“Ta-da! Today, we’ll be having a duel during class!”

Prayer? What prayer.

Nietzsche, you were right; God is dead.

I stupidly forgot that there was a duel event right in the novel.

The reason for having the duel was simple.

Heroes have to face not only monsters but also criminals.

It’s only natural to gain combat experience against humans to deal with criminals who possess superpowers.

But, surprisingly, this school has a student who could be arrested for public indecency if they used their powers.

…What should I do, really.

“The first match will be… hmm, how about Si-woo and Sylvia? You guys put on the protective gear in front of you!”

At Eve’s call, the two stepped out to the dueling area.

It was a duel that was also described in the novel.

Sylvia took out a small wand from her robe while Yoon Si-woo summoned the white-glowing sword he had seen before into his hands.

“No holding back, alright?”

“That’s what I was hoping for.”

Seeing the stances of the two ready for battle, Eve snapped her fingers, and the number 3 appeared between them like a hologram.

“Well, they look ready, so let’s get started! Three, two, one, match begins!”

3, 2, 1, Start!

With Eve’s voice, the countdown appeared like in a game, and the duel began along with the Start! prompt.

At the start, Sylvia shot small orbs made of light toward Yoon Si-woo.

To put it simply, the most important thing for Sylvia, who used elemental magic, to fight against a melee fighter like Yoon Si-woo was to maintain distance and buy time to cast spells.

The orbs were explosive; avoiding them would give her distance, and blocking them would buy her time to cast another spell.

For others, it would undoubtedly be a dilemma where she would always have the upper hand.

But Yoon Si-woo chose to charge forward.

Seeing this, Sylvia must have thought he would be delayed while blocking the attack, so she began to cast another spell.

“What, huh?!”

That was until she saw Yoon Si-woo slice through the incoming light orbs.

Yoon Si-woo wielded the sword he had used to defeat the illusionary monster, known as the Sword of Humility.

This sword had many settings, but its power was simple.

It could slice through and obliterate anything made of magic or mana.

A simple yet terrifying power for mages like Sylvia.

Having been criticized by Eve the day before for her poor handling of unexpected situations, Sylvia seemed momentarily flustered but quickly collected herself and finished her incantation.

Instead of targeting Yoon Si-woo, she directed her spell at the floor, causing an explosion that obscured his vision. She then jumped back to prepare for a powerful attack.

[Alf, Ad, Ast-]

But before she could finish the incantation, Yoon Si-woo’s sword was already aimed at her neck, having pierced through the explosion.

“The winner is Si-woo! Si-woo did great, but Sylvia also handled the situation well. Fixing flaws in such a short time isn’t easy—excellent job!”

Eve’s voice announced the results.

Sylvia, who had been frowning, soon broke into a smile and said to Yoon Si-woo.

“Cutting through magic like that, you’re truly absurd!”

As she spoke, Sylvia was blushing and smiling, showing her admiration for Yoon Si-woo’s power instead of being frustrated.

She was probably thinking, “If it’s the man I have a crush on, he should be able to handle this much.”

By the way, seeing it in person was way more thrilling than reading it in the novel.

It seemed the other students were also impressed, as the atmosphere grew heated by their high-level fight.

While I was calming my racing heart, Eve’s voice resounded.

“Next up, Mei and Evande, forward!”

Right after the duel?!

It was obvious I’d be compared right after Sylvia and Yoon Si-woo’s match.

Feeling anxious, I trembled a little while putting on my protective gear.

The class representative, Mei, seemed to think the same, as even while pretending, her gaze was shaking as it looked at me.

Class rep, you have it tough too…

As I prepared to move with intensity, the class rep, who had taken out her sword and momentarily glared at me, spoke with a voice full of suppressed rage.

“…Are you treating me like a fool? Quickly grab a weapon.”

A weapon?!

Hearing that, I looked around and saw that all the other students had swords, spears, or at the very least, some sort of magical assistant device like Sylvia’s.

What? Am I the only one with bare hands?

It seemed understandable from the class rep’s perspective.

There’s a saying in fencing.

A person without a weapon should have at least three times the skill of someone armed.

But what could I do? The only weapon I’ve ever handled was a K-2.

It felt a bit unjust; if I also had a gun, I’d totally ace it!

“…I don’t have a weapon.”

“…I see, so you’re ignoring me until the end? Just because you’re barehanded, don’t expect me to go easy on you—be prepared.”

Even with a heart full of injustice, I spoke, but the class rep met me with a steely expression.

Her gaze was as chilling as her sword.

The dirty sword supremacy.

Taking a patriotic stance, I took the only martial arts stance I knew.

Ahh—this is the ‘Kyorugi stance.’

It’s the basic stance of Taekwondo, Korea’s unique martial art.

Back in elementary school, my parents dragged me to a Taekwondo academy until I was forced to earn my black belt.

I remembered the grueling training I went through there.

– Aahhh! I’m gonna die! I feel like I’m losing my mind!!

– Just hold on. Even if it hurts, if you keep spreading your legs like this, they’ll eventually open up.

– Kieeeek!!! I’m gonna lose my mind!!

When I finally came to my senses, I noticed that my body was already on fire.

Having endured such torturous training, I was no longer just a Taekwondo second dan.

I am now, the Goryeo Master.

“Well, you seem ready, so let’s start!”

Eve’s voice rang out, and the numbers hovering between me and Mei began to decrease.

3, 2, 1

Start!

I had my body tense from beforehand, and as soon as the numbers transformed into words, I stepped right and twisted my body to the left.

Mei’s sword barely grazed my back.

I could see her eyes widen in surprise at my unexpected dodge.

From the beginning, everything unfolded just as I had planned.

Neither of us knew each other’s abilities.

But deliberately igniting my body, I impressed upon Mei that I was a fire elemental.

Typically, fire manipulators favor long-range attacks unless they are special cases like me. With her holding a sword, Mei surely wanted to close the distance quickly.

Moreover, Mei was such a rigid and honest person, almost to a fault.

That’s why I was confident.

The first attack would definitely come as a thrust at the shortest distance!

A deadly strike, thrusting my whole body forward.

That should have landed.

But instead of hitting the target, a large gap opened that I exploited for a stunning spinning kick.

It should have landed.

And with a thunk and a strange sensation in my leg, I realized it.

Oh no!!!

Feeling the chilling sensation, I quickly bent my supporting leg and dropped to the ground, rolling back to spring up.

Late strands of cut hair fluttered in the air.

I had nearly been split in half by her counterattack.

Of course, the protective gear would prevent that, but still.

Forcing the Goryeo Master to move like that, she’s got some skill!

Thinking that, I raised my head only to find Mei observing me with a weird expression.

The class rep, who had been standing still, knocked on the area where my spinning kick landed as if tapping with her fist.

It echoed like hitting an empty wall.

There was something invisible there.

“It’s a barrier made by compressing air. My superpower essentially allows me to manipulate air. Without it, your last attack would have landed, but… you won’t break my barrier with an attack like that.”

The way Mei spoke about her abilities was different from before.

The menace in her gaze softened, turning slightly rounder.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then pointed her sword back at me.

“Well then, here I come.”

As I tilted my head to the left, her sword grazed my ear.

Her attack was both swift and silent.

Upon closer inspection, her clothing didn’t flutter, likely because her ability was reducing air resistance.

Fortunately, my reflexes proved to be better than I expected, and my perception helped me dodge her attacks quickly.

However, I couldn’t just keep avoiding indefinably.

No matter how much I dodged, I couldn’t avoid getting hurt forever, and if my injuries kept piling up, the duel would be called off.

I could just concede, but my stubborn pride kept me from doing so.

Could my flames pierce through her barrier?

But for that, I needed to find a way to only focus the flames in my hands.

Dodging Mei’s rapid attacks, I continued to think.

Perhaps because I had been moving intensely, my senses were heightened, and I could feel something.

Certain parts of my body felt extremely hot.

Maybe these were the points where the flames were leaking out.

Then I had failed yesterday because I was on the wrong path.

Perhaps the answer wasn’t to just let flames out where I wanted, but to prevent them from coming out where I didn’t want them.

I focused carefully on the burning spots of my body, shutting them down one by one, like turning off the valve on a gas stove.

The flames that had wrapped around my head calmed down.

Then, in sequence, the flames on my chest, abdomen, and legs extinguished.

Having already learned how to ignite the flames, I gathered my anger.

The world that had dropped me here without reason was too hard for me.

My gender had changed, I had no money.

I had to learn to fight to survive.

So, I hated this world.

With that anger, flames blazed fiercely from my hands.

That wild momentum slightly interrupted the flow of her attacks.

For me, that was enough.

In that brief opening, I advanced a step, closing the distance to the range of my fist.

And that left just one thing to do.

Fire Punch.

With the explosion of flames and the sound of something breaking.

“The winner is Evande!”

– Ooooooooh!!!!

Cheers erupted for the victor.

That moment was when I transformed from a human firefly into a flaming punch.

…Looking back, I think the heat of my first fight must have made my head go a bit crazy.