Gakusen Toshi Asterisk - Volume 13 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 
THE PRELIMINARIES II 
Out of all of Asterisk’s six schools, Le Wolfe Black Institute boasted the greatest number of champions in the Lindvolus, the famed Festa of Festas. There were several factors contributing to that, but the simplest explanation was simply that only those who were already strong came to Le Wolfe in the first place. 
Indeed, those who enrolled at Le Wolfe came not for friendship, nor for beauty, nor arms, nor wisdom, nor fame—but to attain power or, at the very least, to experience some taste of it (although, it couldn’t be denied that, as a result, there were also those who, crashing out of this fierce contest, turned to depravity and crime). 
The twin swords, the emblem of Le Wolfe’s militaristic rule inscribed on each and every student’s school crest, was the very soul of the institution and reflective of the ferocity of the struggle for supremacy. Moreover, Le Wolfe was famous for being the harshest of Asterisk’s six schools, with a tempestuous and rapid turnover of Page Ones—so much so that those who climbed the ranks to number one were usually torn down by their rivals almost overnight. 
Now, however, that state of affairs was a thing of the past. 
That was because, for several years now, Le Wolfe’s number one position—strictly speaking, its top-two positions—had remained completely static. 
Orphelia Landlufen—the Witch of Solitary Venom, alias Erenshkigal—had occupied the highest throne, while Rodolfo Zoppo—the Mage of the Crushing Star, alias Basadone—had remained the number two. Both had resisted all would-be challengers. 
“Ha-ha-ha! So this is what it’s like! I guess it ain’t half bad, taking center stage every now and then!” Rodolfo said in good humor as he glanced up at the dazzling lights illuminating the Canopus Dome. 
With his combed-down red hair and massive build, and his brilliant-white teeth peeking through his puckered grin, his whole body seemed to be giving off the fragrance of raw vitality. 
“Yahoo! Everyone watching, feast your eyes! Rodolfo Zoppo has entered the stage!” 
That overly excited voice was ABC’s Christie Baudouin, the announcer covering the matches at the Canopus Dome. With her forthright and enthusiastic manner of speaking, and above all, her good looks and excessively revealing outfits, she had recently shot up in popularity throughout the city. Even now, in the middle of winter, her attire, little more than a swimsuit, was enough to make one question her sanity. 
Still, if there had to be a live commentary, as far as Rodolfo was concerned, he wanted it to be as energetic as possible. 
“Despite his renown as Le Wolfe’s strongest-ever number two, this is Rodolfo’s first time entering the Festa! Word on the street has it that he’s the head of a brutal mafia group operating out of the Rotlicht, so just what can we expect from this ferocious Dante now that he’s finally entered the struggle?!” 
“Aaaaaah! You shouldn’t say that, Christie…!” the flustered voice of the analyst interrupted. 
From what he had heard, that weak-minded man providing the analysis had made it to the top four in a different Lindvolus over a decade ago, but Rodolfo paid him no mind. 
And apparently, the Sirius Dome gets good old Z to do their analysis… Talk about a fated gathering! 
He let loose a low growl from deep in his throat as he let his thoughts flow back to the past—to his comrades with whom he had competed during his childhood years at the Institute. 
First that bastard D, then P, and now Z. It’s almost enough to make me tear up. 
At the Institute, only those who had achieved exemplary results were permitted to take on names of their own—although, technically, they were initials rather than names per se. Rodolfo, lauded as the Institute’s greatest masterpiece, had been known at the time as R. 
There were others formerly from the Institute here in Asterisk, but he only knew about those who had been crowned with initials of their own. 
“…Rodolfo Zoppo!” came a sharp voice, disturbing his recollections. 
Currently standing in front of him was a young man wearing a Jie Long uniform, his eyes seething with rage as he glared at him. 
“Hey, hey, what’s all this? You got a grudge or something?” 
“I do,” the young man from Jie Long—Zimo, his name was, if Rodolfo remembered correctly, their twenty-fifth-ranked fighter—answered curtly, his expression dead serious. With his well-toned, bandana-clad figure, he was practically the prototypical image of a Jie Long martial artist. 
“Ha-ha! I see, I see! That’s too bad!” Rodolfo exclaimed, laughing him off. “Glare at me all you want! You ain’t gonna be able to do no more than that!” 
At this, Zimo’s expression only grew increasingly severe. “…You aren’t even going to ask me why?” 
“What would be the point? People have been throwing shade at me for as long as I can remember. There’s no way I can remember them all! But if you wanna tell me, I ain’t gonna stop you!” 
Zimo let out a deep sigh before shaking his head. “So that’s the kind of man you are… In that case, you can answer this for my sake. You remember the dispute that your Omo Nero had with the Jianghu Group, no?” 
“Huh? When are we talking about? We’ve got problems with those guys pretty much every day!” 
Like Rodolfo’s Omo Nero, the Jianghu Group was a mafia society operating out of the Rotlicht. Their members mostly came from Jie Long, and they weren’t particularly large-scale in their operations, but the Omo Nero had been involved in skirmishes with them on several occasions. 
“Then what about the man who was reckless enough to try to attack you directly during the last one?” 
Finally, Rodolfo remembered: Some time ago, there had been a rather large confrontation in a corner of the redevelopment area, where one individual had charged head-on into his escort. 
“Ah, right! That little brat! He had more guts than most of you Jianghu clowns! Right, so you’re telling me he’s your buddy or something?” 
“…That unworthy fool is my brother.” His voice low, as if smothering his emotions, Zimo reached for his weapons. 
They weren’t Luxes, but rather a pair of circular blades roughly fifteen inches in diameter—legendary Chinese throwing weapons known as universe rings. 
Rodolfo, on the other hand, merely crossed his arms. “Oh, your brother. I see. A pity. If he were on my side, I think we’d get along pretty well. But you know what it’s like. We do them in one day, they do us in the next. Seems to me you ain’t got no right to criticize what goes on in our world. And you ain’t exactly being reasonable, hating on me for it.” 
“Perhaps not. Maybe he just lost his way and succumbed to banditry. But even so… Despite that, for you to…!” Zimo paused here, clenching his teeth as if to stop the words from overflowing from his lips. 
“What’s this? I’m grateful. He gave me a bit of fun. Anyone who knows how to have a bit of fun is a good guy. That’s why I spared his life. Although, I guess I might have left him in a few pieces.” 
Rodolfo broke into a wide grin, flashing Zimo his bone-white teeth. 
“Why, you…!” 
“Lindvolus Block B, Round 1, Match 1—begin!” 
The same instant that Zimo began to cry out in rage, a cool, metallic voice emanated from their school crests, announcing the beginning of the match. 
“This must be fate, getting put up against you in the first round! I’ll give you your just reward, demon!” With that, Zimo leaped for him, twisting through the air, weapon ready. “Pò!” he cried out, using all his momentum to hurl his ringed blade straight at him. 
The next moment, Rodolfo was buffeted by what felt like a wall of solid air, the iron ring still flying toward him. 
“Eh?!” 
While he had been taken by surprise, he was still able to avoid the flying projectile without receiving so much as a scratch—although, the force of the shock wave had been enough to tear several long gashes through the sleeves of his uniform. He couldn’t help but wonder what would have been the outcome had Zimo landed a direct hit. 
“It’s not over! Take this!” his opponent cried out again, this time casting the ringed blade still clasped in his left hand. 
On top of that, the previous ring was still drawing a wide arc through the air, coming around like a boomerang. Zimo was evidently employing a pincer attack, trying to strike him from two fronts at incredibly high speed. 
Even so, Rodolfo’s lips began to curl, itching with excitement. “Ha-ha! What’s this? I didn’t see that coming!” 
As he stepped aside, lightly dodging the two oncoming projectiles as they flew past each other, the huge crowd in the galleries surrounding the stadium broke into a deafening applause. 
“Ngh…!” Zimo made a vexed expression as he reached to catch the returning ring—although, from the outside, there didn’t appear to be any safe way to clutch the thing. The force of the impact was enough to spin him around, but he did manage to retrieve it. 
“I see, so you can’t even handle that toy of yours properly yet. And what the heck is that thing? It sure doesn’t look like an Orga Lux.” 
Having said that, Rodolfo found it hard to believe that just any old metal ring would have that amount of power. 
For one thing, the weapon’s shock wave had been enough to gouge a path through the floor of the stage along its trajectory. 
“…This is the Hunnongquan, a sage tool created by my master, the Ban’yuu Tenra. It’s one of Jie Long’s most valued treasures, normally never permitted to be taken off campus. But my master has given me special permission this time. Rodolfo, I will take my vengeance on you!” 
“Oh, so it’s one of those sage tools?” 
He had, of course, heard rumors about the weapons, but this was his first time ever seeing one in person. 
“Sounds good! This’ll be fun!” 
“Shut up!” Zimo released the ringed weapon once more, sending a shock wave careening wildly across the stage. 
“Wow! This guy’s impressive! Those ferocious attacks aren’t cutting through the wind so much as they’re gouging through the air itself! Rodolfo’s been put on the defensive, and it doesn’t look like he can do anything about it! Maybe the great Basadone isn’t everything rumor says he is?! But then again, isn’t it pretty cowardly of Zimo to rely solely on ranged weapons?!” 
“Well, it would be suicide for him to try his luck with close combat. I think pretty much anyone would want to rely on ranged attacks with this opponent. Be that as it may, though, that destructive power is beyond what I was expecting…” 
Indeed. Just as the commentator had said, anyone who knew even the slightest thing about Rodolfo would know enough not to get within his attack range. That was why his opponents were always trying to lay into him from a distance—although, he had to admit that this Zimo guy was doing a better job of it than most. At the very least, it was a refreshing change of pace from the usual sniping from faraway buildings or having countless projectiles hurled at him by a mob of assailants. 
And yet… 
“If all you’ve got is speed, it’s gonna get all the harder for you to win now that I know your shtick! Don’t tell me this is it?” 
He had already seen through his opponent’s use of this Hunnongquan. The trajectories of throwing weapons were, after all, particularly easy to read, and while their users could generally vary their attack patterns to one extent or another, they simply couldn’t compare to the freedom of movement, speed, or sheer power of a Rect Lux. 
“In that case, how about this…?!” Zimo reached behind his back with both arms, this time throwing two weapons simultaneously, making a total of three. 
Rodolfo had no difficulty dodging the attack coming from left and right—but then, the two weapons began orbiting around him in a wide ellipse several meters in diameter. He was effectively caged in, and he had no idea how the man had done it. 
The remaining blade flew back into Zimo’s hand, but he merely used its momentum to cast it once more in Rodolfo’s direction. 
“Oh-ho, this ain’t good…!” 
“You can’t run now!” Zimo cried out victoriously. 
Indeed, with the two other flying disks still caging him in, he simply didn’t have enough space to maneuver. 
“…Well, I guess I’ve got no choice, then,” he grumbled, focusing his prana to withstand the oncoming shock wave and reaching to seize the approaching projectile in the palm of his hand. 
Naturally, the momentum felt like it might send him flying backward, but he controlled the rotation of his body the same way Zimo had and cast it back straight into the other two disks swirling around him. 
“Yargh!” 
“Wha—?!” 
The result when the weapons collided with each other was exactly as he had expected. 
“Ha-ha! These sage tools of yours are more fragile than I thought!” He scoffed as he looked down at the broken fragments of the Hunnongquan. 
“—! Impossible… How did you…?” Zimo, completely stupefied, couldn’t even finish his sentence. 
“Eh? If you can do it, what made you think I couldn’t? You already showed me everything there is to it.” 
“Don’t tell me, you worked out how to do it through observation alone…?” 
“Forget about that,” Rodolfo continued, ignoring his foe’s question. “I’m guessing you ain’t got any more of those sage tools lying around here, right? Well, it was fun! I’ll be looking forward to the next one!” Rodolfo flashed his teeth once more in a wide grin as he spread open his hands. 
“…!” Zimo, grinding his teeth in frustration, reached into his belt, pulling out a gun-shaped Lux. 
“…What’s that supposed to be?” 
Rodolfo’s shoulders slumped in disappointment at the sight of what was no doubt his foe’s backup Lux. 
“Ah… So you are all out, huh?” 
“Quiet, fiend!” Zimo cried, firing off first one bullet of light, then another. 
Rodolfo, however, brushed them all aside single-handedly, before flicking a mental switch. 
His goal in life was to enjoy things as much as possible. To live life to the fullest, he wanted nothing more than to increase the amount of fun he had during each and every single day. It didn’t matter whether that meant satiating oneself with delicious food, being in the embrace of a good woman, or indulging in the thrill of gambling or of battle—the important thing was to have the ability to change one’s viewpoint no matter the situation so that one could have the most fun. 
He had even been able to enjoy his defeat against Orphelia Landlufen that one time he had fought against her in an official ranking match. After all, she had been the first person he had ever met who was clearly stronger than he himself was, and so for the first time in his life, he had discovered a goal that he could strive to surpass. 
Which was why, now that it had become clear he wouldn’t get any more of a thrill from his current situation, the only thing left to do was shake things up and have a different kind of fun. 
“Well then, my turn,” he said, removing the activation body of his Rect Lux from the holder at his waist. 
“Wh-what’s this?! It’s huge! Too huge! Rodolfo’s packing a Rect Lux with three whole terminals?! And they’re all ultra-heavyweight types?!” 
“Hmm, Rect Luxes are supposed to be more difficult to handle the larger they are…” 
Rodolfo’s favorite Rect Lux was specially designed, each glowing blade more than a meter in length. 
In the general awareness, Rect Luxes were practically synonymous with the Nova Spina belonging to Seidoukan Academy’s Glühen Rose. Controlling six terminals simultaneously, however, required an extraordinary level of spatial perception, and Rodolfo wasn’t too vain to admit that this ability was beyond him. 
When it came to oversized terminals like his own, however, what was required wasn’t spatial perception so much as a fine control over one’s prana. That was where his own skills lay, and so he’d had this new Rect Lux with three superpowered terminals custom-built to suit himself. The main unit was stored in the bracelet attached to his wrist so it wouldn’t interfere with his Dante abilities should he wish to use them both simultaneously. After all, he preferred to use his own abilities rather than rely on weapons. 
“Heh, let’s have some fun!” he bellowed, swinging his arm and sending the three remote terminals hurtling downward toward Zimo all at once. 
“Tch!” 
As he would have expected from one of Jie Long’s ranked fighters, his opponent’s movements were first-class. Like an acrobat, he continued to leap out of the way of the weapons flying toward him from every possible direction, firing off burst after burst with his handgun-shaped Lux at each terminal as it made its approach—although, of course, his own weapon was little more than a peashooter against Rodolfo’s Rect Lux. 
“Haah… Haah… Urgh!” 
It wasn’t long before one of those remote terminals fell upon his now raggedly breathing opponent, slicing his handgun-shaped Lux clean in two. 
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You’re unarmed! What’re you gonna do now, Mr. Martial Artist?” Rodolfo laughed, recalling all three of his remote terminals. 
For a split second, Zimo stared back at him with fear in his eyes, but he quickly strengthened his resolve, adopting once more his fighting posture. “Even if I’ve exhausted all other options, I still have my fists!” 
“Heh, let’s see what you’ve got, then!” 
“I’m coming for you!” Zimo cried out, kicking himself up off the ground and flying toward him, putting the strength of his whole body into his fist as it came crashing straight into Rodolfo’s abdomen. 
However— 

“…What now? Did you just do something?” 
“Ngh—?!” A look of stunned horror spread across his opponent’s face. 
If a martial artist trained at Jie Long was to focus his prana into his attack, not even Rodolfo would have been able to come out without sustaining heavy damage. 
That was a simple fact. 
“A-arghhhhhhhhhh!” 
Zimo let loose an ear-splitting war cry, lashing out with a wild tempest of punches and vicious kicks, but not a single one of them was able to injure Rodolfo in any way. 
That was because his ability, as a Dante, allowed him full control over the flow of all prana within a fixed range—even that which belonged to someone else. 
Jie Long’s martial artists excelled at concentrating their prana in their fists or legs to increase their offensive power—but Rodolfo, for his part, could merely dispel that prana, rendering their attacks no stronger than any other punch or kick. Of course, compared to the attacks of an average person, they were still impressive, but when he used his own prana to increase his defense, they had little effect on him whatsoever. 
“Ugh…! A-argh…!” 
It wasn’t long before Zimo, exhausted, fell to his knees with a soft thud. 
“Oh? You look like you’ve had enough. You wanna finish it, then?” Rodolfo taunted with a grin. 
Zimo merely stared up at him, his eyes filled with abject despair. 
Tormenting the weak, trampling them down—yep, he was in a good mood, all right. 
“It’s been more fun than I had expected,” he said, detonating an explosion that engulfed Zimo’s whole body. 
Strictly speaking, he had taken control of his foe’s prana and incited it to explode. Given that the natural arrangement of one’s prana worked to protect one’s life, even if the person in question had happened to fall unconscious, this kind of phenomenon shouldn’t have even been possible. Rodolfo, however, had the power to make it so. 
That was why people feared him. 
That was why they whispered among themselves that no Genestella could ever hope to defeat him. 
“End of battle! Winner: Rodolfo Zoppo!” 
 
“Hmm, so Zimo lost. Well, I did expect as much.” Xinglou, looking impossibly small in her overly large chair, resting her chin in her hands as she watched the match through an air-window in Jie Long Seventh Institute’s special viewing lounge at the Procyon Dome, let out a quiet sigh. 
“This is most disappointing. Especially after you allowed us to use such a precious sage tool… It’s inexcusable. As the head of the Wood sect, please accept my deepest apologies, master.” Hufeng, at her side, could do nothing more than bow his head in shame. 
After all, Zimo belonged to the Wood sect and was a particularly promising student of his. Hufeng, too, had to bear some degree of responsibility for this outcome. 
“Don’t fret. Putting those made by the first or second generation aside, my sengu are little more the petty trifles.” 
Hufeng breathed a sigh of relief at seeing just how disinterested Xinglou seemed to be with it all. The one who was no doubt going to be the most worried about having lost the sengu was Zimo himself. From what Hufeng had heard, he had merely lost consciousness, and his life wasn’t in any kind of grave danger, but there was no mistaking that he would have to be hospitalized for some time. The very least Hufeng could do to lighten the burden was to tell him that Xinglou didn’t seem to hold the loss against him. 
“More importantly, that Rodolfo Zoppo is formidable,” Xinglou said. “His abilities as a Dante are impressive enough, but on top of that, his physical prowess, battle sense, and fighting techniques are a cut above the rest, too. You only see that kind of prodigy once in a century.” 
“Oh? He must be the real thing if you’re willing to say that.” Cecily, waiting by Xinglou’s other side, was staring at her in wide-eyed surprise. 
Hufeng, for his part, didn’t want to have to admit it, but it seemed undeniable at this point that Rodolfo’s strength really was overwhelming. He doubted that even he would have much chance of victory were he to fight the man himself. At any rate, Jie Long’s martial artists were probably the most ill-suited to face him. 
“…Would Elder Brother be able to defeat him?” he asked warily. 
At this, Xinglou crossed her arms, falling deep into thought. “Hmm, that’s hard to say. If skill were the only thing that mattered, victory would be Xiaohui’s. But I doubt that his techniques will be enough to resist this Rodolfo Zoppo’s abilities. More importantly, however… I can’t tell how strong that man really is.” 
“Oh…” 
“He’ll be back in time, right…? Elder Brother, I mean,” Cecily asked with a strained smile. 
Xiaohui had informed them all that he would be back in Asterisk before the beginning of the Lindvolus, but he still hadn’t returned from his travels to improve his skills. 
His match was tomorrow. At this rate, he would end up forfeiting by default. 
“He could at least have taken a phone with him…” 
But of course, it was Xiaohui himself who refused to possess anything that they might use to contact him, arguing that such devices would only interfere with his training. 
“Well, if he doesn’t make it, that will just be that. Besides… If the opponent is this Rodolfo Zoppo, this one would be more appropriate.” 
Taken somewhat aback by Xinglou’s words, Hufeng glanced down toward the stage, only to catch sight of a black-haired woman wearing a patterned shawl over her Jie Long uniform. 
“Ah, she’s out! You show ’em, Fuyuka!” Cecily, having noticed her also, raised her voice in support. 
“Now, then! Our next match kicking off Block Y is between Jie Long’s number three, the Witch of Dharani, Contestant Fuyuka Umenokouji, and Allekant’s number thirty-two, Aegaeon, Contestant Sanjeev Jain!” 
“There’s no mistaking that the highest places in Jie Long’s rankings are shrouded in mystery. Incidentally, their number one has never entered the Festa and is probably too young to do so anyway.” 
“But Jie Long’s number two, Contestant Xiaohui Wu did pretty well in the Gryps and is entering again this year, too! It looks like Jie Long’s veil of secrecy is finally being pulled back! I’m looking forward to it!” 
At the Procyon Dome, the cheerful commentary and analysis was being delivered by Nana Andersen from ABC and Chitose Sakon, a former student from Allekant. Normally, the commentary was provided by former contestants who themselves had done well in the Festa, but Chitose, for some reason, was an exception to that rule. 
“Her opponent, Contestant Jain from Allekant, belongs to Ferrovius’s practical class. I wonder whether he’ll be able to use that new-and-improved Centimani Device of his to stage an upset?” 
“Ugh…” 
“Wow…” 
So he had a Centimani Device. 
As soon as they heard those words, both Hufeng’s and Cecily’s faces clouded over. 
“Oh-ho! I see, I see! That must bring back memories!” Xinglou said in jest. 
“…We were still young, back then.” 
“We’d win, if we were to face it again today.” 
For Hufeng and Cecily, on the other hand, that was a sensitive topic. 
Before coming under Xinglou’s wing, their opponents as tag partners in the championship match of the Phoenix had been students from Allekant armed with Centimani Devices. Hufeng still hadn’t forgotten the humiliation of fighting in vain just to wind up in second place. 
I wonder how Fuyuka will fare against that thing… 
To tell the truth, Hufeng still hadn’t seen any of Fuyuka’s millennia-old techniques for himself. 
Techniques that had allowed her to land a blow on Xinglou herself. 
He could only lean forward in anticipation as he waited to witness her true power. 
 
“May I say something before we begin, Miss?” called the young dark-skinned man to his opponent. Sanjeev, his name was; he had a cool demeanor and frameless glasses. 
Fuyuka raised a hand to her cheek, her head tilted slightly to one side, before clearing her throat and answering slowly: “Is something the matter?” 
“We in Ferrovius are confident that our newest Centimani Device is our greatest masterpiece yet. We may be denounced as cowards for employing it, but we are prepared to face that outcome. We understand if you end up resenting us.” 
“Well, well, thank you for your most gracious consideration,” Fuyuka returned with a sweet smile, appearing not the slightest bit worried. 
Sanjeev cleared his throat before continuing. “Ahem…! Well, I understand if you don’t yet believe me. I may not have a lot of data on you, but standing here now, I think that I can deduce a rough estimate of your abilities. In a normal one-on-one contest, I suspect that it would be impossible for me to win against you.” 
He paused there, activating the Device. 
And with that, eight metal appendages emerged from the backup unit fastened to his back. Half of them were equipped with long-range gun Luxes, while the remaining four were armed with a sword, a lance, and two other forms of close-range Luxes. 
“Our previous Centimani Devices allowed for no more than two additional auxiliary limbs and were little more than support tools. With this new design, however, we have managed to bypass the previous limitations by directly augmenting the user through neural surgery. This unit now functions as a natural extension of my body.” 
The Centimani Device had several advantages over the projects of other researchers at Allekant, not the least of which being that it didn’t interfere with its user’s latent abilities. Ernesta’s and Camilla’s puppets, for instance, competed autonomously in the tournament as substitute fighters, while Narcisse’s state-of-the-art powered combat suits had failed to achieve wide use among Genestella precisely because of their considerable limitations. 
However, with the help of this new Centimani Device, it was possible to achieve a numerical advantage while still maintaining the use of one’s individual abilities. With the units providing eight additional arms, altogether its user was left with ten operational limbs capable of carrying armaments, and so the Centimani Device effectively allowed one fighter to operate as if they were a full team of five. It went without saying that this gave its user an incredible advantage. 
Moreover, with no chance for variance in the actions or responses of those appendages, the team that they comprised was all but perfect. 
“Oh, I’m quivering in my boots. If only I could flee from that terrifying contraption.” Fuyuka’s friendly grin didn’t falter for a second. 
“…Very well,” Sanjeev replied, the corners of his lips twitching as he spoke. “Let’s see just how long you can maintain that sense of composure, Miss.” 
“Lindvolus Block Y, Round 1, Match 1—begin!” 
With the signal administered to begin the match, Sanjeev aimed each of his gun-wielding arms toward his opponent. Given their flexibility and lack of any notable joints, it was perhaps more appropriate, he mused, to think of them as tentacles. 
“Hmm, it certainly wouldn’t be fair for you to attack me from any direction. Perhaps I’ll call in a friend, too?” Fuyuka said, pulling a folding fan from her breast pocket. 
At first sight, it appeared like any other, but when Sanjeev looked closely, he could see that there were complex patterns and what looked like incantations covering its entire surface. 
No… Wait! It’s a spell charm! She hasn’t enchanted it—the whole thing’s a spell charm…! 
It was the kind of support tool that Jie Long’s daoshi were fond of using. Sanjeev had no idea just what kind of charm it was, but he doubted that he wanted to find out. He would have to settle this before it activated. 
“Fire!” he cried as five of his Lux arms began to let loose with a barrage of glowing bullets. 
However— 
That storm of projectiles merely swept right past Fuyuka, her body wavering in the air like flames. 
“An illusion?! But when could she have…?!” 
He wasted no time in scanning his surroundings, only to find his opponent standing calmly in his blind spot, holding her fan outstretched in the middle of what looked almost like some kind of dance. 
“Jí jí rú l ? lìng, chì!” 
Her voice echoed gracefully across the stage—and with it, a great magic circle fuming with white smoke opened upon the ground. 
The next moment— 
“What…?!” 
At the sight of the extraordinary monsters emerging from that cloud of smoke, Sanjeev fell flat to his knees, his strength having deserted him. They resembled, in some respects, gigantic crows, albeit they were possessed of only one eye, were robed in armored exoskeletons, and had huge maws lined with row upon row of terribly sharp fangs… And they kept coming, one after the other, until there must have been at least a hundred. 
“Wh-wha—?!” 
“…Aren’t they just adorable, my little shikigami?” Fuyuka chuckled as her conjured creations continued to emerge from the cloud. 
It was clear enough by looking at them that each of those monsters moved by its own will. Fuyuka wasn’t merely manipulating them. 
“C-coward! This is against the rules! This kind of thing can’t be allowed!” he screamed. 
The monsters continued to approach, however, quickly lunging toward the arms of the Centimani Device. He was clearly outnumbered and overpowered, and before he knew it, the creatures had torn each and every arm of the device to pieces. 
“D-d-don’t come any closer! Stay back!” 
Still on the ground, Sanjeev frantically retreated on his hands and knees, until he found himself backed into a corner of the stage. 
“Contestant Jain just accused Contestant Umenokouji of a rule violation…but I wonder? Chitose, what do you think?” 
“There haven’t been many summoners in Asterisk’s history. The most recognizable is probably Gustave Malraux, probably more famous for his involvement in the Jade Twilight Incident. However, since the creatures are summoned by the user’s own abilities, there’s no real rule violation here, even if they’re capable of moving by themselves.” 
“I thought so! Sorry about that, Contestant Jain!” 
“Th-that can’t be…!” Sanjeev muttered in shock. 
Fuyuka, still wearing her sickly sweet smile, began to wave her hand. “Now, now, Mr. Allekant—pandemonium awaits,” she whispered, her voice ringing like small bells. 
Hufeng swallowed hard as he watched Fuyuka’s monsters all but devour Sanjeev. “So this is what Umenokouji’s secret abilities are like…” 
It was certainly an astounding technique—but even if it did require the assistance of a charm to make it take effect, it clearly wasn’t the work of any normal human. 
That was the only way he could think to describe it. 
“It’s no more than an intimidating display,” Xinglou said beside him, her voice stern. “The Umenokouji lineage certainly does specialize in summoning and making use of shikigami, but those things that she’s fashioned now don’t amount to much.” 
“I—I didn’t realize…” 
“If she were to try the same trick against Ayato Amagiri, he would dispel them all with that Ser Veresta of his in a split second. I hope you weren’t thinking that I fell victim to such a base trick?” 
“N-not at all! I would never…!” Hufeng shook his head in denial. 
When looked at individually, those summoned creatures—the shikigami—didn’t look particularly powerful. Even so, Hufeng sincerely doubted that even several hundred attacking simultaneously would pose a threat to Xinglou. 
“Well, speaking as someone who’s studied seisenjutsu for as long as I have, they look impressive enough to me,” Cecily added. “But I imagine she’s still got an ace up her sleeve.” 
“An ace, you say?” Xinglou replied, breaking out into a grin. “Heh-heh-heh! That would be Umenokouji’s ultimate shikigami, passed down for more than a thousand years—the Meidouki.”