༺ Night before the Festival (4) ༻
『Hyuk, my son. I am incredibly proud of you.』
Both the blazing ground and the sky were tainted in red like blood. All the corpses rolling around like pieces of trash were the friends and neighbors of the boy.
Even the one who caused all this to happen was one of his friends.
“…Ran.”
That massacre had taken place in less than a day. He blank-mindedly looked at the cause of this tragedy.
When the cold crimson-red pair of eyes turned to him with those thin fingers pointing at him…
“Haht…!”
The burning pain in his heart made the boy wake up from his nightmare. His heart was being scorched and beads of sweat had drenched his entire body.
“…Fuck.”
His arms continued shivering with no signs of settling back down.
****
The festival hall of the Academy.
This large stadium that was usually only used for prac tests and Academy events was finally fulfilling its original construction purpose.
“Wahhhhh…!”
“Aoh! Why don’t you just crouch and dive in? Just go in, smack him on the belly, and come back out!”
“Don’t even think about going home today if you lose to Purple Hawk!”
A friendly exchange festival of the two best academies worldwide, Merkarva and Purple Hawk. A total of 200 students from both academies were at the stadium with a bunch of people filling the seats. The tourists bought casual drinks and snacks from wandering sellers while bustling with noise.
“Kuhum…! Mr. Korin. We might be bashed up by our seniors if we lose this!”
“They probably will punch you.”
“…Actually?”
It was a friendly event but it still concerned the pride of each academy. The younger students would be scolded by their seniors if they lost in their fights.
On the commentary seats of the festival venue were Professor Edgar from the Magic Department and Old Man Haman of the Knight Department.
“Hello, fellow citizens of the El Rath Kingdom. An amazing battle is currently underway right as we speak!”
“Amazing battle? It’s just a talent show of immature kids.”
“…Please stick to the script, sir.”
By the way, recorded clips and commentary audios were also sold to the people outside, and a premium price was attached to more eye-catching battles.
“More importantly, Mr. Korin…!”
“Yo.”
“M, Mr. Korin? This is doubles! We are doing doubles right now, right?”
– Pak! Pabak!
On the wide battlefield, Alicia was being pushed back by the fierce set of attacks of the two Purple Hawk students.
“Their teamwork is pretty good. As expected of twins.”
Our opponent was the Chen siblings, Grade 2 twins of the Purple Hawk Academy, who only showed up after the 3rd round in the game. It seemed that luck wasn’t on our side today, considering how we met them in the 1st round.
“Mr. Koriiiinnn…!”
“Don’t worry, you’re not gonna die. We have non-lethalizing spells and you have an HP bar as well.”
“Ahh, seriously!”
In this festival, all the students had bracelets that gauged their HP. It was over if it went below a certain level, and it was a safer method of telling the victor.
“F, first I need some distance…!”
Alicia tried to retreat away from the attacks of the Talisman Mage, Liyen, but something light touched her on her back.
– Kwaang!
After coming into contact with Alicia’s back, the floating talisman immediately exploded like a bomb. It was an invisible explosion talisman.
“Kyaaht…!”
Alicia’s body was pushed forward by the smoke of the explosion. As if he had been waiting for it, Chen, the Dual Wielder, let out a sharp stab with his swords but she dodged it by rolling on the ground.
“Oi~. Alicia, you have less than half of your HP left.”
“W, whose fault do you think that is, huh? Whose fault?”
“It’s because you’re not strong enough.”
“Eeeek…!”
Chen, the Duel Wielder, and Liyen the Talisman Mage – Chen pressured Alicia while the trap of talismans limited her movement. Even though they were Grade 2 guardians, their teamwork allowed them to fight on equal grounds with most semi-Grade 1 guardians.
Hoh?
Liyen used the pebbles created from the battle and attached a talisman to it before throwing it at Alicia. I guess that was also a viable fighting method – maybe I should try something similar later with runes.
“Mr. Korin? Can you please help me instead of just watching?!”
Alicia was being very noisy for a while. She had exceptional burst potential but was always subpar when it came to the fundamental and basic skills.
“Alicia. You’re talented at coming up with tactics on the spot. Analyze the opponent and come up with a strategy.”
“This is not funny! Are you seriously not going to help?”
At a glance, it might seem like I was teasing Alicia, and I really was teasing her, but there was a reason why I wasn’t actively taking part.
‘I knew it. They’re there.’
There was a section in the seats that was designated for the students of Purple Hawk Academy, and on those seats were the three people that needed the most amount of attention.
Senior Professor Kang Ryun, student council president Kang Yuhua and the highest-achieving 2nd-year student, Sa Jinhyuk.
‘I can’t reveal all of my skills just yet.’
In this festival, the individual, doubles and group events were carried out in rotation, which meant that there was a lot of time for people to observe others. My plan was to hide as many skills as I could from them until the very end. Even if I were to step up, I had to reveal as little as possible.
Kang Yuhua was the strongest student from Purple Hawk but… the Trampling Warhound, Sa Jinhyuk was like a rugby ball that could bounce anywhere, so I needed to keep him at bay all the time.
I might have lost in the last iteration, but things might not be the same this time around.
This time, there was no Mr. Park to stop Kang Yuhua but…
“You have my trust, Alicia.”
“S, stop talking to me!”
Even though she was True Alicia now, she was still very unreliable.
“Alicia. Can you not beat them without using the Domain?”
“I can’t! I seriously cannot! Like, I can somehow win but the next fight will be a problem!”
“…”
The one who responded to her words were the Chen siblings.
It was understandable though, because it sounded like Alicia was certain that she could defeat them by herself.
“Ohh~ they’re mad, they’re mad. You’re in trouble now.”
“Eeeek…!”
Clenching her teeth, Alicia stood off against the emotional twins.
‘I guess she’ll somehow be able to defeat them.’
Alicia was the physically strongest student out of all the named freshmen characters except for Hua Ran. She also had exceptional talents at the sword. Even though she had no experience and was having trouble, it would still be difficult for students of her age to beat her.
“Alicia. Who’s the tougher one to deal with?”
“T, talisman! The lady who uses the talisman! Please! Hurry up!”
“Okay. I can do that for you.”
She had the right to complain since I was making it sound like I was doing a favor despite this being a doubles event, but Alicia simply shouted, ‘Thank you!’ on repeat with a brighter look on her face.
“Hmph! This is doubles. As if I would do a 1 on 1 with you…!?”
Liyen, the Talisman Mage, scoffed at me who finally decided to participate in the battle, before getting into the reactable range of Chen, the Dual Wielder. They were going to induce a 2v2 battle.
That was the textbook approach but there was no reason for me to be pulled into their pace. I recklessly marched forward to strike Liyen.
“You fool!”
Liyen had a wide smile on her face as if that straightforward charge was all according to plan, which was probably because of the invisible talisman between me and her.
The explosion talisman was Liyen’s forte which she had been using to harass Alicia the whole time. The way to counter it was to run away from the range of the explosion or approach before the explosion and…
Six Ways of the Spear,
Fourth Style, Spinning Heaven
“Ahht?!”
I sliced the talisman apart. The rotating spearhead of Spinning Heaven slashed through the talisman and canceled its invisibility as well as its explosion.
It was set with a reactive formula that made the talisman explode after sensing my approach instead of Liyen activating it with a remote controller. Since it was automated, there was no room for her to activate it by prediction which ended up giving me the upper hand.
“H, how did you see through the invisibility…!?”
“It’s a good idea, but you’re abusing it way too much.”
An explosive spell like this was similar to Othello. You couldn’t put multiple disks in one place and she probably didn’t have an unlimited number of them either.
Whether invisible or not, working your way through it was not that difficult as long as you could see through the opponent’s fighting style.
“Chen!”
In a fluster, Liyen called her older twin brother. However, Chen couldn’t help but stop his feet from a foreboding sensation behind his back which he got immediately after turning around to help his sister.
“Uhk…!”
There was no way you could show your back to the swordsman called Alicia Arden without getting punished.
– Charuruk!
A large number of talismans were unleashed. That was Liyen’s last resort, the detonation of talismans, but even before the yellow talismans floating in the air could form a shape…
Six Ways of the Spear,
Fifth Style, Crumbling Mountain.
They were penetrated with a piercing shriek.
“A, ahht…”
The ear-splitting javelin grazed past her chin. Even though the spear had been turned non-lethal, that noise and penetrating power was enough to make her lose the will to fight anymore.
Liyen lost power in her legs and fell on her bum.
“Liyen…!”
In a hurry, Chen activated the secret talismans that were tied on his arms and legs. By momentarily enhancing his body with the talismans, he wanted to defeat Alicia before it turned into a 2v1.
Singular Sword of Arden—-
However, Alicia was an innate counter-attacker. Trying to defeat her with pure power was not a good choice.
—Falling Fist
“Uhht?”
Chen couldn’t believe just how easily his swords were parried. The last thing he saw while falling on the ground was the opponent’s sword digging into his side.
“Ugh… Winning without killing is too hard.”
– Slam!
The blade smacked Chen on his side. If not for the non-lethalizing spell, his body would have been bisected into two.
“Huu… it wouldn’t have been this hard if you helped out from the start, Mr. Korin.”
“It’s all~ a part of your life experience, Alicia.”
“Ah please…! Stop talking like an old man. You sound like an Uncle!”
“Hey! You’re calling me Uncle again! I told you to call me Oppa!”
The 1st round of doubles was quite an easy victory.
****
“I heard she was the Sword Emperor’s granddaughter but that’s less than what I expected, right, Big Sister?”
On the VIP seats of the arena, Sa Jinhyuk took a sip of his soft drink while munching on popcorn.
“Indeed, she gave off the feeling that she slightly lacked the basics.”
Alicia Arden was the direct descendent of Sword Emperor Garrand Arden, who was the dream goal and aspiration of every swordsman. Since her sister, Lunia Arden, was also the Sword Master and one of the strongest people of the generation, their expectations were bound to be high despite coming from a different continent.
Even though Alicia did beat her sister, she was still very lacking compared to Sword Master Lunia Arden, but what caught their eyes more was her partner.
“Hyuk. Do you know who that spear-using student is?”
“You felt it too? He’s the real deal.”
“Yes. I heard he was a Grade 5 Knight until recently but…”
Before coming here for the festival, Yuhua had been considering 2 people as her greatest contenders.
Berserk Warrior, Beazeker.
Vampire, Marie Dunareff.
They were both incredibly famous for being the representative Grade 1 guardians of this generation, which was why Yuhua had been the most concerned about the two.
However, Korin Lork was a formidable foe as well.
Breath, sense, and gaze.
Although it looked like he was playing around at the start of the fight, his eyes were piercing through the Chen siblings. While watching the struggle of his ally, he had been coming up with a counter-plan for the two.
“If the Chen siblings fought against Korin Lork 2v1, how long do you think they would have lasted?” Yuhua asked.
“Maybe 2 minutes? That guy broke through Liyen’s talismans with just 2 moves. If they fought from the start, it would have taken him less than 2 minutes.”
He was strong, but what was even more impressive was his experienced analysis skills. In that short time frame, he worked his way around the invisible talismans and defeated Liyen, which was a difficult feat even for most veteran knights.
“It would be a pain if we come across him in the group event. A clever type like him is more impactful in group battles.”
Hidden in the group event was the formation that would answer their long-time wish. They hoped he wouldn’t be a hindrance to the plan.
“Nn?”
That was when Jinhyuk spotted someone familiar in the corner of his eyes. He knew he shouldn’t but… his body moved before he could rationally think about his actions.
“Hyuk?”
He escaped the crowd like a bewitched person, with Yuhua following from behind.
****
“Noisy.”
Hua Ran closed the exercise book that contained her neat handwriting. She was sitting on the seats of the festival hall because she was forced to participate, but this was certainly not the best atmosphere to study in.
For her, who preferred quiet places, the heat, passion, and cheers of the festival hall were things that she wasn’t fond of.
Thinking that this should be enough of a stay, Hua Ran left the hall and walked across the broad roads of the Academy.
Most of the people were gathered in the festival hall which made the Academy feel more desolate than usual. Overall, the scenery of the Academy that was enjoying the advanced civilization of modern times, appeared similar to the city in her memories.
“…”
When she closed and reopened her eyes, the peaceful scenery of the Academy was immediately swept away by flames and ashes. It overlapped with the scenery in her memories.
The survivors were screaming; corpses were forming mountains. Her own body traversing through that horrible scene was drenched in blood and ashes.
『Kill them. Kill everyone that you see.』
That was the day she became a Yaksha…
– Kagak!
It was then. A human figure raced towards her. It happened in a matter of milliseconds.
Right when her mind shifted away;
When she was just about to breathe;
And when she just turned her eyes away.
It was definitely an ambush and an attempt to catch her off guard. The assailant stopped on the spot after trampling on the ground and used the other leg to carry out a powerful kick with the momentum of the charge.
The attack was so fast and instantaneous that nobody would notice it.
“You.”
However, the beast reacted even to an attack that fast. Hua Ran’s instinctive senses as a beast were close to foresight and she was incredibly sensitive to any killing intent facing her.
She pondered how to react to this attack.
It was a high kick that was strong enough to immediately crush the throat and collarbone but… even an ambush of this degree wouldn’t be able to harm a hair on her body.
The attack would leave no injuries. It was a meaningless attack that would not be able to shake the unbreakable status of her body.
“Go away.”
She flicked the air-shredding kick away as if it was a bug. That alone would probably snap the cartilage of the assailant, but she considered it a cheap price for an ambush.
– Bam!
Hua Ran flicked her finger. However, her attack that should have bursted one of the legs of the assailant met nothing but thin air.
“…?”
Her finger flick in the air made one of the nearby trees fall as well as its leaves. Only after hearing the crumbling noise of a tree did she realize that her finger hadn’t found a target.
Was that an illusion? But how could she mistake such an intense burst of killing intent?
“Wow~. Look at that.”
Seeing the fallen tree, a boy nonchalantly commented with a whistle. Soon, Hua Ran’s eyes turned to the face of the speaker.
“You…”
The person at the end of her gaze was a boy who had features that looked as ‘ominous’, or rather, as ‘impressive’ as her own crimson eyes. His jet-black eyes were the standard color for anyone from the eastern continent, but his white and bleached hair signaled his inauspicious lack of melanin.
“Do you know me?”
He looked so memorable that it would be hard to forget after seeing once but Hua Ran had no memories of that boy. But even so, for some reason, he felt rather familiar and…
『I will kill you! No matter what, I will definitely kill you with my own hands!』
“Ugh…!”
His eyes suddenly overlapped with a pair of eyes that used to glare at her through the sea of flames. It was from the tragedy 1 year ago, but she still couldn’t remember him.
“No. It’s your first time seeing me, Sister.”
“…I see.”
Hua Ran was slightly curious about the boy but she didn’t feel the drive to delve deeper into his identity.
Lassitude and laziness were innate traits of a Jiangshi, and her Unbreakable Vajra Body that made it impossible to get hurt by anyone also contributed to her tendency to observe everything happening nearby without taking part in them.
After Hua Ran walked away while leaving behind the poor fallen tree, a girl wearing a martial uniform suddenly appeared next to the white-haired boy.
It was such a silent and ‘weightless’ land that it barely even reached the sensitive ears of the boy, but the boy immediately realized who that person was without even needing to turn around.
“That was way too reckless.”
“But thanks to that, I was able to prove that Master’s ‘Eight Gates Formation’ works in interpersonal fights… even against that monster.”
“That doesn’t mean you should have done this in broad daylight.”
The monster with an unbreakable body – the masterpiece of spiritualists. In order to seal that monster and save Ran, they needed to form the ❰Eight Gates Sealing Formation: Evil Extermination❱.
They needed to wait for the right chance before stimulating the Yaksha. Although Yuhua was just as desperate about this plan as Jinhyuk, she persuaded her martial younger brother who was 1 year younger than herself.
“You should hold your breath and wait for now. As soon as we get rid of Hua, that evil thing, away from Ran, you can do whatever you want.”
“I know that, Big Sister. I’m not going to ruin the plan or anything.”
The articles that were going to be used to form that phenomenal formation were due to arrive tonight by the hands of their collaborators.
However, what they weren’t expecting was that those items that should have been carefully smuggled into the city by their collaborators were sitting under the gaze of someone else.
****
Carriage platform Tiran, which led to the eastern gates of Merkarva City, was closer to a platform for commodities and items instead of one for passengers.
A large number of the items entering Merkarva City went through this platform of Tiran. Most of the things related to food entered through the southern gate whereas the east was mainly for valuables and imported goods.
“Phew~. This is from Xeruem, right? Why are those priests bringing so many things with them?”
One of the guards of the platform, Aaron, commented in awe while looking at the cross-shaped carriages entering the parking lot. A lot of goods that were imported through Tiran Platform were those that came from the holy land of Xeruem, which existed on the eastern side of the kingdom.
Dikto, his colleague, replied to his question.
“Maybe these are for the Templar Knights? I heard a few of them are visiting the city because of the festival.”
“I guess bringing all the equipment in person would be quite a daunting task indeed.”
“One of my friends runs a bakery at Eitan Platform on the western side, and you know what? It’s also insane on that end. Apparently there’s a whole bunch of Redemption Knights.”
“Hoh… damn.”
The Templar Knights were the Old Faith’s symbol of strength, whereas the Redemption Knights were those of the New Faith. It was obvious why the representative military groups of the two religions would come at the same time.
“They’re still at it huh.”
“I guess there’s nothing as eye-catching as the Academy festival, so it makes sense why they would have a war of pride here.”
The religious revolution that happened due to the aftermath of the witch hunt 100 years ago led to the decline of the Old Faith and the rapid rise of the New Faith. The religious stand-off divided the continent into two which almost led to a war of religions.
If not for the mediation of Biren the previous previous chairman of Merkarva Academy, this continent would have been swept away by a religious campaign.
Well, the Old Faith was probably greatly irritated, considering how Chairman Biren and Senior Professor Josephine were the greatest contributors to bringing down the power of the Old Faith, but there was nothing they could do back then.
“Anyway, do we really have to protect all these items? What kind of crazy person would touch the items of Templar Knights?”
“I know, right? Let’s just pretend like we’re working and sleep in the office or something.”
Although the Old Faith was in a decline, their madness and rigidity was still infamous across the continent. Who would dare touch the supplies of the Old Faith let alone the equipment of Templar Knights, considering how they were still one of the greatest powerhouses of the continent? Unless they were crazy or something…
“Oh…? Aaron. What do you think that is?”
Dikto tilted his head and asked while staring into the layer of dust in the distance. Under the dark curtain of night, they spotted faint shapes behind a cloud of dust.
“…Are those horses?”
Right – dozens of people wearing horses were marching towards them.
“Guys, attack!”
“This is all money!”
“W, what? What are these guys…?!”
The ones that suddenly attacked the platform were some mounted bandits. They had more than dozens of men on their side.
– Ding! Ding! Ding!
A warning bell echoed across the platform. A bunch of guards would soon be coming out so the bandits themselves weren’t a problem but…
“Boss Rickie! Look at this! There’s a whole bunch of goodies that look expensive!”
“Good. That’s exactly like what we heard. Take everything you can!”
“T, these guys must be mad!!”
The mounted bandits started stealing goods from the carriages parked by the Old Faith, ranging from expensive silk to porcelain with eastern patterns and ornaments of jade, which were inside the carriage for some reason.
“Stop those bandits right now!”
Soon, the guards arrived but the bandits did not bother wasting time like fools by trying to fight against them. After taking whatever they could, they got back on their horses for a rapid escape.
“Toss your oil bottles! Burn the rest! They’ll have their hands full on turning off the fire so they won’t have time to chase after us!”
“As expected of Boss! Fellows, use your oils!”
“N, noo!”
The bottles of oil immediately drenched the carriages. Before long, matchsticks were thrown to the puddles of oil as a sea of flames devoured the carriages of the Old Faith.
That day, all the 9 Old Faith carriages from Xeruem were burned down and quite a lot of items were stolen.
By the time they realized that the culprits were remaining members of the Black Star Group that was recently demolished by a student from the Academy, the bandits had already long escaped to the north, away from their pursuers.
………
……
…
“Uncle. What’s this pot?”
“It’s a small gift I got after helping out some friends that I recently made.”
“It looks expensive.”
“Take it to my office away from everyone’s sight. It’s a very~ valuable item.”
The expensive porcelain pot of an azure dragon became one of the decorations of the owner’s office inside Happiness Hotel.
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