Chapter 437: Stella Is Terrifyingly Powerful!
"This really is terrifying."
"If we had a few more youngsters like these two, we could retire early~"
Nene watched Luke and Stella facing each other on the stage, then glanced at the stands that had fallen strangely silent under the collision of their overwhelming presences.
She smiled in obvious amusement.
Kurono, sitting beside her, was nowhere near as cheerful.
Seeing the arena damaged before the match had even begun made Kurono feel a dull ache in her liver.
Nene's laughter beside her only became more irritating.
"Tch."
Kurono clicked her tongue and glared viciously at Nene.
"Didn't I already tell you? We need to watch this match closely at all times."
"We can't let anything happen to either of them. What's with this vacation-day attitude?"
Kurono was not merely venting her frustration.
Nene's current appearance really was going too far.
Two enormous buckets of popcorn sat beside her.
A plastic bag had been dumped onto the neighboring seat, stuffed full of snacks and drinks.
She looked exactly like an ordinary spectator settling in for entertainment.
"But today really is my day off. I even turned down the commentary job~"
Hearing her troublesome friend deliberately act cute, Kurono took a deep breath.
Suppressing the urge to hit her, she gritted her teeth.
"I'm an idiot for thinking you were finally being reliable for once."
"I-It was a joke! Just a joke, Kuro!"
"Stop glaring at me like that… It feels like you're about to blow my head off."
"Seriously… Are you even taking this seriously?"
Kurono rubbed her forehead and forced the throbbing vein there to settle.
Nene's frivolous attitude had never changed since their student days.
Seeing her remain exactly the same even now somehow made Kurono feel as though she alone had grown old.
That realization was extremely irritating.
Kurono unhappily kicked the support beneath the neighboring fixed seat.
"Hey."
"Huh?"
"…Give me some."
"What?!"
"Stop complaining and hand it over."
"Hey, wait—waaah! D-Don't steal it!"
...
Meanwhile, on the stage—
"Surpass me, huh?"
Luke looked at Laevateinn in Stella's hand and felt the extreme heat wrapped around its blade.
He could not help smiling.
Luke's treatment of Ikki and Stella, the original story's protagonists, could honestly be described as excessively favorable.
Part of that came from his natural fondness for them from his memories.
But the greater reason was precisely for this moment!
Luke had spared no effort in helping the two grow over the past year.
He taught them everything he could without reservation and helped remove obstacles from their paths whenever necessary.
And now—
It was finally time for him to harvest the fruits of that effort!
Regardless of whether he won or lost, this battle would push Luke toward the next level!
"Show me everything you've accomplished this year!"
Blue starlight gathered within Luke's hand.
In the next instant, Starfall Sword materialized.
At that exact moment, the referee's shout echoed throughout the venue.
"Begin!!!"
...
—!
The instant the match started, Luke vanished.
Using the principles of Twin-Wings Sword Style, he pushed his speed to the absolute limit in a single instant.
It was almost as though he had directly crossed space itself as he appeared before Stella!
A preemptive strike!
Unexpectedly, Luke was the one who attacked first to seize the initiative!
Luke, who had always remained calm and carried himself with invincible confidence, completely abandoned that attitude this time.
He unleashed his full strength without hesitation.
He did not underestimate Stella.
More importantly, he did not dare underestimate her.
As he had already acknowledged—
The current Stella was unquestionably one of the world's strongest.
Therefore—
"Dragon Stomp!"
Almost simultaneously with Luke's charge, Stella lifted one long, slender leg and slammed her foot violently into the ground.
Boom—!
The earth shook!
With a deafening explosion, the entire venue began trembling as though struck by an earthquake!
Screams erupted everywhere!
"W-What the hell is happening?!"
"A-An earthquake?! There's an earthquake!"
Stella's foot smashed straight through the arena despite its countless rounds of reinforcement.
Not only that, her enormous mana and monstrous physical strength tore the entire stage upward.
With Stella at the center, countless fragments of stone and debris exploded into the air!
The sight of a slender, beautiful girl producing such destruction with one elegant leg shocked everyone.
The contrast created an overwhelming visual impact.
Naturally, Stella had not used the attack merely to destroy the arena.
Luke leapt upward the instant the floor shattered, avoiding Dragon Stomp's impact.
However, his attempt to seize the initiative had also failed.
Twin-Wings Sword Style was indeed extraordinary.
But it merely erased the process of acceleration.
It was not genuine spatial movement.
The charging motion still existed.
With Luke's speed combined with Twin-Wings Sword Style, he could certainly move beyond ordinary eyesight or even perception.
But Stella was hardly slow herself.
With her seemingly endless mana reinforcing her body, she might not match Luke's godspeed, but she was nothing like his previous opponents who could not even follow him.
So in their opening exchange—
Stella, who only needed to stand still and attack the ground, was faster!
However, merely destroying the terrain was nowhere near enough to stop Luke's assault.
Blue starlight instantly gathered beneath his feet.
Luke formed a foothold in midair with Prana.
Before Dragon Stomp's aftermath had even faded, he launched his second charge with lightning speed!
—!
Once again, there was no sound.
Even while exerting force from an unnatural angle in midair, Luke could still use Twin-Wings Sword Style.
Prana enveloped his entire body.
He became a blue meteor streaking across the sky!
Then—
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAR—!!!"
An inhuman roar shook the heavens!
The girl, already prepared, opened her mouth.
The roar of a dragon erupted from within her.
Like the earth itself groaning.
Like raging waves.
Like thunder exploding overhead!
The deafening sound shook heaven and earth and seemed powerful enough to tear the atmosphere apart!
Noble Art: Bahamut Howl!
Mana poured into the roar without the slightest restraint.
Stella's abyss-like reserves surged outward alongside the sound, producing an incomparable storm and violent shockwave.
The debris and shattered pieces of the arena still flying through the air were instantly blasted away.
And Luke, caught among them—
Was no exception!
This was Stella's prepared two-hit opening combination.
A small appetizer she had specifically prepared for Luke.
Its purpose was simple.
Create as much distance as possible and bring Stella's unmatched firepower advantage to its absolute limit!
So the instant Luke was successfully blasted away, Stella did not pause for even a moment.
Once again, overwhelming mana erupted from her body and surged toward the sky!
…
…
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