Vol 8 Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Idol Decisive Battle『── The 24th <gryps>is finally at the fifth round, the quarterfinals! In the first match of this round will be Seidoukan Academy’s Team Enfield, who have crushed all of their opponents with a display of overwhelming force so far and──!』As Ayato and company came out of the entrance gate after being called by the voice of Miko, the live reporter, cheers that grew bigger each time they won and advanced to the next round shook the Sirius Dome once again.『Their opponents are one of last <gryps>’s best 8, the team that overturned the seemingly unfavorable situation of going up against Team Tristan, who happened to be last tournament’s runners up, in the fourth round! The world-famous all-girls rock band, Team Rusalka!』The Rusalka members advanced from the opposite gate while smiling.When they entered the hall, responding to the cheers all the while, the air of composure they exuded made one question as to whether it was really right before a match.While the commentator Shizuna introduced both teams’ members, both parties went down to the stage and advanced until the fixed start position.“──Well~ then, I apologize to you guys in advance, but as a continuation from the fourth round, we shall overturn these overwhelming odds again.”The leader Miluše carried the guitar type ogre lux <lyre>on her shoulder and grinned in a provocative way.“Unfortunately, it seems that you girls’ way of fighting last time has been highly evaluated and the prior odds seemed to be fifty-fifty.”Claudia, who took the provocation head on, calmly replied so.“Hmm, I see. Well whatever. Either way, we’ll be the ones to win!”“……I don’t think so.”Then, Saya, who stood before Miluše as if to replace Claudia, threw an enthusiastic and sharp gaze.Miluše, who saw the school badge gleaming on her (Saya) chest, opened her eyes wide as if she was surprised.『──And this time, the leader role has been passed from player Claudia Enfield, who has acted as Team Enfield’s leader in all the matches so far, to player Sasamiya Saya……』“Heeh, so you’re the leader today. Interesting.”“……Personally, I don’t dislike you.”Though Saya’s gaze burned with intense flames, her words were somewhat calm.“But, we’ll be the ones to win. I can’t yield on this.”“Pooh-pooh! We can’t as well!”After Saya and Miluše had their gazes meet and clash with each other to the extent that sparks seemed to appear, they turned on their heel at the same timing and went back to their original positions.Team Enfield’s battle formation was Ayato, Kirin and Claudia in the front row. Behind them was Julis with the support role. And finally Saya, the leader, in the back row.On the other hand, Team Rusalka was set up as followed: Miluše and Tuulia, who set up their guitars type ogre luxes, in the front row. Behind them, Päivi, who deployed her floating drum type ogre lux <lyre>, and Monica, who stuck up her bass type ogre <lyre>on the ground, stood in a line; and Mahulena, who prepared her space projection keyboard type ogre lux <lyre>, was in the back row『──The start time is steadily approaching! Both parties seemed to have already made their preparations! Now then, which team will gain the ticket to the semifinal?!』As if responding the voice of Miko, who could not hide her excitement, the mechanical voice’s sentence resounded.“ <gryps>fifth round first match, battle start!”Immediately after the declaration, a brutally heavy bass sound which blew away all those sounds and washed over them, ran through the stage.“──!”Ayato, who was going to launch a preemptive attack, almost sank down on his knees unintentionally due to the heavy shock.His body was heavy as if he has been stuck in a tar pit. The air was sticky; it was as if lead was embedded in his hands and feet.(This again…… It’s stronger than I expected……)Ayato stared at Monica ── her ogre lux that was the source of this heavy bass sound. The bass, which deployed a blade of light in an ax form, felt somewhat ominous appearance wise.Above all, this heavy bass sound strongly affected his concentration ability. The state of “cognition” which was activated had been completely negated.This perception expansion technique in the Amagiri Bright Dragon Style required one to concentrate their mind to the utmost, and was originally unrelated to having prana or not. However, Ayato, having previously broken his big sister’s seal with an incomplete method by breaking the key to the first level, wasn’t able to raise his consciousness to the stage where prana began to leak out and become noise, much like the situation in front of him.At the same time, it meant that the Amagiri Bright Dragon Style’s hidden techniques, to which the state of “cognition” was required, could not be used.“Oops, this is bad!”Immediately after, a crushing vibration wave released by Miluše and Tuulia attacked Team Enfield’s vanguard (i.e. Ayato, Kirin and Claudia). Although the air rattlingly shook and Ayato and company promptly evaded it, the ground where they were standing until just before was suddenly gouged out.The two ogre luxes were both guitar types. Their ability was the same. However, in contrast with Miluše’s ogre lux that deployed a sword type blade, Tuulia’s deployed a trident type blade.“Sorry, but we’re going all out from the very beginning this time!”“Ha-ha! Be stupefied by our sound!”The blue light that their ogre luxes’ Ulm mana dites emitted was similarly lit in the pupils of Miluše and Tuulia who said so.Furthermore, as the fingers of Mahulena, who was in the back row, danced on the space projection keyboard, multiple light bullets appeared around her ── and were shot at high speed at Ayato and company.“Bloom proudly ── Livingstone Daisy!”The fiery chakrams created by Julis dashed through the sky to repel several of these light bullets.But, their movements lacked vividness and the flames became somewhat feeble as well.In fact, these chakrams vanished like mist after Päivi beat her floating drum.Sound pressure protective wall ── that was Päivi’s ogre lux’s ability. Upon close inspection, one could see that a space of about 1m diameter was distorted like ripple. It was slightly similar to Ardi’s protective wall, but hers seemed to be able to deploy in small sizes in large quantity. Although, accordingly the hardness was not as high as Ardi’s.“Kuh……! Sorry, but my prana’s concentration isn’t going well after all……! It looks like the support’s timing will be slightly off than usual……!”While Julis gritted her teeth with a bitter face, she said so while defending against the light bullets with her Rectoluz. Certainly under these circumstances, the one who had it hard the most was probably Julis. After all, for a <strega>, having one’s prana’s concentration obstructed was fatal.“Got it, then first, as we planned……!”Ayato evaded the light bullets by twisting his body in mid-air and turned his gaze towards Monica.But, a sideways slash of Tuulia’s approached, aiming for when Ayato landed.“I won’t let you!”“Guh……!”He promptly blocked it with <ser-versta>, but it was a surprisingly heavy blow.Moreover, although it was divided in five, as expected of an ogre lux; Ayato was not able to burn the blade of light created by the guitar even when he blocked it with <ser-versta>[1].Tuulia then started a chain of consecutive attacks of slicing down from an overhead position, stepping forward and thrusting to the chest and making a whirl slash while turning her body. Her swordsmanship was sharp and fluent; it was so stylish that it was unthinkable from Tuulia’s usual roughness. It showed that she had gone through basic training fairly well.Though Ayato narrowly defended against the three consecutives blows, one might say that Tuulia and the current Ayato’s close-range combat ability was almost equal.[2]Which means──“Kyaaah……!”As he turned his gaze for only an instant, Kirin, who blocked Miluše’s sharp slash with Senbakiri, was blown away.Immediately after,