༺ Fury – Interlude (3) ༻
The memory of beating Priestess Miya was still vividly clear in my mind.
There were many things to reflect on, like being irrational or imprudent despite having Alice as an enemy.
Well, what can be done?
It was unbearable.
Even if I could return to the past, I would repeat the same actions. I didn’t have a shred of regret about defeating Miya.
Fortunately, White seemed to feel relieved after hearing about Miya. The fact that I actually beat her seemed to surprise her.
However, it was hard to predict what effect it would have on White, as the duel with Miya made her painfully aware of her own shortcomings.
I only hoped that it stimulated her motivation and had a positive effect on her growth.
White decided to focus on recovery and expressed her intention to forfeit all subsequent duels.
There were a few other students like White who needed a few days to recover. They did the same.
Suddenly, some students who lost their duel opponents were paired by the academy with others of similar skill levels.
The duel evaluation proceeded smoothly as if nothing had happened.
‘Alice…’
…Intruded to a frightening extent.
I never expected her to come to visit White and use terms of endearment like “Baby” or “You’re as adorable as always” towards me.
Naturally, White and Merlin pressed me for answers.
I honestly answered, ‘I don’t know why that senior behaves like that.’
Of course, I knew the reason. She must have suspected that I was the Nameless Hero and was likely trying to probe me for the answer by drawing me in with her friendly demeanor.
In reality, compared to Alice, the Nameless Hero was pitifully weak.
But on the outside, there seemed to be no one as fearsome and strong.
So, Alice must have approached with caution while employing her charms.
When I said, ‘I don’t know why Alice is doing this,’ it was because I didn’t expect it to be this severe.
White and Merlin each made their own misunderstandings, thinking the Student Council President had taken a liking to me.
─Even the Student Council President… Senior Isaac is becoming more terrifying…!
When White exclaimed that, I felt dizzy. They thought Luce had taken a liking to me.
White and Merlin whispered behind my back with conversations like ‘Is this the appearance of a rival?’ and ‘This is getting interesting.’
Thus, the situation where Alice appeared to have unilaterally taken a liking to me became a source of enjoyable gossip for them. It was as if they were like housewives watching a morning drama.
“Ha!”
An arrogant snicker snapped me out of my thoughts.
On the last day of the duel evaluation.
On the dueling grounds, where all eyes were focused, I was lightly warming up.
I stopped warming up only after the vain blond noble, Tristan Humphrey, climbed up to face me.
“Indeed, you’re the kind that loosens up your body before your mind. There’s no other freak like you in the Magic Department.”
As the person ranked ahead of him, Tristan knew my fighting style very well. I could feel that acutely.
He meticulously observed and analyzed the fighting style of those stronger than himself, pondering how he could defeat them.
His obsession with victory felt as blatantly burdensome as his uncomfortable stare…
“Really? I never thought about it that way.”
I responded casually, tapping my shoulder with Zhonya Staff which I held in my hand.
Come to think of it, Ian Fairytale, who dreamt of becoming a magic knight, didn’t seem to warm up before duels either.
Am I the only one?
“…Enough small talk. Isaac, today you’ll have to give up that ranking. This body, stronger than ever before, will bring you a miserable defeat! Hahahaha!!”
Tristan laughed vigorously like a third-rate villain, then suddenly choked and coughed.
Having been acknowledged by him while attending the same class, he didn’t seem so bothersome, which was why I snickered.
After all, I was just a nobody who got stronger quickly with the help of the status window.
The thought naturally arose that I had to seriously engage with the goal he was chasing.
I narrowed my eyes, slightly bowing my head.
I grasped the end of my round glasses and took them off.
At the same time, an icy chill began to spew from my body.
I concentrated.
I lifted my head again, opened my eyes wide, and glared at Tristan.
“Come at me.”
Upon hearing my calm remark, Tristan smirked.
My cold mana contaminated the mild air.
Tristan felt the cold pressing down on his skin and a chilling sensation running down his spine.
He raised wind to counter my cold.
His expression showed a desire to fight me right away.
Soon, the referee declared the start of the duel.
My ice magic clashed with Tristan’s wind magic.
* * *
The judges and students watched the duel with their mouths agape.
Isaac and Tristan were engaged in an intense and astonishing exchange.
It hardly seemed like a fight belonging to the Magic Department.
Nor did it seem like a fight from the Knight Department, as various combat techniques were exchanged between the two.
Constant analyses, predictions, and movements were carried out. There was no time for hesitation.
They moved at a speed that was difficult to follow with the naked eye, dodging attacks, and countering.
The pale chill and the mild wind danced grandly and dazzlingly above the dueling grounds.
Tristan’s mana control was at an astonishing level.
The blond noble enveloped himself with wind, using its power to move at fierce speeds, like a diving falcon.
Such movement required incredibly precise control of mana. Merely watching could make one nauseous.
Furthermore, Tristan’s punches and kicks were accompanied by an explosion of enhanced wind mana, which resulted in tremendously powerful attacks.
Those watching the duel could only guess how much effort and perhaps even physical discomfort Tristan endured to reach such a level.
Isaac, opposing Tristan Humphrey, was equally as astonishing.
He tracked Tristan’s incredible speed with his eyes and adeptly countered his attacks.
Even as rapid wind strikes were unleashed, Isaac did not falter.
This silver-blue-haired student was none other than the most improved student of the first year and a genius, the man who overpowered the Priestess of Horan.
That student was a monster in his own right.
Thud─!
Isaac and Tristan each landed a punch on each other’s face.
It happened in the blink of an eye. Most students could not comprehend when the two had even reached each other.
The judges and the students seated in the spectator stands watched with wide eyes, engrossed in the battle between the two.
Boom──!
From the fists swung by Isaac and Tristan, ice and wind mana exploded, delivering powerful blows to one another. Their combat techniques were similar.
A cold mana explosion occurred, and both were flung to opposite sides, rolling several times across the dueling grounds.
Boom!
Isaac conjured an ice block and collided with it, preventing his body from being thrown out of the dueling grounds.
Whoosh!
Tristan quickly generated wind around his body to correct his posture and then whipped his head up.
Thus, both stood up from the dueling ground floor and stared each other down.
Tristan, bleeding from his mouth and nose, chuckled merrily, saying, “Heh, not bad at all!”
Isaac, wiping the blood from his nose and standing up, displayed a cold determination contrary to his usually gentle demeanor.
Immediately, both gritted their teeth and charged at each other again.
“What on earth are those kids…?”
The middle-aged female judge, looking through the records, spoke with a trembling voice, her amazement was unceasing.
“Tristan’s combat technique has completely changed since last semester. Even I can’t do that… How much must he have pushed himself to be able to do that…?”
“It’s Märchen Academy, after all. A place where the geniuses among geniuses, and the freaks among freaks gather to compete. Nothing strange about it.”
The elderly male judge next to her answered with a smile.
“Even so, those two are a completely different type of genius compared to a genius who wields tremendous magic like Luce Eltania, right? That alone is surprising, but Isaac too… That student really seems like the craziest student in this academy…”
The female judge looked again at Isaac and Tristan. The two were unleashing magic at each other.
“Is this record correct? How can that be the mana of a Grade E, essentially the weakest student in the academy…? To have defeated an opponent with Grade S mana, and to deal with such invisible attacks as if it were natural…”
“It’s quite a peculiar sight, isn’t it?”
“Yes?”
The male judge chuckled heartily.
“The reason I haven’t been able to leave teaching at this age is precisely because of students like them.”
Isaac and Tristan’s magic and fists, the time of their training, intersected.
Bleeding, vomiting, crying, sometimes even fainting… days spent sweating profusely, straining their muscles to the point of cramps, and living with every ounce of their dying strength.
They relentlessly unleashed upon each other.
“Look at this. Really… Isn’t it a heart-pounding spectacle?”
The female judge looked at Isaac and Tristan, lost in thought.
Wrapped so intensely in wind magic, Tristan must be feeling severe agony by now.
But he did not stop. He had already become weary of such pain.
Instead, he laughed heartily, “Hahahaha!” trying to forget the pain.
Isaac, still focused, tracked Tristan’s movements with his eyes.
Whoooo───!
Clatter───!
Kwaah───!
After drawing Tristan into motion with [Rock Avalanche], Isaac swiftly followed up with a [Frost Wave].
Suddenly reaching Tristan, he cast [Frost Explosion], detonating his ice mana to conclude the duel.
Above the dueling ground, swathed in swirling cold, Isaac’s breath turned into white frost, whisked away by the wind.
The ice imprisoning Tristan dispersed into a faint blue mana.
Frozen to the bone, Tristan, now a bloodied mess, collapsed onto the dueling ground with a thud.
“Duel over! Class B Isaac wins!”
The referee declared the end of the duel.
Cheers and applause from the students poured out, as the duel presented by Isaac and Tristan was greatly admired.
The medical team rushed over with a stretcher. Amidst this, Tristan coughed up blood, regaining consciousness.
“Not yet… not yet…”
Tristan, with trembling hands, tried to push himself off the ground to stand up, but…
As the aftereffects of fighting enveloped in wind hit his whole body, he lost his strength and collapsed to the ground. It was an overload.
Isaac quietly looked down at him.
Tristan kept trying to get up as if he could still fight, falling each time. Saliva and blood mixed, dripping from his mouth like mucus.
The memories of training that filled his head were trying to lift his body.
It was his uninteresting and desperate chronicle, running toward the dream of becoming a great wizard someday.
Isaac closed his eyes and silently sighed.
To offer a hand here would be an insult to Tristan, who had been chasing him with blood and sweat.
Pity would only poison him more.
So, the only thing he could say now was just one.
Isaac opened his eyes again and said in a sarcastic voice,
“I won, Tristan.”
As those words settled, Tristan stopped in his tracks.
Only then could Isaac turn his back.
“I’ll receive the evaluation later.”
Isaac said this to the judges, then put his glasses back on and left the dueling grounds.
The medical team rushed past him.
Isaac deliberately did not look back and walked away in silence.
At that moment.
“Ha!”
The sound of Tristan’s confident chuckle.
Isaac paused and turned his head to look at him.
“S-student Tristan! You need to lie down here…!”
“You shouldn’t move!”
Tristan, with the help of the medical team, managed to sit up but refused to get on the stretcher, causing the medical team trouble.
Indifferent, Tristan, his face smeared with blood, chuckled. His laughter was tinged with a gurgling sound, perhaps due to blood in his throat.
“Indeed… I acknowledge…! Right now, you are stronger than me…! But!!”
His tone was like that of a third-rate villain.
Tristan deliberately lifted his chin and showed off a smile full of arrogance.
His haughty voice resounded loudly on the dueling grounds.
“If that’s all you’ve got, it won’t be long! Soon, I will! Crush you!! Hahahah!!”
Tristan laughed heartily, then suddenly choked, coughing violently. Blood splattered on the floor.
Tristan empirically understood the painful training time Isaac had gone through.
Wondering how many agonizing days that damned guy had spent climbing from the weakest Grade E to his current state.
Not being able to beat Isaac must have been due to training less than him.
Then, to not lose to Isaac, to surpass him,
he would have had to work harder, shedding more blood and sweat.
No matter how frustrating, he had to move forward without getting discouraged.
Isaac, with a gentle face, gave a small smile, turned his head, and left the place.
Tristan’s laughter gradually subsided. Soon, his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness.
