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Chapter 12: Sky (Tsuna) vs. Sword Princess (Ais)
Unable to resist Ais's intense, silent pressure, Tsuna reluctantly agreed to spar with her.
"Are you ready?"
"Y-Yeah..."
I can't believe Tsuna is actually going to fight Ais-san...
As Ais asked for confirmation, Tsuna reached into his pockets and pulled out the '27' mittens. Bell watched from the sidelines, both incredibly shocked that this was happening and intensely curious to see how a clash between these two monsters would unfold.
"Phew..."
Tsuna slowly closed his eyes and took a deep, centering breath.
The '27' mittens transformed into his sleek, red Vongola Gear gauntlets. A brilliant orange flame ignited upon his forehead, casting a warm glow over his features, and his eyes shifted to match the intense, blazing color.
"Let's begin."
"Eh...!?"
The drastic shift in his entire demeanor, the transforming gauntlets, the literal fire erupting from his skull—it was entirely too much to process at once. Ais stood frozen, her mouth slightly agape as she stared at him in utter bewilderment.
"What's wrong?"
"N-No... your head is on fire..."
"It's fine. This is my power."
"R-Right..."
She had a mountain of questions she wanted to ask, but since Tsuna assured her it was fine, she shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused on the fight. Ais drew her sword, Desperate, gripping it with both hands and holding the blade squarely in front of her.
It was the Middle Stance. One of the five fundamental stances used in swordsmanship and naginata arts. By using this neutral position as a baseline, a warrior could seamlessly transition between offense and defense, allowing them to instantaneously react to any shifting variables in combat. Because it offered very few openings, it was widely taught as the foundational stance in modern kendo.
The match began, but neither Tsuna nor Ais moved to attack. They stood in perfectly still, carefully observing the other's movements.
He has no openings...
Ais had originally intended to wait for Tsuna to make the first move so she could counter him. However, as she analyzed his stance, she realized there was absolutely no vulnerability to exploit.
This boy... is incredibly strong...
Ais-san is sweating!?
A single bead of sweat rolled down Ais's cheek. Watching from the sidelines, Bell was utterly stunned to see the untouchable Sword Princess exhibiting signs of pressure before the fight even started.
Deciding she couldn't wait any longer, Ais kicked off the stone floor and charged straight at Tsuna.
Ais-san initiated the attack!?
Despite this supposedly being Tsuna's training session, Ais had been forced to make the first move. Bell was completely bewildered. The current dynamic made it look less like Ais was training Tsuna, and more like Tsuna was testing Ais.
"Haaaa!!"
Closing the distance in a flash, Ais swung her sword in a rising diagonal arc from lower left to upper right. It was one of the nine fundamental strikes of swordsmanship: the Right Upward Cut.
"...!?"
But the moment Ais executed the strike, the Tsuna standing in front of her vanished entirely, her flawless slash cutting through nothing but empty air.
He disappeared!?
Ais's eyes widened in profound shock at his instantaneous disappearance.
"Over here."
"...!?"
Tsuna's voice came directly from behind her. Reacting with honed instinct, Ais whipped around and unleashed a blindingly fast flurry of god-speed thrusts.
"Kuh...!!"
He's dodging every single one of Ais-san's strikes!?
Tsuna was swaying and weaving through the torrential rain of thrusts, using the absolute minimum amount of movement required to avoid the deadly blade. Realizing none of her attacks were connecting, a look of genuine desperation flickered across Ais's face. Bell watched in awe; the stoic, emotionless Sword Princess who had effortlessly completely dismantled him was actually panicking.
"Not yet...!!"
Realizing thrusts were ineffective, Ais seamlessly shifted her style, unleashing a torrential barrage of slashes from every conceivable angle.
How about this...!?
It was a relentless storm of god-speed slashes. Yet, despite the overwhelming volume of attacks, Tsuna casually deflected and parried every single blade strike using the armored backs of his gauntlets.
In that case!!
"...!?"
Mid-flurry, Ais abruptly halted her blade inches from Tsuna's guard. The sudden, unnatural pause in her momentum caused Tsuna's expression to sharpen.
Now!!
Using the halted momentum, Ais instantly dropped into a low crouch and launched a devastating, full-force horizontal sweep aimed directly at Tsuna's legs, utilizing centrifugal force to maximize the damage. Anticipating the low strike, Tsuna leaped high into the air.
He dodged it... but I have him now!!
Having successfully forced Tsuna into the air where he had no footing, Ais aimed her blade skyward and unleashed another barrage of god-speed thrusts. Since it was impossible to dodge in mid-air, she was absolutely certain she had trapped him.
But then—
"Eh...!?"
Tsuna's body vanished into thin air yet again. Ais stared up at the empty sky, completely stunned that he had managed to evade her while airborne.
"Impressive."
"...!?"
Realizing he had taken her back a second time, Ais spun around and instantly unleashed a Right Sweep. But Tsuna simply blasted himself backward before the blade could reach him, effortlessly escaping her striking range.
"Haa... haa..."
Ais-san is out of breath...
During her hours of training with Bell, Ais hadn't shown a single sign of fatigue. Yet now, after less than a few minutes of sparring with Tsuna, she was visibly panting.
I finally understand... how he's moving like that...
Ais had finally figured it out. Tsuna was disappearing instantaneously by using those strange flames as a form of high-speed propulsion.
"Just who exactly are you...?"
Ais Wallenstein. A core executive of the Loki Familia, the largest and most powerful faction in Orario. Known by her alias, the Sword Princess, she held the absolute record for the fastest Level Up in history, reaching Lv. 2 in a single year. Among the countless adventurers in Orario, she was one of the incredibly rare First-Tier adventurers to reach Lv. 6. There was scarcely a soul in the entire city who didn't know her name or fear her blade.
Yet, this legendary adventurer was completely outclassed by a boy who claimed he had just arrived in Orario. Ais found it entirely impossible to believe he was just some rookie.
"I don't think I need to answer that. So, what do you want to do? Should we call it a day here?"
"Not yet...!!"
Even after hearing Tsuna's offer to end the match, Ais refused to back down.
As a high-ranking adventurer, Ais never grew arrogant or looked down on others. She was a deeply dedicated warrior who constantly pushed herself to reach greater heights. And precisely because of that relentless drive, being so thoroughly outmatched ignited a burning, unyielding frustration within her heart.
But what should I do...? I can't win like this... Should I use my magic? But using that against another person in a spar is...
Ais knew she had absolutely no chance of winning without her magic. But she hesitated, knowing the sheer destructive output of her spell could cause catastrophic damage to a human opponent.
"There's no need to hesitate."
"Eh...!?"
"Come at me with the intent to kill. Show me everything you have."
"...!!"
Hearing Tsuna accurately read her hesitation and directly challenge her, Ais's doubts vanished. She resolved to use her magic.
She slowly sheathed Desperate, then unclipped the scabbard entirely from her waist.
A flurry of attacks won't work against him...
She dropped her hips low, sliding her right foot forward. She gripped the scabbard tightly in her left hand, her right hand resting gently on the hilt of her sword.
So she's planning to settle this with a single, high-speed drawing technique.
Reading her stance, Tsuna instantly understood she was betting everything on a single, decisive iaijutsu strike.
"Awaken, Tempest."
As Ais whispered the activation chant, a violent, swirling vortex of wind erupted around her, violently wrapping around her body.
"Ariel."
This was Ariel, Ais's singular, unique magic. It was an enchantment spell that cloaked her body and weapon in hyper-compressed wind, drastically augmenting her offensive power, defensive capabilities, and overall speed.
Because it was a super-short chant with low Mind consumption, it was an incredibly versatile and powerful spell. However, the sheer density of the wind placed an immense, crushing burden on both the user's body and their weapon. Ordinary swords would shatter under the strain of Ariel. Therefore, her beloved sword, Desperate, was forged with the Durandal attribute, ensuring it would never break. Even so, continuous use would dull the blade, meaning the drawbacks couldn't be entirely ignored. Ariel was an incredibly powerful magic, but it came with significant risks.
With her magic fully activated, the Sword Princess in the iaijutsu stance vanished.
She's too fast! I can't see her at all...!?
Utilizing her Level 6 leg strength enhanced to its absolute limit by her wind magic, Ais had achieved a speed that completely eclipsed Bell's dynamic vision. He couldn't track her movements; he could only hear the explosive sound of her tearing across the stone.
Tsuna, however, didn't panic. He closed his eyes and relied entirely on his senses.
Behind me!!
His Hyper Intuition instantly detected Ais's bloodlust spiking from his blind spot. He spun around just in time to see Ais, accelerated by her wind, rocketing straight toward him through the air.
"...!?"
Then, Ais vanished again, instantly teleporting behind Tsuna once more. With Ariel, Ais was capable of executing the exact same high-speed, mid-air directional changes as Tsuna's flames.
She didn't draw her sword!?
Having completely bypassed his guard, Ais thrust her weapon at Tsuna's back—but her sword was still securely locked inside its scabbard. Tsuna had fully expected a lethal iaijutsu draw from his blind spot. Caught off guard by the blunt strike, he barely managed to catch the scabbard with his left hand.
Ais had deliberately adopted the iaijutsu stance to trick Tsuna into anticipating a drawing strike.
This is the real attack!!
The moment Tsuna grabbed the scabbard, Ais drew Desperate with blinding speed, unleashing a devastating, centrifugal-force-enhanced horizontal slash directly at his torso.
"...!?"
It was a full-power strike utilizing her Level 6 Status and her wind magic, perfectly executed after a flawless feint. However, Tsuna had already brought up the scabbard he was holding in his left hand, blocking the blade of Desperate. And roaring along the surface of the scabbard was Tsuna's orange flame.
The Dying Will Flame wasn't normal fire; it was ultra-compressed life energy that possessed physical mass and destructive force. By coating a weapon in the flames, the user could drastically increase its lethality or, in this case, its defensive power.
My wind is...!?
The moment Ais's blade clashed against the flame-coated scabbard, the violent vortex of wind surrounding Desperate completely dissipated.
The Dying Will Flame was divided into seven distinct attributes: Sky, Storm, Rain, Sun, Lightning, Cloud, and Mist. The Sky was orange. The Storm was red. The Rain was blue. The Sun was yellow. The Lightning was green. The Cloud was violet. The Mist was indigo.
Furthermore, each attribute possessed a unique characteristic. The Storm was Disintegration. The Rain was Tranquility. The Sun was Activation. The Lightning was Hardening. The Cloud was Propagation. The Mist was Construction.
The unique characteristic of the Sky Flame was Harmony—a state without contradiction or flaws. Tsuna had used his Sky Flames to harmonize Ais's magical wind with the surrounding atmosphere, completely neutralizing the enchantment cloaking her blade.
"It's over."
Tsuna unleashed a flame-propelled right straight directly at Ais. Stripped of her wind armor, Ais was completely defenseless against the blazing fist hurtling toward her face.
"I win."
I lost...?
But Tsuna's fist didn't connect. It stopped mere millimeters from her nose. Forced to confront the undeniable reality of her defeat, Ais stood frozen in shock.
He beat Ais-san...?
Watching from the sidelines, Bell was equally paralyzed by disbelief.
Ais Wallenstein wasn't just a high-ranking adventurer to Bell; she was his idol. She was the singular goal he was desperately striving to reach. (And, though he rarely admitted it out loud, the woman he had developed deep romantic feelings for).
"Here, I'm returning this."
"How did you do it...?"
"Hm?"
"How did you erase my magic...?"
Tsuna tried to hand the scabbard back to her, but Ais completely ignored it, desperately demanding to know how her ultimate trump card had been so casually dismantled.
"My flames possess a characteristic called Harmony. I harmonized your magic with the surrounding air, neutralizing it. That's all."
"Harmony..."
Having explained his technique, Tsuna powered down, the flames on his forehead and gauntlets extinguishing as his eyes returned to their normal brown.
"Phew... Well, I guess my training is done."
Ais was originally here to train Bell. Tsuna stepping in to fight her had been entirely impromptu. He figured it was best to give the remaining time back to Bell so they could resume their actual training.
"It's not over..."
"Excuse me...!?"
Ais muttered an incredibly ominous phrase. Hearing the dark intensity in her voice, a terrible sense of foreboding washed over Tsuna.
"I can... still fight..."
"Eh... umm..."
"I can't let it end like this..."
"N-No, seriously, I'm done. You should focus on Bell's training..."
"Next time, I will win..."
Oh god!! She still hasn't given up!!
Despite her stoic exterior, Ais was a fiercely competitive sore loser. At that moment, her brain was entirely consumed by a singular, obsessive thought: defeating Tsuna.
True to her word, the sparring continued until Ais's stamina was completely depleted.
But—
"Tomorrow... pant... I will... pant... definitely win...!!"
"No... I'm not coming tomorrow..."
In the end, Ais had failed to land a single strike on Tsuna, and was left leaning heavily on her sword, gasping for air. Yet, her obsessive determination to secure a victory hadn't diminished in the slightest.
Tsuna had only come today because he had been worried about Bell. He had confirmed that the training, while brutal, wasn't actively malicious or genuinely life-threatening, so he had absolutely zero intention of returning.
"First... I need to..."
Wait, is she actually strategizing right now!?
Completely ignoring Tsuna's protests, Ais began muttering to herself, running through countless combat simulations in her head to figure out a way to break his defenses. Witnessing her terrifying, single-minded obsession, Tsuna genuinely felt a shiver of fear run down his spine.
Inevitably, Tsuna was dragged back to the wall the next day.
.....
Bonus
"Umm... Ais-san... is something wrong? You seem incredibly exhausted..."
"Next time, if I strike there... no, I should deliberately feint... but if I do that, he'll read the trajectory and..."
"Eek!!"
Ais had been training one of her junior Familia members later that day. However, because she was so deeply engrossed in muttering murderous strategies on how to defeat Tsuna, her terrifyingly intense aura ended up completely traumatizing her poor junior.
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