Physical Union (5)
The spectators' roars were on the verge of being completely swallowed by the ferocious flames. The scorching heat prickled and stung Lee Hyun's back. He already knew that Yeon Minha favored using a curtain of fire. She had a reputation for blocking the judges' view with the barrier before mercilessly tormenting her opponents. Dozens of students had challenged her to duels after being driven to fury by her excessive insults. Yet every single one of them had ended up collapsed on the floor in a wretched state by the time the wall of flames lifted. Not a few had been carried away on the brink of death from severe injuries. The defeated students had protested that Yeon Minha had trampled them while violating every rule of the duel. But she kept her tracks meticulously covered and possessed formidable backing, so she had never once been punished for a serious breach of academy regulations.
However, Yeon Minha had no idea. She had just dug her own grave.
Yeon Minha sneered as she looked at Lee Hyun.
-Whoosh!
With a single wave of Yeon Minha's hand, five blazing flames instantly materialized behind her. It was a terrifying speed of magical formula construction that overwhelmed even particle array devices. Lee Hyun recalled the contents of the report he had read before. Based on the attributes of the magic she had shown so far, she was currently commanding at least forty different types of spirits. Considering that ordinary spirit mages rarely handled more than single-digit varieties, it was indeed an enormous talent.
Among them, the ones Yeon Minha favored most were spirit species that could mediate Emission-type fire attribute magic. It suited her arrogant demeanor quite well. It also had the effect of instilling a sense of intimidation in her opponents. The fear of fire was a primal sensation engraved into the instinct of living beings, after all.
Lee Hyun first raised his Predictive Eye to the third stage. He intended to gauge her skill appropriately. Today, he had no intention of revealing his Authority at all.
Seeing Lee Hyun remain motionless in place, Yeon Minha's face filled with thick mockery.
At Yeon Minha's gesture, the five flames flew toward Lee Hyun from all directions. It wasn't monotonous movement; they moved to preemptively block the various paths he might take to evade. Her proficiency and delicate control were far beyond what one would expect from a student. Lee Hyun immediately shifted his body, moving along the blind spots of the curtain surrounding the sparring arena. But the paths were so sharp that he couldn't avoid every flame. One blazing spark lightly grazed his shoulder blade. Soon, a throbbing pain and the sound of burning flesh rose up.
He drew his blade and charged straight at Yeon Minha. According to the rules, simply pressing the edge against that slender white neck would secure his victory. However, Yeon Minha did not allow his approach.
-Kwaaaang!
A swirling convection suddenly formed in front of her, turning into a fierce gale that instantly blew away Lee Hyun, who had closed in right before her. One wall of the fire curtain swayed from the wind, briefly revealing their figures to the audience. Most reacted as if they had expected this, and even those who had held out hope showed clear disappointment on their faces. No matter how one looked at it, the scene was of Lee Hyun struggling under Yeon Minha's fierce assault.
Yeon Minha fully displayed her rotten personality. Lee Hyun didn't reply and charged forward again. This time, however, dozens of massive, sharp icicles froze in midair and flew at him all at once. When he tried to dodge, solid metal rose from the floor to seize his ankles. Yeon Minha's smooth skin still didn't have so much as a scratch.
Lee Hyun definitely felt she was troublesome. A spirit mage could wield all types of magic regardless of their own attribute, as long as the spirits they commanded matched each element. Yeon Minha was essentially the embodiment of maximizing a spirit mage's advantages, mixing various attributes of magic appropriately to counter him according to the situation.
But that was all there was to it. Yeon Minha chattered away excitedly as if the match were already decided. Lee Hyun didn't respond and roughly estimated the time. It seemed about half of the fire curtain's duration remained. She had supposedly always finished every match within that time. And whether intentional or not, today would be the same. Since the preliminary work was mostly done, he judged it was time to end the fight.
He immediately raised his Predictive Eye to the sixth stage.
-Fwoosh!
It seemed Yeon Minha also intended to end the match. The curtains on all sides gradually closed in, steadily eliminating the space where he could avoid her magic. Behind her, twenty-five flickering flames—five squared—once again formed in the air.
Lee Hyun answered immediately with a faint smile. It was the first time during the spar that he had spoken back to Yeon Minha.
Then the twenty-five flames flew at him like a barrage. With the space so tightly constricted, there was nowhere to dodge. But he had no intention of dodging anyway. Lee Hyun lowered his stance and leaped straight into the barrage of flames.
For the first time, a flash of panic crossed Yeon Minha's face at the unexpected action.
-Kwaang!
The collision between him and the magic produced a massive explosion. His particle defense suit was now in tatters and could no longer function. The body that emerged from the blast was nearly in ruins. The smell of sizzling meat and the sound of chiiiik spread everywhere. An intense pain clearly pierced his skin, but he paid it no mind. If anything, he felt a small sense of accomplishment. It meant the groundwork for the performance he had prepared was unfolding perfectly.
Though momentarily flustered by the reckless action, Yeon Minha quickly regained her composure. She tried to create a metal wall to block his approach, then prepared a gust of wind to blow him away. In the air, dozens of ice spears began forming for the final blow. And just as a metal wall was sprouting from the floor, right before the convection could swirl and condense, at the exact moment the roots of the ice spears were stretching out—
Lee Hyun had already reached right in front of Yeon Minha.
Before she could even finish speaking, Lee Hyun clenched his fist, condensing particles within his body to increase its power, and drove it straight into Yeon Minha's abdomen.
An excruciating, terrible pain immediately struck her abdomen. The impact sent her tumbling across the floor for several meters. It was an intense and vivid agony she had never felt in her entire life, yet she still tried to rise and respond. But before she could, Yeon Minha was already being held by the throat in midair, gasping and choking.
With one hand, Lee Hyun gripped her slender neck and lifted her up. He squeezed with enough force to cut off the oxygen to her brain, making rational thought difficult for Yeon Minha. His other hand instinctively moved to strike her cheek and jaw indiscriminately, but he recalled his objective and exerted superhuman restraint to lower it again. It was better not to leave visible wounds if possible. Instead, what he targeted were the areas hidden by her clothing—her torso and the beginnings of her limbs.
-Thud!Thwack!Thud!
Inside the blazing wall, only dull impact sounds and someone's frail screams could now be heard.
-Thud!Crack!
Lee Hyun continued striking Yeon Minha without mercy. He especially targeted joints and nerve clusters where pain would be maximized. He knew exactly the intensity and locations that would inflict horrible agony without quite killing the opponent. He had once made a high-ranking demonic warrior bite off their own tongue and die. An operative from the People's Liberation Front he had captured had spilled every piece of information within ten minutes. It was a method he had secretly learned while carrying out numerous real battles in the northeast, hidden from the unit leader and his older sisters.
Lee Hyun sensed that success was close at hand. Even as curses poured from her mouth, fear was now flooding Yeon Minha's fierce eyes. Before her Awakening, she must have lived with extreme caution. The danger of an incomplete Awakening increased in proportion to one's immense talent. After Awakening, no one would have dared lay a hand on her body. Her overwhelming talent would have covered up her lack of experience.
Just as he thought, Yeon Minha was someone who had never once been made into prey. At the very least, this would be the first time she had ever been beaten to the brink of death.
-Thud!Thwack!
The situation, which could no longer be called a spar, continued. Lee Hyun lifted her by the neck and slammed her onto the ground. Then he put strength into his foot and trampled every part of her internal organs. He kicked her side hard enough to easily break a couple of ribs. Even so, Yeon Minha's face and limbs remained flawlessly smooth.
-Thwack!Crack!
At some point, Yeon Minha's venomous curses had turned into tearful pleas. He wondered if it was about time, but it still seemed a little short. Lee Hyun continued the assault.
-Thwack!Thud!
-Thwack!Crack!
"…Hoo."
Lee Hyun suddenly looked around. The upper part of the fire curtain was beginning to lift little by little. In other words, it was time to wrap things up. After letting out a short sigh, he walked closer to Yeon Minha. She, who had been sprawled on the floor sobbing, looked at him with a face filled with terror.
-Crack!
Her attempt to prop herself up with her hands and create even the slightest distance was crushed when Lee Hyun violently stomped on her thigh.
Since no immediate answer came, Lee Hyun drove his fist straight into her stomach. Seeing this, it still seemed a bit insufficient.
That was enough. Only then did Lee Hyun feel relieved and stop the recording device hidden in his chest. He needed insurance in case she tried to change her words later. After all, the official victory was scheduled to be hers.
Yeon Minha collapsed on the spot and sobbed in a disgraceful state. Her hair was disheveled and her head hung so low it was hard to see her face. Tears kept dripping endlessly onto the floor. Lee Hyun simply sat down right in front of her with a thud. At his movement, Yeon Minha's body trembled violently. He reached out and grabbed her chin, lifting it so their eyes met. All that remained there now was a small, fragile prey. Her will had been completely broken and was no longer visible.
As if afraid others might hear, Lee Hyun whispered to her in a very small voice.