With the interschool match still underway, every spectator glued their attention closely to the tag duel before them. No one there could predict how the momentum will go, even though the Atlantic is currently on the lead, however slightly.

“Ooohh!!”

A furious fight between two wolves on one side, a reserved yet precise swordfight on the other. It’s as if each half of the teams were trapped in their own world.

“Rrrgh…!!”

Force meets force, steel meets steel. None of the youths are willing to back down.

“Tch…!”

However, time is finite, and from their desperation, the Pacifics found a newborn determination.

“Haaah!”

“Kuh…!”

Yuu began to feel fatigue from trying to balance Reika’s strength with his own speed.

‘I need to do something here…!’ Yuu thought. ‘To set up a counter attack or—‘

“…!?”

Reika suddenly sidestepping caught Yuu off guard and messed his timing.

‘What is she—‘

One moment, he didn’t see her incoming attack. Next moment, it was too late for him to realize.

“Your movements were too mechanical, de gozaru!”

‘Damn! She was charging for a heavy strike!’

Like a wave, Reika spun and brought down her tachi.

“Uooryah!”

“Oh no…!”

It easily broke through Yuu’s haphazard guard, and Reika quickly capitalized on that small window.

“I got you!”

“Gwah…!”

Reika’s follow-up horizontal cut cleanly struck Yuu, knocking him away a fair distance. She pursued for additional attacks, but he somehow recovered and guarded at the last possible moment.

“Tch…! Ouch…!”

“Battle points, down by 15%.”

‘Yuu…!’

“Oi, Hrimgard! I see your focus wavered!”

“Kh…!”

A well timed swing from Mei pushed Sigulf back. It wasn’t much, but more than enough to give her some space.

“Now, you eat this!”

‘Is this—!? Tch…!’

Just like Reika, Mei aimed to launch a heavy attack. With a pirouette, she swung her mace sideways with all of her strength.

“Khh…!”

He doesn’t have any chance to jump away; Mei’s attack broke his guard.

“Not yet!”

Mei twirled once more, this time raising her weapon high.

‘I can still make it…!’ Sigulf thought.

Forcing his body stable, Sigulf rushed towards her left side. But Celina noticed something else.

“Sigulf, watch out!”

“!?”

The Xuan Nu was suddenly covered by dark-purple aura.

“Too late! Uooryah!”

As soon as Mei’s Xuan Nu smashed the ground, jet black energy spikes sprang forth from where it struck. Sigulf tried to change his trajectory and jumped away, but it’s a bit too late.

“Gah…!”

‘An area attack!?’

“Sigulf!”

It hurts less than he imagined, but still quite a shock.

“Battle points, down by 10%.”

With that, Pacific gained the slight lead.

“I’d like it better if I could catch Kanzaki with this too, but,” Mei said while twirling her mace. “Every hit counts, don’t you think?”

The Atlantic student went into a commotion with this development.

“How did she do that!?” Walter asked in disbelief.

“That’s where you are asking!?” Eurypha retorted. “Didn’t you do the same against Kumar!?”

“…eh? It’s the same thing?”

“It’s similar on the basic level.” Eliot explained. “I guess the easiest way to explain it is, while we normally focus our energy towards our Arms and body, in the case of long-ranged attacks, we drive that energy outwards instead. Think of it as extending your reach.”

“…I think I understand a bit. But isn’t it a bit overpowered?” Eurypha continued.

“Not quite. While you get to, say, hit faraway or multiple opponents at once, the fact remains that, one, you only struck them with your Arms’ extensions, and two, the resulting energy discharge would be less focused and dense compared to when we concentrate them inwards.”

“I see… So we can use them with some strategy, but in the end, core of Dueling is still close-range combat.”

“Precisely.”

‘That, and the fact doing so will left your own body vulnerable, even if for a short while. Now if only Hrimgard could figure this out…’

“Hee, you’ve became such a fine teacher, huh?” Vigdis teased.

“…I am their homeroom teacher, after all. It’s my responsibility.”

Back to the field, Sigulf has already stood up. Yet he still hadn’t made any moves.

“Heh, I see you’re being a bit cautious now. Good, good.” Mei commented.

“What is Siggy thinking?” Alba wondered with worry from the sidelines.

“He’s trying to regain his composure. Or at least, that’s what he needs to do.” Celina explained.

“…well, long-ranged attacks are quite unexpected, aren’t they? And if you’re not calm, you can’t think of a countermeasure.”

“True. And there’s one more thing about tag battles.”

“Eh?”

“Trust your partner.”

“Ah… I think I get what you are getting at.”

‘Sigulf might have trained with Kanzaki before, but this is the first time they fought together as a unit. When Kanzaki got the lead stolen, that only served to make him worried and thus hampering his performance.’ Celina thought. ‘Now he has to be able to assess the situation without losing his cool.’

Sigulf exhaled, and without saying a word, he charged towards Mei.

“Did you get some heavenly inspiration?” she taunted while clashing her weapon against his, though Sigulf ignored it.

On another side, Yuu is still engaged in a back and forth against Reika.

‘Did Sig-kun calm down? Well, that’s good… And to be expected—‘

“What’s the matter, Kanzaki-dono!?”

“Uwah!”

Reika’s attack pulled him back to reality.

‘Damn, it’s harder than I thought…! But I must focus on her first…!’

The blade exchange continues for a while, which began to worry everyone, even the Pacific students included.

“They are about evenly matched…” Kouji mused. “But if this keeps up for too long, I wonder if it’s okay to win like that?”

“I’m sure Mei and Reika doesn’t want that…” Misha said, followed with silent approval by Anil.

“Yeah. And it’s not just them. They must be feeling the same way….”

True to his words, both teams’ strikes gradually felt stronger and more intense.

‘Hm…!?’ Reika sensed that there was more impact in Yuu’s attacks.

“I see you’re getting into it!” Mei said in between returning Sigulf’s assault, somehow sounding happy.

“Yeah, thanks to you.” Sigulf replied. “If we want to win, then we’ll do it big!”

“Hah! Then do your worst!!”

Stronger. Faster. Louder. Metal against metal. Warrior against warrior. Both Sigulf and Mei gathered all of their strength on every swing.

“Ooooohh!!”

And as if not wanting to be outdone, Yuu and Reika increased their tempo as well, with their slashes started to look more like a blurry flash.

“Haaah!”

‘Kanzaki-dono is catching up…! But I…!!’

Almost everyone watching was holding their breaths. Even as fellow 1st-years, their ferocity on display was something to behold.

“Raaah!!”

“Deyaaah!!”

All of a sudden, Sigulf and Mei passed each other in a blink of eye.

“Gh…!”

“It’s a mutual hit!” Chelsea exclaimed.

But instead of stopping, both fighters quickly turned around and took another chance to strike.

“”Uoohh!!””

Once again, they struck each other cleanly.

“Kuh…”

Only this time, Sigulf and Mei could only reel back from the impact.

“Battle points, down by 25%.”

“Tch, not bad!” Mei commended.

“You too…!”

Not far behind from them, Yuu and Reika too were giving everything they have to subdue each other.

‘As expected of Mei-dono…!’ Reika thought. ‘Still, I have my own way to deal with this…!’

Reika unleashed a powerful upswing which forced Yuu to block. She quickly backflipped and took another stance while sheathing her tachi.

‘Could this be…?’

Taking a guess, Yuu charged towards her. But before he got far, Reika drew her blade instantly.

“There!!”

‘I knew it…!’

The energy wave Reika fired flew quickly towards the boy. In response, Yuu jumped as hard as he can over it… Only to see Reika coming from down below.

“…!?”

“I got y— !?”

‘He’s not even trying to defend!? Did he—‘

‘I knew she’s going with that…! Therefore—‘

“Here goes nothing!!”

In an act of defiance, even though faced with Reika’s incoming attack, Yuu wasn’t daunted and retaliates with a mid-air iai slash.

“Khh…!”

His attack landed cleanly, but it only managed to reduce Reika’s force a bit.

“Guh…!”

Yuu quickly recovered to land safely, slightly earlier than Reika to shake off the impact of his strike.

“Kanzaki-dono, you…!”

“Man, I’m still behind by 5 percent…”

“Battle points, down by 15%.”

In spite of being in a disadvantage, though, Yuu doesn’t seem to be bothered by it.

“Well, here I go…!”

Going at his fastest, Yuu launched a quick running strike which knocked Reika’s Rasetsu aside, and went past her.

“Wait, what are you—“

Ignoring her, Yuu braked and turned around, standing back to back against Sigulf.

“Yo, Sig-kun.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Hmm, short break, regroup, and relaying some information.”

“Any suggestion?”

“Stay calm.”

“…yeah, that’s what I wanted to say. But now we’re flanked.”

“Hmm, not bait them like you did against the nobles?”

“That one, huh… True, they don’t know that. But will it work?”

“…right. So what do you say? Any other idea?”

“…can only say ‘fight your own style’.”

Yuu grinned.

“Yeah, it felt like you restrained yourself.”

“Not really. For Pacific’s supposed number 2, she’s real good.”

“But you still got Fenrir bound, don’t you? Three levels even.”

“…so you did your research.”

“Well, I want to defeat you too one day, after all!”

“Good to hear.”

“Oi, you two seemed to have a nice chat!” Mei shouted from across while getting ready with her mace. “Hope you don’t mind if I join…!”

“Here she comes. What are you gonna do against Kannomine?”

“Read… No, feel her movement.”

“Alright. Keep your focus and stay calm.”

“That goes for both of us.”

“Yeah…!”

Even though getting surrounded from two sides, the boys show no fear. If anything, Sigulf and Yuu slowly but surely made their way towards their opponents with steeled resolve.

“Calm water…” Yuu uttered while sheathing his sword.

“Limiter: Laedingr…” Sigulf recited without breaking his composure.

Mei quickly realized something is wrong.

“Shit, they are going to do something…! Reika, faster!”

“Huh? Well then…!”

The Imperial Fangs hastens their preparation. But at this point, whether it’s for a long-range attack or a heavy one, Sigulf and Yuu doesn’t care anymore.

‘We’ll get them with our speed!’

“…like a clear mirror!!”

“…release!!”

Both of them instantly broke into a swift rush, surprising Mei and Reika.

‘So fast…! But…!’

“Uooohh!”

Mei brought her Xuan Nu down faster, but Sigulf quickly circled her with blinding speed.

“Wha— Get off!”

Mei threw a back kick, but it only hit empty air as it turned out Sigulf has feinted a bit farther, now coming from her left side.

“Impos—“

“Gotcha!”

“Gwah…!”

One swing from Sigulf sent Mei flying, though she quickly recovered mid-air.

At almost the same time, just as Reika was about to release another sword wave, she realized too late that Yuu has already acted.

‘He jumped earlier…!? Did he—‘

“There!!”

“Gyah…!”

Yuu’s jumping strike knocked Reika a fair distance, forcing her to stop using Rasetsu’s blade.

“Kuh…!”

‘How did he sense my movements!?’

“Battle points, down by 20%.”

“Battle points, down by 15%.”

In spite of the cheering crowd, Sigulf and Yuu merely exhaled and kept their focus on the opponents before them.

“Well, that’s one way about it.” Eliot commented. “With this, hopefully they’ll think twice on using long range attacks.”

“But what about the heavy ones?” Minato asked.

“If they can keep their cool, then they won’t have any trouble countering it.”

Mei and Reika slowly got up, trying to regain their composure.

“You… Kept something like this, huh?” Mei growled.

“I don’t really like using this either.” Sigulf replied. “But you gave me no choice. Now…”

Sigulf returned to fighting stance and glared towards Mei.

“Let the hunt continues…!”