The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 43

On the team match arena.

As we began stepping onto the stage, murmurs arose from the VIP section.

“Oh, isn’t that Sharin Sazaris, the daughter of the Blue Tower Master?”

“Well, now, that’s a big shot showing up.”

“Hmm, but wasn’t she adopted?”

“What does that matter? She’s the top magic scholar and was even born with ‘Mirinae’!”

As expected, the topic of conversation in the VIP area revolved primarily around Sharin.

Mirinae, the eyes signifying the pinnacle of magical talent.

Sharin, born with these eyes, possessed such extraordinary talent that it completely overshadowed the fact she was the Blue Tower Master’s adopted daughter.

Of course.

“…Hmph.”

Sharin herself was not particularly pleased with the mention of her adoption.

Her piercing gaze drilled into the back of my head.

It was undoubtedly because of what I said to recruit her to the team.

A promise to provide a way to strike back at her foster father, the Tower Master.

She didn’t press me for details then, but it must be something that lingered in her mind.

“But why isn’t Sharin the team leader?”

“Hanon? That’s a name I’ve never heard of.”

“But those eye and hair colors…”

Before long, the VIPs’ attention shifted from Sharin to me.

My hair and eye color closely resembled those of Iris, who had just been mentioned earlier.

This meant they must have figured out the origin of Hanon’s bloodline as well.

The Duke of Robliaju.

It was clear my lineage traced back to there.

However, my surname was Airei, not Robliaju.

This discrepancy drew some puzzled expressions.

“Interesting.”

Except for one person.

The woman who was looking at me with vivid yellow eyes full of intrigue.

Her hair, white as snow, and her peculiar, curved eyes stood out.

She wore a long cape draped over her shoulders, her enchanting figure half-revealed, and smiled as if enjoying an amusing spectacle.

The Hyserion Empire has four ducal families.

She ruled over the eastern duchy.

The White Wood Duke.

The oldest of the ducal titles, present since the empire’s founding.

‘I figured she’d take an interest in me.’

Even from this distance, her aura radiated an almost absurd level of danger.

The steel-like skin of my body instinctively trembled.

It was as though my instincts were urging me to avert her gaze immediately.

Considering what lay ahead, I couldn’t afford to let fear overcome me now.

Turning my back on the White Wood Duke’s piercing gaze, I stepped further onto the arena.

The oppressive stares from the surroundings vanished, thanks to the magical barrier encasing the field.

“Looking from inside, this magic is even more fascinating,”

Sharin remarked, inspecting the barrier with amusement.

“Don’t disable it.”

“Do you take me for a fool?”

A capricious one.

Not knowing what unexpected move Sharin might pull, I tilted my head upward.

“Seron.”

“Y-yeah? What is it?”

Startled, Seron clutched her axe tightly, her nerves evident.

Unlike me, Seron was focused on another direction.

There stood a middle-aged man who looked just like her, smiling brightly.

In his hand was a sign that read, ‘Go, my daughter, you’ve got this!’

No doubt, Seron was nervous at the thought of her dad watching her.

“For the first five rounds, only we will deal with the apostles.”

In the team match, there are a total of 10 apostles.

Naturally, the apostle rounds go up to 10.

As the difficulty of the apostles increases in the later rounds,

it’s most efficient for Seron and me—who have the most stamina—to handle them in the early rounds.

I turned to Seron with a smirk.

“If you’re too nervous, just say so. I’ll pull you out.”

A vein bulged on Seron’s forehead.

“Who’s nervous?! Not me!”

She swung her axe in the air threateningly.

“Watch closely, princess sweet potato! I’ll take them down faster than you!”

Good, wasting energy already.

“Card, Grantoni, you two be ready. Sharin, wait until I call for you.”

“Good luck out there.”

“Hehehe, this’ll be fun.”

“Should’ve gone all-out, huh?”

After hearing their replies, I rolled up my sleeves and tied them back.

Finally, as I raised my hand, fingers poised—

Boom!

With a rumbling sound, an enormous apostle in the form of a water buffalo appeared.

Round 1.

Water Buffalo Apostle.

Tick!

The clock for measuring battle time started ticking.

Seron and I dashed toward the Black Buffalo Apostle simultaneously, kicking off the ground.

Unlike the apostle Iris had defeated earlier, this one clearly didn’t intend to be taken down instantly.

Its arms swelled massively as it swung a fist directly at me as I approached.

A fist larger than my head came hurtling toward me.

I tilted my head back, narrowly dodging the blow.

The sheer weight behind the punch could be felt as it grazed over my head.

To think Iris defeated this kind of thing with a single swing of her sword.

Once again, I was struck by awe at her strength.

While I dodged, Seron charged straight into the buffalo apostle’s chest.

In response, a water cannon shot from the apostle’s mouth.

“Ugh, gah!”

Seron quickly cleaved the water cannon in two with her axe, scattering water everywhere.

As a result, she ended up looking like a drenched rat.

Her soaked clothes clung to her, revealing her pale skin and the thin shirt beneath her uniform.

“Moo!”

The water buffalo snorted loudly, thrashing its body.

Thud!

In a flash, I leapt and grabbed the buffalo’s head with my hand.

For some reason, the sight of it snorting made me feel utterly disgusted.

The buffalo flinched and glanced up at me through my fingers.

True to its nature as a bovine, its clear, sparkling eyes gleamed innocently.

‘Magic Inscription: Flame.’

Whoosh!

The magic inscription etched into my steel-like skin activated, and a searing blaze erupted from my hand.

Crunch!

With a combination of fiery heat and sheer grip strength, I crushed the buffalo’s head.

With its head destroyed, the water buffalo apostle ceased all movement and died on the spot.

Taking a moment to catch my breath, I glanced over at Seron.

She was spitting water out of her mouth with an annoyed look.

No doubt, Seron was nervous at the thought of her dad watching her.

“Ugh, this tastes kind of salty. What is it?”

“Probably milk. But dry yourself off already. I’m not into seeing your underwear.”

Seron flinched as she belatedly checked herself over.

Hunching over to cover herself, she shouted,

“It’s not underwear! It’s a shirt! What are you even thinking?!”

“I’m not thinking about anything.”

“…Hey, that makes me even more annoyed!”

As we exchanged pointless words, the second apostle began to reveal itself.

It had a human torso, but its lower half was that of a spider—a Spider Apostle.

There was no time for further bickering with Seron.

Realizing this, she pouted slightly but gripped her axe tightly.

“Let’s keep going.”

Once again, Seron and I kicked off the ground.

* * *

Outside the arena, where the team match was taking place.

The VIP spectators watched with an air of waning interest.

“When is Sharin going to step in?”

“It seems like everyone else has left it to those two for now.”

Perhaps because Iris’s earlier fight had been so impactful,

Hanon and Seron, despite defeating the apostles faster than the average third-year students, failed to impress.

Unconsciously, they were being compared to Iris.

Hanon and Seron were performing well.

While they couldn’t take down the apostles in a single strike like Iris, they had still defeated the second apostle in a relatively short amount of time.

Starting from the third apostle, Card and Grantoni stepped in more actively.

Card specialized in shadow magic.

The shadows spreading from under his feet delivered critical attacks precisely when Hanon and Seron were fighting.

Meanwhile, Grantoni’s necromancy provided excellent support.

He created platforms to help Hanon and Seron leap and bound, and also bound the apostles to prevent them from moving.

Their teamwork was remarkable.

In particular, Hanon’s commands were perfectly suited to the situation every time a new apostle appeared.

It was as if he had complete foreknowledge of each apostle’s capabilities.

Granted, thanks to the earlier matches involving the third-years and Iris’s team, all the apostles’ appearances had already been revealed.

It was possible to devise countermeasures during that time.

However, even with that taken into account, Hanon’s methods of dismantling the apostles were strikingly optimized.

“Hmm?”

“That boy…”

Among the VIPs, a few began to take notice and cast curious glances at Hanon.

For a second-year in their first semester, Hanon displayed a level of knowledge and composure regarding the apostles that seemed far beyond his years.

“Boring.”

“I was looking forward to seeing Sharin Sazaris’s magic.”

Yet, not everyone had picked up on this.

To the uninformed, Hanon’s optimal strategies lacked any spectacle and came across as frustratingly dull.

This sentiment was particularly common among those with insufficient skill or experience to have visited the Demonic Palace themselves.

The VIP seats slowly began to divide into two groups: those who understood Hanon’s brilliance and those who couldn’t appreciate it.

Among the first group, a certain figure narrowed her eyes like a sly fox.

“Well, well, what an amusing boy.”

She was known by others as the White Wood Duke, the oldest of the empire’s dukes and a living testament to its history.

She was watching the match now with far more interest than she had shown during Iris’s turn.

A glimmer of gold light flickered across her eyes before vanishing.

“Your Grace, White Wood Duke, do the vigor of these young ones amuse you so?”

The question came from the one-eyed attendant with an eyepatch standing behind her.

At his words, the White Wood Duke tapped her chin lightly with her long fingers.

“The vigor of youth is always delightful to behold. Just as a blazing flame naturally draws one’s gaze.”

“Even so, Your Grace seems particularly entertained today.”

Indeed, the attendant was correct.

The White Wood Duke had been smiling far more than usual today.

And the reason was singular: a certain boy reflected in her golden eyes.

“The Steel Empress, is it?”

She muttered to herself, her gaze briefly sharpening.

Since the inception of the Hyserion Empire, she had lived as a duke, spanning generations.

People of mystery were rare, though not nonexistent.

Yet, every so often, something truly peculiar would emerge.

Just like now.

“Heh, hahahaha.”

Watching Hanon conjure flames with his bare hands, she couldn’t suppress her laughter.

Who but a madman would even think to etch magical sigils directly onto their body?

Especially using magical sigils that had long been deemed obsolete and relegated to history.

Magical sigils and mysteries share a strange affinity, she thought, her years of accumulated knowledge surfacing as she chuckled.

Did he do it knowingly, or out of ignorance?

Regardless, it had been a long time since she had encountered something this entertaining.

She had come to observe how the renowned Third Princess was growing, but unexpectedly, a new amusement had caught her attention.

The White Wood Duke idly swung her long legs, tapping her ankle lightly.

Now then…

How much value will you prove yourself to have?

The First Prince and the Third Princess.

Though she had yet to lend her support to either side, at that moment, she smiled chillingly as she discovered something of new value.