Upon hearing Shirou's words, Kirihara Shizuya's eyes filled with caution. After all, he had been in the audience for Shirou and Stella's previous duel and had witnessed the battle of flames. He knew he absolutely could not win against such firepower. In fact, he wouldn't even appear against such an opponent. In his opinion, dueling an opponent he was certain to lose to would only add to his pain. Therefore, he dared not even acknowledge Shirou's challenge and simply turned his head away.
It was this evasive posture that made the crowd below look down on him even more. Kirihara Shizuya became furious when he noticed their gazes.
As the top student in his second year, he had never been treated like this before. But when he looked at Stella and the others who were looking down on him, he hesitated again. Although Stella had lost to Shirou in the previous battle, her flames had left an extremely deep impression on Kirihara Shizuya. That appearance, as if intending to burn everything to ashes, was truly terrifying. "Can't provoke, next."
Shizuku, the heiress of the Kurogane family. Unlike Ikki, a disowned and unrecognized member of the Kurogane family, she was a genuine heiress of the Kurogane family. Furthermore, she was a B-rank water-type Blazer. As a natural interference type, she definitely possessed wide-range attack methods. "Can't provoke, next."
Arisu Nagi, an unknown individual. But despite being unknown, his previous combat footage had also been observed by Kirihara Shizuya. He could manipulate shadows to attack and could hide within shadows. Their compatibility was not very good. "Next."
Finally, Kirihara Shizuya's gaze fell on Ikki, the only one who wasn't looking down on him. Indeed, when in doubt, find Ikki.
"It's been a long time, Ikki-kun."
"You're still at school."
Kirihara Shizuya's gaze towards Ikki was full of mockery. "Of course I'm still at school, I haven't graduated yet!" Facing Kirihara Shizuya's mockery, Ikki replied neither humbly nor arrogantly. To him, this level of ridicule was nothing.
"Tsk!" Seeing that Ikki didn't take the bait, Kirihara Shizuya clicked his tongue in annoyance. But he had no intention of letting Ikki off the hook just yet.
"Kurone-kun, are you still planning to walk the path of a Blazer with that utterly tragic power?"
"How pathetic!" Hearing Kirihara Shizuya's mockery again, Ikki managed to hold back, but Stella, who was with Shirou, was extremely angry. Although her relationship with Ikki wasn't as close as in the original story, she had still become friends with him through Shizuku's introduction.
Having heard about Ikki's past from Shizuku, she was filled with admiration for this strong man. Moreover, his sword fight with Shirou had made her blood boil. How could she tolerate someone like him being constantly ridiculed because of his innate rank?
"Kirihara Shizuya, right? If you keep mocking our friend like this, don't blame us for acting against you!"
"After all, I'm almost unable to suppress my anger now!"
Hearing Stella's declaration, Shirou and Arisu Nagi exchanged knowing smiles. Then, they suddenly appeared on either side of Kirihara Shizuya. Clenching his fists, Shirou smiled and said to Kirihara Shizuya, "Randomly deploying your Noble Phantasm outside seems to be against the rules, but isn't using your fists enough?"
"As a Blazer, I'm quite confident in my fists." Hearing Shirou's knuckles crack, Kirihara Shizuya instinctively took a few steps back.
"Don't come near me!" Kirihara Shizuya, in a panic, quickly retreated out of the encirclement of Shirou's group of three, then, feigning courage, yelled at Ikki, "Ikki, I've noted everything you've done to me, and I will definitely get my revenge!"
Upon hearing Kirihara Shizuya's declaration, Ikki stared at him dumbfounded, completely bewildered.
"Wait, they're the ones looking down on you. Shirou is the one challenging you! Stella Vermillion is the one warning you! Arisu Nagi and Shirou are the ones surrounding you! What does any of this have to do with me? Why is everything being blamed on me? Is there any logic to this in the world? Just because I'm weak, you keep pushing the blame onto me, is that it? How outrageous!"
But before Ikki could retort, Kirihara Shizuya's figure had already vanished from the area. Only one sentence lingered in Ikki's ears.
"Ikki, did you turn off your student handbook? Turn it on and take a look."
Hearing Kirihara Shizuya's parting message, Ikki quickly opened his student handbook. As it powered on, the student handbook immediately displayed a new message.
The sender was the Selection Battle Executive Committee! And the content of the message was: "Ikki, your opponent for the first round of the selection battle is: Second Year Class 3 - Kirihara Shizuya."
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Sitting on the sofa in the dorm room, Shirou manipulated clay in his hands, training his magic control.
It was already night. After the terrorist attack during the day, Shirou and the other four had all returned to the dorms. Ever since receiving that message, Ikki, as the central figure of their outing, had become absent-minded.
As a result, no one had any desire to continue shopping, so they returned to school.
Shirou was well aware of Ikki's apprehension. After all, Shirou didn't know how long Ikki had been working for this day. To become a true Blazer, he had to graduate from Hagun Academy. However, the former chairman, due to the Kurogane family's orders, prevented Ikki from participating in training, causing him to be held back.
Now, with the arrival of the new chairman, Kurono Shinguuji, he had finally gained the qualification to participate in training and received a promise. As long as he became the Seven Stars Sword King, he would be allowed to graduate. And participating in the Seven Stars Sword Dance Festival representative selection tournament was the beginning of everything for him. It was the starting point of his true path as a Blazer.
But now, at this most crucial moment, he had encountered his most difficult enemy. Kirihara Shizuya's Oborozuki and Hunter's Forest were almost the most challenging opponents for Ikki. Their compatibility was too poor. And at this moment, Ikki didn't even know that he would also experience psychological problems when the actual battle began.
That was nervousness. Having been accustomed to being hurt for many years, he had long been unable to hear his inner voice.
Therefore, when nervousness struck, he would be so at a loss. In the original story, if Stella's confessional declaration hadn't saved Ikki from his nervous state, he probably would have lost the first match. But the problem was that Stella's relationship with Ikki wasn't that good now.
And all of this was because he had taken the heroine's place. If Ikki were to fail because of him, honestly, it would be quite annoying. For no other reason, without these opponents in the Seven Stars Sword Dance Festival, Ikki wouldn't have Ittou Shura, and thus wouldn't have the causality-reversing Tracing Shadow.
Without these heaven-defying skills, who would he learn from? After all, if his employee didn't work hard, he, as the boss, wouldn't be able to find him a sister-in-law next year! For no other reason than for his own sake, Ikki had to enter the Seven Stars Sword Dance Festival.
"So, it seems I still have to train him!"
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