Chapter 7 Royal Tritonis Academy
Tick kept his head bowed low before Kyoko.
"I see. So that's how it unfolded," Kyoko murmured softly.
Pina was supposed to have been put on public display as punishment for the collapse of the 107th Branch School. Why, then, had she arrived at the main campus surrounded by an entourage of allies? Hearing the full series of events, Kyoko showed not a trace of anger, offering only a mild, amused smile.
"What ought we to do?" Tick asked, his voice tight with tension.
If the Amnesium house withdrew its financial backing, countless noble families would fall into ruin and businesses would crumble overnight.
Considerable unrest was already sending shockwaves through the student body.
Yet in stark contrast to Tick's visible anxiety, Kyoko remained lighthearted and unbothered.
"Shall we simply leave them alone?" she suggested with a casual tilt of her head. "Under the terms of the Counter-Battle, Pina and her group will have no reason to stay after a week anyway. Besides, interfering with students from Branch 666—provided they aren't criminals—is strictly off-limits. We can hardly afford to sour our relationship with the Food Supply Department."
"...Understood," Tick acquiesced bitterly.
The Food Supply Department of Branch 666 was the absolute cornerstone of self-sufficiency in the Academy Archipelago. Set atop floating islands with severely restricted landmass, they were the only faction capable of cultivating food locally rather than relying entirely on outside imports.
Over sixty percent of all sustenance consumed across the archipelago was supplied directly by them. Earth World accounted for another thirty percent, while imports from the Heaven Disc World comprised less than ten percent. Even the main campus enjoyed the fruits of the Food Supply Department's labor.
Above all, the head of the Food Supply Department, Irori Fuyuha, was an indelible scar on the pride of Imperial Style Doji Academy Main Campus.
She was the strongest mage ever born in the Academy Archipelago and a living legend. To the main campus, she stood as a monument of absolute shame—a former subsidiary branch that had turned on its masters and won total independence. The main campus could not risk another catastrophic defeat. It was an unspoken law across the archipelago that no one touched Branch 666 until Irori and Dotou's generation graduated.
Tick bit his lip, dark fury burning in his chest.
"Was there really no intelligence indicating those Tritonis Academy bastards were connected to Branch 666?" he growled.
"My information network isn't omniscient," Kyoko replied with a musical lilt. "Besides, Kuro worked exceptionally hard. Recruiting two Single-Digit Rankers was largely his doing, from what I gather."
"Huh...? That useless small fry did that?" Tick spat out, incredulous.
"Yes, indeed, indeed! Isn't it wonderful?" she cooed, her expression melting into pure ecstasy. "As expected of Kuro."
Even though her retaliatory plot had completely crumbled, Kyoko beamed with unadulterated joy.
"...!"
A sharp pang of intense jealousy seared Tick's heart.
Long after Kyoko departed, Tick remained bent low where he stood. Staring blankly at the floorboards, he scratched at his right eyebrow. A faint scar split the brow line—nothing compared to the prominent mark on Kyoko's forehead, but a permanent reminder nonetheless.
The first memory that resurfaced was the sight of crimson droplets splashing onto the dirt.
It was the injury he sustained when his father grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and slammed his face into the ground—a bitter memory still etched into Tick's right eyebrow.
Tick hadn't committed any crime. Nor was his father a man who abused his child out of malice.
His sole offense was defeating an opponent he was never permitted to conquer.
It had happened during a magical exhibition hosted for children of the local nobility.
What was intended as mere entertainment for country nobles far from the capital turned into a streak of victories for young Tick, who innocently triumphed over match after match. He had naively believed that showing off his exceptional magic would make his parents proud.
Instead, his overwhelming dominance earned the host's bitter enmity. Defeating the host's son was bad enough, but Tick had utterly humiliated the boy in a ruthless landslide.
The scar across his brow was the punishment for that arrogance.
His father had pressed his forehead into the dirt, groveling in desperate apology.
To young Tick, the sight of his father bowing was infinitely more traumatic than his own bleeding head. Looking down on them as they scraped their faces in the dirt without a shred of dignity were the lord and heir of the master house that held sway over lesser nobles.
I'm sorry for being such a weak father.
Tick still distinctly remembered his father's self-deprecating murmur on their journey home.
From that moment on, Tick became the sycophant of the very boy he had beaten. Keeping a talented mage as a lackey was a mark of status for high nobility, reducing Tick to nothing more than a vanity accessory for his master.
A master weaker than him, yet far higher in standing. A master-servant dynamic dictated entirely by bloodline—that hierarchy was supposed to remain absolute even after arriving at the Academy Archipelago. Such was the immutable law of high society.
That absolute law shattered during his first mock battle after enrolling in the archipelago.
Why are you pulling your punches?
The one who had posed that question was Kyoko, who had already caught the principal's eye with her peculiar magic.
The academy principal was one of the Four Great Dukes who held the reins of power in the Empire—a figure so prominent that neither Tick's house nor his master's family would ever dare dream of disobeying him.
Having won the duke's favor, Kyoko's words carried weight that surpassed even that of an official Ranker.
You must never hesitate to inflict wounds—be it anxiety, terror, or despair. Go on, scar them. Carve the mark of your very existence into this world.
Tick had looked toward the boy who was supposed to be his master. The student, who had intended to flaunt his own prestige by thrashing Tick, was trembling violently, his face drained of color.
He looked pitiful and utterly ridiculous.
A dark smirk spread across Tick's face. Tracing the mark on his brow, he realized it had long since faded into a harmless white scar.
The number of permanent scars you carve upon the world is the sole proof of your strength.
That day, Tick unleashed years of suppressed rage, pounding his opponent into a bloodied rag.
Not a single person reprimanded him for it—not within the academy, nor anywhere in the Empire.
Ever since Kyoko showed him how to live that day, Tick Token had remained fiercely devoted to her. He stayed by her side even when the Gobot Bureau deemed her magic hazardous to the islands and denied her a rank, even as Tick himself rose to become the 15th Seat.
"...That bastard," Tick spat under his breath.
His fingernail clawed violently at his scar with a harsh rasp.
The image of that Tritonis student, Kuro, seared into his brain. A weakling acting high and mighty just because he'd won over Single-Digit Rankers—the true rulers of the Academy Archipelago. It infuriated Tick to his core.
Just who the hell is he to Lady Kyoko?
"If you think you can humiliate me in front of Lady Kyoko and walk away... I'll destroy you!" he snarled with venomous malice.
He spat out the curse, every fiber of his being trembling with pure hatred.
＊＊＊
Pina's first day at Imperial Style Doji Academy Main Campus passed with anticlimactic quietness.
"So check it out," Hororokka said, hands clasped behind her head as she ambled alongside Laurier. "Any idiot can tell our President is into the Department Head, right? And obviously she's totally crazy about him too! But for some reason, they keep this weird distance between them... What's your take on that?"
"Even if you ask me..." Laurier replied politely, fidgeting slightly. "I am unacquainted with either party, so I must refrain from offering any baseless speculation."
"Man, what a buzzkill," Hororokka snorted with a grin. "Look, the bottom line is they're both head over heels for each other, but neither will confess, so it's like a double unrequited crush! That's common knowledge at Branch 666!"
It was after school, classes having wrapped up for the day. Walking beside Pina, Hororokka was happily chattering away, regaling Laurier with school gossip from Branch 666.
Pina, on the other hand, was still reeling from the sheer shock of attending class alongside Hororokka.
Staring vacantly into space, Pina let out a quiet daze-filled murmur.
"Hororokka... you're actually incredibly smart."
"Huh? ...Wait, what?!" Laurier squeaked, whipping around to stare at Hororokka in disbelief.
"Pardon me for asking, Hororokka," Laurier inquired, wide-eyed, "but is what Pina just said accurate?"
"Nah, I'm not smart," Hororokka shrugged dismissively. "My memory's pretty garbage, and I don't give a damn about studying anyway."
"No, but... you really were amazing back there!" Pina insisted.
Except for a few specialized subjects, lectures across the Academy Archipelago were handled by Gobots built specifically for teaching. Watching Hororokka completely outsmart and verbally run circles around one of those Gobots had been a staggering spectacle.
Her brilliant mind operated on a plane impossible to fathom from her usual delinquent antics. Pina maintained top-tier grades herself, but Hororokka possessed an intellect in a realm all its own.
Yet Hororokka didn't show an ounce of arrogance.
"Like I said, you've got it twisted," Hororokka grumbled with a nonchalant wave of her hand. "Getting the right answer on a test that already has a solution key doesn't make a person 'smart.'"
"To hold such a grand perspective on learning..." Laurier breathed, her eyes shining with admiration. "You truly are wise, Hororokka."
"Yeah," Pina agreed softly. "I bet you could easily hold your own against the elite scholars at USE."
"Hah?! Don't be stupid," Hororokka snorted. "Sure, those snobs piss me off acting like big-shot researchers, but they're out there tackling problems that don't even have answers yet. A scrub like me wouldn't stand a chance against people doing real work like that."
"Huh...? I'm not sure I quite get it," Pina confessed, tilting her head in confusion.
Hororokka's worldview operated on such a high level that Pina couldn't wrap her mind around it. Laurier looked equally baffled.
"Setting that aside, Pina," Laurier asked gently, changing the subject. "Were you all right throughout the day?"
"Yeah. Probably because Hororokka was with me, people just gave us a wide berth and watched from afar," Pina answered with a relieved smile.
"Seriously though, Princess," Hororokka interjected, throwing a smirk at Laurier. "Your security plan was practically full of air. What were you gonna do if Boss hadn't dispatched me?"
"Ugh..." Laurier flushed, swelling her chest indignantly. "I am thoroughly grateful to Kuro! I shall reward him with plenty of praise later!"
"Wait, wasn't head-patting explicitly banned during the Counter-Battle?" Pina giggled softly.
"Verbal praise wasn't forbidden!" Laurier declared, her cheeks turning bright red. "So I shall shower him with compliments!"
Wearing uniforms distinct from the rest of the student body, the three girls headed toward the front gates, chatting lively along the path. Though they had stayed guarded, not a single student dared interfere with them.
No doubt the presence of Hororokka and Laurier, combined with the news that two Single-Digit Rankers had aligned with Tritonis Academy, kept everyone at bay. Passing safely through the main yard, they caught sight of familiar figures standing by the gates.
"Yo, Bro! Oh, and Boss is here too!" Hororokka shouted, waving frantically as she sprinted toward Kurulukka. "Hey, Bro! I gave those snobbish elites a taste of reality today!"
"Attagirl, little sister!" Kurulukka guffawed, throwing his fist in the air. "Crush their foolish pride into dust!"
"Damn straight!" she yelled back victoriously.
Treating Kuro like a footnote, Hororokka immediately pestered her brother, boastfully reporting every detail of her afternoon. Pina, meanwhile, halted in her tracks, staring fixedly at Kuro's face.
It felt as though it had been ages since they last met.
"Kuro..." she whispered softly.
"Good job today, Pina," Kuro greeted her with a warm smile.
All the tension drained from Pina's shoulders, her face softening into a brilliant, gentle smile.
"Yeah. Thanks to you, I really think I can hang in there for the rest of the week."
With a sweet smile, Pina offered her honest, heartfelt thanks.
Because Kuro had dispatched Hororokka to her side, Pina had spent her day in complete safety. Laurier had refused to abandon her from start to finish, and Haruhana had waged a fierce battle against an equal to protect her.
She felt immensely proud to be a student of Tritonis Academy.
"The MVP of this whole endeavor is undeniably Kuro!" Laurier chimed in, puffing out her chest. "As a member of our school, I am deeply proud of you! I shall bestow my praise upon you!"
"R-Right, thanks..." Kuro chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his head. "I guess head-pats were the only thing banned... But seriously, Laurier, Dotou making a move was almost entirely thanks to Haruhana."
"Naturally, I shall shower Haruhana with praise as well!" Laurier declared proudly before tilting her chin up. "And Kuro, you may feel free to praise me as well for successfully negotiating with Lady Warmwine to protect Pina!"
"Her security plan was totally half-baked though, Boss," Hororokka pointed out with a loud laugh.
"Hororokka?!" Laurier squeaked indignantly.
Even amid the lively banter between the four of them, Pina's eyes remained glued to Kuro.
Her heart fluttered uncontrollably in her chest. She knew Kuro would have done the exact same thing if Laurier or Haruhana had been in trouble. If it had been to save Karane, he probably would have searched for a way out with even wilder desperation.
Yet the one he had saved this time was her.
Had she been left alone, she would have succumbed to overwhelming loneliness, powerless to defend herself against the malice around her.
Above all, the simple truth that Kuro had acted on her behalf filled her with unspeakable joy.
Her maiden feelings yearned to believe—if only as a delusion—that he had moved heaven and earth just for her.
"Thank you so much, Kuro," Pina murmured, offering another gentle smile. "I really feel like I can give it my all for this week."
"Hahaha..." Kuro let out a quiet laugh, his expression turning sharp. "...As if I'd ever leave you in a place like this for a whole week."
Pina blinked in surprise at his unexpected words. Was there something more? She shot a glance toward Laurier, but the princess seemed equally bewildered, tilting her head in confusion.
Tearing his eyes away from Pina, Kuro looked past her, sweeping his gaze across the main campus buildings.
The instant he spotted his target, Kuro stepped boldly onto the main school's grounds without a trace of hesitation.
"Hey, runt," Kuro called out, his tone dripping with sharp provocation.
Hurling the insult to make his hostility unmistakable, Kuro fixed his gaze directly on his opponent.
Tick Token.
Kuro directed a cold, mocking smirk at the 15th Seat Ranker of the Academy Archipelago.
"How's it feeling?" Kuro sneered. "Pretty sure your little blunder knocked your standing right down into the gutter, didn't it?"
"...If you've got something to spit out, just say it," Tick growled through gritted teeth.
"Fight me in a Counter-Battle," Kuro demanded flatly. "When I win, I'm taking Pina back. There's no damn reason to leave her stuck on trial enrollment in a dump like this for an entire week."
"...You trashy little small fry," Tick spat, fury boiling over. "Getting so full of yourself!"
A low, venomous snarl escaped Tick's throat from the very depths of his soul.
Yet unlike before, he couldn't bring himself to laugh off Kuro's challenge.
"And what if you lose?" Tick snapped back defensively. "We don't want a single damn thing from losers like—"
"Every single one of us will pack up and leave," Kuro interrupted smoothly. "After all, that's exactly what you want us to do right now, isn't it?"
Tick's face twisted as Kuro's terms struck home.
Pina and her entourage had already become an intolerable thorn in the main campus's side. The sole reason the main school tolerated her presence despite their worsening humiliation was that the victor, just like the loser, was strictly bound by the rules to uphold conditions set in a Counter-Battle.
Under the ironclad laws of the Academy Archipelago, there was only one way to alter terms enacted through an official Counter-Battle.
They had to win a new Counter-Battle and overwrite the existing contract.
"Right now, you're the one in a position where you have to challenge us to a Counter-Battle," Kuro declared, pointing straight at him. "Now that we hold the card of causing damage to the Main Campus if no Counter-Battle is held, you don't have the right to refuse, do you?"
"'Please challenge us to a Counter-Battle, I'm begging you!'—that's the spot you're in," Kuro smirked. "If I win, I take Pina back. If you win, you get to kick Pina out of this school for good. How does that deal sound to you?"
Win or lose, the predicament currently plaguing the Imperial Style Doji Academy Main Campus would be resolved. Truth be told, Tick wanted nothing more than to wrap Pina up with a bow and hand her back—anything to strip Dotou and Wormwine of their excuse to meddle with the main campus.
Despite being handed the exact outcome he should have welcomed, Tick’s face twisted in sheer humiliation.
Though he had set this scheme in motion to get revenge, Kuro had somehow wrested complete control of the situation right out from under him.
Tick tried to brush him off. The guy was just a nobody riding on the coattails of a Single Number. Besides, Pina and her group—whom Tick himself had dragged inside—were harmless if simply left alone.
Turning his back on Kuro, Tick started heading toward the school building.
Yet his steps faltered. Standing directly in his path was a presence he could not possibly ignore.
“Do it,” Kyoko commanded flatly.
Her brief instruction left no room for argument.
Seeing her cradling the crimson Gobot under one arm, Tick’s lips quivered.
“Kyoko…” he stammered.
“Tick,” she said softly. “Whether you win or lose, they will leave our campus. The only way to reclaim your pride is to accept the Counter-Battle he just offered and win. Or is there something else?”
Setting the Gobot at his feet, Kyoko fixed him with a calm, unblinking stare.
“Surely you aren’t scared, are you?” she asked.
“…As if,” Tick spat, his voice laced with indignance.
Incensed by her questioning of his resolve, he stepped forward, taking it as a grave insult.
His eyes locked onto Kuro with pure venom.
“I’ll exterminate this trash in five seconds flat,” Tick sneered.
His opponent had taken the bait.
The rules of the Counter-Battle dictated a one-on-one Simple Duel Format.
Kuro drew a slow breath and closed his eyes, steadying himself to say what needed to be said before the battle began.
It was the path he had chosen to rebuild Tritonis Academy.
Yet right now, vocalizing that ambition terrified him.
Kuro understood all too well now—just how distant the Single Numbers were, how overwhelming their strength was, and how painfully green he truly was.
Dotou’s fist had forced him to face the bitter reality that he was nothing more than a big-mouthed novice. Their brief clash had exposed a gap so staggering it nearly crushed his resolve.
Maybe I’ll never reach their level, no matter how hard I try, he thought.
Painfully aware of his current weakness, Kuro slowly exhaled the deep breath he had held.
“…Before we start this match, let me make something clear,” Kuro declared.
Having stumbled on his very first step and glimpsed the daunting wall of reality, he needed to force himself to stand tall once more.
“We at Tritonis Academy are going to claim absolute supremacy over the Academy Archipelago!”
Kuro wasn’t strong enough to reach that goal without putting it into words.
By making such a bold declaration, he cornered himself into a point of no return. He weaponized the stares of the onlookers against his own doubts—channeling anxiety, fear, and anger into raw fuel to push forward and drive away the temptation to give up.
For his weak self to grow strong, he had to talk big first.
A dead silence settled over the grounds.
Kuro enunciated every word with unflinching clarity.
“Tritonis Academy will monopolize every single Single Number seat in the archipelago. We’re going to turn our school into something your Imperial Style Doji Academy Main Campus can’t even hold a candle to!”
Stunned silence gripped the crowd.
Not only were Tick and Kyoko caught completely off guard, but even the Kaldi siblings and Pina widened their eyes in utter disbelief at Kuro’s audacious proclamation.
“Pfft—ahahahaha!”
A sharp burst of laughter shattered the quiet.
Tick’s shoulders trembled as he struggled to contain his hilarity.
“Ghah, hahahahaha! Dude, are you serious?! Did you let it go to your head just because Haruhana Bacchus is at your school? A Single Number rank isn’t something you can just waltz into, you idiot!”
Wiping a tear of laughter from his eye, Tick turned to Kyoko.
“Did you hear that, Kyoko? The top of the Academy Archipelago! Monopolizing all the Single Numbers! Has this guy ever lived in the real world?!”
Tick’s reaction was entirely justified. Kuro hadn't proven a single thing in the Academy Archipelago, yet here he was, spouting grand delusions.
“Man… that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all year. You’re from Earth World, right?” Tick cackled.
Kuro offered a silent nod. At his quiet affirmation, Tick’s amusement vanished, replaced by open hostility.
“I knew it. You Earth trash always look down on us. Just because your technology is a bit fancy, you think you can look down your noses at the Heaven Disc World. It pisses me off to no end.”
Tick presented his student ID card to the crimson Gobot sitting at his feet.
“Tenth-year student of Imperial Style Doji Academy Main Campus, Tick Token. Registering Counter-Battle!”
“First-year high school student of Royal Tritonis Academy, Asahino Kuro—”
Kuro pulled out his own student ID card. Stating his name, he steeled his heart.
He was going to win this.
“—Accepting Counter-Battle!”
Knowing full well the gap in their baseline strength, Kuro hurled himself against a Ranked Student.
“『Melt』!”
With the completion of his chant, a glossy blue liquid erupted from the Mana Crystal embedded in Tick’s earring.
It was a metal with fluid properties. Creating and manipulating this unique liquid metal was his signature magic.
Shape-shifting at will, the metal hardened into sharp spikes that shot forward at blinding speed.
The hardened needles slashed into Kuro’s body. Seeing Kuro make no attempt to dodge, Tick knitted his brows in annoyance.
“…Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got,” Tick grumbled.
Bleeding from multiple cuts across his body, Kuro took a slow step forward.
Tick’s lips curled into a sadistic grin.
“Tough bastard, aren’t you? I like that!”
Delighted to have a punching bag that could take a beating, Tick unleashed another barrage of magic.
Kuro didn’t bother dodging. He knew with absolute certainty that the attacks wouldn't pierce deep enough to kill him. They sliced through his skin and lodged in his muscle, never touching bone. As long as they failed to reach his vitals, no amount of superficial strikes would bring him down.
His blood was literally boiling. The blood flowing over Kuro’s skin bubbled and steamed, wrapping around his frame in a crimson mist.
Watching from the sidelines, Laurier furrowed her brows in concentration.
Kuro hadn't simply taken the attacks defenselessly. While Tick was happily unleashing his assault, he failed to notice that the crimson mist enveloping Kuro was drastically dampening the momentum of his spikes.
“Is that… Haruhana’s tech?” Laurier murmured quietly.
Her muttered observation was instantly drowned out by Hororokka’s enthusiastic cheer. “Hell yeah! Boss, wreck that main campus trash!” she hollered from the sidelines.
To an outside observer, Tick held a decisive advantage. With every step Kuro took forward, new cuts opened across his skin.
“Hahaha! I’ve gotta hand it to you, you’re tough! But let me show you real power—a force far beyond a trash like you!”
The Mana Crystal in his earring flared with intense light. Placing a palm over his face, Tick chanted.
“Mysterion!”
A whirlpool of liquid silver erupted around him. Spouting continuously from his right earring, the metallic liquid wrapped around his body and converged onto his face.
“『Melt Clown』!”
A metallic blue harlequin mask coated Tick’s face.
It featured a crescent-shaped grin mocking his opponent and eerie, curved eye slits. From those eye slits, streams of liquid metal poured out like cascading tears.
The metallic torrent pooled at his feet before solidifying into a massive sphere that hoisted Tick high into the air.
He now resembled a jester balancing atop a massive ball. To strike Tick from the ground, one had to bypass the giant sphere of liquid metal first. It was a perfect blend of offense and defense, ensuring he always held the high ground.
“『Metal Wave』!”
A torrent of liquid metal gushed from the giant sphere beneath Tick’s feet. The surging flood morphed into a metallic tsunami, sweeping toward Kuro with terrifying force.
“Hahaha! This isn’t just some ordinary tidal wave! It’s a sea of liquid metal vibrating at ultra-high frequencies!”
Blanketing the school yard, the liquid metal formed an inescapable area-of-effect attack that completely boxed Kuro in. The vibrating metal possessed a lethal edge—a single touch would shred flesh to ribbons.
If swallowed by the wave, a person would literally be ground into a fine red mist, leaving not even a corpse behind. It was a true finishing blow.
“An arrogant trash like you… I’m gonna crush your childish delusions right along with your body!”
Watching Tick surf atop the crushing metallic wave, Kuro slowly tightened his fist.
“Self-Taught Style—”
Crimson mist swirled violently around Kuro’s right arm.
The surging wave of blue metal bore down on him. There was no space to dodge, nor any conventional way to block it. Standing before the overwhelming force, Kuro pulled back his right arm, enveloping it in a dense shroud of blood steam.
“—『Blood Crash』!”
Kuro’s fist shattered the air, driving straight into the wave that Tick was certain would bring him victory.
The sea of metal split clean in half.
“Huh?”
A sound of utter bewilderment leaked from Tick’s throat.
He was airborne. How had this happened? Unable to process the scene, his mind desperately replayed the moment just before impact.
A shockwave of red steam had erupted from Kuro’s fist. It was a blow eerily similar to Haruhana Bacchus’s signature technique—『One Hand』—which Tick had only ever seen in video archives. That single strike had obliterated the wave of magic he was riding on.
Tick’s mind rejected the reality. He was the 15th Seat! There was no way he could lose to some unranked weakling! Then what was this impossible reality unfolding before his eyes?
…I’m sorry I’m such a weak father.
The exhausted, self-deprecating words of his father flashed across his mind.
“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
A frantic scream tore from Tick’s throat.
Plummeting through the air, he channeled every ounce of his willpower to command the liquid metal scattered across the sky.
“『Screw Thread』!!”
His chant sounded like the roar of a wounded beast.
It was raw rage, hatred, and a cluster of bitter resentment.
Yet that intense emotion pushed past his limits. The liquid metal condensed in unprecedented volume and density, forming a cage of spikes around Kuro that spun at terrifying speed.
“Die! Get impaled!” Tick shrieked.
Countless spikes rained down with force enough to scorch the air.
Yet not a single spike so much as grazed Kuro.
“What… the…” Tick gasped.
Kuro had swatted every single projectile out of the sky. The fluid agility and sheer power behind his strikes were reminiscent of Dotou’s brutal fighting style.
Only then did Tick’s body slam hard onto the pavement, the impact of his fall jarring every bone in his body.
“Whew. Imitating Dotou actually worked, but… man, that’s insanely tough. How does he pull that off so easily?” Kuro muttered under his breath.
From his clash with Dotou, Kuro had learned that using a 『Barrier』 as armor boiled down to precise mana manipulation. Having felt it firsthand, Kuro had managed to replicate a fraction of Dotou’s power by layering multiple coats of blood armor over his skin.
Knocked flat on his backside, Tick stared up at Kuro in stunned silence. Beneath his jester mask, his mind was completely blank, unable to process what had just occurred.
Time ticked forward, completely indifferent to Tick’s refusal to accept reality.
Kuro was already closing the distance, his left fist wound back for a decisive follow-up blow.
Tick let out a hollow, empty chuckle.
“Haha… What is this? This has to be a nightmare—”
Kuro’s crimson fist slammed directly into Tick’s face.
The harlequin mask shattered into a million pieces.
The downward force of the blow bounced Tick’s body off the pavement, sending him rolling across the ground until he slammed hard into the school gate and slumped motionlessly.
The moment Tick lost consciousness, the sea of liquid metal evaporated into nothingness. The main campus students watching from the sidelines stood frozen, their mouths agape in foolish shock at an outcome none of them could have anticipated.
Kyoko alone stared at Kuro’s crimson fist, her ruby eyes glowing with rapturous fascination.
“I’m aiming for the Single Numbers,” Kuro declared, shaking off his hand. “I don’t have time to lose to a chump like you.”
Having laid out a Ranked Student in a single strike, Kuro turned on his heel.
He looked up, focusing his attention on his true opponent.
The person who had been watching the entire match from the sidelines with cool detachment—Kyoko Kasagaki.
Though he had heard she possessed magic capable of tampering with Gobots, she made no move to alter the outcome of the battle.
“Kyoko,” Kuro said, his voice grim. “So you came to the Academy Archipelago after everything that happened.”
“Indeed,” Kyoko replied, her voice soft and sweet. “And I am so delighted to see that you abandoned the Watarase family, just as I told you to, Kuro.”
“I didn’t abandon anything,” Kuro retorted smoothly. “Tritonis Academy is just my new home now.”
How a young, helpless girl with no family to rely on had ended up in the Academy Archipelago and enrolled in the main campus of Imperial Style Doji Academy was something Kuro couldn't even begin to imagine.
Still, there was only one thing he had to tell her.
"Someday soon, without fail—I'm going to make you pay for what you did back then."
Hearing his declaration, Kyoko simply chuckled.
"Hahaha, ahahaha! By all means, please do."
Her eyes glowing with an eerie crimson light, Kyoko gently caressed the scar on her forehead as if tracing a cherished treasure.
"If the scar etched into your heart serves as the motivation to push you beyond the realm of ordinary humans, Kuro... nothing could bring me greater joy."
Kuro couldn't care less about her reaction.
He had already reclaimed what he came for.
"Kuro, that was magnificent!" Laurier cheered, bouncing on her heels. "I shall give you all the praise in the world!"
"Hell yeah, I pulled it off—Oof?!" Kuro winced suddenly as he was walloped on the back. "Hey, Hororokka, Kurulukka! Stop that!"
"Don't be so modest, Boss!" Hororokka crowed, grinning ear to ear. "That's our Boss for ya!"
"Damn fine job, Boss!" Kurulukka added, pounding his back again. "You really proved why you're the President's top right-hand man!"
After high-fiving Laurier, who raised both hands with a beaming smile, Kuro found himself clobbered by the Kaldi siblings' jovial roughhousing. The two delinquents from Branch 666 were practically beside themselves with glee over the main campus elite's humiliating defeat.
"Pina," Kuro called softly.
Once he finally escaped the siblings' relentless walloping, he turned to her with a warm smile.
"Let's go home. Back to our academy."
"...Yeah!" Pina nodded, her eyes glistening.
＊＊＊
"That was such a splendid battle, Kuro!" Laurier gushed enthusiastically.
"I know," Pina agreed, nodding alongside her. "I only wish Haruhana could have seen it too."
Pina nodded along to Laurier's high-spirited chatter.
On the way back to the academy, the two girls walked hand in hand. Laurier had clamped onto Pina's hand, utterly unwilling to let her slip away again.
"Come on, give it a rest already..." Kuro grumbled, exasperated.
Having been showered with non-stop praise, he had moved far past embarrassment into pure exhaustion.
"Hee-hee, no amount of praise could ever be enough!" Laurier giggled. "It's just a shame I'm not tall enough to pat your head!"
"Besides, Kuro, you were using magic, right?" Pina asked, looking at him with curiosity. "That felt just like Haruhana's One-Hand!"
"Ah, yeah," Kuro admitted with a nod. "Haruhana gave me a few pointers."
Haruhana had astutely deduced the key difference between when Kuro could use magic and when he couldn't: it depended on whether someone had consumed his blood.
The magic Kuro had unleashed during their battle against the Dryad closely resembled Pina's fire magic. Haruhana had hypothesized that whenever someone drank Kuro's blood, he could copy their magical affinity through that blood connection.
To test her theory, Haruhana had taken a drop of Kuro's blood herself.
Unlike Pina, who was a Dampiel, Haruhana was an ordinary human. She had merely licked a microscopic drop, yet replicating her magic was potent enough to utterly crush the 15th Seat.
Kuro didn't delude himself into thinking that victory was due to his own skill. In truth, he had been dragged around by the sudden surge of copied power inside him. He couldn't even control his movements properly, which was why he had been forced to charge straight forward in a desperate gambit. If he hadn't managed to pull off Dotou's body reinforcement technique on the fly, Tick's final attack would have blown him to bits.
Still, no matter how clumsy the execution had been, he had reclaimed what mattered most.
"You accomplished all that just from a few pointers...?" Pina murmured, her expression growing earnest. "I really need to pull my weight too. I hated being such a burden to everyone this time, so I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can."
After making her firm declaration, her expression softened, and she turned her eyes toward Kuro.
"Because you showed me that anyone can grow stronger, Kuro," she whispered softly. "You were truly amazing back there."
Her tender smile made Kuro's heart leap in his chest.
"Ah, we have arrived!" Laurier announced, breaking the atmosphere.
Seemingly oblivious to the sudden change in mood between the two, Laurier finally let go of Pina's hand.
"Now then, I shall head over to the hotel in Central where my sister is staying," Laurier declared proudly. "I must deliver the wonderful news of Pina's safe return to her in person!"
Having walked them all the way back to the academy building, Laurier waved goodbye with a beaming smile. She had likely gone out of her way to come back to the school first just so she could walk home with Pina.
With Laurier gone, Kuro and Pina were left standing alone in the quiet courtyard.
Glancing at each other, the two began walking toward the dormitories in quiet understanding.
"Kuro," Pina called softly.
She was keenly aware of the intense warmth pooling in her gaze as his name slipped from her lips.
Kuro flinched slightly. Her fangs throbbed with a familiar ache. Though she wasn't dehydrated, her throat burned with a sudden, unquenchable thirst.
She could feel every fiber of her heart yearning for him.
"What's up, Pina?" Kuro asked, his voice hesitant.
"Thank you," she whispered. "...It meant everything to me."
"Sure. We're companions at the same academy, after all."
"Right. Yeah... We're companions."
Their conversation remained awkward as they walked side by side. Try as she might, Pina couldn't speak normally. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, and her true emotions threatened to spill out with every breath.
There was a slight distance between them—a deliberate gap Kuro was consciously maintaining.
She understood why. It was because Karane already occupied his heart. Rationally, she knew that better than anyone, yet her heart screamed out in selfish protest.
They stepped inside the dormitory.
The quiet, empty hallway greeted them.
Right now, in this entire building, it was just the two of them.
Realizing that, one of the final shackles on Pina's restraint snapped.
"Kuro," Pina called out again.
She reached out and caught the edge of the robe covering his back.
"Will you... let me drink your blood?"
It was probably just an excuse to hold him.
She wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold him close. But even that might have been a cover. At her core, she simply longed to feel his presence.
Yet Pina knew she had no right to demand that. She wasn't his family, nor was she his girlfriend. She wasn't even a fellow guy friend who could throw an arm around his shoulders in celebration after a hard victory.
Pina was simply a girl deeply in love with him.
"W-Why...?" Kuro stammered, flustered.
"You said so yourself back then, didn't you?" Pina murmured. "That if I had drunk your blood, I wouldn't have lost."
And so, she crafted her justification.
She didn't care how desperate or shameless it made her look. She would force an opportunity to touch him, no matter what.
"I want to remember how it feels to be strong... so I want to drink your blood."
Her fangs throbbed painfully.
Her throat burned with thirst.
Her unfulfilled love transmuted into a powerful vampiric urge, tormenting her entire body.
"N-Not from my neck!" Kuro blurted out, quickly offering his arm with his hand turned upward. "Here, my hand is fine, right?!"
He held out his hand to her, trying his best to maintain some boundary.
He likely thought he was keeping a safe distance, but he had just given her explicit permission.
"Then... I'm going to take full advantage of your right hand."
Pina gently took Kuro's hand in hers.
She brought his palm up, pressing it softly against her warm cheek.
Then, she slowly sank her sharp fangs into the sensitive skin between Kuro's thumb and index finger.
The penetration was agonizingly slow. Pina shivered with intense emotion as the long-awaited ecstasy of his blood reached her senses.
A profound sense of completeness rushed through her. Another presence flowed straight into her soul, as though Kuro were fitting into her like a missing puzzle piece.
Ecstasy exploded within her. It pierced straight from her mouth to the crown of her head, cascading down her spine to course through her entire body. The intoxicating delight of his blood bloomed in full.
Kuro's thumb shifted position, deforming the curve of her cheek from within. Her face slightly distorted, Pina looked up, locking her wet, upturned gaze with Kuro's.
Kuro's palm gently stroked her cheek. Her skin felt hypersensitive, and her mind instantly converted every touch of his hand into overwhelming bliss.
"Mnn... ngh, ahh!"
Each time she swallowed a gulp of his blood, her slender, porcelain-white throat bobbed rhythmically. Her delicate frame trembled, and her eyes grew misty with emotion. A sweet, agonizing ache bloomed in the pit of her stomach, making her curl her toes tight inside her shoes.
She realized it on an instinctual level. Precisely because this was their second time, the truth hit her with terrifying clarity—if she allowed herself to grow accustomed to this sensation, she would never be able to break free from him. Yet even knowing that, she couldn't pull away. She wanted Kuro too much. The sensual rush of his blood vibrated in her core. Without the initial shock and confusion of the first time, she was able to savor every drop of pleasure. Her body and soul were molding themselves to his blood.
"...Pina," Kuro gasped softly.
Hearing him call her name, Pina's ears flushed bright red. A sliver of her rationality finally returned to her fogged mind.
Timidly, she lifted her head.
Her eyes met his.
Their feverish gazes locked, intertwining in the heavy silence.
Just looking at him told her everything. Kuro was drowning, too. He was sharing in the exact same intoxicating euphoria of the blood link that was overwhelming her.
Reluctantly, she slipped her mouth off his hand.
"Haa... ah... hh..."
Hot, ragged breaths escaped Pina's lips, which were painted a glistening crimson with Kuro's blood.
With her fangs withdrawn, tiny beads of blood welled from the twin puncture marks on his skin, trickling from the base of his thumb toward his index finger. Pina's gaze trailed the crimson droplet down his hand.
She felt a faint wave of relief wash over Kuro. Relief that the feeding was finished. Relief that he wouldn't be dragged any deeper into the sensory mire—and relief that even while submitting to her bite, he hadn't forgotten Karane.
A sharp pang of jealousy scorched Pina's chest.
"Mmm...♡"
A soft, wet pop echoed through the hallway.
Pressing her innocent lips—lips that had never even known a true kiss—against Kuro's bloody fingertips, she turned her misty, maiden's gaze straight toward him.
Drown in me, she thought fiercely.
Seeing Kuro holding onto more of his sanity than she was, combined with her fierce rivalry toward Karane, set Pina's emotions ablaze.
Without either of them realizing it, the distance between them had closed to nothing. Both of their faces were flushed with ecstatic warmth. Where she couldn't touch him before, now all she had to do was extend her hand. The intense pleasure she felt surged straight into Kuro through their link, and Pina could feel him soaking in every bit of it.
As Kuro's blood filled her body, pure bliss washed over Pina's heart. Her gaze melted into soft devotion. She felt as though she could accept anything Kuro gave her—and give every single part of herself to him in return.
Her emotions flowed along with the circulation of blood, binding their minds in a deep, spiritual resonance. Their eyes reflected no one else but each other. Seeing her own face captured in Kuro's gaze wrapped Pina in an exquisite blanket of happiness. Within her heart, a brand-new piece locked securely into place.
She cherished Laurier more than anyone in the world.
Her friendship with Haruhana was equally irreplaceable.
And the person she truly loved was Kuro.
Pina looked up at him with tender affection, pulling her lips back from his finger. She carefully licked up the trickling red line, refusing to waste a single drop of his blood.
"...I love you," she confessed softly.
At her second confession, Kuro flinched in obvious turmoil. A sharp ache pierced Pina's heart—through their connection, she could vividly feel the shadow of another girl occupying his mind.
Even so, she couldn't bring herself to hold back.
"I love you, Kuro."
As she voiced her feelings, a pained look crossed Kuro's face.
She knew she was troubling him.
She knew it fully well, yet Pina had no idea how to suppress the feelings overflowing from her heart.
"Because I love you, Kuro... I'm going to become strong."
She wouldn't whine or show weakness ever again.
The raw emotion surging in her chest translated into words, but mere speech could never convey the full depth of what she felt.
And so, she took a firm step forward.
"Because I never want to suffer a defeat like that again."
Pina pressed forward, backing Kuro up step by step. When he instinctively retreated from her proximity, she backed him all the way against the hallway wall, looking straight into his eyes.
"I won't lose to Karane, either—and I'll even become a Single Number!"
To grow stronger, one needed an unshakeable conviction.
If so, the emotion that would propel her forward was right here, burning inside her right now.
"So, Kuro..."
Using a love hotter than the flames she produced as her driving force, she would become stronger than anyone.
"Don't you dare take your eyes off me until then."
Wearing a sly, resolute smile worthy of a maiden in love, Pina declared a resolve that shattered all limitations of her current self.
Through the crack of the doorway, Laurier watched the two of them in stunned silence.
She had been on her way to the hotel where Claudia was staying when she realized she had foolishly forgotten something. Upon doubling back, she had caught sight of Pina and Kuro and instinctively ducked out of sight.
Timidly, yet holding her breath to suppress her presence, she peeked through the gap, utterly transfixed by the scene unfolding before her eyes.
Pina and Kuro were staring fixedly into each other's eyes. With his finger clamped between her lips, Pina was drinking Kuro's blood. The intimate sight burned itself indelibly onto Laurier's retinas.
A lovers' kiss—lips pressing together—was supposed to be the most scandalous thing beyond a friendly hug, yet somehow, what they were doing felt far more indecent.
A soft gulp echoed in Laurier's ears. Startled, she realized the sound had come from her own throat as she swallowed involuntarily. Her heart hammered violently against her ribs. She knew she was watching something she had no business seeing, yet she couldn't tear her eyes away.
Pina was wearing an expression Laurier had never seen on her before.
Yet she looked so utterly happy.
A shudder ran through Laurier's body, causing her to press her inner thighs together in a subconscious reflex. Her idle hand began rubbing her own earlobe for some inexplicable reason. A strange, tingling sensation radiated from her ear, sending a dizzying, fluttery feeling straight to her core.
"...What are you doing over here?" asked a calm, monotone voice.
"Eek!?"
Laurier leapt nearly out of her skin in surprise.
The one who had spoken up from behind her was Haruhana. Realizing where they were, Laurier hastily hushed her own voice.
"H-Haruhana!" Laurier whispered urgently, turning around. "When did you get back...?"
"Yes," Haruhana replied plainly. "I still feel somewhat sluggish, but I could not impose upon Lady Irori forever. More to the point, why are you hiding here, Laurier?"
"N-No reason!" Laurier squeaked, waving her hands frantically. "I-I-I-It's nothing at all, I promise!"
"Is that so?" Haruhana asked, sounding thoroughly unconvincing.
Haruhana tilted her head at Laurier's blatantly suspicious behavior, though she refrained from pressing any further.
"In that case, let us head inside the dorm," Haruhana urged. "I heard that Kuro successfully brought Pina back."
"W-We can't go over there right now!" Laurier blurted out, stepping into Haruhana's path.
"Pardon?" Haruhana blinked. "Why ever not?"
"What do you mean 'why'—grr, I can't just say it out loud!? What are you trying to make me spell out!?" Laurier cried, her face flushing crimson.
"Come again?" Haruhana replied, completely bewildered.
Utterly baffled by Laurier's outburst, Haruhana tilted her head at an even sharper angle.
"Regardless, we just can't! ...Ah! That reminds me!" Laurier clapped her hands together, seizing on an excuse. "Haruhana, you haven't properly greeted my sister yet, have you? Right! Let's go to her hotel right this second! Yes, let's do that!"
"While that is important, I wish to celebrate Pina's safe return first," Haruhana reasoned calmly. "Besides, I believe I understand what you witnessed, but it has likely concluded by now, so there is no cause for concern. Come—if you feel awkward, you may walk beside me."
"Hwha!? I-It's not like I feel awkward or anything..." Laurier stammered, dissolving into a defeated whine. "Urrrgh..."
She simply wanted all four members of Tritonis Academy to celebrate together as one.
Taking Laurier's hand while her cheeks were still flushed bright red, Haruhana pulled her along as they jogged over to Kuro and Pina.
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