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Chapter 98: The Fake Prince

“Haa…”

A tired sigh escaped my lips.

Before me lay one of the participants from the first bracket of the preliminaries, knocked out cold by a punch.

My stamina was nearly drained by this point.

“Wangnon!”

At that moment, I lifted my head at Card's call.

The bracelet on his wrist was glowing.

Looking at my own wrist, I saw the same light.

This means...

Ding, ding, ding—

A sound echoed from everyone's bracelets.

It signaled the end of the preliminaries.

Sixteen participants.

We had entered the round of 64.

Card and I locked eyes.

In an instant, our hands met and collided in a firm clasp.

“Wow, we actually made it.”

Grantoni rushed over, waving both arms enthusiastically, his white wrist bones clearly visible.

Soon, we heard the order to move out of the forest.

Guided by the light from our wrists, we made our way out without any confusion.

Once outside, instructors quickly approached to assess our injuries and provide treatment. They then pointed us to a place to rest.

Meanwhile, other participants were emerging from the forest.

These were the ones who had passed the preliminaries.

And among them, there was someone.

A man whose eyes locked directly onto mine.

The Shadow’s Son.

Solvas Umbra.

He bore the marks of my earlier explosion, his body charred in places.

The moment Solvas met my gaze, he flinched.

Then, as if embarrassed by his involuntary reaction, he twisted his face into a scowl and glared at me.

He looked like a porcupine puffing up its quills.

Now that I think about it, he does resemble one.

From now on, I’ll call him "Solchupine."

Solvas whipped his head away and walked off.

“You really shook him up. That’s going to affect him in the next match for sure.”

Card chuckled beside me, his voice light.

If that’s the case, it’d be nice if he just got eliminated in the next round.

“I’m going to check the results of the other brackets.”

“Yeah? I was thinking about eating first.”

“Go ahead and eat with Grantoni. I’ll just check the results and come back.”

“Heh heh, food it is. Food!”

Card nodded and went off with Grantoni to eat without a care.

That guy, Card—his sociability was second to none, seeing how easily he got along with Grantoni too.

In the Flame Butterfly Arc, the results of the international individual preliminaries were always random.

So, it was impossible to predict who would make it through this time.

I moved to another area.

Upon checking, most of the other brackets had also finished their preliminaries.

A crowd of people was buzzing around, watching the matches.

Even the participants who were eliminated could watch, so a lot of people had gathered.

On a large wall, matches that hadn’t ended yet were still being displayed.

Here and there, I could hear sighs of disappointment from the students.

First, I checked the preliminary results.

‘The elites passed without issue.’

It seemed like everyone from the main group performed well in their brackets.

One name particularly stood out among them.

Bracket 3: Ordo Academy’s Eve.

The Unyielding Azure Flame.

“As expected, you made it through.”

At that moment, the person in question appeared.

Turning my head, I saw a woman with blue hair standing there.

Eve was spotless, without a single scratch.

The time she spent in the preliminaries wasn’t much different from mine.

To come out looking so pristine meant she had completely overwhelmed her opponents.

“Of course. It’d be embarrassing to get eliminated in the preliminaries.”

“…After what you did to me, you’re awfully shameless.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

She glared at me coldly.

It seemed word of the incident last time had spread far and wide.

To the point where her intense "confession of love" became a topic even at Zerion Academy.

For Eve, it must have been humiliating to show her face around.

I felt a bit sorry, but I’d already decided to act shamelessly.

I’d stick to my role to the very end.

“I couldn’t help it. You attacked me out of the blue.”

Of course, I couldn’t mention the remnants of the ancient dragon that caused me to react that way.

So, I chose a plausible excuse to smooth things over.

“I apologize for the ambush.”

I hadn’t expected her to apologize.

“But I still believe the ancient dragon’s magic is dangerous. If you don’t fully eradicate it, I’ll have no choice but to act. So, I will erase that magic from you.”

Leaving behind this warning, Eve turned and walked away.

Did she really have to go out of her way to issue a warning?

It was a very protagonist-like move.

‘That’s something I could never pull off.’

That kind of charisma is innate.

“Oh.”

“That’s… there’s no way out of that.”

Suddenly, I heard the students around me sigh in despair.

I glanced at the screen they were watching.

“Huh?”

My eyes slowly widened.

Because there, on the screen, was Seron.

Seron’s opponent was someone I knew well.

From the Sky Kingdom of Parazon,

at the prestigious Parazon Academy,

stood its sole prince: Ergo Parazon.

One of the Six Stars was facing Seron head-on.

But Seron was in tatters.

Against an opponent of Ergo’s caliber, one of the Six Stars, Seron stood no chance.

Even so, Seron swung her axe without a hint of retreat.

But no one believed in her victory.

She was already bloodied and battered from Ergo’s relentless assault.

〔Struggling pointlessly before me. You’d find it easier to simply accept defeat.〕

Around Ergo, dozens of swords floated and danced.

He wielded them without even touching them.

The legendary swordsmanship of the Parazon royal family.

The Swordsmanship of the Sky.

The swords pursued Seron as she ran through the forest.

Although her axe deflected some of them, the swords curved mid-air and came back.

Each blade was a renowned masterpiece.

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Even Seron’s craftsmanship couldn’t put a single dent in them.

The tide was turning against her.

Seron clenched her teeth as she faced the swords blocking her path.

A red gleam flashed from her axe.

Boom! Bang!

Explosions erupted continuously from Seron’s axe.

She had put so much strength into it that the shockwaves sent the swords flying in all directions.

Thick black smoke billowed out, filling the forest.

Ergo furrowed his golden eyebrows slightly, gazing into the smoky haze.

Whoosh!

Something darted out from one side of the smoke.

Ergo’s swords shot toward it in unison.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

His swords struck the object, but Ergo’s eyes widened in realization.

It was a piece of wood, broken and flung by Seron as she ran.

Crash!

Suddenly, massive trees began to topple toward Ergo, one after another, from within the smoke.

〔Tch.〕

Ergo swallowed instinctively.

He had finally realized what Seron had been aiming for with her relentless axe swings.

A shadow fell over Ergo’s head as the fallen trees swung their massive bodies down to crush him.

Whoosh!

Ergo’s swords rose in unison.

The Swordsmanship of the Sky cleaved through the descending trees.

In that moment when the trees were reduced to fragments by Ergo’s swords—

Thud—

Beneath the falling debris, Seron swung her axe upward with all her might.

Their eyes met.

Seron’s battered body had managed to find one opening, her sole chance at victory.

〔Euryaaaaah!〕

To seize that opportunity, Seron poured every ounce of her strength into her axe.

But talent gaps are sometimes insurmountable.

Just before Seron’s axe reached Ergo—

Shhhk—

A massive sword, as large as a house, descended from the sky, shattering the trees and slicing between Ergo and Seron.

Boom!

The sheer force of the impact sent Seron flying, tumbling across the ground.

She tried to stand her ground, but the size of the descending sword was overwhelming.

The sword was so colossal that it was visible even from outside the forest.

Swordsmanship of the Sky.

The Sword of the Colossus.

It was Ergo’s ultimate weapon.

Seron rolled amidst the dust.

As she scrambled to regain her footing—

Thud!

Ergo’s foot struck her in the stomach.

〔Gyah!〕

Seron was sent sprawling across the ground, unable to immediately rise due to the searing pain in her abdomen.

〔Why don’t you just give up against me?〕

Even as she struggled to move, Ergo stood over her.

Stomp!

He pressed his foot firmly against her chest, pinning her down.

Seron suppressed a scream.

〔You know better than anyone that it’s a useless struggle.〕

Ergo pressed down harder, a mocking smile forming on his lips.

〔Then again, for someone like you, even facing me, a prince, is an honor. I suppose I can understand that.〕

Ergo had a peculiar trait: he reveled in inflicting pain.

Watching Seron struggle only made him want to punish her further.

At that moment, Seron grabbed Ergo’s ankle with her hand.

〔Why… don’t I give up?〕

Seron gritted her teeth audibly.

〔It’s because… the guy I like… is stubborn as hell. To get his attention… I need to pass the preliminaries.〕

Seron spat out blood and grinned through clenched teeth.

〔And screw your so-called ‘honor,’ you fake prince. My real prince is somewhere else!〕

Ergo’s expression turned blank.

Flash!

Then, the bracelets on both Seron and Ergo lit up.

The preliminary round for their group had just ended.

Ergo lifted his foot from Seron’s chest.

Relief swept through the spectators watching the match.

〔So that’s how it is.〕

But Ergo brought his foot down again.

Crunch!

Seron’s body bent in an unnatural shape as she crumpled to the ground.

Gasps of horror filled the arena as a red glow enveloped Ergo’s bracelet.

The instructors rushed in, forcibly restraining the furious Ergo.

Seron was carried off by the instructors in a hurry.

And I witnessed the entire scene with my eyes wide open.

Drip—

Blood trickled down from my clenched fist.

I had gripped so hard that my palm was bleeding.

I was acutely aware of my current state.

This was… undoubtedly anger.

But I couldn’t fully express it.

A suffocating pressure weighed on my chest, despite the fury boiling inside me.

I finally realized why.

‘The Veil Bandages.’

The bandages I wore were suppressing my anger.

More precisely, they were slowly erasing it.

‘I didn’t know it could suppress emotions this way too.’

This was new information.

As a result, my mind became colder and clearer.

Ergo’s rampage, burned into my vision, felt even more vivid.

It didn’t matter to me whether Seron had crossed the line with her words or not.

This world runs on double standards anyway.

And my friend was treated like that.

“Ergo.”

I swore to myself.

I would destroy this bastard.

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