Chapter 482

I personally really like the word “brawl.”

In a brawl, common sense doesn’t apply, knowledge becomes useless, and schemas crumble.

Humans who are defeated in such a muddy fight often refuse to accept their loss.

No, they can’t.

If they admit defeat to someone more unreasonable than themselves, all their sweat and effort would go to waste.

Instead, they often dismiss it as tricks, gambles, crafty behavior, or the flailing of those lacking skill.

But this is knowing one thing and not knowing the other.

The process of inducing a brawl may be irrational, but once the battle begins, only those who follow the essence of combat best can seize victory.

Love Kim, can you truly abandon common sense and find the essence?

[Casting: Black Aura]

A black spark envelops the spearhead.

[Casting: Coefficient Adjustment]

A very simple 1st circle spell added to this transformed into a destructive force like never before.

Love Kim hesitates, then suddenly scrunches her face.

She blew up the Roseus Pantera herself.

Kaboom-!

Instead of losing the gravity pulling her body, part of Love Kim’s barrier peeled away.

The two spells she had cast also disintegrated into thin air.

Looking at the runes used, one seemed to be a fire support type from the Ignis series, and the other a self-protection barrier spell.

She’s bold. It’s not the best choice, but it’s the right judgment.

“What happened to my magic circle?”

“You’re using a Roksinian Paranova that substitutes Maripja for gauge Borson. You didn’t study the 8-syllable runes properly, did you?”

“… Ugh.”

This is the power of pure magic.

You might question what good learning an 8-syllable rune, which is hardly used even in 5th circle magic, would do, but this is how you can use it.

“Do you think I can’t break it?”

Love Kim bites her lip tightly.

She quickly retreats to put some distance between us.

What’s her plan?

Since the Aura Heart wasn’t sufficiently warmed up at first, I’m not in an overwhelmingly advantageous situation.

I worked hard with my short legs to chase after her.

Love Kim was cornered against a dead-end wall, and the distance was gradually closing.

“UAAAAH!”

She suddenly screams and charges at me.

[Casting: Demon Lord’s Horn]

Flap-

The temporary wings created by external manifestation caused a strong wind.

As if she had already anticipated this, Love Kim pulled out a prepared spell.

[Casting: Sonic Boom]

Bang-!

With a deafening noise, the air layers stirred, and my hair flew in all directions.

I plunged the spear deep into the ground to maintain my balance and not get blown away.

Soon, a fist packed with a significant amount of aura came flying towards me.

Boom-! Thud-!

I ducked my head to evade the punch and leaped again to avoid a low kick.

Crash-!

A shockwave erupted as the auras collided.

Rumble, rumble, rumble-!

Each time Love Kim swung her fist, my feet were pushed back little by little.

Flowers gradually bloomed on her face.

But she’s daring enough to try a reckless tackle. That crosses the line.

I used inertia to throw her backward.

Crack, crack, crack-!

Having rolled on the ground a couple of times, Love Kim stood up like a toy and brushed off the dirt from her mouth.

For the first time, she smiled.

“You shouldn’t have sent me to the center of the training hall. Now it’s your turn to face me, No Name. Delayed casting, self-reliance.”

My body was pushed back with a whoosh.

Vroom-

When I turned my head, a massive strong-magnetic magic circle was pulling my body towards the arena’s outer wall.

Clang, clang, clang-

The spear made a strange noise as it scraped the grass, ultimately splitting in two.

[Casting: Curion Adjustment]

Following Black Aura and Demon Lord’s Horn, I cast a triple spell.

I lowered the operating temperature of the magnet layered over the arena’s outer wall to room temperature, nullifying its magnetism.

As if she wouldn’t let that chance slip, Love Kim deployed her unique magic again.

“Choose: abandon Black Aura or abandon Demon Lord’s Horn!”

[Casting: Roseus Pantera]

Whoosh-!

Once more, a high-energy beam shot out.

This time, instead of reflecting, it slipped away, and pink beads floated along the path of the beam.

She enveloped her hand with aura and finished preparing for all attacks.

“This is what you do three minutes into the match? It’s way too late.”

Here it comes.

Love Kim’s aura is ‘pleasure.’

It’s an extremely potent type of pleasure.

Beads shaped like heart balloons greedily sucked the surrounding mana, growing in size.

She charged towards me like a beast, retrieving the beads.

As she stretched out her hand wrapped in aura, the energy absorbed as if droplets merged.

Her feet striking the ground noticeably sped up.

The mana she concentrated in her hand surpassed the Necessitate critical point, and high-density mana fragments fell like rain.

A significant amount of strength was injected into Love Kim’s shoulder.

Foot, leg, torso, shoulder, and fist began a right-hand cycle.

This might be somewhat dangerous.

“I don’t care if I die!”

A bomb exploded from the punch she shot.

Crack, crack, crack, crack-!

The grass was uprooted and dusty soil soared high into the sky.

I wrapped my body in wings to minimize the damage.

With how strong the contraction of the Aura Heart is, the next attack came immediately.

Bang, bang, bang-!

In the blink of an eye, I was hit by a three-hit combo from her right hand, right foot, and left hand, tearing one of my wings away.

Boom-!

Once again, the magic of the left foot, right hand, and right hand exploded, disabling the Black Aura magic circle.

“Ahh! It’s really over now, No Name!”

A strong down draft pressed against my body.

All her strength focused on her descending left foot.

Thanks to the uneven terrain, there was little space to maneuver.

Boom-!

The Demon Lord’s wings made a cracking sound.

A small crater formed from the shockwave, dispersing dust.

“Uh…?”

But even with a decisive strike, my wings didn’t break.

The Demon Lord’s wings dropped marble-like fragments as if shedding skin.

[Casting: Non-Newtonian Barrier]

The more force applied, the denser this non-elemental barrier becomes.

The triple-layered shield I built held firm and was never breached.

I laughed as if finding it ridiculous.

“Did you think your older sister would win?”

Following Black Aura, Demon Lord’s Horn, Non-Newtonian Barrier, and a well-prepared quadruple casting, I took her off guard.

A magic circle appeared above me, aiming at Love Kim.

The magic circle filled with runes as mana was injected.

[Casting: Rising]

“Ahhh!”

The ground lifted, sending her high into the air.

“I can keep up with speed too.”

With a slight sprint, I jumped higher than she did.

The ultimate battle in a brawl is undoubtedly an aerial game.

Humans are born destined not to fly, so the sky is no different from a fish out of water.

We always preach the importance of lower body strength, but what can you do when your feet don’t touch the ground?

“What can I do? Just take the hits.”

I elbowed her abdomen down.

Crack-!

“Oh?”

The Black Aura caused an electric shock, disabling Love Kim’s barrier restoration function.

What luck for the child.

Normally, electric currents don’t penetrate barriers well. It seems like a small hole was formed somewhere.

Love Kim landed horizontally on the ground.

“Guh…!”

Due to the recoil, her waist bent like a bow, and her body lifted about 10 centimeters.

I gathered both feet and pressed down on her lower abdomen firmly to ensure her body was embedded in the earth.

She drew her aura as much as possible to thicken the barrier and curled her body.

“Ugh, Aaaah!”

“This futile flailing!”

I deactivated all spells except for Demon Lord’s Horn and re-established the foundation for a quadruple casting.

[Casting: Steam Burst]

[Casting: Arc Discharge]

[Casting: Stream Flow]

“I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I threw in everything.”

To ensure she wouldn’t even dare think of breaking it with one spell, I prepared spells of different attributes.

In the space where mana stirred, high-pitched screams echoed.

“Ugh! Ah! This can’t be happening! This isn’t real!”

“This isn’t not real at all. Do you think you can keep making those sounds while taking hits?”

Her output was considerable, so it would take some time before her barrier would be chipped away completely.

The degree of destruction of her barrier was roughly around 30%, but there’s too much disparity in the resources we consumed.

From now until the match ends, the initiative will solely be in my hands.

I climbed atop Love, who laid sprawled out, tightly clenching my small fists.

I surrounded them with aura to create hands dozens of times larger.

Thwack-!

She received a slap to the cheek and looked up at me with a bewildered expression.

“Haha… Huh? Why? Why why? Why am I like this? I did everything perfectly!”

A clear sign of self-denial.

This is usually a reaction seen in geniuses, but getting hit solves everything.

“It’s simple. I fight better than you, Love.”

“Was that electric shock a fluke-”

Thwack-!

I struck her other cheek.

“You haven’t had enough yet.”

“Guhhh… I’m dizzy.”

Half-time was approaching.

I focused solely on chipping away at her barrier without letting emotions in.

Thwack- Thwack- Thwack, thwack, thwack-

Her head jerked left and right as if she were about to snap.

“Stop hitting my face! It’s making me dizzy…! Ugh…”

“What do you want me to do when you keep resisting? Since I have to hold your body down, the face is the only place I can hit!”

“Does that mean you give up? I’m not losing, Guhhh…! I’m not! Gaaahh! Why can’t I get free?!”

[Casting: Gravity Coefficient Adjustment]

“Then I won’t have won either, so I’ll keep hitting you.”

“You’re seriously insane, insane, insane…”

Love’s resistance gradually subsided.

After hitting her cheeks around 58 times, she seemed to resign, her body slackening.

Smack-!

“Get up!”

“Why again…?”

“You weren’t reacting while I was hitting you, so I got bored.”

“… Can you let me go for a second, Name?”

Suddenly, Love Kim spoke to me in a calm tone.

A feeling arose within me that I should let her go, and I stood up.

She staggered and, perhaps due to dizziness, collapsed again.

Then she buried her head in the ground and didn’t move.

Her back trembled slightly.

“… Surrender.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

I couldn’t hear properly, so I asked her again.

“I… want to surrender…!”

“Huh? What did you say?”

I heard correctly, but I asked again.

“I surrender! I surrender! I said I surrender! Waaaaah! Why do I have to say it three times…!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. But are you crying now?”

“If you see, you know! It was really bad… I won’t ever watch Name’s broadcast again…”

“Hehe, okay then.”

“I’ll be an anti-fan…!”

“Being an anti-fan is fine too.”

“Ugh… Actually, I don’t dislike Name. Saying I’ll be an anti-fan is all a lie. Why do you take this so easily? It feels like I’ve been toyed with from start to finish, and it’s frustrating…!”

“Let’s head inside before it gets uglier.”

I had enjoyed it enough by now.

With many eyes watching, I wiped her tears as she wept loudly and poured mana into the crystal ball to record the match’s outcome.

If both crystals were blue, it meant my victory; if both were purple, it meant my opponent’s victory; and if each had a different color, it meant a tie.

I caught Love Kim covertly painting her crystal ball purple.

“Make sure to record the match outcome correctly.”

“Ah! Uh…”

“That’s right, good girl.”

I patted her head, which was covered in dirt.

“I feel terrible, but I don’t feel bad at all. It’s quite strange.”

Love Kim grumbled while fiddling with her hair.

* * *

“Hahahaha! Wow, I really saw it again. No Name, that friend is hilarious!”

In the silent audience, only one person burst into laughter.

The man threw off his cheesy sunglasses and leaned forward, clasping his hands.

“It’s just like when I used to see you as a child.”

Principal Park Tae-Seok added a comment.

At this, the man turned sharply, narrowing his eyes.

“You speak harshly, Principal. No matter how absurd I was, I wasn’t that crazy. When I heard middle schoolers were fighting like that, I didn’t believe it at all, but now I see it. You really have a nasty temper.”

The man, wearing a green Saemaul Undong t-shirt, revealed his gold teeth as he laughed.

His name badge, haphazardly pinned on with a clothes pin, sparkled in the sunlight.

[Kim Geun, Chairperson of Habitat for Humanity Korea]

The infamous winner of the 16th National Exchange Tournament, renowned for his notoriety, shook his head in disbelief as he watched Name.