Chapter 14 - Kazuko vs Chris

With the start signal was given, Chris lunges forward, "Duel!"

"Haaa!" Kazuko also dashes forward while dragging her naginata on the ground, creating friction using the replica's blade.

She then swings her naginata upwards with the frictions following up.

"...!" Chris halts her charge and was about to perform a side-step to avoid Kazuko's swing, but the frictions that the youngest Kawakami created came into her line of vision.

It makes her flinches a bit and steps backward instead, but Kazuko doesn't let her as she suddenly spins and performs an upper swipe.

"Kh!" Chris clicks her tongue and crouches to avoid the swipe before she thrusts her rapier to Kazuko's right foot.

Kazuko is quick to response as she twists her right wrist to stop the movement of her naginata in mid-air before she brings it down hard on the ground, the effect was evident as the entire arena shook by the sheer power of her swing.

It results in Chris missing her target and lose her balance, Kazuko on the other side already in airborne, spinning up to 45 revolutions before she brings her naginata down to Chris below, "Kawakami Style – Big Swing!"

"!!!" Chris opens her eyes wide as she kicks the ground in panic and perform a clumsy backroll.

BOOM!

She avoids the swing by a hair's breadth, and she can see some of her blond hairs scattering in the air as it got cut off by earlier attack.

The arena once again shook, this time with more intensity as you can see a small crater was formed in its wake.

"Muu! So you avoided that..." Kazuko jumps backward to take a distance as she twirls her naginata masterfully.

She thought she got her back then. Too bad.

...

The audience was slack-jawed and lost their voices right now as they watched the duel with wide eyes.

This is some kind high-level duel shit right now. They didn't expected this at all!!

Yōta smiles proudly at the sight as he puffs his chest out like a proud master he is, especially when he saw how excited and happy Momoyo was as she saw her little sister's improvement.

"Fufu, how's that?" He asked to Momoyo with voice laced in pride, "She's getting stronger, isn't she?"

"She is..." Momoyo whispers her answer, she never once takes her eyes off from her little sister's figure.

The pride inside her chest is swelling up right now. Her stance, her power, her speed, her technique, everything is so different than last year.

This was the weak little girl that people deem as talentless in martial arts world. This was the weak little girl that people thought couldn't ever reach her dream.

But the girl who stand in the duel arena right now broke that image. She broke it through hardwork and dedication.

Everything is for her love towards her big sister, for her love towards the martial art's world. She never stops to move forward, it's all for her dream to stand beside Momoyo.

This is her little sister. This is the girl that will stand next beside her after she becomes the Master of the Kawakami Temple.

And the one who make this possible is...

"I don't know how to thank you, Yōta..."

Yōta snorts at that, "What are you saying? I didn't do anything for you to thank me." He raised his head and smiles gently at Kazuko's figure in the duel arena, "I only help her a little and give her advice here and there, and that's it. The reason why she achieved this level is all because of her own hard work and dedication in training. She always move forward even when she couldn't stand up, no matter what happens, she always forces herself to stand up, to practice, to perfecting her technique. She pushes herself to the extreme through willpower, and this is the result."

Yōta then turns his head to Momoyo before sporting the biggest and brightest smile ever, "Isn't she just the coolest and bestest girl ever!?"

THUMP!!

Momoyo's heart is jumping so hard at the smile Yōta just showed, she doesn't know why, but the feeling in her heart right now is not that bad. Not bad at all.

She brings herself close to Yōta and buries her red face on the man's shoulder before nods her head timidly, "She is. She's my pride and joy."

Not far away from the duo, the remaining Kazama family are huddling up together while whispering and hushing against each other.

"Oi, oi, did you see that!?" Yamato loudly whispered to the group, "Nee-san just blushing, oi!!"

"Wow, indeed. That's the first time I saw her blushing like that." Shōichi whispers back, looking at the sight in wonder.

"That damn glasses is a freaking pro!! Are you sure he isn't a gigolo!?" Gakuto asked in a hushed voice.

"What a fearsome man." Takuya mutters under his breath.

"Muu, another one." Miyako on the other side pouted.

"Sheesh, Yōta is really hopeless. Why he couldn't understand how powerful his words are?" Kokoro shakes her head as she sighs tiredly.

"Waaa~ Momo-senpai looks cute~" And of course, Koyuki doesn't really understand the situation as she cooed at Momoyo's being cute.

...

Chris squints her eyes before she enters her lunge stance once more, she then dashes forward and delivers multiple thrusts while moving forward.

"Don't underestimate me!" Kazuko twirls her naginata between her fingers so masterfully that it slowly gathers a dust whirl around her.

She spins one time in fluid motion before swinging her naginata horizontally, it creates a flying wind slash.

"Kyah!"

The power is strong enough to repel every thrusts Chris delivered and blows her back.

Grunting in pain, she twists her body in mid-air to stop the momentum as she lands perfectly on the ground.

"You're strong." Chris said as she once again make her stance, "But I won't lose that easily!" She's lowering her body and stabs her rapier to Kazuko's upper body, "Forehand Drive!"

"...! It's fast...!" Kazuko kicks the ground hard while leaning backwards, she then channels her Ki spirit in her hands, forming an orange ball before abruptly releasing it.

"Kawakami Style – Energy Wave!"

BOOM!

Because how abrupt she channels her Ki and releases it so suddenly like that, the energy wave is so incomplete that it doesn't strong enough to push Chris back.

But it's strong enough to stop the german girl's charging attack and that's exactly what Kazuko aimed for.

With Kazuko still moving backward, she begins her other move as she swiftly twirls and spins her naginata between her hands to form an orange lotus flower made purely by her energy.

"Kawakami Style – Flame Lotus!" She swings her naginata diagonally and launches the lotus flower forward at Chris.

If you look closely, you will notice that the lotus flame is generating a flower bomb inside that will explodes when having contact with something.

Chris noticed this and she brings her rapier to her chest before she twists her wrist hard to generates air current around the rapier.

"Hurricane Strike!"

She then delivers multiple thrusts forward to send projectile force of gigantic wind shear at the Flame Lotus.

DUAAARRR!!!!

As the two techniques made contact with each other, it creates a big explosion in the middle of the arena.

Tesshin and other teachers, who supervised the battle, moves fast in front of the audience to protects them from the shockwave and heat that the explosion produced.

"Kazuko is getting stronger and stronger since Yōta-kun takes her under his tutelage. I'm so happy for her!" Lu Yi, a man with neat brown hair and slitted-eyes, said with big smile on his face as he covers the students from getting hurt.

"Hoho, she's growing fast." Tesshin nods his head in agreement as he cracks one of his eyes open to peer on Kazuko's figure.

She's really getting stronger, her aura is changing to that of strong warrior. While it's still not on par with Assistant Master, but it won't take long for her to reach it.

"That's amazing! They're both really good!" Shōichi shouted in excitement.

Gakuto crosses his arms as he looks at the battle with focused eyes, "Damn, she creates a wind shear through speed only."

"The speed of her thrust is extraordinary." Miyako nods her head from the side.

"But, Kazuko doesn't lose. That Flame Lotus of hers is pretty beautiful but dangerous at the same time." Kokoro added as she covers her mouth with her iron fan, "The Ki inside of that lotus flower are very destructive in nature."

""HAAA!!!""

Kazuko and Chris charges forward at the same time when the smoke dissipates from the arena.

Both duelist start to deliver a flurry of strikes at each other while moving and circling around.

Kazuko spins her naginata counterclockwise to repels another multiple thrusts Chris threw before she thrusts her naginata upwards in crouch position.

Chris barely evades the thrust, she then throws a backward kick at Kazuko, who simply blocks it with the shaft of her naginata.

Chris takes that as her advantage to perform a backflip with Kazuko's naginata as her platform, she then twists her body upside-down and performs a quick slash, "Moon Wave!"

A crescent slash flying through the air in great speed, Kazuko squints her eyes before she drags her right leg back and bents her left leg as she points her naginata in her left upwards.

The blade of her naginata suddenly lit in orange light as she infuses her Ki into it, "Kawakami Style: Wolf Stance – Wolf Fang!"

Another clash of energy once again occured as Kazuko calls forth dark orange spear made purely by her Ki to meet Chris' Moon Wave.

"...What!?" Chris shouted in shock as she's being pushed back by the blast of wind produced by the clash.

She clumsily lands on the ground with one of her knee bent down and she stabs her rapier into the arena to stop herself from being pushed anymore than this.

"Man, they're throwing away energy-based attack like it's nothing." Takuya mutters under his breath as he scratches the back of his neck.

"Yeah..." Yōta said as he looks at the sight with longing eyes. He unconsciously clenches his fists.

Upon noticing the mood of his friend beside him, Takuya nervously averts his eyes and gives Yōta a comfort pat on the back, "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring your mood down."

"Huh?" Yōta jolts slightly at the sudden pat on the back and when he heard what Takuya said, he chuckles awkwardly, "No, no. It's okay. I know that. You don't have to apologize."

Takuya looks unsure first but in the end he nods his head and continue to watch the match.

Unknown to Yōta, all members of Kazama Family look at him with a pity looks before they shake their heads and just focus to watch the match as well.

In the arena, Chris clearly starts panting out as she's getting tired by moving this much, she then narrows her eyes at Kazuko who's currently charging at her.

Christ takes a breath first before she lunges forward as well, she brings her rapier to her side and charges it with energy as the rapier brims with energy and lit in green light.

"Divine Thrust!" She's rushing forward and thrust her charged rapier at Kazuko.

In response to that, Kazuko grabs the naginata with one hand and positions her hand on the san-dan maki part before twisting her naginata to generates air current around the blade.

"Kawakami Style: Phantom Fox Stance – Darkness Sever!" She accelerates in burst of speed and thurst her naginata forward to meet Chris' Divine Thurst.

SHIING!!!

A trail of linear lights passed through as both duelist passing each other by with the same stance.

Second after, a small cut appeared on their cheeks as it's bleed slightly.

"Hyah!!"

"Haa!!"

They turn around with a shout and once again they rush at each other aggressively. Kazuko slashes to her right, but Chris dodges it and thrust her rapier at Kazuko's collarbone.

In response to that Kazuko performs a turn pivot to avoid the thrust by hair's breadth, she then spins to her upper-high with her naginata extended, slashing Chris in rapid twirls.

"Kh!" Chris performs a pin-point thrust with her rapier obliquely upwards at Kazuko's blade to kill the youngest Kawakami's momentum.

It gives her chance to distance herself from Kazuko, but Kazuko won't let Chris to run away that easy as she brings her naginata in low stance, "Kawakami Style: Dragon Stance – Dragon's Spiral Bite!"

She does a sweeping spin attack with her naginata, and the Friedrich successfully blocks it with a thrust, but with Kazuko still in the momentum of her spin, the youngest Kawakami unleashes another attack.

An overhead slash falls on Chris and the Friedrich brings her rapier to blocks it.

"Ah!"

The strike is strong enough to break through her defense as her hands feel numb and they starts trembling, it stuns her movement for a second.

"It's over." Momoyo commented with the biggest smile on her face.

With Chris being so defenseless right now, Kazuko crouches down in fluid motion before she delivers a final blow to the Friedrich with a quick thrust like a charging dragon to her torso.

"Kyaaah!!"

Chris was blown away to the sky and falls outside the arena, unconscious.

"That's it! Winner, Kazuko!!!" Tesshin announced out loud with so much pride laced in his voice.

"Wow! Amazing! What an awesome fight!!!"

"I don't know what happened, but that was amazing!!!"

The crowd roars in excitement as they chanted Kazuko's name while clapping their hands.

"Hehe! I won!!" Kazuko jumps high and wave her hands happily to the crowd before she found herself getting hugged by Momoyo.

"That was awesome, Kazuko." Momoyo whispers.

Kazuko's eyes glistened with a few tears as she feels happy by the praise Momoyo gave to her, "Hehe!!"

She giggles uncontrollably as she hugs her big sister tightly and buries her red and teary face in Momoyo's bosom.

"Is Chris okay!?" Mayo asked as she runs over to where Chris at.

"Hm." Tesshin nods his head as he picks Chris' unconscious body and put her down on the folding stretcher, "Her bones are all right, but I'm sure there'll be a bruise."

Mayo lets out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness."

And with that the teachers taking Chris to the infirmary to get check more thoroughly and to rest her body.

"Fuhaha! That transfer student is strong, but it seems Kazuko-dono is more stronger than her." Hideo crosses his arms as he looks at Chris first before he turns his head in Kazuko's direction, "As expected from Ours friend's pupil. She's exceptional!"

"Yes, Hideo-sama!" Azumi chimed in from the side, "That last combo was good. First swing was meant to create a momentum for her second attack, either it was blocked or avoided, it doesn't matter, since another attack will come from another angle, and if you block it like Chris did earlier, it'll break through your defense because of the momentum Kazuko-san just created from her first swing, and by crouching down in low-stance, she can put more force to her thrust that resulted in Chris to blown away. The combo is perfectly executed!"

"Man, women in this city are scary..." Jun commented as he scratches his bald head.

"Isn't that right?" Touma chuckles delightedly besides him.

"I lost!!!" Shōichi for the first time in his entire life loses in gambling, "I should've gone with Kazuko!! Damn it!!!"

"MWAHAHAHA!!! That's what you got for betraying Kazuko-chan!! You got divine punishmet!! MWAHAHAHA!!!" Yōta on the other side laugh evilly at his leader as he's showering with the winning money he got from the bet.

"DAMN IT!!!!"

"Wow, Yōta could be easily the strongest in this city." Yamato said as he looks at the sight, "He makes Nee-san blushing and he beats Capt in gambling too. He just crushed Capt's lucky star with his love for Wanko."

"Love is strong power, indeed." Miyako chimed in from the side before covering her red cheeks with her hands as she panting lewdly in Yota's direction, "And Yōta's so cool right now. He's like sugar daddy with that much money overflowing from his pockets."

Yamato sweatdropped at that, he doesn't have any retort against that.

"Yokkun~~!!!!" Kazuko dashes in rush with an open arm as she jumps on Yōta, hugging the man so tightly, "Did you see that!? I completed the combo and executed it perfectly!!"

Yōta stumbles a bit before he smiles gently and pats Kazuko's head, "You did. And congratulations for winning the match and completed the Dragon's combo. I guess, it won't take long until you will master the Secret Dragon Arts."

Kazuko's whole body trembles in happiness when she heard that, her eyes brightened up as she buries her face in his chest, giggling, "I can't wait."

"Okay, you lovebirds, it's time to get back to the classroom." Yamato commented from the side before he looks behind, "And someone please drag Capt too."

The spectators also disperse fast and going back to their own classroom.

And with this, the duel between Kazuko and Chris ended with Kazuko as the winner.