Chapter 237
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 237
Chapter Title: Lesson 46. Union Founding Festival - 4
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A bizarre silence descended over the entire arena as the heir of one of the Ten Great Families was shattered in the blink of an eye.
"Hah... Haha! HAHAHAHA!"
The one who shattered that silence was none other than Ortima.
Even though his ally was crushed so pathetically, he's laughing like that? As expected, alliances between the Ten Great Families mean nothing. Ban Yu-won harbored a strange admiration even as he stayed wary of Ortima, but surprisingly, Ortima showed no sign of attacking him and continued speaking.
"As expected, she doesn't betray my expectations."
"It's kinda gross calling her 'she' when the person's right in front of you."
"If she had any intent to win the match, mongrel, she would've attacked me alongside you. But she's simply proving herself and waiting calmly. In other words..."
Ortima spread his arms wide.
His artifact, composed of twenty-four steel orbs that had reclaimed dominance, Astraea, arrayed themselves evenly in the air.
One of them had once been taken by Dokgo Yeon... It seemed he'd successfully reinforced it.
But what mattered now wasn't the number of orbs, but the pattern they formed.
Ortima had used the steel orbs to create a flower-shaped constellation in the air.
"She's waiting for my victory. Waiting for me to crush you and face her!"
"Oh."
"...Hah."
Since she'd already said she'd leave it to Ban Yu-won, Dokgo Yeon hesitated to intervene. She placed her hand on her sword hilt, then lowered it, before finally closing her eyes tightly, sitting cross-legged on Prominence, and propping her chin on her hand.
To Ban Yu-won, it looked like she meant his blabbering is unbearable, so end it quick, but Ortima only grinned more deeply at the sight.
No, seriously, how can a Ten Great Family heir laugh while sitting on someone's butt?
"Standing on the same battlefield, I've finally come to understand her true feelings. It means my devotion wasn't in vain."
"Your self-hypnosis is impressive at this level..."
Whether it was Ulike or Ortima, why did these guys interpret everything exactly as they wanted?
They knew full well what they'd done in the past—how could they think Ban Yu-won or Dokgo Yeon would have positive feelings toward them?
"You want to deny it? But that's the truth! Every being has an innate class, qualifications, and a matching partner!"
The reason they could cling to such cute delusions was probably because their views had never been proven wrong.
The Ten Great Families, the Ten Great Dimensions. A future promised from birth, immense innate power.
A mere glance was enough to make unwanted things vanish from sight, and persistent ones could be removed personally.
In reality, the irregulars were Ban Yu-won and Dokgo Yeon.
It wasn't arrogance, but in Union Academy's history spanning hundreds—and potentially thousands—of years, there had likely never been anyone like Ban Yu-won's group who defied their innate dimensions so thoroughly.
"Such a defiant face. You've always been like that. You have the right to question it. Just as she's special, you possess strength unfit for your origins."
They didn't recognize their own sins.
More precisely, they didn't even know what sin was.
In a world where no one opposed their words, sin couldn't exist.
—Hummm
The twenty-four star fragments collapsed from the air, then charged at him with staggered timing.
Ban Yu-won used Severance to slice them apart one by one as he advanced toward Ortima.
"Not bad, but!"
"Show me."
In a situation where a single deviation in trajectory would mean dozens of orbs embedding in his body, crushing bone and organs the next instant.
Ban Yu-won swung his sword in all directions without hesitation, breaking the flow created by the steel orbs.
Ortima, sensing something from clashing with him, tried to counter his ability by staggering the movements of what he 'dominated', but—in the face of Origin Sword, which read the flow of all concepts—a numbers game held no meaning.
He must have realized it himself. Suddenly, Ortima raised one hand high, grasping the ambient magic power in that single palm.
"I'll show you. The limit you'll inevitably face, the rank only the truly noble can attain! I'll shatter her misconception and your arrogance!"
The moment the magic power drawn from the entire arena flowed into the artifact.
The steel orbs split.
Instantly doubling to forty-eight, each still brimmed with overwhelming magic power, solidifying even the air they touched as they pressed Ban Yu-won.
Astonishingly precise control, lethal power.
But even more terrifying was Ortima's lingering dominance, allowing him to manipulate the surroundings at any moment.
Magic-sensitive races would have taken significant damage the moment he freely wielded that magic power.
—Clang!
A sword appeared from thin air—one of Rainstorm Sword's twenty-five rain lines swept away three orbs at once.
Then another, and another.
Dozens of rain lines manifested in an instant, moving at Ban Yu-won's will to bat away the orbs, grinding Ortima's teeth.
"You bastard..."
"How about it? I'm pretty good too, right?"
Ortima surely knew of Rainstorm Sword's existence.
But judging by his actions and thought patterns so far, he must have deemed it inferior to his own.
That's why he'd gotten excited seeing one sword fend off multiple orbs.
"You dare mimic me before my eyes?!"
"Hah...!"
Even his attempt to seize control of Rainstorm Sword with dominance was within expectations.
It was genuinely threatening.
A single lapse would hand him another weapon. While fully operating Origin Sword, Ban Yu-won amplified his resonance with Rainstorm Sword to repel Ortima's dominance.
Rainstorm Sword is powerful but hard to control freely. It disperses mental focus, and guys like Ortima who interfere with control can appear anytime.
That's why he'd deliberately drawn Rainstorm Sword now.
In truth, using all his abilities, he could end Ortima in an instant.
But he didn't.
Ortima hadn't gone all-out due to his innate pride, and Ban Yu-won believed clashing head-on with his dominance would hone his Rainstorm Sword control.
Whew, as expected... It's good.
Ban Yu-won had handled Rainstorm Sword proficiently from the start, but a true pro's control was on another level.
Imbuing powerful force, the 'will' to move multiple orbs simultaneously, 'directionality' assigned to each, the body's 'control' syncing with them.
Reading and swiftly assimilating all those concept flows, Ban Yu-won evolved his Rainstorm Sword combat style.
His speed at learning from the opponent's movements and applying it to himself astonished even Dokgo Yeon.
A situation that had seemed disadvantageous at first clash had now evened out.
"Truly astonishing."
"Matching the Ortima family's dominance ability evenly."
"Are they competing over dominance? How?"
"What's that guy's real ability anyway? Similar to Word Command, but not quite!"
"Haha, it's flashy and fun!"
In the not-so-vast arena, Rainstorm Sword and the steel orbs raced, tracing countless trajectories.
Too fast for the unskilled to track, each collision unleashed terrifying heat.
While manipulating the orbs, Ortima converted ambient magic into pressure to push Ban Yu-won, all while exerting dominance to steal Rainstorm Sword—his ability was truly artificial.
Yet Ban Yu-won, blocking that barrage with Executioner's Longsword in hand and ten rain lines in the sky while counterattacking, was no less impressive.
No... The orbs' territory was shrinking, the rain lines' expanding.
"You... bastard..."
A faint, trembling voice escaped amid the relentless metallic clashes deafening the arena.
Lucien Ortima, finally realizing Ban Yu-won was learning from his movements, raised both hands in extreme fury.
"Show me how far you can imitate!"
Magic power exploded.
Wondering where he'd hidden it, Ban Yu-won watched ultra-compressed mana surge from Ortima's hands.
He'd probably concealed routinely collected magic using dominance via some method—not cheating in this artifact-allowed tournament.
The problem was the orbs endlessly splitting from that magic.
Filling the arena in an instant, so many steel orbs crammed his vision that Ban Yu-won wondered if it should be renamed Milky Way instead of Astraea, smacking his lips.
"I learned well, but this seems to be your limit."
"Die!"
Murder's banned during the tournament, right?
Ortima unleashed his ability in frenzy, spewing venom without hesitation.
Hundreds now—tracking and severing each trajectory felt foolish.
Ban Yu-won released the remaining fifteen Rainstorm Swords from space.
"Ha?"
Ortima apparently didn't know Rainstorm Sword comprised twenty-five rain lines total.
And moreover... That all resonated strongly with Executioner's Longsword.
"—Haaah!"
The rain lines spread across the arena followed Ban Yu-won's shout and Executioner's Longsword, slashing space.
—Slash
They unleashed Severance in unison.
Severing Ortima's dominance over orbs and magic alike, thread by thread.
"...Huh?"
Silence fell.
This time, even Ortima couldn't reclaim dominance as if nothing happened.
"The arena being narrow helped."
"You—!"
Even then, Ortima swiftly gathered magic, trying to seize the nearest rain line—his movement and judgment weren't bad.
Nor activating his artifact's options for diamond-like defense against Ban Yu-won's indestructible concept.
"Kuh?! How... How can you reject my dominance?!"
"Resonance. To dominate it, you'd have to dominate me and all twenty-five Rainstorm Swords simultaneously."
"Wha...?"
What he'd failed at was grasping Ban Yu-won's ability's true nature.
Well, accurately pinning down Ban Yu-won's power to instantly create any concept was impossible anyway.
Oh, and one more thing.
"You may not know your sins, but I do."
The concept gained from the Fruit of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden: Judgment.
Its scope was clear: when Ban Yu-won clearly recognized the sinner with his own eyes.
Achieving that condition was surprisingly hard, so he'd rarely used it effectively, but when distinctions were clear—even against a constellation—it enabled devastating reversals.
Imbue Judgment on Executioner's Longsword, resonate with Rainstorm Sword.
And now, against Ortima, who brazenly committed crimes against Ban Yu-won, Dokgo Yeon, and countless others while pretending innocence and lack of malice.
"Accept it fully."
"Wai—!"
The concept resonance permeating the twenty-five Rainstorm Swords judged him decisively.
Feeling Severance filling the arena, Ortima desperately reached for the floor as a last resort, raising the academy building's defensive barrier—but it couldn't block the rain lines' volley.
Xenon, fearing Ban Yu-won might kill him, rushed in desperately, but Ban Yu-won stopped after piercing the barriers and knocking him unconscious.
Xenon, prepared to see the artifact annihilated if needed, was rare in his shock at the cleanly resolved scene.
"Must've been hard to control."
"Guess he grew during the match."
"Hah, turning the tables completely."
Dokgo Yeon, struck by stray lightning while spectating, brushed off her clothes and landed beside Ban Yu-won.
Xenon wore an indescribable expression watching them, but regained composure before losing face as vice-chancellor and declared the Ban Yu-won pair's victory.
"The exercise of 'Wish Rights' will occur in the arena after all special matches end. Assemble then. Ah, Ban Yu-won student, prepare for your second special match."
"Understood."
The Ban Yu-won pair turned away with relaxed expressions.
Xenon first rescued the unconscious Ortima and Prominence pair, then paused restoring the wrecked arena, tilting his head.
"Hm... Something feels missing."
With the whole arena flipped, anything could be gone.
Those entering Union Academy bore responsibility for their actions.
As he tidied with swift hands, Ban Yu-won and Dokgo Yeon retreated to the stands, catching their breath and considering a drink when Dokgo Yeon poked his arm.
"Hm? What's up, Yeon?"
"A gift."
Ban Yu-won absentmindedly extended his hand, and Dokgo Yeon poured twenty-four steel orbs onto it.
"Tiring collecting them quick."
"..."
"Won, happy?"
"Yeah... Thanks."
"Good. Worth the effort."
Dokgo Yeon wore a faint smile of pride.
Ban Yu-won smiled back, swiftly extracting concepts from them faster than anyone.