Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Chapter 22. It’s Too Hard to Wait

“Did you see it?”

A leather belt crossed diagonally over his torso.

Bulging muscles twitched around it as though ready to burst.

His roughly grown hair hung to his shoulders and swayed like curtains in the wind.

“Did you see it?”

Unfortunately, no one understood what he meant.

Brogar Wolfang.

His greatest weakness was his poor command of the imperial language.

“It appeared. One instant.”

A nearby third-year student finally asked,

“Professor... what appeared?”

“You did not see? That?”

“We only... saw a flash.”

Brogar opened his mouth and revealed enormous fangs.

The third-year student who had asked went pale and backed away.

But that was simply something Brogar did when he felt disappointed.

“You cannot see. You people.”

Brogar’s gaze returned to the arena.

There stood a hero in white moving at an astonishing speed.

His fists resembled a dragon’s claws, while his sweeping legs evoked a typhoon.

Flash!

Yet every one of those attacks was blocked.

By the first-year in a black uniform standing there seemingly defenseless.

‘Kawin Anper.’

The only thing he had done was hold his right palm forward.

Considering his opponent was Cedric, he should have been rolling across the ground within seconds.

And yet,

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Every shockwave made Brogar’s hair flutter.

Some spectators frowned and covered their ears with both hands.

Yet Kawin, the one actually receiving the attacks, did not change at all.

“P-professor. Shouldn’t we stop this? Senior Cedric has gone way beyond the line. His opponent is a first-year.”

“Yes. That is problem.”

“Will that kid be okay? It wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed any second.”

“First-year is strong. That is problem.”

“Pardon...?”

Still staring at the arena, Brogar closed his mouth.

His miserable imperial language couldn’t properly explain what was happening.

‘Strong. Kawin Anper.’

Only a chosen few.

Only they would recognize the true value of this Challenge.

BOOM! BOOM!

Cedric’s fists rained down mercilessly.

The magic Kawin used against them was,

‘Lightning Shield?’

Brogar didn’t know what else to call it.

This was the first time he had ever witnessed Lightning magic.

Not a single person in the empire worked as a mage using that fallen branch.

‘Lightning mage. Weak.’

-If you need flint, you can substitute a Lightning mage.

That was one memorable rumor Brogar had heard.

He now believed it had been completely wrong.

Not once.

Cedric looked as though he were relentlessly pressing the attack, yet not a single punch had landed cleanly.

Instead,

Zzt. Zzzzt.

His magnificent sleeves were stained with soot, and the fists hidden beneath them had already turned black.

“Sniff. Sniff.”

Others might not notice, but Brogar’s sharpened senses could.

Something was burning.

Cedric’s hardened skin was breaking down.

Flash!

“Again.”

To others, Kawin’s magic was merely a ‘flash.’

But Brogar could see it clearly.

In that brief instant of brilliance, a palm-sized spell appeared and disappeared.

The very magic Brogar had named ‘Lightning Shield.’

“Right shoulder. Left leg. Myungchu.”

“Myungchu... what?”

“Solar plexus.”

That brief electrical shield was blocking every single one of Cedric’s attacks.

Truly uncanny skill.

To Brogar, the sight was even more extraordinary.

Kawin wasn’t defending with a broad-area shield, but activating protection only at the exact spot being attacked.

Which meant...

“He sees. Everything.”

This was fundamentally different from roughly covering a large area with a shield.

Only the exact places that needed protection.

That was something possible only when the difference between combatants was several levels wide.

“There is gap. In level.”

The problem was that the person standing above wasn’t Cedric.

It was a freshman who had only just enrolled.

Kawin Anper.

“Sniff. Sniff.”

Brogar’s nostrils expanded another size.

Whenever he found extraordinarily delicious food.

Whenever he discovered a powerful opponent he could barely restrain himself from fighting.

Brogar’s nostrils expanded whenever he felt such overwhelming desire.

And the desire Kawin awakened in him was...

“Want to teach him. Fucking badly.”

Aside from Headmaster Dorothy, Brogar was probably the only professor who could properly recognize Kawin’s true worth.

The subject Brogar Wolfang taught was ‘Martial Magic.’

And his race was the proud barbarian people.

* * *

As short as one minute.

At most three.

That was how long Graduation Challenges usually lasted.

Their abilities weren’t equal in the first place, and a one-point lesson hardly required a battle to the death.

Murmur.

That was why the audience was growing restless.

Five minutes had already passed since Cedric and Kawin’s Challenge began.

It wasn’t boring.

Cedric’s spectacular combat magic delighted both the eyes and ears.

But Kawin, who was blocking those attacks...

“How disappointing.”

was genuinely disappointed.

Cedric was still a graduate of Tesca Academy.

He was about to become an Initiate.

Could the difference really be this great?

“How much do you know about Experts?”

“Huff... huff... what?”

“I asked how much you know about Astallon’s future Swordmasters.”

“Those fucking weaklings... aren’t worth thinking about!”

“You should probably think about them.”

Bain, the Astallon spy Kawin had fought.

He too had been an Expert, someone who might someday become a Swordmaster.

Kawin compared Bain and Cedric in his mind.

The result was immense disappointment.

‘I think I understand why Illumina got crushed so badly.’

Several years from now.

The magical empire of Illumina would be mercilessly trampled by Astallon.

And House Anper in the novel would be exterminated without a single survivor.

“Five. No, ten?”

“What?”

“You’d probably need ten Initiates to deal with one Expert. By my standards.”

“What the hell have you been babbling about since earlier!”

Cedric, struggling to steady his rough breathing, finally exploded.

Both his earlobes were already bright red.

His original plan had been to beat Kawin down quickly and elevate the prestige of the imperial family.

The authority of the imperial family was the authority of the Royal Guard.

Tormenting a princess was practically the same as insulting Cedric himself.

He had intended to punish this reckless brat in front of everyone and spread the name Cedric far and wide.

With luck, a high-ranking official or merchant master attending the ceremony might even recruit him.

That had been the plan.

It definitely had.

‘Why is he still completely fine...!’

Cedric had felt impacts.

He had struck Kawin’s body hard enough to numb his own hands and feet.

But now he realized it had been an illusion.

What he had hit wasn’t Kawin’s body, but the ‘walls’ appearing around him.

Invisible walls impossible to see even with his eyes wide open.

They existed for such brief instants that only a Martial Magic professor like Brogar could properly perceive them.

‘Instead of teaching him a lesson, I’m just being mocked...!’

Ten Initiates needed to fight one Sword Expert?

He hadn’t even fought one himself!

As things refused to go his way, Cedric grew anxious.

Glance.

Cedric checked the expressions of several spectators he had marked beforehand.

The second-largest merchant master in the capital.

His uncle, a deputy commander in the Royal Guard.

The head of a ducal house with private forces rivaling the regular army.

Every one of them was watching with interest.

Not Cedric.

Kawin Anper!

‘No choice.’

Cedric threw off his formal jacket.

Then pressed the backs of his hands together.

Hummm!

The two connected Circles steadily grew in power.

The pinnacle of Martial Magic available from the Second Circle onward.

Waltz of Mana Flow.

An automatic combat technique that surrendered the limbs to the flow of mana instead of moving them consciously.

The technique was forbidden outside actual combat, yet Cedric willingly activated it.

‘This isn’t my fault. You were the one who acted arrogant.’

Kawin wouldn’t die, but he might be crippled.

This was definitely not a technique suitable for a Graduation Challenge.

So the first thing Cedric did was,

BOOM!

smash the arena floor apart and raise a cloud of dust.

“Uwah!”

“What? I can’t see anything!”

“What’s happening?”

“Why did he suddenly hit the ground?”

“Is this showmanship too?”

“He doesn’t exactly... look relaxed.”

Ignoring the commotion, Cedric willingly entered the curtain of dust.

Unlike ordinary mages, Martial Mages were masters of close combat.

As long as he could sense his opponent’s mana, there was no problem.

Especially with Waltz of Mana Flow making his body react automatically.

Cedric walked steadily forward and soon located his opponent.

A few steps ahead.

A heavy voice came from a pale silhouette.

“You made a big mistake.”

“...?”

“I don’t like having my vision blocked.”

Cedric couldn’t ask what that meant.

Because of Waltz of Mana Flow?

No.

The skill did nothing to prevent him from speaking.

He was simply terrified.

‘Th-this can’t be...!’

Inside the dust cloud Cedric had created, he could feel his opponent’s mana.

RUMBLE!

A naked three-year-old standing beneath a descending thunderbolt.

That was how Cedric felt.

The Lightning power he had barely sensed until moments ago was now stabbing into every pore of his body.

An enormous beast as vast as the northern mountains.

Something that should never have been provoked.

That beast swallowed Cedric whole.

CRACKLE!

“Aaaaaaagh!”

Everyone outside shot to their feet.

An unspeakably horrific scream erupted from within the dust curtain.

Until now, Kawin had only released tiny fractions of Storm Burst.

This time, he unleashed it in every direction.

Naturally, controlling the power was essential.

Otherwise Cedric would die on the spot.

“Wh-what?”

“What’s happening in there?”

The entire venue became so quiet that people could hear the person beside them breathing.

And when all the dust finally settled,

“Oh!”

“What’s that?”

Cedric was kneeling with his thumb raised.

Toward Kawin standing before him.

Then, as though his consciousness finally gave out, his head drooped toward the ground.

[Cedric Guardner’s mana has been depleted.]

[Challenge concluded.]

[Challenge Winner: Kawin Anper]

[A Tesca Brooch will be awarded as the prize.]

“Eeeeeeh?”

“No way!”

“A first-year beat a graduate?”

“Someone explain what happened!”

Cedric remained frozen with his thumb up, almost as though acknowledging his junior.

How many people here knew the truth?

‘I learned something new.’

The corner of Kawin’s mouth slowly rose.

Applying an electric shock caused the muscles of the body to stiffen.

If he mastered the technique, he could force an opponent into whatever pose he wanted.

Just like Cedric now.

Kawin bowed politely toward the already unconscious Cedric.

“Thank you for teaching me so much, Senior Cedric. I’ll also remember your consideration in yielding the victory.”

Then, just as Zephyr had done during the earlier Graduation Challenge, Kawin lifted one of Cedric’s hands high.

To anyone ignorant of the truth, it looked as though Cedric had truly used every combat spell he knew solely for the sake of teaching his junior.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“Cedric! So that was your plan!”

“Yielding victory during your Graduation Challenge! I never expected that!”

“Well, it doesn’t even award points, so I guess it doesn’t really matter who wins...”

“What a truly generous man! Damn, isn’t that way too cool?!”

Despite the heated cheers from the crowd,

Cedric remained silent with his head hanging.

Because he was still unconscious.

* * *

The Tesca Brooch looked good even on a black uniform.

Kawin became the first person ever to prove that.

One black uniform among nine white formal outfits.

A Tesca Brooch was already pinned to Kawin’s chest.

“Kawin Anper.”

A rough, deep voice called him.

Brogar Wolfang.

He had originally been assigned to pin the brooch onto Cedric.

The Martial Magic professor had been prepared for the graduating Martial Mage.

Instead, some random freshman was standing on the platform.

But Brogar’s nostrils expanded without limit.

An overwhelming talent he hadn’t even seen in Cedric, who had been called a genius of Martial Magic.

Through the chaotic dust, Brogar had witnessed that talent clearly.

“Congratulations. Apply next year. Martial Magic.”

After fastening the brooch, Brogar struggled to convey his meaning in broken imperial speech.

His tone overflowed with a desire to raise Kawin as a Martial Mage.

‘No need to check his breathing.’

There was no reason to reconfirm that Brogar was one hundred percent sincere.

That blazing desire was practically visible to Kawin’s eyes.

So Kawin didn’t let the opportunity slip.

“Professor. Waiting until next year is far too difficult.”

“Hmm?”

“I want to receive your guidance even one day sooner. Is there any way?”

At that moment,

Brogar’s nostrils expanded without limit.