Chapter 19

The fragments of the sword caught the auditorium lights, each shining in a different hue.

I played the Flame Butterfly countless times.

In those games, Ban was always a significant figure as Lucas’s friend, always by his side.

Could I really have been oblivious to Ban’s existence?

No way.

Up until the mock battle, I was endlessly studying and studying.

Sure, some of it was to keep up with academy classes.

But the main focus was figuring out how to counter my opponents.

I’m not a genius.

Yet, I understood the quirks, behaviors, unique traits, strengths, and weaknesses of every supporting character.

Flame Butterfly was my absolute favorite game and the one I loved the most.

Even the side characters, I remembered them all vividly.

Because of that, I wanted even more…

I wanted to see a happy ending, not a bad one.

This game I loved should always end on a high note.

My hand surged among the shattered sword fragments.

The hand, taking the form of a blade, became one with the moment thanks to my steel-like skin.

A living biological weapon.

I, as the sword, lunged towards Ban.

Whoosh!

The outstretched blade passed right beside Ban’s head.

What kind of reflexes does he have?

Even when the sword broke and I was caught off guard, he still managed to react.

‘Tch.’

Even with an appearance like this, he did play as an athlete before getting injured, you know?

For those who have long surpassed human limits, my prior athleticism meant little.

But it’s fine.

‘If I fail once.’

I’ll just go in for a second try.

‘Here it comes.’

My eyes landed on Ban.

He stared at me with a dazed expression.

But despite that, a flame quietly ignited in his eyes.

The unprecedented event of the sword breaking.

For Ban, it was his first time witnessing his sword shatter.

“You’re out of your mind.”

And that sparked a flame of competitive spirit within him.

Ban already possessed that competitive fire.

However, for some reason, that fire had extinguished once.

Yet there was one time it flared back to life.

It was when he faced the same fighting spirit in Lucas.

Originally, the flame should have burned fiercely alongside Lucas.

But when Lucas died, that flame flickered out along with him.

And now…

The fire of competitive spirit that he held.

It caught light again.

My feeble flame reignited beside his.

Ban clenched his hand tight.

In his hand, only the empty hilt remained.

But he’s a genius.

Crash! Boom!

Sparks of blue exploded around him.

Ban’s gray hair flew about in the sparks.

The air around vibrated, a silent uproar buzzing in my ears.

My steel-like skin tingled.

My whole body warned me.

That’s going to be dangerous.

On the empty blade.

Even without a blade, it still ferociously howled, revealing its sharp teeth.

Growl, grrrr!

People say that when one faces a master of swordplay, they hear the voice of a beast.

The phenomenon of sword energy meeting the air remains unexplained.

But one fact is unmistakably clear.

The swordsman before my eyes is far more dangerous than any beast.

The shape of the sword created without a blade emerged from Ban’s weapon.

Children watching were gasping in awe and shock.

Even those who wield energy to coat their swords are rare in the world.

Attaining the level of pure sword energy to manifest a sword.

Even if he was offered the position of knight in the renowned Haishirion Empire, he’d have no issue.

Genius.

He demonstrated what it truly meant to be one here and now.

The towering shape of blue sword energy shone brightly, almost ominously.

But I knew.

Ban couldn’t maintain the sword energy’s shape for long without the blade he needed to be the main part.

At most, it would last ten seconds.

Today, for the first time, Ban’s gaze ignited like a flame.

If he couldn’t settle this within ten seconds, it would be his loss without a sword.

And Ban knew that, too.

But as for Ban…

‘He’s determined to win in ten seconds.’

He’s lazy, but he’s still the genius Ban.

Before I knew it, Ban had vanished right before me.

My body contracted.

Now, my steel-like skin technique wouldn’t work.

Even a single cut would mean the end.

For the next ten seconds.

I had to avoid everything.

“Ban!”

The instructor realized too late that Ban had pulled a dangerously powerful card and called out to him.

But the Ban, who had manifested sword energy, couldn’t be stopped.

In a state of total concentration, he heard nothing.

In his eyes, I was the only one there.

‘Yeah, you’re that type.’

I grinned ominously at him.

Ban, though a genius, was lazy.

But just because he’s lazy doesn’t mean he lacks a competitive spirit.

In fact, it’s excessive.

With an overwhelming desire to win, Ban has messed up countless times.

This even extended to his own brother.

Ban’s talent was towering, and his competitive spirit demanded nothing but victory.

As a result, his elder brother, who loved swords more than anyone, fell pitifully before him.

After that, his brother locked himself in his room.

He abandoned the swords he loved and avoided Ban.

Ban felt sad.

And he grew weary of his own competitive spirit.

This relentless desire to win became loathsome.

If it was going to be like this, he thought he’d rather not have such a spirit at all from the beginning.

He chose to let go of his competitive spirit and become lazy.

It was the bitterness of a boy who chose that at a young age.

But now.

Ban’s spirit of competition reignited for the first time since Lucas.

The suppressed desire for victory surged forth.

‘The first attack is the head.’

I had caught onto Ban’s habit.

And that habit hadn’t changed a bit.

The energy aimed for my waist shot up in an instant, targeting my head.

I quickly leaned back to avoid losing my balance.

The sword energy rushed up to me, tearing through the air a mere breath away.

Blood sprayed.

But it wasn’t a mortal wound.

One second.

The lighter sword energy twisted freely and struck my shoulder.

A piece of flesh fell off from my armpit, but again, it wasn’t fatal.

Two seconds.

The redirected sword energy aimed for my lower body.

At the same time, I secretly threw a shard of the sword I had held onto in my hand.

Ban dodged the shard flying right at him.

Thanks to that, while he couldn’t hit my lower body, I rolled away to escape.

Three seconds.

I kicked the half-broken shield that was on the ground.

Ban’s sword energy crashed into the ground, breaking the shield once more.

Four seconds.

As I tried to stand again, Ban’s relentless blade slashed toward the arena floor.

I thrust my hand into a seam in the arena floor, flipping over a tile.

Ban’s sword energy split the tile.

Five seconds.

From the split tiles, the blade shot up towards me.

My posture was still unsteady, and the continuous injuries left me staggering.

I realized.

In my current state, I could no longer evade Ban’s blade.

Victory and defeat.

At that moment they intersected.

Ban’s gaze met mine.

He noticed the faint smile on my face.

The fact that I was smiling in this situation snapped him into awareness.

The ten seconds Ban used all of his power.

This was a miscalculation on his part.

This fight wouldn’t grant us ten seconds of time.

Five seconds.

This was the time I had considered for my victory.

Bang!

A person barged into the arena, grabbing Ban and slamming him to the ground.

The impact caused Ban’s sword hilt to scatter around aimlessly.

Ban’s hand, having manifest-ed sword energy, had turned completely white from the strain.

Ban lifted his head in a daze.

There stood Veganon, the professor of Martial Arts, from the second-year class.

She looked down at Ban with slightly irritated eyes.

“What are you trying to do, kill a fellow student?”

Hearing that question, Ban froze.

Then, slowly, his gaze shifted toward me.

Ban scrutinized my battered figure.

The last of Ban’s sword.

That sword had clearly reached for my life.

Ban realized he was being consumed by his competitive spirit again.

“Ah.”

A sigh slipped from Ban’s lips.

He fell into a state of self-loathing.

His desire to win had ignited after a long time since Lucas.

Lucas was strong enough to say, “Let’s fight again next time,” without hesitation.

Because of Lucas, Ban was able to clash with competitive spirit countless times.

But I could never be like Lucas.

Lucas was the main character.

I’m just a third-rate villain who exited the narrative.

I couldn’t engage Ban in a fight on the same level as Lucas.

“…I’m sorry.”

When Ban apologized, Veganon ceased to scold him.

Then, she turned to me, sitting on the ground.

“Hanon, you’re being warned too.”

As expected of the professor.

She must have sensed that I had anticipated her intrusion from the start.

“And Ban.”

Veganon called out to Ban, who was slowly rising.

“Look straight at that guy. Even if the mock battle continued, that victory wasn’t yours.”

Ban lifted his head slowly, finally coming to a realization.

This was a loss due to his inability to notice that his opponent had kept his secrets until the end.

Ban’s eyes widened.

In his gaze, he spotted the faint flicker of light dimming on my arm.

Veganon’s interference.

And while pondering what might have happened had Veganon not intervened.

The card that I could draw next was…

Magic Seal.

Only now did Ban realize I had been considering both from the very beginning.

I had one last hidden move left to play.

If the battle had continued, could Ban have forecast the result given the moment he missed?

“Don’t be arrogant. I acknowledge your sword, but that doesn’t mean your comrades are weak.”

Veganon’s advice pierced deeply into Ban’s heart.

Ban wore a dumbfounded expression.

“Ha, haha.”

Then, a hollow laugh escaped Ban.

He stared at me, slowly lowering his head.

“I’m sorry. It seems I didn’t see anything properly.”

Ban looked up, somewhat relieved.

“I lost.”

Hearing Ban’s next words, I couldn’t help but scoff.

“Well, that’s obvious.”

Just who did you think won?

Ban chuckled absurdly.

Seeing him, my body started to lean more and more.

And before long, the reason dawned on me.

Despite how much blood I had spilled, I had been moving.

The relief and exhaustion after the fight sank in.

Even the endorphins that had surged during the battle faded away.

The outcome had been determined from the get-go.

I’m off to the bed now.

Alongside the fading consciousness, I glimpsed Isabel, staring wide-eyed from across.

Isabel, who had long awaited my battle.

I’m sorry to her.

But I was just the one who made Isabel suffer today.

Thud-