"If I want to win, I have no choice but to reveal my special technique…"

He stood his ground, beckoning me to come to him. I sensed a trap, but I decided to go for it anyway. After all, this battle wouldn't end if neither of us made a move, and I needed to knock him out in order to advance.

I gathered thousands of pink Sakura petals around my swords and lunged forward, swining my blades and directing the pink cloud of razor-sharp blossoms at Cain. My opponent held his position while deflecting my spell with his blade.

"Amazing! The rippling mana on Cain's sword knocked Richard's petals away!"

The commentator was yelling something in the distance, but I didn't pay much attention. I was forced to parry Cain's sword, but the rippling mana waves sent me reeling back. More of my petals descended upon him, but the Adorno Team Captain raised his sword and emitted another rippling blast of energy that disintegrated them. He then spun around to thrust this sword forward. I crossed both of my swords to block his blade, but the revolving rings of purple energy shook off my defense and sent me hurtling backward.

Cain made to charge, but twin clouds of Sakura petals descended upon him from both sides, forcing him to slice through them in two successive actions. Even after he got rid of them, Green Dragon swiped at him with his claws, inciting a block from him.

"Guh!"

The poor guy was flung across the stage, his much smaller body unable to withstand the tremendous weight behind Green Dragon's blow. He flipped himself up and landed on both feet, skidding a few meters back.

"Huff…"

Sweat was pouring off his face now as he crouched down. Straightening up, he raised his sword and gathered an immense amount of mana into it. Swinging it, he unleashed an enormous blast of enerfy at Green Dragon.

Even though my Celestial Guardian was more than capable of protecting himself, I decided to step in. More to show off than out of necessity, because it wasn't as if Green Dragon would be moved by my act of protection – he was more a part of me than he was a separate, sentient ent.i.ty with his own individual sense of self. Despite that, I was slightly surprised to detect a telepathic emotion of grat.i.tude from deep within his soul.

Nonetheless, I swung both my swords and unleashed a cloud of black petals in Cain's direction. His huge mana blast met my black flowers in the middle, and my spell seemed to break apart. The black petals seemed to drink in the purple energy blast, expanding before blowing up, but instead of merely disintegrating, they split part into even more black petals, each tinier than their predecessors but each just as sharp and deadly.

"Kuh!"

Cain grunted as he tried to fend off the numerous black petals that bombarded him. Even though he managed to deflect them with those mystical purple rings of mana that rippled from his sword, he couldn't block all of them. His sleeves and uniform ended up being torn and tattered, and blood dripped from numerous wounds throughout his face, arms, legs and body.

Unfortunately, that wasn't all. After Cain had just barely survived the onlsaught of black petals, he caught sight of Green Dragon rearing up high and gathering a lot of golden mana into his jaws. It was a pity that I didn't have Redfield to cast Sunny Day so that I could skip the turn of gathering sunlight for Green Dragon's Solar Beam, but part of the reason why I defended my Celestial Guardian was precisely to buy him the time he needed to charge up that ultimate wood spell.

"!!!"

Cain dove to the side in a desperate attempt to evade, but he was too late and Green Dragon's Solar Beam was far too large. The colossal beam of golden mana lanced across the stage and engulfed the leaping Cain, and despite him turning around and trying to cleave the enormous spell of destructive energy with his sword, even the purple rings that rippled from his blade dissipated harmlessly against such an astronomical volume of mana.

Boom!

Cain vanished in a golden conflagration, his charred body toppling out of the brilliant inferno and cras.h.i.+ng lifelessly onto the ground.

There was a long silence, before the commentator finally found his voice.

"M…match over! Captain Cain is down! I repeat, Captain Cain is down! The winner, against all odds, is Richard!"

"WOOO!"

The sizable contingent from Jing Tian Academy erupted into cheers, surging to their feet and screaming their lungs out, hugging each other as they wept tears of joy. My teammates were celebrating in the technical area, yelling and shouting as they exchanged high fives, and the girls wrapped their arms around each other in an embrace.

"3-2! We are actually leading 3-2!"

"WOOHOO!"

"Now we need to just defeat 4 of them in the team battle, and even if we lose, we would still progress to the next round!"

That sounded like quite the task, but honestly, the pressure was now on Adorno Academy to catch up to us.

"d.a.m.n it…"

In contrast to us, Adorno Academy was in a disarray. Their representative team was on the verge of panicking as they watched their smoldering captain get carried off by the medics and healing mages. The next in command, Vice-captain Gunther Schalke, tried to take the lead.

"We still have a chance," he told Eleanor and the others. "We have to do our best in the team battle…it's not as if we are out of the match just yet. We need to deny them two knock outs and win, and we will get through."

By defeating our team with two of their members remaining, they would overtake us with the score of 7 to 6, so it wasn't as if they had no chance at all. It wasn't impossible, and truthfully the gap wasn't even that large. That was why the team battle was implemented – to give the losing team a chance to claw back victory through a flawless display of teamwork.

In theory, anyway.

Unfortunately, the problem was that Adorno Academy had overplayed their hand and was at an overwhelming disadvantage. Their morale had hit rock-bottom after suffering three consecutive defeats in a row, and they had lost three of their main fighters while our Jing Tian Academy still had all of ours. I meant no disrespect to Lily or Cody, but neither of them would be considered our primary fighters in a team match.

Worse, the person responsible for tactical selections and outwitting the other team, Cain, hadn't simply been eliminated. He was incapacitated, and would spend the rest of the day recovering in the infirmary. He was in no shape to give commands, lead his team in the team battle or make tactical selections. In fact, Adorno Academy had built their team battle around Cain, and they never expected to lose him in an individual match.

"What do we do now?" Eleanor asked anxiously, watching Cain's smoldering body disappear down the tunnel leading to the infirmary. "Without Cain, there's no way we can fight a team battle."

"Was the information we received regarding Jing Tian Academy wrong?" Another of their members murmured.

"Even though some of the intelligence we gathered on them was unmistakably wrong, the fact remains that we had underestimated them. To think they were capable of eliminating our team captain. I should have stopped Cain from taking part in the last match!"

Breathing heavily, Gunther slammed his fist against the wall, trembling visibly. The pressure was getting to him. Even though he was the vice-captain, he wasn't meant to take over as the commander. He had no idea who to select for the team. Three of their main fighters eliminated during the individual matches and no longer eligible for the team match. They were left with subst.i.tutes.

Scratching his cheek, Gunther forced himself to take a deep breath and glanced over the seven members remaining in his team. He had to work with who he had, and select the next strongest members from the people he had left.

"Good work," Harrison told me after I returned to the technical area. I nodded and waved my hand, dismissing Green Dragon. The gargantuan Celestial Guardian nodded once, and I sensed his delight before he returned to whichever dimension he resided in before I summoned him.

Back with the rest of my Constellation spirits, I suppose.

"That was amazing," Yue Chu jumped me enthusiastically, almost knocking me off my feet. He wrapped an arm around my neck, inadvertently strangling me. "You actually matched that Cain blow for blow in a sword duel!"

"That was indeed impressive," Theodore agreed. "There aren't many people who can fight on par with Cain in a sword duel."

"On par? Was that what it looked like to you?" I scoffed. "He was overpowering me! He had the total advantage! Another five minutes or so, and he would have defeated me with his superior swordsmans.h.i.+p!"

"Nonetheless, the fact remains that you defeated him. Excellent job." Harrison clapped a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "I knew I could count on you."

The only reason I won was because I summoned Green Dragon. Even the best swordsman or swordswoman would have trouble taking on both me and my Celestial Guardian. I was a little heartened to see that my sword techniques had improved slightly. A year ago, Cain would have defeated me in under five seconds.

That speed…that power…that amazing technique…given how I had only half-heartedly learned Miyamoto sword techniques from Dad, I probably would have gotten destroyed. Then again, a year ago I wouldn't have made it into the team anyway. Actually, I was surprised that I made it into the team. I never thought I would be representing Jing Tian Acaedmy in a national tournament.

How far I had come…

"So who's going to take part in the team battle?" I asked, pus.h.i.+ng my gla.s.ses up. Harrison smiled as he glanced at our team.

From what I knew, Harrison would personally lead the team. He was the captain, after all. He would need to be present to give commands and make tactical decisions. That was the advantage we currently held over Adorno Academy – with their captain eliminated, their strategic ability had been hampered significantly. I had no doubt that Gunther would be a decent leader, but he did not possess the same strategic skills as Cain.

Even so, we couldn't afford to underestimate the opponent. Despite the loss of three of their key members, they were still very competent and good. This was the team that made it to the last sixteen last year, driving the team of Vermillion Academy, led by the Porter family's first daughter, to a corner before they finally got subdued.

"Me, Yue Chu, Theodore, Sheila and Craig." Harrison glanced at the other four, who nodded. Even though Craig was slightly hurt in the previous match, they were just minor injuries. By now, those slight cuts and bruises had disappeared and he was raring to go.

"Awesome! I'm in!" Craig grinned. Sheila, who was next to him, squeezed his hand and nodded.

"I'll do my best."

"I'm at your command," Theodore agreed.

"Uh…are you sure you want me to take part in the team battle?" Like me, Yue Chu was a little anxious. Harrison smiled rea.s.suringly at him and nodded.

"Yeah. We'll need your skills. Don't worry, we've practiced our moves so many times before this. Just remember your training and you'll do well."

"All right." Yue Chu gulped and nodded. "I'll do my best."

"Then it's settled."

I took a seat on the bench and used the opportunity to relax. I didn't mind sitting this one out. I was exhausted from my duel against Cain, and I felt as if I had already fulfilled my role. I also understood why Harrison opted to not use me – not only was I tired from the earlier battle, the strategy would be too obvious. Gunther would definitely be…well, gunning for me right from the start. And if I got taken out too early, the whole strategy that was based around me would collapse immediately.

"Good luck, guys!"

"Yeah. Wait and watch, Richard. This time it's our turn to kick a.s.s!"

I couldn't help but grin. Craig's enthusiasm was certainly infectious. At that moment, the commentator announced something.

"Team Jing Tian and Team Adorno, please come to the stage!"

While still seated, I watched as my teammates stepped up onto the arena, silently wis.h.i.+ng them all the best.