Chivalry of a Failed Knight Vol. 2

“Here’s my answer, then,” she continued. “I would do whatever I had to if it meant stomping them into the dust.”

“Nh!”

Ayase materialized her scarlet sword, Hizume, in her right hand, and the sound of something being sliced reverberated twice through the night sky.

◆◆◆

“Ngh?!”

Ikki knew immediately that Ayase had used her magic to cut something, but what did she cut? Heightening his guard and concentration, he focused all of his consciousness into his eyes. He surrendered his cognition of color and sound to maximize his awareness of the situation, and instantly understood what was going on. The section of fence behind Ayase was falling away from the top of the building—she’d sliced both ends of it. There had been two slashing sounds, so Ayase must have used some ability to cut them.

What is she doing? Why would she need to do that? Ikki was bewildered, completely unable to figure out her goal.

“Wha—?!”

Something even more bizarre was happening. Alongside the fence, Ayase was falling head-first from the top of the four-story school building. As shocked and stupefied as he was, those feelings were suppressed by the decisive, instantaneous urge to act.

Ikki didn’t understand Ayase’s actions; he didn’t know whether her ability had misfired or if what she did was intentional, but he didn’t have time to play detective. He knew what he had to do.

A blue aura of magic surrounded Ikki’s body, signifying the use of his Noble Art, Ittou Shura. With his one-minute superpower activated, Ikki looked down from the hole in the fence. Once he perceived Ayase’s falling body, he ran straight down the wall of the school building in pursuit.

Catching up to her as she fell was easy with the speed granted by Ittou Shura. Ikki grabbed Ayase’s right arm and held her against himself.

Got her! But what now?!

They only had another second before they hit the ground. With how much speed he had built up running down the wall, he wasn’t sure if there was any hope left. Ikki racked his brain before spotting something in his peripheral vision: a small pond within the courtyard, nearly a hundred feet away from the wall. It was far, but it was their only chance. Ikki forced his body to turn 180 degrees, then used all his might to kick off of the school wall.

“Haaaaaaaaaah!”

A crack spread from the point he kicked off of, shattering every window on that side of the building with the impact. In return, he and Ayase flew horizontally with enough force to make it all the way over to the pond. The two of them fell into the water with a huge splash.

“Phah! Haah, haah, haah…!”

They’d made it by the skin of their teeth. If Ikki had delayed by even a fraction of a second, things could have taken a life-changing turn for the worse. If his calculations had been off ever so slightly, Ayase may very well have died.

Ikki trembled with fear at the thought of it. His hands shook and his body froze to the core, but welling up within him as he lifted Ayase out of the pond as well was fury.

“Wh-What the hell were you doing?! You would’ve died if I wasn’t here to save you!” Ikki grabbed her by the collar and yelled angrily—a reaction he seldom had.

“Heehee. Haha… Ahahah! Hahaha!” Her scornful laughter echoed clearly through the dark night. “Don’t worry. I knew you would come to save me.”

“What?!”

Still roaring with laughter, Ayase peeled away Ikki’s fingers and stood on her own, looking down at the drenched boy beneath her. Her lips curled into a wicked grin.

“You just used up your only trump card—Ittou Shura.”

Ah!

“No way. Were you planning to make me use it this whole time?!”

“Of course I was.”

“S-So you acted like you were throwing your life away just to accomplish that?!”

“Didn’t I say I’d do whatever I had to?” she asked in a detached tone that made Ikki even angrier. “If you’d said the same thing I did, I might have tried bribing you instead. But, of course, you took the righteous path because you’re such a righteous person. The only thing I could do was force you to use your ace in the hole ahead of time. I can’t win if you have Ittou Shura on standby, but now, you can’t use it for another twenty-four hours, and there are just ten more until our fight. This gives me an actual chance to win. Even if my swordplay isn’t enough to best yours, my ability as a knight may be able to defeat you without your trump card.”

She was right. Ittou Shura’s basic premise was that it used all of Ikki’s magical power to push him to a never-before-seen level of strength. By making him use it before the battle, she no longer had to worry about Ittou Shura.

Was I wrong about her? Was I misreading her this whole time?

Ikki had thought she was honest, sincere, and hard-working. Had it all been an act? Was Ayase such a dishonorable person that she would gladly sabotage her opponent, the greatest taboo in all of chivalry? Was the way she smiled like a little girl when she’d believed she was finally catching up to her father fake too?

“When I first saw the calluses on your palms, I was so excited,” Ikki told her. “I thought I had finally found another true swordsman like me in this school. I thought I had found a friend.”

“I do appreciate your teaching,” she replied coldly. “The skills you taught me will be a great help when I’m beating you down.”

“I never thought of you as the type of person who’d do this.”

“That was your mistake. Don’t project your ideals onto me.”

“Urgh! I don’t know or even care what the Sword Eater stole from you, but what you’re doing doesn’t hurt just me! It’s an insult to Stella, to Shizuku, and to every knight who’s fighting to make it to the Seven Stars! You’ve thrown away your honor and dragged everyone else’s through the mud in the process! Even if you take back whatever it is you’ve lost, will you be able to take pride in it?!”

“That has nothing to do with you, Kurogane.” Ayase turned her back to him, shrugging off his screams with a single statement. “No matter what you say, I will crush you. I have to.”

After that, she disappeared into the darkness. In reality, she wasn’t far away, but to Ikki, she seemed to be miles off in the distance.

“You should be ready to cut ties with her if need be. Going in half-heartedly and faltering may turn a winnable match into an unwinnable one.”

Once she’d left his vision, Alice’s words flitted through Ikki’s mind.

It was true; confused thoughts would only dull his swordplay. Should he just cut ties with Ayase? Cut ties. Never speak to her again. Forget about her. Should he really do that?

“Urgh.”

Dark clouds began to weigh on his heart and he fell to his knees—Ittou Shura’s side-effect.

“Dammiiiiit!”

Cursing, though nobody could hear it, he futilely punched the grass.