Kaien's attack had looked ferocious, but when people actually looked at the arena, they noticed—none of the contestants were hurt. They had merely lost consciousness.
To knock out over a hundred people in an instant, at such speed, and still have the precision to leave them uninjured… if he hadn't witnessed it himself, he wouldn't have believed it possible.
This was no human.
This man was a god—
The Sword God.
"Minister! Minister!!"
"Your Majesty! I'm here, I'm here!!"
Hearing the king's urgent shout, the minister came running.
"In ten minutes, I want everything—everything—on that man!! Quickly!!"
"Y-yes, Your Majesty!!"
The minister bolted away, silently lamenting to himself: Serving a king is like serving a tiger!
The king, however, felt it clearly—
if it was that man, then their dragon-slaying project would definitely succeed.
"Wha… what just happened?"
"I think I saw a fire dragon pass by—and then it was all over."
"The genius Nine-Star Swordsman Allen… defeated instantly?! That was a Nine-Star Swordsman!!"
"Who is that man?!"…
The audience finally came back to their senses. Every pair of eyes was fixed on Kaien in shock.
There were fewer than ten Nine-Star Swordsmen in the entire Kingdom of Sobea.
Nine-Stars represented the very pinnacle of swordsmanship—and no one had ever heard of a Nine-Star being one-shotted.
When two Nine-Star Swordsmen fought, even if one was stronger, it was always a hard-fought, drawn-out battle. To be instantly defeated meant one thing—
the other side's swordsmanship was on a completely different level.
"The match is decided!!!"
"Winner: Yoriichi Tsugikuni!!!"
"Incredible!! This man is truly incredible!!"
"In an instant!! Just a single instant!! Over a hundred contestants—all high-star swordsmen, even a genius Nine-Star—and he defeated them all!!!"
"And not a single fatal wound—only unconsciousness! That level of control, that swordsmanship!"
"This man isn't human! He's divine—the God of Swordsmanship!!"
Even the commentator, himself an Eight-Star Swordsman, was awed. His insight allowed him to recognize true mastery when he saw it.
"Sword God! Sword God! Sword God!"
The audience chanted in unison. To them, the stronger one's swordsmanship, the greater the respect owed—and Kaien's swordsmanship had reached the absolute peak.
"We'll now take a one-hour break before the semifinals begin! During this time, please enjoy the performance from our Sword Art Idol Group!!"
A group of beautiful girls in cute outfits ran onto the stage to begin their performance.
Kaien, meanwhile, returned to his contestant area. With groups A through D now each having one remaining fighter, every finalist had their own private lounge.
Once inside the D-Group room, Kaien locked the door and released his transformation.
"Phew~"
He exhaled softly.
Yoriichi Tsugikuni's transformation was different from Ulquiorra's.
When Ulquiorra transformed, his magic drained rapidly.
But Yoriichi's transformation consumed very little magic power unless he actively used breathing techniques or combat forms. At his current limit, he could maintain the transformation for over thirty hours straight.
However, once he started using high-level techniques or intense battle forms, that time would shorten drastically—to just three or five minutes, depending on intensity.
He needed to rest now.
After all, this was about a 20 million J prize. He couldn't afford to mess up at the crucial moment.
Kaien had no idea that his performance had already caused an uproar across the kingdom. Everyone was talking about Yoriichi Tsugikuni—speculating who this mysterious swordsman could be.
Some said he was a reclusive hermit training alone in the mountains.
Others claimed he was a veteran swordsman from another country.
Rumors spread like wildfire.
In the royal palace—
"'No record of him'? What do you mean, no record of him?"
The king frowned at the minister before him.
The minister wiped the sweat from his brow. "Your Majesty, I've checked and double-checked. There's no one by the name Yoriichi Tsugikuni in any of the entry records for the city. None of the guards have ever seen him either."
"…"
"Could it be a Transformation Magic?" the king wondered aloud.
Transformation Magic was a common spell, but it had no combat power. Most people found it useless and never bothered learning it.
Still—whatever magic or disguise he used didn't matter.
His swordsmanship was real.
And the king had to bring him into the Dragon-Slaying Project.
"Your Majesty," the minister asked cautiously, "how shall we arrange the semifinals?"
"Hmm… leave it as it is."
The king made his decision and finalized the matchups.
An hour later.
"Ladies and gentlemen! The thrilling semifinals are about to begin! The matchups are ready—please look at the big screen!!"
Everyone turned their gaze toward the screen.
"Semifinal Match One: Arthur vs. Erza!"
"Semifinal Match Two: Clay vs. Yoriichi Tsugikuni!"
"Whoaahhhh!!"
The audience roared with excitement. They had all seen the preliminaries, and each of these four swordsmen was terrifyingly strong.
Arthur was the strongest Nine-Star Swordsman of the Kingdom of Sobea.
Clay's strength was said to rival Arthur's.
Erza was the only female swordsman to reach the semifinals—already a miracle—and breathtakingly beautiful at that.
And then there was Yoriichi, the mysterious swordsman whose divine swordsmanship had left the world stunned.
Everyone was dying to see him again.
"Now, please welcome Arthur and Erza to the stage!!"
"Whoaahhhh!!"
"Arthur! Arthur! Arthur!!"
"Erza! Erza! Erza!!"…
The crowd cheered wildly as the two stepped out from their respective lounges, meeting at the center of the arena.
"Erza the Fairy Queen?" Arthur asked, looking at her calmly.
Erza blinked in surprise. "You know me?"
"Not personally. I heard your name during my travels through the Kingdom of Fiore."
"I see."
"You're a mage, aren't you? You'd best use your magic."
Erza frowned slightly. "Magic? Isn't this a swordsman's tournament?"
"Yes and no. Every star-ranked swordsman is a Magic Swordsman—our swordsmanship is our magic.
If you think you can defeat me using swordsmanship alone, you're underestimating me.
Show me everything you've got, Fairy Queen—show me your true power!"