At the start of the semester when cadets of Lair began returning to the academy district in their uniforms, a renowned embedded journalist of Serbia with a record of receiving the Pulitzer Prize, Petrović, uploaded a post on his personal SNS account.
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[Official Petrović of WHO]
Title: Which cadet will be the one sitting on the Throne of Hell?
In Korea, the ‘Yong household’ sends fabulous sword prodigies into Lair once every three years. I’m sure everyone is already aware that they are a subsidiary of the Korean government as well as how most of the household members are adopted. Gifted children are admitted into Lair after learning the great swordsmanship of the household.
The Yong household started sending their prodigies in from the 1st year, followed by the 4th and the 7th, and the current cadets of the 10th year.
What about the cadets of the ‘Erfan Guild’ nurtured intensely by the Communist Party of China? The government enforced a harsh curriculum that could be seen as torture and cultivated them into living weapons. But this does ultimately contribute to how hundreds of excellent soldiers are made at Lair each year.
They began sending cadets in every second year from the zeroth year. 0, 2, 4, 6, 8… and finally the 10th year.
After reading this much, you should start to see the point I’m trying to make.
But, there’s one more. You guys know it too.
North America’s ‘Noblesse School’ could be seen as the ambitious result of the greatest capitalists of North America. These superhuman children that take precious herbs like normal supplements and drink Elixir instead of water enter Lair after growing up. The military funds that skyrocketed to a point similar to how it had been during the Cold War, is now being funneled into cadets instead of nuclear missiles.
They began from the 0th year and entered Lair on a 5 year basis.
In other words, the 0th, the 5th and the 10th.
Right, this here is the problem. Three massive organisations are gathering in the 10th year.
Isn’t it interesting?
You guys should be able to remember – the neck-to-neck competition between the Erfan Guild and the Yong household back in the fourth year. The battle between the young prodigies of Korea and the wild beasts of the Communist Party.
And now, the Noblesse School is added on top of that.
Is that everyone?
No!
From my research, I’ve found Carlton, Skovseg, Van Guirrons, Sophia Vorkova, Yu Yeorum, Ling Ling, En, Carsau, Koizumi Tenichi etc… There are especially more cadets this year that are renowned for their skills.
Thus, I would like to call this year the Year of Hell. In fact, I am aware that all sorts of media worldwide are already bustling with discussions. Just like how you guys are curious, I am too.
Now, who will be the cadet ending up on the Throne of Hell?
Keep your chin up. All of you!
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The following post got liked by a million followers and was shared tens of thousands of times.
A large cylindrical building decorated the central area of the academy district like a landmark. This building was referred to as the Colosseo Lair and was the place where all conflict of Lair started and ended.
“So noisy.”
“…”
“There’s seriously a shit ton of people.”
Yeorum grumbled with her hands stuck in her pockets.
6pm. Colosseo Lair after the end of school day was crowded with cadets and guardians. On one of the reception desks, cadets could receive their assignments while the other side was to sign up for individual spars.
“Do you know how the system works?”
“Huh? What system?”
“The individual spar system.”
“…Don’t we just fight?”
He knew she would be clueless for some reason.
All the individual spars of this place were a process for gathering virtual grades called ‘Points’. Cadets would receive about 10 points with victory and lose about 10 after a defeat. The more points they had, the higher their rank in the ‘individual spar’ segment.
“Hnnn. Well, it’s fine if I just win everything right?”
“That is correct.”
“Then who am I versing? Do I have to go up one by one every single time like before?”
She asked as if she couldn’t be bothered to do all that. Well, it was understandable considering how she had gone around asking for a fight only to be rejected most of the times. Since she couldn’t just find a random cadet and bash them up, she wasn’t able to fight even if she wanted to.
“No. During the competition, the opponent will be selected at random.”
“At random?”
“Do you see the rooms over there?”
Yeorum followed his finger and turned around. Small cylindrical rooms could be seen beneath the window guards at the basement.
It amounted to around a hundred or so and since there were five floors going underground, it added up to around 500 rooms.
“Once you enter that place, you’ll be summoned to a temporary battlefield in an alternate dimension. And you’ll be fighting the opponent there.”
“Ehng? You have to fight inside? Not out here?”
“Yeah. There has to be a record saying that it was a fair fight and the cadets can’t be injured either.”
On average, there was around 2000 cadets that applied for the competition in each grade. That was the same number of people as the number of opponents that Yeorum was going to be competing with.
Right, ‘competing’.
In this place, everyone was an enemy.
As if to prove that, Colosseo Lair had a heavy suppressive atmosphere filled with tension. Cadets glanced around with nervousness and kept others in check while the guardians were more sensitive to anything that could negatively impact their cadets than usual.
However, they were all smiling on the outside and acquaintances would greet each other with a smile.
“Aigo, surely your cadet will be doing a better job.”
“No no no. Let both our cadets try our best!”
They cheered for each other.
But there was no-one greeting Yeorum or Yu Jitae. People tended to avoid Yeorum even when she was alone and it was now more so because Yu Jitae the guardian, was also with her.
However, they still glanced towards her from all around. Voices asking the likes of, “That’s her right?” were also heard from time to time. Only a few dozen or so out of the thousands of cadets were mentioned as powerhouses and Yeorum was one of the few dozen.
“The fuck are they staring at…”
Yeorum, however, seemed to be discontent with their gazes.
“Huh? Isn’t that Superhuman Without Border?”
“It is… that golden cross symbol.”
“That’s nothing. I saw ‘Regeneration’ just then.”
“What! You mean that Myung Yongha’s guild?”
Some chatted here and there.
Occasionally, they also saw outsiders who had come to watch the competition. Most of them naturally had the intention of creating a good relationship with talented cadets that did not have a unique background.
Of course, all that had nothing to do with Yeorum.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
Yu Jitae quietly took her towards the underground sparring rooms. The elevator heading underground was filled with people and when the doors were about to close, a familiar duo of male and female entered at the last second.
“…?”
The guardian having a disturbing appearance with a long scar, was Mihailov. And the cadet whose face was as white as snow was Sophia Vorkova, the Russian cadet who had fought with Yeorum during the Azure Dragon study group interview.
As soon as they found Yeorum and Yu Jitae, they frowned. Mihailov soon turned his back around and covered Sophia to protect her.
“Huh? Aren’t you that girl?”
But Yeorum wouldn’t be Yeorum if she stood still.
“Hey. You know me, right.”
“…”
Mihailov gestured at Yu Jitae with his eyes. However, Yu Jitae calmly received his gaze without stopping Yeorum.
“Been a while. Your face okay?”
Feeling like he was sitting on pins and needles, Mihailov glanced at Yeorum with a troubled look before looking back at Sophia. He then shook his head slightly, telling her to stay silent.
However, he couldn’t stop an immature young girl and Sophia turned her head around with a flick and faced Yeorum.
“Nn. It’s all good. Your face looks fine as well.”
“I know right? I almost ended up with a big fat knife mark.”
Noticing the hidden meaning behind Yeorum’s words, Mihailov facepalmed with a sigh.
“…”
When Sophia went silent, slight tension started flowing between the two of them.
Like how Yeorum was temperamental, Sophia was too. Sincerely hoping for the conversation to end, Mihailov placed his hand on top of Sophia’s shoulder.
But the tension immediately dispersed with Sophia’s following words.
“I’m sorry about what happened back then. I wanted to apologise, but I couldn’t find the courage to.”
She didn’t sound or look very sorry but it was clearly an apology. Yeorum, who had been itching for a quarrel, quickly became sullen from the disappointment.
“Hmph.”
After several seconds of awkward silence, Sophia opened her mouth.
“…You became quite famous in the meantime, didn’t you.”
“What?”
“I’m only hearing stories about you.”
“About what.”
“About doing a strange training method. According to those guys, you were walking like a toddler hand in hand with your guardian.”
Yeorum shook her head.
“Those idiots don’t know shit.”
“Nn, well. Thanks to that, I was also bad-mouthed by those ‘idiots that don’t know shit’. They were freakin’ like, how weak is Sophia for her to be smashed by someone like that.”
“You didn’t do anything after hearing that?”
“I know right. Those fucking idiots have a death wish or something…”
Hearing the natural outburst of profanities, Yeorum grinned.
“Why not pick up your sword. I thought you were good at it.”
“My guardian held me back.”
In response, Yeorum bursted out in laughter and Sophia also chuckled after feeling more relaxed.
Other cadets and guardians inside the same elevator threw glances signalling their discomfort but the two of them did not care at all. It was Mihailov, who was once again put in an awkward spot.
“Haa, so I’m going to prove it this time around.”
“Prove what.”
“The fact that I’m strong. There are lots of guys thinking they’re strong in our tenth year and I’m going to smack all of them down.”
“You?”
“…”
When Yeorum said that with an expression suggesting that it was ridiculous, a crack appeared on Sophia’s smile.
“Aiiinng, unni. It’s a joke. Don’t be angry ♥”
“…”
“Arre you angwwy? You wanna touch my titties?”
“Huu… whatever. I just can’t get my head around you…”
It seemed that their emotional crack had been resolved. By the time they got off the elevator they appeared much more relaxed.
Sophia took a step forward first and Yeorum was also about to turn her body around to the designated room.
“I think.”
“Huh?”
That was when Sophia opened her mouth.
“There will be quite a lot of people watching you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re strong and unique. There will be a lot of viewers. If there’s a skill you cherish or something, don’t use it until you have to. So that they don’t see it.”
All the fights happening inside the sparring rooms were recorded and could also be watched in real time.
However, Yeorum grinned without a care.
“So what if they watch it?”
Like a flooding river in a rainy season, her pride overflowed. Sophia smiled as if she was dumbfounded.
“Crazy bitch…”
“Take care of yourself. You weakling.”
“…Right. I guess there was no need to say that. Try your best. Let’s meet once we both reach one digit in our ranks. I’ll crush you.”
Despite their words, the mood was quite bright. Before leaving, Mihailov bid farewell to Yu Jitae with his eyes so he returned a nod.
Soon when they entered the designated room, the device that would send her to the alternate dimension welcomed them. There was a scoreboard that displayed the points and ranks as well as the [Spar] button.
“I’ll stay here so go do your best.”
The guardian had to remain in the room.
“Yeah.”
Yeorum placed her hand next to the button.
But suddenly, she stopped her hand. Yeorum, who had been full of confidence, now looked slightly nervous and was hesitant on pressing the button.
After a flash of gloominess on her face,
“…Should I do a warm up first?”
He watched her stretch.
She was a child who had cried after a single defeat. Such a child had lost nearly a hundred times against the great orc warrior alone during training. Somewhere inside her unforgetting memories, defeat might have become commonplace.
Perhaps because of that, Yeorum was nervous right now.
“No need to be nervous.”
“Huh?”
“You won’t lose.”
It was coming from Yu Jitae, who was always objective. Hearing those words which were close to an affirmation, Yeorum gave a nod with a better expression.
She pressed the button and soon disappeared along with the intense light of mana.
Yu Jitae sat down on the seat and watched the display screen.
There was an outdoor arena in a vast wasteland.
Stones and sand rolled around the ground and in a distant place was a surprisingly high-level artifact, the Level 4 artifact [Statue of Competition]. It would cast a thin protective layer around the cadets’ bodies.
The opponent soon entered the battlefield.
It was a male cadet in the first grade. His name, age, and a simple status of his physical capabilities were displayed on the screen. He was better than average.
On top of their heads were HP bars resembling characters of a fighting game. The moment those bars reached 0, the users would be expelled out of the alternate dimension and lose.
Raising the wooden sword, Yeorum prepared herself against the opponent.
*
Inside the alternate dimension,
“Huh? Aren’t you Yu Yeorum?”
The cadet recognised her and opened his mouth.
“Uhh, umm. I’ll be in your care…”
However, Yeorum did not reply and her attention was at a totally different place. From some time ago, a number was going up next to the face symbol hanging in mid-air.
[ ( ́• ω•̀) x 5 ]
It was the number of viewers who were watching the battle unfold somewhere via the Lair app. The number quickly went up every single time it got updated; from 5 to 10 before eventually hitting 15…
Tch. Clicking her tongue, Yeorum raised the sword up.
Don’t show what doesn’t have to be shown, was it.
[3]
[2]
[1]
The hologram countdown slowly went down.
Ding–
And the moment the chime rang, Yeorum flung her body forward.
Shiieeeek–! Kwaang!
Her body moved without the opponent even seeing it and her strike was likewise invisible to the eye. Nonetheless, the wooden sword accurately landed on the opponent’s head.
“Kuuk!”
After being smacked on the head, the cadet was shot back around 10 metres before disappearing into fragments of light.
Bababbam! A fanfare congratulated her victory as the words hanging on the hologram changed.
[Victor: Yu Yeorum.]
[Combat time: 00 minutes, 01 second.]
[Acquired Points: 10]
A spherical lump appeared in mid-air and was absorbed into Yeorum’s body.
It was but one strike.