The Hell Hound’s massive body was sucked into the crimson magic circle floating in midair without even managing to scream.
Its once-mighty presence vanished in an instant, and silence once again settled over the arena.
I looked down at my tingling right hand.
The searing heat still remained, but my knuckles were intact.
When I clenched and unclenched my fist, the dull ache in my muscles instead made me feel alive.
‘Phew.’
Letting out a light breath, I launched myself out of the field.
“……”
The place where I landed was quiet.
If it had been like before, cheers would have poured down at this moment.
That familiar sensation of descending from the ring after victory, amid the audience’s feverish shouts, had now become a memory of the past.
Instead, every gaze was fixed on Yustia, who stood alone.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
Applause begun by someone spread like a wave.
Even the students who had been Professor Rachel’s fan club were clapping in a daze.
In their eyes, shock and admiration were mixed together.
The protagonist of that miraculous victory, defeating a professor-level summon with a human summon, was not me, but Yustia—the summoner who commanded me.
“Rosenhart! Rosenhart!”
The chanting filled the arena.
Yustia looked around with a bewildered expression, then shyly waved her hand with her face flushed red.
“My, that really was incredible. To think you’d push my pretty one that far.”
Professor Rachel approached Yustia, sweeping back her disheveled hair.
On her face was pure admiration rather than resentment.
“Here. The badge I promised.”
She took out a glowing red badge from her coat and placed it in Yustia’s hand.
It was a badge of passionate color, engraved with a flame pattern.
“Thank you, Professor.”
Yustia bowed her head in greeting.
The badge shone brilliantly in her hand.
I watched the scene in silence.
The dazzling spotlight belonged to her, while I remained in the shadows behind it.
But strangely, I didn’t feel bitter.
If anything, a corner of my chest felt full.
“When I heard you had a human summon, I honestly half doubted it. I thought he’d just be a porter, or perhaps some strange hobby of the Rosenhart family.”
Professor Rachel swept back her messy hair and let out a chuckle.
Her gaze lingered on the red badge in Yustia’s hand before turning to me.
Her eyes still held a mixture of disbelief and interest.
“A freshman taking a badge in the first week. This is going to be terribly embarrassing at the next faculty meeting, isn’t it? To think I’ll have to report, ‘Yes, my Hell Hound was floored by a single bare-fisted punch.’”
She shrugged and grumbled jokingly, but her expression looked quite pleased.
Recognition of a strong student, and curiosity toward an unexpected variable.
That was what was stimulating her.
“Besides……”
Her gaze slowly turned and came to rest on Evan, who was sitting in his wheelchair a short distance away, catching his breath.
“I thought I’d found one promising talent to send to the Grand Battle, but I was mistaken.”
She looked back at Yustia and gave her a bright wink.
“It wasn’t one. It was two. This year’s freshmen are quite the bumper crop. That fussy Professor Raven will be humming to himself.”
“You flatter me, Professor.”
Yustia lowered her head modestly, but she couldn’t hide the smile spreading across her lips.
The swelling emotion tinted her cheeks a rosy red.
“Thank you, Professor! I’ll work even harder!”
At her spirited reply, Professor Rachel nodded in satisfaction.
“Good. I’ll look forward to it. Next time, come at me even more fiercely.”
She waved her hand and leisurely left the arena.
“Mr. Taesan!”
As soon as the professor disappeared, Yustia rushed at me.
Throwing dignity and everything else aside, she flung herself into my arms so suddenly that I nearly fell backward.
“Thank you so much! It’s all thanks to you, Mr. Taesan! We did it!”
Her face was flushed bright red.
Even as she panted for breath, the smile on her lips showed no sign of fading.
As though my clothes, stained with sweat and dust, didn’t matter in the slightest, she buried her face in my chest and savored her joy.
“Wait… calm down.”
I spoke gruffly on purpose, but without realizing it, the corners of my mouth lifted slightly.
“My goodness, my lady! You were truly amazing! That terrifying Hell Hound, in one blow…!”
Yurika came bouncing over.
“Mr. Taesan, you were the best too! Are you really human?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
I chuckled and ruffled Yurika’s hair.
“Congratulations, Yustia.”
Just then, Evan approached while pushing his wheelchair.
His expression looked complicated.
Bitterness from defeat, recognition of a rival, and an indescribable thrill were all mixed in his eyes.
“And you too, Mr. Taesan.”
Evan looked straight at me.
“Honestly, I was surprised. I personally felt how strong you were in our last battle, but to think you’d even overwhelm a professor. You completely shattered my common sense.”
He gripped the handles of his wheelchair tightly.
“But next time, I won’t lose. I’ll thoroughly destroy you from somewhere your fists can’t reach.”
***
The path from the arena toward the academy’s main gate.
Across the campus, where twilight had settled heavily, the heat of battle still lingered.
Explosions rang out here and there, along with students’ screams and professors’ shouts.
I could see reckless students challenging professors late into the evening, either to obtain badges or simply to test their own limits.
But the results were miserable.
“Graaah!”
With a scream from a distance, a student was sent flying helplessly.
His opponent was a professor who commanded a giant golem.
An overwhelming gap in strength.
With a single rocky fist, the summon was sucked back into the summoning circle and disappeared.
“Wow…… You won a badge against monsters like that?”
Evan muttered as if appalled.
His hands tightened.
“You did pretty well yourself. At that level, you’re a monster too.”
“That’s different from winning. This is a place where results are everything.”
There was weight in his words.
A cold world of competition where excuses from the defeated did not work.
That was Eternoa’s way.
We moved on in silence.
Within that silence, the joy of victory and the bitterness of defeat mingled in a strange blend of emotions.
“Wait. Yustia Rosenhart.”
That was when it happened.
A sharp voice stopped us in our tracks.
“……Who are you?”
Yustia turned her head.
There stood a group wearing uniforms ironed as sharply as blades.
The golden badges pinned to their chests flashed in the sunset.
At a glance, they gave off an extraordinary air.
The sharp-featured male student standing at the front looked Evan up and down.
“Is this the rumored human summon?”
“No. I’m Evan, a freshman.”
Evan answered politely.
The male student was about to look away as though uninterested,
then turned his gaze toward me.
He then looked back at Evan and jerked his chin.
“Ah. This friend was fairly good too. I saw him at the arena earlier, and his unusual battle style using possession summoning was quite something.”
“Really? Hmm.”
The male student let out a brief sound of admiration, then stared straight at Yustia again.
“I’ll get straight to the point.”
He crossed his arms arrogantly and continued.
“We are Imperial. The academy’s greatest battle society.”
The students nearby held their breath.
“We came to scout you, Yustia Rosenhart.”
“Pardon? What Imperi… what?”
Yustia narrowed her eyes and asked back.
Her gaze rested on the gold decorations of the sharp-featured man’s uniform and the golden badge on his chest.
As if she found that gaudy vanity steeped in a desire to show off ridiculous, the corner of her mouth twisted faintly.
“So?”
“So?”
The man’s brow furrowed.
He was visibly flustered, as though her reaction had been entirely unexpected.
“As expected. Even if you are a child of the Rosenhart family, you’re still just a freshman, yet you’ve grown far too bold. We are a place permitted only to the top one percent of elites in the entire academy. Since we hold your abilities in high regard, we personally……”
“I’m not interested.”
Yustia cut him off flatly.
She turned her head away, dousing him with cold water right to his face.
“I’m going to win the Grand Battle with my own strength. I absolutely hate freeloading by riding on someone else’s back.”
After shooting back coldly, she grabbed my arm and started walking.
“Let’s go, Mr. Taesan. Listening any longer would just be a waste of time.”
“H-Hey! Wait!”
A flustered shout burst out behind us, but Yustia didn’t even look back.
Only the clicking sound of her shoes echoed across the now-silent campus.
“That’s impressive. To think you’d reject the Imperial seniors like that.”
Evan, who had been watching from the side, clicked his tongue in amazement.
In his eyes, surprise mingled with a strange sense of satisfaction.
“You might be the first freshman to land a blow on those arrogant guys.”
“Hmph, arrogant? I can see right through them, strutting around on family background instead of their own ability.”
Yustia snorted and strode forward.
“I’ll prove myself with my own ability. Without anyone’s help—solely through my own strength.”