“Ah! I’m late—!”
The front gate of the Korean Mage Academy. In a foreign land, Lily Rose was dashing frantically.
Today was the main event at the Korean Mage Academy: the second-year captain’s match had already begun.
And she couldn’t miss the chance to see what might be the biggest match of all—Lee Seo-jun versus Kim Sunwoo, the two aces of Korea in her eyes.
Missing something like that would be a total loss.
“Move!”
As the dazzling blonde suddenly sprinted by, people’s eyes naturally followed her.
“…Isn’t that Lily Rose?”
“Huh? Yeah, I think it is.”
A few reporters recognized her and tried to get an interview. But Lily ignored them all, her urgency pushing her straight toward the testing grounds.
Then she suddenly stopped.
“Wait, where was the video observation room again?”
She quickly looked around. Debating whether to ask someone, she caught sight of a familiar brown-haired figure nearby.
As if sensing her gaze, the person turned around.
Lily’s eyes widened the moment she saw his face.
“What the—why are you here?”
“…That’s what I want to ask you.”
A sharp-looking man swept his brown hair stylishly back as he muttered to her.
“Luke? You came to watch the test too?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Luke Fallon.
The top second-year student at the American Mage Academy, ranked No. 2 among the world’s most promising mages.
His specialty, like Lily and Lee Seo-jun, was enhancement magic using a sword.
“I didn’t expect to run into you here,” Luke said.
Lily scoffed.
“That’s my line. You’re still the same sneaky bastard trying to analyze people by spying on their tests.”
“What’s sneaky about it? What about you?”
“I’m just here for fun, because it seemed interesting, okay? You’re the persistent one. I thought you went quiet after getting wrecked by Lee Seo-jun last year. Tsk.”
Luke frowned at her provocation.
Last summer break, there had been a joint training session between the Korean and American Mage Academies.
During that, there was a student sparring segment—and somehow Luke ended up facing Lee Seo-jun one-on-one.
Luke had been confident.
He believed he was the best of his age group worldwide, and figured the high evaluations of Lee Seo-jun were just hype since they’d never fought.
But after their match, that belief was shattered.
Lee Seo-jun’s skill had far exceeded his expectations.
He wasn’t just a rising star—he had the overwhelming power to face even mid-to-upper-level professional mages right now.
The result had been Lee Seo-jun’s complete victory.
For Luke, it had been the first truly shocking loss of his life.
“And what about you? Didn’t you also lose to Lee Seo-jun during finals?”
Luke grinned as he added,
“Oh wait, it wasn’t Lee Seo-jun. Was it that Kim Shinwoo guy? Ranked 20th now, right?”
“…It’s Kim Sunwoo, not Kim Shinwoo.”
“Whatever. Just stop embarrassing yourself by hyping that guy up in the media to save face. It’s so obvious you’re trying to justify losing by pretending he’s some powerhouse.”
Justifying a loss by claiming the opponent was strong.
That jab stung a little. Lily had to admit she probably had done that unconsciously.
That was the whole reason she’d talked up Kim Sunwoo’s strength on social media and to the press.
But Kim Sunwoo wasn’t someone she’d hyped into existence. He was the real deal.
In fact, she suspected he might not even be inferior to Lee Seo-jun.
She hesitated for a moment.
Should she tell Luke what she’d experienced with Kim Sunwoo…?
But then she dropped the thought.
She suddenly wanted to see something.
The look on Luke’s face after losing to Kim Sunwoo at next year’s Sacred Martial Festival.
Just imagining it made her smile. She was sure Kim Sunwoo would rank in the top five and compete in the festival.
“Fine, yeah. I’m weak and pathetic, and that’s why I lost to a guy like him. Happy now?”
“Nice of you to admit it. Makes sense. You were ranked 3rd, now you’re 6th. About time you acknowledged your flaws if you want to improve.”
Lily gave a smiling glare and ground her teeth.
“You jerk. Let’s just fight right here. You’re so dead.”
“Sorry, I don’t have time to waste like that.”
“…You’re right. Ah! I’m late! Dammit, I’m late because of you!”
Lily suddenly took off running. Luke followed right after her.
The two of them soon arrived at the video observation room.
A few reporters quickly clicked their shutters at the sight of them, but they ignored them and walked in.
“Whoa. This place is huge.”
A massive circular testing arena.
A large crowd had gathered to watch the exam on a giant screen.
The feed was split into about 15 different videos, with “25 minutes remaining” displayed at the bottom.
“Ugh, I wasted 25 minutes talking to you!”
Lily snapped, turning her attention to the live status screen.
[Surviving Participants]
[Team 1: 17] [Team 2: 12]
“…What the? Team 1’s totally dominating.”
If she remembered correctly, Team 2 had Lee Seo-jun, Shin Young-joon, and Lee Hyun-joo. Team 1 had Kim Sunwoo and Yoo Ara.
With ranks 1, 3, and 4 all on the same team, how was this happening?
She turned to the video feed.
A brutal battle was raging. And one person stood out—Yoo Ara, a specialist in multi-opponent combat.
She was taking down members of Team 2 one by one, scattering flaming orbs everywhere.
“…What the heck?”
Lily had expected detailed strategies, intelligence warfare, and psychological mind games to identify team captains.
But instead, it had turned into a chaotic brawl from the very start.
Honestly, it was disappointing for a test at the world’s most prestigious mage academy.
She snapped out of it and scanned the video for Kim Sunwoo’s location.
She spotted him quickly.
Running at a speed that was hard to believe for a manifestation-type mage.
Chasing after him were Lee Seo-jun, Shin Young-joon, and three other students.
A fierce chase was in full swing.
40 minutes after the test began.
I was sprinting forward with everything I had. A literal run for my life.
Just like when I was desperately running from Baek Eun-seong before, I was now running with the same desperation.
The situation wasn’t looking good.
At the start of the test, I had been conserving mana while blending in with my teammates during combat, but then my Killing Intent Detection trait activated.
The source of the killing intent was Lee Seo-jun. He must’ve realized I wasn’t using my full strength and assumed I was the team captain.
As a result, Lee Seo-jun had been chasing me ever since, dragging Shin Young-joon along with him.
He probably thought none of the other team members could take me down, so he stepped up himself.
Of course, I wasn’t flustered. This situation was part of the plan.
Thankfully, perhaps thanks to recently purchasing more Magic Power stats, I hadn’t run into any major issues using mana continuously for 40 minutes straight while running.
And while Lee Seo-jun was one of the school’s top runners, I wasn’t so far behind that I couldn’t keep up.
KWA-A-AANG!
While running, a massive explosion sounded from somewhere nearby. Only Yoo Ara could cast a spell capable of such a blast.
Fortunately, it seemed she was doing her job reducing the enemy numbers quickly.
This was the essence of our insane strategy.
I would attract the attention of the strongest enemies, and in the meantime, Yoo Ara would reduce their numbers as fast as possible.
A strategy that made use of both our strengths.
“Why is that guy so fast?!”
Voices kept coming from behind me. They weren’t Lee Seo-jun and Shin Young-joon—it was the other three following behind.
But the distance between me and Lee Seo-jun was shrinking.
While I could claim I wasn’t being completely outpaced, the truth was, he was still faster than me by a slim margin.
Eventually, Lee Seo-jun got close enough to swing his sword at me.
Whoosh!
A blade cleaving through the air at frightening speed.
I ducked just in time to narrowly avoid it.
Even though he was swinging mid-run, with what should have been unstable footing, the speed of his strike was insane.
If not for my Battle Maniac trait’s enhanced vision, my head would’ve been rolling on the ground right now.
Lee Seo-jun immediately shifted into the stance for another attack. I quickly conjured a magic sphere.
Not above my hand, but in a blind spot where he couldn’t see it coming.
Paang—!
The magic sphere flew toward him from his blind spot, but Lee Seo-jun spun his body at a speed almost too fast to follow and dodged the attack.
The sphere, having lost its target, vanished into the air.
Cold sweat broke out down my back.
Dodging magic coming from his blind spot purely on instinct?
Whoooosh!
He twisted his body again and swung his sword.
At the same time, Shin Young-joon appeared behind him, thrusting a mana-infused spear toward me with full force.
A crisis from which there was no escape.
I activated Instant Acceleration.
And just like that, time around me seemed to slow down.
Not just my body but my mind accelerated too.
With wide eyes, I scanned everything around me.
Lee Seo-jun’s sword. Shin Young-joon’s spear. And three incoming magic attacks flying toward me from behind them.
The duration of Instant Acceleration was only 2 seconds, but for me, it was more than enough.
I quickly prioritized what I needed to dodge first.
The top priority was obviously Lee Seo-jun’s sword.
Dodging by ducking was out of the question. It would break my balance, and I wouldn’t be able to avoid Shin Young-joon’s spear right afterward.
It was risky, but the only option was to retreat backward. Thankfully, with the explosive boost Instant Acceleration gave my body, it wasn’t impossible.
I focused mana at the tips of my feet and backstepped hard.
Lee Seo-jun’s sword missed and barely grazed my chest.
My clothes tore, and a thin wound appeared across my chest, but that level of damage was within expectations.
For a moment, a look of shock crossed Lee Seo-jun’s face.
But I didn’t care—I was already preparing for the next attack.
Swoooosh!
Shin Young-joon’s spear shot out in a long thrust.
My balance had been slightly off due to the backstep, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t dodge it.
I spun quickly and shifted to the side. The spear grazed my forearm, drawing a shallow cut as it passed through empty air.
The rest was easy. The three incoming spells—I conjured three of my own and fired them straight into the air, intercepting the others mid-flight.
KWA-A-AANG!
“…What, what the hell?”
In just two seconds.
I’d successfully deflected every attack. Shin Young-joon stared at me in shock.
Lee Seo-jun and the three others behind him were no different.
They all looked at me, eyes wide in disbelief.
“…Phew.”
I let out a sigh of relief.
Without Instant Acceleration, I would’ve died just now.
I’d burned through a massive amount of mana, nearly to the point of mana exhaustion, but I was still alive—so that was enough.
“Wh-What was that just now?”
“Whoa. It was like watching Shunsin.”
Shunsin, Ren. The S-rank enhancement-type mage.
Instant Acceleration—that was the same ability he used.
The only differences were that mine lasted just 2 seconds and consumed an absurd amount of mana compared to the original.
Since it was classified as a B-rank skill, I couldn’t complain.
If the penalties were lighter, it would’ve been A-rank or even S-rank for sure.
I opened and closed my hand.
I was almost out of mana now.
I’d been running for 40 minutes already, and I was nearing my limit. Now the situation had gotten even worse.
How much longer could I hold out?
“…Haa.”
What the hell was our team doing? According to the plan, the enemy team’s leader should’ve been taken out already.
I was starting to worry we might lose.
At that moment, Lee Seo-jun grinned deeply.
“This is fun.”
The others behind him looked a little shaken, but Lee Seo-jun seemed more excited by the current situation.
There was something unsettling about that smile.
“…Hey, hey. Can we take a break for a sec?”
At my words, Lee Seo-jun smiled, eyes sparkling with amusement.
He didn’t feel like a protagonist anymore. He looked more like a villain—no, the final boss.
I slowly rolled my eyes up to check the real-time status board on the ceiling.
[Team 1: 15 members] [Team 2: 5 members]
…What? Only five left?
And there were five standing in front of me right now. What the hell? What happened to their captain?
Just as a flood of questions filled my head—
A powerful wave of mana swept through the area from afar.
I turned my gaze toward it.
A massive fireball floated in the air, blazing intensely.
Overwhelming mana. Only one person in the entire Magic Academy could handle a spell like that.
“Kim Sunwoo. Good job.”
Under the bright artificial sun, Yoo Ara called out to me.
Behind her, thirteen people appeared. It was like watching reinforcements arrive in a dramatic moment in a movie or comic.
The expressions on the faces of Lee Seo-jun, Shin Young-joon, and the other three began to freeze.
Watching their reactions, it finally clicked.
“Lee Seo-jun.”
At the sound of my voice, Lee Seo-jun looked back at me. His expression was a mix of disbelief, shock, and confusion.
I grinned and said,
“You were the team captain, huh.”
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