(Arin's POV)
This world... why did it suddenly feel so heavy?
Gravity seemed to increase a hundredfold, pulling my body with irresistible force. My knees hit the arena floor with a pitiful dull thud.
The pain that had just torn through every inch of my body, the broken ribs, the blistered skin, and the torn muscles, suddenly felt distant. The noise of the arena dimmed, replaced by a quiet hum that lulled me to sleep. As if a thick layer of glass separated my consciousness from my physical body.
Inside my veins, the energy from the fully decomposed Life Magic Stone raged like a flash flood. The current was too strong for the dam of my fragile body. This vessel of flesh could not contain that ocean of power. It felt like trying to catch a waterfall with a cracked cup.
My heart beat so fast it felt like it wasn't beating anymore, but vibrating at the frequency of death.
Ah... so this is what dying from a mana overdose feels like?
My eyelids felt as heavy as mountains. Gravity pulled me down, not to the ground, but into a bottomless abyss of sleep. All that remained was drowsiness. A drowsiness incredibly sweet and tempting.
Rest, Arin, whispered a voice in my head. You have fought hard enough.
You defeated the bear.
You saved Erika.
There is nothing left to prove, so sleep.
My knees struck the cold stone floor. I could no longer even feel the existence of my legs.
My vision darkened. The figures of Gordon and his two colleagues in front turned into formless blurry silhouettes. The sound of audience cheers sounded like the buzzing of bees from a distance. I wanted to close my eyes, then sleep. Erika was safe... my duty was done, right?
My consciousness was on a knife-edge. Very thin, like a spider thread ready to snap in the wind.
I wanted to give up. Truly. It felt so sweet to just close my eyes and let it all end.
"ARIIIIINNN!!"
A scream broke the silence of death in my head.
"WAKE UP, YOU FOOL! DON'T YOU DARE DIE THERE!"
That voice... a scream so desperate it sounded broken by pure panic.
My heavy eyes twitched. Elena?
A silver-haired girl stood at the edge of the VIP stand. The Duke's Daughter, usually graceful and maintaining a cold image, now stood gripping the railing. Her face was pale, tears flowing down her cheeks unheeded. She no longer cared about the stares of other nobles. She didn't care about her dignity as a high noble.
"YOU PROMISED ME!" shouted Elena, her voice hoarse. "YOU SAID WE WOULD HAVE DINNER AGAIN! DON'T BREAK YOUR PROMISE! WAKE UP, IDIOT!"
Beside her, Rose stood up too. Her face was flushed red with frustration and fear of loss.
"WAKE UP, ARIN!" shouted Rose hysterically. "HEY, COCKROACH! DON'T DIE THERE! YOU HAVE TO TREAT ME TO A DATE! DON'T YOU DARE DIE BEFORE PAYING YOUR DEBT!"
Their voices penetrated the thick fog in my head. However, it wasn't just them shouting.
"WAKE UP, ARIN!"
"DON'T LOSE TO THAT ARROGANT NOBLE!"
"YOU ARE OUR HOPE, DAMN IT!"
"SHOW THAT DAMN NOBLE THE POWER OF CLASS C!"
One by one, those voices came from the lower-class stands. Class C and B students. Those who used to look down on me, those whom I then protected in the forest, those who shared my fate as "failures," and those who later trained with me under the moonlight, cutting the wind in silence.
Now they all stood up.
Their shouts were discordant, rough, and desperate. But somehow... those noisy sounds entered my ears, traveled to my brain nerves, and pulled my consciousness back from the abyss of nothingness.
Memories spun fast. Their faces flashed in my mind. Mom's proud smile in our rickety hut. Instructor Brook's grin. And the silly smile of that mage girl holding her new staff.
Ah... that's right.
They were all looking at me.
I wasn't fighting alone anymore.
Before, I fought because I hated the world. But now, there were fools crying for me. There were people placing hope on my frail back.
If I fell here... if I gave in to this drowsiness... I would betray all those gazes. I would return to being Arin the Cripple who couldn't protect anyone.
No!
I didn't want to go back to that past.
In the darkness of my mind, an imaginary hand grabbed the nearly snapped thread of consciousness. Gripped it tight. Pulled it back roughly.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere felt opposite on the other side of the spectator stands. Gordon's supporters and noble lackeys began to panic seeing the momentum shift.
"GORDON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" shouted a noble student. "HE IS ALREADY KNEELING! FINISH HIM NOW!"
"DON'T LET THAT TRASH GET UP!"
"KILL HIM, GORDON! HE IS DYING! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!"
Gordon, who had hesitated seeing the strange aura radiating from me, now gritted his teeth. His pride was tarnished for having felt fear toward a dying opponent.
"Shut up, all of you!" shouted Gordon to the audience.
The shouts from the opposing camp jolted me back to reality.
In front of me, Gordon stepped forward. His face was full of cruel victory. He raised his Greatsword high, aiming for my neck exposed wide as I knelt.
"Goodbye, Trash," whispered Gordon, his eyes gleaming cruelly. "Die, Sewer Rat. Take that dream of yours to hell!"
The sword descended carrying death.
It was an execution slash. Arin's kneeling position made it impossible to dodge. Gareth grinned widely. Maya had lowered her magic staff, convinced victory was in hand. Elena closed her eyes, unable to bear seeing Arin's head split open.
However, in that last second, my eyes opened wide.
Not with the sleepy gaze of someone wanting to sleep. But with the gaze of a predator just woken from a long hibernation.
The wild energy from the Life Magic Stone that had been destroying my body, I now captured. Not fought against, but directed. Like controlling a flooded river into the body's irrigation canals.
My heart beat. Only once, but very strong and stable.
THUMP.
My hand moved.
CLANG!
The loud and clear sound of clashing metal echoed throughout the stadium.
Seconds passed. No sound of a body falling. No blood splatter.
Elena opened her eyes slowly. And there, in the middle of the dusty arena, she saw something that made her hold her breath.
Gordon widened his eyes in shock, his mouth gaping wide.
The greatsword stopped abruptly. Not because it hit the ground, but held stiffly in the air.
I held it with one hand.
My sword lay across above my head, supporting the weight of Gordon's attack firmly. No trembling. No wobbling knees.
"You..." Gordon stammered, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. He tried to press his sword harder, but my blocking sword seemed to become an immovable iron wall. "H-how did you..."
Slowly, I lifted my face. My eyes, which had looked dead and sleepy, now glowed with a pale blue light that was calm yet terrifying. My breathing, which had been ragged and irregular, now sounded rhythmic.
Hhh... Hhh...
Slowly, I rose to stand. I pushed Gordon's sword back easily as if I were merely brushing aside a tree branch.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," my voice was hoarse, yet echoed with a new authority.
I regulated my breath slowly. Hhhh...
White steam came out of my mouth, but this time not from overheating. It was the residue of perfect combustion.
The pain in my body was still there. My ribs were still broken, my skin still burned. But that pain now felt distant, like an echo far away. My body had adapted. Or rather, forcibly evolved.
Now my body began to shine. The transparent aura that had exploded uncontrollably earlier now began to condense. I compressed that light onto my skin, forming a thin but solid layer wrapping my body and sword. No more energy leaks. No more wild vibrations.
I took a stance. My left foot stepped forward, my sword raised level with my eyes.
Vwoom.
A low humming sound was heard from my sword.
The light enveloping my sword blade was no longer a thin glow flickering like a candle in the wind. That light was now dense, covering me solidly. Wrapping the metal with a stable and thick layer of energy, as if my sword had been coated in glowing liquid crystal.
Senior Tier Aura.
I could feel it. The mana flow that used to stutter in my flawed body now flowed smoothly through new neural pathways strengthened by serum and magic stone energy.
I had broken through that wall.
Not just ordinary Senior Aura. I felt something deeper. A potential power lurking behind this threshold. The same power as the Heretic in the forest. Magic Redaction, a Professional Tier Aura technique.
Although I knew using it now would destroy my body, knowing that I could reach it... that was enough.
Gordon took a step back unconsciously. Gareth raised his shield hesitantly, while Maya trembled violently holding her staff.
"Impossible..." Maya stepped back, her face deathly pale. As a mage, she was most sensitive to changes in mana density. "That aura... so dense. Did he... did he level up in the middle of a fight?"
"Don't joke!" Gareth tried to embolden himself, though his shield shook. "He is just bluffing! He was dying five seconds ago!"
I looked at the three of them. Gordon, Gareth, and Maya. They realized that standing before them was no longer a dying crippled student.
Five minutes ago, they looked like a giant wall impossible to tear down. But now?
They looked... slow.
Cheers in the arena exploded. No longer screams of fear, but a roar of support deafening the ears.
"ARIN! ARIN! ARIN!"
The name was shouted repeatedly by hundreds of Class C and B students. Elena in the VIP stand wiped her tears and smiled widely, the proudest smile I had ever seen. Rose laughed freely while hitting the railing.
That support flowed into me, becoming fuel stronger than any drug.
I was not alone. And I never was alone.
I stepped forward. A single certain step.
Gordon and his team took a step back simultaneously. Fear radiated clearly in their eyes.
"Now," I said softly, raising my brightly shining sword. "Let us finish this."