Chapter 207: End of a Semester 5.5
Flash—!
The blast was followed by a blinding light.
[Luminous Spear]
Thanks to [Time Dilation], I had just enough time to properly react to the spears’ trajectory.
They moved at light speed, and dodging them was nearly impossible without honed battle instincts and a slowed perception.
Even with these advantages, it still wasn’t enough to avoid every strike.
I can’t dodge them all…
Instead, I had to block.
With each spear coming at me, I forced my blade into the path of the attacks, slashing and cutting through them, one after the other.
Kwang—! Kwang—! Kwang—!
Each impact sent shockwaves through my arms, my blade clashing against the concentrated light magic.
I barely had time to catch my breath before the next wave came at me.
A relentless barrage of spears locked onto me, their paths curving as if they had a will of their own. Rose was giving me no room to breathe, let alone counter.
I shifted my stance, redirecting my body to flank her, to close the distance once more.
But just as I moved, my body froze again.
What now?
Once more, red magic circles appeared around me, locking me in place.
The translucent, red energy that formed around me was something I couldn’t fully recognize, some kind of binding spell.
I struggled against it, but my limbs were completely immobilized.
Damn it…
I thought about using [Monarch’s Will], forcefully putting myself in danger to break free.
But I knew better. Rose’s magic wasn’t something I could brute-force my way out of.
The ability to resist or cancel lesser spells meant nothing when it came to Rose.
She was leagues ahead, and no amount of raw strength could undo her intricate magic traps.
I said she didn’t have to hold back… but is she even going all out?
Even though I was feeling cornered, something told me that Rose wasn’t unleashing her full potential.
Since Rose was using the same standard spell she normally relied on, it was obvious she was playing it safe.
Her focus was on maintaining control rather than pushing herself to her limits.
Watching her calmly cast, I realized something—I had completely underestimated how powerful the heroines were this early in the game.
My standard for strength had always been Lucas, the unbeatable force I’d measured myself against.
But seeing Rose now, in all her quiet, terrifying power, I felt a wave of bitter understanding.
Damn…
All the confidence I had at the start, thinking I could turn this duel into a real fight, was gone. The gap between us was too wide, and there was no path to victory I could see.
My skills, as honed as they were, felt useless here.
Unlike my bout with Lucas, where I’d at least felt like there was a chance, here I couldn’t even imagine how I’d pull off a win.
Yet, despite the grim reality, my lips curled into a smile.
If I’m going to lose, I might as well make it epic.
[Raging Storms] [Proficiency (15%)] → [Activated.]
This was a skill I wanted to save for later, something I had been keeping in reserve for a more decisive moment.
But now I realized that was just arrogance.
The thought that I’d have time to wait for a “better” moment was a delusion.
If I didn’t go all out now, there’d be nothing left to show for this fight.
Dark clouds swirled overhead, and the rumble of golden lightning filled the air.
The atmosphere around us grew heavy as the sky itself seemed to answer my call.
The energy crackled dangerously, threatening to unleash hell.
But even as the ominous storm gathered above, Rose remained unbothered.
Her focus never wavered, her expression calm, as if the tempest I summoned was nothing more than a passing breeze.
Instead of reacting to the brewing storm, she sped up her assault. Smaller spears of light formed rapidly around her, launching toward me in a relentless barrage.
Their speed increased, as did their quantity.
It was as if Rose, sensing the shift in my desperation, decided to overwhelm me with sheer numbers.
Each spear cut through the air with pinpoint accuracy, forcing me into a desperate defensive stance.
KWOOSH!!!!
Kwang—! Kwang—! Kwang—!
The sounds of my sword meeting the spears echoed like drumbeats. But I knew I couldn’t hold out forever.
She’s not even breaking a sweat…
For every spear I managed to block or deflect, two more seemed to appear.
[Skill: Tempest Wolf Summon] → [Activated.]
With little leverage left, I decided to play my last trump card. Summoning Raijin into the fray was always my ace in the hole.
The skies above darkened, rumbling with the power of storm and lightning as my familiar, Raijin, descended in a flash of raw electricity.
His full-bodied, gigantic wolf form was a sight to behold, wreathed in tempestuous energy, ready to tear through anything in his path.
Rumble—!!! Rumble—!!!
But before Raijin could make contact, Rose’s barrier materialized, blocking the onslaught with ease.
Every bolt of lightning that Raijin summoned was met with her unshakable defense, bouncing off the barrier like harmless sparks.
The sheer force of Raijin’s magic, wild and powerful as it was, seemed futile before Rose’s overwhelming control.
Her mastery over magic wasn’t just raw power—it was finesse, precision, the kind of command only someone destined for greatness possessed.
Without missing a beat, Rose redirected the lightning.
What should have been Raijin’s own weapon was turned against him.
In an almost casual display, she amplified the energy and hurled it back at him, as if it had always been hers to control.
RUMBLE—!!!
Raijin, the wolf born from storms, shrieked in pain as the very lightning he was so proud of struck him down.
The force of it made him stumble, his form flickering, and a pained cry echoed through the arena.
It was a cruel twist of fate to see him, the embodiment of a tempest, brought low by his own element.
Still, as much as I hated seeing my familiar in pain, there was a certain clarity that washed over me.
This duel was already lost. There was no chance of turning the tide, no miraculous comeback waiting for me.
But strangely enough, I didn’t feel disappointed.
I hadn’t expected to win, not really.
This was always going to be a lesson in ways to fighting mages especially someone of Rose’s caliber.
And in that regard, I’d learned a lot.
‘Yup… it was best to avoid high ranking mages without any plans in mind!’
Her power far exceeded what I anticipated.
In the game, Rose wouldn’t have reached this level until Act 3 or 4—yet here she was, already displaying the strength of a future Archon, miles ahead of where she should have been.
Since she had technically soloed Dorothy before, I should have expected nothing less.
Rose’s strength wasn’t just a fluke—it was formidable, terrifying even.
But…
Despite the overwhelming pressure I felt, a strange sense of relief crept in.
Knowing that someone like her would be an ally in the future, especially when it came time to face someone like Liyana, made the impossible seem just a little more within reach.
BOOOMMM!!!
A bright, golden light burst from where I stood, scattering mana in all directions.
Before I could even fully process what was happening, I was surrounded by orbs of light, their magical energy dense and suffocating.
They blinked into existence around me, humming with power.
And then, without warning, they all exploded in unison.
The pain was immediate, soaring through my body like fire as I was flung into the air.
My muscles screamed in agony, every nerve ending alight with the brutal aftermath of the attack. In that split second, as the world blurred around me, I knew.
It was over.
I had lost.
As my vision swirled, the last thing I saw was Rose—her expression unreadable, but there was a softness to her eyes.
Concern, maybe?
Her breath came out in misty, cold air, her body still brimming with residual mana.
She really hadn’t gone all out.
Not by a long shot.
Damn it…
As much as I wanted to deny it, to shake it off as another lesson or a stepping stone, the truth clawed at me.
Man…
I really wanted to win.
“Winner, Rose Brilliance!!!”
[Note: Automatic effect of item [Heart of Chronos (Unique)] will now be activated]
[Note: User physical status will now retur-]
‘Cancel’
I can’t have one of my trump cards be thrown out in the open this early.
…..
“He lost?”
Flamme tilted her head, her expression a mix of curiosity and mild confusion.
The crowd had erupted into a wave of cheers, voices rising in unison, but she sat quietly, feeling oddly disconnected from the excitement around her.
For everyone else, the duel had been a spectacle—epic in its own way, a mage versus a knight.
It wasn’t the typical match-up seen at the academy, but that’s what made it even more intriguing to the audience.
Yet, for Flamme, something felt off.
No matter how much she tried to wrap her mind around it, she couldn’t quite grasp what had just happened.
She wasn’t an expert in battles—far from it—but even with her limited understanding, she could tell something was missing.
The fight, while thrilling, but left her feeling unsatisfied.
Was that it?
It wasn’t just that Riley had lost.
That wasn’t what bothered her.
It was that the duel itself felt… restrained.
Like neither of them—neither Riley nor Rose—had been able to fully show case their fullest.
Both had incredible abilities, that much was clear, but it seemed like they were holding back, fighting with invisible limits neither wanted to cross.
“He’s really contradictory from all the rumors, Neru,”
She had heard plenty about Riley Hell before coming to the academy.
The rumors painted him as something larger than life, a prodigious knight who could handle anything thrown at him.
But now?
Watching him unconscious on the stage after such a battle…
it didn’t add up.
Disappointing….
‘Maybe I had expected too much?’
