“Is this really a fight between cadets?” Oh Junhyuk utters in disbelief. His partner is similarly stunned. Seo Youngji loses her focus on her laptop and watches the three-way battle in a daze.
Seo Youngji after pulling herself from a daze, searches on her laptop for any proof that the three in front of them are impostors, but their fighting styles— it all matches up their prior data. They are also not Djinns as the DDT magnifying glass has proven. Moreover, Kim Hajin’s fighting style cannot be replicated at all. This is the same for Kim Suho with his dazzling swordsmanship.
Chae Nyaun might come into question as her fighting ability is quite generic. In fact, this is the first time Seo Youngji learns that Chae Nayun can conjure swords of magic power from thin air. But the fact that Chae Nayun is the granddaughter of Chae Joochul is proof enough to give her confidence that the Chae Nayun they are seeing is not fake.
“T-this is really a fight between cadets.” Seo Youngji tremblingly confesses the undeniable truth.
“Is that so?” Oh Junhyuk expresses his shock in half-disbelief. “These kids… They can give us the run for our money. When they graduate, they will be at least at High Rank.” His words are an understatement.
With the genius and talent the three are displaying, the Master Rank is as good as within their sights. They have youth and time to squander. They only need to be stable, and growing stronger will come to them naturally.
Still, Oh Junhyuk’s words are not entirely false. Nayun, Suho, and Hajin can give Oh Junhyuk and Seo Youngji a run for their money. That suggests the trio fighting in the arena is already at the intermediate rank.
***
The trio’s fight has become a three-way deadlock. If Nayun tries to take down Suho, Hajin will stop her. If Hajin tries to take down Nayun, Suho will stop him. If Suho tries to take down Hajin, Nayun will stop him.
It is a stalemate and someone has to break it.
Nayun has an enormous amount of magic power. Her initial strategy is to outlast both Suho and Hajin given her Gift [Sea of Magic Power], but that seems to be impossibly difficult. The mental exhaustion that comes from abusing her Gift is reaching her faster than draining both Hajin’s and Suho’s stamina.
Eventually, Nayun will be the first one to fall, but she cannot have that. It is a matter of pride. She at least wants to beat Suho and Hajin even just once. She knows how outrageously powerful will the two become, and Nayun doesn’t want to become the Sakura of Team 7 (Thanks to Hyon educating them of the anime culture).
For some reason, she feels outraged as she recalls Hyon’s Naruto references. Hyon Hyung is so happy to learn that Naruto exists in this world. To have something familiar in an unfamiliar world— must mean a lot to him. It should be the same for Hajin considering the two share the same circumstances.
It has been bothering her a lot, but she lacks the courage to ask him. Kim Hajin. If he has a chance to go home, will he choose that over staying in this world?
Nayun cages the bitter thoughts inside her, and decides to break the stalemate herself. She unexpectedly charges at Hajin, not even bothering to defend against Suho’s attacks. It is suicidal to leave her back to an enemy, but this isn’t really a life and battle situation.
For once, Nayun uses trickery in a fight. But she won’t just stop using it to her advantage of Suho’s hesitation to strike her back. Nayun bursts at incredible speeds as she zigzags and dodges Hajin’s bullets.
Suho is surprised by her recklessness and is not able to connect his next attack in time.
Hajin reacts calmly that when he is finally at Nayun’s range, he simply dodges her attacks with relative ease while relying both on his [Dexterity Art] and [Bullet Time] to dodge.
With [Dexterity Art], he maximizes his reflex. And with his [Bullet Time], he buys himself enough time to think and calculate the perfect angle on how to evade Nayun. Hajin feels that Nayun is easier to deal with in close range than medium to long range. “If your aim is to fall me with a single strike, then you are miserably failing.”
Nayun uncharacteristically smiles slyly. “You aren’t my aim from the very beginning so relax.”
The sun is out, and lunch is almost near. Yet, stars litter the sky. Hajin feels a chill on his spine. There are a lot of them. All swords that Nayun conjures from her [Sea of Magic Power] burn brightly from above.
Hajin recalls the many ascending swords from underneath the ground. Nayun strategizing so meticulously is so foreign it scares him, and at the same time… excites him.
One by one, the swords hanging above the sky descend with fury. All of them, rushing at a single target— it is Kim Suho.
“Daybreaker— Star Fall!” Nayun childishly pronounces her new special move’s name. It seems childish, but the impact is not lessened in any way.
Kim Suho desperately tries to fight back as a river of stars crashes down on him. Hajin is similarly desperate as he fires bullets one after another at the falling stars in an attempt to protect Suho, but he can hardly do anything as Nayun sticks to him closely.
Out of an act of desperation, Suho comes running in Hajin and Nayun’s direction. To be more specific— at Hajin’s direction. Hajin quickly deduces Suho’s intentions. Kim Suho wants to bring down Kim Hajin with him.
As a result, Hajin runs away from the approaching Suho. Nayun chases Hajin to keep him in check and imprison him within her range. Meanwhile, Suho tries to chase Hajin, maybe even reach Nayun, but he can hardly catch up as the ‘Daybreaker— Star Fall’ falling on him reduces his speed as if he is in a bog.
To the audience. The fight has become a ridiculous spectacle as the three contenders end up running around in circles. Nayun is able to break the stalemate, but this pressures Suho and Hajin too much into a corner.
There is a saying to beware of cornered rats as they might do something unexpected. Suho and Hajin are no rats, but they feel like one nonetheless.
Kim Suho in one final act of vengeance disregards the raining swords of magic power and unleashes whatever is left from his magic power and stamina. He vanishes into thin air, his speed transcending the speed of light, even disobeying the laws of physics.
In that one small microsecond, Kim Suho has cut air, space, and light.
Because of the others teaching him that he can cut concepts, he has developed several ideas as to how to incorporate them into his swordsmanship and techniques.
In the blink of an eye, he appears at Hajin’s flank. Hajin is a complete sucker at close combat and can only choose escape, so no matter what he does, he won’t be able to defend himself against Kim Suho’s attack.
But Hajin is one not to lose hope. He will give his all. Thus, without hesitation, he squanders his SP to modify his training guns, merge them, and summon a totally upgraded gun, thinly defying the rules of the Combat Exams.
Hajin aims his gun at Nayun who is only a dozen meters away. He reinforces his bullet with his whole Stigma giving life to the bullet with the energy of creation. BANG! His gun crisply releases a flashy [Final Bullet] with a phantom wolf’s head. Hajin is confident that even with this, Nayun will not be able to lightly ignore this.
This is a new [Final Bullet], but instead of Anti-Magic, it has an Anti-Gift function to it.
Nayun doesn’t care. ‘Bring it.’ This is the only thought that is running through her head as she gathers what is left of the raining conjured magic swords. Nayun suffers from a nosebleed as she forces herself to carry the burden of controlling such enormous magic power.
The once-scattered swords of magic power merge into one until it is the length of a cruise ship. Thankfully, the arena is big enough to accommodate such ridiculous power, but Hajin’s bullet is as equally ridiculous as its wolf-head simultaneously expands and starts devouring the ginormous sword of magic power.
Of course, Suho is not forgotten as in one swift motion, he slashes Hajin’s gun, leaving Hajin without any weapon.
But Hajin is not as helpless as he might look.
He calmly defends himself from Suho’s onslaught squandering his SP by using his Authority of [Setting Intervention] on the passing breeze, the dirt below, and even the scattering dust.
Hajin will even go as far as to modify Suho’s shoes to make him slip, not to mention, that Hajin has his overpowered Luck Stat with [Dexterity Art] on top, which only makes him more slippery and harder to kill.
At this point, Nayun almost drops to her knees. She uses her sword as a crutch so that she may remain standing. Her vision is a little bit blurry. The ginormous sword of magic power has been totally annihilated leaving nothing behind. Nayun is only thankful that Hajin’s weird bullet did not continue rushing at her.
Nayun watches Hajin and Suho fight with their fists. For some reason, Suho’s sword ends up breaking. Nayun wants to rest more, but Hajin suddenly comes to her, maybe deciding to use her as a shield from Suho.
Suho chases Hajin futilely.
Nayun realizes what the point is even in continuing, and is on the verge of surrendering. But she persists. They are too excited, and she has too much adrenaline pumping in her veins to care. Hajin and Suho must also feel the same. Nayun would love to reciprocate, as such, she chooses not to surrender.
So Nayun throws herself into the fight once more. When Hajin enters his range, she strikes him down only for the latter to defend himself by catching the sword with his bare hands. Hajin has done something to resist being cut.
Hajin presses Nayun’s training sword in between his fingertips and shamelessly uses his [Setting Intervention] to decrease the training sword’s durability until it becomes frail enough for him to destroy it in a single pinch.
Nayun is speechless as Hajin runs ninety degrees to the left, running away from her, and her from Suho who is slowly catching up. From thereon, it becomes a slugfest. Or perhaps, a marathon.
They throw their fists at each other trying to gain an advantage with the very little bit of strength they have left. The once intricate fight has been reduced to a slugfest.
“Hey, give up…” Hajin ducks low from Suho’s overhead kick.
“No, you give up.” Nayun can barely make a punch, but she still packs a lot of strength.
“Huff… puff… Hajin, stop running!” Suho’s stamina is at its limit, and the same is true for everyone.
The whole arena is silent as the three cadets fight each other, not giving up an inch.
“Stop the match!” “They are all winners!” The people shout, but the trio doesn’t listen as they are immersed in their own worlds, exchanging hurt for hurt, jokes for jokes, and teasing for teasing.
They… are actually having fun.
“Stop,” From above, a silhouette descends. “Stop…” He gently says to the three who drop to the ground with their backs. The new arrival is none other than Chae Joochul.
Because of the sudden arrival, the crowd is shortly reduced to another duration of silence. Few recognize him as he rarely appears now in public both in the mass media and the people.
But word travels fast as Heroes in the vicinity spread the word. There are also the impressions Chae Joochul creates which are pretty much a telltale sign of how high his place in society is.
“Gramps… What are you doing here?” Nayun asks haggardly, short of breath. Suho and Hajin are in a similar state.
Chae Joochul doesn’t know what to feel at this moment, as he lacks the necessary emotion to process what is happening. “Visiting my granddaughter…” He amicably answers, showing his practiced smile.
Vines and flowers surround the trio, and some sort of healing power envelops them.
The end of the Duel Rankings during the Festival of Heroes is memorable enough that it might appear in history books for the future generation to see. The three-way duel between Nayun, Suho, and Hajin has come to an end— all of them ending in stretchers.
It is funny how they can fight so much differently with an audience if compared to their sparring matches in the Little Blue Tower. To think, that it will all come to this is very thought-provoking.
“Is this really a fight between cadets?” Oh Junhyuk utters in disbelief. His partner is similarly stunned. Seo Youngji loses her focus on her laptop and watches the three-way battle in a daze.
Seo Youngji after pulling herself from a daze, searches on her laptop for any proof that the three in front of them are impostors, but their fighting styles— it all matches up their prior data. They are also not Djinns as the DDT magnifying glass has proven. Moreover, Kim Hajin’s fighting style cannot be replicated at all. This is the same for Kim Suho with his dazzling swordsmanship.
Chae Nyaun might come into question as her fighting ability is quite generic. In fact, this is the first time Seo Youngji learns that Chae Nayun can conjure swords of magic power from thin air. But the fact that Chae Nayun is the granddaughter of Chae Joochul is proof enough to give her confidence that the Chae Nayun they are seeing is not fake.
“T-this is really a fight between cadets.” Seo Youngji tremblingly confesses the undeniable truth.
“Is that so?” Oh Junhyuk expresses his shock in half-disbelief. “These kids… They can give us the run for our money. When they graduate, they will be at least at High Rank.” His words are an understatement.
With the genius and talent the three are displaying, the Master Rank is as good as within their sights. They have youth and time to squander. They only need to be stable, and growing stronger will come to them naturally.
Still, Oh Junhyuk’s words are not entirely false. Nayun, Suho, and Hajin can give Oh Junhyuk and Seo Youngji a run for their money. That suggests the trio fighting in the arena is already at the intermediate rank.
***
The trio’s fight has become a three-way deadlock. If Nayun tries to take down Suho, Hajin will stop her. If Hajin tries to take down Nayun, Suho will stop him. If Suho tries to take down Hajin, Nayun will stop him.
It is a stalemate and someone has to break it.
Nayun has an enormous amount of magic power. Her initial strategy is to outlast both Suho and Hajin given her Gift [Sea of Magic Power], but that seems to be impossibly difficult. The mental exhaustion that comes from abusing her Gift is reaching her faster than draining both Hajin’s and Suho’s stamina.
Eventually, Nayun will be the first one to fall, but she cannot have that. It is a matter of pride. She at least wants to beat Suho and Hajin even just once. She knows how outrageously powerful will the two become, and Nayun doesn’t want to become the Sakura of Team 7 (Thanks to Hyon educating them of the anime culture).
For some reason, she feels outraged as she recalls Hyon’s Naruto references. Hyon Hyung is so happy to learn that Naruto exists in this world. To have something familiar in an unfamiliar world— must mean a lot to him. It should be the same for Hajin considering the two share the same circumstances.
It has been bothering her a lot, but she lacks the courage to ask him. Kim Hajin. If he has a chance to go home, will he choose that over staying in this world?
Nayun cages the bitter thoughts inside her, and decides to break the stalemate herself. She unexpectedly charges at Hajin, not even bothering to defend against Suho’s attacks. It is suicidal to leave her back to an enemy, but this isn’t really a life and battle situation.
For once, Nayun uses trickery in a fight. But she won’t just stop using it to her advantage of Suho’s hesitation to strike her back. Nayun bursts at incredible speeds as she zigzags and dodges Hajin’s bullets.
Suho is surprised by her recklessness and is not able to connect his next attack in time.
Hajin reacts calmly that when he is finally at Nayun’s range, he simply dodges her attacks with relative ease while relying both on his [Dexterity Art] and [Bullet Time] to dodge.
With [Dexterity Art], he maximizes his reflex. And with his [Bullet Time], he buys himself enough time to think and calculate the perfect angle on how to evade Nayun. Hajin feels that Nayun is easier to deal with in close range than medium to long range. “If your aim is to fall me with a single strike, then you are miserably failing.”
Nayun uncharacteristically smiles slyly. “You aren’t my aim from the very beginning so relax.”
The sun is out, and lunch is almost near. Yet, stars litter the sky. Hajin feels a chill on his spine. There are a lot of them. All swords that Nayun conjures from her [Sea of Magic Power] burn brightly from above.
Hajin recalls the many ascending swords from underneath the ground. Nayun strategizing so meticulously is so foreign it scares him, and at the same time… excites him.
One by one, the swords hanging above the sky descend with fury. All of them, rushing at a single target— it is Kim Suho.
“Daybreaker— Star Fall!” Nayun childishly pronounces her new special move’s name. It seems childish, but the impact is not lessened in any way.
Kim Suho desperately tries to fight back as a river of stars crashes down on him. Hajin is similarly desperate as he fires bullets one after another at the falling stars in an attempt to protect Suho, but he can hardly do anything as Nayun sticks to him closely.
Out of an act of desperation, Suho comes running in Hajin and Nayun’s direction. To be more specific— at Hajin’s direction. Hajin quickly deduces Suho’s intentions. Kim Suho wants to bring down Kim Hajin with him.
As a result, Hajin runs away from the approaching Suho. Nayun chases Hajin to keep him in check and imprison him within her range. Meanwhile, Suho tries to chase Hajin, maybe even reach Nayun, but he can hardly catch up as the ‘Daybreaker— Star Fall’ falling on him reduces his speed as if he is in a bog.
To the audience. The fight has become a ridiculous spectacle as the three contenders end up running around in circles. Nayun is able to break the stalemate, but this pressures Suho and Hajin too much into a corner.
There is a saying to beware of cornered rats as they might do something unexpected. Suho and Hajin are no rats, but they feel like one nonetheless.
Kim Suho in one final act of vengeance disregards the raining swords of magic power and unleashes whatever is left from his magic power and stamina. He vanishes into thin air, his speed transcending the speed of light, even disobeying the laws of physics.
In that one small microsecond, Kim Suho has cut air, space, and light.
Because of the others teaching him that he can cut concepts, he has developed several ideas as to how to incorporate them into his swordsmanship and techniques.
In the blink of an eye, he appears at Hajin’s flank. Hajin is a complete sucker at close combat and can only choose escape, so no matter what he does, he won’t be able to defend himself against Kim Suho’s attack.
But Hajin is one not to lose hope. He will give his all. Thus, without hesitation, he squanders his SP to modify his training guns, merge them, and summon a totally upgraded gun, thinly defying the rules of the Combat Exams.
Hajin aims his gun at Nayun who is only a dozen meters away. He reinforces his bullet with his whole Stigma giving life to the bullet with the energy of creation. BANG! His gun crisply releases a flashy [Final Bullet] with a phantom wolf’s head. Hajin is confident that even with this, Nayun will not be able to lightly ignore this.
This is a new [Final Bullet], but instead of Anti-Magic, it has an Anti-Gift function to it.
Nayun doesn’t care. ‘Bring it.’ This is the only thought that is running through her head as she gathers what is left of the raining conjured magic swords. Nayun suffers from a nosebleed as she forces herself to carry the burden of controlling such enormous magic power.
The once-scattered swords of magic power merge into one until it is the length of a cruise ship. Thankfully, the arena is big enough to accommodate such ridiculous power, but Hajin’s bullet is as equally ridiculous as its wolf-head simultaneously expands and starts devouring the ginormous sword of magic power.
Of course, Suho is not forgotten as in one swift motion, he slashes Hajin’s gun, leaving Hajin without any weapon.
But Hajin is not as helpless as he might look.
He calmly defends himself from Suho’s onslaught squandering his SP by using his Authority of [Setting Intervention] on the passing breeze, the dirt below, and even the scattering dust.
Hajin will even go as far as to modify Suho’s shoes to make him slip, not to mention, that Hajin has his overpowered Luck Stat with [Dexterity Art] on top, which only makes him more slippery and harder to kill.
At this point, Nayun almost drops to her knees. She uses her sword as a crutch so that she may remain standing. Her vision is a little bit blurry. The ginormous sword of magic power has been totally annihilated leaving nothing behind. Nayun is only thankful that Hajin’s weird bullet did not continue rushing at her.
Nayun watches Hajin and Suho fight with their fists. For some reason, Suho’s sword ends up breaking. Nayun wants to rest more, but Hajin suddenly comes to her, maybe deciding to use her as a shield from Suho.
Suho chases Hajin futilely.
Nayun realizes what the point is even in continuing, and is on the verge of surrendering. But she persists. They are too excited, and she has too much adrenaline pumping in her veins to care. Hajin and Suho must also feel the same. Nayun would love to reciprocate, as such, she chooses not to surrender.
So Nayun throws herself into the fight once more. When Hajin enters his range, she strikes him down only for the latter to defend himself by catching the sword with his bare hands. Hajin has done something to resist being cut.
Hajin presses Nayun’s training sword in between his fingertips and shamelessly uses his [Setting Intervention] to decrease the training sword’s durability until it becomes frail enough for him to destroy it in a single pinch.
Nayun is speechless as Hajin runs ninety degrees to the left, running away from her, and her from Suho who is slowly catching up. From thereon, it becomes a slugfest. Or perhaps, a marathon.
They throw their fists at each other trying to gain an advantage with the very little bit of strength they have left. The once intricate fight has been reduced to a slugfest.
“Hey, give up…” Hajin ducks low from Suho’s overhead kick.
“No, you give up.” Nayun can barely make a punch, but she still packs a lot of strength.
“Huff… puff… Hajin, stop running!” Suho’s stamina is at its limit, and the same is true for everyone.
The whole arena is silent as the three cadets fight each other, not giving up an inch.
“Stop the match!” “They are all winners!” The people shout, but the trio doesn’t listen as they are immersed in their own worlds, exchanging hurt for hurt, jokes for jokes, and teasing for teasing.
They… are actually having fun.
“Stop,” From above, a silhouette descends. “Stop…” He gently says to the three who drop to the ground with their backs. The new arrival is none other than Chae Joochul.
Because of the sudden arrival, the crowd is shortly reduced to another duration of silence. Few recognize him as he rarely appears now in public both in the mass media and the people.
But word travels fast as Heroes in the vicinity spread the word. There are also the impressions Chae Joochul creates which are pretty much a telltale sign of how high his place in society is.
“Gramps… What are you doing here?” Nayun asks haggardly, short of breath. Suho and Hajin are in a similar state.
Chae Joochul doesn’t know what to feel at this moment, as he lacks the necessary emotion to process what is happening. “Visiting my granddaughter…” He amicably answers, showing his practiced smile.
Vines and flowers surround the trio, and some sort of healing power envelops them.
The end of the Duel Rankings during the Festival of Heroes is memorable enough that it might appear in history books for the future generation to see. The three-way duel between Nayun, Suho, and Hajin has come to an end— all of them ending in stretchers.
It is funny how they can fight so much differently with an audience if compared to their sparring matches in the Little Blue Tower. To think, that it will all come to this is very thought-provoking.
