Chapter 144: The Battle of the New Blades Begins

"Tengoku City? Surprisingly, we come from the same place! Except for Julie, all of us are from Tengoku City." Shirohime looked at the girl named Kazuko Kirigaya with great interest, nodding in agreement. "Sure, since we're all from Tengoku City, it's no trouble to help you out."

"Um... thank you." Taken aback by Shirohime's prompt agreement, Kiriko expressed her gratitude and then asked, "Earlier when I came over, I saw that everyone else was planning to team up to deal with you first. Is it really okay for you to be so unconcerned?"

"Well, Yechen said there's nothing to worry about." Julie stared intently at Kiriko's face, then suddenly asked, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

Prompted by Julie, Kiriko also remembered that just before she was defeated by Saeko Busujima last time, she seemed to have seen a girl running over whose figure looked very similar to Julie's. Before she could say it out loud, Julie recalled, "I remember now. You're the one who was knocked out by Saeko right in front of me last time."

"I really wish you hadn't remembered it that way," Kiriko said with a helpless, wry smile.

"Your Blaze Edge is a pair of swords, and you show traces of practicing kendo, but you were still taken down by Saeko in a single blow," Julie stated her genuine impression in all seriousness, which immediately drew a retort from Kiriko: "That last part was completely unnecessary."

At sunset, the academy's iconic clock tower could be clearly seen in the distance, and Tsukimi Rito's voice came echoing from precisely that direction. Yechen and Julie waited on the high ground in the northern district of the academy for Tsukimi Rito to announce the start of the new Blade Battle. Every pair of Duo partners waited in different locations, and they were only permitted to leave their spots after the commencement.

This was because if everyone gathered together right from the start, it would be far too easy to form alliances, and the situation would become excessively chaotic, preventing the full display of the Blaze Edges' characteristics, not to mention tactical planning. The entire academy waited quietly for the start of the new Blade Battle.

"It's about to begin, Yechen," Julie said, listening to the voice detailing the match rules before the start.

"Indeed, and the day is drawing to a close," Yechen replied, closing his eyes and looking up at the sky as he felt the fading light being swallowed up. It was impossible to tell whether he could actually see the sky or not. Neither Yechen nor Julie had prepared any tactical plan; moving straight ahead and knocking down any opponents they bumped into—it was as simple as that.

Facing opponents whom even Saeko and Shiina could easily crush, Yechen and the others couldn't be bothered to formulate any tactical plans anyway. Besides, Yechen was someone who deeply detested trouble.

"Then everyone, let's go!" As Tsukimi Rito's words fell, the chime signaling the start of the new Blade Battle rang out from the clock tower. Flames representing the release of Blaze Edges appeared in every corner of the academy's northern district, and Julie materialized her twin swords at the very first moment.

The first thing to do after materializing a Blaze Edge was to leave one's current position. Everyone was waiting in different locations, and the majority had formed alliances, but standing still and waiting for others to come knocking was far too passive. Who knew if someone else might seize the opportunity to attack?

This alliance was entirely founded upon the premise of defeating Yechen and the group. In their hearts, they all knew very well that once Yechen and the others were defeated, they would have to turn on each other. When all was said and done, just like the rules of the new Blade Battle stated, everyone except oneself and one's Duo partner was an enemy.

No one knew how well they would perform; only by defeating as many people as possible could they secure a chance to attain transcendence. Standing motionless, Yechen sensed six people—three pairs of Duo partners—stealthily approaching from the surrounding area. Lacking the ability to use his physical vision, his surroundings formed a three-dimensional map inside Yechen's mind, rendering the lush trees completely useless as cover.

Feigning ignorance along with Julie, Yechen walked leisurely along a main path in the forest, making no effort to hide their presence. This open attitude made the people hiding in the shadows feel as though they were being completely looked down upon.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..." The sound of friction among the leaves echoed successively around them. Three figures leaped down from the tree branches, brandishing large weapons materialized from their Blaze Edges and aiming a downward smash at Yechen. Compared to Julie, who looked harmless to both humans and animals, Yechen—who had drawn everyone's attention during the Qualification Ceremony—was by far the hardest opponent to deal with.

With his eyes closed, Yechen raised his head. The three figures leaping down were exceptionally overjoyed at the sight. They had long since known that Yechen's eyes were blind. Although Yechen usually acted as though he wasn't affected, in a situation like this, being unable to see meant he certainly wouldn't be able to make precise evasive maneuvers. They were thrilled at the prospect of taking down such an opponent.

The next instant, after their weapons descended, all three realized they had made a mistake. They felt as though they had struck the hard ground rather than a human body. The remaining three people also rushed out to surround Julie. Yechen shook his head at their performance. Up until now, these students had only undergone physical training, and as for combat techniques, at most they had only sparred with classmates during lessons.

This resulted in a situation where a portion of the students still only knew how to use simple attacks with their Blaze Edges. If such clumsy attacks, riddled with openings, could actually hit someone, then Yechen's cultivation would have been for nothing.

Moving just a few steps to neatly slip out of the three attackers' range, Yechen held the Illusionary Twin Swords within their scabbard. A horizontal slash of the scabbard generated a gust of fierce wind, sending twigs and shattered stones from the ground pelting against the three attackers.

"Thud, thud, thud..." Combined with the three that Julie had just dealt with, all six students collapsed neatly onto the ground.

"I thought they'd come up with some better ways to deal with me, but I never expected it to be just a simple head-on collision. I'm so disappointed." Yechen shook his head. If they had managed to gather three groups so quickly, it would have been a different story against anyone else—those opponents definitely wouldn't have failed so cleanly. Unfortunately for them, they had chosen the wrong opponent.

Continuing along the path, Yechen and Tachibana Kanade and the others had previously agreed to rendezvous at a specific spot, taking the opportunity to eliminate any opponents encountered along the way. Regrettably, apart from that initial encounter with those three pairs of Duo partners, Yechen and Julie did not run into anyone else the entire way out of the forest.

"We finally bumped into some." Emerging from the forest, Yechen and Julie finally encountered two people near the pavilion at the edge of the woods. Two girls wearing nurse uniforms sported skirts so short their thighs were almost completely exposed, blinking coquettishly at Yechen as they approached.

Clearly sensing Julie's presence right beside him, Yechen's expression suddenly darkened as he nonsensically blurted out, "Um, my eyes can't see, so doing that is completely useless."

Prompted by Yechen's kind reminder, they naturally realized the fact that his eyes had been closed the entire time. They had also heard rumors about Yechen's blindness and inwardly cursed their terrible luck, only to be promptly knocked out in two strikes by an enraged Julie.

"Let's go. Shirohime, Kanade, and that Kiriko have all arrived already. I never expected the two of us to be the last ones to get here."