「Is it over!?」
「It's a perfect hit. That should end it.」
「No way, the A-Rank Stella-san was beaten like this….」
「Wasn't she just unprepared? Otherwise, this is impossible….」
「…No, wait! Look at that!」
The confused spectators turned their gazes to Stella's right shoulder. Intetsu's blade had indeed landed there, but it was completely stopped. Ikki's full-powered strike couldn't damage Stella at all.
"…So in the end, it turns out like this."
Setting aside his exasperation, Ikki once again took a large step back to escape the scorching heat, increasing the gap between them. His opponent was using magic as a shield, and an attack without equally strong magic couldn't harm a shielded Blazer. Ikki's magic was too limited, too weak. However excellent his techniques might be, lacking a Blazer's most important trait meant he couldn't even pierce the magic power Stella was releasing subconsciously.
Aura capacity―the total spiritual energy that a Blazer could spend in using his abilities. That attribute couldn't be increased with effort. It was locked at birth, bound by the weight of destiny… a human being's predetermined value.
Great people were given greatness to make great achievements. From the moment they were born, everyone had a place in an unquestionable hierarchy. In other words, the talent Stella had carried since birth became a firm wall and stopped Ikki's sword.
"It leaves a bad taste, winning like this…."
"As I thought, Stella-san understood it right away. My Intetsu can't injure you at all."
"Naturally. And because I understood, I challenged you to this duel not just in magic, but also in swordsmanship, to show that my strength comes from more than talent. But it didn't go how I wanted… I'll admit it. This battle, I'll only win because of that talent."
Ikki was strong. The words about effort he had uttered weighed more than those of her past opponents. With the talent of a normal Blazer, or even a bit less, he would've beaten Stella in this match. It was vexing, but Ikki didn't even have that. If he gave "I lost to her talent" as an excuse for his defeat, she wouldn't deny it. He had a right to say such things.
He was… that strong. That was why―
"I'll finish this with sincere respect."
Suddenly, Stella took a large leap backwards. She retreated to the ring-shaped arena's border line, at the wall that separated the arena from the audience seats.
With sincere respect. Ikki felt uneasy about Stella backing so far away after saying those words―but that unease was immediately quashed by a heavier sensation.
"Pierce the blue sky, blaze of purgatory."
The moment Stella pointed her Lævateinn up at the air, the flames covering the sword burned with more fury and heat―and soon the sword lost its form, taking the shape of a pillar of light that melted the arena's domed roof.
「W-What is thiiiiis!!!」
「This is too insane! Is she still human!?」
The blade that easily extended a hundred meters upward was shining with the sun's own brilliance, an unopposable scarlet conflagration. For this A-Rank knight, the Crimson Princess, it was her strongest Noble Art. Stella no longer intended to fight with a sword. She would no longer be overconfident. Ikki was a swordsman who far surpassed her, and because she admitted that, she chose to end this battle by destroying the arena with her unfair talent.
"It's over. Accept your loss. That should be easier on you too."
Just before unleashing her attack, she spoke those words with a dragon's dispassion. Stella had believed that anyone strong enough to overwhelm her like this would triumph elsewhere no matter the difficulties, but she hadn't accounted for this boy whose lack of talent forced him onto the path of a Failed Knight. That was why Stella would defeat Ikki for his sake as well, using the absolute power of her talent!
"Katharterio SalamandraΚαθαρτήριο Σαλαμάνδρα―!!!"
The descending blade of light knew only ruination, burning the entire arena.
「Uh, uwaaa!」
「Run for it! We'll get swallowed up―!」
"Hey hey…. Is this really a move for a one-on-one fight?"
As the arena crumbled down, the spectating students started to flee in a screaming mob, and Kurono watched it all with a bitter expression.
But standing before this approaching devastation, Ikki Kurogane smiled.
"My little sister used to often say, 'Brother can become anything other than a mage-knight, so he should aim for that.' Certainly she might be right, since I don't have the talent."
If Ikki Kurogane wanted to be a mage-knight, he'd have to at least win in the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival, but trying for that victory was as reckless as climbing a waterfall in a bamboo boat. Ikki probably knew that better than anyone.
"But I can't step back now, because becoming a knight is my dream. If I gave up, I couldn't forgive myself for breaking the promise that binds us."
So―
"So I wondered, how can the weakest beat the strongest? How can I exceed my own weak self? Here and now, I'll show you my answer."
Ikki pointed the tip of Intetsu at Stella and said,
"Here, with my greatest weakness, I'll defeat your greatest strength―!"
At that moment, Ikki's whole body and Intetsu's full length started to shine.
Luminous blue that flickered ever so slightly like flame―was it an elemental power similar to hers? Stella thought so for a moment but soon abandoned the idea. No, it was the light of magic power itself growing to the point of visibility.
His power… is increasing…!?
Impossible. Magic power could neither rise nor fall from its owner's level at birth. Then what was happening? Stella couldn't understand it. She had never heard of an ability that raises magic power. But she did understand one thing: the current Intetsu glowing with blue light had the power to strike her down.
―But so what!? No matter what kind of power he possessed, all things of heaven and earth burn to ashes before the sun!
Slash him! I can take victory just doing that!
The distance between them was more than sixty meters. It didn't matter what her opponent tried, because her blade of light would reach him first.
But this boy―he said he'd break through that reasoning!
"Wha!?"
In the instant that the blade of light fell upon Ikki, he vanished. No, he just jumped fast enough while evading the light that he seemed to disappear.
Stella was dumbfounded after missing her target.
What was that, just now!?
Despite her surprise, she immediately attacked Ikki with a second swing. Katharterio Salamandra created a sword of heat that had no physical body, and it could reach a target more than a hundred meters away. It wasn't something a flesh-and-blood human could simply evade.
But Ikki did.
The second strike, and then the third. Here and there on the battlefield, Ikki kept moving like a windstorm between her flashing strokes, completely dodging each attack. His movements were impossible to follow. Forget her sword, even her eyes couldn't keep up with Ikki's speed. Eventually, Stella could no longer catch even a rough visual of his position.