Chapter 8

EP.7 Chapter 7

"Ta-da! Today in class, we'll be doing a sparring session!"

Bullshit.

Nietzsche, you were right; God is dead.

I had forgotten that in the novel, the sparring event happened right away.

The reason for sparring was simple.

Heroes had to face not only monsters but also criminals.

To fight criminals who used superpowers, it was only natural to gain combat experience by fighting people.

However, surprisingly, there was a student in this school who would be arrested for public indecency if they used their ability.

...What can I do, really.

"The first match will be, hmm, Siwoo and Sylvia! Both of you, put on the protective gear in front!"

At Eve's call, the two walked out to the sparring area.

It was the sparring session between the two that was described in the novel.

Sylvia took out a small wand from her pocket, and Yun Siwoo summoned the white glowing sword from the air and held it in his hand.

"No holding back, right?"

"Exactly what I wanted."

As the two took their battle stances, Eve snapped her fingers, and the number 3 appeared between them like a hologram.

"Since you seem ready, let's start! Three, two, one, start!"

3, 2, 1, Start!

With Eve's voice, the numbers on the screen counted down, and as "Start!" appeared, the sparring began.

Sylvia immediately sent small orbs of light toward Yun Siwoo.

To be precise, the most important thing for Sylvia, who used elemental magic, when fighting a swordsman like Yun Siwoo was to maintain distance and buy time to cast spells.

The orbs Sylvia sent were explosive attacks. If avoided, they would create distance, and if blocked, they would buy time to cast other spells.

It was a win-win situation, effective no matter what the opponent did.

Yun Siwoo's choice upon seeing this was to charge forward.

Sylvia, thinking that Yun Siwoo would be delayed while blocking the attacks, began to chant another spell.

"Ugh, what?!"

Until she saw Yun Siwoo slice through the orbs of light.

The name of the sword he used, which he had also used to defeat the monsters in the hallucination, was the Sword of Humility.

The sword had many settings, but its ability was simple.

It could cut through and destroy anything made of magic or magical energy.

Simple, but a terrifying ability for mages like Sylvia.

Sylvia, who had been criticized by Eve for her unexpected reaction in an unforeseen situation yesterday, seemed to waver for a moment but then regained her composure and finished her incantation.

She redirected the spell she was about to cast at Yun Siwoo to the ground, causing an explosion that obscured his vision. Then, she leaped backward and began to chant a powerful spell.

[Alf, Ad, Ast-]

But before she could finish, Yun Siwoo's sword, which had broken through the explosion, was already at her throat.

"Sparring match won by Siwoo! Siwoo was amazing, but Sylvia's response was also good. It's not easy to correct your weaknesses in such a short time, well done!"

Eve's voice announcing the winner.

Sylvia, who had been stiff-faced, soon smiled and said to Yun Siwoo,

"Cutting through magic like that, you're really absurd."

Sylvia, who said this, seemed more smitten than annoyed by Yun Siwoo's ability to completely nullify her magic, blushing and smiling.

'She must be thinking, "If I fall for a guy, he should be able to do this."'

Anyway, watching it in real life was much more thrilling than reading it in the novel.

The other students, impressed by the high-level fight, made the atmosphere even more intense.

While my heart was racing from the intense match, I heard Eve's voice.

"Next, Mei and Evande, come forward!"

So soon?!

Right after Sylvia and Yun Siwoo's sparring, it was obvious we would be compared.

Feeling a bit nervous, I put on the protective gear, my hands trembling.

The class president, who was my sparring partner, seemed to feel the same way, as her eyes wavered when she looked at me.

President, you've got a tough job too...

I stretched, preparing for the intense movement, when the president, who had drawn her sword and glared at me for a moment, said in a voice that seemed to be suppressing anger,

"...Are you treating me like an idiot? Quickly, pick up a weapon."

Weapon?

Looking around, I saw that the other students all had weapons, whether it was a sword, a spear, or something like an auxiliary tool for casting spells.

What, am I the only one without a weapon?

From the president's perspective, it must have felt that way.

There's a saying, "A bare-handed person needs three times the skill to defeat someone with a sword."

But what can I do, the only weapon I've ever handled is a K-2.

It feels so unfair, I can shoot well if I have a gun!

"...I don't have a weapon."

"...So, you're going to ignore me until the end? There's no leniency for being bare-handed, so be prepared."

Feeling wronged, I told the president, but she replied with a stiff face.

The president's eyes, aimed at me, were as cold as her sword.

Dirty weapon supremacy.

I took the only martial arts stance I knew, filled with patriotic spirit.

Ah- This is the 'fighting stance.'

The basic stance of Taekwondo, a unique martial art of South Korea.

In elementary school, I was dragged by my parents to a Taekwondo academy and forced to get a black belt.

I recalled the harsh training I endured there.

-Ahhh! I'm going to die!! I'm going to lose my mind!!

-Just a little more. If you keep tearing your legs like this, they'll eventually spread.

-Keeeeeek!!! I'm going to lose my mind!!!!

When I came to my senses, my body was on fire.

After enduring that torture-like training, I'm not just a simple 2nd-degree black belt in Taekwondo.

I am now, The Goryeo Master.

"Since you seem ready, let's start!"

I heard Eve's voice, and the number between the president and me started to count down.

3, 2, 1

Start!

I tensed my body in advance and, as the number turned into a word, I took a step to the right and twisted my body to the left, spinning.

The president's sword narrowly grazed my back.

I saw the president's eyes widen in surprise at the unexpected evasion.

It was all part of my plan from the beginning.

Not knowing each other's abilities,

I deliberately set my body on fire to make the president believe I was a fire-type superpower user.

Typically, fire users, unless they are really unique like me, use fire for long-range attacks, and since the president had a sword, she would likely want to close the distance quickly rather than receive long-range attacks.

Moreover, the president is a straightforward and honest kid.

So, I was confident.

The first attack would definitely be a quick stab!

A stab with the intent to kill, throwing her whole body into it.

As it missed, I took advantage of the large opening it created and delivered my spinning back kick, using the momentum from the twist in my body.

It should have hit.

And with a thud, I felt a strange sensation in my leg and realized what had happened.

I messed up!!

Feeling the cold sensation, I quickly bent my supporting leg, lay down on the ground, and rolled backward, springing up.

A few strands of hair, cut late, floated in the air.

I almost got cut in half by the incoming counterattack.

Of course, with the protective gear, that wouldn't have happened.

Still, to make me do a backflip against The Goryeo Master, you've got some skills!

Thinking this, I looked up and saw the president looking at me with a subtle expression.

The president, who had been standing still, knocked on the spot where my spinning back kick had hit.

A sound like hitting an empty wall was heard.

There was something invisible.

"It's a barrier made by compressing air. My superpower allows me to manipulate air to some extent. Without it, I would have been hit by that attack, but... an attack like that won't break my barrier."

The president's eyes, explaining her ability, were a bit different from before.

The intense glare had softened a bit.

The president closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then aimed her sword at me again.

"Then, let's go."

Feeling a thrilling sensation, I tilted my head to the left as the sword grazed my ear.

The president's attack was fast and quiet.

Looking closely, her clothes barely moved, probably due to her ability to reduce air resistance.

Fortunately, my dynamic vision was better than I thought, and I was able to avoid the attacks I saw, thanks to my quick reaction and speed.

But I couldn't keep dodging.

No matter how much I dodged, I couldn't avoid all the attacks, and the more injuries I sustained, the sooner the sparring would end.

I could have just forfeited, but my stubborn pride prevented me from doing so.

If I could ignite flames, could I break through that barrier?

But I needed to find a way to ignite flames only in my hands.

While dodging the president's relentless attacks, I continued to think.

Perhaps because I had been moving my body intensely, my senses were more acute than usual, and I sensed something.

There were parts of my body that felt particularly hot.

These parts were probably where the flames were flowing out.

So, my method yesterday was wrong.

Maybe the solution wasn't to make flames come out only where I wanted, but to prevent them from coming out where I didn't want.

I focused carefully on the parts where the flames were flowing out.

Like turning off the gas valve on a stove, one by one.

The flames that had been wrapping around my head calmed down.

Then, the flames on my chest, stomach, and legs went out in order.

I already knew how to ignite the flames, so I gathered my anger.

The world I fell into, without knowing why, was too hard for me.

My gender changed, and I had no money.

A place where I had to learn how to fight to survive.

So, I hated this world.

With the anger directed at the world, flames fiercely erupted from my hands.

The intense momentum slightly disrupted the flow of the relentless attacks.

That was enough for me.

In that slight gap, I took a step forward, and that place was now within the range of a punch, not a sword.

There was only one thing to do.

Fire Punch.

The crackling flames and the sound of something breaking.

"The winner is Evande!"

-Ooooh!!!!

Cheers erupted for the winner.

At that moment, I transformed from a human firefly into a Fire Punch.

...Thinking back, I must have lost my mind in the heat of the first real fight.

Author's Note (Author's Afterword)

Did you enjoy this chapter, Mr. Jolin28?

Honestly, it's my first time writing a battle scene, so I'm not sure how it turned out.

If you found it enjoyable, I would be really happy.

TMI) Eve uses hallucination magic to show customers the hallucinations they desire, and she copies money using this ability. Most of the money she earns is donated.

She accepts all kinds of requests from customers, but there is one thing she absolutely refuses: anything related to students.

In the past, a tycoon asked her to show him a hallucination of him doing bad things with the female students she taught, and he was socially ostracized for it.