Ch.352352 – The Weight of Resolve

<352 – The Weight of Resolve>

‘Was this all I had?’

Russo’s legs trembled.

Even after pouring healing potion on his blood-soaked legs from their brief exchange, the trembling wouldn’t stop.

The pain from muscles recovering from injury mercilessly attacked his nerves.

‘Even with resolve that costs my lifespan, is a true genius still at an unreachable level?’

Now he understood.

Those failing students who succumbed to the Foundation’s temptations, even at the cost of accepting the deadly poison of dark mana.

Russo’s life hadn’t been fierce.

At least, that’s how he was when he finished his sophomore year and took the junior advancement exam.

Back then, he didn’t have the resolve to sacrifice his lifespan.

He hadn’t faced reality yet.

Dreams were sweet.

I can improve my skills during my leave and pass the advancement exam when I try again.

Then I won’t need to buy an advancement certificate at 100 times the price.

I’ve fallen behind, but it’s not over.

All those self-comforting excuses disappeared when he found himself at rock bottom.

He was nothing.

He realized this watching the backs of expelled students who left the academy unable to bear their humiliation.

That he could be next.

That he was just another dropout.

The senior instructor’s advice was the final blow.

“Stupid kid. Do you think others fail the advancement exam after years of trying because they’re idiots? Why do you think the difficulty of the advancement exam won’t change?”

Having failed the first advancement exam, there was no way he could pass the second one with its increased difficulty.

The same went for the third and fourth attempts.

25 years.

Earning points while enduring an overwhelmingly long time became his only path.

So distant.

The end wasn’t even in sight.

So narrow.

One misstep and he would fall.

‘Can I endure it? 25 years.’

If only he had talent.

If only he had money to replace points.

If only he had met an opportunity to substitute for talent and points.

Meaningless hypotheticals piling up day after day.

On a day when even hope was dying, the girl approached.

“Instructor. If you help with my business, I can share points with you… are you interested?”

Even if it meant receiving points earned through improper means, even if it meant turning a blind eye to injustice, the unbearably long period of endurance would be drastically reduced.

If this wasn’t an opportunity, what was?

“I’ll transfer the points even if the contract is torn!”

“If you’re lying, I’ll just waste my lifespan and be discarded.”

“It’s true!”

“Do you know why scammers believe in the god of contracts? Because contracts torn by third parties lose their effect. A contract with someone powerless means nothing!”

“Ugh…”

It was unfair.

He had just found his resolve.

For the first time since entering the academy, he had demonstrated skills that could pass the advancement exam.

But that cruel girl had made even that attempt meaningless.

A sacrifice without points meant nothing.

Camella without a contract could never be trusted.

Trusting a woman who deceived others even with contracts would be like putting your hand in an alligator’s mouth.

Perhaps if Camella was exceptionally patient and in an unusually kind mood, she wouldn’t close her jaws.

The Camella he knew was never that type of person.

She used even her closest associates through contracts.

A fundamental distrust of humans lay at her core.

‘So even when a weed blooms, it’s still just a weed?’

Possibility slips away.

The future closes again.

Time spent is gone, and time remaining diminishes.

“Don’t be ridiculous. How much are you going to underestimate me as a person?”

Through Russo’s despair, he heard Camella’s angry voice through gritted teeth.

“As the master of the contract deity, I command the forced termination of the contract with Russo!”

“Ah! Impossible. A double-cross here!?”

“Russo. Now I must pay a penalty fee for unilaterally terminating our contract.”

“You…!”

“Yes. The contract is broken, but conversely, there’s a contract for the penalty fee. This is my goodwill toward your sacrifice.”

“The penalty fee would have been all the points needed for the advancement exam. Why do something so reckless!”

Camella glared at Russo with as much disdain as she had for Oknodie.

“It’s because of you.”

“Are you… crying?”

“I know what state someone is in when controlled by a pet contract. Even when forcibly controlled, there’s no obligation to fight with all your might, with all your strength.”

That was the flaw in forced contracts.

“Yet you thought I would betray that sincerity when you fought while risking your own lifespan?”

Camella, who used contracts because she couldn’t trust people, had paradoxically grown colder toward people due to the distance created by those very contracts.

“After being betrayed by my parents, friends, and everyone around me in childhood, there was no trust for others in my world. I knew how empty even the most intimate relationships were without contracts.”

The woman who trembled at betrayal felt a trust she had never received in her life.

Perhaps this was the sincerity that Camella had been seeking all along as she played with lovers using pet contracts that mocked human hearts.

Wanting someone who wouldn’t hate her even with such a contract.

A childish thought she herself didn’t recognize.

Russo had pierced through her tender inner feelings, her sadness that had been curled up abandoned and unexpected even by herself, with his life-risking struggle.

“This is a contract! A unilateral penalty fee I’m offering for your dedication!!”

You trusted me enough to risk your life.

Then I too will trust you by staking this penalty fee.

Even if I don’t receive anything in return.

Just as Russo had resolved to sacrifice his life.

Drip, drip.

Blood beaded and fell from his forearm, scratched by fragments.

Sweat, more than blood, streaked across his face.

Still, Russo’s eyes didn’t waver.

“I feel the same.”

Strength filled Russo’s entire body.

Genuine surprise appeared on Oknodie’s face.

“No one ever needed me. No matter how unjust the purpose, this was the first fair reward I’d ever received—a contract beyond what I deserved.”

If Russo had taken Camella’s first, then Camella had also taken Russo’s first.

The trust between a man and woman who had exchanged firsts is not trivial.

“25 years.”

Beneath the broken tiles, the floor engraved with automatic repair magic circuits vibrated violently.

“Even the student council didn’t show this kind of faith and sincerity to a weakling like me. So just once, it’s okay. For a coward who couldn’t stake his life on his own future to risk it for someone else.”

Not just days or weeks.

Not that trivial amount of power.

Months to years.

Burning up to 25 years of lifespan with that much output.

This wasn’t a fight to endure for six hours.

The 25 years of trust Camella had shown.

To repay that, Russo had sincerely resolved to burn 25 years of his lifespan to defeat Oknodie here today.

That heavy resolve gave strength to Russo’s charge.

<Heart Explosion Technique>

<Triple Explosion – Full Body Enhancement>

The blood from his rapidly beating heart accelerates his brain’s thinking speed.

This isn’t just momentary enhancement of arms, legs, or extremities with damage distributed throughout the body.

It affects the two most important organs in the human body.

The heart and brain.

Though he hadn’t lived cleanly enough to call them pristine, if he lost even these, he would lose his only assets—his body and health, his blood vessels and mana circuits that could cost him his tomorrow.

BOOM!

Acceleration afterimage sword techniques no longer worked.

The brain’s function of observing every moment of sending out doppelgangers as if capturing them frame by frame in a photograph, the concentration beyond limits, couldn’t be deceived.

The wall Oknodie was pushed against couldn’t withstand the impact and collapsed.

Some idiot who had been eavesdropping with his ear against the wall from the next room fell with the debris.

“!!”

An accident.

It was undoubtedly an unexpected situation for everyone—Russo, Oknodie, Camella, and the idiot caught up at the scene.

Russo had proven his resolve.

But that was his resolve to risk his own life.

At this moment, continuing his attack on Oknodie would mean inflicting irreversible serious injury, and with high probability certain death, on that idiot.

-Don’t touch the freshmen. No matter what happens. Not if you don’t want to lose all your hard-earned points.

The senior instructor’s warning suddenly came to mind.

“Ah, aah…”

The pathetic sight of the idiot rolling on the floor and flailing about with a stupid expression.

‘I’m going to… kill that?’

This isn’t right.

This fight has 25 years at stake, but crossing this line would bring a lifetime of regret.

His muscles loosened.

His eyes twitched with indignation.

But not using his power would cause the forcibly drawn muscles to inflict greater shock inside his body.

I have to release it.

Russo extended his leg.

The greatest strike of his life, mixed with exaltation and despair, directed not at Oknodie but toward the window.

Slash.

A crimson fighting spirit mixed with blood.

It was at the level of what’s commonly called blade energy projection.

The limits of <Martial Arts> that had only managed to strengthen his striking power and stand equal with weapons despite numerous attempts.

He imbued it with the level of <Blade Energy> or <Mana Coating> that cuts steel, and even beyond that, to the realm of blade energy projection.

<Wing Cutter>

The multi-layered security formations were cleanly cut and fell away in a single strike.

Seeing a tree outside the window cleanly bisected, the idiot’s roommates who were pressed against the opposite wall in fear all gaped in unison.

“Huh? Wasn’t there a barrier until just now…”

“I withdrew it. Even the handful of power allocated to the barrier.”

Russo’s fist struck the wall.

Thud.

The vibration traveling through the wall startled everyone, but the tears flowing from his eyes left them speechless.

“That was the extent of my sincerity. I shouldn’t have done that.”

If he had maintained the barrier, they could have continued fighting in an environment isolated from the outside.

The mistake from a momentary misjudgment brought Russo bitter regret.

But what he didn’t know was that it wasn’t just his own foolishness.

“Who said this was over?”

Whoosh. Russo caught what Oknodie threw.

He looked down at the potion in his hand.

“What are you up to? If it’s pathetic sympathy…”

“Hmph. Don’t be stupid. Did you think I’d just let this end after you’ve tarnished a senior’s reputation?”

“…What are you trying to do?”

“Drink it. It’s not as high quality as what I gave to Sing, but it will strengthen your body’s energy channels.”

“You were my enemy. Why would you do something good for me? You expect me to believe this?”

“Don’t want to believe me? Then I’ll make you believe. If you don’t drink that and fight me again, I’m going to beat Camella. Not enough to kill her, but enough that she won’t be able to attend lectures for about a month, in a way that even healers can’t help.”

Still not going to drink it?

At Oknodie’s provocation, Russo looked down at the potion again.

“Stop it! If you really do that, it will be a loss for you too, Oknodie, and since the barrier is gone, the dorm supervisors and instructors will be coming anyway!”

Camella’s urgent cry reignited Russo’s directionless anger.

An empty potion bottle rolled across the floor.

“Ah… why such a foolish act…”

“Beliefs make people into fools. Even without that, this fight is unavoidable. Look at Oknodie’s hand.”

In Oknodie’s left hand was a wand.

A weapon she hadn’t used once in their previous fight.

Though Camella might have missed it, Russo clearly perceived it.

The wave of power spreading across the ground during the confusion.

“We’re already inside a barrier.”

“A barrier? But someone just opened the door and left!”

“The conditions are the same. People who leave cannot return while the barrier is maintained. The internal space remains intact. Only the range is different.”

Camella looked out into the hallway and was shocked.

The idiot’s roommate who had been running down the corridor screaming clearly disappeared from view the moment he took a step beyond the fire door of the dormitory hallway.

Russo continued with a grave expression.

“This entire floor is already within Oknodie’s barrier.”