Chapter 98: The Fake Prince

“Hoo.”
A weary sigh escaped my lips.

In front of me, a member of Group 1’s preliminary round lay sprawled on the ground, knocked out by a punch.
At this point, my stamina was definitely running low.

“Wangnon!”
At that moment, I lifted my head at Card’s call.

I saw the bracelet on Card’s wrist glowing.
When I looked down at my own wrist, mine was glowing the same way.

This is…

Ding, ding, ding—

A sound rang out from everyone’s bracelets.
It was the signal that the preliminaries had ended.

Sixteen competitors remained.
We had made it to the main tournament—the round of 64.

Card and I locked eyes.
In an instant, our hands crossed paths and clashed in a high-five.

“Wow, we actually made it through in the end.”
Right then, Grantoni came running over, waving both arms.
His pale wrist bones were clearly visible.

Soon after, an announcement instructed us to move outside the forest.
Since our wrists were glowing, there was no confusion about where to go.

As we stepped out of the forest, the instructors quickly approached.
They checked our injuries, treated us, and pointed us to a place where we could rest.

At the same time, I saw other people emerging from the forest.
They were the ones who had passed the preliminaries.

And among them—

A man locked eyes with me.

The Son of Shadows.
Solvas Umbra.

He was covered in dark smudges, likely from being caught in my explosion.
The moment our eyes met, Solvas flinched.
Then, his expression twisted in anger as he glared at me.

He must have been embarrassed by his reaction, startled by the lingering shock imprinted on his body.
Like a hedgehog bristling its quills.
Now that I think about it, he does kind of resemble one.
I’ll call him Solsgehog from now on.

With a sharp turn of his head, Solvas walked away.

“You really rattled him. That’ll definitely affect his performance in the next match.”
Card approached me, chuckling.

Since things had already turned out this way, it would be great if he just got eliminated in the next round.

“I’m gonna go check out the results of the other groups’ preliminaries.”
“Yeah? I was thinking of eating first.”
“Eat with Grantoni. I’ll just take a quick look at the results and come back.”
“Heheh, food! Food!”

Card nodded and casually went off with Grantoni to eat.
That guy… Seeing how naturally he got along with Grantoni, his social skills were definitely top-notch.

In Blazing Butterfly, the results of the international individual tournament preliminaries were always random.
So it was impossible to predict who would make it through this time.

I moved straight to the results area.
Upon checking, I saw that most of the other groups had also finished their matches.

A crowd had gathered, buzzing with excitement as they watched the matches.

Even those who had been eliminated in the preliminaries could still watch the games.
Perhaps because of that, a massive number of people were gathered.

On the wall, matches that were still ongoing were being broadcast.

I saw students sighing in disappointment here and there.

First, I checked the preliminary results.

‘The top-ranked ones made it through without issue.’

It seemed like everyone had performed well in the preliminaries.

Among them, one name stood out.

Group 3, Ordo Academy—Eve.

The unyielding azure flame.

“As expected, you passed as well.”

At that moment, the very person in question appeared.

When I turned my head, a woman with blue hair was standing there.

Eve was completely unscathed, without a single injury.

The time she spent in the preliminaries shouldn’t have been much different from mine.
The fact that she looked so pristine meant she had utterly dominated her matches.

“Of course. It would be embarrassing to fail in the preliminaries.”

“…After what you did to me, you sure are shameless.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

She shot me a sharp glare.

It seemed she had heard plenty of talk about what happened last time.

It had even become a rumor at Zeryon Academy—Eve’s passionate confession of love.

For her, it must have been humiliating to show her face in public.

I felt a little guilty, but I had already decided to play the shameless card.
I would stick to it until the end.

“From my perspective, I was suddenly attacked out of nowhere. I had no choice.”

I couldn’t exactly say outright that I attacked Eve because of the lingering presence of an elder dragon.
So I chose an explanation that would smooth things over as much as possible.

“I do regret ambushing you.”

I didn’t expect an apology from her.

“However, I still believe the ancient dragon’s magic is dangerous. If you refuse to completely erase it, I have no choice but to act. So, I will erase your elder dragon’s magic.”

Leaving behind that warning, Eve turned and walked away.

Did she really have to come all this way just to warn me?
Truly befitting a side-story protagonist.

‘I could never pull off something like that.’

That kind of presence was something you had to be born with.

“Ah.”

“Well, there’s no way out of that one.”

Just then, I heard students groaning in frustration.

Instinctively, I turned to look at the screen.

“Huh?”

My eyes gradually widened.

Because on the screen—Seron had appeared.

And Seron’s opponent was someone I knew well.

The Kingdom of Skies, Parazon.

More specifically, Parazon Academy, built within it.

The sole prince—Ergo Parazon.

One of the Six Stars was facing Seron in a direct confrontation.

But Seron was in shambles.

Against a member of the Six Stars, it was obvious that Seron was outmatched.

Yet, even in front of such an overwhelming opponent, Seron did not take a single step back, swinging her axe with all her might.

But to everyone watching, her victory seemed impossible.

She had already been battered by Ergo, her body covered in blood.

〔Struggling meaninglessly before me. You’d be better off accepting your defeat quietly.〕

Swords—dozens of them—swirled around Ergo as he spoke.

He could wield swords without even holding them.

A legendary swordsmanship that only the chosen ones of the Parazon royal family could master—
Skyborne Swordsmanship.

As Seron dashed through the forest, swords flew after her.

Her axe continuously struck them away, but the swords merely twisted midair and returned to their path.

Each one was a renowned blade, considered among the finest.

Even with Seron’s axe techniques, not a single scratch appeared on them.

She was being pushed further and further into a corner.

Seeing the swords blocking her path ahead, Seron clenched her teeth.

A crimson flash gleamed from her axe.

Boom! Bang!

Explosions erupted one after another from her axe.

The force packed into each swing sent the swords flying in all directions.

Thick black smoke filled the forest from the blasts.

As Ergo furrowed his golden brows and peered into the smoke—

Whoosh!

Something shot out from within.

Instantly, Ergo’s swords launched toward it.

Shk-shk-shk!

The moment his blades struck, his eyes widened.

Lying on the ground was a mere chunk of wood, impaled by his swords.

It was a tree Seron had shattered as she ran.

Thud!

Right then, massive trees began toppling toward Ergo from within the smoke.

〔Hah.〕

Ergo instinctively swallowed.

He had just realized what Seron had been aiming for while tirelessly swinging her axe out of his sight.

A shadow loomed over his head.

The collapsing trees swung their enormous weight down, ready to crush him.

Whoosh!

Ergo’s swords shot up all at once.

Skyborne Swordsmanship lashed out against the descending trees.

The moment the trees were completely severed by his blades—

Thud—

Beneath the falling tree trunks—

Seron swung her axe upward with all her might.

Her eyes met Ergo’s.

The one and only opportunity she had fought for, despite her battered body.

〔Uraaaaah!〕

She poured everything she had into her axe, determined to seize this chance.

But the gap in talent was absolute.

Just before her axe could reach Ergo—

Screech—

From above, a colossal blade, larger than a house, crushed through the trees and cleaved the space between them.

KWOAAAAAAAANG!

The sheer wind pressure flung Seron away, sending her tumbling across the ground.

She struggled to brace herself with her legs, but the sheer scale of the descending sword was too overwhelming.

It was so massive that it could be seen even from outside the forest.

Skyborne Swordsmanship—
Titan’s Blade.

The strongest sword in Ergo’s arsenal.

Seron rolled through the dust.

Just as she tried to regain her footing and push herself up—

Smack!

Ergo’s foot slammed into Seron’s stomach.

〔Kyaaak!〕

Seron tumbled across the ground.

The pain surging from her abdomen kept her from getting up right away.

〔Why do you refuse to give up against me?〕

As she struggled desperately to rise, Ergo stepped in front of her.

Crunch!

His foot stomped down hard on her solar plexus.

Seron swallowed the scream that nearly escaped her lips.

〔You, of all people, should know best that your struggle is pointless.〕

Ergo pressed down even harder.

A smirk had already crept onto his face.

〔Well, I suppose for someone like you, just standing against a prince like me is already an honor. I can understand that.〕

Ergo possessed a unique trait—sadism.

Seeing Seron struggle only fueled his desire to crush her completely.

Just then, Seron reached up and grabbed onto Ergo’s ankle.

〔Why… won’t I give up?〕

She gritted her teeth.

〔Because… the guy I like… is ridiculously persistent… If I want to impress him… I have to make it through the preliminaries…〕

She spat out the blood pooling in her mouth and grinned, baring her teeth.

〔And screw your honor, you fake-ass prince. I’ve already got a real prince of my own!〕

Ergo’s expression went blank.

Flash!

At that moment, both Seron’s and Ergo’s bracelets lit up.

The first group’s preliminary match had just ended.

Ergo lifted his foot off Seron.

Everyone watching breathed a sigh of relief.

But then—

〔I see. Is that so?〕

Ergo brought his foot crashing down again.

Crack!

Seron’s body bent sharply in an unnatural angle.

Gasps of horror erupted from the students.

A crimson glow spread across Ergo’s bracelet, and the instructors stormed into the arena, restraining him as he raged in defiance.

Seron was hurriedly carried away by the instructors.

And I—

I watched it all, my eyes wide open.

Drip—

Blood trickled down my hand.

I had clenched my fist so hard that my palm had been torn.

That’s when I became fully aware of my own state.

This—was unmistakably rage.

But I couldn’t fully unleash it.

The frustration was suffocating.

Even with my emotions boiling over, I couldn’t let them spill out.

I realized, belatedly, what was suppressing me.

‘Veil Bandages.’

The very artifact I had used was keeping my fury in check.

Or rather, my rage was slowly dissolving.

‘So losing emotions wasn’t the only effect…’

A truth I hadn’t known.

And yet, thanks to it, my head cooled.

I burned the image of Ergo thrashing against the instructors into my memory.

It didn’t matter whether Seron had crossed a line with her words.

This world was always hypocritical anyway.

My friend had been brutalized like that.

“Ergo.”

That bastard—I would destroy him.