As I stepped out of the crowded stands and onto the empty stage, the pressure was overwhelming.
The gazes of countless people bore down on me like a crushing weight.
‘Liolikin, who’s always been afraid of others’ eyes, somehow managed to stand up here without running away and even claimed victory. Am I supposed to be impressed?’
To shake off my nerves, I let my mind wander and forced myself to breathe slowly.
I did my best to keep a blank expression and let the hand holding the Whip hang loosely at my side, trying to look calm and composed.
I wasn’t sure if I really looked that way to others.
“Um… I can’t forfeit! I have to win today, confess to my crush, and go on a date with her tomorrow…!”
My opponent, standing across from me, suddenly blurted out his resolution with a strained, tense voice.
He must have seen me advance through the preliminaries with four consecutive wins by default, but he sure put it oddly.
It was as if I’d forced other contestants to forfeit by using my status or something.
Is this extra the only one with that misunderstanding?
‘At this rate… if I don’t show my skills in this match, that misunderstanding will spread fast and become accepted as fact.’
I was unnecessarily annoyed and wanted to retort, ‘Did you and your confession target even agree on that? Why do you think she won’t reject you?’ But I stopped myself.
If I replied to his words, I’d surely be bombarded with questions about our conversation as soon as I returned to my seat.
Getting into a childish argument with an Extra doesn’t fit Karbaldr’s character at all.
So I simply decided to ignore him.
“Then, we’ll begin the fifteenth match!!”
The Announcer’s words had barely finished when my opponent kicked off the ground and charged at me.
Does he underestimate me, thinking I coasted through the preliminaries?
Or is he just trying to look cool for his crush?
Or maybe it’s because my weapon is a Whip and his is a sword, so he wants to close the distance quickly.
Thanks to my opponent volunteering personal info before the match even started, I was able to activate my Mental Acceleration skill with ease.
While checking where his frozen gaze was focused, I gauged which part of my body he aimed to attack.
At the same time, I deliberately slowed the flow of Sky-Blue Aether acting in my brain.
Then my opponent started to move.
Like a slow-motion video shot with a high-speed camera, everything was incredibly slow.
As I activated the Encourage buff skill and slowly raised my hand holding the Whip, my own movements felt sluggish.
It was a little frustrating, but in exchange, the pressure vanished.
In a world where everything moved slowly, even sound became deep and languid; the noisy crowd faded from my awareness.
So I swung my Whip lazily and relaxed.
While doing so, I guessed how my opponent would respond to my attack.
I saw his center of gravity tilt to the right. He must have decided to dodge instead of blocking my Whip with his sword.
Just as I’d hoped. I swung it on purpose to make it easy for him to evade.
The reason was…
‘I need to activate [Goyang] skill!’
Lost in thought for just a moment, the Mental Acceleration skill deactivated, and with a loud ‘Shaaak!’, the sound of the Whip tearing the air rang clear in my ears.
I’ve experienced the Mental Acceleration skill deactivating mid-duel plenty of times.
If I don’t turn it off now and then, the overload becomes too much to handle.
So I wasn’t flustered at all, and activated the [Goyang] skill right as the Whip’s crack rang out.
As vitality surged through my body, exhilaration welled up inside me.
No wonder the skill is called [Goyang].
I felt the corners of my mouth rise.
This time, I swung the Whip with full force toward my opponent, intending to attack for real.
Was it a mistake to think my previous half-hearted attack with just Encourage was my best?
Perhaps startled by the Whip’s sudden speed and accuracy, the Extra hastily raised his sword, missing his chance to dodge.
He parried my attack and retreated with a big leap back.
Judging by the serious look as he watched me warily, maybe he realized I’m not such an easy opponent.
‘Now, what will he do? Will he charge in again to close the distance? Or use his Aether Attribute ability?’
I still didn’t know what Aether Attribute ability my opponent had.
His pupils were orange, but since he’s just an Extra, there’s a 99% chance it’s unrelated to his trait.
Maybe he’s set up as someone with a non-combat skill and won’t use it at all.
‘But if he does use his ability… and if it lets him attack from range, now would be the perfect time for a probing strike…’
I adjusted the Aether flow of the Mental Acceleration skill that had activated at some point and gripped my Whip tightly.
Sure enough, my opponent lifted the hand not holding his sword.
A transparent, orange-tinged energy gathered in his palm, forming the shape of an arrow.
‘He’s an Extra, so he probably doesn’t have any special abilities. In the world setting—actually, for the author’s convenience—elemental-type abilities are common, and since it’s not a liquid, this must be a wind attribute.’
I swung my Whip toward the slowly flying wind arrow.
The opponent tried to control the arrow and dodge my Whip, but I could change my own attack’s trajectory mid-strike, too.
By manipulating the Purple Aether enveloping my Whip, I controlled its movement.
Unable to cope with the erratic motion, the wind arrow collided with my Whip and burst apart.
‘Now that he’s seen this, he’ll grit his teeth and fight even harder.’
Some might say I showed a tricky technique too easily, but I don’t think I made a mistake.
I didn’t want people saying I won only because my opponent let his guard down.
For my own growth, I hoped he’d fight me with everything he had.
‘Still, I should finish this before he gets used to fighting against a Whip. I can’t lose!’
This time, he fired three arrows at once.
And rather than just stand there, he dashed after the arrows, charging at me.
‘He must be trying to close the distance and suppress me while I’m busy dealing with the wind arrows.’
If I had to swing my Whip once for every arrow, three times in total, things would go just as he planned.
But right now, the three arrows looked to me like slugs crawling toward me.
Calculating a trajectory to knock all of them down with a single Whip strike wasn’t hard at all.
Even though the process made the Mental Acceleration skill deactivate.
But since I’d already figured it out, I swung my Whip without hesitation and fixed my eyes on my next target: my opponent.
At that moment, the Extra faltered, his gaze fixed somewhere other than me.
‘He’s controlling the wind arrows he shot!’
The realization dawned in an instant, and the Mental Acceleration skill reactivated.
He stayed calm, even when I swept away all his arrows with one Whip strike.
But since he’s a First Year Extra, his techniques were simple, and he wasn’t used to controlling both his body and the arrows at once.
Relaxed, I let those thoughts flow as I tracked his gaze, which only seemed slow to me.
Sure enough, one arrow barely evaded my Whip and was closing in.
I redirected my Whip’s path again and burst it, causing the Extra’s face to fill with dismay.
But he quickly steeled himself, determination written all over his face. He really wanted that confession to succeed.
I might have felt moved, but I had no reason to let him win.
After all, you can still confess even if you lose the match.
‘If the girl rejects him just because he lost, it just means she doesn’t actually like him that much, right?’
So I didn’t hesitate and swung my Whip at the Extra.
Even after dodging, he kept his eyes on my Whip. He must have thought I’d manipulate its movement again.
But controlling my Whip’s speed and power with Purple Aether, while maintaining Mental Acceleration by slowing Sky-Blue Aether flow, is a heavy burden…
[Encourage] and [Goyang].
Those two buff skills boost my mental stats, so I can just barely manage it—if not, it’d be impossible.
In this situation, just moving my arm and swinging the Whip again is much better.
So that’s what I did.
There’s probably no one in the Academy who doesn’t know my Purple Aether Attribute ability is a ‘buff.’
And thanks to my conversation with Reysir Daudabina in chapter 61, rumors have spread that Sky-Blue Aether is a ‘Rain Summoning’ ability.
Maybe that’s why, aside from the Whip, my opponent thought I had no other means of attack.
The Extra ignored me and focused his eyes on my Whip, dodging it while forming another wind arrow.
And when my Whip struck the ground again, he finally looked at me.
‘He must be confirming the target spot before shooting!’
He could only make three wind arrows at once this time as well.
So the result was the same.
I swept them away just as before.
The opponent must have expected this, too.
He’d only used the arrows as a means to close the distance.
Now, only two or three steps separated me from his sword’s reach.
The Extra took a large step forward, gripping his sword tightly.
At the same time, I visualized the path his sword would take and stepped back to maintain the right distance, swinging my Whip.
He dodged to the side to avoid it.
‘I bet next he’ll charge diagonally and immediately swing his sword at me.’
Thinking that, I maintained the Mental Acceleration skill and used the Purple Aether to redirect my Whip’s trajectory to match his movement.
This time, since I wasn’t attacking, I didn’t care if the power dropped.
My head throbbed a little, but that was to be expected.
Just as I planned, my Whip wrapped around the Extra’s sword.
He froze in place.
Is he trying to figure out what to do in this situation?
There’s no reason for me to wait while he decides.
I kicked off the ground and lunged forward, closing the gap while twisting my wrist to wind the Whip around my hand and shorten its length.
Then, I thrust my empty left hand forward and grabbed the Whip’s tip that had wrapped around his sword.
Of course, I manipulated it with Purple Aether.
With both hands, I pulled the Whip taut and pressed in.
The Extra tensed his arm holding the sword, probably to avoid cutting himself.
Even though I’d boosted my strength with buffs, I had no intention of getting into a test of strength. If he fired a wind arrow at me in that position, I’d only get hurt.
So I quickly kicked at his legs, and while he staggered, I yanked my arms back and stepped away.
Already off-balance, the Extra stumbled forward and dropped his sword.
I snatched the sword’s hilt with my left hand and stepped on his shoulder so he couldn’t get up.
With the sword’s point at his body, I declared victory.
“Match over! Karbaldr Austri wins!”
As I ended the Mental Acceleration skill, the Announcer’s voice rang out, announcing my victory.