CHAPTER 6

TO EACH THEIR OWN FIGHT

“Number Seven, report.”

The irritated voice over the phone demanded only the pertinent information.

“No problems here.”

Gold Eye Number Seven of Grimalkin replied curtly with only that pertinent information.

“Good.”

“And on your end?”

“On the surface, things are going smoothly. No one’s contacted the city guard, and there’s no sign that Shadowstar’s gotten involved. But it’s not just the kids we have to worry about. Seidoukan has that sly vixen, too. Can’t really picture her staying out of this one.”

The Grimalkin-issue mobile devices never opened air-windows. It was possible to transmit images, but they spoke only through audio. And this particular device made contact with only one person: the student council president of Le Wolfe Black Institute.

“Truth is, we also got word that someone’s been asking around about the brat. Well, I don’t have jurisdiction over there, as you know, so I can’t say how true that is.”

“…”

Despite popular belief, which held that the entirety of the redevelopment area was under the Le Wolfe Black Institute’s control, the actual situation was more complicated. Multiple mafia outfits held the real control, and their high-ranking members consisted of dropouts from various schools and criminals from outside Asterisk.

Of course, former Le Wolfe students made up the largest faction by far, and the ranks of those organizations included many current students as well. Organized crime and Le Wolfe had a strong connection. Historically speaking, it was true that the school had a fair amount of clout in those circles.

However, those circles did not get along well with the current student council president, Dirk Eberwein, and as a result, the relationship between the Rotlicht and Le Wolfe had cooled significantly. In fact, due to the active influx of students in anti-Dirk factions, some outfits were all but openly hostile to him.

Dirk had allowed all this to unfold.

The Grimalkin man did not know the reason why, nor did he want to know. That was not part of his duties. All he had to do was execute his missions to perfection.

He collected the information he needed for the assignment, but decisions belonged to a Cat’s owner.

And so, as per usual, he asked his owner for instructions. “What if someone tries to interfere?”

“We’ve got a hostage. Use that. If they don’t back down, you can get rid of her.”

The man glanced at the girl sitting in a corner of the room. Perhaps she’d fallen asleep. Outside of occasional stirring, she didn’t move at all.

“If we leave him to his own devices, that kid is gonna cause problems. We have to show him we mean business.”

“Understood,” the man answered crisply.

No matter how cruel the order, his heart never faltered. Though it was more accurate to say he’d never had one to start with.

He felt a change in the atmosphere around him. “…”

“What’s the matter?” the voice asked suspiciously, perhaps sensing it from his silence.

“That interference we just discussed? I think it’s coming.”

With that, the man ended the call and looked up to the ceiling.

“…Are you sure this is it?” Saya asked skeptically, gazing up at the building.

“Well, this was the most suspicious place I could find. That’s all. I think the odds are pretty good, though.” Eishirou shrugged, but his eyes were dead serious.

“You really have a lot of connections, Yabuki,” Kirin said. “I’m impressed.”

At the compliment, he grinned bashfully. “Aw, I’m not that impressive.”

“…So that must mean you spend a lot of time here,” Saya said.

“Uh… W-well, you know, it’s complicated…” Eishirou awkwardly averted his gaze.

His recreational habits aside, the breadth of Eishirou’s connections was beyond question.

While Ayato had narrowed it down, they still didn’t know Flora’s exact location. For Saya and Kirin, it was their first time in the Rotlicht. Many of the stores were closed for the day, and the larger twenty-four-hour casinos were most likely the only businesses bustling with activity. The streets were quiet, and the two had had difficulty gathering information. But Eishirou was easily able to find relevant clues at the shops where he was apparently a familiar face.

“So, what was it about this place that made it suspicious?” Kirin asked.

“Well, there used to be a pretty well-known casino in here. But it’s been undergoing renovations recently.”

Kirin regarded the building again. It was very large—five stories. It faced Main Street, but it was set farther from the curb than the other buildings, hidden in a dark crevice.

The lights weren’t on at the moment, but the exterior, adorned with electric signs that would have added to the city glow at night, was relatively new. The building hardly seemed in need of renovation.

“From what I’ve heard, some patron went berserk,” Eishirou went on. “It may look fine on the outside, but it’s a mess inside.”

“Wow… Pretty scary,” Kirin said.

“Tenants turn over fast around here, and someone’s always doing renovations. There’re companies specializing in it,” Eishirou explained. “But in this building, the work’s been stopped for a few days.”

“…Stopped?” Saya frowned.

Eishirou smirked as he explained the intrigue. “There was some trouble with the company in charge. The crime outfit running this place is in a hurry, so I’m sure they’ll find someone else to finish the work.”

“…But until then, it’s abandoned,” Saya said.

“More or less.”

The girls exchanged a glance, then nodded silently.

“So, why don’t we take a look inside?” Eishirou said.

“B-but how…?” Kirin asked.

They had been searching mostly in tenements until now and had encountered no difficulties entering—although strictly speaking, it was trespassing, and the city guard would come down hard on them if they were caught. But things wouldn’t be that easy here. Even if it was in the middle of renovations, a casino would have some sort of security system.

“Hey, just leave it to me. Keep an eye out, okay?” Eishirou withdrew his mobile device and connected it to the terminal next to the front entrance.

With a practiced hand, he typed at his optical keyboard, and the door opened with a hydraulic hiss.

“There. Piece of cake.”

“…”

Saya and Kirin gaped at Eishirou’s nonchalant attitude.

“Looks like the original security system went kaput when the inside was wrecked. The one they have in place now is just a cheap stopgap. They probably thought this was enough to get them through the renovation. Lucky us.”

“But still…,” Kirin began.

“…You’re a little too good at that,” Saya finished.

As they eyed him suspiciously, Eishirou rushed to defend himself. “N-no, no, seriously, this is nothing! I found the tools on the Net, and I’ve only tried it a few times before…”

“…”

Kirin and Saya still had their doubts, but this was no time to press the issue. It was almost noon. The championship match was about to begin.

“Well, c’mon, let’s go in!” Eishirou said, brushing aside their suspicions. The two partners grudgingly followed.

“Whoa…” The inside of the building was in much worse shape than Eishirou had imagined.

The gambling equipment had already been removed, and the large central hall, with its high ceiling open to the second floor, sat sad and empty with bare walls and pillars. For some reason, the ridiculously gaudy lights were left on, casting eerie shadows on the floor from the pillars.

There were several large holes in the ceiling, but it was hard to imagine that they were from the construction. That must have been caused by the rowdy patron. Clearly the renovation was necessary.

“It doesn’t look like there’s anyone here,” Kirin said as she cautiously scanned the interior.

“I took a peek at the floor plans,” Eishirou supplied. “This place should have six floors—five aboveground and a basement level.”

There was a wide staircase at one end of the great hall leading to the second level. Behind it were stairs heading down. Off to the side was an elevator, but trying to use it would be a bad idea.

“…Up, or down?” Saya prompted.

“Hmm. Either way,” Kirin said, “if the kidnapper is here, we shouldn’t split up. Better to stick together.”

“Yes, let’s.” Eishirou nodded emphatically. “I’m not much good in a fight.”

Saya gave him a judgmental stare.

“…This is where the man is supposed to say ‘Leave the fighting to me.’”

“Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses,” he replied breezily. “And besides, I did try.”

“Try what?”

“I’m not a fighter, so I called for someone who is. Well, I don’t know if he’ll come, but I did ask, so— What the hell is that?!”

They turned to see a writhing form rising from the shadow of a pillar.

“Is that…a person?” Kirin murmured, drawing the Senbakiri an inch out of its scabbard.

“…There’s mana concentrated in that spot,” Saya said. “Probably a conditional ability.”

Which meant it was probably a trap or a defensive measure.

It appeared to be a person at first glance, as Kirin had said, but it was merely shaped like one—jet black, as if someone’s whole shadow had been detached, and entirely smooth, with no clear front or back. Its arms ended in points like sharp horns, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine their purpose. But overall, it did resemble a human silhouette.

“Well, we must have come the right way. Good work, everyone.” Eishirou had already retreated to the wall. He really did mean to leave all the fighting to the girls.

The shadow stood still for a while without so much as a fidget—and then suddenly rushed at Kirin.

She calmly cut it down in a single stroke. With the stroke from the Senbakiri, the shadow disintegrated like sand scattering in the wind.

The shadow was fast, but the attack was simple and easy to predict—and most of all, it was fragile. It was no match for Saya or Kirin.

“Oh, it wasn’t that tough,” Eishirou said. “Even I could handle something like th—”

His expression froze mid-word.

Another shadow rose up from among the pillars. Then another, and then another.

“These things— How many can there be?” Kirin wondered.

“…No idea,” Saya replied.

The silhouettes rose up from every dark corner, and there were roughly fifty now. And still more were spawning.

“Ngh…!”

One after another, they attacked.

It took Saya barely an instant to activate a handgun Lux. She aimed rapid-fire to take down five shadows.

“Th-this has to be an autonomous ability! There’s no way someone’s controlling all of them individually!” Eishirou called, running across the hall to dodge the things.

That jogged Saya’s memory. She recalled something Ayato had told her:

Silas, one of Ayato’s earlier opponents, had seemingly possessed the ability to control over a hundred automatons—but he could only actually command a little over ten at a time. These shadows they were facing were not nearly as uniform.

“Things produced by autonomy abilities can only follow simple commands!” Eishirou added. “They’ve probably been ordered to get rid of any intruders!”

“…Makes sense. Then there’s no need to engage them all,” Saya stated.

She and Kirin still hadn’t recovered completely from the semifinal. Specifically, Kirin’s right leg was injured, and Saya’s prana had yet to fully replenish. Although these were weak enemies, the girls didn’t have the stamina to take down every last one.

“…Kirin. Hold them off for me.”

“Got it!”

They were perfectly coordinated. Kirin immediately saw what Saya had in mind, and took a step back and changed her stance in order to protect her.

Saya holstered the handgun and activated an enormous Lux with a large barrel.

In the semifinal match, more than half her arsenal was damaged badly enough to require repairs, but this one was relatively unscathed.

“Type 39 laser cannon Wolfdora—firing.”

She squeezed the trigger, and a stream of light shot out. It drained an enormous amount of prana from her, enough that her vision went dark for an instant, but she shook her head and pressed on.

The cylinder of light swept through the shadows with a roar. When the great hall was quiet again, only the three students were left standing.

“Whew…,” Saya sighed.

“Saya, are you all right…?” Kirin worried.

“…I’m good.”

She tried to put on a strong front for Kirin, but it was taking longer for her prana to recover than she’d thought. Considering that she had been running about since the semifinal with hardly any rest, this was only to be expected. Still, she admitted to herself that she might be in bad shape.

Using small Luxes like handguns was one thing, but Saya’s larger guns all used the Lobos transition method. Even one shot took as much prana as a Meteor Arts technique.

At this rate, I can only fire two or three more times at most…

As much as she wanted to thrash Flora’s kidnapper, in her current state, it might have been best to avoid combat as much as possible. If the kidnapper handed over Flora without incident, that would be ideal. A fight was probably inevitable, but—

“Hey, you two! I don’t think we can relax just yet!”

Saya looked up at Eishirou’s shout.

“More—?!” Kirin blurted.

Shadows were spawning again from behind the pillar. There were just as many as before—maybe more.

“There’s no end to this…!”

Saya could hear the apprehension in Kirin’s voice.

There was no option but to force their way through. The horde of shadows writhed between them and the stairs. Breaking past the things would be easy enough if they were at full strength, but in their current condition, success was much less certain.

Still, it would be much better than continuing to wear themselves out fighting.

“…Kirin, it’s a bit risky, but we have to cut through.”

“Yes. There’s no other way.”

Kirin was of the same mind, and they nodded to each other.

The shadows lunged at them like an avalanche. But just then—

“Tch! What’re you people doing?!”

A ferocious blast from the side annihilated the entire horde at once.

“Well, you’re finally here! It’s about time!”

Eishirou welcomed the newcomer with applause as Saya and Kirin stood, stunned.

“…Lester MacPhail… What are you doing here?” wondered Saya.

The irritably scowling newcomer was none other than Lester MacPhail, ninth-ranked fighter at Seidoukan Academy.

“Yabuki dragged me out here! You think I wanted to come?!” he shouted, holding a giant halberd Lux.

“Aw, c’mon, ‘dragged’ you? All I did was ask nicely.”

“Your idea of ‘asking nicely’ is threatening a guy’s weak point? That’s called blackmail!”

Of course. That did sound like Eishirou’s MO.

Still, Lester had just saved them. A new wave of shadows now faced the latest intruder. This was a chance they could not afford to miss.

“…MacPhail, we’ll leave it to you.”

“S-sorry about this! Thank you!”

The two bid their farewells—Saya plainly and Kirin politely and apologetically—as they cut into the swarm of shadows.

“What?! Hey, hold on!” Lester’s bewildered voice called from behind them, but they had no time.

“So, Kirin—up or down?” Saya asked as she opened a path with the handgun Lux.

“What do you think, Saya?” Kirin asked back, swinging the Senbakiri relentlessly.

“…Down.”

There was no reason behind her choice, just a hunch.

“I think so, too,” Kirin replied with a smile.

Meanwhile…

“Okay, MacPhail. Good luck.”

Saya and Kirin vanished past the shadows, and then Eishirou too dashed away with a simple farewell.

Lester was left in the hall with the swarm.

It had all started last night. Eishirou had called him out of the blue and talked him into helping before he knew it.

Lester had no idea how the other boy had come by his secret, but that didn’t matter now.

Eishirou had explained the situation briefly, and Lester had little regard for anyone who would abduct a small child for their own ends.

What he did have, though, was plenty of frustration to vent after his elimination in the third round of the Phoenix.

“…Still, seriously—,” Lester muttered, hanging his head as the shadows rushed at him.

With a single swing of his halberd, he sent the swarm flying back.

The windows rattled as he bellowed at the top of his lungs. “How did I get stuck doing this alone?!”

Ayato checked the time and turned to his partner, who was on the prep room sofa with her eyes closed. “It’s about time, Julis.”

“…All right,” she replied curtly, then stood and stretched. “Well. No word from Saya and the rest of them.”

“…”

The pair couldn’t risk calling them without knowing the situation on the other end. And the fact that Saya and Kirin hadn’t tried to contact them was a bad sign.

But Julis only gave a quiet, helpless laugh. “Don’t look so defeated already, Ayato. Come on, let’s go.”

She opened the door.

How many times had he and Julis walked down this passageway leading to the arena? It felt like ages ago that they had first made this walk to their initial Phoenix match. But in reality, it had been only two weeks.

“You know, Ayato,” Julis murmured, “it’s good to have friends I can rely on.”

“Huh?” The unexpected words stopped him in his tracks.

She halted, too, and continued, as if she was thinking aloud. “The thing is…to me, Flora and everyone back home are more important than anything. I swore to do anything for them, and I thought they were all I needed. But, looking back, I can see that I was just closing myself off and making my world smaller. I understand that, now that I have a—a partner like you, Ayato.”

“Julis…”

“I can make more friends who are just as dear to me as the ones I have at home. Like Saya and Kirin.” Julis looked straight into Ayato’s eyes and smiled shyly. “Now, I can truly trust them. So don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

“Okay… That’s good to hear.”

They started walking again, side by side, until they reached the stage.

Julis let out a short breath and squeezed her fists tight as they proceeded through the gate.

“And now, from the east gate, Ayato Amagiri and Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld! Over the last two weeks, we’ve seen all sorts of crazy battles in this Phoenix tournament, but we’re here at last—the championship!”

“Yep, can’t wait to see it.”

The flashes of light were blinding.

“It’s funny,” Julis said under her breath. “Even with all this going on…I really want to win this match.”

“Yeah, me too,” replied Ayato.

She nodded happily. “Then let’s give this our best shot. Let’s make all our wishes come true.”

“Every last one.”

Ayato and Julis gazed ahead at the two autonomous Puppets.

One, with a towering frame that seemed to pierce the sky, roared with laughter. “Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! So we meet at last, Ayato Amagiri! I have been waiting so long for this moment!”

“Uh-huh…,” Ayato replied with significantly less enthusiasm.

“I have heard much about you from my master, and I have nothing but the highest expectations! I hope you will stir inside me an excitement greater than even Saya Sasamiya and Kirin Toudou did!” Ardy traced the katana scar that ran from his forehead straight down to his cheek, and his huge body trembled with glee.

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t promise that…” Ayato kept his expression neutral, though his opponent’s high spirits were a little off-putting. “But we’re going to win this match. No matter what.”

“Hmph! Those words are all the assurance I need!” Staring into Ayato’s eyes, Ardy nodded in satisfaction. “Now, I’ll just hope you are as worthy of respect as our previous opponents. And to—”

“The match is about to start, and here you are prattling on about nothing, you hulking oaf,” Rimcy interrupted coolly from beside him. “Your big lump of a body isn’t even fuel-efficient, so at least have some modicum of restraint. You could do us all a favor by not opening your mouth ever again.”

“Hrm… But clearly, now you’re speaking more than I am?”

“Were my instructions to stop running your mouth unclear?”

As a giant gun Lux materialized in Rimcy’s arms, Ardy at last clamped his mouth shut.

“…I knew they were weird, but for Puppets, they are truly bizarre,” Julis muttered, slightly amazed.

Ayato laughed. “I’m sort of glad we’re up against them for the championship, though.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Because we can face them without anything holding us back.”

Irene or the Jie Long twins, for instance, were strong enough to advance to the final, but either team would have made for a very different battle.

“Well, they’re worthy adversaries, that’s for certain.” Julis activated her Aspera Spina.

When Ayato activated a blade Lux, the arena erupted with murmurs of surprise.

“Wow, it looks like Amagiri is shelving the Ser Veresta again!” the announcer remarked.

“You kinda have to conclude that he can’t use it, rather than won’t,” quipped the commentator. “Orga Luxes, in general, are known for being difficult to handle, so. Especially the Ser Veresta. Could be they’re on the rocks.”

“There are rumors that an application has been put in for an emergency freeze— Oh, and we’re seconds away from starting! Ladies and gentlemen, here it is, the last match of the Phoenix! Which team will come out on top?!”

Ignoring the excited trilling of the announcer, Ayato concentrated. The match was to begin at noon exactly.

Three—two—one—

“Phoenix Championship Match—Battle Start!”

The crest on his chest gave the final announcement. Ayato unbound his power and headed straight to Ardy—

—with Julis at his side.

“Oh-ho!” Ardy crowed in anticipation.

“Hmm! Is Team Amagiri-Riessfeld trying to take out Ardy right away?!” the announcer wondered.

“It’s textbook strategy to focus on one opponent. But Riessfeld’s usually on defense—we don’t often see her come to the front,” noted the commentator.

The assessment was accurate. Ayato and Julis had determined that the most fearful aspect of facing the two Puppets was the actual combination, when they physically joined together to overwhelm Saya and Kirin.

The simplest way to deal with that was to defeat one of them first.

Considering their defensive abilities, it would be logical to target Rimcy first. But she had the flight module. If she were to escape to the air, the advantage of fighting two-on-one would vanish.

“Here we go, Julis!”

“Right!”

Ayato quickly steadied his breathing and readied his sword. There was no reason to hold back now. “Amagiri Shinmei Style, Middle Technique—Nine-Fanged Blade.”

A ninefold combination sequence with five thrusts and four different slashing strikes. It was the most difficult of the middle-level techniques, but Ardy’s barrier went up instantly to block each one.

The male robot laughed boastfully. “Too bad I already have the data on that attack!”

“…I thought you might,” Ayato replied.

“Hrm?”

Ardy was bewildered at his self-assured smile.

Ayato had used that technique against Silas’s dolls. Ernesta had created those puppets, so it was no surprise that she had collected the data then and passed it on. He and Julis had already thought of that.

“Burst into bloom—Primrose!”

Immediately, a wave of intense heat rose up behind Ayato.

Ardy’s barrier was indeed like a shield—it could defend only a limited area at a time. What made it the Ultimate Shield was the capacity to fling it up instantaneously, in any direction.

But it would be difficult for him to defend against simultaneous attacks from multiple directions.

Ardy grunted as he swept aside the rushing flowers of flame with his giant hammer. Although Julis had activated her powers at much closer range than usual, her control was impeccable.

Meanwhile, Ayato stepped in for his next attack. “Amagiri Shinmei Style, First Technique—Twin Serpents.”

Naturally, he targeted Ardy’s school crest. But then—

“You must feel awfully confident to leave me unchecked.”

Before he could attack, a swirling stream of light approached Ayato and Julis from the side.

It was the Ruinsharif, the weapon embedded in Rimcy’s left arm.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Ayato grabbed Julis by the hand to narrowly pull her away from the blast. “We’re keeping our eyes on you, too.”

“What?!” Rimcy was surprised enough that her eyes went wide—a rare occurrence. She must have thought that she’d attacked with perfect timing.

True, it would have been difficult for Ayato to dodge it under normal conditions. But now, with his power unleashed, his senses were broadened to their limits. He was able to take in all the information around him as if he were watching from above.

This was known in the Amagiri Shinmei style as the state of shiki.

Generally, it was more effective when facing multiple opponents. In one-on-one combat, it was not very useful and expended energy needlessly.

But Julis had come up with a daring plan that involved this technique.

As the commentator had pointed out, defeating one opponent to create a two-on-one situation was the most textbook strategy in two-on-two team battles. But that strategy came with the obvious risk of leaving one opponent free to attack from the side.

If Ayato could use shiki to grasp the entire field, however, he would know Julis’s movements as well as Ardy’s and Rimcy’s. Then, if Rimcy attacked as she just had, so long as Julis was close by, he could guide her out of the way.

Of course, this was only a theoretical option, made marginally practical by Ayato’s fast reflexes. And they would still be defenseless against attacks that he could not evade. (Kirin’s Linked Cranes, for example, would be impossible to evade even in the state of shiki.) And above all, this tactic would be impossible if Julis did not trust Ayato unconditionally.

But this does allow us to significantly lower the risk of fighting two-on-one—!

They did not expect the advantage to last, given how quickly Ardy and Rimcy learned, but nor did they intend the match to last long.

“Ayato, let’s finish him!”

“Got it!”

Julis was completely focused on Ardy.

She and Ayato fought so close together that they almost collided. The only reason they didn’t was because of his shiki.

“Burst into bloom—Livingston Daisy!”

Countless flames rose up from the ground, swirling into chakrams of fire. This time, she’d emphasized numbers over power, making smaller chakrams than usual. Well over twenty searing wheels rushed at Ardy.

“Guh!”

The target of Rimcy’s defense was now not Ayato or Julis, but the chakrams. And while she did learn fast, her bullets of light shooting down chakrams one after the other, there was no way she could handle so many.

“Amagiri Shinmei Style, Middle Technique—Ten-Thorned Thistle.” Ayato twisted to land two consecutive blows.

“Ungh!”

Ardy let out a bellow as he deflected the attacks inches from his school crest, while several chakrams carved shallow ridges into his armor.

Ayato then repositioned his sword and changed direction, swiftly closing in on Rimcy.

“?!”

She was startled, as she had been concentrating on covering Ardy, but she wasted no time switching her aim onto Ayato.

Still, he was one step ahead.

With a shout, he dodged the barrage of bullets from Rimcy and struck from a low stance, slicing the gun in her right hand in half. But just as he was about to land another attack, a wall of light blocked him—Ardy’s barrier.

Ayato sidestepped to slip around it, but Rimcy’s flight unit carried her into the air.

But that, too, was what Julis and Ayato had been expecting.

“Ha—just what we were waiting for…!” Julis said to herself.

Watching the Puppets’ match against Saya and Kirin, they had noticed that Ardy’s barrier took less time to deploy close to him. There was a lag when he used it to protect someone farther away.

“Blossom—Gloriosa!” Julis brought down the Aspera Spina, and a magic circle appeared on the ground. Giant claws of fire erupted to crush Ardy in their grasp.

“Rrrrgh! This is nothing!”

To her disbelief, Ardy swung his hammer to blow away the flames and escape the trap by force.

“Phew…!”

He groaned in relief. His armor was peppered with singed spots, but he had avoided significant damage.

“What is that armor made of…?!” Julis clicked her tongue in frustration and regrouped with Ayato.

“Guess we have to start over,” he said.

“You do realize the same tricks won’t work on them twice?” She calmed her breath and glanced at the Puppets to see that they had retreated to a distance. They seemed to be regrouping as well. “I have to admit, it hurts that we weren’t able to get him with that offensive. This strategy should work for a little while longer, I think, but…”

Without the Ser Veresta, there was almost nothing either one could do to penetrate Ardy’s barrier. Julis attacking at full power was a possibility, but Ayato doubted that their opponents would sit idly by while she took the time to charge up.

“Do you have a sword technique like the one Kirin used?” Julis asked. “Something to manipulate that barrier…?”

“That was only possible because that’s Kirin’s—well, the Toudou style’s strength. I could try something similar, but not at that level. Besides, it might have worked on Ardy before, but I don’t think it would now.”

By the end of the semifinal match, Ardy had learned to adapt to Kirin’s serial attacks.

“So our only option is to overwhelm them with rapid attacks,” Julis muttered, looking resigned.

Just then, Ardy’s raucous laughter echoed through the arena. “Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Wonderful! Truly wonderful! That was a better combination attack than I could have imagined, Ayato Amagiri, Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld! I know that we are evolving with each passing day. But it seems you may well surpass us. So, we have no choice but to introduce you to our ace in the hole.”

The crowd clamored.

“Wow, Ardy came out and said it! Does this mean we’re about to see them combine?!”

The announcer played up Ardy’s words for the audience, but for Ayato and Julis, it was a grave situation.

“Well, if it were up to me, we would have done this from the start,” Ardy added. “But Rimcy would not allow it.”

“…Of course not. Master has told us time and time again not to use that power lightly.” Rimcy gazed at him coolly and let out a long, theatrical sigh. “But it does appear that there is no other way to defeat you two. Whether I like it or not.”

“…Did you think we’d just stand around and let you combine?” Ayato readied his sword.

Despite Ardy’s and Rimcy’s comments, in reality the two teams were evenly matched, and that was being generous to Ayato and Julis. The latter had seemed to have the advantage because Julis’s plan worked perfectly, but it was clear that the situation would be reversed if the battle dragged on.

“You must know that you leave yourselves vulnerable as you combine,” Julis said. “We’re not going to miss that opportunity.”

Ayato silently agreed with her. Saya and Kirin had been cautious because it had been their first time seeing it, but Ayato and Julis knew what to expect, so they would not hesitate.

“You’re quite right,” Rimcy said. “That maneuver takes some time, and it would be easy for you to defeat us in the process. But do you really think that our master hasn’t prepared for that?”

She extended her left hand—the Ruinsharif—straight up.

“Ruinsharif, mode Wolkenwulf—maximum output.”

The Ruinsharif transformed. Now it was more like a giant cannon.

“Not so fast…!” Ayato leaped at her. But before he could reach her, a huge shell of light shot out from the Ruinsharif. It was surprisingly slow, and it hovered in midair above the stage.

“Julis, get back!”

With no further warning, the shell burst, scattering countless tiny bullets of light.

Ayato tried to close in on Rimcy through the hail of bullets, but that was no easy task, even with shiki.

“Purging ACM unit, first exterior armor, Luxes,” Rimcy intoned. “Transferring limit control.”

In the meantime, Rimcy and Ardy steadily prepared to combine.

“So this is what it comes down to…!” Ayato resigned himself to suffering some damage as he lunged into the storm. As powerful as the original shell was, if he channeled all of his prana to defense, he should be able to endure these tiny fragments.

He winced. The impact was significantly stronger than he had anticipated, but he hurtled through. “I’ve got you now!”

“…A valiant attempt, Ayato Amagiri.”

Ayato swung his sword with all his might as he shot past Rimcy.

The blade cut through her crest. But—

“You’re one step too late!” Ardy laughed.

Rimcy’s flight unit had already separated to combine with Ardy.

“Camilla Pareto—badge broken.”

The crest announced Rimcy’s defeat using Camilla’s name, since Rimcy was fighting as Camilla’s proxy and wore her crest.

“Combination, complete!” Looming even larger than before, Ardy created a gust of wind with his hammer, strong enough to blow away grown men.

“Oh, settle down,” Rimcy scolded. “Now the rest is up to you.”

“Mm-hmm! Thank you!”

Rimcy retreated with deliberate steps, and Ardy came forward.

“So, let us begin the second round!”

As soon as Kirin and Saya arrived in the basement, they faced a massive door. But at least it was an ordinary door that opened by hand, without electronic locks.

After they fought the shadows upstairs, if the kidnapper was here, he would already know of their presence. They had no intention of sneaking around now, but the enemy had a hostage. It seemed wise to decide their roles in case there was trouble.

“Saya, let me go first.”

Even though she was injured, it was Kirin’s job to take the lead.

“…Right.” Saya could take stock of the overall situation and act as needed.

Seeing her nod, Kirin slowly opened the door.

They found before them a large, open room, much like the main hall upstairs. But while the one on the ground floor was two stories high, the ceiling here was lower, and there were many more pillars.

A few lantern-like fixtures illuminated various points in the room, but they weren’t the building’s actual lighting, so the space was still dim. There were a couple of hanging work lights that were much brighter than the rest, however, and one of them highlighted a small girl. Her hands and feet were bound, and she leaned listlessly against a pillar.

“Flora!”

At Kirin’s shout, she raised her head, startled.

“Mmmf!” She shook her head fiercely, trying to talk through the gag, but her words were unintelligible.

Suddenly, Kirin felt a menacing presence and leaped sideways.

A moment later, a huge black spike like an enormous thorn or an oversized sea urchin spine, shot out from the shadow of one of the pillars and pierced the space where Kirin had stood.

More spikes flew out at her, one after another.

“Ngh…!” A tiny groan escaped her as she withstood the pain shooting down her leg and barely managed to dodge each projectile. It was impossible to predict where the next one would come from.

He made those silhouettes on the ground floor. His power uses shadows as weapons—!

With so many light sources in the room, each object cast multiple shadows. Kirin had to pay attention not just to the floor, but the walls and ceiling, too. This space was set up to maximize the user’s power.

He wasn’t actually controlling the shadows, though. He was using shadows as the core of his image and gathering mana there.

“So you’re Kirin Toudou. I seem to have caught a pretty big fish.”

The attacks stopped suddenly, and a man materialized from the dark shadow of the pillar where Flora was resting. His eyes were cold and dead, sending a shiver down her spine. His voice had a similar emotionless chill.

“…Are you the kidnapper?”

Instead of answering Kirin’s question, the man wagged his finger. A spike extended from Flora’s shadow and stopped against her throat.

“If you get in my way, I can’t promise you’ll have the girl back alive.”

“N-no…! Please stop this! That would only harm you!”

If—it was too awful for Kirin to imagine—but if he were to do such a thing, there would be no point. The kidnapper’s objective would go unaccomplished, and he would only add to his crimes.

But the man’s stone-cold stare simply bored into Kirin. “I will tell you one thing. I don’t care what happens to me.”

The words were chilling; Kirin could tell he meant them. This man would not hesitate to follow through on his threat if she failed to comply.

“First, drop your weapon.”

“…Ngh.”

Disobeying was not an option. Resigned, Kirin slowly laid the Senbakiri on the floor, and—

“Kirin! Get Flora!” Saya’s sharp call rang through the basement.

Something shot through the spike against Flora’s throat and scattered it into dust.

An instant later, there was a dull gunshot and a flash of brilliant light.

A flare—!

The harsh light temporarily wiped away the multitude of shadows, leaving a few new ones. That meant they could tell where the next attack would come from.

Kirin picked up the Senbakiri and hurtled toward Flora. The pain in her leg didn’t matter now. She didn’t care if it fell off.

The man frowned slightly and waved his finger. Mana writhed as a new spike emerged from Flora’s shadow.

“I don’t think so!” Kirin’s swordstroke cut down the spike just in time, and she rolled to grab Flora in her arms. To cover them, a rapid-fire barrage of light bullets blasted from the doorway toward the kidnapper.

“This marksmanship—this must be Saya Sasamiya.” The man dodged effortlessly, but now Kirin had all the time she needed.

With Flora in her arms, she ran to the entrance—and then her right leg gave out.

“Gah…!”

Gritting her teeth in pain and using all her strength to keep from falling down, Kirin untied Flora’s bindings.

“Kirin!” Saya called from outside.

“I-I’m fine! Take Flora!” She ripped Flora’s gag free.

“M-Miss Toudou! Thank you!” Flora burst out, on the verge of tears.

“Don’t mention it. Hurry, go through there—!” Kirin forced a smile to set Flora’s mind at ease and gave her a firm push toward the door.

All the while, spikes flew at them from the surrounding shadows. Saya shot down every one.

“Okay!” Scrubbing at her tears, Flora started running. She was a Genestella, if still a child, and she made it to the doorway quickly.

Seeing her pass through, Kirin faced the man again. “Well…? Now what are you going to do?”

“What else? I’m going to eliminate the two of you and get the girl back.”

Apparently he had no intention of letting them go.

An inky black blade extended from the man’s arm—not a Lux, but a real blade. It was no larger than a dagger, but it seemed to be attached directly to his arm, probably because he preferred his hands free.

“Then on my life, I cannot let you pass.”

Kirin held up the Senbakiri.

Judging from the fight thus far, there were definitely limitations on his ability.

First, he could not move his shadows rapidly. If he could, he would have impaled Kirin a long time ago.

This led her to guess at another constraint: The man could use his ability only with shadows he could see directly. The shadows upstairs had used a conditional ability, so he had to have been able to see them when setting it up.

An ability specialized for surprise attacks and assassinations, she thought. It would be fearsome in those contexts, but a head-on fight was another story entirely. Attacks from her blind spot would be troublesome, but luckily, Kirin had Saya to back her up. She could rely on her partner’s marksmanship for that.

But Kirin soon discovered that she was being too optimistic.

“Guh…!”

The man slashed at her, and she blocked with the sword. He aimed for a vital spot with deadly precision, and the blow was heavy.

Kirin deflected it upward, but the man quickly regained his balance to counter with a swift thrust.

Judging that she couldn’t parry, Kirin jumped sideways—but her right leg dragged. The black blade grazed her left arm, slowing her down, and the man’s knee drove deep into her stomach.

“!”

She almost crumpled to the floor, but she couldn’t allow herself to go down. Summoning all her strength, she leaped back to distance herself from him.

A spike shot out at her from the shadows as she landed, but Saya dealt with it.

He’s good. It wasn’t that Kirin had underestimated him. She also had the handicap of her leg to deal with. But she wasn’t sure she could defeat this man, even at her full strength.

Kirin had superior swordsmanship, but he held an overwhelming advantage in hand-to-hand combat. And there wasn’t a modicum of uncertainty in his attacks. His fighting technique was entirely honed to one purpose: to destroy his opponent.

Kirin guessed that Saya had her hands full protecting Flora and managing the shadows under his control.

She might have a chance using the Linked Cranes, but that would be difficult with her injury.

I have to take the chance—but what if I fail…?

But the man didn’t give her the opportunity to think. With a surprisingly quiet stride, he closed in to unleash a sequence of strikes—her throat, then her chest, her temple, her lower abdomen. He attacked with blade, fist, and leg. Every blow was aimed at a vital spot, and each one would have ended the fight if it landed.

“It’s over,” the man whispered suddenly.

“Huh?”

He had vanished from sight.

In that moment, Kirin realized she had fallen into his trap.

There was a wall in front of her. With the light behind her, she cast her own shadow against it.

I’m in the way. Saya can’t shoot—!

“Kirin, move!”

At Saya’s shout, she flung herself away—a moment too late. The spike from her shadow pierced right through her side.

The pain was like a searing lump of hot iron pressing into her. She couldn’t hold back a scream as red soaked through her clothes, and the strength drained from her body.

Kirin almost dropped the Senbakiri, but she bit her lip to hold on. Hands shaking, she slashed through the spike…but that was all she could manage. She used her sword as a crutch to keep from falling.

“I hit a vital spot. You’re bleeding too much to fight. If you don’t get treatment quickly, it’ll cost you your life,” the man informed her with clinical detachment, moving nonchalantly toward the door.

“I’m…not done yet.” With unsteady steps, Kirin blocked his path.

“And what can you do, with those injuries?”

The man’s voice held neither ridicule nor contempt. It was as though he were simply speaking the truth.

And it was the truth. She had perhaps one swing of her katana left.

“Would you like…to find out?”

Even if she had only one swing left, she wouldn’t give up without taking it.

Kirin took a few measured breaths, then sheathed the Senbakiri and adjusted her stance.

“A quick-draw attack…?” The man narrowed his eyes with caution. He did not let his guard down for an instant.

“Toudou Style Sword-Drawing Technique—Folded Wing,” she murmured, drawing the Senbakiri.

—Or so it seemed to him.

“What…?”

For the first time, surprise surfaced in his stony eyes.

In fact, Kirin had yet to so much as unsheathe the Senbakiri.

But on reflex, he was already in motion to respond to the feint.

From her perspective, he’d left himself wide open.

The Senbakiri slid out of its scabbard and arced through the air.

Its point cleanly severed tendons in both his arms.

“Impossible…”

The master technique of the Toudou style was the Linked Cranes—unrelenting serial attacks. But the principle behind that technique lay in using the opponent’s sightline, breathing, movements, and mannerisms to manipulate them.

Taking this principle to its practical extreme produced the Toudou style’s sword-drawing attack—a mirage that made the opponent see a sword being drawn while it was still in the scabbard. This was the first time that Kirin had successfully used it in actual combat.

“Ugh…!”

But she had reached her physical limit, and she stumbled to her knees.

Meanwhile, the man still stood, though his arms hung limply at his sides. “An impressive move, but not enough to finish me. I can still—”

Before he finished the sentence, he was engulfed in a maelstrom of light.

“Nope. You’re done.” The shot from Saya’s Wolfdora blasted the man into the wall, which crumbled from the impact. The shower of debris buried him.

Kirin knew that her partner wouldn’t miss the opening. She’d knelt to give her a clear shot and left the rest to her. She had full faith in Saya.

“Kirin, hold on!”

“Miss Toudou! Miss Toudou!”

As Saya and Flora ran toward her and her consciousness faded, Kirin’s thoughts turned to Ayato and Julis.

Right… What happened in their match…?

Overwhelming.

There was no better word to describe his strength.

Ardy roared with laughter. “What’s the matter, Ayato Amagiri?”

Ayato barely dodged Ardy’s hammer, then rounded behind him and swung his sword.

Of course, the attack never reached its target and was absorbed by the defensive barrier.

On top of that, another barrier sprang up to hurl Ayato away, and Ardy swept sideways with the hammer at his airborne body. Ayato reached out to drag his sword against the ground, changing his trajectory enough to dodge the attack.

“Burst into bloom—Primrose!” Julis’s fireballs rushed at Ardy, but they were also foiled by multiple barriers.

“What the hell?!” Julis fumed. “He’s so strong now, it’s just absurd!”

“My feelings exactly…!” Ayato distanced himself from Ardy to regroup with her, then nodded with a pained smile.

Ever since the semifinal, Ayato had thought Ardy’s strength was abnormal.

From his basic specs like strength and speed to the power of his weapons—he was enhanced in every way imaginable. Even if Rimcy’s entire power source had been channeled into him, it couldn’t possibly have increased his power output by this much.

What was even more terrifying was that he was even stronger than he’d been back then.

“He didn’t put up multiple barriers at once when he fought Saya and Kirin!” Julis protested.

Being a fast learner was one thing. This was on another level entirely.

Luckily for them, Ardy was not attacking with much aggression. He seemed to want to enjoy this fight for as long as possible.

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Wonderful!” the Puppet crowed. “My body is overflowing with strength! And I can harness it far better than I could before! What joy! What splendor! This is the true power my master has bestowed upon me!”

“True power…?” With that phrase, one possibility arose in Ayato’s mind. “Hey, Julis—what if Ardy had these specs all along?”

What if combining with Rimcy was a way not to make him more powerful, but to unleash power he already had?

“Like with your seal?” Julis asked. “It’s not impossible, but why would they—? Ayato!”

Alerted by her shout, he saw Ardy hold out his hammer like a rifle, with the head pointed at him.

“Take this—my Wolnir Hammerrrr!” Ardy bellowed, and with a boom that shook the air, the head of the hammer barreled toward them.

“Julis, hang on!” Ayato pulled her close and leaped sideways.

After the ensuing explosion propelled them away and sent them tumbling on the ground, they quickly regained their stances—and saw that the entire blast radius of the hammerhead was now a crater.

“That move seems more powerful than before, too…,” muttered Julis beside him.

It was already destructive enough, but now, even if they avoided a direct hit, they might be hurt by the shock wave.

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha! I’m not done yet!” Ardy laughed.

Ardy caught the returning hammerhead with the shaft, and immediately aimed it again.

“That thing can do rapid-fire, too…?!”

“Julis, run!”

The two dashed along the outer edge of the stage. Explosion after explosion chased them.

“Is this a bad time to ask if you have a plan?” Ayato wondered.

“It is, actually! But maybe if we could do something about that barrier…”

They were both racking their brains as they ran, but it would be difficult to overcome such a dramatic difference in strength.

“Hrm. Unlike Rimcy, I’m no great marksman. Can’t seem to hit anything— Oh, wait.” As if a brilliant idea had struck him, Ardy broke into laughter. “Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Of course! What if I try this?!”

Suddenly, a barrier sprang up to block Ayato and Julis’s path.

“Wh-what, now?!” Julis cried.

They tried to change direction, but multiple barriers had already materialized to surround them.

“Now you’ll have a hard time dodging!”

As Ardy beamed, his hammer hurtled toward the pair.

“Ngh…!”

“Argh…! Burst into bloom—Anthurium!”

She promptly formed a shield of flame, but the hammer broke through it with no trouble. Ayato jumped in front of her, prana focused. They were swallowed by a concussive wave that felt powerful enough to rip him limb from limb, and his sight went dark for a moment; he slammed into a barrier with enough force that he could hear his bones creak. It felt like someone had stomped on all his organs. “Ngh…ugh…”

And that was after I shifted all my prana to defense…

Wiping the blood from his mouth, Ayato slowly got to his feet. “Julis… Are you all right?”

“More or less, thanks to you…” Julis had also taken significant damage, but she managed to stand with a sardonic smile. “You saved me.”

But they would be unable to withstand another attack like that.

“Oh-ho, on your feet again after that? Impressive!” Even as he showered them with praise, Ardy retrieved the hammerhead when it returned to him, already aiming anew.

Ayato could tell he was gathering power to it.

I’ll have to sacrifice myself and hope for the best—!

Even if he was disabled in taking down Ardy, as long as Julis remained, they would win the match. He doubted he could penetrate Ardy’s barriers even with a suicide attack—but it was better than losing without trying.

And as he steeled himself and adjusted his sword grip—

“Ardy is just dominating down there! Will this final championship match come to a— Huh?! E-excuse me?!”

“Whoa, whoa! What’s going on?!”

Suddenly, a pair of confused voices from the broadcasting booth rang out through the arena.

Immediately after came a voice that belonged not to an announcer—but to someone familiar to Ayato and Julis.

“Er, ahem. Ayato, Julis, can you hear me?” The calm, gentle voice was unmistakably Claudia’s. “Flora is safe. You can put your minds at ease. And—fight to the very best of your abilities.”

It was clear that Ayato, Julis, Ardy, and everyone else in the arena were stunned.

“Hee-hee. Well, then. Sorry for the intrusion.”

“Whaaat?! Th-that was the student council president of Seidoukan Academy just now, wasn’t it?!”

“Uh, yep, looks like. I think that was Miss Claudia Enfield herself.”

The announcers and the spectators were still confused over the sudden intrusion, especially since her statements were meaningless to them all.

Ayato and Julis alone stared at each other and burst out laughing.

“Pfft, ha-ha-ha-ha! That was over the top, even for her!” Julis exclaimed.

“I can’t believe she barged into the broadcasting booth just to inform us,” Ayato said.

True, there was no other way to contact fighters in the middle of a match. Claudia might be reprimanded for violating some Festa regulation, but they knew she had done it for their sakes.

“Well, if she went that far for us, we can’t afford to lose.”

“We have to win for Saya and Kirin, too,” Ayato agreed as he drew the activator from the holster at his waist.

Their friends had done their part, and now it was time to do theirs.

“Hrm, I haven’t the faintest idea what that was about—but all I can do is fight to the best of my ability!” Ardy aimed his hammer at Ayato and Julis, and the hammerhead began spinning furiously. “Wolnir Hammer, firing!”

With a low boom, the hammerhead sped toward them.

But Ayato calmly activated his Orga Lux with its deep red urm-manadite. “…Ready, Ser Veresta?”

A blade of pure white, swathed in symbols of jet-black.

With a single stroke, the enormous single-edged sword cleaved the hammerhead in half, as well as every last one of the barriers surrounding Ayato and Julis.

“Payback time.”

“Can’t you do something, Ernesta?!”

In the private spectator booth reserved for Allekant Académie, Camilla fretted at her partner.

“Wellll, you might think so, but…”

“You know as well as I do that these numbers shouldn’t be rising like this! You have to shut it down, now!”

Compared to Camilla’s intense face, Ernesta looked practically drowsy. “And you know that Rimcy transferred limit control over to him, Camilla. There’s nothing we can do now.”

“There’s still manual override.”

All Puppets were required to have a remote kill switch in case of emergency. Ardy was no exception.

“Oh, stop it. You want me to kill my own baby?”

Using the override, however, would damage the Puppet’s CPU, and there was a high probability of irreparably corrupting the software as well.

“You have to, if it’s necessary. That responsibility is yours.”

“Responsibility, huh?” Ernesta sounded rather put out, then faced Camilla with a slightly more serious expression. “But even now, I have faith.”

“Faith? In what? In yourself, his maker?”

Ernesta only shrugged.

Camilla glared at her for a while, then finally let out a deep sigh and sat back in her seat. “It’s a reckless gamble, if you ask me.”

“Hee-hee, haven’t I told you before? Life is nothing but a series of gambles.”

“All winning streaks come to an end,” Camilla scolded, although she looked resigned.

Ernesta grinned. “I guess they do. But otherwise, it wouldn’t be any fun, right?”

Ayato gripped the Ser Veresta and closed in fast on his opponent.

The robot activated his defensive barriers again to block Ayato’s path, but the youth easily cut through them, one after the other.

“I see. So this output isn’t enough to stop you. Well, then!”

With a battle cry and superhuman speed, Ayato leaped into close range and swung the Ser Veresta up from below. Ardy’s armor was thick, but for the Ser Veresta, which could burn through even his defensive barriers, it might as well have been made of paper.

The timing was perfect. Ardy had no way to defend against the charge.

Or so Ayato had thought.

With a ferocious groan of effort, Ardy used his hammer to deflect the Ser Veresta.

“Wha—?!”

Ayato stared in shock. What was he even looking at? He had just destroyed the hammerhead, and yet—

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! You’d be wise not to underestimate my barriers!” Ardy shouted. “If a single barrier can’t stop you, I can compress them together, and not even the Ser Veresta can break through so easily!”

“So that’s what you did.” Ayato saw multiple sheets of light layered at the end of the shaft where the hammerhead should have been. “But in that case…!”

If Ardy was using his barriers in place of a weapon, then Ayato had nullified his defense.

Just one strike. All he needed was to reach Ardy’s school crest.

“Hyaaaaaaaaah!”

“Raaaaaaaaaah!”

Both fighters roared as the Ser Veresta and the hammer clashed in a burst of sparks.

When Ayato slashed diagonally down with his Lux, Ardy deflected it upward. When Ardy thrust with his hammer, Ayato parried. They struck at each other dozens of times, neither budging an inch.

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! This is fun! So much fun! But I’m not done yet! You still haven’t seen my full strength!”

But…

“You’d be wise not to forget me!” With the Aspera Spina, Julis traced a magic circle in the air, and an enormous dragon made of flames took shape. “Burst into bloom—Antirrhinum Majus!”

The fiery dragon spread its wings and lightly took to the air to attack Ardy from above.

Embroiled in the battle with Ayato, the robot had no way to defend himself. He deflected Ayato’s latest attack, sprang back to distance himself, then gripped his hammer to face the dragon.

Ayato was not about to let this opportunity pass. “Amagiri Shinmei Style, Middle Technique—Earth-Piercing Hornet.”

He held his weapon aloft with the blade pointed forward, then executed six consecutive thrusts.

It would be possible for Ardy to deal with Ayato’s attack or Julis’s dragon, but not both at once.

“Raaaaagh! This is not overrrrrr!” He roared even louder, and blue light erupted from all over his body. The tremendous force sent Ayato flying back, and it blew away the dragon of flames, too.

A blue light…?! So that’s what this is…!

Ayato barely managed to regain his balance before landing, and Julis ran over to him. “You all right?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine…but this is gonna be tough,” he replied, keeping an eye on Ardy.

The robot’s howl was relentless, and the blue glow only grew brighter. An invisible force was swirling around him—they could not get close again.

“But what is that…?”

“Don’t you see it, Julis? How similar that is…?”

“What do you mean?”

“I should’ve seen it earlier. No matter how strong those barriers are, there’s no way he should be able to fight the Ser Veresta head-on. The only weapon we’ve seen that could pull that off was…”

Looking astonished as the answer occurred to her, Julis finished Ayato’s sentence. “…the Gravisheath.”

“Right.” Ayato nodded to her. “Only another Orga Lux could defend against the Ser Veresta.”

The Ser Veresta was one of the Runeswords—it burned through everything, impossible to defend against. Irene’s Gravisheath, which they’d faced in the fourth round of the tournament, had been the only weapon that could withstand attacks from the Ser Veresta.

“So Ardy must be using an urm-manadite for a power source,” Ayato concluded.

All ordinary manadites gave off a green glow. Only urm-manadites glowed in other colors. While it wouldn’t be impossible to add color artificially, that clearly wasn’t the case for Ardy’s blue aura.

“But—does that mean Ardy is an Orga Lux himself…?” Julis wondered, chilled.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know if it’s correct to call him one—but we can assume that at least the barriers are generated by an Orga Lux.”

That would explain everything.

Ardy combining with Rimcy was a way to channel the urm-manadite as a power source—or rather, to use multiple manadites to control the urm-manadite’s excessive output. In other words, one of the modules he’d received from Rimcy was a regulatory device.

“Wait!” Julis cried. “Does that mean— Is Ardy going out of control right now?!”

The color drained from her face as she recalled the match against Irene. It was true that the current situation bore a close resemblance to when the Gravisheath ran amok.

But Ayato’s assessment was different. “It looks like Ardy has more power than he can control, but I think—”

Before he finished his thought, Ardy’s roar abruptly stopped. The raging force field vanished, and a sudden calm descended on the arena.

But Ardy’s blue light still radiated freely, continuing to grow in intensity. “…Ha…ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Now I see! This—this is my power! No wonder Master sought to keep it in check!”

“Did he manage to contain it…?” Julis’s eyes went round.

Ayato, however, had vaguely suspected this.

The amount of power that could be drawn from an Orga Lux depended on the compatibility between the user and the urm-manadite. Obviously, Ernesta would have considered this. Ayato speculated that Ardy’s personality had been attuned to the urm-manadite’s.

“Well, as much as I hate to—I think it is time we finished this!”

As Ardy spoke, Ayato noticed that countless cracks had appeared in his armor, revealing the same blue light. His body was unable to withstand the energy output.

“Here I come!”

The Puppet showed no hesitation as he formed another hammerhead of barriers and charged. Ayato readied the Ser Veresta at his side to face him.

“Raaagh!”

“Ngh!”

Ardy’s attack was clearly faster and heavier than when they had faced each other moments before. Wielding the enormous hammer should have posed a significant difficulty, but Ardy’s overwhelming power output and learning capacity allowed him to overcome it.

After exchanging several strikes, Ayato found himself on the defensive. Although not as large as the hammer, the size of the Ser Veresta was slowing him down. He could barely keep up with Ardy’s newfound speed.

It’s only a matter of time before he overtakes me…!

“Ayato, get back!” Julis cried sharply.

Quickly realizing what she meant, Ayato used the flat of the Ser Veresta to block Ardy’s swinging hammer and let the momentum carry him into a backward leap.

“Hmm, something else up your sleeve?” Ardy rumbled, sounding amused. “Very well, I shall prove to you that nothing will work on me now!”

“Oh, is that so? Then take this!” Julis swung the Aspera Spina down as a giant magic circle lit up at Ardy’s feet.

“Blossom—Rafflesia!”

A fiery flower of extraordinary size materialized in front of Ardy’s face and began expanding.

But their opponent only bellowed with laughter. “Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Look well! See what I can do in this state!”

Defensive barriers materialized in four directions, boxing in the flower and crushing its petals.

Flames and explosions raged inside the box, but the barriers did not give in the least.

“That’s not possible…,” Julis muttered, stupefied.

Her shock was understandable, since the Rafflesia was her most powerful conditional move. The Gravisheath had defended against it once, but only partially. This total shutdown of her technique came as an unwelcome surprise.

“Now it’s my turn!” Ardy held out his palm, and barriers formed and layered atop one another to form a massive sphere. An enormous amount of energy began pouring into it. He was directing the output of the urm-manadite there—a ball of raw power.

Then Ardy closed his hand, and the sphere shrank to fit inside his fist.

“No way…!” Ayato’s instincts screamed that he was in extreme and immediate danger—but there was nothing he could do.

“And now— Explode!”

When Ardy opened his fist, all the condensed energy was released at once.

The violent explosion engulfed the whole arena. There was nowhere to run.

“—”

The flash turned Ayato’s field of vision to blank white, and the roar of the explosion drowned out Julis’s scream.

After being blown away like so much dust, he almost lost consciousness. Luckily—if it could be called lucky—the searing pain running through his body forced him to stay awake.

“Guh…agh…”

With a groan, Ayato managed to prop himself up and ascertain the situation. His school uniform with its reinforced composite fabrics was ripped in several places, but the crest was intact despite a few cracks. Had he protected it subconsciously?

He looked around in relief and froze.

The arena before him was completely destroyed.

The ground was carved out into a crater, baring the artificial soil designed to absorb impact. Even the defensive barriers protecting the spectator stands were sparking here and there.

Only a small space at the center of the explosion remained unscathed. Countless barriers covered Ardy with a dome of defense.

He was standing in the middle of that explosion—and he’s not even scratched?

That meant Ardy’s barrier might be strong enough to withstand the Ser Veresta. Things could be different if Ayato were able to draw out the full power of the sword, but at the moment, he was no match for Ardy wielding his urm-manadite to the fullest.

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Let us continue! I’m still—” Suddenly, Ardy dropped to his knees. “Hrm…?”

Was it was deterioration due to the urm-manadite’s elevated output? His legs were discharging blue sparks.

Ardy did not appear to be too seriously hurt, but Ayato was glad for the time it bought him to regroup. If an attack had come then, he wouldn’t have been ready to defend himself.

“Ayato, how are you doing…?”

Ayato turned around at the faint voice to see Julis dragging herself up. But with an agonized expression, she immediately dropped to the ground again.

“Julis!”

“I-I’m fine…is what I’d like to say, but obviously, that would be a stretch…” As Ayato supported her, Julis lay weak in his arms, smiling ruefully. “Tell me the truth… Do you think we can still win?”

“…Well, I don’t think it’s completely hopeless.”

If they could keep buying time, it seemed likely that Ardy would break down.

But actually, he doubted they could get that much time. They were already at the limits of what they could endure. He did still have prana to spare, but the cumulative damage had worn down his stamina.

He could cross weapons with Ardy perhaps ten or twelve more times.

“That doesn’t sound terribly realistic,” Julis said. “Do you have anything else?”

“If I could just move faster than he does, I’d have a shot at finishing him off…”

But he was trailing in speed, and he couldn’t even dive in for one final charge.

He might try a Meteor Arts move—but while that would make his attack stronger, it would also make the sword larger, slowing him down even more. He’d never be able to hit Ardy.

“Faster…” Julis looked up at him with a gasp, as if she’d thought of something important. “I remember Claudia saying that the Ser Veresta assumes a shape that’s best for the one who wields it. But its current form isn’t exactly meeting that criterion. If we could do something to fix that, would it help?”

“I mean, it’s a good idea, but…”

“You made it larger to use a Meteor Arts technique. Isn’t that essentially the same thing?”

She made it sound easy, but in fact all Ayato had done then was to pour in his prana.

“I’m bad at fine-tuning my prana,” he pointed out. “Really bad.”

“Hmm…” Julis thought for a bit, then told him with firm resolve, “All right. I’ll do that part.”

“Huh?”

“Let me touch the Ser Veresta for a second.” Ignoring his bewilderment, Julis reached for the Lux in his grip.

“Hey, wait—!”

Wincing in pain, the girl quickly let go of the sword. She had touched it for only a moment, but her palm was hideously burned. “Heh… It is hard to handle. It won’t let just anyone so much as touch it. Well, a Strega like me would never be able to use it.”

She had told Ayato before that most Dantes and Stregas could not use an Orga Lux.

“No matter,” she went on. “That should be enough. Ayato, try using a Meteor Arts technique.”

“Meteor Arts? Now?”

She nodded, and Ayato poured his prana into the sword in his hand. In response, the blade lengthened. Julis placed her right hand atop his.

“Julis…?”

“Burst into bloom—Alexandrit.”

Julis’s prana flowed through Ayato’s right arm, and bright flames coiled around the Ser Veresta’s blade.

“What’s this…?”

“It’s a technique to wrap a weapon in fire,” she replied, “but now I’ll use it to help you control your prana. All you have to do is pour it in.”

“O-okay…!” Ayato put his faith in Julis and obeyed. The Ser Veresta abruptly stopped growing.

“Ayato, imagine it. The shape and size easiest for you to use—the ideal form for the Ser Veresta.”

“…”

He kept silent and pictured it.

Julis’s flames wrapped around the blade in a spiral and squeezed it; then black symbols did the same.

The urm-manadite core glowed stronger and shook with a low growl.

At last, the Ser Veresta transformed into a slender, supple weapon a little larger than Kirin’s Senbakiri. Along the length of its blade, the black symbols and flames intertwined to create a wondrously beautiful weapon.

“Phew… There. This is your—Ayato Amagiri’s—Ser Veresta.” Julis exhaled heavily and gave him a faint smile.

“It’s…,” he said in wonder.

“That’s all I can do in this match. I’m leaving the rest to you, Ayato.”

“…Got it, Julis.” Ayato gently laid her down and swung the Ser Veresta toward Ardy, facing his opponent once more.

“Sorry to make you wait,” he said.

“Not to worry. I had a slight malfunction on my part as well. I had to make some stopgap repairs.”

Ayato walked slowly to the center of the stage—or rather, the field of dirt scattered with pieces of the stage.

Opposite him, Ardy also advanced at a steady pace. The two came in range, and—

They closed in, clashing in the middle of the stage.

With a ferocious shout, Ayato swung the Ser Veresta.

This is amazing! I can’t believe how light it feels; it works so much better!

It seemed like his sword was twice as fast.

Ardy barely blocked the strike with his hammer, but the head made of barriers was knocked away—and not cut through; it was simply melted and repelled by the heat.

“What—?!” He started, but he quickly rematerialized his weapon and brought it down.

Even if Ayato had eliminated his disadvantage in speed and improved his weapon enough to win, one blow from his opponent would be the end. He didn’t have the stamina to continue parrying and countering.

I have to settle this now—!

Ayato barely dodged the attack, then made a thrust at the crest on Ardy’s chest with all his might. But the hammer blasted through the bottom of the stage.

“Guh!”

Ayato leaped away from the chasm opening at his feet as Ardy launched into the air with his flight unit and locked onto his opponent.

“I have you now!”

His hammer rushed at Ayato with a force that might have crushed the wind itself—but Ayato used the flying fragments of the stage to leap even higher. He felt as if his body was surpassing its own limits, but he was confident that he had the ability now to make that possible.

He used shiki to grasp where the largest fragments were, and he sprang from one to another to get behind his victim.

“Raaaagh! Not so fast!” Ardy roared. His blue aura shone even brighter, and his flight unit fired like a rocket to turn him around. At the same time, Ardy swung his hammer sideways to meet his foe.

But—

“Amagiri Shinmei Style Master Technique—Hellmoon!”

Ayato had already leaped in under Ardy’s guard.

As the hammer shattered the broken slab where Ayato had just been, the Ser Veresta traced a half-moon arc.

The two fighters passed each other in midair and, unable to land properly, crashed into the ground with impressive plumes of dust.

Ayato lay on his back, panting, pushed too hard for too long. He could no longer stand up, let alone swing his sword again. All he could see was one bright light on the distant ceiling shining down straight at him.

What had happened to Ardy? Had the Ser Veresta reached him?

He didn’t have the energy to look. But he didn’t have to—the automated announcements let him know instead.

“Ernesta Kühne—badge broken.”

“End of match! Winners: Ayato Amagiri and Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld!”

As silence settled over the arena, a more human-sounding mechanical voice burst into laughter. “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, I’ve suffered a crushing defeat!”

The applause began with a few scattered claps, but it gradually swelled into a thunderous cheer.

“At…At last! At last it’s decided! We have our winners! At the end of this incredible battle, the champions of the Phoenix are Amagiri and Riessfeld of Seidoukan Academy!”

“Well, I was completely lost in it there, so. That was a fantastic fight, just what a championship match should be!”

Cheers and applause, ovations and whistles, the voices of the two announcers. As the adulation washed over Ayato, he slowly closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.