Anime, Girlfriend Shokuhou Misaki

Ikki Kurogane also instantly understood what Makoto Haramura meant.

“It seems that's right.”

As fellow Blazers, Ikki Kurogane could naturally perceive and be alert to the same things as Makoto Haramura.

Prolonged fighting would consume a large amount of stamina and mana.

If any unexpected events were to occur next, it would be easy to be unable to cope due to physical limitations.

“But in that case, it would be advantageous to me. Is that okay?”

This proposal was right up Ikki Kurogane's alley.

Facing a talented individual like Makoto Haramura, only his swordsmanship could be considered exquisite; in other aspects, he would quickly be crushed by Makoto Haramura.

But if it was a one-on-one duel, he could instantly release all of his power, briefly elevating his mana, strength, speed, and so on to the same level as Makoto Haramura.

“Of course, it's okay.”

“As it happens, I also have a new sword technique that I would like you to experience.”

“I couldn't ask for more.”

Ikki Kurogane took a deep breath.

“The match begins.”

Kurono Shinguuji directly announced the start of the match and then left the stage.

The expression on Ikki Kurogane's face and the fighting spirit in his eyes disappeared without a trace at that moment, and his whole person became as calm as water.

But it was also at that moment that the oppressive feeling emanating from him was several times stronger than before.

Gathering all emotions.

Gathering all feelings.

Gathering all strength.

Gathering all spirit.

Gathering all mana.

All of it was condensed into this one strike, all of it compressed into this one strike.

This was the strongest strike he had used on Sara a few days ago, the one he could unleash after entering the Blazer form.

Azure flames blazed fiercely on Ikki Kurogane's body.

The colors that should have been in his pupils were also lost, turning the entire world in his eyes into black and white.

“A victory forcibly converged into one strike, truly remarkable.”

Makoto Haramura's body also became elusive.

It was as if his existence had suddenly disappeared from the world, or rather, had become insignificant and not worth capturing.

“—『Final Secret Sword Art: Shadow Chaser』!”

Constantly compressing his mana, merging the realm of space into the edge of the blade.

The light of the sword, shone brightly.

“—『Extreme Death Seven Nights』!”

When the cold light of the blade lit up in this space, the space directly fractured.

Empowered by a higher level of spatial realm, Makoto Haramura's slash had transcended its original extent.

At that moment, the speed of the slash seemed to have transcended time.

Sonic speed?

No, it wasn't.

Light speed?

No, it wasn't.

This was a strike that had transcended the concept of speed.

But what was certain was that Ikki Kurogane's slash was Shadow Chaser, faster than the speed of shadows.

Then Makoto Haramura's slash was unfolding the fault lines of this space.

It was a completely sure-hit attack, an attack that was absolutely impossible to dodge.

At this distance, having just launched an attack, with the very act of movement being directly seen through...

There was absolutely no way for Ikki Kurogane to dodge.

“Clang—”

The soft hum of the blade was like a tide, surging through this heaven and earth.

The brilliance of the slash flashed past, making people feel as if everything in front of them had been easily cut open.

“Crack—”

It seemed that something had cracked.

The ground cracked.

The protective mana barrier cracked.

More importantly, Ikki Kurogane's Device broke.

The spatial blade did not cut Ikki Kurogane's body, but directly cut the Intetsu in Ikki Kurogane's hand in two.

“Beautiful!”

The severed half of the blade slowly fell to the ground. Ikki Kurogane looked at the Intetsu in his hand in surprise, and then slowly uttered these words.

What control.

Such a slash was deliberately controlled to cut at his Intetsu.

If it had slashed at his body, even he would have suffered a serious injury.

However, now.

Needle-like pain constantly pierced his cerebral cortex. It was not one needle, but thousands, tens of thousands of needles piercing his brain at the same time.

“Bang—!”

Ikki Kurogane fell heavily to the ground.

The Intetsu in his hand turned back into magical particles and dissipated into the world.

A Device, especially a Device condensed into a physical form, felt like condensing one's soul outside the body.

When the Device was damaged or destroyed, one's own soul would also be damaged.

Especially when it was directly and completely severed, the damage to the soul was even more severe.

“Ha… huff…”

Makoto Haramura also breathed a long sigh of relief after seeing Ikki Kurogane fall to the ground.

“Seven tenths of my mana was consumed.”

“As expected, even if my ability has evolved, forcibly using mana to open up space is still a difficult task.”

“However, if I had developed this move when fighting Stella, victory would have been easier.”

Makoto Haramura slowly closed his eyes. The golden clock phantom disappeared behind him, and the katana in his hand disappeared at the same time.

Finally, he slowly raised his right hand to the sky.

“The winner, the victor is decided!!”

Kurono Shinguuji, who had also been stunned for a moment, came back to her senses and shouted excitedly.

The medical team, who had been prepared and on standby, rushed onto the arena and carried Ikki Kurogane onto a stretcher.

“Here it comes, here it comes.”

“The winner, the victor is decided! The winner is Makoto Haramura.”

At the same time, the host's extremely excited voice spread throughout the venue through the broadcast.

“After a long battle, after thirty dazzling and fierce battles, countless reversals have been presented here, countless wonderful moments have been presented here! Witnessed by tens of millions of viewers, the champion of this year's Seven Star Sword Art Festival has finally been born here.”

“That is Makoto Haramura from Hagun Academy. He is the new 『Seven Star Sword King』.”

“Oooooooooh!!”

The earth-shattering cheers resounded throughout the battlefield, and wave after wave of sound spread the shouts in all directions.

Even the opponents who had once lost to these two stood up, all showing happy smiles and offering respectful applause.

“This kid.”

The old man on the audience stand, Nanjō Hikojirō, suddenly widened his eyes.

The aura on his body instantly weakened slightly.

“I didn't expect that even I would be disturbed.”

Makoto Haramura's sword technique was also a sword that interfered with the cause and effect of fate.

However, Ikki Kurogane's move was locked onto one person. The move created by Makoto Haramura was not a single target attack, but a large-scale attack.

It was precisely because of this that they, who were not in the battle circle, were still attacked by Makoto Haramura.

Nanjō Hikojirō turned his gaze to Edelweiss beside him.

Seeing Edelweiss's interested expression, he sighed helplessly.

“This is really, this old man is really old.”

He was clearly disturbed, but Edelweiss seemed to be fine. This really made Nanjō Hikojirō, the ninety-year-old Blazer senior, feel unhappy.

“As expected, I should find a chance to try it out with him.”

Edelweiss doesn't have many hobbies in life.

One is to eat sweets at will and to her heart's content.

When she was a child, she ate so many sweets that she became too fat, and finally had no choice but to start practicing swordsmanship.

The other is to further improve her swordsmanship.

Although she started practicing this thing to lose weight.

But she did like the process of her swordsmanship constantly growing, but she had already grown to the pinnacle of swordsmanship ten years ago.

She has grown to the top of swordsmanship in this world.

She can't improve anymore, she has already stood on the top of the mountain.

So, even if Makoto Haramura's spatial swordsmanship can't help her improve, it may be able to help her by analogy.

“So, what about that guy?”

Nanjō Hikojirō did not forget about the uninvited guest. He quickly turned his gaze away from Edelweiss and moved it to the man in the black cloak.

“He's already gone.”

Whether it was the previous position or other positions.

Nanjō Hikojirō could no longer find the man's figure, which showed that he had already left the venue.

“I don't know if he wants to continue to plan something, or just call it a day.”

“In short, we can only take it one step at a time.”

Nanjō Hikojirō lowered his old waist.

“I feel sorry for my old bones. I'm already this old, and I still have to go to the battlefield.”

…

Late at night, inside the hotel.

The main competition of the Seven Star Sword Art Festival has officially ended. The end of this competition concluded with Makoto Haramura winning.

As a side note, in the match to decide the third place, Sara automatically chose to abstain, giving the third place to Stella.