Chapter 316: Luke: Take My Sword! …Why Are You All Looking at Me?
"You two… don't gain weight eating like that?"
The Hagure sisters' incredulous question interrupted the two gluttons mid-snack.
Luke and Stella first looked at each other blankly, then answered in perfect unison.
"Nope." x2
At the same time, Ikki silently covered his face beside them.
Their casual, effortless answer dug up a painful memory buried deep in his mind. His trembling hands and increasingly refined cooking skills constantly reminded Ikki of a certain cruel truth.
Sometimes, he even suspected that his cooking skills were about to surpass his swordsmanship.
Luke and Stella's appetites had already faintly become a legend at Hagun Academy.
Stella in particular had seen her already absurd appetite rise to another level after obtaining Dragonification.
At this point, she was already qualified to challenge Luke in that regard.
Ikki had once used his observation ability, praised as a "Perfect Vision," to carefully analyze Luke and Stella, but in the end, he still could not figure out why.
Despite eating such huge amounts, both of their bodies remained in an extremely perfect state.
If even Ikki could not tell, then there was no need to mention anyone else.
After receiving their answer, even the way the Hagure sisters looked at the two of them changed.
And so, everyone continued joking around happily while waiting for the bus to return to Hagun Academy.
Looking outside the window, familiar woods and asphalt roads appeared before them.
This was the route Luke and the others had to pass through every morning during their long-distance runs. Since they had reached this place, it meant Hagun Academy was already close.
However, the cheerful atmosphere did not last long before it was interrupted by a sudden emergency brake.
Screech—!
The sound of tires scraping against the road entered everyone's ears.
Everyone instinctively grabbed something beside them and looked toward the front of the bus in surprise.
"What happened?"
The first to stand was Student Council President Todo Touka. She immediately went to Saijou, who was driving, and asked.
However, Saijou only pointed toward a certain place in the distance with a grave expression.
The others gradually gathered and followed the direction of his finger, looking through the windshield at the scene far ahead.
Under the blood-red evening glow, black smoke was rising from the direction of Hagun Academy's school buildings.
Seeing this, everyone's eyes widened, shock written all over their faces.
Only two people were different.
Luke and Arisuin remained seated, as though they had already expected this to happen, showing no intention of standing up at all.
Not only that, Luke's face even revealed a smile full of anticipation.
…
The bus charged straight through the school gate, then came to a sharp stop.
After that, the student knights, led by Luke, jumped off the bus one after another.
What they saw was a miserable scene.
Flames were flickering everywhere across the campus, and thick smoke rose into the air.
The neatly paved roads were now covered in cracks and broken marks, as though they had been bombed.
"…This is awful. What on earth happened?"
The students and teachers who had stayed behind and should have been there to welcome everyone back were now collapsed all over the ruined campus.
This was not a simple fire.
It was clearly a man-made incident.
Everyone reached that conclusion immediately.
Ikki and Stella rushed out one after another, heading toward two familiar figures lying not far away.
"Oreki-sensei! Ayatsuji-senpai! Please, wake up!"
Stella looked at the two motionless people on the ground and called out in panic, somewhat at a loss.
Compared to Stella's panic, Ikki was relatively calmer.
He crouched down and carefully checked the two of them before letting out a breath of relief and saying to Stella,
"They aren't injured. They've only fainted. But there are cuts and slash marks on their clothes, so it was probably…"
"Illusionary Form…"
After her momentary panic, Stella also forced herself to calm down.
Once she knew the two were not in mortal danger, she truly felt relieved.
But immediately after that came endless anger.
It was genuine rage.
Crimson flames rose together with Stella's aura.
However, before the girl could explode, a voice that appeared out of nowhere interrupted everyone's movements.
"Ladies and gentlemen~!"
It was a frivolous and comical tone.
The source of the voice came from above. Ikki and the others followed the sound and raised their heads, spotting a figure.
On the rooftop of the charred, broken school building, which looked almost like a ruin, stood a tall, thin man dressed like a clown.
"To all members of Hagun Academy's representative team, you must be tired after your long journey back~"
"We have been waiting here for you for quite some time, holy sh—?!"
Pierrot's originally dramatic speech was suddenly interrupted.
A massive wave of sword energy shot into the sky from the ground.
Boom—!
In just an instant, the already crumbling school building was blasted directly into pieces.
This sudden change left everyone stunned.
Even the seven figures who awkwardly jumped down from the rooftop stared blankly in the direction the sword energy had come from after landing.
Luke, who had been preparing to release a second slash, looked up and found that both allies and enemies were staring stupidly at him.
For a moment, he could not quite grasp the situation and stopped his movement.
After hesitating briefly, Luke cautiously asked,
"We're not fighting?"
"…"
"…"
Luke's confused expression and completely natural question made everyone present stop breathing for a moment.
Seeing their reaction only made Luke even more baffled.
After hesitating again, he finally lowered his stance.
Honestly, this was the first time he had ever lowered his stance in the middle of a fight.
Looking around at the deathly silent surroundings, Luke thought carefully for a moment before suddenly realizing something and saying to Ikki and the others,
"Ah! I know what you're thinking."
"Don't worry. I already checked with my senses. There wasn't anyone else in that school building."
Seeing Luke take his stance again after saying that, Ikki immediately snapped out of his shock.
He hurriedly stepped forward and spoke in a flustered rush.
"N-No, Lu-Lu-Lu-Luke, wait a second."
"Wait for what? Enemies jumped out. Aren't we supposed to cut them down?"
"Uh… yes, technically… N-No, that's not what I mean! What if they have hostages?"
"It's fine. I checked. It's just them. No hostages."
"Huh?! B-But at a time like this, shouldn't we at least hear what they have to say first? They used Illusionary Forms, so it doesn't look like they intended to hurt anyone…"
"What's there to hear? We can cut them down and ask afterward. At the very least, the charge of destroying the school isn't going anywhere."
"Huh?! That's true… then… No, wait! That's still not right! We still don't know whether they're enemies or allies. What if they aren't enemies?"
"…Ikki, this is the first time I've realized you're such a pain."
Looking at Luke's openly disdainful expression, not only Ikki, but Stella, Pierrot, and everyone else froze in place.
At this moment, only one thought existed in everyone's mind.
'Why doesn't this guy follow common sense???'
…
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