Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  Akatsuki and his Spirit-branded Retainer left.

  Seiji sat alone in the private room of the coffee café, looking at the three cups of coffee that remained untouched, watching them cool.

  His cell phone rang.

  When he checked the caller ID, it was Natsuya as he expected.

  "Hey, Seiji! Are you alright!?"

  The moment he accepted the call, the student council president's voice hurriedly spoke up on the other end.

  When she saw his text message, she felt nervous and tense as she immediately called him.

  "It's alright, Natsuya…" Seiji responded, but discovered that his tone of voice was a little grim, so he coughed to clear his emotions. "Akatsuki Mitarai has left already. He was only here to talk to me." He managed to restore his tone to normal.

  "…What did he say?"

  "Take some money and get the hell out of my way."

  "Eh?"

  "Well, that was the gist of what he said to me." Seiji chuckled.

  Natsuya fell silent for a moment.

  "He must be worried about my Haruta Family, and feels that it's too risky to just kill me, which is probably why he said what he did." Seiji paused for a few seconds. "It seems that even though I'm currently exiled, I still enjoy the protection of my family name."

  "Seiji…"

  "I've been too arrogant, Natsuya." Seiji leaned back against the coffee café's sofa and looked outside the window. "Even though my strength is still insufficient, I still acted all high and mighty, thinking that I would be able to accomplish something. How foolish of me."

  Natsuya didn't know what to say.

  "I apologize that I was unable to force him to stop calling you by name, nor was I able to just beat him up again."

  "Huh?"

  "I really wanted to beat that face of his! Just like what I did during the Winter Snow Festival. However, his Spirit-branded Retainer was staring intently at me the entire time… I could only endure." Seiji's voice revealed his discontent.

  Natsuya was rendered speechless.

  She didn't know what expression she had right now anymore.

  "The current me is still far too weak. Although I'm steadily increasing my power, it's still not enough. I need to improve even faster," Seiji said in a serious tone. "Natsuya, is there some location where I can seclude myself for cultivation? The type of place where I only need to stay and cultivate at for a while, helping me to absorb energy from the environment and then transform myself."

  "What the heck type of transformation would that be! There's no such thing."

  "What about some place where I can obtain a powerful spirit beast?"

  "There's no such place, either!"

  "What about trying to go to some place with sealed ancient artifacts?"

  "Even if there were such places, I couldn't possibly allow you to go!"

  So this last one really existed?

  "I'm being serious, is there some method to greatly increase my power in a short period of time?" Seiji inquired in all seriousness.

  "Life isn't a shonen manga…" Natsuya sighed. "To be serious, yes, there are such methods, but most of those methods have more downsides than benefits…"

  At this moment, she suddenly paused as if having recalled something.

  "Did you think of a good method?"

  "No… it's nothing."

  "I don't think that it's nothing. You must have thought of something, so please tell me what it is." Seiji chased after this lead.

  "…I don't want to say." Natsuya softly refused.

  "Then I'll just have to ask Fujihara-san, and if she doesn't have any good ideas, I'll have to ask my older sister, the leading scion of the Haruta Family… although I don't know if she'll tell me anything."

  "…Are you being serious?"

  "I already said that I'm quite serious about this."

  Natsuya Yoruhana fell into silence.

  Then, she sighed.

  "Your rate of growth is already miraculously fast. There's no need to force yourself, Seiji… You can just back out…"

  "I really hate that guy's face! I want to give him a vicious beating and ruin that pretty face of his," Seiji interrupted Natsuya with a heavy tone. "Don't make me do as that bastard asks, Natsuya."

  'I won't leave your side!'

  Natsuya felt like she clearly heard those words within his statement.

  There was a warm feeling in her heart that felt indescribable.

  "Tell me then, just what method can I use?" Seiji asked once again. "I won't be rash, and I'm capable of making rational decisions. No need to worry that I'll blindly be foolhardy." He even made such a promise.

  Natsuya almost laughed out loud.

  'You're doing something rash and foolhardy right now! Idiot!' she retorted in her mind.

  It was impossible for her to reason with such an idiot.

  So, she could only follow along.

  "…'Challenger's Blood Wine.'"

  "What?"

  "I was just busy with a family conference. At the conference, I learned about something called the Challenger's Blood Wine," Natsuya explained. "One of the seven major families, the Kurosaki Family, has been researching together with the Himiki Family regarding a creation they call the Challenger's Blood Wine, and it's basically complete now. The so-called Challenger's Blood Wine… to explain it simply, it's created as a result of numerous Spiritual Ability users agreeing to a certain contract before dueling—the losers would have to pay in 'Spirit blood' that will be used in creating a 'wine' that's capable of increasing Spiritual Power and Mana, which only the final overall winner of the duel will be allowed to drink. That is to say, this is a ritual that sacrifices all the losers' power in order to increase the winner's power. If there's enough Spiritual Ability users that participate in this free-for-all duel at once, then the final victor has the chance to massively increase his or her power all at once."

  Seiji was rendered speechless.

  He felt a subtle sense of déjà vu.

  Many participants would battle against each other, with the losers sacrificed and only a sole winner receiving all the benefits… wasn't this just like the story of Fate/Stay Night!?

  It really seemed quite similar to him. If all the participants were Yin-Yang Masters and their Spirit-branded Retainers, that seemed like the equivalent of masters and heroic spirits, not to mention that this Blood Wine capable of increasing one's power seemed so similar to the Holy Grail. It was a complete copy!

  No… He shouldn't say that. After all, they were all variations of "martial arts competition" in the end, including this Challenger's Blood Wine free-for-all duel. It wasn't like it was a total ripoff.

  "Apparently, the losers that pay in Spirit Blood will suffer injuries to their bodies and souls, but not to an irrecoverable extent. It's supposed to take from one month to six months for their injuries to fully recover. Also, the victor that receives the right to drink the Challenger's Blood Wine won't suffer from any negative effects whatsoever. If all of this is true, then participating in this ritual could be quite a harvest. However, the Kurosaki Family and Himiki Family have only done private tests among themselves, without a single public testing. Right now, they're preparing to open up the first ever Challenger's Blood Wine ritual, which is scheduled to begin next year in January. At this time, they'll be inviting the representatives of all the major families and factions to be witnesses, as well as allow a certain extent of inspecting and checking the Blood Wine."

  "Before anyone has truly seen the ritual, even if one of the seven major families, the Kurosaki Family, is vouching for it, people still have their doubts, is that it?" Seiji rubbed his chin.

  "That's right. To be able to increase one's power with zero negative side affects is far too much of a temptation for any Spiritual Ability user, which is why you have to take extra caution," Natsuya said in a heavy tone. "Even if the Challenger's Blood Wine really has zero side effects as advertised, participating in such a large-scale battle to begin with might cause serious injuries, defeat, or even death."

  A moment of silence fell between them.

  "In order to become stronger in a short period of time, such a degree of risk is probably necessary, just like how there's no free lunch in the world," Seiji said calmly.

  "Seiji…"

  "Thank you for telling me all this. I'll consider it over carefully and not participate in it hastily." Seiji chuckled.

  "…I'll try my best to obtain more detailed information about this ritual and give it to you later." Natsuya sighed.

  "That would be great. I'm truly thankful."

  "Don't say that… I'm the one who's…"

  She wanted to say something, but was unable to say anything else.

  They ended their conversation there.

  Natsuya slowly looked outside her window and watched the falling snowflakes as something flashed in her eyes.