The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 99



The Fake Prince

“Hoo.”

A weary sigh escaped my lips.

In front of me, a member of the first group of the preliminary round was sprawled out, having been punched.

Indeed, by this point, my stamina was significantly drained.

“Wangnon!”

At that moment, I looked up at Card’s call.

I saw the bracelet on Card’s wrist shining.

When I looked at my wrist, mine was shining too.

This is…

Ding ding ding-

A sound echoed from everyone’s bracelets.

It was the sound that signified the end of the preliminary round.

Sixteen people.

We had entered the round of 64 in the main tournament.

Card and I locked eyes.

Our hands crossed and collided in an instant.

“Wow, we finally made it through.”

Granton also ran over, waving both arms.

The pale white wrist bone was clearly visible.

Soon, we heard the order to move out of the forest.

Thanks to the light shining from the wrist, we were able to find our way out without confusion.

As we emerged from the forest, the instructors approached us quickly.

They checked our injuries, treated us, and pointed to a place where we could rest.

At the same time, we saw others walking out of the forest.

They were the ones who had passed the preliminary round.

And among them.

There was a man who locked eyes with me.

The son of the shadow.

Solvas Umbra.

Perhaps due to the impact of my explosion, Solvas was covered in dark patches here and there.

As soon as Solvas met my eyes, he flinched.

Then, with a twisted expression, he glared at me.

It seemed he was embarrassed by the shock that had been imprinted on his body.

Like a hedgehog raising its quills.

Now that I see it, he does resemble one a bit.

From now on, I’ll call him Sol-hedgehog.

Solvas turned his head sharply and walked away.

“You really scared him. That will affect the next match too.”

Card approached me, chuckling.

I hope he drops out in the next match since it’s come to this.

“I’m going to check the results of the other group’s preliminaries.”

“Really? I was thinking of eating first.”

“Eat with Grantoni. I’m just going to check the results and come back.”

“Heheh, food! Food!”

Card nodded and went off to eat with Grantoni without a care.

That guy Card, seeing how he interacts so comfortably with Grantoni, his sociability is exceptional.

Even in the Flame Butterfly arc, the results of the international individual preliminaries were always random.

So, it was hard to predict who would make it this time.

I moved straight to my seat.

Upon checking, I found that not only our group but also other groups had almost finished.

People were murmuring as they watched the match.

Even those who were eliminated in the preliminaries could watch the match.

Perhaps that’s why a lot of people had gathered.

Matches that were still ongoing were being shown on the wall.

I could see students sighing here and there.

First, I looked at the results of the preliminaries.

‘The first group passed without any problems.’

It seemed everyone did well in the preliminaries.

Among them, there was one name that stood out.

Group 3, Ordo Academy Eve.

The unyielding blue flame.

“As expected, you passed too.”

At that moment, the protagonist appeared.

When I turned my head, there stood a woman with blue hair.

Eve was spotless, without a single scratch.

The time she took for the preliminaries wasn’t much different from mine.

Her pristine appearance meant she had completely dominated the preliminaries.

“Yes, it would be embarrassing to be eliminated in the preliminaries.”

“…You’re shameless after what you did to me.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

She glared at me fiercely.

It seemed she had heard a lot about the incident from various places.

It had reached the point where Eve’s passionate love confession had become a rumor even at Jerion Academy.

For Eve, it must have been hard to show her face.

I felt a bit sorry, but I had already decided to be shameless.

I would stick to my guns till the end.

“I had no choice since I was attacked out of the blue.”

I couldn’t say that I attacked Eve because of the remnants of the ancient dragon.

So I chose something that could smooth over the situation in its own way.

“I apologize for the ambush.”

I didn’t expect an apology here.

“However, I agree that the dragon’s magic is dangerous.

If you don’t fully comply with removing the magic, I will have no choice but to use my power. So I will erase your dragon’s magic.”

Eve left with a warning and turned away.

Was it necessary to come all the way here just to warn me?

It was like something out of a side story.

‘I could never do something like that.’

That’s something you’re born with.

“Ah.”

“There’s no way around it.”

At that moment, I heard the students’ sighs.

I also turned to the screen, following the sighs.

“What?”

Soon, my eyes began to widen.

Because Seron appeared on the screen.

Seron’s opponent was someone I knew well.

The Sky Palace, Parazon.

The Parazon Academy built there.

The only prince, Ergo Parazon.

Seron was facing off against one of the six stars.

But Seron was a wreck.

The opponent was one of the six stars, obviously not someone Seron could handle.

Seron swung his axe without retreating an inch in front of him.

But in everyone’s eyes, Seron’s victory did not appear.

She was already bloodied here and there by Ergo.

〔You’re making meaningless struggles in front of me. It would be easier to just quietly accept defeat.〕

Dozens of swords whirled around Ergo.

He could wield swords without holding them.

The legendary swordsmanship that only the chosen ones of the Parazon royal family can wield.

It is the swordsmanship of the sky.

Swords flew after Seron, who was sprinting through the forest.

Seron’s axe continuously deflected the swords, but they bent and returned again.

Each one is a sword renowned as a masterpiece.

Even with Seron’s counter-magic, the swords remained unscathed.

Gradually, Seron began to be pushed back.

Seeing the swords blocking her path, Seron clenched her teeth.

A red flash shone from her axe.

Boom! Bang!

Explosions erupted repeatedly from Seron’s axe.

The force was so immense that the swords were flung in all directions.

The black smoke from the explosions filled the forest.

As Ergo slightly furrowed his golden eyebrows and looked into the smoke.

Whoosh!

Something shot out from one side of the smoke.

Ergo’s swords simultaneously launched in that direction.

Thud!

As Ergo’s swords embedded themselves, his eyes widened.

There lay a piece of wood, pierced by the swords.

It was a tree that Seron had broken while running.

Thud!

At that moment, the giant trees began to collapse towards Ergo through the smoke.

〔Huh.〕

Ergo involuntarily swallowed.

He realized what Seron had been aiming for with her axe outside his field of vision.

A shadow began to form over Ergo’s head.

The fallen trees swung their massive bodies to crush Ergo.

Whoosh!

Ergo’s swords rose simultaneously.

The swordsmanship of the sky was swung towards the tree falling overhead.

The moment the tree was completely cut down by Ergo’s sword.

Thud-

Under the chopped tree.

Seron swung the axe with all his might from bottom to top.

Ergo and Seron’s eyes met.

The only victory gained despite his body being in tatters.

〔Uraaah!〕

Seron put all his strength into the axe to seize this victory.

But the gap in talent is inevitable.

Just before Seron’s axe reached Ergo.

Slash-

A sword as big as a house in the sky crushed the tree all at once and split the space between Ergo and Seron.

Boom!

Seron, caught in the wind pressure, was flung away and rolled on the ground.

He tried to hold on with both legs, but the size of the descending sword was too overwhelming.

It was an absurdly large sword, visible even from outside the forest.

Sky Swordsmanship

Sword of the Giant

It was the strongest sword handled by Ergo.

From noble mtl dot com

Seron rolled in the dust.

The moment she hurriedly tried to get up and straighten her posture.

Thud!

Ergo’s foot kicked Seron’s stomach.

〔Kyaaak!〕

Seron rolled on the ground.

She couldn’t get up immediately due to the pain rising from her stomach.

〔Why don’t you give up against me?〕

But as she struggled to get up repeatedly, Ergo stood in front of her.

Grab!

Ergo’s foot smashed down on Seron’s solar plexus.

Seron swallowed the scream that escaped him.

〔He probably knows better than anyone that this is a pointless struggle.〕

Ergo pressed down even harder with his foot.

A sneer had already taken root on his lips.

〔Well, for someone like you, just being able to face a prince like me is probably an honor. I can understand that feeling.〕

Ergo possessed the innate characteristic of sadism.

And so he punished the struggling Seron even more thoroughly.

At that moment, Seron raised his hand and seized Ergo’s ankle.

〔Why… won’t you… give up?〕

Seron clenched his teeth.

〔The guy… I like is incredibly… persistent. To look good for… him… I have to get through… the preliminaries.〕

Seron spat out the blood rising in his mouth, baring his teeth in a grin.

〔And, fuck, honor my ass, you fake prince. My real prince is… somewhere else!〕

Ergo’s expression turned blank.

*Flash!*

Then, light pulsed from the bracelets of both Seron and Ergo.

The preliminaries for Group 1 had ended, right on cue.

Ergo lifted the foot he’d used to stomp on Seron.

In that instant, everyone who’d been watching the match breathed a sigh of relief.

〔I see, so that’s it.〕

Ergo brought his lifted foot down once more.

*CRACK!*

Seron’s body folded into an L shape.

The children’s horrified voices echoed.

A red light bloomed on Ergo’s bracelet, and an instructor, having rushed onto the field, forcefully restrained Ergo, who was sputtering with fury.

Seron was hastily carried away by the instructor.

And I watched the whole scene, my eyes wide and fixed.

*Drip-*

A drop of blood trickled down my hand.

My fist was clenched so tightly that there were marks etched into my palm.

I became aware of my current state.

This was, undoubtedly, anger.

However, I couldn’t fully unleash that anger.

My chest felt suffocatingly tight.

Despite the boiling emotions, I couldn’t let them out.

I realized belatedly what was causing this.

‘The Shroud Bandage.’

The shroud bandage I used suppressed my anger.

To be precise, the anger gradually dissipated.

‘So, losing emotions wasn’t the only thing.’

It was something I didn’t know.

Thanks to that, my head cooled down instead.

The image of Ergo rampaging among the instructors was imprinted in my eyes.

Whether Seron crossed the line with his remarks or not, I didn’t care.

After all, this world is full of hypocrisy.

My friend was treated like that.

“Ergo.”

I will definitely crush this b*stard.