Sakurai came to her senses after a moment; she had been completely overwhelmed in an instant by my attack.

The attack came out of nowhere for her, but she can’t help but understand the situation she is in, I won’t back down.

Sakurai’s father made a bitter expression when looking down on his daughter in the state my one attack left her in.

For him this was inexcusable and a sign of her weakness, her as a princess to the Sakurai family of knights to be overwhelmed by a stranger of no name.

“Even with all those hopes, another failure.

I have seen enough.”

He began walking away.

Sakurai looked up at her father’s face and then the back he turned to her.

(No…He can’t see me like this. I can’t lose after all I had to do.)

“It’s…you. It’s your…fault.”

“What are nonsense are saying now?”,

I said in an Irritated tone.

“Don’t you dare make me look pathetic to him!!”

Sakurai burst forward and conjured a pillar of ice from the ground.

I clenched my fist and drove it through the ice, smashing it easily.

Where did she go?

“Hyaaaa!”

Outside of my line of view, Sakurai snuck up right behind me.

Frost enveloped her hand and a shorter whip formed from the ice, she then began a flurry of attacks towards my back.

“Fwish Crack Crack Crack”

With my gauntlet equipped I was able to move extremely fast however dodging was another thing.

My abilities to dodge were exactly the same just slightly improved because of how focused it makes me, so with each attack from her whip I was in danger.

Just barely dodging some of them and having to use my armour to block the others.

I can’t fight if she moves in so quickly.

She made her weapon shorter somehow but now she is able to attack much faster in this close range.

I need to focus on my strengths then as well, seeing as I have no weapon and no armour other than this hand…I got it.

“My strength…”

“Crack Crack Crack Slap”

The flurry of cracks from her whip all hit my body.

Leaving my body wide open to accept those attacks also made it easy to retaliate to an opening.

I grabbed the whip and pulled her in.

“…is to charge through!”

My fist was on the path towards her.

This attack should have enough behind it to end this fight completely and render her unable to continue.

“Stop it!”

In a last attempt at struggle Sakura cried out and released an explosion of ice.

“Master-!”

I looked over to Shiho who was frozen in place, not by ice however. She was simply not moving.

It was strange that Shiho wasn’t able to move, when it happened before she was the one who kept up with Sakurai and Sora.

How is this possible, Shiho is in slow motion…

“Sakurai.”

Sakurai was creating a tower of ice that was growing upwards while she rode it into the sky.

I won’t let you escape, this ends here.

“Sakurai don’t run from me!”

My attention was so focused on Sakurai that I failed to notice the armour around my hand fading into a flash of light which in sequence then appeared around my shoes.

The school shoes I was wearing before were covered by an elegant white metal; these were the same make as the armour piece that covered my hand before.

I jumped up hoping to get some good distance in the air in able to mount the ice but as I leapt up I had cleared half the tower of ice already and was reaching the top faster than the tower was growing.

“What is that…”,

Sakurai panicked to herself.

I had flown past the top of the tower which made her scared resulting in the towers ascend to be halted.

She made eye contact with me after flying past her at extraordinary speed, she saw my eyes that were encompassed by white glow that was pouring out the sides of my eyes.

“I won’t let you win. He can’t see me lose, not to you not to anyone!” Sakurai yelled.

“Why do you fight then?!”, I shouted.

Sakurais expression blanked, she was unsure to the answer and couldn’t help but show it on her face.

I then lost momentum and began falling slowly down right above the tower.

As my descent started I extended my foot out and made a round house kick.

“Fwiiiiiiisshhh!”

“…uh”, she cried out softly.

“Crack Smash”

The tower of ice was hit by a gust of pressure and then shattered from all sides.

As the shattered tower gave out and Sakurai began her fall, everyone around them returned to normal and began moving again.

“!”,

Shiho began to look confused.

Everyone began making noise to the abundance of ice chunks raining down on them, some ran for cover but a lot of people were getting hit.

Shiho ran out with her shield above her head and Ayako in her other arm and stood over Sora’s unconscious body shielding him from the rain of hail.

Ayako stepped forward suddenly,

“Save her Haruto!!!!!!”

…

“You don’t have to tell me.”

The armour around my feet had a change in appearance; the white glow was adjoined by a shimmering green around his ankles.

I faced down while in the air and started bending my knees, there was a large circle of green under the sole of the shoes.

A foothold in the air? That will do then.

I sprang forward and was rushing towards the mass storm of ice boulders surrounding Sakurai’s falling body.

“Sakurai, grab on!”

I put my arm out ready to grab her hand.

She looked out at me with a scared look on her face and then held back, she closed her eyes and accepted the fate of falling.

Why do people have to be so stubborn…?

I landed on a chunk of ice and jumped from iceberg to iceberg until I got to Sakurai and then carried her in my arms.

The feeling of her soft skin in my hands was warm. My hands were resting on her lower bottom and the top of her back.

“No why are you-”

Two large pieces of ice were about to collide where we stood.

“Aaaagghhh!”, she screamed.

I jumped backwards and then to the side, jumping and bouncing in the air as if I was doing so on walls and the floor.

“Why are you saving me…?”

“I see it in your eyes, when we made eye contact up there. Those were the eyes of someone who doesn’t want to fight.”

Sakurai’s chest began to feel tight and her heart accelerated.