Chapter 294

—Waaaaahhh!

The audience erupted in cheers, but there were some who had been watching the tournament since the day before who were left bewildered.

“What the heck! How did Reinhart lose?” Olivia Lanche shouted in disbelief.

Most of the spectators from the Royal Class had similar reactions. Even those from Class B were just as surprised.

Reinhart, who was on an undefeated streak, had been forced into a messy and disorganized retreat by Scarlett, and eventually lost the first bout.

Not only had he failed to use Mana Reinforcement, but he had also been pushed back helplessly. While it was true that Scarlett’s swordsmanship was dazzling and swift, accurately exploiting every gap, Reinhart had seemed unusually powerless.

Everyone present knew that something was off, but they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

“He can’t use his supernatural power,” Ellen said.

“... What?”

“I said, he can’t use his supernatural power.”

Even though others couldn’t see it, Ellen could.

Having crossed swords with Reinhart countless times, Ellen knew everything about his swordsmanship. She could tell when he was using his supernatural power, when he wasn’t, and when he was focusing it to temporarily enhance his strength. Ellen had meticulously observed all of it.

Because of this familiarity, Ellen could tell that, for some reason, Reinhart was completely unable to use the power of Self-Deception.

“Why can’t he use it?” asked Harriet.

“I don’t know.”

“Well... from what I know, her Talent is Immunity. Could it be related to that?”

Ellen wasn’t particularly interested in the affairs of Class B, but Harriet knew about this because of her association with the Magic Research Club. Immunity was a very unique but potentially very powerful talent depending on the situation.

Ellen nodded, agreeing with the suggestion that it might be exerting its influence.

“It’s possible that her Talent is preventing Reinhart from using his supernatural power...”

“What the heck! Reinhart’s supernatural power is his specialty, and if he can’t use it, that’s cheating!” Olivia fumed, but no one pointed out that just having supernatural powers was already quite unfair.

Everyone knew that this senior, who was absurdly biased towards Reinhart, would defend him no matter what he did, and find any reason to justify it.

It was best to just let her rant on her own, since arguing with her would be exhausting.

The conclusion was clear.

A bizarre Talent called Immunity was exerting absolute influence over Reinhart.

Sabioleen Tana, who had overheard the conversation, watched Reinhart as he was summoned back to the arena for the second set.

Charlotte was observing both Scarlett and Reinhart.

Scarlett and Reinhart... Both were precious to her, though they meant different things.

Whenever her heart leaned towards one, she felt sorry for the other.

This time, Reinhart was facing a tough matchup.

“What do you think will happen?” Charlotte asked, and Sabioleen Tana shook her head.

“Reinhart will have a hard time,” she replied.

Sabioleen Tana didn’t know much about Reinhart’s supernatural power, but if he couldn’t use Mana Reinforcement, the outcome was clear.

‘Unless he summons Tiamata,’

she thought.

However, that was not something to resort to so casually.

Sabioleen Tana predicted Reinhart’s defeat.

If he had met Scarlett in the finals, he might have been the runner-up, or if Scarlett had been paired with a different opponent in another semifinal and lost, he might have won the tournament.

In the end, it was the luck of the draw, and Reinhart had come up short.

***

The next bout ended up much like the first, and I was forced to concede again.

The announcer’s voice buzzed annoyingly in my ears.

—The current set score is 2-0! If Scarlett wins one more bout, she will advance to the finals!

The screens in the stadium alternated between Scarlett’s face, serene and composed, and mine, full of tension. Scarlett had promised to do her best, and she was doing just that.

I had always given my all, using my full strength even in practice duels.

Scarlett had always gone up against me without using her full power until this match.

However, out of respect or reverence for me, Scarlett was giving her all this time.

I felt the urge to ask her to go easy on me, but the words wouldn’t come out. I had my abilities, and Scarlett had hers.

We were simply using what we had.

Scarlett neither mocked me nor showed any sign of worrying about me.

‘Am I really your idol? How can I be your idol if I’m so weak in front of you?’

Of course, I knew she hadn’t been talking about my skills earlier on, but faced with Scarlett’s expressionless face, I couldn’t find a way to break through.

Whenever I faced opponents in which there was a significant gap in skill, I had relied on my supernatural power to bridge that gap and overcome them.

Now that this tool was unavailable, there was no way I could overwhelm Scarlett.

I hadn’t anticipated that Scarlett could nullify my abilities.

I hadn’t considered the possibility that Scarlett’s Talent might neutralize my supernatural power. Such a thing had been impossible in the original story, so I believed it couldn’t happen in this match as well.

In the original story, for example, Riana’s electric shock could not harm Scarlett if it hit her. However, in Scarlett’s current form, Riana wouldn’t even be able to activate her electric powers in front of Scarlett.

I had to admit it. I had been arrogant.

My thoughts had been on the finals after Scarlett.

However, the reality was that I had just conceded two bouts and was facing defeat.

I had to accept it. There was no way to win.

In the end, my supernatural power was most of what I had. This was just a case of a bad matchup.

The only consolation was that Scarlett was the only person in the world with such a level of total immunity.

As I pondered whether to accept this defeat as the price of my arrogance, Scarlett spoke.

“Have you given up?” she asked.

The start of the third bout had already been announced, but Scarlett hadn’t approached me yet.

“...”

“Have you been living by relying on a supernatural power that you accidentally awakened? Is it that, without your supernatural power, you can’t use Mana Reinforcement or anything else, and that makes you a powerless and pathetic person?”

Scarlett spoke quietly.

Was she criticizing me?

Was she pitying me, mocking me for being a dog with no place to turn to, running away with my tail between my legs?

No, it didn’t sound like that.

“No, I know it’s not,” Scarlett said, pointing her blade at me. “When you fought the third-year student, knowing no one would help you, knowing you’d only get beaten worse if you got up, you still... you still kept getting up.”

Scarlett took a step closer to me.

“I remember the look in your eyes back then.”

What had I been thinking at that time?

It was so long ago that I couldn’t remember it well. Sometimes, though, others remember our experiences better than we do.

In this case, that person was Scarlett.

While it had been a strong early memory for me, it seemed even more intense for Scarlett.

With nothing to my name, in a situation where everyone wanted me to lose, I kept getting up, getting beaten down, flying through the air and falling, but I kept getting up.

Back then, I had no allies.

Yet, I kept getting up and eventually landed a hit on Mayaton, ultimately awakening my supernatural power.

That look in my eyes... There was no way I could have seen it, because they were my own eyes.

But Scarlett remembered.

“Please show me that look again,” Scarlett said as she walked slowly towards me.

Not to hold my hand, but to point her sword at me.

Two people could never have the same level of emotion towards each other.

Scarlett wasn’t important to me, but I was important to her. I hadn’t done anything for Scarlett, but she had received something from me. Through the meaning she found in that moment and her efforts to change, she had grown into a different person with different abilities.

That was why Scarlett called me her idol.

Scarlett did not want me to give up. She didn’t want to see her idol run away just because his supernatural power was sealed.

Just like back then, she wanted to see me grit my teeth and accomplish something.

Scarlett didn’t truly know me. She only idolized me. And in her idolization of me, Scarlett had developed an image of me that she wanted to see, which was different from the real me.

She had magnified certain parts of me and defined me, almost deifying me.

Scarlett wanted something from me.

I had no reason to fulfill her wish.

This was essentially coercion.

In Scarlett’s calm and serene eyes, I saw a strong desire for something from me.

‘I know you can do it. So show me. Show me that someone like me is no match for you.’

It was a desire for me to remain her hero forever, to become an even greater person and stay in front of her.

An obsession.

Painful childhood experiences always warped people, and Scarlett was no exception.

The memories of wandering the streets and the bullying at the Temple had warped Scarlett’s core. She had escaped the quagmire, but in her escape, she had to entrust herself to a new distortion.

Scarlett found salvation not in Charlotte, but in me.

She wanted the person she had found salvation in to stick to his way of life.

To always accomplish the impossible, despite knowing it couldn’t be done.

This time, she wanted to be my trial, hoping I would overcome even this.

Now that my powerful tool, my supernatural power, had been neutralized, I found myself in a situation not much different from when I faced Mayaton back in the first semester.

Scarlett had reverted me back into the reckless novice I had been in the first semester.

She was challenging me to overcome it.

What would happen if I lost? If I couldn’t find an answer?

Would Scarlett be disappointed in me?

And if she were disappointed, what would come next?

Would she despair upon realizing that I could no longer be her idol?

I had no reason to bear the responsibility for all those emotions. Scarlett had idolized me on her own, and was testing me on her own.

However, I had come to understand the real reason for Scarlett’s participation in this tournament.

It wasn’t to prove herself. It was for a completely different reason, one not connected to the original story.

Scarlett had entered the tournament not to prove herself, but to make me prove something.

She knew that she was my greatest adversary, and she wanted to see me surpass her.

I couldn’t fulfill all those wishes, nor did I have any reason to.

I never said I wanted to be her idol, nor did I have any reason to be.

Scarlett hadn’t improved.

She hadn’t gotten better; she had just changed.

Hers was a life that was bound to be twisted, and in meeting me, she had been twisted in a different way.

There was no way I could face her comfortably.

A victim of a strange setting in which she was bullied for her red hair and red eyes.

Every time I saw her, I felt as though my own mistake had been made real and was walking around in reality, making me uncomfortable and awkward. When Charlotte had protected Scarlett, a bit of my guilt had been alleviated.

That incident left me with a strange mix of guilt and relief, as if someone else had resolved my mistake.

Back then, I believed that I couldn’t disrupt the original story’s progression, and I might have hoped someone else would resolve that issue for me. I had left it alone, shirking my responsibility.

In reality, though, Scarlett had found her answer not in Charlotte, but in me.

I did not know what would happen if Scarlett stopped idolizing me. But by idolizing me, Scarlett was getting along with everyone and trying to learn self-confidence.

All the problems arising from her idolization of me only affected me.

She might impose something on me, expect things from me on her own, and be disappointed on her own.

If that was the case, then it was the rightful price I had to pay for creating her artificial misfortune.

“Alright, Scarlett,” I said.

My mind cleared.

I gripped my sword and pointed it at Scarlett as she slowly walked towards me.

I tried to tap into Self-Deception and failed.

“I don’t know what you want from me.”

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

However, all the experience I had accumulated hadn’t disappeared.

My answer lay only there.

“I’ll show you something beyond that.”

Mana Reinforcement...

Even without the aid of Self-Deception, I had to do it.

I could get hurt, and I could sustain injuries.

If I fell, there would be no victory.

But that was alright. A classmate who called me her idol, whom it was too late to fix yet wanted to live well despite being broken, was demanding something of me.

She had lived through the misfortune that I had written into her life. I couldn’t fix her, but I could help her live despite her brokenness.

That much, I could do.

I couldn’t feel the sensation, but I had felt it before.

It seemed impossible, but I had done it before. It was like switching from a four-wheeled bike to a two-wheeled one.

I might fall after a short distance, but I believed I could go a little further.

Belief alone could not generate power, but belief was inherently like that.

The fact that my belief had generated power until now was the strange part.

The true nature of belief was like an echo without an answer.

Therefore, like all humans, I returned to a state of primal belief and believed.

‘I can do it.’

I had once used the power flowing through my body, so there was no reason I couldn’t do it again.

I began to move the things I could feel, little by little.

Scarlett watched me.

Woooong...

The exhilarating sensation coursing through my body was an entirely new feeling.

I was now truly stepping onto the path of a superhuman without the aid of Self-Deception.

“... You did it,” Scarlett remarked.

“Yeah.”

Though it was me who had just grown stronger, Scarlett was even more delighted than if she had grown stronger herself.

‘You are broken, just like everyone else in the world.

‘If all the bad things you experienced were my responsibility, if you overcame all your problems by idolizing me, and if you can only live like this because I am always in front of you...’

“Here I come.”

‘... then I will remain as your idol forever.’