Chapter 120: Crushed

The host, lacking an eye for detail, confidently predicted a fierce showdown—an utterly mistaken guess—and then announced the start of the match.

At that, Nidhr pulled an even more outrageous stunt than the host.

Waggling his fingers, he taunted the Original Protagonist to make the first move.

I could see Reysir Daudabina give a hollow laugh.

Apparently, even he found Nidhr’s antics ridiculous.

However, instead of answering with an equally childish provocation, Reysir wiped the smile from his face and kicked off the ground.

When he’d closed some of the distance—

He timed his spear swing perfectly, and Nidhr responded by swinging his sword with all his might.

-KAANG!

A sharp, resounding crash rang through the arena.

The spear, wreathed in golden Aether, and the sword, sheathed in ochre Aether, collided.

They locked together, frozen in place.

Though the result was the same for both, Reysir’s expression remained unchanged, whereas Nidhr’s face betrayed a flicker of surprise.

I’d guess Nidhr had intended to deflect Reysir’s attack, create an opening, and counterattack.

But when the spear didn’t budge at all, he must have realized things weren’t going as he’d hoped.

‘Sure, Reysir’s actual strength is much higher, but Nidhr looks bigger physically. It’s only natural he’d overestimate his own power.’

Instead of showing off by overpowering Nidhr’s sword, Reysir lifted the head of his spear over his own shoulder.

As a result, the shaft traced a diagonal arc forward—

—and struck Nidhr’s waist.

Judging by the hefty impact, Nidhr’s body wavered slightly.

Yet, instead of retreating, he swung his sword immediately.

A spear and a sword—the choice made sense, considering their respective reaches.

But since Nidhr had attacked without properly regaining his stance, it was only a token move to keep from exposing a gap, not a serious blow.

Reysir calmly dodged the sword and thrust his spear.

Nidhr narrowly avoided the tip aimed at his abdomen.

His training uniform was sliced down the side, but a dodge was a dodge; this time, he regained his posture to launch a real attack.

Of course, he didn’t succeed.

Reysir’s spear shaft blocked the attempt, so Nidhr’s sword couldn’t go as far as he wanted.

Even the Aether enveloping Nidhr’s blade failed to shine fully.

Before the Original Protagonist’s dazzling golden Aether, the Original Villain’s ochre Aether looked all the more dull and unimpressive.

‘Because their colors are similar, the comparison only gets harsher!’

Nidhr withdrew his sword, then lunged again.

Reysir swung his weapon, easily deflecting the attack.

Then, with the back end of his spear, he landed a precise blow to Nidhr’s solar plexus.

Staggering back, Nidhr clutched his chest with one hand.

Yet again, Reysir’s spear shaft swung at him.

This time, there was no way to block or dodge.

Nidhr couldn’t even use the [Earth Grasp] skill to raise a wall of stone for defense.

‘Well, after getting hit square in the solar plexus, even breathing would be hard!’

Only after being struck did Nidhr manage to raise the stone wall.

Just from reading this, it might seem he was pointlessly closing the barn door after the horse had bolted.

Well, that’s half-true, but there was another reason for his actions.

His real goal was to create some distance from Reysir.

By raising the wall, Nidhr blocked further attacks and Reysir’s approach, quickly retreating behind it.

He probably wanted to break the flow of the fight, which was turning against him, and regroup.

Instead of circling around the wall, Reysir shattered the obstacle and advanced.

Fragments of stone flew at him.

He spun his spear, effortlessly knocking them all aside.

Then, he fired a bolt of lightning at Nidhr…

‘Why did he just take that?’

Watching Nidhr trembling from the shock, I felt a pang of confusion.

‘Isn’t he supposed to be special? Can’t he even block attacks I managed to stop?’

…Not that I meant it as a jab.

‘If Reysir had raised his hand and Nidhr had immediately conjured a stone wall, he could have defended against the lightning. In the original story, Nidhr blocked Reysir’s lightning attacks like that several times. But now, he just stood there, doing nothing. Isn’t that odd?’

‘…What are they talking about?’

When I got electrocuted, he didn’t wait for me to recover before charging.

Reysir planted the butt of his spear on the floor and said something quietly.

Despite his twitching lips, Nidhr managed to reply through the spasms.

Once again, golden lightning crackled from Reysir’s fingertips and shot out.

The same thing happened again.

Nidhr was hit by the full shock once more.

‘Could he have been trying to imitate my pinpoint defense against Reysir’s lightning, but failed because of reaction speed?’

Nidhr doesn’t know I have the Mental Acceleration skill, and he’s overconfident in his own abilities—so that must be it.

If so, I can more or less guess the gist of their exchange on stage.

Reysir probably taunted Nidhr, asking if he couldn’t even block a simple attack, and Nidhr insisted he try again so he could give it another shot.

“……………”

I saw Reysir’s lips move again.

Then, in the next instant—

Nidhr’s expression twisted with humiliation, and he charged at Reysir.

‘What did the protagonist say to get that reaction…?’

‘Maybe I really do need to learn lip-reading this vacation. That would help me narrate as a first-person protagonist better.’

Just as that thought crossed my mind, sparks leaped from Reysir’s spear.

Until now, he had simply enveloped his spear with pure, compressed Aether, but now he added the lightning attribute.

Nidhr, for his part, still had his sword wrapped in Aether.

A few sparks might sting if he got close, but as long as the weapons clashed, he wouldn’t be electrocuted.

Even so, Nidhr hesitated.

‘Is it because he just got shocked twice in a row, so he’s flinching without realizing it?’

Even a brief moment’s hesitation in a duel can spell disaster.

Not that it would have changed the outcome—his opponent is who he is—but perhaps it made Nidhr’s defeat come ten seconds sooner.

Though Nidhr rushed in first, Reysir was the first to move.

Rather than slashing, Reysir struck Nidhr’s side with the spear shaft.

But with Aether charged with lightning attribute coursing through the weapon, I wasn’t sure if that was mercy or just ruthless efficiency.

In the end, Nidhr collapsed in a faint, unable to even cry out.

There could be no handshake after the match, as there was in the original story.

As soon as the host declared the winner, Reysir left the stage without so much as glancing at Nidhr, who lay twitching on the ground.

‘Originally, these two were destined to be enemies, but now there’s really no turning back…!’

Things have gone even worse than in the original, straight into disaster.

Now that it’s come to this, I kind of hope Nidhr drops out like Reysir did, giving up his studies for revenge, and never comes near me again.

That’s my most sincere wish.

“Wow… I knew Reysir was strong, but I guess I only understood a fraction of what he’s capable of.”

Turning toward the voice, I saw Vigdis Shalbrady looking dazed.

Her gaze followed Reysir as he made his way toward us, through the crowd.

If there weren’t so many people around, I might have asked if she’d fallen for him.

But if I asked now, I couldn’t claim it was just curiosity and not jealousy, so I kept my mouth shut.

“Reysir, congratulations on winning.”

The first to greet Reysir as he returned to his seat was his childhood friend.

Hailga’s tone was plain, but not because she was being coy.

She’d been sure from the start that Reysir would win, so there was no reason to be overly impressed.

Still, her genuine joy and pride were clear on her face.

“Nidhr is strong for his age, but Reysir is on a whole different level..! I didn’t expect him to win so overwhelmingly..! That was amazing! I was awestruck the whole time I watched!”

In contrast to Hailga’s calm congratulations, Vigdis ended every sentence with an exclamation point, unable to hide her excitement.

Having once crossed swords with Nidhr herself, she must have found Reysir’s overwhelming victory even more impressive.

“A-a-amazing… r-really! R-Reysir, just how can you be so strong? You’re beyond student level, r-really…!”

Liolikin Tremmler joined in praising the Original Protagonist.

Even the extra students sitting nearby, whose names I didn’t even know, applauded Reysir or whistled and gave him a thumbs-up.

‘Well, when the winner dominates by such a wide margin, it’s not surprising people react that way.’

‘But why does it feel off?’

Back in chapter 61, after Reysir’s ‘non-speech,’ the extras suddenly seemed to grow a conscience and acted unnaturally polite.

“Ahaha… um… thank you, everyone.”

Surrounded by so much praise, Reysir blushed and looked a little awkward.

Then he quietly took a seat…

“…Why are you sitting next to me instead of your childhood friend?”

“I figured you’d have a lot to say to me.”

‘Was Reysir always this hungry for praise in the original story?’

He blushed when even strangers congratulated him, yet still seemed unsatisfied.

Knowing how persistent he could be, I realized there was no point in staying silent.

Rather than waste time bickering, I decided to give him what he wanted.

“You said you’d win this tournament, and you did. So, congratulations.”

“Thanks for the congratulations. But don’t you have more to say?”

“…I had a hunch you’d be strong, but you really are incredible. Almost unbelievably so.”

“Thanks for the compliment. But that’s not all, right?”

No matter how many times I congratulated and praised him, the protagonist was never satisfied.

And just moments ago, he’d looked so shy about all the attention.

Now that I’d opened my mouth, his face was all bright smiles, as if he’d never been embarrassed.

So it felt like he’d transferred all that awkwardness onto me.

“…What exactly do you want me to say?! Is it ‘thanks for helping me train, otherwise I wouldn’t have made the top sixteen’?”

“You were thinking that? That’s really touching and makes me proud~? Hahaha!”

The more I spoke, the deeper I felt myself sinking into a bog.

If there’s something he wants to hear, why doesn’t he just say it, instead of fishing for it?

Vigdis was like this in chapter 109, too.

‘Is it just the roundabout way nobles like to speak?’