The Battle Maniac's Persistence
“...Shit, why the hell is that guy following us?”
“Well, isn't it because of the way you spoke to him? Just think of it as collecting on all the karma you've been stacking up.”
Bullshit. I clicked my tongue at Luicia's scolding and finally turned my gaze toward the thing I'd been deliberately ignoring this whole time.
The moment our eyes met, he broke into a vicious grin. The look on his face screamed Finally looking this way, huh?, and that only soured my mood further.
It had been a good thirty minutes since we'd finished eating, and the bastard had been trailing us like a stalker the entire time. I could almost admire the sheer tenacity—if only he'd pour that obsession into someone else instead of me.
And he wasn't even one of the third-years who'd already been eliminated. He'd just steamrolled a first-year S-class challenger in real time and stuck to us right after, looking for all the world like a dog waiting for the perfect moment to mess with its owner.
That wasn't a metaphor. He really was like a dog. My mood was dogshit, so of course it was.
“Hey, underclassman. You're supposed to be pretty strong, right? Don't you want this shop? Someone you look down on and ignore should be easy enough to beat~ Come on, just a little spar to test the waters, yeah?”
That was what he said when he finally closed the distance.
Even while trying to sweet-talk me into a fight, his face was smiling, but the veins bulging on his forehead and the killing intent he didn't even bother to hide made the whole thing feel more like a threat. If you pictured a Japanese yakuza, this was exactly the image that would come to mind. It was so stereotypical it almost felt familiar. Stick a bullet hole through that thick skull and the look would be perfect.
Doesn't this guy ever get tired of it...?
I'd already gotten the sense from watching him fight before, but this man was definitely a battle maniac. Nothing else explained how he could hear what I'd said and still grin like that while pushing for a fight. If he wanted to brawl so badly, he could just grab some other sucker...
Well, that wouldn't work either, so here we are.
The reason he wasn't running wild was simple: he was a third-year and I was a first-year. Right now he was only getting this chance to fight a first-year under the academy's unspoken permission. Under normal circumstances, our paths never should have crossed.
At best it would have been like that morning—me being the one to pick a fight with him.
Even this whole event, if you peeled back the structure a little, was built around first-years challenging third-years. It was the academy's so-called consideration: compete against opponents of appropriate rank and level.
Boiled down to the school rules, upperclassmen couldn't unilaterally challenge underclassmen to a duel. The reverse, however, was allowed. An upperclassman crushing a lower one was just slaughtering civilians. The opposite was insubordination—and that made for excellent motivation for everyone else, so they permitted it.
Upperclassmen would stay sharp so they wouldn't fall behind the kids below them, and underclassmen would grind harder to catch up even a little faster. That was the intended effect of allowing insubordination.
But that left the upperclassmen at a massive disadvantage, so one of the countermeasures was giving the challenged party authority over the duel settings. The same rule applied here.
Which meant that now that the minimum condition—someone from first-year S-class taking down one of the ten—had already been cleared, why the hell should I bother with this thankless, profitless hassle?
For the shop points? Sure, collecting ten supposedly let you get something from the academy, but it would be completely useless to me. If I really wanted something, I could just buy it with money. If even that didn't work, I could ask Lee Se-rin. And if there was anything I actually wanted that badly, I would have gone and gotten it myself. I might not have been able to before, but I had the power for it now.
So with me having zero interest in fighting, this guy's current state of mind had to be pure agony. Normally I was the one who was supposed to issue the challenge. By flat-out ignoring him, the proper conditions never formed, and he couldn't force a fight.
“Or what... all that big talk, and you're actually just scared and running away?”
All he needed was for the duel to start. That was the only reason he was stuck to us like this, alternating between provocation and coaxing dressed up as persuasion.
“Don't you have anything better to do? Barking nonstop is getting real noisy.”
Of course I wasn't going to rise to such a cheap taunt.
He was deliberately raising his voice so the people around us would get the impression I was running away. But if I'd ever cared that much about other people's opinions, I never would have done half the things I'd done up to now.
As for why I kept using informal speech with him—that was purely because I'd slipped into it by accident at the start. Until now I'd always used polite language with seniors, if only to avoid giving a bad first impression. I wasn't looking for brownie points; I just didn't want the negative. With this guy, though, we'd already blown past negative and straight into open hostility, so there was no point anymore.
Besides, starting informal and then switching to formal later would just feel weird. Some people might say that judgment belongs to the listener, but as far as I was concerned it was simply a matter of whether I myself could accept it. In life, people who decide to look at you sideways will keep looking at you sideways no matter what you do. So instead of trying to scoop spilled water back into the cup, it was faster to just pour something else on top and cover it.
That was why I kept muttering informal speech under the guise of talking to myself. He was getting pissed at the half-assed attitude but couldn't do anything about it, so he just kept trailing after us. From a distance we probably looked like one awkward extra hanging off the edge of a group.
My ignore skill had been polished to a terrifying level thanks to Lee Se-rin, so much so that Ban Taewung and Luicia walking beside me both wore apologetic expressions.
The place we were heading was the infirmary. Before lunch Ban Taewung had mentioned wanting to check on Cheon Jang-mi's condition. I'd already left a message on the device, so there was no chance of missing her.
“Uh, Sinwoo... he keeps following us. Would it really be that bad if we just fought him...?”
“Yeah. I hate it.”
“Figured...”
Ban Taewung, carrying a bag of easy snacks, let out a long sigh and slumped. Beside him, Luicia shot me a sharp glare.
What do you want me to do about it? I'd rather go back to the classroom or somewhere quiet and finish sleeping, but I was sticking with these two because I was worried the bastard might try something stupid.
I had no intention of throwing the first punch, but he might. And if I ended up wrecking him after that, I needed witnesses who could prove I wasn't at fault. Unlike me, who collected rumors the way other people collected stamps, these two were earnest and left good impressions on everyone around them. Perfect for evidence. If that weren't the case, why would I bother sticking so close?
“Whoops, my foot slipped—!”
Sure enough, when words and coaxing failed, he moved on to physical dirty tricks.
Thud!
For someone claiming to have slipped, the kick that sent a pebble flying from the roadside was dead accurate. In that brief instant he even layered a thin coat of mana into it—the form of someone who'd done this more than once or twice. Had the idiot already forgotten that every eye in the area was on him?
The stone spun toward the back of my head at a speed that would have caught anyone else completely off guard.
I'd been holding Combat Focus in check ever since the verbal sparring started. Now I let it activate, and time stretched out long and thin. Inside that elongated moment I let out a quiet sigh.
Thanks to Haze constantly hovering around me, I didn't even need to turn around; the Link gave me a rough picture of the situation. At this rate the rock was going to hit me square in the skull.
It was just an ordinary stone with no mana in it, so its hardness was nothing compared to an Awakened body saturated with mana. Even if I took it full force without any defense, it wouldn't leave a real wound—probably not even a bump.
It would just feel really, really shitty.
I started to tilt my head slightly to the side to dodge, then a better idea hit me and I stopped.
At the same time I funneled mana to Haze and had her sever space itself. The sensation was like erecting an invisible wall. Exactly like a barrier, I had her pin-point the precise spot where the stone would meet the back of my head.
Unlike a real barrier, this was the concept of “impassable” forcibly jammed into space itself, so from the outside no one could tell any trick was being used. The stealth that was a spirit's greatest specialty and advantage shone brightest in moments like this.
I went one step further and ordered her to amplify the sound that would ring out from the severed space—loud enough that even people far away would hear it clearly.
The final touch was my acting. I dredged up the memory of the time I'd been shot, layered on the shadows' assistance, and manipulated my body with as much precision as I could manage. Spreading a faint haze of Charisma to draw every gaze more firmly toward me was just the cherry on top.
One, two, three—
CRACK!!!
The sound exploded from the back of my head at the same instant my vision lurched forward exactly the way I wanted. The stone couldn't withstand the space Haze had severed; it crumbled into powder and scattered.
In the stretched-out time I saw Ban Taewung's eyes and mouth slowly widen as he glanced my way. But the one who was more shocked was Binboji Kazu.
He'd clearly expected me to dodge. Instead, when he opened the lid, he got a result far beyond anything he'd wanted. The stunned look on his face as he stared at me was proof enough that he was thinking, Wait, that can't be right.
Leaving his frozen figure behind as if to say he hadn't meant it, I unnaturally flung my head forward and clapped a hand over the back of my skull.
A few grains of the pulverized stone still clung there, thanks to Haze's careful control. While I pretended to brush them off, I used the shadow on my hand to feed Hive some of my stored blood from the byproducts. It had been sitting a while, so it was half-dead blood, but even a detailed examination later would give the same result. What mattered was that the evidence that this blood was mine was now solidly in place. If he tried to raise any objections afterward, he'd only be tightening the noose around his own neck.
Blood without a wound would look weird, so I should tear it a little.
I needed to build resistance to Torture and Sadism anyway, so a moderate tear would be fine. No need to force anything; I just used the shadows to dig around a bit. The fact that more blood flowed than the wound seemed to warrant could be explained away as an Awakened's natural healing factor doing its job. The result was a wound that was neither too big nor too small.
A sharp sting bloomed, followed by a skull-splitting aftershock, but I clenched my teeth and rode it out. That should make the expression look more natural.
“!!!”
I heard the sound of someone sucking in a breath beside me. Only then did I cut Combat Focus and let time snap back to normal.
A thick stream of blood ran down.
“...Haaaah...”
I felt the liquid trickle from the hand on my head, down my neck and across my cheek, and let out the longest sigh I could manage. Layering killing intent amplified by Charisma on top was just a bonus.
Because of that, Riri and Luicia, who had started to rush toward me, froze mid-step. The less information I gave people, the better. If those two got close and noticed something off, all the hard work I'd put into the act would go up in smoke.
Drip. Drip.
Blood droplets hit the ground. Ban Taewung's face hardened completely. He turned around and growled,
“Senior, I think you've crossed a line.”
Coming from Ban Taewung of all people, the words made every nearby student who had even a vague idea who he was turn their eyes on Binboji Kazu. Even those who didn't know Ban Taewung could tell at a glance who the villain of the scene was.
“No, wait, I—ha...!”
The situation must have been so absurdly frustrating that he started pounding his own chest and spitting out heated breaths, as if he couldn't believe what was happening.
Should've quit while you were ahead.
I allowed myself a small inner smile at the mess I'd created, then kept holding the throbbing back of my head as if trying to stop the bleeding. Riri, who had flown up on her book to my back, immediately deployed healing magic over the wound.
“Does it hurt?”
Honestly, it hurt like hell.
My skills didn't stop at the body; they reached all the way into the soul and the mind. If I'd known about these skills even a little earlier, I might have spent less time developing the EM series—they worked that well. Or maybe the skills only appeared because I'd created the EM series in the first place?
...Trying to pin down the causality this late was pointless, so I shook my head out of habit to clear the thoughts. Riri seemed to take the gesture the wrong way; her expression hardened further.
“Can you hear me? How many is this?”
“...Three.”
“Smile. Now.”
An STR check? Was she making sure I hadn't had a stroke? She'd already healed me with magic and she was still this worried.
Annoyed, I roughly lifted one corner of my mouth and, without listening further, raised and lowered one hand.
“...I'm fine, so stop fussing. My head's ringing.”
“Mm.”
When I showed my usual cynical attitude, she finally seemed to relax and let out a long breath. Then her eyes narrowed and she began constructing a new spell.
“Cleanse, freeze, compound.”
Three magic circles combined at high speed into one. The blood stuck to my skin instantly crumbled into powder and vanished. A brief chill told me she'd used ice magic as the base, freezing the moisture in the blood and peeling it away along with the blood itself. How exactly she'd separated something stuck to skin was still a mystery, so I just accepted it. Kallion's traits worked in a similar way; she knew what she was doing.
“If you're that eager for a fight, I'll take your place.”
“No, look, the one I have business with isn't you, it's—”
“Guardian!!”
Before Binboji Kazu could finish, Ban Taewung called for a Guardian. The mechanical referee appeared at once, scanned both of them, and finished preparing the duel arena.
Ban Taewung drew the sword at his hip and leveled it. Binboji Kazu, who had been sighing nonstop, finally seemed to decide “whatever happens, happens” and drew his Japanese sword as well.
“One-on-one, three valid hits. Any objections?”
“None.”
“...I like the fire. If that guy were more like you, things would be a lot better.”
“Focus on the fight, senior.”
With that, Ban Taewung quietly drew up his mana. From the start he intended to go all-out; black-gold mana crackled like lightning, scattering a sharp, tingling aura in every direction.
“If you don't, you'll get hurt.”
The wildly surging energy carried Ban Taewung's emotions so clearly that I felt an unexpected swell of pride. Yeah—if he'd just stood there staring after I got hit, I really would have been disappointed.
No, before disappointment I would have seriously started wondering whether this guy was even human.
Binboji Kazu looked startled for a second by Ban Taewung's attitude, then pulled his lips into a savage grin and started laughing.
“Yeah, that's more like it!!!”
At the same time a vivid crimson aura began to billow around him like smoke. Unlike Ban Taewung's overwhelming outpouring of mana, it was quiet—but the power contained inside it was the real deal.
The heavy pressure that felt like it could choke you just by approaching made Ban Taewung's expression grow even more serious, and his own energy refined itself to match.
A crushing, devouring mana collided with a tyrannical, volcanic one.
Sparks flew in every direction from the clash of mana against mana, and the gap between the two became immediately clear.
Ban Taewung's a little ahead.
Even in a situation that was clearly turning against him, the smile never left Binboji Kazu's face. If anything, he laughed even harder, as if he were genuinely happy.
Crazy bastard.
“Crazy bastard.”
Ah, it slipped out again. But facts were facts. The faint nods of agreement from Luicia and Riri confirmed that the guy really was unhinged.
Being able to enjoy a fight in a situation like this was proof enough that he wasn't normal. In that sense, I'd clearly drawn the short straw with this maniac. Yesterday had already been rough, and the moment I became an adult my luck with people turned vicious. With a bomb that could go off at any second already scheduled, my fortune was officially trash.
I was pretty sure this was all that god-bastard's doing too, which just pissed me off more. Even if I claimed I was being framed and it was unfair, it wouldn't change anything. Should've done better from the start, you son of a bitch.
“Hoo...”
“Haaaah...”
The moment their drawn-out breaths overlapped—
CLANG!!!
Sword met sword.