Chapter 103
[Keep your eyes on me].
At this moment, only the figure of Kazuma Hato could be seen in Gojo Sōsō's eyes.
What Gojo Satoru never said was that he even felt that the figure was not entirely unfamiliar, like a long shadow cast by candlelight—perhaps slightly changed, but still extremely familiar to him.
This subtle sense of familiarity had lingered in his heart since the first moment he saw the other person, along with the inexplicable sense of closeness and trust that arose within him, without any reason or logic.
Gojo Satoru suddenly felt like laughing, so the corners of his lips curved up, his muscles were pulled, and he gave Hatori Kazuma a bright, refreshing smile without any gloom.
Compared to the elders of the three families who avoided him like the plague and dared not even look him in the eye, his gaze always seemed to fall on this black Shiba Inu.
"We have to win!"
Gojo Satoru gave two thumbs up, giving Yuichiro double the effort.
Just as Yuqu Kazumi was about to return the smile, he thought for a moment, then lowered his voice and added a sentence.
"If you feel like you're going to lose, just secretly raise your right pinky finger, and I'll use [Azure] to cheat for you remotely."
He was sitting not far from the training ground, right within [Cang's] attack range.
Anyway, [苍] doesn't have any obvious sound or visual effects when used, so it's quite suitable for proxy typing.
"……uh-huh!"
With a stern face, Moth cleared his throat forcefully, indicating that he was still listening and that the brat should watch his mouth when he spoke.
Gojo Satoru makes an adorable "Oh no, I've been caught trying to do something naughty!" expression.
Then, he put his hands behind his back and looked at Teacher Moth with an innocent expression, indicating that he wouldn't really do that.
Gojo Satoru said that on purpose so that Yoga-sensei would pay extra attention to Hagoromo Kazuma's condition later.
We can't let the black pea bear that was temporarily brought in get hurt, right?
No moth knew exactly what he was thinking, and waved his hand to reassure him.
He was Kazuma Hagoromo's teacher, so how could he not know why the Kyoto school chose him? He was a non-family-affiliated level four sorcerer, and compared to the famous [Six-Eyed], the former definitely had a better chance of winning.
Given that, Masamichi Yagami never intended to rely on Kazuma Hato to secure victory.
"It's just about making up an equal number of participants," Moth Masamichi said with a relaxed attitude. "If it really doesn't work out, losing again is no big deal."
According to the rule that "this year's host school is the winner of the previous year", they actually lost once last year, so losing again this year wouldn't be a big problem.
But Kazuma Hatori was extremely dissatisfied with what he heard.
Even in the side quests and mini-games, players refuse to accept losing!
What's more, there's the beautiful Xiao Wu watching and encouraging him.
The reasons why we can't lose have doubled!
Kazuma Hatori followed Masamichi Yagami to the training ground—which was also the edge of the competition venue—in the preparation area that had been set aside separately for the participants from both sides.
The maximum number of participants each year is set at seven, fluctuating depending on the maximum number of second and third-year students that year, but it is usually set between five and six.
For example, this year, the number of participants was set at six.
If the required number of students cannot be gathered, students may be selected from the first-year students at the discretion of the authorities.
Kazuma Hatori's situation is even more unique.
"The one-on-one individual match was supposed to end after that,"
Night Moth Masamichi sighed wearily and explained to Hatori Kazuma, who had been pulled in to serve as a conscript.
"But the competition rules change slightly each year depending on the draw, and this year we happened to draw a two-round individual competition that includes a loser's bracket, so we have to have a full squad."
"Um."
Kazuma Hatori didn't quite understand, but that didn't stop him from nodding and quickly skipping over that part of the story.
The explanations and setups are meaningless; all the player needs to do is go on a killing spree.
"Is it really a bit much to have Hatori replace Takuya?"
Kazuma Hatori had no objection to the rules of the competition, but someone nearby voiced their concern.
"Even if we can't replace five, we can at least force one opponent to leave the field, which will still maintain a balance in numbers..."
“No, they won’t agree.” Another person shrugged. “This objection is reasonable. After all, in a situation like this, if someone is asked to step down, it means everyone thinks he is the weakest.”
Who wants to admit they're the weakest?
The others: "..." That's true.
"Well, as long as we have enough people, that's fine. We already won the team battle yesterday, so even if we lose today, we've done our best."
The only one who could make Kazuma Hatori recognize her name was the empress, who smiled and smoothed things over.
He had probably seen all five of these upperclassmen at school, but apart from the girl named Ankagi whom Gojo Satoru had called out, he didn't remember any of the others by name.
They all remembered him, and greeted him with slightly embarrassed expressions, even patting him on the shoulder.
"Hatori, don't feel pressured."
"Yes, yes, Tuoya was under too much pressure, and as a result, the spell backfired on her during the battle just now."
"This is your first time participating, so consider it as gaining experience."
"If you feel you can't do it, just raise your hands and surrender."
These words were indeed quite caring, but nobody thought he could handle the situation.
They really thought he was just a level four sorcerer there to make up the numbers.
“By the way,” one of them tapped his palm and asked Yuzuru Kazuma, “what is your technique? We’ll figure out who you’ll be safest to fight later.”
Even at school, none of the people present had ever seen Kazuma Hatake use a technique before; they needed to find out first.
Kazuma Hagoromo, who hasn't unlocked any spell-related skills yet: "..."
He remembered Wu's instructions not to reveal that he didn't know how to use spells, so he made up an excuse.
“My technique is [Ten Directions Maha], but I can’t use it this time. I have other ways to fight.”
At least this answer is somewhat leading, so as not to let the other party speculate in the direction of "[perhaps he doesn't even know the spell]".
However, the others present looked at each other in bewilderment upon hearing Kazuma Hatori's answer.
Wow, what an arrogant tone...
This cold-faced, black-haired boy must be a level four sorcerer, right? Even when facing senior students who are stronger than him, he still dares to say something as arrogant as "the spell is useless".
"Wait...should we let him go first?"
They whispered among themselves, "We should stall for as long as possible, let Tian Shi recover his magical power properly, and then we won't have to worry too much about him being the final blow..."
Kengo Amaterasu is a third-year student who is a near-first-level sorcerer, and he is also the strongest fighter in this competition.
Kazuma Hatori stood still, waiting for them to gather around and discuss the matter before finally returning to explain the rules of this loser's elimination tournament to him.
Simply put, the six players from both sides are arranged in order of appearance, and the first group enters the field to compete.
The conditions for leaving the field are to meet one of the following outcomes: [one party loses consciousness], [one party surrenders voluntarily], or [one party leaves the field area]. The bottom line requirement is that killing is prohibited.
There are already not enough sorcerers, and if they have to face a shortage of personnel in this kind of sparring competition, that would be terrible.
If any participant from either the Kyoto or Tokyo school withdraws from the competition, replacements will be made according to the original order of appearance. The competition will continue until all six participants from either the Kyoto or Tokyo school have played, at which point the competition will end and the other school will be declared the winner.
This is a highly demanding test of tactical planning in a series of engagements. Both sides not only need to weigh how to arrange their personnel deployment order to maximize combat effectiveness, but also need to analyze the opponent's personnel deployment strategy in order to make more targeted personnel deployments.
Furthermore, we also need to take into account the current state of the participants after the one-on-one individual matches.
In short, the winner must defeat all six members of the loser's team—even if only one member remains on the field, it still counts as a victory.
This is also why both sides must have an equal number of people.
If it's five against six, it's like the Tokyo school has already lost one player before the match even starts.
"In Kyoto, they'll probably send their strongest team right from the start, right?"
There's a tense discussion going on at the Tokyo Higher Vocational School.
"If their strongest player, Jigu, defeats two or three of our players in one go, then the rest of us will be under a lot of pressure."
"Even if someone is incredibly powerful, the magical energy they used in that individual battle still needs time to recover, right?"
“Yes, if Kyoto School really sends Jigu to the starting lineup, then we can use the rest of us to wear down his stamina and spell power first. That way, once the Heavenly Stone is restored, we can still send at least three of them off the field.”
"I wish the songstress's spell amplification effect was permanent."
"Haha, that's impossible. Otherwise, I would have repeatedly stacked myself up, wouldn't I have become a top-tier expert by now?"
"That's true..."
"Let's focus on sorting first, there are only three minutes left in the countdown."
………
While the discussion at Tokyo High School was in full swing, Kazuma Hatori, who was standing aside waiting for his turn, could only sigh softly.
"We must try our best to control the lethality."
He was a little nervous.
Killing NPCs is relatively easy, but stunning them is quite difficult.
Injuries, like breaking several bones... should be acceptable, right?
Kazuma Hatori thought about it and felt that there shouldn't be any problems.
The rule prohibits killing blows, but breaking bones doesn't count as killing blows; it should be considered a winning condition of [making the enemy unconscious].
Yes, that's right, that's exactly it.
Kazuma Hagoromo waited a while longer, and then the only person whose name he knew, Iwata-hime, came over and told him that he had been placed first in line.
"After all, you didn't play just now, so you were in top form."
Anka-hime tried to let Hatake Kazuma relax.
"Just hold on for a while, don't push yourself too hard. If you feel like you can't go on, give up immediately. Nobody will blame you. Just consider it as gaining experience!"
Kazuma Hagoromo nodded and asked only one question.
"Can I use magical artifacts?"
"Oh, okay, no problem..."
"That's good."
Kazuma Hatori walked slowly and steadily toward the compacted ground, without uttering a single extra word.
The extremely black [Ye Shuang] was held in his palm. Under the scorching afternoon sun, it still gleamed with an exceptionally cold and dark luster, making people shiver involuntarily just by looking at it.
"I have a feeling..."
The person standing next to the geisha murmured something.
"This junior is much fiercer than we expected..."
—This idea wasn't unique to him.
The opponent sent out didn't seem to be Kyoto School's strongest fighter, Tsuguya, but it made no difference to Kazuma Hatori.
"You're a first-year student who was forced to join us, right? Poor thing—I'll take special care of you."
When the person opposite him stretched out their right hand with a smile, all five fingers were adorned with specially made metal rings without any patterns.
Kazuma Hatori glanced at him, but instead of reaching out to shake his hand back, he turned to look in the direction of Satoru Gojo.
The handsome young Satoru was standing on a chair, seemingly trying to get the best vantage point for watching the game. He became incredibly conspicuous, so much so that Kazuma Hagoromo could clearly sense him without even trying.
He was looking at him intently.
This realization made Yuqu Kazuma's mood soar, and he even found the grinning, buzz-cut NPC standing opposite him much more pleasing to the eye.
"Yeah, I don't want it to end too quickly either. I hope you can all take a beating."
With just one sentence, the other side stopped laughing.
He decided to teach this level four sorcerer a lesson later.
When the whistle signaling the start of the battle sounds, in contrast to the thread that the short-haired NPC shoots out from his ring, a torrent of pitch-black water, representing the activation of [Black Flash], surges forth.
The dark-colored short stick was swung up, gathering power, and then enveloped in dark lightning that made everyone present widen their eyes.
"ha?!!!"
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