“Jaelin, you cheer for Adrian too.”
“……Okay.”
Truthfully, Jaelin wanted to cheer for Lionel. But at Stefan’s urging, she had no choice but to cheer for Adrian in a very small voice.
“A-Adrian. Do your best!”
“Wooow! Adrian! Today’s the day we beat Lionel!! Let’s crush him!”
Perhaps it was because of Stefan’s shout, screamed almost like a desperate cry. Lionel’s gaze, which had been parrying Adrian’s attacks, briefly fixed on where Jaelin and Stefan stood.
Having his attention stolen, Lionel’s focus scattered and his sword slowed minutely. Adrian did not miss that opening, and the tip of his blade sliced through the hem of Lionel’s clothing.
Groans of regret leaked out from among the students watching the spar.
Having succeeded in his attack, Adrian did not stop and drove his sword toward Lionel’s upper body.
Unlike the quick strikes and withdrawals before, Lionel’s and Adrian’s swords locked together, and a contest of strength began between them.
Adrian, pushing his sword forward, spat out at Lionel as if chewing him up.
“Even if I’m not skilled enough to be your opponent, you take your mind off things while sparring with me?”
“You’re right. Even giving it my all isn’t enough, and yet I made a mistake. From now on, I’ll do my best.”
Lionel smiled at Adrian, but his eyes were frozen cold.
The balance of strength they had maintained while crossing blades, as if it had all been a joke—Lionel pushed Adrian’s sword away with explosive force.
Adrian, unable to properly respond to Lionel’s sudden change, pulled his body far back to minimize the damage.
In the blink of an eye, Adrian was pushed back to the outer edge of the training grounds where the spectators stood. Dust billowed up thickly along the path Adrian had been driven back.
Adrian swept back the hair covering his vision and immediately corrected his stance.
As the cloud of dust settled, Lionel’s figure standing there came into view.
Though it was a considerable distance, Adrian, standing directly before Lionel, clearly saw the golden light rippling above Lionel’s eyes. It was a sign announcing the operation of a massive amount of mana.
Just how much mana was he using for a mere spar—the man was truly insane.
Adrian also quickly drew up a massive amount of mana to counter Lionel’s.
Crimson flames blazed along Adrian’s blade. The flames gathered at the tip of his sword instantly grew in size and shot out toward Lionel.
But Lionel, despite having drawn up his mana before Adrian, did not launch a preemptive attack.
If that was the case, why on earth had he drawn up his mana at all? Adrian furrowed his brow and stared at Lionel.
Because Lionel’s sword had thoroughly adhered to a defensive style, Lionel drawing up a large amount of mana first like this was highly unusual.
Moreover, apart from Adrian, who stood directly before Lionel, no one noticed that Lionel had drawn up his mana first.
To anyone watching, it looked as though Adrian had been the one to launch a reckless attack unbefitting a spar.
Only just before the blazing ball of fire reached Lionel did a golden barrier form before him.
Adrian braced himself, anticipating the aftershock of the mana collision. But the fireball that struck the barrier did not explode—it swallowed Adrian’s fireball whole.
Even after serving its purpose, the golden barrier blocking Lionel’s front did not disappear and remained as it was.
Adrian furrowed his brow.
‘What the—what on earth is he thinking?’
That was when it happened.
Lionel’s golden barrier whirled at high speed and spat back out the fireball Adrian had created.
The attack Adrian had poured at Lionel was coming back at Adrian.
Having swallowed even Lionel’s mana, it had become a massive, enormous ball of fire several times larger.
“You crazy bastard.”
Adrian keenly realized once again today a fact he had already known.
That Lionel—that son of a bitch—was a madman with only a pleasant shell.
Adrian knew better than anyone the power of the fireball fast approaching. It was made from his own mana, after all.
Regardless, what the two of them were doing right now was a spar. It was not a fight to the death, so there was no need to go all out.
But the ball of fire, having swallowed even Lionel’s mana, had grown too large for Adrian to handle.
Behind Adrian, a crowd of students who had come to watch the spar was standing. If he dodged this, it was obvious that all the students standing behind him would be caught in the explosion.
Lionel could not possibly be unaware of this fact either. He knew, and he had done it on purpose.
‘Son of a bitch.’
Adrian chewed and swallowed the curse once more. What a shitty personality. He could not figure out where the button had been pressed to make him go completely off the rails.
Beyond the fireball, Lionel’s face was clearly visible. Unlike his usual faintly smiling expression, it was a chilling face with all expression deleted. That was Lionel’s true face.
The Academy was full of idiots. Fools who could not properly see through the essence of that twisted human being and just drooled over his glossy exterior.
If he was going to put on an act, he should do it convincingly even before Adrian—but strangely, Lionel revealed his true nature plainly before Adrian. Things he would never show before other students.
The ball of fire had already come right before Adrian’s nose. Adrian had only one option: collide a fireball of roughly similar size in midair and detonate it.
The training grounds would be left in ruins and he would receive disciplinary action, but there was no other way. Fine—it was about time he caused a proper scene anyway.
Adrian condensed mana into the hand holding his sword. No, he was about to.
That is, until he felt an enormous tension of mana behind him.
‘Ha, you really are something.’
Swallowing his bewilderment, Adrian quickly moved away from the ball of fire magic flying toward him, laden with energy.
He did not forget to cast a defensive spell around himself to block the aftermath of the mana sphere’s collision. That bastard would not possibly look out for Adrian’s safety.
The moment Adrian pulled back, a defensive spell large enough to encompass the entire group of students gathered on one side of the training grounds began to materialize.
The sight of the translucent, glowing barrier being constructed was a spectacle in itself. Faint currents of electricity crackled atop the golden barrier.
The mana sphere that struck Lionel’s barrier did not explode, contrary to Adrian’s expectations.
Lionel’s barrier swallowed Adrian’s magic sphere and vanished along with it.
Only then did Adrian understand why Lionel had drawn up a massive amount of mana first.
He had already written the entire scenario up to this point. Predicting how Adrian would move.
Adrian, having taken refuge in a corner of the training grounds with a barrier cast only over his own body, had been reduced to nothing but a complete idiot.
Adrian had pulled back because he knew in advance that Lionel would create a barrier to protect the students, but to the students in the spectator area, it did not look that way.
He had been reduced to a petty coward concerned only with his own safety, indifferent to the safety of the students watching the spar.
It was a stark contrast to Lionel, who had looked after even the students’ safety while sparring.
It was Lionel’s perfect victory. He had even dragged Adrian’s reputation through the mud.
Lionel, having won the spar, approached Adrian. Wearing that same fake smile, stretched only at the corners of his mouth.
“Good match.”
Lionel held out his hand to Adrian.
From the start of the spar to the finishing manners, he was the very textbook example of perfection.
Of course, Adrian could absolutely not agree with that. Adrian fiercely slapped away Lionel’s offered hand and brushed past him.
Among the students who witnessed Adrian’s rude behavior, jeers criticizing him leaked out.
Lionel merely drooped his eyebrows slightly and shrugged.
As Adrian left the training grounds, Lionel’s name burst out from among the students along with cheers.
The spar was completely over. Only then could Jaelin release the breath she had been holding.
The image of that day from her childhood, when the heavy rain poured down, was still vivid in Jaelin’s mind.
But now Lionel had grown strong enough that he needed no one’s help.
The ten years had changed him into someone completely different from the Lionel Jaelin remembered.
“Tsk. Lionel barely won again today. I’ll admit Lionel is amazing. But it’s strange that Adrian hasn’t won even once. Right?”
The rugged student who had been cheering until then sneered at Stefan’s words.
“Does that look like barely winning to your eyes? I know you’re friends, but isn’t your objectivity a bit too lacking?”
“Wh-what! You little—! Is there something wrong with your eyes?”
The thoroughly agitated Stefan snorted aggressively and shook one arm threateningly. Unfortunately, Stefan’s threats were not threatening in the slightest.
The muscular, large-framed student merely sneered as if Stefan were beneath his notice.
Jaelin fidgeted anxiously and tugged at Stefan’s arm.
“Stefan! W-we were supposed to have lunch with Adrian.”
“Ugh. Right! We have to go pick up Adrian.”
As Stefan turned to leave, the rugged student spoke as if picking a fight.
“Look at him running away with his tail between his legs.”
“Hey! I’m not running away! Know that I’m letting you off because I’m busy right now. Just let me catch you one more time. Ugh.”
Stefan shook his fist fiercely, but anyone could see the winner of the fight was clear. Stefan’s threats were nothing but pathetic bluster.
“Oops. Is that so. A guy who can’t do a thing without Adrian, and yet his mouth runs so well.”
“What? Hey! That’s not true! If I set my mind to it, getting rid of you is really not that difficult!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
The man answered perfunctorily and dug at his ear.
“St-Stefan. Let’s go.”
Jaelin desperately pulled at Stefan’s arm as he resisted being dragged away.
Because she did not want to see Stefan get beaten up. Jaelin barely managed to drag the fuming Stefan out from among the crowd cheering and chanting Lionel’s name, and escape.
