Kurogane Family Estate.
After half a month, Shizuku returned home for the first time.
In the courtyard, she summoned her Device, Yoishigure, recalling her previous defeat.
'A five-meter radius. If I had known this beforehand, could I have won?'
Lost in thought, the girl opened her eyes and looked beyond the courtyard.
There stood a fat man, watching her intently. Noticing her gaze, the man promptly removed his hat and bowed politely.
"Akaza... Sir."
The reluctance in her tone was unmistakable, and Shizuku made no attempt to hide it.
"Miss Shizuku, I was deeply concerned by your defeat in the Selection Battle, so I came to check on you personally," Mamoru Akaza said with a fawning smile that made one's skin crawl.
Shizuku snorted coldly. "Noah-kun is strong. My loss was due to my own inadequacy, and I have no lingering regrets about it."
'Hmm?'
Akaza's smile froze at her words.
His lips twitched several times, but he managed to suppress the urge to scold the young girl. He adjusted his composure.
"Miss Shizuku, to be frank, I believe the Clan Head must be deeply disappointed. As a B-Rank Knight—no, as a Blazer of the Kurogane Family—how could you possibly lose to a C-Rank Knight from some backwater country?"
"What?!" Shizuku gritted her teeth.
She never imagined this fat pig would dare speak to her like this.
'A mere Branch Family member dare!'
"I specifically arranged for you to face the Calamity as your opponent, expecting you to crush him and make him regret ever underestimating the Kurogane Family's prestige. Yet you still lost."
Shizuku realized the weight behind his words.
'Arranged?'
'The Kurogane Family... Could it be...?'
"You actually did something like that!" Shizuku seethed with rage.
Not because she had been forced to face a powerful opponent.
But because he had abused the Kurogane Family's political influence to interfere with the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival's Selection Battles!
The Chairwoman had already purged so many corrupt elements from the faculty.
Yet there were still those in the school willing to help the Kurogane Family cheat!
"Miss Shizuku, your loss is entirely due to—"
"It's because you have grown too close to that worthless brar that you have been affected by him."
"Shut your mouth!"
Shizuku aimed her Device at Akaza and unleashed a Water Prison Bullet.
"Shizuku, what are you doing?" A voice rang out from behind her.
More than authoritative, the voice carried an air of cold indifference and arrogance.
Yet this man's influence over Shizuku was immense.
Her intense turmoil caused her magic control to falter.
The Water Prison Bullet, originally aimed at Akaza, veered off course, soaring into the sky and exploding harmlessly.
Shizuku's clothes and body were drenched.
She turned to face the man.
"Father..."
The man who had appeared was Itsuki Kurogane, the biological father of Ikki and Shizuku.
Itsuki cast a cold glance at Shizuku before turning his attention to Akaza.
"Akaza, what are you doing here?"
Akaza broke into a cold sweat. He replied respectfully, "I was merely checking on Miss Shizuku's well-being and asking about that man..."
"Hmm?" Itsuki frowned, pressing further. "Are you talking about Ikki?"
Akaza lowered his head even further. "Yes."
A moment of silence hung in the air.
Itsuki spoke in a cold, indifferent tone. "Is he still making those futile efforts? How pathetic. I never imagined my own son would become a disruptor of order."
"What?!" Shizuku clenched her fists.
She shouted, "My brother is amazing! Why can't you be proud of him?! Futile efforts? Pathetic? Is that something a father should say?!"
Itsuki stared at his daughter, who was now roaring at him.
He could see the anger, even hatred, burning in her eyes.
'So that's how it is. As a father, I seem to be failing.'
But he was the branch director of the League's Japan Branch!
The Kurogane Family was a clan of honor, it could not tolerate any stain on its reputation.
"Go!"
He turned away from his daughter and addressed Akaza: "Akaza, why are you wasting time here? Go do what you are supposed to do."
The man's gaze was sharp, his tone stern, but what chilled Shizuku was the icy rationality that radiated from him.
"Uh, yes, sir! I will!" Akaza swallowed hard and hurried away.
Shizuku realized they were planning to harm Ikki again.
"Wait!" she cried out, trying to stop Akaza from leaving, but Itsuki's stern voice cut through the air.
"Shizuku! You are confined to your room for the next four days!"
"What?! Father!"
Watching her father's merciless back, the girl collapsed to the ground, her clothes quickly becoming muddy.
Though she was a first-rate water user, she felt cold.
Returning to her room, she discovered her student handbook and phone were missing. After frantically searching, she confirmed they were gone.
It wasn't that they were missing—they had been taken.
The realization struck her instantly. Just like what had happened to her brother back then.
That bastard Akaza planned to use the Kurogane Family's power to manipulate the Selection Battle's participant assignments!
He was targeting her brother!
With her brother's strength, he wouldn't lose even to third-year students or the Student Council.
The only ones he truly needed to fear were a select few.
And if she had to guess which of them was most likely to be involved, it could only be...
"The Calamity."
'Damn it!'
'Brother is also that man's child! How could he do this?!'
'No, I have to help him!'
Shizuku grabbed the door handle and yanked with all her might.
The door didn't budge.
Her expression darkened as she pulled again, even channeling her magic power, but the heavy oak door remained unyielding.
"This is... a sealing Noble Art."
Had her father gone this far to prevent her from warning her brother?
"Damn it!"
Shizuku pounded fiercely on the door, but the two Kurogane Clan members standing guard outside remained unmoved.
She turned her gaze to the window, lifted a heavy chair, and smashed it against the glass.
But before the chair could make contact, an invisible magical force repelled her violently.
Seeing the chair shatter from the counter-impact, her anger surged, mixed with growing desperation.
'If I could just tell the Chairwoman, she would never let this go unanswered. She is a true educator and would never tolerate such abuse of power by scum like him running rampant at Hagun Academy.'
The reason they've kept her locked up for four days must be because the battle participants will be decided tomorrow.
In just three more days, the competition will be over, and everything will be irreversible.
It is not that she lacks faith in her brother.
As someone who personally experienced the Calamity, she senses that her opponent still has hidden cards he hasn't revealed yet.
'Brother's abilities are being countered.'
'He might actually lose!'
And if he lost, his will could truly be crushed.
She couldn't bear to see her brother in despair.
"LET ME OUT!"
...
That evening, while Noah was having dinner with Stella back at the dorms, he received a new match notification on his student handbook.
The message read: New Match: Noah vs. Ikki Kurogane
The school also updated the official website with the latest match schedule.
Noah stared at the email, lost in thought.
Noticing his blank gaze, Stella couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"
Noah snapped out of his reverie and handed his device to the girl.
A moment later, Stella gasped in surprise.
"Your opponent this time is Kurogane-kun?!"
"Yeah."
"Aren't you surprised?"
Stella found the coincidence too convenient.
Both Kurogane siblings? Adding to the previous matches, Noah seemed to be facing only top-tier opponents lately, unlike her, who had been one-shotting every random opponent.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised. It's a round-robin tournament, after all. But..."
Noah furrowed his brow.
He couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this than met the eye.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Noah muttered, puffing out his cheeks.
The girl exclaimed in a panic, "Huh? No way! I already took a shower!"
"..."
What he actually meant was that he sensed a foul stench of conspiracy in the air.
"You misunderstand, Stella. I wasn't talking about bad smell. On the contrary, I'm curious why your sweat always carries such an unusual fragrance."
"D-don't say that! It's so embarrassing..."
Noah wasn't just flirting with her.
It was said in Orario that Dragon's blood and sweat emitted an astonishingly unique, sweet fragrance.
As Stella was the physical embodiment of a Dragon concept, he wondered if she possessed a similar biological characteristic.
He couldn't resist the urge to perform an Appraisal to see the physical results.
...
In the Chairwoman's office, Kurono Shinguuji frowned deeply as she reviewed the latest battle information on her monitor.
She had once made an exceptionally "strict" demand of a certain young man.
Due to his background, he had been unfairly treated by the League and denied graduation. Of course, as a teacher, she wasn't naive enough to act out of mere sympathy.
On the contrary, she had hoped to make him give up or force him to awaken his true potential.
The result filled her with pride.
As the third-ranked A-Rank Mage-Knight in the world, she had been defeated by a mere F-Rank first-year student in a private duel.
Though she had held back, she couldn't deny the boy's potential.
But now...
Class 1-1: Noah vs. Class 1-1: Ikki Kurogane.
"Is this fate?"
Kurono stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette in her hand.
For the first time, even nicotine couldn't soothe her unease.