Ruin wiped the blood trickling from his split lip as he sat on a bench.
“Damn it.”
He couldn’t shake the gloomy feeling.
There were no excuses to explain away the result of his overwhelmingly crushing defeat.
Even if he had used his last resort.
Even if he had been in perfect health, he was starting to think there was no way he could win. Ruin wiped his face with a towel draped over his head and let out a sigh.
“Shit.”
For some reason, other people’s voices seemed louder today.
-He forfeited?
-Was he all just hype?-My sister said Ruin-sunbae was insanely strong, so what was that?
-The pride of the Magic Faculty? If that’s the pride of the Magic Faculty, then I must be the pride of the whole academy.
The murmurs from the first-year students seemed especially clear today. The criticism directed at him seemed to resonate even louder.
He lacked the courage to start again.
In the past, he would have shrugged it off, convinced that everything would work out if he just kept going, but now he didn’t have the energy to do that. His current state of mind was such that he wanted to give up on everything.
Sitting on the bench, with a dark expression, Ruin hung his head.
“Must’ve been all my fault.”
“The Hans incident, failing to recognize Yuria… All of it… was my fault.”
He was overwhelmed with a sense of self-loathing.
The wall of pride he had painstakingly built up like a fortress crumbled all at once, leaving him behind, looking utterly pitiful and stupid.
It seemed ridiculous that he had looked down on others over something this trivial. He couldn’t help but think that his show of bravado was based on a skill that others would quickly surpass.
“Seriously, what am I?”
Ruin felt like a worthless, foolish version of himself.
Unable to rid himself of his melancholy, Ruin struggled to lift his head, hoping against hope that she might be nearby to comfort him.
-You’re hurt again!? Ruin, you’re driving me crazy!
-It’s fine, I won, didn’t I?
-What?! Just because you won, it’s okay to get hurt?
-Why! Yuria will heal me anyway.
-Oh… I swear, between you and Michail, my body’s going to fall apart!
-Hahaha!
Ruin thought of those happy days as he lifted his head, hoping that Yuria, who always comforted him, might come to find him.
Even though he raised his head with conflicted feelings, Ruin’s hopes were not realized.
“…”
Yuria, the one whose eyes met his, quickly turned away.
‘So now you don’t even want to look at me…’
nificant than he had ever anticipated. He thought he would be fine, that he could just make other friends, but in the wake of a bitter defeat, her absence hit him harder than he had imagined.
He had desperately wanted to be the best, but now, nothing remained by his side.
No friends.
No talent.
No honor. There was nothing left.
“Sigh…”
Ruin let out a deep sigh and lowered his head to the ground, covering his face with the towel to hide the despair on his face. He bowed his head even lower, not wanting anyone to see his gloomy expression.
Had three minutes passed?
A short male student approached Ruin with a cold drink in his hand.
Ruin looked up at him with a hardened expression.
“Why are you here? To brag about your victory?”
“I came to see if you were okay.”
“…Annoying bastard.”
The senseless fool.
Despite the insults thrown his way, what did he hope to hear by coming here? Ruin gave a hollow laugh as he looked at Michail’s smiling face.
“Idiot.”
He was a guy you couldn’t hate, no matter how annoying he was.
Even Michail’s intentions, Ruin swallowed his bitterness and took the drink Michail offered him.
Without turning to Michail, who sat beside him, Ruin spoke.
“You’ve gotten incredibly strong.”
“No, there are plenty of people stronger than me.”
“Annoying bastard.”
Ruin spoke in a voice weighed down by defeat.
“Did I look pathetic?”
“What do you mean?”
“My magic.”
“…Yeah.”
“Shit.”
Ruin forced a bitter smile through the pain. Despite everything, having his friend beside him made him feel a little better.
ic Tower was a joke, might not become too widespread.
Hiding his embarrassment, Ruin quietly said to Michail.
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Just take it, you moron.”
“…”
As ht up a sensitive question.
“Are you… going to give up on magic?”
“…”
“Isn’t it too disappointing to end it like this? What if you started over from the beginning…?”
Wi.
“I can’t quit. Too many people are counting on me… Even if I wanted to quit, I can’t.”
Michail nodded with a small smile at Ruin’s words.
As time passed, and Ruin gradually caught his breath, his narrow field of vision began to widen again.
Now iether for a bit.
Ruin shook off the sweat-soaked water from his hair and glanced up.
“What the, is that the next match?”
Michail, seeing who Ruin was pointing at, replied in a low voice.
“Uh… Yeah.”
“What’s with that face? Damn it, I should be the one making that face.”
“…”
“Still upset that you didn’t get a rematch after losing last year? Suck it up; you can’t have a rematch since you’re a third-year.”
Ruin nudged Michail’s shoulder as he spoke.
“Anyway, you’re going to win this time, right?”
“…No.”
“What?”
Ruin looked up at the female student loosening her wrist beneath the arena.
“You’re not going to win?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit. What the hell is going on at this academy…”
The opponent Ruin was pointing at.
Histania Hanna.
The prodigy from the Swordsmanship Faculty who hadn’t relinquished first place in last year’s academy ranking matches was calmly stretching.
Ruin smiled bitterly as he watched Hanna.
“Crazy girl.”
Ruin had grown to dislike Hanna ever since she had started hanging around Ricardo, which had soured their senior-junior relationship.
-Hey, stop hanging out with that guy.
-Stay out of it.
-Stay out of it? Just because you’re a junior and I’ve been nice, don’t push it….
-Come up to the arena. I’ll kill you. And if you still call him that one more time, I’ll sew up your mouth, senpai.
In the past, she used to follow him around, calling him “senpai.” Damn it.
After venting to Michail and lightening his emotional load a bit, Ruin looked at Hanna with a dark expression.
“I hope she gets her ass kicked.”
And then, in that moment.
‘What the…’
A chilling sensation ran through him.
Ruin slowly lifted his head and looked across the arena at a male student standing there.
The boy’s face was disturbingly pale, giving off an eerie sense of wrongness.
‘That face is familiar.’
As Ruin’s thoughts lingered, the question he had was soon answered by the loud voice of the female announcer.
-ic Faculty, Hobbes!
-Can Hobbes be the spark that reignites the Magic Faculty’s slump…?
The moment Ruin heard the name “Hobbes,” he jumped to his feet. The student named Hobbes was none other than the apprentice of the professor who had made that strange offer to him last night.
He had forgotten.
In ic and the fact that there was a traitor within the academy.
Ruin raised his head and stared at Hobbes.
“Hehehe…”
‘Is he… smiling?’
Something was definitely wrong. Ruin felt it in his gut as he watched Hobbes. The intuition that something terrible was about to go down in this match.
“I have to stop this.”
“What?”
“I said, I have to stop this.”
At that moment, the announcer’s voice boomed, not waiting for Ruin.
-The match… begins!
Through Ruin’s panicked gaze, he saw Chartia rushing frantically about, seemingly searching for someone.
She was pointing to the front row of the stands, shouting at the crowd.
-There─ ── ────
But her voice was drowned out by the noisy crowd of students.
Ruin calmly followed Chartia’s finger and saw who she was pointing at. Seated there, with a faint smile, was Professor Shulia.
‘No way.’
Professor Shulia was smiling.
She was staring at Hanna with an ominous smile, as if she were eagerly awaiting something.
Just as Ruin was about to shout, feeling the urgency to stop whatever was about to happen,
-Thunk…!
The loud sound of clashing weapons broke Ruin’s train of thought. It was the sound of steel meeting magic, the sound of a colossal clash coupled with the roar of flames.
Struggling to keep his mind from spiraling, Ruin fixed his gaze on the arena.
“Die!”
Hobbes’s hateful shout echoed through the dust-filled arena, but nothing could be seen through the thick cloud of dust. Only the rapid movements of two figures could be vaguely discerned.
“Michail!”
“Huh?”
“Get up there and stop it!”
“What did you say?”
Michail looked bewildered at Ruin’s words. No matter how much you might dislike Hanna, interfering with a match was off limits.
But Ruin, who didn’t think this was the time to worry about something so trivial, grabbed Michail’s hand and yelled again.
“Stop him! That guy’s a dark mage.”
“Did you just say…!”
Before Michail could finish, the arena was rocked by another loud explosion and a massive tremor.
The tremor was so strong it could be felt even in the stands.
Just as Ruin was about to rush up to the arena to stop it himself,
-Ugh…!
A scream rang out, and a figure was flung from the dust cloud.
Ruin clenched his fist, preparing for the worst.
Even if it meant being criticized by everyone, he needed to reveal the truth. Surely, they would think Hanna had been fatally wounded in the match. He had to tell them what had really happened.
Ruin swallowed hard as he watched the figure falling from the dust cloud.
‘Damn it…!’
Ruin was almost certain the figure falling from the sky was Hanna. No matter how brilliant a swordsman she was, there was no way she could withstand an attack that caused that much vibration.
-Thud…!
The figure hit the ground, and as if reflexively, an incredulous sound escaped Ruin’s lips.
“What? Why are you the one falling…”
The person who hit the ground wasn’t Hanna.
It was Hobbes, trembling in fear with his wrist severed. He looked up at the arena with shaking shoulders.
“Cough… A monster…”
Hobbes had intended to land a crippling blow on Hanna, still bitter from his crushing defeat in the last ranking match.
To repay the humiliation of being defeated in just one second without any mercy, he had gone to extreme lengths, dabbling in what should never be touched.
-Kill her.
-What…?
-You owe me after I gave you strength, don’t you?
-I don’t hate her that much.
-You don’t want to? Then I’ll just take it back.
He had attacked with the intent to kill, but in the end, he had been knocked down without even putting up a fight.
Hobbes was in a daze from Hanna’s strike. The way she had stared at him so coldly as she swung her sword was terrifying.
“She’s a monster… How could anyone beat her….”
He was so scared that he couldn’t get up.
Ruin wrinkled his nose at the pungent scent of dark magic lingering around Hobbes’s severed hand.
“Is he insane…”
Then, seeing Hanna glance coldly at Hobbes, who had been thrown out of the arena, Ruin let out a dry laugh.
“She really is a monster.”
Just as Ruin sighed in relief, thinking the ordeal was safely over,
-Boom!
A loud explosion echoed from the stands.
naling them to run.
Through the thick dust cloud, shadows of several students fighting against a single figure were faintly visible.
And then.
-What a bother.
At a slight wave of the woman’s hand, a thick scent of blood began to spread from the dust cloud.
It was just for a brief moment, like the blink of an eye.
One figure emerged limply from the dust cloud, falling toward the arena.
“What is that?”
With a dull thud, the figure hit the arena floor. Screams erupted from the students in the suddenly chaotic stands.
Ruin, his voice trembling, saw the bloodied girl and said,
“Student Council President…?”
The bloodied Chartia, coughing up blood, spoke in a shaking voice.
“Run away…”
“What?”
“Everyone, run for your lives!”
Dark clouds began to gather over the round arena.
match was being held.
As Ruin stared at the darkening sky, a woman’s figure began to descend slowly, almost gracefully, before his eyes.
With a small smile, the woman walked toward Ruin. She approached slowly, neither fast nor slow, while glancing at Michail, Chartia, and Hanna.
Michail, his voice trembling, called out.
“Professor?”
“Yes, Michail-ah.”
Shulia smiled as she spoke.
“I didn’t expect to get caught so soon.”
She then looked at everyone and spoke with a radiant smile.
“Well, I guess it’s better to just kill you all, isn’t it?”
It was a profound malice.
A level of malice that Ruin had never felt before.
Ruin thought to himself.
That he wanted to run away.
*
At the same time.
Hans was pacing anxiously as he looked at me.
“Do you think the students can defeat the High Priest?”
Setting down my teacup, I replied.
It was an obvious question, and I didn’t really want to answer it, but I knew if I didn’t, Hans would keep asking.
“Of course, they can’t.”
“Pardon…?”
“How could they possibly win? After all, she’s still a High Priest. Hans, even you would have a hard time dealing with a High Priest by yourself.”
“It would be strange if they could win.”
Hans looked at me, speaking casually, and asked what I was thinking, what my purpose was.
“Should I not at least go there?”
“Why would you do that? Especially as a former High Priest. And if you go to the capital, the Imperial Army will definitely capture you.”
“…”
It seemed that being with kind me had made Hans too kindhearted. It’s true; being too nice can be a problem.
I chuckled softly as I spoke to Hans.
“It’s fine to leave them be. My disciple is there.”
“Your disciple?”
“Yes.”
I smiled, deep in thought about that disciple who, while not likely to win, would certainly be capable of stalling for time.
“He’s extremely strong.”
I smiled.
*
-Clang…!
Hanna swung her sword without hesitation.
Her target was Professor Shulia’s neck.
She wanted to achieve something and fulfill her wish.
End of Chapter.
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