Chapter 142:

Chapter 142:

Petition

***

After hearing that Kraush had headed to the arena, former Divine Spear Mary Diana rushed to the arena training ground after returning from her mission.

She was struggling to grow closer to Kraush under Sigrid’s orders.

And now, Kraush had reportedly moved to the arena training ground with Durandal.

There was only one reason to move with Durandal at Rahelrn Academy.

A petition.

‘This is an opportunity.’

Mary didn’t know what Kraush was thinking, but his opponent was Durandal.

No matter how much Kraush had grown, Mary believed that submitting a petition was beyond his means.

‘If he fails, I’ll step in and submit his petition in his place.’

Recently, Mary had been solely focused on training.

After her regression, she had wasted most of her time searching for Arthur and then languishing in prison.

There simply wasn’t time for training.

But after enrolling in the Academy, Mary had fully committed to her training mode.

Originally, she possessed the talent and skill to be called the Divine Spear.

Her natural Heavenly Martial Body quickly absorbed the memories from her past life.

It was to the extent that, during her recent mission, she continued her training resolutely despite the pressure of being under the watchful eyes of the Lion Order led by Charlotte.

As a result, Mary had made tremendous progress in just a few days.

‘Now...’

She could extend a favor to Kraush and build a close relationship with him.

Mary hadn’t liked Kraush very much initially because he constantly criticized her and restrained her actions.

But that didn’t matter anymore.

Her relationship with Kraush had essentially reset after her regression.

Now, she spent all day thinking about how to get closer to Kraush.

about Arthur.

By the time she entered the arena training ground, though...

“Why is it so hot?”

She felt a heat so intense that she had to remove the jacket of her uniform.

As a result, the eyes of the children who were watching the arena turned toward her chest.

It was then, as she was fanning herself and entering the stands, that she saw it.

A black flame, soaring so high it seemed to touch the sky.

At the center of that black flame stood Kraush.

But as soon as she laid eyes on Kraush, her expression faltered.

‘How... how?’

The aura emanating from Kraush was so overwhelming that it momentarily stole her breath.

Whatever he had done, the sheer intensity of it was enough to make her hesitate just by witnessing it from this distance.

Mary realized something instantly upon seeing Kraush.

That with her current level, she was no match for him.

‘I thought it would be enough...’

Of course, it hadn’t been long since she had started her training seriously.

She was just taking her first steps.

But even those first steps couldn’t be taken overnight.

It would take at least three years for her to fully regain her strength.

In fact, she had planned to recover her full power during her time at Rahelrn Academy.

But seeing Kraush shattered those thoughts.

‘No.’

Such complacent thinking wouldn’t work.

The task Sigrid had given her, to surpass him, couldn’t be achieved in three years.

‘I need to get stronger right away.’

Seeing Kraush today made Mary realize something for certain.

He would only continue to grow stronger.

Without stopping, he would keep advancing.

Mary bit her lip.

For some reason, her legs felt like they were going to give out.

Could she really become stronger faster than someone who would continuously get stronger?

After going through so much recently and having her self-esteem shattered, she now doubted even her abilities.

Anxiety began to gnaw at her bit by bit.

If she lost even the one advantage she had...

Would Sigrid abandon her?

And in the end, would Arthur as well?

“Ah... huff.”

Her eyes welled up with tears as she bit her lip.

She was scared.

Terrified.

The thought of being left all alone, abandoned, caused intense fear and anxiety.

Without realizing it, she began biting her nails.

‘Stronger, stronger, stronger.’

So she wouldn’t be abandoned.

‘And I have to surpass Kraush.’

Mary’s jet-black eyes were now fixed solely on Kraush.

The determination to surpass him burned fiercely in her heart.

Arid’s heart.

***

Whoosh—

In front of the roaring black flame.

Durandal, facing Kraush, had his eyes tightly narrowed.

He had fully grasped Kraush’s power.

The black flame was so intense that even Durandal could feel the heat.

But Kraush suppressed the power within the scabbard of the blade, over and over again.

Thud—

To pour it all out in a single strike.

To fully convince Durandal.

Kraush gathered the best of his strength, the peak of what he could achieve today.

Thud—

And when the deep crimson moon inside Kraush was engulfed by the black flame within him.

Crack!

Wied in the world.

Annihilation Erosion [滅火浸蝕].

Fifth Style [五式].

Annihilation Sky Moon Fire [滅天月火].

A black flame storm erupted from the night, sweeping across the arena.

Everyone who witnessed the black flame storm couldn’t help but gape in astonishment.

Its power was so intense that it reached the stands of the arena.

The stands of the arena were protected by special defensive magic.

This defensive magic was in place in case of attacks from the training ground.

However, the defensive magic was fiercely shaken simply because it was within the range of Kraush’s black flame.

Crack, crack, crack—

But that wasn’t all.

The defensive magic, placed by a renowned mage, couldn’t withstand the force and began to crack.

The children within Kraush’s attack range shuddered as they saw the cracks, as if the defensive magic was about to shatter.

They shuddered at the thought that if it had broken, they might have been swept away by that black flame.

“Is that kind of attack even possible?”

“He’s 15, right? That kind of output isn’t something a student should be capable of.”

The children murmured with dazed expressions.

That was how deeply Kraush’s strike had imprinted itself in their minds.

Inside the scorching black flame.

Durandal stood tall.

As if he had been struck by a high-level spell.

For the first time in a long while, he felt his skin burn.

The slash Kraush had shown far exceeded the output one could achieve with a sword.

How on earth had he managed to focus such power into one point?

Durandal looked at his burnt arm through his torn clothes.

Indeed, it had been quite a while since his retirement.

His arm ached with a dull throbbing pain.

‘I never thought I’d be this shocked by a student.’

Even the swordsmanship-prodigy Charlotte didn’t have this level of output.

Her swordsmanship was so impressive that the word genius didn’t do her justice.

But when it came to raw output, Kraush was overwhelmingly superior.

And Durandal believed such output wasn’t meant to be used against people.

It was meant for fighting the monstrous creatures within the forbidden zones of World Erosion.

Creatures of 10-star level and above that could withstand even high-output magic.

Kraush’s strike was clearly designed to fight such Erosion Species.

Therefore, the direction of the sword pursued by Kraush and Charlotte was entirely different.

It was fascinating to see how the siblings could take such vastly different paths in swordsmanship.

‘What a situation.’

Durandal let out a bitter smile.

For Kraush to pour all his energy into wielding something like that.

And seeing him like this only made Durandal want to help him grow even more.

‘I’ll make him shine even brighter before the gem loses its luster.’

With that thought, Durandal began moving forward through the black flame.

The black flame was slowly fading.

Given the amount of output, Kraush had probably collapsed just as he had said.

Durandal planned to take him straight to the infirmary.

Whoosh!

At that moment, a sword shot through the black flame.

As Durandal deflected the sword with his hand, he realized it was Rain Thunder Prime.

Durandal’s eyes widened in surprise.

Could he still move even after releasing that much power?

Slam!

Before he knew it, Kraush, who had emerged from the black flame, was thrusting both hands forward.

Kraush was in a pitiable state.

Having used Annihilation Heavenly Asura, his entire body was battered and bruised.

But as if to prove that even this couldn’t break his spirit, Kraush gathered his remaining strength and thrust his hands toward Durandal.

At that moment, Black Hood activated in Kraush’s hand.

With his grip on Rain Thunder Prime, which had shot up into the sky, a golden blade emerged and touched Durandal.

Snap!

However, the power within Rain Thunder Prime was incomplete.

When the blade touched Durandal’s side, it didn’t even leave a scratch and broke.

And at that moment, Kraush’s consciousness finally slipped away.

He had squeezed out the last of his aura to draw the blade from Rain Thunder Prime, so it was an inevitable outcome.

Durandal caught Kraush’s body before he could collapse to the ground.

“...I was mistaken.”

Durandal corrected his earlier comparison of Kraush to his former comrade.

“This kid is an even greater monster.”

It was a moment where he chuckled, realizing he had never met someone as tenacious as this in his entire life.

End of Chapte