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àŒș Finishing Touch (1) àŒ»
“How is my Senior Brother Valtazar doing? My dear nephew Fermack?”
“Nephew
?”
Fermack was probably suspecting that I was a ‘martial brother’ of his that he wasn’t aware of but

“You’re the disciple of the renounced disciple of my master, so that makes me your uncle. Come show your respects to your elder.”
“Uncle
? Don’t tell me!”
He seemed to have finally noticed who I was.
“That can’t be! That woman shouldn’t be able to leave the ‘Palace’ right now! How could she possibly take in another disciple?!”
“It’s not like you need to believe me.”
His decision after seeing me use the same spearmanship as his master was very wise.
From Fermack’s knowledge, his master should be the only spearman out there who used ‘Six Ways of the Spear’ to reach the ‘Void’. Therefore, judging from what I showed him, it should have been highly likely for me to be that man’s disciple.
But why would his master not tell Fermack about another direct disciple even though he was here for a mission that was given by him?
As a traitor
 or rather as a subject of the ‘King of Paradise’, what would have been the right call for Fermack Daman?
Ignore.
Ask for help.
Ignoring was the safer option. Even after ignoring me here, he could still reveal his identity at a later date.
Asking for help was a foolish choice, because one Rune Mage was more than enough for this plan. He didn’t even need to receive my help for this plan, and what if I didn’t have the same master as him? What if I was antagonistic, and what if I had nothing to do with them?
Instead of bearing the risk, he decided to ignore me. On top of that, Fermack added a clever move.
He sent me outside the city using the ‘reassessment of a Grade 5 Knight who performed well against Lunia Arden’ as the excuse.
The subjugation of a semi-Grade 1 demonic beast and spirit would normally take a week or two at the very least. Considering the time it takes to travel back and forth, I wouldn’t have been able to come back before it was over.
Meanwhile, he could create a ruckus with the ‘King of Iron Mountain’ incident and escape after the whole thing was over. My identity was something he could ask his master and king at a later date.
He probably wasn’t expecting me to return using a long-distance dimensional travel through Lady Josephine’s marker.
“Professor Deina’s experiment and Senior Marie’s incident were great events for you, right? Because you have been waiting for the right opportunity.”
The boss of the 1st Arc, Marie Dunareff’s incident was a coincidental accident whereas the outbreak of the 2nd Arc’s boss, King of Iron Mountain, was a thoroughly devised plan.
One of the key requirements of the 2nd Arc’s boss fight were the questions about Eriu Casarr’s right as the chairman, which was triggered by Marie’s incident.
In this iteration, it was substituted by questions about Marie’s safety and security issues but the important part here was ‘Chairman Eriu Casarr’s absence at the Academy’.
The absence of the ‘Primal Guardian’ that was created with the strongest ‘rune stone’ must have been the best opportunity for Fermack, who had been waiting for it for over 10 years.
“You are not going back with that ‘Primal Rune’.”
“!!!”
Fermack’s eyes widened behind his sunglasses. That wasn’t something a mere student should be aware of, and the only ones that knew about it were his master and

“Did Josephine
 No, that can’t be right.”
If the ‘guardians’ were aware of his existence, they wouldn’t have watched this happen in the first place.
I could sense his confusion from the torrent of undecipherable information. A normal villain would have gone, ‘Who are you!’ and lingered on the topic but

“I see. So you’re my enemy, huh.”
He concluded it with that one sentence.
“Yes. I am your enemy.”
“
”
Fermack Daman.
The real mastermind behind this incident, who lifted the seals cast on the final boss of the 2nd Arc, ‘King of Iron Mountain’, that would later appear with the ‘King of Paradise’ as one of his 4 attendants.
He was known as a famous Grade 1 Knight in the world, but no. At the very least, he was a semi-Unique Grade just like Lunia Arden and had the potential to reach the power of a Unique Grade after meeting certain conditions.
“
”
It was such a distant past
 Actually, it wasn’t even that far back, because it was 1 year ago before the end of the last iteration.
This guy did the same thing last time, and reappeared later to kill a large number of my comrades and innocent people.
Everything was for the Advent of Paradise – for that stupid ambition of theirs.
When I first met him at the grading test in this iteration, I had vowed to myself that I would kill him without fail.
“Looks like you have gotten overly arrogant from all the compliments of your peers. Do you think you’ll have a chance against me?”
Fermack Daman was the first one to move.
“Arise, my shadow.”
❰ Shadow Servant ❱
A clone stood up from within his shadow and created another version of him.
That was his specialty. It doubled the user’s attacks as long as there was shadow nearby so it was a wondrously powerful ability when paired up with boxing.
“It will be over in no time.”
Fermack gave an arrogant declaration but
 there was a reason why I had chosen this place as the battlefield.
– Crack! Rip! Kajijik!
The created clone suddenly fluctuated before dissipating due to the radiant light of the sun.
“Sowilo
!”
“The natural counter to shadow-type moves. You already know the biggest weakness of your skill right?”
It might be obvious but shadow-type skills required shadow in the first place. Like how water-attributed spells required moisture and fire-attributed spells required oxygen, everything had a necessary cost and a procedure whether it be a specialty or an elemental spell.
“
”
Fermack avoided the rune of the sun that was eliminating his shadow and took a step to the side.
– Pajik!
However, there was another rune of the sun in that place. He realized something after noticing that his shadow had been removed once again by the same rune.
“Don’t tell me
 you covered this entire area with Sowilo?”
“It was quite tough actually. I spent 20 days engraving solar runes all across this place. It was a lot of work but I had a lot of spare mana these days you see.”
While boiling the Mandrake decoction as well as when we were practicing spearmanship for the group assignment, all the way until I had to leave for the grading test, I was practically living in this plot of land.
I had been preparing for this battle in this inhabited land, that had no passersby and a secret passage leading to the basement of the laboratory, before anyone else.
This was a brutal stage set just to counter Fermack Daman.
“
”
‘Damn it’ – that’s what his gaze told me. He must be quite annoyed by the fact that his Shadow Servant had been deactivated, after requiring so much mana to activate, by such a simple and elementary rune.
“You damn coward
”
“You mean organized.”
“I do admit you have perseverance but
”
ᚱ — Raidho
He closed the distance in an instant.
10 meters – it wasn’t a super long distance by any means, but it was a distance that still required some time to travel.
However, Fermack’s supersonic movement happened like a flash, where the distance between him and his foe became smaller like it was folded, and did not seem like a simple sprint.
I moved my spear to meet the lightning-fast fist.
– Pabak!
“??!”
But the spear ended up cutting nothing. His body vanished like it blinked out of sight. He had already accelerated next to my body and was swinging his fist at my side.
❰ Southpaw Jet Boost ❱
❰ Eight Trigrams – Fleeting Body ❱
– Vuung!
My feet moved following the profound wisdoms of Eight Trigrams and slid across as Fermack’s punch failed to reach anything.
“Hoh?”
A consecutive use of Raidho to attack the weakness – it was a decent yet straight-forward combo. Did he think I wouldn’t be able to dodge that or something?
❰ Fourth Style, Spinning Heaven ❱
Using my fingers, I started spinning the spear. The spear rotated far and wide and threatened the boxer.
❰ Full Back ❱
With his lower body in the same place, Fermack lowered his back to dodge the spear. Relying on his superhuman dynamic vision and perfect calculation of distance, he dodged my sudden chain of attacks with the minimal number of movements.
“
A nice balance of techniques polished through experience and practice. Very good.”
“Pretending to be a professor now?”
“I have been at it for 10 years. It’s something I cannot help.”
“How about you talk like a frivolous teacher again, huh? Continue doing what you’ve been doing.”
“You cocky brat.”
“Whatever you try to do, this will be your graveyard.”
I proclaimed while pointing at him with the ambiently glimmering Silver Spear. After hearing my resolve, he also turned serious.
He must have decided that I wouldn’t be an easy foe.
However, his first goal was to leave this city, because he had to avoid the eyes of people who were assuming he was dead.
“It is a shame that we cannot see this through. I will make sure I kill you the next time we meet.”
That was an obvious decision on his part. If he was seriously keen on running away, no-one would be able to stop him including Lady Josephine the dimensional mage.
But I was definitely not going to let that happen.
– Thud!
Before he could escape using the rune of Raidho, I declared to him.
“It is a duel. Fermack Daman.”
“
I have no reason to respond to the duel of someone like you.”
“Of course you do. Fermack Daman. Because that is the Precept restricting you.”
“You
”
Fermack Daman seemed befuddled after realizing that I even knew about the Precept that was engraved on his body.
He had the same Precept as me on his body, and the reason he could reach the power level of a Unique Grade was thanks to the support of his Precept.
Precepts were the ways of the great warriors of the Paradise of Shadows – a high-risk high-reward system that allowed you to become a lot stronger.
〚I do not refuse duels.〛
Since he had engraved that as his Restriction, refusing the duel was not an option for Fermack Daman.
“Is that
 why you came here by yourself?”
“Because duels must be one-on-one.”
Right – the reason I came here alone without bringing Lady Josephine or other members of the party was simple. It was because Fermack didn’t need to accept duels when outnumbered.
Duels had to be impartial, sacred and
 at the same time, it had to be one versus one.
Therefore, the only duels that were forced by the Restriction were one-on-one fights. If another person joined the duel, the Precept would grant the Rune Mage a ridiculous amount of power to overcome the situation.
Most importantly, Fermack Daman would have immediately run away if he had two or more people as his opponent, because his mission was to retrieve the Primal Rune.
But because I was here by myself, and because he had already seen the Rune of Duel Declaration
 he had no choice but to accept my duel.
He would certainly not be willing to bear the risk of going against the Restriction, which he had been keeping for decades.
Fermack Daman postured himself and glared at me with the eyes of a warrior. In response, I held the Silver Spear in my hands. We both readied ourselves for the duel and following the sacred rules of a duel, we introduced ourselves.
“The 1st warrior of Tates Valtazar, the ‘King of Paradise’, Fermack Daman.”
“The 1st spear of Erin Danua, the ‘Queen of Paradise’, Korin Lork.”
There were only 10 meters in between us.
Victory and defeat.
That would be the only difference between us two.
『System Back-up in Operation. Reviewing the Precept.』
1st Precept: Duty
〚I will not disregard the misfortune of the good.〛
〚 Relativity: A+〛
2nd Precept: Restriction
〚I do not perceive spirits.〛
〚 Support: 50% Additional Damage〛
3rd Precept: Pledge
〚I will save the world.〛
〚 Fermack Daman – Relativity: A〛
〚 Support: A+〛
Aura – { Medium (5,530 + 5,530) }
Mana – { Low (4,170 + 4,170) }
Strength: > 67 + 67
Agility: > 66 + 66
Vitality: > 68 + 68
Aura: > 64 + 64
Mana: > 64 + 64
『Regeneration of the Tenacious Warrior』
『Pain Tolerance』
『Domain Comprehension』 x100%
『Aura Core (Medium) – Storing 3,500』
『Defeat Fermack Daman, and take a step forward to saving the world. Good luck, Hero Korin Lork.』
****
Fermack rationally analyzed his opponent.
The enemy was someone who had been fighting against Lunia Arden on equal grounds, although momentarily. Besides, his Precepts were also unclear.
He was Grade 1 at the very least, and could even be considered a semi-Unique Grade.
On the other hand, Korin knew what Fermack’s Precepts were about. At least he knew exactly what his Restriction was.
After some time, the uproar will subside and others might surround them. Fermack had to go with a short decisive battle.
“It is rather  annoying but I will admit it.”
– I shall use my everything to crush you.
Fermack gave an arrogant statement before gathering mana at his fingers to write down runes.
[ᛏ] — Tiwaz
[ᛟ] — Othala
His fingers beneath the gauntlets wrote various letters at a supersonic speed.
War and death.
The two letters of the Runic alphabet that represented great power were engraved in the air. When he added the rune, [ᛝ] — Inguz and several other letters on top

❰ Segment of Paradise, Shadow Fortress ❱
Pitch darkness swallowed the ground, the empty plot of land as well as the sky.
Something dark began to infiltrate the real world. The fortress covered the sun like a screen and did not allow any light to pervade inside.
This fortress that turned the barren plot of land more desolate than ever, and swallowed it with the deep darkness of the abyss was a portion of the otherworldly Paradise that existed somewhere beyond the dimensional gap.
[ᛊ] — Sowilo
ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ ᛊ
Runes of the sun erupted out in retaliation. However, after the heavy shadows of the huge fortress came to contact with the ground, they weighed down from above with its immense weight, destroyed the runes carved on the ground and spread across endless darkness.
A world without a sun.
A glimpse into the abandoned Paradise.
The fortress of shadows devoured all the nearby light as if it loathed the sun that refused to shed light unto their world.
“With your petty skills, you won’t be able to remove this shadow. Your defeat has been decided the moment this fortress arrived here.”
“
”
Removing the shadow with solar runes. It was a great idea but he probably had no idea about this point of entry into the Paradise, which had only been permitted to the great warriors of the Paradise.
– Grrrhhh
!
– Kyaoooh
!
Demonic beasts of the Shadow Realm crawled into the enclosed fortress. They faced the two infiltrators of the Paradise with endless hostility and hatred.
This was a double-edged sword to Fermack – these demonic beasts would attack him as well.
However, Fermack was confident because his 3rd Precept, the Pledge 〚I will serve the Shadow.〛 gave him a ridiculous amount of power when inside the Paradise.
Now, the only future ahead of Korin Lork was either being ripped to pieces by the demonic beasts of the Paradise of Shadows or being killed by his fists, and yet

“
”
Within the world covered and walled off by the shadows, Fermack, who had become used to darkness due to wearing sunglasses all the time, spotted a grin on Korin’s lips.
“Right. I knew you would use this when you’re in a rush.”
Korin scavenged through the bag which had been on him from the start, and took out something from inside that was covered with ‘dirt’.
– Flop!
“
Kieee?”
The plant that looked like a human gave out an adorable gasp. It was radiating in bright gold despite being inside the Paradise of Shadows.
Korin’s lips curled up with a haughty light. He was smiling.
Countless runes carved on the ground; an empty plot of land; and Fermack’s hidden trump card which could nullify any locational disadvantage.
There was no way Korin Lork hadn’t been expecting this move from him, and that was why he took out this very item right here and then.
Yellow Gold Mandrake.
It was the medicinal herb which he did not pluck out despite its astonishing effect – the hidden item that had 7 times the noise and magic damage of a normal Mandrake.
KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!!!!
The Golden Mandrake howled inside the fortress of shadows which had landed on the empty plot of land. That enclosed structure, which would echo from the softest of whispers, was filled with the scream of a Mandrake.