Side: Yuki

"Don't expect me to hold back. I already told you that."

Right now, a Fire Storm far larger than the one Eris had faced was bearing down on Eoid.

『Aaand look at that!! True to her word, contestant Poppuri is showing no mercy!! A gigantic Fire Storm!! This is on a level where there's nowhere to escape!! But why didn't she use this during her match with Eris?』

"I suppose she thought it would be canceled out when she fought me. That's why she challenged me to close combat while only using enough magic to obstruct my vision a little. Though I intercepted that as well."

Hey, don't tease Poppuri in front of everyone like that.

Look, the lady herself is trembling slightly in frustration.

『I see! So does that mean contestant Poppuri has judged that there's nothing Eoid can do against this large-scale Fire Storm?』

『Indeed. However, since he received guidance from Yuki-san and Taiki-san, there might be an expectation that he can somehow overcome this.』

Well, that makes sense.

The audience is staring in dumbfounded awe at the looming, massive storm of fire.

If he can't deal with this, it'll end in a single blow. It would lack excitement, and Poppuri would probably be criticized for going too far.

On the other hand, if he can somehow manage to overcome this, Eoid's reputation will skyrocket. No one would ever say he isn't a good match for Amanda again.

『And now!! An unprecedented crisis right from the start!! How will he overcome this situation?!』

...However, unlike Taiki-kun, I hadn't taught Eoid anything that could deal with a situation like this.

Well, if he were quick-witted enough, he might be able to figure something out, but Eoid had barely had a week to train. If he had the kind of mind capable of figuring this out in that short amount of time, he'd already be one of the top students at the academy.

In other words...

Unless Taiki-kun taught him some decent weapon from his Unlimited Blade Work-style arsenal, Eoid is about to either get knocked out of bounds in a single hit or be roasted to a crisp right here.

"...Poppuri really is ruthless, isn't she?"

"Well, she got beaten black and blue by Eris. I'm sure that played a big part in why things ended up like this."

"So, Yuki, I took a look inside your mind, but Taiki gave him a proper countermeasure, right?"

...No idea.

"...Yuki, judging by Eoid's determination, he's going to get roasted to a crisp if he doesn't have a plan."

Yeah, probably.

"Amanda will probably be traumatized for life."

At Labyris's words, I subtly shifted my gaze to Amanda, who was sitting next to us.

There sat Amanda, clutching her mouth, her face completely pale.

Her function as Eoid's Goddess of Victory was completely gone.

...Well, that's only natural.

"Now, if you can't do anything about this, step down from the stage. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Poppuri said that, properly giving him permission to retreat, but...

"I... won't back down!!"

Ah, there it is.. The classic protagonist move.

I'd run away, personally. I don't engage in fights I can't win.

If I could challenge something without suffering any consequences, I might try. But this? If I challenge this fight, it's definitely going to hurt.

"Yuki, that's fine. If you get hurt, we'll tear the opponent apart."

I really wish my wives would practice maintaining their sanity even if I get hurt, though.

"Impossible. Rejected. Well, leaving that impossibility aside, I wonder what Eoid plans to do?"

Ah, so it's impossible, huh.

Anyway, as Labyris said, Eoid takes priority right now.

Turning my gaze back to the stage, it seemed Eoid had no intention of retreating after all. Worst-case scenario, Taiki-kun or I will have to secretly intervene without getting caught...

People often say that reality is different from stories, and that's exactly right.

Stories cut out convenient parts and intentionally create interesting scenes to entertain the reader. Though in recent times in Japan, stories about daily life or peeking into a single person's routine are also enjoyed as a form of entertainment.

Oops, I'm getting off topic.

Anyway, reality is different from stories. In truth, it isn't all cool and exciting moments. Boring days, days you'd skip over, all those days that are unnecessary in a story actually exist in reality.

However, that's precisely why a proverb like this exists:

'Truth is stranger than fiction.'

Events that happen in reality are far more mysterious and interesting than those in stories. A saying imbued with that very meaning.

And if you think about it carefully, that's only natural. Stories—and imagination itself—are built by combining, developing, and crafting from the experiences and knowledge we've gained so far.

However, in reality, apart from those experiences and knowledge, there is always something present that we don't know and haven't yet deciphered. Because of that, nothing that happens should come as a surprise. Rather, it's natural for anything to happen.

Even so, seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn't help but be shocked.

『Whooaaahhh!? S-So amazing! Contestant Eoid cut through contestant Poppuri's giant Firestorm!! He actually sliced it in two!!』

『I see. I heard he was studying under contestant Taiki, but it seems magic is completely useless here. Magic that cuts through magic—to think he had mastered such a technique.』

Directly in front of us, he sliced the Firestorm vertically, causing the mana to disperse and making it impossible to maintain.

It was literally the Wave Slash that Taiki-kun had demonstrated earlier.

...Wait, I didn't teach him that!

I literally just came up with that move after finding out Soel-san's affinity a moment ago! Did Taiki-kun teach him while I went to the audience seats?

Thinking that, I turned my gaze toward Taiki-kun, and he was looking back at me too.

Both of our eyes were filled with the exact same question:

''Did you teach him that?''

However, we both instantly shook our heads at each other.

What? Neither of us taught him.

If so, there was only one answer left.

"What do you make of this? Can Eoid really fight like that? Amanda, can you explain?"

"W-W-What is going on!? That...! E-Eoid just did something like Taiki-san!?"

Ah, I forgot about those two.

For now, let's calm Amanda down.

Labyris went out of her way to bring Amanda's focus back to us, so I should explain it properly.

I'll exaggerate it nicely to make her think he can put up a good fight against Poppuri.

For starters, Eoid won't be able to draw out his full power without proper cheers anyway.

"That's mitori-geiko."

"Mit...ori-geiko?"

"What is that?"

"Ah, maybe I used a term that's a bit too difficult. I meant using the act of watching as a form of practice."

"Watching?"

Amanda tilted her head in confusion

Ah, by the way, Eoid and Poppuri are currently eyeing each other for an opening.

Naturally, since Eoid was just mimicking what he saw without proper output control, he has consumed a considerable amount of stamina and mana.

Poppuri also seemed to expect him to react with a different trick, so being countered by the exact same move Taiki-kun used likely caught her off guard, making her hesitate to move carelessly.

"You know how teachers sometimes tell you to watch them perform a spell, right?"

"Ah, yes."

"That's when the teacher shows an example to make it easy to understand, telling you, 'Do it like this.'"

"Yes. I understand that."

"Then the same applies to our matches up until now. To Eoid, they were examples he could learn from. No one told him to memorize our techniques or anything. But he thought about whether there was something he could apply to his own abilities. You must have had moments where you watched someone use fire magic and thought, 'Maybe I could use it like that?' too, right?"

"I have."

"Thats' what Taiki-kun and I call mitori-geiko. It's mainly a method of teaching techniques that are difficult to convey through words, like swordsmanship. And as you just realized, watching is also a legitimate form of learning. If you don't consciously think about it, you're just watching. But Eoid managed to do it without anyone even telling him to. That just goes to show how badly he wanted to become a man capable of protecting you."

At my words, Amanda shyly lowered her head.

Still, to actually try it just from watching...

『I see! So, in other words, the result was born from love! Thank you very much, Derieu and Labyris for the live coverage.』

Hearing that voice, I instinctively looked at the monitor in front of me.

It showed me, Labyris, and Amanda.

Apparently we'd been turned into commentators without our permission...

『As expected of Yuki-san. To deduce the circumstances behind that technique in an instant is truly impressive. But when you think about it, the fact that Eoid carefully observed Taiki-san's movements for such a short time and managed to reproduce the technique through mere imitation is incredible.』

Yes, just as Eris said, it really is incredible.

What kind of protagonist ability is this...? Oh, right... He is the protagonist, according to my and Taiki-kun's understanding of the situation.

Well, the conditions for imitation were all there—Everything was simply an extension of mana manipulation.

Earth Slash (Daichi-zan), Wave Slash (Kaiha-zan), and Air Slash (Kūretsu-zan). All three techniques involved changing the quality of one's magical power according to the object being cut, creating the ideal conditions for cutting it.

Now, here's the question:

What exactly does it mean to 'cut' something?

To begin with, cutting relies on the pressure and friction of the blade, as well as the tensile stress of the material being cut itself. While formless cutting machines like water jets exist on Earth, those work through abrasive erosion rather than acting like a blade, so we'll skip them this time.

First, there are roughly three types of cutting actions: 'Push-cutting', 'pull-cutting', and 'thrusting'.

—First, push-cutting.

This works by pressing an extremely small contact area—like the edge of a kitchen knife—against the material you want to cut. The pressure concentrates on a single point, pushing into the material, and it relies on... well, at the risk of being misunderstood, the material's tension and urge to return to its original shape to slice through it.

If you press your finger into a soft ball or your own skin, you'll feel it dent, but there's a force pushing back. If you press down with a contact area even smaller than a finger—like a needle, for example—the load on that single point becomes extremely high, exceeding the material's strength over that specific area, resulting in the phenomenon of push-cutting.

—Next, pull-cutting.

You often hear in cooking that when cutting meat, you shouldn't just press down; you should push and pull.

This takes the conditions of push-cutting and adds the phenomenon of material adhesion to cut meat more easily. It adds the action of pulling. Materials have a property of adhering to other objects.

It might be easy to understand if you dip your finger into water; naturally, water droplets stick to your finger. In a sense, by pulling your finger away, you're tearing off a portion of the water that adhered to it. When you press down with a knife blade—which, at a molecular level, is jagged—it binds with the material, and pulling it drags and tears the object pressed under the blade.

By the way, Japanese swords are weapons designed to maximize this pull-cutting property.

—Finally, thrusting.

As explained above, this falls under the category of a push-cutting action, but because it concentrates pressure on an even smaller point than a blade, it disrupts the material more easily than the other two. Note that "disruption" in this context doesn't necessarily mean visibly splitting an object apart, but rather inflicting a wound or breach.

With the above in mind, it comes down to which type of magical slash is effective against the magic being used.

The 'Wave Slash' mentioned earlier falls under push-cutting. In other words, in the case of a formless spell that utilizes natural phenomena, the phenomenon itself continues even if the mana is no longer actively supplied, so you have to disrupt the phenomenon itself.

Regarding the Firestorm Poppuri used: it's a mixture of fire and a tornado. Fire requires oxygen, and while the tornado differs from a natural one, it functions by circulating wind in a circle, controlled using mana as fuel alongside a spell formula. In this case, we can ignore the fire itself. Since the fire occurs along with the tornado, stopping the tornado solves the problem.

Now, how do you stop a tornado that needs to be stopped?

If it were a real tornado, depending on its scale, it's said you'd need to detonate dozens of nuclear missiles inside it. However, Poppuri's tornado skips the natural process using magic; it's the equivalent of sticking your hand into a bucket of water and stirring it to create a whirlpool. Meaning, you can either insert an unbreakable board to obstruct the rotation, stop the energy/magic supply driving the rotation, or slice apart the bucket itself to destroy the conditions allowing the tornado to exist.

I've briefly outlined three ways to stop magic using magic control, and these happen to be the three sword techniques Taiki-kun uses depending on the situation.

First, pushing mana itself directly into the spell falls under pull-cutting, which requires technical skill. You forcefully carve an incision into the matter—or in this case, the spell—to sever it—The Earth Slash.

Next, the method of severing the source of the spell and its magic supply. By discerning its essence and shattering a single point, you collapse the spell. This is effective against spells where the supply source acts independently like a battery—The Air Slash.

Finally, the technique Eoid mimicked: push-cutting. Formless magic forcibly triggers natural phenomena, so if you break that forced component, it will naturally disperse on its own. Slicing apart what is being unnaturally held together by mana—The Wave Slash.

All three of these can be called physically dispelling magic by observing the flow of mana and its spell formulas.

However, without first understanding why magic manifests as a physical phenomenon, the idea of slicing through it wouldn't even be born in the first place. Thus, Eoid instinctively understood the nature of the unnatural natural phenomenon occurring before his eyes and executed the Sea-Cleaving Slash.

"...That was a long explanation, but doesn't that mean Eoid actually has quite a bit of talent?"

"Yeah. Maybe he should focus more on studying from now on."

While we were thinking about that, Poppuri quickly switched tactics and began firing countless balls of flame at Eoid.

『After having her Firestorm sliced apart, contestant Poppuri has switched to a rapid barrage!! It's an unbelievable rate of fire, but he's slicing, slicing, and slicing right through that rain of strikes!!』

『The audience is holding their breath at his marvelous swordsmanship. While contestant Taiki-san's movements were so fast they were invisible, contestant Eoid's movements are visible, making the sheer amazement convey all the better. Since he cannot use elemental magic, he fights strictly through magic control, which is why he desperately polished his sword skills. It seems that effort has matched brilliantly with contestant Taiki-san's magic-slicing technique.』

Exactly.

When you think about it, unlike Taiki-kun and me, Eoid had already spent years working hard on his swordsmanship, and his talent for magical power manipulation had been there since birth.

It wouldn't be strange at all if he could use it in a more meticulous and specialized way than us. It's a classic case of explosive growth once given the right trigger.

"I see. So that's how it is."

"A-Amazing!! Do your best, Eoid!!"

Yeah, yeah. Amanda has started cheering again, and that voice is bound to reach Eoid and give him a boost.

However, the problem is...

"I should assume fire is useless. Then how about this!!"

Saying that, Poppuri created wind clones just like Soel did.

『Woaaahhhhh!? Is she copying contestant Soel's technique!? No, there are even more of them! Seven in total!! We can't tell which one is the real one!!』

『How will contestant Eoid overcome this situation?』

Indeed. The question was how much of Taiki's techniques Eoid could imitate.

"Damn it!!"

POP! POP! POP! POP! POP!

Eoid unleashed Air Slash through sheer imitation... He could even do that, huh?

But there was a flaw. No, Eoid really was incredible, but...

『Somehow, he managed to crush five clones!! Slicing through them brilliantly by mimicking contestant Taiki's technique, he's about to slice the last one now—』

THUD.

A heavy, low impact echoed, and Eoid went rolling across the stage.

『It seems she used the clones as a decoy to strike him from behind with close-range wind magic!』

『I see. She planned it on the premise that the clones would be destroyed from the start.』

Eoid desperately tried to stand back up, but taking a direct hit to the solar plexus would make even breathing painful.

However, without pursuing him further, Poppuri stood still and opened her mouth.

"Eoid. It's true that you've grown stronger by studying under Yuki-dono and Taiki-dono through observation. It's truly unbelievable, to the point that I had to resort to close-range magic. However, that alone won't reach me. At the end of the day, your techniques are nothing more than a imitation of Taiki-dono's match."

Indeed, his cards were exposed from the start.

Poppuri had intentionally thrown the same magic as Sonia just to test him.

And now she was checking if he could apply it dynamically...

"Hah... ah..."

Eoid still hadn't caught his breath.

"You should have been taught, haven't you? Not some mere imitation, but a method to master your own talent. If you lose just like this, you'll be wasting the guidance of those two."

No, not really.

I think this kind of imitation is perfectly fine, though?

"Show me. Not a mere imitation, but a technique thought out specifically for you. Your own way of fighting."

What's with this dramatic setup, sounding like 'Show me your legendary secret technique'?

We haven't taught him anything like that. If there's anything, it would be Eoid's magical weapons, but...

The reason Eoid resorted to the Wave Slash in the first place was because a magic shield could only defend from the front, leaving him with no choice. He can't recreate a promised holy sword of light like a certain King of Knights either, so it's impossible, you know?

—But contrary to my thoughts, Eoid stood up and generated a sword-shaped weapon through magical power manipulation.

Because these weapons are made entirely of magical power, they are completely transparent and invisible to anyone without sufficiently powerful magical perception.

"?"

Poppuri, unable to perceive the magic weapon in Eoid's hand, tilted her head at his action of sheathing his physical sword.

However, Eoid saw that moment of confusion as an opening and lunged forward.

"What are you—!?"

Poppuri muttered, immediately leaping back upon seeing Eoid's movement.

However, it was a fraction of a second too late, and blood dripped from Poppuri's arm.

"...Could it be, you crafted a sword out of mana?"

Eoid remained silent.

First rule of our teaching: Never give your opponent information.

Abiding by that rule, he pressed his attack directly.

"However, that movement is a one-handed sword. In that case—!"

As expected of someone with her years of experience.

She immediately deduced the type of invisible weapon he held based on his stance, using Stone Shooter to keep him at bay.

If she couldn't safely approach him, then she'd overwhelm him with numbers...

Eoid knocked the incoming stones aside with his sword.

If she couldn't carelessly close in, attack with volume—

Eoid knocked the flying stones away with his sword.

...? Knocked them away?

Ah right, Eoid can't use the Great Slash, can he?

The pushing cut requires a certain amount of knowledge. If you believe something is too hard to cut, then you can't cut it with magical weapons whose properties are directly influenced by your imagination.

And aiming for that opening just like before, Poppuri closed in, stepping into his range—

CLANG!!

"Kyah!?"

Poppuri was repelled without being able to attack.

Perhaps because the damage itself was minor, she quickly regained her footing, but clear agitation showed on her face.

"That just now... a shield bash?! D-Don't tell me..."

That's right. Who ever said it was just a single-handed sword?

Eoid never said he could only make weapons out of magic.

『Err, contestant Poppuri has been injured and repelled by the mysteriously empty-handed contestant Eoid, but..."

『Presumably, judging from that stance, he is shaping magic power itself into equipment. A single-handed sword and a shield. If they were visible, there would be ways to deal with it... but for it to be invisible is extraordinarily troublesome.』

No, I'm pretty sure you two commentators can see it.

Well, as commentary that's the only way to put it.

『Troublesome indeed. As expected, it's fair to say you learned well from Yuki-dono and Taiki-dono. However, you can't reach me with that. Am I wrong?』

When Poppuri said that, Eoid thrust his single-handed sword toward her.

Naturally, if it were just a single-handed sword, it was a distance that couldn't possibly reach.

However...

"Guh...!?"

Poppuri crouched on the spot, clutching her abdomen.

『Woaaah, what happened!? Contestant Poppuri suddenly doubled over!!』

『That thrusting motion earlier... Presumably, he switched from a single-handed sword to a longer weapon like a spear.』

『I see! If he can create equipment with magic, it would be unnatural for him to only have a single-handed sword. Meaning, she was caught off guard and took a solid hit to the stomach! That looks painful!! However, contestant Eoid is not following up with an attack!』

『Since neither side has fully exposed their cards, the inexperienced contestant Eoid likely judged that moving recklessly would get him countered. Or rather, it was intentional. If that had been a real spear, she would have been impaled, deciding the match right then and there. He likely refrained because a long-range attack could be fatal.』

Just as Eris said, Eoid's equipment is genuinely designed as weaponry meant for killing.

If Eoid were a grandmaster who could completely overwhelm Poppuri, it would have been decided right then, but naturally, he didn't possess that level of skill yet.

That's why he struck her abdomen with the shaft of the spear instead.

"Ngh... Good grief, to think a few days of guidance under those people could yield this... How terrifying."

Saying so, Poppuri stood up, her eyes turning completely serious.

Seeing that, Eoid instinctively raised his shield, but...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

A massive rock was already smashing into Eoid.

『A massive Stone Shooter lands a direct hit!! A direct hit!! Since no chanting was heard at all, it was chantless casting!! Tremendous power!! Is contestant Eoid okay?!』

『Yes, contestant Eoid's safety is a concern. However, why didn't contestant Eoid use contestant Taiki's technique?』

Well, he couldn't.

Eoid simply couldn't grasp the logic behind the Earth Slash.

Instead of severing magic by observing its flow, cutting something by understanding its physical structure required knowledge he simply lacked.

"E-Eoid!! No....!!"

"Calm down, Amanda. Eoid is safe. Right, Yuki?"

Ah, I forgot.

I need to reassure her.

At first glance, it really does look like a death scene.

"Yeah, he's alive. Though the arm holding the shield is probably broken."

Yeah, because Eoid relies on the premise of equipping magical gear, damage impacts his body directly.

Even if he was holding a shield, taking a hit from a boulder that size is going to damage his arm no matter what.

"R-Really? Eoid--!! Answer me--!!"

Hearing my words, Amanda immediately shouted toward the smoke on the stage.

And after a brief pause, a voice called back.

"...Ow, ow, ow. I-I'm fine."

As the smoke cleared, Eoid emerged from within, cradling his left arm with his right.

Yep. It was bent in a direction it definitely wasn't supposed to bend.

As expected, even Eoid's custom enchanted shield couldn't completely block that much mass. Because it wasn't pure magic, but raw kinetic energy.

"...I concede."

Hearing his declaration, Lara smiled warmly.

"I have confirmed contestant Eoid's surrender. This match goes to contestant Poppuri Lancer!!"

'''WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH'''

"You did very well."

"Indeed. I'm sorry about the way I finished it. Now then... you know what comes next, don't you?"

With the cheers ringing throughout the arena, Lara and Poppuri said that to Eoid.

"Thank you very much..."

Eoid looked toward Amanda.

And then...

"Amanda!! Will you go out with me—GUFG!?"

Poppuri and Lara immediately smacked him on the head.

"You're seriously saying that at this point?"

"Yeah. That's definitely not enough. Try again."

Eoid was writhing in agony.

Well, with his arm already broken, that impact probably hurt like hell.

Then, despite his teary eyes, Eoid raised his voice once more.

"Amanda!! Marry me!! I love you!!"

"Yes!!"

Amanda leaped into Eoid's arms amid thunderous applause.

『UNBELIEVABLE!! A MARRIAGE DECLARATION RIGHT HERE ON THE SPOT!! HE JUST PROPOSED!! THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE IS CHEERING IN CELEBRATION!! EOID, YOU DID IT!!』

『My heartfelt congratulations to them. May their future together be filled with happiness. And with that, the final match of the First Duel Festival has come to an end!!』

'''HOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!'''

'''WOOOOOOOOOOOOOAHHHHH!!'''

Ah. Amanda hit his broken arm... he's dead.

It goes without saying that those celebratory voices spread throughout the entire city.

The operation was a massive success.

* * *