"I have no desire to draw my sword against the weak. You, who cannot even perceive the vast gap between us, are simply too weak."
Ouma Kurogane stood there completely unguarded, yet Tohka Todo's all-out attack couldn't even scratch him.
Having had most of her magical stamina drained, she was now panting for breath.
In that short amount of time, Noah could only give her the bare minimum of healing—just enough to restore her basic ability to move.
But Tohka was certain that the power of the Raikiri she had unleashed hadn't diminished in the slightest.
She had trained relentlessly to be able to execute a perfect Raikiri even in poor condition.
This terrifying situation could only mean one thing. The difference in their baseline strength was so vast that they weren't even comparable.
Watching Ikki and Tohka kneeling before the enemy, Noah seriously considered whether he should use his Gravity Arrow to get them out of there.
The opponent's ultimate goal was to defeat them in combat. To show the entire country the pathetic and powerless state of Hagun Academy.
They wouldn't kill them.
But if they were all wiped out like this, their qualification to compete might truly be stolen by their opponents.
Stella would surely never accept that outcome.
Noah silently assumed his combat stance, his gaze sweeping over the three opponents before him.
Without a doubt, the strongest of the three was Ouma Kurogane.
His immense strength wasn't reliant on a magic ability, but on pure physical refinement.
He had honed all his skills to a realm that far surpassed normal student knights, the quality of his power was on a completely different level from the others.
Next was Sara Bloodlily.
Her conceptual manipulation of color was used with such casual ease in her few attacks that she certainly wasn't utilizing her true strength.
Last was Amane Shinomiya.
Although his wish-granting ability was heaven-defying, he was actually the least threatening one to Noah.
In the ancient stories, a clever general could match his weakest horses against the enemy's strongest to secure a win.
But Noah didn't have that luxury; he could only pit himself against all three opponents at once.
"Oh? You're not giving up yet?" Amane Shinomiya was growing impatient.
He materialized several silver swords, holding them tightly between his knuckles.
It seemed he was planning to get serious.
The attack itself was illegal after all, and the attackers were all members of the Rebellion.
If the World Clock and the Yaksha Princess returned and suppressed them, it would be incredibly troublesome.
If those two handed them over to the League instead of the regular police, not even the politicians of this country could protect them.
Noah exhaled the tightness in his chest as six elements appeared around him at once.
Fire, earth, water, wind, lightning, and ice—the six physical elements swirled around him.
Elemental Burst?
No.
That move was powerful, but it wasn't nearly enough to deal with the overwhelming enemies standing before him.
He manipulated the various elements within the Weaver's reach, gathering and condensing them.
In the blink of an eye, the six gathered elements had grown to a considerable size.
Then, the wavering masses of energy rapidly transformed, actually taking on humanoid shapes.
If Sara Bloodlily manipulated the concept of color, then he manipulated the fundamental concept of all things elemental!
"Arise!"
Noah converged his magic power into tangible threads, connecting them directly to the six elemental puppets.
The fire elemental held a longbow and arrows.
The earth elemental held a spear and shield.
The lightning elemental held a battle-axe.
The wind elemental held a greatsword.
The ice elemental held dual blades.
The water elemental held a chain.
Under Noah's precise control, the six elemental puppets moved as if they were real living creatures, guarding his side.
"Ooooooooooh!!"
Looking at the brilliant scene before her, Sara was momentarily captivated. The colors in this living picture were so magnificent, their forms so divine.
She was a born artist.
Painting was her absolute everything.
She madly pursued art, willing to forgo food and sleep for it, constantly lamenting that life was far too short.
Yes, far too short.
An average lifespan of seventy years was nowhere near enough time for her to paint everything she desired.
At this moment, another landscape worthy of pouring her heart and soul into had appeared before her eyes.
A smile.
For the first time, a genuine smile appeared on her weary face.
However, Amane Shinomiya's reaction next to her was the complete opposite.
"A wire-puller?"
He stared in astonishment at the six puppets.
He had been constantly wishing for his opponent's magic control to fail, but after all this time, why—why hadn't the man's magic control faltered even once?
Could it be that such a thing was impossible to begin with?!
That was ridiculous!
How could raw magic power be tamed to such a precise degree?
"Go."
Noah commanded the fire elemental to draw its bow. The flaming arrow split into three, shooting directly at the trio.
Amane Shinomiya hid behind Sara, clasping his hands and said, "Please."
Ouma Kurogane, however, didn't even bother to dodge, taking the hit head-on.
In fact, the flaming arrow couldn't harm him in the slightest.
Even though the explosion's power was comparable to a small-caliber tank shell, it couldn't injure him, a human, in the least.
Noah had already anticipated this result.
For him, who possessed the Truth Seeker skill, no phenomenon in this world was absolutely inexplicable.
"Noble Art—Tenryuu Kacchuu."
It was a defensive Noble Art, much like Stella's Empress Dress.
It was just that the performance of the two was worlds apart.
Furthermore, for Ouma Kurogane, Tenryuu Kacchuu was not actually armor, but a restraint.
If he were to release it, his physical strength would be several times greater than his current state.
Someone with a half-baked understanding of his strength might think Tenryuu Kacchuu was his full power.
Noah, however, knew that this man was a true madman.
His Noble Art, Tenryuu Kacchuu, could cover his body in a storm as armor to repel enemy attacks.
But he operated it in reverse, applying five hundred kilograms of compressed air to himself, placing an extraordinary burden on his body for long periods.
If his ability values were compared to the adventurers in Orario, he would have super-high durability surpassing that of a Level 5.
Honestly, Noah didn't think he could break through his defense. No matter what attacks he used, he couldn't breach the man's overwhelming physical protection.
At the same time, because of Tenryuu Kacchuu, he couldn't use kinetic impact to directly concuss his brain like he did with the Man-Slayer.
Besides, he had only managed that feat back then because his strength had been greatly enhanced by Level Sublimation, and he had even destroyed Raven Feather to do it.
But now, he was only Level 2.
Even with his greatly increased proficiency with the Spell-Weaver, it was impossible to surpass the raw power level of a Level 3.
Ouma Kurogane.
This man was the greatest threat on the battlefield!
"Fantasy Etching—Aegis!"
Sara waved the Demiurge's Pen, rapidly drawing a sacred shield in the air.
In an instant, the shield became three-dimensional, materializing directly into reality and cleanly blocking the fire elemental puppet's flaming arrow.
Boom!
The earth elemental puppet's massive body began to move.
It raised its heavy spear and thrust it fiercely against the Aegis, creating a terrifying impact that sent Sara and Amane Shinomiya, who were hiding behind the shield, stumbling backward.
Noah pressed his advantage, sending the lightning and ice elementals to flank them from both sides.
The lightning elemental swung its crackling thunder axe, while the ice elemental brandished its dual blades, unleashing slashes of icy sword energy.
Seeing this, Sara once again put her pen to work.
A human figure suddenly appeared, causing Noah's pupils to contract in genuine surprise.
That was...
"Fantasy Etching—Uncrowned Sword King!"
Clang!
A large hole was instantly blown through the ice elemental puppet's chest!
And this move—Noah had seen it several times already.
First Secret Sword: Saigeki.
It was a sword technique created by Ikki Kurogane that concentrated the vectors of all physical force into a single point to deliver his highest possible attack power—his Anti-Object Secret Art, renowned for its supreme destructive force.
It specialized in destroying hard objects.
Noah glanced at the fallen Ikki nearby and used Truth Seeker to appraise the figure that was his exact replica.
'Fantasy Etching—Uncrowned Sword King.'
'An individual created by the magic ability of Sara Bloodlily.'
'She could even materialize drawn figures into reality? This was Sara Bloodlily's true power?'
To be able to do such a thing meant she could replicate the Noble Art of almost any Blazer!
In other words, if she drew the Yaksha Princess, materialized her, and then used Supreme Ruler's Astral Body on Hagun Academy without holding back, the academy would become a piece of history found only on maps and in photos in less than a minute!
Before Noah could react, Sara was already drawing continuously, materializing a dozen Ikki Kuroganes in one go.
What was even more terrifying was that they all possessed power on par with Ikki Kurogane himself!
The thunder axe swept out.
Golden lightning spread with the ferocious slash, hitting several of the Uncrowned Sword Kings.
Since she had perfectly replicated everything about the Blazer, that naturally included Ikki Kurogane's overly weak physical ability values.
Faced with the lightning elemental's wide attack, they were like a disorderly mob, cut down in swathes like wheat being reaped by a scythe.
At the same time, Noah finished repairing the shattered ice elemental puppet.
These puppets existed through his constant supply of magic power, and their raw material was the elements in the atmosphere itself.
As long as the magic connection remained, they could absorb those elements and revive indefinitely.
However, Sara suddenly brandished her pen.
All the drawn Ikki Kuroganes simultaneously tightened their grip on their swords.
Seeing that familiar preparatory motion, a warning bell instantly rang in Noah's mind.
'It can't be...'
Along with a terrible premonition, Noah saw the numerous Uncrowned Sword Kings before him simultaneously erupt with a tangible, visible magic power.
"Ittou Shura!"