongest I’ve ever heard of!

A slash that could pierce any defense, defensive ability that allowed him to stroll through a rain of bullets, and even a stride that was unaffected by Toudo Heigen. Shizuku wouldn’t be able to win a fair fight, so she would take Alice and flee. Wallenstein wouldn’t make it simple for her, though.

“Stay still, you crafty little…!”

“Ah?!”

He stabbed his sword into the floor, causing her to slip and fall over. Though she tried to stand again, she continued to slip, fall, slip, and fall again.

Why can’t I stand up?!

Had Toudo Heigen, the skating rink of her own creation, done this to her? No. Because Toudo Heigen was Shizuku’s own ability, it couldn’t obstruct her actions on its own. She could be even more certain of this because of her level of magic control. Why, then? There could only be one answer. Some other trickery was afoot.

“This is…!” There was no doubt in her mind. Confirming that the premonition deep within her was true, Shizuku asked Wallenstein as he gradually exited the mist. “You removed the friction from the floor below me, didn’t you?!”

“Correct. You’re a quick learner,” he answered, still slowly approaching Shizuku. “Striking, slashing, shooting—every application of power in this world is closely related to friction. A bullet may be driven by incredible force, but if there’s no friction at the point of contact, it will simply slip along the target’s skin. When this power is converted into offense, it becomes a sword that can slide even between the molecules of any material. That is the true ability of Wallenstein, the One-Armed Sword Master.”

A perfect sword on offense, and a divine shield on defense. That was the power of the ability to manipulate friction, an essential element of all attacks.

“Sh-Shizuku! Ruuuuun!”

“Ah…”

Alice watched on in terror as Wallenstein, finally standing before Shizuku, split the silver-haired girl’s body in half. Her upper body, separated from her lower body at the waist, fell onto the frozen floor. It slid on the ice as it endlessly spurted blood and leaked entrails.

“N-NOOOOOOOOOO!”

In the face of pure despair, Alice’s scream echoed loudly throughout the underground chamber.

◆◇◆◇◆

“…”

Though Edelweiss had cut Ikki Kurogane down, her face was pale with shock. She cast her mind back to the moment she’d won the match, to an unbelievable event that had occurred amidst the blinding light of their battle. In that moment, confronted by the world’s strongest swordsman, Ikki Kurogane had still moved to attack.

She hadn’t held back in those final moments like she had before, yet he still had not hesitated in the slightest. As she pushed yet further to take his life, he plunged the remains of his shattered sword into the nearly microscopic opening that her action had created, trying until the very end to defeat her. His attack had forced even someone as powerful as her to defend herself for a mere instant, dulling her attack. Her final step forward to take Ikki’s life had been wasted, converted to a step back to save herself. As a result, Edelweiss could not snuff out the light of Ikki Kurogane’s soul.

That swordplay at the end was definitely…

“My word. I didn’t expect this.” Edelweiss stood next to the fallen Ikki and held a snow-white blade to his neck. Then, she chuckled. “Laying a hand on a fallen enemy would only serve to bring shame to me.”

“K-Kurogane!”

She suddenly heard a voice, and turned toward the source of it.

“Is that you, World Clock?”

“Damn you, Edelweiss!”

Kurono Shinguuji leaped over the wall surrounding the area to find Ikki Kurogane, covered in blood and lying unconscious. In her anger, she materialized her Device—a pair of pistols, one white and one black—and pointed them at Edelweiss while still flying through the air.

“Calm yourself.”

“Tch…!”

The moment she was pierced by Edelweiss’ gaze, Kurono’s fingers froze on the triggers. She was petrified by the fear that threatened to destroy her very soul. She finally landed, struggling just to keep the barrels pointed at Edelweiss. Her fingers still refused to move.

It was Kurono’s own instincts of all things that kept her from firing. If she moved her fingers even a tiny bit, the area would immediately erupt into battle—a battle that she knew full well she could not win.

“You monster…”

“That is quite the greeting toward someone you haven’t seen in so long.” Edelweiss spoke coolly to Kurono, whose face clearly betrayed fretfulness. “Be at ease. He’s still alive.”

“R-Really?!”

“Yes, though it was not my intention to let him live.”

Edelweiss punctuated her statement with a chuckle, before leaping soundlessly to her perch atop Akatsuki Academy’s main building.

“Wh-Where are you going?!”

“Home. I was never meant to be entangled in any of this to begin with,” Edelweiss replied, turning her attention again to the young samurai who had so bravely confronted her. Then, she thought of the great trials he would face in the coming Seven Stars Battle Festival. Despite her not being closely connected to Akatsuki’s plan, she had a general idea of the bigger picture.

You probably have an inkling of this yourself, don’t you, boy? In his coming battles, Ikki would not be hindered by the Gale Sword Emperor or even the Crimson Princess. In the near future, Amane Shinomiya will block your path.

Their battle would be far crueler than Ikki could ever imagine, possibly even more so than his fight with Edelweiss. It was for that reason that Edelweiss left a few words of advice for the Worst One.

“World Clock. Once Kurogane awakens, I’d like you to tell him something for me: ‘Next time, I hope you’ll be a worthy opponent for me.’”

And then, still without a sound, the world’s strongest sword fighter disappeared into the indigo night.

“I’ll make sure to tell him,” Kurono replied, watching the sky in the direction Edelweiss had left before running over to Ikki.

Indeed, he had been severely beaten, but it wasn’t fatal. He could definitely be saved—a fact that relieved Kurono deeply.

Well done. You stood toe-to-toe against Edelweiss, and you’ll live to tell the tale.

“…Oh?”

Just as she was going to use her time manipulation ability to close Ikki’s wounds, Kurono saw something unbelievable in her periphery. On the white concrete where Edelweiss had stood were red spots. Though it was only a few splotches, it was definitely blood. Blood not from Ikki’s body, but from the body of someone who had stood there mere seconds ago.

He actually wounded her?! A boy this young scratched the strongest in the world?!

Ikki’s sword had found its mark. It had left only a few drops of blood and was hardly even worth calling a wound, yet it was absolute proof that the Worst One’s sword had left its mark on the top of the world.

“Hah… Hahah. You’re always full of surprises. You’ve got one hell of a future, kid.”

Kurono trembled with excitement, joy, and shock all at once. She then started tending to Ikki’s wounds, assessing the situation anew while she did.

When Kurono and Saikyou had returned to Hagun, nobody was present except for the unconscious student council members. She’d looked into the past to figure out what had happened, then sent Saikyou to recover Stella and the Hagures while she went to recover Ikki, Shizuku, and Alice. However, only Ikki was present, so where had the other two gone?

Kurono focused her senses, searching for magic nearby. In doing so, she made a shocking discovery.

“That’s…!”

Just below her, deep underground, something unbelievable was happening.

◆◇◆◇◆

Huh? Am I…?

Shizuku slowly awakened from the shock of having her senses blown away by such an intense impact. She opened her heavy eyes and looked forward.

Alice…

She was facing upward. Alice’s face, upside down, was in her field of vision. She couldn’t hear what Alice was screaming so desperately about while tears flowed down her face. She could tell that something was wrong, however, and turned her eyes downward. When she did, she realized that she had lost her lower body, prompting her to remember what had happened.

Right. I got cut in half.

As if catching up with her awoken mind, her bodily senses slowly returned. The feeling of loss grew ever thicker.

I lost my lower body and a ton of my organs.

Her organs must have spilled out of where she’d been split apart. There was no doubt that it was a fatal wound; she was acutely aware that she would be dead in under a minute.

How annoying.

Once again, she had been unable to win. It was just like when she’d fought Raikiri. She had, for the second time, fallen to her enemy’s sword because of her failure to take control of a long-range magic battle.

I’m so weak…

She didn’t even have the strength to suppress a faraway opponent unless their strength was below a certain threshold. She was more bitterly aware than ever of that fact.

If I died, would my brother be sad?

He probably would. And not just him; Stella, Alice, and everyone else would too, because she was surrounded by so many kind people. Even someone as unpleasant and ugly as her would be mourned. The image of them all filled her mind, and she realized that she hated the sight.

Well, I suppose it’s time I gave it a shot.

After her loss to Raikiri, she had thought constantly about how her ability was only usable from a distance; such a tiny, weak girl could not control a fight at close range. She’d decided she had to do something about that, yet she was able to find only a single way to make up for that weakness—one that was completely lunatic and came with innumerable risks. It was something she had never so much as tested after discovering, yet something she had to attempt right away, lest she be dead within seconds. She wasn’t one to leave a job unfinished, so she closed her eyes and, just like the older brother she respected so deeply, resolved herself to believe in her own strength.

I have to do every last thing I can.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Shizuku… Shizuku…”

Alice held Shizuku’s severed torso in her arms. Blood and entrails still seeped from her with a squishing noise as the weight and the life disappeared from her. The tangible feeling of loss turned Alice’s vision dark, seeming to paint her over emotions with blackness as she was subjected to the sight of losing her beloved little sister, who she’d pledged to protect. Anger at herself for her powerlessness, fury at the man who had stolen her sister’s life—Alice no longer felt even those. She had not even the energy to speak.

“This is the truth you tried so desperately to avoid,” Wallenstein said from behind her, interrupting her grieving. “Power is the one hard truth. I taught you this. I even had the kindness to bring you to the side of the strong. Yet if you refuse to understand that, you were always beyond saving. An assassin who develops feelings for their target is useless. Here, you die.”

His voice dripped with disgust, probably in disappointment at the sight of his student clinging to what was now nothing but a husk. The sound of wind reached Alice’s ears from behind her. No doubt it was the sound of Wallenstein preparing his sword. She didn’t think of evading the coming blow, however; rather, she begged for the sweet release to come faster.

Through it all, the weight of Shizuku still dripped from Alice’s hands, the knowledge that it would never return making it all the more unbearable. Her tiny body slowly, gradually became lighter. The arms that held her slowly, gradually began to feel as though her weight was nonexistent.

Huh?

Alice then became aware of something strange. How could Shizuku have been weightless? Despite all that happened, such a thing was impossible. No matter how many organs she’d lost, her body was still full of flesh and bones.

That doubt shone a light on Alice’s darkened vision. She could again see her own two hands. There, Shizuku’s lifeless body had become nothing but a pile of clothes.

“Don’t worry, Alice.”

Shizuku’s voice suddenly, calmly carried through the underground training area.

“…Huh?!”

“Wh-What?!” Aghast, Alice and Wallenstein both looked all around for Shizuku, but she was nowhere to be seen. Stranger yet, her organs and blood had at some point disappeared. “What the hell is happening?!”

With the situation now far beyond his understanding, Wallenstein yelled in a flurry. Between him and Alice, as if being created from vapor, Shizuku Kurogane appeared, in perfect health and total nudity. She opened her mouth and spoke to her friend.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m going to win.”

“Shizuku? You’re… alive?”

Alice looked as if she had seen a ghost. Her mind hadn’t caught up to the events, but as for Wallenstein, his battle-honed instincts made him aware of a phenomenon that could make what she’d done possible.

“It can’t be!” To test his terrifying theory, he once again swung his sword at Shizuku. She didn’t move to evade it, instead willingly taking the blow, allowing her body to again be severed in twain by his Device. But there was no spray of blood like there had been the first time. He felt no resistance against his sword, as if he were cutting through fog. Meanwhile, the image of Shizuku separated like it had before, then immediately returned to normal. “D-Damn you! You vaporized your own flesh?!”

The truth had finally been made clear to Wallenstein. It was enough to make the image’s lips curl into a grin. With a sadistic chuckle, Shizuku confirmed his suspicion. She told him the truth of how she had survived.

“Teehee. Well, sir, I see your mind hasn’t dulled in your old age. Ever since I lost my selection battle against Raikiri, I got to thinking.” Thinking that although she was clever, she lacked the power to seal her victory. Without that power, she would eventually be forced into a corner and suffer a fatal blow. What, then, was she to do? “I thought, and I thought some more. Then, suddenly, it came to me. ‘That’s it. I can only get hurt if I have flesh.’”

If that was the issue, then all she had to do was rectify it. Following that line of thinking, the technique she’d used was born. Thanks to her control of water, she could apply it to magic that healed the human body, culminating in a new Noble Art that could deconstruct her body down to vapor and dust, unaffected by slashes or strikes and able to reconstruct at will.

“Aoiro Rinne. Quite the stroke of genius, if I do say so myself,” Shizuku said, clearly very proud of herself.

“A stroke of genius?! Do you even understand what you’ve done?!” Wallenstein turned pale as he looked upon her, but that was no surprise. Though Aoiro Rinne was temporary, it was still a technique that put one’s own life in peril. “It doesn’t matter how precise your magic control is, there’s always the chance that you won’t be able to reconstruct your body! Even if you can, if you make a single mistake with any one of your trillions of cells, there’s no telling what could happen to you! Only an absolute madman would use an ability like that on themselves! Are you insane?!”

Indeed, it had its merits as a way to nullify physical attacks, but the amount of skill it required was impossibly high. There was too much risk to bear in using it. The mere idea that someone would attempt such a thing flabbergasted Wallenstein.

“I’m perfectly sane. I just knew that I could do it.”

“Ngh…!”

Shizuku’s nonchalant response despite all the dangers she faced had finally convinced Wallenstein of his blunder. He had gathered info on Hagun’s students ahead of time, but based on his assessment, the only knight worth being wary of was Stella Vermillion. Though in a different way than Stella, Lorelei too was a genius, far beyond the realm of normalcy.

What a terrible mistake. But that doesn’t mean I’ll lose—

Wallenstein readied himself to resume their battle, but Shizuku giggled boisterously, as if making fun of him.

“Hmm? You still think you can fight me?”

“What are you—?! Gah… Aaagh…?!”

The instant Wallenstein regained his composure after the impact of seeing Aoiro Rinne, he realized that something was different within him. The air he coughed up would not be replaced, for his lungs refused to take in anything more. It was almost as if he was drowning—because he was.

“So this is what happens to someone when you fill their lungs like water balloons, is it? This is the first time I’ve ever seen it happen; my classmates are worth keeping alive, so I’d never use this technique on them.” As Shizuku was still under the effects of Aoiro Rinne, she was almost as one with the atmosphere of this underground room. Therefore, it was all under her control, including the very air that Wallenstein breathed. “Not much your precious friction can do inside your body, is there?”

“Gnah… Blrgh…!”

Indeed, Wallenstein’s ability to control friction was unmatched when it came to impacts and slashes from around him, but attacks from inside him were different. He was drowning in an invisible ocean, his ability to even stand lost to him as he fell to the floor. Desperate for even a molecule of oxygen, his eyes opened wide and his mouth flapped open and shut. He looked like a fish out of water.

“Hm? What’s that? I can’t understand you.”

“Please…! Spare… Ack!”

“Ohhh. You wanted my help?” It was as close to surrender as Wallenstein would get. The moment he realized that he would no longer be able to fight, he had raised the proverbial white flag. “Well, you’re not getting it.”

Shizuku snapped, the pitiless smirk on her face growing wider as she did. Responding to her will, blood instantly erupted from every one of Wallenstein’s pores.

“Nnn… Gaaaaaaaah?!”

His skin was forcefully torn from within as dozens of icicle spears shot out of him in all directions. That final attack was enough to slice the One-Armed Sword Master’s consciousness to ribbons. He fell for good, a mix of blood and water leaking from his mouth like drool.

“I’m not as kind as my brother, and I’m not as generous as Stella. When a man points his blade at me, I won’t be satisfied until he’s dead and gone. This is no one’s fault but your own.”

Shizuku cast a cold glare down at him, as if she were looking at utter filth. Then, she pulled his overcoat off of him, covering her naked form with it as she turned away from her fallen foe. She no longer had any interest in him; the battle between the One-Armed Sword Master and Lorelei was over.

◆◇◆◇◆

“If I put my mind to it, I can do anything. I’m not as easily disregarded as you might think.” Shizuku reformed her skin and bones, opening and closing her fists to confirm the texture. At the very least, nothing seemed wrong to the touch. Her reconstruction was a success, though it didn’t come without its own problems. “But that took too much mental exertion. I don’t feel good.”

The staggering amount of magic that she commanded had her brain screaming for a rest. Pain throbbed within her skull, reminding her of her own inexperience, and to stop being so reckless. It would take some time for her to fully regain her composure.

“Shizuku? Are you really alive?” Alice asked with shock still visible on her face.

“Cut it out. I’m not some sort of ghost.” Shizuku frowned with a “Hmph”, but Shizuku’s actions were so miraculous that Alice’s question was the only natural response. “You know, I thought Aoiro Rinne was a good idea. But I’m going to have to remember this whole ‘lose all of my clothes’ part. I can’t let my poor brother see me being so shameless.”

But as she saw Shizuku being her usual self, relief washed over Alice, drowning out all other emotions. She fell onto her backside, crying tears of joy at her friend’s survival.

“…Haha. Yeah, you’re alive. Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness.”

“That’s what I should be saying, honestly.” Shizuku stuck out her bottom lip as she got closer and bent down, pulling Alice’s head into a gentle, affectionate embrace. “Here I thought you’d already been killed.”

“Sh-Shizuku?”

“Seriously. Don’t ever worry me like that again, Big Sis.”

Shizuku’s voice quivered ever so slightly as she rejoiced for Alice’s safety. That little quiver touched Alice somewhere deep in her heart. The emotions that had weighed on her mind before had returned with greater fervor. It brought to mind the horrified faces of her lost siblings as they cowered in fear at the sight of their blood-soaked friend. As she looked upon them, she realized that she could no longer remain there. A murderer like her didn’t belong.

At some point, Alice had convinced herself that Shizuku would look at her with the same terror and that, if nothing else, she would at least not want to be around her any longer. However, if Shizuku could call her “Big Sis” even after all that had happened, then maybe…

“Is it… really okay for me to stay with you and everyone else?”

“If I said I wanted you to, would you leave us anyway?”

Alice shook her head, still held in Shizuku’s arms. Shizuku was wrong. It was the greatest reason of them all.

“Thank you, Shizuku…”

“So, does this make us even?” Shizuku asked, giggling lightly.

Alice was quick to gather the point of that question. As she recalled, the two had hugged much the same back when Shizuku had lost to Raikiri, albeit with their roles reversed.

“…Yeah. For sure.”

That little shared memory made Alice happy enough to smile once more as she swore to herself that she would never again betray Shizuku. She would stay with Shizuku for as long as the girl wished, and she would protect the person the girl loved. After all, Alice had come to love those things as well, for they were people that could be proud of themselves, just as Alice had wished to be for so long.

◆◇◆◇◆

While trying to sense nearby magic, Kurono felt the activation of an ability so strange that it was beyond anything she had ever experienced. It seemed as though it was Shizuku’s magic, expanding so subtly that it was undetectable. The moment it became perceptible as wide-area magic, it again focused into the size of a normal human.

Her actions seemed to defy normal logic. For what reason had that happened? Knowing Shizuku’s ability, Kurono could guess why.

“She deconstructed and reconstructed her own self? Honestly. What a crazy pair these two are,” Kurono muttered, exasperated, as she looked more finely into the details of what occurred underground.

What Shizuku had done was a miracle in and of itself; she had practically revived herself from beyond the grave. Furthermore, judging by the response to her magic, Shizuku’s foe had already been silenced. Kurono could say with relative certainty that things at Akatsuki Academy had been settled. That knowledge gave her a touch of relief as she looked to the western sky.

Things went well enough over here, but how are things on your end, Nene?

◆◇◆◇◆

“Black Blade Yatagarasu!”

“Kusanagi!”

A magical blade wrapped in lightning blacker than the night sky clashed with a tornado-clad sword, knocking the two knights away from each other. As he slid on the gravelly mountain road, Ouma Kurogane clicked his tongue.

“Just as I thought,” he bemoaned. “By the third blow, it’s lost power.”

Meanwhile, the Demon Princess was launched directly away from Ouma. Nene Saikyou used her time in midair to skillfully redirect her descent and land in front of the Hagure sisters, who had been cornered in the remote mountains.

“Ms. Saikyou!”

“Looks like I’m just in time.”

“Hic! We’re saved…”

“That’s right. Good job, you two. You’re gonna be fine. Now then…” Confirming that the still-unconscious Stella was safe, Saikyou enjoyed a moment’s relief. She then turned again toward the problem at hand—Akatsuki Academy—and called out to the only person among them whose face she knew. “How long has it been, little Ouma? Since elementary school? My, look how you’ve grown.”

“And look how you haven’t.”

“Nobody asked you, bucko. Anyway, spill the beans. What’s the point in you guys kicking up such a shitstorm? And no fibbing, m’kay?”

Saikyou opened one of the two steel fans that comprised her Device and hid her mouth as she posed her question. The answer came not from Ouma, however, but from Amane, who waited behind him. He spoke while wearing a unique smile that could almost be construed as innocent.

“How about, instead of wasting our time chatting, we negotiate you handing over those three?”

“Hah! ‘Negotiate’? Lemme give you a little advice, brat.” The atmosphere instantly seemed to tense up. “You suck at pretending to be an adult!”

“Augh!”

All of Akatsuki were suddenly assailed by an intense weight. It wasn’t just Akatsuki, though; everything within a fifty-foot radius of Saikyou had sunk into the earth, forced down by some unseen weight. That weight was created by Saikyou’s gravity-manipulating Noble Art, Jibakujin.

All of the Akatsuki students, under the effects of ten times the usual gravity, were forced down into the dirt. All except for Ouma, who still stood facing Saikyou menacingly without moving a muscle. He gradually pointed the tip of Ryuuzume at her, to which she responded by once again materializing Black Blade Yatagarasu, a sword of vast, pure energy controlled by her steel fans. It was clear that their fighting spirits were ramping up, making conflict unavoidable.

“Whoa, hey, stop right there! Hang on a second, everyone! Let’s make our retreat. We have no need for those three.”

Out of nowhere, Reisen Hiraga stepped in, dressed in his usual unfitting clothing. The moment he’d delivered Alice to Wallenstein, he’d moved to return to the other students. Having finally caught up with his comrades, the Pierrot immediately urged them all to retreat.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’d say we’ve made enough of an impact that the little benefit we’d get from continuing is canceled out by the huge risk of fighting the Demon Princess. If she lets loose now, Ouma would probably be safe, but I seriously doubt the rest of us would make it out unscathed. Our sponsor wouldn’t want us to be defeated before the tournament even began, after all. So come, let’s withdraw.”

“…Hmph.” Ouma sheathed his blade, bored.

“And you, Demon Princess? Any problems with that?”

After a moment of silent contemplation, Saikyou hid her fans in the sleeves of her kimono. There were too many enemies. No matter what happened to her, she knew that the students she had in tow would not make it out safely. It was her duty as a teacher to protect her students, so she had no reason to object.

“You’re lucky I decided to take this damn teaching gig, you stupid little shits.”

“We appreciate your understanding.”

It was then that the Eve of the Festival, a disturbance that had begun at Hagun Academy, met a quiet end. Reisen Hiraga and the other Akatsuki students paid no attention to Stella or the Hagure twins as they disappeared into the darkness. The mountain path was left silent, save for the sound of wind blowing through the trees. There, Saikyou ruminated on Hiraga’s words as she looked to the sky with a grimace.

“‘Sponsor’, huh? These guys are gonna be one hell of a pain in the ass, Kuu.”