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"Heh. I guess, since you always kept saying 'being cool is all that matters,' I will take that as honor. There's nothing better."

Purim-senpai broke into a smile as he remarked.

As much as I had wanted to further congratulate Senpai for his dear wish, to defeat Arichi-san, which he accomplished half, the match ran its pace unrelentless.

«Yuglia: Rudolf Eliminated. Two Points to Fatora Kingdom.»

Dol was eliminated.

After receiving words from Arichi-san to target Dol, Eclair-san had been unsparing in her chase after him, putting him in her crosshair. She was one spell away from defeating him when the announcement of Arichi-san's elimination followed, causing a lag in her movement. Fatora Kingdom's Leonera-san exploited that opportunity and scored that eliminated for herself instead.

With Yuglia and Rosemieur at the same threshold, it wouldn't do any good if Empire had scored this point, and Dol was already running out of his mana after setting up all those landmines. I doubt anyone would dare point their finger at him here.

The match was at its endgame, and sorting through remaining participants, there were three nations left with prospects to win.

Yuglia was sharing the top-rank with Rosemieur, with nine points each, but they only had me left—a mere substitute with no talent for attribute conversion.

Rosemieur shared the same standing, having one participant left from their end—the 2nd year Eclair-san.

And the last was Fatora Kingdom with two points in their bag, and they, too, had been left with one last candidate—3rd year Leonera-san. She wasn't quite up to Arichi-san or Senpai, but with the two of them dropping out, the fortune now shone upon Fatora-kingdom.

If one could take all the remaining participants, then they would be the default victory after all. Delaying until the end would only be negative to them, and everyone except the winner would be ranked by points difference.

The other way to win, in absence of adequate points, was if they'd more surviving participants. However this was useless in our current scenario, since each side was only left with one participant.

Eclair-san fired her fire spell when she saw Dol's point being stolen, but Eclair-san easily dodged it, and opened the distance.

The two put me at the centre as they glared at each other. I would say, the two's strengths rival each—or not. It seems Leonera-san had a slight upperhand as a senior.

I had no way to farm points, so I was obviously their bonus now. Now, I could make an escape for myself, and stay out till the time-up, which would end in Rosemieur and Yuglia sharing the crown.

I glanced at Purim-senpai as he left the battlefield at the urge of staff. Having exhausted his mana capacity till the extreme, his steps were struggling. Meanwhile, Arichi-san had already been brought out of her stupor through medicines, her gait firm.

I couldn't bring myself to run after seeing Purum-senpai. I also couldn't face them straight though. For now, I slipped inside the fog to keep a distance.

Following my action, Leonera-san had no choice but to follow after since she could only win by defeating us. On the other hand, Eclair-san must be preoccupied with the thoughts to bring down either of us atleast, hoping to win by points so she also would've no choice but to follow along.

"—Enjoy the remaining match, Allen!"

"You can do it, Coach!"

From behind, the encouraging cheers followed up. I gave a thumbs up, though not breaking from my sprint.

◆◆◆

"......Rudolf Austin's spell trap wouldn't work on me! I can maintain my mana guard for the remainder of the match!"

I had just come out of Foggy Forest when Eclair-san cautioned loudly.

I doubt this was meant for me, so Leonera-san, I guess. The only way for Yuglia to score any point was if either of them stumbled into Dol's installed landmines. And yes, it was allowed. What was not allowed was to keep attacking even after being eliminated.

This must be the sole situation for Eclair-san to dread. Yuglia would have another point if Leonera-san got caught in a landmine, and unless she could catch up to me, Yuglia would end up as the winner, not something she would want to.

That's why she must have decided to warn her, even teaching the countermeasure. Leonera-san caught that warning, and chased after me while securing her legs with the mana guard.

Welp, a pity... I was hoping for a lucky situation, but they're not that naive. Since we had jumped into an all-out confrontation at quite an earlier point, we were still left with ample time before the match could end.

I needed to remain at distance, but my opponent only needed one chance to take me down. If I had to win, then...

I stopped when I was under the same cedar tree that Purim-senpai had hidden himself on.

"...........Have you given up? I didn't expect you to be as resolute."

So remarked Eclair-san, stopping herself at a distance from me. Leonera-san, too, followed with extreme caution. The instance from earlier, her fellow teammates falling prey to my calisthenics trap, must still be fresh in her mind.

"Give up...? Why?"

I tilted my head in a genuine expression of confusion, and began to pick up the fallen branches of dried cedar tree at my feet.

The needle pattern leaves of dried cedar were relatively high in oil composition, making them easily inflammable. The idea had come to me as I recalled how turpentine from pine trees were often used for similar purposes.

I held the withered branches high up in the air, and invoked an aria in a loud, sonorous voice.

«O' the pillar of Four Great Spirits, Le Salamander. The warrior of courage. Abide by the contract of wind, and bestow me strength of fierce flames. —Ignition!»

With no prior sign, the leaves on the withered branch abruptly began to burn.

What, another talent of mine not on record? Holy—Just kidding. It was the same technique that I had used back at ancient ruins while that damned frog was hot on my trail to create an explosion—rapidly compressing air to warm it up. And easily flammable the leaves were, it was an easy task to set them on fire.

Well, Eclair-san and Leonera-san had no way to know it either, and their gazes displayed their scrambled thoughts.

Kukuku. The rapid compression of air could only bring up a twinkle of flame like lighter, but visually, it was even more impossible to explain this one.

Frankly, I was pleased with my performance. The two opponents opposite me looked as startled as the child who had accidentally seen ghost. As they continued to burn, I dropped the branches at my feet, gesturing with my right hand to furnish more wind.

To build up the shock and suspension, I continued my bluffing.

«O' the pillar of Four Spirit Spirits, Le Sylph...... The unfettered maiden. Follow the chivalrous Warrior Salamander, bring forth the ancient hellfire, turn up the wheel of samsara once again, and—"

As I controlled the wind, the fire spread out to the withered branches gathered at the bottom of the cedar tree, burning everything that fell in the way.

*Crackle-Crackle* The sound of branches popping in fire echoed around, and as the needle-leaves burnt up, a peculiar fragrance filled the air.

Once I affirmed the strength of the flames was enough, I spread my hands like an eagle, and lifted them up momentarily. The burning leaves drifted into the air with my gesture.

Now, what was the affinity between fire and wind spell? It was time to show it—

"—Relay everything to the earth, the genome. Spirit Fusion Spell—Red Cliff!"

◆◆◆

"Kathy......"

Freak whispered to the Rebel, both of their eyes glued to the display broadcasting the match. The two had commoner's clothes draped over, and had slipped inside the general audience stand.

The Freak, in particular, had been dressed in woolen clothing hiding his entire silhouette, resembling those desert inhabitants.

Rebel—or Prince Castice to say, took a deep breath and shook his head to expel the stagnant air.

"......I know. Even if he has hidden his face behind a mask, I would never mistake him. He is... Allen Rovenne is indeed... «Mad Hound»."

Rebel remarked with utter confidence. Technically, they'd found Mad Hound was Allen Rovenne, but for Rebel who revered explorer Ren, it was the reverse.

At first, neither had intention to watch the tournament, until they received a cryptic letter this morning.

—[Mad Hound's true identity is Allen Rovenne.]

The letter explained only that, and nothing else, aside from the two tickets for the tournament inside. There were no details pertaining to who the sender might be, and as far their guesses goes, it would hardly be someone who was looking after their well being.

But, what it revealed was something they couldn't ignore.

Now, Castice was not some blind follower. Since Ren was a knight of another nation, maybe he had been snooping around for elements that could destabilise the Empire from inside, and that's why he visited the slum.

Reasonably speaking, this was quite a sufficient and self-explanatory reason, and should be. Except—

"No, he'd no such goal," After facing him head on, Castice's intuition was rejecting the notion.

He just didn't pick any ounce of intention from Ren that he was there to recruit him, or become friends. If anything, take a step further, and he didn't even sense any purpose to visit them from him.

—He truly was there out of curiosity.

He didn't give a hoot for risk, and showed no attempt to hide his identity. No, he was just there to exchange punches with him.

Just what was he meant to accomplish from inexplicable actions?

This was the only thing Castice just couldn't figure out. From the bird-view spot, Castice etched that silhouette in his eyes.

«—Relay everything to the earth, the genome. Spirit Fusion Spell—Red Cliff!»

Allen commanded the storm of fire. The venue was thundered with buzzing as if someone had ignited a powdered keg.

Unknownbest to him, the corner of Castice's lips curled up. He clenched his fist hard enough for it to tremble.

His brother, the Freak Latice, caught up to Castice's expression, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.