Ikki Kurogane vs Yuuri Oreki

Ikki Kurogane vs Yuuri Oreki is a fight between the discarded member of the Kurogane Family, who is trying to enter Hagun Academy, Ikki Kurogane, and a teacher and examiner of Hagun Academy Yuuri Oreki. It takes place a year before the start of the story, during the entrance examinations of Hagun Academy.

Epilogue
As Yuuri examines the many new people trying to enter Hagun, she witnesses Ikki and initially dismisses him, due to the latter's pitiful mana capacity. Ikki, however, challenges Yuuri to a battle, wishing to prove that he is worthy of entering the school. Ikki also claims that he is stronger than everyone present there. Yuuri decides to accept the battle, activating her Noble Art, Violet Pain, which causes everyone present to fall down in pain. Yuuri's Noble Art inflicts all the pain she is feeling due to her sickness, to be felt by everyone else. Ikki though stays standing, saying that Yuuri isn't the only one who can endure great pain, which convinces Yuuri of Ikki's determination.

Battle
After both combatants manifest their Devices, Yuuri uses mana emission, launching herself towards Ikki with magic power. They then clash, both using their swordsmanship. However, Yuuri has the advantage, due to her shorter cutlass, which is more effective when they are fighting so close to each other. Yuuri also doesn't feel any signs of martial arts coming from Ikki, believing that he is just relying on his bare reflexes. Yuuri then begins to improve the quality of her attacks and is about to deliver the finishing blow, only for Ikki to dodge her attack extremely naturally and swiftly, surprising Yuuri. Ikki then apologizes for fighting so poorly in the examination, as he needed some time to show his specialty.

Ikko changes his stance to perfectly match that of Yuuri's, claiming that he has perfectly copied her style. As Ikki and Yuuri clash, Ikki indeed utilizes swordsmanship similar to Yuuri, which even pushes her back. Ikki explains that he not only copied her swordsmanship, but he also improved it and adapted it for his longer weapon. Yuuri is shocked that Ikki could perform such a feat so easily, with Ikki simply replying that it's his specialty, called Blade Steal. Ikki then delivers a slash that hits Yuuri and should end the match, but he instead falls down in agonizing pain. This is caused by Yuuri's Violet Pain, which doesn't just shares both mental and physical pain. Yuuri, who has felt a lot of pain from her sickness since childhood, is naturally better at enduring it than Ikki, who had been feeling her pain from the start of the match. As he might not be able to endure all of the pain any longer, Ikki decides to use his Noble Art, Ittou Shura, which allows him to spend all of his power in one minute. Ikki activates Ittou Shura and claims that he will prove his worth to Yuuri.

Witnessing Ikki's Noble Art, Yuuri thinks that the way he is using his magic is absurd and that he is very determined to not to give up. However, as a teacher, Yuuri believes that she needs to defeat Ikki so that he won't experience despair when he eventually faces a wall that he can't break through. Yuuri is a skilled knight so she can even follow Ikki's fast movements, striking at the right moment and cutting Ikki down. However, this turns aóut to be just an afterimage created by Ikki's fourth secret sword technique, Shinkirou, with the real Ikki about to cut her down. Before Ikki can hit Yuuri though, she cuts her own arm, causing Ikki to drop his Device due to the pain he feels. Yuuri then attempts to strike the defenseless Ikki, but she ends up being the one who falls to the ground and gets cut, with Ikki using her cutlass. Ikki used a martial arts move called, Yagyuu no Mutoudori, which allowed him to catch and take Yuuri's weapon by using the force in his wrist and fingers. Ikki is also able to endure the pain that Yuuri experiences from his attack, while Yuuri herself is unable due to the suddenness of the attack, causing her to lose.

Epilogue
Just before she loses consciousness, however, Yuuri congratulates Ikki for passing the examination and asks if he will give up on his goal, as it is very dangerous continuing with his limited abilities. Ikki thanks Yuuri for her concern, but still wants to become a knight. Seeing that Ikki's eyes have no hesitation in them, Yuuri believes that he is not a child but a true knight.

Thanks to winning the match, Ikki is accepted into Hagun, but he does very poorly in the school due to his weak magic abilities and the pressure of the Kurogane Family. Ikki even gets bullied by another student of the same year, Shizuya Kirihara, who gains great popularity. Ikki is unable to pass his first-year, being forced to repeat the year.