The Duel and Then...?
The day of Julia’s duel finally arrived. Wanting to watch, I made my way to the sparring grounds tucked away in a corner of the school.
“Oh, it’s pretty tidy.”
The last time I’d been here the walls and equipment had been a wreck, torn up by every kind of unique ability imaginable. Now the place actually looked like a proper arena.
So they clean up before something like a formal duel, huh?
Right. Not every hero hopeful was like Julia. Relieved that the future of Korea at least had a few people with their heads on straight, I kept walking.
That was when I heard something collapse, followed by a chorus of screams.
“Aaaah! My knees! My knees!”
“I told you not to just shove everything in! I said we should organize it properly ages ago—why is the student council so useless?!”
“Ah… it’s falling… I thought my Tetris-honed skills would be enough…”
“What does Tetris have to do with putting things away?!”
Inside a room the size of a warehouse, training gear and supplies had been crammed in at random. It looked nothing like “organized.” It looked exactly like the way I used to shove every toy into the closet when my parents told me to clean my room and then proudly declare the job done.
“…”
I pretended not to notice and headed for the waiting room.
When I stepped inside I found Julia strapping on all sorts of equipment—something she almost never did.
“Oh! You’re here!”
“Yes. Are you ready?”
“Yep!”
Like a child showing off a brand-new toy, she launched into an excited explanation of every device she was wearing.
“This is that shock-absorbing barrier thing. Cool, right? When you take a hit it generates a field that soaks up the impact. If the barrier’s energy drops below thirty percent you’re out. Below fifty you can forfeit.”
It was the kind of gear well-funded organizations bought for everything from training to real combat—letting people fight almost like the real thing without anyone dying.
“Hmm. Looks like your opponent’s ready too.”
Time to double-check who she was facing. I pulled out the paper I’d brought and reviewed the information again.
“His unique ability is Hardening—he can make certain materials extremely tough. There are limits, though. It only works on liquids and solids. And he can’t affect another person’s body.”
If it had worked on gases or living flesh, the ability would have been top-tier. Instantly solidifying an opponent’s brain or blood would be an instant kill, and hardening the air could restrict movement or create invisible blades.
“I already told you he prefers a halberd and blunt weapons. You haven’t forgotten how to deal with that, right?”
“Ugh… just thinking about the training makes me want to throw up. Even if I tried to forget, I couldn’t.”
Her answer was reassuring enough.
“Don’t forget what you learned in training, and remember this is only a friendly match. And… try not to use what’s in the pouch unless you absolutely have to.”
“Got it! Only if I’m getting completely wrecked!”
“…Not the most confidence-inspiring answer, but good luck. And if you get careless and take a counter, I won’t let it slide.”
Julia strode onto the arena floor with a confident gait that said don’t worry about me.
Her opponent was already waiting, looking both relaxed and quietly determined.
“Hello, senior! Looking forward to a good match!”
“Haha. Same here. Hope we both learn something.”
Even though he was fighting a girl younger than himself—something that could easily bruise a man’s pride—he welcomed her without the slightest hint of resentment.
Julia almost let her guard down at his friendliness, then remembered my warning and snapped back to focus.
“Nice. You’ve got the basics down. First-timers who treat a duel like a game usually end up eating dirt.”
“Thank you!”
“Let’s have a good fight.”
With that, Julia drew her sword from its scabbard. The man unslung the halberd from his back and spun it once through the air with a flourish.
Moments later the referee stepped forward and briefly explained the rules.
“The match begins now. If the barrier battery on your wrist drops below thirty percent, or if you become unable to continue, you are automatically eliminated. Techniques that pose a direct threat to life or health are forbidden. Violators will face appropriate punishment. Keep that in mind.”
He blew the whistle.
Thud!
The instant the match started, the man kicked off the ground and charged straight at Julia.
Wind Ruler was a long-range ability, so closing the distance made sense.
Julia, of course, had no intention of meeting him head-on.
“Kh!”
A wind strong enough to make walking difficult slammed into him. His speed dropped sharply.
He didn’t get blown away completely—his solid build and the extra weight from Hardening helped him resist the current—but Julia was satisfied. She’d forced him to burn a lot of strength. Riding a tailwind, she shot forward.
The wind-boosted thrust aimed at his heart was fast enough that an ordinary person wouldn’t even have time to react. The man’s reflexes, however, were beyond ordinary.
He hardened his left hand, caught the blade, and immediately counterattacked.
Shortening his grip on the halberd, he swung. The axe blade at the end carved toward Julia’s neck.
With her sword trapped, only her left hand was free—and without an ability like Hardening she had no way to stop the halberd.
A perfect checkmate.
Or so the man thought.
At the same moment an explosion erupted, and he felt his body fly backward.
What…?
She didn’t have an explosion-type ability. Even if she did, punching through Hardening would have required stacking multiple impacts.
He never got the chance to figure it out. Only after he completely lost consciousness did the spectators understand what had dropped him.
KWA—————————NG!
“Aaaagh! My ears…!”
“Uweeeeh…! That’s not ‘no threat to life’…!”
The shockwave Julia unleashed completely wrecked everyone’s sense of balance. Some people, their semicircular canals hit hard, toppled over or retched, desperately proving they were no longer in any condition to watch a match.
“Uh… a-are you okay?”
Her opponent had gone down far more easily than expected. Julia shook him, but he was in no state to continue.
Both Hardening and the barrier excelled at stopping physical impact—not sound. That was the accident. Even a seasoned fighter was helpless against an attack that simply ignored defense.
“U-uhh?”
Realizing too late that she’d caused a disaster, Julia looked desperately at the referee. He was just as dazed.
But a pro was still a pro. He recovered a fraction sooner than the rest and managed a weak order toward the stands.
“Julia wins…! Everyone snap out of it and call an ambulance! Ugh… I need to get out of here!”
He staggered outside, leaving the rest of them behind. Medical staff soon arrived, checked the ears of the people sprawled on the floor, declared them fine, patted a few shoulders, and left.
Whatever happened after that, a win was a win, right?
“Anyway, they said it wasn’t a rule violation. The safety gear was just a little underprepared.”
“Phew…”
“They did ask you to hold back on that technique unless it’s an actual tournament. The fight ends too one-sidedly, and the area of effect is huge.”
“The people at the mansion seemed fine with it…”
That’s because they’re used to it, young lady…
The shockwave Julia currently used as her main attack had been completed when she was six. Experts had refined it since then, boosting its power and destructive force dramatically. Ordinary people without proper protection simply couldn’t withstand it.
“Better arenas have safety equipment for all kinds of attacks, not just impact. We can try it there.”
“Where would that be?”
“Hmm? Somewhere like Sirius Academy, maybe?”
What I knew for certain was that the gear was so expensive middle schools almost never had it.
“I checked with the other side. His eardrums took a little damage, but he’ll recover quickly.”
“Thank goodness…”
Julia let out a long breath of relief, clearly still bothered that her opponent had gone down so hard.
For her sake I pulled the materials I’d prepared from my bag.
“Anyway—because of all that!”
“…?”
“Starting today we’ll be doing practical combat drills based on the duel data, plus unique-ability control training! Everyone, applause!”
Clap-clap-clap-clap—!
The moment the words left my mouth Julia’s face crumpled without mercy. Too late. Your future is already decided, young lady.
We would analyze every shortcoming from the real fight, patch the holes, and finally practice the control work she’d been neglecting.
Then Julia reacted in a way she never had before.
“Pfft…”
“Young lady…?”
“Okay. I want you to train me.”
People who suddenly act out of character are supposed to drop dead. Had she caught some terminal illness?
I checked the flow of blood through her body. Nothing unusual.
“What’s with that look? What do you normally think of me as?”
A pretty little slug who only likes to play.
“Ah, no, just… you’re not usually like this, so I was surprised…”
I swallowed the honest answer and softened it. Julia snorted and laid her true feelings bare.
“It’s just… without your help I would’ve had a really hard time in that duel, right?”
“?”
“You created the technique that finished the match. You spent days analyzing him and building a counter. You taught me how to use my ability and a hundred other things…”
Well, the counter never even got a chance to shine because the skill gap was too big, but still.
“Before I used the shockwave I tried stabbing him with the sword. Pure strength wasn’t going to cut it. If you hadn’t taught me, I would’ve lost right there.”
I had to agree. Whether it was an application of Hardening or something else, his body reinforcement was high-level. A straight fight would have been rough.
“Hey, Seo-hyun. You’ll stay by my side from now on too, right?”
“Huh? Of course…”
“Don’t just say it with your mouth.”
Julia pressed herself as close to me as she could and whispered in a small voice.
“Even after the contract ends… I want to stay with you.”
“…”
Her words were so earnest, so unlike her usual self, that I couldn’t possibly brush them off.