Chapter 348: You Must Actually Be Someone Famous for Being Strong
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
Mega-fast [Lightning Strike]!
This was the second-ever time Seiji had used this ability—he had previously used it against Iroha Hasegawa. As he unleashed punch after punch at an insanely high speed, he mentally added a classic anime sound effect.
The observers saw Yashuu shatter Shiroya's personal barrier and that at the same moment Yoruhana-san shouted "Stop!", there was an explosive light.
The light was followed by a series of impact sounds. Immediately after, Yashuu was sent flying backwards a great distance, his body somewhat distorted. Yashuu crashed into the ground and rolled around several times before he finally managed to regain his feet.
One-third of his purple-black demon-face mask had been destroyed, and the white light around him was flickering, as if it were a half-broken light bulb.
After he managed to stand up, Yashuu immediately rushed towards his opponent again. However, it was useless.
He had been knocked out of bounds!
"Shiroya-san and Yoruhana-san's victory," Shunsuke Furukawa announced.
Everyone who heard his voice was still in a shocked state, and this included Natsuya.
What had just happened?
The Yin-Yang Masters exchanged awkward glances.
"Was that... a spell just now?"
"No, it was a martial arts technique... right?"
"Who saw what just happened clearly?"
"I... couldn't see very clearly, but it seemed like Shiroya-kun used a high-speed attack at that moment. He attacked numerous times at an incredibly high speed."
"A super-fast martial arts technique, is it?"
"Yes, that's probably it. No, actually, it couldn't have been a simple martial arts technique; he must've used some secret spell as well, because that speed was..."
Unimaginable.
To knock away the berserk Hanyuu Yashuu and leave him in such a disheveled state was testament to how strong Shiroya's explosive power was.
A martial arts technique that was powerful enough to surpass the difference in the two bonded spirits' strength… just how fast was that technique?
Or, to put it a different way, how many times did Shiroya attack in that short instant?
Nobody knew, because nobody could see it clearly.
Even Seiji himself didn't know how many times he had punched and kicked, because he hadn't been counting.
His only thought was: 'This guy's body is a lot harder than Iroha Hasegawa's. My fists kinda hurt from punching him.'
'What was that power?' Natsuya was just as confused as everyone else, but then she came to her own mistaken realization. 'It must have been the power of that mysterious spirit!'
She assumed that the female spirit was roused from her slumber at this critical moment, allowing Seiji to use her spells or even her martial arts techniques to unleash a finishing blow. As for the specifics, she just had to ask Seiji later.
The most important part was that they had won! Natsuya smiled as she watched Seiji saunter over to her and flash a big thumbs-up.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Akatsuki Mitarai had a grim expression.
After he restrained Yashuu and canceled the berserk-spell on him, Akatsuki slowly turned to look in Natsuya's direction.
Natsuya stared back at him. Seiji, who was standing beside Natsuya, was also staring at him.
Akatsuki felt humiliated by this. He had believed in his own victory but was forcibly defeated twice in a row...
Although the game wasn't over yet, there were no more chances for him to surpass Natsuya in points.
It was his loss.
'Why... why is this Haruta family's trash able to... Even though he's infamous for being trash and his Spiritual Power is barely adequate for him to be a Spirit-branded Retainer—and only a temporary one at that—why does he have such power!?'
Akatsuki clenched his fists and furrowed his brows deeply; he couldn't understand how it was possible.
Natsuya retracted her gaze and walked back to the card table.
She had wanted to say something, but after seeing how Akatsuki, she decided it would be unnecessary.
Seiji retracted his gaze as well and followed Natsuya to the card table.
After returning, all the others congratulated them on their victory. The Yin-Yang Masters gathered were even more curious about Shiroya.
Natsuya and Seiji kept their calm and dealt with the questions appropriately.
Akatsuki returned to the card table with a calm expression. However, his eyes gleamed with an icy light; evidently he was anything but calm.
The game came to a conclusion.
Natsuya was ranked first in points and received an extravagant prize: a seaside mansion.
That's right—an entire mansion! It even came with its own private beach.
By the way, the prize for second place was a personal yacht, while the Master in third place received a racing car...
'Yin-Yang Masters sure are rich,' Seiji exclaimed in his mind.
Natsuya looked towards Seiji after she received the property deed from Ryouta Moritama. "Would you like to have it?"
"Eh?"
"Would you like this mansion?" She waved the exquisite-looking document-folder at him. Her tone was as casual as someone offering a can of juice.
Seiji blinked at this. "If I say I want it, you'll give it to me?"
Natsuya nodded. "Yep."
"You don't want it for yourself?"
"I already have one."
"Oh..." Seiji mulled it over. "Although having a seaside mansion sounds very attractive, it doesn't seem all that useful to me…"
Although he could visit it whenever he wanted to have fun, most of the time it would just sit there unattended, and he felt like maintaining it would be quite bothersome.
"Then how about I give you something else instead; is there anything that you want?"
"Not for the time being."
Natsuya smiled. "What about a spiritual weapon?"
"A spiritual weapon..."
"I think that it's for the best if you start practicing with your own personal spiritual weapon as early as possible."
"Hmm... you have a point." Seiji nodded in agreement. "I'd like to have one then. If possible, could you give me one suitable for a beginner?"
"What type of weapon would you like?"
Seiji thought it over. "How about a wooden sword?"
The wooden sword from the Uehara family seemed pretty nice. While that wooden sword's level was a bit high for him, he could probably play around with a beginner-level one.
To be honest, he felt tempted to ask for a longsword like Shika's Demon Blade Muramasa, but he felt that it would be too difficult to start from real swords, so it would make sense to start with a wooden sword. Didn't famous heroes all start from wooden swords, anyway?
"A wooden sword... I got it." Natsuya nodded.
After that was lunchtime.
Ryouta Moritama led everyone back to the residence to a second-floor dining hall.
This dining hall was extravagantly furnished; it had the appearance of a top-class restaurant from the business district.
Seiji and Natsuya sat down by a window and began browsing through the provided menus.
"Can we sit here?" a female voice asked.
It was Kanna Fujihara, who was accompanied by her Spirit-branded Retainer, Ryuuno Izawa.
Natsuya smiled. "Of course. Please take a seat."
Kanna and Izawa sat down.
"Izawa-san, how are your injuries?" Seiji asked.
"It's nothing serious," Izawa said. "Thank you for your concern."
The fujoshi Kanna's eyes lit up at seeing this scene.
"Fujihara-san, what would you like to eat?" Natsuya handed Kanna a menu to break the ice.
"I'm satisfied with this... whoops, I mean I would like to have some Huaxia cuisine." Kanna finally returned to her senses.
The four of them began discussing the menu options and food available. They had fun chatting.
Izawa seriously expressed his admiration for Seiji's duel against Hanyuu Yashuu. "Shiroya-san," he praised, "it was incredible how you defeated that Hanyuu Yashuu!"
"To be honest," Kanna added, "I thought that Shiroya-san was going to lose. It looked like you were at a disadvantage."
"My opponent was indeed strong. I was able to emerge victorious in the end because of luck." Seiji remained humble.
"No, you definitely didn't win due to luck." Izawa's eyes lit up in excitement. "You made two comebacks in a row, and I could barely see the spells that you used at the critical moment. All I can do is sigh in amazement. Shiroya-san, you must actually be someone famous for being strong, right? You must be disguising yourself because revealing your identity would cause too large of a commotion and would disturb the party, right?"
Seiji was rendered speechless.