"ーSecret sword bound by the prison of stars, release your might!"
The magic fetters which had appeared around him disappeared.
As the restraints which had sealed his Prana disappeared, a wave of power surged forth.
Utterly taken aback by the scene she was being made witness to, Kirin's eyes opened wide, though the tip of her blade never wavered.
"Kirin, don't meet his sword directly. It'll cut right through yours."
As Ayato activated Ser-Versta, a voice sailed over from behind him. It seems he was aware of Ser-Versta's ability.
That said, one of Ser-Versta's primary advantages was that even if you were aware of its ability, that and countering it were two very different things.
ーMy move.
Ayato faced Kirin and took up a stance of his own.
(Let's test the waters for a bit with a feint...)
"ーMy move."
Kirin had barely spoken before her blade came soaring in at his stomach.
"!"
As he warded off her blow and prepared to open some space between them, the next attack came slicing toward him.
Terrifying speed. Godlike speed.
Ayato frantically guarded with Ser-Versta, barely managing to divert the strike.
Seemingly intent on avoiding a direct clash with Ser-Versta, Kirin's blade altered direction in mid-air, and slashed instead at Ayato's right wrist.
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Ayato immediately removed his right hand, and grasping Ser-Versta with just his left, returned her attack.
Kirin lifted her blade upward.
"ーAmagiri-senpai, you're very strong. I'm surprised."
Kirin's compliment was heartfelt.
"That's what I wanted to say."
Ayato felt a chill run down his back.
Now that he'd seen her strength for himself, he recognized her speed to be at least on par with his own, if not faster stillー
"...This is bad."
The girl's strength was far beyond his expectation. This duel was quickly becoming an impossible proposition.
- ψ -
There was a pavilion located in a corner of the central courtyard. Of all the places on campus, this was Julis' favorite resting spot.
Whether it be lunch break or after school, as long as she had sufficient time, she'd eventually find her way here.
Though recently she found herself spending the bulk of her time with someone else, old habits died hard.
Julis had finished her lunch quicklyー after yesterday's argument with Saya, she'd eaten by her lonesome today. Pulling out her phone, she began to scan the news.
"So the user of the 'Holy Grail' has finally appeared...If they appear during the Phoenix, that might be a problem. I'll need to keep an eye on Le Wolfe from now on just for that... wait, breaking news...?"
The palm-sized window suddenly expanded.
"Ah, Toudou Kirin's dueling someone. No wonder, that certainly is newsworthy. Let's see, her opponent is..."
Suddenly, she overheard a burst of cheers.
Looking closely, the hallway was crowded with a mass of people.
"...Hmm?"
Strange. She seemed to have heard a most familiar name being shouted out by the crowd. An ill-omened feeling struck her then.
Splitting the rows of onlookers before her, she made her way to the front.
And couldn't believe her own eyes.
"W-Wh-Wha...?!"
In her surprise, she couldn't even finish her sentence.
The person dueling that Toudou Kirin was none other than her very own partner.
(After agreeing just YESTERDAY not to get pulled into something like this... That moron!)
Julis clutched her head in irritation when she suddenly heard a certain someone amidst the crowd.
Joyfully recording the entire incident with his camera was a young man standing in the very best spectator spot. Seeing him, Julis charged forward and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
"What is the meaning of this, Yabuki!?"
"Eh?! Er, wait, what? Oh, it's the Princess."
Eishirou lifted his head in surprise before quickly continuing to record.
"Sorry, but I'm a little busy right nowー"
"Give me an explanation for this!"
Julis, threatening, covered up his camera and pulled Eishirou around with force.
"That reminds me, I still haven't paid you back for that load of crunk you fed Sasamiya the other day. How would you like to live the rest of your life as a chunk of coal?"
"...I get it, I get it. Geez. I'll do what you ask."
Eishirou sighed and rubbed the scar on his cheek.
"This isn't really anything worthy of note. This is because of what happened in the hallway earlier... Whoa!"
Suddenly Eishirou turned his body. Julis reflexively turned to look as well.
Before her eyes, Kirin's blade came sweeping by as Ayato dodged by a hair's breadth.
As her sword swung by, barely missing his forehead, his hair was thrown into disarray by the wind created from the force of her blow.
"Fuu..."
"Man, this is just too amazing. It's not even the Festa and there's already this kind of fight happening. Amagiri, that ass; hiding his true ability from us," Eishirou swiped the sweat from his forehead as he said admiringly.
"...That said, you can tell that this won't end well if things go on like this."
"That's certainly true enough. Even if he's the wielder of Ser-Versta, his opponent's the 'Gusting Wind, Bladed Thunder', after all."[2]
Eishirou's words were pregnant with meaning as Ayato ducked low, dodging yet another sharp slice.
Ayato took the opportunity to jump off the ground, brandishing Ser-Versta, but Kirin had already flipped past a moment earlier.
As she came down, she again targeted Ayato, this time with an overhead chop.
Ayato spun away, pushing himself off the ground with a single hand.
Even without noticing the sweat dripping from his forehead or the grim expression his face, it was clear that he was at a disadvantage.
To be honest, Julis could barely believe her eyes.
Ayato had released his seal, and she, more than anyone, understand his abilities in that state.
Moreover, he'd undergone special training each day, and he'd finally grasped the movements of his opponent and her sword. A single opening was all he needed to claim victory.
Kirin didn't seem to be letting up for even a moment, though, even though she held the clear advantage...
"Her weapon hasn't been touched once..."
Indeed. She hadn't once needed to block Ayato's attack with her weapon.
Ser-Versta could cut through anything, a sword that couldn't be blocked. Furthermore, Kirin held not a Lux, but a normal sword. The slightest contact would be enough.
The terrifying thing was, when Kirin attacked, she completely predicted what would follow thereafter.
Ayato had succeeded in warding off all of her attacks, but each and every time, just before their swords would touch, she altered the trajectory her sword followed without slowing down whatsoever.
"To be fair, Ayato has yet to grow accustomed to using Ser-Versta. That's a gap that just can't be overcome."
"He hasn't? What do you mean?"
Eishirou's words came as a surprise to Julis.
"I'm obviously unclear on the details of Amagiri's style, but just from watching I can still tell a thing or two. Simply put, his movements are too large. Keeping them more minimal would be to his advantage."
"I see..."
Originally speaking, Ayato's movements were unbelievably quick. The problem was, Ser-Versta was simply too large. Its destructive power more than accounted for its bulky mass, but when faced with an inordinately nimble opponentー
As she followed his line of reasoning, Julis suddenly realized. She cast a quick glance in Eishirou's direction.
(This guy...he understood all that just from watching?)
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Even Julis, ranked fifth in the school, was unable to fully capture Ayato's movements at full strength.
It was likely the case that that was even more true for the crowd of onlookers.
(Indeed, watching from the sidelines like this presented a better perspective as compared to their practices which involved mutual action, but still...)
Were his eyes just that good? Or was itー
"...Actually, wait a moment. There's something more important stillー how long has it been since they started?"
"Hmm? Around four, maybe five minutes, I'd say? What's up?"
Julis turned white as a sheet.
Ayato clearly only had a matter of moments left in his unsealed state.
It was bad enough that his true abilities had been taken notice of, but for his time limit to be discovered as well would be a worst case scenario, to say the least.
As she prepared to intervene in their battle, what happened next was, from Julis' point of view, infinitely worse.
"Oh, Amagiri's going for an all-out attack."
Almost as if he'd read Julis' mind, Ayato, who'd previously carefully defended against every attack, completely forewent defense to go on the offensive.
Originally, their encounters had resulted in Ser-Versta tracing out linear paths, warding off the naked edge of Kirin's sword which would disappear without a trace.
ーHowever, Kirin's movements had grown even faster still.
Stepping nimbly, she slashed in as Ayato stretched forth his sword.
Ayato barely managed to dodge, his torn sleeve evidence of how close things had come.
"Uh-oh, this isn't good."
"If things had simply continued, he'd have lost all hope of victory. This isn't that bad a decision. "
Julis offered this rebuttal, but Eishirou shook his head.
"No, that's not quite right. He came pretty close to losing it just now."
"And that's why it was the correct decision. It gave him an opportunity to see what his opponent was really capable of."
"Well, normally that would be the case."
"...What's that supposed to mean?" Julis asked with a worried expression.
Eishirou showed an evil smile.
"That guy, ever since he's transferred, you've been his only opponent. You guys haven't been keeping count, right?"
"What's your poiー"
Halfway through her sentence, Julis finally realized what Eishirou meant.
Immediately turning back, she watched as the distance between Ayato and Kirin closed even more.
"Haaa!"
A full-powered swing with Ser-Versta failed to cut anything but the air.
Taking advantage of the opening he'd shown, Kirin countered, sending her sword flitting across his left upper-chest.
Things had gotten far more exciting than earlier.
Originally seeming like it had barely missed him, the nihontou suddenly slanted toward Ayato's body.
"Sh...!"
Ayato bent backwards in a dodge, before immediately recovering his postureー
"Duel ended! Winner: Toudou Kirin!"
Ayato stared in confusion in response to the mechanical voice announcing the end of their match.
It seems he still didn't quite understand what had happened.
Suddenly realizing what had happened, he gazed down at his chest.
"...Oh."
His school emblem had been severed neatly in half.
"Man, he sure fell for it..."
Julis looked up at the sky and sighed.
He'd completely forgotten about the existence of his school emblem, which he didn't consider part of his body.
"And there you goー he's not used to dueling, only to real battles."
Eishirou smiled wryly and patted Julis on the shoulder.
- ψ -
"It's over. Let's go."
Kouichirou expression showed that things had unfolded as he'd expected. He cast Kirin a quick glance before walking back into the school building.
He'd already lost all interest in Ayato.
"Um... R-Right."
Kirin sheathed her sword, and bowed respectfully before Ayato.
"About thatー I-I'm so sorry!"
She took her leave, running after Kouichirou.
"Ahh..."
Ayato wanted to call after her, but he stopped himself.
The loser had no right to do anything.
This was the way of this school... no, of this city.
"Hah..."
As he gave a long sigh, someone patted him on the shoulder.
Turning his head, standing there was Julis, her face as displeased as it had been yesterday, glaring at him intently.
This time, however, it wasn't through a screen, but in person.
"...The things I want to both say and ask are innumerable, but firstー let's leave here. You ought to be just about on the verge of collapse."
Her words were certainly true. Ayato had no choice but to obediently be led away by Julis.
"Oh, and remember this. Once you've settled down, remember these words. I don't care what reason you haveー don't ever duel the Seidoukan rank one!"