I got into school for nothing - Chapter 240
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I got into school for nothing (240)
Lesson 46. Union Founding Festival - 7
There's a limit to how abruptly things can escalate.
For a moment, Ban Yuwon wanted to shout, "Why are you suddenly here?", but he desperately held it in.
Regardless of the Chancellor's motives for intervening directly, it was a welcome act.
He couldn't expose As Light in his current state to others.
Especially considering what As Light would have to do later.
As Light had dropped his sword and was clutching his head with both hands, writhing in agony.
Ban Yuwon's conceptual sight clearly showed the necklace shattering and the two liberated souls being absorbed into As Light's body, now fiercely battling for dominance within him.
His ancestor, striving to erase As Light's ego and be reborn as the king to continue the royal lineage, and...
The dragon's soul, which had been torn from its body and sealed by the ancestor's Dragon-Slaying Sword, had always been biding its time, waiting for an opportunity to revive!
"I am the guardian of humanity. Do you truly believe I would tolerate an alien abomination? I shall erase every trace of your curse!"
"My beloved child, who carries my blood. The time has come to liberate yourself from suppression. Feel the dragon's blood flowing within you. Embrace the dragon's soul!"
"Well, isn't that nice? It even offers voice service."
As Light's mouth opened uncontrollably, alternating between two unsettling voices.
As Ban Yuwon had confidently surmised in the past, neither of them was on As Light's side—but compared to before the necklace shattered, the situation was, paradoxically, better.
'Even if I ignored the Dragon-Slaying Sword, I couldn't even think of how to deal with that necklace... But Aire provoked As Light with her dragon's mana, causing the dragon's soul trapped in the necklace to run wild.'
Aire might have hoped that As Light would reject his ancestor's soul by his own will, but she didn't know that the dragon's soul was sealed within the necklace.
It wasn't that there hadn't been an opportunity to tell her.
However, Ban Yuwon hadn't expected Aire to act so radically—and he had hesitated, unsure how she would react if he told her, who clearly carried dragon's blood, about the dragon's soul trapped in the necklace.
'I should have trusted Aire and told her more honestly.'
Regretting it now wouldn't change anything.
First, he had to resolve the situation with As Light, and then formally apologize to her.
The problem, though, was how.
“Master, will you help?”
—I have fulfilled my role by concealing the tainted legacy of the past from their sight. The rest is your task.
He tossed a word towards the Chancellor's colossal eye, but the answer was as expected.
The Chancellor seemed to have intervened because he knew something about As Light's ancestor, but he had no intention of saying more or interfering further.
The admission fee had been paid, and now he was demanding Ban Yuwon demonstrate his abilities.
There was no choice. He had to proceed with his plan.
“As Light, can you hear my voice?”
“G-G-G-G-Graaah!”
“Now that they've burst out of the necklace, this is our chance. Let's rip both of them out and seal them away.”
“Kuaaaaaaak!”
Reasonable words were useless.
No, As Light, perceiving Ban Yuwon's approach as a threat, instead unleashed a surge of mana and attacked him!
[Curse (咀呪)]
The true nature of the eerie mana, filling the surroundings and engulfing Ban Yuwon, was clearly deciphered.
Seeing the Dragon-Slaying Sword, lying on the floor, rattle frantically and resonate with the cursed mana, it seemed the sword itself was controlling As Light's mana, which was now driven by pure instinct.
“Tsk, so it was this way, after all.”
To block a curse, another curse was best.
Ban Yuwon swiftly selected the most effective concepts from within his body, imbued them into his Yugi, and activated them with his Giwon Sword.
[Activating the concepts of Curse (咀呪), Judgment (審判), and Rebellion (反逆).]
The golden wave overflowing from the tip of his blade surged through the space, clashing with the curse woven by the Dragon-Slaying Sword. At that moment, Ban Yuwon, activating his Gap at precisely the right time, reinforced its insufficient depth with Yugi and dashed forward like an arrow.
Catching the fleeting gaps in the rampaging mana and passing through them, Ban Yuwon truly embodied the meaning of 'Gap'.
[Wait, at this rate, he—]
[I will not be toyed with by you again!]
Mid-clash, the ancestor's soul sensed Ban Yuwon's approach and panicked, while the dragon's soul, perhaps as a reaction to having been sealed and unable to voice its will until now, blindly attacked the ancestor without a second thought.
In that instant, Ban Yuwon reached As Light and expertly caught the Dragon-Slaying Sword as it thrust towards him.
He barely suppressed the Dragon-Slaying Sword's violent reaction to being held by someone other than its master, using the concept of Domination, and resisted the mana that sought to burn both mind and body simultaneously with the concept of Adamantine Resistance.
'I can't keep this up for long. Let's finish this quickly.'
He pulled out a Candy of Life from his pocket and popped it into his mouth.
With one hand gripping the Dragon-Slaying Sword, he used his other hand to grasp As Light's face and lift it.
Within As Light's pupils, which wildly swayed, unable to focus on Ban Yuwon so close, Ban Yuwon read the faint remnants of As Light's struggling will.
It was a somewhat ridiculous thing to say to her, considering she had made countless embarrassing blunders, but... she had endured well until now.
So, he would give her a reward.
—Hoo.
No need for interjections.
Ban Yuwon cast aside all hesitation and kissed As Light.
It would have been better if As Light had been in her state from around the summer vacation, but this was the only way to revert her to that form, so he had no choice...!
“Mmph?!”
The change was dramatic.
As Light's wavering eyes, previously lost and unfocused, now sharply converged, fixing on Ban Yuwon.
Her pale skin flushed so brightly that it looked as if she might be getting a burn.
This reaction was unmistakably As Light.
He couldn't even guess how long it had been since he'd encountered the real As Light.
Thinking it would be this effective, Ban Yuwon felt a slight regret for not having done it sooner instead of calculating so much.
“Mmph-mmph-mmph?!”
—It's been a while, As Light. Focus now.
“!”
With their mouths pressed together, preventing speech, he conveyed his intentions to her using the telepathic message he had learned from Dokgo Yeon.
As Light, though flustered by the voice echoing in her mind, gave a small nod.
But when Ban Yuwon pointed the Dragon-Slaying Sword in his hand at As Light's abdomen, she became extremely flustered.
“?!”
—It'll hurt, but bear with it. This is the only way to drive out the souls inside your body.
Indeed.
The method Ban Yuwon had conceived was to utilize the Holy Sword, which possessed the ability to seal souls, to extract the ancestor's soul.
Of course, he hadn't intended to do such a thing during the competition, nor had he planned to wish for "self-mutilation with the Dragon-Slaying Sword" after winning the masquerade ball.
He had merely intended to borrow the Dragon-Slaying Sword as a wish and subtly inject some of his concepts to induce a change, but Aire's unexpected intervention had accelerated the situation, forcing him to take such a desperate measure.
—Drive out the intruders!
“!!!”
Thud, the Dragon-Slaying Sword pierced As Light's abdomen.
At that instant, a violent reaction erupted within As Light's body.
"How dare you—do you think a presumptuous wretch like you can wield the Dragon-Slaying Sword?!"
"Not a second time... Never again!"
The moment the two clashing souls united their will.
As Light's hand overlapped Ban Yuwon's, which was gripping the Dragon-Slaying Sword.
As Light, gripping the sword with force, unleashed her mana.
The Dragon-Slaying Sword's true ability—soul sealing—activated.
Feeling As Light's will, Ban Yuwon offered a faint smile.
"Do you truly believe a mere brat, who couldn't even properly resist me and whose soul power is no bigger than a fist, can drive me out?!"
"If that is your will, then I shall not refuse. I will not die, you will die first!"
They had been so wary before, but now that it was upon them, it seemed they didn't quite understand Ban Yuwon's power.
The reason Ban Yuwon had kissed As Light was not to restore her mind.
It was to interfere with the concepts within her body.
[Holy Spirit (聖靈)]
[Demonic Spirit (魔靈)]
When he first encountered them through the necklace, he was frustrated, unsure which of the two to deal with, but seeing them like this now, they jumped out at him so clearly it was perfect.
Ban Yuwon's eyes widened, and he exerted his Authority.
Now in intimate contact with As Light, the power of his Giwon Sword, which read and manipulated all concepts, swept relentlessly through the two unwelcome guests who had infiltrated As Light's interior!
"Whaaaat—!"
"No, stop it, I hate this!"
The two souls, unable to resist Ban Yuwon's Authority, were instantly sucked into the Dragon-Slaying Sword.
He meticulously confirmed that not a single trace of the two souls remained within As Light's body, then immediately pulled out the Dragon-Slaying Sword.
“Kuh-uh-up—!”
As Light let out a groan that was closer to a scream.
When Ban Yuwon passed her the Candy of Life he had held in his mouth, she instinctively recognized its nature and hurriedly bit into it, swallowing it.
‘Good, I succeeded in extracting them from As Light, at least.’
Of course, this wasn't the end of it.
As long as As Light and the Dragon-Slaying Sword were bound by a master-servant relationship, the souls residing within the Dragon-Slaying Sword could still influence her in some way.
He pulled out the two concepts he had prepared to transform the Dragon-Slaying Sword from his Code Core—
“!”
—...As Light, could you calm down a little?
Perhaps to forget the pain, As Light was desperately clinging to Ban Yuwon.
Even when Ban Yuwon tried to pull her away, she wouldn't listen, clinging to his lips and sucking with an intensity almost like an octopus's suction cups.
With the necklace shattered and the two souls gone, all restrictions on As Light were lifted, and she was becoming more feminine in real-time, making Ban Yuwon feel increasingly strange.
'No, I can't do this. Calm down, calm down.'
Ban Yuwon somehow managed to calm her, then made her hold the Dragon-Slaying Sword with both hands—and imbued the sword with the [Synthesis (合成)] and [Concept Conversion (槪念轉換)] he had carefully preserved.
He thought it would be too wasteful to imbue all of it and planned to apply 10 units of each first to observe the outcome, but without even needing to, a remarkably successful result emerged.
[Mutation Authority has manifested, combining the concepts held by the target into a higher concept. The depth of the mutation has reached 80.]
[Kuaaaaaaah!]
[Ah, aaaaaaaaah!]
The Dragon Slayer and the Dragon, opposing souls, were synthesized without resistance, losing their original forms, wills, and histories, leaving only a potent surge of energy.
The concept of [Killing Dragons] was dramatically converted, amplifying the draconic energy of its owner.
The Mutation Authority blessed these two changes, transforming them into an even more powerful concept.
[True Dragon Sword (眞龍劍)]
Somehow, a weapon that looked even more dangerous than the Dragon-Slaying Sword had been completed.
—Interesting. Truly fitting for a creator's accomplishment.
“Are you satisfied?”
—Exceedingly splendid. Look forward to your reward.
Having said its piece, the Chancellor's colossal eye closed its eyelid.
Feeling the dark space about to dissipate, Ban Yuwon hurriedly pulled away from As Light. As Light, who had absorbed the evolved True Dragon Sword into her body, collapsed to the floor, unconscious, a faint smile on her face.
The next moment, everything returned to normal.
“Yuwon, be careful—huh?”
[......?]
[What was that?]
[Could that possibly be an ability that transcends space-time?]
Perhaps the Chancellor had even compressed time.
As those who hadn't perceived the Chancellor's eye that had appeared on the ceiling, nor the actions Ban Yuwon had performed within the space created by the Chancellor, all looked bewildered, Ban Yuwon looked at the judge, Zenon, and said,
“Both opponents have fainted.”
“—Indeed. I declare the Ban Yuwon & Aire pair victorious.”
Zenon declared briefly.
Ban Yuwon felt a pang of pain from Aire's sharp gaze, which pierced his cheek, but for now, he decided to brazenly smile.
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