[Chapter - 12: Clash Between Two Dragons Part 1]
The sixty-second Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival, day three.
The summer sun was shining onto the ground even more mercilessly than the previous day.
However, it paled in comparison to the heat enveloping the event venue.
「Temperature 35°C, humidity 70%!
Thank you all for coming here despite the burning hot sun!
We have reached the semi-finals of the sixty-second Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival! The national best four participants that have climbed up all the way to this point will be clashing against one another! Amongst these strong people, that are a cut or two above the rest, who will obtain the ticket to the final battle!? Everyone, have you prepared well against dehydration!? Well-prepared, right!? ─Then, let's welcome the contenders for the first match of the semi-finals!」
In line with the announcer Iida's words, cheers raised from the venue.
Under the rain of applause, with flowing crimson hair, Stella appeared on the semi-final stage.
「First, from the red gate, Contender Crimson Princess, Stella Vermillion has shown up! As the second Imperial Princess of the Vermillion Empire, even amongst the mage-knights belonging to the member nations of the League, she is a genius boasting the highest magic power!
She had almost lost her qualification in the first round due to an incident on the railway, but she faced against all of the contenders in B-Block at the same time, overwhelmed them, and brilliantly cleared the late penalty! She has advanced to the semi-finals in one fell swoop!
The power which can even destroy this venue itself can be described as top-notch! That strength, living up to the previous evaluation, is without a doubt the top on the list of winning candidates! She is genius knight like a shining star of the current era! Will she be able to reach the summit of the Seven Stars with this momentum!?」
「Princess Stella…! Do your best…!」
「Kyaa―! Stella-sama～! Please look over here…!」
「There are two matches today, so please don't break the venue too much…!」
Voices of support, regardless of gender, directed towards Stella on the ring.
Stella was very popular amongst both genders.
The strength of a knight that possessed the world's highest magic power.
The social position as the second Imperial Princess of Vermillion Empire.
In addition, since she was a peerless beauty, it was only natural.
And Ikki, who was more fascinated by Stella than anyone else, sent her claps of encouragement while his eyes were robbed by the dignified side profile of the dauntless girl.
At that moment.
A voice suddenly called out from behind Ikki.
"Stella-san has a nice expression."
"Eh?"
It was a voice he was so used to hearing that he could not forget it.
Surprised, he turned back, and there was...
"T-Toudou-san! And Toutokubara-san as well!"
Chestnut-colored hair tied in a three-strand-braid, a girl with gentle demeanour, Raikiri, Touka Toudou, and a tall girl holding a parasol, a friend of Touka, Scharlach Frau, Kanata Toutokubara were standing there.
"Fufu, long time no see, Kurogane-san."
"Y-Yeah, really. The two of you have come to Osaka?"
"Yes. We took the Shinkansen with Saikyou-sensei this morning. We want to watch it from the side even if it's only for the semi-finals."
"Is your body alright already?"
He asked Touka who was still unconscious just the other day.
Touka responded with an energetic nod.
"Yeah. I have already recovered completely. I slept so much that I am too energetic now. Uta-kun said that he still felt languid so he stayed back at the Academy to laze around."
"Vice President has not recovered yet?"
"You don't have to worry about him. In Uta-kun's case, he doesn't have much physical strength because he only plays games every day. He reaps what he sowed."
"Fufu, Vice President is frail after all."
The two girls giggled facing each other.
Judging from that appearance, he certainly did not need to worry anymore.
"Kurogane-kun, is it alright if we watch the battle together?"
"Yeah, of course."
There was no reason to refuse.
Ikki slightly tilted his body to give way to the two.
And then, as that was happening, Stella's opponent showed himself.
「Up next, from the blue gate, A-Block's champion, Contender Sword Emperor of Wind, Ouma Kurogane enters!
Contender Ouma has one-sidedly overwhelmed his opponents from the first round to third round! His strength and mercilessness are already tested and guaranteed! We have received information that he had defeated Contender Stella unofficially before! If Contender Stella is the favorite of this event, then the one who could rival her is none other than him! He is an A-Rank knight from Japan who is boasted in the world! How will he fare against an international celebrity!? This confrontation between A-Ranks is totally unpredictable!」
Ouma was wrapped in pressure like a drawn blade.
With his arrival, the audience held their breaths.
「He's still the same... his fighting spirit seems to split you open just from looking...」
「I'm scared...」
「Though that's the case, since the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival is still Japan's event, I wish that he will do his best.」
The cheers for Ouma's entrance was much lesser compared to Stella.
It was probably the expected lingering effect from the shocking ending of the match against Panzer Grizzly, Renji Kaga from the day before.
The Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival was a competition with lives on the line. The participants risked their pride and lives to challenge it after acknowledging that they could die from losing. However, that was the principle of the Mage-Knight. For the audience, who did not have such resolve, drawing
back was understandable.
「And, we have invited the mage-knight currently ranked third in the world, Yaksha Princess, Nene Saikyou-sensei to be the commentator for the semi-finals! Saikyou-sensei, please take care of us today.」
「Hmm～ Nice to meet you～」
「How is it? The two contenders' condition seen from Saikyou-sensei's, Japan's highest ranked mage-knight's, point of view is...」
「Both are in high spirits. Feels like they are really motivated. Even so, they are not too tensed up. Both of them are in the best condition...」
「I see. This match has become a confrontation between two A-Ranks, but at this moment, which one of them does Saikyou-sensei think has the greater power?」
「Kuku... Don't be in such a rush, Onii-chan. Nobody likes impatient people, you know?」
Saikyou snapped close the folding fan in her hand...
「...Those two will immediately give you that answer.」
After replying so, she opened her fan again and gave a meaningful smile.
'Now, Stella-chan. That guy is different from those brats in the first round. He is someone you can fight with at your full strength... Give him the shock of his life, with the new power you obtained from the training with me.'
Before long, Ouma also stood on top of the ring, at the start line.
At the same time, the audience shut their mouths, and silence fell over the venue.
In that silence, the announcer Iida ─ pulled the trigger of the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival Semi-Final.
「Both contenders are at the starting line! And now, the first match of the semi-finals begins! LET'S GET STARTED...!!!!」
After receiving the starting signal, the first to move was... Ouma.
"We aren't close enough to chit chat before meeting death. Let's begin immediately."
Murmuring with a tone as if he was talking to himself, he slanted his body and stretched his right arm backwards.
And then his magic power compressed into his right hand...
"Snarl. ─Ryuuzume."
He manifested the essence of his soul.
It possessed a blade a little longer than that of a Japanese katana, belonging to the Nodachi type of sword.
That was Ouma's Device, Ryuuzume.
"First is to see how much you have grown from back then. I will confirm it with my own sword."
"...If you can, that is."
Ouma returned Stella's provocation with action.
He sank his slanted stance and ─ dashed out.
「Ooh! Contender Ouma, who had been nonchalant in every match so far, makes the first move! The hem of his kimono flutters up as he closes in on Contender Stella in one straight line! How will Contender Stella intercept him!?」
The proactive Ouma who was clearly different from the matches up till then raised a commotion in the venue.
However, Stella was unshaken from that unexpected start...
"Serve me. Lævateinn."
She manifested her own Device in response to the fast-approaching Ouma.
However, what she made out of her magic power ─ was not just the sword.
「Th-This is! Contender Stella! Spheres with burning heat appeared behind her! A-And what an incredible number!」
And then, Stella swung her Lævateinn like a conductor's baton.
"Burn to dust. ─Broken Arrow."
She ordered the super hot spheres exceeding a hundred behind her back.
Answering that command, the flame spheres waiting in air behind Stella shot out with vigor, becoming arrows of light to assault the Sword Emperor of Wind.
The carpet bombing of intense heat that would bury everything within the width of the ring approached.
Stella's overwhelming magic power that nobody could catch up to, did not leave any gaps for Ouma to evade...
「D-Direct hiit! The flame sweeped the ring and raised black smoke!」
Furthermore, it did not stop with one hit.
More arrows of flame rained down onto the location where the flames had swallowed Ouma.
Explosive noise and conflagration. Not a single person in the venue could see Ouma's figure anymore.
It was not unreasonable.
What Stella used was an excessive violence to defeat a single person.
However...
「However, it doesn't seem to be effective.」
...Even so, the opponent was the Sword Emperor of Wind.
Right after Saikyou murmured so.
Breaking through the flame and dust from Stella's simultaneous firing, Ouma's figure showed up.
There was not a speck of soot on his clothes.
He did not mind the incoming bombing, and broke through from the center by using his power to control the wind to take it on. He did not decelerate at all, rather, he was approaching Stella while accelerating.
...I won't be stopped by such fireworks.
The gaze behind his bangs swaying in the storm was telling her that.
Towards that gaze of Ouma...
"Empress Dress."
Stella also responded with another move.
Holding Lævateinn upright tightly in her hand, her whole body wrapped in flame, she stepped forward herself.
「Contender Stella has wrapped herself in a dress of flame! The heat is burning the atmosphere to the extent of twisting her surrounding scenery!」
Stella's flame, Dragon Breath, had a temperature of three thousand degrees Celsius.
Not to mention a direct hit, just entering its range would cause the skin to be burned to crisp.
However...
「However, Contender Ouma isn't stopping! He dashed into the zone of burning air!」
「That's cause Ouma-chan's ability is 「Wind」 after all. Since it's conductive heat, so he just needs to make a vacuum heat insulating wall to prevent the heat from transmitting through. Rather than that ─ the audience-chan sitting at the front most row should brace themselves.」
「Brace themselves?」
At the instant the announcer felt confused about what that meant, it happened.
Stella and Ouma, the Devices those two swung clashed...
...The noise produced from the clash, which exceeded the realm of sound and could only be described as shockwave, slammed the whole dome with a physical impact.
「「「UWAaAAAAAAAAAA…!!!!」」」
The audience leaning next to the fence were blown back by the 「sound」 of the clash between the swords of those two and landed on their bottoms.
Furthermore, it did not end with just one strike.
Second time, third time...
Every time the flaming red sword and jade wind blade crossed each other, the fence would squeak, and the glass windows would vibrate.
「I-It stiiings! T-This is what you call the sound of swords clashing!? It's just like the explosive noise and shockwave from a collision between high speed jet planes!」
However, despite releasing so much energy, the two people at the epicenter did not retreat a single step, and continued to clash their swords.
And after crossing for about ten times...
A loud explosive sound, as if ten streaks of lightning struck down, echoed, blowing both of them towards the edges of the ring at the same time.
Neither of them had landed a hit.
They were on even grounds. At a frighteningly high level.
And that ─ proved that Stella had filled the gap in the difference between herself and Ouma in a short period of time.
"As expected of Stella-chan."
Having witnessed the first contact of those two, Kanata leaked out her admiration.
"With this, it doesn't seem that she will lose in strength like before."
Ikki nodded at that.
"Yeah. Not to mention that Stella has not shown her seriousness yet. She is still going to increase her pace."
That's right. She should still be able to increase her pace.
It was possible to imagine from the potential Stella had shown in the first round.
However, she still had something.
...First round, and yesterday night, he saw the phantom of a dragon in that split second.
Stella had not shown the root, the source of that yet.
She was still holding back her power.
However...
"But Ouma-san also has not shown his seriousness yet."
Touka interrupted Ikki's words.
Just like she said, Ouma was not serious as well.
In that first contact, both of them were only ascertaining each other.
The enemy before their eyes, taking on their full power... an opponent that would not break from it.
And that was something that Ikki, as the little brother, knew the best in that place.
'Certainly, Nii-san is not someone who will get serious regardless of his opponent.'
He would choose an opponent that was worthy for his seriousness.
And right then... that greeting and confirmation had been completed.
...It would start from there.
'From now on is the real... battle.'
...
"I see. As expected of your power. To be able to match my sword straight on."
Ouma praised Stella's ability as numbness remained in his own arm.
Because he had not experienced a clashing of swords for a long time.
However...
"However, it's only at the level of numbing my arm. This much won't be enough to take my life."
Ouma's expression clearly showed that he had room to spare as he told her.
Stella pouted in displeasure.
"...You're still quite carefree, huh."
Well, she was once defeated by him.
At the moment, Ouma was still above her.
That probably couldn't be helped.
That's why, Stella held up Lævateinn right before her...
"I will draw out the bloodthirst from that composed face first."
She injected more magic power into the Dragon Breath flame enveloping her blade.
"HAAaAAAAAAAaAAaaa!!!!"
With Stella's magic power, the flame enveloping the sword swelled.
The crimson flame rampaged about without limit as its temperature and brightness increased.
That appearance caused Touka Toudou to recall.
"That's... during the training camp...!"
That's right. It was the long-distance shot Stella had shown Touka during their mock battle.
It was the preparation for Dragon Fang.
Though the motion was the same, the intense heat from the sword could not be compared.
However, that was only natural.
That's because it was a big technique that was going to fire off seven shots of the Noble Art, Dragon Fang, which held destructive power that Touka Toudou's Raikiri could barely intercept, simultaneously!
"Devour and scatter! Satan Fang...!"
Immediately, seven shots, no, seven flame dragons with heads flew out from Lævateinn.
And their jaws, lined with flame teeth, assaulted Ouma from various angles to devour him.
However, even as the scene of destruction was right before him, Ouma's expression did not change...
"Just this technique alone requires who knows how many normal Blazer's magic power to do it. Quite impressive... But, how will just the level of a few snakes scare me?"
As he said so, he stabbed Ryuuzume into the ring...
"Fuujin Kekkai."
He activated the Noble Art that protected the audience stand from Stella's Bahamut Howl during the first round battle.
Tornado stirred up in his surrounding, and that blade of wind tore up the incoming flame dragons into specks of dust.
The flame dragons that were sliced up until they became tiny incandescent drew a spiral as they were rolled into the wind that rose up to the sky, and disappeared.
And Ouma, who had easily overwhelmed Stella's full-powered long distance shots, did not change his expression as expected...
"Is that all you got? Crimson Princess."
As he spoke to Stella before his eyes... he noticed.
The instant Satan Fang covered his sight, Stella's figure disappeared from the ring.
And, the moment he realized it, it was too late...
"It's something like this...! Sword Emperor of Wind!"
A red-haired girl appeared from the heat haze-like rippled space behind Ouma, and swung her sword at his neck.
Flame Veil.
It was Stella's Noble Art which bent the light rays with heat to make her opponent unable to see her own body.
That's right. Ouma had misjudged the knight known as Stella.
She was not a knight that could only rely on her magic power capacity and attack with quantity.
Stealing his sight with that destructive power, making him think that Stella was attack specialized, but her style was an extremely competent all-rounder.
Her usage of magic was so varied that even Shizuku could not be a match.
Then Stella devised a tactic from that variety and brilliantly got behind Ouma...
"HAaAaa!"
Slashed diagonally down at the defenseless Ouma.
Right after that...
"N-Not good!"
At the same time Touka's shout echoed, red drops sprayed onto the ring like a blooming red flower.
The owner of the blood that splashed the ring was... Stella who slashed diagonally down.
「Contender Stella is injured! Sword Emperor of Wind has finally captured Crimson Princess with his sword! Blood is spraying out from the two arms of Contender Stella! The opening hit belongs to Contender Sword Emperor of Wind, Ouma Kuroganeee!」
A turning point occurred between the evenly matched offense and defense between the two.
Voices of grief came from the venue due to the obvious difference in power in that effective attack.
However, the injured person herself did not press down on her wounds.
Did she not care?
No. The shock, to the point of making her unconscious of her wounds, caused her to freeze up.
'What...is this...!?'
Stella's expression was of incomprehensiveness.
It wasn't unreasonable.
Ouma read the surprise attack from the back, and returned with a slash... she would be convinced if that was the case.
However... it was not so.
Stella's diagonal slash definitely settled it.
Lævateinn had certainly hit Ouma's shoulder.
Even so... her blade could not advance any more than that.
Touka bit her teeth as someone who had experienced the same phenomenon before.
It turned out like that after all. As she thought.
"The danger of Sword Emperor of Wind is not just his offense... Even though there isn't much difference in magic power, he was able to receive my slash attack without any wound like just now. What exactly is that unexplainable defensive power..."
Touka questioned what exactly that was.
In response to that... kki, who was next to her, spoke.
"That itself is not so unexplainable. It is out of the norm, though."
Touka's eyes opened her eyes wide at those words.
"K-Kurogane-kun knows something? The mystery behind that defensive power."
Ikki nodded at that question.
"Previously, I had a chance to cross swords with him. I noticed it back then."
He was assaulted on the way back from Yuudai Moroboshi's invitation to his family shop.
Ikki came into contact with Ouma's 「Abnormality」 in that instance.
And he saw through its true form.
"Stella will probably notice it after one more strike. But..."
Ikki's words stopped there.
The reason was because, there was nothing he could do even if he noticed it.
It was just as what Ouma had said.
His power was... not a 「Technique」 against which a strategy could be formed.
And, just at that moment... his prediction came true.
The two people on the ring crossed swords again.
After clashing a number of times, Ouma thrusted out like a released arrow.
Stella turned her body as if dancing and evaded that...
She hit a counter horizontally at his body with not just her own power, but also using her opponent's power on the second time.
That horizontal line cleaning dug into Ouma's body... and stopped at that.
"You're...kidding...!"
"Fuun."
"...!!!!"
Ouma dished out a kick at Stella's flank when she stopped her movement in shock.
Stella's body danced in the air as she was blown more than ten meters away.
"Cough...cough! Ugh...!"
Stella winced as she kneeled in pain as if her internal organs were blended.
What spilled out from her mouth was blood.
Ouma's kick broke through Stella's sturdy magic defense that defended against the slash attack from The Unturning, Yui Tatara's Device in one hit, damaging her internal organs.
The shockwave was like getting hit by a battering ram.
However...
That was how it was, it was natural in that case, Stella was convinced.
The feeling of hitting a rock mountain after the two strikes, and the damage to her flank.
From all that information... Stella noticed Ouma's 「Abnormality」.
"I can't believe it... What's with your body...!"
The shaking in her voice was probably not just from her wounded side.
In response to that, Ouma...
"Fuu... As expected, you noticed after two strikes."
Ouma let out a sparse smile and answered Stella's doubt.
"You want to ask what this is, right? This is... my resolve. It's a story from five years ago. In my last year as an elementary student, I, who had dominated the U-12 World Tournament organized by the League of Mage-Knight Nations, was on the contrary feeling gloomy about the result."
He noticed after dominating the world.
By striking with just the back of his sword, the path would not open for him.
Even when he went to the world tournament, there was something that still could not exceed the realm of 「Training」.
"This kind of childish tournament could not let me test my limit. I was unable to overcome it. I was in agony. To stay in an environment like a lukewarm bath during my growth period... it was unacceptable to stay there for at least three more years when it was the period during which I could grow as much as I wanted."
To be even stronger, to reach even higher.
To Ouma, who continued to seek it more than anyone, that stagnation was unbearable.
He had always been challenging his body's limits and wishing for power to unleash.
"That's why I... flew out of Japan, the League, to seek it."
The real battles that he seeked existed in the world.
Sometimes in the streets of slums.
Sometimes in an underground colosseum.
Sometimes in the battlefield with bullets flying everywhere.
Ouma Kurogane had obtained the places he wished for, and was engrossed in studying.
He remembered how fulfilling that period of time was.
Amongst the battles with his life on the stake, he dreamily remembered how his body was being forged day by day.
If he stayed like that, if he continued on that path, he could become the world's strongest knight.
He did not hold a speck of doubt.
However...
"That thought did not continue for long. I had an encounter. On my path of warrior's training, at the end of this world, with a real demon living there."
"Demon...?"
"Tyrant... That name, the princess of a country should probably know about it."
"...!"
The nickname spoken by Ouma.
The venue showed incomprehension, but Stella's crimson pupils widened in shock.
Just like what Ouma said, as the royalty of a member nation in the League, Stella knew that name.
Of course she would know.
That was... the arch nemesis of the International Society, Rebellion.
It was the name that people living in the underworld called their Leader by, just like a Blazer's nickname.
"Don't tell me, you fought...!?"
Ouma nodded.
"I was pulverized... Even though I exerted every ounce of my strength, I could not even resist a single moment."
It was only natural.
That opponent was an incarnation of violence that continued to reign at the summit of the underworld
since more than half a century ago.
There was a gap between them so huge that he could not understand just how large that difference was.
Ouma, who knew his powerless self, could only beg for his life shamelessly.
However, Tyrant was not a man who would listen to such words.
His strength could not reach, his pleas could not reach, only violence continued to rain down on him.
"Just remembering it... causes my entire body to tremble in fear. I have never felt the despair known as death so near to me... No, if Twin-Wings had not come to my rescue, I probably would've been killed for real. And then, after coming into contact with the territory at the summit of the world where the demonic being lived, and my own powerless self, I was able to understand... Even if I just train as how I had been training, even if I advanced down the path I had been advancing on, my pace would not let me
reach the summit."
His lifespan would be too short for him to reach there with his current pace. As such.
"In that case... there was already no meaning in training anymore. Normal training was useless. What I needed was... an evolution to obtain wings that let me fly towards the summit instead of walking on the path!"
In an instant, Ouma grasped the upper part of his kimono...
"Tenryuu Gusoku ─ Release."
And took it off.
Immediately after that, an invisible shockwave hit Stella and then the venue itself.
It had blown Stella off to the edge of the ring, bent the fence surrounding the venue, and shattered all the windows facing the ring. A choir of screams resounded.
Stella drew her breath at that scene.
Just then, Ouma had definitely said 'release'. In other words, that amount of air was not generated right in that moment...
"Don't tell me, you, with that absurdly large amount of air... have you been suppressing yourself with that until now!?"
Ouma wordlessly affirmed her.
That's right. The explosion of air that knocked Stella just then, everything was a high-pressure shackle that had been binding Ouma until a moment ago. He used his Noble Art, Tenryuu Gusoku, which repelled enemy attacks by wearing it, against himself, and burdened his body constantly with
an out-of-norm load.
"For what reason, are you doing that..."
"Of course, for the sake of 「Evolution」."
Evolution was a fundamental ability that living things possessed in order to adapt to the environment.
For example, something similar to webbing might appear from a human who had been constantly swimming since he was young.
Ouma administered himself to a harsh environment that pushed his body to the limit, forcefully triggering his body's ability. It was for the sake of obtaining a physical body that could withstand any attack, and a power that could beat any enemy down.
However, even if living things were equipped with the ability to evolve, it was normal for it to take a long time. Naturally, he couldn't do it easily.
A human body under that level of pressure would not remain unscathed.
The pressure suppressed him from all directions, he couldn't even lift a finger.
His flesh was squashed, his bones were smashed.
His organs could not function properly due to external pressure.
Of course, he could not fight in that condition, and continued to lose.
He was beaten, slashed, pierced, burned by enemies that he could effortlessly win against in the past...
However... even so, he did not cease his recklessness.
Because he knew that he had to do it in order to reach the territory of that demonic being.
He continued to force his battered body without mercy.
If he was pressed to death by his own power, he could only go that far.
"And then... when countless wounds were carved onto my entire body, this recklessness paid off."
His body gradually, in order to adapt to the environment he set on himself, began to evolve.
His bone structure increased its hardness to be like an iron core in order not to lose against the pressure suppressing him, his organs pulsated strongly in order to let blood circulate his entire body. Each and every muscle fibre of his body became stronger and more tenacious in order to let him move smoothly under high pressure... eventually, when his body could not feel the 「Pressure」 anymore ─ Ouma's body literally transformed into 「Steel」.
"You may not see it from the compacted external appearance, but just like the feedback from your hand, my weight, with muscle and bone density tens of times higher than a normal person, is way heavier than Panzer Grizzly. A lukewarm slash will never injure me."
And then...
"And so right now, I have released those shackles. Do you know what this means?"
"...!"
Stella hurriedly held up her sword from those words, but...
"Too slow."
"Kuh..."
The stone plate ring crumbled under Ouma's kick off, and he shortened the distance between the two in just one step.
Next, he swung his wind-wrapped sword three times before any interference.
Three flashes of slash, accompanied by the groan of atmosphere, assaulted towards her.
Any one of those could turn Stella into a speck of dust in the same instant.
Fast. Compared to the speed of Twin-Wings's sword technique that Ikki imitated, that was more...
"HAaA!"
It was hard to handle even for Stella, who possessed excellent athletic ability and battle sense, but she understood that it would be dangerous to stay within sword range like that.
Hence, at the same time Stella received Ouma's slash attacks, she leaped back.
Using the force from receiving the opponent's sword, she escaped from coming into contact with him.
It was a method that Ikki used to take distance during the mock battle they had in the past.
However...
"ZeAAAAa!!!!"
Ouma immediately reacted to it.
He sent a flurry of vacuum blades towards Stella who escaped the contact range.
Slashes of vacuum flew with a speed that surpassed rifle bullets.
It was impossible to visually catch sight of those.
However, it was a battle between two Blazers.
Stella read the presence of magic power like that of a blazing sun wrapped around the vacuum blades, and struck them down one by one.
However...
"...Ka...fu!?"
Immediately after striking down the last vacuum blade.
Stella's abdomen tore open horizontally, blood sprayed out.
Why? Stella was confused as there wasn't any presence of magic power.
However, it was only natural.
Just then was ─ an effect without using magic power.
"I can't believe it. To be able to send a slash wave with just arm strength...!"
Touka murmured with a trembled voice while watching the match in the audience stand.
That's right. What slashed open Stella's abdomen was not a Noble Art.
It was a physical wind pressure raised by Ouma swinging his Ryuuzume.
Of course, it was much less powerful compared to a vacuum blade.
Due to the magic power wrapped around Blazers which added strong resistance towards physical impact, the damage on Stella's abdomen was only skin-deep without reaching the internal organs, but ─ it was sufficient to stop her from escaping.
"Fu...!"
Ouma immediately closed in on Stella, who stopped her movement for a moment, and slashed diagonally down with his right arm.
Evade ─ it was already too late for such an action.
As the impact from those flying slashes was greater than what she had predicted, her body's axis was misaligned and not in a condition for evasion.
Hence, Stella guarded Ouma's diagonal slash in her unstable posture.
However...
"Not good! The technique coming from this pose is...!"
Ouma, who had slashed diagonally down with just his right arm, still had his left arm.
Ikki turned pale from that fact.
He knew because he had peeked at Kurogane House's training when he was young.
What would be executed from that pose was known as the sword of national defense.
It was a sword technique that Kurogane household had passed down since the samurai era, 「Kyokujitsu Isshin Ryuu」extremity of steel...!
"...Hono Ikazuchi."
Aiming at Stella's eye level as she defended against his sword, no, accurately speaking, at the eye level of Ryuuzume that she defended against, Ouma's clenched left fist struck.
That steel fist struck Ryuuzume like a thunderclap, further adding power to the sword.
Stella, who had received the sword in an unstable posture, could not defend against that...
Stella's body was blown away with an intensity like a missle.
And she crashed into the wall below the audience stand just like that. She did not stop even after crushing...
Despite the reinforced concrete blasting open, she was thrown until outside of the venue.
「W-Whaaat!?」
「Lies. From the hall, blown all the way there!? It's not manga, you know!?」
「C-Can't believe it. Would it be alright, this...」
The people who could not fit inside the dome that were listening to the broadcast made an uproar at Stella's figure blasting through the dome wall to the outside.
It was the same inside the dome.
The overly impactful scene raised an earth-shattering cheer.
「E-Extreeeeeme!! Not just a ring out, but a dome out! I have over ten years of experience as the an announcer for A-League, but I had only seen such a flashy out of field once! To think that I would be seeing it a second time in a match between students! This is a battle between A-Rank Knights! There's no other description than out-of-norm!
──Now then, the count is beginning now! Contender Stella, will she be able to return within the count!?」
The announcer's voice could be heard intermittently.
The cheers from the audience reached the peak.
Stella heard it from afar while lying down face-up, looking at the sky.
'He got me...'
The stimulation in that impact which exceeded the limit a human body could handle had paralyzed the sense of feeling in her entire body.
Since she was born, she had never received an impact as strong as that.
'What a monstrous bastard... that guy.'
Certainly, living things possessed the ability to adapt to environments.
The history of life was the history of evolution.
Like how a creature that originally lived in the sea grew four limbs because it hoped to live on land.
Like how the process of coping with the change in living environment by walking on two feet caused the bone structure to change.
By making his own environment severe, he obtained power that could not be obtained in a normal environment.
Since life possessed the mechanism called evolution, it was not that much of a bizarre consideration.
...However, that was originally supposed to be achieved after decades or centuries of time.
Ouma had completed that in just one generation, just a few years.
Even though he could probably stop his recklessness if he wanted to, since the method of adding burden was his own ability, he cut off that common sense and temptation, ignored any half-hearted strength, only wishing for the top, the strongest. With just his will alone, he changed the design of anatomy that was drawn by god.
The word stoic already could not describe that aberrant willpower towards his goal.
'Strong... truly.'
She could only admit.
She could feel respect for that way of living which rejected any compromises.
There was no falsehood in that.
Not even a tiny bit.
'...Aah, nevertheless...'
「Eh?」
「N-No way... Stella-chan, is smiling?」
That's right, nevertheless, it was a strange story, but...
'As if, I don't feel like losing...!'
「─Five! Six!」
Ouma, who was on the ring, did not even listen to the counting that echoed in the venue.
Anyone could understand that it was meaningless.
The opponent was an A-Rank Knight like himself.
The same chosen one who was born to carry a large fate in this world.
Just that much ─ would not be the end for that woman.
"You said it yesterday. You will beat me up at my full strength. I have responded to that request of yours now. This is my full strength. If you want to crush it then show me. ─Crimson Princess."
As he said that, Ouma lifted his gaze upwards.
To the sky he could see as he looked up.
Over there, she was standing.
「T-There...! Contender Stella! She is looking down at the ring from the top of the night light before we knew it! E-Even though she was hit outside so grandly, apart from some tatters on her clothes, there are no severe injuries!」
「Well, even if she smashed through the dome, she wouldn't suffer much damage from a physical impact without magic power as long as she didn't get hit by Ryuuzume. Especially for Stella-chan who boasts the greatest magic power capacity in the world.」
「And right now, she has returned to the ring at the count of eight!」
The audience leaked voices of exclamation in amazement towards Stella as she returned from outside like it was natural.
After the main referee made the call to resume the match, Ouma readied his Ryuuzume again.
However, Stella did not take a stance...
"Ouma. Before we resume the match, I want to ask one thing."
Towards the enemy before her eyes... she talked in the most friendly voice she had made so far.
"What?"
Ouma asked back without releasing his stance.
What she wanted to hear from him was just one thing.
"You... for what reason are you aiming for the summit?"
That extremely tenacious willpower towards his goal.
What was the foundation that supported it? She wanted to know.
After Ouma looked down for just an instant, stayed quiet for a moment, then he answered.
"...It's not much of a story. When I was a child, I was happy to have won the match held by my household for the first time. And then I thought. I wanted to become stronger than anyone in this world. That is... something I would probably feel good about. If I have to put it in words, it's just that."
Ouma said that such a trivial matter was not worth to talk about purposely.
However...
"...That's incredible. You."
Stella thought so in her heart.
She had her duties as a royalty.
What supported the core of the girl known as Stella was the obligation towards her citizens.
However, Ouma was not like that.
To the end, it was for his own sake.
Just for that reason alone, he had obtained that much power.
He traveled around the world, encountered despair, and yet even so, he did not compromise a single time.
That fortitude was similar to her most beloved man...
"You are the second person that I 「respect」 from the bottom of my heart as an enemy, Ouma. That's why I will show you. Crimson Princess, Stella Vermillion's true power...!"
There was already no hatred anymore.
Even the anger about what Ouma had done before had also disappeared.
As a knight, as a warrior, she only wanted to fulfill the subjugation of that proud enemy.
Making up her mind, Stella raised her Lævateinn...
"Dragon Spirit...!!!!"
...And stabbed it into her own chest.
In that instant, dazzling light, accompanied with heat wave, blew out from Stella's body, enveloping the whole venue.