The Izelin Academy field was packed with scorching heat.Amid the students’ cheers, Elena’s voice rang out."Third bout. Izelin’s representative: Loen de Valis.""…""And Jerome’s representative: Chepesh Jerome.""Woooo-!"They’d been quiet at my name, but when Chepesh’s was called the Jerome side erupted.Of course, hearing those cheers, Chepesh ground her teeth and glared at me."Tch."Already two losses.From her position, she could never have imagined the situation would flow like this.Jerome’s strongest asset, Kruulin, had lost to the princess of the opposing academy, boosting Izelin’s morale sky-high.On top of that, Josefin—sent as a sacrificial card—hadn’t achieved even the minimum objective; he’d blindsided Chepesh and only tanked Jerome’s morale.And even the plan to force a favorable bracket by matching their side’s representative with the opposing mercenary had gone up in smoke.No wonder she was this incensed.Well… if there was any small mercy in the misfortune, it was that the Izelin mercenary they’d feared turned out to be me, Loen.But at this point, even that was hard to call good news.After being hit this hard, she’d naturally suspect I had something hidden even as I stepped up as representative.Letting the awkward cheers roll past, Chepesh asked quietly,"…How far did you calculate this, exactly?"Two wins taken by Izelin were no coincidence.She wondered if all of this was a stage I had set—and her suspicion was precisely correct.I answered in a calm voice."Up to now, it’s gone according to plan."Yes.From the moment I received Illeina’s letter and accepted the request for aid, all the way to right now—my foot on this dueling ground.There were minor variables, but everything so far had flowed exactly as I intended.It wasn’t because I was particularly smart, nor because Chepesh was particularly foolish.'A difference in information.'The present situation was created solely by an information gap.I had extensive knowledge of the Mir-Elin Saga, whereas Chepesh knew nothing about the person called Loen—let alone about me inside his body.It wasn’t something she could fix by sheer effort.One could say this situation was all but predestined regardless of her responses.All that remained for me was to defeat Chepesh in this bout and close out the Territorial War.At my answer, Chepesh’s clenched fists trembled as she asked,"…So you even knew I would step up as the third representative?""Of course. I knew you’d send Josefin as a sacrificial piece in the second bout, and that you’d personally take the field to reverse the momentum.""Then your presence here is because you judged you could defeat me?"Her voice was measured, as if holding back anger.I declared to her without hesitation."Yes. I will beat you in this bout and lead this Territorial War to victory. And Jerome will, under responsibility for this defeat, cease all provocations and infringements against Izelin Academy and compensate for all damages thus far. Furthermore, Jerome’s invasion of the Izelin Kingdom will be halted.""…"Union member nations are, in principle, bound by a clause forbidding war with one another.Alongside educational, diplomatic, and trade benefits, that is among the reasons many minor kingdoms bleed to affiliate an academy into the Union at all costs.Of course, that doesn’t mean every kingdom and house on the continent affiliates its academies with the Union.For example, my own House de Valis doesn’t own an academy.House de Valis substitutes by holding stakes in other major academies.Sometimes, as with Voltimir, multiple races and houses form a union to become a single academy; sometimes, as with Eredor or Ishtal, a great power becomes the nucleus, integrating vassals or like-minded kingdoms.But relative upstarts like Jerome, or mid-small kingdoms like Izelin, fail to join those venerable leagues and run separately.A chaotic situation with no hard lines.It’s much like the international community; the Union is truly a microcosm of the Mir-Elin continent.And now—In this chaos, I had perfectly blocked Jerome’s ambitions of invasion."You are completely defeated, Chepesh Jerome."My confident declaration.Chepesh slowly shook her head."Too soon to speak of defeat. I only need to win."Whoom-whoom-.Chepesh drew the steel bat at her hip and sliced it through the air."I beat you and take the remaining two wins—simple as that!"In Chepesh’s hand was a steel baseball bat: her personal arm, an Epic one-handed weapon.[Physical Therapist]Its effect was simple:When used by "Direct Bloodline of Jerome," it penetrates 50 percent of all armor protection effects.Even my defensive item, the Aegis Shield, was no exception—hence why I’d lent it to Illeina instead of keeping it.Eyes blazing over the steel bat, Chepesh stared at me—no longer seeing the academy’s good-for-nothing Loen.She recognized me—Loen—as her Territorial War opponent, a threatening enemy, and meant to fight at full tilt."Phew."Fighting is always nerve-wracking.I exhaled, settled my mind, and slid both hands into my pockets.Then, leaning into my [Thick-Skinned] nature, I tilted my head and spoke in an arrogant tone."Come."At the same time, Elena’s voice announced the start of the match."The third bout—begin!""Waaaa—!"At the start of what might be the final bout, cheers thundered like a tidal wave.Within the crashing roar—Bang-.Chepesh kicked off the ground and swung the steel bat straight for my head.Crackle-.Violet lightning wrapped around the bat’s surface.Chepesh’s unique Trait, [Jahaseomryu].'If that lightning bat hits me, my head will literally pop.'In Loen’s shabby body, I was the perfect home-run ball.Watching the bat hurtle closer, I thought,'The flow will be much like with Handol.'Warrior versus mage.The difference now was that Chepesh was far stronger than Handol—and she wasn’t underestimating me just because I was Loen.Which meant more delicate movement and more deliberate tactics than before.The bit of good news:'For a named like Chepesh, I know the data in far more detail than for an extra like Handol.'I watched the violet current crackling along her bat.Her combat art was a unique Skill she’d devised: [Chepesh-Style Combat Art — Jahaseomryu].Stylish and punchy—I knew it well; I’d often used it on a one-handed-sword build."Die!"A brutal vertical chop aimed at my skull.I linked her motion to the skill forms in my head and predicted the next step.'Five steps forward. Then the opener.'With minimal movement, I twisted away from the bat."Where do you think—!"Sizzle-.Missing the opening strike, the bat bucked with a powerful surge and curved back after me with an impossible angle.Whoosh-.'One of three variation patterns: right hook.'Anticipating it, I bent my neck back to slip it and shuffled backward to open space.Tap-tap-."Tch!"Whiffing, she clicked her tongue, recoiled the bat, and leveled it at me.Ssshhh—Mana gathered along the bat.Mana buildup confirmed. Casting window 0.5 seconds before fire. [Ziguang Jintian Cannon].A powerful skill that damages all enemies in a line—and stuns on hit for three seconds.Moreover, crowd-control duration scales with the caster’s Intelligence.If it touches you, you can’t respond; but it has a readying posture, so if you know it, it’s not hard to dodge.Flash—A violet flare filled my vision.KWA-KWA-KWA—!I rolled aside; the purple lightning detonated where I’d been.The arena floor at that line simply vaporized.Crackle— crackle—Residual current spat dangerously from the scorched ground."…"If that hit, I’d be leaving this world for real.Watching the fearsome sight for a beat, I kept thinking.…Thirty-second cooldown to next use. Post-cast recoil lock, but—Whoosh-.Motion-cancel possible via a movement skill.She canceled °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the recoil with a movement skill and lunged for me again.Tap-tap-.I tracked her footwork, predicting the follow-up.…Killing Step. Teleport to a designated spot; if your first basic attack lands on a target with a certain HP-stat gap, it executes instantly.In other words, Loen’s HP meant instant death.We were in reality, so the result might vary—but defeat would at least be certain.Shashak-.She flickered into place behind me like a teleport.Her bat exploded down.BOOM-!The floor where I’d stood blasted apart like a charge had gone off.Shards flew; a fog of dust rose.Tap-tap-.Of course, I’d foreseen it—slipped the strike and widened the gap.And so continued the one-sided exchange."Die!"Whoosh-.Vwoom—Her bat kept screaming past me.At a glance, it might have looked like I was on the back foot, but with minimal movement I avoided everything.Considering the stamina differential between attack and defense, the trade ratio was excellent.My hair and uniform cuffs occasionally popped when a spark kissed them, but her bat never hit me."Grk!"As I kept slipping everything with both hands still in my pockets, Chepesh’s face flushed red with anger.Her every swing cut air; anyone would be furious.Dodging and weaving, I recalled the past week.These last seven days, I’ve run image training against Chepesh dozens of times.Image training.It sounds silly as “imaginary practice,” but its efficacy is backed by research.Vwoom—Given this result, my image training was effective against Chepesh.After her swings kept missing, she glared one eye wide and roared,"You slippery little eel!""Thanks for the compliment."High praise indeed.Vwoom—I tracked the bat grazing my nose and thought,…I’ve established I can dodge Chepesh’s attacks.My pre-applied Agility Enhancement Stone and Haste spell had about thirty seconds left.I had to clinch victory within that window; time to wrap this up.I’d already finished the prep.I poured mana into the shard of a crystal sphere in my pocket.Vmmm—With a strange hum, the shard began to glow.Unlike a typical mage, Loen was “half.”Outside of Alchemy magic, I couldn’t cast—so I needed the help of spell-assist artifacts for combat.Shrrr—Chains of mana manifested from the air.It was the "Mana Chain" I’d used even in the fight with Handol.Sensing the odd mana movement, Chepesh swung and smashed the chain I’d summoned.CLANG—!"Pathetic!""…Pathetic? How cruel."It was one of my few offensive skills.Fwoosh-.I raised one hand—and chains surged up from every corner of the arena.Clatter—There were easily several dozen.While dancing around her attacks, I’d salted crystal shards all over the field."!"Chepesh’s eyes went wide at the sudden flood of chains.I squeezed a fist, aiming at her; dozens of chains shot toward her at once.Clatter—"Tch."Clicking her tongue, she wove and slipped through the oncoming chains with flashy, rapid footwork.Tap-tap-.A dodge routine fit for an action film.But no matter how quick and agile she was, she couldn’t evade all of them.The prolonged exchange had drained her stamina.Attacking burns far more stamina than defending."Grr, enough already!"As chains filled nearly the entire arena, she snarled and leapt skyward.Now!Clack—While she was airborne, one chain snagged her ankle and yanked her down."Kh!"Crash-thud—Losing balance, she slammed into the floor.Once she hit the ground, the rest of the chains closed in like a web snaring prey and bound her limbs in turn.Creak—"Urgh. Let… go!"In an instant her whole body was restrained.Crackle-!She spat violet lightning from her hands, breaking several chains—but not all that pinned her.Shrrr—I guided one chain separately and stripped the steel bat from her grip.Chepesh was now completely disarmed.Slide—With a finger, I worked the chains to haul her up from the floor."Grk."She writhed, trying to break free.Step. Step.I walked up to her, trussed tightly in mana chains, and spoke evenly."The match is decided, Chepesh. With this, you—no, Jerome—have lost. If you have any last words, I’ll hear them.""…"Sensing her defeat, she stopped struggling and lowered her head."Why…"Teeth clenched a moment, she spoke in a trembling voice."Why! Why do you block my path! Is Izelin worth that? Or did you fall for that pitiable princess!"She cried to the air."Do you even know how many people’s fates your paltry schemes will upend? Why—why does an outsider meddle in our affairs and ruin them!"A near-scream.All the plans and efforts she’d piled up had been denied and dismantled; in the end she’d even lost the fight.And to have it all read and countered perfectly by that Loen she’d thought less than dirt.Worse, this would endanger her standing within the academy and push her down in the royal pecking order.Izelin’s invasion had been completely thwarted under her command.Her doubt and fury were only natural.But—I shrugged and answered coolly."Not my concern. Losers losing everything is only natural. This is exactly the survival-of-the-fittest you and Jerome always crowed about."The victor takes all; the loser loses all.In the end, Chepesh bowed before the very principle of might-makes-right she herself preached."…"I addressed her again, to answer her question."And… if you ask why I intervened this time, the reason is simple."Step.I came close and whispered at her ear."Because I am the Student Council President—"I shoved her shoulder and tipped her out of the arena.Thok-."—the Union’s one and only public authority."

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