Man is infinite, and his ambition is to slay the dragon

Zigg tried his best to resist the urge to kick her into the hospital ICU.

Seeing this, Arisuin Nagi sighed, squatted down and patted Sarah on the shoulder: "Okay, Lily, Sieg-san seems really unwilling. And the more you cling to him, the more he will reject you. This is not okay with boys."

"Eh? I don't understand."

Sarah showed a puzzled expression: "If I let go, won't the model I got with great difficulty run away?"

"You haven't caught Sieg yet." Arisuin Nagi picked up Sarah as gently as possible and put her on the bed. "Boys like Sieg don't like being pestered. It should be said that they are more like hedgehogs, right? They are covered with thorns on the outside, and they will shrink immediately when they receive the slightest stimulation, ruthlessly rejecting everything from the outside world."

"But as long as you are willing to get along with him slowly, start as friends, and improve your relationship with him little by little, it won't be long before he opens his heart to you and agrees to be your model."

(What kind of metaphor is this?)

If Sieg hadn't roughly understood that Arisuin Nagi was trying to trick Sarah, he would have wanted to pack up both of them and send them to the hospital right now - there was nothing about him that looked like a hedgehog!

"So... Alice means to take a long-term view?"

"That's right. At least in my opinion, if you get along well with Sieg-san, he shouldn't be opposed to being your friend. And even if you want to use him as a model, you can start with a few simple portraits. There's no need to challenge the highest difficulty right away."

Arisuin Nagi guided Sarah step by step.

Listening to what he said, Sarah nodded as if she understood: "If this can make him be my nude model, then I will do it."

"Hey, how can I be friends with you if you have an ulterior motive from the beginning?"

Ziggy glared at her.

Arisuin Nagi smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Sieg, please understand. After all, Lily lives for that painting. It just so happens that since everyone is here, I will also say it bluntly - the third round of the competition will start tomorrow, and she has already advanced to the next round."

"Ok?"

This made Sieg frown, but after thinking about the schedule, he reacted: "Is that so, have you already talked to Shinomiya?"

In the D group, the final eight successful winners were Arisuin Nagi and Shinomiya Amane, while Kurogane Jushizuku was unfortunately defeated by Arisuin Nagi. The people of Akatsuki Academy had already decided that if there was an internal fight, they would decide in private who would advance to the next round.

The fourth match of the third round tomorrow will be between Arisuin Nagi and Shinomiya Amane, and judging from the current situation, the two have already agreed to let Arisuin Nagi advance.

"Xiaoyin doesn't have much enthusiasm for the competition. He should want to fight the Uncrowned Sword King more than he does others. He is a big fan of that person." Arisuin Nagi smiled, "And what I want to say is - Lily, can you please give up your match with the Uncrowned Sword King tomorrow?"

"why?"

Sarah asked the obvious question.

"Because Xiaoyin's premise for giving up is to let the Uncrowned Sword King advance to the next round, and his opponent tomorrow is you." Arisuin Nagi explained, "Although I know that your true strength is very strong, and you may not lose even if you face the Uncrowned Sword King, Xiaoyin wants to see the Uncrowned Sword King continue to compete, so I have to let you down."

"Hmm...will this help me get along well with Sieg?"

Sarah looked at Zig.

Hearing this, Zieg frowned unhappily: "I say, you guys - can you please stop dragging me into this? Besides, who allowed you to decide the schedule for tomorrow afternoon without authorization?"

"Oh? Does Sieg-san have any ideas?"

"I don't have any idea myself, but Kuroki... he will definitely not accept this arranged promotion. He has waited for a whole year for this competition. Don't use your little tricks off the field to blaspheme his efforts."

As he spoke, Zieg's eyes grew slightly colder.

"Or do you want to all die here now?"

Arisuin Nagi: “…”

Sarah: “…”

Feeling the chill released from Sieg, both of them trembled for a moment, and then -

"I didn't say I would agree to it."

Sarah said, "The Uncrowned Sword King is also my favorite model. The battle with him tomorrow is a good opportunity to observe him. I won't give up easily. In addition...looking at you like this, if I want to build a good relationship with you, it should be more appropriate for me to do this, right?"

"Hmph, whatever you say." Sieg snorted coldly, "But I don't think Black Iron will lose to you."

"I will try my best to win - by the way, if I win, can you be my model... no, can you be my friend?" Sarah asked, "I can also draw a few portraits for you, for free."

"...You are dreaming."

Pursing his lips, Zig turned and walked out of Sarah's room.

105. Just cause trouble for me

After Sieg walked out of the room, Arisuin Nagi immediately followed him.

"Please wait a moment, Sieg-san."

"what?"

Turning to look at the spy lurking in Pojun Academy, Sieg rarely gave him a friendly tone: "Is there anything else you want to tell me? Let me make it clear first, I don't have a good impression of you."

"Because I'm an undercover agent lurking in Pojun?"

Arisuin Nagi smiled and said, "Although he is an undercover agent, he did nothing in Pojun. When attacking Wuqu, he was just responsible for teleportation. In addition, Sieg is actually also a person lurking in Pojun, although he only started lurking halfway."

"...if you have something to say, just say it."

"Okay~~~ Actually, it's about Lily. I want to discuss it with you again." Arisuin Nagi put on a serious look, "Can you please take Lily in?"

Take in?

This sudden statement made Sieg slightly stunned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well~~~~This is going to start with Lily's past. It might take about five minutes of your time. Is that okay?"

"explain."

After getting Sieg's permission, Arisuin Nagi's expression lightened up: "Although Lily said that she was an assistant provided by the rebel army to Prime Minister Yueying, she is not actually a member of the rebel army."

"When she was very young, in order to complete her father's legacy, she took the initiative to find the rebels who were also looking for her, and made a deal with them."

"She asked one of the Twelve Apostles of the rebel army, the Great Professor, to perform an operation on her to cure her various old ailments. As the operation fee, Lily needs to continue auctioning her paintings and give all the proceeds to the rebel army."

Zigg remembered that one of Sarah's paintings could be auctioned for a whopping $1.4 billion?

"What kind of surgery is so expensive?"

"No, the surgery fee has already been paid. After all, it's Lily's painting. As long as one of them is auctioned and about one-fifth of the proceeds are taken out, the money will be paid off. The rebels never told Lily about this and always accepted the full amount. So far, the money obtained from the [surgery fee] is enough to buy a country. And most of this money has become the funds for the rebels' activities in various places."

(That guy...has been doing this all along?)

Zig glanced at Sarah's door.

"However, Lily probably doesn't know about these things. Even if she knew, she wouldn't care. In her heart, there is only the unfinished painting of her father. In addition to the surgery, she will actually use the channels of the rebel army to travel around the world to find suitable models."

Arisuin Nagi continued, "But even so, the fact is that she has always been used as a convenient source of funds by the rebels - this is a bit unfair to her."

"And now, Lily has found a suitable model. There is no need for her to stay in the rebel army any longer, so I would like to ask you to take her in."

"Arisuin, you..." Sieg looked at the beauty in front of him in surprise, "This should be considered a betrayal of the rebels, right? Besides, why me? I wish she would stay away from me."

“It’s just my intuition.”

Arisuin Nagi gave a mysterious smile: "After all, you are so free and mysterious, and you can kill Teacher Wallenstein with one blow. I feel that if it were you, you would be able to protect her no matter what happens."

"At least, the rebels' pursuit will not be a problem."

Sarah is an important source of funds for the rebels. If she suddenly disappears, the rebels will undoubtedly send out search teams.

Sarah would not be able to escape by herself because of her physical condition, so she needs someone to protect her.

Zieg was silent for a while: "...I don't understand why you trust me so much. We haven't met or talked much, right? Aren't you afraid that I might harm her?"

"Then Lily should be lying in the hospital now."

"......trouble."

Sieg sighed and held his forehead. "Are you trying to tell me that she no longer needs to work for the rebels, and she has nowhere to go after this, so she just wants me, the one she has chosen, to protect her and help her complete the Messiah role?"

"Yeah, that's it. Can I ask you for a favor?"

"I reject."

Sieg refused outright, "I'm not interested in carrying around a burden whose physical strength is no different from that of an elementary school student. If you want to help her so much, why don't you just take her with you? Besides...it's hard to say what the rebels will do after this."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Arisuin Nagi raised her eyebrows.

"nothing."

Stopping his thoughts in time, Zigg turned and walked towards the elevator: "Anyway, no matter what you want to do, I'm not interested. Don't get involved with me. I have a game tomorrow, so I'm going back first."

"Okay."

Looking at Sieg who was gradually going away, Arisuin Nagi looked somewhat helpless.

(I can’t convince him after all… Then it’s up to her to decide.)

(Lily, you must behave well tomorrow.)

Thinking so, Arisuin Nagi turned around and left this floor.

————————————————————————

After that, more than ten hours passed quickly.

Although the first and second rounds of the Seven Stars Sword Festival both started early in the morning, starting from the third round, the competition time was also adjusted due to the sudden decrease in the number of competitions.

Therefore, the third round of the competition started in the evening.

And not only the third round, but also the semi-finals and finals on the fourth and fifth days will not start until after sunset. Officially, this is to allow the players to adjust their conditions to the best condition.

Zigg had no objection to this arrangement; after all, he was always in his best condition.

And now, after the sun has set on the third day of the Seven Star Sword Festival, the first game of the third round has officially begun.

however--

"Boom——————!"

Ten seconds.

Just ten seconds.

[Iron Bear] Kaga Rensi, who was from Lucun Academy and was one of the top eight in the previous tournament, just lay down in the center of the stage.

Instead of giving his opponent the chance to exert his full strength as he did in the previous two games, Sieg directly swung out the [Broken Moon Dragon Claw] with the greatest power the moment the game started, bringing his third game to an end.

106. Roaring Blood Clan

Although they were mentally prepared, at the end of the first game of the third round, everyone, including the commentators, had an expression of disbelief.

"...The battle was over in just ten seconds?"

In the players' lounge on the other side of the blue gate.

Because both of them were players from the Blue Gate, Stella, who shared the same player lounge with Sieg, looked at Sieg who had quickly returned. There was a hint of surprise in her tone, but more of it was joy and anticipation: "You are really good. I knew you weren't serious when you played against those two seniors."

"After all, they are acquaintances from the same college, so I will respect them. But I don't think I need to respect people I don't know."

Zigg said: "The next game is yours. I will be waiting for you tomorrow."

"You don't doubt at all that I can win."

"If you lose here, it means you are nothing special." Sieg packed up his things, "Well, I'm going to have dinner first. I won't watch your game. I have to watch Kurotsuchi's game later."

"Eh?"

Zigg is going to watch Kuroki's game?

Stella was a little surprised: "Didn't you plan not to watch any of his games before fighting him? Why did you change your mind?"

"I'm not interested in Kuroki's match, but I'm more concerned about his opponent today. How should I put it... It's a problem that depends on the situation."

(What do you mean by "it depends on the situation"?)

Stella sighed helplessly: "You are such a free person... Never mind, just wait for me tomorrow. I will beat you down quickly and then go to the top of the Seven Stars!"

"You better do it."

After saying that, Zieg did not linger any longer and turned around and left the lounge.

But he did not leave the Bayside Dome directly. Instead, he made a slight detour and headed for the passage leading to the VIP seats. Not long after—