"ENROKONAI CITY," a vast civilization teeming with Duelists vying for the top spot.
The 'Dueling Systems' itself are the most popular pastime in such a setting.
The Dueling Academy is recognized for producing the best Duelists, with newcomers rising through the ranks to become pros! People learn their essentials at this "School," which is filled by thousands of Duelists, but the most current activities are their training sessions, which are scheduled three times a week.
The Academy is made up of people of many races, with the bulk of them being Humans and a small number of them being Half-Demons. Dueling is a part of their traditional training sessions, often known as the 'War Race' or 'Five Versus Five.'
Despite the fact that the world appears to be in a state of chaos, the Dueling is mostly for entertainment, and no one is murdered. (Thanks to the 'Zero Watches' for casting Spiritual Shields.)
And the majority of Duelists are tasked with eliminating the top three Duelists!
- Number 3 on the leaderboard: whose title is "King" and whose true name is Tsuji Rokuro.
Then there's;
- Number 2 on the leaderboard: whose title is "Devil" and whose real name is Sakata Hisako!
And their top tier duelist, the legend himself and Number 1;
"Silver," whose real name is Takei Shigeo, managed to reach the highest ranking between both "King" and "Devil" for a massive amount of Battle Score.
Their championships are a sign of good luck, as none of them have ever lost to lower-tier ranks.
The three champions are known as the "Dueling Masters," and they battle with one another in order to maintain or lose their reign as champions.
- Enrokonai City (Dueling Academy), Saturday, 00:01 am -
Only one light shined above the heads of Alpha and Yujiro while the Dueling Academy was completely black.
Yujiro, on the other hand, didn't appear to enjoy it, so he reached for his belt and pulled out a white mask, startling everyone else.
"A mask, you've got to be kidding, right...?" Ayuka looked to be annoyed by it, and he eventually put the mask over his face and prepared to fight.
"... Tsch... still hiding that hideous face of yours, huh? Okay, I'll simply cut the mask." After hurling both of her blades into the air, Alpha summoned two of her Spirits, who raced from her aura and seized the blades, quickly aiming towards Yujiro.
"... Your enormous ego will put a stop to your martial concentration..." His voice had rippled as if he was speaking in two distinct languages.
"... consume those words..." The Duel between Alpha and Yujiro finally begun.
After charging energy at her hip, Alpha dashed into his direction, accompanied by both of her Spirit companions.
She threw her sword forward as she got closer, releasing the piercing energy that was about to phase into Yujiro's chest, however, he slid over and was faced by the first Spirit.
Yujiro quickly flipped back, catching the girl's sword and releasing pressure to roll his body into a kick, knocking the Spirit ahead, with the second Spirit jumping behind his back.
Yujiro's right eye erupted in dazzling blue light, and he spun in mid-air before ducking beneath the Spirit's sword and kicking her in the stomach, throwing the Spirit back and landing.
Yujiro instantly realized Alpha had cut into his path, and in order to avoid being hurt or hit, he flipped forward over the blade, grasped Alpha's shoulder, and twisted his finger into her head.
A smaller burst of blue flames burned her face, forcing her to flee, and with it, Yujiro slumped on the floor, sword still in hand.
The two Spirits approached Alpha and took a step forward. "H-Hey, Alpha, how are you doing?" After Alpha rose up from kneeling, burned and Spirits were a little worried.
"... I'm OK, don't even take a second to think..." The three of them turned to face Yujiro, who pointed the sword forward, igniting it while maintaining his other hand in his pockets, and stood sideways, facing Alpha.
"... By absorbing damage, she's doing rather well... We'll be able to move in a few minutes..." Nina said something, and Ayuka nodded. She reached behind her and summoned her blade, which she then connected to her string.
"... He came up with the great notion of wearing a mask in case the light had shown his face... But there's one thing I don't get. Why is he attempting to keep his true identity hidden?"
However, following the talk, Alpha rushed forward with her blade and sliced it obliquely, forcing Yujiro to shift out of the way. Yujiro then dodged sweep-kicking Alpha's ankle and caused her to fall forward.
After that, he planned his next move, kneeling Alpha in the hopes of striking. Alpha, on the other hand, skipped the following strike by jumping to the side to escape it, then cutting again.
Yujiro slashed with his blade, clashing with Alpha's, and then saw two figures crossing behind him. He raised his ankle as he shifted his pupil to check behind.
He blasted forth high-pressure flames that grabbed both of the Spirits in, burning them, then blasting them into the distance after sinking his foot back into the earth.
Alpha rammed her sole into Yujiro's face after rapidly knocking Yujiro's blade to the side and raced forward, launching into a half-spin.
After one of the Spirits darted behind him, he slipped back and clutched his hood. He leaped and twisted his entire body around in response to the attack, ankling the Spirit into the skull and kicked her aside when the second Spirit swiped at his neck.
When he saw the blade swooping above his head, he bowed backward, twisted to reposition himself, formed a fist, and slammed the Spirit into her stomach with full power, knocking her back.
"... tsch..." Alpha finally summoned both of her Spirits, the blades tumbled to the floor.
"...I wasn't expecting this guy to be so proficient in close combat with just his fists... If I don't make the right move, he might not be so simple to defeat..." Because Alpha's health bar was low, Nina continued spectating the Duel and wondered.
"Ayuka... How could her health bar deplete so quickly after only being hit once?" Nina pondered in hushed tones.
"I went over her details, and it appears that the two Spirits she summons work together, meaning she loses health if they are damaged... Although the ability is strong, it also comes with significant hazards..."
"...And I'm sure Yujiro knows everything about it because they've exchanged data since the beginning of reading it, but Alpha has hardly gotten any information on his Dueling Style."
Ayuka nodded and began to prepare to intervene.
As a searing flame continued to spread from Yujiro's right eye, he stepped across his feet and bowed forward.
He shattered the floor and blitzed over the ground, hoping to stab Alpha. But, just when she believed everything was going according to plan, the approach ran into a snag.
Alpha's eyes trembled, and ultimately, after inhaling frost, Ayuka reached over her back and tapped the floor with her toes. "... Ayuka, slap him in the face with something he'll remember..."
Nina gave her a fist bump and a grin in return. "You got it." Finally, when Ayuka dashed behind the wall, the floor shattered, tossing Nina's glasses into the air.
Yujiro, on the other hand, shifted his focus to Ayuka as he took a look at her. "Wait, Ayuka! He knows!" Yujiro leaped on the ground, bending his right knee and thrusting his left, free arm at Alpha, but it was too late.
Ayuka tried to halt, but Yujiro's foot slammed into Ayuka's stomach, crashing her back with full power and bursting out high-pressure flames, which Alpha had to dodge by diving to the side.
Although the flames missed Ayuka, her backbone collided with the wall, propelling her forward and forcing her to expose herself. "Oh no!" Nina covered her mouth with both hands, terrified after seeing such a dreadful occurrence.
"Damn it! I've had enough!" When Ayuka coughed, Alpha got into a genuine fight, but she quickly became furious. "You just made a mistake..." With her hoodie flying in the air, Ayuka's eyes flashed silver.
Yujiro was up against two formidable opponents, and there was no way he could overcome both of them at the same time.
"Go beat him up!" Nina yelled.
Ayuka sprang off the wall and sliced forward with her sword, aiming it at Yujiro.
Yujiro leaped over the sword before seeing the second blade cutting, so he bent backward and kicked Ayuka and Alpha to the side with both knees, slamming them to the side.
He landed on the floor after doing a backflip and letting go of his sword, extended both arms, and aiming them towards both females.
Yujiro's split-leg posture caused the two females to dive aside as the high-pressure flames blazed in both directions.
However, because Yujiro was disarmed and assumed to have an opportunity, Ayuka dashed in for the next swing of her sword, but instead, Yujiro kicked his sword's handle, rebounding it into his height, then grasping it.
He quickly sliced the blade to the side, clashing with Ayuka's own sword.
Ayuka shifted her leg to the side to escape the ensuing flames, then knocked Yujiro's sword away. Yujiro immediately spotted Alpha and joined in on the swing and cut.
Yujiro managed to escape being stared down by both of the females by crouching and putting distance between himself and his opponents.
"By battling both of us, he appears to be doing well... People weren't joking when they said he'd be a tough opponent... On the other hand, I'm not going all out." Ayuka and Alpha started running in opposing directions and in the shape of a circle.
Yujiro, who had been standing motionless, wondering when one of them would strike, exhaled and felt Ayuka's feet twisting on the floor.
She shone brilliantly and vanished in a second, reappearing in front of Yujiro, his mask breaking as he moved his blade.
His eyes, which were still concealed by the hood.
Yujiro took a step back and dodged Ayuka's dash in front of his stomach at full speed. Then Ayuka slid over the floor, leaving frost on the ground, and raced back into action, this time at full speed.
Yujiro evaded one again by ducking and then noticing Alpha threw her blade behind his back.
He slammed his foot into Alpha's ankle, which she managed to escape, and cut her down.
On the other hand, Ayuka dashed from the front once again, ultimately scoring a critical hit that reduced his health bar by roughly 30%.
When Yujiro saw Alpha twisting her sword and firing a darker slice that Yujiro couldn't escape, he cross-stepped to the side and bounced away from the place.
However, by defending it and being thrown back, he only lost 15% of his health bar. He landed on the floor after whirling and rotating his body, and his hands immediately unleashed scorching flames that raced through the earth at both of the ladies.
When moving forward and throwing her arm up, Ayuka rapidly opened her right hand.
She sparked a tremendous explosion of ice spikes, which stopped the flames and forced him to sweep the sword away.
Alpha responded fast, slicing her sword to the side as she dashed forward.
The entire iceberg was sliced into broader chunks that were hurled in the air, even producing a tremendous swirl of wind that swept around them, almost knocking Yujiro's hood off with the intensity and speed of her cut.
However, to the benefit of the two girls, Ayuka began vaulting and jumping over the ice blocks, rising high above the area and exhaling frigid air.
After Ayuka formed numerous spikes of ice, which she then launched forward, down towards Yujiro.
Yujiro, and her exchanged looks.
Yujiro, on the other hand, raced forward, avoiding the broken nuking spikes behind him, and began to employ tremendous mobility.
He was sprinting quickly enough to outrun some of the spikes while evading many others.
He came to a halt in front of the falling spikes, then swiftly raced to his right, avoiding another set of spikes.
He carried on, ducking under a few more and moving on. He was then shocked by a larger spike, which he had to dodge by diving forward and rolling, only to hear the ice break behind him once more.
He slid to the side to escape the next few spikes and saw Ayuka slice her sword forward, extending the ice off her blade and aiming it towards Yujiro, who was shocked for the first time.
He seized the blade with both hands and held it to the side of his left shoulder as he ran and swiped it over the ice.
He melted through the ice, closing in on Alpha, who tossed the sword in front of her, twisted it, and sliced forward.
Yujiro, for his part, formed a full rotation and swept the sword in front of his feet, releasing a whirlwind of blue flames that blew past Alpha's hair, which continued to waver.
After exhaling and sweeping her sword over her left shoulder, her right Demon Eye flared red, and both Yujiro and Alpha slashed with their blades.
Due to the combined power that each of them cast, a huge eruption of flames erupted at the point of contact.
While in mid-flight, Ayuka crossed her arms and felt her body being thrown around in the air.
Finally, the territory was overrun by a tremendous eruption of flames, nearly killing Nina in the process, who got blown back.
To be continued...