Chapter 296

Chapter 296

Our swords had broken, but neither Ludwig nor I were surprised. Ludwig immediately struck out with the pommel of his broken sword, aiming for my head.

“Hup!”

The power of Mana Reinforcement could be used for physical protection.

I took the hit, allowing his blow to land, then drove my fist into Ludwig’s abdomen.

Thud!

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

“Hup!”

Ludwig, who had struck my head, took the return blow in his abdomen and was sent rolling across the ground. Our weapons were broken, and there was no time to rearm.

Both Ludwig and I discarded our broken swords.

Ludwig charged at me. I knew that the longer I maintained Mana Reinforcement, the harder the next bout would be, so I had to end it quickly.

As soon as Ludwig got up, I charged at him, settling on a ground-and-pound strategy. I had to tackle him to the ground and then beat him into submission.

Crash!

Ludwig tackled me, and we both fell to the ground.

The bout was over.

Or so I thought.

As he fell, Ludwig grabbed my waist and flipped me over.

Mana Reinforcement provided protection, but didn’t increase my weight.

Crash!

I lost my balance and was thrown backward.

‘This guy is insane.’

His physical strength was already beyond the realms of an ordinary human, even without the enhancement of Mana Reinforcement.

He was more of a monster than I was. While my physical strength was for the moment superior, Ludwig’s endurance was ahead of mine.

I didn’t know what changes had occurred in his body, but without Self-Deception and Mana Reinforcement, there was no way I could stand toe-to-toe with him.

‘I will win.’

I hadn’t expected to stand in the position of a rival, but now that I had taken it up, I could not step down easily.

Just as Ellen’s mere existence had been the driving force for Ludwig’s growth in the original story, my own existence was now a driving force for Ludwig’s growth.

Moreover, since I had started from the bottom, my success also stirred a slight jealousy in Ludwig, and he was triggered by his sense of his inferiority.

The stronger I became, the faster Ludwig’s growth would accelerate.

‘I must not lose to you. I must always be the wall ahead of you so that you can become even stronger, because the protagonist must be strong.

‘Someday, you will surpass me, but for now, I must be stronger than you. That’s what it means to be a rival. So, I cannot lose.’

I was now seriously facing the guy I had created but always found slightly annoying and tried to avoid.

Since he seriously considered me his rival, I had no choice but to respond in kind.

‘The one who wins in the end is the victor. For now, you must lose to me. I will concede the final victory to you, but for now, you must keep losing to me.’

I thought and believed that I would not lose.

“You cannot beat me.”

I declared that I would never be defeated.

“Hup!”

I charged at Ludwig and threw a punch. He dodged my extended arm with a mere tilt of his head, grabbing my arm to flip me over using the momentum of my punch.

As he pulled me in, though, I raised my knee to strike Ludwig’s chin.

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

Ludwig, took my knee squarely on the chin and fell to the ground.

He should have been knocked out, but he rolled a few times and got back up.

He did not emerge unscathed. Blood flowed from his gums, but he showed no signs of pain. His tenacity was undeniable. Of course, pain would be less noticeable in such situations.

I could not lose.

I had entered this tournament for Achievement Points, but the unexpected revelations that had arisen during this tournament had changed my purpose.

Scarlett and Ludwig, who I had seen merely as fellow competitors, had come to signify something different to me in their own ways.

I thought I had no particular connection with them, but as a result of my actions so far, they both regarded me in a similar way, although the manifestation of that view was slightly different for each of them.

Scarlett idolized me, while Ludwig saw me as an insurmountable wall that he wanted to leap over but never could.

Ludwig, having received treatment from the priests, stood up.

“Let’s go again, Reinhart.”

There seemed to be a small hint of doubt in his expression. Perhaps he was considering whether it was right to choose an incomprehensible opponent as a rival. Whatever the case, Ludwig did not give up.

“This next bout won’t be much different,” I said.

“Still, you never know until you try.”

He would get up again no matter how many times he fell.

He would keep challenging me without ever giving up.

I had always been the egg trying to break the rock, but this guy was the one who would keep throwing eggs until the rock broke.

I didn’t think I was superior to Ludwig.

A person who had never been broken even once, versus a person who got up again and again after being broken hundreds or thousands of times...

Ludwig would be greater than someone like me.

But future greatness could not buy victory.

For the moment, I was stronger, and Ludwig could not bridge this gap.

—The score is 1-0! Reinhart has taken the first bout! The second bout of the first-year tournament finals begins now!

—Waaaaahhh!

Ludwig and I were given replacement weapons, surrounded by the cheers that I had grown accustomed to in just two days.

We had swords this time.

But whether it was fists or swords, it made no difference.

In this first-year tournament, which had already been full of surprises, there were no more upsets.

I took overwhelming victories in the next two bouts against Ludwig.

And so, I won.

***

While most close-combat majors would be ahead of me in terms of technical application, I had the upper hand against Ludwig.

No matter how much his physical abilities had improved, my ability to use Mana Reinfocrment meant I was always ahead, and his movements were excessively easy to read.

It would have been incomprehensible for me to lose even a single bout. The only way Ludwig could have won was if I overused Mana Reinforcement and fell into a state of exhaustion, but that didn’t happen.

With my victory in the finals, the first and second places were decided, and the third-place match between Scarlett and Gladen Amorel followed.

Gladen Amorel emerged victorious in that encounter.

Thus, the first-year tournament was concluded.

I never thought that this would be the road that led to me placing my hands on the trophy.

[Challenge Completed - First-Year Tournament Victory]

[You have received 10,000 Achievement Points.]

It was the first time I had garnered such a big haul.

The crowd was still cheering for me.

“Will I be able to catch up to you?” Ludwig asked.

Despite his utter and comprehensive defeat, Ludwig did not show any sign of despair, but there might have been a seed of doubt.

“You know what I’m going to say, right?”

Ludwig smiled at me.“Yeah. You mean to say I have to believe I can catch up to you, right?”

“No.” I set down the championship trophy and crossed my arms. “Don’t just believe it, but think of it as a given.”

“Oh, right. That’s what you said.”

Somehow, it felt like the protagonist had joined my Self-Deception cult.

Ludwig, holding the second-place trophy, said, “I can catch up to you, Reinhart.”

“I told you, you can’t,” I replied.

It was a strange religion. I was telling him to believe that the future he set for himself was true, while at the same time utterly refuting it myself.

Each person believed in the future they set for themselves.

In the end, Ludwig and I had similar powers that operated in a fundamentally different way.

My aim had been to earn Achievement Points, and although some strange things had happened along they way, my plan didn’t go too far off-track.

I had won.

From a distance, Ellen was watching me.

She said she’d scold me if I didn’t win.

Would she praise me since I won then?