The day of the finals.
　In a complete change from the qualifying round, the auditorium was crowded.
　It's only the third year, but it's really popular.

'Wow!　There's a lot of people up there today!

　Tsuna is looking up at the scene from the players' waiting room, and is as excited as she was yesterday.
　It's comforting to know that it's always the same, in many ways.

Oh, there's Eizem!　Hey!

　Eizem is sitting at the end of Ituna's wave, looking tired.
　It must have been hard for him to come here, since he took my training last night as well.

'Sakahagi. What were you doing all night with that man last night?

　Oh, so Cianne knew.

"It's a secret.
Mwah!

　Cianne visibly grimaced as she held up a finger to her lips.
　But she didn't pursue if she remembered rule three.

'Everyone!　Thank you for your patience!　Now, we will hold the third demon warfare tournament main competition!

　The pretty girl's voice echoed throughout the hall.
　The cheers of the audience suddenly reached a climax.
　A real-life situation using a loudspeaker magic. I see, this is how it works.

　We were accompanied by an attendant and walked down the corridor of the arena.
　There was no Hulam or Amalia among them.
　As we step out into the arena, we are at once met with the curious eyes of the crowd.

''Then the athletes enter!　There are 20 players in the finals!　In addition to the 16 qualifiers, there will be four other seeded players in the field!　Among them, the one who is seen as the leading contender for the championship is the kingdom's court magician and hero who developed a new magic.....Hiram Speichel!

　Oh, you're a seeded player, so you're coming out of another high place.
　That's a very special treatment.
　Well, it's no surprise that this is the stage I built for you to admire yourself.

"Prior to the opening of this event, Her Majesty Queen Elraihu Stromgard would like to say a few words.

　What did you say?
　It's a hassle, just get on with it.

　A block of seats for the dignitaries. In the royal bleachers, a person who looked to be the queen stood up.
　She looked to be an old lady in her fifties, but her expression conveyed a core strength.
　She must have been beautiful when she was young.

　Nevertheless, the speech is appropriately ignored.

''-- This year is the third year for the Demon Wars Tournament. The contestants are........

　The Queen's voice, which I was listening to while drilling my ears, suddenly stopped.
　I looked at the queen to see what was going on, and her eyes met mine firmly.

　Uh?
　What the hell, put the gun on.
　Are you trying to pick a fight?

　I thought, and then he averted his gaze.

''Well excuse me. Anyway, players, please give it your all.

　The Queen withdrew to the back of the room, looking bummed out as she hurriedly broke off her speech as if she had been mended.
　What was that?

'Thank you, Your Majesty!　Now we'll start the main competition...!

　The hall was filled with loud cheers.
　At last, the final round of the tournament against the demons began.
　Shall we liven things up a bit?



"Fainting in the Beers player is confirmed!　Winner, Cianne!
Huh, well deserved.

　Yeah, I didn't see the game because it was too obvious.

'Overwhelming!　It's overwhelmingly fast!　I couldn't see what happened at all, but Cianne won!

　The reality is exciting.
　The match goes on and it's Ituna's turn.

Lilithia passes out!　Winner!　Ituna!
Yay!

　We did it! It's great!

"Ituna's lightning magic bursts forth and kills instantly!　In the qualifying round, he was fighting with a weapon, but I didn't think he was a wizard~!　This is an unexpected dark horse!

　It's not magic, though.
　Well, in this other world, of course it will be taken that way.

"Well, it's me.
Good luck, Mr. Sacagawea!
You need to show them who you are.

　When I went on stage, my opponent was already there.
　Apparently, the introduction by the play-by-play announcer had just finished.

''Well, this is Sakahagi, but this is a user of the Kensei style!　A student replaces Master Eizem, who had to give up his participation due to an unforeseen accident!　Quickly, the fate of sword versus magic!　What kind of battle will they show us!

　Although it is a decline, it seems that the popularity of Kenseiryu is high somehow.
　Especially middle-aged and older men are holding up the curtain of Ken Seiryu, and the cheering is great anyway.
　On the contrary, it seems that magic is popular among young people. It's a change from the time of Itsuna, and people are looking at it with a cold eye.

　By the way, my opponent is a wizard, just like you said.
　It's the first time I've met him with a grin and a lowly smile.

''Hmph, you foolish person who defies Hulam-sama. Sword Star School is not my magical enemy!
Oh, yeah.

　The referees stepped between us to make sure we were ready for each other, then stepped back.
　After a bow, we take ten steps away from each other and face each other.
　While the player holds up his staff, I hold up my iron sword with a crushed blade.

''Begin the demon warfare match!''
"Force Cage!

　As soon as it starts, a glowing square tries to catch me.

'Hahaha, that's a force field cage!　You'll never be able to destroy it with a physical attack, let alone a sword!
Really?
Huh?

　It's too slow to build, so I usually avoided waiting for the resist.
　Oh well, there you go.

"Ghee.

　The wizard fainted as he knocked his head with the belly of his iron sword.

'Player Barzella, you fainted!　Winner Sacagawea!
What the hell is this?　The moment the force cage was activated, Sakahagi appeared behind Barzella!　Is this speed........?　With such a crowd of people, it looked like the Sacagawea player had completely disappeared!

　Jitsu-chan spoke passionately and left the stage with the old men cheering at his back.
　When I returned to the waiting room, Sianne suddenly crowded in on me.

'Sacaghagi, what was that!　I watched with an appraising eye, but no cheats or magic had been activated. How did it disappear without using dimensional transitions or light-winged sprinting!
It's not. It's the Ken Sei's way of walking.

　Seeing that I wasn't going to talk about it, Cianne changes the question.

'I've always wondered. Why are you able to use the Sword Star School?''
I learned from Eizem. I figured since it's going to be out as Ken Sei-ryu, I should be able to emulate it.

　It's a complete lie.
　But it should make sense.

'You won, Sacagawea, you won!　Congratulations!

　Ituna rushes up to interrupt Cianne, who wants to hear something more.
　So the conversation was a blur.



　When the first game was all over and there was a break, the results of the matches were posted in the waiting room.

　The main competition, which was tournament style, was divided into A and B blocks.
　As luck would have it, Ituna and Sianne are in Block A and I am in Block B, so we won't be facing each other until the final.
　The tournament table shows that Ituna and Sianne won't be fighting until the A block semi-finals either.

It looks like I won't be able to fight you.

　It was Amalia who called out to me while I was thinking.
　She was bored that she bothered to come over here when there was a room for seed players only.

''I guess so.
You.... no, you're no match for Master Hulam with the sword star style.

　Amalia assures me with open arms and euphoria.
　Amalia, the A Block seeded player number one, can only fight me in the final.
　That means I'm going to lose to Hulam, the seeded player in Block B," she says.

I'm sure you'll be able to tell me that your next opponent is the captain of the kingdom's Kingsguard. There's no need for Hulam-sama to put his hand down.
Oh, really?

　Apparently, the seeded player I'm going to hit next is the captain of the kingdom's Kingsguard.
　Amalia's face clouds over at my nonchalant attitude.

''That's it?　What do you have to say about fighting a powerful enemy?
No, I don't care who it is. It's already been decided that I'm the winner, so I'll just enjoy myself.

　Amalia looked puzzled for a moment and then suddenly burst out laughing.

'You have a surprisingly funny thing to say!　Why don't you get a job as a clown?
Great, I'll think about it.
Now, the second game is about to begin. I'll take my leave now.

　Amalia left with a gobsmacking laugh.
　What did that guy want to do?

　I mean, the next match in A Block is Cianne.
　So it's a match between the two of them.
　Let's go see the match.

Well, let's start the second match.　First up is the entrance of Block A seeded Amalia!　Against the jet-black beauty who beat Beers in the first match........Cianne!

　As Amalia and Cianne sashayed in, the hall was filled with cheers from the men.

''Uncharacteristically, it's a showdown between two immensely beautiful women!　The men are cheering all over the place!　I'm a bit confident in my looks and style, but as expected, I'm not even jealous of both players!

　You're a funny girl, Jitsujyo.
　I wonder if she has a boyfriend.

　Well, I don't think Sianne will lose, but I wonder how good will Amalia be.
　Hmm, Sianne says something.

"Mm, no magic waves?　What do you mean?

　Oh, shit.
　I forgot to advise Sianne not to use her appraising eye in a fight with a seeded player wizard.
　Well, I guess I can handle it, right?

Let the witch hunt begin.

　Even though the signal to start the match was given, the two did not move.
　Perhaps Cianne is wary of the mystery of Amalia's magic waves.
　Hmm, if I had advised her, she would have made a quick attack with a shrinking ground, and that would have been the right thing to do.

''Aren't you coming?　So let's start here. Illusional Elements!
What?

　As Amalia raised her staff, multicolored light bullets appeared around her.
　Sianne's eyes widened.

''There it is!　Amalia's Illusional Elements~!

　The crowd erupted in excitement at Jitsujikan's shout.
　In response to their expectations, Amalia bowed and swung her staff down.
　Then the seven colored balls of light all flew towards Cyanne at once.

''Tch!''

　Cianne's initial move was delayed as she observed Amalia until the last minute.
　I almost dodged it, but only snatched a single red bullet into my arm.
　It swelled up as if it had been sizzling.

''Kuh!　There wasn't a magic wave, and yet it seemed to suddenly erupt...

　That's because, Sianne, they usually suppress and store their magic energy waves.
　Those who are able to manipulate like that don't usually have their magic waves appear on the surface.
　And by exploding them all at once, the power of the wave magic is increased.

And the color of the magic wave keeps changing?　What the hell kind of magic trick is that?
'Magical vibrations?　Oh, you mean my magic aura? Yes, I can control all the attributes by changing the quality of my magic aura!

　Amalia puffs her chest out as if she is proud of herself in response to Sianne's question.
　Yes, this is also one of the advantages of wave magic.
　Magic waves have an innate color, and this is linked to the so-called attributes.

　Red magic wave motion is fire.
　Blue's magic wave is water.
　Yellow's magic wave is earth.
　Green's magic wave is wind.

　This is just a part of it, there are many other systems.
　It doesn't matter much for ordinary life, but there is a tendency for competent blacksmiths to use the fire attribute, for example.
　But if you can control the magic wave, you can change this color.......your attributes.
　In Amalia's case, she's able to do that very quickly.

''It doesn't matter to me what your attributes and weaknesses are. There is no way to escape the simultaneous attacks of all the attributes!

　In contrast to Amalia, who was proud of her victory, Cianne let out a sigh.

'Sure, you're right. It doesn't matter what it is.'

　Oh, that Cianne guy, he's got a new set of eyes.

"If you believe that's all it is, then you're no match for me.

　You're on to something.
　You don't have to conform to anyone.

Oh, Bullshit!　Now, let's get this over with in one fell swoop!

　When Amalia waved her staff, the seven-colored light bullets appeared again.
　And more than twice as many as before.

''Here's the Illusional Elements again!　Sianne, you're in desperate trouble!

　The tension of the Jitsujo-chan reached its highest point.
　Drawing a rainbow-colored lone, countless light bullets encircled Cyanne in an attempt to crush her to death.

　But Sianne kept a supremely calm eye on the approaching death.

"I'll tell you why my father gave me two names in black.

　As he opened his twin eyes and raised his hands, a group of countless dark spheres appeared around Cyanne.
　There were ten times as many of them as Amalia's light spheres.
　The countless black spheres that merely float around, seven colors of light are sucked into the countless black spheres one after another and disappear.

''What?!''

　Amalia gasped as her boastful attack was blithely prevented.
　Sianne cheerfully spread out her hands as if she were celebrating, showing off her abilities.

''-- Black Matter. Absorbing all kinds of magic and matter and annihilating them.....................This is my ability to create this in exchange for a large amount of magic power.

　Oh, I didn't know they named her that.
　Sianne is so middle-aged!
　It's not that I don't like your taste.

Oh, no. Removing magic is foul!

　Amalia lost her complexion at what had happened so much.
　Cianne scoffed at her dismay.

'Foul play?　Wrong.

　One of the black matter liquefied and clung sticky to Cianne's hand.
　A stance, then a contraction.
　The black claws of the misplaced claws pierced through Amalia's defensive magic and tore through her abdominal cavity.

''If you're dealing with real foul play, you won't get to the dimension of a match like this.
You see I'm not yet...

　Amalia collapses to the ground, unable to get to her feet.
　The judges began to count.

'Amalia!

　A cry of concern for her could be heard from somewhere.

'Master Hulam, I'm sorry...'
Eight, nine, ten, the winner, Cyanne!

　Amidst cheers and boos, Cianne leisurely left the fighting stage.

''This ... this is one hell of a big deal!　Amalia, the leader of the pro-Hulam magician's division, was unexpectedly defeated!　And by some unknown magic, Cianne has walked into the third game!

　In the corridor connecting the hall and the waiting room with the actual situation in the background, Cianne stopped.
　That's because I was there.

'Hey, you did well against a strong opponent.

　For some reason, Cianne turned away from me in response to my niceties.

'Is my Black Matter magic?　Or is it the cheat ability?

　The emotion behind those words isn't anger or sadness.
　Maybe it's sadness.
　Whatever it is, I'm just telling you the truth.

"No, I'm not either. It's about you.

　Cianne looks up at those words.
　At first she looked strange, but eventually she smiled powerfully and tapped me on the shoulder.