Editor : Amethyst00



Watching the two people standing at the center of the arena, Elena curved her lips upward.

“I’m curious on how this will turn out.”

At her murmur, Takon, standing beside her, spoke.

“What’s there to be curious about? It’s obvious that Leo Plov isn’t a match for Rhys-sunbae.”

The surrounding third-years nodded in agreement.

“Right.”

“No matter how amazing he is, he’s still just a first-year.”

At those words, Elena smiled faintly.

“Normally, people would think that way. But…”

Elena’s eyes gleamed.

“Leo has many abilities that aren’t known.”

Looking at Leo, Elena smiled again.

“This duel won’t end easily.”

It was Elena who had set up the stage.

She wanted to make Leo the student council president, and she had more than enough power to do so.

However, Leo was trying to use the stage she had laid out to make himself the student council president by his own hands.

‘If he’s given an opportunity, he never lets it go.’

Leo’s experienced composure always managed to surprise Elena.

The sight of Elena, her eyes full of expectation and excitement, was something even her fellow peers had never seen before.

‘Leo Plov.’

Takon crossed his arms and looked at Leo.

The proud Queen of Lumene looked, at this moment, like a young girl of her age.

‘What on earth are you? You bastard.’

Takon slightly furrowed his brows.

Meanwhile—

“Hmm? It finally started? Haaam~!”

From the fourth-year stands, Hark, who was wearing an eyemask and dozing off, yawned lazily and stretched.

The other fourth-years looked at him with exasperation.

“You’re only waking up now after sleeping all this time?”

“I wasn’t sleeping the whole time. I watched a few matches.”

Chuckling, Hark smacked his lips sleepily, still not fully awake.

The fourth-year girls who had been glaring at him rolled their eyes, but their faces flushed slightly.

For all his laziness, Hark’s looks were truly exceptional.

‘No! Don’t fall for that face!’

‘He’s just a lazy bum with no motivation!’

“I really can’t figure out what Elena Zeron is thinking.”

Tur Vaynia from the fourth-year Department of Magic adjusted her glasses and muttered.

At that, Hark replied in a bored tone.

“She just really wants to make Leo Plov the student council president.”

“What reason would she have for that? Maybe she plans to make him president so she can control him like a puppet? But if that were the case, it’d be much more efficient to just become president herself.”

“She’s not that type.”

Having known her since childhood, Hark curled his lips into a grin.

“She must’ve seen something in that first-year kid. Maybe I should fight him next time.”

Seeing Hark’s combative competitiveness, Tur sighed softly and looked at Leo with a slightly colder gaze.

‘If that first-year really becomes student council president, it might be best to secure ties with him early.’

From a fourth-year’s perspective, having a more pliable first-year as president was much better than Elena taking the position herself.

Meanwhile, the second-years were all glaring at Leo with displeasure.

“Who does he think he is, making a scene about dueling the student council president?”

“He needs to get humiliated once to come to his senses.”

Among them, Lyl watched Leo and Rhys with a trembling heart.

‘As expected, Leo truly has the charisma befitting a grade representative! I could *never do that!’*

Thinking him an incredible junior, Lyl admired him deeply.

Meanwhile—

The professors were also watching this match closely.

“Popcorn for sale! Pop-corn!”

“Hey, you there.”

“Yes, Professor Yura!”

Professor Yura approached Carl, who was now selling snacks around the stands.

“Give me one box of popcorn. With caramel on it.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Thanks.”

As Yura smiled and handed over the money, Carl suddenly grabbed her hand.

“Professor Yura.”

“What?”

“Would you also like a drink?”

“I’m not thirsty—”

Sssk—!

Carl opened the paper cup lid and showed the contents.

Seeing the golden liquid inside, Carl whispered.

“If you buy it now, I’ll throw in buttered squid for free…”

“Hah? Are you really trying to sell this junk to a professor watching a sacred sparring evaluation?”

Yura smiled coldly.

Carl flinched at the sight.

‘Ugh! I overstepped!’

“You got anything stronger?”

“…No, ma’am.”

“Geez. No guts at all. You think this weak stuff even registers? Back in my day! Huh? We didn’t sell petty beer like this! Huh? We sold top-shelf liquor! Huh?”

Grumbling at Carl, Yura still went back to the audience carrying the buttered squid.

Chewing on the squid, she spoke to Ain.

“You want some?”

“You eat it.”

“Ah, then could you release some of your aura?”

“What for?”

“To cool this off.”

Seeing Yura shake her cup playfully, Ain slammed his fist lightly on her head.

Meanwhile, a little farther away, Len stood with his arms crossed, observing the duel ground.

“Professor Len, what do you think about Leo becoming student council president?”

“Of course, I’m all for it. If a first-year president comes from the Department of Magic, what could be happier than that?”

“…But Leo isn’t in the Department of Magic.”

“Besides! If that happens, those beastmen and pointy-ears will stop throwing their filthy advances at him!”

At Len’s words, Anna shook her head.

And so, while the entire school watched the duel between the two with keen interest—

Sierra approached between Leo and Rhys, standing face to face at the center of the arena.

“Then, both of you, don’t overdo it. I hope you’ll show us a great match.”

Leaving those words, Sierra stepped down from the arena.

“I didn’t expect you to actually choose me.”

“I prefer solving things on my own rather than relying on others.”

“It’s good to be independent, but are you confident?”

“Please watch and see.”

“Heh. I’ll look forward to it.”

Rhys chuckled at Leo’s confident demeanor and infused mana into the bracelet imbued with subspace magic.

As the subspace opened, a longsword appeared.

Seeing that, Leo also opened his own subspace.

Tak—! Whirr—!

And when the weapon appeared, Rhys’s face showed a puzzled expression.

Not only Rhys, but the audience also murmured.

“A spear?”

“He knows how to use a spear?”

The weapon Leo had taken out was none other than a spear.

Seeing that, Rhys laughed inwardly.

‘Come to think of it, during the entrance exam, it was said he handled all sorts of weapons skillfully, wasn’t it?’

Since enrolling, Leo had only ever used a sword, so everyone had forgotten.

Meanwhile, the first-years looked equally confused.

“What’s with the sudden spear?”

“Showmanship?”

“Leo doesn’t seem like the type to do that.”

As the students of Class 5 looked bewildered—

“Wow! Wow!”

Chelsea’s eyes sparkled as she jumped excitedly in her seat.

Seeing her unable to contain her excitement, Eliana asked, puzzled,

“What’s wrong?”

“Leo-oppa’s good with other weapons too!”

“What?”

“He looks so cool when he uses them!”

At the entrance ceremony—

Chelsea had witnessed Leo, who couldn’t even use aura at the time, fend off a monster.

That moment came rushing back to her mind.

‘Leo-oppa was really cool back then!’

Chelsea clenched her fists tightly.

Meanwhile, in the arena, Rhys fiddled with his sword handle.

‘Alright then, let’s see how good you really are.’

Step—

Rhys stepped toward Leo.

Fwoosh—!

Leo gripped his spear tightly and thrust forward at incredible speed toward the charging Rhys.

Swish—!

Rhys dodged the spear in an instant.

The thrust had tremendous speed and deadly precision, but it wasn’t enough to stop Rhys.

‘In a fight between sword and spear, letting him get close means defeat.’

It could end in an instant.

Rhys plunged forward without hesitation into Leo’s guard.

At that moment—

Flash—!

Leo swung his free hand.

Rhys reacted instantly and leaped back.

Before he knew it, Leo had drawn a sword from subspace.

‘A spear in the right hand, a sword in the left. Dual-wielding, huh.’

Thinking the style quite unusual, Rhys smirked.

‘But balancing two weapons properly is incredibly difficult.’

When far, Leo attacked with the spear.

When close, he defended with the sword.

At a glance, it looked like a well-balanced fighting style.

But the moment his handling of either weapon slipped, an opening would appear instantly.

Especially against a swordsman like Rhys, a single mistake could be fatal.

‘You confident, Leo?’

Rhys dashed at Leo again.

Whish—! Clang—!

Leo swung the spear, and Rhys blocked it.

The spear shaft and sword blade clashed, sparks flying.

Kakakakak—!

Rhys pushed in, his blade driving toward Leo’s body.

Clang—!

Leo defended calmly with his sword.

Thud—!

But his stance was unstable.

Rhys pressed harder, forcing Leo backward.

“Ah!”

“This is going to end way too quickly.”

A fight of pure technique, neither side using aura yet.

But even that was already looking one-sided, disappointing the watching students.

Rhys didn’t hold back, aiming to finish Leo in that brief opening.

Then—Leo suddenly let go of both his sword and spear.

Seeing Leo defenseless, Rhys narrowed his eyes.

‘Trying to confuse me? If that’s your plan, it’s too naïve.’

Rhys had experienced far too many battles to be caught off guard by such a trick.

Without hesitation, he swung his sword at the unarmed Leo.

Swish—! Tap—!

In an instant, Rhys’s eyes widened.

Leo had read the exact trajectory of the sword and struck the flat of the blade with his palm.

And not only that—

Tap—! Tatak—!

Balancing like an acrobat on a narrow beam, Leo leapt.

Rhys swung to shake him off, but—

In that fleeting instant, Leo spun midair and struck Rhys’s shoulder downward.

Thud—!

Rhys’s eyes twitched.

He endured the blow by tensing his shoulder muscles, but a heavy pain surged through him.

Whirr—!

Using the rebound, Leo flipped behind Rhys in an instant.

Catching the falling spear shaft midair, he launched a relentless barrage.

Clang! Kakakak! Swish! Thud! Clang!

A storm of spear strikes burst forth from Leo.

Rhys blocked them while trying to create a chance to counter.

Fwoosh! Thud—!

Rhys’s sword came swinging down, and Leo blocked it horizontally with the spear shaft.

For a brief instant, their eyes met.

Then Leo, without breaking stance, charged straight in—

Thump—! Clang—! Ssshk—!

Allowing Rhys to get close, Leo swung his leg.

Rhys instantly pulled back and slashed.

Leo leapt away and landed several meters back.

Shrrrk—!

From his right shoulder, across his chest, down to his side—

His uniform was cleanly cut.

A faint, thread-thin wound appeared, and blood soaked through the fabric.

‘It’s not enough to hinder movement.’

Ignoring the stinging pain, Leo steadied his stance.

Meanwhile, feeling the pain from his own shoulder and side, Rhys let out a dry laugh.

‘What is this kid…’

Leo’s martial skill didn’t lose to Rhys’s at all.

If anything, his terrifying spear and body technique had exploited Rhys’s gaps twice already for clean hits.

‘No. In terms of tactical combat, he’s clearly above me.’

It was spine-chilling.

In a fight of pure technique, Leo was overwhelming the academy’s strongest student.

Every student watched Leo with eyes full of shock.

Rhys gazed at him with awe.

As a knight who had lived his entire life with a sword in hand and reached its pinnacle—

Leo’s godlike movements felt like art itself.

‘As expected, Leo is something beyond a genius.’

Admiringly, Rhys ignited his aura.

Fwoosh—!

The Zerdinger flames flared up.

“Then shall we really begin?”

Both Leo and Rhys knew well—

Everything up to now had been just warm-up.

“Shall we?”

Fwoosh—!

The same flames rose from Leo’s body.

But that wasn’t all.

Ziiiiiiing—!

Countless magic circles filled the air.

Seeing that, Rhys gripped his sword.

“So we’ll finally see the power of an All-Class.”

Kakakakakak—!

A whirlwind of fire raged around Rhys.