Fenrir has broken his first binding. Now the fen-dwelling wolf of fame is about to turn this field into his hunting ground.

“…tch.”

With his bearded axes glowing pale blue, Sigulf took slow steps towards Mei.

‘I can focus on him just alright, but…’

Mei tightened her grip on her two-handed mace.

‘It’s sure hard to be calm when you’re under this kind of pressure…!’

She tried to take a peek towards her partner; Reika is preoccupied with handling Yuu.

‘Shit, they locked us down.’

Nevertheless, Mei gathered her strength, and her Xuan Nu glows dark purple again.

“Let’s go…!” Sigulf growled.

One hard kick to the ground made Sigulf seemed disappeared to the untrained eyes.

‘There’s no way one could actually vanish!’

Mei heightened her senses for a split second, and swung her weapon with all her might.

“There you are!”

She guessed right; Sigulf used a full circle feint and came straight to her.

“!?”

But a correct guess wasn’t enough. Sigulf quickly overpowered her.

‘He stalled my heavy attack!? Did his strength got boosted this much!?’

“Rrgh!!”

Sigulf pressed on and forcefully broke open Mei’s guard.

‘Shi—‘

“Raaah!!”

With a twirl, Sigulf delivered a diagonal cut, hitting a defenseless Mei.

“Gahh…!”

“One more!”

Sigulf attempted a follow-up. However, Mei recovered fast enough and she blocked it at the last moment.

“Tch…! I’m not gonna let ya!”

“Battle points, down by 20%.”

Among the Atlantics’ cheering, the Pacific guests were visibly worried.

“Aah… Even Mei is getting pushed back…” Misha lamented.

“Good grief…” Kouji agreed. “To think he still has something like this…”

‘But then again, maybe that’s why they trusted him in the first place. Jack would be surprised… Or at least interested if he saw this.’

Meanwhile, Reika’s duel with Yuu has cooled down a bit, if only for hesitation on her part.

‘Mei is struggling… I have to assist her, but…!’

Light attacks thrown by Yuu kept her from making a bold move.

‘What should I do!? He’s obviously baiting me…! Can I trick him into a faulty reversal…!?’

Reika tried her luck and swayed aside, going for a heavy strike. But instead of waiting, Yuu thrusted his sword forward, forcing her to hurriedly block it.

“Tch…!”

“Fuuh…”

‘It’s uncanny how easily he got this calm…!’

After forcing another few powerful swings, Reika jumped back, slightly surprising Yuu.

‘Hm? What is she—‘

Doubly so when she turned around and ran away, seemingly heading towards Mei.

“Oh, not so fast!”

Yuu’s speed made it easy to catch up with her in no time.

“Take this!”

All of a sudden, Reika spun and unleashed a powerful attack.

“Whoa…!”

“!?”

However, thanks to his agility, Yuu jumped with such a height over her blade.

‘He read that too…!?’

“Deyah!”

“Uargh…!”

Another aerial strike from Yuu hit its mark, knocking Reika back.

“Battle points, down by 15%.”

“Reika!”

‘Oh, she’s here? Then…’

Sigulf suddenly disengaged Mei and went straight to Reika.

“Hey, wait, you coward! I’m not done yet!” Mei shouted while giving pursuit.

“Anything for victory…!” Sigulf retorted.

“Uwaa, they are completely playing the villain here…” Alba commented.

“God save the Queen, what were they thinking?” Chelsea agreed.

Still reeling from Yuu’s attack, Reika forced herself to instinctively spin around and guard herself as she sensed a fearsome intent rapidly closing from behind.

“!?”

“Yo again.”

Sigulf rapidly overwhelmed her.

“Grrrh…!”

“Why you…!”

Mei went to her rescue, but Yuu stood in the way and stopped her.

“Outta my way!!”

“Don’t worry, we just need a few seconds…!”

Sure enough, Sigulf broke through Reika’s guard, and he brought down his axes in an X-pattern.

“Gaaah…!”

The blow was strong enough to thrash Reika away, and she couldn’t instantly recover upon hitting the ground.

“Battle points, down by 30%. 15% remaining.”

“You…!!”

“Hm…!?”

Yuu was about to break away when he felt a spontaneous surge of energy from Mei.

“You scum!!”

“Waaah!?”

An unexpected mighty swing threw Yuu away, making him bump into Sigulf.

‘Shit, not this pattern again…!’

Mei raised her mace and leapt high, with the purple now glowing even brighter.

“I’ll take you all down in one-shot!!”

“Guahh…!!”

Both her Xuan Nu and the energy explosion hit Sigulf and Yuu at the same time, launching them into the air.

“Not yet!!”

Mei chased and attempted to strike them once more, but Sigulf and Yuu still got some stamina to recover sooner.

‘Tch…!’

Knocked away they might be, Sigulf and Yuu successfully guarded against Mei’s attack, and landed safely, though now they are considerably more alerted.

“Battle points, down by 35%.”

“We can still do it…!” Misha gasped.

“Ouch… They chased us.” Yuu said. “What do we do now, Sig-kun?”

“Hmm…”

Sigulf mulled while watching Mei helped Reika to her feet.

“…not going to release your second binding?”

“Too soon.”

“Whoa, confident are you?”

“Maybe…”

Both of them returned to fighting stance, ready to end this duel.

“We’ll give our all now, which is—“

“120%, right?”

“Yeah…!”

“I heard you…!”

Across them, Mei and Reika have just finished preparing themselves as well.

“Are you ready, Reika? This will be our deciding moment!”

“Understood! I shall follow your lead, Mei-dono!”

There were almost no movements or sound, making the air felt even heavier and tense.

“Don’t screw up, you two…” Alba muttered.

Victoria solemnly observed, while Vigdis and Chelsea looked decidedly more anxious.

“Sigulf…” Celina said in a low voice. “Glory awaits…!”

As if to answer her, Sigulf charged with fury, prompting the others to follow suit.

“Let’s go!!”

“I won’t lose!!”

Yuu and Reika locked blades, and they were almost equal in strength. But the same cannot be said in regards to Sigulf against Mei.

“!?”

She can feel that his moves gradually got faster and stronger on every clash.

‘How!?’

‘It wasn’t a fluke. They did got us.’

Mei is slowly getting pushed back.

‘We still lack good teamwork. That’s undeniable. But putting aside it might goes to them as well…!’

A well timed swing pushed Mei farther.

‘There’s no use thinking about it now. What matters is staying calm and focused against the adversary before you, while trusting your partner enough. If I want to work on my flaws, I’ll do it after this. Therefore…!’

Another strong blow knocked her back, which gave Mei some space to unleash a heavy attack.

“Tch…! Hrimgard!!”

“I can’t lose here!!”

A powerful swing from Sigulf knocked Xuan Nu off Mei’s hands with a loud clang.

“!?”

“Mei-dono!”

Sigulf then crossed his arms and axes, placing them near the sides of her neck.

“…”

The whole field fell silent.

“…not going to finish me?”

“Not going to fight back?”

“Oh, you do know well I would even on this situation!” Mei grinned. “But would you attack an unarmed duelist?”

Sigulf tilted his head slightly.

“I’m not a chivalrous knight in shining armor, remember? I’m a raider in wolf’s pelt.”

“Heh, I guess you’re right…”

Most watchers are still stunned, but Eurypha and few others got slightly exasperated.

“What is he even doing…?” she asked in annoyance.

“It’s men’s romance, I guess.” Walter snickered.

‘Well, I guess Vigdis taught him well…’ Eliot mentally commented.

Much to everyone’s surprise, however, Sigulf set his Fenrir aside and letting Mei move freely.

“You…”

“…that said, I don’t hate you. So…”

He pointed his right axe towards her.

“Let’s end this properly!”

Mei picked up her mace, giving it a twirl, before getting back into her fighting position.

“You won’t have my gratitude, you know? And don’t blame me if we scored an upset!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t…!”

Before the near silent audience, and an ongoing struggle between Yuu and Reika, Sigulf and Mei are going to put everything on their one last clash.

‘Heh, how annoying…’ Mei thought.

‘Even though we’re only one rank apart, never thought he’s gonna be this strong. Was the gap as big as the ocean? …nah, too over-dramatic. But…’

Mei prepared to unleash a powerful side swing, while Sigulf, getting even closer, lowered his body and increased his speed.

‘If only Ashfield would come here, then his conceited punk ass will know that there’s someone strong like this…!’

Like a wolf streaking under a fierce blizzard, Sigulf flashed past her and landed the final blow.

“M, Mei…” Misha tried not to cry.

“Battle points 0. Cannot continue duel.”

“Mei-dono…!”

Reika immediately lost her focus, allowing Yuu to break through and end the duel.

“Kannomine-san…”

“Battle points 0. Cannot continue duel. Winner, Team Arctic Thunder from Atlantic Academy!”

The home team exploded into a loud cheering on this victory.

“They did it!” Alba celebrated ecstatically together with Chelsea.

Vigdis glomped Eliot on impulse, troubling the poor young teacher and earned them a knowing chuckle from Melanie. Victoria opted to smile in satisfaction, while Ilma sighed in relief for some reason.

“Congratulations.” Celina said with a smile. “That’s another step forward for you.”

On the other side, the Pacific crew was obviously disappointed with the results.

“Ah, too bad we lost…”

Drowned within the Atlantic students’ joy, Kouji can only look towards the dark sky.