"Another One."
For Ikki, who was a dedicated swordsman, this was a highly recognized and fitting title.
"But, in terms of pure swordsmanship alone, there is someone who doesn't lose to me."
Ayase froze for a moment, then realized. "Are you talking about Noah-kun?"
"Uh... yeah."
"Hmm." Ayase looked over at the younger boy. "Although he is strong, that person isn't a true swordsman, right? From his stance when holding a blade, you can tell that to him, a sword is just a tool."
As she spoke, she glanced over at him.
Noah didn't answer, taking it as a tacit admission.
He was not a swordsman.
He hadn't even studied formal swordsmanship, not even once.
Every technique he used was stolen via Truth Seeker from veteran adventurers in Orario. To him, a sword was merely a convenient vehicle for violence.
"Ayase-senpai..."
Ikki seemingly wasn't going to refuse anymore and was about to agree to her training request.
Right at this moment, the shop door was pushed open from the outside, and seven or eight people rushed in.
Among them were two extravagantly dressed girls, and the rest were loud, imposing guys.
"Hey, this is the shop I saw on Twibber earlier! I heard the desserts here are pretty good."
"Kuraudo, don't keep such a straight face."
"Shut up."
The group walked in mightily, being loud and acting like no one else was around.
At this time, Ayase suddenly lowered her head, her body freezing in place.
Noah felt an astonishing murderous aura radiate from her, and couldn't help but look at her a few more times.
"Senpai?" Ikki placed his hand on Ayase's shoulder.
Feeling her body trembling, he was worried.
At this time, the group that entered the shop noticed the situation in the corner booth.
One of them asked curiously, "Oh, those few over there... looking at their uniforms, they should be from Hagun Academy, right?"
"Hagun?"
"Ah... ah! Could that be...?"
"Haha! That's Ayase! Haven't seen her in a while!"
After recognizing Ayase, the group walked straight toward their table.
The leader was a tall, fierce-looking guy.
He wore a pair of sunglasses, and his uniform shirt was wide open, revealing a hideous tattoo on his abdomen.
His whole person exuded a wild, predatory aura!
Seeing them approach, Ayase seemed timid. She backed up a few steps and ended up sitting down heavily on the booth sofa.
Seeing this, Nagi Arisuin quickly steadied her. "Hey, hey, don't be so scared."
Ikki frowned, suddenly turned around to face the group, and reached out to block them.
"Hold on. You guys seem to be making my friend uncomfortable. Could I ask you not to come any closer?"
His arm blocked their path, drawing the group's full attention.
One of them stepped forward, almost pressing his face against Ikki's. "Hah? What did you just say, punk?"
Stella also looked at those people, feeling uncomfortable with the hostile atmosphere.
She didn't expect to encounter this kind of thing in a high-end dessert shop.
She saw that the other side was wearing matching uniforms, so she asked, "What's the deal with that group? Picking fights in broad daylight?"
Alice whispered, "That's the uniform of Donrou Academy. And the man leading them is bad news. That is Kuraudo Kurashiki. Not only is he Donrou's ace, he was also one of the top eight in last year's Seven Stars Sword Art Festival."
Seven Stars Sword Art Festival! Top Eight!
In other words, the guy was a national-level powerhouse!
"His official title is the Sword Eater."
Noah laughed out loud at this point.
"Sword Eater. What a flashy, chuunibyou title!"
'Hmm?'
Kuraudo now shifted his fierce gaze directly to Noah.
He squinted and said, "Hey, brat over there. You weren't just laughing at me, were you? Huh?"
He reached out to push Ikki, wanting to shove him aside to get to Noah.
But when his hand pressed against the other's chest, he found that Ikki had no intention of backing down.
Kuraudo gave a disdainful smirk, and suddenly punched Ikki squarely in the face, knocking him backward into the booth.
Whoosh—
A freezing aura suddenly spread throughout the shop.
This deep chill made Kuraudo's pupils shrink slightly.
He instantly stepped back and summoned his Device.
He looked warily at Shizuku, who was glaring death at him, cold sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Oho. I didn't expect there to be a capable chick here. Hey, don't just glare. If you are pissed off, bring it on!"
Summoning his Device in a public place without any scruples.
As Donrou Academy's ace, this man wasn't afraid of administrative punishments like "expulsion" at all.
Shizuku clicked her tongue and similarly summoned her Device, Yoishigure.
"You reckless bug. How dare you show such disrespect to Onii-sama. You must be prepared to die!"
"Hah! Its you who is going to be bitten to death by me!"
A magical fight between the two sides was about to break out at any moment.
Noah sighed and spoke up, "Could you guys not start a fight here? I do not want to write a police incident report with you. Please stop here or take it somewhere else outside."
Kuraudo was momentarily stunned.
His eyes widened, and as he looked at Noah, he was already angry at the dismissal!
Noah silently raised his left hand and lightly snapped his fingers.
Instantly, Kuraudo felt his jagged Device, Orochi, become as heavy as a thousand pounds.
His shoulders groaned under the sudden, crushing weight of his own weapon, and his whole body slammed down on one knee toward the floor, almost kneeling completely on the ground to avoid dislocating his arms!
With his weapon undergoing this abnormal change, he turned pale with fright.
He demanded, "What did you do, you bastard?!"
Noah turned around, still holding a coffee tray in one hand and the handle of a porcelain coffee cup in the other, looking indifferent.
He asked back, "What do you mean 'what did I do'? Donrou Academy student... why did you suddenly squat down like that? Are your legs numb? Or are you already regretting picking a fight with your opponent, so you want to start apologizing early?"
Having said that, he even put on a mocking appearance of listening attentively.
"Tch!"
Kuraudo instantly dismissed his Device, immediately feeling his whole body lighten as the gravity spell lost its physical target.
The next second, his bare fist was already right in front of Noah's face.
It had clearly reached right in front of him, yet the fist was a mere two millimeters short of touching the tip of Noah's nose.
Over just this tiny distance, Kuraudo felt as if tens of thousands of people behind him were pulling him back, he couldn't advance his knuckles even a fraction of an inch more!
In this moment, he realized it.
The brat in front of him was unfathomable.
...
"Just who exactly are you?"
Kuraudo knew he had met his match this time.
Among Blazers, there were many with unreasonable abilities.
If you fell victim to one without understanding the mechanics, there was almost no countermeasure.
Compared to facing bizarre opponents like this, Kuraudo vastly preferred fighting swordsmen.
An all-out, unreserved slugfest where both sides hacked at each other was the kind of battle he sought.
"Hey, let me go."
Although he was immobilized by the crushing gravity, he didn't submit.
Instead, he used a threatening tone, demanding Noah dispel this strange ability.
He maintained his frozen punching posture, his muscles straining against the invisible weight.
Noah completely ignored him, taking a slow sip of his coffee.
After a long while, Kuraudo finally clicked his tongue and said, "Fine, I get it. I will stop here. That should be enough, right?"
Noah tilted his head.
He asked doubtfully, "Are you talking to me? Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean."
"Hey! That's enough already, isn't it?! I just have to take back what I said earlier, right?!"
Kuraudo's underlying implication seemed to be that he didn't want to blow things out of proportion in public.
But Noah knew that was only because the man was currently at a severe disadvantage.
In reality, this punk was exactly as he appeared—a violent guy who couldn't stand being bored.
"Hey, what did you do to Kuraudo, you bastard?!" One of Kuraudo's lackeys suddenly summoned his Device.
It was a jagged rapier.
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