Around the park where Masaki leads them, there were only few students around, presumably her cohorts.

“Oh, there you are.” One of them said upon noticing her. “So did you— Miss President!? And the Vice President too!”

Along with the others, they were shocked on realizing that Celina and Chelsea were coming along.”

“Worry not, I won’t interfere.” Celina quickly said. “…unless you make me to.”

“Shush, Cel. Don’t scare them too much.” Chelsea quipped.

“…so she said.” Masaki clarified. “Don’t try anything funny, yeah?”

“What can we do, anyway? We all already lost to you in the first place…” one of the boys grumbled.

“Ah, right, right…”

‘Huh, they are surprisingly courteous…’ Sigulf thought. ‘But well, unlike the nobles, they just wanted to fight.’

“Sigulf.” Celina called.

“I know. Leave it to me.”

“Relax. Don’t stay mad all the time.” Chelsea added, poking at their conversation in the Council room.

“U…! I won’t…!”

“What are you saying to him?”

“I wonder~?”

Ignoring Chelsea’s feigning innocence, Sigulf stepped forward to face Masaki, who was waiting for him.

“…sorry for the wait.”

“So, are we good to go? You won’t suddenly change your mind now, right?”

“…no. Come on.”

“Whoo, scary. …sheesh, I should be the one who’s pissed, you know?”

She hunched her body and extended her right arm backwards, ready to summon her Arms.

“To live and fight in the shadows…” Masaki began chanting. “We shall become the Demon and bring annihilation! Strike, Oni-Hanzou!!”

The dark violet aura which was surrounding her vanished as she thrusts her hand forward and her weapon materialized. It was a Japanese spear with the blade longer than usual. Sigulf has no way of knowing for now, but it’s commonly known as Omi-yari.

“…your turn.”

Sigulf said nothing at her commanding tone, and simply called forth his axes. As always, the summoning of Fenrir was accompanied by cold wind and aura which unnerved almost everyone watching, save for the combatants, Celina and Chelsea.

“You said you’ll crush me?” Masaki said after Sigulf has finished. “I’ll gladly return those words to you! Especially one who still rides the President’s coattails!”

Again, Sigulf heed no attention, opted to get into fighting stance.

“Tch…”

“En garde.”

Against the setting sun and afternoon breeze, their audience waits for the final cue.

“Begin.”

And in just a split second, they seemingly disappeared into thin air. She is fast, Sigulf knows that. So fast that he actually wondered why she didn’t make it into class A. But…

“!?”

Sigulf stopped Masaki dead in her track, and began overpowering her.

“How—“

He has already sparred with, and experienced, someone faster than even himself, let alone her. Not to mention he’s not in the mood for a playful, friendly duel.

“Gh…! Why you—“

Masaki tried to kick Sigulf away. He anticipated it and reacted first by backflipping. However, before she even has the chance to regain her footing, Sigulf was already charging once again.

“Shi—“

Masaki’s haphazard guard was easily broken, leaving her wide open.

“Gotcha.”

‘How can he be—!?’

Her last ditch attempt to evade didn’t help much as she still got thrashed by Sigulf’s attack.

“Guah…!”

“Battle points, down by 25%.”

“He… Seems a bit more vicious than usual.” Celina commented.

“Pretty sure he has a good reason.” Chelsea knowingly replied, though not sure whether to laugh or sigh.

‘Still, how could he still fight well? This boy’s a bit scary…’

Meanwhile, Masaki rolled away to safety and stood up, though with some difficulties.

“Damn, with just one hit…!? That’s not fair…!”

Not willing to concede another offensive chance to Sigulf, she forced herself to advance and unleashed a torrent of piercing attack.

“Seyah!!”

Instead of taking a defensive approach, however, Sigulf retaliated with his own swings and gradually pushed her back once more.

‘Kh…! To think the strength difference is this much…! Then…!!’

Before everything gets worse, Masaki promptly disengaged and raised her spear.

“How about this!?”

She jammed her spear to the ground and created a smoke explosion.

“!?”

As the smoke cleared, only silence remains. However…

‘She’s still around here… Somewhere…’

Sigulf stood still, sensing his surroundings, searching for Masaki’s presence.

“…”

Up high, Masaki has already vaulted herself and dives towards Sigulf, ready to stab.

‘I got you…!’

She thrusted her hand forward with full force… And her spear struck Sigulf’s steel axes.

“Wha—“

Without even looking, Sigulf crossed his Arms behind and successfully guarded against Masaki’s sneak attack.

“There you are.”

With a flick, Sigulf lightly bounced off the airborne Masaki, before swiftly turning around and raised his axe.

‘I can’t make it—‘

His attack went through her defense, sending her flying.

“Gah…!”

She fell with a thud and only able to got up a bit later.

“Tch, what the hell…!”

“Battle points, down by 20%.”

Masaki can only brace herself as Sigulf comes charging at her again.

“That’s enough.”

“Wha—“

Sigulf nearly stumbled due to his own speed (and aggression) when someone suddenly tried to stop the fight.

“Heidenreich, what do you mean!? I can still fight!”

“Ah, it’s that guy…”

The silver haired boy Sigulf met this morning stepped out from the crowd.

“Masaki, please. You should’ve realized by now.”

“…that I can’t win? And don’t call me by my name like that!”

“My bad.”

“…oi, we’re still in the middle of a fight, though.” Sigulf pointed out.

“Could you spare us a moment?” Heidenreich responded.

“…what? But the time—“

“What moment to spare!?” Masaki quickly retorted. “Aren’t we allies!? Why are you suddenly putting me down!?”

‘Ah, so he’s in this too…’ Sigulf mentally noted.

“That wasn’t my intention. And I believe retreating in a… Very disadvantaged fight is a strategic move in itself, if only to reserve—”

“Says you and your warrior mentality!”

“Well, I am a Germanic warrior. You are a ninja. We should’ve known our priorities.”

“This is not some medieval warfare!”

The two continued to bicker, leaving almost everyone bewildered at the sight.

‘…what are they even doing? Wait, is this a kind of psychological strategy?’

Sigulf looked back towards Celina and Chelsea, as if to ask “What to do?”. Celina was equally confused as him, while Chelsea merely shrugged.

‘Damn… This is getting nowhere.” He thought. “Getting a win via timeout would be no fun… Should I just for— …hm? Wait, forfeit? …alright, let’s try this one.’

Sigulf slowly raised his hand and deliberately spoke louder.

“Um, system, I give—“

“Wha— Oh no, you don’t!” Masaki shouted while quickly refocusing on Sigulf.

“Masaki, wait!”

‘Yeah, that’s more like it.’

Ignoring Heidenreich’s plea, Masaki kept increasing her speed.

‘I’m not going down without a fight!’ she thought. ‘Now, take this! Iga ninjutsu!’

In front of everyone, Masaki seemingly multiplied into 2… 4… 8 of herself, all gunning for Sigulf.

“H, how did she do that!?” one of the students expressed their disbelief.

‘Must be illusions. No human could actually split like that. Unless…!’

In response, Sigulf dashed straight towards her with blinding speed.

“Kuh…!”

Two of her shadows forced to change their route and jumped to intercept him.

“Deyah!”

Without losing speed, Sigulf twirled around and easily dispatched them, revealing the clones as energy beings.

‘I knew it! They are a special kind of projectile, after all!’

Another comes charging at him, and he destroyed them without any difficulty again.

‘And obviously, they are much weaker than the original. Therefore…!’

Defeating yet another two, Sigulf finally got close to Masaki with his axes raised.

“Gh…!”

“Raaah!!”

He brought his Fenrir down with all strength… and Masaki immediately dispersed into dark colored energy.

“!”

The one clone Sigulf ignored turns out to be the real Masaki, rapidly approaching him from behind.

“Did you seriously think I wouldn’t even switch places? Naïve!”

She mustered all her might and lunged forward for the strike.

“…thought so. Good thing this nose knows.”

“What the—“

Sigulf instantly turned around and deflected her spear, following it with a powerful spinning attack.

“Argh…!”

Masaki was blown off by his force and this time, she couldn’t secure an emergency recovery.

“Battle points, down by 25%.”

“Urgh…”

As Sigulf walked closer, Masaki was struggling to stand up when Heidenreich stepped in, finally had enough.

“You…!” she growled. “Let me fight until the end!”

“What if I said no?” he retorted. “At this point, it would just be a waste of energy for you.”

“Attention, match intrusion detected.” The system announced. “Please leave the area within 10 seconds.”

Heidenreich didn’t budge, which annoyed Sigulf a bit.

“You, out of the way. Let us finish.”

“Sorry, but I won’t let you go any further than this.”

“…heh, what makes you think you can take on him?” Masaki snapped. “We are about the same strength.”

“Good question. I honestly have no idea.”

“…Heidenreich, you are an idiot.”

“Maybe, so just let me take this from here. I’m sure he’s a bit tired by now.”

“…you bastard.”

“Heh…” he finally grinned. “It’s worth a try.”

Heidenreich kept his attention on Sigulf, who was now staring daggers at him.

‘That’s it. I’m giving—‘

“10 seconds passed. Masaki Fukube, lost by disqualification. Winner, Sigulf Hrimgard.”

‘…well, shit. Not fun.’

“Ah, it’s over…” Celina commented. “But…”

“Yeah, there’s no way he’ll be happy about this…” Chelsea agreed.

Sigulf lowered his axes and let out a big sigh of disappointment.

“…Fenrir damn it, you sure are a troublesome bunch.”

“If only because, we too, want to prove ourselves against the so-called A-class.”

After getting helped to stand by Heidenreich, Masaki withdrew her spear and left for the sidelines.

“…don’t screw it.”

“I’ll try.”

Facing Sigulf, Heidenreich took his summoning stance, ready to fight.

“I, Siegward Heidenreich, will be your next opponent!”