Book 1 Chapter 792
792.
Rune opened his eyes at the commotion outside.
‘An attack?’
He thought about it for a moment but soon shook his head.
‘I don't feel any dark magic.’
Moreover, he couldn't feel the movements of the Lumen professors either.
‘Looks like some kind of training.’
Rune went to the window, sat down, and looked at the burning dormitory.
Then he tilted his head.
‘Phoenix flames?’
He felt the power of a phoenix from the flames burning in the dormitory.
Furthermore…
‘This is the same power as Lunia's phoenix?’
“Fiora! Where are you!”
“Miss Lunia! She's not in the room!”
Lunia and Airan's urgent voices were heard from outside the door.
Rune opened the door and went out.
“What’s wrong?”
“Fiora suddenly disappeared! Senior Rune!”
Lunia said with a tearful face.
“The flames burning in the Lumen dormitory right now, they seem to be your phoenix’s power, don't they?”
“Huh?”
Lunia looked flustered and rushed to the window.
“W-what in the world is this…?”
Lunia, with an unbelievable expression, said to Rune.
“I-I’ll go outside for a moment and come back.”
“Airan. Go with Lunia.”
“Yes, alright.”
After sending his juniors, Rune returned to his room.
He then plopped down onto the bed and muttered to himself.
‘What’s going on? A dual contract? But even if it’s young, a phoenix wouldn't make a dual contract.’
Rune, who had been lost in thought for a moment, soon lay back down on the bed.
‘Too troublesome to think.’
Something impossible had happened.
Nevertheless, Rune felt no curiosity.
Rune, staring at the ceiling with an unmotivated face, closed his eyes.
***
“Uwahahahahaha!”
Kal held bottles in both hands.
“This firepower is killer, isn't it?!”
“Ugh! Th-this villain…!”
The first-years looked at Kal, who held a torch, with shocked expressions.
Currently, Kal was confronting the first-years who were trying to put out the fire from the rear.
Kal held a potion bottle with a cloth stuck into a bottle of highly explosive oil, and lit it with a torch.
Kal's torch was Fiora's flame.
The combination of the Phoenix's flame, said to be the most powerful flame in this world, and a highly flammable explosive potion created tremendous power.
Whenever the first-years showed an opening, Kal would appear like a ghost, throw a potion bottle, and hide among the surrounding terrain, repeating this process.
While doing so, he was setting all sorts of traps and conducting guerrilla warfare against the first-years.
Literally, a trick.
But the first-years were thoroughly caught up in Kal's dazzling tactical battle.
Whoosh-!
“Alright! Where should I throw this? Whoosh! Whoosh!”
The first-years, who had seen the potion's power, shivered as they watched Kal wildly swing the bottles.
“Here you go!”
“Kyaaaak?!”
At that moment, Kal threw a potion bottle at a female student.
Bang! Whoosh-!
The bottle hit the ground and exploded.
But only for a moment, a large flame erupted.
Ultimately, it caused no damage.
“It’s a bluff! Uwahahahahaha!”
Kal laughed and disappeared again.
Even Kal didn't have large quantities of highly explosive potions.
He was just bluffing like this to make the first-years fall further and further into panic.
‘My goal is merely to stop the first-years, not to defeat them.’
Kal was just doing what he could.
But even that alone was yielding sufficient results.
“Hey, you sly…!”
“Is this your first time fighting a sly person?!”
Kal's cackling laughter echoed.
***
Chen Xia trembled.
‘What is this man?’
At that moment, her eyes met the man who was looking down at her while stepping on her stomach, and she gritted her teeth and grabbed his ankle.
She tried to unleash her water aura.
Squeeze-!
“Kugh?!”
But as the opponent applied force, her water aura scattered.
It wasn't just a matter of applying force.
The opponent had flowed his own aura, neutralizing Chen Xia's aura.
‘Shadow fighting style?!’
But it was exceptionally superior.
The man was fighting in a style he considered ideal.
Chen Xia turned her head and looked at Warreden, who was lying on the ground.
‘He defeated Warreden with spirit magic alone.’
And this man's spirit magic was somehow similar to Warreden's.
No. More precisely, it was far more evolved than Warreden's fighting style.
It was as if it was what Warreden ultimately aimed for.
At that moment, a Wind Wyvern roared from the sky and charged at Leo.
Whoosh-
Then Fiora's body, which was on Leo's shoulder, grew massive and began to emit wind.
“What kind of phoenix… wind…!”
Eliza, who was riding the Wind Wyvern, shrieked in astonishment.
Whoosh!
The wind Fiora emitted made Fiora's flames even stronger.
Crash-!
“Kyaaaak?!”
The Wind Wyvern, which collided with Fiora, was sent flying.
Due to the impact, Eliza was also thrown off the Wind Wyvern.
Leo looked at Eliza falling towards him and reached out his hand with an expressionless face.
Grab-!
Eliza, grabbed by the scruff of her neck, hung limply, unconscious.
Then Chloe's ice clones, veritable ice bombs themselves, rushed towards Leo.
Leo looked at the ice clone that had reached his proximity and extended his hand.
Grab-!
“Kugh?!”
“Your tricks are shallow.”
Leo said calmly.
“You were planning to hide among the ice clones and rescue your comrades, weren't you?”
Leo looked at Chloe, who was kneeling with her neck held by him, and said calmly.
“But the place that suits you is the rear.”
Chloe was fighting like a battle magician.
More precisely, it was the style seen in an all-rounder magician who moves between the front and rear lines.
It was the same style as when Leo used magic.
But it was a direction that didn't suit Chloe.
Whoosh-!
“Gasp?!”
Leo lifted his arm.
Chloe, suspended in the air, grimaced in pain and grabbed Leo's wrist.
At that moment, Arvad deployed magic from the sky.
Seeing that, Leo deployed Dispel.
The magic Arvad created was instantly nullified.
The moment they saw that, everyone's eyes were filled with shock.
“M-magic?”
“Summoner Knight… wasn't he a dual-class?!”
“He's an all-class user?!”
“But that only happens in legends!”
As everyone wore shocked expressions.
Arvad bit his lip.
“He’s a monster…”
“Pressure using wind. It's efficient, which is a style I like.”
“His fighting style is similar to mine.”
“Is it just you?”
Leo burst into laughter.
“Do you know why you were subdued by me so easily?”
At those words, the third-years fell silent.
Chen Xia bit her lip tightly.
‘Overwhelming summoning magic, enough to tie down all Lumen students except the first-years by himself.’
Leo summoned countless phantoms and spirits to immobilize the other grades.
Among them was Elena, a fifth-year.
But he also possessed swordsmanship and magic abilities comparable to that summoning magic.
In a way, it was the ideal image that Lumen students dreamed of.
And the moment she saw him, she realized.
‘I… no. We can never become like that.’
Even with a lifetime of effort, it would be impossible to reach.
As Chen Xia bit her lip.
Whoosh-
Leo lifted his foot from Chen Xia's stomach.
Thud- Thud-
And he also let go of Chloe and Eliza, who were held in his hand.
He had perceived that their will to fight him had vanished.
At that moment, Chelsea and Illiana came running.
“Big brother Leo! I won!”
“Leo! Leo! I defeated Duran!”
Chelsea and Illiana shouted in excited voices.
Chen Xia, hearing their voices, widened her eyes.
“Miss Chelsea? Miss Illiana? No, more importantly, what did you just say…?”
Seeing Chen Xia's disbelieving expression, Illiana puffed out her chest.
“I! Defeated Duran! Xia! This is all thanks to Leo! Leo is definitely a god!”
Her excited, chattering appearance was both unfamiliar and familiar.
It was as if she had returned to her first year.
Of course, defeating Duran meant she had become incomparably stronger.
“Ah! Brother…!”
As Chen Xia, flustered, was about to rush to Arvad.
Grab-!
“Huh?”
Leo grabbed Chelsea by the scruff of her neck.
“Leave him be.”
“Huh? Why?”
“You defeated Celia. But Arvad was broken by me without even being able to lift a finger.”
Leo said calmly.
“No matter how good Arvad's personality is, if you go and comfort him now, you'll crush his pride.”
“Ah…”
Chelsea recoiled.
Leo turned his head and looked at Celia and Duran in the distance, who were slowly getting up, using their swords as staffs.
It wasn't a narrow victory.
It was literally an overwhelming victory.
One week.
In just one week, Chelsea and Illiana returned to their original selves.
The Chelsea and Illiana from another world, who had built up their fighting styles by thinking and contemplating on their own, had fully absorbed them, not the two people from this world.
That difference created the current results.
‘It seems insignificant… but it's huge.’
The Lumen students in this timeline unintentionally lost their true selves.
Even if their outward appearances are identical, there is a clear difference between fake and real.
“Decide.”
Leo said.
“Whether to remain slumped.”
Everyone looked at Leo.
“Or to stand up again and move forward.”
Leo smiled faintly.
“I recommend the latter.”
“Why?”
“Because if you choose the former, I won't let you be.”
Chen Xia let out a hollow laugh.
Leaving Chen Xia behind, Leo moved on.
Chelsea and Illiana exchanged glances, then hastily followed behind Leo.
Looking at their retreating figures, Chen Xia thought.
‘She resembles Miss Lea… No. In this case, should I say Miss Lea resembles that person?’
***
Whoosh-!
Leo, having arrived in front of the burning dormitory, cleared away the flames.
“Shouldn't we help Kal?”
To Chelsea's question, Leo replied.
“Kal is stronger in real combat than you think. Don't worry.”
Having said that, Leo stopped walking and looked ahead.
There were familiar faces there.
‘Lunia, Airan.’
When Leo spotted the two.
Lunia and Airan also spotted Leo.
And Lunia spotted the plump phoenix on Leo's shoulder.
“Fiora!”
Lunia, who had run in front of Leo, shouted.
“You! You kidnapped Fiora?! What are your intentions!”
At her fierce voice, Leo tilted his head.
“Kidnapped?”
Saying so, Leo grabbed Fiora's head and lifted her.
Cheep- cheep-!
Fiora flapped her wings and struggled.
“I just summoned her, that's all?”
“Don't be ridiculous! Fiora is under contract with me! She wouldn't respond to your summoning!”
Seeing Lunia flare up, Leo violently shook Fiora from side to side.
Bwaak-bwaak-bwaak-bwaak-bwaak-bwaak-bwaak!
“Fiora!”
As Fiora's flesh jiggled and she shrieked, Lunia recoiled in terror and wailed.
Looking at Lunia, Leo said with a look of pity.
“A summoner can't even properly manage her own summon? That's why she abandoned you and responded to my summoning, isn't it?”
“Don't be ridiculous! You kidnapped her! Give Fiora back right now!”
At those words, Leo made an indifferent face and threw Fiora with a flick-!
Splat!
Peep!
Fiora, who had fallen to the ground, let out a shriek.
“Fio…”
“Choose, Fiora.”
Leo said calmly.
“Lunia or me.”
At those words, Fiora turned her head.
And began to look between Leo and Lunia.
“Fiora, come here quickly.”
Lunia squatted down and held out both hands.
Cheep!
Fiora began to roll over and over.
“…”
Lunia made a shocked expression.
The direction Fiora rolled was none other than towards Leo.
“Think again.”
Leo gently kicked Fiora with his toe, and Fiora rolled like a ball towards Lunia.
But Fiora, of her own will, turned around and returned to Leo's feet.
Grab-
Leo grabbed Fiora and lifted her up.
“You chose me.”
Thud-
“H-how can this be…”
Lunia, slumped on the ground, wore an expression of disbelief, then quickly a fierce one.
“You damned bastard! What did you do to Fiora!”
Whoosh-!
“Hieek?!”
“W-what?”
At Lunia's fiercely raging demeanor, Illiana flinched in fright and hid behind Leo, and Chelsea also backed away, startled.
Seeing that, Leo clicked his tongue.
‘As expected, she was putting on an act.’
It had seemed strange that she was known as a perfect honors student, and it turned out she was thoroughly pretending.
“M-Miss Lunia. Please calm down for now.”
“Let go! I'm going to tear apart that damn thug who stole someone else's summon!”
“C-calm down!”
Airan hastily tried to stop Lunia and asked.
“W-what is your objective?”
To that question, Leo said calmly.
“I have business with the student council president of Seirune.”
“Senior Rune?”
Airan made a puzzled expression.
Seeing Airan, Leo raised his sword.
And pointed it precisely at the room where Rune was staying.
“Yes.”
“What business do you have with Senior Rune?”
As Airan asked with a wary expression, Leo said calmly.
“To kick that rotten girl’s butt.”
Flash! Boom-!
As Leo unleashed his magic, a powerful explosion occurred in Rune's room.
Lunia and Airan's eyes widened.
Chelsea and Illiana also gaped.
“Chelsea, Illiana.”
“Huh?”
“You two deal with them.”
Whoooosh-!
Leo turned his head and looked towards Rune, where an unusual surge of magic was scattering.
“Because I think I need to have a physical conversation with her.”
“A-are you sure?”
As Chelsea asked cautiously, Leo shrugged his shoulders.
“It’ll be a bit intense, won’t it?”