It was December 20th, five days before Christmas, and we were in the middle of battle training class.
“Come on, Kokuya, it’s time for your 1,000th loss.”
“Yeah right. I hope you’re ready to start calling me master.”
Yukihime and I were exchanging taunts like we always did – well, maybe the atmosphere was just a bit more tense than usual. Then, suddenly...
“Could you hold off on that for a bit?”
A lone figure came and interrupted us. He had jade hair, long bangs, and his right sideburn was long and swirly. “Urgh, not Sakisaki!”
“Kurono... How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me by that strange nickname?”
He was Sakito Nagisaki, a member of the Nagisaki family – one of the Seven Great Mage Houses, otherwise known as the Seven Houses.
Back when star sorcerers were known as sorcerers and mages, the Seven Houses aimed to keep sorcery hidden from the world. Powerful spells and the rights to use them were split up between these seven families, and they still possessed them to this day. They were also the ones who built and managed Otherworld City.
All decisions regarding Otherworld City were made by the Council of Seven Houses, which was comprised of the representatives of the Seven Houses along with the Headmistress. Incidentally, the Yukigane family was also one of the Seven Houses.
Nagisaki was a student from the next class over. Whenever our classes had group battle training, he’d always come straight for me. He was a real pain.
Oh yeah... Today’s group training day.
“What do you want, Sakisaki?”
“Didn’t you hear what I said just now?! I’m going to defeat you today, once and for all.”
“...”
“What’s wrong? At least give me a reply!” Nagisaki pointed his finger straight at me.
“...Yukihime. Is this how I act towards you?”
“What do you mean?’’
“You know, being annoying and arguing over every little thing you say.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t mind fighting with you. It’s actually quite stimulating. You do a lot of annoying things that have nothing to do with your fighting, though.”
“Oh.” I ignored the second half.
The moment Nagisaki tried to pick a fight with me, I was already annoyed. I was here to fight Yukihime, after all.
“I’ll be happy to fight you after Nagisaki,” she said.
“Oh. Alright then, let’s go, Sakisaki.”
“I disapprove of how lightly you’re taking me... But so be it. Take your place on the battlefield, Kurono.”
Shaking my head at his choice of words, I stepped onto the stage. Soon, we were standing opposite each other.
“That reminds me,” I said.
“What?”
“Why don’t you ever challenge Yukihime? Everyone would be way more impressed if you defeated her instead of me.”
“So? The opinions of others bear no importance to me.” Nagisaki glanced at Yukihime, who was watching us from the sidelines.
“...Besides, I’m not fit for her yet,” Nagisaki said, as his cheeks turned slightly red.
It was so obvious. Yes, he had a crush on Yukihime. Apparently, he thought that he wasn’t allowed to fight her until he became ‘fit’ for her. And in order to achieve that, he needed to defeat me. That was his logic. I had no right to get in his way, but I wasn’t just going to let him beat me. His thought process was a bit similar to mine, so that made me all the more stubborn.
There was another reason, though: the Star Gate Academy rankings. Students were ranked by their raw strength as star sorcerers along with their strength in actual battles. Yukihime was 1st, I was 2nd, and Nagisaki was 3rd. It made sense that Yukihime was 1st, but I had really worked my butt off to nab that 2nd spot. Unlike the ranks that Otherworld City based on their own standards, students could rise up to higher ranks within the academy as long as they tried hard enough. Well, there was one guy who couldn’t rank-up no matter what, but he was a special exception.
Nagisaki was an A Ranker. Based on the Otherworld City ranks, he was the highest, and I was the lowest, so I definitely didn’t want to lose to some high ranker like him.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Yes, let’s get started. Liberation – Tempestas Falx.”
“Liberation – Chronoslayer.”
I gripped my twinblade and stared down at Nagisaki. His star armament was a giant scythe with a beautiful jade blade.
“I’m going to make the first strike, Kurono!”
Nagisaki swung his scythe in a straight horizontal line. Wind star power that had been compressed into the shape of a blade came zooming toward me at a shrieking speed. But I had started running before Nagisaki even started swinging, and took a slide right before the blade swooped by. Afterwards, I immediately stood back up, completing a dodge.
The wind scythe’s range, speed, and power were all frightening, but it moved just the same as any other big scythe. As long as I timed my dodge with the beginning of each attack, I’d be okay. Since I could speed up my thought process, this wasn’t a difficult task at all.
I started out about five steps away from Nagisaki, but he closed that distance with a single step by letting the wind carry his body. I was surprised to see him appear right in front of me, but I wanted to get close to him as well, so it worked out. After all, I didn’t have any long-distance weapons like his wind blade.
The massive scythe came sailing down from above. Swinging my blade to the right and deflecting it was the only choice I had. If I had tried to catch the scythe’s handle with mine, the curved blade would have pierced me. Due to its shape, all Nagisaki had to do was change the trajectory of the blade a tiny bit in order to hit me and prevent me from catching it.
The scythe may have looked cumbersome, but the shape of its blade was dangerous. Just like with a spear, I simply needed to get close to Nagisaki in order to defeat him, but he wouldn’t allow it. He remained just far away enough to deliver his blade to me, and continued to slash out over and over again. Every time I tried to close the distance, he’d use a wind step to create even more space between us. He could also quickly close long distances, which made it impossible for me to predict any of his movements. It was scary.
If he kept this pattern up, I’d be the one to lose. I didn’t have much star power to work with, so battles of endurance were out of the question. I had to break through this deadlock somehow, even if it meant using a little force.
The scythe came zooming down at me diagonally from the right. I grabbed the end of his blade with my right hand, something I could only do to thanks to my prosthetic star armament.
“You’re done for.” I swung the twinblade in my left hand.
“No.” Nagisaki boldly hoisted my entire body up with his scythe. “You are.”
In a flash, he swung his scythe down, planning to slam me straight into the ground. Just before the swing ended, I let go of the blade, flinging myself off into the air.