Ch.51Chapter 51: The Evaluation is Over

#

“Sister!”

Excel roughly flung open the entrance door and expressed his joy to his sister standing in the center of the training hall, containing the maximum amount of emotion he could possibly display.

Most people present would consider this merely an ordinary display of friendship between heirs of prominent families who maintained active relations, but the attitude of the person directly receiving this enthusiasm was quite dramatic.

“Oh my…”

The sister facing Excel let out a light sigh and then scattered fighting spirit at a density incomparable to what she had showered upon Shizu and me.

Many might find it strange how she actively showed her displeasure at his approach, but their questions couldn’t continue further.

BOOM-!

Excel, disregarding the fighting spirit his sister deployed to stop him, accelerated his body with the lightning energy dwelling within him and traversed the considerable distance from the entrance to the center of the training hall in a single breath.

CRASH-!

The barrier of fighting spirit his sister had deployed did block him, but with each movement of his lightning-wrapped body, sounds like breaking glass echoed as the veils of fighting spirit she had deployed shattered into pieces.

Although it was the densest fighting spirit displayed so far, it was still infinitely lighter compared to what she would deploy if she were serious. Nevertheless, Excel broke through it effortlessly as he advanced forward.

Indeed. Excel not only overcame his sister’s fighting spirit—which made ordinary students’ knees buckle just by facing it head-on—like Shizu had, but he actually shattered it as he moved forward.

After leaving behind the sighs of admiration from students who couldn’t help but be impressed by this spectacle, Excel finally reached the center of the training hall. He continued moving toward his sister with the lightning still enveloping his body, but his movement couldn’t proceed any further.

His sister, who had precisely read Excel’s next move, slowly extended her left hand and supported his forehead with her palm.

The time it took for all this to happen was merely equivalent to blinking a few times.

The unfortunate part? I could only estimate the time, but I couldn’t properly observe Excel’s movements.

In Shizu’s case, I had previous timeline experiences, so if I concentrated, I could vaguely grasp her movements. But this guy’s movements were at a level my eyes couldn’t follow regardless of my previous timeline experiences, which I confirmed once again.

‘The same lightning as always.’

Lightning.

The special privilege possessed from birth by members of the Burnstein family, who claim Arthur Burnstein—one of the great heroes who led humanity to victory in the Demon God War a thousand years ago alongside Lanos and Proxian—as their ancestor.

When the fighting spirit gathered through the family’s breathing technique circulates throughout the body through capillaries beyond the heart, the nature of the fighting spirit transforms into lightning, one of the most intense natural phenomena occurring in the sky.

The people of Burnstein use this lightning-infused fighting spirit for far more diverse purposes than the fighting spirit gathered by ordinary superhumans.

They might wrap their entire body in thick lightning to use as armor against approaching malice.

Or they might enhance their physical abilities to levels incomparable with ordinary body strengthening techniques.

Or if not that, they might imbue their weapons with lightning to display techniques close to divine work that literally tear the sky apart.

Incidentally, Excel, who was now flailing about with his forehead held by his sister, had demonstrated all three of these in the previous timeline.

‘…And yet it’s sad that he still died.’

Old memories suddenly make my heart heavy.

The image of my friend’s last moments from the time only I remember resurfaces for the first time since the day of my regression—the friend who was the only one to notice my existence weakly resisting the malice dwelling in my body that had become the Demon God’s agent, and who risked his life to awaken me.

‘It must never happen again.’

I need to focus and become stronger.

After steeling my resolve, I turned my head and spoke to Shizu, who was watching the scene in the center of the training hall with a strange sparkle in her eyes.

“…Could you see it?”

“Yes.”

Usually, whenever I asked her something, she would always make eye contact before speaking, but this time she immediately gave a short answer without even taking a breath and continued staring at the center of the training hall.

“Excel really hasn’t changed. And neither has his sister, easily handling him like that.”

A voice tinged with light laughter flowed from Shizu’s lips as she watched Excel desperately trying to reach his sister, flailing his arms despite his forehead being blocked by his sister’s left palm.

“Indeed.”

I too had nothing to say except to express the same sentiment about this scene, so I just quietly continued watching.

‘He still likes his sister as much as ever.’

In the previous timeline, I thought I would never see this sight again.

After regressing, seeing this scene with my own eyes again filled me with new emotions.

After briefly savoring the moment, I turned my gaze from Shizu back to the center of the training hall.

The calmness and solemnity that had surrounded Excel’s sister until just now had completely disappeared, replaced only by bewilderment as she faced Excel, whose body and face were now full of vitality, as if his listlessness over the past few days had been a lie.

“Sis…!”/”Quiet!”

…Just like now.

The sister, who had emitted fighting spirit during the examination and given the students an unbearable sense of pressure but had refrained from causing physical harm, raised her right hand to silence Excel as he called out to her loudly, and it landed squarely on the crown of his head.

WHACK

The moment her seemingly delicate hand—made of bone, blood, and flesh—touched Excel’s crown, an incredibly powerful sound echoed throughout the training hall.

“…Ouch!”

Excel, who had been flailing like a runaway magical locomotive without stopping his charge, finally came to a halt.

He completely withdrew the lightning energy surrounding his body, hunched over, raised both hands to clutch his head, and made a great show of being in pain.

‘Such exaggeration…’

Of course, I know well that this is just Excel’s act.

It’s a scene I’ve witnessed since long ago, when the two people in the center of the training hall, Shizu, and I were quite young.

Excel would always cause trouble, and his sister would stop him with that iron-fist discipline.

And Excel would pretend to be hurt even though it didn’t really hurt.

#

The minor commotion during the examination subsided shortly after.

“Excel Burnstein. Pass.”

His sister, still unable to completely hide the strange embarrassment on her face, announced Excel’s passing in a deliberately calm voice.

Despite the unusual scene that had unfolded, not a single voice of objection was raised from those who had been watching the entire process after his sister’s declaration of passing.

Isn’t that natural?

How could the current vice-captain of the Imperial Knights—who is considered a strong candidate for the next captain and who actually became the captain in the timeline only I remember—not pass a man who had broken through the veil of fighting spirit she had deployed to block his approach, even if she had properly controlled her strength against the students?

How astonishing it must be.

While no one else could overcome the fighting spirit emitted by his sister, I was the first to properly handle it, albeit based on past experiences that bordered on cheating.

And then there was Shizu, who not only handled it but boldly continued walking toward his sister, causing amazement.

Now there was this guy who approached by actually shattering the veil of fighting spirit his sister had deployed.

It wouldn’t have been strange if even more enthusiastic cheers and applause than what Shizu received had erupted, given how overwhelming Excel’s performance was.

-….

-….

Surprisingly, the center of the training hall was maintained in heavy silence from the students.

Why was that?

The reason was simple.

The protagonist who should have received the applause was still crouching and clutching his head while groaning.

The situation arose because it was awkward to blindly applaud someone who was writhing in pain, but Excel seemed completely uninterested in both the heavy silence directed at him and the applause that would soon pour out once he regained his composure.

“Whew.”

All he did was lightly rise to his feet and then turn to make eye contact with the person he had so desperately wanted to see.

As I had expected, his groaning had indeed been an exaggeration, as there was no sign of pain on Excel’s face as he lightly stood up.

Due to the considerable distance, other people probably couldn’t clearly see his expression, but with my innate physique further enhanced by training, I could clearly see his expression.

“It’s been a while, Sister.”

A warmth I hadn’t seen once in the past few days was seeping into his face as he expressed his joy at seeing his sister.

“…Yes.”

His sister’s expression was also quite impressive as she responded to his joy with a brief word.

Although her voice was rather curt, her face was tinged with a blush so deep that it would be impossible to notice unless one looked very carefully.

‘Oh, Sister…’

If she likes him but doesn’t express it in words and pretends not to care, isn’t that why he keeps acting this way?

It’s impossible not to know.

In the previous timeline, when Excel died, it was his sister who grieved more than anyone else and directed frost-like anger toward me, the one who had provided the cause for his death.

‘It hurts, it hurts.’

My chest felt heavy as I recalled the image of my friend who had risked his life to save me after I had become a monster, and his sister who had loved him more than anyone else but couldn’t express it properly, only to regret it madly after he was gone forever.

‘But thanks to that, I was able to die as a human.’

That was when it started.

When my consciousness, which had resisted the malice that had infiltrated my body, gradually gained control by defeating it.

It was also the moment I resolved to die most miserably at the hands of the hero who would return this world to light in order to take revenge on the Demon God who had reduced me to this state.

“Sister, I’m in pain right now. No matter how much you like me, there’s no need to hit me this har—”

“I am not your sister!”

SLAP

…My consciousness, which had been briefly lost in thought, returned to reality due to the loud sound of a palm striking a back that echoed throughout the training hall.

Having met his sister after such a long time—who hadn’t even replied to the letters he had sent—the thread of reason in him loosened slightly, and words both appropriate and inappropriate came out of his mouth.

And upon hearing this, his sister, whose embarrassment had exceeded the critical point, delivered a sharp fiery smash to Excel’s back, creating that sound.

Unlike the earlier hand chop, it was an ordinary movement with no energy infused into it.

THUD

But the result of that hand movement was far from ordinary.

“Uwaaagh!”

Ah.

I guarantee that wasn’t an exaggeration.

As if confirming my prediction, Excel let out a single scream and collapsed face-first onto the training hall floor.

“…”

There was no response. It was almost reminiscent of a corpse.

‘That idiot.’

I lightly hit my forehead with my left hand, offering a light condolence to my friend who didn’t know how to read the atmosphere, and looked around.

Needless to say, he wasn’t dead—he had just temporarily lost consciousness because his body, shaken by an unbearable shock, happened to fall onto the training hall floor that couldn’t provide any cushioning effect.

-….

-….

The students, who had missed their chance to applaud and couldn’t do anything either way, maintained their silence and looked at the center of the training hall with subtle expressions.

“Someone take him to the infirmary.”

The heavy silence was finally broken by his sister, who spoke with a very lightly huffing voice.

“Next.”

Leaving behind Excel, who despite passing had been injured and collapsed worse than most who failed, his sister announced the resumption of the examination in a deliberately calm voice.

The number of students who entered the training hall ready to throw in all their capabilities regardless of the outcome was not small, and by the time all their examinations were finished, dusk had begun to settle by the windows, signaling the evening.