Chapter 108: An Overwhelming Difference!
Stella had been born with an enormous amount of magic power, and she discovered that as she grew older, her magic power was also slowly increasing. This brought her no small amount of suffering. When she first became a Blazer, every time she summoned her Device, flames would burn her body.
As the second princess of the Vermillion Empire, Stella could have lived a comfortable life even without becoming a Blazer. However, she understood just how important it was for a nation to possess a powerful Blazer.
During World War II, it was precisely because a man named Kurogane Ryouma appeared that this country walked the path of a victor.
That was why Stella did not want to waste her rare talent. She wanted to use her own way to restore the Vermillion Empire, a country even smaller than Japan, and turn it into an existence no one would dare offend.
After challenging every Blazer within her own country, Stella understood that if she continued staying in the Vermillion Empire, it would be difficult for her to grow.
In order to find opponents who could push her further, she chose to leave her homeland and come to Hagun Academy.
Although a Blazer's rank could not represent their true combat ability, and an F-Rank Blazer was not necessarily weak, an A-Rank was definitely strong. She had never expected to encounter an opponent of this level right after arriving at Hagun.
The gloom from being seen by Shiro faded by quite a bit, replaced by rising battle intent.
"In that case, let a mock battle decide who is right and wrong. If you defeat me, I'll let this matter go."
She pointed her pale finger at Shiro's face and declared it.
"That's what she says, Shiro. What's your opinion?"
Shinguuji Kurono also looked interested. She had only heard about Shiro from Saikyo Nene, so in truth, she was also quite curious about how strong he was now.
"I don't mind. As long as this princess doesn't use this reason to cause trouble for me afterward."
Shiro's reason for coming to Hagun Academy was completely different from Stella's. Aside from training with Nene later, he was mostly approaching this with the mindset of taking a vacation.
If fighting Stella once could avoid future trouble, then that would be perfect.
"Very well. Then settle the result in Training Field Three."
After saying that, Kurono left the office first. It seemed she was going to make preparations for the battle in advance.
Within Hagun Academy, several dome-shaped buildings were scattered across the campus. These were practical combat training fields specially established for student knights.
Inside each field was an area of about one hundred meters for student knights to fight. Around it were spectator seats arranged in rising tiers.
At this moment, Shiro and Stella stood facing each other inside Training Field Three, while Ikki stayed at the referee seat where Kurono was located.
Although spring break had not ended yet, there were already twenty to thirty students scattered across the spectator seats. They had all heard on the road that the legendary [Crimson Princess] was going to fight someone and had specially rushed over.
"Hey, is that the legendary [Crimson Princess]?"
"She really is as beautiful as the rumors say."
"The boy opposite her looks pretty good too. But who is he? I don't think I've ever seen him before. Is he a first-year student too?"
"No way. A first-year actually dares to challenge the legendary [Crimson Princess]? She's an A-Rank knight. As far as I know, the only one in our school with a chance of defeating her is [Raikiri], right?"
The spectators at the side had perfectly inherited the unique chuunibyou flavor of this country's people. Words like "legendary" came out naturally, and compared to using names, they clearly preferred calling people by somewhat dramatic titles.
"Hey, don't think you can easily defeat me just because your evaluation is high. I've worked hard these past years in order to defeat powerful opponents too."
Stella pointed the gilded two-handed sword in her hands at Shiro's nose.
That was her Device—[Laevateinn].
The moment Stella summoned her Device in its Illusionary Form, flames wrapped around her body. The space around her also distorted faintly from the heatwaves coming off her.
Shiro did not answer her words. After also summoning his Device, he took a stance against the enemy and silently watched Stella across from him.
Aside from resolving the trouble he encountered right after enrolling, this battle could also let him test the results of the year he had spent studying under Edelweiss.
Seeing that both sides had already summoned their Devices, Kurono's voice spread through every corner of the training field through the microphone.
"Both sides are ready. Then—LET'S GO AHEAD!"
"My ability's flames reach over three thousand degrees. Be careful."
Stella charged toward Shiro, who stood in place without moving, and swung down the sword in her hands.
Facing the greatsword wrapped in flames, Shiro neither dodged nor avoided it. His golden pupils watched Stella coldly as he moved his sword and lightly tapped the body of her blade.
Ding—
The instant the blades collided, a crisp ringing sound spread throughout the entire training field.
"What?"
The moment the blades met, Stella suddenly realized that more than half the force she had put into her sword had been dispersed in an instant. The surrounding temperature was still continuously rising, but Stella's heart turned cold.
Shiro was not merely above her in ability. Even in swordsmanship, he was on a completely different level from her.
Clang, clang, clang—!
More than a dozen collision sounds rang out again.
Perhaps because she was unwilling to accept it, or perhaps because her fighting spirit had been fully ignited, after realizing the gap between them, Stella did not pull away. Instead, she pressed forward and displayed her exquisite swordsmanship before Shiro.
"As expected of an A-Rank knight. She suppressed her opponent in place so easily."
"Yeah. [Crimson Princess] hasn't even used a Noble Art yet."
"I already thought she was strong enough, but I didn't expect her swordsmanship to be that refined too. How are ordinary students like us supposed to survive?"
Watching Stella's bold and grand royal swordsmanship on the field, the spectators could not help sighing in admiration.
In this world, magic knights who were truly proficient in technique were extremely rare. Compared to something that required years of training to show results, most people preferred to spend time researching their Blazer abilities.
In the eyes of student knights, someone like Stella, who possessed both powerful ability and solid technique, belonged to a completely different realm from them.
"Um, Director, Stella is..."
"That's right. Stella is certain to lose. The gap between those two is even larger than I imagined."
Unlike ordinary students, Ikki had constantly studied technique because of his lack of magic power. That was why he and Kurono understood Stella's current situation even more clearly.
In their eyes, from the start of the fight until now, no matter how fierce Stella's attacks became, Shiro had not moved even half a step from where he stood.
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