Chapter 235: Genius (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 235: Genius (1)
It took only a moment for Rachel to be thrown back. The classmates watching the scene were struck with horror. Among them, Weapon’s face drained completely white, as if bleached. He wasn’t the only one; everyone was thoroughly terrified.
‘C-Crazy...’
Weapon cursed under his breath. The lips gripping his recorder were bone-dry.
Come to think of it, this was the first time they had ever faced their president, Kang Geomma, as an opponent. Geomma had always stood by their side as a reliable ally. But facing him as a sparring partner, the look in the president’s eyes was entirely different.
He was a sword-wielding demon, plain and simple. Weapon instantly understood why anyone who had ever clashed with their president trembled at the knees.
An ink-dark glint swept across the gathered students. His emotions had been pushed to the absolute limit, making his eyes appear unnervingly calm instead. Though a tempest raged behind them, his pupils were like the eye of the storm—pitch-black and dead silent.
Swallowing hard, the cadets raised their respective armaments. Exposed to such overwhelming terror, the teenagers' minds went numb, leaving only the raw instinct to survive.
Kang Geomma and the rest of the class stood facing each other across the distance.
Tilting their blades forward, they refined their stances as best they could. Despite the palpable tension, the cadets managed to get into formation.
It was Chloe who broke the uncomfortable silence. Drawing her katana, her afterimage flickered as she stepped forward, unleashing [Raven's Blessing] in the same breath.
The next instant, a crimson streak shot forward in a straight line, closing the distance to Kang Geomma in the blink of an eye.
Weapon was considerably taken aback. Chloe's speed was extraordinary.
‘Was Chloe always that fast?’
He knew she was one of the core combatants among the Travel Club members, but that speed was mind-boggling. Just a little faster and she would have broken the sound barrier. Tempered by real combat, her speed and [Raven's Blessing] were truly worthy of an assassin.
Swish!
Closing in, Chloe spun her body in a rapid turn, swinging her katana low. A strike combining springlike elasticity and rotational force, it was practically subsonic.
Yet in a contest of speed, it was impossible for anyone to gain the upper hand against Kang Geomma.
He intended to exchange a few blows rather than sever her head in a single stroke. Countering immediately wouldn't have been a problem, but this was a teaching spar, after all—albeit strictly within the one-minute limit of his [Blessing of Painlessness].
Geomma stepped back diagonally. The katana swept harmlessly across the low line.
Geomma shoved Chloe with his shoulder. Losing her balance for a second, she stumbled. He attempted to sweep her foot from behind to completely destroy her precarious equilibrium, but Chloe snapped her core and broke her fall cleanly.
Tap—
Geomma let out a quiet sigh of surprise at Chloe’s heightened reflexes. She survived that? But his astonishment was fleeting. He immediately snapped an upper strike to Chloe’s chin, knocking her head back, and swept her ankle again—this time from inside her legs.
“Ugh...!”
She had no way to endure this second trick. Her feet tangled, she fell squarely on her rear, and the back of her head slammed onto the ground. The impact blurred her vision.
Matching her motion, Geomma plunged his sashimi knife into her carotid artery. Crunch. The blade caught briefly against her cervical vertebrae.
Squelch!
The spark of life faded from Chloe’s eyes. She was the second victim following Rachel.
Just then, another blade flashed from the side. Abel had closed in before anyone noticed. Pushing forward like a raging wave, she targeted Geomma’s flank. Formed in textbook-perfect posture, her momentum was even fiercer than Chloe’s. However, precisely because it was textbook, it was too honest. Attacks of this nature were vulnerable to unexpected variables.
Geomma twisted and folded at the waist, dodging and counterattacking in a single motion. While his sashimi knife lightly sliced her slender waist, Abel’s straight sword narrowly missed his hip.
An empty sonic boom echoed through the air. Re-engaging his core strength, Geomma flipped his body in a flash.
Whoosh.
As he inverted, the black eyes that had been turned away suddenly reflected in Abel’s golden irises. For a split second, time seemed to slow down, as if the world had frozen over.
Abel was stunned. Can a human really move with such elasticity? He was performing an aerial flip without any footholds, and from an unstable posture at that.
Faced with such fluid, gymnast-like grace, she could only freeze in momentary bewilderment. At the same time, it felt unnatural. Normally, Geomma relied on swift sword techniques, but right now, he was utilizing his body far more than his hands.
‘Why on earth...?’
Just as the question surfaced in her mind, a heavy pressure pressed down on top of her head. Geomma had pushed off the crown of her head with one hand, coming into a handstand above her.
Before Abel could even process the acrobatic feat, his sashimi knife sliced through her nape as easily as picking fruit. The light vanished from her golden irises, and her shapely figure collapsed.
Thud.
The entire sequence flowed so seamlessly that it almost appeared slow. And because it seemed slow, it was all the more horrifying to those watching.
Landing lightly, Geomma clicked his tongue softly. Accustomed to killing in a single stroke, pulling his punches felt entirely alien to him. As a result, he ended up pulling off what looked like a circus act.
‘Right.’
He quickly checked the time. There were only about thirty seconds left until [Blessing of Painlessness] wore off. Geomma flicked off the blood and shifted his gaze, counting the remaining opponents: Leon, Ryozo, Hontail, Weapon. All of them stood stunned, their minds blank.
‘Only the ones that are bothersome to slice up are left.’
Not that he had taken any pleasure in cutting down the previous three, but regardless, the three remaining besides Leon shared deep bonds with him.
‘Should I handle them the same way I did Rachel, Chloe, and Abel?’
A momentary hesitation. Soon, he shook his head. Doing that would put him at a disadvantage instead. Over there stood a Hero and a Dragon, no less.
He had shown enough of a taste today, so it should be fine to wrap things up here. Strictly speaking, that was what he wanted. He was growing tired of dancing to Meain’s tune—in fact, he was thoroughly annoyed.
‘Making me face them isn't just for educational purposes.’
He felt it instinctively: there was a hidden motive beyond what she had stated.
‘If it were up to me, I'd like to quit right now, but...’
The momentum of battle refused to let him give up. Besides, once a sword was drawn, it was only natural to see it through to the end—fair play among swordsmen, so to speak.
Geomma pulled out another sashimi knife, holding one in each hand. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. The metallic scent of blood filled his nostrils.
Except for Leon, everyone stepped back hesitantly. Instead of the friend who had laughed and chatted with them yesterday, a black beast was approaching with bared teeth and fangs. Despair mounted on their faces.
The sight of his friends trembling before him... Even with his eyes closed, Geomma could sense it, and it disgusted him deeply.
‘Let's end this in one go. Just one.’
Steeling his resolve, Geomma opened his eyes slowly. Exhaling a sharp breath, he catapulted his body forward.
*
The outcome of the spar had been predetermined. Even among those called the Golden Generation, the gap between them and Kang Geomma was stark.
And there was no upset. An overwhelming victory for Kang Geomma.
Meain had proposed 'Kang Geomma vs. Everyone' to gauge their limits—to see how long the Heaven Class cadets could hold out against a Seven Star. Based on that, she planned to design a curriculum and provide tailored instruction for each individual.
However...
‘To think it would be to this extent...’
Meain had kept her eye on Kang Geomma ever since her time as San Hana. It was only natural. To observe him up close, she had laundered her identity and secretly infiltrated Joaquin Academy.
The reason she went to such lengths was a prophetic text she had seen in the Demon Realm.
Though her memory was faded from how long ago it was, the content roughly revolved around 'a human with black eyes and black hair.' It stated that a human possessing those dark traits harbored the power of the 'Being' worshipped as a god by the Demons. The Hero of the Origin, Balor Joaquin, was listed as a primary example. Any doubts she held were quickly dispelled.
Meain had wandered the Demon Realm for decades to suppress her Blessing Awakening. The information she had seen with her own eyes and heard with her own ears during that time confirmed that the prophecy was true.
‘Therefore, a human with black eyes and black hair is intimately connected to the god of the Demons—that is, an Outer God.’
And therein lay the irony felt by Meain.
Why would the god of Demons grant power not to its own minions, but to a human? Furthermore, what fate awaits a human who wields that power when the final curtain falls? What backlash must the wielder bear? At the very least, does that dark power pose a harmful threat to humanity? Not a single thing was known; everything was shrouded in mystery.
Even the end of Balor Joaquin, presumed to be the predecessor who wielded 'that power,' was shrouded in obscurity. The history books recorded only a brief line stating that he had vanished somewhere without a trace.
Uncertainty and curiosity amplified inside Meain’s chest. The more she roamed the Demon Realm, the more uncontrollable it became.
Thus, as soon as she heard news that a black-haired cadet had entered Joaquin Academy, she returned to the human realm.
‘I have to confirm it with my own two eyes.’
Because if that prophecy turned out to be true, she would have to make a judgment.
‘If the wielder of that power is deemed a detriment to humanity...’
And she had to steel her resolve.
‘Forty years ago, three of my disciples died because I couldn't participate in the war.’
She could not stand idly by a second time. She resolved to eliminate any threat to humanity in advance, no matter the cost.
However, she realized this was an utterly self-centered arrogance. As time passed, she felt it with stark clarity. Even now was no exception.
The cadets gasped for air, constantly touched their necks to check if their heads were still attached, or groaned softly. Some sat collapsed, staring blankly at the ceiling in shock. Kang Geomma approached each and every one of them, asking if they were all right.
Every time he did, the cadets cowered in terror. It seemed it would take quite a long time for the shock to wear off. While this wouldn't make their relationship with Geomma completely distant, things could never be quite the same as before.
‘Had it been a free-for-all brawl, perhaps it might have been different...’
Meain lowered her eyes slightly. The second hand on her wristwatch completed a full revolution. Only one minute had passed. In other words, Kang Geomma had taken everyone's head in less than sixty seconds. Even while blatantly holding back, and even with the next Hero among them, they were no match for him.
Meain shifted her gaze back toward Leon. His face was distorted, his once deep-blue eyes now clouded as if covered by a film. Just looking at him was enough to tell how he felt. After all, she was the one who had discovered him and sent him to Joaquin Academy.
Humiliation, frustration, powerlessness. The Hero's heart was breaking before an insurmountable wall.
Just then...
“Senior.”
Kang Geomma approached her. His brow was furrowed in displeasure.
“The kids seem pretty shaken up today, so why don't we wrap up the lesson here?”
It was a demand disguised as a suggestion. What choice did she have when the Heavenly Sword spoke? She had no option but to concede. Meain nodded very slowly.
“Indeed. Seeing the current situation, it doesn't seem appropriate to continue the lesson. Let's end it here for today, and tomorrow we can—”
“Senior.”
An icy voice cut her off. Kang Geomma cracked his neck from side to side.
“Let's talk for a moment. Outside.”
An indescribable weight struck Meain right in the pit of her stomach.