At that moment.
Flash.
Nishizawa Eri’s presence disappears.
She used her exclusive weapon, the Kusarigama’s ability, Blink.
“Black-haired! Die!”
A chilling cry from Nishizawa Eri comes from behind.
Clang!
But her wish remains unfulfilled.
Vajra-Immutable.
An ability that grants indestructible defense has blocked Nishizawa’s betrayal.
“I got you.”
Vroom.
She immediately spins her body using the booster and swings Durandal in the direction she was just detected.
Clang!
Sparks fly.
Even though she used invisibility, the dark fog covering the arena acts like a radar, making her visible as if it was nothing.
Through the fog-tinted black view, Nishizawa Eri’s faint figure ripples.
She swings her sword along the path of the Black Sword Technique.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Ugh! Grrr!”
Nishizawa Eri lets out a groan.
Blink has a pretty long cooldown.
She can’t just use it again right now.
Nishizawa Eri’s strengths come from her invisibility ability and the characteristics of her weapon, the Kusarigama, allowing her to attack from mid-range.
Now that she allowed the swordsman to approach and her invisibility has been seen through, all her advantages are nullified.
Clang!
She swings Durandal in the dark fog.
“Cough!”
Screams ring in her ears.
Her faint shadow shakes unsteadily.
Nishizawa Eri, not accustomed to close combat, stumbles visibly without needing to see it.
“Ugh! Black-haired!”
Whoosh. Vroom.
With the sound of steam escaping, Nishizawa Eri deploys her flight mode and quickly retreats using the booster.
She secures distance and, like before, throws the Kusarigama to keep me at bay while she waits for Blink’s cooldown.
A last-ditch struggle.
I have no intention of playing along.
[Sync]
She uses sync one more time.
Vroom!
Durandal vibrates.
“Ugh, damn it.”
A pretty strong headache surges.
The Black Prince’s talent violently imprints itself in my brain.
A familiar yet unfamiliar sensation.
Vrooooom!
Durandal shakes violently.
Chaaaaa!
The Kusarigama flies back in.
I grit my teeth and ramp up my magic power.
I gather my magic.
Gripping Durandal tightly, I unleash the secret technique of the Dark Blade Technique that just imprinted itself in my mind.
[Dark Blade Technique]
[Secret Technique]
[Black Flash]
My sense of time stretches like a piece of candy.
The faint shape of the chain scythe coming at me appears excruciatingly slow.
With my thoughts accelerating, I narrowly dodge Nishizawa Eri’s attack and immediately dive toward her, swinging Durandal in an instant.
Flash.
The dark mist that filled the arena splits, and the black flash soars.
“Ggggyaah!”
Nishizawa Eri’s scream rings in my ears.
Maybe she failed to concentrate; her pretty face, revealed by the transparency fading, contorts in pain.
I inject magic into Durandal.
Voooong!
Durandal, now charged with magic, vibrates powerfully.
The black magical energy envelops Durandal’s blade, igniting.
It’s time to finish this.
Slash.
Durandal accurately cuts through the degeneration core on her chest.
“Ggyaaah!! N-no! This can’t be! No, no…!!”
Fear twists Nishizawa Eri’s face.
Just as her screams echoed from her lips.
Zzap.
A blue flash envelops Nishizawa Eri’s body.
Emergency transmission due to combat power assessment.
I won.
“Phew.”
With a sigh, I dissipate the dark mist spread across the arena and deactivate my ability.
A slight dizziness hits me.
I deactivate combat mode.
[Durandal Offline]
The gauntlets turn into light and absorb into Durandal’s blade.
I sheath Durandal, now back in standby mode, at my waist.
Perhaps I’ve resolved my magic overflow issue; aside from a bit of dizziness from using the secret technique, there are no other side effects.
Compared to the times when I would collapse at the drop of a hat, this is a tremendous improvement.
I glance around.
Just then, as the silence envelops the audience stands.
[The winner is, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.]
Mayuzumi Mayu’s announcement rings out.
A smile automatically paints my face.
Finally, it’s dog collar “Dogeza” time.
Let’s go!
Dog Collar Dogeza
The cherry blossoms are starting to wilt in the campus.
I sit on a bench, holding a dog collar with my name written in katakana and Hangul, waiting for Nishizawa Eri.
To my right is Olivia, to my left is Rin, and behind me stand Ishihara and the protagonist.
The area is already crowded with cadets.
They’re eager to see the school idol’s downfall.
“Look at that. It’s a real dog collar.”
“What kind of country could Kim Deok-Sung have come from…?”
“Mr. Kim might be quite the strategist?”
I can hear the cadets’ whispers, which are just absurd.
Strategist?
What are they even seeing to say such nonsense?
“Oho. We’ve got breaking news here! Breaking news!”
Click, click.
Without fail, like a hyena, Amano Nodoka from the newspaper club snaps away with her camera, causing a ruckus.
It’s always a mess when she shows up.
I whip out my phone and send a message to Nishizawa Eri.
“I’m sending it.”
[When are you coming?]
A read receipt appears.
[Soon]
[You should use honorifics. How rude.]
The reply is too short. It’s infuriating.
A read receipt appears again.
Ellipses show up.
[I’ll be there soon]
After a pause, a reply comes.
“Kim. But seriously, are you really going to make her do that?”
I hear the protagonist’s voice from behind me.
Typical Pacific Ocean-level meddling, with a nice-guy vibe to boot.
I let out a sigh.
It’s good that the protagonist is gullible and easy to use, but sometimes, when he says stuff like this, it just leaves me speechless.
“Of course. If I lost, I would have been the one doing this. Do you think Nishizawa Eri would have looked at me kindly?”
Here, I have to shut my mouth about the truth.
“Well, I guess that makes sense… Alright, Kim.”
The protagonist stammers and comes to terms with it.
The level of absurdity that even the world’s number one fool—the La Novel protagonist who runs a sweet potato farm—admits about Nishizawa Eri’s popularity is staggering.
It’s enough to make me stick out my tongue.
After all, in the original heroine popularity poll, if it weren’t for fan art and anime art, Nishizawa Eri would have been famous for being an unpopular heroine, even battling it out with Shinozaki Rin, who is infamous for her lack of popularity.
Not that I particularly liked her.
“Hey, isn’t that Nishizawa?”
“Yeah, that’s her.”
“Is Nishizawa here?”
The students start to murmur.
I lift my head.
In the distance, I see Nishizawa Eri.
Her expression is one of despair, her hands trembling, her face on the verge of tears.
True to the setting of the world’s most beautiful girl, even in a mental breakdown, she looks unnecessarily pretty.
“Wow, she’s here… Black-haired.”
Nishizawa Eri’s trembling hand clutches her school uniform skirt.
Fear lurks in her eyes.
According to the original setting, she hates all men normally, but when she’s actually lost to one, she feels fear towards that individual.
She had the same look when she lost to the protagonist Yuji in the original volume 3.
So right now, she’s scared of me.
Just by seeing her break into a cold sweat and her pupils shaking, it’s evident.
Of course, the gentle protagonist cared and worried about Nishizawa’s condition in volume 3, but that’s what being the protagonist gets you.
I can’t be like that.
My insides are even tighter than the gaps in a brick sidewalk.
“I told you not to use casual speech.”
Cold sweat floods Nishizawa Eri’s forehead.
Her stiffened lips start to move.
“I came… M-M-Master…”
Master?
Where on earth did she pick up this crazy title?
I’m going to lose it.
I’ve got a ton of curses rising up my throat.
“Did you hear that?”
“She said Master…”
“Kim’s super creepy… It’s scary…”
“I guess the rumors are true that he makes Princess Knight call him Master every night while in bed…”
I feel dizzy from the typical La Novel extra banter.
Honestly, if it weren’t for the fear of kneeling in the dogeza, I’d kick everyone out.
“Don’t call me Master. Unless you want to die.”
“Oh, I got it…”
Nishizawa Eri trembles all over.
There’s no way I’m falling for that emotional manipulation.
I toss the dog collar I’m holding at her feet.
“Here.”
“…”
Nishizawa Eri’s eyes widen as she sees the collar on the floor.
Tears gather in her eyes.
“R-really…”
Nishizawa Eri stutters, fighting back tears.
“So is it fake? I mean, really. Don’t put on a crying show.”
No amount of squeezing out tears will work on me.
I had this dog collar custom-made by Han Seo-Jin for this very occasion.
Not wearing it would be a shame.
With trembling hands, Eri closes her eyes tightly and slowly puts on the collar.
“Breaking news! Nishizawa-san wearing a dog collar with Kim’s name engraved on it!”
Click, click.
Amano Nodoka snaps photos.
Tears flow endlessly from Nishizawa Eri’s eyes.
Ah, this is infuriating.
“Hey, Eri. What’s with the melodrama? Are you some tragic heroine? What do you have to cry about? If I had won, I would’ve had the collar made for you. Now you’re on the other end, and you’re upset? You should’ve won if you didn’t want this. What an idiot.”
Nishizawa Eri’s body shakes.
“No one’s helping you by crying. It’s disgusting, so just stop it.”
I’m serious.
Why should I have to watch this pathetic display just because she’s pretty?
She hasn’t done anything worthy of this pity party.
This isn’t some sad singer audition show. Ridiculous.
“Kim, you really are a scumbag…”
“Even in front of the tears of the galaxy-ranked beautiful girl, you don’t budge. You have no blood or tears…”
“What color is Kim’s blood anyway…”
The extras serve their usual comedic banter.
This world is made this way.
If you pick a fight, it’s just tiring, so the best course is to ignore it.
“Sniff, sniff…”
Nishizawa’s crying starts to ease.
“Bump your head.”
I say toward her.
She flinches.
Shinozaki Rin next to her shudders, and Ishihara Daiki swallows hard.
What’s wrong with those two?
“Ugh…”
Nishizawa Eri hesitates again.
I’m reaching my limit.
What a disgusting girl.
“I said bump your head. If you don’t want to, I’ll grab your hair and slam your head into the ground, okay?”
I stand up and say.
Nishizawa Eri flinches.
Thud.
Her knees hit the ground.
Thump.
Nishizawa Eri’s head hits the floor.
“Apologize.”
“I’m s-sorry…”
Click, click.
Flashes go off.
Sorry?
Is she trying to get away with that?
“What are you sorry for? Does saying sorry end the dog collar situation?”
This is ridiculous.
It reminds me of that pathetic private from when I was a squad leader, who kept saying sorry after causing an accident.
Private Kim, someone like that should’ve ended up in this crazy world.
Why am I the one here?
The more I think about it, the more my hatred for the original author grows.
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