Chapter 120
“Now, Gideon, I’ll show you everything I’ve got. You’re confident you can handle it, right?”
“Uh, Instructor, maybe I should take back what I said earlier…”
“Let’s try it. Your extreme defense versus my extreme offense. Let’s see who wins.”
“Uh…”
Luke looked like he was completely intent on having a proper fight with me.
As proof, the Aura surrounding him was glowing intensely.
“…Instructor. Didn’t you say you’d only use the bare minimum of Aura?”
“You’re the one who provoked me first.”
“I don’t have much to say about that—ugh.”
Bang!
When Luke’s sword came flying, I quickly twisted my body to dodge.
The blade slammed into the ground with a deafening crash.
“A proper fight, huh.”
I looked back at Luke again.
He was smiling like he was genuinely enjoying himself.
And his eyes were filled with passion.
Provocation aside, he seemed to genuinely want a real match with me.
‘Well, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.’
It wasn’t often that I got the chance to fight Luke seriously.
It could even turn out to be a good experience.
The problem, however, was those attacks of his.
A sword enveloped in Aura at the level of an Aura Expert.
Every single strike he threw carried immense power.
I wasn’t sure if I could withstand it all, but…
‘I probably can.’
I activated Mistcatcher’s skill, summoning fog around me.
Recently, while practicing this sword’s skill, I had taken countless blows from Lisa.
Compared to Lisa, Luke’s attacks were weaker.
Relatively speaking, of course.
Objectively, his Aura-infused strikes were still all tremendously powerful.
“That mist—Is that your new power?”
“To be exact, it’s the power of this sword. I recently awakened the strength sealed within it.”
“Oh, so it’s a Soul Weapon? Hm, I thought it was a peculiar sword… well, doesn’t matter.”
Luke readjusted his stance.
The starting pose of the Empire’s standard swordsmanship—modified into his own aggressive style.
“Ready, Gideon?”
“Come at me, Instructor.”
I took up a defensive sword stance.
Luke immediately charged in.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As his sword swung rapidly downward, I blocked each blow, and the gym echoed with booming impacts.
Each of his strikes was undeniably powerful.
In the past, I would’ve been overwhelmed and collapsed long ago.
But now, my Aura was stronger than before—and I had this fog.
The Mistcatcher’s skill reduced incoming damage to a certain extent.
‘He’s definitely weaker than Lisa.’
Anyway, it was bearable.
With the fog’s damage reduction, my strengthened Aura, and my defensive swordsmanship combined—
It was possible to hold my ground against Luke for a while.
But not for too long.
‘Damage is steadily accumulating in my body. At this rate… I’ll collapse first.’
It’d be difficult to just endure until Luke got tired or exposed an opening.
So this time, I had to take the initiative rather than remain passive.
‘Let’s try that technique I practiced.’
I had trained a specific technique in preparation for Luke’s final exam.
A single, powerful blow—executed only once.
‘It was meant to be used when Luke suppressed his Aura a bit, but… in this situation, it’s the only option that might work.’
For now, Luke didn’t know about the Mistcatcher’s skill.
So he continued striking relentlessly, accumulating damage.
What I needed to consider now was…
‘How to land that one decisive strike.’
I had to set the stage perfectly.
And I already had an idea how.
‘But first, I’ll let a little more damage build up.’
I glanced at the mist surrounding me.
Luke’s attacks were each so strong that the fog was quickly darkening, violet currents starting to flow within it.
‘Phew… thanks to the fog’s damage reduction, I can still stand. Without it, my arm would’ve shattered long ago.’
Even with reduced damage, every blow made my whole body tremble.
But I had to endure.
If the plan was to succeed, I needed to.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Whew… seriously, Gideon, you’re… unbelievably defensive. It’s annoying how well you block. You’re the first student to last this long against me.”
“That’s an honor, Instructor. And your swordsmanship… it’s truly, extremely offensive.”
Since Luke had modified the Empire’s standard swordsmanship, his style was straightforward and predictable.
He swung his sword honestly.
The problem was that every one of those swings was incredibly fast and powerful.
‘A style that abandons defense—completely opposite of mine.’
A swordsmanship built on the belief that “offense is the best defense.”
Once he began attacking, he left no chance for the opponent to counter.
‘True, there’s no visible opening to counter. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way.’
I knew the strategy to defeat Luke—at least from the game.
I knew the weakness of that sword style.
‘Its mobility is severely limited. And… once you land a counter, it collapses fast.’
As I mentioned, Luke’s style practically abandoned defense.
Since it was entirely offense-focused, once you countered successfully and took the initiative, the advantage flipped instantly.
Of course, landing that single counter was the hard part…
‘But for me, it’s possible.’
Thanks to the Attack Prediction Skill, I could sense when and where Luke’s next strike would come.
And I planned to use that to its fullest.
‘The accumulated damage is enough. Now then…’
The fog had turned completely black, pulsing with violet lightning.
After confirming that, I watched the red points of light appear before me.
‘Luke’s next attack will come from this side…’
Up to now, I’d only been blocking his sword.
But this time, I didn’t block—I dodged.
Using the Attack Prediction Skill, I avoided his strike and quickly shifted my stance.
And then—
Whoosh—
I activated Fire Magic, igniting the blade of Mistcatcher in flames.
Swinging the sword, I used the blaze to distort Luke’s line of sight.
“…Hmm.”
Luke looked a bit surprised at my sudden counterattack.
Just a bit.
True to his experience as a master swordsman, he quickly adapted to my attack.
But the important part was that he blocked it.
He had begun to defend himself.
As mentioned earlier, the sword style Luke developed had extremely weak defenses.
‘Once you counter successfully and seize control, things get easier. That was his weakness in the game.’
I began pressing Luke with the Isrinbloom Family’s Swordsmanship.
Luke started defending, but his aggressive style was ill-suited for defense.
My attacks pushed him back several steps.
“I heard rumors that you’ve been practicing Fire Magic lately… but I didn’t think it was to this extent. Impressive, Gideon—truly impressive.”
Luke spoke without a trace of ill will, purely in admiration.
“At this level, I could almost call you a member of the Isrinbloom Family.”
“That’s too much praise, Instructor.”
I kept swinging my sword with a faint smile.
From the other side of the gymnasium, I heard someone shouting.
It sounded like Sara was calling out to me, but since I was focused on the fight, I couldn’t make out what she said.
‘Now, Luke should be changing his swordsmanship soon.’
It wasn’t something I knew because I’d seen it in the game.
It was something I could predict because I had learned directly from Luke—because I’d come to understand what kind of person, no, what kind of swordsman he was.
‘When it comes to swordsmanship, Luke and I share a lot in common.’
My swordsmanship was extremely defensive, while Luke’s was extremely offensive.
We both had learned various techniques to compensate for our weaknesses.
I trained for offense; Luke trained for defense.
That was why I knew.
When cornered into a defensive situation, Luke would soon switch his sword style.
And in the brief moment when he switched—
There would be a tiny gap.
A very small one, but I had to seize that opening and take my shot.
‘I can call down lightning whenever I want now…’
Using the Power of Peregrie, I had summoned a small dark cloud above the gym.
Luke seemed to have noticed it already, but he didn’t seem particularly concerned.
He looked confident.
Confident that he could dodge it no matter when the lightning struck.
Well, that was fine.
The lightning was just a bonus.
What I had prepared to bring him down was something else.
‘He’ll switch soon. Any second now… soon…’
I readied myself to change stances in advance.
Before long, Luke showed signs of shifting his sword style.
That was the moment I moved in earnest.
Thanks to my preparation, I was able to change positions faster than Luke.
Gripping my sword with both hands, I raised the blade above my shoulder.
It was the opening stance of the House Balmuth’s swordsmanship.
“What?”
Luke widened his eyes in surprise.
He had been about to change his stance to use the Isrinbloom Family’s swordsmanship, just like I had.
But since I changed stances so suddenly, he quickly adjusted his own grip.
At a glance, it looked like he was trying to switch to my defensive form—but it was already too late.
“Whoo…”
Blood Energy flared around me.
With that crimson aura, I swung my sword toward Luke.
At the same time, the black mist around me—
The mist that had been fully charged, crackling with violet currents—converged into my blade and shot toward Luke.
And then—
Craaaash!
The lightning I had prepared with Peregrie’s power struck down toward Luke’s head.
This was the strongest strike I could unleash at my current level.
Bang! Crack! Boom!
Blood Energy, the Mistcatcher’s weapon skill, and Peregrie’s lightning—
When all three powers exploded simultaneously, a deafening roar filled the gymnasium.
Luke was pushed back by my blow and disappeared into a thick cloud of dust.
“Huff, huff, hah…”
I panted heavily, barely maintaining my stance.
That last strike had drained every ounce of strength I had.
Releasing all that power at once had naturally put an immense strain on my body.
‘Still, that hit was almost on par with Lisa’s full-power strike… maybe slightly weaker. But close enough. Even for Luke, this should’ve…’
I was certain I had landed a solid hit on him.
But as the dust settled, I realized—
I had gravely underestimated Luke.
“The swordsmanship of House Balmuth and Blood Energy, lightning channeled through Peregrie’s power… and that mist—you said it’s the power of your sword, right?”
Luke was standing perfectly fine.
That’s right.
Completely fine, without a single visible wound—or rather, almost.
There was one small wound.
A faint scratch on his right cheek.
That was it.
Despite my most powerful strike.
“Hm? Oh?”
Luke looked surprised as he wiped the blood from his cheek.
It was a look of genuine admiration.
“Gideon.”
“Yes?”
“Remember when I told you that you were too passive?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“I’m taking that back. To pierce through my Aura and actually wound me—there are barely any people in this Empire who can do that, let alone among the students.”
Luke smiled, clearly satisfied.
“Of course, I can’t deny I let my guard down a little… but still, this is remarkable. Gideon, you’ve grown unbelievably over this semester.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Instructor.”
“No. I merely gave you some advice. You’re the one who obtained these abilities and made them your own. In that sense—Gideon, shall we continue where we left off?”
“…Sir?”
“You still have more to show me, don’t you?”
“……”
There were indeed a few more things I could show him—
The Wind empowered by Peregrie’s strength, and some tricks using the Water Rune.
Just as Luke said, I had a few more moves left… but in my current state…
“Instructor.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve lost. I surrender.”
After sheathing the Mistcatcher, I raised both hands in surrender.
Luke’s eager expression instantly crumbled.
“…Huh? What? Why? Gideon? You’re stopping here? We were just getting started! You can’t fight anymore?”
“I can fight, but I won’t be able to fight properly. That last strike took too much out of me. And besides…”
I looked at the white Aura surrounding Luke.
“I don’t think I can withstand that Aura of yours anymore.”
Up until now, I had barely endured thanks to the fog’s damage-reduction effect.
But after using the Reflect skill just now, I wouldn’t be able to summon the mist again for a few minutes.
With damage already accumulating in my body and no mist to protect me, I wouldn’t be able to withstand Luke’s attacks.
‘Besides, even if I could, I’ve already done everything I can.’
Even if it wasn’t a victory, just piercing through his Aura and wounding him was more than enough.
There weren’t many in this world who could even manage that.
Of course, if Luke had been fighting seriously from the start, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.
“Anyway, I’ll stop here. If we keep going, it’ll just end with me taking a beating.”
“Hey, Gideon, don’t say that. Come on, I won’t use Aura, so let’s keep going. It was just getting fun!”
“I’m completely out of strength, Instructor. My limbs are starting to go numb… I should probably head to the infirmary soon…”
“…If that’s the case, then I suppose there’s no helping it… still, though—man, it’s been ages since I’ve had such a fun fight. Just one more round…”
After that, Luke kept trying to persuade me, clearly reluctant to end the match.
I wanted to meet his expectations, but it wasn’t an exaggeration—my body was genuinely exhausted.
I was actually starting to lose sensation in my arms and legs.