Leave of Your Own Accord

Before long, everyone gathered in the lounge went their separate ways.

Claudia returned to the Student Council office to continue handling matters related to the Star Martial Festival, while Amagiri Ayato and Yulis appeared to be heading off to train, seemingly having truly developed a sense of crisis.

Azer only left the lounge and headed for the competitors' area after confirming that no members of the academy's Journalism Club were still staking out the door.

Naturally, he was going to find his partner.

But when Azer arrived at the lounge where Toudou Kirin was in the competitors' area, he heard a rough, furious roar.

"Look at what you've done! How could you dare?!"

The sheer brutality in that voice made Azer's brows knit tightly together.

He tried to enter the lounge directly, but the lounges in the competitors' area had special settings. Unless the user of the lounge granted permission through the control window, outsiders could never enter.

Azer's frown deepened as he took out the Activation Device for the Black Furnace Magic Sword and activated it.

The activated Black Furnace Magic Sword was only dagger-sized, its blade a purplish-black.

Holding the dagger-sized Black Furnace Magic Sword, Azer lightly slashed at the door before him.

"Fsssh..."

As the surrounding Omni-Response Element was burned away, the lock ceased functioning. The automatic door silently slid open, revealing the scene inside to Azer.

At once, Azer saw Toudou Kirin and her uncle, Toudou Kouichirou.

At that moment, Toudou Kouichirou had his back to the entrance and was furiously berating Toudou Kirin, who stood before him.

"Against someone ranked a mere thirteenth, not only did you lose, but you were tempted by the olive branch he offered and planned to partner with that brat to enter the Phoenix Star Martial Festival?"

"Who gave you permission to do that?!"

Toudou Kouichirou slammed a fist into the wall beside him in fury, making it tremble.

Toudou Kirin stood before Toudou Kouichirou with her head lowered, her petite body trembling slightly. She seemed afraid and did not know what to say.

"You think this will let you escape me?" Toudou Kouichirou cursed wildly, apparently having lost most of his reason as he roared at Toudou Kirin. "How naive! What could you possibly accomplish without my help?!"

"You're good for nothing but swinging a sword. Who gave you the chance to fulfill your wish?"

"Me!"

"Without me, do you think you could have become Ranked First?!"

Toudou Kirin had no intention of refuting Toudou Kouichirou's words.

It was not because she did not dare to refute him, nor because she did not want to, but because she believed the same thing herself.

Toudou Kirin had always felt that her uncle's help had been indispensable in allowing her to become Ranked First.

If her uncle had not arranged opponents for her to duel on her very first day at the academy, she could never have become one of Page One's Twelve so soon after enrolling.

If she had not become one of Page One's Twelve, she would not have been able to challenge the previous Ranked First during the first month's Official Ranking Battle.

And if her uncle had not prepared so much intelligence on her opponents, she could never have easily defeated the previous Ranked First and successfully defended her position in the second month's Official Ranking Battle.

Therefore, Toudou Kirin would not deny it.

But she did not know that her reaction would only make her uncle believe even more firmly that all the status and fame she had once possessed were entirely thanks to him.

Thus, Toudou Kouichirou continued roaring.

"It's all because you're useless! The position you worked so hard to win is about to be handed over to someone else, and my entire plan has been thrown into chaos! Do you know how much this will cost me?"

"I put so much thought and effort into you. I thought that even though you were useless in every other way, at least you could handle a sword!"

"And what happened? You ruined my plan just like that!"

"All that previous effort went to waste, and you still dare accept that brat's invitation to enter the Phoenix Star Martial Festival?"

"I will never allow it!"

As he spoke, Toudou Kouichirou reached out, seemingly intending to grab Toudou Kirin by the hair.

He had done this plenty of times before, so he had never considered there to be anything wrong with it.

Unfortunately, things were different now.

Smack!

A hand suddenly shot out from the side, seized Toudou Kouichirou's wrist, and stopped him.

"What?"

Toudou Kouichirou was startled.

"S-Senior Azer?"

Toudou Kirin also sensed something. Raising her head, she saw Azer standing beside them at some point, leaving her stunned.

"Hello, Toudou Section Chief."

Azer did not look at Toudou Kirin. As though nothing had happened, he greeted Toudou Kouichirou.

"You?" Toudou Kouichirou came to his senses and instinctively asked, "H-How did you get in?"

"Obviously, I just walked in." Azer wore a smiling expression, but his words were anything but polite. He said bluntly, "Good thing I could get in, or I wouldn't have seen someone abusing his own niece here, would I?"

Toudou Kouichirou's face instantly turned livid.

Not from fear, but rage.

"This is our family matter. An outsider like you should mind your own business!" Toudou Kouichirou struggled as he shouted, "Let go of me!"

At that, Azer immediately released him.

"Ah!"

Toudou Kouichirou had not expected Azer to suddenly let go. He immediately lost his balance and crashed heavily onto the floor.

"U-Uncle!"

Toudou Kirin cried out in alarm.

Azer looked down at Toudou Kouichirou from above and spoke calmly.

"Listen to yourself. Does being a family matter mean no one else can interfere?"

"If that were the case, what would we need the police for?"

"Even as an outsider, if I see someone about to assault an underage girl, isn't it only right that I intervene?"

Azer's words made the aching Toudou Kouichirou even angrier.

"Do you know who I am?" Toudou Kouichirou glared at Azer. "I'm an employee of Galaxy, the Integrated Enterprise Foundation. In other words, I was sent by the organization that operates this academy. And I'm an ordinary person. You're a student, and a member of the Star Vein Generation. Are you really planning to lay a hand on me?"

A member of the Star Vein Generation attacking an ordinary person was no trivial matter.

Because the power of the Star Vein Generation was simply far beyond human compared to ordinary people, even a casual attack could inflict irreparable harm. Society therefore had explicit regulations forbidding the Star Vein Generation from attacking ordinary people at will, and violators faced extremely severe punishment.

Such punishments were rooted in prejudice.

To ordinary people, the power of the Star Vein Generation was no different from that of monsters.

For that reason, many people in the world harbored prejudice against the Star Vein Generation out of fear and similar reasons. Whenever something happened involving a member of the Star Vein Generation, these people often reacted especially intensely, resulting in many excessive measures.

Toudou Kouichirou was one of those people. Otherwise, he would not have loathed and treated his own niece, Toudou Kirin, so brutally.

Someone like him was naturally skilled at wielding the rights of ordinary people to suppress the Star Vein Generation he viewed as monsters.

Yet Azer became even more courteous in response.

"If I have a legitimate reason, I wouldn't mind doing so." Azer looked at Toudou Kouichirou and said mildly, "Even if you're an ordinary person and an employee of Galaxy, if you use violence against a promising contestant who has the ability to become Ranked First in her first year of the Middle School Department and is certain to achieve outstanding results in the Star Martial Festival in the future, possibly causing problems for her... who do you think Galaxy will hold responsible?"

As soon as those words fell, Toudou Kouichirou fell silent.

Precisely because he was an employee of Galaxy, he understood even better just how profit-driven the Integrated Enterprise Foundation was.

And as the Star Martial Festival was a means for the Integrated Enterprise Foundation to stimulate the economy and rake in vast profits, they would never allow anything to go wrong with it.

Under such circumstances, if something happened to Toudou Kirin, an outstanding prospect for the Star Martial Festival, because of him, they truly might punish him in order to protect Azer and Toudou Kirin.

"Looks like you understand."

Azer smiled without a trace of emotion.

"Since you understand, please leave of your own accord. Don't disturb my partner and me while we discuss our upcoming participation in the Phoenix Star Martial Festival."