The Sword Demon Tears People Apart

Medea swallowed her nervousness as she headed to the duel arena.
Her opponent was Padiol de Matein.
He was a noble boy who usually picked fights with her.
‘I’ll definitely win.’
Medea’s midterm exam ranking was 14th.
Matein was 42nd.
Just considering rankings alone, the odds were in her favor.
Medea checked her equipment.
She examined the gun barrel for any foreign objects, loaded an empty magazine, and dry-fired.
After placing spare magazines around her body, she confirmed that her backup pistol was secure in the holster at her waist.
“Since you’re freshmen, I’ll explain once more. You all brought weapons issued by the Academy, right? We’ve already checked once, but be careful because if you use any hidden homemade weapons, you could face expulsion and even legal punishment.”
To summarize the supervisor’s lengthy explanation that followed:
Do not use homemade weapons.
Do not use artifacts either.
Do not aim for vital points with weapons.
Strictly follow the supervisor’s instructions.
Be aware that the supervisor may intervene if necessary.
“Then, shall we begin?”
As the supervisor finished speaking, a whistle blew.
“Begin!”
Simultaneously, Matein kicked off the ground.
His weapon was a spear.
Though it has a long reach, it’s not as good as a gun.
Medea took a breath and aimed.
The moment Matein’s foot touched the ground and he exerted force to charge…
Aiming for that instant of mental blank, she fired.
Bang-!
“Huh!?”
Matein gasped, but there was no dramatic effect.
Thud-! The bullet that hit his left shoulder merely stopped his movement for a moment.
But just as Matein was about to charge again in anger,
Bang-! Kwabang-! Kwagwabang-!
Bullets were fired with time intervals.
Matein gritted his teeth and swung his spear.
Ting-! Two shots ricocheted off the spear, and tudududuk-! Four shots hit his body.
Then again,
Kwabang-! Bang-! Kwabang-!
Matein finally tried to lunge forward, ignoring the bullets, but this too was anticipated.
Tuduk-! Two shots hit his shoulder like before, and then…
Thwack-!
“Argh-!”
A mana-infused bullet pierced through the slightly thinned mana barrier and struck his shoulder.
Tuduk-! The following bullets were just a bonus.
Matein clutched his shoulder in heavy pain.
At this, Medea smirked and loaded her gun with a fresh magazine.
Click-!
And it was over.
Looking at the gun pointed at his face, Matein gritted his teeth.
“Duel over! Winner, Medea.”
*
Lapien, who was watching Medea’s duel with Zeron, tilted her head.
“Why is he losing without doing anything? I know guns are fast, but if you can use mana, you should be able to block or dodge to some extent.”
Zeron chuckled at her naive comment.

“That’s true if you shoot straightforwardly. But if you shoot like the kid does, it’s surprisingly hard to block.”
“Like Medea… How exactly?”
“How? By timing it well, aiming for difficult places to block, and disrupting the opponent’s rhythm while shooting.”
“Um… That doesn’t sound easy.”
“Of course it’s not.”

Just as Medea’s victory was declared, Zeron clapped lightly and continued.
“If it were easy, everyone would be shooting guns.”
“That’s true.”
Lapien nodded, newly impressed by Medea’s skills.
Zeron also nodded vaguely as he watched the kid.
The kid held out her hand for a handshake, but the rude brat ignored her and turned away.
The kid’s eyes flashed angrily for a moment, but soon her expression softened, and she smiled brightly.
Seeing that, he thought politics and business were all unsuitable for her.
If someone’s rude, you should punch them in the face, not just smile like that. She might die from stress later.

“Mister, did you see?”
With no trace of anger, the kid approached with a quick, broad grin.
Zeron swallowed a sigh and messed up her hair vigorously.
“Yes, you did well. Though you didn’t use any of the sword techniques I taught you.”
“Kyaa!? Don’t touch my hair! Sheesh… And I didn’t have a chance to use them, it’s not that I didn’t want to! I only used one magazine, you know!”
The kid pouted as she fixed her hair, then puffed out her flat chest and smiled confidently.
“Besides, that’s who I am.”
“Yes, that’s who you are.”
Elena definitely had quite a large chest.
Why aren’t you like that?
“What…? I just felt really offended.”
“That’s probably because this delinquent instructor was looking at you with lewd eyes.”
“Pfft, really?”
The kid, who had somehow become close with Miss Sass, looked at Zeron with a sly gaze.
Zeron was dumbfounded and was about to retort, but he just sighed once and gestured towards the duel arena with his chin.
“Fish Eyes’ duel is starting.”
“Ah, don’t change the subject!”
“Sigh, there’s nothing worth seeing anyway.”
“What!?”
The angered kid stomped her feet and threw a tantrum.
Zeron pressed down on the top of her head while intently watching the duel that had just begun.
Well, I’ve taught her, so there should be at least some results.
*
Colwhir took a shaky breath.
His midterm exam ranking was 112th.
He had improved, but he was still in Class C.
This wasn’t nearly enough.
For his goal.
He tried to suppress his nervousness as he looked at his opponent.
His opponent was Jason van Torion, ranked 98th.
Since Class B went up to 100th place, this was an appropriate opponent considering potential rank changes.
If the 107th-ranked student beat the 99th-ranked, the original 107th would become 99th, and the 99th would become 100th. He thought this would be enough.
Of course, that’s only if he could beat Torion first.
“Sigh… I don’t know why I have to waste time dealing with someone like you, but anyway, come on. Let’s end this quickly and rest.”
Torion flicked his sword with an arrogant expression.
The gun in his other hand was aimed at Colwhir’s brow.
“Whew…”
Colwhir ignored his opponent’s provocation and suddenly kicked off the ground.
Tak-! His body moved diagonally.
Torion nonchalantly aimed his gun at Colwhir and fired.
Bang-!
The bullet flew.
Colwhir desperately watched its blurry afterimage and twisted his body.
The bullet grazed his shoulder as it passed.
Simultaneously, he aimed at Torion and fired.
Bang-!
Then with a ting-! sound, Torion deflected the bullet with his sword.
“Tch. Struggling in vain.”
Colwhir ran with all his might.
Since he couldn’t infuse mana into bullets yet, he intended to force a close-quarters fight where he had a better chance.
“Cheeky bastard. Fine.”
Torion, finding Colwhir amusing, threw his gun to the ground and gripped his sword with both hands.
An opportunity.
Without thinking about pride or honor, Colwhir pulled the trigger wildly.
Kwagwagwagwagwagwagwagwagwabang-!
It didn’t make much difference, but Torion’s face turned red with anger after a bullet grazed his body.
At the same time, Colwhir threw his gun at him.
Torion raised his sword to block it.
Taking advantage of that opening, a vertical cut came down.
Kuwoong-!
It was heavy.
“Kuk…!?”
Surprised by the unexpected power, Torion entangled his sword.
Nobles learn swordsmanship from a young age.
In an extremely close-quarters fight like this, he would naturally win.
That’s why Colwhir quickly retreated.
“Huh…?”
Torion was confused.
Colwhir charged in again and swung his sword down.
Kuwoong-!
“Urgh…! You rat bastard…!”
Torion grimaced and forcefully shook off the sword.
The strength from his superior mana pushed back Colwhir’s sword.
A horizontal slash followed.
But the movement was big.
Colwhir recalled Zeron’s lesson.
The only thing he had learned was the vertical cut.
But there was something Zeron had said.
‘Dodge well, deflect what you can’t dodge, block what you can’t deflect, and take hits where it hurts less if you can’t block. That’s all. The rest is up to you hitting well enough to win.’
It was obvious advice.
But the reason he had practiced the vertical cut to the point of death.
It was because of his gradually changing sword.
Cleaner, faster, stronger, more upright.
At the very least, he could be confident that his sword was better than one that would be swayed by such force.
Whoosh-!
The rough horizontal slash grazed his head.
Colwhir crouched down and glared at the confused Torion.
“Some noble…”
While you couldn’t even protect one of my family members.
Colwhir charged straight into Torion.
“Ugh!”
Torion staggered after taking a shoulder to the solar plexus.
An opportunity.
Colwhir took a big step forward and raised his sword.
And, a vertical cut.
Kuwoong-!
But it was blocked by an intervening sword.
Colwhir turned his gaze to look at the sword’s owner.
“Duel over. Winner, Colwhir.”
The supervisor declared while blocking his sword.
And he added:

“Colwhir, you’ll be given one demerit point.”
The reason was for aiming at the head, a vital point.
The main issue was that the opponent was defenseless.
It was a valid reason.
*
“Kid, did you see that? That’s all thanks to my great teaching.”
“What did you teach, mister? It must have been the other professors who taught him.”
“Keep disrespecting me and you’ll regret it later, you know?”
Zeron smiled strangely.
The kid snorted and smirked.
“What regret?”
Zeron punished the kid with some head pats while narrowing his eyes to look at Colwhir.
A sword full of anger.
Whatever grudge he has, his sword is full of obsession.
I heard that guy causes quite an incident later.
Well… it’s not my business.
Zeron chuckled and stretched the kid’s soft cheeks.
…It was an insane sensation.
It’s really fucking soft.
To think I didn’t know this… I feel like I’ve missed out on half my life?
“Ah wha’ are you doin’! Shtop it!”
“Hey, you… Never mind. Anyway, don’t you need to prepare for tomorrow’s duel? You’re challenging the first-ranked student, right?”
Medea, who had finally escaped Zeron’s vicious hands, rubbed her sore cheeks.
“…That’s right.”
“The first place is that gloomy bastard, right?”
“Ed? How is he gloomy at all? I really don’t understand.”
The kid grumbled.
But Zeron was firm.
“No, that bastard is fucking gloomy. And… suspicious.”
“Come on, at least explain how or why.”

“It’s a gut feeling.”
“Gut feeling, my ass.”
The kid snorted.
Zeron was momentarily dumbfounded.
“…Haven’t you become too foul-mouthed lately?”
“I wonder whose fault that is?”
“Mine, right?”
“At least you know.”
Well, can’t be helped then.
Zeron nodded.
He was extremely lenient with himself.