Ian Izanagi

Inside the academy canteen, a guy and a girl were eating together while chatting casually.

After their victory against Eusford Banehollow's class, Shirley invited Shye again to eat together and watch matches from other courses.

The two of them were currently having their lunch while waiting for a match that they wanted to watch in the scout course.

While they were eating, a man walked towards them.

"Ha! Look who it is! Shye Crowley, fooling around with a woman after a lucky victory against Eusford. Aren't you becoming too arrogant?"

Shye quickly turned his head to look at the man and his eyes narrowed into slits after seeing who it was.

"Leonardo Regulus…Are you so lonely that you have the time to meddle in other people's lives? Or is your class eliminated already?"

Leonardo scoffed after hearing Shye's reply.

"You think you're already the best just because you luckily managed to win against Theoden Bathory? Your victory against Eusford wasn't even legit!"

Leonardo retorted.

Their argument started a commotion inside the huge academy canteen and lots of people started to pay attention to their argument, even those who weren't from the warrior course.

"Hey look, isn't that Shye Crowley? The biggest dark horse of the warrior class? I heard that he defeated the third-ranked freshman yesterday…"

"Who's the other guy trying to mess with Shye Crowley and his woman? Does he have a death wish?"

The people started whispering among themselves which left Leonardo Regulus annoyed. 

Currently, he was the unknown one when compared to Shye. He gnashed his teeth in anger and frustration while clenching his fists.

However, he knew that this wasn't the place to lose control of his emotions so he took a deep breath and stared daggers at Shye.

"Keep talking while you still can, let's see you talk back when I expose how much of a fraud you are!"

Leonardo Regulus said as he walked away from the academy canteen.

Shye wondered why Leonardo was still confident in defeating him even after he showed all of his skills in his battle against Eusford.

After pondering for a while, he determined that this Leonardo either had a trump card that would counter his trump cards or he was way stronger than what he was showing on the surface.

Worst case scenario, it might be both. 

Still, Shye was confident. He had a lot of points right now and these guys would be in for an unpleasant surprise if they think that he already showed his full power.

Since he knew that he still had a high chance of winning the entire tournament for his class, Shye stopped thinking about this prancing clown Leonardo.

He suddenly remembered that he was with Shirley so he quickly turned his head to check if the earlier commotion made her uneasy in some way.

Shye was confused after seeing her "bashful" and "happy" expression but he didn't take it to heart. As long as she was alright then everything's fine.

Shirley was blushing because of some of the whispers she heard while Shye and Leonardo were arguing.

Most of the people were calling her "his woman" so she couldn't help but daydream about the day when she really became Shye's woman.

"Shirley? Shirley! Hey!"

Her daydreams were cut short as Shye repeatedly called her name.

"O-Oh! I'm sorry! Are you done eating now? Shall we go?"

"Yeah, the scout course match that we are planning to watch is starting soon so we should go…"

…

...

...

"Hahaha! You won't defeat me like this!"

"As if you're one to talk! You can't defeat me by dodging!"

Currently, two fighters are locked in an intense battle of agility and dexterity.

The crowd is going wild due to the insane flashy techniques displayed by the two scout freshmen.

Scout course matches were only second to warrior course matches when it came to popularity and this is because of the flashy combos, skills, and maneuvers of the scout students.

While the warrior course matches are more popular due to the head-to-head raw strength and skill battles, they lack the nimble combos and dodges that can be seen in the scout course matches.

In the current match, the two fighters locked in an intense battle were the 2nd-ranked scout student and the 3rd-ranked scout student.

The reason why Shye was interested in this specific match was because the 1st-ranked scout student was knocked down to the losers' bracket by the third-ranked student which was a major upset.

He wanted to see how this third-ranked student named Ian Izanagi managed to defeat the top-ranked student in their course.

The battle between the two scout students seemed to be nearing its end as both students already sustained considerable amounts of damage.

"Hahahaha! Izanagi, just surrender! I already know your trump card and there's no way for you to win! After I defeat you, I will wipe out your whole class!"

Izanagi inwardly sneered at the 2nd-ranked student's declaration. He then activated his skill called [Backstab] which can make him suddenly appear behind his opponent.

The 2nd-ranked scout student smiled widely as if he had already expected this move from Izanagi.

He then used his own skill called [Bloody Stab] to stab the empty air behind him.

"Where are you aiming?"

The 2nd-ranked student's pupils constricted after hearing Izanagi's voice behind him. He didn't expect that Ian Izanagi would appear in front of him so his [Bloody Stab] didn't hit anything.

"IZANAGI!!!"

*BANG*

"The match is over! Izanagi's class advances to the finals!"