The Strongest in the World (End)

Tyrant Vivian.

One of the Five Heroes of the Empire, and a certified eccentric widely regarded as the strongest being in the world. She lived so entirely on her own terms that nobody even knew where she currently resided.

I knew what I was doing when I called her here, but isn't this a little too strong?

Some kind of survival instinct, maybe. My senses felt sharper than usual.

Well. Thanks to this, getting Yuria out should get a little easier.

With this, one of the two conditions for her salvation would be fulfilled.

The problem, however—

"So. How'd you break it."

—was that I had to survive Tyrant Vivian and successfully trigger Admiration.

So I answered immediately.

"I insulted it."

"……I don't like lies."

"You're welcome to check for yourself."

I met her gaze and held it. Lies always show. The eyes, the breathing — even the heartbeat shifts, however faintly. Or so I'd heard. Vivian would know that better than anyone.

"……You've got to be kidding me."

That what I'd said was true. Having finished her observation, Vivian let out a short, incredulous laugh.

"What were you thinking?"

"Figured that's what it'd take to break it?"

"Instinct?"

"If I had to put a name to it, analysis."

Setting-book analysis. Anyway, it wasn't a lie.

Hearing my answer, Vivian pondered something with unexpected seriousness, then asked again.

"You can see it too?"

"Huh? Of course."

One-point-five vision in each eye, no glasses. Healthy eyesight is one of the few things I actually take pride in.

"……I've waited a long time."

A faint smile of relief ghosted across Vivian's previously indifferent face.

"Let's go."

"Where?"

"Training."

"What?"

What was she talking about all of a sudden. I stared at her, baffled, and Vivian declared it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"You're my disciple."

"……Excuse me?"

While I was still standing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there like an idiot from the sudden declaration, Vivian, as if she'd just confirmed something, strode right up to me. She looked down at me and stated it as fact.

"You don't want to."

"It's less that I don't want to and more that I'm a little thrown."

"Why?"

"Well, for one thing, I'm an Academy student?"

That reason alone seemed to suffice. Vivian nodded.

"Then I'll just get rid of the Academy."

"I'm sorry?"

Has she lost her mind?

"Are you insane?"

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

I borrowed one of Vivian's skills.

Main objective: achieved.

If I have Vivian's skill, the difficulty of saving Yuria drops off a cliff.

The problem was that I'd obtained it by putting my foot in my mouth.

"I-I'm sorry!"

I quickly checked Vivian's expression.

"……?"

I'd expected her to be angry, but her face was blank — the look of someone who had just been sworn at for the first time in her life. Bewilderment. Or maybe sheer incredulity. Any second now she'd process that she'd been insulted and convert it into rage.

But this is my window.

A dazed opponent's thought process always runs slower than usual.

"Now, Lady Vivian. Hear me out."

I decided to drive into that gap.

"No matter how strong you are, not everything can be solved with fo—"

"Worked so far."

"There's a saying that if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠your head is empty, your body pays the pr—"

"Both of mine are excellent."

Ah, right! This is the kind of character she is.

I quickly changed tactics.

"Anyway, I refuse."

"What?"

"I said I refuse."

If she was going to be like that, I had no choice but to throw a tantrum right back. Vivian's eyebrow twitched.

"I said I'll smash the Academy."

"Then I'll enroll somewhere else."

"I'll smash that one too."

"Then I'll go somewhere else again."

And so a conversation that sounded suspiciously like two elementary schoolers went on for quite some time. Vivian eventually declared she would smash every academy there was, and I answered that I would simply flee to another continent.

"……If you don't come with me, I'll kill you."

Vivian pulled out her last resort.

The ground began to shudder — killing intent, or maybe aura, pouring off her in waves — but unfortunately, it didn't work on me right now.

I'd have to actually feel something to be scared.

Even if ghosts exist, if you can't see them, they might as well not be there. That was how mana and aura were to me at the moment. I'd used them thanks to my Unique Trait, but that had been a brief flicker, and now I couldn't feel a thing.

Okay. I'll admit that's a little creepy.

I couldn't help a short laugh, then nodded at the glaring Vivian.

"By all means. Kill me."

She wouldn't actually do it. Right?

As we stood there in a standoff, Vivian lifted her head.

"Haa."

……Was she actually going to kill me?

No way. Right?

I ran through Vivian's character setting one more time, then raised my head with certainty.

There's no way.

Vivian was absolutely not that kind of character. So I drove the nail in.

"If you're not going to kill me, I'll be going."

The next moment.

"Wait."

Vivian caught my sleeve.

"Eugene. Next time, I will definitely……"

If you only looked at the scene, she could have been a rom-com heroine grabbing the male lead.

"……come prepared to kill you."

The line was a little off. I was about to answer that death threat when—

"Wait for me."

The instant the words left her mouth, Vivian vanished completely. As if she'd never been there at all. Silence settled over the still-trembling examination hall, and whatever had been flooding the space vanished with her.

And in that instant.

"Huh?"

Thud.

The strength left my legs and I collapsed.

No.

"What is this, why……"

It wasn't just my legs. My senses were hazy, as if I'd pulled several all-nighters. Every muscle in my body twitched in tiny spasms, and a wave of exhaustion rolled through me as if every drop of moisture had been wrung out. The same sensation as those nights before Academy Extra! had saved me, when I'd cried myself into collapse.

Just as those old emotions were about ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to surface—

"……gene! Eugene!!"

"Urgh! The aura concentration is too——!!"

"Only the people Professor Charles designated, get in!!"

People came running from a distance.

"Sweep up every potion we've got!!"

Cheolsu, charging in at the front.

"Stay with me!"

Rania, already at my side.

"……."

Yuria, fidgeting with something in her hands.

I'll deal with you in a bit……

Once I fulfilled the one remaining condition, the preparations to save the villainess would be complete. A few others approached as well, but—

"Ghh……!! Everyone stay back……!!"

"The rest of you, get out of here!!"

"Urgh, blaaargh!!"

None of them could get close easily.

Did Vivian do something……

What on earth had she done before vanishing that had everyone vomiting and staggering around like this? I was dizzy and disoriented, and yet, strangely, it felt snug and warm.

"Eugene……!"

I followed the sound of my name. Rania was there. She'd pulled me into her arms and was looking down at me with worried eyes.

How is a person even—

She's pretty even from this angle.

I reached toward Rania's face.

Tap.

The moment my finger touched her cheek, I smiled and whispered.

"Holy hell, the world really isn't fai——"

Thud.

That was as far as I got.

"Eugene?! What was that all of a sudden……!!"

"If you've got potions, pour them already!!"

"We'll be taking our leave now."

"Yes, Lady Yuria."

And so, at the center of the commotion of countless people—

—I fell asleep like a princess in a fairy tale.

Tyrant Vivian.

The news that she had appeared spread through Academy Zion like wildfire. The first to react were the examinees who had been in that testing hall.

"No wonder I couldn't move."

"Forget it. We're alive. That's what matters."

"Don't know if we're unlucky we missed the exam on time, or lucky we survived."

The vast majority chose to accept it.

"Well, it's been two days, but we retook the exam eventually, and the compensation was generous."

"Yeah. All's well that ends well, right?"

"We got in. That's what counts."

They knew that blaming a natural disaster would only leave them bitter. Of course, a few people were furious.

"Why the hell didn't anyone stop her!?"

"Yeah!! She didn't even look like much!!"

"Damn it, if I'd taken the exam that day I would've passed. It got postponed for nothing and I failed!!"

"If they hadn't changed the exam content!!"

But most of the angry ones were people who had already failed, so the complaints were quietly buried.

Next came the school officials.

"As of today the entrance exam is fully concluded, but it appears we will need to redo the rank assessments."

"Why bother doing them over? Ranks were issued up through Evan, so if we only reassess the successful candidates after that……"

"Ahem! Then fairness would……"

Meetings about how to handle the 946th class of incoming students went on without end, until at last they produced an alternative.

"Then what if we reassess the 946th class the way we used to — practical combat, from before we started using the scarecrow?"

"……Unanimous. How long will preparations take?"

"About a week, I expect. Until then, let's open the dormitories and let them stay."

They had succeeded in finding a way forward. But there was one problem that refused, to the very end, to be solved.

"……And what do we do about that kid?"

Namely, the matter of Eugene.

"What is there to ask? He passed, obviously. He's the one who smashed that scarecrow."

"Sir Charles is right. We need to keep that damned kid around so that Lady Vivian will…… I mean, so that Zion's traditions can be maintained, no?"

One side argued he had obviously passed.

"You all know this. The reason Vivian appeared was because of that kid!!"

"Exactly! What if she comes looking for him again and tears the place apart!!"

"Imagine her intervening not during an entrance exam, but during something dangerous like the ranking matches!!"

The other side argued he should fail. Two full days had passed since Vivian's raid, and even so, this one issue refused to close the gap.

Crash, bang, thud!!

"Deeeean!!"

"Ahem! What kind of place do you think this is, making such a racket!"

"I-it's just!! That kid woke up!!!"

That is, until Eugene woke up.

"Perfect! Let's go ask him! Which side's opinion he'll follow!!"

"Hah! Very well! But if Eugene still wants to enroll even after hearing everything, then you must protect him with everything you have!!"

"Let's go first! We'll ask him and talk after!!"

And so every member of the faculty, of one mind and one purpose, charged toward the hospital room where Eugene had been admitted. However—

"I say, doctor! There's not a scrap of aura or mana in my body!!"

"Ah……. Of all the luck. Lady Vivian's aura struck a... particularly unfortunate spot."

"I…… I've been castrated of my aura. Castrated of my mana!! This can't be happening— *sob*……"

Not a single person could bring themselves to open their mouth.