Emiya Shirou doesn't want to work overtime

"It's been recorded—"

Kusakabe Kagami put down her phone in a daze. She hadn't seen the battle a few days ago where the F-rank knight defeated the A-rank knight; she had only learned about the battle through a video.

This time, she was not only present at the scene, but also recorded the entire video.

"So strong, those two are both so strong!"

She was a girl with red eyes that seemed to burn with intense heat, and long, bright red hair that resembled a red lotus.

She was dressed in a suit similar to those worn by the etiquette team, and she had a very full figure.

Stella

The man called softly to the girl standing beside him; they had come here together.

Because she had never witnessed such a battle before, she stared blankly at the arena without saying a word.

The battle, though brief, was incredibly exciting.

These are the two people who were caught up in the storm a few days ago: F-rank Bladebreaker Kurogane Ikki and A-rank Bladebreaker Stella Vermillion.

“I should have noticed this sooner. You already knew what kind of strength Shirou Emiya possessed, which is why he was able to fight Toudou Touka.”

Shinguji Kurono glanced at Nishikyo Nene's location, her tone full of displeasure.

Only after sensing the unique way Kurogane Ikki had learned it did she realize that long before Emiya Shirou fought Touka Toudou, Saikyo Nene's breathing was already incredibly regular.

Such changes in breathing are not something that a person who is not a professional martial artist would pay much attention to, and even a true martial artist might not be able to notice such a subtle thing.

Those who practice martial arts are required to regulate their breathing. When assessing an enemy's situation, they mostly rely on sensing whether the enemy's breathing is disordered. As for the patterns involved, most people would not think of them.

"Hey!"

Xijing Ningyin covered her mouth with a folding fan, tilted her head and smiled, trying to get away with being cute.

Chapter 315 Seven Star Sword Dance Sacrifice

Defeating the top student in the academy is something many newly enrolled swordsmen dream of.

They so wished that such a thing could happen to them.

But putting aside how strong Toudou Touka is as the top student in the academy, as the student council president, she also has to deal with a lot of things every day.

In addition to training and classes, Toudou Touka rarely appears in the arena to fight others.

It wasn't that he was unwilling, but he had many responsibilities, and it was difficult for many people who wanted to challenge Toudou Touka to find a good time to do so.

However, most of those people are defeated by other members of the student council.

They couldn't even defeat the rest of the student council members, so how could they possibly fight against the best student in the academy?

Anyway, Shirou Emiya is quite famous in this academy, and the weapon he uses is a longbow.

This immediately provided those swordsmen who used bows and other weapons with someone to seek help from.

After all, Kurogane Ikki, who defeated the A-rank Blade Master through technology, used a sword as his weapon, and the guidance he could provide was mainly about sword techniques.

As for the bow, the only person he might feel somewhat familiar with is Kirihara Shizuya, who has always been targeting him.

However, at one point in time, two incredibly talented new students emerged.

The debate began.

"Shirou Emiya is a C-rank Bladebreaker. It's not uncommon for a C-rank Bladebreaker to defeat a B-rank Bladebreaker. Moreover, he didn't fight Toudou-senpai head-on. Instead, he kept the distance and maintained an absolute ranged advantage, which is how he defeated Toudou-senpai."

"Kurogane Ikki defeated an A-rank knight, a rank that even Toudou-senpai hadn't reached, using the weakest force in the entire academy. Isn't it obvious how strong they are?"

"Huh? During the battle, it was obvious that Shirou Emiya was faster than Toudou-senpai. Moreover, his timing and control of the battlefield were also evident. Besides, what kind of archer would fight in melee if he didn't take advantage of his ranged attack?"

In short, the two players' fans argued endlessly in various places, and the final result was to settle the score in the arena.

During this period, the number of times the arena was used skyrocketed, and most of the battles were between ranged and melee weapon wielders.

The result is obvious: without special abilities to counter ranged swordsmen, melee swordsmen find it difficult to get close.

Therefore, in the arena, those who use swords lose the majority of the time.

Not everyone has the explosive speed of Kurogane Ikki.

Even Toudou Touka found himself unable to unleash his full power due to the distance created for him, let alone the others.

So all those who had failed went to Ikki Kurogane, hoping he could train them.

Overall, it should be considered a virtuous cycle.

After all, the next Seven Star Sword Dance Festival will begin very soon.

It was an annual martial arts festival, a competitive tournament held jointly by seven knight academies in Japan to select the strongest student knight.

This competition also influences the status and ranking of the seven academies to a certain extent, making it the most important event of the year for the seven academies.

Over the years, Pojun Academy's performance in the Seven Star Sword Dance Festival has been declining. Their best result was last year, when Toudou Touka made it into the festival.

However, they were eliminated in the semifinals, missing out on the championship, runner-up, and even third place.

In order to improve Hagun Academy's performance, Shinomiya Kurono took over as the school's chairperson.

The swordsman who wins the Seven Star Sword Dance Festival will not only be the strongest swordsman in all schools of the time, but will also be highly valued by the Alliance, and will have a bright future ahead of them.

The strongest swordsman who dominates the Seven Star Sword Dance Festival will have an enviable title—the Seven Star Sword King.

At the start of this new semester, Po Jun School will select members to participate in the Seven Star Sword Dance Festival.

After all, the annual Seven Star Sword Martial Arts Festival is a competition in which the best swordsmen from the seven academies are selected as representatives to compete on a designated stage.

Each school can send six contestants to participate in the competition. Naturally, in order to achieve better results, participating in the Seven Star Sword Martial Arts Festival basically means being the strongest member of that school.

"What are you thinking now?"

Shinomiya Kurono called Emiya Shirou to her office and slowly asked him a question.

If you were to ask why, it would be that while the entire school was excited about the news, he, who had defeated the school's strongest C-rank swordsman not long after enrolling, did not intend to participate in the Seven Star Sword Festival, nor did he sign up for the school's ranking competition.

"I prefer watching them sweat it out from the stands rather than going into battle."

The Seven Star Sword Martial Arts Festival wouldn't start for another two or three months, and Shirou Emiya knew perfectly well that he couldn't possibly stay in this world for three months, so he had no intention of participating in the competition.

Emiya Shirou isn't from this world. He doesn't care about the various benefits he receives in this world, the country's recruitment, or the enviable titles and reputation. Besides, Emiya Shirou isn't a person who likes to fight.

He improves his strength not for fighting, but to better protect himself and have a force in hand when disaster strikes.

"Damn it! Emiya! Kuro wants to get a good ranking in the Seven Star Sword Festival, aren't you going to help her? Kuro did help you forge your identity after all."

Without any warning or prelude, Nene Nishikyo appeared beside Shirou Emiya, placed her hand on his shoulder, and spoke to him with a look of regret on her face.

There are all sorts of reasons.

Emiya Shirou wasn't surprised by the sudden appearance of Nishikyo Nene; after all, she seemed to have found a very fun toy and kept tormenting him.

He's already indifferent to it all; he's gotten used to it. Since he can't resist it, he'll just accept it.

As for this elusive method, Emiya Shirou was aware of it, specifically after Toudou Touka's katana was projected.

Emiya Shirou immediately understood why he couldn't detect Nishikyo Nene whenever she appeared beside him.

"Treading on tiptoe" is a very advanced technique.

Humans cannot comprehend all the information they receive like machines do, because the brain would be overwhelmed. This technique, "Stealth," allows one's presence to infiltrate the opponent's unconscious.

As a result, even though you see it, your subconscious mind considers it unnecessary information and therefore eliminates it.

The result is that even though she walks towards you normally, after your brain processes it, what you see is her appearing in front of you as if she teleported.

Some of the actions were eliminated by the subconscious.

In short, it's a very powerful technique. If Shirou Emiya hadn't maintained a long distance while fighting Touka Toudou, he probably wouldn't have been able to catch the attack called "Raikiri".

By the time you realize what's happening, it might be too late for the projection.

Although Shirou Emiya now understands how this technique works, he still can't find Nene Nishikyo, who has probably mastered it to a very high level.

"Fine, I won't force you."

Shinomiya Kurono waved her hand. Emiya Shirou's appearance was an accident in itself, and whether Emiya Shirou participated or not would not affect her plans in any way.

"However, there is one more thing—"

Chapter 316 Prototype

"Feel sorry."

Emiya Shirou bowed slightly to Shinguji Kurono to express his apology.

He then slowly left the office and closed the door.

"After being rejected, Xiao Hei cried and made a fuss."

"Ow—!"

In the blink of an eye, Shinomiya Kurono, who was sitting in her seat, appeared in front of Nishikyo Nene and punched her in the head.

"Little Black, that's so violent!"

Nishikyo Ningyin covered her head, squeezed out two tears, and looked at Shinguji Kurono with a reproachful tone.

"What else do you know? Or have you already made arrangements for Shirou Emiya's schedule?"

Shinguji Kurono frowned as she looked at Nishikyo Nene. In fact, Emiya Shirou had originally intended to agree to her request.

However, because of Nishikyo Nene, Emiya Shirou did not agree to this request.

"When I heard that Shirou did not intend to participate in the Seven Star Sword Dance Festival, I went to ask him about it."

Nishikyo Ningyin covered her lips with her folding fan and answered Shinguji Kuro with a slight smile.

"Oh, so you already discussed this with Shirou Emiya but didn't tell me. You knew I would definitely ask him about it."

Shinguji Kurono felt she needed to take some time to have a friendly talk with her; otherwise, it would put her, as the chairperson, in a very passive position.

"I didn't expect you to want Shirou Emiya to train Ikki Kurogane and Stella Vermillion."