Festival
"Uh..."
I was still trying to figure out how to even respond to an opening that stupid when, thankfully, the announcer cut in.
"Yes."
Shin Dong-min had been waiting for his question. The second the announcer skipped him, his face twisted like he'd bitten into something rotten, and I couldn't hold back a snort of laughter. He shot me a look that could have started a fire. I ignored it and turned toward the announcer.
My face filled the auditorium's massive holographic screen. Hair gone brittle and lifeless from having my essence drained, hollowed-out cheeks, bloodshot eyes ringed with dark circles — I looked like hell. A handsome face has its privileges, though. Rather than pathetic, I just came off as a rugged pretty boy.
"Ah... that's right. Honestly, I just slept in. I showed up late and must have given you a hard time, so thank you."
"LET'S GO!!! Vice President!"
"Shin Dong-min! Shin Dong-min! Shin Dong-min!"
Sadly, most of the auditorium was on Shin Dong-min's side. The guys had lined up behind him, and nearly all of them had the kind of voices that carried.
"Go, Lee Ho-yeon!"
"He's so hot!"
I had my own cheers. They just weren't nearly as loud.
Can we just start already? My head was starting to pound.
The magic circle spread across the center of the auditorium flared to life, and a massive roulette wheel began to spin.
"Hmm..."
Even after I'd shown what I could do in a one-on-one, this was still the public line. Of course it was. My opponent was a first-year. I wanted this finished for good. It was past time people stopped talking like this.
The wheel drummed down through its spin, slower and slower, until the needle settled.
"Heh. Sorry about that."
...Obvious. So damn obvious.
One look at that face and I knew there'd been some backroom rigging. I didn't care.
A briny tang filled my nose. By the time I registered it, the world around me had become the ocean. The space-expansion magic circle ringing the arena had stretched the dueling ground into a vast sea, and beneath Shin Dong-min and me, buoys dozens of meters across bobbed on the water.
The reason I didn't care about the field was simple. Absurd as it sounded, sex with Liliana had pushed me up another level. I still didn't know what her secret was, but breaking through magic of that caliber had raised my own magic by a full rank.
A rumor had made the rounds once that I'd Awakened, and the public had lost its mind. It had been dismissed in the end — a first-year couldn't possibly have Awakened, they decided.
This time, all hell's really going to break loose.
The mana barrier between us dissolved, and the rolling waves began to climb.
Water roared and crashed. Thump. Thump.
He's strong, I'll give him that.
This game really had screwed the power balance. Academy cadets outclassing active hunters. What a joke.
Activated
That familiar Combat Sense wrapped itself around my body. Shin Dong-min unfolded a magic circle as if he'd prepared it in advance, and every time his hands swept through the air, the water around us sculpted itself into a new shape. I watched the massive wave rear up and come for me, and slowly gathered my mana.
A deep, rolling roar answered from behind the swell. Water dragons rose with it, climbing toward the sky.
"No way! Are those water dragons?!"
"It's over. Even the field's taking Shin Dong-min's side."
It was strange I could hear the stands from here. I hadn't been able to during the one-on-one. Maybe because this was an event?
A towering tsunami and five water dragons, all coming straight at me. The stands were losing their minds over how incredible the magic was. I'd give him this much — it did look cool.
"So what?"
Those water tricks didn't matter to me. I'd promised to play with Liliana. I wasn't about to waste time on this.
Thump.
I unleashed the mana surging up through my body exactly as it came. I'd been drilling fire magic, so it had been a while since I'd touched the other elements... but that was fine. I could do this now.
A killing frost unfurls.
Cold bloomed outward from my body. The water dragons and the wave bearing down on me met that frost and began to freeze on contact, a chorus of sharp cracks and groaning ice. The tsunami locked in place at its full, threatening height and became a sculpture. The dragons, possessing wills of their own, thrashed against the freeze — and only succeeded in locking themselves into uglier shapes.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The cold went looking for its next meal and started in on the sea itself. Ice raced outward with a grinding crunch, and Shin Dong-min's voice cracked as the range of it hit him.
"Th-that's impossible! I-ice?!"
Crack. Crunch.
The sea froze. The buoys that had been rocking on the swell sat locked in place, proof enough.
"Don't tell me that's all you've got?"
I looked at Shin Dong-min and gave him a pleasant little smile. After all that noise, he wasn't about to fold over just this.
"..."
"Oh. So you do have some pride."
He didn't quit. He started drawing another magic circle. Not having water on hand doesn't mean you can't use water magic. It just means you spend less mana calling it up — water magic includes the process of creating the water in the first place.
Thump. Thump.
I'd burned through a fair amount of mana just now. My condition wasn't great, so finishing this fast was the smart play. I took what I had left and lifted the frozen sea in pieces. Shin Dong-min glanced around mid-circle, and the color drained out of his face.
A hard crack split the air, and hundreds of ice chunks screamed toward Shin Dong-min.
"Aaaargh!"
Clang. Clang. Clang.
He managed to stop a few dozen, drawing magic circles like a man possessed, but the match had been over the moment his first spell died. The ice punched through his magic and started burying itself in his body. The damage stacked, and his spells grew weaker with every hit.
"Why?! Whyyy?!"
Watching him howl and flail at the ice, I couldn't help laughing.
"Maybe you should've spent that time practicing instead of rigging the field, senior. Who knows? The result might've been different."
"Gaaaah!"
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Ice slammed down around him in a frenzy, and when he finally failed to stop it, a massive pillar of ice formed with Shin Dong-min at its center. He wasn't Elsa. He'd just been turned into a human snowman.
The frozen sea dissolved with a soft hiss, and the original arena folded back into place. Freed from ice that had been nothing but mana, Shin Dong-min crumpled to the floor. Medical staff were on him in seconds, loading him onto a stretcher and carrying him out.
Last time I was the one they hauled off. This time it was the other guy.
"Ugh."
My head was swimming. I needed to get out of here and sleep.
The announcer had already closed the distance. I was exhausted and wanted to leave, but this man had covered for how late I'd been. I owed him at least this much.
"Ah... thank you. I unveiled a weapon I'd been keeping hidden. I hope you all enjoyed the show. Have fun at the Celestial Festival. I'm going to bed."
Thankfully, one look at my face was enough. He didn't press.
God, I was tired.
I came down off the arena floor. I should at least say goodbye to the student council before I left.
"Thank you for your hard work. I'll be heading out."
"That was so cool, junior... leave the rest to us!"
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Where's the President?"
I scanned the area. No sign of Mun Su-rin.
"She was over that way a second ago. Where'd she go?"
I left the female cadet tilting her head and stepped into the staff waiting room. She probably wasn't fond of crowds.
"Ho-yeon...!"
I ran straight into Mun Su-rin as she was coming out.
"Thanks, Su-rin. I'm exhausted, so I'm heading out. I just wanted to say goodbye."
"Yeah. Go get some rest. Your face looks awful."
She set both hands on my cheeks, worry written all over her, and I thanked her before stepping back out of the waiting room.
Now I could actually go back to the dorm.
"Yooo, Handsome! Nice work."
"...Is Handsome my official name now?"
I'd barely gotten out of the main auditorium and started for the dorm when Kim Young-han came walking up. He'd clearly been waiting outside.
"Yep!"
That grinning face of his was already getting on my nerves.
"Haa... just use my actual name."
"Why? It's great. Handsome. Rolls right off the tongue."
"Sheesh. Aren't you tired?"
This idiot had lasted until the final day right alongside me, and he still looked like he had energy to burn.
"Well, I didn't fight my ass off like you did, Handsome. On the last day I just ran around hiding."
"Call me Handsome one more time and I'm calling you Fourth-Place Thorn Sheath from now on."
"..."
"I'm going to rest. I'm tired."
I ignored the way Kim Young-han deflated and headed for the dorm. The thought of falling asleep with Liliana in my arms put a warm, easy feeling in my chest.
A chime sounded as I opened the dormitory door. I'd bolted out of here at ten to nine. I was back in less than an hour.
I stripped off my cadet uniform on the way to the bedroom, leaving a trail of clothes like Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs. Liliana was still asleep in exactly the same position as when I'd left. I undressed and lay down beside her, wriggling in close, and rested my hand on her chest. The soft give of her body against mine, the warmth under my palm, eased something in me.
"Haa..."
The moment I hit the mattress, the tension and the exhaustion crashed over me at once.
Once I wake up, I'll play with Liliana. Ah, come to think of it, I should ask her about her magic too...
And that was where my memory cut out.