Misora Chivalry of a Failed Knight: Volume 9

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-7183-4728-1
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Chivalry of a Failed Knight

With Shizuku crucified in Amane's waiting room, the final match of the quarterfinals ends before it can even begin. Then, while Ikki grapples with how to deal with Amane's Nameless Glory, the Crimson Princess and the Gale Emperor duke it out in the duel of the century. But when Ikki's semifinal match finally starts, Amane claims that he's willing to forfeit! How will Ikki respond?! And will he be able to keep his promise to Stella to fight her in the finals?!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Misora, Riku

Weitere Mitwirkende

Won

Ningen

Leseproben

“So you think Kurogane will win?”

Renren nodded again.

“I fought him before, so I can tell. Stella-chan’s brute strength is in a league of its own, but Kurogane-kun’s technique is just as crazy. Do you remember how he beat me in the qualifying matches?”

“He evaded your supersonic Black Bird, grabbed your collar, and slammed you into the ring, right?”

“Yep. You know, normally, if you tried to do that, you’d just get your arm ripped off. But Kurogane-kun managed to grab me at the perfect angle to redirect my energy and use the speed of my rush against me. I’m pretty sure he’ll be able to do the same thing against Stella-chan’s strength.”

“I can see where you’re coming from, but I think you’re underestimating Vermillion. She took my strongest attack, Crescendo Axe, head-on without budging an inch. And now she’s gotten even stronger thanks to her Dragon Spirit. No amount of technique can redirect that much force. Kurogane will just end up overwhelmed.”

“He has the speed to dodge attacks he can’t parry. I bet you he runs circles around Stella-chan!”

“In your dreams. Strength is everything in a battle.”

“Yeah right! Speed matters more in close combat!”

“You just want the person who beat you to win.”

“Like you’re any different!”

“Hmph!”

“Hmph!”

“Aha ha. That’s enough, you two,” Utakata said, stepping in between them and pushing them apart. “You can keep arguing once we’re in our nice, air-conditioned hotel room. We’ll all get heatstroke if we stay here any longer.”

“Good point,” Kanata said. “I’ll take you all to the hotel. There’s food as well in case you’re hungry.”

Kanata started walking away, leading the group to one of the hotels run by her family.

“Wait, there’s food? Sweet!” Renren exclaimed, immediately getting distracted.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to get so heated,” Saijou said.

“Don’t worry, seeing you like that fits your appearance more than the calm guy you normally are.”

“What?!”

Saijou stood there, stunned. He hadn’t been aware of how imposing he looked to others.

?????

“Aha ha ha, look at all those losers down there!” Saikyou Nene said with a laugh, looking down from her hotel room terrace at the long, snaking line outside the Dome.

“What are you doing?” Shinguuji Kurono asked with an exasperated sigh while lounging on the sofa.

“Don’t you get a sense of superiority when you see a huge crowd struggling to get in when you know you’ll get to skip the line?”

“No.”

“Seriously? Are you even Japanese, Kuu-chan?”

“I can’t imagine that’s something all Japanese people are supposed to feel.” Kurono took a cigarette out of her suit pocket, lit it, and brought it to her lips. Then, she added, “I heard you declined to be the guest commentator for the finals. Why? It’s a pretty cushy job, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I’d rather watch my beloved disciple’s final match from the front row.”

“Normally, I’d say you only taught her for a week, so you can’t really call yourself her master, but whatever you did, it sure transformed her quickly.”

“Honestly, I’m just as surprised as you. I was pretty rough with her, but I didn’t think there was this much potential sleeping inside her.”

“Now that I think about it, the reason she eats so much is probably to feed that draconic strength of hers.” As she said that, Kurono looked over at the table, which was piled high with the remnants of all the room service food Stella had ordered. Sleeping in the fetal position on the bed on the other end of the room was none other than the Crimson Princess, Stella Vermillion. “Nene, who do you think has the upper hand here?”

“It’s hard to say. Either way, it’s going to be a match to remember. They’ve both honed themselves to two different extremes, and there’s no way either of them is going down without a fight. Though if you ask me, I think it’s going to end up devolving into a slugfest. A really high-level one, but still a slugfest.”

“Why’s that?”

“They’re lovers, and that’s how all lovers’ quarrels end up.”

“If it just becomes a lovers’ spat, that’ll be rather disappointing,” Kurono said with a dry laugh, exhaling a puff of smoke. “Knowing those two, there’s no way it’ll be that cute. They won’t disappoint.”

There was a sense of certainty in Kurono’s voice. Saikyou nodded in response.

“Course not. To be honest, I’m worried one of them might die by the end of it. It’s going to be as harsh as our battle from way back when.”

Though Saikyou’s tone remained playful, the look in her eyes was dead serious. She was reminiscing about the Seven Stars Battle Festival where she’d gone head-to-head with Kurono. Back then, she’d honestly been okay with dying if that was what it took to beat her rival. That was how much she’d respected and adored Takizawa Kurono. And she was sure Kurono had felt the exact same way. Ikki and Stella were no doubt cut from the same cloth.

“But, well... If I have to say, I think Kuro-bou’s at a disadvantage here,” Saikyou said finally, answering Kurono’s initial question.

“So the Demon Princess thinks the Crimson Princess has the upper hand, huh?”

“I just can’t see our cute little princess losing.”

Saikyou glanced over at Stella, who was still sleeping. She was breathing softly, clearly in a deep sleep. Saikyou knew she was gathering her strength for the battle to come. Even the mere act of opening her eyes took energy she didn’t want to spend right now. She would need every last drop of it for her match tonight.

To Saikyou and Kurono, she looked just like a sleeping dragon. Overwhelmed by that image, Kurono gulped. At the same time, she turned her thoughts to the knight who’d be facing off against this dragon.

Was he resting and gathering his strength like Stella was? Or was he too excited to sleep and waiting impatiently for the moment to come? Or was he perhaps doing something else entirely?

“Either way, stepping in to make sure they don’t kill each other will mean risking your life. I can’t leave that job to any of the other half-baked knights here. We have to be ready to stop them if things get dangerous. The same way Nangou-sensei and Kurogane-sensei stopped us,” Kurono said.

“I know. Believe me, I know,” Saikyou replied, her voice filled with grim determination.

Indeed, the reason she’d turned down the commentator job was so that she could focus all her attention on making sure she didn’t miss the vital moment to step in and stop the match. But right now, there was something more important that she needed to say to Kurono.

“By the way, Kuu-chan.”

“Hmm? What’s up?”

“This is a nonsmoking room.”

“...Tell me that before I light my cig next time.”

Blushing, Kurono hurriedly put out her cigarette.

“I’ll think about it,” Saikyou said with an impish smile.

?????

While Stella was gathering her strength, Ikki was in one of the KOK league training facilities near the stadium. During the Seven Stars Battle Festival, they were open to tournament participants, and Ikki was fighting a mock battle in one of the rings. His opponent was none other than Black Sonia, Alisuin Nagi.

“Haaah!”

Ikki launched himself at Alisuin, who took a step back.

“Shadow Beast!” she shouted as she threw three Darkness Hermit daggers at the ground, where they melted into a black puddle, creating new shadows.

Two large tigers and one large bear spawned from the shadowy puddles and charged at Ikki. Ikki didn’t slow down in the slightest, meeting the beasts head-on. He sliced straight through the tiger that tried to bite down on his head, then dodged the bear as it swiped its claws at him and cut it in half with his backswing. The second tiger tried to attack him while he was busy dealing with the other beasts, but in the briefest opening that he showed, he simply used his fastest technique, Thunderclap, to catch it unawares.

The three Shadow Beasts dispersed into black mist, but Alisuin had known from the start that they alone wouldn’t even slow Ikki down. They’d been nothing more than a smoke screen. The black mist hung around in the air, robbing Ikki of his vision for a split second. In that moment, Alisuin used her Shadow Walk to slip from shadow to shadow, finally moving into Ikki’s. She then jumped out of Ikki’s shadow, hoping to take him by surprise.

She swung Darkness Hermit at the back of Ikki’s neck, but her blade never reached its target.

“Huh?!”

Ikki thrust Intetsu behind him, the sword’s jet-black point aiming straight for Alisuin’s forehead. Without even turning around, he had read that she would strike from behind and prepared an appropriate counter.

“Tch!”

Alisuin brought her dagger down to block the...