One-on-One Sparring

At one in the afternoon, the Class A freshmen stood assembled in three ranks across the sparring grounds. Today's lesson was one-on-one sparring — close-quarters combat training, in other words. A simple enough class: cadets paired off and dueled each other.

"The matchups will be decided randomly on the spot. Individual compatibility will not be taken into account whatsoever. You will not spend your whole life fighting opponents you have an advantage against. Opportunities to safely face someone with a type advantage over you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠are few and far between, so if you draw an unfavorable matchup, you should actually be glad."

"Yes, sir!"

Being freshmen, they were all properly locked in when it counted.

"However, I'll grant a special challenge right to whoever steps forward for the first match. The right to name whoever they want."

Stepping up here and building relationships with the major characters wouldn't have been a bad idea, but I still had no idea how well I'd actually perform in a one-on-one fight. Better to keep my head down and ride this lesson out quietly.

"May I make the nomination, sir?!"

"Go ahead, Lucy. Name your opponent."

Lucy trotted over to stand beside the instructor and swept her eyes across the students. She frowned, turning her head this way and that as if she couldn't find who she was looking for — until her gaze locked onto mine.

"I nominate Cadet Lee Ho-yeon!"

Excuse me? Me?

"Lee Ho-yeon? Why him all of a sudden?"

"He was actually pretty decent in the morning class, though."

"Professor Lim Sol praised him before, too."

"Isn't this just a confession? Trying to chew him out by confessing in front of everyone?"

"Whoa, Lucy's more aggressive than I thought."

A public confession? Give me a break.

"Both of you, up onto the sparring floor. Bring whatever weapons you want."

Lucy and I were both mages anyway. Hauling around a weapon I'd never even used would only weigh me down. I almost went up empty-handed, but a dagger that looked light enough caught my eye, so I grabbed one and climbed onto the floor. Might come in handy. You never know.

A fierce gaze pressed against me from across the circular ring. I lifted my head and found Lucy staring me down with a smile on her face. The staring itself was cute, if I was being honest — except the thing looking out from those eyes was a predator.

A handsome young man and a beautiful girl squaring off against each other. Down below, the students who had no idea what was going on completely lost their minds. Every last pair of eyes was locked on the two of us.

I'd seen this coming. Victoria Academy ran no shortage of sparring classes; I figured I'd end up facing Lucy eventually. I just hadn't expected it to be this soon.

Lucy was one of the heroines, and a monstrous talent in her own right. Her little sister Rumi specialized in defensive magic; Lucy, the older twin, was built for offense. Her late-game combat style was attack and nothing else — but watching her torch entire battlefields with overwhelming firepower, that cute exterior peeled back to reveal a beast. At this point in time she was still just a fairly strong prospect, but she was not someone a complete amateur like me had any business beating.

I wanted to build experience against extras first... haaah.

Her affection had jumped from 2 to 20 since I apologized yesterday. I couldn't make sense of it. She didn't seem angry, so why challenge me to a spar?

"Ready to apologize?"

Lucy spoke first from across the ring.

"Guess apologizing in the sparring ring is trendy these days."

"I'm not actually that mad. I saw the state you were in back then. And yesterday's apology seemed genuine."

"I appreciate you seeing it that way."

The corner of Lucy's mouth tugged upward.

"But look — if you're sorry, you've gotta pay the price. I'll take that apology after the match."

So she did intend to accept the apology. Even so, getting her chest grabbed was still infuriating, situation or no situation, and she wanted me to take my punishment for it?

Attacks inside the sparring ground's mana field left no physical wounds. The pain, however, came through in full — so you'd still be able to perform when it counted in a real fight, instead of folding the moment something hurt. I'd rather not eat a spell if I could help it. That was going to hurt like hell.

"Alright. Mana field's stable. You're both ready?"

I'd been loosening up for the match about to start when a quest window suddenly materialized in front of my eyes. Wait — did winning a spar overwhelmingly actually make you a bad boy? That didn't sound right at all.

"Lee Ho-yeon! Answer if you're ready!"

"Ah — yes, sir!"

The instructor's bark snapped me back to attention. Well, there didn't seem to be a penalty for failing. Might as well give it a shot.

I tried stretching this way and that, hoping it might loosen me up, but it didn't seem to help. The dagger hanging from my belt bumped against my thigh with every step. Quietly annoying. I probably wouldn't even use the thing — why did I bother grabbing it?

"Three, two, one. Begin!"

The barrier holding us apart shattered, and the match was on. The instant the signal dropped, I manifested my mana.

Lucy used fire-attribute mana. So did I, primarily, which made the type matchup even. I could use other attributes too — I'd tried it at the training camp and it had come easily enough — but showing off multiple elements right now would draw far too many eyes.

Too much attention, too soon.

Lucy shaped her mana into fire arrows. Later on she'd be loosing those things by the hundreds, even the thousands, like it was nothing. A volley of about ten came screaming toward me. I caught them on a wall of fire I'd already prepared; the arrows struck the barrier, bled off their force, and winked out. A light exchange. Feeling each other out.

"Not bad. When I heard you were switching to mage, I figured you were aiming for some Association desk job."

"Thanks for the compliment."

Our casting speeds had been about even in that exchange. The difference was that I'd gone all-out just to stop her arrows — and Lucy still looked like she had plenty left in the tank. For her, that really had been a casual probe. She was calmer than I was, more practiced, which tracked given I had no real experience. If I'd had more time under my belt I could have swatted those arrows down efficiently with mana orbs, but I still couldn't split my control across more than ten constructs at once.

"Let's wrap this up. We've got people waiting."

Dozens of fire arrows bloomed into existence above Lucy's head. I couldn't stop this one. She'd committed everything to the cast this time — an overwhelming volley, magnificent and terrible, and the crushing pressure of knowing every last one was about to come screaming toward me.

For a split second I considered just taking the hit and calling it done. But I couldn't. I wouldn't. If eating a few of those would actually repair things with Lucy, I'd take them as many times as it took. Getting blasted once and then apologizing, though, didn't feel like it would help our relationship one bit.

Maybe the system was right. Maybe being the bad boy really was the better play.

Alright. Let's try something.

The moment I steeled myself, my heart began to pound faster and faster. This body refused to let Lee Ho-yeon — the protagonist of this world — just sit there and take it. Blood surged from deep in my chest, flooding every inch of me with raw vitality. My authority rose, slow and certain. Combat Sense.

It was the first time I'd used it properly, but I adapted fast. The power welling up through me laid a clean tension over my body and honed every sense to a razor's edge. My mind went cold and sharp. Clear Mind erased the very feeling of giving up and started hunting for a way to break this situation. Mana Perception tore into the fire arrows hanging in front of me, analyzing, understanding, stripping them down to their bones.

A fierce, electric high rolled through my whole body. I felt better than I had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before the match even started.

I can win this. No — I have to win.

Lee Ho-yeon's talent, Combat Sense. In the game, that one authority alone manufactured variables that should have been impossible. Stacked on top of it now were the perks I'd received ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— Mana Perception and Clear Mind. A collision of variables that never should have met, and from that collision, another variable was born.

"Insight...?"

"Giving up already? And here I thought you had some fight in you. Boring."

Lucy gave my motionless stance a puzzled look, shrugged, and loosed the fire arrows. They came screaming toward me, and I activated Insight.

A faint ache pricked at my eyes as I funneled mana into them.

"Kh."

The pain spiked. I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again. A high, thin ringing filled my skull — and in that same instant, mana bloomed into sight. The moment I registered the visualization, my field of view exploded outward. It was as if a new eye had opened on either side of my face. My visual angle stretched to something inhuman, and I could observe the mana dissolved in the atmosphere at will.

Before I could even process the disorientation, I had fire arrows to deal with. The instant I locked my gaze onto the incoming spell, my vision warped. The principle of the magic, the structural formula of its mana — all of it poured into my understanding. Where the spell had been launched from. How far its firepower would reach. The exact measure of its destructive force. All of it was forcibly stamped into my mind.

Too late to answer with magic. I had to dodge. And the moment I wondered how — the optimal route lit up before my eyes, as naturally as breathing.

The fire arrows streaking toward me. I could see their paths. About thirty crimson lines cut through the air. Of those, roughly fifteen punched straight through where I stood; the remaining fifteen sealed off my escape routes. But once you can see the path, dodging is easy.

I bolted forward — the direction with the fewest red lines. Most of the arrows hissed past me. Three crimson lines remained. I snapped mana orbs into both hands and met two of them head-on, then snapped my head to the left and slipped the last.

"Got lucky there!"

Fire arrows bloomed above Lucy's head again. They came one at a time this time — fewer than before, but she'd poured that difference into control, and they were faster for it. It still wasn't enough. I could see the path.

I dipped my shoulder to the left and let an arrow slide past, then began gathering mana at the tip of my foot.

There's a gap...!

Another twenty fire arrows came screaming in. Fewer than the first wave, but she'd tightened the spacing between them, determined not to let me slip through. The incoming spells looked seamless. Impenetrable. But I could see it clear as day: a gap just wider than my shoulders. I had to dive through it.

I detonated the mana at my toes in a single burst, and the resulting thrust sent me rocketing precisely through the seam in those crimson lines. Lucy's eyes went wide at the almost magical sight, then she bit down hard on her lip and cast again. But the next spell, and the one after that — I evaded them all with the barest minimum of movement and defense, closing the distance toward her with every step.

"Wh-what the hell?!"

By the time barely any space remained between us, she tried to throw up a barrier and create distance. She never even finished the incantation. I was already in front of her.

A soft rasp of steel. I set the dagger I'd grabbed earlier against her throat. I could have settled it with magic at this range. I just didn't want to attack Lucy. And besides — an overwhelming victory needs a little theater.

Lucy's legs gave out. She crumpled to the floor.

I glanced beyond the ring. The students were staring at me in stunned silence. Even the instructor — who'd been all bluster a minute ago — had his eyes wide open.

"Instructor, if you would declare a winner."

"Uh. R-right. Winner, Lee Ho-yeon. Both of you, step down."

I'd won a spar and there wasn't even any applause. Some spectators these guys were.

Lucy was still sitting there, completely checked out.

Affection up by three. Except — why was it sitting at 28? It had definitely been 20 a minute ago. That was a jump of eight.

Don't tell me she actually fell for the bad-boy act because I crushed her in the spar?

I walked over to Lucy, who was still staring into space, and held out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my hand.

"Lucy, you okay?"

"Haah. I came here for revenge and got wrecked instead."

"Feels weird saying this after I won, but that was actually really close."

Lucy took my hand, pulled herself up, and dusted off her backside.

"Haaah. So what are those cool eyes about?"

My eyes? What about them?

I checked my face with the mirror function on my smartwatch. My irises were glowing — a clear, gentle gold.