After hacking through rounds, Traveler Aether, riding coattails, made it to the quarterfinals.
The top eight weren't eight people but eight teams. Six were Inazuma samurai-and-mage combos, one was Sumerian, and the last was Aether's ragtag crew.
Gotta hand it to Arani—she wasn't just sharp herself; her contacts were legit.
She pulled Aether into a small team of slick talkers, and they'd been coasting on their eloquence to the final debate round.
Aether was feeling chill until the lead debater cornered him, dead serious. "How strong are you, exactly?"
"Uh, not weaker than Inazuma's daimyo," Aether said, honest after a pause. "Something up?"
"The next debate might spill into martial combat," the debater said, worried. "As debaters, we hate this, but it's unavoidable. If it goes there, can you block their attacks?"
That's why Inazuma teams mixed samurai and scholars—pure scholars couldn't hack the final round.
Sure enough, the all-scholar Sumerian team got knocked out cold by samurai, losing debate eligibility and the match.
"Strong arguments need muscle to back them," the debater said, showing off their team's fighter—a Natlan mercenary.
Looked bookish, though.
The mercenary scratched his head, sheepish. "I'm nowhere near the Traveler. I'm a mercenary by trade, but I'm into knowledge. Debating's my side hustle. So, Traveler bro, we're counting on you."
"Leave it to me," Aether said, brimming with confidence. "No one's breaking through."
Good thing they only faced one enemy team.
Revival, the head referee, stepped up, joined by some big-name Inazuma judges.
Then the new debate round was announced.
"Topic: The Significance of the Ukiyo Ideology."
"Pro: The positive role of Ukiyo ideology."
"Con: The negative role of Ukiyo ideology."
Bold topic, but par for the course. Reisen's question bank only directly tackled Ukiyo ideology.
Skylight ideology didn't appear at all, and Elegance ideology got sideline debates to avoid noble backlash.
The debater went to draw lots and got lucky—possibly Aether's freakish luck kicking in. They snagged the pro side: Ukiyo's positive role.
"Phew, dodged a bullet," the debater said, relieved.
"Is it that big a deal?" Aether, new to Inazuma for just over six months, didn't get the ideology's weight.
"Ideologies in Inazuma aren't simple," the debater, a Sumerian who'd studied here pre-Beast Realm surge when the One System, Ten Thousand Minds Machine was still active, explained. He knew Inazuma's three ideologies.
Ukiyo, one of the big three, had been dissected by Inazumans and Sumerian scholars alike.
Rumor was, the Akademiya published papers on it.
"As one of the three enduring, unsuppressed ideologies, what do you think of Ukiyo?" the debater asked.
"Oh, damn," Aether hissed, sensing the reward was in the bag.
And it was. While the debater chatted with teammates, the opposing Inazuma samurai-scholar team was already packing, looking doomed.
Ideologies marked your camp—Narukami loyalist, noble, or commoner. (Skylight wasn't just Narukami worship; it was about loyalty, like Gorou.)
Trashing a faction's ideology invited retaliation.
Though the opposing team leaned Elegance, they figured they wouldn't survive Ukiyo faction assassins.
Dojo-born ronin, mostly Ukiyo adherents, specialized in killing and combat. They couldn't match Shogunate samurai head-on, but in assassinations, only ninjas rivaled them.
So, from the debate's start, they pinned hopes on their samurai.
They banked on quickly knocking out the opposing debaters to win.
Their team had numbers: two LV50+ hatamoto and an LV60+ samurai clan head.
The moment the debate kicked off, all three charged.
The refs didn't stop them, clearly thinking the Con side was screwed.
But as they rushed, Aether met them head-on, Natlan mercenary in tow.
The mercenary tangled with an LV50+ hatamoto. It was a back-and-forth scrap, the hatamoto stronger with Dominator Body and elemental shields, but the mercenary held out, proving he could last.
Aether, meanwhile, dropped the other LV50+ samurai fast, then squared up with the LV60+ clan head.
He pulled a slick move—feinted toward the stronger samurai but swerved to take out the weaker one first.
The clan head, a battle-hardened veteran, had intel on Aether's strength and knew he was a beast.
But he didn't think he'd lose, even against a foe like this.
Unlike most samurai, he skipped the usual Dominator Body and elemental shield opener.
Sure, those boosted durability and health.
But they slowed his blade.
Instead, Electro exploded around him, juicing his body to boost partial Dominator Body and nerve reflexes. Less durable than a full shield but a flashy style common among Electro Vision samurai clans, blending power, speed, and toughness.