Honestly, I had no idea what kind of fight this was going to be.
Tsuchiha and Gymnema. These two had met before.
Tsuchiha had ended up sharing a table with him at Cider-tei Second.
Gymnema was the one I'd pulled out of the water.
An exhibition match between these two.
"Hey, you! Today's the day we settle this, yo!"
"What a coincidence. I was thinking the exact same thing."
The two squared off.
Alhazard Abramirin stood in the center.
So he was refereeing too?
"Then, the exhibition match! Tsuchiha of 'Tsuchiha' versus Gymnema Sylvester of 'Sea Lord'—begin! The match ends when one surrenders, is knocked out, or is otherwise unable to continue. Killing your opponent is strictly prohibited. Understood?"
"Sure thing, yo!"
"Very well."
"Then begin!"
At the signal, both of them leaped apart.
"Hey, hey, yo! Come on!"
He swung his right arm like he was dancing, and earth surged up from beneath his feet, forming into a massive right arm.
He clenched his right hand into a giant fist.
"So that's your opener?"
"Blow 'em away, baby!"
The earthen fist flew forward.
A rocket punch!?
No—one after another, earthen fists were being formed and launched.
"Rocket punch rapid-fire!?"
Just the fists from his right arm alone had a terrifying rate of fire and power.
"Rocket...?"
"Oh, ah, never mind. But still—is it earth?"
"Ah, well, you see—Tsuchiha only has one single Relic. Relic [Earth]... that's all he's got. But! He's mastered [Earth] to its absolute limit."
A man who'd perfected a single Relic.
"Wait, wouldn't something like that kill someone in one hit?"
"Hmm, well, yeah, probably."
Chive smiled wryly.
"Isn't that dangerous, though?"
"Well, I mean, he'd be fine. If he could die from something like that, he wouldn't be Class 1."
When she put it that way, it did make sense.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey—whatcha gonna dooo!"
For some reason, Tsuchiha was bouncing around and dancing.
He was really getting into it with some slick moves. Surprisingly, the crowd was showering him with cheers.
Meanwhile, Gymnema was somehow dodging the rocket punches.
He was running wide arcs, evading them boldly. The fact that he could dodge them at all was incredible.
If it were me, I'd probably just Banish them all one by one.
What was that? While I was watching Gymnema, I noticed the arena floor was wet.
In the blink of an eye, the water was up to their knees. This was abnormal. A Relic?
I had a feeling it was Gymnema's doing. After all, he was a fish-head.
"Oh, you think that'll stop me? My earth fists aren't slowing down for that!"
"We'll see about that."
As he said that, an earth fist bore down right at Gymnema.
Just as I thought it was over, the fist split clean in two—vertically.
Somewhere along the way, Gymnema had drawn a blade.
According to memories from my past life, it was a white-wood tantō.
"There it is—the 'Sashimi Cleaver'!"
"Huh?"
"That's Gymnema Sylvester's beloved blade, the 'Sashimi Cleaver'!"
Sashimi Cleaver... What was this nagging feeling in my chest?
"Hey, hey—I cut one, so how about that!?"
Tsuchiha hurriedly leaped back. A massive four-eyed something had suddenly attacked him.
It splashed into the knee-deep water and submerged. Then a dorsal fin broke the surface.
Ah, that silhouette!
"A shark!? Why is there a shark!?"
"That's a Relic from 'Sea Lord.' I believe it was [Sea Stage] and [Shellfish Sovereign]."
"What kind of Relic is that?"
"[Sea Stage] creates an ocean, and [Shellfish Sovereign] lets you freely summon and control sea creatures."
So that was why the water appeared and a shark came out.
So that was what "Sea Lord" meant. But—Gymnema couldn't swim.
On a separate note, something bothered me.
"You seem to know a lot about the Relics those two carry."
The rarer a Relic, the more you kept it hidden. I certainly did.
I wasn't suspicious, exactly... but I couldn't shake the unease.
Chive answered right away.
"Well, Class 1 Relics are mostly public knowledge."
"Th-that so?"
"You look puzzled. Well, sure—keeping them hidden is certainly one approach. But making them public... isn't all downsides, you know, Wof?"
"I'm sorry, I don't really understand..."
Chive grinned, showing off her jagged teeth.
"It's a deterrent. Sometimes, just knowing about something can keep it in check."
"I see..."
So rather than hiding it, you used the knowledge as a show of force.
"Besides, everyone already knows about my Relics."
Her black-armored beast form—Flazzerei—was famous.
And its terror and power were equally famous.
By making them public, she turned that fame into a deterrent.
I'd learned something new.
The shark circled Tsuchiha. With just its dorsal fin showing, it was terrifying.
A four-eyed shark. Definitely a monster. Bigger than a normal shark, with vicious-looking teeth.
"Hey you, this is quite a nuisance, yo! But I'm not done yet!"
Tsuchiha collapsed his giant right arm and reshaped it into a boat.
He stood atop the boat and took hold of an earthen harpoon. Smart—he'd thought it through.
"Oh, you don't get to do that!"
Sheathing the 'Sashimi Cleaver' at his hip in a draw-ready stance, Gymnema charged forward.
It looked like an iaijutsu stance, but how could he move like that?
Looking closely, I noticed a large shadow in the water beneath his feet. He was riding on something.
"Oh—a turtle!"
A turtle?
So that was how he'd been moving around. Riding a turtle.
As the boat drew near, the turtle leaped. At the same time, the shark attacked.
In that instant—BOOM—the shark went flying.
"Whoa!"
"Jennifer!?"
Then the turtle Gymnema was riding went flying as well.
"HAOOW!"
"Madonna!?"
Gymnema quickly jumped off the turtle's back and landed on the boat.
So he'd named them Jennifer and Madonna.
On the narrow boat, the two glared at each other.
Tsuchiha had generated sturdy earth protectors on his hands. They were spherical at the fingertips and looked solid.
He must have used those to punch the shark (Jennifer) and the turtle (Madonna).
Tsuchiha covered his face with both hands, dropped his waist slightly, and began stepping in a tight stance.
That stance. That was—boxing?
"Hey, hey, hey-hey! Hey-hey-hey-hey!"
He closed the distance in an instant and unleashed a barrage.
A barrage from every angle. A furious barrage.
WRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!
The crowd went wild. Gymnema was on the defensive.
"Ggh! Impressive! But!"
Dodging jabs with pinpoint precision, Gymnema drew the 'Sashimi Cleaver.'
The blade gleamed.
"One Cut—Demon Severance!"
That technique was Agaro's!?
A flash—and Tsuchiha's protectors and his spherical fists were cut clean through.
"Whoa! Impressive, yo! Thanks to you, I'm fired up! Hah-ah! Hee-haaaart!"
The excited Tsuchiha, without even using earth, punched Gymnema square in the face with his bare fist.
"Ggh-ooh!?"
"Hey, I'm slipping, yo! You've got scales on you!"
"Because I'm a fish, you idiot!"
Gymnema screamed back and punched Tsuchiha in the face with his bare fist too.
Both stumbled back and spat blood.
"Gymnemaaaaaa!"
"Tsuchihaaaaaa!"
From there, it was a no-guard slugfest.
"Uwoooooooah!"
"Daaaaaaa!"
Punch to the face, punch to the gut, punch to the face, punch to the face.
Just like the climactic fistfight in a B-grade action movie.
"Oh boy, here we go again," Chive muttered, exasperated.
"They've started?"
"Wof. Yeah—once they get going, neither of them stops."
"They're really wailing on each other."
How incredibly crude. Relentlessly crude. Where had all the Relics and Class 1 titles gone?
But the majority of the arena's spectators were going wild.
WRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
The deafening roar wouldn't stop.
"Oh, any moment now—watch."
It was almost simultaneous.
Tsuchiha's fist and Gymnema's fist slammed into each other's faces with devastating force.
The impact was so loud you could hear it from the stands, and both of them crumpled to the ground.
They didn't move a muscle.
"...A draw?"
"Yeah—same as last time."
Referee Alhazard Abramirin appeared on a separate boat.
He approached the boat where both fighters lay and looked at each of them in turn. He nodded.
"Both fighters down! Match overrrrrrrrrrrr!!!"
WRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
The deafening roar shook the arena to its foundations.
And so, the first day's exhibition match ended in spectacular success.
That night, I went to Cider-tei Second.
Tsuchiha and Gymnema, wrapped head to toe in bandages, were having a drinking contest.
Aren't they going to use potions?