Kaieda’s throat was hoarse as he gasped in shock at Stella’s absurd rule change suggestion. And of course, he wasn’t the only one.
“Whoa! The princess has gone totally crazy!”
“It’s a penalty, not flagellation!”
Everyone in the crowd began shouting their thoughts on the matter. Many were unsure that they had heard her correctly.
“A-Are you serious right now?!” Tsuruya herself commented. Even though the suggested change was clearly advantageous to her, she couldn’t keep quiet.
“I am,” Stella responded with a comfortable tone and benign smile. “Tardiness is a major error, often punishable by immediate disqualification. With that in mind, this penalty seems a lot tamer—but only if everyone else agrees to it, of course.”
Though Stella spoke with great composure, behind her, Ikki was growing paler by the second.
This is really bad! What made it such an issue was more than just the ridiculous proposal itself. The real problem came in the form of the three block B victors who would join the battle as a result of the penalty. They’re all from Akatsuki! They’d never miss an opportunity like this!
Most other representatives would likely have never agreed to such a proposal. In their minds, there was no point in throwing themselves in front of a Rank A bus for Tsuruya just because they’d won. The knights from Akatsuki Academy, however, were different. They were anti-Federation mercenaries hired for the sole purpose of conquering the Seven Stars Battle Festival, so there was no reason for them to care about the method. All they needed was for one of them to reach the finals.
With victory being their only goal, their best plan would be to get Ouma, a Rank A like Stella and probably the strongest knight in all of Akatsuki Academy, into the finals. If they could use the clear advantage the proposed rule change gave them to defeat the person who would likely give him the most trouble, then they had no reason to refuse. It was their best chance to crush her, and they weren’t the type to let such an offer go to waste.
“Heheheh. Well, isn’t this interesting?” Reisen Hiraga, who had been listening to the discussion from among the crowd, proved Ikki’s expectation correct. He laughed with joy as he watched his strongest opponent spell her own demise. “In an event where every contestant presents a major obstacle, you propose a four-on-one battle as your trial. Truly, you are the legendary Crimson Princess. Your pride is unmatched.”
He leaped down from the stands, landing next to Mikoto Tsuruya.
“That’s some big talk from a beast with no merit other than raw strength.”
“Heh-heh-heh. You can’t take that back now, princess of blood.”
With provocations of their own, two more warriors descended to stand beside Hiraga: Yui Tatara, the Unflinching assassin with her face hidden by a thick coat, and Rinna Kazamatsuri, the Beast Tamer straddling her black lion. Their actions clearly revealed their answer.
“We Akatsuki Academy students take no issue with this,” Hiraga stated. “We’ll lend our strength for the sake of a fair tournament.”
“A-All right, then. Your thoughts, Tsuruya?” Kaieda asked.
“I-I have no complaints, either.”
The reason for Tsuruya’s hesitant response was that not even she wanted such unusually favorable circumstances. Still, agreement was agreement.
“Hmm.”
With the unanimous agreement of the contestants, Kaieda closed his eyes and furrowed his brow deeply.
“Hey, why are you thinking so hard?! There’s no way you’re allowing this insane penalty, right?!”
“Four-on-one isn’t a fair match at all! It’s basically just a public execution!”
“But Stella’s the one who asked for it.”
“C’mon, let ’em do it!”
While Kaieda deliberated, the crowd reached a fever pitch. As if prodded with curiosity by the bizarre rule set Stella proposed, a large number of spectators’ distaste at Tsuruya’s demand of a penalty shifted to a positive attitude toward the special rules. The result was that many people began bickering over their differing opinions. However, after about a minute of their arguing, Kaieda opened his eyes and made his declaration as the leader of the management committee.
“Very well. If the fighters have no objections, then we will permit Stella’s rule change as the penalty for her match.”
“For real?!”
“What is the committee thinking?!”
“Order! Order! Adding to the rules per the agreement of both fighters is not an uncommon occurrence at the Seven Stars Battle Festival, where you student knights are the main actors. It is true that I find this penalty to be rather harsh, but as Stella herself proposed it, we will accept it.” Using his words to silence the part of the crowd that booed at him, Kaieda once again spoke with the two fighters. “Now, to confirm the rules. For Stella Vermillion to claim victory, she must defeat not only Tsuruya, but also the remaining block B members: Hiraga, Kazamatsuri, and Tatara. For Tsuruya to claim victory, she or one of her allies must defeat Stella. Is this acceptable?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Yes. I appreciate your lenience, sir.”
Both of them consented to the rule change, meaning that the management committee’s job was done.
“Great. Now then, Iida, it’s all yours.”
“Huh? O-Oh, yeah.”
Kaieda returned control to the play-by-play announcer and disappeared from the screen. Iida was visibly flustered at first by the nonsensical affair, but he quickly recovered the vigor he displayed during Ikki’s match and led the venue onward. “W-Well, we have certainly witnessed something incredible. I’ve done play-by-play and analysis for a very long time, but I’ve never seen a four-on-one formal battle. Nevertheless, the contestants have agreed and the committee has permitted it. Thus, I will continue to see my job through! Now, let us begin block B’s fourth match: Stella Vermillion versus Mikoto Tsuruya! Both fighters, along with the guest fighters, please gather in the arena!”
“Off I go, then. You seem tired, so you can go take a nap if you want. This match won’t be worth watching, I promise.”
On receiving Iida’s order, Stella turned back to Ikki one last time and left him with those bold words. Though she would be up against a quarterfinalist from the previous year as well as three underground mercenaries, she grinned like a child heading to the carnival. Ikki didn’t understand it in the slightest.
“Stella, why are you taking such a needless risk?” he asked. If she’d kept quiet, she would have had no penalty. No matter what angle he looked at it from, Stella’s actions didn’t seem to benefit her in any way, shape, or form. Asking her why was his only chance of figuring it out. “Are you positive that you can win against all four of them together?”
This question prompted Stella to shake her head in refusal.
“Well, I dunno. At least, I don’t think I can say I’m ‘positive’, especially since I still don’t know what kind of powers they have.”
“Then why…?”
“This is the only thing I can do,” she muttered, looking up at the tournament brackets displayed on the screen following the end of Kaieda’s transmission. She seemed annoyed by block B’s first matchup of round two. “At this rate, round two will put Hiraga and Kazamatsuri up against each other. They’re both from Akatsuki, so if that happens, one of them is definitely going to forfeit. I can’t let that happen.”
That was the obvious conclusion. As Akatsuki was a group of mercenaries working as a unit rather than a normal school, they had not the slightest interest in personal glory at Seven Stars. For that reason, they wouldn’t do anything to hurt their allies and thus their chances of winning. There was no doubt that either Pierrot or Beast Tamer would bow out of the second round, allowing the other to advance without having to fight.
“Stella…”
It made sense why Stella was so gladly putting herself through the wringer the way she was. The reason wasn’t any sort of neat, royal family nonsense like she’d explained to Kaieda; she had only one goal.
“I won’t let those Akatsuki goons get away with hurting us, our friends, and our school so badly. Not a chance,” she growled like a bubbling volcano just before an eruption. Touka, Ayatsuji, and all the others had been hurt. Stella would be the one to avenge her friends. “I’ll burn every last one of them to ash.”
Acting in concord with the rage she had suppressed ever since the attack, always unable to vent her anger, Stella’s crimson hair glowed like flames, scattering embers through the air as she began walking toward the arena. As she did, she stared fixedly at the members of Akatsuki, who had already gathered in the ring.
Watching her head their way, Ikki thought that she was a little too hot-headed, but he didn’t have the energy to stop her—especially not when she was angry for the sake of her friends. So, instead of saying anything, he simply stayed put, quietly seeing her off.
All I can do now is believe in her. He had to believe in the power she’d gained from her training with Ms. Saikyou. Go get ’em, Stella.
“Now, the wait is over! Block B’s fourth match finally begins! Let’s go ahead!”
With that declaration, the curtain rose on an unprecedented match.