The first battle on our stage wasn't quite eventful. If I had to point out something noticeable, it'd be that the two teams were evenly matched and their personalities were nearly the same. In the end, one of the vanguards made a mistake and their team fell apart from there. It was a classic way of losing.

"Now, it's time for the second battle!"

The announcer took a piece of paper from his pocket and began to read it aloud.

"Memento Mori versus Sparrow's Call!"

When the surrounding spectators heard the name Memento Mori, they were confused as to who they were since it was a name first heard. When everyone saw Kenji's team, they roared in excitement.

The moment they stepped on the stage, the excitement went through the roof. People shouting things like 'The Crown Prince is there!', 'Look at those beauties!',' Both Queens are in the match?!', and many other similar comments were floating around the room.

"Kenji, everyone's looking at you."

Haru poked Kenji.

"It's only natural, he's wearing such casual clothing after all. He has nothing on his body except for a sword with a normal looking scabbard, who wouldn't be surprised?"

Arata said as he shook his head.

"...There's actually people more surprising than me."

"Hm?"

When Kenji said that, Arata looked followed Kai's gaze and saw the opponents. They were shocked to say the very least. Their opponents had no upper clothing except for bands with feathers hanging around them on their arms, the bands had different colors. They also wore masks in the shape of a sparrow's head up to their necks. Their pants had prints of a sparrow's head all over them. On Earth, this would be called as bad cosplay. But what was even more surprising was their height, they stood at nearly 3 meters tall.

"That really is more surprising. What the heck are they wearing?"

"More like, why are they wearing it?"

Yoko was narrowing her eyes at them.

"That man is dangerous."

When Yoko's eyes reached the tallest man who looked exactly like a bird because his clothes all had feathers attached to them. His upper clothing was filled with feathers and his pants had the same print as the others. They had six members, three members below Memento Mori.

"How can you tell?"

Kenji looked at Yoko for a bit and talked only after a few seconds.

"Experience."

Kenji walked to the front.

"I'll take that one. Erina, back me up."

Without turning around to confirm, Kenji stood aside Arata and Kazuki who had brandished their weapons.

"No underestimating them even if we have the numbers. The weight advantage is immense."

When everyone took their positions, Kenji warned everyone with a strict voice.

"No matter what you do, do not engage that man. Erina and I will take care of him, otherwise you'd all die."

"Eh?"

Arata who was next to Kenji was surprised by his warning but before he could ask for the meaning behind it, the match started when the announcer suddenly yelled 'go!' without any other warning. Both teams were apart by at least twenty meters.

The moment everyone reacted, Kenji disappeared. Next thing everyone knew, five people were blown away and there were cracks on the floor where the tallest one stood. Kenji had leaped out from his position and arrived all the way to the enemy. Surprisingly, Erina was already behind him.

"Kenji?!"

Arata was shocked with what happened but Kazuki took the lead to help him keep his cool.

To think that even with a sprint, he blew away five of them with just the wind...!

But of course, Kazuki was the one in total shock and fear right now. He arrogantly challenged Kenji before, if he could turn back time he would certainly beat himself up black and blue for that. Although his fear took a slight delay because he was dazed after the battle, he realized it all on the morning he woke up. If Kenji had accepted his offer to be his royal instructor then he might not be so scared but right now, he didn't know which camp Kenji was on.

The camp that holds him, wins!

Is what he thought and decided to befriend Kenji but the fear from that single battle lingered inside him.

The five who were blown away were shocked but headed for Arata and Kazuki who were charging forward. They had no ranged attackers and two of them used two-handed battle axes while the rest used a shield and sword combo.

Arata removed the spear from his shield and pierced forward towards the nearest enemy but it was stopped by the shield. Kazuki arrived right next to him and with his quick slashing, knocked back the man.

When the man staggered backwards, he was suddenly kicked forward. Yoko had appeared from under his shadow and made him lose his balance. Kei also leaped out from his position to block one of the men who had appeared behind Yoko holding a battle axe.

Haru was shooting from her bows at blinding speeds and the other one holding a shield was forced to block. Umi was using water to slow down the enemy and occasionally attack them with slices. Date on the other hand, stood still.

The man who had been blocked by Kei pushed down his battle axe more and Kei was about to be forced on his knees. In that moment, Date roared with a bit of hesitation mixed in his voice and helped Kei push back the man's first attack.

Even with the seven to five advantage, they were still losing. The enemy's weight and height played a very big part in it but also the fact that they had not fought together prior.

Haru and Umi were occupying two with swords and shields and occasionally backing up the others locked in close combat. Yoko was doing her best to support the enemies by sneaking around them and slashing here and there since the difference in the amount of weight she and her opponent had was immense. And she was weak to fighting against those that fought only with brute force, she was a rogue- a job fit for assassinations or stealth, it wasn't designed for one on one combat.

Kazuki was backing up Arata who was stalling one with a sword and shield. Kei and Date were blocking one person with a battle axe. But...

"Gah!"

Arata was blown to the side, there was one more person. It was another person using a battle axe. Arata managed to raise his shield in time to block the attack but he was blown to quite the distance and that left Kazuki alone with the two.

Kazuki stretched out his arm to the sides to go for a horizontal slash.

"[Attack], [Defense], [Speed]!"

Kazuki felt power bubbling up within him and he roared as he slashed with all his might. When his attack landed on the two, they were blown away. A great sword's power had just been enhanced even further.

Not only Kazuki, Kei and Date had also received a considerable boost and were pushing back the man with the axe with their teamwork. It appeared that they were used to battling alongside each other.

The only ones whose powers weren't enhanced were Umi, Haru, Kenji, and Erina. Kenji and Erina were too far away, Haru couldn't cast it on herself, and Umi had no need for it.

"Date!"

"Ou!"

Date deflected the battle axe slamming down on him with the new boost in power and adrenaline that had rushed into him.

"Haaa!"

Kei used Date's shoulder as a boost and slashed down with his sword. The enemy had been injured with a vertical slash and was forced to retire from the fight.

"DOOOOOO!"

Arata raised a war cry and knocked back the enemy's shield with his own, the man with a shield was forced to use the man with a battle axe behind him and Kazuki took that opportunity.

"[Wind Blade]!"

Kazuki, with a single thrust forward; blew away the two while giving them injuries with the wind.

TING

TING

TING

One of the enemies that were being pinned down by Haru earlier was now defending from all sides. Yoko kept vanishing and appearing. The sun was covered enough for Yoko to use the shadows to her will. Each time she leaped out of a shadow, she'll dive into the next. It was too fast for the enemy's eyes to keep up and as a result, he was bleeding profusely but not enough for a grave injury.

But Yoko suddenly stopped her assault and showed her back to him. The man with a shield was bewildered but only for an instant. He immediately jumped after Yoko but when he did...

"[Darkness Stitches]."

Blood gushed out of the opponent's body like a sink that had just exploded and lost consciousness right there. Yoko sheathed her daggers and looked at the man that had couldn't take Haru's barrage and fell off the stage with a ball of compressed water from Umi.

She then looked at Kenji's battle and opened her eyes wide.

BOOM CRACK BOOM CRACK

Each swing of Kenji's sword and the man's two handed axe that was swung like a knife were producing explosive sounds. Each time they clashed, the floor cracked from the sheer force produced from their attacks. Erina assisted by freezing the man's foot but with his brute strength, he was able to shake it off.

Kenji slashed down but the opponent used the axe's body to block. Erina appeared from behind him and thrust out with her rapier but it was blocked by the man's feather clothing.

Kenji stopped attacking and Erina appeared beside him a moment later.

"Those are the feathers of the Turtle Sparrow, a large and fat sparrow but its defense is no joke. Those feathers are the real deal, it's an A-class treasure."

"...Shouldn't I just use my full power?"

"No need. I had planned to drag this out to show everyone a display of power. I could've ended this all in one hit after all. Let's end it now."

"Nn."

Without talking to each other about their plan, they both advanced with one step, then two steps, then their walk became a jog and that jog became a sprint. The man who held the great sword spun around multiple times and used the weight of his axe to drag himself forward while running.

The man managed to position himself first. He slashed sidewards with his axe but...

"...?!"

Erina and Kenji had both leaped and spun around horizontally. They landed behind the man and held hands.

"[Flame Fist]!"

"[Ice Impact]!"

With one hand intertwined to the other, their attack landed on the man's back.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The single punch blew a hole into the armor and sent the man flying until the wall of the arena which sent people into a panic. The feathers were scattered about and the stage was split behind them in half by fire and ice.

They stood still for a few seconds but Erina quickly retracted her hand and left the stage without awaiting for their victory sign.

"Memento Mori wins with an unbelievable display of power! At first, they were being cornered but in only a few exchanges, they managed to turn things around! And a single attack pierced the Turtle Sparrow's feather armor which is an A-rank armor! A combined attack between the man who uses flames, Satou Kenji and the beauty who uses ice, Mariko Erina! A truly exciting match, indeed!"

When the announcer's words faded, everyone roared in delight and excitement.

Kenji looked at Erina's departing back and clenched his fist.

She's making that face again.