Chapter 135
After a brief clash, silence fell.
“…”
“…”
Baek Hana stared blankly at her empty left hand.
Yoon Iseul looked at the elegant half-glove in her hand.
“The inside is worn out, but the outside, which should have been worn out, is too clean.”
Yoon Iseul was the first to break the silence.
She stroked the half-glove in her hand and looked up.
At the same time, Baek Hana’s blue eyes turned towards Yoon Iseul.
“It doesn’t seem like you’re wearing it for show.”
Yoon Iseul’s lips curved into a soft smile.
“You’ve taken such good care of it?”
Baek Hana’s fiery spirit suddenly seemed to fade away.
Her shining blue eyes began to dim and blur.
Did you take good care of it?
Of course.
There is nothing unimportant among the things he gave me.
From the precious name Baek Hana to the most trivial warmth.
“Give it back.”
“If I was going to give it back, I wouldn’t have brought it here in the first place.”
A smirk formed on Yoon Iseul’s lips, but her eyes were not smiling at all.
‘It’s my mistake.’
She was never careless.
But the ability was too foreign.
An ability that manifested in a place completely unrelated to the magic power concentrated on the main body.
The precious item in her opponent’s hand was on her mind, but the only way to retrieve it was to defeat her opponent, so Baek Hana was excited but not excited.
However, Yoon Iseul’s next action shook Baek Hana’s heart once again.
Yoon Iseul slipped the half-glove she was holding onto her left hand.
Then she clenched and unclenched her fist a few times and said,
“It’s a little big for me. But the material is so good that it feels comfortable and I like it.”
Yoon Iseul wiped the smile from her lips.
“So give me the other one as well.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the shadow beneath Yoon Iseul’s feet shot towards Baek Hana at a fierce speed.
Baek Hana’s legs, which had been still, started to move again at the same time.
Paaat!
Thin, sharp gray thorns shot out in all directions from the long shadow that extended from Yoon Iseul.
The thorns, which were not aimed at a specific target, but intended to engulf the entire stage, collided with the white beast’s fist and shattered into small fragments that flew in all directions.
The pieces that fell to the ground returned to the shadow beneath Yoon Iseul’s feet.
Yoon Iseul narrowed her eyes as she watched her junior approach, shattering the shadow’s thorns with a straight path.
It was due to the sudden increase in magic power.
Pagaak!
The distance closed in an instant.
“It’s a bit unexpected, but…”
Yoon Iseul retracted the shadow’s thorns.
Baek Hana’s center momentarily collapsed as the obstacle she was trying to break suddenly disappeared.
“I like that look.”
…It’s a charming look that makes me want to tame you and keep you by my side for life.
The wide shadow beneath Yoon Iseul’s feet quickly gathered beneath her.
Baek Hana quickly regained her balance and stopped her advancing steps.
Yoon Iseul seemed to be controlling Baek Hana like a puppet, with black threads tied to every joint, starting from her fingertips.
Ssssss.
As she stretched out her hand, a long pole emerged from the tiny shadow.
Whoo!
Yoon Iseul lightly swung the pole back and forth and pointed it at Baek Hana.
“Are you not coming in? If you don’t, I will.”
Baek Hana couldn’t answer.
Yoon Iseul, who she thought would stay in her place, was actually running towards her with the black pole.
Kwang!
The impact of the pole and fist swept across the stage.
‘How…’
“How did I, an ability user, withstand your power?”
Yoon Iseul smiled as if it was nothing.
“It’s simple. I dispersed the impact.”
The threads connecting her to the shadow that tightly bound her body.
They dissipated the impact that Yoon Iseul should have received into the shadow, and then into the ground and the atmosphere.
“And…”
Whoosh!
Yoon Iseul pushed Baek Hana’s fist away and stepped back. It was a clean movement, resembling the well-trained actions of an Awakened.
“I can even mimic this.”
She moved like a well-trained Strength-type Awakened, despite her fragile body.
Yoon Iseul used her ability to control her body, compensating for the weakness of her body not following her mind’s commands.
Whoo!
Yoon Iseul pointed the pole at Baek Hana again.
“In fact, I’m confident I can subdue you without using my body like this. But I think this way is more effective if I want to tame you.”
“The only person who can be my master is him.”
At the unexpected answer, Yoon Iseul’s eyes widened slightly.
Kwaang!
Suddenly, the white divine aura appeared right in front of Yoon Iseul.
In that moment, Yoon Iseul met the beautiful yet cold eyes, like a winter lake.
‘Ha…’
Yoon Iseul’s lips curled up at the presence, which was far more overwhelming than before.
The white fist, now without the glove, stretched out, leaving a blue afterimage.
A thin wall of shadow shot up in an instant, colliding with Baek Hana’s fist.
A strong wind spread in all directions, covering not only the stage but also the students and professors in the audience.
Kwaang!
A delayed loud noise shook the arena.
The sound of the massive collision of magic power reverberated in all directions.
Yoon Iseul’s face, which had momentarily curled up, twisted ferociously.
‘I like it even more…’
Yoon Iseul quickly got up from rolling on the ground.
Baek Hana’s foot, surrounded by rippling blue magic power, landed where Yoon Iseul’s face had been just moments ago.
The stage floor, made of a special alloy, cracked horribly, and fragments flew in all directions.
Just a first-year student.
She had done something that even upperclassmen found challenging with a single kick.
It was chilling.
At the same time, she was excited.
The junior in front of her was the first student to show her teeth towards Yoon Iseul since the student council president, who was currently absent.
“Ha ha ha…!”
Yoon Iseul burst into laughter as Baek Hana’s fist flew towards her, using her leg that had just stamped the ground as the center.
Kwoong!
The gray pole and the white fist collided once again.
However, the result was different from before.
Despite dispersing the impact, a small crack appeared beneath Yoon Iseul’s feet, which were standing on the stage.
A small bead of sweat trickled down Yoon Iseul’s forehead.
“Why aren’t you using that hand?”
Yoon Iseul asked the question to Baek Hana, who had been using only her left hand since her glove was taken.
Baek Hana answered nonchalantly.
“I don’t want your scent on it.”
“Oh my… You’re calling your senior ‘you’? You’re quite rude, aren’t you?”
“I think I’m better than someone who takes other people’s things.”
“Ha ha ha…”
Yoon Iseul let out a small laugh.
This arrogant junior.
She was becoming more and more likable.
In this place where one’s value is proven solely through struggle, the junior in front of her had every right to make such a statement.
“So, if you want this fragile senior to use her left hand—”
Yoon Iseul didn’t finish her sentence and quickly jumped back.
Whoosh!
Baek Hana’s foot, which had been where Yoon Iseul was just a moment ago, swept past her at a fierce speed. If she had been half a beat slower, she would have been hit on the side and would have embarrassingly rolled on the ground.
“I’ll take it that you’re only using your left hand.”
Baek Hana didn’t respond.
Instead, the distance between them quickly narrowed again.
Kwoong, kungkwaang!
Yoon Iseul, either with the pole or by rolling on the ground, desperately avoided Baek Hana’s punches and kicks.
‘This is a disaster…’
She had chosen close combat, using the power she had when she broke the thorns as a reference. However, the opponent’s magic power, which had grown rapidly like a dam that had burst open, was now emitting an absurd presence that surpassed her own.
It would have been better if the opponent had used a cold weapon, as she could have somehow led the situation to a stalemate.
But the opponent was a Transformation-type Awakened, a fighter whose entire body was a weapon.
There was a limit to blocking with just a pole.
‘I need to settle this before my magic power runs out…’
Yoon Iseul threw the pole she was holding and jumped back.
Baek Hana jumped towards her, ignoring the pole flying towards her.
At that moment.
Srrrrrr.
The threads that bound Yoon Iseul’s body slid down her body and into her shadow, which began to expand again.
“Do you have flight ability?”
As soon as she spoke, Yoon Iseul’s shadow connected with the pole she had thrown earlier, and Baek Hana was right within its range.
Yoon Iseul, with a savage smile on her plain face, playfully extended her finger towards Baek Hana.
“Bang~”
Hwaaaak!
Dozens of spears rose from Yoon Iseul’s shadow, aiming for Baek Hana.
Her feet were already off the ground, and there was no way to avoid them.
Kagagagak!
The spears covered Baek Hana, and the sound of metal scraping filled the arena.
“Hoo.”
Yoon Iseul, now standing on the ground, took a short breath and looked ahead.
The junior, wearing a tattered uniform, stood a short distance away, seemingly unharmed.
No, to be precise, she wasn’t unharmed.
Although her body was uninjured, her ragged breathing and significantly reduced magic power indicated her current state.
‘Amazing…’
She meant it sincerely.
It wasn’t just a simple shadow spear.
It was a spear that had its penetrating power pushed to the extreme by pouring 90% of her remaining magic power.
Even the professors who came to evaluate the match would have a hard time avoiding that spear, but the junior in front of her blocked it by surrounding herself with an absurd amount of magic power.
She had blocked the spear that was intended to cause a serious injury.
“Your name is Hana, right?”
“…”
Yoon Iseul spoke to the junior who was staring at her with even more chilling eyes than before.
“Next year, I’ll recommend you as the vice-president.”
“…”
The cute and lovable junior’s eyebrows furrowed.
Yoon Iseul continued with a faint smile.
“And that…”
Yoon Iseul pointed her finger at Baek Hana’s shadow.
“The shadow I can’t control…”
For the first time, Yoon Iseul’s eyes widened in surprise.
Because the junior’s shadow didn’t move at all.
The shadow, which she had planned to use to finish off the unsuspecting junior, had completely ruined her plan.
She had left 10% of her magic power for this purpose, but now it was useless.
“Haha…”
Yoon Iseul burst into laughter as she watched the white fist approaching her face.
Tuck.
However, her fist didn’t hit Yoon Iseul’s face.
The fist, which had been heading towards her face, changed direction and grabbed her left hand.
“It seems like it was a truly precious item.”
Yoon Iseul quietly watched her junior remove the half-glove from her hand.
And at the very moment the glove was removed.
Udddeuk!
“Kyaak…?!”
Yoon Iseul fell to the ground as she felt intense pain in her left hand.
Her wrist began to swell rapidly.
“If you touch my things again, it won’t end with this.”
Yoon Iseul shivered at the chilling and frightening warning.
Then, she raised her head to follow the shadow that was slowly moving away.
The pure white girl stood in stark contrast to Yoon Iseul’s dark self.
‘Good…’
Yoon Iseul was certain.
Before the 100 days were over, she would be able to grow even stronger.