Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Sparring
The news that the two of them would be fighting a ranking match spread in an instant. By now, there was almost no one in the academy who did not know about it.
Since it was an official ranking match, a professor had been assigned as referee, and there was a crowd gathered to watch.
The spectator seats were already buzzing.
“Who are you betting on?”
“Isn’t it obvious? How is Iria supposed to beat Lucia?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Voices flew back and forth through the noisy stands as people made their predictions.
Of course, the overwhelming majority believed Lucia would win.
Mana quantity was not always an absolute measure of strength, but the gap between Iria and Lucia was far too large.
Lucia possessed the highest amount of mana among the first-years.
Iria possessed the least.
Even if Iria had something hidden, overcoming a gap that wide would not be easy.
And lately, hadn’t everyone been saying she was just an overhyped top student?
To most of the students, today was the day the top rank of the first years would change.
Lucia, there won’t be a second time.
“Ugh!”
Holding her wooden practice sword, Lucia pressed a hand against her throbbing head before stepping onto the sparring arena.
She had acted relaxed when she challenged Iria, but the memories buried deep like trauma refused to disappear.
“It was just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dream.”
That day, she had simply been too nervous and ended up having a strange dream.
Reality was different.
After all, Iria’s mana reserves were among the lowest.
Meanwhile, Lucia’s were overwhelmingly first place.
She was the one who truly deserved the title of top student.
There was no reason to be nervous.
She was only going to reclaim what should have been hers from the beginning.
The rightful top student was Lucia, not Iria.
“Haaah…”
Lucia let out a deep breath and stepped onto the wide arena.
Now, in front of countless spectators, it was time to expose Iria for what she really was.
Today, she would prove that Iria was nothing but an inflated fraud.
And that what she had seen in that dream was nothing like reality.
On the opposite side, Iria stepped onto the arena as well, holding a wooden sword in her hand.
“A wooden sword? Wasn’t she a mage?”
Well, with that little mana, entering the magic track would have been impossible.
And so, Lucia stood face to face with Iria.
Long silver hair.
Red eyes.
And an expression like a doll, empty of all emotion.
There was no way to tell what she was thinking.
The two of them closed the distance until they were close enough for their voices to reach.
Right before the match began, Iria looked at Lucia and spoke.
“Do you know something, Lucia? What happened that day wasn’t a dream.”
“…What?”
Lucia struggled to understand her words.
That day?
Not a dream?
Impossible.
No one remembered it except herself.
“I told you there wouldn’t be a second time.”
“Ugh?!”
The memories she had forgotten—
No, the memories she had desperately tried to bury—
came rushing back, making her head pound.
The expression on Iria’s face.
Her voice.
They matched the memory perfectly.
Lucia stood frozen in place.
Before the match had even begun, she had already lost the mental battle.
And then the match started.
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the duel.
At the same moment, Iria swung her sword.
Bang!
Iria’s blade carved a curve through the air and slammed hard into Lucia’s wooden sword.
“Ahhh?!”
Caught in confusion, Lucia was sent flying backward.
Her head spun so badly she could barely think.
Without giving her a moment to recover, Iria pushed off the ground and chased after her relentlessly.
Lucia reacted late, gripping her sword and trying to regain her stance.
But it was too late.
Or perhaps Iria was simply too fast.
“Wait—ghk?!”
The heavy sound of wooden swords colliding rang out as Lucia was forced back once more.
Her arms went numb from the impact.
Fast.
Heavy.
And this was pure physical strength without mana?
Was it even possible for such thin arms to produce this kind of force?
She didn’t know.
All she could do was keep holding onto her sword.
Because Iria gave her no room to breathe.
With monstrous physical ability, Iria hounded Lucia without mercy.
The moment Lucia lost focus, a storm of fast strikes poured down on her.
Every single one was heavy enough that blocking them was exhausting.
Lucia had always been physically weak.
Every time she blocked Iria’s attacks, the shock traveled through her entire body like a hammer blow.
“Ugh…”
Her whole body hurt.
And that nightmare from that day came back to her.
And now Iria had said it herself.
It had not been a dream.
It had been real.
So this was what she had been hiding.
With physical ability like this, Iria could have claimed the top spot even without mana.
But—
she was not unbeatable.
That day, Lucia had only lost because she let her guard down.
On this arena, Lucia had the advantage.
Gritting her teeth, Lucia steadied herself.
“So what if it was real…?”
She calmed her breathing and regained her focus.
She corrected her broken stance.
Then wrapped herself in mana.
The moment she released her mana, Lucia’s purple eyes glowed.
Visible waves of mana rippled across the arena.
“In the end, I’m still above you!”
Gripping her wooden sword with both hands, Lucia charged at Iria.
Body enhancement through mana.
The sword style passed down through her family.
Things Iria did not have.
Lucia compensated for her weak physical strength with mana and amplified her sword strikes with technique.
Aster Style, First Form.
Lucia swung her sword in a wide arc.
The mana-infused blade left behind a dark trail.
A faint purple slash carved through the air.
Bang!
For the first time since the duel began—
Iria was pushed back.
The foundation of the Aster Style was coating the blade in mana and sharpening it to the extreme.
With precise posture, advanced mana control, and refined technique—
even a wooden sword could cut an opponent.
Now that Lucia had mana flowing through her entire body, the force behind her swings surpassed Iria’s earlier attacks.
The proof was visible.
A deep scratch had been carved into Iria’s wooden sword from just one clash.
At this rate, a few more exchanges would break it entirely.
After driving Iria back, Lucia moved like a machine.
The skills she had polished since childhood did not waver.
Every movement flowed perfectly into the next.
This time, Lucia was the one pressing forward.
Iria retreated, dodging her strikes.
Avoiding instead of blocking was the right choice.
Her sword would break if she tried.
But how long could she keep dodging?
Aster Style, Third Form.
A heavy downward slash fell from above.
The destructive force created by enhanced physical strength combined with gravity was overwhelming.
The stone floor of the arena cracked.
The ground itself seemed to shake.
Iria leaped sideways and dodged.
But Lucia had expected that.
She had been waiting for it.
In Aster swordsmanship, the Third and Fourth Forms were connected as one continuous motion.
The sword embedded in the ground turned upward.
Iria was still within Lucia’s range.
“This…”
Lucia smiled faintly as she shifted the blade.
This attack could neither be dodged nor blocked.
For a moment, it felt as if time had stopped.
The path of Lucia’s sword twisted unnaturally toward Iria.
Aster Style Secret Art.
Moonlight Slash.
A technique born from the sword strike of the first family head, said to have split moonlight itself.
“This is the difference in skill.”
Iria raised her sword to defend.
Crack.
Her wooden sword split cleanly in two.
The broken half flew into the air before falling onto the arena floor.
Lucia smiled in satisfaction and pressed her wooden sword against Iria’s neck.
“For someone self-taught, your swordsmanship wasn’t bad. I’ll admit that, Iria. But your opponent was unfortunate.”
“……”
“You’d better stay still. Just because it’s a wooden sword doesn’t mean it can’t cut. If I put in a little force here, you die.”
The mana-infused blade rested against Iria’s throat.
The match was already decided.
She only needed Iria to surrender.
But Iria’s expression did not change.
It was colorless.
Emotionless.
Not the face of someone whose sword had just broken.
Slowly, Iria raised her head.
And asked,
“Have you ever killed someone?”
“What are you talking about?”
Lucia was the one caught off guard by how calm Iria sounded.
Killed someone?
Of course not.
She was an academy student.
Not some monster hunter or murderer.
Why would she have killed another person?
As Lucia remained silent, Iria spoke again.
“If you haven’t, then you shouldn’t make threats like that. And you’re holding the sword wrong too. When I tried it, that part didn’t cut very well. Even cutting it didn’t kill them.”
“…What?”
Then, as if it were nothing—
Iria grabbed Lucia’s wooden sword with her bare hand.
And crushed it.
The mana-infused blade shattered as easily as a thin branch.
“What the—?!”
The moment she broke the sword, Iria immediately grabbed Lucia by the throat.
At first, Lucia tried to escape with mana.
But she couldn’t.
“Ghk—! Kghk!”
The sword swings Iria had used during the duel—
she had been holding back.
Even if Lucia used all her mana to strengthen her body—
she still could not compare to even Iria’s toes.
Lucia only realized it after her throat was in Iria’s grip.
Iria was a monster.
“Sleep well, Lucia. The dream you have this time is going to hurt a little.”
“Ugh… ngh…”
Right before losing consciousness, Lucia met Iria’s red eyes.
And when she closed her eyes—
and opened them again—
she was already inside a dream.