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“Then leeeet’s get this match started!!”

Johnny, the announcer, bent backward almost like a bridge as he let out a piercing shout. At the very moment the signal to begin was given, Nile’s machine, armed with a sword, launched forward in a single breath, using its thruster system to close the distance to Estea.

“Take this!!”

Estea’s machine easily parried the incoming slash with her sword, spun around, and swept her blade upward from below.

At that exact moment, Heath’s spear came crashing down from above—but Estea dodged it with a graceful movement, causing the spear to miss by a hair’s breadth and narrowly avoiding a fatal strike herself.

“We’re not getting anywhere like this. We’ll hit her together!”
“Got it!”

Having roughly gauged Estea’s offensive capabilities from her movements, Nile and Heath decided to coordinate their assault. They came at her from above and below with sword and spear, but Estea refused to meet their attacks head-on. Instead, she began steadily retreating.

“Hey! Don’t you dare just run away!”

Frustrated that his opening attack had been so easily brushed aside, Nile shouted angrily and swept his sword horizontally at Estea’s machine. The instant Estea kicked back with her thrusters and retreated swiftly, the atmosphere in the arena shifted.

“Ms. Amelie’s moving!”

Maybe sensing it from the flow of aether, Alfe pointed toward Amelie’s machine, which had been hanging back. Just as Estea leapt to avoid a thrust from Heath’s spear aimed at her machine’s legs, Amelie fired a crossbow bolt straight at her.

“I’ve got you now!”

Bolts rained down on Estea’s predicted landing spot, aiming straight for her head.

Cries and shouts erupted from the stands—but Estea remained perfectly composed.

She didn’t make any large evasive maneuvers; instead, she simply tilted her machine’s head slightly, dodging the bolts by the narrowest of margins. With a few light, dance-like steps backward, she reset her stance and raised her sword once more.

“That was…”
“They’re cleverly combining attacks from close, mid, and long range… each using the weapon they’re best with,” I said.

As expected of the university league champions—their balanced teamwork was truly impressive.

“Next time, I’ll finish her off for sure.”
“We’ll crush that arrogance of yours—thinking you could take us on alone!”
“Let’s go, everyone!”

The three Burning Blaze machines shifted to an even fiercer offensive, attacking in perfect unison. Estea now had to deal with close-quarters sword and spear assaults and long-range crossbow fire at the same time. Forced onto the defensive, her machine was gradually pushed back, step by step.

“Ooohhh, would you look at thaaaat! Estea is completely on the defensive!! Was it too much to ask for her to take on the university league champions all on her owwwn!?”

Even as the announcer’s wild commentary echoed through the arena, the sharp metallic clangs of Nile’s sword and Heath’s spear striking against Estea’s defenses rang out in quick succession.

Estea parried the simultaneous attacks from Nile and Heath, deftly turning her machine again and again, while precisely shooting down the arrows fired by Amelie.

“Ha ha ha! What’s the matter? Nothing you can do, huh!?”

The one who reacted to Nile’s mocking voice was Hom.

“…That’s not it.”
“What’s not, Hom?”
“Lady Estea is simply gauging her opponents’ strength. Proof of that is—she hasn’t taken a single hit yet.”

At Hom’s quiet assertion, I turned my attention back to the magic projection displaying the match. Just as she said, Estea’s machine hadn’t suffered even a scratch. More than that, her quick, spinning evasions were beginning to look more and more like a graceful dance.

“She’s already seen through their attacks… That composure she’s showing is the signal. She’s finished sizing them up. She’ll be counterattacking any moment now.”

It must have reminded Hom of that duel from before. I noticed her voice tremble just slightly. We had thought it reckless to take on three opponents at once, but it turned out Estea not only had a winning strategy—she hadn’t even begun to fight seriously yet.

Good grief. Once again, we were reminded that we were up against a truly monstrous opponent. If anyone was being reckless here, it was us.

“All riiight, and we’re coming up ooon five minutes since the start of the match!! Who could have predicted such a one-sided defensive fight!? Is Estea really going to go down like this!?”
“Hey! Do something already!”
“I’ve got a fortune riding on youuuuuu!”

The restless spectators, frustrated by Estea’s prolonged defense, started hurling jeers from the stands. It was just as the boos grew loud enough to shake the arena that a sudden gust of wind swept across the colosseum.

“W-What the!?”
“It’s coming!”

A sudden gust of strong wind tore through the arena, sending spectators’ hats and flyers swirling through the air. But the three members of Burning Blaze, seated in their cockpits, failed to notice the change.

“Alright, let’s finish this! Line up, Heath, Amelie!”

At Nile’s command, Heath and Amelie quickly formed a formation. They split left and right to open a firing line for Amelie’s crossbow—and in that very instant.

“Whirlwind Blade, Fifth Blade—Sky-Shattering Gale.”

Estea’s clear, commanding voice rang out, and her machine began to be wrapped in a spiraling vortex of wind.

“Finally ready to fight back, huh! Too late, though—”
“No. It’s more than enough.”

At Estea’s calm retort, the very next moment—the wind-cloaked Estea machine boosted forward with a roar from its thrusters, charging straight at the three machines.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!”

Amelie fired her crossbow head-on, but the bolts were swept aside by the wind enveloping Estea’s machine, completely neutralizing her attack.

“It’s over.”
“Amelieeeeeee!!”

As Nile screamed, Estea’s machine closed in on Amelie’s in a flash, unleashing a blinding three-point thrust—destroying both arms and the head of Amelie’s machine in a single, fluid motion.

“Wha-what just happenedddddd!? In a flurry like a raging storm, Estea has completely wrecked Amelie’s machine!!”
“You’ll pay for that!”

In the place of the now-collapsing Amelie machine, the enraged Heath charged at Estea.

“Calm down, Heath!”

Nile’s warning echoed across the arena, but Heath’s desperate lunge was effortlessly evaded—Estea merely shifted her upper body slightly and dodged.

“You’re finished as well.”

With those words, Heath’s machine, wide open and defenseless, had both arms severed by a single, precise stroke of Estea’s blade.

“Uwaaaaah!? My arms, my aaaarms!!”

Screaming, Heath tried to escape Estea’s attack, but his movements faltered, and he ended up turning his back to her.

“Heathhhhhhh!”

Before Nile’s cry of despair could even finish, Estea’s machine closed in and, with a merciless follow-up strike, severed the head of Heath’s machine. A fountain of black oil sprayed out as Heath’s machine collapsed where it stood, no longer moving.

“Unbelievableeeeeeeee!! Following Amelie, Heath is also down and outttttt!! Estea’s relentless assault shows no signs of stoppinggggg!!”

In the stunned silence following the sudden turn of events, Johnny’s voice rang out sharply across the arena. As his signature energetic commentary echoed through the vast space, the spectators—who had been frozen in shock—snapped back to life and erupted into cheers.

“That was incredible!”
“What a fight!”
“Estea! Estea!”
“Estea! Estea! Estea!”

The boos and jeers that had filled the stands just moments before had completely turned into shouts of praise for Estea. The cheers that once supported Burning Blaze at the start of the exhibition match had all but disappeared.

It was proof of just how dramatic Estea’s counterattack had been.

Just as she had said before the match began, it was not arrogance, but true composure—and now she had proven it beyond any doubt.

“…Now it’s one-on-one. Estea, I see it clearly now. Your strength is on a whole different level from ours. But don’t hold back. I’m the leader and ace of the proud Burning Blaze.”
“Let’s make this a match we have no regrets about. As a warrior, you have my respect.”
“Let’s settle this in the next bout. No holding anything back.”
“…Agreed.”

Estea and Nile stood still, facing each other with their swords at the ready.

Even Johnny, realizing that words would only cheapen the moment, gripped his microphone tightly and remained silent, joining the rest of the audience in holding their breath as they watched.

“Here I go! This is my ultimate strikeeeeeeee!”

With a fierce roar, Nile pushed his thrusters to maximum output and charged straight at Estea.

“First Blade—”

Oddly enough, Estea’s chant, carried on a cool breeze, reached his ears with a strange clarity. The wind gathering around Estea’s blade began to shine, transforming into a blade of the rushing wind itself.

“Gale.”

Estea’s slash, unleashed to intercept Nile, met his sword head-on. In the instant their sword and blade clashed, Nile’s sword shattered into pieces.

“Well fought.”

Without hesitation, Estea delivered a second strike. Nile’s machine was cleanly sliced in two at the waist, and collapsed.

The severed upper body of Nile’s machine crashed onto the arena floor, and in that instant, the entire venue exploded with a chaotic mix of cheers, screams, and shouts.

Before we knew it, Alfe, Hom, and I had huddled together, unable to even blink as we stared, transfixed, at Estea’s battle.

“The winner—Esteaaaaaaaaaaa!! She has surpassed even the champions of the university leagueeeee!! Absolute! Truly ab-so-luuuuuuuteee dominationnnnn!!”
“Estea! Estea! Estea!”

With Johnny’s roaring announcement of her victory, the entire arena chanted Estea’s name. Surrounded by the wild enthusiasm of the crowd, Estea sheathed her blade right where she stood, slowly swept her gaze around the arena, and then bowed deeply.

“She’s a terrifying person…”

Hom muttered softly, and I nodded with a wry smile.

After watching today’s exhibition match, I finally understood. Estea wasn’t just the strongest student in the high school division. She was an absolute force of nature—one without equal in the entire academy¹.

1. Robinxen: That’s cool and all but are we going to get an explanation for why she’s so busted stat wise? Is this nobility privilege? Elf privilege? Just her unique busted-ness? The power scaling is currently a bit whack here, like the world as it stands has been established that overcoming Estea in this competition means that everyone else in existence is going to be a cake walk.

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