Chapter 6: The Academy Rank Battle
Once again, the arena was filled with the cheers of many students.
“Flame!”
The bird-shaped flame released by the female student spread its large wings and lunged at her opponent.
“Gah! Defend!”
“Ooh ooh!”
Faced with the approaching flame bird, the opposing student hastily commanded his contracted spirit, which took the form of a gorilla, to cover him. The spirit responded instantly, leaping in front of its master. It crossed its arms to block the flame bird with its body, then clenched its fist and swung at the female student who had launched the attack.
The spectators in the arena seats let out an especially loud cheer at this series of attacks and defenses, raising the voltage in the arena.
“Sigh… I really don’t want to do this…”
In contrast to the exciting match, I sat on the bench in the contestants’ waiting area, emitting a gloomy aura from my entire body as I let out a deep sigh.
The match currently taking place before my eyes was the one right before mine and Ophelia’s.
In other words, as soon as this match ends, it’ll be my turn.
I’m feeling utterly depressed. It’s like being a child waiting for their turn to get a shot.
I’ve made some preparations, but in the end, my techniques are just tricks… Will they even work against Ophelia?
Well, at this point, whether they’re tricks or not, I have no choice but to use them…
As my mood continued to sink, the teacher’s voice announcing the winner of the match and the students’ cheers echoed throughout the arena. It seems the match had concluded while I was lost in thought.
I barely watched it, but I’m sure it was an impressive match. So why don’t we just end things here for today?
[Next, Rourke Areas and Ophelia Ringlad. Enter the arena!]
But my wishful thinking was in vain as the teacher announced my descent into hell. I dragged my heavy body towards the field.
“You don’t look well, Rourke.”
“Do I?”
As I turned towards the voice that called out to me, I saw a beautiful girl with long, shimmering golden hair. Her tall stature for a woman and dignified bearing could be called the very model of nobility.
If I had to point out one thing, I wish she’d stop looking at me like she’s about to shoot me dead.
I mean, I understand that kind of look given that we’re about to fight… but isn’t there a bit too much killing intent?
“Well, at least your complexion doesn’t look good.”
The girl who muttered this is named Ophelia Ringlad.
In other words, my opponent.
“Well, I don’t really care either way… but I hope you won’t use it as an excuse when you lose.”
“Don’t worry. If anything, I’m in top form.”
“Hmph, good then. Today I’ll finally drag out that hidden contracted spirit of yours.”
With those final words, Ophelia moved away from me and took her starting position. I followed suit, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves as I took my own position.
“…Phew.”
At this point, there’s no use thinking about it anymore. I need to change my mindset.
All I can do is give it my all and defeat Ophelia. If I can’t manage that, then it just means my abilities weren’t enough.
[Are both of you ready?]
Both Ophelia and I nodded at the referee’s voice. At the same time, I took out my medium and concentrated.
“…”
“…”
As tension before the battle began to spread between Ophelia and me, contrasting with the excited atmosphere filling the arena, the signal to start the match rang out.
I took a big step forward.
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“It’s begun.”
“Yes, it has.”
Gareth nodded at Lily’s words, who was sitting next to him, and turned his gaze towards Rourke, who had made the first move.
As soon as the signal to start the match was given, Rourke summoned a sword spirit from his medium, grasped it in his hand, and closed the distance with Ophelia in an instant, swinging his sword in a diagonal slash.
It was the same opening blitz that Akari had used the other day.
However, considering the process, there should be the extra step of summoning and contracting with the spirit from the medium, so no matter how hard he tried, Rourke’s movements should have been slower than Akari’s. And yet, Rourke had completed that process and closed the distance at nearly twice her speed.
Some students thought the match was over just by seeing this incredibly swift movement. That’s how impressive his initial action was.
However, his opponent was also a formidable contender in the top ten ranks. It wouldn’t end so easily.
“I anticipated you would make such a move.”
“…Well, I guess it couldn’t be that easy.”
Rourke frowned slightly as he now turned his gaze towards the wall he had just cleanly cut in two.
He had tried to finish things before she could summon her spirit, but Ophelia had read his intentions and used spirit arts to raise the earth, forming a wall.
As a result, the slash he had released didn’t reach Ophelia, who was behind the wall, and in that opening, she summoned her contracted spirit.
“Come, Dreadnought.”
In response to Ophelia’s voice, the sky was enveloped in a dazzling light, and in the next moment, a giant spirit in the form of a floating ship appeared.
“It’s huge, as expected…”
Rourke clicked his tongue involuntarily as he looked up at the spirit floating majestically before him. On the four white sails that Dreadnought had spread, the emblem of House Ringlad, Ophelia’s family – a shield with an eagle motif – was depicted, as if to show whose spirit it was.
The Dreadnought that appeared tilted its large bow smoothly, belying its size, to turn its hull sideways. Within seconds, numerous gun ports appeared on the hull, each being charged with spirit power.
An attack is coming.
Rourke immediately tried to summon a new spirit from his medium for defense, but before he could, Ophelia, who had greatly retreated, brought her hand down like an executioner.
“Do it.”
Obeying its master’s short but murderous and merciless command, Dreadnought unleashed all the shells aimed at Rourke.
In an instant, the roar announcing the bombardment echoed throughout the arena, and seconds later, Rourke’s figure was completely engulfed by the explosive flames and billowing earth.
“As always, it’s an incredible attack.”
“Terrifying.”
Gareth winced slightly at the continuous sounds of bombardment and impacts, while Lily, though her expression remained unchanged, voiced her agreement with emotion in her voice.
Wave attacks through naval gunfire. Simple, yet this was Dreadnought’s most powerful and terrifying attack. Dreadnought, once a discarded battleship that had a lesser-spirit dwell within it and become a full spirit over time, unlike human-operated battleships, had no lag in shell loading. Moreover, since the shells were formed by spirit power, there was no risk of running out of ammunition as long as spirit power remained.
As a result, in their first year, many students who tried to exploit the loading intervals ended up like Rourke now, engulfed in flames in an instant, and by the time the bombardment stopped, they had fallen silent.
So far, based on the students who had fought and won against Ophelia in the past, the strategies to overcome Dreadnought included counterattacking while enduring the bombardment with a spirit that could withstand it, or attacking from beneath the ship where the shells couldn’t reach.
However, regarding the latter, Ophelia had learned from this and now covers that weakness by positioning herself below Dreadnought to fight. In other words, the most orthodox strategy now is to win through spirit-to-spirit combat, but…
“Lily, do you think Rourke can win against Ophelia?”
“…I don’t know.”
“Oh? That’s a bit of an unexpected answer.”
Gareth, who had fully expected Lily to say that Rourke would win, showed a slightly surprised expression as he asked for her reasoning.
“Why do you think so?”
“Because it seems Rourke won’t be using his contracted spirit this time either. If that’s the case, he doesn’t match up well against Ophelia.”
“That’s true.”
Gareth nodded, mentally adding, “Strictly speaking, it’s just that he doesn’t have a contracted spirit.” In other words, it’s safe to assume that Rourke can’t rely on brute force depending on a spirit’s durability.
Inevitably, the strategy Rourke is likely to take is limited to defeating Ophelia in the midst of the rain of shellfire, but… how does he intend to fight?
“…Either way, it’s scary.”
Regardless, nothing can begin unless he first survives this attack.
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