Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Chapter 11. He Resembled Those Bastards

Hum.

The red eye formed on Oracle’s forehead moved without rest.

Fifteen thin lines stretched from the pupil.

They transmitted everything happening across the arenas.

“That’s incredible...”

“What kind of magic is that?”

“It’s kind of creepy... but cool!”

Unlike the hardworking red eye, the two natural eyes beneath it remained firmly closed.

If one covered his forehead, he looked as though he were enjoying a nap on the sofa.

To Oracle, freshman spars were hardly enough to stir any interest.

Especially early in the Challenge, when lower-ranked students fought, making it even more boring.

There had been one occasion,

when an unexpected choice appeared,

but,

‘Last place challenging first place is more common than you’d think.’

Some last-place students challenged the top student because their inferiority complexes exploded.

Some gambled on the huge bonus points like scratching a lottery ticket.

Others refused to accept that they were truly last.

Once every few years, someone at the bottom would issue a challenge to the top student.

And then,

‘They’d get stomped into paste.’

Not once had there ever been an upset.

The entrance exam rankings had been personally designed by Tesca Academy’s headmaster.

There was a reason the top student was first, and a reason the bottom student was last.

Oracle assumed Kawin and Frasel’s match would end the same way.

However,

Spring!

Oracle, who had been sprawled out like a napping lion, suddenly shot upright like a spring.

His two ordinary eyes had widened as much as the one on his forehead.

“What?”

All three eyes followed a single screen.

The first of the fifteen screens floating above his head.

The arena where Kawin and Frasel were fighting.

Riiip!

Would it feel like slicing a perfectly ripened peach with a masterwork blade?

A clear fracture was spreading across the Royal Arka Frasel had released.

Kawin swung something sharp, cutting deeper into Frasel’s territory.

All three of Oracle’s eyes shook violently as he watched.

“That’s... impossible!”

The power of royalty, Royal Arka.

Oracle knew far too well how powerful it was.

It had no attribute whatsoever.

Because of that, fire, water, wind, and earth were all ineffective against it.

The same went for dark magic.

Every magic normally had affinities and counters, but Royal Arka simply refused to play by those rules.

It was almost like an emperor’s decree demanding unilateral obedience.

‘And yet...’

Youngest she might be, Frasel was still a mage carrying imperial blood.

The Royal Arka she released was unquestionably ‘genuine.’

But Kawin seemed to be saying one thing in response.

‘So what?’

Oracle’s heart sank.

The sight of the imperial family’s power being damaged was shocking enough, but what truly chilled his blood was something else.

‘Doesn’t he look just like those damned bastards?’

The thousand-year enemy.

The nemesis of mages, foes of the empire.

Swordmasters.

The way Kawin tore through a mage’s space and closed the distance reminded Oracle unmistakably of Astallon’s Swordmasters.

‘Me... feeling something like that from a mere freshman?’

A wet-behind-the-ears brat who looked as though he might still have a birthmark on his backside.

That was what Kawin Anper looked like to Oracle.

A freshman who had just enrolled.

And last place out of three hundred.

Why, then, did such a poor student evoke the afterimage of a Swordmaster?

Like the other Tesca instructors, Oracle had experienced countless battles.

Among them were battles against knights of the ‘Iron Empire.’

Those experiences were whispering directly into Oracle’s ears.

The 300th-ranked student before him was no ordinary last-place student.

‘It’s been a long time...’

Since he had found a freshman worth watching.

While Oracle thought that, Kawin had already reached Frasel’s face.

* * *

‘Dangerous!’

Frasel wanted to scream.

Youngest though she was, she still carried the blood of the imperial family.

She had completed every elite course available to her during childhood.

Royal Arka.

Even the countless tutors who had taught her had struggled to properly restrain the imperial family’s unique power.

And yet.

At an Academy like this.

Her Royal Arka was being stripped apart by the student ranked dead last out of three hundred.

‘They said he was Lightning!’

Yet Kawin fought more like a Martial Mage.

Naturally, she had expected to win this Challenge easily.

Kawin’s magical attribute was the notoriously pathetic Lightning.

Magic barely stronger than static electricity.

She had assumed he would perform a few amusing tricks before being crushed under Royal Arka.

But that had been a grave miscalculation.

Swoosh!

He was faster and more agile than the Martial Mages guarding the imperial palace.

And more aggressive.

Above all, she had never seen an ‘ordinary person’ tear Royal Arka apart like boiled radish.

Only another member of the imperial family using Royal Arka should have been capable of suppressing it.

“Hup!”

Frasel’s face flushed crimson behind her mask.

To her, the situation was an unbearable insult and humiliation.

‘What do I do?’

Everyone wanted to win their first Challenge.

Frasel had expected an easy victory with Royal Arka, but instinctively realized she was now in serious trouble.

That emotion ultimately stimulated Frasel’s unconscious.

Something she had deliberately kept suppressed.

Something she had sworn never to use inside the Academy.

Another ability emerged.

Clatter!

Pitch-black energy erupted from her fingertips.

In complete contrast to the pure-white Royal Arka, strands as black as darkness poured from all ten fingers.

They resembled extremely thin, menacing whips.

“...!”

For once, even Kawin’s expression stiffened.

But they still weren’t enough to threaten his body while Lightning Speed was active.

‘Not happening...!’

Every strand of nerve inside his body.

From root to tip, he drove even stronger thunder energy through them.

His already-fast body accelerated once more like a hawk catching a tailwind.

Swoosh!

Kawin threw himself between the ten sinister whips.

Several black strands grazed Kawin’s cheek and thigh.

But Kawin neither turned his head nor even closed his eyes.

He had only just gained the ability to see.

Why would he ever close his eyes willingly?

He simply swung the power of thunder toward the target before him.

Slice!

Frasel’s Royal Arka and her black whips.

They were two different kinds of magic with completely different natures, but they shared one thing.

Before a blade formed from ‘Divine Bolt,’ all were equal.

The whip flying toward Kawin’s eyes was cleanly severed by Divine Bolt.

Then something happened that even Kawin hadn’t expected.

Smack!

A severed piece of the whip struck Frasel beneath the chin.

The mask prevented direct damage, but in a way, that only made things worse.

Flip!

The sturdy cat mask covering her entire face.

The impact lifted the bottom portion slightly upward.

Since Kawin had already approached directly in front of Frasel, part of her bare face was naturally revealed.

“Hmm?”

Kawin’s eyes widened for an instant, and a devastated voice escaped Frasel.

“...I’m screwed.”

It was the first time Kawin had ever heard genuine emotion in Frasel’s voice.

* * *

Large, clear letters appeared at the top of the screen marked ‘1.’

[Frasel Illuma. Surrender declared.]

[Challenge Winner - Kawin Anper]

[Victory Points Awarded: 100P]

[Bonus Points Awarded: 10,000P]

Everyone had already been watching that screen.

The waiting students’ jaws dropped so far they nearly hit the floor.

“S-she really lost?”

“Princess... I mean, Frasel?”

“This is completely insane.”

“How did a dead-battery bastard like that...?”

“Kawin, what the hell is that guy?!”

Students who could no longer remain seated began shifting restlessly.

But Professor Oracle was in no position to criticize them.

Because Oracle himself had been the first to shoot out of his seat.

After recovering from their shock at Kawin’s victory, the students stared enviously at the points he had earned.

“Whoa... he got ten thousand bonus points!”

“That’s insane. Aren’t they giving away too much?”

“Not really. Last place just beat first place.”

“That’s the maximum points you can earn from a single Challenge.”

Kawin now possessed 100,100 Challenge Points.

Perhaps things would change when the rankings updated a month from now, but at least today, no student could earn more points than Kawin.

“But... why are they still standing there?”

“The match is over. Shouldn’t they come down?”

“Look at Frasel. Her legs are completely gone.”

“She must’ve taken a pretty hard hit...”

Even though the Challenge had ended, the two showed no sign of leaving.

Oracle’s magic did not transmit sound, so the students could only speculate.

“...Did you see?”

After a long silence, Frasel finally asked.

Kawin nodded heavily.

The face hidden beneath Frasel’s cat mask.

It was undeniably beautiful.

Golden eyes symbolizing the imperial family.

A harmless impression reminiscent of a young, elegant cat.

Kawin could confidently say she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

If not for the hideous skin condition covering her entire face.

Before her beautiful features could even register, the blotchy, rough eruptions covering her skin drew the eye first.

The kind of face someone with a weak stomach would not want to see before a meal.

A sight completely at odds with the title ‘Princess.’

“You saw.”

Grit.

The sound of grinding teeth came from behind the cat mask.

The voice of someone whose most desperate secret had been exposed.

Anyone else might have been overwhelmed by the atmosphere.

But Kawin’s voice remained utterly calm.

“Now I understand why you insist on wearing a mask.”

“You...!”

“You don’t need to worry. I have no intention of using someone else’s misfortune as leverage or taking advantage of it. I’ve experienced enough of that myself.”

“What?”

Frasel stared intently at Kawin.

The faint smile on his lips.

And beneath it, something even fainter.

Bitterness.

This handsome platinum-blond man seemed to have everything anyone could envy, so why did she sense such bitterness from him?

A bitterness similar to the rot inside her own heart.

“Instead, there’s one thing I’d like to ask.”

“...You say you don’t intend to use this against me, then immediately tell me what you want?”

Frasel’s voice turned cold again.

But only briefly.

“I want us to Challenge each other often from now on. I need you.”

“What?”

You need...?

Me?

...Even after seeing me like this?

Frasel couldn’t bring herself to say the rest.

Instead, the hand gripping her mask slowly relaxed.

‘Someone who saw my real face... and still says that.’

Someone like that exists.

Only slightly, but something stirred inside Frasel’s heart.