Uh… Something seems wrong?

“You son of a…!!!”

Marcas hurriedly cast a spell at my doppelganger, but the doppelganger disappeared with a ridiculous “poof” sound, turning into leaves that scattered away.

“Haha, didn’t I tell you? That I didn’t need to press it myself.”

And then, the magic devices that had been quietly standing by activated.

• • LV10 training initiation. Trainees, please be careful not to get injured.

A mechanical voice echoed throughout the training ground, and soon numerous training devices targeted the Blue Team and launched fierce attacks.

“Aaargh!! Help me!! Save me!!”

Ah, that male student who was just screaming was heroically sacrificed while trying to match swords with a swordsman puppet set to maximum level.

Hehe, you didn’t treat the swordsman puppets with respect in the past.

The performance of the training devices set to maximum level was quite definite.

The Blue Team, which had boasted an overwhelming number of 10 people, was rapidly eliminated one by one.

Haha, this is so satisfying…

• • Whoosh!

I reflexively ducked my head to avoid the magic.

“Eek, I’m not completely safe either.”

Perhaps because I was also within the recognition range of the training devices, some of them targeted me and swung their swords while firing magic.

The exit had long been closed as the training devices activated.

In other words, there’s virtually no way to escape from this space right now, but…

“After all, a person must be thoroughly prepared, don’t you think?”

• • Whoosh!

After easily avoiding a sphere of water rushing toward me, I lowered my posture and hid my body through a hole I had dug in advance.

Thanks to this, I safely escaped from the recognition range of the training devices and could comfortably watch the Blue Team being sliced up.

“Play! Play! Blue Team! You can do it!”

I waved my arms and cheered for the Blue Team.

“Sion…!!!”

Marcas glared at me as if he wanted to kill me. Just then, a fierce sword strike from a swordsman puppet rushed toward him.

“Whoa! Watch out for that sword!”

Thanks to my sincere advice, Marcas barely avoided the attack and nervously ran his hand through his hair.

“Oh? It seems like you don’t need my advice.”

“Aaaagh!! This is so frustrating!!”

I’m trying to help, and this is how he reacts.

I let out a chuckle and tilted my head.

---

 

• • LV10 training terminated.

“Huff…. Huff….”

Marcas exhaled rough breaths and gritted his teeth.

All members except himself had been eliminated.

And they couldn’t even fight properly, swept away by the schemes of that insufferable guy with his frivolous demeanor.

“…..!”

Marcas’s two pupils flashed like fire.

Now he must move forward, stepping over the sacrifices of his teammates, if only to avenge them.

“Ugh….”

“…..Phillips? You managed to survive.”

“Is that how you talk to a teammate? Good grief…..”

Phillips, whom he thought had been eliminated, clutched his side and groaned.

“Are you hurt?”

“Can’t you see? Beaten by magic, cut by blades. If it weren’t for the Matrix, I would have died from shock long ago.”

Phillips was still speaking irritatingly, but to the current Marcas, even that felt welcome.

In a situation where every additional person was needed.

No matter how much he disliked Phillips, now was the time to set aside personal feelings and act coolly.

“Get up.”

“You’re unusually kind. Thank you.”

Marcas extended his hand to Phillips, who widened his eyes for a moment before nodding and grabbing his hand to stand up.

“Ugh…..”

Phillips got up with difficulty but still couldn’t suppress his groans.

His limping leg clearly indicated that his condition was not normal.

“….From the looks of it, you can’t even move properly. Here, take this.”

Marcas clicked his tongue and handed Phillips a recovery potion.

“…..Honestly, I’m a bit touched.”

“I’m doing this because it would be troublesome for me if you collapse. If you have time to talk nonsense, just drink it quickly.”

Phillips smiled slightly, bowed his head a little, and uncapped the potion, drinking the contents in one go.

“Whew. Now I feel like I might survi— Kuhak!!”

“Ah! What now!!!”

Marcas thought things would finally be okay, but when Phillips let out another groan, he couldn’t help but get angry.

Phillips’s face rapidly turned pale, and then he knelt down.

“What… did you… give me… you… bas….”

Then, after glaring up at Marcas with a resentful curse, he soon collapsed weakly to the floor.

“…..Huh?”

Marcas couldn’t even gauge how the situation was unfolding.

He looked around blankly.

He was the only one standing.

“Ha, ha, hahahaha!!!”

Laughter escaped from Marcas’s mouth.

‘I just can’t believe this shit.’

Of course, it was a burst of laughter because the current situation was so unbelievable.

Where did things start to go wrong?

Was it because he failed to demonstrate his qualities as a leader?

Was it because the teamwork among team members wasn’t in sync?

Just then.

“Pfft. Well, I didn’t actually think you would drink it. Didn’t you learn not to accept things carelessly from suspicious people?”

Someone’s mocking voice was heard.

A voice heard amidst everyone being eliminated.

It’s obvious whose it is.

“Sion…..!”

When Marcas turned his head toward the source of the voice, there stood Sion, the owner of that grinning expression, looking down at him as he stood there casually.

Yes, it’s that guy.

Everything started to go wrong from the moment he first encountered that guy.

He is the root of all evil.

So.

“I will definitely kill you.”

Marcas pointed at Sion with his finger and released his magic power.

And then.

“Oh my? This place is…”

Marcas and Sion were instantly transported to a different location.

A chilling place reminiscent of a destroyed city, with rows of old buildings and structures.

“This is my Death Duel Arena. This place will continue to exist until either you or I take our last breath.”

Marcas glared at Sion as if he would kill him and said.

“There’s nowhere for you to escape.”

“……In other words, this place is completely isolated from the outside? Where no one can enter?”

“That’s right. Why, suddenly getting scared?”

When Marcas heard Sion’s stiffly hardened voice, he smiled faintly.

As if a thousand-year-old stain was being wiped clean…..

“Huff! If you had such a good ability, you could have used it from the beginning, but to use it only after all your teammates were eliminated…. Do you perhaps have a fetish for watching your allies die? That’s a preference I find hard to understand.”

The thousand-year-old stain evolved into a ten-thousand-year-old stain.

Marcas gave up on conversing with Sion any further.

Beyond anger rising, he felt as if his entire body was boiling.

I will definitely kill you.

• • Whoosh!

Marcas, his eyes wide open, summoned numerous fireballs and sent them flying toward Sion.

“Hmm. This is going to be a tough fight, isn’t it?”

About 3 seconds before colliding with the fireballs, Sion kicked the air to lift his body and avoided all the fireballs like he was doing gymnastics.

Marcas was momentarily confused by those flexible and skillful movements, but soon regained his composure and resumed his attack.

Calmly, and then with hot emotion, he arranged his magic power to create two large hands of flame.

And as Marcas moved his hands, the flame hands also targeted Sion according to his will and approached quickly.

“This looks dangerous, having threatening things on both sides, this is a big problem.”

In that state, clap! When Marcas clapped his hands together, the flame hands rushed toward Sion, clapping as if to catch a mosquito named Sion.

At that moment, another Sion appeared beside Sion and.

• • Clang!

 

• • Clang!

“Calm down~”

“I’ll have to decline that~”

As they drew swords from their sheaths, Marcas’s magic was perfectly deflected.

“What?”

A sword technique that deflects magic? Is that even possible?

Marcas frowned at this sight he had never seen before.

Just then, someone tapped Marcas’s shoulder and said:

“Tsk, tsk, being this defenseless during combat could be a big problem, you know?”

It was Sion’s voice.

“…..!”

Marcas turned around with a chilling sensation and reflexively created a spear of flame and threw it at the Sion standing behind him.

It was a big mistake.

Another Sion who was grinning swung his sword, and when Marcas’s flame spear collided with Sion’s sword.

• • Clang!

“Oops~!”

Along with a clear sound, a dark sword aura erupted from Sion’s sword.

Wrapped in the dark sword aura, Marcas lost control of his body as if it had been paralyzed, and.

• • Boom!

“Kuhak!!”

He was pierced by his own flame spear that had been returned to him.

“It seems I’ve won by a narrow margin.”

While Marcas was unable to move properly due to the aftereffects of the sword aura, one of the Sions approached him closely, took out a scroll from midair, and unhesitatingly tore it toward Marcas.

“Then, take care!”

Marcas gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, bracing for the pain to come.

. . . . . . .

“Hmm?”

And surprisingly, nothing happened.

“Uh… what?”

Sweat began to form on the back of Sion’s head.