Jealousy's Last Stand
“······.”
I stared at Freed as he layered demonic energy over the barrier, then glanced outside through a gap that hadn’t yet been sealed.
The students in the stands, unable to grasp what was happening, had fallen into chaos and were causing an uproar.
Christina?
She would be different.
She had encountered demons and demonic energy several times in the north.
Christina would have realized that this was demonic energy—the Jealousy of the Seven Evils.
I searched for her through the narrowing gap.
“······.”
She was staring blankly at the situation.
The confused students, the demonic energy blanketing the barrier, Freed and me standing at its center.
Our eyes met.
“······.”
“······.”
She was someone who became hope for others.
In this chaos, she could become the focal point that would lead them.
I gave her a look that said I believed in her.
Nod.
Christina nodded with resolve and rose from her seat.
A pure white radiance spread from her body.
As she raised her hand, drawing the students’ attention, the uproar died down.
That side is handled.
Christina would take care of the outside.
Now I only needed to focus on what was happening inside the barrier.
I looked around the barrier with a calm gaze.
Where Christina had been moments ago, there was now nothing but pitch-black darkness.
“Adel Ifrit.”
I turned toward the voice.
Freed was approaching, black flames rising from his entire body.
Though the barrier had been swallowed by darkness, his figure remained strangely visible.
“······Freed.”
Not anymore.
The being that had once been Freed now radiated an aura at least equal to mine, unlike the weak Freed of before.
Whoosh!
Black flames, different from my crimson ones, surged forward in a straight line.
It resembled the attack I had fired at the start of our spar.
Fwoosh.
I immediately ignited my fire energy and drew a matching line.
Shhhhh······.
With a sound like air escaping a balloon, Freed’s black flames were swallowed by my crimson ones.
“Hmph.”
Freed shook his head as if he hadn’t expected anything else.
A sword had appeared in his hand.
Fwoosh.
Black flames enveloped the blade, dyeing the sword dark.
Freed swung downward.
“······!”
I reflexively stepped left.
A slash like a wolf’s fang passed through where I had stood.
Mana Blade?
No.
A Mana Blade condensed and controlled mana along the blade.
Even Daren might not be able to use it yet. No matter how talented Freed was, it was impossible for him.
He had simply poured vast amounts of demonic energy into the sword and released it.
“Not bad.”
Unlike when he had struggled to receive my attacks, Freed now looked relaxed.
“Is this how it’s done?”
As Freed muttered, he pointed his sword at me.
I tried to approach, but couldn’t.
“What······?”
A single point had formed at the tip of his sword.
The black flames rising from his body gathered and condensed into that point.
When every last flame had been drawn into the blade, he spoke.
“Black Point.”
Though it was black light unlike my Red Sun, it clearly took the form of Red Sun - Point.
Thoughts later.
I had to stop it now.
Whoosh!
I aimed my finger at the approaching Black Point.
I condensed the fire energy rising from my body at my fingertip and controlled it without any assistance.
Flame Divine Art, First Form — Red Sun - Point
A light like a crimson sun met the pitch-black darkness.
Boom!
A tremendous impact echoed as light and darkness clashed for supremacy.
I won’t lose.
I was confident.
My martial arts surpassed others’.
Especially when facing a technique similar to my own.
As if proving that claim, my Red Sun devoured the Black Point.
The remaining fire energy, not satisfied with just the point, rushed toward Freed.
But when he swung his sword downward, the flames vanished.
“······.”
“······.”
A brief lull.
We stood facing each other.
“······Freed, are you jealous of me?”
I opened my heavy lips.
“Do you envy me so much that you want to imitate everything I do?”
“······.”
Freed didn’t answer.
The black flames rising from his body and the veins bulging at his temples spoke for him.
I also ignited my crimson flames across my body, preparing for his attack.
Whoosh!
Freed’s sword closed the distance in an instant, thrusting toward my head.
Black flames coated the blade.
Boom!
The clash of black and crimson flames caused an explosion strong enough to shake the barrier.
***
Thud!
“······Why?”
Freed, collapsed on the ground, muttered in disbelief.
“Why doesn’t my sword or my flames reach you?”
“······Who knows.”
After Freed ignited his black flames, he had fought on roughly equal terms with me.
He had more energy, and his physical abilities were superior.
The only reason the fight had dragged on was because I had covered my weaknesses with technique.
It could have been considered a battle without end.
But the fight had reached a conclusion because—
I had grown.
Freed had been stronger than me, but not overwhelmingly so.
Fighting an opponent with clear strengths and weaknesses had sharpened my judgment.
“I······ I could never surpass you······.”
Unaware of my growth, Freed still harbored jealousy toward me.
“Adel Ifrit, tell me. Why did I lose?”
“······.”
Looking into his ordinary eyes rather than his reversed ones, I hesitated.
Should I tell him?
One sentence would suffice. That I had won because I was stronger.
But saying that felt like it would leave some regret.
It’s not like he wanted this.
He hadn’t chosen to feel jealousy.
Everyone harbors negative emotions.
The difference is whether you suppress them or not.
Freed had simply been unable to contain his jealousy.
That was how I saw it.
That was why I hesitated.
What should I do······
When no clear answer came, I slowly opened my mouth.
“The reason you lost is—”
There was no need to speak quickly.
Freed was too injured to stand, and he would be able to hear everything before he died.
“Because you were jealous.”
“Just······ just because of something so trivial?”
Even as he coughed up blood, Freed gritted his teeth and shouted.
“My jealousy made me stronger. Jealousy is an emotion everyone possesses. I didn’t lose because of jealousy.”
He added that asking had been pointless, since someone like me could never understand.
“I know jealousy better than anyone.”
My words were enough to make Freed’s eyes roll back in rage.
“You······ you know jealousy? Don’t mock me with your lies. Cough! You, who earned the Sword Emperor’s recognition and defeated the woman called the strongest in our year······ how could you possibly know jealousy?”
“I can confidently say I know it better than anyone.”
Freed glared at me with eyes full of resentment.
His doubt was understandable.
His inability to comprehend was only natural.
“You don’t know jealousy. You can never understand······.”
“I do.”
I cut him off firmly.
“I was more jealous of others than anyone else.”
“······.”
Freed stopped mid-sentence at the change in my demeanor.
“In this world, there are those who learn one thing and understand ten, and those who learn one thing and fail to understand even that one.”
I had belonged to the latter.
“I once questioned the world. Why had I become like this?”
It wasn’t fair.
There were people who gained everything with minimal effort, while I had to work ten times harder than them.
It was infuriating.
It was a world that recognized no one, a world of pure meritocracy.
“Even so, I never showed it.”
I had never revealed my ugly jealousy, and in front of them, I smiled brighter than anyone.
To pretend it didn’t bother me.
“I wanted to die. I didn’t want to smile. I didn’t want to do anything. In that situation, I found hope.”
That hope was flame.
The flames that seemed like they would never go out became my hope and my reason to keep living.
This was why I loved fire, and it was my life.
“That’s how I kept going without giving up.”
“······.”
Though it was a story completely different from the person named Adel Ifrit, he believed my words.
After hearing everything, Freed voiced his question.
“······If you hadn’t had that hope, what would you have done?”
Someone without hope would probably have become like Freed—like himself.
But this question held no value for me to ponder.
“I still wouldn’t have given up.”
“······Why? Why?”
He had given up, so how could I not?
How could I endure this emotion?
I could declare it with certainty.
“Those who believe in themselves don’t break easily.”
“······!”
Before I discovered flame as another source of hope, I had lived with the same thought.
I would definitely succeed in the future.
I would live more comfortably and happily than others.
I would succeed, no matter the path. I believed it without doubt.
I had lived repeating those words like a mantra.
They shocked Freed so deeply that he forgot the state of his own body.
“······I see.”
Freed spoke as if he had reached enlightenment.
“You’re stronger than anyone.”
He smiled bitterly, as if it was a shame he had only understood now.
“The reason my sword couldn’t reach you······ was because I was certain it never could······.”
Freed’s bitter smile transformed into one of happiness, as if he had finally understood everything.
“Thank you, Adel.”
“······.”
Drip.
The sound of breathing ceased from Freed’s body, and he collapsed as if all strength had left him.
He was dead.
Adel, huh.
Freed, who had always addressed me with my full name, had called me without the surname.
Aside from the strange feeling, another thought occurred to me.
My first kill.
My goal against the doppelganger had been victory, so I hadn’t killed it. My fights with Cain and Shane had also been spars, not battles to the death.
It’s not as bad as I thought.
I felt no self-loathing, no nausea at seeing a corpse.
Whether it was because I had resolved Freed’s lingering regret or because of my own nature, I couldn’t tell.
With his death, the demonic energy that had filled the barrier naturally dissipated.
As the darkness cleared, the outside became visible.
There were no students left in the stands, and no other sounds could be heard.
I looked straight ahead.
Cain stood ready with his real sword, prepared to enter at any moment.
Shane stood restlessly, red lightning crackling around her.
Daren waited with his sword drawn like Cain.
And behind them, a woman approached.
The light emanating from her body was so vivid it could only be called radiance.
Christina smiled at me with pride.
I smiled back.
Because of Christina?
Because I had eliminated the threat I had brought to the academy?
No.
Both were true, but the meaning behind my smile was slightly different.
Hope.
It was because I had confirmed that the name of that light was “hope.”