Chapter 411

Book 1 Chapter 411

411.

“You piece of trash…!”

Luke’s retort caused Remment’s eyes to ignite with absolute fury.

“You think this is just the beginning? Where do you get the nerve to spout such insolent garbage!”

The boy standing before him was nothing more than a bottom-tier freshman from Lumerne who had flunked out.

He was a worthless nobody who should have been cast out from the academy completely, someone who shouldn’t have even been permitted to step foot on these grounds.

Simply being caught off guard by Luke’s strike and sent tumbling onto the dirt made Remment feel as though a searing inferno was tearing through his chest.

Worse yet, observing Luke carry himself with the confidence of someone poised to turn the tables pushed him to the absolute brink of losing his sanity.

Rumble-!

As the solid ground beneath them began to shudder violently, Luke adjusted his hold on his hilt.

Screeech-!

Colossal walls of ruptured soil surged upward like a monstrous tidal wave, threatening to bury Luke alive.

The sheer magnitude and destructive force of this spell were on an entirely different level compared to the magic Remment had cast previously.

Luke dropped his center of gravity lower and tightened his fingers around his weapon.

‘I can’t evade this!’

This strike bore no resemblance to the earlier skirmishes.

It was an execution blow, explicitly designed to wipe him off the face of the earth.

Luke locked his grip onto the handle with everything he had.

‘If he hasn’t left a vulnerability, I’ll just have to force one open!’

He channeled every ounce of his aura directly into the point of his blade.

Gleam-!

Swoosh-bang-!

The moment he unleashed his swing, a brilliant silver radiance slashed through the air.

Boom-crash-!

Immediately afterward, the cascading deluge of earth completely choked out the space where Luke stood.

“Pathetic.”

Remment sneered, a look of profound disgust twisting his features.

Whoosh-!

“What in the—?!”

Slicing cleanly through the dense cloud of rising debris, Luke sprinted directly toward Remment.

Clang! Crackle-!

Luke’s blade, wrapped tightly in a shimmering silver aura, slammed heavily into Remment’s defensive barrier.

Thud-!

The kinetic backlash sent Luke hurtling backward.

“You miserable rat! What kind of underhanded method did you just pull?!”

Seething with agitation, Remment screamed at the top of his lungs and began casting spells in a frantic, unhinged barrage.

Bang! Crash! Rumble!

“This makes no sense.”

“Since when could that guy manifest an aura like that?”

“What the hell is actually happening out there?!”

The entire freshman section fell into absolute chaos over Luke’s sudden display of power, given that they had spent the entire semester treating him like garbage.

“Unbelievable, he was keeping a trump card like that hidden the whole time?”

“Hmph. It figures a guy like him would have an ace up his sleeve.”

Juen’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, while Shasha narrowed her gaze, subtly masking her expression behind her silk folding fan.

Habiden, standing firmly with his arms locked across his chest, let out a sharp grunt.

“It’s only natural for someone in his position.”

Aina, on the other hand, merely kept her eyes locked on Luke, her face completely unreadable and blank.

“Wow, I knew he wouldn’t go down without a fight since he holds the title of class president, but I never imagined he was sitting on a secret weapon of that caliber.”

Up in the sophomore seating area, Illiana tossed back a handful of popcorn, watching the arena with genuine fascination.

“Though his execution is still incredibly unrefined.”

“It’s only natural that he lacks precise manipulation right now. This is literally the very first time he’s ever tapped into that volume of energy.”

“Oh! Hey, Class President!”

Illiana raised a hand in greeting toward the voice that materialized from directly behind her seat.

Leo reached out and casually grabbed a chunk of Illiana’s snack.

Illiana tried her best to shield her food from the unannounced raid, but Leo effortlessly swiped a massive fistful anyway, leaving her looking utterly miserable.

As Leo took his seat, Chloe turned her head toward him, her brow furrowed in thought.

“If he possessed that level of raw capability from the start, was it truly necessary to force him to endure the humiliation of being labeled a failing student?”

“Due to the highly unconventional nature of his training regimen, it was absolutely critical to keep his internal energy locked away for an extended period.”

Leo explained, popping a few pieces of the stolen popcorn into his mouth.

“Luke’s circumstances are vastly different from the rest of the hero candidates. He didn’t have formal masters; he figured out everything through sheer trial and error.”

“When you look at it that way, he actually shares a lot in common with you, Young Master Leo.”

‘He and I are nothing alike.’

Leo had been brought into the world with his entire foundational structure perfectly realized, lacking only the physical capacity to contain it.

But Luke was entirely different.

He was the definition of a blank slate.

He lacked even the basic ability to manage his own internal vessel.

It wasn’t until he arrived at Lumerne that he received any legitimate instruction on how to handle aura methodologies.

Regardless of how exceptional Luke’s inherent mana traits were or how brilliant his natural instincts might be, because his internal vessel remained underdeveloped, he was forced to begin his journey from a completely separate starting line compared to his peers at Lumerne.

‘Granted, had he followed a standard training path, his advancement still would have turned heads. But it never would have resulted in the explosive, terrifying leaps we are witnessing right this second.’

Because of that reality, Leo focused entirely on expanding Luke’s internal capacity through a brutal, uncompromising process.

That specific path was undeniably an agonizing, uphill battle for Luke to endure.

‘When you are already starting leagues behind everyone else, and you have to watch your peers sprint ahead at breakneck speeds while you remain entirely paralyzed in place… it is a recipe for absolute despair.’

Naturally, if Luke had requested it, he could have opted for a far less agonizing route toward rapid advancement.

Yet, it was Luke himself who chose to walk that grueling path to its absolute conclusion.

“He has finally managed to secure a proper vessel.”

Leo let out a soft chuckle, his gaze drifting back down to Luke.

“The top-tier freshmen are going to find themselves completely blindsided if they make the mistake of writing him off now.”

‘His vision was always flawless. His capacity to analyze a battlefield was immaculate. And above all, his instincts for life-or-death combat were unmatched.’

Leo had done nothing more than hand him a massive, pristine white canvas.

From this moment forward, how that canvas was painted depended entirely on Luke.

Boom! Crack! Rumble!

“I am going to tear you apart!”

Remment bellowed, the blood vessels in his eyes bulging with manic rage.

Completely unhinged, Remment was slinging high-tier magic in every direction without a shred of restraint.

Yet, despite the overwhelming torrent of destructive elements raining down upon the arena, not a single spell managed to connect with Luke.

Luke’s eyes darted frantically, mapping out the trajectories of each incoming spell.

‘My movements feel effortless. I’m not losing my breath at all.’

Leo’s restrictions hadn’t just been placed on his mana.

He had locked down Luke’s physical stamina and strength as well.

Operating under those severe limitations, Luke had pushed himself through agonizing daily physical workouts, driving his body to the absolute brink of collapse.

He had sprinted until his lungs burned day after day, yet his visible progress had remained utterly frozen.

Countless weeks of zero visible improvement, seemingly going nowhere.

But that agonizing period of stagnation had existed solely to prepare him for this exact second.

Even now, as he darted across the battlefield, Luke’s physical form was actively adapting and advancing with every stride.

It felt as though every ounce of suffering he had endured over the past months had been designed for this precise sequence.

The fruits of his relentless, unyielding daily grind were finally manifesting themselves right now.

Slam-!

Luke sprang into the air, using the surface of a massive earthen projectile hurled at him as a stepping stone.

Spinning gracefully mid-air, he deflected a swarm of stone projectiles raining down from above with precise parries.

Clang-clang-clang-

Remment’s offensive was completely relentless.

Thick veins throbbed violently along Remment’s brow as he watched Luke effortlessly glide around and deflect every single piece of magic thrown his way.

“Ha! You think you can drag this out into a war of attrition?! Long before that happens, your stamina will give out, or a spell will rip you to pieces!”

His assessment wasn’t wrong.

Regardless of how boundless Luke’s stamina felt or how perfectly he could read the pathing of the magic.

Remment wasn’t a static target.

Just as Luke was adapting to the paths of Remment’s spells, Remment was actively studying Luke’s evasion patterns and footsteps, shifting his assault into far more intricate and unpredictable formations.

Remment Morak.

He was the scion of a highly distinguished magical lineage and held the rank of 3rd overall within the freshman magic division.

His natural reserves of mana were vastly superior to nearly every other student in their year.

‘If this turns into a prolonged engagement, I am dead meat.’

Even though he had broken his seals and tapped into a wellspring of mana that dwarfed his previous limits, Luke’s total energy reserves were still far from endless.

For a swordsman, aura acts as the fuel that sustains their physical output.

The exact instant that mana runs dry, their physical capabilities crater instantly.

‘Closing the distance to get into striking range of Remment is proving next to impossible.’

He had attempted to force his way inside several times already, only to be pushed back on every single occasion.

Remment was continuously keeping him at arm’s length by layering an endless sequence of protective wards.

You don’t secure the 3rd rank in Lumerne’s cutthroat magic department through pure happenstance.

The boy possessed legitimate mechanical genius alongside actual, practical combat experience.

He was already highly proficient in dealing with martial fighters who relied heavily on aura enhancement.

‘The moment I take even a minor hit or let my stamina falter, this match is over.’

Luke’s glowing silver eyes locked onto Remment.

A vibrant silver sheen began to radiate from his pupils.

Flash-!

Remment’s lips curled into a confident smirk as he noticed Luke abruptly shift his angle and sprint straight toward him.

‘What an absolute moron!’

He had been briefly caught off guard when Luke’s physical parameters suddenly went through the roof.

And for a split second, he had been utterly consumed by rage that a failure like Luke had actually managed to land a physical strike on him.

But Remment quickly reeled his emotions back in.

‘There is absolutely no universe where I lose a match to someone like Luke Elda!’

Remment’s magical output was completely pinning Luke down.

‘Your speed is impressive, but speed alone won’t save you!’

Remment had his sights set on the position of class representative as well.

From his perspective as a pure, traditional spellcaster, his most dangerous hurdles were Habiden and Aina from the martial tracks.

Both of them were fighters who weaponized extreme velocity to completely suffocate their opponents before they could react.

Remment had spent months simulating encounters against exactly that style of combat.

The primary element he commanded was earth.

And the absolute pinnacle of an earth specialist’s toolkit is total, unyielding defense.

‘The exact moment you step foot inside my perimeter, you are completely done for.’

Remment’s eyes gleamed with malice.

Thud-!

Right on cue, Luke sliced through the outer layers of defensive wards and stepped squarely into Remment’s immediate vicinity.

Boom-crash-!

Remment’s offensive arrays snapped into action, converging directly on Luke’s position.

Whoosh-!

In that critical instant, Luke instantly propelled himself backward, re-establishing a safe distance.

Clang-clang-clang-!

Spikes of sharp earth erupted from the stadium floor to impale Luke, but he swung his sword in a blur, shattering every incoming shard of stone.

Stomp-!

Using the momentum of his landing, Luke darted forward and materialized directly behind Remment’s back.

Flash-!

He swung his blade downward, aiming directly for a blind spot in the mage’s vision.

“It’s pointless! This defensive array leaves absolutely zero blind spots!”

As Remment bellowed his defiance, the surrounding magic flared to life once more, driving Luke backward.

Luke was forced to retreat beyond the edge of Remment’s defensive perimeter yet again.

He found himself trapped in a vicious cycle where he could do nothing but deflect and run, completely stripped of any opportunity to mount a real offense.

It felt exactly like being dragged down into a suffocating quicksand pit.

Just as a triumphant grin began to spread across Remment’s face.

Snap-!

Luke came to a completely dead stop.

Remment, who had been maintaining a relentless stream of spellfire, briefly halted his casting as he processed Luke’s sudden lack of movement.

His lips twisted into a mocking sneer.

“Have you finally accepted your reality? I hate to break it to you, but I have zero intention of letting someone who publicly disgraced me walk away from this easily…”

“I’m coming for you.”

Luke drew a steady breath, reset his fingers on his hilt, and sunk into a deep stance.

“What did you say?”

Before Remment could even finish knitting his brows in confusion.

Boom-!

‘Did he just vanish?!’

Panic seized Remment.

The very next instant, his sensory arrays picked up a massive spike of motion.

‘No, his velocity is still scaling upward!’

Remment poured a massive chunk of his remaining mana into his protective barriers, rapidly widening the zone of his defensive array.

Hum-!

The moment Luke’s boot breached the outer edge of Remment’s zone, the ambient mana reacted violently.

Rumble-!

An absolute deluge of terra-based magic manifested from the ground, attempting to swallow Luke whole.

Deflecting and weaving through the chaotic mess of stone, Luke rapidly closed the gap between himself and the mage.

“You mindless idiot! Do you honestly believe pushing your speed a fraction higher is going to let you lay a hand on me?!”

Remment mocked him openly.

Right at that split second.

Whoosh-!

Luke ripped completely through Remment’s primary line of defense.

Witnessing this, Remment’s smug expression began to fracture.

‘No, there’s no way he can bridge the gap.’

Remment squeezed his internal reserves for even more power.

Rumble-!

Jagged pillars of stone violently rose up, attempting to clamp down on Luke’s limbs.

In that precise heartbeat.

Gleam-!

Luke’s silver eyes flared with an intense light, and a violent cascade of silver aura erupted from his blade.

Slash-!

A razor-sharp arc of concentrated aura sliced the oncoming magic completely in half.

Remment’s face drained of color, replaced by pure terror.

Luke had spent the entirety of the first semester operating with a microscopic pool of usable mana.

As a direct consequence of that torture, he had developed a hyper-delicate, near-flawless mastery over mana manipulation, allowing him to squeeze maximum efficiency out of every single drop of energy.

He had spent months perfecting the art of achieving catastrophic results with the bare minimum amount of fuel.

Watching Luke tear through his secondary line of defense, Remment desperately forced out every remaining scrap of energy inside his body.

“Stay down!”

Hum-!

A massive, intricate array materialized around his physical form.

Every piece of offensive magic within his repertoire manifested simultaneously, locking onto Luke.

Right then.

Whoosh-!

‘He’s… still accelerating?!’

A brilliant streak of silver light appeared directly in front of Remment’s face.

Thud-!

Luke planted his left boot firmly into the dirt.

“Hold on—”

Utilizing his left leg as a solid anchor point, Luke whipped his right leg around, delivering a devastating kick squarely into Remment’s midsection.

“Urgh…”

Crash-!

“Cough—?!”

The concentrated aura gathered at the point of Luke’s boot shattered through Remment’s multi-layered defensive shields as if they were thin glass.

Boom-!

Taking the full brunt of Luke’s physical strike, Remment went airborne, flying across the arena before crashing heavily into the boundary wall.

Rubble fell-! Thud-!

With his eyes rolled back into his head, completely stripped of consciousness, Remment slumped onto the stone floor.

“Whew.”

Luke let out a long, measured breath and straightened his posture.

“The winner is Luke Elda.”

Mel offered a bright, approving smile as she officially signaled Luke’s triumph.

“Whoaaa!”

Deafening cheers instantly boomed from the upperclassmen stands.

“The way he read those spell paths and slipped through them was pure art!”

“His combat vision is exceptional. I really like this kid.”

It was an upset that absolutely no one had anticipated.

Furthermore, the clinical manner in which Luke dismantled Remment made for an incredible visual spectacle.

A massive wave of applause cascaded down from the older students.

On the flip side, the vast majority of the freshman class could do nothing but stare down at Luke in sheer horror.

“T-that can’t be real.”

“That literal flunk-out student did that…?”

“Hold on a second. If he just completely dismantled Remment, doesn’t that mean he’s functionally one of the most dangerous guys in our entire year?”

“I’ve spent the last few months laughing at him and treating him like dirt to his face… how is this possible?!”

Color rapidly drained from the faces of several onlookers in the freshman rows.

“This is nowhere near his actual ceiling.”

“Correct. Especially considering he didn’t weave a single shred of ‘magic’ into that sequence.”

Shasha narrowed her eyes significantly at Juen’s observation.

A moment later, Juen pushed himself up from his seat.

“Do your best out there, top-ranked magic student.”

“The win is mine.”

Juen let out a dismissive grunt and began making his way toward the preparation chambers.

Simultaneously, Aina rose to her feet as well.

Habiden, who was positioned nearby, remarked casually,

“You look like Luke Elda has finally caught your attention.”

Aina’s gaze remained firmly anchored to the figure standing down in the center of the arena.

“Not in the slightest.”

Aina delivered her response flatly before turning to head down to the preparation area.

Watching her departure, Habiden let out a sharp chuckle, his eyes drifting back toward Luke as he mumbled under his breath,

“Well, at least he’s finally worth the effort of crushing.”