TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 200
Ruin wiped the blood flowing from his split lips and sat on the bench.
“Damn.”
He couldn’t shake off the gloomy mood.
There was no excuse to explain the overwhelming defeat that left no room for intervention.
Even after using his trump card.
Even if his physical condition had been normal, Ruin, thinking there was no way he could win, wiped his face with the towel placed on his head and let out a sigh.
“F*ck.”
Today, it seemed like the voices of others were unusually clear to him.
-Surrender?
-Was it all just hype?
-Older Sister said that senior Ruin was incredibly strong, but what is this?
-The pride of the Magic Department? If that’s the pride of the Magic Department, then I must be the pride of the Academy.
The whispers of the freshmen reached his ears more clearly than usual today. The criticisms directed at him seemed to echo even louder.
He couldn’t muster the courage to start again.
In the past, he would have brushed it off, thinking he could win if he just pushed through to the end. But now, he didn’t have the energy for that. To the point where he wanted to give up on everything.
Sitting on the bench, Ruin hung his head with a dark expression.
“I guess it was all my fault.”
“Hans’ matter, not recognizing Yuria, all of it… It was all my fault.”
Self-loathing consumed him.
The wall of pride he had built like an iron fortress crumbled all at once, leaving him alone within it. He felt pitiful and foolish.
He kept thinking that he had looked down on others over something so trivial, and that he had acted recklessly with skills that others would soon surpass.
“Seriously, what am I?”
He felt insignificant and foolish, seeing himself as someone who had nothing.
Ruin, unable to erase his melancholic feelings, struggled to lift his head, wondering if she might be nearby to comfort him.
-You’re hurt again!? Ruin, you’re driving me crazy!
-It’s fine, I won, didn’t I?
-What?! So it’s okay to get hurt if you win?
-Why! Yuria can just heal me, can’t she?
-Ugh… Because of you and Mikhail, my body is falling apart!
-Hahaha!
Ruin lifted his head, reminiscing about the happy past. He wondered if Yuria, who always comforted him, might come to find him.
Ruin raised his head with a complicated heart, but unfortunately, his expectations were not met.
“…”
Yuria, who met his eyes, turned her head away.
‘Does she not even want to see my face anymore…’
The absence of Yuria, who always comforted him, felt bigger than he had expected. He thought he would be fine, thought he could just make other friends, but after returning from a bitter defeat, the absence of her saying “Are you okay?” hit him harder than he had imagined.
He had only wanted to be the best, but now, there was nothing left by his side.
No friends.
No talent.
No honor. Nothing remained.
“Ha…”
Letting out a deep sigh, Ruin lowered his head to the ground and covered it with the towel. He bowed even deeper, not wanting others to see his gloomy face.
Had three minutes passed?
A male student with a small stature was walking toward Ruin, holding a cold drink.
Ruin looked at the man with a stern expression.
“Why are you here? Did you come to brag about winning?”
“I came to see if you’re okay.”
“…Annoying bastard.”
What a tactless guy.
After being cursed at like that, what was he expecting to hear by coming here? Ruin let out an empty laugh as he looked at Mikhail’s smiling face.
“Idiot.”
He was annoying, but he couldn’t hate him.
Because even that tactless behavior was all for Ruin’s sake. Knowing that Mikhail, despite expecting to hear unpleasant words, came to cheer him up, Ruin suppressed his bitter feelings and accepted the drink Mikhail handed him.
Ruin spoke without looking at Mikhail, who sat next to him.
“You were incredibly strong.”
“Not really. There are so many people stronger than me.”
“Annoying bastard.”
Ruin spoke in a drooping voice.
“Was it really that bad?”
“What was?”
“My magic.”
“…Yeah.”
“F*ck.”
Ruin forced a smile despite his bitter feelings. Still, having a friend by his side gave him some strength.
Thanks to Mikhail, the rumors probably wouldn’t spread too far. The talk about him being just hype or the Magic Tower being worthless would likely spread less harshly.
Hiding his embarrassment, Ruin spoke softly to Mikhail.
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Just understand, idiot.”
“…”
As his heightened emotions gradually subsided, Mikhail cautiously posed a sensitive question to Ruin.
“Magic… Are you going to quit now?”
“…”
“Isn’t it a shame to end it like this? Think of it as starting over from the beginning…”
Ruin let out a sigh at Mikhail’s unnecessary interference and threw the empty water bottle to the ground.
“I can’t quit. Too many people are expecting things from me… Even if I want to quit, I can’t.”
At Ruin’s words, Mikhail gave a small smile and nodded.
As time passed and his breathing gradually returned, Ruin’s narrowed vision began to widen.
Now it was time to observe the matches of juniors. Since there was still plenty of time until Mikhail’s next match, they could relax together.
Ruin shook off his sweat-soaked hair and lifted his head.
“What, is that the next match?”
Looking at the opponent Ruin pointed to with his finger, Mikhail replied in a low voice.
“Yeah… that’s right.”
“What, why do you look so down? Damn, I should be the one with that expression.”
“…”
“Is it because you couldn’t get a rematch for last year’s loss? Suck it up, you’re a third-year student, so you can’t have a rematch.”
Ruin patted Mikhail on the shoulder and said.
“You’re going to win this time anyway, aren’t you?”
“…No.”
“What?”
Ruin looked up at the female student warming up her wrists below the arena.
“You’re not going to win?”
“Yeah.”
“F*ck. What the hell is wrong with this Academy…”
The opponent Ruin pointed at.
Histania Hanna.
The prodigy of the Swordsmanship Department, who hadn’t missed first place in last year’s Academy Ranking Tournament, was calmly warming up with a composed expression.
Ruin looked at Hanna with a bitter smile.
“Crazy woman.”
Ever since Hanna started hanging out with Ricardo, their senior-junior relationship had rapidly deteriorated, and Ruin had come to dislike Hanna.
-Hey, I told you not to hang out with that bastard.
-Don’t interfere.
-Don’t interfere? Just because you’re a junior, you think you can get away with everything…
-Get up to the arena. I’ll kill you. And if you call him “that bastard” one more time, I’ll sew your mouth shut, Senior.
She used to follow me around calling me “Senior.” Damn it.
Having lightened the emotional weight from his conversation with Mikhail, Ruin looked at Hanna with a dark expression.
“I hope she gets beaten to a pulp.”
And at that moment.
‘What the hell.’
A chilling sensation swept over him.
Ruin slowly lifted his head and looked at the face of a male student standing across the arena.
The male student, with a pale complexion, exuded an unsettling sense of incongruity.
‘It’s definitely a familiar face.’
As Ruin’s doubts lingered, the loud voice of the Narrator began to resolve his questions at once.
-The next match features the Academy’s Rising Star, who claimed first place in all ranking tournaments last year! Histania Hanna versus the rookie of the Magic Department! Hobbes!
-Will Hobbes become the beacon that ends the Magic Department’s recession…!
Hearing the name Hobbes, Ruin quickly stood up. The professor who had made a strange proposal to him last night had a disciple, and that disciple was none other than a student of the Magic Department named Hobbes.
He had forgotten.
Lost in the emotions of defeat, he had forgotten his own mistakes. The fact that he had nearly succumbed to Dark Magic, and that he had failed to report the presence of a spy in the Academy.
Ruin lifted his head and looked at Hobbes.
“Heh heh heh…”
‘He’s smiling?’
Something was going terribly wrong. Ruin had a hunch as he looked at Hobbes’ face. A hunch that something was about to happen in this match.
“I have to stop it.”
“What?”
“I said, I have to stop it.”
At that moment, the Narrator’s loud voice rang out without waiting for Ruin.
-The match… begins!
Through Ruin’s wandering vision, Chartia’s urgent figure came into view.
Chartia, looking around the audience as if searching for someone, pointed to the very front row of the seats and shouted.
-Over there─ ── ────
Chartia’s voice was drowned out by the murmurs of countless students.
Ruin calmly followed the direction of Chartia’s pointing finger, and there sat Professor Shulia, wearing a subtle smile.
‘What the…’
Professor Shulia was smiling.
She was smiling eerily, like someone waiting for something, as she stared at Hanna.
Just as Ruin was about to shout, determined to stop whatever was happening.
-Boom…!
A loud sound of air splitting shattered Ruin’s thoughts. It was the sound of sword and magic clashing. A massive friction sound and the collision of fire magic.
Ruin held onto his scattering thoughts and looked up at the arena.
“Die!”
Hobbes’ shout, filled with malice, echoed through the arena, but nothing could be seen. Only two silhouettes moving swiftly through the dense dust cloud.
“Mikhail!”
“Huh?”
“Get up there and stop it.”
“What are you saying?”
At Ruin’s words, Mikhail responded with a flustered expression, saying that no matter how much he disliked Hanna, interfering in a match was unacceptable.
Thinking there was no time to worry about such trivialities, Ruin grabbed Mikhail’s hand and shouted again.
“Stop it! That bastard’s a Dark Sorcerer.”
“What did you just say…!”
Before Mikhail could finish his sentence, a deafening roar erupted from the arena, accompanied by a massive vibration.
A vibration strong enough to be felt from the audience.
Just as Ruin thought he had to stop it himself and was about to climb into the arena.
-Gah…!
With a scream, one silhouette fell out of the dust cloud.
Ruin clenched his fist and imagined the worst-case scenario.
He thought that even if he faced everyone’s criticism, he had to reveal the truth. People would think Hanna had suffered a fatal injury in the match. He resolved to uncover the truth.
Ruin tightened his fist and swallowed hard as he stared at the silhouette falling out of the dust cloud.
‘Damn it…!’
Ruin was convinced that the falling silhouette was Hanna. No matter how talented she was in swordsmanship, he thought there was no way she could withstand an attack that caused such a massive vibration.
-Thump…!
Holding his breath, Ruin watched as the falling silhouette hit the ground. With a foolish expression, he let out a dumbfounded remark.
“What the… Why are you the one falling…”
The person who fell to the ground was not Hanna.
A male student, Hobbes, trembling in fear with his wrist severed, was looking up at the arena.
“Cough… Monster…”
Hobbes had intended to inflict a fatal injury on Hanna. After all, he had tasted a bitter defeat in the previous ranking tournament.
To repay the humiliation of being defeated in just one second without any mercy, he had prepared by reaching for powers he should never have touched.
-Kill her.
-What…?
-I gave you power, so you should repay me.
-I don’t hate her that much.
-You refuse? Then I’ll take it back.
He had used magic with the intent to kill, but he ended up collapsing without being able to do anything.
Hobbes was dazed by Hanna’s sword. The gaze in her eyes as she swung her sword, relentlessly targeting his hand, was terrifying.
“She’s a monster… How am I supposed to beat that…”
He was too scared to stand up.
Ruin frowned at the strong stench of Dark Magic emanating from Hobbes’ hand.
“Are you insane…”
And he let out an empty laugh as he looked at Hanna, who was staring coldly at the fallen Hobbes from below the arena.
“She really is a monster.”
Just as Ruin sighed in relief, thinking the situation had ended safely.
-Boom!
A loud explosion rang out from the audience.
The sound came from the spot Chartia had pointed to, where the Disciplinary Committee had rushed.
Through the dense dust cloud, the shadow of one person and the figures of several students fighting became visible.
And then.
-Bothersome.
With a small gesture from a woman, a thick scent of blood began to spread from the dust cloud.
In the blink of an eye.
Through the dust cloud, a single silhouette fell powerlessly toward the arena.
“What the hell.”
With a ‘thump,’ a female student fell to the arena floor. Amid the chaos of the audience, the screams of students echoed.
With a trembling voice, Ruin looked at the female student coughing up blood and said.
“The Student Council President…?”
Coughing up blood, Chartia spoke in a trembling voice.
“Run away…”
“What?”
“Everyone, run away!”
A dark cloud began to loom over the circular arena.
A dense Dark Cloud that could cover everyone began to shroud the arena where the Ranking Tournament was taking place.
As Ruin gazed at the darkening sky, the figure of a woman descending with graceful footsteps began to form before his eyes.
The Lady, with a faint smile, was walking toward Ruin. She was slowly approaching, neither quickly nor slowly, while looking at Mikhail, Chartia, and Hanna.
Mikhail spoke in a trembling voice.
“Professor?”
“Yes~ Mikhail.”
Professor Shulia replied with a smile.
“I hadn’t planned on being discovered this quickly.”
With a radiant smile directed at everyone, she opened her mouth.
“At this point, wouldn’t it be better to just kill you all?”
It was Overwhelming Malice.
Malice unlike anything they had ever felt before.
Ruin thought to himself.
That he wanted to run away.
*
At the same time.
Hans was fidgeting nervously as he looked at me.
“Do you think the students can beat the Archbishop?”
I set down my teacup and replied.
I didn’t want to answer Hans, who was asking such an obvious question, but I figured he’d keep asking if I didn’t give him a clear answer.
“Of course, they can’t.”
“What…?”
“How could they possibly win? It’s the Dignified Archbishop we’re talking about. Hans, you know you wouldn’t be able to handle even one Archbishop on your own, right?”
“It would be strange if they could win.”
Hans looked at me, who was speaking so nonchalantly, and asked what I was thinking by orchestrating such a situation.
“Shouldn’t I go instead?”
“Why would you? You were once an Archbishop yourself. Besides, if you go to the capital, the Imperial Army will definitely capture you.”
“…”
Being with someone as good-hearted as me must have made him soft-hearted too. See, being too good can be a problem.
With a small smile, I spoke to Hans.
“It’s fine to leave it be. My Disciple is there, after all.”
“Your Disciple?”
“Yes.”
With a smile, I cheered for My Disciple’s growth. Although they wouldn’t win, I believed they had the ability to stall for enough time.
“They’re incredibly strong.”
I smiled.
*
-Clang…!
Hanna swung her sword without a moment’s hesitation.
The target was Professor Shulia’s neck.
She wanted to achieve merit and fulfill her wish.