Wild Heart Arena,

Kyoto, Japan.

16 th June 2043.

Wild Heart Arena, commissioned in 2020 by the Japanese juggernaut, Genaco Inc., had, in the four years since its commission, grown to become the country’s second most prestigious location for high-school competitions, second only to the cult-classic Koshien. The diverse, modern structure was designed to host the finals for many competitions related to martial arts in a bid to increase their popularity among the Japanese people.

Over the last couple of years, with Genaco’s not-so-subtle influence, martial artists in high schools had begun to experience an unprecedented upsurge in fame. The popularity of martial artists was further boosted when Genaco released a statistic that proved that martial artists had a much higher chance of succeeding in their virtual games. This statistic was further verified when many high-profile players revealed their real-life identities as martial artists. This, coupled with Genaco’s coverage of the latest in-game trends and famous figures, ensured martial arts’ popularity had only grown stronger with each passing year.

The Art of Archery was one such martial art that gained a lot from this new exposure. Hundreds of thousands now paid attention to this high school competition, which, previously, would not have raised many eyebrows. The competition also commanded a primetime spot on National Television, further boosting its popularity. It could be said students who made it to the finals were like Chinese carp, jumping through the dragon’s gate and ascending to fame and popularity overnight.

However, even with the added exposure from Genaco’s media coverage, a single high-school girl was responsible for the Archery Competition's current popularity. Five years ago, a thirteen-year-old girl, Adachi Ayumi, took the country by storm when she took the national championship home with uncommon grace and poise.

The young girl’s captivating form, filled with unmatched elegance tinged with an innate coldness, endeared her to the general public, and they soon tagged her with the nickname “Archery Princess.” Every year since, she had not disappointed her adoring fans' expectations, effortlessly emerging victorious both at the regional and national levels. It had reached a point where the other girls who had to compete against her could only shake their heads with despair every year.

Luckily, as if realizing the detrimental effect a cheat like Ayumi had on the other contestants, a new mixed competition after her fifth victory was added to allow both boys and girls to compete together. This new rule coincided with Ayumi’s final year and competition in high school, leading to rumors that it would only exist for this one year and specifically targeted her.

Ayumi, however, did not seem to care if the rule targeted her. She signed up for the mixed competition with exceeding calm. Some pundits had claimed she was too arrogant, and such a reckless act would tarnish her reputation, but how would they know Ayumi’s thoughts at the time? After Suzuki seemed to disappear into thin air, she knew only something extraordinary would get her father to search for him actively.

Hence, Ayumi made a deal with her father. If she managed to beat the heavy odds stacked against her and win this competition, it would mean Suzuki indeed did not lead her astray by introducing her to King’s Journey. If that were the case, the Adachi household would owe the young man a favor for introducing their young miss with a way to train without getting stressed out. Adachi’s always repaid their debts, so her father would indeed activate his network to find out what happened to the young man.

Of course, at the time, neither the pundits nor her father believed she had a chance of winning. But, shocking everyone, the Archery Princess erupted with strength and skill that eclipsed everything she’d revealed in the previous contests. Ayumi easily brushed through the regionals and even ran rampant in the finals, tearing through her competitors until she matched against the Prince of Archery, Kiriiga Yuusha.

Just as Ayumi dominated the female scene, Kiriiga Yuusha dominated the male high school scene. In fact, his fame was much higher compared to Ayumi as he had represented the country in the last Olympics. Ultimately, he failed to get the gold medal, but a seventeen-year-old silver medalist still rocked the world, instantly elevating him to stardom.

Like Ayumi, Yuusha was tall, astonishingly handsome, and possessed a bearing that evoked thoughts of celestial beings. However, unlike Ayumi, Yuusha was much more open and friendly, his million-dollar smile a lethal shot to the heart of whoever witnessed it. He was dubbed the ‘Prince of Archery,’ and most believed he and Ayumi would make the perfect couple. It was unfortunate that the two were from different prefectures and thus had little contact with each other outside the competition.

Perhaps, it was to be expected of the two most excellent archers of the current generation, but even after several rounds and tiebreakers, a winner had yet to emerge. Both archers were clinically precise, able to strike both still and moving targets with zero margins of error. Both parties squeezed out 120% of their abilities in this competition, eager to best the other. However, so far, even after an hour of tiebreakers, neither had committed a single error.

The audience watching these two could only marvel at the extent of their resilience and willpower. To keep going for so long without committing a single error had since passed the realm of physical abilities. By this point, it was a combat of wills between the Archery Royalty. Who would crumble under pressure? Many bit their handkerchiefs or squeezed the hands of their friends, oblivious to the pain inflicted.

They could understand Yuusha’s resilience. After all, he was an Olympic silver medalist. The amount of willpower required to withstand the pressure of such a competition with the whole world watching could not be understated. In fact, the only reason Yuusha lost, in the end, was as a result of his lacking physical ability and not mental will. The final target had just been too far for him to reach with any accuracy.

However, what about Ayumi? How could she have cultivated such a resilient will? Although her fans had praised her as an Archery Princess, that was only in comparison to the other girls. No one had ever forced Ayumi to show this resilient side of her.

Ayumi’s cold gaze possessed an indomitable will. One that promised she would not be conquered by this challenge no matter what.

While the audience murmured amongst themselves, an announcement rang through the arena. As a result of the duo’s continuous display of skills, it was decided that the final winner would be selected by a one-on-one fight against each other in a simulated environment. This was because, at this juncture, if the match continued as is, it would devolve into a test of endurance rather than archery skill. This was not an outcome these archery purists wished to see, hence the change in rules.

This announcement received mixed responses from the audience. Some felt it disadvantaged Ayumi, while others believed she would have lost in a test of endurance, so it was only fair. Regardless of what the audience felt, the tournament officials invited Ayumi and Yuusha to enter into separate virtual pods.

The use of virtual reality for competitions was widespread. It had even sparked a resurgence in old combat styles like fencing, jousting, and deadly martial arts. Without the fear of death, all these ancient methods had once again begun to reign on the earth. Humanity is forever fascinated by the morbid, so when these ‘not-so-deadly’ death matches got their channels, their views and popularity skyrocketed.

Genaco’s 100% realism further strengthened this phenomenon. Although other companies had learned how to create their own virtual reality devices, none could compete with the authenticity and immersion of Genaco’s Virtual Drives. As such, Genaco once again dominated another sector of the entertainment industry.

Of course, none of these thoughts disturbed either contestant as they were ‘transported’ to a luscious, rainforest region. The movement of both contestants was captured and projected to the public with crystal clear quality. The dynamic cameras could even change angles to focus on muscle movements or expressions to add more atmosphere to the broadcast.

Within the rainforest, Ayumi, clad in camouflage gear, flitted through the forest, pausing momentarily at certain places to study the terrain before sprinting off once again. It was unknown what was going on behind those cold, calculating eyes that took in her surroundings with surprising apathy, but no one would believe she was aimlessly running around.

Compared to Ayumi, who seemed to be dashing across the forest, Yuusha only lightly jogged through with a languid smile on his face. Very few people knew, but Yuusha’s uncle loved hunting and usually took him along during his trips. Yuusha, whose love of archery bloomed as a result of these trips, mastered the art of hunting under his uncle’s tutelage. While he would not call himself the best hunter out there, he was certain no one could compare to his experience in his age group.

Still, that did not mean he would look down on any opponent. Yuusha’s languid expression was only a façade, as every muscle in his body was taut like a drawn bow. At any sign of the enemy, he would burst forth with an explosive force.

Yuusha’s eyelids twitched as something odd drew his attention. He carefully made his way over to a tree branch and inspected it. A sly smile curled up his lips as he slightly increased his pace and sped in a certain direction. As expected, he spotted a bush with a bent branch. Like the previous one, if one did not pay close enough attention, they would miss it.

Unfortunately for the opponent, Yuusha had trained to spot such clues since he was young. He confidently followed the trail while keeping a watch on his surroundings. However, at the fifth clue, Yuusha immediately halted his tracks as an uneasy feeling crept up his heart. He could not help but feel like he had overlooked something important.

Yuusha was nothing if not decisive.

Upon encountering this doubt, Yuusha immediately turned around and made his way back to the very first tree branch. This time, he performed a much more thorough examination. His findings drew a sharp breath from him. But, he could not be sure until he confirmed with the other clues.

Yuusha traced his steps to the second clue he found. After a careful examination, Yuusha’s expression changed as his back pooled with cold sweat. How terrifying! This Princess was no damsel! She was certainly well versed in jungle warfare! To think she would be smart enough to employ such a strategy!

Yuusha, with a determined gaze, sped through the forest. He had confirmed someone deliberately manipulated the clues. The intention of the manipulator was obviously to lure him into a trap or ambush. However, considering the little preparation time, an ambush was the more likely scenario.

Yuusha, although shocked by this discovery, held no fear. A trap is only deadly when it remains unknown. Now that he had discovered his opponent’s tricks… hehe, it was still too early to say who would get trapped. With these thoughts in mind, Yuusha tentatively followed the trails left behind by Ayumi. Even though he knew the ultimate destination would be an ambush point, he held the utmost confidence in his situational judgment.

When that time came, they would determine the real prey and predator.

Yuusha slowed to a crawl as a clearing with a mound at its center came into view. His footsteps were silent as they trod through the shrubbery, his body hunched over as he crouched to reduce his body size. That small, circular clearing filled him with a great sense of dread. No doubt, he would turn into a human sieve once he stepped in there.

Yuusha drew his bow, placing it ahead of him at an incline to the ground. He systematically notched a single arrow, his gaze turning solemn as his languid smile curled upwards. The Charming Prince had suddenly transformed into a ferocious yet seductive devil.

Yuusha was no fool. Since he knew where the enemy wanted him, he could easily surmise the opponent’s probable location. First, the opponent would need clear sight of the clearing. In a rainforest like this, the densely packed trees ensured very few locations passed the test.

First, Yuusha crossed the trees bordering the clearing out of the suspect list because those trees would also give Yuusha a clear view of Ayumi when she attacked. She wouldn’t take that risk as it could lead to unforeseen accidents.

The second factor to consider was that Ayumi needed to hide there until Yuusha made his move, which meant he should not be able to spot her from the clearing at first glance. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, in the event she got discovered, Ayumi had to be able to beat a safe retreat while hindering the opponent’s vision and assault as much as possible.

Yuusha completed his analysis within three seconds. There was only one location that matched all the requirements in a forty-meter radius.

Northwest of Yuusha’s location stood a tall tree with a trunk fat enough that it would take three grown men with arms spread wide to cover its width. It sported several thick branches on which a person could sit for hours comfortably. Better yet, there were a few other trees ahead of it, whose leaves blocked some of its branches from view. However, whoever stood on those branches would only require a little effort to monitor the proceedings in the clearing.

Confident in his deductions, Yuusha backtracked a little, then slowly circled to the back of the suspected tree. Yuusha maintained his vigilance despite his confidence in his analysis, but as he thought, he was not met with an attack until he reached his destination. Surprisingly, his target was not the tree he tagged as the hiding spot, but a tree to the side. It was slightly comparable in size to the hiding tree, but as it lacked a clear view of the clearing and its branches were relatively thin, Yuusha had eliminated it from his list.

Luckily, the tree at least served one purpose. It allowed Yuusha to climb up to the expected ambush height without being caught. Just as he settled on the branch, his eyes saw a crouched figure on the target tree. The unmistakeable dark locks easily revealed who that figure belonged to. Ah, this was a beautiful match, Princess. But it’s time to go.

Yuusha pulled on the bowstring. He lined up the shot perfectly, then… twang!

A dreadful horror enveloped Yuusha as soon as the arrow left the bowstring. His arms trembled with fright, hair standing upright as he nearly choked on the instinctual warning that rocked his entire being. Without considering why, Yuusha had already notched an arrow and swung around.

Yuusha’s gaze froze as he glared at three arrows that seemingly came out of nowhere. Despite the dangerous situation, Yuusha maintained a chilling calm.

Pa! Pa!

Yuusha slapped the first two arrows with the head of the arrow still on the bow. The harsh movement messed up his balance on the tree branch, but he managed to release the arrow in time, allowing him enough time to barely maintain his balance on the tree branch. His delight at his successful block soon turned to shock as a fourth arrow emerged from the shadow of the downed arrow, rushing for his exposed chest.

This crazy girl had managed to shoot two arrows with the same velocity, so the second followed right behind the first! This way, the second arrow was hidden from sight until someone knocked down the first.

Yuusha’s initial shock was, in the end, just that. Shock. This was not at the level where he would be helpless. He had just been surprised to see someone else in his generation who could achieve the same thing as him. Yuusha spun to the side, using one foot to balance on the tree branch as he pivoted to the left.

Whoosh!

‎ Yuusha was only halfway through his pivot when a terrifying whistling sound entered his ears. The stunned young man could only gape with shock as the tree branch beneath him exploded into splinters from the onslaught of two lightning-fast arrows.

Only at this moment did Yuusha realize that the initial arrows had lacked a certain speed. This difference in speed allowed him to block the attacks, but it also created a false impression of the arrow speeds. With even the seemingly deadly killer fourth arrow having the same speed, Yuusha had performed his subsequent dodge with that speed in mind.

Yuusha knew now he had been played!

Ayumi set everything up for this moment!

It was easy for the accelerated follow-up arrows to burst apart the support branch before Yuusha could react after deceiving his senses. What’s worse, the fourth arrow was still coming at his chest. Without the branch, there was no way to pivot out of the way!

Faced with this certain-death scenario, Yuusha drew a deep breath and pushed his body backward. His back bent backward, allowing the arrow to pass, but Yuusha knew if he fell as is, he would undoubtedly perish. Rather than panic, the young man completed the rotation, so his head now faced the ground.

Yuusha stretched his hand outward and grabbed a branch when he was a few meters from the ground. He used the branch as a pivot to spin in place and cancel out most of the momentum. Although his hands turned bloody and raw from the harsh contact, Yuusha’s expression remained the same as he swung off the branch.

Yuusha’s face turned grim as five arrows tore out from the forest with unmatched ferocity. The killing intent suffused in those arrowheads evoked a sense of doom in the young man’s heart. Yuusha grit his teeth as he pulled out the only three arrows in his quiver to have survived the fall. Within the span of a second, the arrows burst forth with the raging unwillingness of dragons.

Yuusha’s state of mind broke through under pressure, allowing him to accomplish feats he’d never deemed possible previously. The three arrows spun in place, two of which suddenly veered ‘off-course’ as if blown away by a great wind. This caused both arrows to smash into two arrows each, narrowly altering their flight path. Of course, at that speed, the slightest deviation would result in a difference of meters. The third arrow accurately struck against Ayumi’s final arrow, and both clattered to the ground.

Yuusha landed on his feet but surprisingly did not attempt to run. He put his hands up, the irresistible smile returning to his face as he turned to a part of the forest. “I’ve lost.”

As expected, with the rustling of leaves, Ayumi walked into view with a notched bow.

Yuusha sighed as he looked at the short head of hair on the young woman. “You’re far too ruthless,” he muttered with a shake of his head. “I never would have imagined you would cut off your hair.”

Yuusha’s suspicions were confirmed in full after laying eyes on Ayumi. Right from the start, this had indeed been a trap as expected. What he had not expected was that this seemingly simple trap was tailor-made for him. It had considered his careful yet confident nature, leading him step-by-step to that tree branch.

Once Yuusha spotted the ‘figure’ on the other branch, he had not hesitated to believe it was Ayumi. After all, who would believe a proud daughter of heaven would willingly cut her hair on live TV broadcasted to millions of people. Evidently, this young woman did not care what the world thought. That level of resolve was something he had lacked coming into this competition.

Yuusha could not help but wonder why Ayumi went so far. However, he knew his boundaries and instead asked, “Where did you hide then?”

Ayumi stepped aside, and he followed her gaze to the unseeming boulder at the center of the clearing. If one lay prone on the earth, the boulder could shield them from one direction. All the person would have to do to escape detection is shuffle along the boulder’s side while the target moved to ensure they were out of sight from that particular target. This boulder could only be used in this one-vs-one scenario where there were no interrupting animals or contestants; otherwise, her cover would have been blown.

“Oh! Ah! That’s how it was!” Yuusha exclaimed with a regretful chuckle. To think she hid at the most exposed location! He would never have thought she would choose that place as her hiding spot.

Indeed from the clearing, Ayumi could observe everything and predict his steps. Since Yuusha would have followed the clues to that point, she could predict where he would pop out from and hide accordingly. Once he was in the vicinity of the clearing, tracking his movement was just too easy.

This multi-level trap did not end there. To effectively reduce Yuusha’s reaction to the ambush, Ayumi created a suitable target for the male archer. She cut off her hair and attached it to a rough figure made of stones. She draped her camo jacket over the rocks to give it more realism. That’s right, at the moment, Ayumi was only wearing a sports bra on as her top.

This much was within her acceptance range. If needed, Ayumi would have gotten rid of the camo pants too. That was the extent of her resolve. It was an unshakeable will that no-one would be able to deny.

“This was a good fight,” Yuusha remarked with his arm held out as a white light gradually enveloped his body. “If you do not mind, it would be my honor to make your acquaintance at a later date. Of course, in a much less kill-ey setting.”

Maybe it was due to the released tension or hidden anticipation of something no one else knew, but Ayumi’s lips blossomed into the most beautiful smile. The smile stole the hearts of all watching the match regardless of gender. Such was the perfection and grace like an angel descended upon men. “It would be my honor to host such a magnificent archer.”

Yuusha distractedly smiled as she clasped her hand in his. “Ah, this loss may have been worth it…”