High School Seniors Transferred To Another World

The moderator stood between me and Kyle and explains to the audience the reason for the duel, the rules, and the consequences of defeat. 

This is the gymnasium in the second prince’s palace, and the moderator and judge is a knight under the second prince’s command. 

In the corner of the gymnasium, priests are on standby for treatment purposes.

We are duelling because we each have different accounts of the happenings in the banquet and because we don’t like each other, and the cost of defeat is the loser’s polite apology to the winner.

A lot of people seem to have gathered to watch.

It appears that the commotion in the banquet hall has spread far and wide.

People are crowded in the stands.

“Jihoooooo, fightiiiiiiiiiinnnnggggg!!!!”

I can hear the sound of wisdom cheering. 

Looking over to where she is, my classmates are waving at me or clenching their fists in support. 

It seems that no one is missing.

“From now on, Kyle Byers and Ji-Hoo Jung will fight for their honour!”

I have to show my cool side to those who have come to see me fight.

At the same time as the moderator announced the start of the duel, Kyle took on a posture. 

It is a boxing stance that one would take when sparring.

His face sported a serious expression too.

In contrast, I have the sword I picked up earlier hanging limply by my side. 

The tip of the sword is barely touching the floor.

“······.”

Kyle made fun of me for being a freshman. 

So I am making him more and more annoyed and angry at my cheeky display.

This is what I planned to do. 

I hoped he would charge me out of sheer anger. 

Because there is no opponent as easy as a reckless for.

But I don’t think he is that stupid.

Kyle approached me step by step with his guard up.

Woo-woo-woo*

*Waves of brown spread across his skin as his gauntlets vibrated.

Kyle has the [Stone] Attribute, and that gauntlet seems to be a secondary weapon that helps his attribute manifest.

My reach, which is the sum of the lengths of the sword and my arm, is longer than his, which is only his arm’s length.

I struck first, swinging my sword at his arm. 

The sword struck sharply and went in to rip his skin—

*Kkang-!*

Instead of blood splattering from where the sword struck Kyle’s arms, there was a sound that shouldn’t be heard when metal and flesh collide.

This is his attribute ability.

When I first heard that Kyle had the [Stone] Attribute, I wondered if he had the ability to create and throw out stones, but it wasn’t that.

He can reinforce his body by strengthening the strength of his skin to the texture of stone.

Kyle threw a jab at me, but I quickly ducked away and dodged it.

His fists, reinforced with attributes, will be almost as menacing as a siege machine charge.

If even one direct hit lands on me, this duel is over.

*Kkang-! Kkang-!*

As I step back, the situation repeats itself over and over again.

Thanks to the difference in reach, Kyle’s attack didn’t reach me.

And my attacks have no effect on him.

Maybe because I couldn’t do anything, Kyle gains some confidence with his face once more sporting a slimy, mocking smile and his demeanour becoming relaxed.

“What is this? I wonder why you’re using a sword…? Is it because you can’t use magic or mythical attributes, huh?”

That is not the reason.

Kyle’s mana gradually gathers on his thighs and he strengthens his muscles. 

It seems that he intends to end the duel without giving me a chance to evade his next attack.

I see it with my ‘eyes’.

In fact, I had been using my attributes since the start of the duel.

Concentrating a small amount of magic with the [Heaven] Attribute into my pupils, my two pupils evolved to a level beyond normal humans’ eyes.

According to Soniel, I have the perfect compatibility for the all-seeing eyes that she can utilise with her authority.

It is called the Heaven’s Eye or God’s Eye.

With the mana going towards his thighs, he explodes in my direction, instantly closing the distance between us.

At that moment, time begins to flow slowly where Kyle is and the objects around him. 

No, this is the result of the speed of my thought-processing increasing.

My eyes give me so much information about what is going on—

Kyle’s habits, magic patterns, the characteristics of his attributes, his muscle tremors, where his gaze is, his breathing patterns etc.

Based on the information given, I can predict his next move.

I can’t see the future yet, but I feel like I know what is going to happen.

Kyle’s hard fist will eventually land on my left shoulder. 

I twist my upper body slightly to avoid the blow and burrow into his arms.

The duel starts up once more and I got close to Kyle for the first time.

I flew into close range with the thought of making it impossible for him to avoid my hit, but his surprise at my dodging and just looking into his slowly widening eyes, I made a realisation.

The attribute does not strengthen all his skin equally.

Kyle now also has this weakness I can exploit.

His Achilles tendon, the back of his knee, his groin and genitals, his armpits, or—

His pupil. 

“Fuck!”

Kyle twisted his head with all his might at the terrible feeling of my hand digging into his right eyelid. 

**

He jumped back on reflex and created some distance from Jung Ji-hoo.

Kyle hurriedly patted his eyes. 

Fortunately, he did not feel the strange sensation again.

‘What the hell was that?!’

The guy who had looked to be playing stupid games all this while suddenly turned into a proficient duellist.

‘As expected, he had a hidden card trump card!’

He knew, of course, that there must have been a reason for which Jung Ji-hoo could act so confident all this while. 

However, it was still very disconcerting that it was not a magic or attribute-related trump card, but a close combat technique.

‘I heard that he was taking magic classes, but is that false information?’

Kyle desperately calmed his agitated heart and took a closer look at his opponent. 

He needed to be even more careful than he was previously.

While Kyle had this realisation. Jeong Ji-hoo looked disapprovingly at his gently quivering left hand.

“Tsk.”

He shook his head and then smiled at Kyle.

“Senior, thank you for taking part in my experiment.”

“...Experiment...? What are you talking about?”

“Yes. An experiment. It was an experiment to see how well I could fight against knights if I used my attributes in my eyes. Hmm, for now, I’ll have to settle for being able to fight at the level of an inferior graduate, right?”

“...This bastard.”

‘He is provoking me. Don’t fall for his provocations. That guy is an opponent I can’t afford to let down my guard against.’

The fact that his opponent was a freshman had already been forgotten.

*Land-!*

Jeong Jihoo put the sword he had been holding all this while into its scabbard and threw it randomly to the right.

“Anyway, the experiment is mostly over, so let’s start duelling for real now. Surely you’ve not shown everything you got, or is it?”

With an arrogant declaration, his body began to glow in azure light. 

It was the afterglow of his magical power.

Wildly fluctuating mana wisps wrapped around the body of Jihoo.

The quantity and concentration of mana increased endlessly.

Kyle could feel an unfathomable sense of coercion from his opponent’s magical power.

‘···Crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this at the academy...’

Eventually, a tornado of relentless magical power centred around Jung Ji-hoo was formed. 

The storm raged as if it planned to destroy the entire gymnasium.

As the barrier separating the gymnasium and the audience started to vibrate with numerous ripples of magical potential energy, the wizards who managed it became busy protecting the spectators.

It felt like a giant was looking down upon Kyle, and Kyle was losing his mind.

** *

“That is amazing···.”

Min Hye-rin, who was watching the duel of Jeong Ji-hoo, admired the sight.

It was truly an overwhelming amount of magical energy.

Only at this level could he be worthy to be the man she was aspiring to overthrow.

At that moment, Min Hye-rin felt an unfamiliar sensation within her that she had never felt before.

The [Earth] Attribute bubbled up from amongst the magical energy deep inside the heart. 

The violent energy spread throughout her body and along the capillaries, awakening a new sense.

‘······? What is this so suddenly…?’

Min Hye-rin, who had been watching Jeong Ji-hoo’s duel, learned how to handle her own attributes as a result.

But no one yet knew what conditions she had met to awaken her attributes.

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