Relentless Assault
The crimson flames roared without pause, surging forward again and again in an unyielding blaze. Even as the scorching heat gnawed away at his stamina until it hit rock bottom, Togun Masao refused to give up. He gripped the Anti-Magic Sword with renewed strength.
Using Beast Imitation Footwork — Eagle, he soared high into the sky, evading the wave of flames that surged right before his eyes. Like an eagle spreading its wings wide, Togun leaped high off the ground. The moment the flames twisted in midair to chase him — his movement radius now limited — he spun his body in a powerful rotation.
Shing!
The Anti-Magic Sword sliced straight through the flames. The massive fireball vanished under the Masao family’s ancestral curse, scattering into tiny embers that fluttered around Togun like cherry blossoms falling on a spring day.
Using Beast Imitation Footwork — Butterfly, he danced gracefully between those petals. His movements were so fluid it seemed as if the constraints of space itself had vanished. With motions that looked like a dance, Togun landed lightly on the ground and, the instant his feet touched down, exploded with powerful leg strength.
Beast Imitation Footwork — Tiger. He charged straight toward the blazing inferno, thrusting the sword in his hand forward. The wall of flames that had towered like a barrier vanished, revealing Aaron Dice standing beyond it.
Aaron aimed his index finger, loaded with a bullet of compressed white-hot flame.
Masao Sword Style — One Blade, Two Halves.
There was no time to dodge. Before his mind could even process it, his body instinctively recognized the danger and swung the Anti-Magic Sword at the incoming flames.
Booom!
Flame and blade collided in midair. The white-hot flames repeatedly vanished and reformed under the power of the Anti-Magic Sword. The incredible heat rapidly cooked Togun’s flesh. The smell of burning protein filled his nostrils. The pain was so intense it felt like his brain might burn white.
“Uaaaaaaaah!”
Yet Togun did not retreat. Instead, he took another step forward. True to the technique’s name, he split the flames before him cleanly in two. Without the slightest pause, he immediately reset his stance.
Masao Sword Style — Two Blades, Horizontal Cut.
Aaron hurriedly jerked his head back at Togun’s lightning-fast strike.
Shing!
A sharp sting lingered at the tip of his nose. Tiny droplets of blood sprayed into his vision. Had he been grazed? Aaron let out a small chuckle and kicked toward Togun, whose posture had crumbled.
A kick propelled by flames radiating from his heel. Before it could connect with Togun’s jaw, he barely twisted his head to evade it. In the same motion, he reversed his grip on the sword and swung again.
Assassination Sword Application — Two Blades, Horizontal Cut: Reversal.
It perfectly replicated the previous sword technique in reverse. The blade slashed toward Aaron’s neck as if it had been waiting for him to close the distance.
Thud!
But Aaron’s follow-up kick — flames bursting from the side of his foot — struck Togun first. The blow landed squarely on his temple, sending him tumbling across the ground.
Yet Aaron was far from unscathed. The sudden midair direction change had left his knee joint screaming in agony. Had he torn a ligament? His knee was already swelling visibly. But what truly sent chills down his spine was the fact that, despite taking that hit, Togun had still managed to swing his sword — leaving a red gash across the center of Aaron’s chest instead of his neck.
Just where the hell did he learn swordsmanship like that?
As a mage, Aaron knew next to nothing about martial arts. Even so, he could tell that Togun’s movements were anything but ordinary.
If I’m not careful, I might actually lose.
No one would believe it. A powerless person fighting on equal footing with a 4-star mage? It sounded so absurd that even Aaron himself would have scoffed and called it nonsense if he hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes.
Sorry, but I can’t afford to lose either.
Togun had grown this strong purely out of his single-minded desire to defeat him. Watching the boy filled Aaron with a hint of reluctance to crush him, but the desire not to lose to a junior still burned stronger.
He was the student council president of Benedict Academy. A mage with such towering ambition that only standing at the very peak of the continent’s greatest magic academy could satisfy him.
“……”
Togun staggered back to his feet. His legs trembled as if his stamina had finally run dry. His skin had peeled away in places, revealing raw red flesh beneath, yet his eyes glowed with sunken determination as he slowly raised his sword.
He faced Aaron Dice, who stood there with infuriating composure. The academy’s strongest mage, the one who seemed incapable of ever losing.
That’s his final strike.
Aaron Dice could sense it. No matter how well Togun had endured until now, this attack would be his limit. This was the last blow he could muster — and at the same time, the best attack he was capable of.
Fwoooosh!
Aaron Dice summoned his flames in response. Perhaps because he had been shattering the Anti-Magic Sword’s effect with such brute force, empty voids had begun to appear within the vast mana he usually felt. To save strength for his upcoming fight with Chris after defeating Togun, he knew he should conserve his mana now.
His mind understood that, but his body moved differently. The flames roared even more fiercely. As Togun Masao’s senior, he would meet the boy’s final strike with everything he had.
This was the pride of the student council president.
“Come on, then!”
Aaron spread both arms wide in invitation. Togun stared at the ultra-compressed white flames pouring toward him and thrust the Anti-Magic Sword forward with all his might.
Masao Sword Style — Three Blades, One Point.
The white flames split in every direction. The single piercing thrust divided Aaron Dice’s flames into five separate streams. The heat was so intense it evaporated every last drop of moisture from his eyes.
“Uaaaaaaaaah!”
Even so, Togun charged forward with a powerful battle cry. Using Beast Imitation Footwork — Bull, he aimed the horn that was his sword straight ahead and rushed at his enemy with reckless abandon. It was a simple, brutish charge powered purely by willpower.
But Aaron’s flames were far too overwhelming to break through with determination alone. The extreme heat steadily drained the strength from his grip. The Mana Rejecter curse, instead of helping its struggling master, seized the moment of weakness to torment him even more. His entire body creaked in protest.
Yet he did not stop running. It was as if he were still aiming for something in this very moment.
Whoosh!
The instant Aaron’s full attention locked onto Togun, something tore through the wall of flames and hurtled straight toward the back of his head. Because his vision was blocked, he noticed the surprise attack too late. However, compared to the barrage Togun had unleashed until now, this one was infinitely slower. Aaron reflexively managed to dodge it.
A sword?
He quickly identified its shape. It was a single blade. And in this competition, the only person who used swords was Togun Masao.
But doesn’t Togun already have a sword in his hand?
Only then did realization strike. Togun Masao had possessed two swords from the beginning. When he looked behind him, a silhouette stood there.
Did they break through Sylvia and Baraki?
In this situation, there were few people who could launch a surprise attack on him. It had to be Jeon Raydel, who had somehow gotten past Sylvia and Baraki to reach him.
Aaron smiled bitterly at the thought, but a sense of danger made him whip his head back around. In that brief moment his attention had shifted to Jeon, he had lost track of Togun’s movements.
Fwoosh!
Togun had torn through every last one of Aaron’s flames and closed the distance. Without the slightest hesitation, he reached out with his left hand and caught the sword Jeon had thrown.
Had he known Jeon would appear at this exact moment?
No, that can’t be.
Togun had never had time to communicate with anyone. This had gone far beyond the realm of planning. He had simply believed — blindly trusted that in a moment of crisis, Jeon would somehow support him.
And astonishingly, Jeon had answered that baseless faith.
Assassination Sword — Dual Blade Variation.
Masao Sword Style — One Blade, Two Halves.
Masao Sword Style — Two Blades, Horizontal Cut.
Left hand and right hand. Two different sword techniques unleashed simultaneously from each. A vertical slash from the right. A horizontal slash from the left. The result was a cross-shaped strike.
“Uaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
With a scream that bordered on a howl, Togun’s final strike hurtled toward Aaron.
But it still wasn’t enough. There was no way this alone could defeat him. Just as Aaron prepared to counter Togun’s desperate attack—
Elemental Magic — Iron Sand Manipulation.
His body suddenly grew incredibly heavy. He had felt this sensation before. Yes, during their first mock battle against these juniors. His body had suddenly become this heavy back then too.
Did he attach iron sand particles to the sword when he threw it?
How ingenious. To stick iron sand dust onto his body like that and create such a perfect opportunity. At this point, it was almost admirable — the desperate effort these juniors were pouring in just to defeat a 4-star mage like himself.
Crack.
Even so, the victor would still be him. The temperature of the fiercely burning flames suddenly reversed into extreme cold. This was another technique he had shown during the previous mock battle. But the others, too focused on Aaron Dice’s ferocious flames, had momentarily forgotten.
They had forgotten that flames were not the only thing Aaron could control.
Shing!
An obstacle formed between Togun Masao’s sword strikes. The intense heat carried almost no physical force, yet friction appeared — something impossible with pure flames. The impact did damage Aaron Dice’s body, but the shock was just barely insufficient to knock him out of the match.
Swoosh!
Sensing that, Togun made one final thrust toward Aaron’s wrist.
“At this point, can’t you just let me win already?”
When even that was evaded by Aaron pulling his body back, Togun finally let out a hollow laugh and grumbled in frustration.
“Still, that last one nearly got me. I even took what felt like a serious wound. I’m holding back quite a bit of pain right now, you know.”
As if to comfort him, Aaron flashed him a bright grin. But to Togun’s eyes, it looked like nothing more than acting.
“This is a virtual world anyway. You barely feel any pain.”
With those final words, Togun collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Aaron, who had been about to deliver the finishing blow, suddenly paused. A question had flashed through his mind. He stared down at the fallen boy.
Pain?
Yes, just as Togun had said. This world was fake. Normally, even if your arm were severed, you shouldn’t feel anything worse than a dull numbness. Yet he had clearly been feeling pain. Ever since the moment his nose had been grazed by Togun’s blade.
A chill ran down Aaron’s spine. Sensing that something was terribly wrong, he gathered his mana and carefully scanned Togun’s body once more.
Why hasn’t he been eliminated yet?
Togun’s condition was at its absolute worst. He should have been eliminated long ago. Had their fight simply been that intense? Aaron realized the truth far too late.
Thud!
And that realization led to a fatal consequence.
Something flew in from the side and crashed into the ground before Aaron Dice. It was Jeon Raydel, covered head to toe in wounds.
“……”
Aaron looked behind him. He could not sense anyone’s body heat. All he felt was the scorching heat of the high-temperature flames he himself had emitted. But he was certain.
There was someone standing right there.
If my prediction is wrong, this is going to be a huge problem.
Still, being wrong would be a hundred times better than being right. Without the slightest hesitation, he crushed the bracelet he had desperately protected from Togun.
Yet several seconds passed and nothing happened. He remained in the match. And when he saw Chris standing before him, radiating ominous mana, Aaron muttered a low curse.
“Damn it.”
His ominous prediction had been completely correct. There was something wrong with this virtual world.
“So, mind explaining what the hell is going on?”
At Aaron’s words, Chris’s eyes flashed. The black sclera had inverted. Within them floated an ominous four-white-eyed gaze glowing pale yellow.
“I didn’t think you’d kindly explain it to me anyway.”
Aaron countered the incoming streak of light with flames and stepped forward, standing protectively in front of the fallen Togun and Jeon.
“Then I’ll clean up this mess first and ask again later.”
With those words, Aaron scattered fierce flames toward Chris.