The office in the soldier barracks was where Haade the Flashpoint usually spent his time. He would always stay on base, keeping an eye on the soldiers' morale and discipline, and he almost never visited the Central Assembly Hall in the course of his daily duties.
There was also a visitor who was freely allowed to go in and out of this office as well.
"…Soujirou. Have you been using that sword this whole time?"
Soujirou the Willow-Sword was sitting down, leaning up against the wall.
While his eyes were closed, he wasn't asleep. He simply didn't like any superfluous or bothersome activity. He had never even practiced any of the techniques he knew.
"Yup."
"That's a Nagan training sword, you know. Not only that, but Nagan's no military school, so the build quality isn't anything special, either. Basically…it's a light sword, just enough to get you used to the bare minimum basics. Sure, it isn't incapable of killing people, but cutting down a single minia should be enough to ruin it for good. Start talking about a zmeu or anything like 'em, and it couldn't cut down a single one."
"Oh yeah? Okay, so how come I can kill people with it, then?"
It was a rare state of affairs for Soujirou to show interest in the principle of something.
"Because you aren't slashing with raw strength. You slash the eye or an opening in something—which is admittedly something the masters here in our world do, too, more or less. Your technique just goes far, far beyond that."
Just as Aureatia had done with all the visitors they secured for themselves, they repeatedly analyzed and experimented with Soujirou's skills as well.
The tip of Soujirou's drawn blade never failed to penetrate steel armor like water seeping in. The story was that his sword attack had even sliced through Nihilo the Vortical Stampede's deep celestial charsteel armor.
With a slash of that speed, it was possible to slice through material of any
quality with the very first cut. Not only that, but while accompanied with an abnormal amount of technical skill, the trajectory of his blade never wavered until he was finished with his follow-through.
…However, if that explanation was enough to detail his entire abilities, that would truly place him in the category of "abnormal technical skill."
Soujirou could slice a clean line through an ooze corpse that would collapse at the slightest touch, pull off curved slashes that seemed impossible to explain, judging by his sword's trajectory, and even manage to slice through a gun while it was pushed against his blade.
A being existing in a realm that even Haade the Flash Point, having witnessed the skills of soldiers more than anyone else, was unable to comprehend. That was what it meant to be a visitor.
Just as it was with a dragon's forelimbs, a gigante's long life span, or an enchanted sword or magic tools—those first initial abnormalities were impossible to replicate no matter what Word Arts or types of science one used.
That was why they were all banished from the Beyond and brought to this world.
"Soujirou. Are you particular about that sword or something?"
"I can figure out whether a sword's good or not, too, ya know. If I picked myself up another sword, then I woulda used that."
"…I see, then. Since you're appearing in the Sixways Exhibition, are you gonna need a higher-quality sword?"
"If ya don't got one, then I don't need any." "I'll give you an enchanted sword."
Haade opened the package on his desk and took out a sheathed sword.
The long sword had a blade that gently curved with a single edge, as if it knew of Soujirou's origins back in the Beyond and had chosen him specifically.
"Here in this world…there are swords that'll explode just by touching the tip, swords that'll spit fire, swords that'll move on their own. Enigmas beyond analysis, one being worth as much as a whole army."
"Don't need 'em."
"Pfft! Knew you'd give me that. Relax. This one's got nothing to it."
The exploding sword jumbled the recoil from hitting something. The flame- spitting sword was already not really a sword, considering the range of destruction and its behavior. Swords that moved on their own and their ilk were out of the question while in the middle of subtle and intriguing sword techniques.
It was indeed true there were genuine monsters like Toroa the Awful, who were capable of manipulating even these characteristics of various enchanted swords to be part of his own technique.
However, it was the fantasy of those who didn't know the way of the sword to think an enchanted sword would unconditionally lead to unrivaled power. Gilnes the Ruined Castle, for example, wielder of the enchanted blasting sword, was a fearsome swordsman because he wielded it while fully aware of this fact.
Haade casually tossed the enchanted sword, after speaking of its scarcity and value, to Soujirou. With his eyes closed, Soujirou remained seated as he grabbed the sheath in midair.
"Alcuzari the Hollow Blade." "What sorta sword is it?"
"It doesn't break or chip. That's it. Its metal's flexible, sure, but no warping or bending's left behind. Not only is that an inexhaustible sword, but it's an impregnable shield. That should be good for you, eh?"
"…Heh-heh."
Soujirou stifled his laughter.
Several traces of light flashed through the air. With the follow-up clack of the hilt, Haade then realized he had tried out the sword by slicing through the air.
"Ain't nothing special. No different from the average sword. The shield stuff doesn't matter, neither. I've never blocked with my sword before."
"Looked like a pretty good match just now." "Yeah, I guess."
Haade had witnessed Soujirou's swordsmanship with his training sword.
Now that he had swapped out to the weight of a common sword, it seemed as if the difference in heft had been converted to speed.
To say nothing of the power should such a slash connect—it was impossible for Haade to imagine.
The swordsman was sneering, like a beast impatiently waiting for his premonition of bloodshed to come true.
"Heh-heh... Hey, Haade. You're thinkin' up something awful, aren't ya?" "Bwa-ha-ha… Yeah, I guess."
The same smile spread across the Twenty-Seventh General's face. The third match was about to begin.
In front of the long bridge in Aureatia…
A steam automobile stopped right before it had finished crossing the bridge.
The driver shouted.
"This is it! I can't go any farther!" "UNDERSTOOD."
The door of the car's bed promptly opened, and a monstrous beast jumped out of it.
He stamped down the city road. Colors streamed through their sights as they raced.
Even with the portly Fourteenth General, Yuca, on his back, his running speed still surpassed any and all of the automobiles around him.
"Hoo boy, we sure are late, huh? But at least it looks like we made it in time for the match."
Despite the tremendous headwind he was facing on Ozonezma's back, Yuca the Halation Gaol wasn't shaken up at all. For Ozonezma, he was grateful for the man's calm composure.
"…DO YOU THINK SO? WHEN WE DEPARTED GIMEENA CITY, WE INITIALLY HAD A THREE-DAY LEAD TIME."
"Rotten luck, wasn't it? We didn't have a vehicle, and there was that detour midway, too."
"DOES AN AUTOMOBILE COAL DEFICIENCY COUNT AS 'UNLUCKY'? EVEN THAT SMALL AMOUNT OF FUEL WAS ALL SCRAPED TOGETHER ON THE BLACK MARKET, WASN'T IT? RIGHT BEFORE WE LEFT, THERE WAS A LARGE-SCALE SEIZURE OF FUEL. CONCENTRATED ENTIRELY AROUND GIMEENA CITY."
"Well, I mean, that stuff just happens sometimes, I guess?"
After the long time he had spent together with Yuca, Ozonezma had come to understand something.
He certainly wasn't as stupid as he made it seem to those around him. He must have long since realized that the course of events surrounding them was probably a form of sabotage from Twenty-Seventh General Haade. It was likely partly out of Yuca's pride that he understood this—and still remained calm and collected.
However, if it wasn't for Zigita Zogi's warning—if their departure had been delayed even a half a day later, there was a chance that Ozonezma wouldn't have been able to even step on the battlefield and would have lost his match without putting up a fight.
"…IS IT TOO LATE TO MAKE TIME TO MEET WITH SOMEONE?"
"Ha-ha-ha. It's no skin off my back if you lose, Ozonezma, so we can do that first if you want. But noon's almost here. If you don't head straight for your match, you might not make it."
"UNDERSTOOD."
It was Ozonezma himself who chose to tactically delay his arrival to Aureatia until the very last moment.
Of course, he was resigned to the considerations he'd have to make as a result, but he still had some regrets.
TU, WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?
He had memories of Aureatia's layout from the map he had obtained from Zigita Zogi's men beforehand.
Turning at a sharp angle in the alleyway, he kicked the wall to dodge a carriage, continuing at such extreme speeds that the eyes of the passersby didn't register his passing. Such full-power speed, when compared to the battle he was about fight, didn't tire him out in the slightest.
"You're talking about Tu the Magic, right? Sorry 'bout that. Flinsuda and I actually get along pretty well, and she might've brought her out to Gimeena City if I asked her to."
"A FAR TOO OPTIMISTIC VIEW. ANOTHER SPONSOR LEADING THEIR CANDIDATE OUT OF AUREATIA BEFORE THEIR MATCH… EVEN PROPOSING IT WOULD INVITE SUSPICION FROM THE OTHERS. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE."
"Still, though, are you sure you shouldn't meet up with her first? You could just as easily get heavily injured in this upcoming match, too."
"…YOU WON'T GO AS FAR TO SAY I MIGHT DIE, THEN?"
He came to a sudden stop. His monstrously huge frame used a small building's window frame as a foothold and climbed up as if his body weighed nothing at all. It was mobility that far eclipsed the speed of automobiles or horses.
"Geez, it might've been better to run on your back from the start." "FOR THREE WHOLE DAYS?"
"Sure, you could do that, right?"
"YOU WOULDN'T GET THROUGH IT UNSCATHED."
In fact, Ozonezma's acceleration should induce a horrifying amount of physical strain to a minian body.
Despite this, Yuca was composed enough to chitchat with Ozonezma just like
he always did. He was a tenacious man. Supposing Ozonezma's sponsor had been a regular civil bureaucrat instead, he wouldn't have been able to act so recklessly.
"IT IS FINE IF I AM UNABLE TO MEET TU THE MAGIC. NO MATTER WHAT PATH THAT ONE CHOOSES TO GO DOWN… IT DOESN'T DIRECTLY INVOLVE ME EITHER WAY."
"You almost sound like you're friends."
"…I WOULD WAGER SHE DOESN'T KNOW ME AT ALL."
"Then, what is she?"
"…........ A DIFFICULT QUESTION. IF I HAD TO ANSWER…"
Jumping over rooftops, he crossed two roads before coming back down.
The match would start soon. Just as Yuca said, there was no time for him to converse with Tu the Magic.
Straight at the end of this alley was the garden theater where the match was being held.
Ozonezma answered.
"A YOUNGER SISTER."
Kicking the ground again, the grotesque chimera rushed on.
While this was Ozonezma's first time stepping foot into Aureatia, he couldn't afford to take in the glittering and gorgeous scenery around him.
However, he could win. Up until the moment the match started, both Haade and Soujirou remained totally ignorant of the true methods he would use.
I will win this first battle.
It was the first round and would be the fight that would prove the most difficult.
His enemy was Haade the Flashpoint, leading a faction that rivaled Rosclay's own, and the tangible and intangible sabotage from his organizational strength was driving the chimera up against the wall before the match even began.
Nevertheless, if Ozonezma defeated Soujirou in the first round, he could destroy the opposing faction in Aureatia that was rivaling Rosclay's. Haade's faction, governing Aureatia's military, would become an isolated player within the Sixways Exhibition.
This held a completely different meaning than defeating Rosclay himself, the majority faction's leader. Precisely because Haade's faction was not the largest player, even after it collapsed, their common enemy in Rosclay would still exist.
Haade's faction would be placed in a situation exactly like the Old Kingdoms' loyalists in Gimeena City—if there happened to be someone who
could bring together their scattered forces again, that person would then become a new "head" for their group.
As long as Ozonezma had Hiroto the Paradox as a collaborator, such an operation was all too easy. By directly connecting with the envoy for Haade's camp, Hiroto had already laid the foundations to do so. This fight would be the most difficult, but it was also an arrangement that Hiroto the Paradox had negotiated for when devising the tournament bracket.
…I MUST WIN.
Therefore, for this first-round match, it had been necessary to assemble an absolutely flawless surprise attack.
Having remained outside of Aureatia, Ozonezma wasn't directly acquainted with the appearances or personalities of the other participants. He knew the fighting strength of his bracket from Zigita Zogi's investigations and came up with his countermeasures based solely off that.
He was unconcerned with the goals of the other hero candidates fighting in the Sixways Exhibition. It wasn't necessary.
Whatever objectives Soujirou the Willow-Sword had, their match moments away, were irrelevant.
Even if it had been Tu the Magic instead, he had resolved himself that, if it was necessary, he would have no other choice.
Ozonezma had one goal.
TO ERADICATE THE FALSE HERO.
The castle theater garden was a facility that had been used to hold royal games before the beginning of the Sixways Exhibition.
There were passageways set up below the stone audience seats for the players in royal games to use, and the Twenty-Nine Officials sponsoring hero candidates could now remain here on standby and watch over their candidates' matches.
Currently, only Haade the Flashpoint was there. Yuca the Halation Gaol had yet to arrive.
An elderly secretary sped to his side and passed on a message to the general. "General Haade. I have something to report."
"Couldn't stymie their transportation?" "…Yessir."
Obstructing Ozonezma from entering Aureatia itself—it was one of the plans
that Haade's camp had devised, much like the Old Kingdoms' loyalist insurrection in Gimeena City to try to clear the first round.
The maximum amount of sabotage that was possible without things getting out to the public…or to be more specific, without Yuca making it public. As far as Haade's plans were concerned, he couldn't scheme anything more extreme than what he had.
"Getting put on the back foot with the steam automobile hurt. The central registry for steam vehicles is still too lax. They had a car they purposefully kept hidden from us. Someone like Jel would've been able to take care of it, I bet."
"Ozonezma will arrive at the arena. There's no choice but to fight against him."
"I know. Soujirou's there for when we get forced to fight. Get in touch with Dant."
"Master Dant… Contact Zigita Zogi's sponsor."
Contact with the Twenty-Fourth General Dant—it meant contact with the Okafu, and the Gray-Haired Child, first and foremost. While it was a backup plan, itself bringing danger, Haade wasn't a man who hesitated in situations like these.
"Is Master Dant involved in this incident…?"
"Ninety percent of it. Ninety percent, for sure. First, there's the loophole in the steam automobile system, and then the instant he got wind of our movements, the bastard went and got control of the fuel on the black market. 'Cept it's not a stunt he could've pulled off with just smarts. He'd need hands that could reach far and wide. A military force. That's Zigita Zogi—and his command of the Free City of Okafu, right?"
"…and what of the possibility it was Master Rosclay's army?"
"Nah. The scale of our enemy's movements wouldn't be possible with the soldiers Rosclay can call to action outside of Aureatia. During the negotiations after that sniper incident, Zigita Zogi and the Gray-Haired Child…they didn't flinch about expelling the Okafu soldiers who were given Aureatia citizenship out of the city. Might've been part of what they were aiming for. To make them be there to support Ozonezma outside the city."
There was no one but Zigita Zogi who could mobilize a military force that rivaled Aureatia's own army.
Kaete and Rosclay could similarly command their own military forces, but those were still, in some ways, Aureatia soldiers. Even if they mobilized a selection of troops from the bigger whole, their movements would get leaked to
the other members in the Twenty-Nine Officials as well.
Mobilizing troops outside the city, like Haade was now, had been a high-risk gamble that left a large hole within Aureatia's borders. This was likely how the other players saw it.
"Zigita Zogi and the Free City of Okafu. No doubt that Gray-Haired Child's mediating between Ozonezma and the Okafu mercs."
"…Is their aim to defeat us in the Sixways Exhibition and incorporate us into the Okafu camp?"
"If so, there's a way to take advantage of that, but… At any rate, they aren't any normal mercenaries. No doubt there."
With this, the war specialist Haade was outsmarted. As far as he was concerned, what he truly needed to be cautious of was not Hiroto the Paradox, stepping into an organization and winning them over to his cause. Nor was it the self-proclaimed demon king, Morio the Sentinel, who led the Free City of Okafu.
The tactical prowess to efficiently mobilize a large-scale force, read the opponents' next moves, and dispatch said force accordingly—
Zigita Zogi the Thousandth was a far mightier and more dangerous presence than Haade had imagined.
"I'll arrange things with him directly right now. If their aim's to bring us into their forces, then I'm all for it. When Soujirou loses, my only option'll be to join up with them myself."
"…Will Soujirou the Willow-Sword lose? A visitor like him?" "Now, I didn't necessarily say that."
Soujirou was strong. Haade had chosen to use him because he was the real deal.
However, he wasn't confident in a surefire victory, either. He needed to advance through this first round, but there had been a limit to the schemes he put into play against Ozonezma, who hadn't been present in Aureatia until that day. There wasn't anything Haade could do for Soujirou while he faced off against Ozonezma in the public eye.
He had already tried every means of winning before the fight started. The warmonger was simply thinking over his means of victory after the battle was fought.
"It's the same for Soujirou or anyone else—once a battle's started, there's never a hundred percent chance of victory. Not even the person fighting can predict what'll happen on the battlefield. That's why it's about always making
the first move. Time to leave the arena."
"I will coordinate a meeting immediately. I believe it would be best for you to accompany me directly, sir."
"Always planned to. Things're getting interesting. Let's go… Well, now." Haade stopped. His adviser halted shortly afterward.
A colossal beast, almost taking up their full field of vision, appeared ahead in the brick corridor.
An unnatural wolfish beast, with bluish-silver fur. The largest of the Twenty- Nine Officials, Yuca the Halation Gaol, even looked small when lined up with Ozonezma.
"YOU MUST BE HAADE, THEN."
"Hello there, Ozonezma the Capricious."
The Twenty-Seventh General wasn't perturbed by the monstrosity and instead had stopped and waited for his arrival.
He took a cigar from his breast pocket and stuck it in his mouth. His adviser, walking out from beside him, lit it.
Haade closed his eyes and took a puff of the cigar.
"…Took you long enough, eh? The audience's growing impatient out there.
Run into some sort of problem?"
"WE ARE NOT LATE. THERE IS PLENTY OF TIME TO FINISH UP OUR BUSINESS. RIGHT HERE…RIGHT NOW."
Ozonezma was directly in front of the corridor.
He'd have to pass by him, or he wouldn't be able to depart the garden theater.
In order to head for his destination, Haade the Flashpoint would have to pass right beside the brute force capable of massacring minia with a single touch.
"Pwa-ha!"
Haade laughed, blowing smoke.
"Sorry, but I got important business coming up soon, see. Fine if I sneak by you, right?"
"Ha-ha-ha. Don't go getting up to anything too nasty, Haade." Yuca said, upbeat and without any concern for the tension in the air.
Though they currently were working with different powers, they had confidence in each other as fellow military officers. Haade, feared as a merciless tactician, might have been showing diffidence, in some ways, to the man in front of him.
"Well, if there were any injuries to the citizens, I couldn't overlook that, now could I? Looks like we both lucked out, eh?"
"…Right."
Shaking his head slightly, Haade passed his finished cigar to his adviser. "Ozonezma. I'm coming through."
"..."
Even as he passed by Ozonezma's side, Haade didn't quicken his pace a single step. To Haade, war meant that death was always close at hand.
"Oh right, Yuca. Your birthday's in about ten days, isn't it?" "I guess so, now that you mention it."
"Looks like my mind hasn't gone yet. Lemme do something for you to celebrate."
The elderly general went on his way without watching the match that was about to begin.
The warriors for match three had gathered.
Ozonezma the Capricious versus Soujirou the Willow-Sword.