Ikki Kurogane took down Seven Stars King Yuudai Moroboshi and secured his spot in the second round of the Seven Stars Battle Festival. Waiting at the gate to congratulate him was his girlfriend, Crimson Princess Stella Vermillion, who had not yet shown herself due to a delay on the bullet train.

“Th-That’s the Crimson Princess! Stella Vermillion has finally arrived at the venue!”

“Ooh, it’s true! That’s the real-deal princess!”

“Her hair really is bright-red. It’s beautiful.”

“She’s got some serious legs!”

People cheered for and fawned over the redhead who emerged from the gate—the fanfare was much akin to even Moroboshi’s entrance. It was more or less the expected level of attention a Rank A would get, but there was no doubt that the person happiest to see her was Ikki Kurogane himself.

“Stella… I’m so glad you’re here. It’s great to see you.”

He was overjoyed not only because she’d made it in time, but also because it had been so long since they’d last seen each other. His heart and wounds alike throbbed with heat as he once again came to the realization of just how much he loved Stella.

“I really wanted to get here in time, but rocks were blocking the tracks and it took a while to get rid of all of them. They should totally put drills on the fronts of bullet trains. That’d look cool, too.”

“Haha. Sounds like a real disaster.”

But how did they get rid of them? Could they have done it through pure manpower? Nah, I’d better not ask about the details.

“That was quite the opponent you fought, though. I only saw the end of your match, but that was more than enough to tell me everything.”

“He sure was… But I won. Now it’s your turn.”

“Yeah, I know,” Stella responded promptly. Flames of confidence burned in her eyes. The pained look that Touka had seen before she fell into a coma, the look of a girl whose confidence had been shattered to bits, was long gone. It was clear that Ms. Saikyou’s training had gotten her the results she’d craved.

That’s great.

As the deeply relieved Ikki thought that, Stella passed by him and stood in front of the crowd of spectators.

“I apologize for my lateness!” she announced to everyone in the Dome. “But I, Stella Vermillion, have arrived!”

“Stella has apologized for her tardiness with a cheerful tone of voice. I like how respectful she is.”

“But now that she’s here, when will her delayed match be held?”

“Well, the committee is working to figure that out as we speak. I expect we’ll see it either at the very end of the day, or possibly even as our next battle, seeing as block C’s matches have just wrapped up. Ah, and speak of the devil. I’ve just received word that their discussion has ended. Everyone, the management committee has an announcement regarding block B’s delayed match. Please take a look at the screen.”

Prompted by Iida’s announcement, the spectators all turned their attention to the Dome’s massive screen. On it, a bald-headed man was visible.

“Oh, it’s Kaieda!”

“It really is! It’s Yuuzou Kaieda, the Judgment’s Thunderbolt!”

Many spectators—mostly those over age forty—were excited by his appearance. They had every reason to be, as Judgment’s Thunderbolt was a hero who had participated in the King of Knights A-League back in their generation. After he retired, the hero was put in charge of the Seven Stars Battle Festival’s management committee. As their representative, it was his job to announce the results of their deliberation.

“Hello there to spectators and contestants alike. I’m Kaieda, the head of the Seven Stars Battle Festival’s management committee. The committee has been discussing when Stella Vermillion’s delayed match will be rescheduled to, and I am here now to announce the results. The fourth match of block B is going to be the very next match.”

The result was just as Iida had hypothesized moments before. The committee had unanimously voted that, as block C’s matches had just ended, holding it before the next block began was as good a time as any. All he had left to do was to confirm the time with the competitors themselves.

“Stella, do you have any issues with this?”

“No, sir. I don’t mind,” she answered quickly. It was her who had arrived late, after all; she had no intention of objecting to whatever decision was made. Someone in the crowd, however, had a complaint to air.

“I have a major issue with it,” the icy voice said, assailing every set of ears despite the ruckus coming from the crowd. There was only one person a voice like that—a voice so contrasting of the clarity of Stella’s—could have belonged to, and sure enough, Mikoto Tsuruya, the ash-blonde girl known as Icy Sneer, jumped down more than thirty feet from the audience to land silently on the artificial turf that surrounded the ring. “Sir, I find it strange that you would discuss all of this and exclude me entirely.”

“But of course, we did intend to confirm things with you. If you have an issue, does that mean having yours be the next match is inconvenient for you? If so, we’re more than willing to move it to the end of the day. This delay is not due to any mistake made by you, so the management committee is ready to adapt to your circumstances.”

Tsuruya shook her head in response to him, seemingly annoyed at his lack of understanding. Her objection had nothing to do with when the match would take place.

“I have no problem with it being the next match. What I find it hard to accept is that you’re not going to punish her for being late. I demand a fitting penalty for Stella’s actions leading to this delay,” she urged the committee, pointing a finger at Stella.

“Hey, what the hell?”

“That’s not chivalrous at all! Fight fair and square!”

The crowd was the first to show their disapproval. None of them wanted to see a battle with a handicap attached; they wanted a match in which two young knights fought each other with all their might. Some did agree with Tsuruya, voicing complaints such as, “Mikoto’s right, you know”, and “Yeah! It’s Stella’s fault for being late! She oughta pay a price for it!”, but the majority were against letting Stella be penalized.

Despite that, Tsuruya was unmoved. Her assertion remained, just like the trademark icy sneer on her face.

Hmph. Heckle me all you want, but I’m not going to budge on this.

The Crimson Princess wasn’t a foe she had any chance of beating in a normal fight, so Tsuruya was ready to take any and every advantage she could get. No matter how much people hated her, all she needed was to win—in her eyes, a knight’s worth was decided by victory alone. She knew the essence of what it meant to be a knight, so in a way, she was similar to Ikki and Moroboshi. Regardless, though, her assertion had little chance of success.

“Hmm. Well, yes, there is precedent for penalizing people who are late to the tournament. However, that is limited to unexplained tardiness and for actions with wicked intent. We were able to confirm the disruption of her train due to fallen rocks, so the management committee sees no need to penalize her this time. Rather, we find that holding her match as the very first one after her arrival is more than enough of a penalty.”

“Rgh!”

Tsuruya had guessed as much, but the committee had already inquired into whether or not a penalty would be needed. However, after scouring past precedents, they had arrived at the decision to not do so. Tsuruya’s demand had failed.

“No. It’s nowhere near enough.”

It should have failed, at least, if not for Stella Vermillion of all people seeking out her own punishment.

“S-Stella?!”

Ikki, who was still next to her at the time, went wide-eyed at her sudden demand. But Stella took no notice of this, continuing to speak to the committee head.

“Icy Sneer’s demands are perfectly fair. After all, if I had come two days ago like the other contestants, I wouldn’t have been delayed by the incident with the rocks. That was entirely my fault, and I believe punishment is in order.”

Much like Ikki, the crowd and the committee were also rendered completely speechless. At the Seven Stars, where one slip-up could result in elimination, it was incredibly bizarre for someone to put themselves at a disadvantage.

“W-Well, this is a surprise. I didn’t expect that to come from your mouth.”

Stella nodded in full agreement with Kaieda’s shock.

“Even if Tsuruya hadn’t said anything about the penalty, I was planning to bring it up myself. The Vermillion royal family emphasizes fairness and sincerity; I would never have thought of trying to escape punishment.”

“Mmm. I see.”

“As such, I have a proposal regarding the next match.”

“Do you, now? Then by all means, tell us your proposal.”

“It would be unfair to Tsuruya if we were to fight the next match without making some sort of change to the rules. So, for my battle with her, I would like to use a special rule set that gives her a handicap against me. In concrete terms, I’d like to make our match a four-against-one: Tsuruya and the three winners of block B versus me, all at once.”

“Wh-What?!”

Kaieda’s throat was hoarse as he gasped in shock at Stella’s absurd rule change suggestion. And of course, he wasn’t the only one.

“Whoa! The princess has gone totally crazy!”

“It’s a penalty, not flagellation!”

Everyone in the crowd began shouting their thoughts on the matter. Many were unsure that they had heard her correctly.

“A-Are you serious right now?!” Tsuruya herself commented. Even though the suggested change was clearly advantageous to her, she couldn’t keep quiet.

“I am,” Stella responded with a comfortable tone and benign smile. “Tardiness is a major error, often punishable by immediate disqualification. With that in mind, this penalty seems a lot tamer—but only if everyone else agrees to it, of course.”

Though Stella spoke with great composure, behind her, Ikki was growing paler by the second.

This is really bad! What made it such an issue was more than just the ridiculous proposal itself. The real problem came in the form of the three block B victors who would join the battle as a result of the penalty. They’re all from Akatsuki! They’d never miss an opportunity like this!

Most other representatives would likely have never agreed to such a proposal. In their minds, there was no point in throwing themselves in front of a Rank A bus for Tsuruya just because they’d won. The knights from Akatsuki Academy, however, were different. They were anti-Federation mercenaries hired for the sole purpose of conquering the Seven Stars Battle Festival, so there was no reason for them to care about the method. All they needed was for one of them to reach the finals.

With victory being their only goal, their best plan would be to get Ouma, a Rank A like Stella and probably the strongest knight in all of Akatsuki Academy, into the finals. If they could use the clear advantage the proposed rule change gave them to defeat the person who would likely give him the most trouble, then they had no reason to refuse. It was their best chance to crush her, and they weren’t the type to let such an offer go to waste.

“Heheheh. Well, isn’t this interesting?” Reisen Hiraga, who had been listening to the discussion from among the crowd, proved Ikki’s expectation correct. He laughed with joy as he watched his strongest opponent spell her own demise. “In an event where every contestant presents a major obstacle, you propose a four-on-one battle as your trial. Truly, you are the legendary Crimson Princess. Your pride is unmatched.”

He leaped down from the stands, landing next to Mikoto Tsuruya.

“That’s some big talk from a beast with no merit other than raw strength.”

“Heh-heh-heh. You can’t take that back now, princess of blood.”

With provocations of their own, two more warriors descended to stand beside Hiraga: Yui Tatara, the Unflinching assassin with her face hidden by a thick coat, and Rinna Kazamatsuri, the Beast Tamer straddling her black lion. Their actions clearly revealed their answer.

“We Akatsuki Academy students take no issue with this,” Hiraga stated. “We’ll lend our strength for the sake of a fair tournament.”

“A-All right, then. Your thoughts, Tsuruya?” Kaieda asked.

“I-I have no complaints, either.”

The reason for Tsuruya’s hesitant response was that not even she wanted such unusually favorable circumstances. Still, agreement was agreement.

“Hmm.”

With the unanimous agreement of the contestants, Kaieda closed his eyes and furrowed his brow deeply.

“Hey, why are you thinking so hard?! There’s no way you’re allowing this insane penalty, right?!”

“Four-on-one isn’t a fair match at all! It’s basically just a public execution!”

“But Stella’s the one who asked for it.”

“C’mon, let ’em do it!”

While Kaieda deliberated, the crowd reached a fever pitch. As if prodded with curiosity by the bizarre rule set Stella proposed, a large number of spectators’ distaste at Tsuruya’s demand of a penalty shifted to a positive attitude toward the special rules. The result was that many people began bickering over their differing opinions. However, after about a minute of their arguing, Kaieda opened his eyes and made his declaration as the leader of the management committee.

“Very well. If the fighters have no objections, then we will permit Stella’s rule change as the penalty for her match.”

“For real?!”

“What is the committee thinking?!”

“Order! Order! Adding to the rules per the agreement of both fighters is not an uncommon occurrence at the Seven Stars Battle Festival, where you student knights are the main actors. It is true that I find this penalty to be rather harsh, but as Stella herself proposed it, we will accept it.” Using his words to silence the part of the crowd that booed at him, Kaieda once again spoke with the two fighters. “Now, to confirm the rules. For Stella Vermillion to claim victory, she must defeat not only Tsuruya, but also the remaining block B members: Hiraga, Kazamatsuri, and Tatara. For Tsuruya to claim victory, she or one of her allies must defeat Stella. Is this acceptable?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Yes. I appreciate your lenience, sir.”

Both of them consented to the rule change, meaning that the management committee’s job was done.

“Great. Now then, Iida, it’s all yours.”

“Huh? O-Oh, yeah.”

Kaieda returned control to the play-by-play announcer and disappeared from the screen. Iida was visibly flustered at first by the nonsensical affair, but he quickly recovered the vigor he displayed during Ikki’s match and led the venue onward. “W-Well, we have certainly witnessed something incredible. I’ve done play-by-play and analysis for a very long time, but I’ve never seen a four-on-one formal battle. Nevertheless, the contestants have agreed and the committee has permitted it. Thus, I will continue to see my job through! Now, let us begin block B’s fourth match: Stella Vermillion versus Mikoto Tsuruya! Both fighters, along with the guest fighters, please gather in the arena!”

“Off I go, then. You seem tired, so you can go take a nap if you want. This match won’t be worth watching, I promise.”

On receiving Iida’s order, Stella turned back to Ikki one last time and left him with those bold words. Though she would be up against a quarterfinalist from the previous year as well as three underground mercenaries, she grinned like a child heading to the carnival. Ikki didn’t understand it in the slightest.

“Stella, why are you taking such a needless risk?” he asked. If she’d kept quiet, she would have had no penalty. No matter what angle he looked at it from, Stella’s actions didn’t seem to benefit her in any way, shape, or form. Asking her why was his only chance of figuring it out. “Are you positive that you can win against all four of them together?”

This question prompted Stella to shake her head in refusal.

“Well, I dunno. At least, I don’t think I can say I’m ‘positive’, especially since I still don’t know what kind of powers they have.”

“Then why…?”

“This is the only thing I can do,” she muttered, looking up at the tournament brackets displayed on the screen following the end of Kaieda’s transmission. She seemed annoyed by block B’s first matchup of round two. “At this rate, round two will put Hiraga and Kazamatsuri up against each other. They’re both from Akatsuki, so if that happens, one of them is definitely going to forfeit. I can’t let that happen.”

That was the obvious conclusion. As Akatsuki was a group of mercenaries working as a unit rather than a normal school, they had not the slightest interest in personal glory at Seven Stars. For that reason, they wouldn’t do anything to hurt their allies and thus their chances of winning. There was no doubt that either Pierrot or Beast Tamer would bow out of the second round, allowing the other to advance without having to fight.

“Stella…”

It made sense why Stella was so gladly putting herself through the wringer the way she was. The reason wasn’t any sort of neat, royal family nonsense like she’d explained to Kaieda; she had only one goal.

“I won’t let those Akatsuki goons get away with hurting us, our friends, and our school so badly. Not a chance,” she growled like a bubbling volcano just before an eruption. Touka, Ayatsuji, and all the others had been hurt. Stella would be the one to avenge her friends. “I’ll burn every last one of them to ash.”

Acting in concord with the rage she had suppressed ever since the attack, always unable to vent her anger, Stella’s crimson hair glowed like flames, scattering embers through the air as she began walking toward the arena. As she did, she stared fixedly at the members of Akatsuki, who had already gathered in the ring.

Watching her head their way, Ikki thought that she was a little too hot-headed, but he didn’t have the energy to stop her—especially not when she was angry for the sake of her friends. So, instead of saying anything, he simply stayed put, quietly seeing her off.

All I can do now is believe in her. He had to believe in the power she’d gained from her training with Ms. Saikyou. Go get ’em, Stella.

“Now, the wait is over! Block B’s fourth match finally begins! Let’s go ahead!”

With that declaration, the curtain rose on an unprecedented match.