The other side of the arena…

“Man, he just had to get the match with that nutjob.” Kenichii spoke.
“Oh well.” Kaori replied.

“Hey, don’t be down yet. He’ll still have another chance after this, so.” Hisako patted both of them, reassuring them.

“Well, let’s head to the arena. We can cheer him on anyway.” Kenichii added.

“Yep.”

The three of them moved to the front area, right in front of the arena, where they’d get a really good view of the fights.

The announcer explained the general rules of the trial and then the rewards of winning the trial, or qualifying in the top 16, which would be admission into the academy.

Kenichii and Kaori stood by and watched the matches, Hisako left during the start of the second match as he was summoned by Sugiwara for an errand.

After some time, the second match was over as well.

“Well, that wasn’t the most interesting start to a trial." Kenichii spoke, his face showing signs of discontent.

“Yeah, one was a dragged-out fight, and the other was a drag to watch.” Kaori replied.

“Well, next is Takeshi, so…

Man, I don’t think I can watch this… Last trial’s fight was sad enough for me.” Kenichii continued.

“Well, let’s see it through anyway.

Where’s he anyway.”

A young man came from behind the crowd, making a commotion among the public as he walked through.

There were a lot of whispers coming from the crowd.

“Who is this?”

“Is this the guy named Takeshi?”

“Wait, I remember him, he was the guy who proclaimed himself to be the legendary Tachibana’s grandson.”

“Oh yeah, that faker.”

“Wait, didn’t he get knocked out in the very first round last time?”

“Yeah, that too, in the very first strike.”

“Hahh, the audacity of that liar. He has the gall to show his face again in here.”

“Why did Kanroji-Sensei even let him participate?”

“Could he really be Tachibana’s grandson?”

“No, no. What in the world are you saying? This man was so weak that he fell for the very first strike from his opponent. Knocked out unconscious.

How could he be of the same blood as one of the strongest warriors of the shogunate?”

“What if he didn’t receive any training prior to his first attempt?”

“Are you kidding me?

Also, why are you people even considering it? Do you want to sully the name of the war hero so much that you’ll think of accepting any commoner as his grandson just because he says so? What an absolute disgrace!”

Murmurs were flying around the arena.

The young man kept his silence and smirked, just as he was about to enter the main arena.

“Well, that’s quite the cheerful crowd.” Takeshi spoke to himself. He walked towards his opponent, Murakami Yoshikage.

“Ho, Ho. Not only did you stare at me with your lowly eyes, but you even claimed to be the grandson of Takahiro Tachibana before.

Not only do you have any shame, you brazenly appear here again, trying to befriend the Himejima princess.”

Takeshi didn’t reply to anything. He just looked at Yoshikage intently. But there were no signs of bloodlust, or any other emotion at all.

This really annoyed Yoshikage.

“Tsk.
Guess I’ll have to put you in your place by ending you.”

“Ahem, you may injure him, you may attack with killing intent, but you are forbidden to kill anyone. Those are the rules.

If you kill him or render him incapable of fighting permanently, the repercussions will be severe.

I’m sure you are aware of that, Yoshikage-dono.” The announcer spoke, clearly stating his intent.

“Yes, yes. I get it. I’ll just teach this vermin a lesson so that he doesn’t wander off to places where he doesn’t belong.” Both of them take a fighting stance.

“All right. The group stage match between Tachibana Takeshi and Murakami Yoshikage will now begin.

FIGHT!!!”

Yoshikage releases his ki, which flares up like a wildfire. He unsheathes his sword, which had the Murakami family crest engraved in it.

Looking from outside, it was clear who was stronger. Yoshikage emitted ki about 5-6 times the amount Takeshi emitted. He was near the peak of Sword Apprentice Realm after all.

Takeshi closed his eyes and sensed his opponents ki. He unsheathed his sword as well.

“Ho, are you so scared that you can’t even open your eyes? Hehe. Don’t worry, I’ll end this in a few strikes.”

Yoshikage got riled up even more when he didn’t get a reaction when after that.

“This is the end for you, you bastard!

Haaaah…” Yoshikage flashed and slashed Takeshi with all his strength.

“Woosh”

Yoshikage looked up to see that there was no one there, in the place where he slashed his sword. He turned to see Takeshi standing behind him, standing with his sword down.

“”Aaarhhh!” He yelled out again as he turned and slashed at Takeshi again. He could feel that he had missed it again, as he felt no contact from his blade with anything.

‘What the? Where is he now? Is he behind-’

Yoshikage turned to see that he was right behind him.

‘What’s going on?

How is he getting behind me when I attack him. Is this some kind of illusion? How does this vermin possibly have that kind of skill?

No, No. He’s moving past me, alright.

But how? I’m the fastest and most agile in the Star Generation, and he’s able to move faster than me? That’s impossible!

Fine, I’ll go along with you.

You did this when I went for one big slash, let me see what you will do when I do this.’

Yoshikage retreated to his original stance and proceeded to close in on the distance between him and Takeshi.

Yoshikage released a continuous barrage of slash attacks at Takeshi in a way that he wouldn’t be able to dodge or flash past him.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. Takeshi hadn’t even moved from his spot, yet he was able to avoid all of the attacks.

The crowd fell into an eerie silence; they couldn't comprehend what had just transpired right before their eyes.
Kaori and Kenichii, who were standing in the front row, were surprised to their core. They stood frozen, unable to react, except for their jaws dropping slightly.
Boy did they know there would be many more jaw-dropping moments that day.

Yoshikage continued on with his attacks, trying to push his speed to it’s limits and the number of attacks he was launching. Takeshi either dodged it or parried it using his sword, but he didn’t move an inch from the spot.

Minutes passed by, the continued silence, sweat dripping rapidly and ki surging from either side, but Takeshi’s ki still appeared several times lower than his own to Yoshikage.

“Hahh Hahh”

‘This is ridiculous.

How is this lowlife able to dodge and parry all my attacks with ease?

And that bastard hasn’t even moved from his spot. This is pissing me off, damn it.

Fine… I have no choice but to show him the full extent of my strength. What use is my strength if I don’t show the world who should be among the elites and who should be tossed like the trash they are.

I was planning to use the clan arts against someone from my group. Guess I have to do it here.

You lowly scum, I’ll make you pay for forcing my hand here!’

Yoshikage closed his eyes, stood still, taking a different stance, bending his legs a bit, extending his sword arm behind his body and he concentrated and focus his ki and his breathing.

His ki spiked even more now. So much so that some people in the audience started to faint or feel dizzy.

It was clear that this was going to be his last attack, and he intended to finish things with this one strike. He had clearly pushed past its limits.

At this point, it might sound like I’m telling the tale of Yoshikage… but I digress.

He then opened his eyes and smirked.

“This is the end for you, you bastard.

Murakami Style: Shadows Pursue (村上流 影の追跡)”

The air cracked with the immense surging ki, creating ripples that reverberated throughout the arena.

Yoshikage immediately disappears from the arena, leaving behind a small dust cloud in the place where he stood.

Takeshi, who was observing him, suddenly moved his eyes to the right side, followed by what appeared to the crowd as a slash in the air.

But to their surprise, that slash produced a huge clang noise, as if someone had clashed swords.

Then he immediately bent his legs, with his knees almost touching  the ground and him balancing himself on his toes, followed by raising his sword horizontally and holding the blade end with his other hand.

Once more, the clanging sound was heard.

This repeated a few more times in a very short span of time, namely a few seconds.

What the people couldn’t see or realize was that it was Yoshikage moving at ultra-high speeds, charging at Takeshi from different directions.

Takeshi was able to sense and see his movements, and he was able to parry all of those attacks.

A few more attacks followed, and now with more force, sparks started to fly.

Takeshi was forced to move from his initial spot now, in order to dodge the barrage of attacks.

‘Finally, he moved from his spot, heh. And I have him right where I want him.’

Yoshikage surged his ki even more and lunged forward at unimaginable speeds to thrust his sword into Takeshi.

“BOOM!”

A huge dust cloud formed inside the arena ring.

The wind suddenly blew it away, revealing the spectacle that was there to be seen in the arena.

“I-Impossible!” Yoshikage exclaimed. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

Yoshikage was down, with one of his knees on the ground. His powerful finishing thrust was rendered useless by Takeshi, who had completely countered it by using a forward step dodge and was now, standing with his feet on Yoshikage’s blade, holding him down, unable to move.

The crowd gasped at the sight.

Kenichii and Kaori, who already had their jaws dropped slightly, now had their jaws dropped to the floor. Their faces were bewildered by the ridiculous sight they had just witnessed, as were the rest of the crowd.

‘What the hell happened?’

Yoshikage thought to himself. He couldn’t comprehend what had just happened here. His clan’s secret arts, combined with his own technique, had been rendered completely useless, and moreover, he’s unable to move now given the pressure that he felt holding down his blade.

Takeshi tilted his head, looking down intently at the man who had belittled him right from their very first meeting.

“You must be wondering what just happened. How me, someone who has less ki than you do, was able to do this and render your move null and void.

The answer is simple really.

You are weak.”

Yoshikage got chills running down his spine with the intimidating ki Takeshi had released in that very instant. It was momentary and disappeared right that instant, but it’s aftereffects still lingered, in the form of fear in Yoshikage.

“You talked about how I was a vermin and how weak I really am. But in reality, you are the vermin, clinging onto titles and power, upholding that false pride that you gained just because you are from a noble clan.” Takeshi continued.

“H-How d-dare y-you!”

“Silence, vermin.
Know your place, before you open that filthy mouth of yours.”

Yoshikage shuddered and was filled with fear right now. He was visibly sweating, and his hair was disheveled.

Takeshi lifted his leg from Yoshikage’s sword. Yoshikage collapsed to the ground and struggled to get up.

Takeshi waited for him to give up on his own, but Yoshikage still stood up,

“Y-You bastard. I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!”

“Ahh, there was something you told me before, wasn’t there?

You said you'd end this with a few strikes.” Takeshi spoke.

“AAAARHHH” Yoshikage ran towards him, holding his sword, to land one heavy strike.

But before he reached Takeshi, he heard him say:

“Don’t worry, I’ll end this with one strike.”

Yoshikage gulped but followed through with his strike. Once again, he felt like he connected with nothing but air. But he suddenly felt a pain radiating from his chest.

He looked down to see a line carved in his precious garb, which was slowly being stained red.

Takeshi landed his legs past him, and just as he touched the ground, blood started to squirt all over from Yoshikage’s chest.

Takeshi swung his sword to remove the blood from his blade, and then he proceeded to sheathe his blade.

Yoshikage fell to the ground, unconscious, in a puddle of his own blood.

“T-The match is over! The winner is TACHIBANA TAKESHI!!!”

Where winners were met with applause or booing from the crowd, Takeshi received an audience shocked to their core. He smiled as if he were satisfied with their reaction. He walked down the arena towards Kenichii and Kaori.

“Here, let me close that for you.” Takeshi lifted both of their jaws and closed their mouths as he smiled and patted their shoulders. He then left for his tent.

“W-What the hell just happened?” Kenichii asked, awestruck.

“I have no clue at all.” Kaori replied.

They both hadn’t recovered from what they had just witnessed.

But they weren’t the only people who were impressed by this performance.

“Hooo! That Takeshi sure is interesting. I want to meet him.

I want to meet him, Naomoto!!!” Yuzuha exclaimed.

“Yeah…” Naomoto, who was surprised by the match itself, was even more surprised by Yuzuha’s reaction.

“Hmm, Hmm.”

Other side of the arena, where the nobles were seated.

“Hohoho, that was surprising indeed.”

“Indeed, Indeed.”

“Now another dark horse has appeared, eh?”

‘Hahaha, so this is the answer you’ve reached. This is magnificent, Takeshi.

You are proving yourself more and more to be his grandson.

I can see why Yoshimoto was talking non-stop about this.

Hmm, this is going to get more interesting.’ Kanroji scratched his chin as he smiled and thought to himself.

This fight would prove to be a major event, catching people's attention in unexpected ways.

Be-beng…

To be continued.