Chapter 50: Countermeasures for the 'Inter-School Match'

“With this, I obtained fifteen stars. My grade ranking also went up from fifth to third.”

Checking the grade ranking from the result screen, my rank had gone up from fifth to third.

Conversely, Pearl fell from first place to second. Even though she lost fifteen stars and I gained fifteen stars, I still couldn’t overtake her. Does that mean the original gap was more than thirty…?

In that case, the gap between the former second-place who is now first place shouldn’t be that big, right?

With this, if I defeat the first place… I think, but it’s impossible right now.

My Lucifer’s state is ‘Totally Destroyed’. Unlike Armed Gears, Frame Gears in virtual space can theoretically be fixed in an instant.

However, when the machine is damaged, a repair period is imposed as a penalty. During that time, combat with your own Frame Gear becomes impossible.

If it’s a ‘Minor Damage’ state like just broken armor or a destroyed cockpit, it fixes in about a day.

However, going from ‘Minor Damage’, ‘Medium Damage’, ‘Heavy Damage’, to ‘Totally Destroyed’, you won’t be able to fight with that Frame Gear for quite a long period.

The Academy does rent out spare machines, so it’s not like you can’t fight at all, but fighting and losing with something you aren’t used to would defeat the purpose.

Looks like I’ll be focusing on Armed Gear for a while…

Having sufficiently soaked in the afterglow of victory, I exited the Frame Unit satisfied, and there Pearl, who had similarly exited her unit, was already standing.

“I lost. I didn’t think my shields would be completely shattered.”

“Hmph, you should bring a shield entirely made of Crystal Material next time.”

“I will. I won’t lose next time.”

Saying that, Pearl left the unit room first. …An all-Crystal Material shield, she’s not serious, right?

That’s official Frame Gear equipment in Brunhild, you know…?

If she brought an all-Crystal Material shield, I don’t feel like even [Zero Impact] or ‘Battle Spirit Method’ could shatter it.

Come to think of it, losing two Kodachi was tough this time… I feel bad since Chiba-senpai kindly gave them to me. It’s just data so it’ll be fixed immediately, but…

Maybe I should prepare slightly harder and sturdier weapons. Like Adamantite daggers.

But Adamantite is sturdy but poor at conducting magic power… That also means ‘Qi’ doesn’t flow well through it…

As I thought, I might have to have them made with Mithril or Hihiirokane, maybe? Ideally, I’d want them made of Crystal Material, though.

Breaking my arm with ‘Battle Spirit Method’ every single time is out of the question. If only I could perfectly fuse ‘Qi’ and ‘Magic Power’ and clad them like Master…

Well, anyway, I’m glad I won. With this ranking, unless I mess up big time, I probably won’t drop out of the regulars.

In that case, maybe I need countermeasures against the ‘School’ next. Even so, since I don’t know who will come out from their first-years, there’s no way to take countermeasures.

◇　◇　◇

“There is a way to take countermeasures, you know?”

“Eh, there is?”

We came to ‘Parent’ as a group for something not quite a victory celebration, and when I was talking about the ‘Inter-School Match’, Carrol replied like that.

“Well, it’s not exactly classified information. Or rather, I think information about us is also known to them.”

“Who’s leaking it…?”

What? Spies? Are there spies from the ‘School’ side?

“Who, you ask? If you gather info on the net, it’s quick. Students from the ‘School’ are spreading things on blogs and SNS, like ‘So-and-so went up in ranking’ or ‘The grade top right now is so-and-so’.”

That way…! Don’t leak important information about your own school so easily…!

I mean, does that mean our fighting styles and such are also known from our students?

Wait? Isn’t that pretty bad?

“That is why most students aiming for the regulars keep a trump card or two hidden. The grade ranking is strictly a ‘qualifier’ to participate in the ‘Inter-School Match’, and the true critical moment is the ‘Inter-School Match’ itself.”

Lirisha looked at me with eyes saying ‘What are you talking about now’. Trump cards… I’ve already played quite a few. In the first place, is it okay to have multiple trump cards…?

Or rather…

“So that’s why the other guys, once they got into the regular slots, were just observing without even doing [Star Duels]…!”

“Eh, what did you think it was?”

“I thought they were getting scared of dropping out of the regulars and going on the defensive…”

“No, there might be those too, but…”

The former second-place who overtook Pearl to become first seems to be avoiding challenges from the same rank. He apparently accepts challenges from lower ranks, though. Well, refusing those gets stars confiscated, after all.

He’s probably choosing to accept the ones with the lowest betting stars. Just in case he loses, losing a lot of stars would drop his ranking.

Was Pearl strange for accepting my challenge…? In fact, because she accepted, she lost stars and fell from grade number one, and probably several hidden hands were revealed in the battle against me too.

If it weren’t for the battle with Pearl, I wouldn’t have revealed [Zero Impact] or Asterisk either…

Considering the ‘Academy’s’ victory first, today’s battle might have been unnecessary.

…No way! We aren’t working hard for the ‘Academy’. We’re working hard for ourselves. What else can we do but go all out!

“At this point, Nero probably won’t drop out of the regulars, but I’d like to go a little higher to feel safe.”

Carrol muttered that while eating pancakes. Let’s see, her grade ranking is ninth right now? It’s a regular slot, but a position she can’t let her guard down in. Even if she drops, she might manage if she holds on in the three reserve slots below, but…

“What about Lirisha?”

“I will aim to enter the reserves at least in my next [Star Duel]. This is the critical moment.”

Oh. There’s only about ten days left until the ‘Inter-School Match’ regulars are decided… If she wants to enter the reserves and aim for a regular slot from there, she needs to make a big gamble somewhere.

Lirisha is apparently currently fourteenth, so depending on the betting stars, she might enter the reserves. The problem is…

I glanced at Sherry, who had been discussing something with Lara without even eating the cake she ordered.

“What about this rifle with a magic scope here?”

“That maker’s strength is weak, and there’s a possibility of severe blurring while using it. It might be manageable for mid-range, but I think problems will arise later if you use it for long-range too.”

Apparently, she’s showing Lara the Frame Gear equipment catalog and asking for advice.

Sherry’s current grade ranking is twentieth. Unless she bets quite big, entering the regulars will be difficult.

It seems she’s decided to pour in all her assets to acquire a powerful sniper rifle for that purpose.

Lara seems to have some strategy in mind… Even though she’s a mechanic, Lara might be good at drafting this kind of strategy.

◇　◇　◇

“Alright! Huge victory!”

Sherry jumped out of the Frame Unit in high spirits.

How should I put it… As a friend, I want to congratulate her, but seeing that fighting style makes me hesitate a bit…

Carrol and Lirisha next to me also had indescribable expressions.

“To think she would use such a method…”

“Knights of Lestia, who value chivalry, might snap if they saw that…”

“A win is a win, right! It’s not like I cheated!”

Yeah, she didn’t cheat. Having an Asterisk with stealth coating approach the enemy from behind, firing in Barrel Mode, and when the surprised enemy turns around, finishing them off with a sniper rifle from a long distance behind…

[Floating Sword] ‘Fragarach’… Manipulating just one Asterisk isn’t that difficult, after all.

I didn’t think she would apply stealth coating that creates protective coloration to it, though. It’s an expensive additional function, but it seems she barely managed to pay for just one Asterisk.

Since moving it reveals it, she moved it quite carefully.

Also, it was fortunate that the stage was a ruined urban stage. There were plenty of places to hide the Asterisk like rubble, and several points suitable for sniping.

“My grade ranking also went up to fourteenth! Just a little more until the participation slots!”

“Eh, from twentieth up six spots in one go?”

True, perhaps because it was a stage she excelled at, I saw her [Raise] and bet the maximum F-Rank value of ten stars, but…

“Sherry-san’s stars increased significantly, and about three people above her lost today, causing large fluctuations in the ranking.”

Lara explained the reason. Ah, since there’s no time left, it’s not just Sherry, many students making big gambles have appeared, huh.

In other words, from here on, if you lose and drop significantly in ranking, recovering will be difficult.

Opponents already in the participation slots probably won’t accept high-stakes duels, and if you mess up and severely damage your Frame Gear like me, you won’t make it by the deadline.

In that sense, Sherry’s stance might be a form that allows for safe wins. In other words, she can fight consecutively. If she can win without letting the opponent close, that is.

In places where she’s completely exposed like Desert Stages or Snowfield Stages, it would probably be tough, so there’s an element of luck too…

Carrol also won and raised her rank to seventh, and Lirisha slipped into the reserves at twelfth.

Lirisha is apparently still anxious so she’ll continue [Star Duels], but Carrol seems to be switching to random matches for now. She won’t drop significantly even if she loses those.

I guess I’ll do Armed Gear random matches until Lucifer is fixed…

Honestly, I have a desire to fight the guy who overtook Pearl and is currently grade number one, but with Lucifer broken right now, the timing is bad.

Come to think of it… I checked the ranking by grade on my smartphone, and Zelda Onee-sama, Sharon-senpai, and Chiba-senpai were ranked in the regular slots for the third, fourth, and fifth years respectively. As expected, or rather naturally. Ah, [Hundred Thunder] Rimiera-senpai is also in the fifth-year regulars. As expected of an S-Rank.

Preparations are steadily advancing towards the ‘Inter-School Match’.

Carrol seems to be gathering information on the ‘School’, our opponents, and surprisingly, that flashy guy and the pale gourd are apparently ranked as current first-year representatives.

I don’t know the flashy guy’s ability, but if the pale gourd can become a representative, doesn’t that mean the ‘School’ isn’t that big a deal?

No, wait? Maybe he was junk in Armed Gear, but strong in Frame Gear…

…No way. Yeah, no way. He probably got in by a fluke. I heard that entering the first-year representatives in the ‘Inter-School Match’ isn’t heavily influenced by ability, and since it’s a tight cluster, it wouldn’t be strange for anyone to make it.

I am curious about the ‘School’s’ first-year number one Carrol mentioned, though.

Apparently, he uses a sword-equipped Frame Gear. Since he’s from Eashen, I guess that’s normal.

His name was… Kokonoe… Kokonoe Kojuro, I think?

Weird name. Names from Eashen are a bit unusual, though…