There was a pause between the two of them.

''Ha--ha--you'll do it, Ira........''
"Hahaha.........you're the one, Cecily........

　Miss Cecily flaunts her left wrist.

'You have to be serious, don't you?　Huh.........or else I wouldn't feel like I've won......
Yeah I'll do it, for real... yes, I'll do it too.

　Ira moved.

'I'm going to win!'




　There is a key element in this final that will make the difference between winning and losing.

　I'm sure that Currier, who is probably watching from a seat close to the gate where Cecily came out, is concerned about that as well.

　That factor is how much of the game has been affected by the previous games.

　This is all very difficult to predict in advance.

　Ira-san has minor injuries, including burns.
　Cecily's wrist is still probably twisted.

'Cecily is being pushed........'

　Without taking his eyes off the game, senior Lei muttered that, and the crowd followed.

''Hey, look!　Ira Horne is pushing it!
The balance of the match is shifting!
The Horns' daughter is going to push through this!
'If that's the case, then we can get out of the snow as a house!

　What?
　Where's the audience sitting?
　An afterthought.
　Right now, I wish you didn't think about the house and concentrate on the game........

　Ray-senpai said while looking at Cecily-san's left wrist.

''Injuries are also luck, aren't they.......''

　The wrist injury is quite a disadvantageous factor.
　Even if I don't care about it in terms of my feelings, in reality it still affects me.

''Speaking of which, I wonder if Cecily can read Isla's sword type?
'The sword type........as far as I know, the number of times Currier-san and Cecily-san have matched swords with Isla-san must not be that many. I think it was only during the training camp at Iowa Nourishing Ground. But even then, Ira-san's partners were often me and Rei-senpai.......
'Not as well read as our chairman, I guess.　
'I'm just speculating... but I think that's what Cecily's instincts come out of when she feels threatened.

　If he was out when he fought the Four Deadly Disasters, that's conceivable.
　Even if there was no danger of threatening his life again, he was very strongly intimidated by Chairman Koudelka in the semifinals.
　Although Cecily's 《Pseudo-Polar Sky》 may have lessened the impression, the awakened Chairman Koudelka's skillfulness was not in the ordinary realm.
　Clearly, he was distinct from the other participants.

''In other words?''

　Senior Ray asks for a conclusion.
　I clenched my fists in both hands, feeling both relief and frustration at the same time.

''In other words........it means that Ira-san right now isn't giving Cecily-san the intimidating feeling that the 《Pseudo-Polar Sky》 can activate.......''

　That's why the 《Pseudo-Polar Sky》 doesn't activate.
　Or it could be that Cecily-san feels that Ira-san is not an "enemy" but a "friend" too much.
　The pseudo-polar sky is blocked by her feelings for her friends.
　In the meantime, such a conjecture--

Effective strike!

　An effective strike has been declared.

　The cleaver blade struck the opponent's neck.

"Oh!　That's it!

　The direction the judges' hands are going up.

Ira Horne gets the first valid hit.

　It was Ira who took the first effective hit.

　Moreover - even after she took an effective strike, she continued to attack it.

　Ray-senpai gulped down her spit.



　I notice it too.
　Ira-san continues to launch attacks in an almost breathless state.
　Cecily, on the other hand, was being attacked, and she was unable to find the right moment to counterattack and was defending herself.

"I'm not going to let Ms. Cecily move to counterattack.

　Oh well.
　There was one more thing that we shouldn't forget about the impact of the game so far.

　That was stamina.

　The short sleep after the semi-final shouldn't have been a big recovery.
　That meant that the original Ira's fitness was excellent.
　From the feeling of her breathing when the two of them had been talking not long ago, Ira's breathing seemed to be more shallow.
　Ira-san had more energy to spare.

　Lei-senpai became sincere and narrowed his eyes.

...

　Somehow, Ray-senpai staring at Isla-san looked like an older sister watching over her sister.

　Then.

Ggh....................

　The bottom of Ira's sword pommel was buried in Cecily's groin.

''Ka, ha!

　The crowd marveled.

'Ugh, good!'
''It's rough in the way you do it, but the way you just switched swords was tongue-in-cheek and brilliant...''

　Disguised as a return blade, he instantly switched swords from it and struck the bottom of the hilt with his blunt sense.
　This Holy Martial Arts Festival can take an effective strike if any attack is recognized as a strong strike.
　Even if it is the bottom of the pommel.
　However, you need to keep in mind that it is "limited to attacks with weapons".

　A voice came from the audience, "Wow!

That's an effective hit!

　I got it.

'Whoa!　It's Ira Horne again!

　Two good hits for Ira.

　Good.
　That's enough.
　Let's just pull back for a moment to catch our breath--

　Huh?

Ira, Mr....?

　Can we stop?

　Immediately after pulling the bottom of the handle, a half-arcing blow with the spring of the body.

　It's an amazing sense of balance.
　That must have been a move that was possible only because of his strong waist.
　Or rather.

I'm not stopping...?
'How long is that boy going to continue his attack seamlessly?

"Unlimited energy?

　It won't stop.

...loyal.

　I was mumbling in a voice so quiet that even senior Lei next to me wouldn't hear me.

　In fact, in this match, I had hardly given Ira-san a plan that seemed like a plan.
　For example, a habitual type like an indigenous jutsu is indeed a powerful enemy.
　However, on the other hand, there is one aspect of it that makes it easier to take countermeasures against an opponent with strong habits.
　It's easy to fit them in.

　On the other hand, it's hard to come up with a plan against a non-habitual opponent.
　This type of player is a comprehensive type.
　That's right.

　In my opinion, Cecily's fighting style was close to the all-around type.

　In the end, the only thing I could come up with as a countermeasure against Cecily was a way to strike from an angle that is hard to be passed down, a few things to keep in mind when fighting a twin-sworded opponent, and not to let her flow through the flow of the Butoh dance, which is her specialty.

　And that was what Ira-san was executing now.

　It reminds me of a conversation we had during rehearsal.




''How can we prevent Cecily's "Butoh" flow?
"You have to keep attacking before you can create a flow, and then you have to destroy the starting point of that flow...
"Hmmm... keep on going, huh?
However, I think it's not so easy in practice. There's also the issue of physical distribution involved.
"Then I need to work hard and build up my strength.
''Haha........Ira-san, you're really positive in this Holy Martial Festival.''
'I'm going to do everything I can to get a little bit closer to winning the championship.　That's how I know what to do now!　
'It's okay. The confidence will come later.
"Oh!　Kurohiko, you're positive, too!'
"I seem to be pretty positive about everything but myself...
"A-ha-ha, that's it.
"Like you're better suited to push someone back?
"Hmm.........that's.......that's......that's......that's kind of cool.......don't you think?
''Haha........thank you.
Yes!




　Faithful and protective.

　He crushes the origin of the flow before letting it happen.
　They attack and destroy.

　They are fighting, following the strategy I've talked about.

　The crowd is leaning forward.
　Everyone was watching the game with rapt attention.

"This is going to end like this...!
Ira Horne he's going to take the fight down in one fell swoop!

　An incessant series of attacks.

　On my forehead, a cold sweat ran down.

　Instead of running out of stamina and falling, it's rising - Ira-san's, top speed.