How to Admit Defeat
KWA-KWANG!
The spear that had shattered the moonlight blade tore straight toward the moon hanging behind her.
“No!”
Diana hastily deployed a protective barrier, but against Pacheon unleashed in Demon Dragon Transformation, it was utterly useless. Like a sheet of paper being ripped apart, the moonlight barrier crumbled into nothing, and the spear pierced clean through the heart of the moon.
KWA-DEUK…! KU-UNG!
The moon, struck dead center, shattered into countless fragments.
At the same time, the dusk that had draped itself over the world gradually lifted, and the original landscape returned.
“Kgh…!”
Diana's face twisted.
“Your domain has been destroyed. Shall we continue the duel?”
“What? Ha!”
At my question, she let out an exaggerated laugh.
“All that happened is my domain collapsed! That doesn't mean I've lost yet!”
She had a point.
What I had just done was nothing more than demolish the domain she had spread out. Diana herself had taken almost no direct damage.
“Now the real fight begins!”
WOOONG!
Moonlight began gathering in earnest. Just as the condensed rays were about to erupt toward me—
“…Ugh!”
Diana's body pitched violently, and she sank toward the ground. The moonlight she'd worked so hard to condense lost its form and scattered.
“Even for you, Lady Diana, casting magic of that scale back to back must have drained your mana.”
She'd been firing off attacks rivaling grand-scale sorcery without a moment's rest. Even a World Ranker wielding a transcendent domain couldn't do that and walk away unscathed.
“Haah… Haaah…!”
Diana panted roughly, showing all the signs of mana exhaustion. The Moonlight Witch had long since been dispelled. Her pale shoulders trembled, and the color had drained from her lips.
“Not yet… not yet…!”
She barely hauled her swaying body upright and shot me a venomous glare.
“There's no way I could lose…! Not in a place like this…!”
“Gracefully accepting defeat is also a virtue of the strong, you know.”
“Don't act so high and mighty!”
Having thrown courtesy and dignity to the wayside, Diana jabbed a finger at me.
“Your mana's completely spent too!”
“Hmm, that's certainly true.”
Thanks to Magic Crafting, I had burned through every last drop of my mana as well. Ordinarily, this would be the point where things were called a draw.
“But you've forgotten one thing, Lady Diana.”
“What…?”
“I'm not a mage.”
I sheathed my spear, loosened both hands, and smiled wickedly.
“I'm a warrior.”
My mana might be gone, but the physical enhancements from Demonization still remained.
THWACK!
I closed the distance in an instant and seized Diana by the throat. Considering she was an awakened hunter, I applied just enough pressure for her to feel it.
“Kkeugh! Kk—!”
“Time to admit it.”
I had beaten her. A mere F-rank hunter had defeated a World Ranker revered by the entire world.
“I… I'm shorry…”
“My, what a shame.”
Things would have been so much easier if she'd simply conceded defeat like a civilized person.
Then again, I hadn't expected that lofty pride of hers to break easily. Which meant I'd just have to resort to somewhat rougher methods.
FWOOSH!
Still gripping her throat, I shot up into the sky. Past the mana barrier, across the vast open air—higher, and higher still.
This should be about far enough.
Only when the clouds seemed within arm's reach did I halt my ascent and speak.
“If you don't admit it, I'm going to let go of this hand right here.”
“Wh-what?!”
“Admit it quickly. That you lost.”
“Are you insane?! If I fall from this height…!”
A mage without mana is nothing more than a person with a slightly sturdier body. Fall from this altitude, and it would be an unmistakable death.
Gulp.
Perhaps she was picturing her own future, because Diana's throat bobbed visibly. In those once-arrogant eyes, an emotion rarely seen there was written plain as day.
Fear.
Since becoming a World Ranker, she'd rarely had occasion to feel the fear of death. So I would kindly revive that feeling for her.
Hunters are, after all, flies whose lives can end at any moment.
“Admit your defeat, and I'll carry you safely back down to the ground. You can keep using the resort facilities, too.”
“…And in exchange I become your slave, is that it!”
“Haha, a slave? Please.”
All we'd be doing is concluding a perfectly reasonable contract. What a hurtful thing to say. I'm so wounded, my grip might just start slipping.
“Hyaaaaaik?!”
The moment I eased my hold, her delicate hands clamped down on my forearm. Tears were now welling up in her eyes outright.
“A-a draw! How about a draw?! Let's just pretend none of this happened, okay?”
“…….”
“I'll give up Horizon! I'll spin the story to the public in the best possible light!”
“…….”
“J-Ji Yeon-ha! I'll treat her generously too! If it comes to it, I could even take her on as my disciple… give her a chance to become Head Tower Master! Access to the Ark! I'm giving away everything at this point!”
Her voice grew more and more desperate. No—not desperate. Groveling.
If she had an ounce of sense left, she'd know I couldn't actually kill her.
Kill Diana, of all people? Do that, and I might well find myself at war with the United Kingdom.
She's in full panic mode, I suppose.
She didn't seem capable of rational thought. That was exactly what I'd been aiming for, but it had worked too well—it was almost absurd.
“Haah.”
I let out a deliberately heavy sigh and looked down at her with a grim expression.
“You don't seem to understand the situation at all.”
“Huh…?”
“I'm not doing all this to extract such trifling concessions.”
Not that what Diana was offering was worthless. The access rights to the Ark in particular could only be granted by a Head Tower Master.
But.
Things like that could simply be added to the contract terms after I'd beaten her.
“What I want is the fact itself—that I defeated a World Ranker.”
That, above all, was the most valuable thing this duel could yield.
Every match held in these dueling arenas was recorded for multiple purposes. In other words, this victory wouldn't rest on mere word of mouth—it would come with proper documented evidence.
Opportunities to duel a World Ranker don't come around often, after all.
I had to make this count. I had to establish, beyond any dispute, that I had claimed a fair and honest victory over Diana, a World Ranker.
“Ugh…!”
Perhaps she understood the weight her defeat carried, because Diana's eyes wavered slightly.
“I'll sign the contract… a slave contract, whatever you want, just please, not that…!”
“It seems you still haven't grasped the situation.”
I released one finger.
“Hyaaaaack!”
“P-please…”
“Your answer.”
Two fingers gone. Three remained, precariously maintaining their balance.
“Keep this up and I really will let go?”
“Kkeuh… sob…!”
“One. Two.”
“N-no!”
“Stubborner than I expected.”
Diana squeezed her eyes shut and held out. I shook my head as if giving up—
“Then, farewell.”
—and let go entirely.
“Uh…?”
High in the vast open sky, Diana's body began its free fall.
“KYAAAAAAAAAK!”
Unless she deployed magic immediately, a fatal plunge was certain. She scrambled to rouse her mana—
Wooong…
—but the reserves she'd already drained to their limit couldn't manifest even a single proper spell.
The ground drew closer. Death was coming.
I'm really going to die like this…?
So meaninglessly—splattering my brains across the ground and growing cold right there. Was this truly to be my end?
I don't… I don't want that….
She didn't want to die. She wanted, desperately, to go on living.
An intensely fierce will to survive—the likes of which she hadn't felt in ages—lifted Diana's heavy lips.
“I-I admit it! I admit defeaaat!”
Every trace of her former authority vanished as she flailed, tears and snot flying, conceding her loss.
“I looost! I said I looost! I was defeated by Hunter Lee Tae-hyuuum!”
For a World Ranker, it was a spectacularly undignified display. But then, who worries about dignity moments before death?
“Please save meee!”
Diana screamed and wailed. The instant I heard that desperate cry, an irrepressible smile bloomed across my face.
“There we go. Good girl.”
Just in time, too. A moment later and it would've been too late.
'Diana' has admitted defeat!
Winner: 'Lee Tae-hyun'!
The duel has concluded!
The duel had been officially recorded as my victory.
“KYAAAAAK!”
Just before the free-falling Diana could hit the ground—
“Kraw!”
—Moss, acting on the orders I'd given in advance, caught her gently.
I descended quickly from the sky and released my Demon Dragon Transformation.
“Well done, Moss.”
“Kraaa~.”
After giving Moss's snout a single stroke, I checked on Diana, who lay with her eyes rolled back, unconscious. She'd merely fainted—no visible injuries.
“Good.”
If she'd suffered any serious harm, it could have meant needless friction with the UK or the Magic Tower. Thanks to my careful consideration, it ended with nothing more than a brief fainting spell.
“This much should preserve her dignity as a World Ranker, and no one's hurt. I've secured the best possible ending I could ask for.”
The dueling arena, observation room.
“H-huaaah…!”
Ji Yeon-ha sank into her seat. Her legs had given out completely while she watched the duel.
Thump. Thump. Thump-thump….
Her heart pounded like mad—so fiercely that nothing but the sound of her own pulse seemed to exist.
“What… what did I just see…?”
Ji Yeon-ha turned the scene over in her mind again and again. No matter how many times she replayed it, it was a sight she couldn't believe.
T-Tae-hyun really beat Lady Diana?!
It went without saying that she had predicted Diana's victory. Her heart might cheer for Lee Tae-hyun, but realistically, the idea simply made no sense.
Even for Tae-hyun….
She'd never imagined he could beat a World Ranker—least of all Diana, the Head Tower Master, the Moonlight Witch herself.
And yet.
He'd won. Toyed with her toward the end, even.
“Impossible….”
Until so recently, he'd been a man ranked beneath her. Then he'd overtaken her in the blink of an eye, and now he'd gone and defeated a World Ranker. Beyond shocking—his growth rate was downright staggering.
“So what I felt back then wasn't just my imagination….”
That shudder she'd felt watching Lee Tae-hyun in his Demon Dragon Transformation on the battlefield of the Demon Realm. That overwhelming aura, so reminiscent of a World Ranker's.
Watching Lee Tae-hyun's satisfied smile, Ji Yeon-ha admitted it to herself.
That man had joined the ranks of the World Rankers.
— Yeon-ha?
At that moment, Lee Tae-hyun waved at the screen.
“Huk?!”
Ji Yeon-ha flinched bodily. She cleared her throat pointlessly, then activated the microphone.
“What… what is it?”
— What do you mean, what? Did you see that just now?
He rested his spear across his shoulder and flashed a shamelessly smug smile.
— I told you, didn't I? I had no intention of losing.
The moment those words reached her ears, something stirred faintly in Ji Yeon-ha's chest.
“…Yeah. You really meant it.”
— Of course. So from here on, all you have to do is follow my lead, Yeon-ha.
At those matter-of-fact words, spoken as if he'd already taken responsibility for her future, an unfamiliar, ticklish feeling began to creep through her heart.
“Ugh……”
Ji Yeon-ha covered her face with her hands and bit her lip.
Truly, the more time she spent with him—
An infuriating man.
Afterward, it took her a long while to cool the heat burning in her cheeks.