Chapter 97: My Specialty is Self-Destruction

Swimming Through Shadows

I did something utterly ridiculous.

Perhaps that’s why I could see the shock written all over Solvas’s face beyond the shadows.

Of course, it was only natural.

Shadows are not like water. If I had to compare, they felt closer to paint.

Yet here I was, swimming through them.

The answer was simple.

Magic Inscription • Wind

The wind inscribed on my arms and legs created an uplift, allowing me to float. While it wasn’t powerful enough to let me soar through the sky, it was sufficient to keep me buoyant within the shadows.

Thanks to that, I could swim even within this dark expanse.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

The distance between Solvas and me quickly shrank.

For what it’s worth, swimming is my specialty. It was the perfect sport for building stamina without injury, so at one point, I swam every single day.

“You’re insane.”

Solvas, clearly not expecting this, looked bewildered.

He hastily dashed across the waves, forming a bow of shadow in his grasp.

Fwip!

As soon as he released the drawn bowstring, a shadowy arrow shot toward me.

Then, it split.

In an instant, the single arrow fragmented into hundreds, turning into a rain of shadowy projectiles pouring down from the sky.

I quickly dove deeper into the shadows.

The arrows pierced through the waves of darkness, skimming past me.

But even within the shadows, I swam with ease, dodging every last one of them.

The power of the waves was too intense, preventing the arrows from fully exerting their force.

Beyond the shadows, Solvas’s face twisted in frustration.

He must have realized that creating shadow waves was a mistake.

Shadows are consumed by other shadows. Within this dark tide, even Solvas’s own shadows were weakened.

Taking advantage of this, I closed the distance once again.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

As I propelled myself forward with astonishing speed, Solvas recoiled in horror.

Come on, if you look at me like I’m some kind of monster, it actually hurts.

Oh well.

I had no choice but to swim even harder.

As a result, I was now moving faster than Solvas, who was sprinting atop the waves.

“How—?! Why isn’t your speed decreasing?! Aren’t you getting tired?!”

Of course not.

As if something like this would wear me out.

Aisha and I had been enduring hellish training nonstop.

In preparation for this very day, I had intensified my training even further.

Stamina is strength.

Right now, I was nothing short of a war machine built from sheer endurance.

Solvas desperately unleashed an onslaught of shadow weapons.

But I had agility and a body of steel.

Relying on these, I relentlessly closed the gap.

No matter how much one tries to escape, there’s always a limit.

At last, the distance between us had vanished.

My eyes gleamed.

This was my chance.

The magic inscriptions on the soles of my feet flared to life.

BOOM!

A Sudden Descent

With the explosion of the magic inscription, my body shot upward—still in my butterfly stroke posture.

Solvas, utterly dumbfounded by this absurd turn of events, simply stared up at me with a blank expression.

That’s on you for not expecting it.

I reached out, wrapped my hand around Solvas’s shoulder, and pressed down hard.

He immediately tensed his legs, bracing against my force.

“Urgh…!”

But while Solvas might be a genius when it comes to shadows, when it comes to sheer strength—I had the upper hand.

SPLASH!

Overpowered by my strength, Solvas was pushed straight into the shadowy waves.

Both of our bodies sank beneath the surface in an instant.

Solvas narrowed his eyes, a sharp gleam flickering within them.

“…This was a mistake.”

That’s what his lips muttered.

KWOOM!

At that moment, the shadowy waves began to surge violently.

And before I knew it, a massive vortex formed within the swirling shadows.

The enormous whirlpool started devouring everything around it.

As expected of one of the Six Stars. No matter how many times I witness it, his scale is absolutely insane.

But there was one thing Solvas didn’t realize.

My legs had coiled tightly around his waist.

At the same time, my arms had locked firmly around his neck.

In my current form as Hanon, I was much smaller than Solvas.

Having my face practically buried in his chest was utterly disgusting—but I was perfectly positioned to cling to him.

“W-What?! Let go!”

Solvas thrashed, struggling to shake me off.

He must’ve intended to escape while leaving me behind in the vortex he had created.

He started hammering his fists against my body in desperation.

But that was a huge mistake.

His face twisted in pain.

His hands—after striking me bare-fisted—were already swelling and turning red.

Of course, punching a lump of steel with your bare hands is a terrible idea.

Hand-to-hand combat against me? That’s never going to end well.

I tightened my grip even further.

Right now, I wasn’t a person.

I was an iron weight.

An unbreakable iron weight.

I squeezed harder, pressing down with all my might.

CRACK!

The sound of something breaking echoed from Solvas’s body.

“Gah…!”

He coughed out in pain, struggling even harder.

But I had no intention of letting go.

I never let go.

That was my one and only specialty.

The vortex raged even more violently.

At this rate, even Solvas would be swallowed by it.

He had no choice but to make a desperate decision.

And that’s exactly what I was waiting for.

Solvas clenched both fists tightly.

WHOOOSH!

At that instant, the swirling shadow waves around us collapsed and vanished entirely.

And along with them—the force that had been keeping us afloat disappeared.

A sudden weightlessness overcame my body.

With the shadows gone…

We were now plummeting toward the ground.

The Final Explosion

The wind howled, whipping through my hair.

The sensation of falling enveloped my entire body.

But Solvas wasn’t one of the Six Stars for nothing.

The moment he dispelled the shadow waves, he conjured shadow daggers in both hands.

Reversed in his grip, the daggers came slashing down toward me.

Just before they could pierce my back—

CRACK!

The shadow daggers shattered.

A bone armor had formed over my back before I even realized it.

‘Grantoni.’

Somewhere, unseen, Grantoni had been watching and granted me this protection.

Solvas’s eyes widened in shock.

At the same time, just as he prepared to react—

He noticed something.

My body was heating up.

A soft glow was beginning to spread across my entire form.

And as the light grew, so did the alarm in Solvas’s eyes.

“W-why… why are you glowing?”

“Who knows?”

I smirked up at him.

“Maybe I’m about to explode.”

When Mystery Energy and Magic Inscriptions collide—

Their power tends to amplify exponentially.

So I had prepared accordingly.

A Magic Inscription Detonation.

Solvas’s face turned deathly pale.

But at the same time, his skin was darkening—

A pitch-black layer enveloped him like armor.

Nightshade Armor.

That would likely shield him from the blast.

However—

The fact that Grantoni had intervened meant that someone else was watching too.

And sure enough—

STOP!

The Nightshade Armor, which had been climbing up to cover Solvas’s head, suddenly halted at his neck.

Nightshade Armor is the superior form of Shadow Magic.

The Umbra clan is one of the few lineages in the world recognized for their Mystery Arts.

They were granted passage alongside the Pale Craftsmen, a mark of their uniqueness.

However—

For a fleeting moment, just a brief instant—

Shadow Magic can disrupt Nightshade Armor.

Card’s Shadow Magic.

His magic stalled Solvas’s Nightshade Armor for just an instant.

And in that single instant—

Everything changed.

The only part of Solvas not covered by Nightshade Armor—his eyes—

Reflected the blinding light of my detonation.

“…Fuck.”

That was the last curse Solvas managed to spit out.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The sky above the forest erupted in a catastrophic explosion.

* * *

After the Magic Inscription Explosion—

Solvas and I plummeted separately toward the ground.

Even I couldn’t withstand the explosion without consequence.

Until I hit the ground, I could do nothing.

Just as I was about to crash—

WHOOOSH!

A sticky yet soft sensation enveloped me—

Just enough to stop me from kissing the earth.

As my senses returned, I looked around.

A shadow had caught me.

“Wangnon!”

From a distance, Card came running, waving his hand.

Thanks to his shadow magic, I had narrowly avoided crashing into the ground.

I slid down from the shadow that had caught me.

“Hahahaha! That was a masterpiece!”

Right on cue, Grantoni emerged from the trees.

He even clapped, praising the explosion as a work of art.

“You’re as reckless as ever.”

Card smirked as he watched me step off the shadow.

He must have been watching the moment Solvas used Outlaw of the Waves.

Which meant he saw the entire fight.

“There was no way to win without being reckless.”

If Solvas had maintained the distance properly, the fight would have been much harder for me.

I do have a trump card, but this wasn’t the place to use it.

“So, what about Solvas?”

“He crashed somewhere over there. I could go finish him off, but I’m guessing his real allies are gathering there.”

So he wasn’t officially eliminated yet.

I had hoped to take him out before the preliminaries ended, but forcing it any further was unrealistic.

Besides, my body ached—I had pushed myself pretty hard.

‘And more than that…’

I could feel sinister presences stirring in the forest.

We made a lot of noise.

The preliminary round was a jungle.

It was crawling with desperate beasts who would do anything to make it through.

Before we dealt with Solvas, we had to get past these guys first.

“So, what did you think?”

I stretched my shoulders, then looked at Card.

He paused for a moment, then casually patted my shoulder.

“This was the most satisfying day of my life.”

He looked completely refreshed, like a man who had just given a horrible boss the middle finger.

“Well, then—since you’re feeling so great, let’s get to work.”

Rustle—

From between the trees, hyenas emerged.

Just like us, they had formed their own teams.

Among them, I spotted students from our own academy’s Magic Engineering Department.

“Card, I’m going to make you regret rejecting me.”

Oh. So that guy had personal beef with Card.

As I stared at my walking karma, Card just shrugged.

Anyway.

“Let’s clear the preliminaries.”

From this moment on—

I was a wrecking machine.

* * *

Wolfram’s Sanctuary – Arena Control Room

Inside the arena building, several observers watched the battlefield unfold.

They were the professors from various academies.

“This generation is truly remarkable.”

One professor murmured in awe as he watched the preliminary battles.

And indeed, this generation had produced an unprecedented number of talented individuals.

Future heroes who would protect the Arcane Palace.

As he admired their potential, he suddenly realized—

The entire room had fallen silent.

When he turned to see why—

All the professors were staring at one screen.

Curious, he looked at the footage—

And saw a boy butterfly-stroking through a black ocean of shadows.

…What the hell is he doing?

Was he casually swimming in a river?

As he stared in disbelief, the realization struck him.

“…Wait. Isn’t that Solvas Umbra’s shadow?”

Solvas Umbra—one of the Six Stars.

There was no doubt.

That shadow ocean belonged to him.

“This is insane.”

Another professor finally broke the silence, his voice filled with disbelief.

The idea of swimming through shadows was completely absurd.

But the boy on the screen kept going, cutting through the shadows—

Until he reached Solvas and dragged him out.

And then, after a brutal battle—

They both self-destructed.

The professors stared at the screen, their faces blank.

“…He doesn’t even try to protect himself.”

“He must be wearing some kind of special protection.”

“We can’t tell from here. What’s his name again?”

Murmurs spread across the room.

The boy’s fighting style was so shocking that none of them could look away.

It was completely unpredictable.

A madman among madmen.

“…Hanon Airei.”

A voice finally spoke the boy’s name.

The one who said it was a female professor, her formal suit looking uncomfortable on her.

There was a faint scent of alcohol around her—

A telltale sign of a seasoned drinker.

And every professor in the room recognized her.

A legend from the Era of Azure Skies—

Beganon Mercia.

With a wide, proud grin, she declared—

“He’s my student.”

A hopelessly doting professor showing off her crazy protégé.