kscans

Chapter 196 - Shattering the Mood

“You don’t show your face at all, so I thought you were some shy kid, but you’ve got quite the personality, don’t you?”

“Thanks, I guess. I do try to choose my behavior based on who I’m dealing with.”

Aggressive and straightforward. Dislikes roundabout things and prefers people who go with the flow over intellectuals—excerpts from his profile on an info site.

In short, he was the kind of person who made you wonder why he wasn’t in Istia. I figured he’d appreciate it if I was openly aggressive too, so I tried tossing out a provocative line… and just as I expected, he seemed to be that kind of guy.

Though his tone was something like “you little punk,” there wasn’t a shred of ill will towards me in his expression.

The young man, dressed in a flashy black leather suit and a tiger-striped bomber jacket, ran a hand through his spiky brown hair while twirling a black-lacquered long spear in one hand.

“Hah, looks like you’ve done your research—which means,”

He brought the spear, which had been spinning into a black circle, to a sharp stop with a satisfying clang. The [Great Tiger] bared his canines and shot me a sharp grin.

“that when you said you could ‘win,’ you weren’t joking, were you?”

In that instant, a wave of pure fighting spirit washed over me—seriously, why did this guy join Nortalia? He’s more Istia than most of the people in Istia… what even is an Istian?

Anyway, there was only one answer to that question.

“Yeah, that’s right—I’m coming at you with every intention of winning.”

The distance between us was about five meters flat. Suppressing the wry smile that was creeping onto my face because of his personality, I returned a genuine grin and drew my blade with a loud shing—the crimson blade of the [Rabbit Dagger - Parabellum].

A bizarrely shaped dagger, its blade tapering from the middle to the tip like a stiletto.

Seeing it, the [Great Tiger]’s gaze sharpened, without a hint of scorn or curiosity.

“Nice piece you got there.”

“Right? You can’t have it.”

Even as we traded lighthearted banter, my skin could feel the air changing.

This was a battlefield. I was facing an ‘enemy’—so no matter how fun he seemed, there was no reason to continue a lengthy conversation.

“Seems like we could get along. Let’s talk again after this is over.”

“I’d be honored. With pleasure—I’m Haru, ninth seat of Istia, the [Acrobat].”

Through diligent training in controlling my ‘internal’ and ‘external’ output, combined with the effects of skills like 《Rabbit Run》 that convert small movements into large ones, my avatar no longer required a ‘stance.’

My right hand, holding the dagger in a reverse grip, hung loosely at my side. To an onlooker, I might have looked completely relaxed, which could be taken as “are you looking down on me?” by some opponents, but…

“Seventh seat of Nortalia, the [Great Tiger]—I’m Tiger☆Lucky.”

The young man—Tiger Lucky—staring me down with a sharp gaze, was on full alert, without a single opening… showing… me…

“……………………Huh?”

Wait, what, huh, eh—… what did he say???

“Tiger… what?”

“What’s with that? Don’t kill the mood… I’ll say it again, so listen up.”

Yeah, please do. There’s no way his player name could be something that completely shatters his tough-guy image like that—

“Seventh seat of Nortalia, the [Great Tiger]—I’m T I G E R ☆ L U C K Y!!”

“WHY!?”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WHY!?”

I MEAN EVERYTHING!!

“That’s my line! You’re killing my motivation!! Why did you suddenly swerve into a kid’s show character name!? If you’re a tiger and lucky, something like Torakichi would have been fine!!”

“No way, you moron!? It’s Tiger AND Star AND Lucky!? How cool is that!?”

Where did the star even come from!?

“Ugh, I don’t even care anymore…!! I’m not gonna let the first climax of my debut match get ruined by a gag!!—Let’s go, you damn Torakichi!!!”

“I TOLD YOU, IT’S T I G E R ☆ L U C K Y, YOU IDIOT!!!”

The screams we exchanged were a far cry from the mood-filled taunts of a few moments ago.

Fueled by our mutual, albeit differently directed, anger, we revved our engines, kicked up a massive spray of water, and—the black-lacquered long spear and the crimson crystal dagger clashed head-on.