Chapter 82 : Chapter 82
Chapter 82 First Day of the Martial Arts Tournament.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Along with the drum sounds, the participants of the martial arts tournament entered the central stadium.
The drumming became more intense. The people packing the spectator seats shouted cheers looking at the participants.
Principal Veridian walked out from among the 64 participants. He stood in the centre of the stadium and looked around the spectator seats.
Even more massive applause and cheers than before rang out. Some spectators shouted Veridian’s name with all their might.
Veridian wore a gentle smile and waited for all the sounds to subside.
Like that, about a minute passed, and matching the decreasing drum sounds, the spectators’ voices also diminished.
“The martial arts tournament held every 3 years has reached its 60th anniversary. This year, due to many events, it is being held earlier than previous years. However, the skills of the participating cadets are more outstanding than ever! Therefore, I hope you send hot applause and encouragement to the participating cadets.”
Having finished his speech, Veridian extended his hand toward the VIP seats. There, the King of Poinus, Louis Sergio Caesar, was sitting.
“Begin the 60th Martial Arts Tournament.”
Along with King Louis I’s words, the gong signalling the start rang out. The applause and shouts of the people, which had been quiet, soared again.
“So noisy.”
Maxim, expressionless, spoke with his hands behind his back.
The cadets standing around him glared at Maxim with faces saying he was absurd.
“It’s not cool?”
“Do you know how hard it is to participate here? A bastard who got in without even taking the exam.”
“A guy with nothing is damn arrogant.”
And they spat sharp words toward Maxim.
“Here is noisy too.”
Maxim shook his head. And he ceaselessly poured out words like ‘If you get excited by this, where will you use it?’, ‘If you’re frozen by this, how do you even breathe?’, ‘If war breaks out, not one guy here will remain alive.’
“Maxim.”
Adellian, who was standing in front, frowned and looked at Maxim. She also shot a strong gaze telling him to stop.
“I-it’s the, the most n-noisy.”
Odekerkh also put a hand on Maxim’s arm and told him to calm down.
“Did I say anything wrong?”
Adellian tried to say, ‘Just because it’s true doesn’t mean you have to say it all,’ but swallowed it with a sigh. Odekerkh also swallowed his breath with a similar thought. And Michelle also shook her head from side to side, joining in the meaning that there was no answer.
Amidst this, Piontek had no reaction. He had been wearing a dark face since before the event started.
“Everyone! Move to your assigned stadiums!”
Professor Allegri announced the start to the cadets.
All cadets moved frantically to move to the stadiums they were each informed of. However, just one person, Dwight, did not. He stood blankly in the middle, glaring at Maxim.
“Phew, looking like he’ll kill a person before it even starts.”
Maxim smiled brightly and waved his hand towards Dwight, who was emitting killing intent.
“What are you doing?”
Adellian, who was heading to her assigned stadium, asked Maxim.
“Demonstrating brotherly love. Very bloody brotherly love.”
“Brotherly love? Who?”
Adellian turned her head this way and that, trying to confirm Maxim’s words. However, since it was after Dwight had disappeared, she couldn’t see anything.
“What? There’s nothing?”
“You were late. Let’s go.”
Maxim started walking ahead. Following him were Adellian, Odekerkh, and Michelle. Finally, Piontek with a face full of heaviness continued his steps.
Pop!
In the clear daylight, firecrackers burst high in the sky and countless sparks scattered in all directions, drawing an iris. Beneath that, dozens of cadets held their own weapons and prepared for the duel for their future.
The true curtain of the martial arts tournament had risen.
***
“A, are we all in the s, same stadium?”
Odekerkh scratched his head and asked.
I looked at the guy quietly.
Odekerkh breathed roughly and repeatedly swallowed dry saliva. His mouth seemed to be going completely dry as he didn’t stop moving his tongue either.
“Are you that nervous?”
“T, that is…….”
Since the movement started, the guy had a pale face like someone sick. He frequently asked questions like ‘The m, martial arts tournament, c, can I really participate?’
‘Understandable.’
Since Odekerkh entered Saint-Denis Academy, the treatment he received was scorn and disregard. The reason was being an underachiever. When he looked at the martial arts tournament and asked if he could participate, the answer he got was fists rather than words.
So feeling burdened by the fact that he participated in the martial arts tournament isn’t strange.
But he shouldn’t just tremble without a plan. He didn’t get it for free, but entered with achieved results. And there’s what he’s done while travelling with me so far.
“Where did the person who shouted he’d kill in front of Gwanju go?”
“……T, that.”
“Don’t spare your body clumsily. It’s disrespectful to the opponent.”
Standing on the stadium, one must do their best. Only by pouring out strength unsparingly can both learn something. If not done so, a martial arts tournament like this has no meaning.
“First match, Cadet Michelle! And Cadet Marcus!”
Along with the referee’s call, the sound of cheering from the spectator seats filled the stadium. But…….
“Marcus! Marcus! Marcus!”
There is not a single person saying Michelle. Well, it hasn’t been long since Michelle enrolled. She isn’t the type with good sociability either. Plus, she had no time to make friends because she was hanging out with me. Still, the guys who asked for her name or talked to her…… Michelle probably didn’t deal with them properly.
“Meeting a tough opponent from the start.”
Adellian said, looking at Marcus stepping up onto the stadium.
“A, a senior aiming for the t, top seat. If not for w, woman problems, he would have been the top.”
Odekerkh gave a supplementary explanation. But what does he mean by woman problems?
“He c, confessed but got r, rejected…….”
“The match is starting.”
Adellian hurriedly blocked Odekerkh’s words.
‘There’s something?’
Although it started, Michelle and Marcus exchanging greetings was all. There was no reason to urgently turn the direction of the conversation with just that. Then…….
‘Aha!’
The guy named Marcus was glancing towards where I was. To be precise, he was looking at Adellian.
“Why didn’t you accept him?”
“……!”
Adellian was startled as if she had met a ghost. She opened her eyes so wide it wouldn’t be strange if her eyeballs fell out.
“Wh, who didn’t accept?”
“Why act like that? He’s making it so obvious he wants to look good to you.”
“……No. There’s nothing like that.”
She hurriedly turned her head to hide her expression, but she couldn’t hide her ears turning red.
‘The talk about being popular wasn’t nonsense.’
I had seen a guy who liked Adellian. Piontek, who is currently wearing gloom, is that protagonist. But I haven’t seen any other guys. Furthermore, perhaps because I’ve seen Adellian covered in blood, sweat, and dust every time, I had completely forgotten she had a pretty appearance. Amidst that, seeing a crazy guy dying of love for Adellian feels new.
“You look pretty, but you fall short of her.”
Marcus shouted at Michelle while looking at Adellian out of the corner of his eye.
Whistles blew from the spectator seats, applause came out, and strangely feeling cheers like ‘Marcus! Hang in there!’ also came out.
And Adellian’s nape turned red. If it went beyond the entire face to the neck like that, did her whole body turn red? Is it that embarrassing?
“Ah, yes.”
As expected, Michelle is wearing a face devoid of any thought.
“I don’t want to hurt you, so back off on your own!”
Marcus drew his sword while putting on all sorts of airs. The appearance of the sword is excessively flashy.
‘Is the balance right?’
The hand holding the sword lacks blood and the arm muscles are excessively prominent. It means more strength than necessary is being used even though it’s not that big of a sword;
he must have styled himself heavily to look good to Adellian.
Ping!
The arrow Michelle shot brushed past Marcus’s face.
Thud.
The arrow that flew hit the barrier protecting the spectator seats and fell just like that.
Marcus caressed his cheek with surprised eyes. Dark red blood flowed from between his fingers.
“This!”
Marcus kicked the ground. His sword trembled and screamed the unpleasant sound of tearing air.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Impatient.”
Rushing in without balance like that is just informing Michelle of his weaknesses.
Woosh!
Michelle’s body became a single line. Her hand touched Marcus’s head, and her leg drew a graceful curve.
A rainbow bloomed over Marcus’s head.
“Wh, what?”
Marcus flailed both hands, struggling unsightly. Seeming to have completely lost Michelle’s movement, he looked around frantically.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
I have no choice but to click my tongue. Losing the opponent during a duel is the same as facing death. It’s also something that happens because the basics aren’t properly established. Then he should get hit. Since Michelle, who has considerable practical experience, will use the bow as a blunt weapon to attack.
Thwack!
As expected, Marcus’s face literally crumpled. He even made a ‘Keuk!’ sound and was pushed back.
“Then he’ll get hit again.”
Thud!
This time it’s the thigh. Marcus’s leg, unable to withstand the impact, lifted high. And…….
Bang!
Unable to keep his balance, he fell just like that.
“Th, this fuck.”
Flustered, Marcus rolled his body desperately to avoid Michelle’s additional attack. Covered in dust, the guy exhaled rough breaths.
‘Oh my, even in this situation, you care about Adellian?’
Even Piontek wasn’t to this extent. By the way, what has that guy been so serious about since earlier…….
‘Circle problem?’
He’s a guy with strong pride. It’s better to wait until he asks for help. Because it’s hard to travel together unless he throws away his pride and bows his head.
“You make me like this? This humiliation is a total dog humiliation! I will never forgive you!”
“Well, sure.”
“Taste hell!”
Michelle made eyes saying ‘Why is that human being like that?’
That aside, Marcus, that thing was a figure aiming for the top seat? It’s so clumsy I can’t believe it. Although Adellian, Odekerkh, and Piontek who travelled with me weren’t strong, they weren’t clumsy to that extent.
‘Wait? Were they clumsy?’
Still, they weren’t unusable like Marcus.
“Here it comes.”
Adellian focused on Marcus.
“Uoooooh!”
Marcus made a tacky sound and grabbed the sword with both hands.
Along with a rumbling sound, dark clouds began to gather in the sky.
“Woah!”
“Marcus! Marcus! Marcus!”
The spectators’ cheers and support continued. It seemed they had erased all the unsightly appearances Marcus showed until now from their heads.
‘Is what they were expecting coming out?’
Boom!
“L, Lightning Sword!”
“He uses Lightning Sword?”
Tension dwelt on Odekerkh and Adellian’s faces.
The lightning created by the colliding dark clouds swallowed Marcus’s sword and was emitting intense energy.
But is this something to be that surprised about?
“Why are you surprised?”
Thinking there might be something I didn’t know, I asked the two surprised ones.
“Do you know how difficult it is to store the power of lightning in a sword?”
Adellian answered looking at me with eyes asking if I really didn’t know.
I scratched my cheek. Is that such a difficult task?
“Take this!”
Marcus, that kid is too childish. It’s not a hero novel, what is ‘Take this!’? ‘Take this!’
Crackle-crackle-boom!
However, the technique is plausible. Wherever the lightning passed, pitch-black soot appeared. Smoke also followed in lines.
Bang!
Intense flames soared and electricity exploded where Michelle was. Smoke and dust bloomed thickly, completely devouring Michelle’s form.
It was a stronger attack than expected.