The fighting competition semifinals–
I took up my usual fighting stance as I faced the tall boy with a sharp glint in his eyes.
Letting the cheers in the background into my ears for a moment, I took a deep breath.
I wasn’t nervous any more.
I felt more or less the same way as the cheers seemed to be; excited and anxious.
The uncomfortable premonition I had gotten after watching Maro’s fight was stuck in my mind.
But right now, I’ll just have to ignore that, and––
“Yuno-san! Good luck!” came Athena’s cute voice, mixed in among the rest of the cheers and shouts.
––first things first, I’ll have to respond in turn.
“Let’s do this, me.”
And, accompanied by the shout of “Begin!” I felt like I was hearing for the nth time––
––the match started.
“…!”
My opponent ran at me with a speed belying his stout build.
So, I also began to run at him.
“““Oooooooh!?””” came cries of surprise from the audience, and not for no reason either. All my victories so far had been results of counter-attacks.
It was my first time going in for the first blow of the fight.
I had made the choice to do so because the cheers directed at me were already starting to fade.
Not too strong, but not too weak either.
I had to fight while keeping that in mind.
Most of the spectators probably didn’t doubt I was strong any more.
Or rather, I had succeeded in giving them the impression that Yuno Astario wasn’t actually incompetent.
––And that was enough.
Still, it must have been eating at them.
The reason as to why Yuno Astario wasn’t incompetent anymore. And I was trying to get them to think it was thanks to the goddess Athena.
I’ll use ‘Spear Arts’ even more, and then even more, and––
“…!”
First attack.
My opponent and I were already within range of each other, so I swung my spear horizontally from the right –– only to have my attack blocked by his sword.
Second attack.
Using the momentum of my spear bouncing off his sword, I spun around completely and swung my spear at his side from the left.
But, the boy blocked that martial-arts-esque attack as well.
Our weapons collided with a loud clang.
Before the ringing of the steel had even faded away, my opponent counterattacked.
Instead of locking sword and spear, he tried to close in on me, sliding his sword along my spear.
He was so fast that sparks flew from where our two weapons met.
…Good. Perfect.
I involuntarily broke out in a smile.
However, it wasn’t like I could just let go of my spear.
I repositioned myself as well as the angle I was holding the spear at to block my opponent’s centre of gravity.
That should do it.
As a result, I easily blocked his downward slash.
A push-of-war, if you will, ensued; another stalemate.
My opponent’s sharp gaze pierced through me.
“…I can do it…” he muttered, so I kindly responded by suddenly pushing back way stronger.
“…!”
He quickly backed away, having judged such a push-of-war unfavourable.
Everything from his power of judgement to his swordsmanship was perfect.
He definitely possessed the power to reach the semifinals.
And that –– was very good for me indeed.
The audience was louder than usual.
It was only natural, they were watching a flashy back-and-forth duel between a sword and a spear.
Of course they would get excited.
All that, I calmly took into awareness –– I could also tell that my opponent was also getting excited.
But, not yet. Not yet.
“…You can still do this, me.”
I needed cheers. I wanted resounding applause.
Cheers, applause, that would overwrite everything, that would make Athena smile, was what I wanted––
And I… could do it.
––I repositioned my spear again.
My opponent held his sword up into the air, watching me closely.
My strength was perfectly adjusted.
I was certain I wouldn’t accidentally go overboard.
There was still a bit more to go until I had the audience on the edges of their seats.
I was once again filled with determination.
“––I’m Elen Isaac,” my opponent said to me all of a sudden.
I understood very well what him giving me his name meant.
“I’m Yuno Astario,” I answered to the boy who had acknowledged me, and a happy smile momentarily flashed across his face before his eyes turned back to being hostile as he readied his sword.
Same went for me.
Elen, you’re a worthy opponent, although, probably not in the way you think.
After all, I was just using him to rise even higher. He was a good opponent in that sense.
It was a cruel, cold, and merciless reason.
I will––
“–step over you!”
I moved, having put some strength into my feet.
Elen also ran at me.
It was terrible of me.
I was fighting this battle where there was no conceivable way I could lose.
However, I wasn’t about to start regretting it, or feeling sad about it, or feeling bad about it either.
It was what I had decided to do. So I was going to see it through to the end.
My resolve had solidified the moment my ‘incompetence’ had faded away.
I was not going to be stopped.
I would swing my spear any amount of times if it was to make Athena smile.
I was going to push her up to the position of supreme god. And I would do anything to fulfil that goal.
“…!”
A slash came down at me from above.
I held my spear up as if to block it.
The next moment, the sword was spinning through the air now filled with the shrill ring of steel.
I used that moment to point the tip of my spear at Elen’s throat.
And, finished.
Everything moved in slow motion, then stopped.
I felt it.
I had succeeded. Cheers erupted from the audience.
––Come, shout my name.
“––Winner: Yuno Astario!”
“““Wooooooooooooo!””” came the cheers.
Their loudness couldn’t even be compared to the cheers after my first-round-fight.
“He did it! He did it!”
I could see Athena hugging Luna, who had a gentle smile on her face, from joy, her red eyes gleaming.
Suddenly, Luna looked towards me.
––‘Satisfied?’ I could feel her eyes asking me.
I shook my head.
As if. There’s still another fight left.
I’ll be satisfied once I win that too.
The problem was my opponent.
The way I was going to fight would change based on who it was.
“……”
My opponent would either be Tina –– or Maro.
‘…I have a feeling I know which of the two it’s going to be. Let’s just hope I’m wrong,’ I thought to myself as I held my spear high up into the air.
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