Chapter 410
First-year, first-semester final exams—first round of the tournament.
The tournament was open to anyone, but there was still some time before the World Summit.
As such, no outside dignitaries had arrived at Lumene yet.
“Do you think that’ll ease some of the kids’ pressure?”
Yura, the professor in charge of the second-year Summoning Department, asked, tilting her head.
In response, Ain, the professor for the second-year Knight Department, shook his head.
“It won’t make much of a difference for the first-years.”
“I suppose so.”
Yura nodded and glanced around.
She knew that during events like this, a certain someone was always lurking nearby.
“Popcorn! Grilled butter squid! Roasted corn! Drinks! We’ve got everything!”
And as if on cue, Carr appeared.
Seeing him, Yura raised her hand.
“Over here, over here!”
“Yep! Yep! Coming right over!”
Carr came running over, out of breath.
Then, after spotting Yura, he turned to Ain.
“What can I get for you?”
“I didn’t call you.”
Ain replied with his usual cold expression, then jerked his chin toward Yura.
“Give her the butter squid.”
“…We’re sold out.”
“Didn’t you say you have everything?”
Yura narrowed her eyes, but what could she do if it was sold out?
“Then popcorn.”
“…We’re sold out.”
“Are you messing with me right now?”
Yura’s expression turned fierce.
Carr looked like he was about to cry.
“B-But… they’re all sold out.”
Watching Carr struggle through his answer, Yura snapped her fingers.
At that, her Summoned Beasts began rummaging through Carr’s wares.
Snacks giving off delicious smells spilled out of Carr’s bag.
“What the hell are these? Are you making a fool of me?”
As Yura’s face grew menacing, Carr looked even more desperate.
“I don’t have anything to sell to you, Professor Yura.”
“Who do you think you’re messing with?!”
Just as Yura’s face was about to contort like a demon’s—
“Huhu, that’s right. There is nothing to sell to Professor Yura. Ah, what a beautiful sentiment. Well said, student Carr.”
Thud. Thud.
Len descended from the spectator stands.
Draped in a black mage’s cloak, he even held a wine glass, looking completely out of place.
He swirled the wine, took a sip, and wore a satisfied expression.
“What’s with that ridiculous act?”
Yura scowled.
Len tossed the wine glass to the side.
Clang.
The shattering sound lingered behind him as Len approached and snapped his fingers.
The items Yura’s Summoned Beasts had taken were swept back into Carr’s bag by Len’s magic.
“There’s no need to blame student Carr, Professor Yura. The students of the merchant club, including Carr, have made a contract with me.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
Yura’s scowl deepened, but Carr pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and held it out.
It was a contract, with a clause stating that the merchant club could not sell anything to Yura during this tournament.
“Why are you going this far?”
“Huhu. To punish Professor Yura, who dares insist that Leo Plov belongs to the Summoning Department.”
At this point, it was beyond childishness—something closer to madness.
Yura let out a hollow laugh and gestured at Carr.
“Give me that contract.”
Carr quickly handed it over.
“This isn’t exactly a poison pill clause.”
The corners of Yura’s lips curled up.
“What happens if I pay the penalty fee for you?”
“Then the contract becomes void, right?”
“Good. Then change it. Make it so you can’t sell to that bastard.”
“Will do.”
“Carr Thomas! Are you betraying the Magic Department now?!”
Len shouted, voice rising, but Carr answered calmly.
“I’m sorry, but merchants follow the money.”
“Trust! Aren’t merchants supposed to follow trust?!”
“I don’t think breaking a ridiculous contract like this will hurt my credibility.”
“Fine! Then let’s rewrite it, with a stronger penalty clause!”
Watching his two hubae start bickering, Ain stood up from his seat.
“Professor Ain, where are you going?”
“Somewhere else. I can’t sit with people like that.”
Ain left coolly.
—
Thud. Thud.
Following the bright light at the end of the long corridor, Luke’s vision opened.
Lement stood on the opposite side of the arena, and the spectator stands—forming a circle around it—were packed with people.
-The two students have just entered the arena! Please welcome them with a big round of applause!
Runba Tess, who always took the commentator’s seat for major events, raised his voice to liven up the atmosphere.
The students cheered.
Amid the roar, Luke stepped onto the arena, his expression even more tense than before.
Mel, the first-year Magic Department professor acting as referee, stood waiting.
Mel gave them a gentle smile.
“I hope this will be a time you won’t regret. Any kind of attack is permitted, so fight to your heart’s content.”
At those words, Lement narrowed his eyes.
“Any kind of attack?”
“Yes. Even fatal attacks that could take a life are permitted. Of course, I will intervene if something is truly dangerous.”
No matter how exceptional they were, there was no way a first-year’s determined strike couldn’t be blocked by faculty.
Especially not by Mel.
Lement smiled and nodded, and Luke nodded as well, still tense.
“Then go to your respective positions and wait. It will begin as soon as the signal is given.”
Mel stepped off the arena.
Before moving to his position, Lement spoke.
“I’ll praise you for not running away. Then again, if you had, you wouldn’t have the face to see the Student Council President.”
“……”
Lement narrowed his eyes.
“I didn’t like it. Someone like you getting private lessons from someone like Professor Len. Did it feel good, getting special treatment for being the Student Council President’s Mentee?”
At those words, Luke recalled his lessons with Len.
In truth, the one who had taught Luke magic was Len’s associate professor, Anna.
Len was a mage through and through.
His interest was solely in Luke’s mana characteristics.
Aside from that, as a mage, Luke was ordinary.
He hadn’t even mastered the basics yet, so he wasn’t even worth discussing to Len.
There was only one other time Len had shown interest, aside from researching Luke’s magical properties.
‘Associate Professor Anna.’
‘Yes, Professor Len.’
‘What do you think about dissecting student Luke?’
‘Please, just shut up.’
Len insisted it was a joke, but his eyes had been dead serious.
Remembering it, Luke shivered and answered,
“It wasn’t that great.”
“Hmph. A fool who doesn’t even realize the greatness of the glory he enjoyed.”
Lement scoffed and returned to his position.
Luke took a deep breath.
‘How much of what I’ve done so far will actually work?’
He thought back on the time that had passed.
After classes, he trained his body without fail.
They were, quite literally, days from hell.
All Leo had taught Luke was conditioning and combat training.
Countless times, Luke had questioned himself, seeing no improvement.
He constantly felt his own limits.
Whenever that happened, Leo would say—
‘Hitting a limit means you’ve reached your limit. Continuing means you’re overcoming it. Trust yourself, Luke Elda. You have ceaselessly surpassed your limits.’
Luke turned slightly, a faint smile forming.
‘This is a challenge, to see how far I can go.’
“You’re smiling?”
Lement’s face twisted.
Watching Luke, Mel murmured,
‘There are people like that sometimes. People who smile in a crisis.’
With that thought, Mel flicked the coin in her hand.
Ting! Whirrrr—
The coin spun.
It flew through the air and dropped into the middle of the arena.
Ting!
The moment it hit the ground, Lement slammed his palm onto the floor.
“Earth Wave.”
He completed the spell instantly with high-speed casting.
Rumble!
The arena began to undulate.
It rippled like water, but this wasn’t the ground turning soft.
The moment you were caught in that ripple, it was like being slammed into the earth itself.
Luke summoned his Aura.
Silver Aura gathered at the tips of his toes.
Fwoosh!
Luke charged straight at Lement.
“Foolish boy. You think you can close the distance?”
Lement sneered.
Luke’s eyes tracked the waves.
He grasped the pattern instantly, stepped lightly onto the crest of a rising swell, and kicked off.
Lement’s eyes twitched.
Hop—hop.
Luke found safe footholds in the gaps, rapidly closing in.
The moment the distance shrank, Luke saw the corner of Lement’s mouth curl up.
KABOOM!
“Keuk!”
A fist shot up from the ground and struck Luke.
Luke barely managed to raise his Aura in time, but he was still sent flying.
“Not bad. But you didn’t think I’d let you close in that easily, did you?”
Magical power shimmered around Lement.
“I wanted to play with you a little longer, but the audience will get bored.”
The corners of Lement’s lips curled higher.
“I’ll end it here.”
Woooong!
As if responding to his magic, the surrounding earth began to tremble.
KABOOM!
Around Lement, rock spikes shot up from the ground at incredible speed.
An indiscriminate attack meant to shred the opponent.
KRA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GANG!
In an instant, spikes filled the arena floor.
A thick cloud of dust rose.
The only escape was the sky.
But even if Luke jumped, there was nowhere to run.
Anticipating that, Lement had already seized control of the airspace above the arena with wind magic.
‘If he jumped to dodge, he’d be torn apart by wind blades.’
“As expected, this is boring.”
Just as Lement scoffed and started to turn away—
Swish!
A sharp sound cut through the wind.
“What?”
Luke burst out from between the spikes, swinging his sword at Lement.
Lement barely managed to roll aside.
Swiiipe!
Blood sprayed from the nape of Lement’s neck.
Thud!
Luke landed.
If the cut had been just a little deeper, the match would’ve ended with Luke’s victory.
“You bastard! What kind of trick did you pull?!”
“I dodged.”
Luke flicked Lement’s blood from the tip of his sword.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You dodged that?”
Veins bulged on Lement’s forehead as rage surged.
Then jeers erupted from the first-year stands.
“You let a failure land a hit on you?”
“Lement, you’re not so great after all, huh?”
At the snickering, Lement’s eyes flipped.
“He has good eyes. Dodging after seeing that.”
Chelsea muttered from the second-year stands.
“The reason he became Leo’s Mentee in the first place was because of those eyes.”
Celia crossed her arms.
“Still, he only landed that because Lement let his guard down. Now that the surprise is gone, it’s over.”
Chelsea rested her chin on her hand.
“Won’t he show his real skills now?”
“I’ll finish you, you damn failure!”
Rumble!
The ground heaved.
KRA-GA-GA-GA-GANG!
The earth surged like slime, lunging at Luke.
Smack!
“Keok?”
The ground spread like a giant palm and slapped Luke.
Luke went flying.
CRASH!
“Guhk?!”
A fist of earth slammed into Luke’s back.
Battered by continuous strikes erupting from below, Luke collapsed onto the floor.
His entire body screamed.
When the attacks stopped, Luke forced himself up.
“As I thought, it’s no use.”
“Ha. You thought you could win?”
Lement snarled in contempt and kicked off the ground.
BOOM!
“Keok?”
The earth surged upward, launching Luke into the sky.
The impact made his mind go blank.
Whoooooooosh!
Soaring to an impossible height, Luke looked at the bracelet on his wrist.
‘As expected… in this state, this is my limit.’
He looked down at the arena.
‘Undoing the seal is simple. I just have to say “release” with all my heart.’
Releasing it was easy.
But he had endured.
Mocked and ignored as a failure for the entire first semester, he had endured.
For this exact moment.
‘Release.’
The instant he thought it—
Ting!
The bracelet and anklets restraining him came undone and flew off.
And in that instant—
‘My body… it’s light.’
Luke stared at his palm, stunned.
‘With this…’
Luke drew up all the mana in his body.
Woooong!
In a flash, Aura wrapped around the tips of his toes.
Luke kicked off the empty air with Aura Step.
—
“It’ll be over if he crashes into the ground.”
“Ah, I thought we were about to see a giant-killing.”
“Hey! You should be dissing Lement instead.”
“Ah, was that too harsh?”
Just as the first-years were snickering—
Flash! KABOOM!
A silver flash tore through the sky and slammed into the arena.
“Wh-What was that?”
“Just now, something from the sky…”
The first-years stared, bewildered, as thick dust billowed up.
“What… is this…”
Even Lement faltered.
Flash!
A silver streak shot straight at him.
Thwack!
“Keok?”
A kick slammed into Lement’s abdomen, and he rolled wretchedly across the ground.
Thud!
Luke landed.
Silver light wrapped his entire body as he faced Lement.
“From now on.”
Luke’s voice rang out, powerful and steady.
“It’s for real.”
(T/N: hrkwhskhkegdovwkd. wahhhhhh. hdjsgkdhduekhdojrh. asljkd aslkdjasjdsa dlksajd aslkd )
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