Chapter 337: Tradition of the Inter-Academy Tournament (1)

Speedweapon once asked me.

— Hey, Geom-Ma. In your opinion, who among our peers has improved the most?

I answered without a second of hesitation. They say friends think alike. I often shared the same thoughts as him.

‘Chloe.’

Speedweapon seemed surprised by my answer. And of course, we’re talking about a generation that includes Abel, Ryozo, Rachel, and Leon.

They weren’t called the golden generation for nothing.

Even now, and probably in the future, gathering a cast like that would be nearly impossible.

After all, it’s a lineup intentionally assembled by that damn suppressive force.

In the original storyline, Chloe Auditore wasn’t part of that brilliant group.

Like me, she started as a background student in class B.

She was supposed to spend her days quietly in the wolf class, later working in the shadows as part of the Auditore clan.

But the one responsible for twisting that “peaceful” (?) life path was me.

Ever since she met me, Chloe’s life changed completely.

A girl who was nothing more than a B-list extra began craving power like she was possessed. Walking a tightrope on the edge of an abyss, she relentlessly pushed herself.

— But Ryozo, Abel, and Rachel did the same thing!

True. They all worked hard.

But ever since the demons—our main enemies—lost their regenerative powers, the opportunities to train genuine combat instinct also vanished.

Chloe is different.

The enemies of the Auditore clan don’t come from the outside. They’re internal tumors, rotting from within. She detects them and cuts them out.

Her combat instinct has never dulled. On the contrary, it’s grown sharper over time. In that regard, she’s on par with me.

So, in conclusion,

Gooooooohhh…

That sinister energy, so intense it gave me goosebumps. That’s the manifestation of the state Chloe has reached, after bathing in blood countless times.

“Heavenly Sword.”

Chloe has become strong.

“This time… I’ll protect you.”

So, at least to some extent, she’s earned the right to say those words.

***

What’s also called the Blood Moon is, even in a world brimming with every kind of fantastic element, an extremely rare meteorological phenomenon.

In fact, the Black Sun—which could never be seen on Earth—hangs perpetually in the sky of the magical subspace.

In the world of Miracle Blessing M, it can be said to be the most precious sky there is. And in that moment, this Blood Moon dominated the nightly firmament.

“Heavenly Sword… you’re really asking for trouble…”

Chloe walked through the cold night air. I had just awakened from an illusion and still hadn’t fully regained my awareness.

Chiiiiiiiiic…

Ugh. Damn it. No excuse—I genuinely had a headache. A stabbing pain, as if a handful of needles rolled through my skull.

Just as Chaerina said, it seemed to be the memory-elimination process.

The illusion was a dream, and the fading of memories came right after, as if part of a protocol. To keep everything, I’d need Lycan’s help…

‘And right now, he’s not here…’

For this to happen just when we’re alone. That’s why I’ll lose those memories even with my eyes open, and Chaerina nearly crushed me.

Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic.

That sound of fingernails scratching a chalkboard shredded my nerves. Chloe dragged her katana as she approached Chaerina.

One step. Then another.

Through my blurry vision, her silhouette seemed bathed in red. And it wasn’t an illusion—the Blood Moon was truly lighting the ground. This was real.

Even amid my gasps, I couldn’t help but feel awe.

‘Has she refined the Raven’s Blessing so much…?’

The Raven’s Blessing is the finest ability to suppress one’s presence known—a symbol of the Auditore clan. It’s a unique power to completely repress murderous intent and presence, holding it contained inside.

According to the Dark Wiki, legends say one could release that pressure in an instant and enter a devastating frenzy.

But that was just theory. I’d never seen it with my own eyes. They said only Altair Auditore, the clan leader, achieved that mastery at age sixty.

Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic.

Yet Chloe had done it. Barely in her early twenties, she altered the field purely with her murderous intent.

At this moment, she had reached a divine-level ability that only the Master of the Sword, Changseong, Altair, and I share.

Even Chaerina showed clear signs of being unsettled. Her expression remained emotionless, as always, but I wasn’t fooled.

Her eyes trembled, like the moon’s reflection on fountain water.

At that instant—

“Your name.”

Chloe spoke as she closed the distance. Her voice was rough, as if her throat was rasped.

“…Are you Huginn or Muninn? Why is a Raven of Truth here? You shouldn’t be. That goes against all narrative logic…”

Chaerina murmured incomprehensible nonsense. What came next sounded like poetry or a quoted verse.

‘Huginn and Muninn fly over the vast land each day. I fear that Huginn will not return. But I worry even more for Muninn…’

It was so sudden I couldn’t think straight. I let out a harsh laugh regardless.

What is this woman clinging to so obsessively? I sincerely wanted to stop her, grab her arm, and force her into a one-on-one conversation with Yu Sein.

Chloe kept advancing in silence, merely tilting her head.

‘That Chloe…’

I hadn’t seen her like this in a long time. Whenever I did, my knees trembled.

“The Auditore clan always asks for the opponent’s name before passing sentence. So I’ll ask again.”

Chloe opened her mouth again. It was an ultimatum.

“Your name.”

“I… my name is…”

Fwooosh.

Chaerina’s voice vanished. A mountain wind blew in from the north—a gust that had crossed valleys and slopes of the Alps all the way to Parsy Academy.

The three of us—me, Chaerina, and Chloe—stood facing each other by the fountain in tense confrontation. Even without words, the place throbbed with tension.

The sound of water and wind had turned into white noise.

Guk.

A faint sound of a muscle tensing came from Chloe’s thigh.

Boom!

That prolonged silence was shattered by Chloe’s launching leap. She landed with force enough to crack the stone and closed the distance immediately.

There was no time to react.

‘She’s going to kill Chaerina.’

I know what that hand can do. If she sets her mind to it, she will. She always has.

And, she was in that mode. Her reasoning, which could have stopped her, had already melted like ice under that burning madness.

‘I have to intervene…’

…But absurdly, I couldn’t move my feet. This was madness. Should I forsake all humanity and ascend as a god once and for all?

While cursing inwardly, Chloe’s shoulder blurred.

The wind and water sliced the air with a tearing sound. Her katana, wreathed in red murderous intent, lunged toward Chaerina.

Chaerina flinched and swiftly brought her hand to her hip. Instead of dodging, she chose to counterattack.

Clang!

A metallic roar shook the place. The shockwaves were so clear they were visible.

It was a deep night. The three of us, in the midst of this violent confrontation, opened our eyes simultaneously—as if it were planned.

“…Fuck this. Pft.”

The intruder was Saint Yu Sein. She stepped between Chloe and Chaerina, her arms outstretched, and erected a barrier.

A pair of rune-etched circles spun in the air, blocking the attack and shielding Chaerina.

“Haah… seriously. If I use barriers this much, divine power drains quick.”

Yu Sein complained, nose bleeding.

Her pale face made it clear she was only pretending to sound calm.

“…Step aside.”

That came from the other Chloe’s personality.

She pressed her blade hard against the floating barrier, unable to advance.

“Look at that. Turns out you’ve got two personalities in one body, huh?”

Yu Sein gave a strained smile, though her hand shook visibly. Then, for a moment, she diverted her gaze from Chloe and looked at me.

“Two personalities in one body. Huginn and Muninn—the ravens of Thought and Memory.”

Yu Sein forced a benign smile and spoke to Chaerina.

“This should be enough to justify narrative credibility, don’t you think?”

“You… your identity…”

Even Chaerina looked visibly shocked.

“We’ll leave introductions… huff for later, okay? Lot to say about script coherence. huff And we’ve still got three events after Ragnarok, right? If we kick off like this in Act One, what’s left for the grand finale?”

“You’re… the serpent.”

A shredded voice, as if her vocal cords had broken.

“That black-haired type has no interest in the universe’s laws, but I… reading the world’s manual is literally my job. And that manual can only be read by someone reincarnated like me—didn’t you know?”

“…That…”

“From the start, the three of us were forcibly suppressed, violating all logic of the world. Huff So if you spill more celestial secrets here, this is going to collapse. Ugh, what a nuisance. Anyway, better fall asleep for a bit.”

Yu Sein moved her pale lips again.

“Obliviate.”

Chaerina’s eyelashes fluttered before closing. As her half-lidded eyes rolled upward, Yu Sein summoned a floor barrier to support her.

‘She neutralized her with just one word.’

Finally, Yu Sein turned to Chloe.

“Amor Aeternus.”

“…Ah, ah…”

Chloe’s eyes, which until then had been trying to break the barrier with fierce intent, clouded over.

She blinked and, like Chaerina, ended by closing her eyes.

Drip, drip.

The peaceful sound of the fountain returned to fill the air.

“Ugh, I’m dying, I’m dying…”

Yu Sein leaned back, hands on her hips, stretching her torso backward.

After a few complaints, she turned toward me.

“Kang Geom-Ma, you are a man full of sins.”

I shook my head.

“In many ways…”

***

We decided to leave the two unconscious girls in Speedweapon’s care.

He came running barefoot, his hair a complete mess.

He didn’t look reliable, but we had ten years of friendship behind us.

He didn’t need me to say anything.

Speedweapon understood immediately and brought reinforcements to carry Chloe and Chaerina on stretchers.

Both were deeply asleep, showing no signs of waking, which made the transport easier.

After cleaning up the scene, I moved with Yu Sein to another location. With my lightning magic, we left Parsy and settled on a mountaintop in the Alps.

The snow stung the skin.

“No one will hear us here. It’s perfect.”

“Aren’t you cold?”

“Do you think a possessed and a reincarnated person fear the cold?”

Yu Sein chanted a spell.

“Luce in altis.”

A golden barrier enveloped a three-meter radius. Inside, it felt warm and cozy, like being back in the womb.

“……”

That comfort sent me into a bit of a crisis.

‘What the hell are we doing?’

•••

Not even on a night of madness had so much happened. Everything had exploded in just a few hours.

‘And to make things worse, the memories are evaporating in real-time…’

The more I try to hold on, the more they slip through my fingers like sand.

This is insane.

Yu Sein, though exhausted, glanced at me with a blank expression. Then she gave my shoulder a couple of light taps.

“I recommend you forget it all. That was something you weren’t supposed to see or hear. That girl just made a mistake in her rush.”

“But why is everyone in such a hurry? Tell me, I’m going crazy.”

Yu Sein answered colder than the Alpine snow.

“I already told you—it breaks narrative plausibility. Believe me, I want to tell you with all my heart. But if I do, the entire tree of possibilities collapses.”

“What are you, Doctor Strange or something?”

“What? You saw that movie too? Damn… I got pulled in right before I could watch it!”

On a pristine Alpine mountaintop, two beings from another world were having a ridiculous conversation.

“Anyway, Kang Geom-Ma, just focus on the exchange match. The next trial is Sköll and Hati.”

“And of course, the reason you can’t speak clearly is also narrative coherence and suppression, right?”

“Wow! After being around this noona, you’re already starting to understand things better.”

Should I hit her?

“I left clues here and there. Try to figure them out. Rack your brain with your friends.”

“Not just my friends. Yu Sein, they’re yours too.”

“Friends…? Ah, right.”

She rolled those two syllables around on her tongue while tapping her forehead with her knuckles and sticking out her tongue.

“I’m so scatterbrained.”

Yu Sein raised her face with a slight smile. Then she closed her eyes and let the moonlight bathe her completely.

“Don’t worry about the redhead or the pretty one for now. I’ll handle them. I can’t tell you the details yet, but they’re essential.”

“…Got it.”

“And by the way, treat the redhead well. You don’t know this, but that girl has really supported you with everything she has. Good heavens, don’t forgive this man’s sins! He’s Satan, Satan!”

“……”

I hadn’t noticed, but the haze that had covered the full moon had already cleared.

***

“Hmm, such nice weather, ahh…”

A place close to the sky.

At five thousand meters above sea level, I didn’t look up at the sky.

I just silently watched Yu Sein, bathed in moonlight.

‘You’re fighting your own battles too.’

And me, Kang Geom-Ma?

I was just running away. Making excuses with cheap reasoning that I now had more responsibilities. It was a moment when I missed the recklessness of youth.

‘If something happens…’

Slide.

I brushed the lapel of the black coat Abel gave me with my thumb.

I felt its stiff texture beneath my fingertips.

My true master. The moonlight that guides me.

The two sashimi blades comforted me.

As if saying don’t be afraid—even if the end of the world comes, as always, they will be with me.

An hour later, I completely forgot “what I had just experienced.”

Though it wasn’t a total erasure; it lingered on the surface of my consciousness like residue.

I never imagined that even that—

Would become useful someday.

== ==

[Until the ■■ of □□□ (0/4)]

[Completion Reward: [¿ ? ¿]]

== ==

It came back like a boomerang, in the form of a status window.

***

The second trial became the center of attention.

After the dopamine overload caused by the flag war, viewers were completely hooked on the exchange event.

People eagerly awaited the next episode. It was frustrating that it didn’t come out all at once like on Xflix.

One day later.

ⓐ Invincible Sami: It’s starteeed!

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the hero Himik revealed the name of the next trial to the world.

Its name: Sköll and Hati.

The names of the brother wolves from Norse mythology.

Many theories circulated online.

They said it wasn’t a twin wolf race or a three-legged race. Half-joking, half-serious.

…I knew it.

ⓐ Invincible Sami: A chariot race!? Seriously!?

We were still in the 21st century, after all.