Chapter 211: Academy Battle Story
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 211: Academy Battle Story
As soon as the match began, the 24 teams from the 8 classes started moving simultaneously.
In a battle royale like this, the strongest competitors are usually targeted first.
This is because while everyone is confident they can take out the weaker teams anytime, if a powerhouse—one that can only be defeated through an alliance—isn't eliminated early, it creates major problems for the rest of the tournament.
In that sense, Sasha and I were a combination no different from Lu Bu on his Red Hare.
Among horses, Yoo-Sung; among people, Sasha.
Just as the coalition against Dong Zhuo was formed in a time of chaos, our situation was the same: every class other than our own was an enemy.
"Hiyah!"
She must have learned to ride horses as a child; whenever she wanted to go in a certain direction, Sasha would twist her thighs as if steering a real horse.
Following Sasha's lead, I—the body—along with Satoru on the left flank and Ryuji on the right, moved as one, becoming her legs.
In a cavalry battle, the role of the horse is just as important as that of the skilled rider.
While the girls fought above the neck, it was the boys who clashed below. The world of the horses ran purely on the logic of strength.
That's why I, considered the 'strongest' in the academy, was the primary target.
"Focus your attack on Class 2-B first!"
Who shouted that?
But incited by that voice, the students from the other classes charged at me all at once.
"Сука!"
Sasha's harsh voice came from above me.
It was Russian, so I didn't know the exact meaning, but from the nuance of the pronunciation, I could tell it was a curse word.
Immediately after, our horse clashed with theirs.
"Kuh! Hold on!"
"Damn it! What is this strength?! Is Class 2-B's horse a monster?!"
"Use every last bit of your strength!"
Normally, in a 3-on-1 test of strength, the one is bound to lose.
But when a mob of kids who weren't even in my weight class—who couldn't even hit a 500 kg total on the big three lifts—ganged up on me, all I could do was yawn.
And the skills of the Slavic rider on my neck were nothing to scoff at either.
"Ura!!!"
"Kyaaaaak! Tap! Tap!"
With a thunderous battle cry, Sasha instantly subdued a girl from another class.
The muscles and techniques she'd honed through the Russian martial art of Systema hadn't gone anywhere; she unleashed their full power without hesitation, even in the restrictive situation of being on a horse.
Frankly, for girls who haven't been professionally trained, fights usually start with hair-pulling.
It was similar even for the athletic types, but Sasha, with her fundamentally different Western physique, gave the girls from the track and tennis clubs a harsh lesson.
With the fight decided in an instant, Sasha, now holding three headbands, confidently raised her right arm.
"The enemy general has been defeated!"
It was probably a bit of humor from Sasha, who, despite her appearance, had an otaku side, but to her opponents, it was practically an area-of-effect taunt.
"Damn it! Those Class 2-B bastards! So full of themselves!"
"Captain! Should we take them out?"
"Overwhelm them with numbers!"
And just as expected, the other classes charged, even more enraged.
"This is insane."
I wholeheartedly agreed with the class president's comment as she watched from behind.
*
Five minutes after the cavalry battle began.
A short time, yet a long time. In those five minutes, all the riffraff had been filtered out.
The number of teams left standing was thirteen.
There were originally 24 teams, meaning nearly half had been culled.
And it should go without saying, but our team, of course, survived.
Of course, we didn't get through it completely unscathed. Under the focused assault of the other classes, the horse carrying Nagasawa from the volleyball club was the first on our team to be toppled.
"Kim Yoo-Sung! I'm leaving the rest to you!"
Those were the last words of Nagasawa, who fell valiantly, taking a girl from another class down with her.
In any case, the 13 surviving teams stopped charging blindly and began to size each other up.
It made sense. From this point on, it would be difficult to survive on brute force alone.
A situation that required organic coordination.
But even in this situation, our class wasn't considered a potential ally.
Alliances are usually formed between equals.
But with me in their class, it seemed the others had no confidence they could win, even if they survived until the end.
Complete isolation.
How we would navigate this difficult dynamic would be the key to victory.
It was at that moment.
"Sasha!"
A familiar voice reached my ears.
I turned my head to see Karen, riding on the shoulders of some male students I didn't know, standing with her arms crossed and a confident expression.
"Today, we finally put an end to our long, ill-fated rivalry!"
"Ha, interesting."
Come to think of it, Karen is in Class 2-A.
Being in different classes, it was entirely possible for us to meet as enemies. I had overlooked that fact.
"You're so tiny I didn't even notice you were participating, Karen."
"Who are you calling pea-sized?! And that smug look on your face won't last long! You just wait!"
As Karen said this, clenching her fist like the protagonist of a hot-blooded action series, Sasha just shrugged and replied.
"This is why I can't deal with kids."
"We're the same age, you know?!"
But the gazes of the other students were saying otherwise.
That they didn't look it at all.
The combination of Karen, who looked younger than her age, and Sasha, who looked more mature, was the very definition of unbalanced.
Anyway, while the riders were establishing their rivalry, others began to move stealthily.
"An opening!"
The assassins from Class 2-C had already closed in on us.
But what they overlooked was that no matter how carefully you move, a 'horse' is a 'lump' of four people moving at once.
In other words, they stick out like a sore thumb.
"This isn't a manga! Who announces a surprise attack out loud?!"
"Kuaaaargh!"
Along with Sasha's scathing fact-based attack, the horse from Class 2-C collapsed.
And taking that surprise attack as a signal, the remaining 11 horses also began to move.
"We can't get Kim Yoo-Sung, so focus on the rider, the Russian exchange student!"
Normally, people would at least memorize an exchange student's name, but perhaps because Sasha's full name—Alexandra Ivanovna something-or-other—was too long, they just called her that.
But who was Sasha?
She was the daughter of Ivan Romanov, the god of destruction who had conquered the brutal world of the Russian Red Mafia.
And a beautiful rose always has its thorns.
"Kyaaaaak! My arm!"
"Ow! Wait! Wait!"
She was practically a one-woman army.
The power to subdue girls her age in an instant, and the seasoned skill to break their joints just as quickly.
The Systema that Sasha had learned was a hodgepodge martial art based on Sambo, incorporating techniques from all sorts of schools, but that very uniqueness made it specialized for chaotic brawls.
Including the three she took down at the beginning, Sasha's solo kill count surpassed five, and the others stopped attacking altogether.
"Hey, hey, you go."
"Are you crazy? We're completely outmatched."
Just as they were shoving each other forward and hesitating,
"Sasha! Fight me, one-on-one, fair and square!"
It was Karen who threw down the gauntlet with a grimly determined face.
*
Sasha and Karen.
Come to think of it, the two of them had never gotten along.
Like water and oil.
A relationship like fire and ice.
In fact, with their contrasting red and blue hair, I suspected they might have been rivals in the original work, but since I haven't read it, I can't be sure.
Judging by the popularity rankings, it seemed Sasha ultimately won their 'battle of ice and fire'.
Anyway, I'd always thought of them as rivals.
That's what made this fight all the more exciting.
The two of them clashed over every little thing, but they had never once fought with their full strength.
"Chestooooo!"
"Uraaaaaaaa!"
With their respective battle cries, the two fought dazzlingly.
Within their limited range of motion, their hands met and tangled complexly in mid-air.
A battle of wits between a Karate black belt and a Systema practitioner.
Faced with such a blood-boiling duel, my heart couldn't help but pound.
How could any guy born with a dick resist this?
And it seemed I wasn't the only one thinking this, as everyone else was also watching the two girls fight, completely captivated.
"Kgh!"
Her wrist suddenly caught, Karen's small body lurched forward.
Besides losing your headband, falling off the horse was also grounds for disqualification.
It seemed Sasha was aiming for just that.
But Karen was a master in her own right.
She immediately wrapped her legs around the face of the boy serving as her horse to secure herself, then thrust out a Penetrating Hand.
Sasha hastily let go of her wrist and pulled back. In that opening, Karen righted her posture and said with a hint of regret,
"Annoyingly quick."
"Karen, I don't think you're one to talk."
Their sharp gazes crossed in mid-air.
As if they'd spent a considerable amount of stamina in the breathtaking clash, both were heaving their shoulders.
Finally, Karen spat on the ground and said.
"This is getting us nowhere. Let's end it with the next move."
"For you, that's a good idea."
The tension slowly mounted.
It was as if the shadows of a dragon and a tiger could be seen behind them.
'So this is the battle between high school girls from a manga, said to have the power of two tanks?'
Watching their fight from the premium seat right under Sasha's butt, I felt my heart swell with awe.