Chapter 428: Next Up—Hagun's Civil War!
Everyone was cheering.
They cheered for the spectacular match that had completely overturned their understanding of the world.
Twin-Wings Edelweiss.
The appearance of that name had fundamentally changed the significance of the match.
From this moment onward, Luke's fame entered an entirely different level.
However, amid the roaring crowd, three people were not celebrating.
Instead, all three stared at Luke in the arena with solemn expressions.
They were Ikki, Stella, and Touka!
That was right.
The other three competitors who had successfully advanced to the semifinals.
...
Touka defeated Shizuku once again.
For Shizuku, the result was especially cruel.
She had struggled desperately to reach this point and finally earned another chance to face Touka in an official match.
If she could overcome this one obstacle, her dream of meeting her brother on the tournament stage would be within reach.
But she lost.
For the second time, she fell to Touka—and once again, the defeat was overwhelming.
However, Touka had also been deeply affected after losing to Luke.
During this period, she had trained every bit as relentlessly as Shizuku.
Compared with Shizuku, Touka's improvement was even greater.
It could practically be called a qualitative transformation.
After all, Touka was preparing to challenge Luke for a second time.
Without a truly earth-shaking improvement, how could she possibly have regained the confidence to face him?
And so, Shizuku lost.
Her dream and her revenge were both shattered.
Now she could only sit in the stands and cheer for Luke and the others in the remaining matches.
It was cruel.
But that was reality.
On the other hand, Touka had taken a huge step toward her own goal by defeating Shizuku.
The semifinal pairings would be randomly drawn again.
If luck favored her, she might be matched directly against Luke.
At that point, Touka would finally be able to give everything she had toward her dream of surpassing him.
...
Another competitor had also stopped at the quarterfinals.
Ikki's opponent—Kurashiki Kuraudo.
Coincidentally, just like Shizuku, Kuraudo had also lost his revenge match.
Shizuku had wanted to defeat Touka so she could face Ikki.
Kuraudo had intended to defeat Ikki so he could face Luke.
Their circumstances and results were astonishingly similar, almost as though fate itself had arranged them.
The only difference was that Shizuku suffered a crushing defeat against Touka, while Kuraudo's loss to Ikki was nowhere near as one-sided.
That did not mean Touka was stronger than Ikki.
Nor did it mean Shizuku was particularly weak.
The reason was simply that Kuraudo's growth had been astonishing.
After losing consecutively to Luke and Ikki, Kuraudo had been forced to admit something he had resisted for years.
Swordsmanship was powerful.
In the end, he followed the advice Luke had once given him and chose to learn the sword properly.
Kuraudo had always relied almost entirely on his unique Godspeed Reflexes to overwhelm opponents.
Even he never expected himself to possess exceptional talent for swordsmanship.
Luke had recognized that talent from the beginning, which was precisely why he advised Kuraudo to study the sword.
If Luke had shown him the path, then the one who truly forged Kuraudo into an excellent swordsman was his current master.
The Last Samurai, Ayatsuji Kaito!
That was right.
Ayatsuji Kaito—the swordmaster whom Kuraudo had once defeated and severely injured because age had left him unable to overcome Godspeed Reflexes—had accepted Kuraudo as his disciple.
Kaito taught him swordsmanship and discovered his talent for dual-wielding.
He even passed down everything he knew, allowing Kuraudo to develop sword energy within an astonishingly short time.
Kuraudo did not disappoint Master Kaito.
By now, he had completely mastered Ayatsuji Ittou-Ryu and even developed a dual-wielding style more suited to himself.
Including the ultimate technique Ten'i Muhou, Kuraudo had mastered the entire Ayatsuji school.
In some ways, he resembled Kaito's true successor more than Kaito's own daughter, Ayatsuji Ayase.
The perfect combination of Godspeed Reflexes and Ten'i Muhou made Kuraudo nearly flawless when it came to defensive counterattacks.
Unfortunately, his opponent was Ikki.
Ikki's swordsmanship realm surpassed his.
His talent surpassed his.
He had spent far longer walking the path of the sword, and Luke's guidance had also allowed his overall strength to surpass Kuraudo's.
Truthfully, Kuraudo had no reason to feel ashamed of losing.
His situation against Ikki was actually far more difficult than Shizuku's against Touka.
That was precisely why Kuraudo's performance could be called miraculous.
Self-Taught Sword Style: Yamata-no-Orochi!
The Noble Art he had once used against Luke had now been fully integrated into his swordsmanship.
Kuraudo could even unleash it simultaneously with both blades.
In other words—
Sixteen strikes in a single instant!
It was a sword technique powerful beyond ordinary imagination.
Even Ikki failed to block it completely.
Although Kuraudo ultimately lost, he successfully injured Ikki with that ultimate technique.
It was undeniable proof of how much he had grown.
...
The conclusion of Luke and Sara's battle also marked the complete failure of Akatsuki Academy—and by extension, Rebellion's plan.
Whatever Minister Tsukikage had hoped to achieve by hiring Rebellion disappeared along with Sara, Akatsuki Academy's final remaining competitor.
However, no one cared about Akatsuki Academy anymore.
Every eye was now focused on Hagun Academy.
Falling Star Sword Emperor.
Another One.
Crimson Princess.
Raikiri.
Look at them.
Every single competitor who reached the semifinals was a student of Hagun Academy!
Even more absurdly, the only Hagun representative defeated so far, Kurogane Shizuku, had lost to Todo Touka.
In other words, Hagun had only lost to itself!
Even more terrifying, three of the four semifinalists were first-years.
Had Touka not defeated Shizuku, all four remaining competitors would have been Hagun first-year students.
This astonishing record shook the entire country.
Four first-years.
That meant Hagun's current domination of the top four could very well continue for another two years.
This was no longer merely a question of winning two or three consecutive championships.
Hagun Academy could completely dominate the Seven Star Sword Art Festival for three straight years.
Every Hagun teacher and student was ecstatic over the unprecedented achievement.
Even Kurono was no exception.
After all, this was her very first year as director, yet Hagun had already produced such a terrifying result.
The impact on her future career would be enormous.
Once these three years passed—or perhaps even after this year alone—Shinguuji Kurono would become one of the most influential figures in education.
Across Japan, and perhaps throughout the entire League, her voice in the education world would carry unparalleled weight.
However, unlike everyone else celebrating, Ikki, Stella, and Touka were not particularly happy.
Luke's battle against Sara had finally shown all three of them just how terrifying his true strength was.
Any one of them could become Luke's opponent in the next match.
But not a single one of the three was confident they could defeat the pure-white Valkyrie Sara had painted into existence.
And Luke—
He clearly had not gone all out in that battle.
…
…
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