I'll Beat You Twice
"I'll beat you twice."
“I cannot accept this!!” Raizer’s roar exploded across the training ground. He had been flailing pathetically in midair, dropped his sword, collapsed onto the floor with a stupid, dazed expression, and only snapped back to his senses when the Duke declared his defeat. He scrambled to his feet, jabbed a finger at me, and raised his voice.
“That wasn’t a victory by skill! I don’t know what kind of sorcery you used, but you fought with the first patriarch’s divine weapon! This win is based on the superiority of a divine artifact, not swordsmanship!”
In short, he was crying that I had won with gear advantage. The Duke didn’t answer. He simply stared at Raizer with a look that said, How pathetic—losing and then throwing a tantrum on top of it. But Raizer seemed to interpret the silence as tacit agreement.
“The Imperial Academy is a place for those who prove their own ability, not for people who rely on superior weapons! I possess a divine artifact as well! If we fight on equal terms with our artifacts, I will win! If I wield a divine artifact too, I can defeat Asbel with pure sword skill!”
I watched Raizer with a contented smile. He was moving exactly as I had predicted. I nodded without hesitation.
“If Brother Raizer wants a rematch, I’ll gladly give you one.”
Surprise flickered across his face. He clearly hadn’t expected me to agree so readily. He had assumed I would refuse.
“If you win the rematch, I will admit that my previous victory came from the weapon’s power rather than my own skill. I will also admit that my ability is inferior to yours and yield the academy admission ticket. However—”
Of course, I wasn’t offering this for free. From the very beginning, I had challenged him to this duel with the sole intention of robbing him blind.
“—if I win, you will transfer ownership of the divine artifact you are currently using to me.”
“What?!”
In the game’s very early stages, after Asbel awakened the Contractor of Divine Artifacts, the only weapon he could realistically contract was the Iron Lion’s Greatsword. Couldn’t he just contract the other divine artifacts in the Hall of Fame and walk off with them? No—the guard knights would seize him immediately. The Iron Lion’s Greatsword was only obtainable because of the first patriarch’s last will. The others lacked such permission and could not be taken even if contracted.
Naturally, the more divine artifacts you could control, the better. The entire reason I had chosen Raizer was to make the divine artifact he possessed my own. I knew exactly how to manipulate him.
“Y-you want me to hand this over?”
“Yes. Give it to me.”
“This is something my mother obtained for me! I will never hand it to you!!”
When he burst out shouting, I turned away without the slightest hesitation.
“Then forget it. I’ll be the one attending the academy.”
“You—! W-wait! …………”
Raizer reached out desperately. His gaze darted back and forth between the divine artifact at his waist and me. He appeared to be agonizing over the decision, but in this situation he had no real choice. Besides, he genuinely believed that if he fought with his divine artifact, he could win for real.
“Fine. If you win the rematch, this divine artifact becomes yours.”
“And if Brother wins the rematch, the academy admission ticket is yours.”
After we confirmed the conditions, we both turned to the Duke. He looked at me with open interest, as if he hadn’t expected me to accept such ridiculous terms. Eventually he nodded.
“I acknowledge it. The rematch is permitted.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Raizer drew his divine artifact with a confident grin.
“I honestly didn’t think you’d agree. Let me warn you in advance—you’ve made a mistake. Now that I’m using a divine artifact too, you have no chance of victory.”
“I’ll make you scream surrender again right in front of Father.”
My provocation twisted Raizer’s face with rage.
“You fucking retard!!!”
He gripped his divine artifact and charged at me.
Raizer was strong. He could naturally reinforce his body with mana, and after years of training his physical stats far outclassed mine. On top of that, the faint mana clinging to his divine artifact was impressive. It wasn’t true aura, but he was channeling mana through his arm into the blade to amplify its destructive power. He looked quite confident, but to me it was simply amusing.
“Yap.”
“Gah!!”
I began focusing on using the Iron Lion’s Greatsword to precisely sever his attack paths. The academy entrance exam event wasn’t something you passed just by winning a duel. The real purpose was to demonstrate sufficient skill to prove you deserved entry.
So I showed the Duke exactly what he wanted to see: that I possessed a discerning eye for swordsmanship. I read the Lichtenauer style perfectly, exploited its weaknesses, and responded with the appropriate counter at the perfect moment. By moving the greatsword with minimal effort to counter Raizer’s techniques efficiently and effectively, I gradually drove him into a corner.
“No!! No!! This can’t be happening!!! This isn’t right!!!!!”
Unable to even get close, he roared and began squeezing every last drop of mana from his body into the divine artifact. A visible aura started blazing along its edge. It was an impressive display of skill, but unfortunately for him, he had chosen the wrong opponent.
“You think I’ll let trash like you into the academy?!”
Raizer swung his weapon. The aura-clad blade slammed violently into the Iron Lion’s Greatsword, but to his misfortune it didn’t leave so much as a scratch. The ultra-heavy Iron Lion’s Greatsword possessed durability comparable to an Upper Dragon’s dragon bone—as I would later confirm through precise appraisal. It was a mass of iron that could only be damaged by ninth-circle magic or a Grand Master’s aura blade. Raizer’s desperate aura had no hope of harming it.
“Damn it!! Damn it all!!!!”
When even his aura-infused strikes failed to leave a mark, Raizer’s movements grew increasingly wild. He wanted to close the distance, but I kept interfering at the perfect moments with the greatsword, preventing any approach. The frustration must have been eating at him. Emotion began to affect his form; his sword paths simplified and openings appeared everywhere.
Now.
I poured a powerful surge of magic power into the Iron Lion’s Greatsword.
Magic Power 100 Consumed
I boldly dumped roughly one-tenth of my total magic power into the blade. The greatsword took aim at Raizer, who was swinging wildly, lost in emotion. Then—
“It’s over!”
The greatsword shot forward like an arrow. Raizer tried to dodge, but his body was exhausted and the speed was simply too great. When evasion became impossible, he raised his own weapon in an attempt to deflect the blow. Unfortunately for him, a one-ton ultra-heavy sword traveling at that velocity carried devastating kinetic energy. Even after the deflection, the residual impact was more than enough to knock him down.
“Guhk!!”
With a ridiculous groan, Raizer was sent flying. One arm dangled limply, clearly broken, and the excessive shock made him drop his divine artifact. After rolling across the ground for some time, he finally went still. He appeared to have fainted.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—his unconsciousness didn’t last long. He sprang up almost immediately, face twisted with confusion, and rushed toward the Duke while shouting.
“N-no!! This is wrong!! Th-this is strange!! There’s no way that retard could be this strong! Something’s wrong!!”
Now fully panicked, he glared at me and continued yelling before turning back to the Duke.
“Father!!! Please say something, Father! He must have used some kind of sorcery! There’s no way I would lose to a weak-bodied retard like him!”
I leisurely sheathed the Iron Lion’s Greatsword behind my back, then picked up Raizer’s fallen divine artifact. Despite colliding with my weapon and receiving an enormous impact, it remained completely unscratched—as expected of a divine artifact.
Meanwhile, Raizer’s shouting only grew louder.
“He was the kind of guy who only read books in his room instead of training with a sword! Father!! For someone like that to beat me—! You know my true skill better than anyone! This is invalid! Invalid!!!……”
“Raizer.”
The Duke spoke softly.
“Have you still not realized it?”
“What?”
“Asbel perfectly intercepted every single one of your attacks from beginning to end. Your sword never touched his body even once.”
“Then that proves he used sorcery! In just two months he must have gone outside and learned some illegal, forbidden secret technique! Otherwise there’s no way he could have become this strong so quickly!!……”
“Just how far do you intend to degrade yourself?”
Raizer froze at the Duke’s words. The cold gaze of his father left him paralyzed.
“Uh… that………”
“You already lost once. Asbel gave you a second chance, and you lost again—clearly, in front of everyone. Yet instead of reflecting on your own skill and training harder, you’re desperately trying to tear down your opponent with baseless accusations.”
The Duke spoke in a low, quiet voice. Yet his overwhelming charisma made every word resonate throughout the entire training ground.
“F-Father……!”
“A knight is not completed by skill alone. Mental discipline and proper attitude are what truly forge a knight. Your skill may be outstanding, but your attitude is utterly abysmal. You have no right to attend the academy. You have no right to remain in this house, either.”
The Duke pointed at Raizer and issued his command.
“Send him to the Ice Palace. After a year of training there, perhaps he will regain his senses.”
Raizer’s face turned deathly pale. The Ice Palace was an estate located far deeper in the northern territories than even the Duke’s residence. Though called an estate, it was a desolate wasteland with nothing to do but train. In other words, he was being exiled.
“F-Father!! Not that!! Please!! Forgive me just this once!!”
“Take him away. He does not deserve to stand in this training ground.”
“F-Father!! Father!!!”
The knights rushed forward and dragged the screaming Raizer away. I watched him go and gave a silent, mocking little wave.
“Asbel, you son of a bitch!!! You fucking bastard!!!!!!”
To me, Raizer’s curses sounded like the highest praise. I smiled at him with genuine satisfaction. I knew his personality well enough to understand that my calm demeanor would infuriate him even more.
“By the conditions of the rematch, that divine artifact now belongs to you, Asbel.”
At the Duke’s declaration, I bowed politely to express my gratitude. I examined Raizer’s divine artifact. Perhaps because it had been forged recently, it was a beautifully balanced pure-white longsword.
“Now you’re mine.”
The moment I picked up the weapon with a satisfied smile—
Victory against a superior opponent!
Experience +53,128
Contractor of Divine Artifacts has reached Level 2!
You can now control 2 divine artifacts simultaneously!
Every part of the plan had gone perfectly. Academy admission ticket, a new divine artifact, skill level-up, and thoroughly humiliating the bastard I hated. I had obtained all of it with just two fights.