Chapter 57: A Simple Duel (2)

Chapter 57: A Simple Duel (2) Ha-joon summoned his sword and lifted his chin. "Are you sure you want to fight me? I can crush an insect like you effortlessly." Arthur stared at him, then rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Dude, I know you’re the main character and all, but aren’t you a little too dumb?" He exhaled. ’There’s no point even speaking to him.’ Arthur turned to Cassie. "Hey Cassie, can you give me a sword?" Cassie tilted her head and summoned her spare sword from her dimension ring. She tossed him the sword, and the moment he caught it, he assumed a proper sword stance. Ha-joon scowled. "Aren’t you going to use your real sword or original energy?" Arthur smiled slyly. "Why should I though?" Ha-joon’s expression tightened as he adjusted his stance. "Then don’t make excuses when you lose." Arthur nodded. ’I can never lose to you.’ In this generation, Arthur could be considered overpowered. Born with unmatched talent. Granted a system that let’s him bond with others. Clever enough to make people fall for him while always giving that love back. Creating his own original energy. Trained by two people the goddess despised: his mother and his wife. Well, to others, it might have looked like everything was handed to him on a silver platter. But he wasn’t Arthur Arcain because he was strong. The reason he was strong in the first place was because he was himself, Beom-seok, Arthur Arcain, whatever the world called him. If someone else had been given this power, they would’ve failed. He didn’t need a cheat system like Ha-joon’s that handed him whatever he wanted after doing sit-ups or pointless tasks. And now it was time to show the world the difference between him and Ha-joon. Before the match could even begin, Ellie suddenly shouted out. "Hey, you jerk!" She pointed at Ha-joon. "I’m not a delicate princess, okay? I’m cute, but I’m not fragile." She smirked and then shifted her finger to Arthur. "And I’m this idiot’s wife. And his favorite at that." Everyone stared at her, eyes wide. "So next time you see me and my husband, know that we’re a couple and refer to me as Mrs. Ellie Reinhardt Arcain." The crowd immediately burst into murmurs: "No way, I thought he and Amelia were engaged?" "Yeah, is he two-timing her?" "Nah, can’t you see they’re all close?" Everyone simultaneously turned to Cassie, who was standing beside Ellie and Amelia. Her face turned red instantly. "Uhmm... I..." She averted her gaze. "I’m Arthur’s wife too." The boys from both first year and second year turned and glared at him, fury bubbling within them. Ellie let out a breath of relief. "I thought I was going to die holding that in." She smiled fondly, looking at Arthur’s profile. "So husband, you better hurry up or we’ll get a divorce." One guy shouted: "Bastard! Don’t ever call yourself a man again." Another added: "Yeah, a man doesn’t get to have three gorgeous wives." ’Well, they’re five... formally six, I guess.’ Arthur thought. He smiled faintly. ’So much for building a harem of normal people.’ Ha-joon clenched his jaw tightly. ’No matter. Everyone will hear my story once I’m done.’ Arthur eased his posture. "Ha-joon..." Arthur said with a gentle smile. "I hope you’re not still harboring twisted thoughts about someone else’s wives?" Ha-joon felt a pulse of heat rise at his temples as everyone turned to him. "Yeah, this whole match feels off." One voice muttered. "If they’re his wives, I don’t see the point in changing the team anymore." The entire crowd of first and second years began nodding in agreement. Then someone asked, "So what do you think, Princess Ayla? You’re the leader of the last sixth generation faction after all." All eyes turned to the princess as she spoke with her usual cold tone, but this time, it carried something else—loyalty. "I doubt I’ll be fair in this judgment since my liege is the one in question." The voice that asked her responded in confusion. "What?" Ayla reaffirmed her words. "I serve the prince of the demonic dragons, Arthur Arcain, and my faction shall follow him." ... "What? No way..." "Doesn’t this make Ha-joon irrelevant now?" "Yeah, I never liked that guy in the first place. He always sticks his nose in where it doesn’t belong." "I’ve always preferred Arthur. He’s chill and you don’t see him everywhere, though that’s mostly because of certain people." ... Soon, the crowd’s support shifted to Arthur, while Ha-joon stood there, frozen. ’No.’ he thought. ’Goddess, you brought me from my world and gave me skills to rise above, right?’ No voice answered. One of the reasons the church had accepted him as the chosen one wasn’t just because of a single oracle’s vision. No. The main reason was that he could communicate with the goddess through what he told them was a system. But in the past few days, he hadn’t been able to reach her at all. That was why he had to defeat Arthur—no matter what. He gritted his teeth. "All you insects don’t know your place." His voice dropped into a growl. "It seems I’ve been too lenient with you all." He raised his blade with an icy glare. "Now I’ll show you why I was Chosen By The Goddess." He lowered his stance to unleash a sword strike, but Arthur had already shifted his posture. Ha-joon’s glare snapped into wide-eyed disbelief. How could he not recognize that sword stance? It was his ultimate move, one he had trained three years to master. Something Arthur had once walked away from. Even if Arthur was a genius at copying, this was supposed to be impossible. Even he couldn’t have copied it after just one time. Or... ’Or are my skills that mediocre?’ But that wasn’t the case. No matter how much of a genius Arthur was, Ha-joon was still, without a doubt, the protagonist. And copying this move at that level after seeing it only once was impossible. But that only applied if he had seen it just once. Every route. In every route he ever played, that bastard’s sword strike had landed. He had witnessed the move so many times that even with his average gaming ability, he found a way to dodge it. If it was that same sword, the one that had cut him countless times, why couldn’t he replicate it? He was the man who carved his own path, while still being the genius who copied. He was the masterpiece standing before the machine. But this time, the masterpiece wasn’t going to lose to the machine. A sword strike more powerful than Ha-joon’s current self. A sword strike that carried the will of every single Kim Ha-joon Arthur had faced across all routes. A sword strike that held the weight of countless deaths and the pain of every person he had slain. This was a strike for all of them, one that severed every tie he and his wives, both those he had now and those yet to come—had with the protagonist named Kim Ha-joon. The Sword Strike of the Anomaly. Arthur drew a flawless arc in the air. Everything paused, like time itself had been split. Then a ripple echoed across the platform. Arthur hadn’t aimed to kill. That was too dangerous, even for him. But he would show Ha-joon the difference between them. To everyone watching, they could see space, time, and the various hues of mana and force swirl, as if his sword had sliced through reality, allowing unseen energies to spill into their senses. But to Ha-joon, all he saw was death. The sword strike killed him again and again, until his mind began to rot under the pressure. Then the strike bypassed his physical body, bypassed the school, and shot into the sky, tearing it open to reveal the cosmic stretch of outer space. Ellie and Nathira were the first to grin, like they were the ones who’d just pulled off an impossible sword move. Then the rest of Arthur’s wives followed suit, even Isabella, from her room, smiled. The sword in Arthur’s hand didn’t crumble to dust. Instead, it glowed as if reforged anew. Arthur pointed the blade at Ha-joon, who was gasping on the floor. "Yes..." he smirked. "Just a simple duel." ─── ✦ End of Chapter ✦ ───