.

Majority of the people who were watching couldn't help but shake their heads. The strategy of Sacred Forest Academy team had been effective so far but the sudden change may have just affected their chances at the individual tournament.

Kazuya had gotten himself a good reputation because of his age and surprising win over the favorite this year which was Ayame. This was why they frowned when the decision was made for him to be the vanguard.

No one could blame their analysis because it was normal for children to lose to people bigger than them. This was also the case since Kazuya's opponent had been physically gifted. It was only the people from Sacred Forest Academy that remained unconcerned about the size difference.

To all those who have spent time and witnessed Kazuya's match with the instructors from the Shiroyuki dojo, this person would simply be a plaything for him. They were looking forward to the shock these people would experience because they were able to experience it themselves.

"BEGIN!"

The big guy wasted no time and immediately attacked. Kazuya gave a smirk under his headgear since the person who was supposed to wear him out turned out to be easily provoked. He usually didn't mind these kinds of people but after being a victim of foul play himself, he at least wanted to do something about it now that he knew.

He quickly stepped to the side and avoided the strike before it hit him. This caused the big guy who used his weight on the strike to hurt Kazuya, stumble out of balance.

"Not bad, you were able to avoid falling out of balance because of your size" Kazuya commented as he stood behind his opponent. He didn't strike which puzzled the audience. This was the perfect chance to score a point but he stepped backwards instead.

"Take this!" hearing Kazuya's mocking tone, the big guy got even madder and tried to swipe his sword behind to hit the nimble boy who yet again avoided perfectly.

"Are you really a ranker for the individual tournament? I think you were probably just lucky considering this level of skill" Kazuya continued to wait for the next move.

People were starting to think that he was going for a draw since he couldn't get a good strike because of their height difference. It was already amazing that he was able to take advantage of his size to avoid the attacks so they didn't expect him to do much more.

"Kouzuki-kun is toying with him?" Miyamoto felt a little conflicted. The boy he knew would always want little to do with opponents his age since they were of little to no challenge against him so this was something new.

"No… he's probably giving him a taste of his own medicine without letting them notice. Even though they were the ones who initially thought of the strategy, I can't help but feel a bit of pity towards the boy's opponent" Jirou shook his head. Their levels were too far apart and using such a strategy against Kazuya was obviously useless.

Even though he said that, Jirou didn't know what to think. Kazuya had indeed been confident but he was afraid that the boy would grow arrogant because he will continue to discover that no one in his generation would pose that much of a threat to him.

It already happened to his quiet granddaughter who was suddenly pulled down to earth by Kazuya. He hoped that the boy wouldn't go through the same thing especially since he was already very mature for his age.

"You have 29 seconds left to make your move" this irked the big guy further because as he looked at the match timer, there was only 30 seconds left. Kazuya just declared that he would only need a second to beat him.

"HAAAH!" feeling his pride had taken a hit, the big guy continued his flurry which hit nothing but air.

*BAM!*

"Point Kouzuki!"

Kazuya had stuck right before the match had ended. He tried to make the strike look as awkward as possible to make it look like he was having a hard time. He didn't want the other team's coach to give up on the match.

Despite what everyone else thought, no one knew that Kazuya was undergoing a change himself. When he heard about the other team's strategy, he was reminded about the matches of his opponent that he was able to see. It reminded him of the gladiator he met in Edea. He would prolong fights for the audience and so that he could get a good grasp of his opponent's skills.

Most of the gladiators were made up of slaves or criminals and there would be only a few that would actively volunteer to fight in it. These individuals would mostly do it for money or their freedom and since most of them weren't formally trained, they used the life and death battles as ways to train and steel themselves.

The gladiator in Kazuya's mind successfully made a style that was combined from most of the enemies that have lost their lives to the arena. What Jirou made Kazuya realize in the days they sparred together made him realize that he needed to refine his swordsmanship and it wasn't a bad idea to mix what he's learned, master it, and try and combine it with what he could learn from his world now that he has a chance to.

It was not only that, Kazuya also wanted to have the ability to lead on his opponents especially since Mei had made him aware of one of his biggest weaknesses. It was only after he started thinking and reflecting about his experience that he had come to this realization.

"BEGIN!"

This time, it was his turn to attack. He didn't plan on ending the match so soon so he limited his abilities to almost match his opponent's. he launched continuous attacks that looked to have been quite desperate but very few people noticed that he did not give any chance for his opponent to do anything other than desperately defend.

"This kid…" Jirou's gaze narrowed. He immediately realized that his earlier assumption had been wrong.

"What is Kouzuki-kun doing? He's going to end up worn down at this rate" Miyamoto expressed his concern.

"No… you don't have to worry about that kid running out of steam. He can attack continuously for the rest of his matches and he would still be in prime condition tomorrow" Jirou continued to talk but his eyes never left the boy.

"Why is he doing this? He should have been able to end the match already right?"

"The kid is evolving… I didn't think he would come to a conclusion so soon but he's decided to improve not only his swordsmanship but also his style"

"Style?"

"His style had always been straightforward. Even though his level of skill is amazing, his style had always been like a battle without rules. From what I can see, he's trying to change his current style by learning to control the match rather than ending it. He's doing it poorly but he's accumulating experience by doing it first hand"

"That's called poorly? I didn't even notice" Miyamoto took another look at the match and didn't know how Jirou could come up with that conclusion.

"That's because you haven't fought the kid as much as I do with your sword. He's making the most out of his live opponent and learning as much as he can. I'm afraid that even I won't be his match if he continues growing like this in a few years" Jirou glanced at his granddaughter whose whole attention was on the match.

*BAM!*

"Point and match goes to contestant Kouzuki!"

Kazuya once again got the winning point a second before the round was up. He tried catching his breath as he returned to his team's side. All of the members looked at him awkwardly because they all knew that he was faking it.

Kazuya's opponent on the other hand could not stand on his own. His teamates looked at Kazuya with a hint of fear because not only was he able to beat a bigger opponent, he had done it so relentlessly with their own tactics.

*tug tug*

Tomoyo handed him a towel and a sports drink after catching his attention.

"Looks like in this team, only Shiroyuki-san believed your charade Kouzuki-kun" Miyamoto walked towards him and pretended to give him advice. He went with the act since Kazuya already started it.

"Sensei, I—"

"You want to continue the rest of the matches as the vanguard right? Jirou-sama already told me you would ask"

"He did?" Kazuya turned towards the grinning old man who seemed to have had an idea about his epiphany.

He felt that he had truly underestimated this old man. Kazuya was used to not having such a presence around him so he didn't know how to handle the elderly. He respected the seemingly kind king of Edea yet the old man only ordered him to do work that would eventually lead to his doom.

It was the same for the pope. The seemingly selfless clergyman was behind the different torture that eventually led Gale to betray him. The plots of him and his church even earned the ire of the demon king who didn't even put the human kingdoms in his eyes.

This was why Kazuya had kept some distance towards Jirou. He still didn't have full confidence to beat this crafty old man and he was definitely sharper than he let himself out to be. Kazuya was indeed still learning on how to hone his defences towards other people so he still hadn't made up his mind to trust Jirou or not.

From Jirou's point of view, he knew that he still hadn't broken through Kazuya's defenses. Unlike his grandfather who was prone to being tricked and betrayed, he rather liked the grandson's disposition more since it made him worry less about him yet he still had trouble interacting with Kazuya since he didn't seem to realize how cautious he had always been around everyone.

From what he has observed, the only exceptions were his mother, Mei, and surprisingly, his granddaughter. He didn't know how Tomoyo was able to penetrate this kid's tough defenses but he has clearly lowered his guard against her unlike their first meeting.

As the tournament progressed, one person wasn't the least bit pleased about the current results. The VIP lounge contained a boy who also wore Sacred Forest Academy's middle school uniform who was frowning after seeing Kazuya winning his match.

*CRASH* a chair was slammed to the wall.

"Damnit! Those useless scum!" he cursed at the team who failed to even hit Kazuya once. He already offered their team an incentive for inflicting damage on his little brother but even though the match had him at the edge of his seat, in the end, Kazuya had still prevailed without as much as a scratch.

Lee was already at the end of his wits. His dismissal from the Kurogane family had been kept a secret except for a select few so his time being treated as a young master would only last until the information was spread out.

The guards who worked at the facility didn't understand why Lee had been frustrated. He was from the same school so they were confused as to why he was mad after his underclassmen had won. They were afraid of losing their jobs in case he vented his anger out on them so they pretended not to see a thing.

"Y-young master…" a nervous looking man entered the room to address the fuming boy.

"What do you want?" Lee didn't expect someone to interrupt him so he turned to the person who was responsible for managing the venue.

"T-the people occupying the VIP lounge next door have complained about the noise that came for here so…" he swallowed hard before continuing. "I would like to ask the young master to please calm down"

"You dare tell me to calm down!?" he immediately lost his temper. "Do you know who owns this place!?"

"B-but young master… the people occupying the room next door belong to the Stockton family… Even if the family head were here, he would heed their words" the manager nervously continued his statement. He had chosen to pick the more powerful side.

"Tsk…" Lee clicked his tongue and sat back down in frustration. He didn't want to make them call the main house so he had to calm himself down. The Stockton family were people that even the head of the Kuroganes had to be respectful to so he understood that he had to calm himself or he would lose the opportunity to keep the only advantage he had at the moment.

"T-thank you young master… if you would excuse me…" he rushed out of the room and returned next door and addressed the guests which he was afraid of angering.

"Did you take care of it?" the girl who was frowning opposite of the girl who was all smiles asked.

"Y-yes young miss. There was just a small matter but the guest in the other room had promised to keep it down. I apologize for the inconvenience" he respectfully bowed.

"Just make sure let whoever it is next door keep it down" Maron didn't concern herself with the man and turned back to look at the screens that featured a replay of the match. Both of them paid no attention to the current match and looked a replay of Kazuya's match.

"Kazuya-kun worked hard!" Kurumi kept praising him as she looked at the screen. She kept glancing where Kazuya was sitting at below and was glad she made the trip to watch him live this time.

"He only looked like he worked hard. His acting is so bad…" Maron on the other hand was confused. She suspected that Kazuya had been pretending to have been a weakling when they were together but seeing how unconvincing his performance was, she put the theory at the back of her head.

"You should stop being so suspicious of Kazuya-kun" Kurumi frowned.

"His opponent doesn't even measure up to the two he faced in the regional tournament. Do you think he would have trouble with that ugly guy?" Maron crossed her arms and sat beside her naïve cousin.

"You're right but… nevertheless, Kazuya-kun is still amazing! He beat that big guy!" Kurumi gave a big smile as she looked at Kazuya's teammate getting another victory.

"You're hopeless…" Maron sighed. She knew more than anyone how good Kurumi's observation skills were so how could she not tell that she just wanted to praise Kazuya.

"Do you think that his team would win the team championships?" Kurumi decided to change the topic.

Maron looked at the screens and observed the current match. Kurumi wasn't much of an athlete so she didn't really know how to judge these kinds of things so she waited for what Maron had to say.

"You probably won't like what I have to say… but since you asked for my opinion, I think that their chances of getting the team championship is very slim" Maron looked at her cousin. "Sacred forest academy will probably win this match but won't be able to take the championship."

.