Chapter 435: The Sleeping Dragon!
Ikki and Touka were both speed-oriented swordsmen, so their duel ended remarkably quickly.
Just as Luke had expected, Ikki emerged victorious.
Touka displayed astonishing strength, but in the end, she still could not defeat Ikki after all the guidance Luke had given him.
With the first match concluded, the second was about to begin.
There was very little time between the two matches, and Ikki and Touka had not caused much damage to the arena.
So Luke wasted no time and went directly to the waiting room.
Meanwhile…
Kurono arrived at a restaurant inside Bay Dome.
The restaurant should normally have been open to the public, but its doors were tightly shut.
Through the glass walls, numerous figures could still be seen bustling around inside.
Despite having no customers and keeping its doors locked, every employee was constantly moving in and out of the elevators.
Kurono headed directly to the top floor.
The instant she entered the largest banquet hall, a familiar voice reached her ears.
"Fuhahaha! The people down there look like ants crawling across the ground~!"
Saikyou Nene stood on the balcony of the top-floor banquet hall, gazing at the enormous line stretching from the station all the way to Bay Dome.
Kurono walked over to a nearby sofa and sat down, giving Nene a deeply unimpressed look.
"What the hell are you shouting about?"
"Oh, come on. You know how it is. When you look down at crowds from somewhere high up, you just feel like shouting something like that. It's instinct."
"Humans do not have that bizarre instinct."
"Seriously?!"
"Sigh…"
Kurono quietly sighed and decided to abandon the topic.
She pulled a slim cigarette from her suit pocket, lit it, and placed it between her lips before changing the subject.
"You didn't accept the commentary job for the remaining matches?"
"It pays pretty well."
"Oh, that? My beloved disciple is fighting, so naturally I want to watch properly from the audience."
"B-Beloved disciple… You mean Luke?"
"Who the hell would take him as a disciple?!"
Nene immediately jumped up, looking deeply offended.
"Only a monster could teach that little monster! I'm talking about Stella!"
Kurono took a drag from her cigarette and glanced at Nene.
"You've only trained her for a short while, yet you're already calling her your beloved disciple…"
"I'd normally make fun of you for that, but her transformation really has been astonishing."
Once the conversation turned serious, Nene dropped her playful expression and sighed with emotion.
"I was shocked too."
"I pushed things a little recklessly, but I never expected to awaken a monster like this…"
"A monster, huh…"
"Now that I think about it, that ridiculous appetite of hers is probably another effect of her dragon power."
As she spoke, Kurono glanced toward the center of the banquet hall.
Several small mountains of empty dishes had already accumulated there.
In a corner near the wall, the red-haired girl responsible for all of it was lying on a bed.
Crimson Princess Stella Vermillion lay curled up like an infant, sleeping deeply.
"…Nene, what do you think about today's match?"
"Hmm…"
Nene considered it for a moment before finally answering.
"It should be a good fight."
"Their strengths are completely different."
"Absolute power against extreme technique."
"Both are unquestionably exceptional Mage-Knights, and neither will go down easily."
"If nothing unexpected happens, it'll probably become an extremely high-level fight to the death."
"A fight to the death…"
Kurono's feelings became somewhat complicated.
"Yeah."
"One mistake, and one of them could genuinely die."
"A true world-class clash… just like when you and I fought back then."
Nene spoke jokingly, but the tension in her eyes matched Kurono's perfectly.
Memories immediately surfaced.
Their own era of the Seven Star Sword Art Festival.
The clash between World Clock and Yaksha Princess was still spoken of even today.
Back then, only one thought had echoed within their hearts.
'Defeat my opponent!'
'Even if I have to throw away my life!'
That had been Nene's mindset.
And she knew Kurono had felt exactly the same.
At this moment, Luke and Stella resembled their younger selves far too closely.
"Still… the one in trouble is probably Luke."
"Oh?"
"Does our great Yaksha Princess believe the Crimson Princess has the advantage?"
"Isn't that obvious? Just look at her."
"Honestly, I can't even imagine this princess losing right now."
Nene glanced toward the sleeping Stella.
The girl slept incredibly deeply.
Even her breathing was faint.
There was not a single unnecessary movement.
She was locking every possible ounce of strength inside her body.
From the moment she learned that Luke would be her opponent, Stella had entered this state.
Every bit of accumulated strength was being preserved for the next match.
She intended to release everything she possessed in one explosive burst, without holding anything back!
To Kurono and Nene, the sleeping red-haired girl looked less like a human and more like an enormous crimson dragon wrapped in flames.
The sheer weight of her presence was almost suffocating even from a glance.
"This presence…"
"It's already no weaker than hers."
Kurono naturally understood who Nene meant by "her."
Both of them had personally seen and felt the terror of someone standing at the summit of the world.
At least while no one was fighting, Stella's current presence was in no way inferior to that summit they had once witnessed.
In fact, because of the primal suppression belonging to a dragon at the top of the food chain, Stella's pure presence might even be stronger.
'She can't lose.'
Kurono had to admit that this thought truly appeared in her mind the instant she saw Stella like this.
However, another image suddenly flashed through her thoughts.
A pure-white figure floating defeated upon the surface of the water.
That memory inexplicably gave rise to another thought.
'Presence doesn't decide everything.'
Kurono paused.
Her lips parted, but in the end, she said nothing to contradict Nene.
After a moment of silence, she suppressed the chaotic emotions within herself and spoke.
"Either way, anyone trying to intervene in this match may have to risk their life."
"We can't leave that job to ordinary Mage-Knights."
"If something goes wrong, only you and I can stop them…"
"Just like Nangou-sensei and Kurogane-sensei risked their lives to stop us back then."
Kurono took another drag from her cigarette.
"This time, it's our turn."
"Of course I know."
Nene nodded without the slightest complaint.
Part of the reason she had refused the commentary job was precisely because of this.
There was no need for Kurono to remind her.
Compared with that, however, there was something else much more important right now.
Nene suddenly looked at Kurono with an extremely serious expression.
"Hey, Kuro."
"Hmm? What?"
"Smoking is prohibited in here~"
"…"
"Next time, tell me before I light it."
"My, my. I'll try my best to remember~"
Watching Kurono's awkward expression, Nene flashed a mischievous grin.
…
…
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