Before the bell rang,
Around 2 hours before the start of their duel, Yeorum was already warming up at the arena. Crouching down, she relaxed her legs, shook her arms off and turned her head… She repeated those actions which in general were only done by humans, whose muscles tended to freeze with tension.
It was because she was nervous.
3 times was the publicised number of her defeats but Yeorum had actually lost to Simon 9 times, but even in those unknown duels, she had never lasted for more than 20 seconds.
– Your sword is too heavy. Swinging a pickaxe at a mine seems better suited for you.
– Those are some unusual skills you are using. Did you catch others off with those skills? Nothing but a petty trick.
– I see you are relying on petty tricks to make up for your lack of foundation. You fool. Do you think techniques will help cover your lack of basic combat skills forever?
With a natural condescending gaze, he tried to teach her.
She was dumbfounded. Who do you think you are? And besides, all of his words were wrong and there was nothing to learn from him.
However, that was still fine. The frustration was bearable and she constantly thought about the realistic way out.
The problem was simply in her lack of output. In gaming terms, her basic stats were just too lacking that she couldn’t do anything no matter how she tried. But even then, she had the mindset that it will work one way or another by observing him and finding a weak point.
But the 9th defeat put a stop to her easygoing mindset.
– Huh, you weren’t even doping anything?
Simon, who had been strict until now, sneered at Yeorum for the first time.
– How truly preposterous…
Trampling on her head and pushing it into the ground, he continued.
– An unqualified one laying their hands on power that is beyond their capability – did you think the world was in your hands after defeating a few high rankers at a young age?
– Damn it. This is why the media is the cause of all problems. A young kid acting so arrogant like they are the king after being boosted a little by the media. What kind of superhuman tries to fight a stronger ranker without even doping, huh?
– This is the end. You are not even worth my time.
– A sloppy kid like this with a talent on a similar ground with Oscar Brzenk huh… Seriously, you…
Hearing the next words that came out of his mouth shook the conception she had on doping. There was something in his words that made her suddenly feel very upset.
‘I’ll win for sure…’
At least there was now a chance to win.
[Release Output Amplification Core + 10]
This day, and this place will mark the debut of the absurd and unprecedented power behind this monstrous core.
Her heart, however, was not at ease.
Since it felt like she was relying heavily on the weapon, it was actually very distressing.
However, Yeorum no longer became upset and filled with uncontrollable fury from little stuff like how she used to in the past. ‘To win a war, you must be able to control your emotions’ – the advice she got from Yu Jitae was securely kept within her heart like a sharp blade.
In any case, while relaxing her muscles at the arena, Yeorum prepared herself for the 10th duel with a serious yet nervous mind. Before long came Simon and his attendants. With a face full of irritation, he wore his equipment and stepped onto the arena.
Ding–
The bell rang and Yeorum raised her longsword.
A sharp light released from the sword covered the world with its brilliance.
*
“Huhh? Wait, huh?”
“What is…”
The voices of the audience were infested by confusion. The light shone brightly like the sun, and was followed by a 4-metre long sword aura soaring up from Yeorum’s sword into the sky.
A long length did not always equal strong power but it was a different story if something that long was fluctuating with mana that was sharp enough to prick at the skin. Following a ferocious path, the sword fell heavily as Simon raised his greatsword to block the onslaught.
Kaang–!
“Hoh!”
“This can’t be…!”
Simon widened his eyes just like the surrounding crowd.
The sword he had reprimanded for being heavy felt way too heavy now. He had suggested the use of a rapier since she was a girl with a small body and feeble strength but that was no longer the case.
Yeorum struck down with her sword. Following the trajectory of the sword were bits of flame creating an afterimage in its path.
Kaangg! Another thud. Simon clenched his teeth feeling the shake in his finger bones.
Kaang! Kaaang! Each and every strike pushed him back by a step.
Simon put all his strength into parrying her sword before distancing himself.
What in the world was happening?
What sort of mysterious phenomenon was it that could result in such a heavy load of mana? There was no way a mana capacity could be increased by that much in just a few months!
It was unbelievable.
In any case, he had to overcome it.
With all his strength, Simon struck down his sword flickering in blue. Carried within the strike were his supernatural abilities. His greatsword, as big as a human body, fell down like a piece of heavy lead.
At the same time, Yeorum swung her sword up from the ground. Flames enveloped her legs and rode her waistline up as it surged into the sky.
Kaaaangg–!
The aftershock of the strike pushed Simon back.
Yet again he was stunned.
His eyes looked at her sword.
Although it looked the same as the previous one, it had a completely different weight to it and was evidently a different weapon.
Yes. That sword. That sword must be the problem.
He heard the Association was sponsoring that kid, and it now seemed that they had given her a top notch sword artifact.
They had made him a guinea pig for this experiment.
‘Association. Those damned bastards!’
Kaaang! The clash of their swords created an explosion that greatly shook his hands. In truth, an explosion of a bomb on the blade would result in a weaker impact than this. He knew this because he had blocked an explosion with his sword before.
A longsword was overwhelming a double-handed greatsword. That was despite the greatsword being a fairly strong weapon among Level 2 artifacts.
As they continued the bout, Simon who could do nothing but defend was slowly pushed into a corner.
“S, Simon’s about to fall off the arena…!”
“No. He’s about to drop his sword before that…”
The reporters were shocked while the observing superhumans were appalled.
Simon – he was a hero of the Great War; a French superhuman who had protected Gallia from repetitive fissure outbreaks.
And yet here, that same Simon was being pushed back by the sword of a young girl who had just reached 20.
This was outside the realms of possibility. However, the onslaught did not end and time passed without paying any regard to their disbelief.
The crimson eyes were tainted in madness as the flames in Yeorum’s sword reached an even greater height.
Baaangg–
But that was when the sound of a warhorn echoed across. The ‘dueling system’ of the Gallian arena had commanded a stop in their duel.
High rankers immediately jumped onto the stage after the horn and stood between Yeorum and Simon. Yu Jitae was in the mix and he stood firmly in front of Yeorum.
“What! What’s going on?”
“The duel’s been forced to a stop!”
“Why is that?”
“Is it because of their output?”
“That seems like it… their fight just then was a little excessive for a duel.”
While the fast-thinkers were analysing the situation outside the arena, Yeorum was trying her hardest to contain her rushed breath.
“You okay?”
She nodded to his question but could not look directly into his eyes. When he took the sword off of her hand, Yeorum created a fist out of her shivering hands.
“Oi. Are you okay.”
“…”
Her hands remained trembling.
Looking closely, he could also see that her heart was pumping at an excessive rate.
Was she being swayed by the colossal power?
Going closer in, he held her hand. He immediately gave a frown the moment he felt the flow of mana inside her body.
He knew what this flow implied…
“Let us call it off.”
That was when Simon’s low voice echoed across. Hearing that, the eyes of the reporters turned sharp.
“What do you mean by that, Simon?”
Yeorum’s guide sent by the Association opened his mouth with a question.
“Call it off? That just then was but a temporary stop to the duel due to the excessive amount of output. We have yet to even see the result of it.”
Yeorum also had a scowl on her face. Victory was right in front of her eyes. Of course, Simon probably wasn’t fully serious, but the chance to defeat him had finally come after suffering 9 losses.
And yet he wanted to cancel that now?
“Mister. What’s your grade as an agent?”
“I am a Grade 3 agent, named Dolph Worshamton.”
“Don’t you think this is a bit too much?”
Simon clicked his tongue.
The reporters squinted their eyes. The representative of Superhuman Without Borders was picking a fight with the Association. It was a big scoop.
“What do you mean?”
“It feels very uncomfortable seeing you treat our organisation like your employees. Even though I am no longer a part of the Association, don’t you think sacrificing my prestige just to test out a new weapon is crossing the line?”
“Sorry?”
“So what level is this one? 4? 5? It doesn’t seem any weaker than that Witch’s [Karma Vessel]. Is this another Level 5 artifact?”
His words caused everyone to turn their gazes to the longsword in Yu Jitae’s hand.
It was a shocking statement.
A Level 5 artifact? That thing?
The reporters quickly came up with headlines. [The Association flaunting their military reinforcement with a Level 5 artifact.] [“Using me as a guinea pig?” The hero of Gallia rebukes the Association.]
“What do you mean by that, Simon!”
Seemingly in a bad mood, Simon tapped the floor a few times with his sword.
“It was 9 times.”
“What?”
“The number of times I have struck down that red dog. 9 times including the unofficial duels. Add all those times together and it is still going to be less than 3 minutes. But look. How is it now?”
“…!”
“Will you still persist that I’m wrong?”
“B, but… No matter what, it is not true that we were testing a weapon or anything!”
“Quiet!”
Simon abruptly shouted with a voice loud enough to shake the arena.
“There is a limit to how much of a fool you can take me for. A damn kid full of herself and egoistic! The entire world knows they are giving the kid some new weapon to try to put her on the same level as this Hero of Gallia! If this is not a circus trying to lower me to glorify the weapon, then what is it!”
Seemingly displeased, he kicked off the ground and turned around with a flick. Yeorum felt insulted and she bit on her lips as her hands trembled even more.
“Yeorum.”
But regardless of what was happening around him, Yu Jitae fixed his eyes on Yeorum and tightly held onto her hand.
“Control it.”
She was having difficulty in controlling her emotions. Her shivering was not because her muscles were shocked by the large output in power – it was instead the result of her muscles trying to contain an even greater output.
In other words, Yeorum was excessively stimulated right now.
Her personal feelings were injected into the duel.
“…”
“Control it.”
The flow of mana rotating inside her body right now was similar to how it was back when she had rushed towards Sophia during the Azure Dragon study group interview after the admission.
She was overly excited and was trying to suppress it herself.
“Yeorum,” he said with a voice more serious than before.
As if talking to a baby tiger who had accidentally used its fangs for the first time, he spoke to her.
“You must contain it.”
The Witch, Valentine, had a younger brother. A younger brother who had accompanied her all her life after they lost their parents at a young age.
Immediately after she was enlightened, she was pushed into the battlefield. Around that time was also when she laid her hand on the onion core.
She had kept her composure throughout both large-scale and small-scale wars but lost control of herself after losing her younger brother from a military revolution that happened at Quebec, Canada – her homeland.
The number of humans she killed back then was 7,000. It was a massacre of both civilians and soldiers.
“If you can’t control it, you have no right to use it.”
As a dragon, Yeorum was able to stop the interference of outside factors a lot better than humans. Besides, she had been successfully controlling her emotions in the recent battles.
That was why he thought she would be able to control it, but it might have been too early.
On the other hand, he was curious.
Why was Yeorum this upset?
Is it just because of those 9 defeats?
It was strange for that to be the case. Yeorum had a history of countless defeats. Even when she had lost to the Great Orc Warrior over a hundred times in the span of one week, she wasn’t this upset.
“Sorry. I was just thinking about something and it made me a little mad,” Yeorum said after calming herself down.
“What happened?”
Looking away from his eyes, Yeorum said with a soft voice.
The following words allowed Yu Jitae to understand her feelings.
“…Well, he said I was lucky.”
“When was this.”
“Last time…”
Yeorum reflected on the past.
– Seriously, you are only born lucky, aren’t you.
Those were the random words of someone who knew nothing about her, but it was more than enough to stimulate the thought that was wriggling deep inside her heart.
As well as resurfacing some disgusting memories.
“When I heard that, I thought there’s no way but…”
The onion core was the result of Bom’s lifetime fortune, but having a good friend who would readily give away such a good item was her own luck.
“…Now that I think about it, he might be right.”
A wall that had stood firmly for a few months despite trying 9 times was now crumbling by itself despite her putting in zero effort. It was ‘luck’ that was bringing her to victory.
“What do you mean.”
“It’s true right. Even if I win here, can that be called my victory in the true sense of the word?”
Yeorum said while avoiding his eyes and lowering her gaze.
They didn’t have much time in their hands so Yu Jitae decided to persuade the child in a short period of time.
“You just got enough luck like others.”
“…Nn?”
“Why was your oldest unni strong. Isn’t it because she got lucky and was born before others?”
“Well yeah but…”
“Think of it this way. It was late but you finally got your share of that same luck.”
“What the hell is that.”
His words did not sound great in her ears.
“That’s just forcing yourself to think that way. That’s stupid…”
Yeorum said that but after ruminating over his words, it surprisingly did make her feel a little better.
Right. What is there I can do. I was just born late like a retard. But maybe this is what I get as compensation?
Those were the thoughts going through her mind but that wasn’t the mindset Yu Jitae wanted her to have.
“Yu Yeorum.”
He opened his mouth with a heavier voice.
“…What.”
“Think one more time on what’s actually important. Why did you train with me. Was it to get stronger?”
“…”
Yeorum pondered. Was she training to get stronger?
No.
The hatchlings of the red race compete against each other. It’s not the strong dragon that gets chosen – only the survivors.
She was training with Yu Jitae in order to survive.
“Don’t be afraid of using whatever you can to survive.”
Those words struck her heart.
This was a competition for survival, and not a sport.
She should have long known it herself. Wasn’t that what she had been telling herself in the first place? However, it seemed that in a corner of her heart, she had been decorating her effort as if it was something sacred and special.
It made her realise that looking down on luck just because it was related to her trauma was an arrogant attitude in that sense.
“If you can’t, that’s fine. We can go back and you can calmly train yourself again.”
That was when Yeorum suddenly raised both of her hands and slapped both sides of her cheeks. Slapp–! It was so loud that the crowd turned towards her in surprise and looked at her flushed cheeks.
Simon frowned and said, “In any case, I shall still pray for the future of the Association,” with a solemn voice before turning his body.
“Why are you slapping your own cheeks all of a sudden.”
“…This can also be overcome with training right?”
“Which one.”
“…Anger management problem.”
“Don’t worry about it. I know how.”
There was a slightly cruel yet certain method.
“So, do you want to continue?”
He asked while looking into her eyes.
The moment her red eyes resembling rubies slowly rose up and met his eyes, he came to a decision. “Can you stop me if I can’t control myself…” And her following request gave him certainty.
“Simon.”
When Yu Jitae’s low voice resonated across the arena, the man who was hurriedly escaping from the area with his attendants stopped his feet.
“Please wait one moment.”