"Fine. It seems I have no choice," Haruki muttered, nodding slowly.
He was prepared to accept the duel, but he noticed Julis staring at him with a look of utter bewilderment.
"What now?" Haruki asked.
"Don't tell me you intend to fight with that... physical blade," Julis said, gesturing toward his sword. "Do you not have a Lux? Where is your activation device?"
"I don't have one of those," Haruki replied simply.
He knew what a Lux was from the System's data: specialized weapons powered by Mana-rich ores that catalyzed a Genestella's Star Pulse. But Haruki didn't use Star Pulse, and he certainly didn't need a battery to swing his sword.
Julis's expression shifted from confusion to pure disdain. To her, a student without a Lux was either a complete amateur or a fool. Still, she had a lesson to teach him. She reached for a cylindrical device hanging from her belt.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," she said. She funneled her energy into the device, and a glowing, rapier-like beam of heat and light ignited.
"Ready?" Julis held her blade with a duelist's elegance, her eyes locked on Haruki.
"Whenever you are."
Haruki placed his hand over his school crest. As the red light of the 'Red Lotus' flared, the duel was officially registered. Almost instantly, notifications flooded the Seidokan Academy network.
"Wait, what? A duel?"
"Rank 5, the Glühen Rose, is fighting someone right now!"
"Against who? A Page One Twelve member?"
"No, it's a new face... Haruki Aizawa? Never heard of him. He's not even in the Nameless Records."
"A complete nobody? Why would Julis waste her time?"
"I bet he doesn't last a minute. She's merciless."
"I'll take the under on sixty seconds. Putting 500 points on Julis."
The campus was buzzing. Within minutes, a crowd of students had tracked the signal and surrounded the training courtyard. On the network, betting pools were established with astronomical odds against Haruki. In Seidokan, Julis was a celebrity—a peerless combatant who had fought her way to the top. To them, Haruki was just a sacrificial lamb.
The two moved to the designated combat arena, a high-tech platform designed to withstand Genestella powers. Under the roar of the crowd, Julis raised her glowing Lux. Haruki simply gripped Onikiri, his expression flat and unbothered.
His lack of tension infuriated her.
"—Bloom! Sharpened Spear White Flame Flower!" Julis cried, snapping her wrist as if she were a conductor.
A massive, blue-white spear of fire erupted from the tip of her blade, screaming through the air toward Haruki like a surface-to-air missile.
Haruki didn't dodge.
CLANG!
He delivered a single, focused slash. The fire spear didn't explode; it was physically batted aside, the mana core of the spell shattered by the sheer "vibration" of Haruki's blade. The blue flames dissolved into harmless particles.
"What!?"
The crowd went silent.
"He just... hit the fire?"
"Did the Princess miss?"
"No, he actually parried the flame! Is that even possible?"
Julis's brow furrowed. She hadn't been holding back, yet her attack had been treated like a mild annoyance. The way Haruki moved—so efficient, so devoid of wasted energy—hit her with a sense of vertigo.
She realized her standard long-range bombardment wouldn't work. This man was cutting her spells out of the air. It was a direct insult to her pride as a Strega.
"Fine. Let's see how you handle this!"
Julis raised her blade toward the sky. The temperature in the arena skyrocketed, the air shimmering as she concentrated a massive amount of Star Pulse into a single point. It was a level of energy control Haruki hadn't seen before—perfect, clinical, and instinctive.
"—Bloom! Six-Petal Burst Flare!"
A sphere of fire the size of a car materialized above her, glowing with the intensity of a miniature sun.
The fire erupted with a roar that drowned out the crowd. The heat was so intense the nearest students had to shield their eyes.
Haruki watched the sphere. He noticed that unlike the Blazers from the Failed Knight world, who used their energy to create a "cloak" of defense, the Genestella here focused entirely on output. Their control was superior, but their personal defense was fragile. They were "Glass Cannons."
If he could close the gap, she was finished.
BOOM!
The fireball hurtled toward him. Haruki initially intended to dodge, but Julis was ahead of him. The moment the fire reached his range, she clenched her fist.
"BURST!"
The sphere detonated from within, creating a localized inferno that engulfed the entire center of the arena. A wall of fire swept across the platform, leaving no room to escape.
Julis stood back, shielding her face from the wind of her own explosion. She felt a surge of triumph; at this range, no human could remain unharmed.
But as the smoke began to swirl and dissipate, a sharp, silver arc cut through the flames.
WHOOSH!
Haruki emerged from the fire. His uniform was slightly singed, but his skin was untouched. His Greatsword was glowing with a faint, pulsing light—he had used the Sense of Fluctuation to "ride" the shockwave, letting the kinetic energy pass around him rather than through him.
"Impossible!" Julis gasped.
Not only was he alive, but he was moving toward her with a speed that blurred her vision.
Haruki felt the rhythm of her fire. He was one step away from mastering the vibration of the element itself, but for now, he relied on his fundamental arts.
"Ground-Ripper Wave Sword!"
He delivered a low, sweeping horizontal slash.
RUMBLE!
A shockwave of energy tore across the arena floor, ripping up tiles and creating a concussive force that shattered the remaining fire petals Julis had summoned.
Julis tried to raise a barrier, but the Wave Sword was a conceptual strike. It bypassed her mana-field and hit her feet, sending her flying into the air.
Before she could recover her footing, Haruki was there. He appeared in her shadow, his blade resting a hair's breadth from her neck.
"Checkmate," Haruki said, his voice cold and steady.
The arena fell into a deathly silence. The students on the network were frozen. The Rank 5 "華焰魔女" (Glühen Rose) had been defeated by a nameless transfer student in less than three minutes.
Haruki retracted his blade, his eyes meeting Julis's wide, shocked gaze.
"The duel is over. Remember your promise."
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