<And who is this! Lion is making his entrance!>
Waaaaaaah—
At the overwhelming roar of the crowd, the line of Leonardo’s back went rigid. He had definitely heard cheers before the first match of the Preliminary Round as well, but this time the atmosphere was different.
It felt as if every eye in the world was fixed on him alone. It had been a very long time since he had felt anything like this.
<Team JOKER, was it? I had a feeling, and sure enough, Lion is with Joker.>
<The scattered attention of the crowd is converging in one place—! I think it’s safe to expect a thrilling match!>
For a moment, it even brought back memories of the send-off ceremony he had last stood in several years ago. But Leonardo forced himself to repeat that those cheers were not for him, but for Lion.
Don’t get worked up over nothing.
Suppressing his rising pulse, he smoothed his clothes and stepped lightly onto the Floating Platform set before the entrance. The platform carrying all of his teammates then began to move slowly, transporting them toward the central ground.
<Is that Orca beside Lion? He helped him escape Nefertiti’s trap, remember. It’s an unexpected pairing, but an exciting one!>
<The opposing team must be feeling the pressure. They watched everything those two did in the previous match.>
<It seems the safety staff are just as tense. The Barrier protecting the spectators is being reinforced with a second layer!>
Looking straight ahead, Leonardo saw the arena, which until now he had only viewed through a transparent window, being dismantled and reassembled with astonishing speed like stage machinery.
He had no idea where they had hauled them in from, but gigantic boulders had been fitted together like pieces of a puzzle, creating scenery that resembled a heavily fortified stronghold. A transparent Barrier surrounded a cylindrical shaft of descending light, and across it [N O V E L I G H T] were laid five or six bridges, spaced far apart. The Floating Platforms that had served as footholds in the first match had also been positioned throughout the structure.
Stone stairways hidden between rock pillars, thorn thickets, hundreds of iron bars. Passing calmly through all manner of obstacles, the two Floating Platforms carrying the teams closed the distance and met atop the highest bridge.
At the center of the bridge, two event staff members and the leaders of each team were already waiting. Between them sat a black box.
“Now that both teams are here, we will proceed with the draw for attack and defense. Please place your hands into the box and draw one ball each.”
The moment the guide finished speaking, Ero, who had been stiff as a board, thrust his arm into the box. The opposing team’s leader standing across from him did the same. Perhaps their fingertips brushed inside, because the two of them briefly locked eyes with a crackling tension.
“Whatever you pull, we’re going to grind you into the floor, so keep that in mind.”
“What the hell are you talking about? You’re barely worth one punch from our boss.”
As trash talk passed warmly between them, the operations staff, having completed participant identification, displayed both teams’ lineups on the board. With only Identity Numbers and aliases, though, there still were not many opponents he could identify, so there was little point in looking.
If anything, the fortunate part was that Asher was not on the opposing team for this match.
Team Big Boss?
After quickly scanning the lineup on the board, Leonardo lowered his gaze to the bridge below. Right then, both team leaders, who had been rummaging inside the box, each pulled out a ball. Following the guide’s instructions, they raised them high over their heads for everyone to see.
“Team JOKER has drawn red, attack. Team Big Boss has drawn blue, defense.”
“Boss—!”
The moment the guide’s voice rang through the arena, Ero, calling for his pillar of emotional support, turned around with the ball still in hand. He was waving it wildly, looking like he wanted praise for doing well, and Leonardo merely let out a faint snort of amusement.
But more than that, his gaze was drawn to the contestant standing opposite Ero. The face felt strangely familiar.
So that bastard’s Boss? Where have I seen him before?
“Congratulations, Lion. You got what you wanted.”
“This makes the game even easier.”
“I want to finish fast and go wash up.”
The teammates standing beside him each tossed out a comment while looking toward Leonardo, the team’s real leader. None of them looked tense in the slightest. But in the midst of that, Leonardo, whose eyes had narrowed, abruptly had his lashes flare upward.
“Oh, that son of a—”
The lips that had been about to spit out a vicious curse halted.
It was definitely him. That bastard from when he had gone in to fight the first Test Match, the one who had rammed hard into his shoulder.
Calling it a collision was putting it mildly. In reality, the bastard had practically shoved him aside one-sidedly. And then with that toad-faced look, had he not glared and snapped, Why are you just standing there staring, idiot? Leonardo had secretly hoped they would run into each other somewhere, but he had not expected it to happen like this.
“Hey, all of you, get over here.”
The look in Leonardo’s eyes, which until then had been focused on ending things swiftly and cleanly, suddenly blazed with fighting spirit.
Three puzzled faces—or rather four, counting Morvain—were instantly yanked closer until their heads were all crowded together.
Dropping his voice, Leonardo issued a threat to his teammates.
“We are winning this match even if it kills us. And that toad in particular, I’m taking care of him myself.”
***
Did the toad do something?
Orca, who had shoved his face in almost close enough to touch, suddenly asked that. Leonardo, who had instinctively pushed only his face away, started to tell him about the toad’s offense exactly as it was, but stopped.
Not exactly. I’ve just got a personal grudge against him.
A grudge?
We had a run-in before... anyway, we got the attacking side, so you know what that means, right? You need to get me loose as fast as possible.
If a lion dislikes him, there must be a reason. Leave it to me.
It was the first time Leonardo had realized that the killer whale’s dim-witted tone could sound so full of confidence. More surprising still was that it actually inspired trust.
Leonardo stared at him for a moment, then, as if to seal his own resolve, lightly pressed his forehead against his.
I’m trusting you.
He had not chosen it himself, but having someone on the team who held an advantage in aerial combat suddenly felt like a stroke of luck.
Recalling the resolve he had shared with his teammates, Leonardo, his limbs bound, lifted his eyes past the iron bars and looked up at the structure inside the arena.
That’s pretty high.
<The match time is 15 minutes in total, and the rules are identical to those of the previous Group C match. Participants may make use of the various terrain features installed throughout the arena...>
It was nothing compared to the fortress at Peak 118 he had seen on the peninsula, but this place was still grand in scale. The depth was about 50 meters, and on every level were traps for the defending team to use, along with manual levers for releasing the locking devices.
The place where he had been bound was the very bottom tier of the fortress, positioned right in the exact center where everyone’s eyes would naturally fall. Was this how the queen hornet sealed in Peak 118 had felt?
With his shoulders and wrists bound in magic-stone shackles, Leonardo looked toward the very top of the fortress, where a tiny red light blinked like a dot. That was the attacking team’s entry route and the only escape route. Around it, giant stalactites jutted out savagely, hanging like icicles, all aimed at a single prisoner.
If someone had excellent jumping power, they might somehow make it up with enough hang time. But without the ability to fly, escaping looked nearly impossible. Once again, it seemed he had been right to volunteer himself as the prisoner.
<Then from this moment, the Group D match of the Preliminary Round will begin!>
Piiiiii—
The instant the buzzer-like signal rang out, the Ether brushing against his skin convulsed. At the same time, the red glow flickering overhead was briefly obscured. Dozens of spears fired from both sides at once, streaking toward the escape route.
<Team Big Boss throws its full weight into defense from the very start! Using the traps installed throughout the arena, they are blocking the attacking team’s advance!>
<But of course Team JOKER would have expected that. Covered head to toe by wooden shields, they’re descending at incredible speed.>
Papapapak— Four shadows, guarding themselves with plank shields bristling with spikes like porcupines, dropped onto the highest bridge. The moment Gillian’s feet hit the floor, the boom of the shockwave carried all the way down to the lowest level.
“Stop that bastard first!”
“Hurry!”
Two members of the defending team, suddenly alarmed, ran toward the center of the bridge to contain the conspicuous giant. But Gillian, with Ero’s arm in one hand and Beatrice’s in the other, hurled both of them down to the lower levels before they could even get there.
Still squirming inside the prison despite being bound, Leonardo stretched his neck out as far as he could. Frantically rolling his eyes around, trying to help his teammates somehow, he shouted,
“Belle! Second level, three o’clock, blue light!”
Holding Beatrice in one arm, Morvain hooked the handle of the umbrella in his hand around a thorn thicket with a motion like a passing brush. He yanked it in a single pull, changed direction with the recoil, and launched Beatrice toward the direction where the blue light was flashing. A groan-like exclamation burst from the commentators.
<Is that really a cursed doll? It moves so nimbly I’m starting to doubt what it is.>
<I wouldn’t be surprised if someone unzipped it and a person climbed out!>
Landing lightly atop a Floating Platform, Beatrice caught the umbrella that flew after her. She gave her dress a few brisk pats with a prim expression, then took a leisurely step forward.
<Bell from Team JOKER is approaching the locking device, and—ah!>
KWA-A-A-ANG!
Perhaps a weight-sensitive panel had triggered, because in the next instant a thunderous roar exploded. Calling it a small-scale explosion was generous; the entire 5-meter radius around Beatrice was swallowed in a haze of dust in the blink of an eye. Since she looked physically frail, the spectators watching let out gasps of shock.
<Oh dear, was it a booby trap? That’s going to hit a lady hard!>
Ero, who had landed on the third basement level and was sprinting the other way, also stopped short in alarm.
“Bell!”
His desperate voice rang upward as he looked above. The two members of the defending team facing off against Gillian grinned.
But through the rolling smoke, the silhouette of a fully opened umbrella shimmered into view. Tattered scraps of cloth fluttered after it, and beyond the bent metal ribs, a solid figure slowly straightened from its bent posture. Beneath the brim of a feathered hat, an imperious face was revealed, not a speck of dust on it.
“Hmph. Pathetic.”
Closing the ruined umbrella, Beatrice strode toward the structure where the blue light was blinking.
<She blocked the trap with just an umbrella! Incredible, Bell!>
<Is that an umbrella made of steel? So that’s why Lion took the prisoner role—>
“Take out the woman first!”
At the urgent order, one member of the defending team rushed at her, but Morvain sprang out in the blink of an eye and intercepted him with light, effortless movements. Having reached the first locking-device zone in the shortest time, Beatrice seized the lever glowing with a soft blue light and yanked it down with all her strength.
One layer of iron bars blocking the view withdrew left and right with a massive rumble. The corner of Leonardo’s mouth curved in a graceful arc.
<Team JOKER smoothly releases the first locking device!>
