Weak to the Strong
Lane Arthur was in a foul mood. It wasn’t just the unnecessarily grandiose scale of the exam, the swarm of idiotic students, or even the fact that she was forced to work alongside Liu Yen. More than any of that, her thoughts kept drifting back to a certain fortune teller who had already been eliminated.
Namgung Min… sir.
Unlike the other fools, she alone was certain she understood his true nature and worth. A powerhouse capable of defeating even the Saintess single-handedly. Shortsighted weaklings only ever praised his fortune-telling, but Namgung Min’s real value came from his own overwhelming strength. That was why Lane followed him. Being weak before the strong was simply her nature.
But.
“Ugh…!”
BOOM!
“L-Lady Lane! I can’t break through that girl no matter what I—”
“Shut your damn mouth. If you’ve got time to babble, use it to charge.”
“U-ugh—uwaaaaaah!!”
It had been a long time. Since Liu Yen, this was the first opponent she truly didn’t want to acknowledge as ‘strong.’
Thud. Thump. Crunch!
“Kegh…”
“…………”
The blonde martial artist who had subdued one of the idiots Lane sent charging with only two strikes. Lane knew exactly who she was. As the daughter of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious house, the Arthur family, every female European student at this academy belonged to her faction. Her intelligence network was beyond imagination.
“Aileen Teddybear.”
“You know me. Unbeliever.”
“Daughter of Instructor Charles Teddybear and… a chuunibyou patient who calls everyone else unbelievers. I’d heard your skills were exceptional.”
“Are you even listening to me?”
“If you back off obediently now, I’ll let it slide.”
“Hah.”
Infinitely high-handed. Arrogant. It was night and day from the submissive act she put on in front of her brother Lucas or Namgung Min, but this was the real Lane Arthur. Weak to the strong, strong to the weak. Just as she submitted to those above her, she believed the weak should submit to her. It was only natural that Aileen Teddybear—who had not yet been acknowledged as ‘strong’—should obey.
“Bullshit.”
“…This is exactly why I hate stupid weaklings.”
The weak could not survive in this world. Clinging to the strong and submitting was the only answer. Why couldn’t they understand something so obvious? With an expression of pure contempt, Lane pointed her fingertips at Aileen.
Psychokinesis.
“Move.”
“……!!”
BANG!
The psychokinesis activated instantly. The telekinetic force seized Aileen’s entire body and slammed her into the building. Withstanding Lane’s full-power telekinesis should have been possible only for the prince and princess, Lucas, the Saintess, Namgung Min, or the academy instructors. That was why she acknowledged them as ‘strong’ and obeyed their words. Which meant…
Crack. Thud.
“Ah… that stings a little?”
“…………”
If Aileen was on their level, it meant Lane’s power had no effect. Watching the girl walk out of the collapsed building as if nothing had happened, casually dusting herself off, Lane clicked her tongue. It was the same reaction she’d had the first time she saw Liu Yen as a child.
“Hey, Lane Arthur. You’re pretty famous among the female students here, right? They all call you a raging bitch.”
“……….”
“Saying ‘weak this, weak that’ every single day while treating the girls in your faction like slaves, scorning the servants, and committing every vile act imaginable?”
Lane Arthur was a villainess. She had been one before entering the academy, and nothing changed afterward. Because those were her father’s orders.
It’s all for the Arthur family.
Weak to the strong, strong to the weak. The phrase described her perfectly, yet it felt slightly off. If she truly submitted to the strong, then even an extreme order like “kill yourself” or “become a slave” should be obeyed without question. But Lane did not. There were ranks even among the strong, and the strongest person she knew was her father.
You belong to the Arthur family.
That command took absolute priority. It was what allowed her to maintain her identity as the young lady of the Arthur family even while submitting to the strong. On top of that, the order she had received since childhood was to “build a reputation for wickedness,” so she simply acted the part. Explaining any of this in detail, however, was both annoying and unnecessary.
“Who cares?”
Lane ignored every word, as always, and lifted the surrounding debris into the air. Any further delay and she might fail to carry out her brother’s orders. Besides, teaching this arrogant girl—who behaved so similarly to Liu Yen—who the real ‘strong one’ was would be quite satisfying.
Only after every student she had brought with her had collapsed from exhaustion did Lane finally move. She unleashed her class skill as a Psychic.
“She really is a raging bitch.”
“I’ll make you kneel and beg me to take those words back.”
Grrrrrrrrrrrr—
The floating rubble filled the area, even blotting out the sky and plunging the surroundings into darkness. The moment Aileen clenched her fist at the transcendent sight—
300 survivors remain. From this moment, the remaining participant count will be displayed.
From this moment, the names of eliminated participants will be displayed in the air.
“…Huh?”
Lane looked up at the glowing text visible through the gaps in the debris.
Tap!
“Lane! Operation canceled—we’re retreating immediately!”
“………! Consider yourself lucky.”
“You too.”
At Lucas’s shout as he came running from afar, Lane fell back. While the rubble crashed down with a deafening roar and clouds of dust obscured Aileen’s vision, the sound of footsteps rapidly faded into the distance.
“……Hoo.”
She had no desire to chase them. No matter how well the ball was hidden inside the academy, being completely suppressed would leave her helpless. Lane Arthur alone might have been able to manage, but facing both the Mage and the Great Wealthy she had glimpsed beyond was impossible.
“…But why aren’t any other students with them?”
She had moved to intercept the separate unit led by Lane Arthur on Princess Kim Eun-ha’s orders. Yet only Lucas and Liu Yen had come running without any other students. They were the attacking side; if they were retreating, they should have withdrawn together with the rest of their forces. The idea that everyone except those two had been suppressed was simply too unrealistic.
…I should listen in.
Beyond the dust cloud where nothing could be seen clearly, Aileen slipped into a nearby building and closed her eyes. She relaxed her body, elevating only her mind—
Job Skill: Observer’s Gaze.
Done.
—and in this way, she could pull her spiritual body outside her physical form. This was the skill that had left the Saintess utterly flustered the first time she saw it. It allowed Aileen to move about like a ghost. As an added bonus, no one else could see or touch her. She had heard it was different from the Saintess’s skill, but—
What does it matter?
Whether the Saintess and Saint shared the same skills or not was completely irrelevant to her. She had no intention of revealing she was a Saintess, no interest in power. The only thing she cared about was anything concerning Namgung Min. That was why she intended to win the championship in his place and offer him the victory. She had considered deliberately getting eliminated so she could be alone with him, but since eliminated participants were stuck at the base anyway, presenting him with the win after claiming first place seemed far better.
Let’s go.
Just because she didn’t feel like chasing and fighting didn’t mean she had no interest in eavesdropping. Aileen’s spiritual body shot through buildings and dust at high speed until she finally caught up to three figures running somewhere. Lucas Arthur and Liu Yen, both looking somewhat exhausted, and Lane Arthur, who still seemed confused about the situation. Aileen drifted closer as they spoke.
“……So that’s what happened.”
“Retreating was the correct decision, but the Hero’s ambush was completely unexpected.”
“Where the hell did that bastard even come from? And the way he disappeared, too.”
“He must have been hiding somewhere in the buildings… Still, just like you said, Liu, the sudden disappearance is bothering me.”
“Suddenly… disappeared?”
“Exactly as it sounds, Lane. The Hero who ambushed us eliminated or suppressed every other student and then vanished instantly. Without the slightest warning.”
“Is that… the Hero’s skill?”
“I don’t know either. Abel Legion’s class hasn’t been revealed at all. In any case, our best option right now is to run as far as possible.”
“Fuck.”
I see.
Aileen stopped following the trio and mulled over what she had heard. It seemed they had retreated for some reason, only to be ambushed by the Hero, after which only the Mage and Great Wealthy had barely managed to escape. She would have liked to keep following and listening, but her job skill Observer’s Gaze had limitations. One of them was that she could not move more than three hundred meters from her main body. Continuous use would gradually extend the range, but this was her current limit.
Aileen quickly returned to her physical body and headed back into the academy to rejoin the princess.
And then—
“There! The ball’s over there!”
“Stop him!”
“Princess! Where is Her Highness?!”
“Somebody save me!”
“This… this is…?”
Romance Academy had already become a crucible of pure chaos. Collapsed barricades. Students chasing and being chased. Those trying to protect the ball and those trying to destroy it. The remaining participant count floating in the sky and the names of the eliminated. The groups that had banded together to survive had collapsed, and like any proper survival game, everyone was now fighting for themselves.
And right in the middle of that mayhem—
“………I see.”
Aileen, having understood the current state of this mess after seeing the elimination notice for the Prince floating in the sky, whispered.
“……For Namgung Min-nim.”
KWAAAAAAAAANG!!!
“W-what the hell is that?!”
“It’s Aileen Teddybear! Everyone run!”
“She’s the strongest fighter here! Just get away!”
She charged into a battlefield where everyone was an enemy and swung her fists.
“Yes. For big brother Namgung Min.”
To offer victory to her fortune teller.
*
“…How much time is left?”
“Roughly seventeen hours have passed… about seven hours remaining, Liu.”
“Fuck.”
“Now the number of survivors is also……”
Liu and Lane, too exhausted to move any further, swallowed the rest of their words. Seventeen hours and eight minutes since the start of the survival test. Remaining participants: six. The end of the exam was drawing near.