One-sidedly crushing an enemy wasn't exactly an entertaining prospect for Haruki.
After pushing Kirihara to the brink of a total breakdown, he spoke up, his voice echoing in the silent arena. "I'll give you one st chance, Shizuya Kirihara. I'll allow you to unch your strongest attack. If you can leave so much as a scratch on me, I'll count this match as your victory."
"Don't you dare go back on your word!!" Kirihara screamed.
Driven to a state of near-insanity, Kirihara no longer cared about his image. Like a drowning man clutching a straw, he poured every ounce of his remaining mana into his Device, focusing it all into a single arrow aimed at the sky.
"Noble Art—Million Rain!"
The arrow exploded high in the air, transforming into hundreds of invisible mana-bolts that rained down on Haruki like a lethal storm.
"Finally, something slightly interesting," Haruki muttered, looking at the indiscriminate area-of-effect attack.
He didn't panic. He simply raised the spectral bde Onibi and gathered the power of resonance within the steel.
"Ground Upheaval!"
This wasn't the transparent sword-qi from before. Haruki was now using the most aggressively destructive technique of the Asura's Wave path. Just as the name implied, it was a strike meant to tear the very earth asunder.
BOOM!
A surge of bzing golden resonance erupted from Haruki's bde. The massive shockwave of energy neutralized the rain of arrows instantly, before racing toward Kirihara in a straight, unstoppable line.
Kirihara's face twisted in pure, unadulterated despair.
"Wait... wait! No! This is a joke, right?! Don't come any closer! STAY AWAY FROM ME! I SURRENDER! I SWEAR I SURRENDER!!"
His screams were useless. The Ground Upheaval crossed the distance in a heartbeat, smming into Kirihara and unching him clear off the dueling ptform. The impact shattered his Mana Shield and left him unconscious before his body even hit the stadium wall.
"Shizuya Kirihara is unable to continue! The winner—Haruki Aizawa!"
The referee's voice marked the end of the duel. It had been a ndslide victory, leaving the audience in a state of stunned silence.
The news of Haruki's victory spread through Hagun Academy like wildfire.
While Kirihara wasn't the top student, his status as a former representative meant he was a household name. Haruki Aizawa, the "nobody" transfer student, was now being talked about in the same breath as Princess Stel.
Haruki, however, had no interest in the limelight. He spared a single gnce at the fallen Kirihara—who had quite literally fainted from fear in the final seconds—and walked away. The "Hunter's" reputation was in ruins; the student body had seen his true, cowardly colors, and his fan club vanished overnight.
But the ripples of the match reached the highest levels of the student hierarchy.
Student Council Office.
"Shizuya Kirihara actually lost?"
Renren Usagimaru, a member of the council, stared at the report in disbelief. She hadn't expected a veteran representative to be dismantled by a freshman.
"Kirihara was always more talk than talent," another member, Saijo Ikutsuchi, muttered with a look of disdain. He had no respect for someone who avoided fair fights.
Sitting across from them, the Student Council President, Tohka Todo, remained silent, her expression serious. She had watched the match personally.
Unlike her subordinates, Tohka was a B-Rank Bzer and the strongest student at Hagun on paper. She could see things that others couldn't. She knew Haruki hadn't won by "luck."
Haruki Aizawa was strong—so strong that even she felt a slight tremor of excitement. She didn't feel fear; she felt the thrill of a challenger. She looked forward to the day she could cross bdes with a swordsman of his caliber.
"Stel Vermillion, Ikki Kurogane, Shizuku Kurogane, and now Haruki Aizawa..." Tohka whispered, a faint smile on her lips. "Hagun is overflowing with talent this year. The Seven Star Festival is going to be quite the stage."
After the match, Haruki went back to a secluded area of the training grounds.
Kirihara was a trash human, but his "Mage-Killer" technique—the transparent mana—was a goldmine for Haruki's study. He had spent the duel deconstructing how Kirihara maniputed the frequency of his energy to avoid light reflection.
The result was a success: Haruki could now release transparent sword-qi. This was more than just a new move; it provided him with a deeper understanding of the Wave Arts. He realized that by fighting more high-level Bzers, he could "harvest" their unique mana-control techniques to refine his own path.
As he was deep in thought, someone entered the training room. Only one other person had the key to his shared unit—Shizuku Kurogane.
The silver-haired girl walked in, her expression uncharacteristically soft. When she saw Haruki, a flicker of complex emotion crossed her eyes.
Originally, she was only supposed to care about her brother. A sword-maniac with zero social skills like Haruki shouldn't have mattered to her. But after seeing him crush Kirihara—using Kirihara's own methods to avenge the bullying Ikki had suffered—she couldn't ignore him anymore.
She admired his strength, but more than that, she respected his "Swordsman's Heart"—his refusal to let evil go unpunished. Without realizing it, her obsession with her brother was starting to share space with a growing fascination for Haruki.
"Is it dinner time?" Haruki asked, oblivious to the girl's internal struggle. He looked at the darkening sky outside. "Let me ask first... Kurogane-san, can you actually cook?"
"Why would you ask that?"
"Just a hunch."
"..."
Her pride wounded, Shizuku marched into the small kitchen. She was determined to make a gourmet meal and shut him up.
Thirty minutes ter, she emerged with a dish that made the very air in the room feel toxic.
"Is this... biological warfare?" Haruki asked, staring at the unrecognizable mass on the pte.
Shizuku's face turned bright red, and she curled up on the sofa, hiding her face in a pillow. She had never been so humiliated in her life.
Chapter 39 – One Strike to Rule Them All
Despite the "murderous" appearance of Shizuku's cooking, Haruki finished every bite.
His sense of taste was almost non-existent—a side effect of his years of ascetic training. To him, food was just fuel. Good or bad, it all tasted the same. This was something Sakiko had compined about constantly back in the Main World.
Seeing him eat her disastrous cooking without compint left Shizuku with even more complicated feelings. She spent the rest of the night vowing to actually learn how to cook properly.
In the days following the Kirihara duel, Haruki moved through the selection matches with ease. Most of his opponents were far below Kirihara's level, so he treated the matches as live-fire training for his Wave techniques.
His mastery of Fire Wave Sword and Ice Wave Sword was now seamless. He had moved on to the core mechanic of the Asura path: the Wave Manifestation Brand.
The "Brand" was a concentrated crystal of resonance. In theory, forming even one Brand would significantly boost the speed and power of his Wave Arts. If he could maintain a dozen Brands simultaneously, his output would rival Stel's massive mana pool.
However, forming a Brand was a grueling process. It required a level of mental focus that most mages couldn't maintain for more than a few seconds.
Haruki didn't mind the grind. He had plenty of time, and the path of the sword was the only thing that gave him true satisfaction.
Buzz.
His handbook vibrated again. Another match notification.
[Selection Match: Round 5]
[Opponent: Renren Usagimaru]
[Location: Central Stadium]
[Time: 10:00 Tomorrow]
"A Student Council member," Haruki noted. "Maybe this one will st more than one strike."
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