Chapter 40: The Duel
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 40: The Duel
A duel with expulsion on the line, pitting an Academy freshman against a top-tier third-year.
A massive crowd of students and professors alike had swarmed the arena to witness the spectacle. The students huddled in their respective cliques, buzzing with anticipation as they waited for the match to begin.
Joden Adelian, the Student Council President, stood among his fellow council members.
"President, we’ve been contacted by the Archen Kingdom. They’re requesting information on Loki."
"Ignore them."
"Understood."
The Archen Kingdom likely suspected Loki was a plant—a sleeper agent sent by a rival nation. Because of him, the Prince of Archen had been branded overnight as a fool who insulted the Imperial Crown Prince. Now, the Prince was forced into a duel where he had to stake his very enrollment against a mere freshman.
From the Archen Kingdom's perspective, it was only natural to assume another country had sent Loki to drive a wedge between the Kingdom and the Empire. They must have investigated him thoroughly.
'But they won't find a thing.'
The Ducal House of Adelian had already looked into Loki’s past. The result? Absolutely nothing.
Johanna Freya, President of the Disciplinary Committee, sat with her members, waiting for the duel to start. The Special Class students had naturally gathered together, their eyes gleaming with curiosity over how Loki intended to fight.
"I’m supposed to be over there, too..."
Lucas Leonhart muttered to himself, sitting far apart from the rest. He had intended to watch the duel with the other Special Class students, but he had taken an isolated seat at Yerika’s request.
[Brother, a little more to the left.]
Hearing the voice through his communication device, Lucas adjusted its position.
[Stop, stop. Too far. Just a tiny bit more to the right.]
"Sigh... Fine."
[You’re doing great.]
There were two others besides Yerika watching the arena through the device. The Emperor and Empress were sitting right beside her, observing the scene. If the other students noticed this, it would undoubtedly cause an uproar, which was why Lucas had chosen to sit alone.
"Oh? Someone’s coming!"
A student shouted as a figure entered the arena.
[Is it the Clown?] Yerika asked.
"No."
Contrary to Yerika’s expectations, the person entering the arena wasn't Loki. The first to appear was Rophri Alphser, the Prince of the Archen Kingdom.
[Why does he look so angry?]
Just as Yerika noted, Rophri marched into the arena huffing and puffing, his face contorted with pure rage.
"It’s probably because of the article the Newspaper Club posted on the bulletin board yesterday."
The article in question claimed that Loki intended to swing his sword only once during his fight against Rophri.
[But is it really possible for the Clown to win with a single strike?]
Lucas pondered Yerika’s question.
Winning against a top-tier third-year with a single swing?
'Of course it’s impossible.'
And yet, Lucas couldn't bring himself to say it. For some reason, he felt that if it were Loki, he might actually pull it off.
Time ticked by after Rophri’s entrance, but Loki was nowhere to be seen.
"When is that freshman going to show up?"
"It’s obvious, isn't it? He got scared and ran for it."
"Seems weird to run away after talking that big in the newspaper, though."
"Talk is cheap. If we’re going by words alone, I could say I can hunt a dragon."
As Loki failed to appear, the students began to whisper. Among them, those speaking ill of Loki were mostly from the Archen Kingdom—specifically, Rophri’s subordinates.
From their perspective, Rophri absolutely could not lose. There were currently two princes in the Archen Kingdom, and the successor to the throne had not yet been finalized. Rophri, who maintained a top-tier rank even at Croa Academy, the greatest institution on the continent, was currently the frontrunner for the crown.
But what if he not only insulted the Imperial Crown Prince but also lost a duel to a freshman and got expelled? The consequences were blindingly obvious.
"Did he really run away because he was scared?"
Just as a student whispered this, influenced by the comments of Rophri’s lackeys...
"Oh, surely not."
A voice rang out from thin air. Everyone turned their gaze toward the arena. Suddenly, a cloud of smoke erupted in the center of the ring, and Loki made a flamboyant entrance.
"Judging by the atmosphere, it seems I’m a bit late."
He spoke casually, but it had been a close call. One of the items he had requested from Professor Idra had only just been completed.
"I’ll praise you for not running away like a coward. But even so, you—"
"One moment, please."
Cutting the pest off, Loki walked toward a spot where the maximum number of people could see him.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to meet you! For all of you who have come to see my stage, I shall present the greatest show on earth!"
He bowed to the audience like a lead actor before a performance.
"I shall serve as the referee."
The one who stepped forward was Professor Gedra, one of the senior faculty members.
"Begin!"
As soon as Professor Gedra signaled the start, Rophri drew his sword immediately.
"What is that guy doing?"
"Does he have no intention of fighting?"
The students buzzed at Loki’s actions. Instead of drawing his sword, Loki had turned around and was running toward the opposite end of the arena. It was a first in the history of duels, leaving everyone bewildered.
Regardless of the confusion, Loki reached the edge of the arena and pulled something out of his Pocket Dimension.
"What is that?"
"A chair?"
The murmuring grew louder as they saw what Loki had retrieved. It was indeed a chair, but it was far from ordinary. It was ornate, regal, and significantly larger than a standard seat.
"Hup!"
Loki sat down on the oversized chair with an air of total relaxation.
"Aren't you going to fight?"
Sitting in his chair, Loki beckoned with his finger toward the stunned Rophri. Driven by the blatant provocation, Rophri charged.
Creak. Whoosh!
However, Rophri’s foot caught on a tripwire, and a dagger flew straight toward his head.
Clang!
Rophri deflected the sudden projectile with his sword.
"Do you really think you can defeat me with such petty tricks!" Rophri screamed at Loki, who was half-reclined in the chair.
"Don't be in such a hurry. There’s plenty more where that came from."
Still seated, Loki flicked another dagger at Rophri. The blade flew with incredible speed, but Rophri, having already been alerted by the first surprise attack, dodged it with ease.
Snap.
The dagger Rophri dodged flew past him and severed a string behind him.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
As the string snapped, three more daggers lunged at Rophri. He threw himself aside to avoid them.
"You’re good at dodging. Then how about you try dodging this?"
Loki threw three daggers simultaneously. Rophri considered dodging but, fearing the daggers might cut more strings behind him, he chose to swat them away with his sword.
Clang!
The daggers were all deflected.
"Now what will you do!" Rophri shouted confidently.
But everything was going exactly as Loki had calculated. The deflected daggers collided with each other in mid-air and fell to the ground, severing strings hidden on the floor.
As the floor strings snapped, dozens of daggers that had been hidden by illusions swarmed Rophri from every direction.
"Is Rophri actually going to lose?"
"Just how far ahead did that guy calculate?"
Seeing dozens of daggers converging on Rophri from all angles, the students thought it was over.
Ting, ting, ting, ting!
However, the daggers all fell to the ground as if they had hit an invisible wall. A blue film had manifested around Rophri, enveloping him.
"An artifact, I see."
"So you have eyes after all. Yes, this is an expensive artifact that someone like you could never afford, no matter how hard you worked!" Rophri sneered at Loki, who had stopped throwing daggers. "Your cheap tricks are useless before me."
Hearing Rophri’s words, Loki’s body began to tremble. Just as the spectators thought Loki had run out of options...
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!"
Loki burst into a fit of manic laughter. His voice was the only sound echoing through the arena. The students, initially baffled by the sudden outburst, began to shiver as the sheer madness in his laughter persisted.
"Shall we see if they’re truly useless?"
Loki stopped laughing and threw a single dagger at Rophri.
"I’m sorry, but your clumsy moves won't work anymore!"
Trusting his artifact, Rophri didn't bother dodging. The dagger was blocked by the blue film and fell.
"This one looks a bit different?"
Rophri picked up the fallen dagger to examine it.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you not to pick up other people's things?"
Snap.
Loki spoke as he snapped his fingers.
SCREECH—!!!!!!
An explosion of blinding light and deafening noise overwhelmed Rophri.
"Aaaargh!!!!"
Having taken a flash grenade point-blank, Rophri clutched his eyes in agony. No matter how good the artifact was, it couldn't block out light and sound.
In that moment, the words Loki had said in the newspaper flashed through Rophri’s mind.
I will swing my sword only once.
Terrified by the thought, Rophri began swinging his sword wildly to keep Loki from approaching. Once his vision began to clear, he forced his eyes open to locate his opponent.
Contrary to his expectations, Loki was still sitting in his chair, resting his chin on his hand and watching him.
As if he were watching a clown.
"I’ll kill you!!"
Consumed by rage, Rophri charged at Loki.
Click.
As Rophri took a step forward, his foot pressed down on something. In his blind fury, he didn't care and lifted his foot to keep moving.
BOOM!!!!!!
The moment his foot left the ground, the landmine detonated.