The girl's name was Sara Bloodlily.
The pigment-stained palette in her hand and the battered paintbrush she wielded formed her Device: Brush of the Demiurge.
As a Concept Interference-type Blazer, she possessed the rare ability to manipulate the very concept of color.
When they first squared off, she radiated a profound weariness. Heavy, dark bags hung under her eyes, making one wonder if she was on the verge of a mental collapse.
But Noah noticed something else: the arm she had used to block his strike was smeared with a specific pigment.
The moment their eyes met, the secret clicked into place.
"Bronze of Steel."
By painting the concept of the color onto herself, she had transmuted her flesh into solid steel to catch his blade.
But…
"Ouch." Sara clutched her forearm, tears welling in her tired eyes.
Of course it hurt.
Even transformed into steel, catching a strike with that much kinetic force was not something you shrugged off.
Still, despite her pained expression, the arm wasn't broken and her bones remained intact.
Noah clicked his tongue.
The numbers disadvantage was starting to show.
He shot a glance at Kanata, who lay unconscious in the dirt a short distance away.
She had been the one holding Sara back.
To defeat the 'Crimson Lady' so quickly—whether due to a bad matchup or raw power—proved Sara was a heavy hitter.
Now, their fighting force was reduced to the Kurogane siblings, himself, and Tohka, who was too exhausted to be considered a viable combatant.
And judging by Ouma's oppressive dominance across the clearing, Ikki and Shizuku were not going to hold out much longer.
Noah processed the variables and arrived at a bleak conclusion.
This battle was unwinnable.
He mentally tallied the threats.
Rinna Kazamatsuri might only be C-Rank, but her ability turned ordinary creatures into terrors is troublesome. She give her pet lion, Sphinx, monstrous speed and strength of a high-tier Blazer.
Charlotte Corday, the maid, commanded the absolute concepts of sword and shield.
Yui Tatara could reflect lethal strikes.
Sara Bloodlily manipulated reality through color. And then there was Amane Shinomiya, an A-Rank whose power bordered on literal wish-granting.
Until now, Akatsuki Academy had fought them one-on-one, allowing Noah to briefly suppress this group.
If they decided to synergize and coordinate their broken abilities, a single misstep would mean death.
The fatal flaw in their current formation was the Kurogane siblings.
Even fighting with perfect synergy, they were being overwhelmed by Ouma.
Their combined assaults had zero effect, they hadn't even managed to tear Ouma's clothing.
The gap in their power resided in entirely different dimensions.
Even if Noah held his ground, the best-case scenario ended with him fighting all of them alone.
"Barrier Wave Water Lotus!" Shizuku's voice shattered his thoughts. "Frozen Tundra!"
The Deep Sea Witch pushed her mana to the limit, instantly freezing the earth beneath the battlefield.
"White Night Barrier!"
A dense, freezing fog erupted from the ice, swallowing the Hagun Academy gates in an impenetrable white veil.
Noah understood her play.
Relying on the subtle hum of electrical currents, he pinpointed Tohka's location through the blinding mist and moved to her side.
"President."
"Noah-kun, I'm sorry," Tohka murmured, struggling to stand. "As the president, I…"
"Don't apologize."
Noah initiated a healing spell, but Rinna's mocking voice drifted through the thick fog.
"A smokescreen? A foolish move. Sphinx's nose is far more sensitive than any human's!"
They were going to use the beast to hunt them in the blind.
But Shizuku wasn't finished.
She cast a protective water barrier over Ikki, then gathered a massive sphere of water around herself.
Countless liquid spearheads protruded from the sphere's surface, aiming in every conceivable direction.
It was an omnidirectional attack devoid of any blind spots.
"Bloody Wind, Tragic Rain!"
Countless pressurized water arrows fired into the fog, a chaotic storm centered around Shizuku.
Caught in a zero-visibility environment against an attack of this density, an ordinary Blazer would die before they realized what hit them.
"This fog is a nuisance," Amane drawled, his voice carrying an unnatural calm as the sky above answered him.
A fierce, sudden gale swept down from the gathering clouds, tearing across the campus and ripping the white fog to shreds.
'How?'
"Did Ouma do that?" Shizuku gasped, looking at Ouma in shock.
But Ouma had already dismissed his Noble Art.
He wasn't even looking in her direction.
A natural wind had dispersed her magic.
Was her mana control failing?
Swish!
"Ugh."
Shizuku stared down, eyes wide with shock. A silver sword had buried itself deep into her abdomen!
Amane's delighted laugh echoed across the clearing. "Wow, I just tossed my Noble Art into the air, and the wind blew it right into you. What are the odds?"
Shizuku collapsed and her consciousness fading fast.
Taking a direct hit from a Noble Art, even in its illusion form, instantly drained a massive reservoir of her stamina.
"Shizuku!" Ikki abandoned his stance, sliding into the dirt to catch his sister.
"I didn't think this would take so long," Amane complained.
He materialized a handful of silver blades and hurled them toward the siblings.
Ikki raised Intetsu to parry.
Just as he shifted his weight, his calf locked up in a violent cramp.
His posture broke.
In that fraction of a second, four silver swords slammed into his body!
'How?' Ikki gritted his teeth against the impact.
He had only seen two blades approaching him.
To throw four weapons on a parallel plane, aligning the trailing blades perfectly within the shadows of the leading ones—that was the mark of an absolute master.
It was a throwing technique unimaginable for a mere student.
Ikki fought the encroaching darkness.
His frequent use of Ittou Shura had given him an unnatural tolerance for stamina depletion. These strikes weren't enough to put him down.
Not yet.
But he had almost nothing left.
He had to burn the last of his stamina!
"Ittou Shura!"
His dormant noble art detonated.
Ikki pushed past his physical limits, unleashing his ultimate technique. Given his battered state, he estimated the surge would last ten seconds at most.
Ten seconds was nowhere near enough time to defeat Ouma.
To break the stalemate, he had to change targets.
Ikki vanished.
A heartbeat later, he materialized directly behind Yui.
Ouma pivoted, intending to intercept his brother, but a crackle of lightning halted his advance as a revitalized Raikiri stepped into his path.
"I am your opponent, Ouma Kurogane!" Tohka declared.
Sensing the threat, Yui spin on her heel and activated Total Reflection as Ikki brought Intetsu crashing down.
Yet, as the blade connected, Ikki's figure warped and scattered.
Yui's eyes widened.
'An afterimage.'
A cold light flashed from her flank.
"Fourth Secret Sword: Mirage Wolf!"
Yui's eyes rolled back, and she slumped to the ground.
Ikki stumbled, his cramped calf screaming in protest. The recoil of the technique wracked his ruined muscles.
Rinna finally realized what was happening.
Her ability was formidable, but her physical combat senses were weak.
She possessed no ability to track a true fighter's movements. Even Noah needed to read air currents to track Ittou Shura.
Faced with divine speed of ittou shura, Rinna broke into a cold sweat and whipped her head around.
But Ikki had already stepped into her blind spot!
He hurled the illusion form of Intetsu like a javelin.
Before Rinna could even gasp, the hilt struck her square in the chest, knocking her clean off the lion's back!
"My lady!"
The moment Rinna lost consciousness, the maid and the lion lost their mana, reverting to harmless ordinary beings.
In six seconds, Ikki had neutralized four targets!
Only Ouma, Sara, and Amane remained.
"One more!" Ikki roared, lunging toward Sara.
The tired girl simply waved her paintbrush over the dirt. "Color Magic: Lake Surface Aquamarine."
The solid earth beneath her boots rippled like disturbed water.
She sank backward into the ground, slipping beneath the "surface."
Ikki's blade cleaved empty air.
He cursed, attempting to pivot toward Amane, but a blinding spike of agony seized his chest.
He clutched his heart, cold sweat pouring down his face.
Ittou Shura forcibly deactivated as his ten seconds were up.
A few meters away, Sara breached the surface of the earth, placidly brushing a wet strand of hair behind her ear.
The power gap was obvious.
Compared to these three monsters, the rest of Akatsuki Academy had just been a warmup.
Amane surveyed the unconscious bodies of his teammates and let out a long sigh.
"Well, this is unexpected. Sponsors aside, Master Wallenstein is going to be furious."
Across the battlefield, a sharp metallic ring filled the air.
Tohka stared in pure terror since Ouma hadn't shifted his stance.
He hadn't even bothered to move an inch to absorb the kinetic force of her Raikiri strike.
He took her ultimate attack head-on, and he was completely unharmed!
He turned his head.
His eyes passed over Tohka as if she were nothing more than scenery, but the sheer weight of his gaze forced her to stumble a half-step back.
'What is this man?'
The feedback echoing up her arms felt entirely wrong.
Striking him didn't feel like cutting into human flesh and bone.
It felt like swinging a sword against a mountain.
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator