"And that's another one… out!"
There had been ten participants this time, all of them were guys as it seemed that Professor Tanzaki wanted to target the guys first and that was successful in crushing their spirits.
There were about 11 boys in Class 5 and 14 girls as well, equaling a total of 25 in their class.
"Next, Amagi Kōya!" Professor Tanzaki let out with a satisfied smile, barely containing his glee.
「Kōya's finally on!」
「I've been defending you in these comments, Kōya-kun, prove me right!」
「He's going to lose… he's a delinquent after all」
|___「Pushing agendas in the Big 26 is crazy」
「He looks so hot!」
|___「No lies there, I wish he was in our class」
From inside the main building, Miyuki was alone in an empty classroom, watching as the drone panned onto Kōya on screen.
Even though she had said they could no longer be friends because of her brother's orders, there was nothing stating that she couldn't watch the stream in private.
'I really hope you win, Kōya-kun!' she thought, her hands clasped together anxiously.
On the field, Mio watched him with pursed lips, her tired eyes tracking his every movement.
'My Plan A failed… whatever, Plan B is most certain to work.' she thought, her gaze never leaving him.
The same thing with Misora, who had a slight flush on her cheeks as she observed her future Knight.
Kōya could feel several gazes on him from multiple directions, and he let out a slow breath.
'Alright, let's use the new skills,' he thought.
While the boys were failing one after another, he had bought skills more fitting for this specific test from the System shop.
「Unique Skill: Calm Mind (C) has been used」
「Unique Skill: Enhanced Strength (C) has been used」
「Unique Skill: Enhanced Speed (C) has been used」
「Unique Skill: Sensory (C) has been used」
「Unique Sub-skill: Flowing Dragon's Sword has been used」
His body felt rejuvenated and stronger too, energy flooding through his muscles.
Since he had 140-something thousand FP left from HeroGod's generous gift, he had spent them on skills that would actually help with fighting and survival.
Calm Mind would keep his mind in the game at all times, preventing panic or emotional responses.
Enhanced Speed and Strength would make him physically superior to his current two-liner baseline.
As for Sensory, he needed it to navigate around the maze and detect threats before they appeared.
Flowing Dragon's Sword was one of the sub-skills from the Dragon Flowing Fighting Style, costing a whole 15,000 FP by itself.
'Though I think it's worth it…' he thought, feeling the knowledge settle into his muscle memory.
He was trying to draw attention to himself for future plans, though he couldn't use any pure magic skills yet since his mana control was still developing.
These would do for now.
"You may begin, Kōya-kun! And as for the rest of you watching, if Kōya-kun manages to make it into the maze… a holographic screen from the drone will pop up so you can see inside!"
Kōya cracked his neck with a sharp pop, rolled his shoulders, then burst into a run.
His first footstep left a small crater in the ground from the explosive force then, just as he reached the edge of the lava lake, he leapt.
… over the whole thing.
Yes… twenty-five meters, he leapt over the entire distance in a single bound and landed on the other side with perfect balance.
The heat from the lava hadn't even touched him.
Kōya stretched his hands, flexing his fingers experimentally.
'My bones feel very strong…' he thought as he looked at the weapon rack.
He chose a sword from the selection… a standard longsword with good balance.
The instant he gripped the handle, he felt the Flowing Dragon's Sword style flowing into his body like water finding its path.
He grinned slightly, then burst into the maze entrance without hesitation.
「Whoa! He's strong!」
「He just jumped over twenty-five meters, that ain't much… really」
|___「Class 2 student talking 😭✌️🥀」
「Are we ignoring the fact that he cleared the first part in seconds?」
「I lowkey wanted lava to get on him so I could see those abs」
|___「I feel you sis, a Class 5 student has no business being that handsome」
「My guy just said 'fuck the rocks' and jumped the whole lake 💀」
「Tanzaki-sensei's face rn lmaooo」
「Class 5 really had a monster hiding this whole time??」
「Kōya-kun is HIM」
Professor Tanzaki's mouth was practically on the ground, his carefully constructed plan already falling apart but he tapped a button on his watch with shaking fingers, and the holographic screen popped up for the students in the crowd, showing the maze interior.
…
Kōya ran through the maze with controlled speed, his enhanced senses feeding him information. Unlike with Takeshi, the monsters weren't gathered right at the start of the maze entrance.
He expanded his Sensory skill, and the world became clearer… a five-meter radius around him lit up with information.
The path ahead was cut into two directions, and he immediately took the right path without hesitation. His Sensory had detected that the left was a dead end with an ambush waiting.
He went through a few more similar mazes and the instant he broke through to a wider corridor, monsters were all around his peripheral vision.
His Danger Sense was working in tandem with his Sensory to keep him aware of all threats in a five-meter radius.
'Nice.' he thought with satisfaction.
The first monster was a Broodminder like the one he had battled in the Outer Zone on his first day, and he cut through it in an instant.
His sword moved with perfect form, the Flowing Dragon's Sword style guiding each motion.
A mechanical orb which was the Projection core fell out and hit the ground with a metallic clang.
The next instant, he cut through three Broodminders at once, his blade flowing between them like water.
He let their orbs fall as well, not bothering to collect them.
In the next instant, combining Enhanced Speed with the movement technique from his fighting style, he cut through several more monsters in a blur of motion.
Finally, he yanked his blade out of the last Rust Spitter, letting it dissolve back into a mechanical core.
「Passive Skill: Danger Sense has been activated」
From his Sensory, he could individually sense protrusions preparing to shoot out from the walls around him.
Hidden mechanisms like spring-loaded spikes meant to impale anyone who wasn't paying attention.
He moved forward with precise timing, and the next instant, spikes came from where he had sensed them… jamming into both sides of the walls where he'd just been standing.
He could feel more spikes about to protrude from the walls up ahead, so he activated Enhanced Speed as well as Speed Burst and shot past the distance.
The spikes hit the walls in his wake, missing him entirely.
He came to a stop, and the last of the spike traps ended behind him.
"I never really expected you to make it past the first stage of the trial, but here you are!" Professor Tanzaki's voice came over a microphone, trying to sound encouraging but clearly frustrated. "The second stage… The ground below you is open and gradually being filled with lava! You're meant to cross it before the lava reaches the top!"
Kōya looked down through the gaps in the floor.
Sure enough, molten lava was beginning to rise from below.
He looked at the climbing holes at the sides of the walls… handholds meant for students to use to cross but he had a feeling that the professor had rigged them already, just like everything else.
'Probably collapsing handholds or more spike traps,' he thought.
With that realization, he held his sword properly, adjusting his grip.
Among the techniques in Flowing Dragon's Sword, a sword-throwing style was included which was precise, elegant, and deadly.
He threw the sword with perfect form.
It spun through the air, and wood protrusions cut across its path, trying to intercept it.
But the sword passed them by with inches to spare, then landed on the other side of the chasm, embedding itself in the ground.
The protrusions covered the climbing path everywhere completely, confirming his suspicion.
If he had tried to climb through using the handholds, he would probably have been stabbed multiple times before being left to fall into the rising lava below.
'Does this guy remember that this is Class 5?' Kōya thought with genuine annoyance.
He really doubted Tanzaki cared at this point. Instead of climbing, he used a hand to test the wooden spike protrusions jutting from the walls.
They were strong and solid enough to support weight so he simply walked over the top of them like a bridge, balancing carefully, and got to the other side.
He plucked his sword out of the ground with a smooth motion.
"That was easier than I thought," he said aloud, knowing the drones were picking up his voice.
He crossed to the final section of the maze, leading to the ending of the whole trial.
Upon looking ahead at what awaited him, he realized the professor wasn't as completely crazy as he thought.
"This is your final trial! A game of tic-tac-toe with the best player in the whole of Class 2, Aoyagi Shin!" Professor Tanzaki announced with renewed confidence.
「LMAOOO TIC-TAC-TOE???」
「After all that he has to play a children's game」
「Aoyagi-senpai is undefeated though, this is actually hard」
「Kōya-kun's got this!」
「My money's on Shin-senpai, he's a tactical genius」
「Bro really cleared two death stages just to play tic-tac-toe 💀」
「This is the most anticlimactic final boss ever」
「Don't underestimate Aoyagi-senpai! He's never lost!」
「Kōya-kun fighting!!!」
「Class 2 pride on the line here」
Kōya walked up to the platform where a simple table and two chairs were set up. There was a large paper grid for tic-tac-toe, and markers sitting next to it.
Aoyagi Shin sat across from him, adjusting his glasses with a confident smirk.
He was handsome in that "intelligent rival" way, with sharp features and perfectly styled hair despite being outdoors.
"Amagi-kun… please feel free to start first," he said, his tone dripping with false politeness.
Kōya sat down, still catching his breath slightly from the previous stages. His tracksuit was covered in ash and soot from the maze, and his hands had minor scrapes but his mind was clear thanks to Calm Mind, the fatigue was pushed to the background.
He picked up the marker without hesitation and placed an X in the center square.
The statistically optimal opening move.
Aoyagi stared at the board for a long moment, his confident smirk faltering slightly.
'Center square,' he thought. 'The most basic opening in tic-tac-toe theory. But that's exactly what makes it suspicious. He knows I know it's basic, so by choosing it anyway, he's either supremely confident or…'
His thoughts spiraled further.
'Or he's betting that I'll overthink it. Which means this is a psychological trap designed to make me second-guess my response. But if he knows that I'll recognize it as a trap, then maybe the trap IS the assumption that it's a trap, and he's actually just playing normally…'
Aoyagi's hand hovered over the board, trembling slightly. Sweat began to form on his brow and Kōya just sat there, waiting patiently.
He yawned once, covering his mouth.
'Why is this taking so long?' he thought. 'It's just tic-tac-toe.'
After nearly two full minutes, Aoyagi finally placed his O in the top-left corner. An unusual defensive choice that gave up the optimal counter-position.
Kōya blinked at it, then shrugged and placed his X in the bottom-right corner, creating a diagonal threat.
Aoyagi's eyes widened behind his glasses.
'Bottom-right! He's going for the diagonal win, but that's too obvious. Unless… unless he wants me to block the diagonal so he can set up a fork elsewhere. This is the Nakamura Diagonal Feint! A Class 2 level strategy!'
There was no such thing as a "Nakamura Diagonal Feint."
Aoyagi had just made it up in his head.
But he was convinced it was real, and spent another minute calculating seventeen different response paths.
Meanwhile, Kōya was literally fighting to stay awake, the adrenaline from the previous stages wearing off.
Aoyagi finally placed his O in the middle-right, blocking a potential threat that didn't exist.
Kōya placed his X in the top-right corner.
Now he had two ways to win on his next turn.
A simple fork.
Aoyagi stared at the board, his face going pale.
'Wait… wait, WAIT!' his internal voice screamed.
No matter where he placed his next O, Kōya would win on the following turn.
He'd been so busy thinking about complex strategies and psychological warfare that he'd completely missed the simple two-way fork developing right in front of him.
"Im… impossible…" Aoyagi whispered, his hands shaking. "How did you… how did you see through all of my defensive calculations?"
Kōya looked at him with genuine confusion.
"I just… made a fork?" he said, pointing at the obvious winning positions. "You block one, I take the other."
"A FORK?!" Aoyagi stood up dramatically, his chair scraping backward. "You're saying that entire sequence was just… just basic tic-tac-toe principles?!"
"Yeah?" Kōya said, still confused. "What else would it be?"
Aoyagi collapsed back into his chair, staring at the board in disbelief.
The crowd watching the stream erupted.
「YOOOOOO KŌYA WON」
「AOYAGI-SENPAI JUST GOT DESTROYED」
「The 'undefeated genius' lost to basic tic-tac-toe I'm crying」
「Kōya-kun didn't even look like he was trying 💀」
「Senpai really overthought himself into a loss」
「CLASS 5 HAS A MONSTER」
「That wasn't even close lmao」
「Aoyagi-senpai sweating bullets while Kōya was literally yawning」
「My goat Kōya different fr」
「Tanzaki-sensei's plan in shambles」
Professor Tanzaki stood on his floating platform, his face red with barely contained rage.
"That… that was…" he stammered, unable to finish the sentence.
Aoyagi was still staring at the board, his worldview shattered.
"He must be a genius," he muttered to himself. "Every move was perfectly calculated to exploit my psychological tendencies. The way he manipulated my overthinking… masterful. I've never seen someone play at such a high level before."