The sound of the broken air fills my ears.
The target is the flame jewel on the forehead.
A black line is drawn in my red vision.
The talent of the Black Prince guides the sword path.
I see a red spot right in front of me.
I stab the sword imbued with black magic precisely at the red spot.
“YAAAAAAAHHHH!!”
Crack!
The flame jewel on the forehead shatters, and the salamander lets out a scream of pain.
Szzzzzz.
The flames that were burning all over its body extinguish.
The lizard’s massive body stiffens.
‘Stiffness is only for a moment.’
I need to decide the outcome in this fleeting time.
Otherwise, it will drag on again.
To cleanly sever the damn lizard’s neck, I have no choice but to use my ultimate technique.
Just great. Really.
I draw out Durandal and step back.
I grip Durandal while in flight mode.
I inject magic into the magic core.
“Guh!”
Thump, thump.
My heart races loudly.
The magic core in my chest glows like a furnace.
It hurts. A familiar pain in my ass.
The magic core in my chest greedily devours magic.
“Damn it······.”
Just as I curse,
[Synchronization]
Durandal etches a new ultimate technique into my mind.
I raise the sword.
Whummm.
Black magic gathers, ready to ignite on the blade.
I activate the gift.
Wiggle wiggle.
All the shadows, the power of darkness existing in the arena, overlays onto the blade.
At the moment when the blade of Durandal becomes stained with an unnaturally complete black, devoid of any shine.
I swing the sword down towards the lizard’s neck.
[Black Light Blade Arts]
[Ultimate]
[Dark Slash]
Boom!
A deafening roar erupts.
The dark gift concentrated on the blade and the black magic creates a chain explosion that shakes the earth.
“YAAAAAHHHH!!”
The lizard’s horrific scream.
But that’s its last scream.
Boom.
Its head separates from the body and falls to the ground.
The illusion that had fulfilled its role turns into light and disappears.
I deactivate flight mode and land on the ground.
“Fuck.”
Why does it hurt so much every time I fight?
I can’t help but curse.
Thump, thump.
My heart is about to burst.
[Durandal Offline]
I deactivate battle mode.
The gloves that were devouring magic and the magic core instantly disperse into particles and meld into the blade of Durandal.
I plunge the now idle Durandal into the ground like a staff.
I insert it.
Otherwise, I feel like I’ll collapse right here.
“······.”
It’s been a long time since the library opened up in the audience.
Smack.
I slap my own cheek.
“Phew.”
I’m starting to come to my senses a bit.
It’s better than before.
Back then, I would faint immediately after finishing.
Not now.
Still, the dizziness keeps hitting me; I feel like I need to take a break.
[Kim, well done! You can leave now!]
From afar, I can faintly hear Mayuzumi-sensei’s announcement.
Whirr.
The previously closed entrance opens again.
It’s the moment the class ends today.
*
After school.
Olivia’s personal practice room.
The personal practice room provided directly by the academy for top-class honor students is as big and spacious as a decent gym.
The facilities are so good it’s not even worth mentioning.
Thanks to the top student, the slavery super prodigy, I’m making good use of it here and there.
“Why did you push yourself so needlessly today! You’re the biggest fool in the world!”
If she could just stop nagging from the side, it would be great.
Olivia is fine and all, but once she opens her mouth, it becomes a problem.
I open the refrigerator in the practice room.
What’s packed inside is water and blue sports drinks.
“What’s this? Why is there only sports drinks? No cola?”
Disappointing.
I thought there’d be at least a bottle of cola.
Suddenly, Olivia sticks by my side and retorts.
“Cola isn’t good for you!”
“Good stuff is never really good for you.”
Who doesn’t know cola is bad for you?
You eat it because it’s delicious.
“Do you really have to respond so annoyingly?”
Olivia puffs up her cheeks.
Well, if there’s no cola, there’s nothing I can do.
I take out a water bottle and gulp down water.
Now that cold water is entering my system, I feel a bit better.
“Ah, refreshing.”
Thank goodness today is a practical class and there are no other classes.
If not, I would have had to skip theory class to take it easy, and then I would’ve had to review again.
Just thinking about it makes me nauseous.
If I had to name the most dreadful thing in this crazy world, it would be the cartoonish reactions of people around me combined with the hellishly difficult theoretical studies.
“So, are we definitely going to learn the White Flame Sword Technique today?”
“Seeing you talk nonsense makes me realize that I was the fool for worrying unnecessarily! As long as the price is paid, yes! Consider it an honor.”
Olivia crosses her arms and glances at me.
“What price?”
I ask out of courtesy, knowing it’s going to be obvious.
Her eyes widen at my question.
She averts her gaze and speaks in a small voice.
“The Cherry Blossom Festival…”
I hit the mark.
That’s not much, just a little.
“The Cherry Blossom Festival? Where is it being held?”
“Inokashira Park. Just to clarify in case you misunderstand, I’m saying this because I simply want to have a normal outing! There are absolutely no personal feelings for you whatsoever!”
Olivia shuts her eyes tightly and shouts.
Inokashira Park.
Cherry Blossom Festival.
Right, now I remember.
Mid to late Vol. 1.
The protagonist Yuji and Olivia went to the cherry blossom viewing at Inokashira Park.
But as is the case with everyday events in a battle story, the two get caught up in a suddenly opened gate incident.
The event is stirred up by the Gate opening.
The mastermind behind the Gate is none other than Vulture, the villain from the New World League.
As expected from a light novel, the protagonist and Olivia manage to clear the Gate and protect the people in Inokashira Park, but they actually fail to capture Vulture, the true perpetrator of the terror.
This is the historic moment when the Gate creation device first appears, and it also serves as a catalyst for the protagonist and Olivia to get closer.
“Wait, am I really supposed to do that?”
No way.
Since it’s come to this, I’ll start with the protagonist and drag everyone along for a cherry blossom viewing, all to take down the guy who’s either Vulture or Butcher.
New World League.
Those lunatics need to be dealt with whenever we have the chance.
I’m a selfish coward who can’t afford to be nice and let enemies go free.
The bear does all the hard work, but people reap the rewards.
How beautiful is this world’s logic, huh?
Having sorted my thoughts, I nodded vigorously.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Is this what they call PTSD?
Upon hearing my answer, Olivia’s eyes widened.
“Are you serious?”
She stutters.
“Yep.”
“Really, you promise, right? If you take me to some ruins again like last time… I will honestly get really mad!”
Olivia puffs up her cheeks.
Doesn’t she ever get tired of doing that?
“I’m really going.”
Not going is not an option.
New World League.
Those lunatics dreaming of the world’s end need to be taken care of promptly.
That way, I can stretch out comfortably at night and sleep.
“This is all your fault! I can’t deal with this… Honestly… I can’t trust you.”
Olivia mutters in a low voice.
“Wow, you really can’t trust people.”
“It’s your own fault!”
Olivia shouts.
How many times must I say it before she believes me? Should I swear on my mana or something?
Just as I was starting to get mildly annoyed.
“So…”
With a determined look, she extends her pinky to me.
“Hey, let’s make a promise!”
The moment I saw that gesture.
I felt short of breath, and my hands and feet trembled.
Memories of that hot encounter with Hoshino Kasumi in the clubroom flooded back.
Wow, seriously? You want me to do that again?
Am I going to die from a rage fit before going back to my original world?
Is this what they call PTSD?
“Um, isn’t this the wrong way? But it is… Bella taught me that in Korea, we make promises like that with our pinkies…”
“I’ll do it. Isn’t that enough?”
Right.
Once I’ve done it, I might as well do it again.
It’s all for the sake of the white flame ritual.
I just have to endure a little embarrassment.
“Okay, sounds good…”
Olivia lifts her pinky again with an excited blush.
Taking a deep breath, I intertwine my pinky with hers.
“Promise, seal, sign, copy. Done.”
We touch our thumbs together, then our palms.
As we keep touching, Olivia’s face gets redder.
Wait, where did she learn the whole seal, sign, copy thing?
Kasumi didn’t go that far, did she?
This is just ridiculous.
After the ritual, Olivia points at me with a flushed face and says.
With a messed-up face, she points at me with her finger and says,
“You promised me, so you better not break it. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
The embarrassment is over.
It’s not as bad as I thought.
Once is tough, but twice isn’t that hard.
Not hard?
‘Does this mean I’m slowly adapting to this crazy world? This is insane.’
Who’s normal and who’s not?
In a one-eyed world, isn’t a two-eyed person the abnormal one?
While I’m lost in philosophical musings, Olivia bursts into a girlish giggle.
“Hehehe.”
“Now that the promise is over, hand it over.”
“Seriously, you’re the dumbest guy in the world who knows nothing about mood!!”
Olivia shuts her eyes and screams.
Whoa, that startled me.
No matter how much I try to get used to this, her antics never let me.
But it’s not like I genuinely dislike Olivia.
Even though I complain, she’s doing her job as a heroine well, and compared to other students, she’s practically an angel.
Should I say I’ve developed some affection, or is she more like a frenemy?
Sometimes, if she doesn’t get all worked up, it feels weird, and occasionally her reactions are so funny that I intentionally poke her first.
Anyway, everything about Olivia is fine, except her mouth. I just can’t bring myself to like it.
It would be nice if she just kept that mouth shut.
‘Is she really an angel?’
I’m confused.
Are all the other characters just so messed up that she seems like an angel comparatively?
What if I were just a typical guy? Like some mad scientist is giving me all these stimuli?
Maybe I’m brainwashed by the crazy stimuli in this mad world?
‘I’m losing it. Am I still not over the shame of past fanboying?’
Anyway, I don’t really like light novels right now.
Honestly.
Experiencing such a spectacular event before being reincarnated, it would be weirder not to suffer from fanboying.
Just thinking about that day makes me grind my teeth and my hands tremble.
I’ve invested so much time and effort into my fanboying.
I even shielded you, Kim Deok-Sung, when you were getting roasted online, disregarding even my hair loss.
I managed to hold back even when the true heroine of the tenth volume was made the real heroine after the harem ending got wrapped up and the other heroines were taken down.
‘Shouldn’t you take responsibility if you had a harem? The author made it clear in the story that even other heroines agreed with the harem. If it were me, I’d take responsibility like a real man. Damn it. Frustrating protagonist gossip.’
Ah, just thinking about the ending gets me mad again.
Come to think of it, the author mentioned in an interview that he’s writing side stories for each heroine.
I was tirelessly arguing with those who mocked the spoilers about the ending, questioning if it was DLC when the final volume’s spoilers dropped, and that stress caused my alopecia to flare up again.
Still, I believed until then. I thought the author would sort it out with side stories for each heroine.
I was the crazy one.
‘Recently, web novels set in academies get roasted for such endings; it’s like the author is a tortoise reversing the trend.’
A harem ending is truly the conclusion where everyone walks away unscathed.
Ironically, he spills all kinds of nonsense in interviews but hasn’t even started those if side stories!
