The Madman Who Crushes Geniuses
"Kyaaa!" Crash! The last of the four girls who had been badmouthing me crashed to the floor, rolling across the stone. Unable to breach my Steel Skin and shield offensive, she had finally collapsed under the pressure. After rolling across the ground, she blacked out on the spot.
It was a sweeping, unstoppable streak of victories. The four girls, utterly helpless against me, gnashed their teeth in bitter resentment. Yet the moment our eyes met, they flinched and averted their gaze, cold sweat breaking out on their foreheads. It was the natural result of the thorough thrashing I had given them. From now on, they wouldn't dare badmouth me to my face.
This doesn't feel half bad. It was refreshing. So this was what sweet satisfaction felt like. Before I knew it, my rank had climbed to 15th. Although most students had already finished their mock battles and were waiting on standby, mine was far from over.
Four more to go. If I defeated four more, I would firmly secure a spot in the upper ranks. Whew, even I'm starting to feel the fatigue. I had certainly grown through my physical conditioning, but climbing all the way from 46th to 15th in one go was taking its toll. My stamina was beginning to flag.
Moreover, the gap in skill became glaringly obvious once I reached the mid-ranks. As expected of Jerion Academy, a place reserved only for the elite, relying solely on Steel Skin was starting to reach its limits. It was only because this was a mock battle that I had made it this far. If this were a fight to the death, even these mid-rank students wouldn't have been defeated so easily. In a real battle, they would use any means necessary to kill me, making it a far more grueling struggle.
Even so, Steel Skin alone won't be enough to cut it in the upper ranks. I had prepared a few tricks for that very reason, but even I didn't know how far they would take me.
"What rank is he now?"
"He's at 15th."
"Is he seriously going to make it to the top ranks at this rate?"
Whispers rippled through the crowd of students. In the history of the academy's mock battles, almost no one had ever caused such a massive shift in the rankings. Most students only moved up or down by three ranks at most.
"Come to think of it, doesn't this feel familiar?"
"Yeah, like Lucas and..."
The students abruptly cut themselves off. Realizing their slip of the tongue, they cast tentative glances toward someone. That someone was Isabel.
She had been silently watching my battles from start to finish. Isabel's current rank in the mock battles was 5th. Considering she had started at 10th, she had climbed an impressive five spots. Her skills had reached a peak. Yet, the opponent Isabel truly aimed for was someone else—the one who had clawed his way up from the very bottom to the middle ranks. Me.
There was only one other person who had ever caused such a dramatic shift in the rankings: Lucas, who had awakened his unique trait, the Flame of Fighting Spirit, while stuck in the lower ranks. Once he awakened it, it synergized perfectly with his daily training, triggering an explosive growth. As a result, he had shot up from the bottom to the top in the blink of an eye. It was a display worthy of a true protagonist.
And now, here I was—the one who had insulted the deceased Lucas—climbing from the bottom just as he had. The memory of the late hero flashed through the students' minds once more, and their gazes naturally gravitated toward Isabel. She kept her lips tightly sealed, remaining silent. No one in this arena was thinking of Lucas more than she was at this moment. Yet, she said nothing. She simply stared at me, quietly calculating how she would face me.
Go ahead, think all you want. In the end, those calculations wouldn't matter much anyway.
"Rank 14, Van. Rank 15, Hanon Airey."
Just then, my name was called once more.
Here it comes. For the first time, the easygoing composure vanished from my face.
In the distance, a slender boy was trudging forward. His face was a mask of sheer boredom and annoyance. He looked like someone who lived entirely at his own whim, drifting along with the flow of the world. And I instinctively knew that I was about to face my toughest opponent of the day.
The lazy genius, Van. He was a prodigy who showed absolutely no interest in anything. Though his raw skill easily placed him among the top five in the academy, he usually forfeited his matches out of sheer laziness. Neither the assistant instructors nor the professors scolded him for it. After all, a person devoid of motivation wouldn't find it no matter what they did. His rank was a reflection of his mindset; if he lacked the drive to climb, then languishing in the middle ranks was deemed his rightful place.
Van scratched his back lazily, looking at me with dull, uninterested eyes. Meeting his gaze, I stepped onto the arena.
"Van, if you're going to forfeit this time too, say so now," the assistant instructor said, thoroughly accustomed to this routine.
Van glanced at the instructor, then slowly turned his gaze back to me. He let his hand drop from his back.
"No."
The laziness in his eyes remained, but for the first time in a very long while, a faint spark of interest flickered within them.
"I want to cut him."
What a lunatic. First Sharin, the top student of Magic Engineering, and now this guy. I had no idea why every genius in this place was so unhinged.
"Van actually wants to fight?"
"Is the transfer student's run finally over?"
"If Van is showing interest, that transfer student must be seriously strong."
The students began to chatter again. Every second-year knew how powerful Van was. They also knew he had never once fought seriously.
But the reason Van had chosen to fight me wasn't because he held my skills in high regard. There was only one time Van had ever exerted his true strength in a mock battle.
"He crossed swords with Lucas in the past."
It had been a bloody, desperate clash, and Lucas had defeated Van through sheer, unyielding effort. That battle had been the catalyst for Van's growth, rekindling his passion for the sword.
But after Lucas's death, Van had lost interest once more, reverting to a lazy genius.
"He was a pretty decent guy," Van muttered, letting his scabbard drag on the floor.
At the same time, a thick, suffocating wave of bloodlust began to roll off his body.
"You've been running your mouth about him."
Van had actually liked Lucas. And I had insulted the very person who had given him a reason to wield his sword. Isabel wasn't the only one angered by my insults toward Lucas. The top-ranking students of the Martial Arts department, who had spent the past year alongside Lucas, had all been on good terms with him. They viewed my disrespect with immense displeasure. That was why my composure had vanished. Van, the 14th-ranked lazy genius, would not let me off easily.
But I was sorry to break it to him.
"I only spoke the truth."
I wasn't about to make things easy for him, either.
"Ah, is that so?" Van replied flatly.
His eyes locked onto mine.
"I'm definitely cutting you."
"Begin!"
The moment the assistant instructor declared the start and stepped back, Van vanished from my sight.
Fast. He was so fast my mind couldn't instantly process it. My reaction was a split second too late.
Slash! Blood splattered from my chest for the first time today. I leaped backward, but the skin of my chest had already been sliced open. Standing before me was Van, his blade already drawn.
My Steel Skin had been breached for the first time. Yet, this was well within my expectations. A vivid, blue aura shimmered along the edge of Van's sword. It was a talent that only a select few could master, even within Jerion Academy, a gathering place for the most brilliant minds.
Sword Qi. The ultimate mastery of the blade, where one projects their mental image onto the weapon. With Sword Qi, even a blunt blade could cleave through boulders and slice through solid steel.
Van was one of the few swordsmen capable of wielding it. No matter how tough my Steel Skin was, my current level wasn't enough to block Sword Qi head-on. This was exactly why I had known that Steel Skin alone wouldn't suffice against the upper ranks.
Van's sword moved again. The war of attrition I had relied on in the middle ranks, trusting in my Steel Skin, was now useless. I quickly raised the shield strapped to my arm. Van looked at it with a dull expression.
"Is that going to do anything?"
The moment his sword met my shield—slice! The shield was instantly cleaved in two, shattering into pieces. Against his Sword Qi, even my shield was worthless. The only way to block Sword Qi was with Sword Qi of your own. I was experiencing its terrifying destructive power firsthand.
The assistant instructor made no move to stop the match. He knew Van's capabilities. It looked incredibly dangerous, but he was confident Van wouldn't actually kill his opponent. That was how refined Van's swordsmanship was. Van lunged forward, his blade gliding through the air. My body narrowly evaded the strike. Thanks to today's mock battles, I had discovered one of Vikaman's strengths: his dynamic visual acuity was far better than I had thought. Attacks I would have never been able to react to in my original body were being dodged as Vikaman's body executed ingrained footwork. Constantly relying on Evasion in the previous fights had paid off; my body was steadily accumulating experience.
But Evasion alone couldn't solve everything. My opponent was a master of the blade. Van's swordsmanship was slowly cornering me. His sword began to anticipate the directions I dodged, positioning itself ahead of me. Before I knew it, the space I had to evade was shrinking rapidly. Van was simultaneously employing multiple styles of swordsmanship. This technique of seizing the opponent's territory and closing in on them was undoubtedly a form of heavy, oppressive swordsmanship, combined with the principles of swift, blindingly fast strikes.
Slash! The cuts on my body multiplied. Flesh torn by Sword Qi bled freely, staining my clothes crimson. My territory was completely usurped by Van in an instant. His eyes flashed. I could feel just how long he had spent pouring his soul into understanding the sword. Before I knew it, I was driven into a corner where I couldn't move a single inch. My body was covered in blood from desperately dodging his blade. My breath came in ragged gasps. Constantly evading on a razor's edge was pushing my physical limits to the brink.
"Take him down, Van!"
"Show that guy what's what!"
Perhaps because I had mercilessly crushed the other students earlier, I had somehow become the public enemy of the Martial Arts class. Well, even from my perspective, my fighting style was rather sadistic. I would drag the match out using endless Evasion and Steel Skin, only to break them once their stamina was completely depleted. To them, it probably didn't feel like a fair fight. Some had even grumbled in frustration, claiming they wouldn't have been dragged into such a tedious battle if it weren't for the rules of the mock match.
But this was a mock battle. I had to exploit its rules to the absolute fullest. Besides, playing the villain was actually something I welcomed. The more of a public enemy I became, the stronger Isabel's motivation to defeat me would be.
Despite the students' roaring cheers, Van's eyes remained dead calm. His concentration was terrifying, a testament to what it truly meant to be a genius. My space had already been completely dominated. Van's sword thrust forward to deliver the finishing blow. Like a viper lunging to sink its fangs into its prey's neck, his blade surged toward me. It was an unavoidable, point-blank attack. My eyes clearly registered the incoming blade, but there was absolutely no way to evade it. And that was why...
I've been waiting for this.
Van's sword plunged toward me. The moment the blade, imbued with Sword Qi, sliced through my skin and dug deep into my chest—screeech! Van's eyes widened in shock for the very first time.
Steel Skin. There was a secret to this ability that others didn't know. Steel Skin didn't have to be applied strictly to my skin. I could also coat my weapons or even my clothing with it. And why was I thinking of this now? The reason was unfolding right before our eyes. Van's sword, which should have sliced right through me, ground to a sudden, screeching halt, lodged firmly in my chest. It wouldn't budge an inch. His blade had literally fused with my Steel Skin.
Of course, the agonizing pain of my chest being sliced open tore through me, but I had prepared myself for that long ago. Van's eyes bulged. His gaze practically screamed, Are you insane?
"You..."
He realized the true nature of my ability a moment too late. I wasn't just some guy with a tough body. My flesh was shrouded in the Mystery of the Empress of Steel.
But it was too early to be surprised. The moment Van swung his sword, my hands were already in motion. Extending my fingers, I reached for the blade lodged in my chest. Van noticed my movement, but it was already too late. Creeeeak! My fingers dug into the flat of his blade. Utilizing the Mystery of Steel Skin, I interfered with the sword itself, forcing the contact point to shift.
"Heh... let me teach you something while we're at it."
It felt as if my fingers were being torn apart, but I didn't care. I let a malicious grin spread across my face. Amidst the sweat pouring down my face, my crimson eye gleamed under the light. Meeting my gaze, Van's pupils dilated. It was as if he were looking at a complete madman.
Having lived his entire life as a genius, Van had probably only ever been surrounded by ordinary people. So, I decided to engrave one absolute truth into his mind. Van, the lazy genius who was destined to one day become Lucas's most reliable ally and friend—I would show him that the person standing before him now was a lunatic unlike any he had ever encountered.
"Don't ever wield a sword in front of me again."
I clenched both hands and yanked. Crack! Shatter! The twisted blade shattered, its fragments scattering in every direction. Van stared blankly at the shards of his sword raining down around him.
Sword Breaker. The technique that had even caught Aisha off guard. It was my trump card, designed to crush the genius of the sword.