Chapter 43
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Winner Takes All
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Roin thought Christian had just barely reached the lower tier of 2-Star.
It was only natural.
After all, it hadn't even been a month since Christian had informed the Main House he'd reached 2-Star.
He'd shown some impressive skill yesterday and today, but the limits of a lower-tier 2-Star were clear.
*‘I hope he ends up crippled.’*
Roin thought cruelly.
This was the Shadow Dimension.
There was no one here but the challengers.
It was common for unforeseen accidents to cause casualties.
*‘It's a shame I won't get to see him suffer firsthand.’*
Demonic beasts kept appearing before him, but Roin didn't stop.
*Boom! Pow!*
The demonic beasts exploded under Roin's magi-wreathed fists.
*‘Of course, I’ll be first.’*
The faster he arrived before his competitors, the more Sacred Black he could absorb.
At his current pace, he was sure to be overwhelmingly faster than those morons from the collateral branches.
And then, finally, the space changed.
The surroundings grew even darker.
It was the Sacred Ground where the Sacred Black erupted.
*‘Just as I thought, I’m the fastest. Now, to absorb the Sacred Black...’*
It was the moment he triumphantly approached the Sacred Black.
An unexpected voice reached him.
“You're late. What took you so long?”
“!!!”
Roin's eyes widened as if they would tear.
Up ahead.
A figure was nestled in the darkness.
It was Christian.
As if he had been sleeping, he let out a long yawn and sat up.
“I was bored to death waiting for you.”
“You... you... how did you get here so fast?”
“Fast?”
Christian tilted his head.
“It was nothing special. On the other hand, how little must you train to take so long against such pathetic demonic beasts?”
“What... that's impossible...!”
Roin roared.
The path that bastard Christian had taken should have been guarded by demonic beasts of mid-2-Ma class or higher.
Even he couldn't break through beasts of that level easily, so how could this be?
“Anyway, it's just the two of us now. You're aware that we're alone in this Shadow Dimension, and no one will come to help, no matter what happens, right?”
“...What are you talking about?”
Christian's demeanor changed in an instant.
A chilling smile spread across his face.
“I'm saying it's time to teach you some manners. Are you ready for your lesson, you son of a bitch?”
* * *
Roin's face hardened.
“What... did you just say to me?”
“You don't understand. It's time for you to get beaten.”
“...You've lost your mind.”
Roin's gaze turned icy cold.
He didn't know how the bastard had passed the trial so quickly. It was incomprehensible, but that no longer mattered.
“Fighting among competitors during the Sacred Black Ceremony is forbidden, but... I have no choice. I'll crush you, even if it means taking a loss.”
No fool would fight another during the Sacred Black Ceremony.
You had to start absorbing as quickly as possible to get a large amount of Sacred Black.
Delaying the absorption to deal with an opponent was a fatal mistake.
But Chris spoke with a wry twist of his lips.
“A loss... no need to worry. You won't be getting a single grain of Sacred Black today anyway.”
“...What?”
“No, not just you. None of the challengers, except for me, will get any Sacred Black. Not even a speck of dust.”
He was serious.
Christian planned to monopolize the Sacred Black today.
*‘Why share something this precious? It's not enough even if I take it all for myself.’*
How?
By crushing them all.
Start absorbing before the others?
What was the need for that?
He could just knock them all out and leisurely monopolize the Sacred Black by himself.
In other words, Chris was waiting here to subdue all the competitors except himself.
“...I knew you were a worthless scoundrel, but you're insane too. Fine.”
Roin let out a hollow laugh.
Magi began to boil from his body.
“I'll make sure to snap you back to your senses. But don't blame me if you end up losing a limb or two.”
He extended a hand, and *kwaang!* a fiery explosion erupted in front of Chris.
It was Destruction black magic.
Thick black smoke spread, completely obscuring the already dark field of vision.
*Fwoosh!*
Seizing the opportunity, Roin vanished.
A speed unimaginable for a 2-Star Majin!
His blood-red eyes flashed.
His vision was obscured as he entered the smoke, but it didn't matter.
He could just sense his opponent's magi.
Even with his eyes covered, Roin pinpointed Chris's location and struck out with his hand.
Roin's specialty was demonic martial arts.
His joint locks at close range were particularly exquisite.
Roin had never lost an opponent once they were within his range.
*‘First, the wrist.’*
Roin's face gleamed with a cruel light.
Now that it had come to this, he had no intention of ending it lightly.
He planned to start with the wrist and methodically crush every joint in his body.
Chris pulled his right hand back to avoid Roin's grasp, but it was too late.
Black magic unfolded like flowing water.
It was a binding spell meant to restrain Chris's movements.
*Click.*
Roin's hand caught Chris's, and just as he was about to twist and break it—
“Foolish.”
The voice was like a cold spike.
“...What?”
In that instant, a cold shiver ran down Roin's spine.
It was an instinctual sense of danger.
*Tap.*
Chris's right hand slipped away smoothly.
His movement was completely unaffected by Roin's binding spell.
*‘How?’*
No, that wasn't what was important.
Chris reversed the hold, grabbing Roin's hand that had been gripping his own wrist.
Roin, with his eyes wide open, found his wrist caught in a reverse grip. He couldn't comprehend what had just happened.
The principle itself was simple.
He had combined a basic joint lock release with an immediate counter lock.
But even the same basic move could vary immensely depending on whose hands executed it.
Chris's basic movements were more elegant and superior than the secret martial arts of the Dark Magic House that Roin employed.
It was a move so masterful that a martial arts expert would have gasped in admiration.
Unable to dodge Chris's hand despite seeing it clearly, Roin's face turned pale.
He realized what was about to happen.
“W-wait?”
But it was too late.
“Don't cry even if it hurts, okay?”
Chris applied pressure.
*Crack.*
The sound of a bone breaking.
“Kraaaaaaah!!!!”
A scream echoed.
Unfortunately, this was only the beginning.
The start of a proper lesson.
* * *
Chris dusted off his hands.
Before him lay Roin, beaten to a pulp and unconscious.
He hadn't killed him.
*‘Killing him would be troublesome.’*
Instead, to prevent future trouble, he'd done enough. It would be a pain if Roin tried to harm him later.
He had slightly damaged his core.
Just 'slightly'.
Just enough that it could have plausibly been damaged during a duel.
To the point where even the elders of the Main House couldn't blame him.
But in reality, he had cleverly damaged it in a way that would be difficult to heal.
At first, it would seem like a minor injury, but proper treatment would reveal it would take at least five years to recover.
It was a trick made possible by Chris's advanced knowledge of medicine.
It was practically a half-death sentence for the man.
It meant falling behind in the competition for five years.
More importantly, in five years, Chris would have reached a position where no one could touch him.
*‘By then... I’ll have the Dark Magic House under my heel.’*
It was a vow that would make others doubt their ears.
Chris was now fifteen years old.
His accomplishment was merely reaching 2-Star.
Yet he planned to seize control of the Dark Magic House within five years?
But he could do it.
No, he absolutely had to.
Because in five years, the first Great War with the Alliance would break out.
Chris didn't have much time.
*‘It’s impossible to stop the first Great War. But I have to end it with minimal damage.’*
The Alliance suffers immense damage during the first Great War.
As a result, they are pushed back helplessly and destroyed in the subsequent second Great War.
He had to change the future.
*‘To do that, I have to monopolize the Sacred Black.’*
Chris overpowered and knocked out the competitors one by one as they arrived.
“Ugh... how?”
The competitors were stunned and terrified by Chris's overwhelming power.
It was completely one-sided.
“Because I'm a genius. It won't hurt too much.”
*Thwack!*
The face of the last remaining competitor, Allos, turned deathly pale.
All the challengers, including Roin, had fallen at Chris's hands.
They hadn't lasted long.
How could this be happening?
It wasn't that there had never been attempts in the long history of the Dark Magic House to defeat all competitors and monopolize the Sacred Black like Chris was doing.
But not a single person had ever succeeded.
No matter how skilled one was, it was impossible to single-handedly subdue all opponents, since the competitors were all 2-Stars as well.
Yet Chris was demonstrating a level of skill that was on a completely different plane.
Anyone watching would think it was an adult fighting a child.
He was that overwhelming.
How could they be so different when they were both 2-Stars?
Chris kindly explained the reason.
“It's because you're all idiots.”
“...What?”
“You have power, but you don't know how to use it. Your movements are too wide, you waste magi, and you use black magic on the wrong things.”
That was half-right and half-wrong.
In truth, the power Chris possessed wasn't overwhelmingly superior to the other competitors.
They were all 2-Stars, after all.
He was more skilled, but not to this overwhelming extent.
However, despite being a 2-Star like them, Chris was incomparably superior in practical application—the efficiency of his movements, the flow of his magi, his timely judgment, and his application of black magic.
Even if their raw power wasn't vastly different, the level at which he controlled that power was on another dimension.
However, it was only natural for someone at the 2-Star level to have unrefined movements.
It wasn't simply a matter of sense; their level of achievement was low, so of course their movements were lacking.
Chris was simply an anomaly.
“Anyway, what will it be? Will you pass out quietly? Or will you try to fight?”
Inwardly, Allos was crying.
*‘Damn it. Why did I have to attend this Sacred Black Ceremony? I should have postponed it.’*
But it was too late to back down now.
He gritted his teeth and threw himself forward with determination.
“I haven't been idle for the past fortnight since you beat me. Prepare yourself!”
*Thwack!*
Allos let out a yelp and collapsed, unconscious.
He was knocked out in a single blow.
In his own way, it was a considerate act, born from the bond they'd formed during their last encounter.
And so, all the competitors lay unconscious.
Chris didn't stop there; he cast black magic to ensure the competitors wouldn't wake up.
He cast it as precisely and powerfully as he could.
To keep them from waking for a long time.
They wouldn't wake from their sleep for at least a week.
*‘Now, I can absorb the Sacred Black.’*
Chris turned.
The Sacred Black.
A darkness so deep, so profound, it was said to be sacred.
That dense darkness shimmered in the distance, beckoning to him.
Chris walked slowly toward that pure darkness.
He reached out and caressed the undulating darkness.