Chapter 42

At that moment.

Flash.

Nishizawa Eri's presence vanished.

She had used the ability Blink of her specialized weapon, the Kusarigama.

"Black hair! Die!"

A chilling cry from behind her.

Clang!

But her wish was not granted.

Adamantine Indestructibility.

The ability that granted unbreakable defense had blocked Nishizawa's strike.

"I've got you."

Whoosh.

She immediately used the boosters to spin her body and swung Durandal in the direction she detected her again.

Clang!

Sparks flew.

Even though she used Invisibility, the dark fog covering the arena was now acting as a radar, making her as visible as if she were in plain sight.

In the darkened vision due to the fog, the faint silhouette of Nishizawa Eri could be seen.

She swung her sword along the path of the Black Light Sword Technique.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Ugh! Gah!"

Nishizawa Eri groaned.

Blink was an ability with a fairly long cooldown.

She couldn't use it again right away.

Nishizawa Eri's strength came from her Invisibility ability and the mid-range attacks of her weapon, the Kusarigama.

Allowing the swordsman to approach and having her Invisibility ability detected had nullified all her advantages.

Clang!

She swung Durandal in the dark fog.

"Ugh!"

A scream echoed in her ear.

Her faint shadow wavered unstably.

It was clear that Nishizawa Eri, unaccustomed to close combat, was floundering.

"Ugh! Black hair!"

Squish. Whoosh.

With a hiss of steam, Nishizawa Eri activated her flight mode and quickly retreated using the boosters.

She was trying to create distance, throw the Kusarigama from a distance to pin me down, and wait for the cooldown of Blink.

A final desperate attempt.

I had no intention of playing along.

[Sync]

I used Sync once more.

Vroom!

Durandal vibrated.

"Ugh, damn it."

A fairly strong headache assaulted me.

The Black Prince's talent was violently etched into my mind.

A familiar yet unfamiliar sensation.

Vroom!

Durandal shook violently.

Swish!

The Kusarigama flew at me again.

I clenched my teeth and drew up mana.

Gripping Durandal, I used the ultimate technique of the Black Light Sword Technique that had just been etched into my mind.

[Black Light Sword Technique]

[Ultimate]

[Black Flash]

Time seemed to stretch like a piece of dough.

The faint form of the Kusarigama flying at me appeared unbearably slow.

In the world that seemed infinitely slow due to accelerated thinking, I narrowly avoided Nishizawa Eri's attack and instantly plunged into her embrace, swinging Durandal.

Flash.

The dark fog covering the arena split, and a black flash soared.

"Kyyyyaaaah!"

Nishizawa Eri's scream echoed in my ears.

Her pretty face, revealed due to the failure of her Invisibility, was contorted with pain.

I infused mana into Durandal.

Vroom!

Durandal, accepting the mana, emitted a vibration.

Black mana enveloped and burned the blade of Durandal.

It was time to finish this.

Slice.

Durandal accurately cut through the retreat mechanism on her chest.

"Kyyyyaaaah!! No, no. No, no...!!"

Nishizawa Eri's face was filled with fear.

As her scream escaped her lips,

Zap.

A blue flash enveloped Nishizawa Eri's body.

Emergency teleportation due to combat power judgment.

I had won.

"Phew."

I sighed, dispelled the dark fog that had spread across the arena, and deactivated the ability.

A slight dizziness arose.

I deactivated the battle mode.

[Durandal Offline]

The full-body armor transformed into photons and was absorbed by Durandal's blade.

I put the Durandal, now in standby mode, into the sheath at my waist.

Thanks to solving the mana premature ejaculation problem, there were no other side effects besides a slight dizziness, even after using the ultimate technique.

Compared to the times when I would collapse frequently, this was a significant improvement.

I looked around.

Just as the stands, now silent, came into view,

[The winner is Kim Deok-sung.]

Mr. Mayuzumi's judgment was announced.

A smile naturally formed on my lips.

Finally, it was time for the dog collar dogeza.

Perfect.

Dog collar dogeza.

The cherry blossoms were starting to wither on the school grounds.

I sat on a bench, holding a dog collar with my name written in katakana and Korean, waiting for Nishizawa Eri.

To my right was Olivia, to my left was Rin, and behind me were Ishihara and the protagonist.

The area was already crowded with students.

They were people who wanted to see the school idol fall.

"Look at that. It's really a dog collar."

"Is Korea, where Kim lives, really such a country...?"

"Kim might be a great tactician?"

The murmurs of the students, which I could never get used to, reached my ears.

Tactician?

What are they talking about, such ridiculous nonsense.

"Ah, breaking news! Breaking news!"

Click, click.

As expected, the newspaper club reporter, Amano Nodoka, appeared like a hyena, taking pictures and making a fuss.

She was always so aggressive.

I sent a message to Nishizawa Eri on my phone.

[When are you coming?]

The read receipt appeared.

[Soon]

[You should use honorifics. Where did you get such bad manners?]

The reply was short, which annoyed me.

The read receipt appeared.

An ellipsis appeared.

[Soon, I'll come.]

The reply came after a pause.

"Kim, but really, are you going to... do that?"

The protagonist's voice came from behind me.

A meddlesome pacifist with a kind heart.

I sighed.

The protagonist was easy to use because he was so gullible, but sometimes his naive comments were exasperating.

"Of course. If I had lost, I would have done this. Do you think Nishizawa Eri would have let me off easy?"

Here, I had to shut his mouth with logic.

"That's, that's true... I understand, Kim."

The protagonist, the ultimate gullible protagonist of a light novel, even acknowledged the level of Nishizawa Eri's hatred.

It was enough to make one's tongue wag.

After all, in the original work, if it weren't for the popularity of the illustrations and the anime, Nishizawa Eri would have been a less popular heroine, on par with Shinazaki Rin.

I didn't particularly like her either.

"Hey, isn't that Nishizawa-san?"

"Right."

"Nishizawa-san is here?"

The students began to murmur.

I looked up.

In the distance, I could see Nishizawa Eri.

Her face was filled with despair, her hands were trembling, and her face was tear-streaked.

True to her setting as the world's most beautiful woman, even her breakdown was unnecessarily beautiful.

"Here... here... Black hair."

Nishizawa Eri's trembling hand grabbed her skirt.

Her eyes were filled with fear.

According to the original setting, she usually hated all men, but when she lost to a man, she felt fear towards that person.

In the original third volume, when she lost to the protagonist Yuji, she had the same expression.

In other words, she was afraid of me right now.

It was clear from the way she was sweating and her pupils were trembling.

Of course, the kind protagonist in the original third volume had worried about and cared for Nishizawa's state, but that was the protagonist.

I couldn't do that.

My heart was narrower than the gap between paving stones.

"Don't use informal speech."

A flood of cold sweat appeared on Nishizawa Eri's forehead.

She moved her tightly pressed lips.

"I'm... here... M... M... Master... sir..."

Master sir?

Where did she pick up such a crazy title?

I was about to swear.

"Did you hear that?"

"Master sir..."

"Kim is so scary... rumors say he forces the Knight Princess to call him 'Master' every night in bed... is that true?"

The typical light novel extra's banter made my head spin.

If it weren't for the dogeza, I would have chased them all away.

"Stop calling me Master. If you don't want to die."

"Y... Yes, I understand..."

Nishizawa Eri's whole body trembled.

I wasn't going to fall for such emotional manipulation.

I threw the dog collar at her feet.

"Put it on."

"..."

Nishizawa Eri's eyes widened as she saw the dog collar on the ground.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

"R... Really..."

Nishizawa Eri, sobbing.

"Is it fake? Put it on. Stop putting on a show with your tears."

Emotional manipulation wouldn't work.

This was a custom-made dog collar I had ordered from Han Se-jin for this day.

If she didn't put it on, it would be a waste.

With trembling hands, she closed her teary eyes and slowly put on the dog collar.

"Breaking news! Nishizawa-san! Wearing a dog collar with Kim's name on it!"

Click, click.

Amano Nodoka took pictures.

Tears streamed endlessly from Nish