In this school, Headmaster Nanahoshi frequently taught classes herself. Even now, she was personally supervising all the matches. Kuon’s intention was simply to warn his opponent about her temper. The spiky-haired boy, however, viewed this as an interruption by an inferior and flew into a rage.
“You’ll pay for that, asshole!”
Typical.
Spiky slammed the Standby button. Kuon also reached to the console displayed in mid-air, putting up the indication. Once both were in Standby, a countdown appeared before their eyes.
“I’ll crush you,” snarled Kuon’s opponent.
“I’m telling the truth. She really is scary when she’s angry,” Kuon said, Blade at the ready.
The count hit zero, and the Division 4’s frame shot upward. He aimed his rifle at Kuon, who remained stuck to the ground.
“Division 1, and you think you can shoot your mouth off like that?”
Very few humans had enough magic to be in Division 4. Spiky had been unstoppable in primary school, his vast pool of magic powering a high-output, high-function DM. Kuon’s frame was entirely incapable of keeping up with his movements.
So Kuon didn’t go after him.
From above, Spiky rained magic bullets down on him. They scattered like shotgun pellets, so each individual bullet wasn’t that strong. But if even one scored a direct hit on Kuon’s Division 1 frame, it would count as him being unable to continue the match, and he would lose instantly. They were, of course, using mock bullets, but it would still hurt quite a bit if he were hit. Kuon took a deep breath.
Shichisei Kenbu: Tensetsu.
Kuon called upon the Machine Fencing that had made him unbeatable in his past life. Seven years of training with his master had been more than enough for Okegawa Kuon to relearn the Shichisei Kenbu arts.
This was the reason he’d won the Junior Tournament, and how he’d scored four victories in a row at a school for geniuses. Now, the fifth star was right before his eyes.
Tensetsu pushed Kuon’s senses through the dimensional barrier. To him, it was as if time had stopped. He found himself in a world where black was white, staring at bullets that didn’t move.
Through the rain of bullets that would instantly “kill” him, he saw every route he could follow to avoid them; and not just that. Twelve years of training in his past life, seven in this life, nineteen years in all—this had been enough to hone the core art of Tensetsu to even further heights. Now he could not only see where the attacks were, he could predict where his opponent would go based on the shots they’d taken.
Strangely enough, lines for attacks unleashed at peak form led directly to a foe’s weaknesses. Kuon narrowed his opponent’s movement down to three options and elected to unleash attacks at all three with his rifle and Blades.
He released Tensetsu. Kuon’s frame spun across the ground like it was dancing through the rain of bullets, emerging completely unharmed. As it did, Kuon fired two bullets himself. Both missed, but his main UMH Blade used the momentum from his evasion to pierce his opponent’s Core.
“Ungh!” Spiky yelped, feeling a sudden pain in his chest. The direct hit had seemingly come out of nowhere. The Blade was stopped by a barrier right above the Core, and he stared at it in disbelief. As the Blade slowly fell away, his eyes followed it. “What did you just do…?”
Kuon had dodged his shots and thrown a Blade at him. As his opponent stared at nothing, Kuon retrieved his Blade and bowed like a samurai.
“Your aim is swift, but your frame was off balance. I’m off to the next match.”
“Huh…?”
By the time Spiky looked up, Kuon was already gone.
Okegawa Kuon was the only person to win nine in a row. At this point, people were beginning to take notice. Two students, waiting for their own matches, were absently gazing at Kuon’s.
“Uh, that Division 1…”
“Okegawa Kuon, was it? He’s something else.”
“What even is that? Fencing…of some kind?”
“I dunno, man. But doesn’t seem like aerial combat works against him.”
“Yeah, like…wow.”
Kuon had just easily one-shot another Division 4.
Both watchers spoke as one.
“He’s good.”
Around them, several other students had their eyes glued to Kuon’s block. Those who noticed Kuon’s unnatural strength fell into one of two categories, with the first type being too proud and certain of their own elite status to admit his ability was real, so they ignored him.
“Sigh… No way those weird tricks would be useful in a real fight. He can’t even do basic aerial combat. Letting a Division 1 who can’t even fly into a place like this is ridiculous. We’re the best the Empire has. Don’t let some talentless kid get in our way.”
“If you don’t have the talent, why bother even trying to fight? All he’s done is ruin someone better’s chances of getting in here. A waste of the school’s resources. What’s the point of letting Division 1s think they can be Cavalleria, too?”
“A fluke like that won’t last long. No point even watching.”
The second type were beginning to admit that, though Kuon may be a Division 1, he was stronger than any of them. They elected to watch him every chance they had.
“He’s insanely good! Is he seriously Division 1? Holy crap!”
“I’ve never seen anyone like him. I thought I knew all the serious Cavalleria candidates, but… Oh, because he’s Division 1.”
“Whatever the Division, if you’re good, you’re good. I wanna know why he’s so strong. I’ll uncover his secret and make it my own!”
“Man, I can’t believe anyone like him existed. Watch and learn. He’s gonna change how combat’s done!”
Watch or don’t watch. Consciously or unconsciously, one-third of the new students chose the first option. Fascinatingly, most of those had won six or more battles—they were the ones skilled enough to dominate the mock combat.
They quietly canceled their matches, gathering around Okegawa Kuon’s block to watch his final match. What they saw was unbelievable.
For Okegawa Kuon’s final match, the student designated as his opponent was the one Cavalleria widely considered the strongest Jogen Maneuver Academy—an elite school with a 0.25 percent acceptance rate—had ever had.
Jogen Maneuver Academy High School Class 3-A, seat number 12, an Attack Gunner in the Lunatic Order Fuji Squad.
Her name: Suzuka Hanabi.