410.
1st Year 1st Semester Final Exam, Tournament Round 1.
The tournament was open to everyone, but there was still time until the World Summit.
As such, outside personnel had yet to arrive in Lumeran.
“Would this somewhat lessen the children’s burden?”
The 2nd Year Department of Summoning Professor, Yura, tilted her head and asked.
In response, the 2nd Year Department of Knights Professor, Ain, shook his head.
“It wouldn’t make much difference for the 1st Years.”
“True.”
Yura nodded in understanding and looked around.
She knew that during such events, there were always some people loitering nearby.
“Popcorn! Butter squid! Roasted corn! Drinks! We have it all!”
And in response to Yura’s expectations, Kal appeared.
Seeing him, Yura raised her hand.
“Over here, over here!”
“Yes! Yes! I’m coming now!”
Kal hurriedly ran over.
Then looking at Yura, he said to Ain.
“What do you need?”
“I didn’t call for you.”
Ain answered with his usual cold expression, motioning to Yura with his chin.
“Give me butter squid.”
“… We’ve sold out.”
“You said you have everything!”
Yura opened her eyes wide, but what could she do? They were sold out!
“Then popcorn.”
“… We’ve sold out.”
“Are you messing with me right now?”
Yura’s face grew grim.
Seeing her, Kal showed a frightened expression.
“B-but. We’ve sold out.”
Seeing Kal struggle to respond, Yura snapped her fingers.
Instantly, summoned familiars began rummaging through Kal’s belongings.
Delicious-smelling snacks spilled out from Kal’s bag.
“What in the world are these? Are you mocking me?”
Kal frowned as Yura’s face twisted in anger.
“We have nothing to sell to you, Yura-sensei.”
“Who do you think you’re fooling?!”
At that moment, Yura’s expression turned ferocious.
“Heh, that’s right. There’s nothing to sell to you, Yura-senpai. Ah, what a beautiful sound it makes. You said it well, Kal.”
Thud- Thud-
Ren stepped down from the audience seats.
Wrapped in a black wizard’s cloak, he was holding a wine glass, which was quite out of place for the location.
He swirled the wine in the glass, took a sip, and showed a satisfied expression.
“What’s with that nonsense?”
As Yura wrinkled her face, Ren casually tossed aside the wine glass.
Clang.
As the sound of the glass breaking echoed behind him, Ren snapped his fingers.
The items Kal had were magically returned to his bag by Yura’s familiars.
“There’s no need to blame Kal, Yura-senpai. The merchant club students, including Kal, entered into a contract with me.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
As Yura scowled, Kal pulled out a piece of paper.
It was a contract stipulating that the merchant club couldn’t sell items to Yura during the tournament.
“Why are you going this far?”
“Heh, it’s to punish Yura-senpai for daring to claim to be a part of the Summoning Department.”
At this point, it was something bordering on madness.
Chuckling, Yura gestured for Kal.
“Let me see that contract.”
At her command, Kal handed over the contract.
“It’s not a poison pill clause, I see?”
Yura smirked.
“What would happen if I paid your penalty fee myself?”
“Then the contract would lose its effect.”
“Alright, then change the contract. You can’t sell anything to that guy.”
“Sure.”
“Kal Thomas! Are you betraying the Department of Magic right now?”
Ren raised his voice, and Kal replied.
“I’m sorry, but a merchant moves based on money.”
“Credit! Isn’t it the job of merchants to pursue credit?”
“I don’t think breaking such a ridiculous contract would cause issues for my credit.”
“Fine! Then I’ll have to strengthen the penalty clause and rewrite the contract!”
As the two juniors began to bicker, Ain stood up from his seat.
“Ain-sensei, where are you going?”
“I’m going somewhere else. I can’t sit here with those kinds of fools.”
Ain said coldly and left the room.
Thud- Thud-
Following the bright light, exiting the long hallway opened up his view.
On the opposite side of the arena stood Lament, and the audience seats surrounding the arena were filled with people.
-Just now, two students have entered the arena! Please give a warm welcome to our two contestants!
Runba Tes, who always handled the commentary during major events, said to pump up the atmosphere.
The students cheered in response.
With the enthusiastic cheers from the students, Luke stepped into the arena with a more tense expression.
There stood Mel, the 1st-Year Department of Magic professor, who would serve as the judge.
Mel smiled gently at the two students and said.
“I hope you have no regrets during this time. Any attack is allowed, so feel free to fight.”
At Mel’s words, Lament narrowed his eyes.
“Any attack, you say?”
“Yes. Lethal attacks that could take your life are allowed. Of course, if it’s truly dangerous, I will intervene.”
No matter how amazing it may seem, there’s no way the professors could not stop an attack from a determined 1st-Year.
Especially not Mel.
Nodding with a smile at Mel’s response, Lament and Luke both nodded in a tense manner.
“Now, please take your places and wait. When the signal is given, you will begin immediately.”
Mel left the arena.
Before going to his own place, Lament said.
“I’ll commend you for not running away. After all, if you did, you wouldn’t be able to face the Student Council President.”
“…….”
Lament narrowed his eyes.
“I didn’t like it. Having someone like you being tutored by someone as distinguished as Professor Ren. It must feel good being treated specially as the Student Council President’s mentee, right?”
At those words, Luke recalled his lessons with Ren.
In truth, the one who taught Luke magic was none other than Professor Anna, Ren’s associate.
Ren was a transcendent wizard.
What he was interested in was only Luke’s mana characteristics.
Aside from that, Luke was rather ordinary as a wizard.
He hadn’t even mastered the basics of magic yet, so he was quite irrelevant to Ren.
The only time Ren showed interest outside of researching Luke’s magical characteristics was when he made one questionable suggestion.
“Anna, what do you think about dissecting Luke?”
“Please, shut up.”
Ren claimed it was a joke, but his eyes were deadly serious.
Recalling that moment, Luke shivered and said.
“It wasn’t that enjoyable.”
“Hmph, you don’t even realize how great the glory you’ve enjoyed is.”
Lament snorted derisively and returned to his seat.
Taking a deep breath, Luke returned to his place.
‘How effective have my efforts been until now?’
He remembered the time spent.
After classes, he always trained physically.
It had been nothing short of hellish days.
What Leo taught Luke was only physical training and battle-related exercises.
Countless times he had doubted his lack of progress.
He always sensed his limitations.
Every time that happened, Leo would say.
“Hitting a limit means you’re finally facing your limitations. Continuing through that means you’re continually surpassing those limits. Have faith in yourself, who has constantly overcome your boundaries, Luke Eldar.”
Turning his body, Luke smiled.
‘How far can I go? This is a challenge.’
“Are you smiling?”
Lament grimaced.
Mel quietly muttered as she watched Luke.
“Such types are sometimes found. Those who smile in times of crisis.”
Thinking that, Mel snapped her fingers.
Ping-! Whoosh-!
The coin began to spin.
As it flew through the air, it finally landed in the center of the arena.
Ping-!
The moment it hit the ground, Lament slammed his palm into the floor.
“Earth Wave.”
With a fast incantation, he completed the spell in an instant.
Rumble-!
The arena began to quake.
Though it quaked like water, it wasn’t that the solid floor had turned soft.
Caught up in this quaking moment, it was as if the ground was going to smash into them.
Luke summoned his aura.
A silvery aura gathered at his tips.
Whoosh-!
Luke charged swiftly towards Lament.
“You fool. Do you think you can close the distance?”
Lament laughed mockingly.
Luke’s eyes followed the tremors of the ground.
In an instant, he understood the pattern and lightly stepped on the highest point of the risen ground and launched himself.
Lament’s eyes twitched.
Luke quickly closed the distance with jumps onto safer spots.
The moment he got closer to Lament, Luke saw the corners of Lament’s mouth lift.
Boom-!
“Cough!”
A fist that shot up from the ground slapped Luke.
Just barely able to raise his aura to defend against the attack, Luke was slammed back.
“Impressive. But do you think I’ll just let you close the distance?”
Power swirled around Lament.
“I’d like to toy with you, but the audience wouldn’t find that entertaining.”
Lament grinned.
“I’ll finish this here.”
Zoom-!
As if responding to Lament’s magic, the ground around them began shaking.
Boom-!
From the ground around Lament, stone spikes began to sh**t up at an incredible speed.
An indiscriminate attack meant to tear the opponent apart.
Crash—!
In an instant, the spikes that shot up from the ground filled the arena.
Thick clouds of dust kicked up.
The only place to escape was the sky.
But even leaping wouldn’t allow an escape.
Having anticipated this, Lament had already controlled the air with wind-based magic above the arena.
‘If I jumped to evade, I would’ve been torn apart by the wind blades.’
“Truly boring.”
Just as Lament was about to leave the arena with that, a sharp sound sliced through the air.
“What?!”
Bursting through the spikes, Luke swung his sword at Lament.
Lament barely rolled on the ground to evade the attack.
Slash—!
bl**d spurted from Lament’s neck.
Thud-!
Luke landed on the floor.
If it had been just a bit deeper, the match would have ended in Luke’s victory.
“That brat! What kind of trick are you using?!”
“I dodged it.”
Luke said, shaking off the bl**d from Lament’s neck off his sword tip.
“Don’t make me laugh. You dodged that attack?”
The intense fury built up on Lament’s forehead.
At that moment, jeers erupted from the 1st Year audience.
“Are they allowing attacks from such a failing student?”
“Lament, you’re nothing special either, huh?”
As the snickering echoed, Lament’s eyes turned wild.
“You have good eyes. To think you’d plan to evade that by watching that.”
Chelsea muttered from the 2nd Year audience.
“After all, his getting to be Ren’s mentee was due to having sharp eyes.”
Celia crossed her arms.
“Of course, it was because the attack succeeded that the opponent was careless. Since that attack has failed, it’s over.”
At those words, Chelsea leaned on her chin.
“Now we might see true skills.”
“I’ll finish you off! d*mn failing student!”
Rumble-!
The ground began to pulse.
Crash—!
The ground, like a slime, piled over Luke.
Smack-!
“Cough?!”
The ground beneath him slapped Luke.
Hit by that, Luke was thrown back.
Crash-!
“Gulp?!”
The ground beneath formed a fist that struck Luke’s back.
Having been battered by the physical attacks that bursted up from the ground, Luke lay sprawled out flat.
His entire body screamed in pain.
As the attacks ceased, Luke arose.
“Guess it’s still not enough.”
“Hah, did you think you would win?”
Lament growled disdainfully as he struck the ground.
Crash-!
The ground shot up and sent Luke flying into the sky.
The impact left him dizzy.
Whooooooooooooooo-!
Luke, soaring to unimaginable heights, looked at the bracelet on his wrist.
‘Looks like this is my limit in this state.’
He stared at the arena far below him.
‘Releasing the seal is simple. Just say ‘Release’ earnestly within my heart, and it will be undone.’
Releasing the seal was easy.
But he held back.
All through the first semester, he had endured being belittled and ignored for being a failing student.
It was all for this moment!
‘Release.’
As he thought that, the bracelets and anklets binding him flew off.
In that moment.
‘My body feels light.’
Luke looked at his palm in surprise.
‘If it’s like this…’
He summoned all the mana in his body.
Zoom-!
In an instant, an aura began to swirl around his toes.
Utilizing the aura step, Luke slammed into the air.
“If he crashes to the ground, it’s over.”
“Ah, was a giant killing about to happen?”
“Hey! You should rather curse at Lament.”
“Oh, did I go too far?”
As the 1st Years laughed and snickered.
Flash-! Bang-!
A silvery flash lit up the sky and then struck the arena.
“What, what is that?”
“Something just came from the sky…”
The 1st Years panicked amidst the thick dust.
“This is… what…”
In that moment of Lament’s surprise.
Flash-!
Along with the silvery flash, something came flying.
Smack-!
“Cough?!”
Lament, who was kicked in the abdomen, was sent sprawling helplessly onto the ground.
Thud-!
Landing on the floor, Luke, now cloaked in silvery light, said.
“Now, it begins.”
Luke spoke powerfully towards Lament.
“It’s real now.”
![[TS] The Protagonist is Conquered](https://i3.wp.com/novelhitam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743806812-5548-TS-The-Protagonist-is-Conquered.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The Protagonist is Conquered")
