Tournament (5)
The tournament at Solus Academy was unlike any other general competition the first-, second-, and third-years had run before. It proceeded in the strict reverse order of 3, then 2, then 1. The nominal reason was that the first-years—the ones who would eventually guide the academy—should appear last… but in truth, it was because the true protagonist, Ian, had to appear last.
That was precisely why.
A custom had arisen: the first-year student-council members had to sit in the spectator seats and cheer on the second- and third-year seniors for the matches that came before them. That was the reason we had gathered here by the dozens, watching this madwoman fight with that ridiculous sword.
I turned my head slightly to the right and saw Ian gaping, utterly awestruck.
His gaze was fixed on the same woman who had already shattered the opponent’s shield in two and was now reducing the shield itself to splinters, her face twisted in a smile that was pure, terrifying joy.
“…Isn’t this enough to make a normal person doubt whether they’re even human?”
Liliana, seated to my left, let out an incredulous huff and spoke in that gentle, elegant tone she always used.
Even I, who had trained in swordsmanship, had to swallow hard just to watch her brutally tear apart a shield. How much more absurd must it have been for someone from the magic department, like her, to witness this? A gorilla waving a club.
“No matter how I look at it, it’s astonishing. A woman swinging a sword the size of her own body around like she’s swinging a branch at a mad dog…”
Rifre’s soft voice drifted from directly behind me.
Even as an elf, it must have been a sobering reminder of how little she had truly understood humanity.
She was probably about to call me a mad dog just now…
I didn’t bother correcting her. No one here besides Ian would have stepped in to stop her.
Who else would scream and swing a specially crafted sword weighing as much as her own body and slam it down on an opponent’s shield?
“Even in the finals she’s going to do this… I wonder if that senior has any intention of getting married.”
Instead of glaring at Irene, I gave the last evaluation I had on her.
Immediately, Ian shot up, eyes blazing.
“What kind of nonsense is that, Berry! That fearless, no-retreat stance of hers! It’s so cool!”
“Then go tell her yourself. That it’s too cool and you’re in love. Ask her to marry you.”
“Eh? Ehh?”
Ian looked completely taken aback by my cynical remark. Selina, who had been silently watching Irene, turned her gaze toward me.
Those eyes—sticky, bottomless, like they were sinking into a swamp. The moment I met them, I felt as though I were staring straight into the abyss.
“…I’ll remember that.”
I nodded without any obligation to antagonize Selina further, then turned my attention back to Irene.
What I saw next made my eyebrows twitch. Arrows had been stuck in both of her legs.
She must have allowed an attack from the opposing archer team while we were momentarily distracted.
She roared as though arrows were nothing more than annoying insects and lunged at the archer, then with a single swing of that massive sword, she reduced the poor woman’s bow into splinters.
Next came the sound of Irene’s voice, sharp and commanding. She was probably telling her to surrender.
Then came the thunderous fanfare.
It filled the entire training ground, proving that Irene was the true Student Council President in every sense.
After the third-year matches ended, Irene headed to the healing room to treat the wounds inflicted by the archer team. The accumulated damage from the finals would take well over a day to heal.
The second-year matches that followed were exactly the same as in the original story—no deviation, no small change in flow.
And now, even I, who knew the original story, could not predict how it would unfold. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
I sincerely hope this tournament episode ends without a single casualty.
“You’re tense too, huh, Berry?”
Riliana smiled faintly at me and patted my back as we walked down the corridor leading from the waiting room to the training ground. She had apparently judged that I was unable to bear the pressure of the tournament and was showing it too openly.
Her judgment was neither completely wrong nor entirely correct, yet somehow it was strangely comforting.
Thanks to that, I felt my heart settle almost instantly.
“Shall we go, Your Highness?”
I turned to her with a smile, meaning there was no need to worry.
“Yes… do you know the plan?”
“Of course. As planned, I will fight alone until the finals.”
Because of her overwhelming yet mana-devouring colorless magic, she had to hold back the majority of her spells until the end. In her place, I would use all my power to take down the opposing team and deny Selina time to recover mana.
That was the plan I had proposed to her, and she had accepted it with a nod. At first she had looked at me with the expression of someone who had seen every kind of madman, but now her beautiful eyes were filled with overflowing trust.
I had no intention of betraying that trust.
I would do my best to defeat the opposing teams, and Selina would not recover enough mana to make a difference.
But there was a trick I had hidden from her knowledge. Ian and Selina were both stronger than I had predicted.
From observing Ian during every swordsmanship sparring session, I had concluded that he would need only the tiniest opening to dodge Liliana’s magic.
Therefore, the only target I had to eliminate was Selina before she could take down Liliana.
That was why I had proposed such a plan to Liliana. The magic department student who did not know Ian’s true strength would easily accept it.
◈ Coordinated teamwork to overwhelm multiple enemies simultaneously
◈ Strategic exhaustion of opponent’s mana reserves
Step… step.
We stepped out of the corridor and into the blinding light of the training ground, greeted by the roaring cheers of the spectators.
When I turned my head to look straight ahead, I saw the faces of the swordsmanship and magic department students—extras I had never met before.
They were clearly tense; their hands gripping their weapons trembled slightly. From the trembling tips of their swords, I could sense their fear.
“Is this level too simple?”
The voice came from directly behind me.
She had the same impression I did: these were ordinary, unremarkable individuals.
Without a word, I gave a silent nod toward the woman who was probably staring at me, and at that moment the alarm magic rang out with its deep, resonant tone.
Before they could even react to the sound, my body shot forward like a bolt of lightning. Straight toward the magic department girl hiding behind the swordsmanship boy.
“Hik!”
Caught completely off guard, she couldn’t even scream. I drove my fist straight into her abdomen, cutting off any chance to cast.
“Kugh…!”
-[18] HP
“Ca-Catherine!!”
The swordsmanship boy finally noticed something was wrong and reached for his partner. I grabbed the collar of the magic student’s shirt and hurled her aside, ignoring her pained protests.
“You bastard!”
To counter me, he had laid his sword down. Now he was left with no choice but to raise it high into the sky to catch his partner’s fall.
Bam!
The impact shattered his balance. Despite catching her partner, the boy stumbled. I stamped my foot down again.
“…!”
His eyes widened with horror and shock as he stared at the sudden appearance of the monster who had been watching him.
Perhaps it was not just horror but the icy chill in my gaze reflected in those eyes.
I had no intention of showing mercy. There was no reason for me to go through the entire process, and besides, it would only humiliate the opponent further.
So I swept the leg of the struggling swordsmanship boy out from under him and pressed the tip of my sword to his terrified eyes.
“Surrender.”
“H-Hold on… surrender.”
The declaration of surrender echoed through the otherwise deathly silent training ground.
I turned my gaze toward the judge and referee. Only then did he frantically ring the grand alarm magic to announce the end of the duel.
“Winner! Liliana and Berry Team!!”
“Waaaaaaa!!”
The cheer rang out loud and clear, but only the first-year swordsmanship students from our department raised their voices. They had been watching this kind of brutal fighting style of mine all along.
That was also why only Ian and I had entered this tournament as first-year swordsmanship representatives. They believed neither of us could defeat those monsters.
Soon the students who had been staring in bewilderment at the completely different outcome began clapping and tilting their heads in confusion.
The victory had been overwhelming, yet something about it left a strange aftertaste.
Whether it was that or not, their opinions were useless. I turned away and walked toward Liliana.
“…Berry, you really have no mercy toward the enemy, do you?”
Liliana sounded both surprised and a little disappointed that I had shown such ruthless behavior even toward fellow academy students.
“I won’t do it again in the next match.”
“No, no! I don’t mean that at all. I just realized you really don’t care about non-team members at all. It was just a surprise, that’s all. No need to hold back.”
Seeing my injured expression, Liliana hurriedly tried to explain herself with a flustered voice.
Although I had not actually been hurt, her panicked face was so adorable that I simply walked silently back to the waiting room.
Only two more matches remained.
After these, the final against Ian would begin.
And…
I know there was one named demon that was supposed to ambush Ian after the tournament ended. With his current strength, even if a slightly stronger one appears, I can still take him down easily.
Therefore, my role is to fight Ian while completely exhausted, so that he can claim victory while still possessing a bit of energy.
When I heard that the next opponent team would be Riliana’s, I smiled without anyone noticing.
“Lord Phorath, the feint operation is ready.”
Because all eyes were on the tournament, the academy’s outer wall defenses had become lax. The named demons began gathering before the grand outer wall one by one.
“Good. Don’t forget to cast the suicide magic in case you’re captured.”
Phorath asked the subordinate named demon.
Phorath was pouring every ounce of effort into perfecting all plans so he could deliver an absolute victory to the Demon God.
“Of course. But when exactly will the operation begin…?”
“The signal will come from inside the academy. When the sun sets, you can tell by looking at the sky. By then Bifrons should also arrive.”
“I still can’t figure out what that human is up to. I never thought academy humans would cooperate with us.”
“…I don’t know either. But as the Demon God said, there must be something we don’t understand.”
Even as he spoke, Phorath could not grasp why humans would cooperate with them. He ran his gloved hand over the pitch-black sword that was no different from the one that had earned him the title of Hell Knight.