"It’s my turn to go on stage."

As the bell rang, Fanny also rose from her lounge seat, preparing to head for the arena.

"Good luck!"

The three little ones, who had been chattering away about making cheering props, immediately crowded in front of Fanny and threw out words of encouragement.

"I believe you can do it!"

"Beat him into the ground, Senior Fanny!"

"Pin that seventeenth prince to the floor and beat the hell out of him!"

"You guys..."

Looking at the three of them talking over each other, warmth rose in Fanny’s chest.

Even though these three little ones were total fangirls, unreliable, and always embezzling club dues to do weird things—like making life-sized Muen Campbell body pillows to trick people into joining—in moments like this, they would still stand firmly on her side...

"As long as you beat him, Mr. Muen won’t have to personally step in!" Emma said, indignant.

"Exactly. What rank is he supposed to be, sharing a stage with Mr. Muen?" Amy nodded along seriously.

"Yeah, yeah! He’s only a tiny bit handsome—he doesn’t even measure up to one leg hair of Mr. Muen’s! Senior Fanny, hurry up and go beat her down hard!" Alva pumped her little fist, like she was the one about to go on stage and beat up the seventeenth prince.

Fanny: "..."

"Oww."

After a stretch of silence, the righteous iron fist came down on the three little ones’ heads again.

"I knew nothing good could come out of your mouths!"

...

After she walked out of the lounge, looking at the spacious arena, Fanny couldn’t help letting out a sigh.

It wasn’t because she was really angry at those three little ones whose brains were full of nothing but handsome underclassman Muen—it was because...

"The seventeenth prince... I just hope how terrifying he is won’t exceed my imagination."

She adjusted the longsword at her side. Even though unease sat in her heart, there wasn’t much fear. She stepped onto the arena calmly.

...

...

"Kingdom of Saint Perod, Milne Lodest."

"Empire of Leopold, Saint Maria Academy, Fanny Duron."

After the formal greetings as procedure required, that earthshaking roar like heaven and earth rumbling sounded again, and the All-Things Simulation began reshaping the surroundings.

The flat arena vanished, replaced by a dim yellow world. A colossal setting sun was half embedded in the horizon, while the other half still poured out a terrifying heat.

Both of them swayed for a moment and then quickly regained their balance, glancing down at their feet.

"Desert?"

Fine sand piled into a sea of yellow. Congealed waves formed dune after dune with a strange kind of natural beauty. If you weren’t careful, you could sink into them—but aside from that, there was nothing else here.

"This is kind of troublesome."

Fanny’s heart sank. This relatively simple environment wasn’t necessarily good news for her, since she was already the weaker one.

But the terrain was randomly generated. She had no grounds to object.

Compared to Fanny, Milne looked far more composed. He didn’t care about any of it at all. To him, mere terrain had no chance of affecting his march toward victory. He only gave the surroundings a brief glance to confirm what it was, then his attention returned to his opponent.

"Fanny Duron."

Milne’s lips curved. Facing the opponent who, in his expectations, could be said to be the one most worth taking seriously before Ariel appeared, he was still confident.

"I’ve heard of you. Half a year ago, you were one of Saint Maria Academy’s representatives who went to participate in that Holy City trial. You’re one of the academy’s better-known students."

"To have my name remembered by a prince of the kingdom—what an honor."

Fanny drew a deep breath, her hand already silently resting on the sword hilt.

"Unfortunately, I’d rather Your Highness hadn’t remembered me."

"Haha. I’m not some idiot with my eyes on the sky. Opponent intelligence—no matter how ordinary it looks, we still collect it carefully. After all, we don’t believe Saint Maria Academy would really send a bunch of trash to an exchange. That Ariel from earlier is the best proof, isn’t she?"

"And I also have my own objective. For that objective, I absolutely won’t allow even the slightest mistake."

Milne raised his head and looked in a certain direction. Unfortunately, just like Ariel, once the All-Things Simulation unfolded, he couldn’t see the audience stands.

But it didn’t matter. He knew that right now, everyone’s eyes should be on him.

Whether it was this country’s empress, or that ridiculous Muen Campbell, it should be no exception.

"Even though it’s not very gentlemanly, I won’t hold back."

He spread his hand toward Fanny and smiled lightly.

"So... please struggle with everything you’ve got."

"Heh heh..."

Fanny smiled along with him.

"You say you’ll be on full guard, but telling someone to struggle... that doesn’t sound like something a humble person would say."

"Oh? Is that so?" Milne asked in surprise. "I think my wording is friendly enough."

"Then maybe arrogance has already seeped into your bones so deeply that even you... haven’t noticed!"

Clang—

Fanny suddenly drew her sword with no warning at all.

Sword intent she had been building for a long time erupted in a burst. The sharp sword light almost instantly split apart the dune beneath her feet.

A terrifying slash mark spread toward Milne like a storm, leaving him almost no space to dodge.

"Not a bad strike."

Yet Milne didn’t dodge. Or rather... there was no need to dodge.

He didn’t even draw his sword. He simply copied what Ariel had done against Baror earlier—he clenched his fist, a faint red glow gathering over his knuckles, and aimed it at that sword intent that could tear everything apart, then smashed forward.

A piercing screech like metal colliding stabbed at the ears, like a stone hammer caving in a rusted iron plate. The sword light Fanny had cut out skewed and collapsed in an instant, not even brushing the corner of Milne’s clothes.

"So strong..."

Fanny’s expression grew heavier. Her gaze fell on Milne’s fist, and her eyes tightened.

With her experience, she quickly recognized that layer of red glow wasn’t some powerful martial technique at all, but simply a condensed mass of battle aura. Yet a mere clump of battle aura could block her fully charged strike...

That meant the battle aura inside this seventeenth prince’s body had already been refined to a truly terrifying degree—something she couldn’t compare to.

"Worthy of the mysterious seventeenth prince from the rumors. Looks like your noble status hasn’t affected your drive to push forward."

Even as an opponent, Fanny had to praise him.

From just that one exchange, she already understood that this seventeenth prince wasn’t on the same level as the enemies she’d faced before.

"Good eye."

Milne looked pleased, then offered with impeccable manners,

"Do you need to surrender? I’ve always been very lenient with ladies."

"No."

"What a shame."

"No... even knowing you’re stronger than me, challenging the strong is the meaning of battle, isn’t it?"

Fanny drew a deep breath. Her hair fluttered in the gradually surging battle aura, like a shrieking demon.

Unlike Baror, who had been crushed by Ariel earlier, Fanny knew that the more disadvantaged you were, the more you had to keep the tempo of offense in your own hands. If you let yourself be suppressed the whole time, then her ending would ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ inevitably be a second Baror.

So this strike would also have no holding back.

Fanny slowly drew her longsword through the air. She wasn’t born into any noble house, but this sword was something she had gained by chance during an Adventurers’ Association mission—made from the teeth of some terrifying magic beast, with excellent quality.

And on top of that... in the previous Holy City trial, she hadn’t come away empty-handed.

Afterward, the Holy City gave compensation to every participant in the trial, and the compensation she received...

Was a sword manual.

Air currents rose, beginning to whip the drifting sand around them. Fanny’s sword danced lightly through the endless yellow, and she moved like the most beautiful dancer, every motion carrying a profound, mysterious meaning that made it impossible to look away.

Suddenly, the breeze stopped.

The sand that had been floating with her dance froze in the air as well, then fell in a soft patter like sand-rain.

So under that setting sun, only a single sword light remained.

"The Compassionate One’s... Lament!"

As if it were a sigh.

That sword light didn’t stir even the slightest ripple in the sand sea. In complete silence, it had already shot straight toward Milne’s vital point.

Everything returned to dead quiet, yet within that dead quiet, an astonishing killing intent was hidden.

"Not bad."

Milne looked pleased again.

"Your strength has exceeded my expectations. You’re qualified to make me... take things slightly seriously."

Humm—

Unlike the silence when Fanny swung her sword, the moment Milne’s treasured sword at his waist left its sheath, the entire sunset sand sea seemed to tremble.

Countless grains of sand hopped, panicked, and flowed backward up into the sky. In an instant, the surroundings dimmed completely under the roiling sand.

Milne clearly moved later than Fanny, yet as his wrist flipped, his strike was already fully formed. The dazzling radiance almost replaced the sun that was about to sink, burning into Fanny’s widening beautiful eyes.

The sigh was drowned.

A flood came crashing down, blotting out the sky.

But what terrified Fanny wasn’t just that sword.

With Milne’s realm, no matter how outstanding his martial technique was, it shouldn’t be this earthshaking.

Battle aura wasn’t supposed to be this gorgeous.

So...

This move didn’t contain only a martial technique condensed from battle aura. It also contained... magic.

No chanting.

Yet carefully constructed magic was interwoven inside that blinding sword light.

His martial technique pierced through her Lament, and that magical torrent descended on her with nothing left to block it.

...

...

The sunset was like blood.

The yellow sand was like blood.

Fanny pressed a hand to her arm, breathing lightly, forcing down the blood that kept flowing from the wound as she looked somewhat disheveled.

"Why?"

Fanny lowered her lashes, not hiding her confusion.

"Why can you use martial techniques and magic at the same time?"

Dual-cultivating battle aura and magic power was common sense even a three-year-old knew.

But cultivating one would inevitably slow the other, and it also required far more resources. So aside from people with extraordinary talent, or people whose realm was stuck and couldn’t advance, very few chose that path.

Yet even among those extraordinarily talented people, Fanny had never heard of anyone who could... activate martial techniques and magic at the same time.

You could alternate them.

You could use them back to back.

You could mix them.

But you simply... couldn’t use them simultaneously.

The logic was simple: a person only had one set of meridians. How could you run two systems at the same time?

Unless...

Thump... thump-thump... thump-thump.

When everything went quiet, Fanny heard heartbeats.

Including her own, there were three.

But in this sand sea created by the All-Things Simulation, there were only two people—her and Milne.

Where would a third heartbeat come from?

Unless...

"Innate Two Hearts."

Fanny’s expression turned solemn as she slowly spoke the words she had once seen by chance in an ancient text.

More precisely, it was an extremely terrifying innate constitution.

If it was that, then him using martial techniques and magic at the same time wasn’t strange at all.

In fact... that was only the most ordinary ability of that constitution.

"Oh? You actually know my Innate Two Hearts? Impressive."

Milne clapped his hands, praising her.

"But unfortunately, there’s no reward for guessing right."

Milne smiled again.

"Besides, because your side’s Ariel performed so well earlier, I can’t lose to her. So... three minutes are almost up. Please exit."

Fanny’s face gradually turned pale, and what greeted her was the sand sky trembling once more.

...

...

"It’s actually the legendary Innate Two Hearts."

Headmaster Hathaway pushed up her glasses. Cold light flashed across the lens as she said gravely,

"No wonder the kingdom treated him like a treasure and kept him hidden. Two hearts, two sets of meridians—he can cultivate both battle aura and magic power simultaneously. Even using martial techniques and magic at the same time is only its most ordinary application. The truly terrifying part of this constitution is that in cultivating both, it doesn’t leave you stretched thin. Cultivation becomes twice the result with half the effort. It’s extremely frightening."

"It is pretty scary."

Pink Bear was stuffing popcorn into his mouth, mumbling through it.

"The main thing is, he also got the kingdom’s resources without them holding anything back. For a constitution like that—where your realm grows insanely fast, but it eats resources like crazy—that’s the biggest help. Honestly, I think the reason this little bastard brat is still hovering around Fourth Rank and the Ascension Rank is probably the result of deliberate suppression."

"Indeed. Otherwise he should’ve stepped up another level long ago."

Hathaway’s brows knit.

"A constitution like this hasn’t appeared in a long time. It’s extremely precious. No wonder they’re this confident. This is basically a future powerhouse set in stone. If he could be pulled in to serve the empire, it would naturally help us a great deal. If it were any other ruler, and simple political marriage was all it took to pull him over, they would’ve been tempted long ago."

"But he just had to run into an iceberg."

Pink Bear let out a snickering laugh.

"Genius? What use is a genius? Is a genius as comfortable to lie on as that little yellow-haired punk’s pecs? Our empress just wants to ride the yellow-hair and run wild every day—what can he do about it?"

"..."

Hathaway rolled her eyes, not wanting to discuss a topic that was disgusting and also slanderous toward the empress.

Even if it wasn’t exactly slander.

"But speaking of it, is it really fine?"

"What are you referring to?"

"The later matches. No matter what, if the empire loses, it’ll look very ugly."

Hathaway looked at Pink Bear.

"So, with your seniority and sharp eye, what do you think the result will be?"

"What will the result be? That’s not the kind of question you should be asking me."

Pink Bear shook his head.

"Oh? Then who should I ask?"

"You should ask... Them."

Pink Bear lifted his head and pointed high into the sky, smiling with eerie amusement.

"Innate Two Hearts is rare, sure. But you should go ask those Evil Gods squatting outside the world... since that brilliant civilization from a thousand years ago that’s now almost severed, how many geniuses like this have They crushed with all kinds of methods, like crushing bugs?"

Pink Bear’s gaze swept across somewhere.

"And the ones still bouncing around alive right now... how many are left?"