The Successor Contest

A Successor Contest.

It was a kind of duel held when an dispute or conflict arose between Successors that could not be resolved any other way.

Because it was a battle between the proxies of gods themselves, no outside aid of any kind was permitted in a Successor Contest — each Successor had to seize victory through nothing but their own strength.

His patience was apparently fragile enough that the situation had escalated all the way to a sub-quest.

As if dealing with enemies outside wasn't enough, now I had to worry about an enemy within as well.

It was enough to give me a headache, but the risk I'd face upon defeat was far too great to ignore. And anyone who lost a Successor Contest had to lay down their seat as Successor.

For now... I'd put it on hold.

I closed the Status Window and gently stroked the head of Alice, who was watching me with worried eyes.

"Don't worry, Noona."

"How can I not worry, when this is all because of me..."

"How is this your fault? It's that bastard's fault — the one with his brain hanging between his legs."

"Watch your mouth!"

My girlfriend was so sweet that even in a situation like this, she wouldn't let me swear.

"Noona, listen to me. Would any man really use pretty words while his lover is being assaulted right in front of him?"

I know men with tastes like NTR exist out there, but there was no way in hell I could ever watch my woman gasping beneath another man.

They'd be better off dead.

"Still... thank you, for earlier. I was a little scared."

I could see Alice's whole body trembling, just slightly.

Without delay, I pulled her into my arms, doing everything I could to soothe her and put her at ease.

"It's okay, Noona."

"Mm..."

Little by little, her trembling began to subside.

Two days after he entered the estate.

As if he'd been waiting for exactly this, Florence went around causing every kind of incident he could find, here and there across the mansion.

Now that Florence had taken the Successor's seat, the only person who could check him was me — the holder of the other Successor's seat.

Alice could respond to him to a degree, but if Florence invoked his status as Successor, the reality was that she had no way to stand against him.

That was how exalted the seat of Successor was.

"Young Master! The Successor—!"

"...Hah. Lead the way."

"Yes! This way, please!"

Following the maid's urgent summons, I was guided to the spacious garden.

Every tea set meant for the garden had been smashed to pieces, tea spilling out through the shattered fragments. Worse still, the maid who had been attending him was in the middle of being brutally beaten.

"To treat me — a Successor! — like this!"

The moment he raised his foot to kick the maid in the stomach—

"Stop."

At the sound of my voice, he turned with a face that screamed, to anyone who looked, 'I am absolutely livid right now!'

"Why are you stopping me?"

"How about you tell me why that maid is getting beaten by you, first."

"Ah, that? Two years of service and she spilled a single drop of tea on my hand. It was hot, so I figured I could let a little of it slide."

"What a filthy temper you have, Successor of the White Tiger."

"How dare you! Speak so carelessly to me!"

As he roared in fury, the garden that had seemed so warm moments before began to transform, a deep frost rolling over the place.

"A Successor — someone who ought to carry out the role of a god's proxy — and the best you can do with that position is beat your servants?"

"Ha! The higher one's seat as Successor, the more everyone must serve me like a god. Why? Because without me, this nation, this continent, would grind to a halt!"

"If I'd known this was what you were, I'd never have hoped for a single thing from you. Successor of the White Tiger. Right now, even one of our house's ordinary knights looks better to me than you do."

At my words, the White Tiger's Successor ground his teeth with a loud grrk— and spoke.

"Are you insulting me right now?!"

"Insulting? I'm simply saying out loud what's plainly in front of my eyes."

With an expression of utter disbelief, he glared at me and began picking a fight.

Seizing that opening, I signaled the other maids to get the beaten girl out of there — and they quietly managed to slip her away from the scene.

"I, Florence, will be watching you. Just you wait and see."

Apparently intending to return to his room, Florence threw his threat at me and started walking away.

Watching him go, I was about to head back myself when—

- CRASH!

"Young Master!"

The sound of someone calling my name, followed by something shattering, and then an object came flying straight at me.

"A table?"

I twisted my body and dodged the half-broken table that had suddenly hurtled toward me. The place it had come from was the table where he'd set down his tea to drink.

"Cheap little bastard..."

The moment I evaded the table, he vanished without a trace.

"Haa... what am I supposed to do with that worthless piece of trash."

He was a Successor in name only, which meant no one had the standing to deal with a creature lower than a human being like him.

A week passed without me finding any proper solution, and then it finally happened.

Alice and I were in the middle of a meeting about the Tide of Corruption, in the conference room—

"Lady Alice! Lord Successor! Mary! Mary—!"

Mary — wasn't that the name of the maid who'd attended me since she was eighteen?

He was gasping for breath, which meant he must have sprinted here at full speed.

"Calm down. Tell me slowly. What about Mary?"

At Alice's words, the maid steadied his breathing and slowly opened his mouth.

"Mary — he's taken her into his room and she can't get out!"

"What?"

"Please... let her be safe..."

Apparently he'd caused enough chaos over the past week that I had memorized the location of that bastard's room without even trying.

The room that had been granted to Florence.

I knocked quietly on the door.

No response from Florence, no matter how I knocked.

I knocked a second time. Same result.

When I pressed my ear against the door—

"Hhk! Hagh! No! Stop—!"

I felt my head go ice-cold as I summoned the Sword of the Azure Sky.

Without needing to decide anything further, I slashed the door of Florence's room clean apart.

- Shhhk!

- SHEEENG!

As I cut through the door and stepped inside, I saw Mary, her clothes all but torn off — and Florence, wearing the expression of a man asking who dared interrupt him.

And when I looked closely at Mary's body, pinned down beneath his—

I saw the fresh, crimson blood.

Only then did I understand.

When rage rises beyond what can be contained, the head grows cold instead.

"So you've finally crossed the line."

"Ha...! It's her own fault for refusing, even when I offered to grant her my sacred mark!"

Absolutely absurd. Any act committed without mutual consent is assault.

Mary was twenty years old.

At twenty, her innocence had been stolen from her with brutal cruelty.

"Florence Crystal! You finally did it, you son of a bitch!"

As I roared, Florence — in his arrogance utterly blind to the world — opened his mouth as if to ask what the problem was.

"She wanted me too. Doesn't that make it irrelevant? Isn't that right, maid?"

His eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gleamed as he forced Mary to give him the answer he wanted.

Alice and Mary's fellow maids, rushing up after me as I bolted from the room, arrived at the scene and began preparing to tend to her.

Even in the middle of all this, Florence shifted his gleaming gaze toward Alice.

I walked toward him in silence and pressed the Sword of the Azure Sky against his throat.

"You're no longer a Successor. You're a criminal. Accept your punishment for your crimes — quietly."

It was meant to restrain his actions, but for Florence, it seems this was the spark that lit the powder.

"You dare — you filth — put a sword to my neck?!"

Florence, releasing his energy without holding anything back, letting it pour out exactly as he pleased.

He drew his two daggers into his hands and deflected the Sword of the Azure Sky I'd held to his throat.

"I challenge you — to a Successor Contest."

His patience had finally hit rock bottom, and he demanded the Contest.

It was a thing bound to happen sooner or later, anyway.

As long as he stayed in this mansion. As long as we were bound to cross paths at least once.

A moment like this was always going to come.

It had simply arrived a little earlier than expected.

"I accept your challenge."

As I accepted, the sub-quest I'd left on hold was surely accepted along with it.

"When shall we do this?"

When I asked, Florence answered with a wicked smile.

"Right now. Bastards like you only learn their place once their heads get shoved into the dirt as fast as possible!"

A Contest, without preparation...

It didn't matter.

The battles against demons had been thinning out lately anyway. My body was in peak condition.

"One hour. At the training grounds. Haha. At last — the moment I've been waiting for."

When I nodded, he spoke with barely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠contained anticipation, thumped my shoulder, and left the room.

Or rather, he tried to leave.

Florence stopped mid-stride, staring at Alice with eyes full of naked desire.

'What in the world was the White Tiger thinking, choosing a bastard like that as its Successor...?'

At those eyes, forever groveling after their appetites, I warned him in a low voice.

"Put away those filthy eyes and go get ready."

He let out a hollow laugh at my words, as if I'd said something absurd, and this time truly vanished from everyone's sight.

With that, Mary — the victim — along with Alice and the maid who had come up with her, all left his room together.

Mary insisted on it herself, and so she was handed over into the care of her fellow maids. At the same time, Alice summoned a female physician from among the family's doctors to treat Mary, and that was the bare minimum of damage control completed.

But once a victim existed, arguing over whether it was the least or the most was meaningless.

"Hyeon. Are you really going to be all right?"

"It was going to happen sooner or later anyway. The timing just came a bit early, that's all."

"But if you lose... then I... I..."

She didn't distrust me.

Florence had accumulated experience and fought through real battles; he had more freedom of response than I did. My fear came from the anxiety of lacking that same experience.

Because if either of us failed to handle the other, a single mistake would decide victory and defeat.

I stroked her head and told her,

"Trust your disciple. And trust your lover. I'll come back a winner. I promise."

"Yes... you'd better! If you lose, I'll fight too, you know."

If only for her sake, burning with fighting spirit like that, I had to keep that promise.

'What that bastard would do to Alice if I lost — I didn't need to imagine it.'

He'd toy with her, harass her with every filthy trick he knew, and in the end, he'd come for her.

After all, if I lost, my seat as Successor would be stripped away — and with it, the one person who could stand in his way would disappear.

A draw would just mean the status quo, so it would help nothing.

There was only one goal.

'I have to win. No matter what.'

As I stepped into the training grounds, those who had likewise finished their preparations came into view — along with Alice.

Not just Alice, either. The maids, Head Butler Edgar, and Deus from among the retainers had all gathered to serve as judges for our Contest.

All of them would be both the judges who determined victory and defeat, and the witnesses who confirmed that the Contest had been held justly.

"Must have been frightening. You doing all right?"

As I took my position opposite him, he began his provocations — such as they were.

"What? Too scared to even speak? That's why you shouldn't have gone sticking your nose in and making this mess. Would've been better if you'd just let it slide quietly."

His words weren't worth answering, so I quietly raised my sword and finished my battle preparations.

When I refused to respond, he — apparently mistaking my silence for something else — let out a twisted smirk and raised his daggers.

Alice signaled the start of the Contest from the center of the training grounds.

"Both Successors — begin the Contest!"

With those words, Florence and I both burst forward at the same instant.

The difference between us?

He was just running at me. I was running at him with a skill.

- KWAANG!

Then, gripping the sword with both hands, I swung it in a single great diagonal arc.

Whether he had read my skill or simply sensed it by instinct, he didn't try to block — he twisted his body and evaded instead.

The attack that had lost its target carved through empty air, telling everyone around us what kind of damage he would have taken had it landed clean.

- KWAAAHANG!!

The sound was so tremendous that even my own ears rang.

But I couldn't let my guard down.

- KAANG!

Florence slipped into the opening in an instant, aiming for my throat.

Before the dagger in his left hand could pierce my neck, I knocked it aside with a heavy strike, throwing his stance off balance.

Yet far from being felled by the recoil of my parry, Florence used the contact to launch himself at me with even greater ferocity.

Reversing his grip on a dagger — a horizontal slash.

As I lowered my stance to duck beneath it, he quickly adjusted his grip on the other dagger in his right hand and dropped into a plunging stab aimed at my back — and in that instant, his stance wavered for just a moment.

My stance was already low, and his lowest line was wide open.

- THWAK! WHUMP!

"Ugh!"

I swept his ankle out from under him and brought him crashing down.

'He's fallen completely, his stance shattered — now's my chance.'

Florence threw the dagger in his left hand at me as I closed in, trying to bait my eyes away.

Electric current flowed through my sword.

I flicked the blade out, priming the activation of Thunder ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Strike's special effect.

Count one.

The moment I flicked my sword, he lunged at me at tremendous speed, drawing a diagonal line from above and slashing upward.

Before his blade could reach me, I knocked it away hard — count two.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

He quickly reset his stance, whirling both daggers freely as he hunted for an opening.

Finally, spotting his chance, he thrust a dagger darting in toward my stomach — I battered it aside hard using the hilt of my short sword, then, catching his second dagger in a reverse grip as it came around for my throat, I drove a kick into his abdomen to break the distance and solve the exchange that way.

I took a proper middle grip on my sword and settled into a defensive stance.

It was to hold off the attacks that kept coming one after another.

With a skill, I could gamble on ending this — but my opponent hadn't yet revealed what skills he possessed either.

- Fweeeerick!

- KAANG!

This time, low.

I deflected the strike aimed at my thigh and evaded the dagger coming for my sword arm.

- Slick.

My evasion had failed completely — a wound opened across my arm.

"Defend all you want, that's what you get."

Refusing to rise to his bait, I reset my stance.

"Whew..."

Taking a deep breath, steadying my breathing, I went on the offensive.

Reach was my advantage, after all.

- Fwick!

- KAANG!

Once I moved inside his range, he began harassing me with his daggers.

No way around it.

I had to knock them away.

- KAANG!

- KAANG!

"Oh, you're parrying pretty well? Then how about this?"

A sky-blue light gathered on the dagger in his left hand.

'A skill!'

I barely managed to twist my body out of the path of the ice slash that shot toward me in a straight line.

A blue dragon took form within the Sword of the Azure Sky.

I swung it straight through the air, unleashing the sword qi at close range.

"Shit!"

Judging that he couldn't dodge, he crossed his daggers to block — and barely managed to stop the attack, but the damage was considerable.

This was the skill that had dealt meaningful damage to Asmodeus, a Ranked Demon of the 32nd hierarchy, even at long range.

At close range, there was nothing more to say.

- CRRRRACK!

- CLANG!

Of the two daggers that had taken the sword qi head-on, the one in his left hand finally gave out under the impact and snapped.

"You little... bastard...?"

Filled with fury, Florence whirled his daggers and came at me faster than before.

I did my best to track the daggers' positions with my bare eyes and respond, but the speed kept climbing.

"Freeze!"

Sky-blue light flashed once more from his broken dagger, and in moments it became a mass of ice that spread across the entire training grounds.

- CRREEEEAK.

"Ugh!"

The ice made movement nearly impossible.

Worse, my opponent specialized in daggers, which meant I needed to keep my guard up at all times — yet there wasn't a single patch of ground left to set my feet.

As if reading my predicament, Florence grinned wide and called out to me.

"It's over, you little shit."

"Blaze."

The name of my first Guardian Dragon left my lips.

"The ice. Burn it away."

At my command, scarlet flame rose against the ice and began melting it away.

A Guardian Dragon would never bring harm to its master. The flames bloomed with fierce heat, and the tide of the battle that had been running against me was turned on its head.

"Now — it's my turn."

The scales of victory had begun to tip.