At Simon’s appearance, the Combat Magic students stiffened, their expressions tight with tension.
No matter what anyone said, the sheer influence of the Student Council President was immense.
However.
“Have you finally graced us with your presence, Mr. President?”
Kinter merely smirked, rubbing his thick, ring-covered palms together. Between the gaudy bands, a myriad of scars—both large and small—were etched into his skin.
“Oh, wait. Your term as president is over now, isn’t it? Should I call you the former Special Admission No. 1?”
Simon’s eyes narrowed at the sleazy taunt.
Kinter feigned surrender, throwing his hands up. “Oops. I just came over to hang out with my fellow classmates, but the atmosphere was so freezing cold that I figured I’d lighten the mood.”
Simon remained silent. Swallowing his irritation, he calmly fell into thought.
Every action had a reason. That was especially true for a Kizen second-year. There had to be a motive behind him blatantly provoking his friends with such obnoxious behavior.
“Get to the point,” Simon demanded.
“Sure thing.”
Kinter gestured to an empty seat, as if suggesting they sit down and talk comfortably, but Simon remained standing like a statue. Kinter let out an awkward chuckle and shrugged.
“To get straight to it, you guys are heading to see Professor Hongfeng too, right?”
Simon and his friends exchanged surprised glances.
“Thought so,” Kinter muttered, answering his own question as he rested his chin on his hand. “We were invited too. The four of us majors right here. Not to brag, but I’m also Professor Hongfeng’s direct disciple.”
‘Professor Hongfeng’s direct disciple.’
If that was true, Simon figured the guy definitely had talent.
“It’s fucking great. An absolute honor! We’re probably the first ones ever invited to Professor Hongfeng’s house in the grasslands, right? Everyone in the department was buzzing about who would get picked. I casually asked the teaching assistant, and they said the professor was planning to invite eight people.”
He tapped his cheek with a thick finger.
“But only four from our department were chosen. So, who were the other four? Even knowing our kids were dying to go, who were ‘the professor’s most cherished students’ chosen over the actual majors?”
He curled the corners of his mouth into a smirk and scanned the group.
“Turns out it was you guys.”
The group stared back in silence.
“No, to be exact, it’s ‘you’, right? Simon Polentia. Our Professor Hongfeng praises you a lot.”
Simon showed no reaction. Kinter licked his lips.
“There’s a rumor that you were the first one Professor Hongfeng offered the ‘direct disciple’ position to back in our first year, but you rejected it. So I guess that makes me your replacement. On top of that, I heard that last semester, when the professor found out you were fighting Aizel, she poured everything out and taught you both the Soft Breeze and the In-Fighter stances.”
His gaze turned cold.
“This is a real blow to my pride, you see. She hasn’t even taught me, an actual major, those techniques yet. I’m seriously jealous.”
“Hey.”
Unable to watch any longer, Meirin stepped forward.
“So what do you want us to do about it? Kizen is a strict meritocracy, and earning a professor’s favoritism is a skill in itself. What are we supposed to do about the fact that you lack the talent and skill to match Simon? Is your mindset seriously still stuck at a first-year level?”
Kinter’s eyebrow twitched.
“Your face is totally my type, but your mouth is a bit much.”
The air around Meirin exploded with a freezing aura. As she stomped forward, Kamibarez urgently threw her arms around her to hold her back.
“Meirin! Please calm down!”
Seeing white frost form around the cabin from her sheer anger, the Combat Magic students tensed up and dropped into combat stances.
“Don’t even give them an opening, Meirin,” Simon said, his gaze fixed straight ahead. “We’re still the Student Council.”
With student conflicts more sensitive than ever due to the Balak incident, there was no need to cause trouble outside of school.
Kinter shrugged.
“And Vice President, I have one thing to correct in what you said.”
Jet-black aura rose from his body, wrapping around him in the shape of clothing.
“I don’t lack skill.”
Black Garb.
The absolute symbol of Combat Magic, and a top-tier technique that only those who had reached a true level of mastery could wield.
‘This is a bit surprising.’
Dick, who had been watching from the side, clicked his tongue.
During their first year, the Combat Magic teaching assistants would occasionally demonstrate the technique. It was a powerful skill that made opponents feel as if they were facing an insurmountable wall. In truth, the gap between Combat Magic majors who could use Black Garb and those who couldn’t was massive.
Even Jule, the Combat Magic representative and magic sword user, was known to be unable to use Black Garb yet.
“Does this prove it?”
Kinter stood up. The form of Black Garb varied wildly from person to person, and his took the shape of heavy armor with broad, imposing shoulders.
The faces of his companions behind him brightened at the display.
On the other hand, Simon just stared at him. His expression remained entirely unimpressed.
Kinter frowned slightly, and Dick chuckled.
‘It’s surprising that he’s a Black Garb user, but does he really think Simon—who beat the crap out of Balak—would be scared?’
Finally, Simon spoke.
“If you’re dissatisfied, I’ll prove it to you. Formally challenge me to a duel at school as soon as the semester starts.”
“Huh?”
Simon calmly added, “I’ll face you using only Combat Magic. You have no complaints with that, right?”
Kinter’s expression twisted bizarrely, and the other Combat Magic students murmured among themselves. Kinter let out a sharp scoff and placed his hands on his hips.
“You really have a talent for pissing people off. I need to settle this right here, right now.”
“Combat between students is prohibited during vacation.”
“Then let’s do this.”
He spread his arms wide.
“Let’s make a bet. All eight of us were invited by Professor Hongfeng, right? Whichever side reaches her first wins. How about it?”
“What are the stakes?” Simon asked.
“No need to make it unnecessarily huge. Keeping it between the leaders should be enough.” He pointed at Simon. “If I win, you drop out of Combat Magic classes until you graduate.”
Everyone’s jaws dropped in shock. Meirin flared up and stepped forward.
“That’s way too much!”
“Fine.”
Simon calmly nodded. Kamibarez gasped in surprise.
“Simon!”
“And what about you?” Simon asked.
“I’ll accept the same conditions. I’ll give up taking Combat Magic. And, of course, I’ll step down from my position as Professor Hongfeng’s direct disciple.” He curled the corners of his mouth into a confident grin. “For me, that means a forced change of major. I don’t think my risk falls short compared to yours.”
“Suit yourself.”
Kinter even pulled out a Memorial Crystal to record the agreement.
Kamibarez approached with a worried face.
“Simon! Are you sure about this? Even now...”
Meirin chimed in right after.
“Yeah, you idiot! Combat Magic is a huge asset for you! Are you really willing to risk never taking Professor Hongfeng’s classes again?”
Simon calmly smiled.
“Of course I’m going to take them. I only accepted because there’s no way I’ll lose.”
“You seriously...!” Meirin groaned.
“Now that’s a man! When they come at you picking a fight that blatantly, you gotta hit back!”
Dick laughed heartily and threw an arm around Simon’s shoulders.
“Don’t worry, Simon. Just trust me! I’ll get you to Professor Hongfeng as fast as possible!”
“Of course I trust you.”
Kinter and the other Combat Magic majors didn’t seem to entertain the thought of losing at all. They were already high-fiving each other, laughing and cheering, “We got him!” and “He fell for it!”
“Let’s see how long those smiles last,” Meirin muttered, grinding her teeth, before turning to look at her friends. “Since we’re doing this, we absolutely cannot lose! On the honor of the Student Council!”
“Of course!”
“Yeah!”
Afterward, they hashed out the specific details with Kinter’s side.
The race would begin tomorrow morning at sunrise. They would gather at a mutually visible location, confirm the sun had crested the horizon, and then set off.
Any means were permitted, aside from directly attacking a student.
The team of the first person to enter the grasslands and speak to Professor Hongfeng would be declared the winner.
Simon’s group decided to turn in early and get some sleep to prepare for tomorrow’s match.
The next day at dawn.
Since the race started the exact moment the sun rose, they had to wake up early after barely getting a few hours of sleep.
“Simon! Simon! Please wake up.”
Kamibarez shook him awake. Figuring he had slept for maybe three hours, Simon rubbed his eyes and sat up.
“Mmm. What time is it?”
He glanced outside; it was still pitch black.
Kamibarez, already dressed, smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. Dick told us to get up quickly.”
“Wake up, everyone!” Dick banged on the window from outside. “The Combat Magic kids are heading out! We need to go too!”
Meirin groaned in annoyance, her hair looking like a bird’s nest. “We’re not supposed to start until the sun comes up, you idiot!”
“Hey now, we have to prepare in advance! Hurry up!”
The four of them quickly got dressed and rushed outside. Far off at the opposite cabin, the Combat Magic students could be seen hastily throwing on their shoes. Soon, without anyone officially taking the lead, they all broke into a sprint.
Kamibarez let out a short cry as she stumbled and fell while coming down the stairs. Everyone looked back.
“What’s wrong, Kami?”
“Th-There’s something on the floor!”
A sticky potion had been smeared across one side of the steps.
“They’re playing cute little tricks.”
Dick quickly ran over, pulled a potion from his subspace, popped the cap off with his mouth, and poured it out. The stickiness dissolved immediately.
Even after that, the entire run was absolute chaos.
It was impossible to tell when they had prepared all these traps. Blinding lights flashed everywhere, hidden pits littered the ground, and mousetraps and snakes were scattered about.
“Seriously, these cheap bastards!” Meirin grumbled as she sprinted to avoid a swarm of wasps.
Suddenly, with a yelp, her body was violently yanked upward.
“Meirin!”
Simon looked up. Before they knew it, she had been caught in a net hoisted high up in a tree, left dangling in the air.
“You’re Combat Magic majors! Why are you being so petty, you jerks!”
A highly irritated response immediately echoed back from the other side.
“Look who’s talking!”
A series of loud explosions suddenly rang out from the Combat Magic side. Students who had fallen into pit traps were crawling out covered in dirt, making a complete mess of things.
“Actually, I started it,” Dick said with a sheepish chuckle, scratching the back of his neck. Meirin shot him a murderous glare from inside the net.
“I’ll deal with you later, commoner. And someone, anyone, get me down from here right now!”
“I’m on it, Meirin!”
Simon scaled the tree with the agility of a wild animal and used the Combat Magic technique ‘Bayonet Charge’ to slice through the top of the net. He safely caught the falling Meirin and landed smoothly on the ground.
“Keep moving!”
Both teams ran frantically toward the ocean, dodging traps along the way. Taking the lead to guide them to the boat, Dick chuckled.
“Don’t worry! There’s no way we can lose this race!”
“Why?”
At Simon’s question, Dick wiped his nose proudly.
“Once they see what kind of boat I’ve prepared, they’ll be shock— Huh?”
Dick stopped dead in his tracks in front of the dock.
They all stood in stunned silence. There wasn’t a single boat in sight.
Scanning the area, Simon pointed below the surface of the water.
“It’s hard to see, but I think they sank it. Or dragged it somewhere else.”
“What? Wow! These bastards crossed the line! But wait, how did they even know my boat was here...?”
Kamibarez looked at Dick with an urgent expression.
“Dick! Are there any other boats?”
“Sorry, my subspace isn’t big enough to just store a whole boat. Let’s try to rent whatever we can find nearby for now!”
There was no time to complain. The four of them scattered to find a rental.
The sky slowly began to brighten, and fortunately, Dick managed to use his connections to somehow secure a vessel.
However, it was a beat-up old rowboat. Meirin stared at it, flustered.
“We’re going to the grasslands in ‘this’ thing?”
“It’s fine! I just need to modify it!”
Dick immediately hopped aboard, pulling tools and a mana engine from his subspace, and began installing them. Just then, Kinter and the Combat Magic students appeared.
“What’s with that tiny little boat?”
“The outcome is obvious!”
While the Combat Magic students laughed from their large boat, the surroundings gradually began to brighten.
The sun was rising.
“The sun’s up, right? It’s up! Then we’re heading out first!”
A loud roar echoed across the water as their engine roared to life. The Combat Magic students’ boat was also equipped with a mana engine. Simon’s group could only stand there and watch them speed away.
“Hurry up, you idiot commoner!”
“Almost done!”
Dick hammered away, metal clanking as he worked.
It took nearly twenty minutes. Dick, having smashed the exterior of the rowboat to mount the mana engine, finally started it up. The mana stone inside glowed brightly as it thrummed to life.
“Alright, get in!”
The four of them scrambled aboard, and Dick engaged the engine.
The boat shot forward with a massive ‘swoosh’, kicking up sea spray, but it didn’t pick up as much speed as they had hoped.
They couldn’t even properly see the Combat Magic students who had set off first.
“Seriously. I was staying quiet because it was so childish, but they really want to play it this way, huh?” Meirin rolled up her sleeves.
“Everyone, hold on tight!”
Kamibarez gripped the boat’s railing tightly.
“Wh-What are you going to do?”
“We won! With a gap this big, they’ll never catch up!”
The Combat Magic students were already high-fiving and celebrating as if their victory was guaranteed.
“Good job,” Kinter said, looking back at one of his teammates. A buzz-cut male student snickered.
“We got lucky spotting that merchant guy docking his boat yesterday.”
“Simon Polentia isn’t such a big deal after all.”
Just as everyone was laughing boisterously, one student pointed out at the water. “Guys. What is that?”
A massive crash echoed across the water.
It was a glacier.
A path made of solid glacier ice was forming right in the middle of the ocean. And Simon’s group was riding their boat straight along the top of it.
“Stop right theeeere!”
[Meirin Original – Ice Track]
The one using magic was Meirin. She was creating a glacier path over the ocean using her Jet-Black Freezing Aura, freely manipulating the incline to slide the boat forward at breakneck speeds.
Bones clattered and locked into place as Simon attached them to the exterior and bottom of the boat, acting as rails to prevent it from derailing off the ice.
It was far faster than traveling through the water. They were catching up in an instant.
“Do we have the luxury to just sit and watch?” Kinter spat coldly, making the other students flinch.
“Leave it to me.”
One of them stepped forward, wrapping his arm in jet-black aura.
[Hongfeng Remake – Modified Bayonet Charge]
With a powerful ‘whoosh’, he swung his arm, and the ocean surged up. When the Bayonet Charge grazed the area where Meirin was building the ice path, the ice was gouged out messily, leaving a deep, jagged trench.
Someone cried out as the boat spun 360 degrees and slipped the moment they passed over it. Simon grabbed Meirin to keep her from falling out, but her arm—which was channeling the Jet-Black Freezing Aura—shot upward, causing the ice path ahead to suddenly bulge into a massive ramp.
The boat shot up over it like a slide, launching powerfully into the air.
“Aaaah!”
The group groaned and desperately clung to the boat so they wouldn’t be thrown out.
Simon tried to slow their descent by manipulating the bones attached to the hull, but it was no use. The boat was too heavy to be supported by the pulling force of skeletons alone.
“Leave it to me!”
At that moment, Kamibarez made her move. Her pupils narrowed into sharp vertical slits as red power erupted from her body.
[Kamibarez Original – Blood Wing]
Blood gathered around the small, cute wings on her back, quickly transforming them into massive, crimson wings reminiscent of a pterosaur.
With a powerful flap, the red wings—far larger than the boat itself—spread wide. Not only did their falling speed stabilize, but they also caught the wind.
They glided smoothly through the air, quickly catching up to the Combat Magic students’ boat.
“Yeehaw!”
Along with Dick’s excited shout, Simon’s boat dropped down right next to Kinter’s. A mountain of water surged up with a massive splash.
“We caught up!”
“Great job, Kami!”
Dick engaged the engine. The two boats were now tearing across the water, almost neck and neck.
“Tsk, if it’s come to this, it can’t be helped.”
Kinter stood up and tilted his head toward Simon.
“Come on out, Simon Polentia. Let’s have a proper go at this.”
[Black Garb]
His entire body was once again wrapped in the jet-black armor.
He lowered his stance, brought his two hands together pointing toward the back of the boat, and closed his eyes. The Black Garb enveloping his body immediately concentrated into his palms.
His teammates used dark magic to firmly anchor Kinter to the deck.
[Black Garb Combo – Fierce Dash]
Jet-black aura blasted out from his palms like a booster, propelling their boat forward at lightning speed. Thanks to Kinter’s technique, the gap between the two boats widened once again.
Dick laughed and poked Simon in the ribs.
“He’s calling you out, Simon.”
“Can’t be helped.”
Simon scratched his head, stood up, and opened his subspace.
“Those guys, honestly. Combat Magic kids really do have an intelligence issue.”
Dick chuckled.
“Did they seriously think they could fight Simon on the ocean and win?”
From within Simon’s subspace, a massive whale made entirely of bone let out a deafening cry.
At that sound, the marine life in the ocean began gathering toward it, drawn by its presence.
“W-Wait! What the hell is that?”
With the appearance of a true ruler, the ocean began to turn pitch black.

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