On top of the cliffs that encircle the beach…
A boy with white hair, red eyes, and wings like a bat is looking down at Haruto and his friends.
“Hmph! That Sea Dragon was totally useless!” the boy spits bitterly.
It’s the new devil boy, Urim.
“Hey, Murzalla! What’s the deal?” Urim gripes telepathically to the other devil who’s at another site.
‘Ugh, shut up! You’re the one who chose that thing and sent it out. You were supposed to be stopping Shiva, but he isn’t even there. What are you, stupid? I mean, that was truly idiotic.’
“You shut up! Gah! The whole thing was a waste of time.”
Urim isn’t powerful enough to command a dragon. Instead, he lured the Sea Dragon over to the beach, hoping it would raise a loud enough commotion to alert Shiva. Unfortunately, the dragon was a curious youngster that got caught up in playing with the targets instead of attacking them.
‘Who are you really mad at? Anyway, you might as well come back. Haruto Zenfis is there, right? We don’t want him or his demon friends noticing you.’
Tsk! Urim sucks his teeth.
“What about on your end? Everything going according to plan?”
‘So far, so good. I just have to be careful not to attract Shiva’s attention. If he shows up, I’m hightailing it out of here.’
Murzalla had already laid out the plan and finished setting up for it. She even stayed to watch the woman known as the God Killer hide the treasure.
‘As long as Shiva doesn’t intervene, we have time. All we have to do now is wait for those idiots to come bumbling into our trap.’
“Hah. Why don’t we just cut to the chase and obliterate them right here, right now? The whole point is to take one of those kids hostage and destroy Shiva.”
‘You? Pitted against two highly skilled demons? You wouldn’t stand a chance. Hurry up and get your butt back here.’
Once again, Urim lets out a loud tsk. He flaps his giant wings and rises into the air.
“Whosoever opposes Lord Lucifyra, I’ll wipe them off the face of this earth!” He smirks as he flies off towards the capital…
✦ ✦ ✦
And here we are, summoned at the crack of dawn in front of the Olympius Ruins.
“Thank you for gathering here so early in the morning.” In Shiva Mode, I greet the row of attendees.
On my right is the usual crew. Char’s raring to go in her Magical Girl outfit. Flay’s sporting her sheet-ghost AKA Medjed costume again─she seems to have taken to it. The rest of the party, well, look the same.
Lined up on my left are the members of Numbers in their school uniforms. Where’d their white headdresses go? I hope you won’t regret showing your faces.
Setting aside my concern, Numbers looks like they’re pumped, too. On top of that, they’re giving me the death glare for some reason. I’m not even their opponent.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Where did you come from, and what are you doing here?”
“Hey, isn’t that him? You know…”
“The so-called Black Knight?”
Oh, I get it. I suppose it’s only natural they’d be alarmed to see some new guy in a funny black outfit pop out of nowhere and start running the show.
“The headmistress asked me to serve as a referee for this competition.”
Ka-pow-pow-pow! I strike the signature pose that my sister coached me on for this special occasion.
“I am the mysterious superhero and harbinger of justice─Schwartzer Krieger, also known as Shiva!”
“Kyaaa!”
The squeal of delight is coming from only one person, unfortunately. Flay remains silent but bobs her head (her entire body, actually) up and down under her white ghost costume.
Alexei, the leader of the opposing team, steps forward looking slightly annoyed.
“Headmistress,” he says. “I understand this mysterious man operates in the fief of Count Zenfis. How can we trust that he will be a fair referee?”
“I understand your concern. But since this tournament was decided on my own accord, I cannot ask too many of the school staff to help manage the event. I’ve chosen this man out of consideration for your safety. Do not worry─he will not act in favor of one team or the other.” The headmistress turns to face me. “Isn’t that right, Mr. Shiva?”
Her mouth is smiling but her eyes are glowering.
“Of course. I am the harbinger of justice. I swear by my principles to serve as a fair judge!”
I’m lying♪
She glares me down, but she can’t see my face under my helmet. S’all good.
The headmistress turns to the row of participants again and explains the rules.
“You are to find the Mija’s Crystal that I hid somewhere in the ruins.”
She sure chose a valuable object for a recreational game.
“I’ve also planted several decoys. Please be sure to check the item carefully.”
Which means there are regular crystal balls lying around, too. Kind of a meanie, no?
Unfortunately, the headmistress herself hid the goods. Would’ve been way easier if she’d asked me to do it.
But not to worry. I’d already sent a handful of radar barriers throughout the dungeon.
I can’t tell a fake Mija’s Crystal from the real thing just by looking at it, but I’ll be able to tell right away if I reach my hand through the barrier and pour some mana into it.
I hope it won’t break…
I’d accidentally broken one before. No idea why. All I did was channel a little mana into it.
“At the first intersection inside the temple, the two teams will proceed down two different paths. After that, you are free to choose whatever pathways you please.”
From that point on, all bets are off.
“Best of luck to you all! On your marks, get set… Go!” Ka-pow-pow-pow! I strike my pose again, but Char and Flay are the only ones who give me any reaction. Sad.
“C’mon! Stop clapping and let’s go!” hisses Laius.
“Uh-oh. They’re already ahead of us!” points out Iris.
Team Numbers is off and running.
Team Char chases after them.
I watch the crew take off. Go team.
“Mr. Shiva? Aren’t you going with them?”
I guess she’s expecting me to keep a close watch or something because I’m the referee. But that’s too much work.
“This should do it.”
I conjure a giant screen in the air. It’s split into smaller monitors that display the players in the two teams.
“What on earth…?”
I ignore the jaw-dropped headmistress and pull out a desk and some chairs out of mystery space-time. I also set up a toy microphone made out of a barrier on the table. Just to set the mood.
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t worry. This is your seat, Headmistress.”
I offer her the middle seat of the three chairs and station myself next to her.
“Here we go! The race is on! The contestants may be teenagers, but these are the top-scoring cream of the crop students at the Academy! Now, which team will emerge victorious from this tournament?!”
Headmistress Theresia is floored. “Professor Luseiannel? Where’d you come from? And what on earth are you─?”
“She’s sportscasting,” I answer.
“What?”
“You and I will be commentators. Professor Tear will make remarks and inquire your opinion. Just respond to her accordingly.”
Oops, I went out of character a bit. I need to keep it cool.
Might I admit, I’m somewhat excited.
“What is the meaning of this?!” The headmistress’s voice is shrill. It’s rare to see her all worked up.
“I thought it’d be nice to livestream for the students. To have them watch the game in real time.”
You know, like a public viewing.
The headmistress’s eyes bug out. She’s trembling like a leaf.
Professor Tear grins cheekily. “See? Keeping it a secret till the last minute was the right call. If we’d told her in advance, she would’ve put a stop to it for sure.”
It seemed wasteful for such an entertaining event to go unseen.
Moreover, the biggest goal today is to pulverize Numbers both physically and psychologically.
That and to showcase Char’s incredible talents to everyone, which will bolster her reputation as the eventual queen of this kingdom.
“There’s no use trying to stop the broadcast now. The students have been watching all this time. They’re always studying from morning to night. Don’t they deserve a bit of entertainment as a treat?” The professor is moving in for the kill.
The headmistress rebuts, “Shiva, you realize that you’ll be putting your rare magical powers on display as well?”
Oh……………
Professor Tear is up. “Meanwhile, our two teams are encountering their first monsters! What do you make of this, Shiva?”
Welp, whatever! It’s Shiva’s powers, not Haruto’s.
“They seem to be some sort of mummies,” I comment.
“Those are Flame Mummies,” elaborates Theresia. “They’re an advanced species of mummies. Ordinary ones are highly vulnerable to fire, but these are actually flame-resistant. They can even use fire attacks. Normally, you wouldn’t see monsters like this on the ground level.”
Didn’t know that. Maybe I should pay better attention to which monsters I place in what area.
In any case, Team Char’s battle has just begun!