Their blades clashed.
The Academy students were well aware of Deskis’s strength. He had already seen the horrors of the battlefield and had led armies as a Knight Commander. Even among the elite students, this commoner who had worked his way up from the bottom stood out as an outlier.
And yet, that very same Deskis was being pushed back in a one-on-one duel.
"What terrifying talent! I likely didn't reach that realm until my late twenties."
"Wasn't he only sixteen?"
"Hahaha! Crossing paths with a rough diamond always gets the heart racing!"
In the heat of the moment, Leo was learning. His days had been spent in isolation, relying entirely on self-taught image training. But now, as he traded blows with a senior knight like Deskis, he dodged and parried, absorbing his opponent's techniques with every strike.
His growth was accelerating.
"However, you’re still green. It’s as if you’ve spent your life fighting one specific person... or rather, a knight who moved like a puppet. You have a strange, distorted quirk. Such gifted talent—you truly are a rough diamond yet to be polished."
"......You can tell?"
"I was born on the battlefield sixteen years ago. I’ve picked up a fair amount of experience along the way."
Deskis’s observation hit the mark. Leo had spent every day fighting in a world of his own imagination, playing out a hundred battles a day. But as Deskis pointed out, his repertoire was severely limited.
"If that’s the case, then as your senior, I must show you the way! Let’s go, Leo—to the heights!!"
"—!?"
Suddenly, Deskis summoned and mounted an Emblem Horse.
He charged.
The move was so unexpected that Leo froze for a split second. He hadn't even considered the possibility of someone summoning an Emblem Horse during a duel.
The massive beast bore down on him.
Should he strike it? No, could he? Perhaps with a Crest Sword it would be possible, but he held only a standard iron blade. With no clear answer, his only option was to retreat.
"Correct choice. Like a human, an Emblem Horse can only be felled by a Crest Sword. However... the Goddess of Victory has stopped smiling on you."
"—!?"
Deskis was suddenly behind him. He had used the horse as a distraction to mask his movement. He had read Leo perfectly—anticipating that the boy's first instinct would be to fall back.
Deskis had already dropped into a perfected Sword-Drawing Stance.
"Knowing defeat will eventually become your greatest asset. Now, crawl back up, Leo!"
At this distance, Deskis was undeniably faster. In his current posture, there was almost nothing Leo could do to defend himself.
Everyone watching reached the same conclusion.
"I guess it's Deskis's win."
"No upsets today, then."
"Is he going to break his record again?"
"He's at a hundred wins in a row. It's almost gross."
""So gross.""
Even Frederica and Jin shared the sentiment.
"Ah-ah, poor Leo-kun. Deskis is a weirdo, but he really is strong."
"It's over. However, the boy has proven his strength. We shall welcome him into the Student Council."
Every spectator was certain of Leo's defeat. It was a definitive fate, a conclusion that couldn't be overturned.
But there was one person who still believed.
Even so, you won't lose... because you are a King.
Flare kept her eyes fixed on Leo.
Slash!!
The blade whistled through the air. Deskis felt the solid impact; he was sure he had landed the hit.
But what he saw was...
"—!?"
Empty air.
His eyes widened. His sword had given him the tactile feedback of a strike—it had definitely hit something. Yet, there was no one in front of him.
Moving from that previous position should have been impossible. Human physiology didn't allow for it. Unless an external force had acted upon him, he shouldn't have been able to vanish.
Deskis’s mind raced at full speed.
His vision had gone dark for a fraction of a second. He realized Leo had made a final, desperate move: holding a palm backward to flash a distraction. But where could he have gone in that heartbeat? Even if he couldn't see his target, if Leo were still there, the swing should have cut him down.
And yet, he was gone.
Where...?
"—!?"
Deskis realized the truth and spun around. On the flat of his own blade, which was still extended from the swing, he felt a sudden weight.
A monster stood there.
By timing his move perfectly with the speed of Deskis’s swing, Leo had leapt onto the blade itself. It was the only possible path. There was no other way to survive a perfect ambush from the rear, but...
"Even if you thought of it, who actually tries that!?"
"I thought I could do it, so I did."
Leo slashed downward.
Deskis blocked, sacrificing his arm to take the blow. Since Leo held an iron sword, the flesh wasn't severed, but the impact was heavy. Excited by the exchange, Deskis laughed and drew his own Crest Sword.
"Hahaha!! Let's take this to the limit!!"
In a fit of battle-lust, Deskis used his Crest Sword to slash his own wounded arm. Bright red blood splattered across the arena, drawing screams from the audience.
As Leo watched in shock, Deskis lunged with the Crest Sword. Leo parried with his iron blade, but a standard sword was no match for a legendary weapon. The intensity of the duel surged.
A massive, heavy blow landed. Leo's iron sword buckled and snapped.
But Deskis didn't slow down.
In response, Leo finally drew the blade from his own Emblem. A faint smile played across his lips. He was exhilarated. Swept up in the pure, unadulterated fighting spirit of his opponent, Leo laughed.
Watching from the stands, Flare let out a long sigh.
"Honestly... boys and their games. I'm almost jealous."
She, too, found herself smiling.
After a prolonged exchange of steel, both boys stepped back, gasping for air.
"............Let me............ask you............one thing, my soul brother."
"Soul brother? ............W-what are you talking about?"
"Why do you fight?"
"Eh?"
"You intend to marry Flare... no, steal her away from me. As her ex-boyfriend, I believe I have the right to ask."
"I'm not your ex! And she's not being stolen!" Flare yelled from the stands.
"Ex-boyfriend... well, I suppose that’s right," Leo mused, ignoring her. "My reason for fighting..."
"Wait, Leo, you're supposed to deny it too!"
"Tell me," Deskis demanded, ignoring the interruption. "Show me what lies at the bottom of your heart. Not some title you were given, but your essence—your Libido!"
Leo took a moment to truly consider the question.
Why did he fight? He had participated in a war of his own volition and taken lives by his own hand. Now, an answer finally seemed to be surfacing.
"I... I love my mother."
"Me too! Mama Heroines are the peak of fiction. The maternal warmth, the irresistible charm of a married woman... the urge to be mothered is unstoppable!"
"No, that's not what I meant."
"Hmph... say no more. I understand. While the debate over a heroine's purity is a deep one, rest assured—official lore states the heroine's mother is always a virgin."
What is this man even talking about? Leo wondered.
"Anyway, whatever. I... I awakened to this power when my mother was on the verge of death. In that moment, I killed my enemies in a frenzy. I killed a lot of people in the war, too. Probably close to a hundred."
"............I see."
"The people I killed... they were someone's children. They had mothers too. I know that. And I know it’s just how war works. But... I don't really want to keep killing people."
Deskis looked into Leo’s eyes, listening in silence.
"That's why I... I want to end the war as fast as possible."
"How? As long as humans exist, conflict will never end. You must know that."
"Yeah. I don't know how to stop war entirely yet. I can only see the conflict right in front of me. But... the other day, I finally realized there's a way to end a war quickly and keep the death toll as low as possible."
He remembered Iricobert's words. If you slay the enemy general, the war ends. If you seize their Emblem, the battle is over.
Therefore...
"And that method is...?"
"Yeah..."
—A chill ran down Deskis's spine.
He instinctively threw himself into a defensive guard. The same sensation hit the audience seats.
The air grew heavy, as if gravity had suddenly doubled. Several spectators stood up, hands flying to their hilts.
Sword Aura was leaking from Leo. His sheer will was manifesting through the power of his Emblem, vibrating through the very space around him. It was an unwavering resolve, a determination that bordered on madness.
It was a wish so pure yet so distorted that it made the skin crawl.
"I’ll become the strongest. So strong that no one would even dream of standing against me. If I do that... I can end it all in an instant."
It was a sense of justice that belonged to Leo, and Leo alone.