The One Who Claims the Top Spot
“──Choi Kang-hyeon. The one who has to take you down to claim the top spot.”
Whoa. This is gonna be fun.
A smile spreads across Choi Yeon's lips as she hears Choi Kang-hyeon's words.
“Yeah. You. This'll be fun.”
“Same here.”
They moved almost simultaneously.
“Bisect.”
“Sea Wind.”
Choi Yeon raises her sword high overhead while Choi Kang-hyeon gathers water in his hand, shapes it into a blade, and hurls it forward. The moment their attacks collide, a shockwave erupts, whipping up a ferocious gust around them.
“Looks like you learned some real moves down in Busan, huh?”
The techniques and movements he's showing now are on a whole different level from what I'd seen back in his second year at the academy. I never imagined he'd be trading blows like this with Choi Yeon right from the start.
“Full Ship.”
As Choi Kang-hyeon draws his hands together, the water scattered across the ground surges up, forming the shape of a massive ship.
“Pulling off tech like that without any seawater around?”
His ability is supposed to be limited to seawater, right? I had no idea where he'd gathered this much water from.
“……No way. Did Young Ho-ham give it to him?”
A treasure that should rightfully belong to Young Ho-ham.
◈ Turns fresh water into seawater
A completely useless item that can only turn fresh water into seawater. But the moment it falls into Choi Kang-hyeon's hands, it unleashes its true potential. It's practically a dedicated artifact for him.
“And the damn thing was a nightmare to acquire……”
Good on him for getting it. Things were starting to get really interesting.
“──Fall just like that. Top spot.”
The massive fleet of seawater ships Choi Kang-hyeon conjures charges straight at her. Ships with enormous volume and mass barreling in.
In response, Choi Yeon lowers her stance and grips her sword hilt in a reverse hold. Then—
“Water Current Slash.”
Her blindingly fast iatto distorts and shatters the ships' forms. Maybe because she seized control of the seawater with that last attack, they crumble powerlessly.
As the collapsing ships fill her vision with chaos, she doesn't miss the opening and charges straight at Choi Kang-hyeon. Seawater churns and rises along her path.
In response, he stomps the ground, erecting a defensive barrier of water before him.
“Water Current Slash.”
But Choi Yeon slices through it effortlessly like it's nothing and raises her sword overhead.
“Aren't you underestimating me a bit too much?”
Choi Kang-hyeon, already poised for a counter from inside the barrier, lunges forward and throws a punch.
A moment where neither can back down. They exchange blows furiously.
Like a cat dodging a snake's strikes, Choi Yeon twists her head to evade attacks. Meanwhile, Choi Kang-hyeon closes the distance to maintain his pace.
Realizing she's entered his range, she takes a step back to keep her distance—but
“You can't escape.”
Having already yielded ground, all that awaits her is the serpent's relentless assault.
Another fist flies toward her head. She ducks left to dodge, but a jet of water erupts from his hand, blinding her eyes.
“Kuh!”
Her vision obscured, Choi Yeon squeezes her eyes shut. Choi Kang-hyeon doesn't miss the chance and unleashes a knee strike at her face.
But robbing her sight alone wasn't enough to pierce her senses. She rolls her body to evade, then swings her sword at his arm.
A blade surging forward as if to sever his arm clean off. But he catches it casually with both hands.
Clang!
Sparks fly between his arms and her sword. Was that really the sound of flesh and steel clashing?
As even I start to doubt my eyes, Choi Kang-hyeon speaks first.
“A man from Busan has a body and heart of steel.”
Ah, that line. He's spouting the technique he learned from Young Ho-ham like some chuunibyou.
For the record, the guy's actually from Daejeon.
“You can't beat me with a sword.”
Declaring it like she can't win because steel can't be cut.
Choi Yeon just closes her eyes, flashes a grin, and replies nonchalantly.
“Steel alone isn't enough.”
“What?”
Grind.Grrrind.Griiiind.
Little by little—ever so slightly—her sword begins digging into his arm.
Blood trickles down Choi Kang-hyeon's arm. Panicking, he summons surrounding water jets to envelop her head, but they can't breach her body now cloaked entirely in aura.
Changing tactics, he gathers all the water around himself. With his trump card failed, he creates a wave from the moisture to force distance.
“Sea Spear.”
At the same time, he manifests dozens, hundreds of seawater spears at the water's edge. Realizing close range won't work, he's switching to long-range.
Not a bad plan. For her, who excels in close combat, a barrage of magic from afar is something she can't dodge with eyes open.
The only issues? She's a speed-focused swiftblade swordsman, and the sword she's wielding isn't ordinary.
“No more running.”
Choi Yeon charges to seize the advantage. But she hesitates.
Splash──
Looking down, the ground around her is already ankle-deep in seawater. The mana-infused water grips her ankles, slowing her.
“Using your head for once?”
I clap while watching from a relaxed vantage.
“But it won't end here, right?”
I was impressed by the creativity of this new technique, but that was just admiration for ingenuity. Would she really falter here?
The answer came quick.
She rises effortlessly onto the water's surface and bounces lightly across it—like a ninja from some cartoon.
Not that strange if you think of her grandfather Choi Seonho leaping through the air on a single leaf…… but Choi Kang-hyeon's face shows clear surprise.
“So even normal techniques won't work on her, huh?”
Choi Yeon shakes her head at his exasperated mutter.
“Nah, you have to keep aura focused on your feet. It worked a little.”
“Minimally, then.”
“Yeah. Minimal.”
“Whatever. I didn't make this field just for you anyway.”
With those words, he stomps lightly, and water pillars erupt from afar.
-Gahhh!
-How'd he spot us!
The guys hiding around the Han River Park get reverse-summoned or dragged out by the sudden assault.
And—
“Didn't expect you'd hit me with it too.”
I twist sideways at the mana surge underfoot, and a water pillar shoots up right where I stood.
“Honestly, were you even hiding?”
Yeah, fair. They were broadcasting it loud and clear, and with the No. 2 title floating over my head, everyone knew anyway.
“Oh? Eugene? Hey.”
In the midst of it all, Choi Yeon spots me like she genuinely had no clue and waves hello.
How hyper-focused on the fight do you have to be to miss this blaring title? So very her.
“Choi Yeon. At this rate, even if we fight, we'll just lose to that guy who's still fresh. How about we take out No. 2 first?”
No wonder the community jokes that Choi Kang-hyeon's IQ jumps 30 points in battle.
But Choi Yeon just shakes her head and raises her sword.
“Nah?”
“What?”
“Why bother? Gotta take 'em all down anyway.”
Choi Kang-hyeon's face twists in shock at her words. He clearly didn't know her well enough.
He never saw this stalemate coming.
“Shouldn't have poked the guy just chilling and created this mess?”
I'd planned to slowly clean up the interlopers while spectating, but getting hit first meant I couldn't sit idle anymore.
“Guess I'll tidy up the surroundings first.”
Aura Sonar
A quick scan before jumping into the three-way brawl pinpoints the lurking rats one by one.
Three left besides us.
“Anyone wanna shotgun their way out? Giving you a free pass to exit the zone on your own feet.”
I infuse aura into the 'Ring of the Ancient Berserker (True)', spreading fear. The hiders bolt for the zone edge.
-R-Run!
-Eek!
Some stubbornly stayed……
──Boom!
───Boom!
But they were just the ones who'd barely clung on so far. No match for a prime negotiation tool—they had no choice but to exit.
“Alright. Just us three now. Ready to start?”
I loosen up ahead of the intense showdown to come. Choi Yeon nods.
“Yeah. Good.”
She charges me sword-first. I expected it, but not this soon.
───Greeeeend!
I block her sword with aura-clad Midas Gloves. Red and blue auras clash, sparking brilliantly as we push against each other.
“Thought that was an opening.”
“Like I'd leave one you could exploit.”
She'd apparently forgotten we trained together.
'If you see a gap, charge in—no mercy, right?'
'Agreed. Whining about fairness in real combat is just loser excuses.'
Putting the elders' words into practice already. Quick learner.
But—
“Doesn't mean you can get distracted.”
This wasn't one-on-one—it was a three-way melee. Choi Kang-hyeon, water-wreathed fists ready, lunges from behind at her blind spot.
She ducks urgently, twists her waist, and counters rearward. But—
“Your footing's off now?”
I aim the shotgun barrel at her back and finger the trigger.
“Keep friends close, enemies closer.”
'That way you can drop both at once.'
───Kaboom!
The buckshot blasts out with overwhelming force, sweeping everything. Not ordinary ammo, but aura ripened long via my bloodline ability—fully unleashed.
As if to prove its power, Choi Kang-hyeon—already worn from fighting her—reverse-summons with a shocked face. Choi Yeon, who desperately evaded, still gets hurled far by the impact.
“Can't take both at once, huh.”
In that split second, she twisted sideways to minimize blast radius and released aura to cut damage. That judgment…… her instincts are insane.
She rises slowly, using her sword as a cane.
“Eugene. Dirty.”
“You heard your grandpa too, right? Crying foul in real fights is just excuses from losers. Besides, you tried to ambush me first—so we're even?”
“……”
Verbal spars are one of my specialties. For the inarticulate her, that meant I had her.
“Think you can keep fighting in that state?”
Even dodging the fatal shot, she'd fought Choi Kang-hyeon then eaten a full Billy the Kid shotgun blast. Her leg looks injured—balance is off.
But—
“Yeah. I can do more.”
Brushing it off like nothing. She nods and aims her sword at me again.
Figured you'd say that. And it wasn't baseless.
Sizzle───
Bit by bit, her body starts healing. The new sword she'd shown yesterday—
'Ringwhite Holy Blade.'
—was activating its healing power.
“……Gotta end this quick?”
I was confident in prolonged fights, but dragging it out against her—who grows stronger the longer it goes—wasn't appealing.
“Choi Yeon.”
I call her name and begin stacking aura in my right hand.
“I'm taking the top spot this time.”
“……If you can.”
Blue light glimmers along her mid-guard sword as well. She had no intention of prolonging it either.
Bloodline Ability: Calione dominates Midas's Gloves.
As the Midas Gloves shift to crimson knuckle form, dark red aura ripples from them. Simultaneously—
“Bisect.”
The Sky Sword Style's secret technique swings at me.
Normally, I'd take the hit and counter……
Black Fog
But I wasn't just sitting idle. I activate Black Fog to evade, slip to her flank, and slam my fist into her body with all my strength.
“Hngh──!”
A brilliant blue light floods the area.
This concludes the first-year midterms evaluation.