16. Soulmate
16. Soulmate
Liber had gone to meet Atlas, but I couldn't move.
I thought I should go, but my feet wouldn't budge.
I was afraid of Atlas.
In that corridor, amidst the sprawling blood and screams, people trembling in terror, and a chaos of fleeing figures and those wielding weapons, the Atlas who relentlessly severed legs wore a face utterly unlike the one he usually showed.
Not a leisurely smile, but a face brimming with rage...
He swung his sword filled with hatred.
-Look at that brutality... What you've seen so far was nothing but a mask.
No one was around, yet a male voice came through, thick like acrid smoke.
I wasn't startled.
It was the voice of my most familiar soul companion, after all.
A secret friend visible only to me since childhood.
The advisor who made me who I am today.
-That is Atlas Titan's true face.
-A demon-touched obsessed with growing taller...
-A madman, a serial killer who murders everyone who mocks his height.
'But Atlas is... a good person...'
-Whether you believe it or not, the fact remains that Atlas is a ticking time bomb who hates his own flaws.
-That bastard will make a deal with a demon... and by then it'll be too late.
-He will become an extremely troublesome demon-touched.
The voice that had shown me the path to survival since childhood told me to be wary of Atlas and kill him.
It spewed curses that Atlas would contract with a demon and eventually become a demon-touched.
I didn't want to hear it.
In this academy full of unfriendly people in an unfamiliar environment, Atlas was the first to extend a hand to me.
'Judging him for a crime Atlas hasn't committed yet... over something that hasn't even happened?'
-Have my words ever been false?
-Your very survival up to now is entirely thanks to me.
-The demon attacks, the disturbances that unfolded—everything happened just as I said it would.
-Trust me, as you always have.
It was true.
The companion's words had never contained a lie.
Everything he said came to pass.
The fact that Atlas's surname was Titan, not Nemea, was also genuine information the companion provided.
The fact that he'd hidden his family name had weighed on my mind, creating a sense of distance between me and Atlas as well.
'Atlas is truly a good person... even when I rudely and deliberately kept my distance, he smiled and treated me kindly without ever showing it...'
I had intentionally distanced myself from Atlas, but he never let it show.
He must have been displeased, yet he still treated me well, just as before.
What the companion said was always right... but I still couldn't be sure whether Atlas was truly someone destined to become a demon-touched.
-He may look fine now, but Atlas Titan will definitely fall.
-Unless he shakes off his complex about his height, his true nature won't change.
-Atlas is a far more troublesome opponent than the Five Pillars.
-Judging by his movements earlier, he's growing stronger rapidly. He may have already made a contract with a demon.
-If you don't kill him now... as you are now, you won't be able to face him.
'Atlas hasn't made a contract with a demon yet, though.'
-Ha... by then it's already too late...
Apparently frustrated by my inability to make a final decision, the companion let out a sigh.
-Fine, it's your life, so you decide.
-Will you be killed by Atlas after he becomes a demon-touched,
-or kill Atlas before he becomes one?
-But don't forget this.
-What's done is done.
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Whether Rhemnos had brought them or they had simply followed along, the crowd had swelled. With the duel declared under those circumstances, the already buzzing academy grew even noisier.
"A Five Pillars is fighting a duel? Who's the opponent?"
"Atlas Nemea? Is he Hera's little brother?"
"Let's at least watch. Where's it happening?"
It was no longer just an issue for the freshmen.
The sword fight that broke out in the middle of the academy was sensational gossip even for the upperclassmen.
A blood-spattered sword fight, followed by a duel between hot-blooded freshmen?
And one of them was even Edgar Rhemnos, the Flame of Rhemnos, one of the two swords of the Five Pillars?
This was bound to be entertaining.
Not just the freshmen, but even the upperclassmen had no intention of missing this event that had kicked off right as the new semester began.
"The duel... let's do it tomorrow, Ting Ting Boong. Seeing your face makes my heart ache."
"I don't need that kind of consideration. Let's do it right now! This is nothing!!!"
"Just wait for the swelling to go down, so after you lose you can't claim your swollen face blocked your vision and interfered with the duel."
The duel was set for the next day. I wanted to get it over with right away too, but I didn't want to fight while still injured and then have people whispering behind my back, so I gave him an extra day, telling him to let the swelling on his face go down a bit.
"You..."
At my remark, which could be taken as arrogance, Rhemnos's face looked ready to burst.
The surrounding students who had come to watch buzzed as well.
This was probably the first humiliation for Rhemnos, who had only ever dished out such blatant disregard in his life, never tasting it himself.
If he snapped and charged at me right then, it would have been to my advantage, but something must have acted as a brake; he stopped just short of his breaking point without actually exploding.
"So, it's a rare duel. Rhemnos, what are you going to wager?"
"If I win, you must arrange a duel between me and Lucia Russell."
Wait, why are you making your duel with Lucia a condition for my duel?
"Shouldn't you be talking to Lucia about that, not me? Even if you win, you don't know if it'll be fulfilled, do you?"
"No, this is enough."
It was strange, but that's just how duels are.
The defeated party must do their utmost to faithfully fulfill the conditions wagered in the duel.
I didn't know if a promise involving Lucia could be fulfilled, but Rhemnos was full of confidence.
Still, it was a relief he brought that up first.
"If that's how it is, then let me state my condition."
I had been planning to say something similar.
"If I win, you and everyone else who got beaten up by me in the corridor forget about the whole incident and never speak of it."
Since Rhemnos dragged Lucia into it instead of me, I'd drag all his underlings into it too.
If I won, Rhemnos, a Five Pillars, would demand that the guys who were carried off that day forget they were beaten by me.
If a Five Pillars tells you to forget, what choice do you have?
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The date, time, and conditions were set.
Somewhere, they'd already started gambling on the outcome of this duel.
Me, whose identity as a true member of the Nemea family was unverified, and Edgar Rhemnos, one of the Five Pillars.
Going by the visible specs alone, all bets should naturally have swarmed towards Rhemnos, making for enormous underdog odds against me...
But most of those who had witnessed the sword fight in the corridor bet on me, so the odds were supposedly around 6 to 4 in Rhemnos's favor.
The source of this information was Senior Andy.
"Senior, so who did you bet on?"
"I bet my first academy salary on you."
"I could lose on purpose, you know."
"You? Even your jokes are *keke*... Anyway, see you tomorrow."
Senior Andy walked off with a face already full of smiles at the thought of making money.
"Why would Rhemnos target me?"
For Rhemnos to send his underlings and approach me like this... This was something that didn't even happen in the original story.
Edgar Rhemnos... to speak well of him, he was upright. To speak poorly, he was a blockhead.
His confidence in his own skills pierced the heavens, so he acted arrogantly, but he wasn't the type to know much about shady, underhanded schemes.
He was good at just coming at you with a sword from the start and throwing his weight around, but having underlings needle you until you got angry wasn't like Edgar.
"Then... that means there's one more person besides Edgar..."
...It wasn't that no one came to mind.
I had to figure out a way to deal with it for the sake of a peaceful vacation.
As I was leaning on the balcony, lost in such thoughts, someone silently and smoothly approached.
"You... you don't have to fight this duel... I'll fight it..."
"Why all of a sudden?"
It was Lucia Russell.
Despite being so big, she somehow hid her presence remarkably well.
"I heard... that Rhemnos... included a duel with me as his condition for your duel..."
"It was a bit absurd, yeah. Are you okay?"
I didn't know the details of what had happened between Rhemnos and Russell, but I had my guesses.
Around this time... Russell was probably under a duel prohibition, and Rhemnos, wanting to stand at the peak of the Five Pillars, kept demanding a duel, which Lucia must have avoided.
Lucia's duel prohibition was a family matter.
Rhemnos likely couldn't do anything but talk about it, so he came up with this method...
Still, why direct it at me? I needed to look into Rhemnos's backers quickly.
"....No, if it was going to turn out like this anyway... I'll just do it myself... This is a conflict between Russell and Rhemnos... I'm sorry for getting you involved..."
Lucia apologized, her face full of worry.
Since Rhemnos's condition had been a duel with her anyway, she intended to step in herself, it seemed. Her attitude of trying to resolve it herself was commendable.
"I don't want that."
But that was one thing, and this was another.
This duel was already mine, and no one else's.
"...Why..?"
"I have my own conditions wagered with that bastard. I absolutely must duel him."
"I'll... take on those conditions too and do it for you."
"What have you shown me that would make me trust you? If you lose, I'm guaranteed to be expelled."
"...."
I was already caught up in it; I wasn't in a position to borrow anyone else's hand.
And I still wasn't sure who was stronger between Lucia and Edgar...
"You couldn't even break free from my grip last time. You're pathetically weak."
"....I'm strong.."
"No, you're not. Pathetically weak."
"...I'm really strong..!"
When I called her weak, Lucia's voice rose in indignation.
"If you were so strong, you'd have settled the pecking order with Rhemnos ages ago. He's snarling like that because you keep avoiding duels, right?"
".......That's why I'm saying I'll handle the aftermath."
"You should have done it sooner if you were going to. It's already too late. I'll clean up my own mess, so don't get in my way."
I cut the conversation short and turned away from Lucia.
She seemed to have much more to say, clutching the hem of my coat and biting her lip, but in the end, she said nothing more.
Ha... now I feel guilty...
"...Russell, if you have more to say, let's do it tomorrow. I'll make time for you."
"...Okay."
The words came out brusquely, but they seemed to have been enough.
Her expression looked genuinely more at ease.
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The next day, the academy buzzed with a rare liveliness.
To watch the two hot-blooded freshmen who'd drawn swords and tried to kill each other as soon as the new semester started, a staggering number of students flooded in, from freshmen to upperclassmen.
What's that? I told them not to come, so how did they show up when I scheduled it during class time?
Most just gave themselves a free period, but a few professors also gave themselves a free period and came to watch.
The representative example was Instructor Andy over there, chewing on dried squid.
We were able to borrow the circular arena used during the exam for our duel.
And there... Rhemnos and I stood tall in the center of the arena, glaring at each other as if we were about to kill.
I wore my usual clothes with a longsword as tall as me strapped to my back,
and Rhemnos came in the same clothes as yesterday, a wave-bladed sword—a Flamberge—at his waist.
Neither of us bothered with armor or anything of the sort.
In real combat, we'd wear them properly, but this duel was a pure battle of pride.
Wearing excessive armor was taken as a mental attack, showing your opponent you were scared.
It annoyed me that he'd pulled pointless schemes to provoke me, but Rhemnos's actions after that, showing a purely straightforward side, were actually quite likeable.
That guy probably would have grown up well if he'd just joined the Imperial Knights... What a shame.
I spoke first to Rhemnos, who was frowning deeply.
"I'll praise you for coming without running away."
"Who do you think you're—!!"
"There are lots of spectators, so try not to go down in one hit this time."
"Let's see if you can keep running that insolent mouth of yours even after the duel starts!!!"
Rhemnos's face swelled up again, looking ready to burst.
They called him the Flame of Rhemnos, and it seemed his personality was simply fiery.
Let me apologize in advance.
What I just said was a lie.
I had no intention of taking him down in one blow.
I planned to toy with you as much as possible.
If you've lived a life of such unbroken success, isn't this just about the right time to hit a wall or two?