The sun was a searing white point above the Arena Quad. The moment Akemi, the main commentator, announced the start of the duel, Rin Mikage didn't hesitate. Her A-Rank speed sent her instantly hurtling across the quad toward Ryuko, her twin daggers flashing, weaving a complex pattern of strikes.
"Close quarters, huh? Bold but reckless," Ryuko thought, his Eagle Vision painting the battle in lines of kinetic energy and intent.
He responded with fluid, effortless precision, launching his signature Hybrid Sword technique. Uramasa met Rin's daggers in a blur of clashing steel and sparks. From the stands, Kenta Shiraishi muttered in disbelief, clutching his bandaged wrist. "Impossible! His movements are too clean. He's not swinging; he's correcting the blade's path!"
Ryuko's superior technique allowed him to break Rin's defense with a half-moon slash.
But as the illusionary blade connected, the air around Rin distorted. She utilized her Spatial Magic to instantly teleport behind him. Ryuko wasn't fazed; he rolled out of her path, anticipating the follow-up.
But he instantly sensed a massive spike of Mana—a dense, suffocating wave of heat—coming from Princess Eilona. It was a colossal ball of white-hot Imperial Flare, moving so fast it was barely a streak.
Knowing he couldn't dodge both the Maid Knight and the flame ball, Ryuko drove his minimal Mana reserves into his left arm and torso, projecting a crackling Mana Shield. He slammed his left hand forward, intercepting the heart of the flame.
The resulting Pyro-Kinetic Burst was deafening, a blast of light and concussive force that sent Ryuko spiraling high into the air.
Crowd Member A: "He blocked it with a shield! A B-Rank!?"
Crowd Member B: "It's a suicide move! That Imperial Flare will burn out his core!"
Director Chabashira Shizuka murmured from the side, a tight smile on her face. "He used the Mana Shield defensively against a pure elemental attack... A risky move for a B-Rank."
Rin, calculating his trajectory, teleported directly in front of his suspended body. But Ryuko twisted in mid-air and executed a perfect backflip, using the explosion's impulse to snap Uramasa out of the ground.
He landed several meters away, dodging Rin's daggers by a hair's breadth.
He glanced at his left hand. The skin felt tight and alarmingly red, even through the remnant of his cracked Mana Shield. Did she just throw the sun at me?
Eilona, looking thoroughly unimpressed by his survival, held her golden sword, Uriel, lazily over her shoulder. "Impressive," she declared, her voice carrying easily over the Arena. "My flames were at 3,000 degrees Celsius on impact, and you blocked it with one hand. You didn't even melt your glove, Zero."
Three thousand degrees? What do you mean 3,000 degrees like normal? Do you cook with that? Ryuko thought, tightening his grip on Uramasa. His minimal Mana exposure strategy was already shattered.
The crowd erupted into stunned shouts as Akemi's voice cut through the noise: "Three thousand degrees! And yet, The Zero is still standing!"
Ryuko's damaged left hand throbbed, and Eilona didn't offer a moment's reprieve. Her gold sword, Uriel, glowed violently as her Mana surged. With a fierce cry, she conjured not one, but twenty duplicates of the scorching Imperial Flare orb. With a flick of her wrist, they launched simultaneously toward Ryuko.
Ryuko observed the projectiles moving faster than light, as Rin pressed the physical attack, forcing him into a death ballet: running, flipping, spinning, and parrying Rin's close-range strikes while simultaneously dodging the twenty heat-seeking fireballs.
All right. If she's teleporting, let's switch targets.
He instantly sensed the location of Eilona and, leveraging a brief hesitation in Rin's footwork, he pushed off the scorched earth with explosive force, utilizing Ghost Step to vanish.
He reappeared in an instant, directly in front of Eilona. The Princess, S-Rank in intellect as well as power, had anticipated this move. She met his sudden arrival not with surprise, but with a poised, ready stance, Uriel positioned perfectly for an overhead strike.
Yuuta (shouting): "This is not a duel! This is a siege! But he's countering the chaos by going after the Queen!"
Ryuko brought Uramasa up to meet the blow, a genuine, focused smile on his face. "Shall we, Your Highness?"
"With pleasure, Zero," Eilona replied, her own competitive smile blazing brighter than her Mana.
The two blades clashed, the physical force of Ryuko's Sayagusa technique meeting the raw Mana devastation of Eilona's S-Rank blade. The impact wasn't a mere sound; it was a physical shockwave that forced the front rows of students to shield their eyes.
In the stands, Kenta Shiraishi watched the blinding clash, his face contorted in a mixture of pain and disbelief. "He's doing it... He's matching the kinetic force of a Mana-enhanced S-Rank with just muscle," Kenta hissed, clutching his bandaged wrist. "This can't be real."
In the VIP observation room overlooking the arena, a shimmering distortion appeared in the air. A portal, composed of black and crimson threads of Mana, ripped open in the center of the reinforced glass wall.
Stepping through the ephemeral space was Widow Sayagusa, Ryuko's mother. She was striking, dressed in a sweeping, elaborate red kimono-type dress, her expression a mix of weary annoyance and cold calculation.
She gave the Director a sharp, sidelong glance. "I can't leave you for a day, can I? And you allow this public circus to happen."
Chabashira didn't flinch. "It's not entirely my doing, Widow. Subaru here provided the excellent suggestion."
Subaru Itsuka, composed as ever, stood and bowed respectfully. "Widow Sayagusa. It is an honor."
The Widow responded with a curt, formal nod. Her eyes immediately fixed on the arena below. "Let's see if the boy remembers his limits," she murmured, watching the blinding exchange.
The crowd was already wild. Just as Eilona was about to unleash a localized burst of Imperial Flare at point-blank range, Rin intervened. The Maid Knight, knowing her Princess was struggling, executed a powerful, complex maneuver: a Triple Dimensional Shift.
But Ryuko's Eagle Vision and internal calculus were faster. He sensed the subtle, infinitesimal shift in the air pressure as the space began to fold. In that microscopic gap, Ryuko exploded forward, disengaging his sword from Eilona's. His left hand—the one that had blocked the 3,000-degree flame—shot out, applying a pinpoint, pressure-sensitive Sayagusa Strike to Rin's exposed temple. This blow was calibrated for absolute non-lethality; only the kinetic shock would register.
Rin collapsed instantly, the glowing compass around her neck spinning wildly before falling still.
Akemi (stunned): "The Maid Knight is down! A silent, one-hit strike! She didn't even see it coming!"
Ryuko turned back to Eilona, who was momentarily distracted by the sudden, silent fall of her Maid Knight. Before Eilona could channel her irritation into a retaliatory attack, Ryuko spoke, his voice calm and respectful into his collar mic.
"Princess Eilona," he murmured, ensuring his voice carried to the audience. "I acknowledge your talent. Your training has helped you immensely, and I respect that effort."
Eilona froze, destabilized by the recognition of her effort rather than just her gift.
Ryuko noticed the brief lapse. "But," he continued, his voice firm, "anger will only cloud your judgment."
Eilona took a deep, shuddering breath. He was right. She smiled, her eyes regaining their fierce, competitive fire. "Very well, thank you," she said. "Now, I acknowledge you as a rival. So, show me your true potential!"
She threw her head back and let out a roar. "PYRO GENESIS!"
Her flaming aura erupted, the heat almost cracking the surrounding barrier. The Imperial Flare coalesced into three gargantuan, mythic forms: a blazing Dragon, a snarling Tiger, and a serene but lethal Phoenix.
A rival, huh? Never thought I'd have one. She's right. I have to step up as well.
He spun Uramasa. With a soft, controlled shimmer, the black katana dispersed back into nothingness.
In the VIP box, Widow Sayagusa's entire body went rigid, her deep red eyes snapping wide with barely contained fury and dread. Chabashira's smile vanished. "He's doing it," the Director whispered. "He's showing it."
Ryuko reached to his back, performing a familiar drawing motion—the motion of a sword that was never meant to be seen.
This blade counteracts high Mana output. It's the only way to win small, he calculated.
"Arise, Shadow Slayer."
A new katana emerged. The blade was longer, thinner, and the edge glowed faintly with an unnatural, chilling silver light.
Ryuko then reached up and casually tore the blindfold from his eyes. His dark gaze, now focused and utterly intense, swept over Eilona and her mythical guardians of flame.
Akemi (Voice trembling): "A second Divine Artifact! And it's... unregistered! Ryuko Kazama, The Zero, has a second blade!"
The air throbbed with the raw, terrifying power of Pyro Genesis. Ryuko moved into the periphery, letting the Mythic creatures chase him, the speed of his Ghost Step enhanced by Shadow Slayer's precision.
The exchange was desperate, Mana-enhanced power clashing against kinetic perfection. Ryuko knew he couldn't keep this up. He needed a single, definitive moment of control.
He moved low and fast, sliding under a strike from Uriel, and thrust Shadow Slayer in a slash aimed below Eilona's Mana-core.
Eilona recognized the vulnerability and channeled the Tiger guardian into a condensed, white-hot fireball, aiming for his exposed chest.
In the brief moment before the fireball could connect, Ryuko performed the impossible maneuver.
He flicked his wrist, sending Shadow Slayer spinning behind him only a few feet in the air. He then used an instantaneous burst of kinetic force—a physical manipulation of momentum so absolute it appeared to warp space—to Flash Step behind his head, snatching Shadow Slayer from the air mid-spin. He returned to his original vector in front of Eilona, the entire sequence taking less time than it took for the Princess to register his disappearance.
Eilona's fireball slammed into the space where Ryuko's chest had been, missing him by inches. She looked up, just in time to see the silver glow of Shadow Slayer arcing down.
Ryuko finished the sequence with a devastating Spin Slash, the Mana-dampening qualities of his true Divine Artifact connecting squarely with the side of Eilona's Mana-infused neck.
Eilona's S-Rank Mana barrier shattered, the three gargantuan fire beasts flickered violently and dispersed, and she collapsed.
The sound of her body hitting the scorched earth was the only sound in the Arena Quad.
Ryuko casually rested the chillingly silent Shadow Slayer over his shoulder. He walked over to the Princess. He gently placed his discarded blindfold on her chest, a symbol of the challenge he had overcome. He then turned and spoke into the microphone on his collar, his voice clear in the dead silence.
"Princess Eilona," he murmured to the unconscious girl. "I believe you owe me three favors."
Akemi (Voice trembling, barely able to speak): "T-The winners... the winners of the two-on-one duel by incapacitation... is Ryuko Kazama!"