X
Without a doubt, the white figure that suddenly appeared on the stage was Charlotte.
“Brother?”
Yukina, who was about to take the stage, eyes widened in shock.
“What the hell are you doing, brother?”
She never could have imagined that Charlotte, who had nothing to do with the match, would boldly walk onto their club’s arena.
“What on earth do you want, brother?”
“Hmm?”
On the stage, a fully armed Tenki Ren looked down at the petite white figure before him, his face full of confusion.
“Are you my opponent?”
“Sou dayo!”
Charlotte hoisted the wooden sword and rested it on her shoulder with a flourish, looking like an experienced adventurer.
“Originally, Mika should have been the one to fight you for this first round, but Mika fell ill and couldn’t make it today. So, I’ll have to take Mika’s place and fight you instead.”
“Is that so? No wonder I haven’t seen that arrogant, short-haired girl from yesterday. But it doesn’t matter to me who the opponent is. I’ll crush you all the same!”
Tenki Ren swung his wooden sword, readying for battle, but then he suddenly noticed an anomaly.
“Wait a minute, are you seriously entering the arena without any protective gear?”
Yukina, below the stage, knit her brows.
‘My brother probably doesn’t even know the rules of a kendo match. She’s like a novice mahjong player trying to eat an East Wind tile with a South and West Wind tile. Is it really okay to let Charlotte stay on that stage?’
“That stuff just gets in the way of my movements. I have no use for such worthless things.”
Charlotte casually explained her reason for not wearing protective gear.
But in reality, what Charlotte was wearing could be considered a form of armor itself.
Although she currently appeared to be in a thin summer school uniform, under which she might not even be wearing undergarments, there was no need for them.
This uniform was actually her witch’s robe, transformed using Projection Magic.
A witch’s robe was a piece of magical equipment specially crafted by the Starsea Magic Academy. It could withstand most physical damage and magic below the advanced level, ensuring that witches wouldn’t instantly die from a stray magic missile during their trials.
Hearing Charlotte’s explanation, Tenki Ren felt as though he were being toyed with.
“Hmph, it seems I’ve been underestimated! No matter who you are or where you come from, I’ll teach you a lesson today and make you remember the importance of protective gear!”
With the referee’s whistle, Tenki Ren swung his wooden sword and charged aggressively at Charlotte.
Charlotte merely smiled faintly, her body twisting slightly.
Tenki Ren’s swing narrowly missed her bangs, slicing through empty air.
Although Tenki Ren was slightly surprised, he immediately followed up with a continuous barrage of attacks.
His flurry of strikes was like the sharp teeth of a pack of wolves, giving his opponent no room to breathe.
Coupled with the immense force behind each hit, an ordinary person probably wouldn’t have lasted more than a few moves before being defeated.
But such an attack was completely useless against Charlotte.
No matter how swift and fierce Tenki Ren’s strikes were, they couldn’t touch a hair on Charlotte’s head.
With just minor adjustments to her posture, she evaded his wild attacks, showing even more agility than a flexible dog in the mountains.
Yukina, watching from below, couldn’t help but scoff.
“Does my brother even know he’s in a kendo match that’s supposed to be about swordsmanship?”
Meanwhile, the other members of the Kendo Club, including Huangquan Ai and Zhong Shuixi, were all wide-eyed with shock at the intense battle on stage.
“I thought Yukina was invincible, but her cousin is even more ferocious! Whose subordinate is this?!”
The President pushed up his glasses, exclaiming in shock.
Tenki Ren finally realized after his flurry of attacks failed to hit Charlotte even once.
This was no longer a kendo match. Charlotte was constantly dodging without counterattacking.
Tenki Ren could have simply signaled the referee to disqualify Charlotte for stalling, but he didn’t.
The fact that all his attacks were being effortlessly dodged by his opponent only ignited his fighting spirit further.
“Hmph, it seems not wearing armor really does make you more agile. Fine, I’ll play along to the end!”
With that, Tenki Ren threw off his heavy protective gear, launching another continuous assault on Charlotte.
Freed from his burden, Tenki Ren’s movement speed was much faster than before, and the force behind his swings was even more ferocious.
After several strikes that managed to cut a few of Charlotte’s hairs and slice through her collar, Charlotte realized that simple dodging might not be enough.
And so, to evade Tenki Ren’s wildest swing, Charlotte jumped up, stepped on Tenki Ren’s shoulders, and leaped behind him.
“What? Is that even humanly possible?” Tenki Ren exclaimed.
At this point, the referee had seen enough and issued Charlotte a yellow card.
After all, this was a kendo match, not a martial arts tournament.
The match had been going on for so long, yet the two hadn’t even touched swords once. How could the match continue like this?
Realizing she would be disqualified if she didn’t use her sword soon, Charlotte sighed.
“It seems I can’t keep playing around anymore.”
“You think this is ‘playing around’? Are you kidding me!”
Hearing Charlotte’s words, Tenki Ren was enraged. He had been fighting with all his might!
Regardless of anything else, he turned and charged at Charlotte again.
Because of the referee’s ruling, Charlotte couldn’t keep dodging this time.
Tenki Ren was confident that in a head-on confrontation, such a fragile girl could never be his match!
With this belief, he raised his wooden sword and brought it down toward Charlotte’s head in a massive chop.
However, faced with such a powerful attack, Charlotte merely crouched low, tucking her wooden sword into her waistband as if she were about to perform an incredibly fast draw-and-slash technique.
“Hmm?” Though the posture was strange, Tenki Ren didn’t pay much attention.
Then, he was horrified to find that at the moment Charlotte drew and swung her sword, the image of a red-haired beauty swordsman overlapped with Charlotte’s.
After a brief moment of shock, Tenki Ren realized that the wooden sword in his hand had suddenly vanished. Charlotte, meanwhile, stood before him with a smug look.
The referee then declared Charlotte the winner of the first round.
“Wait a minute! Why are you declaring her the winner? I haven’t fallen yet!”
The referee simply pointed to the nearby spectator seats.
Tenki Ren turned and saw his wooden sword stuck firmly into the chair where the Clover Academy Kendo Club was sitting, nearly injuring one of his teammates.
Seeing this, Tenki Ren realized that Charlotte’s strike just now had disarmed him.
Her strike hadn’t used much force; she had merely altered the wooden sword’s flight path.
However, because he had put too much force into his own swing, the disarmed sword had shot across the arena and directly into the spectator seats.
This was the most famous principle in kendo: overcoming force with skill.
Realizing this, Tenki Ren’s spirit collapsed.
“I lost.”
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read For the Emperor! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : For the Emperor
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