Bermuda

His supple waist arched into a deep curve as he leaned back to the limit.

<Lion is taking off!>

Around the same time, the summoned creatures that had reached the bridge swarmed in like a wasp cloud and smothered the rope ladder. Even when they collided with each other and their bodies were crushed into pulp, they still gnawed at the ropes with chattering teeth—until they finally tore them apart. Some clumped together like a lump, swelling their bulk, then lunged to grab the lion as he leapt.

But they still couldn’t reach.

<Ah—Is that Orca? He’s supporting Lion with Bell slung over his shoulder!>

<If you treat a lady like that, you might get in serious trouble later—>

A crescent-shaped trajectory spun like a boomerang as it flew. Razor-sharp ultrasound split the air and shredded through the writhing reptilian mass in an instant.

Shraaaak—

The sharp slashes took their necks clean off. Sticky slime burst as corpses dropped in wet thuds. Their ear-piercing cries tangled with their evaporating forms and scattered into the air.

Only then did Orca finally let out a breath and readjust Beatrice in his arms.

<The summons are being sliced apart helplessly! Still—great teamwork!>

<But where did Lion go? He’s not on the bridge.>

The two commentators darted their eyes around, trying to locate the Lion who had vanished in that brief moment. The Toad, barking orders in agitation, did the same. Standing before the broken bridge on the third basement level, he gripped the railing and swept his gaze over the area.

Then one of the defenders—having forced their way out through the debris on the lowest level—shouted in a ragged voice.

“Under the bridge! He’s stuck to the underside!”

The Toad snapped his head up at once.

But there was nothing under the bridge spanning the second basement level. He frowned, bewildered, starting to turn back—

—and a dark shadow fell across his vision.

Crack—!

<Ah—Lion! He ambushes Big Boss!>

Crash, bang—Leonardo’s kick landed with his full weight behind it, and the heavy body was launched into a corner, tumbling in a heap. The spectators groaned and half-turned away as if feeling the impact themselves. The rolling body slammed hard into a stone pillar, and settled dust surged up, raising a hazy curtain.

In front of it, a figure with a cloak snapping in the air landed without a sound.

<Not the second level—he was hiding under the third-level bridge.>

<If that was improvised on the spot, it’s incredible! Big Boss never noticed him! But the prisoner’s goal is escape—Lion can’t afford to waste time!>

“I know.”

Leonardo rolled his neck left and right as he strolled toward the Toad, who lay groaning from the clean hit. The man clutched his broken nose, face-down, only his eyes rolling up to glare. Leonardo bent down to meet his gaze, bones cracking in his neck as he bared a slow grin.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

Blood ran steadily from the Toad’s nose. His eyes wavered, as if he didn’t understand what Leonardo meant. Leonardo’s brow furrowed, and he added, almost kindly—

“I was going to pound your face in until you remembered. But I’m short on time right now. Consider yourself lucky I’m ending it here.”

“You—!”

Big Boss seized his discarded flail and jerked his upper body upright, swinging the weapon like he was having a fit. Whoom—wind howled, and a purple aura writhed along the arc.

“Oh, you’re quick.”

Leonardo lifted his chin, slipped aside with light steps, then jumped up—planting both feet on the vicious iron haft and dropping into a crouch at its tip.

The flail itself seemed to be infused with Ether; his soles tingled. He didn’t care. Deliberately hunching into a street-thug pose as he looked down, he chuckled in open mockery.

“But you’re slow.”

“This bastard—!”

The Toad yanked the weapon up and swung again, trying to shake Leonardo off. Borrowing the force, Leonardo launched himself skyward once more.

<Lion uses Big Boss’s attack as a running start!>

<Their team is going to be furious. But—who’s behind him?>

At that moment, a hulking figure, battered and filthy, appeared and grabbed Big Boss’s forearm.

<Ah—It’s Beast—!>

“Hey. Let the big guys fight the big guys.”

The flail’s swing stopped dead in mid-motion. Startled by the sheer grip strength, Big Boss whipped his head around. Gillian twisted his mouth and locked a hand around the haft, pinning it so it couldn’t move.

<In that opening, Lion climbs up to the second-level bridge!>

It wasn’t satisfying yet, but Leonardo left the Toad to his teammate and landed on the bridge in a clean arc.

The moment his feet touched down, summons rushed him from all sides. He snapped the chain of his shackles through the air, blocking fast. He followed with a straight hook that crushed one skull, then round-kicked the half dozen clinging to his leg and sent them flying. He twisted one by the neck, flipped it over his head like a hood, and sprinted at full speed—splitting the wriggling swarm in a single charge.

<Lion cuts straight through the summoned bog! No one can stop him!>

<But his support is all below—he has to climb from here on his own. Can he do it?>

Reaching the end of the second-level bridge, Leonardo threw aside the summon he’d been using as a shield. Then he drew heat into both hands, still smeared with slime.

The green fluid began to boil violently—then thickened, becoming viscous like old honey.

With that, he lunged for the pillar that connected the second basement to the first, drove his fingers into the stone, and held.

He sharpened his fingertips like a beast’s claws and began scaling the vertical pillar using nothing but raw strength—climbing in long, powerful strides.

<He’s climbing the wall barehanded! We didn’t see this coming!>

<He’s using the sticky slime like an adhesive—his judgment is outstanding. He instinctively knows how to survive in battle. Like a single beautiful predator—>

<Exactly. Because he’s Lion—!>

The commentators’ booming voices and the roar of cheers brushed the back of his neck and spine. His body trembled in fine shivers like a chill—but he couldn’t stop. Thick veins stood out on the backs of his hands and along his forearms as he hung and climbed.

After scaling to a considerable height, Leonardo finally stepped onto the railing of the uppermost bridge.

Above him, through the narrow gap between viciously hanging stalactites, the cramped escape route was visible.

I have to get there—no matter what....

Breathing hard, he forced his mind to work.

That was when he saw it—on the far side of the bridge, a shadow moving in silence. Friend or foe, he couldn’t tell. Then a small magic circle unfolded where the figure had been hiding.

Big Boss. The summoner. The two small fry Gillian had handled.

That was four.

There was one more left.

Leonardo was certain it was an obstruction. He was about to rush—

Fwooom—

A bright light flashed, and a wind-cutting sound rang through the arena like a firework being launched. Leonardo flinched and dropped his stance. Following the trail upward, he saw a white flame with a long trailing tail streaking toward the escape route.

<Team Big Boss fires a final strike! But—isn’t their aim off?>

“Shit.”

Unlike the commentators, Leonardo understood instantly. A curse slid out between his teeth, disguised as a breath.

The pale trajectory vanished beyond the escape route—

then detonated overhead with a crack like gunfire.

A transparent, spherical shockwave spread out in every direction.

<No—It wasn’t off! They’re collapsing the escape route!>

Kwooong—!

The once-quiet Ether was shoved aside, and the hanging stalactites trembled dangerously. Cracks traced across them. Then, with a grinding snap, they broke and began to fall like meteors.

<The ceiling is collapsing! He was almost there!>

<At this rate, the bridge he’s standing on could collapse again—!>

Spear-sharp tips closed the distance fast. Leonardo’s pupils contracted as he stared up, then jumped in place and shouted into the air—

“Orca—!”

In that instant, a violent wave surged up from below. Ultrasound that seemed to fill the entire arena slammed into the falling stone and pushed it back. The descent slowed.

Riding that wave, Leonardo stepped onto a stalactite fragment that looked momentarily frozen—

and sprang upward without hesitation.

<Unbelievable—he’s using falling rock as footholds! Did he take inspiration from the earlier match?>

<Incredible, Lion—! And his coordination with Orca is excellent!>

<Now it all comes down to his speed!>

Leonardo leapt wide, throwing his body on a diagonal. He touched down on foothold after foothold, climbing higher with each step. Even without Teleportation or flight magic, his movement was viciously fast.

He didn’t know why the memory surfaced now, of all times—but when he’d been caught in a collapse on the peninsula.

Agrizendro reaching out toward him.

That desperation and raw tenderness clung to his fingertips like frost—and strength surged through the legs that kicked off the stone. Adrenaline flooded him, explosive and hot.

Leonardo coiled his body tight, then flung his chest open as he reached for the blinking red light.

<Lion is closing in on the escape route!>

The leaking light shone over his outstretched palm and split into five rays.

The world went muffled, like everything had stopped.

Even the stone fragments drifted past like slow motion.

He bared his neck tendons and held his breath—

and then, by a hair, Leonardo’s fingertips raked empty air.

His floating body tilted, slipping farther and farther from the exit.

<Ah—He’s short! The jump isn’t enough!>

The commentator cried out, pouring their own regret into the call, their shrill voice ringing across the arena.

Leonardo, missing by the width of a sheet of paper, stared blankly at the fading light.

Short?

He wanted to check the remaining time—but there was no room to look back. The weight on his head tipped him backward. The spectators clenched their hands and screamed as they watched him fall.

And just as everyone cried out in one desperate chorus—

Woooooong—

A strange resonance spread through the air—like wind, like a chain of explosions. A sharp tingling ran across Leonardo’s back.

A whale’s cry—almost welcome now—drove into his ears.

The moment his body was about to drop, his lower back landed on someone’s forearm.

His golden eyes rolled.

Orca—wearing that familiar, confident smile—braced Leonardo’s back and the backs of his knees, then leaned in and asked with childlike innocence,

“Is this enough?”

Leonardo stared at him, stunned.

How—?

Before he could even ask, Orca sprang upward—stepping on his Divine Beast—and carried the lion with him toward the escape route.

In that instant, far away, Hugo’s eyelids reacted.

The fingers covering his mouth and jaw tightened. The pupils in his blue eyes widened.

In his view, Orca’s robe and Leonardo’s tangled cloak tails passed through the beam of light. The blinking red glow at the escape route slowly dimmed away.

<Orca—It’s Orca! He rescues the prisoner—!>

Waaaaaa—!

The spectators, who had been holding their breath, erupted in a thrilling roar. The Crystal Board’s timer froze with 3 minutes and 25 seconds remaining.

A signal tone announcing the match’s end rang out immediately after.

<The Group D match of the Preliminary Round is over—Team JOKER takes the win!>