One-on-One Duel (3)

"Looks like it's starting. I should get going. Give the main bracket everything you've got."

"Yes. Thank you. I'll come by the lab once today's exams are over."

"Yeah. Got it."

At the announcement that the matches were about to begin, Lim Sol headed back to the stands. We'd gotten so deep into talking magic research that I'd ended up promising to visit her lab today. I needed to start getting ready myself.

There weren't many matches left. Four in the quarterfinals, then the semifinals, and the final right after that. They'd probably run the round of eight now and save the semis and the final for after lunch.

Kim Young-han had the opener. My match was next, which meant if he won out there, I'd be facing him in the semis. His opponent in the round of sixteen had been so weak I hadn't gotten a real look at what he could do. I was hoping I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠get one this time.

The match got underway, and Kim Young-han rolled out an unusual skill. Thorns erupted along the blade in his hand, and he spent the entire duel steamrolling the girl named Jeong Yeon-ju.

"The sword looks ridiculously cool, I'll give him that… but it doesn't have any real presence."

No more, no less — he felt exactly like an upper-tier cadet. Strong by ordinary standards, sure, but he was cut from a different cloth than the very top, people like Nam Da-eun or Elise.

If that's all he's got, I can take him apart without much trouble.

The worry eased off my shoulders, and I started preparing for my own match. Once Kim Young-han's bout wrapped, there'd be about ten minutes of downtime before I went on, so I needed to loosen up and head for the competitors' waiting area.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Cadet Lee Ho-yeon. Time to get ready for your match~."

"Yes, I understand."

A staff member had come to collect me right on cue. I followed them to the waiting area for the next bout.

A clean, uneventful victory for Kim Young-han, and that was that. Which meant I was up next…

"Of all the people, it had to be this asshole."

The name written on the bracket was Do Jinhyeok. These days I was famous enough that he didn't come at me directly anymore, but he was the Class A delinquent who'd used to pick pointless fights with me. I'd figured we could just pretend the other didn't exist and go chase girls — and then we drew each other here. Winning wasn't the problem. It was just uncomfortable, and a pain in the ass.

"Cadet Lee Ho-yeon. We'll have you enter now."

"Yes, I understand."

Ten minutes had already burned down. I headed for the arena.

The announcer's hype and the roar of the crowd braided together until my ears rang. I scanned the first-year cadet seats, found Rumi, and gave her a wave. She lifted a hand and waved back, then shrank into herself the moment she felt the eyes around her.

I looked toward the cluster of professors in the VIP section and spotted Lim Sol's face. I waved to her too. She gave me a small nod — and the catlike beauty sitting beside her got even more excited, greeting me with both hands waving.

"Who is that?"

Pretty, sure, but I'd never seen her before in my life. Lim Sol seemed to be saying something to the woman beside her, but they were much too far away to make out. I had to step up into the arena anyway, so I turned my head and climbed onto the floor.

Do Jinhyeok was already standing in front of me. Hostility rolled off him in waves, exactly as expected.

"Don't get full of yourself just because you've gotten famous lately. I'll smash you to pieces."

"…"

What was this guy's problem? Thinking back, I had never done a thing to him. Was he just sour that I was doing well? In the original, he picked fights because someone with no talent had no business being in Class A — but I'd been Class A from the start.

"Hey. You hate me, don't you?"

"Yeah. I do."

While the commentator rattled on about our records and who was favored to win, I kept talking to him.

"Why? Did I ever do anything to you? Did I go around talking shit about you? That was all you."

Do Jinhyeok said nothing.

"What, does this nameless hatred just well up out of nowhere? You look at my face and want to kill me?"

"…I won't deny it. Every time I see your face, the anger boils up. More than I can stand."

"Huh."

That reaction sounded genuine. Was it because he'd been written as a villain? Do Jinhyeok was a villain in the original, which meant that even with the story twisted out of shape, fate still needed him to be one for me. Same principle as Mun Su-rin — the easiest heroine to capture — having her affection climb just from looking at me. He was in a similar situation. Just pointed the other way.

The commentator finally wrapped up his enthusiastic recitation of our careers. The duel was about to start.

"Well. Give it your best."

Pity wasn't going to make me save him. I'd just beat him so thoroughly he'd understand he was out of his league and crawl off to hide on his own.

Mana erupted from Do Jinhyeok's body. The materialized energy wrapped around him, sheathing him from head to toe in a shield. Close-quarters brawling — overwhelming defense paired with raw physical power — that was his specialty.

He drove off his back foot and came at me. Fast, for what he was. Easy to read, though.

Thump.

My heartbeat picked up, just a little. He was a prospect with a name, after all. Combat Sense stirred in answer.

I settled into a fighting stance and met him head-on. Ending this fast would make the gap in class obvious.

I summoned fireballs to keep him honest as he closed. He weaved through them well enough and threw a punch—

WHAM!

As if someone like Do Jinhyeok could punch through my Cotton Guard when even an ogre hadn't managed it.

"Ghk!"

The recoil left him more startled than I was.

FWOOSH—!

I followed up while he was still off-balance, but his defense really was something else. The rippling mana coating his body did its job as a shield.

He's not completely weak, I'll give him that.

But I had just the skill for punching through a wall of defense like his. I accelerated the mana around my body and prepared the counter. Do Jinhyeok sensed something was off and charged anyway. Too late. I was already ready.

I read the line of his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠incoming right fist, ducked, and in the same instant burst a small flame right in his eyes.

"Kh—!"

When a person's vision whites out, the body jerks backward. Instinct.

I used Acceleration to stay on him and condensed a spiral of mana into my hand. He twisted, trying to recover his ruined balance — so I double-cast a pillar of flame behind him.

Startled, he forced his retreating body down instead, dropping into a roll. Betting everything on that defense of his. Figuring he could tank one hit.

My Spiral had punched through an ogre's hide.

"GRAAAAAH!"

I drove the Spiral into his back as he tried to roll away. The impact triggered the safety settings in a single blow — the kind of shock that would have killed him outright if we hadn't been inside a mana field.

The referee's call locked in my victory, and the announcer, delighted, whipped the crowd into a frenzy. The mana barrier around the arena dropped a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moment later, and the roar from the stands hit me full in the ears.

"WAAAAAH—!"

"Ho-yeon! Ho-yeon!"

I glanced toward the VIP section. Professor Lim Sol was staring at me with her eyes wide.

See that, Professor? This is how strong your disciple is.

It was a ridiculous thing to feel proud about, and I felt proud anyway.

Do Jinhyeok was still down. Even with no lasting physical damage, the pain came through unfiltered — he'd felt his back being torn open, exactly as it was. I almost felt a little sorry for him.

"…That's why you don't pick fights, you idiot. Tsk tsk."

I clicked my tongue at Do Jinhyeok as they carried him out on a stretcher.

The stands were screaming loud enough to shake the arena. The VIP section, by contrast, had gone dead quiet. The bout Lee Ho-yeon had just put on was enough to shut the mouths of VIPs who were used to being the ones other people deferred to.

"What was that last spell…? It looked like a unique skill, but that destructive power can't be real."

"That's not a first-year cadet's mana control…! Never mind condensing mana that precisely — there wasn't a single drop of waste in the process!"

"There was a skill that sped his body up for an instant, too. That looked like a unique skill as well."

One person muttered, and then the rest of them started talking over each other. The match itself hadn't been long. Do Jinhyeok charged, got stopped, charged again, and ate a counter. That was the whole thing. Twenty seconds, give or take — and in that sliver of time, Lee Ho-yeon had put on a display of staggering skill.

The scouts were busy calling their guilds. The guild leaders were busy chewing out their scouts. And in the middle of all that, Lim Sol and Min Yeji were no less stunned by Lee Ho-yeon than anyone else.

"…Sol. Sorry, but can I contact him about a guild recruitment? Not the business stuff."

"…Do whatever you want."

Lim Sol was still reeling from the first real look she'd gotten at her disciple's combat power. He was stronger than she had been at twenty. Stronger than she'd been in the days when people called her a monster and buried her in envy and spite. Of course, what had earned her that title wasn't combat power alone — it was the way she could grasp any magic in an instant — but Lee Ho-yeon's gift for magic stood on equal footing with hers.

"Wow, how did you even find a talent like that? You've really got the magic world in a stranglehold, Sol."

"I have to protect him."

"Huh? Protect what?"

I have to protect him. So that my disciple won't be interfered with and held in check by people who aren't even worth a starfish. Lim Sol didn't want Ho-yeon walking the same road she had. The world only needed one monster forged that way. She was enough.

"It's nothing."

"Hmm, what kind of message would get Cadet Lee Ho-yeon to actually reply…"

The moment Min Yeji read the shift in Lim Sol's mood, she dropped the subject. She knew better than to poke her at a time like this.

"He's strong…"

Waiting in the competitors' area for her own match, Elise had watched Lee Ho-yeon's bout and come away shaken. He was a far more dangerous opponent than she had accounted for.

"He has a Congenital Mana Disorder and he still handles mana like that. What method is he using?"

Even if you topped yourself off with mana stones, dumping a large amount of mana in a single burst put a strain on the body. And yet Lee Ho-yeon had chained high-level skills together without so much as a flicker of strain. That shield hadn't been ordinary shield magic, and the skill that sped his body up and the condensed-mana attack were obviously enormously costly. He had used magic as if the disorder weren't there at all.

"There's a secret here."

She had two suspects. A top-grade mana stone — or the Saintess. One of the two had clearly eased the Congenital Mana Disorder.

"Was there some application for top-grade mana stones that I don't know about…?"

It wasn't as if she hadn't researched them. The Iris Guild had poured an enormous amount of money into trying to cure Elise's mana disorder. The result they'd come away with was using mid-to-low-grade stones. She had gone to the Saintess as well. Pay the Association and you could receive the Saintess's treatment — but the answer she'd gotten then was that a congenital illness could not be rewritten by healing magic. So she had written the Saintess off. Maybe, though, a method had only recently been found.

"I can ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠approach the Saintess later… and I should have the top-grade mana stones researched again…"

Elise sent Sebas Chan a message asking him to forward everything they had on the top-grade mana stone research. When she looked back at the screen, Lee Ho-yeon was bowing to the stands.

"He's well-mannered, too…"

Elise wanted to become friends with Lee Ho-yeon — the boy who suffered from the same illness she did.