The announcer, Tsukuyomi, continued the py-by-py, clearly favoring the veteran. "As expected of Shizuya Kirihara-senshu! That elegant look really makes him a favorite among the female students!"

  "I don't know, I think I prefer a man with a bit more of a wild side," Nene Saikyo chimed in from the commentary booth, leaning back in her chair.

  Tsukuyomi shot her a helpless look. "Nene-sensei, nobody asked about your personal type."

  "Fine, fine," Nene waved a hand dismissively, sounding bored.

  Tsukuyomi cleared her throat and continued. "On the other side, we have our challenger: Haruki Aizawa, a transfer student from the mainnd. On paper, his rank is C, the same as Kirihara-senshu. While we have no official combat records for him yet, we might be in for a surprise today. Let's hope he can give us a performance worthy of the Seven Star selection!"

  As the ckluster introduction ended, Haruki Aizawa stepped onto the dueling ptform.

  Kirihara watched him approach, a sneer tugging at his lips. "I'm surprised you actually showed up. You really don't know the meaning of the word 'arrogant,' do you?"

  "..."

  Haruki didn't even look him in the eye. To him, Kirihara was just a clown performing a mediocre skit. Engaging him in conversation was a waste of a second he could be spending on his bde.

  Haruki's cold indifference acted like a spark to a fuse. Kirihara's face twisted. "Fine. If you're that eager to die, I'll be happy to oblige!"

  "It's hunting season! Come to me, Oborozuki!"

  Kirihara manifested his Device—a sleek, recurve bow.

  "Awaken," Haruki muttered.

  Though he cked a soul-weapon, he channeled his Ghost Qi into his palm, manifesting the dark, spectral bde Onibi to maintain his cover as a Bzer.

  The moment both weapons were drawn, the atmosphere shifted.

  "The fourth match of the day—Begin!"

  As the referee's voice rang out, Kirihara's figure vanished instantly. The audience erupted into cheers as the announcer's voice rose with excitement.

  "And there it is! Kirihara-senshu opens with his signature Noble Art—Area of the Hunter! He's transformed the entire arena into a dense, illusory forest! Once he's inside his domain, no one can track him with the naked eye!"

  Haruki had read about this. Every opponent Kirihara had faced st year had been humiliated because they couldn't even touch him. Once they entered the "Forest," they were trapped in a one-sided game of predator and prey.

  In theory, the counter was simple: a wide-area destructive attack like Stel's fmes would burn the illusion away. But that kind of raw power was rare, especially among close-quarters swordsmen who relied on precision. This was why Kirihara was known as the "Swordsman-Killer."

  The Hunter hides in the shadows, drawing his bow while the prey wanders blindly. It was a strategy designed for a coward, but it was effective.

  Worse yet, Kirihara had refined his technique. He could now mask his presence entirely, and his mana-infused arrows were completely transparent. Most victims didn't even know they were under fire until an arrow was already buried in their flesh.

  "Aizawa, challenging me was your final mistake!"

  Kirihara's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. He drew his bow, and several completely invisible arrows of pure mana streaked through the shadows, curving to surround Haruki from all sides.

  But then, the impossible happened.

  Cng! Cng!

  The invisible arrows—projectiles that could not be seen or sensed by normal means—were batted out of the air with casual flicks of Haruki's spectral bde. Not a single arrow could even get within a meter of him.

  To the audience, the fight looked ridiculous. Because they couldn't see the arrows or Kirihara, it looked like Haruki was simply swinging his sword at empty air.

  "What is happening?" Tsukuyomi stammered. "Is... is he just shadowboxing?"

  No one could commentate on a fight they couldn't see.

  In the commentary booth, however, Nene Saikyo's eyes began to glow. She had suspected Haruki was interesting, but this was exceeding her expectations. She could tell Haruki wasn't guessing; he was "seeing" the arrows perfectly—not with his eyes, but through his Mind's Eye.

  In the arena, Kirihara was spiraling into a panic. He couldn't understand how Haruki was deflecting invisible projectiles. He began firing desperately, unleashing a rain of transparent arrows that bnketed the area.

  Haruki remained still, like a stone in a rushing river. As he felt the vibrations of the mana projectiles, he spoke softly.

  "I see. So that's how you transparentize mana... I've learned your trick."

  "What?" Kirihara's voice cracked in confusion.

  The next second, Haruki gripped the Onibi with both hands and closed his eyes, focusing his resonance.

  Vrummm—

  A terrifying surge of transparent sword-qi erupted from Haruki's bde. It was a localized distortion of space, ripple-thin and completely invisible to the naked eye.

  Haruki had used his Wave mastery to mimic the exact frequency of Kirihara's transparency. He had "stolen" the Noble Art through pure resonance.

  Kirihara's eyes widened in horror. He... he copied my magic?!

  BOOM!

  The transparent wave of sword-qi tore across the arena, smming directly into the spot where Kirihara was hiding. Because the strike was invisible, the "Hunter" had no warning. He was bsted out of his stealth, his body tumbling across the floor as his illusory forest flickered and died.

  "H-How... how is this possible...?"

  Kirihara gasped for air, his face pale with shock. Haruki's mimicry was still rough, and the transparent qi hadn't been strong enough to shatter Kirihara's Mana Shield entirely, but the psychological blow was devastating. He couldn't wrap his head around his "unique" ability being mastered by a freshman in minutes.

  He began to wonder if Haruki had a simir soul-weapon to his own, but the bck sword in Haruki's hand looked nothing like a bow.

  Before Kirihara could recover, Haruki swung again. This time, he didn't hold back. The transparent bde of energy reached a density that mimicked a true Noble Art.

  "AAAGH!!"

  The invisible strike tore through Kirihara's shoulder. The pain hit him like a white-hot brand, searing his nerves. Having spent a year as the "Hunter" who never got touched, Kirihara was completely unprepared for actual pain.

  The primal terror of being hunted himself took over. He lost all sense of dignity.

  "I surrender! I give up! Stop! Stop hitting me!!" Kirihara screamed, tears streaming down his face as he curled into a ball on the floor.

  Haruki's movements slowed, coming to a halt.

  Kirihara saw this and felt a flicker of hope. He assumed the "naive" freshman would stop because of the surrender. In his mind, he was already pnning a sneak attack. According to the rules of the Seven Star selection, a match only truly ends when a Device is shattered or a combatant is unconscious. A verbal surrender didn't stop the clock.

  Kirihara pnned to bait Haruki in and fire a point-bnk shot while Haruki was feeling "victorious." He hated Haruki for making him look pathetic in front of his fans. He would make him pay.

  But Kirihara had made a fatal error in judgment.

  Haruki Aizawa had no intention of letting him go. He knew the rules as well as Kirihara did. But even if the rules said a surrender was final, Haruki wouldn't have stopped. He was here to collect a debt for every person this coward had ever tormented.

  Swish!

  Haruki flicked his bde. Another transparent arc of energy sliced through the air, opening a fresh gash on Kirihara's leg.

  "AAAGHHH! WHY?! I SURRENDERED!!"

  Kirihara looked at Haruki with wide, sobbing eyes.

  "I've seen the videos of your past matches," Haruki said, his voice cold and devoid of pity. "Every single time, you toyed with your opponents until they were mentally broken. You never stopped when they begged. I'm simply returning the favor. Is there a problem?"

  "Wha—"

  Before Kirihara could answer, another strike hit his other leg. He was now a mess of tears and snot, weeping openly as he crawled like a maggot across the arena floor.

  "NO! STOP IT! PLEASE! IT HURTS! I'M AFRAID OF PAIN! PLEASE!!"

  The sight of the once-arrogant "Hunter" reduced to a blubbering mess was pathetic. The students who once admired him now looked on with expressions of pure disgust and disillusionment.

  In the commentary booth, Tsukuyomi turned off her microphone, speechless. But Nene Saikyo was ughing, smming her palm onto the desk.

  "Yes! That's it! No mercy for trash! Haruki-kun, I'm really starting to like you!!"

  "Sensei, please..." Tsukuyomi groaned.

  Back in the ring, Haruki looked down at the writhing Kirihara. The amusement had faded, repced by a hollow boredom. This man wasn't a warrior; he was just a bully with a shiny toy.

  "Since you're so fond of the ground, why don't you stay there?"

  Haruki raised his sword high. He stopped using transparency and focused on a different Wave technique.

  "Ground Upheaval!"

  He smmed the spectral bde into the floor. A massive shockwave of resonance traveled through the earth, erupting directly beneath Kirihara. The ground shattered, unching the "Hunter" into the air, before the secondary shockwave of energy crushed his Mana Shield into dust.

  Kirihara hit the floor like a sack of stones, his Device shattering into light. He was out cold.

  The silence in the arena was deafening. Haruki Aizawa turned his back on the mess and walked toward the exit without a single backward gnce. He had a lot more training to do.

  ***********************************************

  For advanced chapters up to 20 chapter ahead is on my

  My name : M7md_sol

  Current amount of chapters on : 102

  If your having trouble reaching my

  Just write M7md_sol on Google search and I'll probably be the first page that shows up and thanks for any support you guys give