Chapter 536: Next Match
On the podium, the host let out a hoarse roar.
At the venue, countless audience burst into a frenzy of applause and roaring.
Starting now, the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival has officially started!
"This year's Seven Stars Sword Art Festival is different from before because of the appearance of the Akatsuki Academy! In order to give you a more accurate live commentary and broadcast, the committee specially prepared a super-high magnification, high-definition camera to follow the whole process of the battle! We also invited Yuuzou Kaieda, the Thunder of Judgement, to come to act as our commentator!"
"Please take care of me."
"Haha, please take care of us, too, Kaieda-sensei! But let's not waste our time and look at the screen!"
Under the excited greeting of the host, the large screen embedded in the wall at the north end of the venue suddenly lit up.
"This year's battle schedule has been released! The battle will adopt a knockout system! Thirty-two players will have five rounds of battle in total, and at the end, the throne of the champion of the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival will be decided!
"Today will be the first battle of this tournament! Today's schedule has been revealed on screen, and the first battle will be Yui Tatara, the Unturning, from the Akatsuki Academy, against Kuraudo Kurashiki, Sword Eater, from the Donrou Academy! The battle will start in ten minutes!"
On the huge screen, the schedule of the battle was clearly shown to everyone.
Thirsty two players were divided into four blocks of A, B, C, and D, with eight players in each block.
A total of sixteen matches, with four matches in each block.
Neither member of the Hagun Academy had to go first, so no one stood up and watched the battle from their position.
Whether Tatara or Kurudo, they were all familiar with them.
Tatara was one thing since they had only met her yesterday, and she was also a member of the Akatsuki Academy, who had attacked them previously. She might have been defeated easily by Tsukasa, but it didn't mean she was weak.
Her ability was an absolute reflection.
She could reflect on any attacks that came in her direction.
The melee-type Blazers were simply helpless in front of her.
On the other hand, her opponent was the strongest student of the Donrou Academy, Kuraudo Kurashiki.
Kuraudo wasn't weak.
Tsukasa could attest to that, considering they had fought each other.
Blazer's ability aside, his "Marginal Counter," a talent he was born with, was simply a nightmare for every melee-type Blazer. This talent gave him the ability to move her body before her brain. In other words, her reflex was several times higher than a normal person.
If he wanted to, no one should be able to hit him.
Except if someone had an area-of-effect of attack like Stella.
The fight between Tatara and Kuraudo made him curious since those two had an ability that made them invincible among the melee-type Blazer.
As for who was stronger, while he could tell the answer, he was more cornered about the representatives on the D-block. It was completely different from the other block. Instead, D block had a nightmare difficulty, which made him speechless.
Aside from him, there was Ouma Kurogane and Amane Shinomiya, but this wasn't the end since there was Ikki Kurogane and also other top eight representatives last year.
When he counted the number and excluded himself, there were two A-Rank Blazers in the D-block.
Ikki was the same. He might only be an F-Rank Blazer, but his strength was comparable to A-Rank Blazer!
Even Ikki also thought the same when he was on the D-block.
Still, he was more cornered about on the C-block.
Moroboshi aside, he knew Touka's real opponent would be Sara Bloodlily.
Even Touka could see that, and her expression had been solemn when she saw Sara was on the same block as her.
What was Sara's ability?
Everyone was clear.
If Touka wanted to defeat Sara, she had to work harder.
This was also the reason why she had been holding his hand all this time.
"Those who will have to face me are really unfortunate..."
He said those words with a sigh, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.
"........" Everyone.
"........" Ikki.
"When did you become so narcissistic?" Nene kicked his calf but was stunned since she could feel as if she had kicked on the steel. 'Has he become even stronger?' She was shocked secretly.
"The first game has started!"
Shizuku glanced at Tsukasa secretly before she snorted and reminded everyone that the first match had started.
The first match was completely unrelated to them, but Tatara was someone from the Akatsuki Academy, so they naturally wanted to see how strong she was, considering she was beaten by Tsukasa so early before.
"Who do you think is going to win, Tsukasa?"
"Tatara."
His answer was simple.
Still, frankly, no matter who would win in this match, no one really cared.
The only problem was that Stella hadn't arrived, which made him worried.
On the circular stage with a diameter of 100 meters, the silhouettes of Tatara and Kuraudo emerged from the red and blue gates.
The two of them stood while facing each other. Their expressions were fierce, and each of them had summoned their Device.
"Game 1! Let's go ahead!"
The referee was a brunette beauty.
With a wave of her hand, the two Blazers immediately fought together.
Facing the first game, the spectators outside the stadium were enthusiastic, and there were endless cheers and roars.
"Isn't that Kurono-sensei?"
"She's the referee and also helps with the security in case something happens."
Tsukasa nodded and felt it was reasonable since Kurono's ability was time manipulation. It was simply a perfect ability to protect the representative and audience.
Still, he realized that Kuraudo had become stronger, but his brow raised.
"Is that Ayatsuji swordsmanship?"
"Ayatsuji swordsmanship? Is that the Last Samurai's swordsmanship?" Ikki suddenly asked.
"Yeah. It seems Kuraudo learned from Ayatsuji-ojiisan."
He instantly realized the swordsmanship that Kuraudo used was a technique from Ayatsuji school. He knew that Ayase Ayatsuji, his girlfriend, definitely wouldn't teach Kuraudo, so the only possibility was that he learned it from Ayatsuji Kaito, his father-in-law.
When he saw this, he shook his head, wondering how one would teach their opponent, but it had nothing to do with him since this might be what made the swordsman a weird existence.
When two swordsmen fought and clashed their swords, they could also become a friend who drank together.
He knew he might be part of the reason why Kuraudo learned from Kaito, but if Kuraudo wanted to win Tatara, it would be a different matter.
Kuraudo's attacks were like a beast, erratic, wild, and full of killing intent.
However, Tatara only snorted and reflected all of those attacks back at Kuraudo!
Kuraudo's "Marginal Counter" might be able to increase his reflex speed and Ayatsuji's swordsmanship also helped him to nullify any attacks. When they were combined, even a machine gun could be dodged easily by him.
Unfortunately, he met the wrong opponent.
If he was fighting a swordsman, he would be invincible.
Unfortunately, his opponent wasn't even a swordsman.
*BOOOOOM!*
All of Kuraudo's attacks were reflected, and they entered his body as he attacked at the same time.
His reflexes and technique might be able to dodge any attacks, but could he dodge his own attacks?
The answer was clear.
Kuraudo fell in disbelief.
"The battle is decided! The winner is Tatara Yui!"
Everyone was dumbfounded, especially when they saw how strong Tatara was.
However, Tatara ignored all of them, and her chainsaw was aimed in Tsukasa's direction as if she was trying to say, "you're next!"
Still, he only smiled, thinking that this girl was cute. He wondered what her expression would be when she realized every means of her attacks was useless in front of him.
The battle in this event might seem useless for him, but many unique abilities shown in this match made him interested.
Ten minutes later.
After the explanation of how Tatara won and the technique used by Kuraudo, the second match begins, followed by the third.
However, in the fourth match, there was trouble.
"The fourth round of the competition in the A-block has begun! Players from Hagun Academy, Crimson Princess, Stella Vermilion and Kyomon Academy, The Icy Laughter, and Mikoto Tsuruya, please enter the stage!"
As the host's enthusiastic voice sounded, a surge of cheers erupted in the audience.
"It's finally time for the Crimson Princess!"
"I have been looking forward to this match for a long time!"
"The holder of the strongest magic in the world. Let's see how strong she is!"
A heated discussion grew and became louder.
"Uh, unfortunately, there is bad news to inform everyone... until now, the committee hasn't received a report that the Crimson Princess came to the venue.
"In other words, she was absent..."
Instantly, the audience was filled with uproar.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone