My Beloved Princess ~The Boy Called Incompetent Rises with Only a Sword and the Princess's Devotion~ - Chapter 95: Start of War

He narrowed his eyes against the sunlight filtering through gaps in the clouds.

Five meters—no, perhaps more than six. High walls rose in a perfect circle all around the stage, towering overhead as though to ensure that no one standing in the arena could escape.

The spectator seats climbed skyward in layered tiers, stretching upward in arcs. Most of them were empty, far from a full house. If one looked carefully, though, it seemed the students were clustered in the front rows.

“Kishō-sama! Do your be—st!”

Passionate cheers from the female students in the front row reached him. Among them were more than a few familiar faces. At the swell of excitement from the arena, Kishō scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“I’m not used to this much attention.”

The ones cheering were female students from his faction. Since more than half of the Upper School now belonged to that same faction, their support carried considerable force.

Of course, there were boos too. Most of those came from Lower School boys.

“Seikan said it before, didn’t he? Getting overtaken by someone you used to look down on really grates on your pride. From their point of view, they’re probably all waiting for me to screw up.”

Seikan himself had been pleased about Kishō going to the Upper School.

He was probably the only one in the Lower School who did not harbor twisted feelings toward Kishō. Kishō scanned the seats again, but he could not spot him anywhere.

“Well, whatever. He’s probably watching from somewhere.”

The arena floor was completely covered in tiles.

From the feel of it beneath his foot, from the way the vibrations and sound bounced back when he kicked it, they were thick. These were not mere thin floor tiles, but heavy blocks firmly set in place. It was solid construction. Even if he kicked it with full force, it probably would not budge.

Ahead, on the tightly laid white tiles, stood a beautiful man like a black shadow.

That man dressed in black was today’s opponent.

His unsociable, expressionless face, somehow resembling the Princess, watched Kishō in silence. Even the elegant line of his long hair fluttering in the air reminded him of her in places.

There was no referee.

Only the two of them stood here.

Kishō silently drew his practice sword. In response, the swordsman in black facing him also drew the practice sword at his side.

I see, Kishō thought inwardly.

Just as Kōran had said, this man was no ordinary opponent. Kishō could tell at once that there was not a single opening in his stance.

The mere fact that the man had taken a stance was enough to make Kishō’s palms sweat under the pressure. By sheer force of will, he suppressed the tremor trying to start in his arms.

Exhaling slowly, Kishō let the tension out of his shoulders.

“So when exactly am I supposed to start?”

“Whenever you like. I will grant you at least the first move.”

What Unran, Commander of the Imperial Guard, had taken was a stance with the sword tip lowered just slightly below horizontal. A pale blue [Sword Aura] rose quietly from that lowered blade. It was probably no more than a warm-up, nowhere near his full strength, and yet even so, the sheer amount of energy it carried far surpassed the Princess’s [Sword Aura].

By contrast, Kishō held his practice sword in seigan.

If all he intended to do was swing recklessly, that stance suited him best.

From the day he entered the academy until now, Kishō had forced victory with overwhelming [Sword Aura]. But this time, that same approach probably would not be enough. Even knowing that, it was still the only way he knew how to fight.

If he hesitated, the sword would dull.

Without overthinking it, he focused only on exhausting every ounce of his strength.

“Well then. Shall I begin?”

Purple flame-like [Sword Aura] erupted from the blade held in seigan.

The basics of swordsmanship that Instructor Mion had hammered into him over the past three months returned like scenes in a revolving lantern. At the same time, as if tracing those memories with his body, he kicked off the ground with all his strength.

◇◇◇◇◇

“Ow—!?”

He slammed onto the White Dragon Stone floor flat on his back. Air burst from his lungs, and Kishō writhed, gasping from the pain and the sudden inability to breathe. Pressing his aching left shoulder with one hand, he pushed himself halfway upright and caught sight of green robes at the edge of his vision.

“Hm. It seems expecting you to perform complex [Sword Aura] manipulation is still hopeless.”

Standing over him with the dazzling sunlight at her back was Instructor Mion. She pushed up her proud triangular glasses and let out a long sigh.

Picking up the practice sword that had been knocked away and shakily rising to his feet, Kishō pursed his lips.

“Even if you say [Sword Aura] manipulation, it’s not exactly something I can switch so easily on the spot.”

“Of course it is not easy. But if all you can do is swing [Sword Aura] around recklessly, then one day you will meet an opponent you cannot defeat that way. Are you prepared for that?”

“…I get it. But no matter what, I just can’t grasp the trick.”

Instructor Mion nodded once, then tapped the floor lightly with the tip of her practice sword. The gesture was a little like a teacher striking a blackboard to regain the class’s attention.

“Then let us review once more. There are three forms of [Sword Aura]. Name them all.”

“Three: [Release], [Invite], and [Pull], right?”

“Correct.”

With the tip of her sword, she wrote the three words on the floor: Release, Invite, Pull.

“Then explain the characteristics of each.”

“[Release] is the form of [Sword Aura] I normally use. It’s the power to reject and sever everything. If someone learns [Sword Aura] in their own style, then [Release] is probably the first form they acquire. Generally speaking, when people say [Sword Aura], they usually mean this [Release].”

Instructor Mion nodded in satisfaction.

“Very good. Then what about [Invite]?”

“[Invite] is the form that guides the opponent’s [Sword Aura]. It lures out [Sword Aura] in the state of [Release] with a tempting flame and guides it wherever you want. In other words, it diverts the path of the slash.”

“Correct. Then demonstrate it.”

Taking some distance, Instructor Mion assumed her favored stance, a posture like she was ready to thrust upward. The tip of her blade aimed directly at him.

Then she kicked off the ground.

The practice sword housing [Sword Aura] shot toward Kishō’s shoulder. Normally he would have evaded and countered, or perhaps swung up from below to intercept it, but instead he deliberately tilted his own blade sideways from seigan, like a pendulum.

The tip of the purple flame rising from it stretched long, as though beckoning.

Then, as though drawn in by that extended flame, the line of Instructor Mion’s thrust veered off to the right.

It was a clean miss.

To an observer, it would likely have looked as though Kishō had only brushed the attack aside with the lightest touch.

“All right, pass. The reason I, who am inferior to you in total [Sword Aura], can still deal with your absurd [Sword Aura] is because of this technique of [Invite].”

The fact that Instructor Mion could handle Kishō’s [Sword Aura], which even the Princess could not control, was not merely because the quality of her [Sword Aura] was high. She was using techniques Kishō had never known.

“Then what about [Pull]?”

“[Pull] is the form that draws in the opponent’s [Sword Aura]. Used mainly against [Sword Aura] in the state of [Invite], it draws in that tempting movement and neutralizes it. It prevents interference with the path of the slash.”

“Correct. Then try breaking my [Invite].”

This time, Instructor Mion also took seigan. A slender flame rose from her blade. That was exactly the form of [Invite].

Against it, Kishō swung his practice sword into a direct clash.

Their blades crossed. At the moment of collision, the thin flame extended itself, trying to entwine with Kishō’s [Sword Aura]. But as though caught in a violent gust, that inviting flame could no longer hold its shape. It vanished, sucked into the purple blaze.

Immediately after, the blades crashed together in earnest and the two were locked in a contest of strength. The path of the slash was never diverted.

“Hm. You’ve learned at least this much in a short time. But let me add one thing. If you receive an attack in [Release] while you are using [Pull], then you must be careful, because the opponent’s slash grows sharper by the amount you draw in.”

In other words, it was easiest to picture as a three-way rock-paper-scissors deadlock.

[Invite] was strong against [Release].
[Pull] was strong against [Invite].
And [Release] was strong against [Pull].

And on top of that, those forms of [Sword Aura] could be activated simultaneously in multiple layers.

A trinity.

The key was to switch [Sword Aura] forms rapidly according to the situation and counter the opponent’s. If one’s total [Sword Aura] output was a hundred percent, then a defense-heavy allocation might be something like: [Release] thirty percent, [Invite] sixty percent, [Pull] ten percent. One possible answer to that would be to seal the opponent’s guidance with [Release] thirty-five percent and [Pull] sixty-five percent, then gain superiority with the extra five percent remaining in [Release].

That was only an example, of course. From there, the battle simply became a continuous game of late-thrown rock-paper-scissors.

See the opponent’s move, then change your own in response.

The standard tactic was to keep shifting the ratio of one’s [Sword Aura] without pause in order to stay ahead.

Until now, Kishō had always devoted a full one hundred percent of his power to [Release]. That was why, even though his total [Sword Aura] far exceeded Instructor Mion’s, she had still been able to exploit an opening.

“If you perfectly master all three forms, then I will probably be helpless against you already. Which is precisely why you must master them desperately—if you want to marry Princess Kuroyō.”

“But Sensei, saying it is easy. Actually doing it is another story.”

As a practical matter, switching [Sword Aura] forms was extremely difficult.

It had taken him an entire month just to master [Invite] and [Pull], and combining them with [Release] was an even more brutal exercise. If he had to compare it to something, it was like trying to play different songs on different instruments with the right hand, left hand, and both feet all at once. His head simply overloaded.

At that whining complaint, even Instructor Mion made a thoughtful face.

“I know. Normally, this is something one masters little by little over the long years before becoming an adult dragon. I know it is reckless, but…”

Then she said, “All right, let’s do this,” and drew circles around the words Release and Pull on the floor.

“It becomes impossible because you are trying to do all three at once. In that case, why not narrow the training to just [Release] and [Pull]?”

“Hm. Well, [Release] is already familiar, so switching to it is relatively easy. So what you mean is that I should concentrate on [Pull], right?”

“Correct. And that can be used directly in real combat as well. With your absurdly large [Sword Aura], focus entirely on sealing the opponent’s [Invite]. In other words, force it into a pure clash between [Release] and [Release]. A direct contest of raw power.”

In other words, Kishō would concern himself only with the opponent’s [Invite]. The instant he detected it, he would activate [Pull] and forcibly neutralize it. Everything else would then become a straightforward collision of [Release] against [Release].

It was a wonderfully muscle-brained tactic.

“So basically, my usual brute-force strategy still works, right?”

“Ah. However, this tactic only works so long as your total [Sword Aura] exceeds the opponent’s.”

To fully neutralize the opponent’s [Invite] and still overwhelm them with [Release], one had to hold the advantage in total [Sword Aura]. Because while using [Pull], the power of the opponent’s [Release] would also increase. In other words, it would not work against an opponent of equal standing.

“And one more thing. How much of the opponent’s [Invite] you can neutralize depends not only on the simple strength of your [Sword Aura], but also on your switching speed and the precision of your [Pull]. How far you can refine those techniques in the two months remaining—that is the entire contest.”

From that day forward, the direction of Instructor Mion’s Spartan training changed.

Twelve hours a day.

She built a training regimen narrowed down entirely to [Release] and [Pull]. Kishō trained one-on-one with her every single day without rest.

For the record, his ordinary classroom lectures were all forcibly canceled, and aside from the compulsory subjects, his days were spent immersed in special training. Since he also continued his [Ki] training every night with perfect diligence, it should be noted that Kishō’s sleep had become painfully scarce.

◇◇◇◇◇

With the sword tip lowered slightly below horizontal, the black-clad swordsman—Unran—stood in a defensive posture.

Toward him, Kishō ran straight in.

No tricks. No feints. A direct frontal assault.

In terms of technique, the gap in experience between them was enormous. From the beginning, Kishō had never believed he could win by trading proper blows. If he had any chance, it lay in ending the fight quickly before Unran could fully respond to his [Sword Aura].

Purple flames roared wildly from his blade as he lunged at Unran like a starving beast. His eyes were bloodshot, and his mouth had twisted into something almost demonic. Anyone who knew nothing of the situation would probably have assumed Kishō was the villain here.

With that feral grin on his face—

“Sharaaaaaaaaah!!!”

He brought his blade down from jōdan in a vicious overhead slash.

The moment Unran activated [Invite], Kishō responded with [Pull].

Up to that point, everything went exactly according to plan. Thanks in part to his training, he suppressed Unran’s [Invite] to a significant degree.

Their practice swords crossed in an X.

The impact jolted through his hands.

And the moment Kishō felt that response, his grin deepened.

“—Gh, so you can do at least this much.”

Unran let out a low groan, then sharply increased the output of his [Release] and pushed back head-on. Kishō answered by pouring even more into his own [Release].

They entered a direct contest of strength.

At the end of it—

Bang!

Both of them were blown backward, distance opening between them.

But Kishō gave Unran no time to breathe. He launched himself forward again at once.

That first heavy blow had given him the sensation that he had dragged the match into his own tempo. But if he loosened the pressure even slightly, Unran would recover his stance and that advantage would vanish.

With that instinct screaming in him, Kishō unleashed one reckless strike after another.

Every blow carried killing power enough to split Black Dragon Stone in two.

When a diagonal cut from jōdan was avoided with a backward step, Kishō instantly pressed in again without hesitation and followed with a horizontal sweep on the return, slashing at an acute angle. Unran received it with his practice sword like a shield. Their [Sword Aura] collided, violently shaking the air around them.

A flood of narcotics poured through Kishō’s brain, bringing with it overwhelming exhilaration.

His steps grew bigger. His attacks accelerated, growing ever more savage.

By contrast, the black-clad swordsman slipped through that storm of violence with elegant control, never losing his composure.

Advance and retreat.

As much as Kishō pressed, Unran yielded exactly that much, stepping back without ever breaking the rhythm. That gap between them never changed.

I have the upper hand—or so Kishō thought, until a sense of unease crept over him.

Unran, Commander of the Imperial Guard, had not once gone on the offensive.

Was he waiting for something?

Even with that foreboding in the back of his mind, there was still only one thing Kishō could do.

Charge like a madman.

As if to cut off whatever Unran intended, Kishō swung again.

The flow of the battle was about to shift into its next phase.