Heroine-Saving System: Reborn In A Third-Rate Manga As The Protagonist Chapter 155 156: Buffer Day [VII]

The instant she uttered Multi-Strike, Kaguya's eyes widened and an invisible slash ca from the left.

She lifted her blade to intercept, the steel eting nothing but air and the impact sent her skidding right with her boots carving trenches in the ground.

Her teeth gritted from the force then her eyes widened further as another slash ca from the right.

It was about to bisect her when the uniform's protective barrier flared to life with the translucent blue energy coating her body.

The slash collided with the barrier, deflecting with a sharp crack of breaking magic but that wasn't the end.

Several more slashes erupted around her, converging on that singular spot from every direction.

It was not left or right anymore… from above, below, diagonal angles, all around her. The assault threw caution to the wind with each invisible blade carving through space with devastating precision.

The shockwaves blew Itsuki's hair backward even from where he stood at the arena's edge however the whole ordeal ended in seconds.

Dust kicked up everywhere, obscuring the battlefield in a thick cloud of debris.

When it settled, Kaguya lay on her back in the center of a massive crater.

The translucent blue barrier had shattered completely with broken shards of protective magic dissolving into motes of light around her motionless form.

Itsuki paused, looking at Mio.

The girl had returned to normal with bobbed hair and her regular stance except for the fact that her eyes were still bleeding with twin streams of crimson ran down her cheeks like tears.

He brought his hand down.

"The winner of this match is Mio Kamori from Class 5!" Itsuki announced.

The stadium erupted.

Cheers exploded from every section… Class 5 loudest of all, screaming themselves hoarse. The noise was deafening as a wall of sound that shook the very foundations of the arena.

dics rushed onto the field with stretchers and healing supplies.

Mio cocked her head to the right, toward the section where Class 5 stood.

Though she couldn't see his face, she could sense Koya's mana signature looking at her and it made her smile.

'The hell, Mio?' Pale's voice cut through her thoughts. 'Are you an idiot?'

'Sorry Pale… I wanted to win… and to prov–' Mio thought back then she fell over, hitting the ground hard.

The dics reached her seconds later, already pulling out diagnostic tools.

Soon she was packed onto a stretcher alongside Kaguya with both unconscious fighters being carried away to the dical bay. Up in the stands, the Principal looked down at Saki.

The woman was adjusting her hair with a satisfied smile on her face, clearly pleased with her student's performance.

"Were you aware…" the Principal asked slowly, "that Mio was related to the Tsukuyomi Clan?"

Saki's smile didn't shake. "I wasn't. I didn't use that kind of magic on her…"

The Principal sighed, turning his attention to the broken arena below. Earth-awakened maintenance workers were already on the field with her hands pressed to the ground as they channeled mana into repairing the massive crater and cracks Mio's Multi-Strike had carved into the stone.

'The daughter of the head of the Tsukuyomi Branch clan…' the Principal thought, watching the workers labor. 'And she's already at this level, she's worth the investnt. I will be seeing her later.'

His eyes shifted to the holographic board updating in real-ti above the arena and two nas flickered onto the screen in gold lettering.

Wisteria Riu and Tachibana Misora.

The Principal closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

'What a troubleso woman,' he thought… not of Misora, but of Hakua who was the woman wearing Misora's face.

The White Princess herself had assud the identity of the eldest daughter of the Tachibana clan and threatened him personally.

Her words had been clear: let her into ALI in the lowest class, or she would destroy this institution from the inside out so he'd had no choice but to comply.

'I can only pray for Riu's soul…' the Principal thought, opening his eyes to watch the arena being repaired. 'And hope that she doesn't beat him up too much.'

One would think that because Hakua wasn't using her royal mana, she would be weaker and yes, technically that was true… without access to her royal reserves, her raw power output was diminished but Hakua was not a force to be trifled with.

She had mastered all the movent techniques and attacking techniques of the Tachibana clan within two hours.

Two hours… Techniques that took normal practitioners years to learn, she'd absorbed in an afternoon like breathing.

If that wasn't being overpowered, the Principal of ALI didn't know what the term ant.

…

Misora walked down to the stage that had been prepared. The arena floor had been fully repaired with no sign of the crater or cracks from Mio's devastating final attack leaving the fresh stone gleaming under the afternoon sun.

'I'm really surprised she managed to hide that from …' Misora thought with her hands in her pockets as she walked.

She knew Kaguya personally and had been around mbers of the Tsukuyomi clan countless tis during formal gatherings and political events but Mio had never acted like any of them so she didn't suspect it.

'That still ans I have to let her sleep on the bed next to Koya.' Misora finished that thought with mild annoyance.

Mio had clearly tried extra hard to win and as an honorable class representative which Misora prided herself on being, despite everything, she would honor the promises she'd made.

However…

'Maybe I should kick Ichinose out and join her?' Misora thought with her expression remaining perfectly blank.

One would never guess from looking at her that the girl was actually very shy.

That beneath the calm exterior and devastating combat prowess, she got flustered at the thought of sleeping in the sa room as Koya.

Misora reached the acceptable distance and stopped.

Her opponent stood waiting.

Wisteria Riu who was a handso young man, though unlike other nobles, he was tall and thin. He was not muscular at all.

The ALI uniform hung on his fra like it was two sizes too big making the fabric look like it was practically swimming on him.

Itsuki raised his hand.

"Thirty seconds to prepare!" He announced though his thoughts were not so comforting.

'I only made this contest for Class 1 to gain points and spice up the day…' Itsuki thought, resisting the urge to grab his blue hair and yank it out in frustration. 'Why are we actually losing? Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck… If Riu didn't win this round, Class 1 could beco the bottom class. The absolute bottom, below even the commoners they were supposed to be effortlessly superior to.'

They couldn't be expelled… nobles had protections against that and class expulsions only happened after Mid-terms anyway, so there were still three more days to claw back what they'd lost but that wouldn't change the fact that right now, in this mont, they were putting commoners at the top of the ladder.

The optics were terrible.

'As much as I wanted to add myself into the bracket, I couldn't…' Itsuki thought bitterly. 'That would make it sound unfair. What the fuck... this was a really bad idea.'

But he didn't lose hope yet. There was still a chance.

As long as Riu didn't get ticked off, there was a chance and as long as Misora agreed to let him take off his mana suppressor, there was a fighting chance they could salvage this disaster.

Itsuki clung to that hope like a drowning man to driftwood.

Misora looked at Riu.

"You're really thin…" she said flatly.

Riu raised an eyebrow with a trembling face. "W-w-why w-w-ould y-you say that?"

Misora let out a sigh of boredom. "You look thinner than a broomstick. You should try eating more."

Riu's face flushed. "What you said... what you said is not nice..."

Misora almost laughed.

Among all of the Great Clans, the Wisteria clan was the least fit for direct battle. If Class 1 was going to rig this whole tournant, they could have chosen literally anyone else… Anyone but they'd picked Riu.

The only things the man had going for him were high mana reserves and the ability to release poison from the pores of his body.

That was it and his other self properly…

'Though regular poison doesn't affect , so I'll have to act the part.' Misora thought with her eye twitching slightly.

Sotis she really hated acting like a weakling… pretending to struggle and pretending to be vulnerable but it was a small price to pay for a normal life.

This was infinitely better than spending ti with her own father.

Not that she hated him… he was a good man, objectively but he was so boring compared to the outside world. That was what she'd realized the mont she'd first run away from ho to explore Omni Supercity.

The world beyond the White Estate was vibrant and amazing.

"You should take off the mana band…" Misora said, pointing at the suppressor on Riu's wrist. "I don't want you to be restricted during our battle. I'd feel sorry for you otherwise."

Riu's face went from embarrassed to furious in an instant. He gritted his teeth and ripped the band off, throwing it back at Itsuki and the man caught it and looked at the ground.

'Wallahi…' Itsuki thought. 'We're finished.'

Itsuki brought his hand down.

"Begin!"

Imdiately, Riu squeezed both hands together. His mana spiked with the air pressure around him increasing as power flooded his system. He extended both hands toward Misora, who stood perfectly still and watching him with mild interest.

"Poison Fall!" Riu shouted, striking a pose like he was in an ani but nothing happened as the arena fell completely silent.

Even the stands went quiet… and Misora chuckled.

There was one weakness of Riu that everyone exploited once they knew about it.

The guy had massive mana reserves but when he was pissed off, he couldn't use it. His emotional state directly interfered with his mana control so his spells simply wouldn't activate.

However… If you made the man cry, he would show his true power.

So the typical strategy was simple: anger him, mock him, get him furious enough that his magic stopped working, then knock him out while he was vexed and helpless but Misora didn't want to end the battle so soon, not after Mio had put on such a spectacular showing.

She wanted to impress Koya too so Misora blitzed forward.

The Tachibana Movent technique closed the distance in a heartbeat. Riu took a step back but it was already far too late as Misora was in front of him.

She slapped him across the face.

The slap generated a visible shockwave that rippled outward in a ring of displaced air. Riu was sent flying backward with his body tumbling through the air like a ragdoll and when he stopped… His hand was pressed to his cheek with a perfect red handprint already forming on his skin.

Tears trembled at the corners of his eyes then he began crying.

The mont the first tear fell, the ground beneath the arena trembled.

A massive pod erupted from the stone floor.

It wrapped around Riu's form, cocooning him completely before lifting him into the air like a chrysalis suspended from invisible threads.

At the sa ti, sothing began growing from the arena floor.

Trees burst from stone and roots cracked through barriers as branches spread like grasping fingers, all of them reaching toward Misora with clear hostile intent.

Itsuki created a pod of water around himself for protection, rising into the air to maintain his view of the battlefield.

Misora clicked her teeth in annoyance.

She slapped one of the approaching branches away and the limb disintegrated from the force. It was a mini forest that followed and every single branch seed to hate her.

One tree decided to fall directly upon her with its trunk angled to crush her beneath its weight.

Misora leaped sideways and the massive timber crashed where she'd been standing a heartbeat before but the mont she landed, roots from another tree burst from the ground like serpents reaching for her ankles and wrists while branches from a third tree lashed out simultaneously, whipping toward her face.

Misora waved her hand and a shockwave of mana exploded outward, tearing through the roots and branches like they were paper.

The vegetation disintegrated into splinters and dust. She looked up at the glowing pod hovering above the battlefield.

"Co out of there!" she called.

The pod glowed brighter then holes began forming across its surface starting from first one, then several, then dozens until the entire structure resembled a massive green chrysalis splitting open.

A figure fell from within, landing gracefully on one of the trees.

Unlike the thin young man who had entered, a muscular young man erged with long green hair cascading over his shoulders. His fra was broad and nothing like the fragile form from monts before.

His eyes found Misora.

"Was it you?" he asked with his voice dripping with hatred. "Were you the one who bullied ?"

Itsuki breathed a sigh of relief from his water pod perch.

'Thank the White King Misora didn't knock him out…' he thought. 'Riu is our ticket to victory.'

This was Riu Wisteria as well… all of the great nobles knew that.

He had been bullied by Ryouma and his siblings when he was younger, which caused him to develop an introverted attitude. He stopped eating and beca afraid of other people but a part of him wanted to fight back.

So the man developed Dissociative Identity Disorder… a second personality that manifested when he retreated into that protective pod.

It would normally be manageable for a regular person, but for a noble born with high mana like him? Once he entered that pod, his body rebuilt itself and the second personality erged. It was all Riu wanted to be, that perfect person who stood up for justice and this other part of him absolutely hated bullying.

"Bully is a strong word…" Misora said. "All I did was taunt you for being thin. I said you should eat more before fighting. Since this is a tournant, can that really be called bullying?"

Riu's expression hardened with righteous fury.

"People like you," he began with his voice rising in conviction. "who use words as weapons to tear down those weaker than themselves… who mock and belittle without understanding the pain they inflict… who hide behind the excuse of 'jokes' or 'friendly advice' when in truth you seek only to elevate yourself by crushing others beneath your heel. I despise people like you with every fiber of my being! You represent everything wrong with—"

"Shut up and fight." Misora interrupted.

Riu didn't hesitate anymore.

The tree beneath him bent down, lowering him to the arena floor. The other trees retracted their branches and roots, sinking back into the ground until the field was clear again.

Riu stood tall, placing one hand behind his back in a formal stance.

"It doesn't matter if you are a woman," he declared. "I will not forgive you fo—"

Misora blitzed him.

Her movent technique closed the distance in a blink and then she slapped him across the face on the sa cheek she'd hit before.

The impact generated a shockwave.

Riu staggered backward, holding his cheek just like the scared version of himself had done except this ti no tears ca.

He was shocked that she'd actually struck him mid-sentence and without waiting for her to go again, he extended his arm outward.

"Feel the poison!" Riu roared.

Purple gas erupted from every pore of his body. It flooded the arena in seconds… a thick noxious cloud that obscured everything. The barriers held, containing the toxin within the fighting space.

Itsuki pulled a gas mask from his storage ring and slipped it on, peering forward through the purple haze with growing hope.

'Riu's Poison Fall…' Itsuki thought. 'Seventy percent hydrogen cyanide, fifteen percent arsenic vapor, ten percent ricin aerosol, and five percent concentrated neurotoxin derived from Wisteria clan bloodline techniques. One breath of this mixture would paralyze a Blue Crest fighter's nervous system… There's no way she'll be able to move within this cloud so we might actually win this.'

Roots popped up beneath Riu's feet like coiled springs, launching him forward through the purple fog.

He shot toward where Misora had been standing with his fist drawn back for what should be a finishing blow.

"This is what happens to bullies like you!" he shouted, his voice ringing with righteous conviction.

In the next instant, a shockwave erupted from the center of the arena. The force was imnse… a wall of compressed air that hit like a physical blow.

It blew away the poison cloud entirely, dispersing the toxic gas in a single devastating pulse making purple mist scatter harmlessly against the barriers, dissipating into nothing.

Itsuki raised a hand to shield his face as wind pressure threatened to knock him out of his water pod entirely.

When his vision finally cleared, he saw them.

Misora stood with one hand casually tucked in her pocket and her other hand was pressed flat against Riu's stomach with the palm centered just below his solar plexus.

Riu hovered above her with his feet off the ground and his body suspended in mid-attack as a flicker of mana that had been shot into the air above them dissipated into nothing.

Whatever follow-up technique he'd been preparing was gone…

Misora dropped him and Riu hit the ground behind her with a heavy thud.

His back slamd into stone and he imdiately curled into himself, gasping desperately for breath.

His lungs burned and his diaphragm felt paralyzed. That single palm strike had disrupted his entire respiratory system shattered his breathing rhythm and left him unable to draw air properly.

He looked up through tear-blurred vision at the girl who'd mocked him… struck him twice and now humiliated him in front of millions of viewers.

What he saw made even his confident, transford body tremble uncontrollably.

That glare… that cold… absolute… overwhelming glare… that was empty of anything resembling rcy or compassion.

It looked as if the White Princess herself was staring down at him through Misora's eyes with that sa crushing presence.

"Be serious…" Misora said, closing her eyes as she sighed with obvious disappointnt. "Fight better."

She sighed as roots erged from the ground beneath Riu's prone form which was an unconscious defensive reaction from his panicking subconscious.

They pushed him several ters away from Misora, creating distance his body instinctively knew he needed.

'Koya-kun is watching …' Misora thought with frustration building in her like pressure behind a dam. 'Mio already impressed him with that spectacular finish...'

She glanced at Riu struggling to stand, supported by his own defensive vegetation and still gasping for air.

'And they give this? Such a diocre opponent?'

Originally she wanted to hold back and win easily but she had to outdo Mio and maintain her position in the top spot… so… she wanted to win and she needed a strong opponent to at least pretend to struggle, instead, she was beating up soone who couldn't even land a single hit.

This was making her look bad.

[Author's Note]

Tch… Give Golden Ticketssss 😭😭😭