LHAHS Chapter 329
"Surpassing limits and achieving the impossible…" Leo gazed at Chelsea, who met his stare with unwavering determination. "You do realize that's easier said than done, right, Chelsea?"
Chelsea shuddered. Leo was laughing, but it wasn't his usual soft, carefree chuckle. It was sharp and filled with an overwhelming presence. Just facing him made the hairs on her body stand on end.
But… I can't afford to falter now!
She had already resolved not to give up. To be acknowledged as an equal. Even as Leo pulled ahead, she had decided she would chase after him no matter what.
Whoosh—!
Wind swirled around Chelsea as she harnessed her magic.
Leo, watching her armor herself with wind, tightened his grip on the reins.
Sizzle—!
Arty released a massive surge of lightning, flaring her wings before charging straight at Chelsea. A streak of white lightning tore through the sky as Leo rapidly closed the distance.
Chelsea aimed her staff at him.
"Wind Sickle!"
Countless wind blades rushed forward in an instant.
Slash—!
Leo maneuvered Arty with effortless precision, weaving through the storm of blades as if they were nothing. His evasive maneuvers were on another level—nothing short of godlike.
Chelsea gritted her teeth. I already anticipated this.
No matter how many spells she cast, she couldn't suppress Leo.
Her opponent was Leo Plov. A man of overwhelming strength.
Still, she wouldn't back down. She chanted another spell.
Flash—Flash—Flash—!
Her body multiplied.
A wind clone technique.
Among the second years, Chloe was the best at cloning magic, followed closely by Chelsea.
Ten Chelseas charged at Leo simultaneously.
Leo narrowed his eyes. She's improved her cloning technique.
He had already analyzed her signature skills. Chelsea specialized in using clones for close combat, creating confusion in her opponents.
Judging by the mana flow… I can't tell which one is real.
Her magic had become more refined.
Still, Leo remained calm.
"Wind Boom!"
Ten magical blasts shot toward him.
His crimson eyes flickered.
Whoosh—!
Just before the attacks could land, they dissipated into harmless breezes.
Leo hadn't blocked or dodged them. He had neutralized them entirely.
Chelsea's greatest strength was her rapid chanting. With her exceptional speed, she could cast at a pace others struggled to match. But that also meant her spells had a clear weakness—their formulas were relatively simple.
Of course, even a basic high-speed spell wasn't easy to analyze and nullify instantly, especially not for a mage of Chelsea's caliber.
But my opponent is Leo.
She clenched her fists. Their fundamental abilities as mages were just too different.
Flash—! BOOM—!
Leo surged forward, leaving a trail of white lightning in his wake.
Chelsea took a deep breath and scattered her clones in all directions. "Wind Chain."
Clank—!
Chains of wind extended from her staff, wrapping around Leo's body.
Leo, momentarily bound, glanced at her.
Chelsea's goal wasn't to defeat him. She just needed to stall him long enough for Walden to finish his preparations.
Even holding him off for a moment was worth it.
"In most cases, that might've worked."
Clank—! Snap—!
Leo effortlessly broke free of the wind chains binding his left arm. Then, gripping the remaining chain, he yanked hard.
Whoosh—!
One of Chelsea's clones flew toward him, flailing helplessly.
Pop—!
Leo swung his arm, and the clone burst like a balloon. His cold, expressionless gaze locked onto one of the remaining Chelseas.
He found me!
Chelsea's face stiffened.
"No matter how perfect the clone, it's surprisingly easy to find the real one."
Grip—! Tug—!
Leo seized the wind chain and pulled Chelsea toward him with brute force.
"Guh—!"
His hand clamped around the back of her neck.
"I can tell just by your movements."
Squeeze—!
"Ghh…!" Chelsea's face contorted in pain as Leo tightened his grip.
"This is the end," he declared, his voice devoid of emotion.
Nevertheless, Chelsea smirked. "Heh… you think… I'll give up that easily?"
Hum—!
Magic runes glowed all over her body as a massive surge of mana erupted.
Leo's eyes twitched. A self-destruct spell?
"You realize only you will receive a death verdict from this, right?"
Chelsea grinned. "Against you, Leo… this kind of gamble is only natural."
There was something eerily familiar about her smile.
Leo looked at her and praised, "Well done."
Flash—! BOOM—!
A brilliant explosion of mana engulfed Leo. A spell that burned all of one's mana at once to create a massive explosion.
It was a desperate gamble, but the best way for Chelsea to inflict damage.
Leo felt his head spin from the sudden blast. The bracelet on his wrist flickered orange.
As Chelsea plummeted toward the ground, Leo watched her fall.
She barely avoided a death verdict.
Lifting his head, he saw it.
Rumble—!
A massive chunk of earth loomed above him. Walden's summoned landmass was crashing down.
Whoosh—!
Abad, having dispelled his wind magic, descended quickly to catch Chelsea.
Splaash—!
Eliza's delphinus erected a barrier of water, sealing Leo's escape route.
Everything they had prepared was converging on him.
A final, desperate strike to bring him down.
"Their growth is frightening," Leo chuckled.
Just a year ago, they had been nothing more than greenhorns.
Well, they're still rookies… but.
They had come far in just a single year.
For them, today was a nightmare.
Unlike Leo, his classmates hadn't endured endless trials before barely managing to defeat Erebos. They were still unpolished.
They started from a completely different point than I did.
To them, Leo was an insurmountable wall. That was why he had always held back.
But some things can only be learned through failure. People call that adversity. You can only learn to stand tall after you've fallen.
Leo had expected it to take them much longer. The gap between them had been overwhelming, yet in the blink of an eye, they had closed some of that distance.
Was it reckless teenage bravado? Or just childish rebellion?
He wasn't sure, but they were stronger than he had expected.
They already knew how to stand against adversity.
Watching the massive landmass descend, Leo murmured, "…I don't plan to go down so easily, though."
BOOM—!
The land crashed down, engulfing him completely.
The battlefield fell silent.
Eliana collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. The other students from Glory were in the same state—exhausted, barely able to move.
Meanwhile, the Harmony and Noble students, who had been caught in the tidal wave and forced onto the defensive, clenched their fists and cheered.
"I-It's over!"
"This means Glory is finished, right? Right?!"
"Uooooohhh!"
Celia and Duran, locked in battle moments ago, also halted, panting as they assessed the scene. Chloe let out a deep sigh, while Chen Xia smiled faintly.
Shhhhhhh—
The waters of Lumeria Lake, which had been under Leo's control, began to recede. This wasn't just a landslide. It was as if an entire mountain had been dropped on top of him.
"What shall we call this combo? The Mountain Crusher?" Carl muttered, looking drained.
"…It was a good strategy." Abad, supporting an unconscious Chelsea, approached Carl with his usual gentle smile.
"Ahem! If we finish off Chelsea now, our dorm wins, right?"
"That's technically true… but do you really think Duran or Eliza would let you get away with it?"
"It was a joke. Chelsea and Celia would probably try to kill me too. What's the point of winning the exam if I die in the process?" Carl plopped onto the ground, his legs trembling.
Walden and Eliza approached, silent but alert.
"…Honestly, we only barely won," Carl admitted, running a hand through his hair. "Almost half of it was just luck. If Leo had gone all out to crush us with brute force instead of opting for a direct confrontation, we'd have been done for."
Walden turned toward the massive pile of rubble. "…Next time, this won't happen. Win or lose, I'll face him alone."
"Hmph. I agree."
"Come on, that was some excellent teamwork. Don't be like that!" Carl grinned shamelessly.
Walden ignored him and used his wind elemental to snatch Carl away from Abad, but Abad and Eliza immediately stepped forward to shield him.
"We've dealt with Leo Plov. Now it's your turn."
"Hmph. Now that Leo Plov is out of the picture, there's no reason for us to cooperate anymore."
Walden and Eliza spoke at the same time.
Carl muttered under his breath, "…I was deliberately avoiding saying that, you know?"
"Saying what?" Abad asked, confused.
"You know how it goes in novels? The moment someone declares victory, the enemy never stays down…"
RUMBLE—
"And then they come back…"
KUUUUUUUUUUUNG! BOOOOOM—!
The ground trembled as a massive shockwave burst through the battlefield. The debris burying Leo exploded into the sky.
And there, standing atop the wreckage, was Leo Plov.
A cold smile spread across his face.
Carl's expression turned pale. Walden, Abad, and Eliza instinctively readied themselves for battle, but as Leo exuded an overwhelming aura, they couldn't help but feel suffocated.
"Not bad," Leo murmured, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off the dust. "So, is that all you've got?"
With a flick of his hand…
FWOOSH—!
A massive surge of flames erupted as he summoned the rest of his strength. His life bracelet was glowing red. If his classmates had any energy left to retaliate, he wouldn't have stood a chance.
Fortunately for him, thought, Walden, Abad, and Eliza had exhausted themselves in their last attack. As things stood now, they had nothing left, not even the strength to protect the unconscious Chelsea or the combat-incompetent Carl.
Leo scanned the battlefield, his gaze landing on each of them. "If you've got nothing left," he said coldly, "shall we end this here?"
Carl, voice filled with despair, muttered, "…At this point… he's basically the Demon King."
KAAAAAABOOOOOM—!
Leo's flames engulfed everything.
Chelsea opened her eyes, only to discover that she was in a hospital room.
She blinked in confusion before gasping, "The match—! Gaaahhh?!"
The moment she tried to shout, excruciating pain surged through her body, forcing a scream from her throat.
"You're finally awake?" Celia asked. She sat beside her bed, arms crossed, her eyes slightly red.
Chelsea swallowed. "The match… what happened?"
Celia sighed and activated the magical communication device installed in the room.
BZZZT—
[Now, we will proceed with the MVP award for this year's Dormitory Battle. The award will be presented by Professor Sedgen, the second-year head professor. MVP, Leo Plov, please come forward.]
As Runeba spoke, the screen showed Leo stepping onto the podium.
[Congratulations on your victory.]
[Thank you.]
Chelsea let out a bitter laugh. "…We lost."
Celia stood. "Now that I've confirmed you're awake, I'm heading back."
"…Okay."
Chelsea didn't take her eyes off the screen. Once Celia left, she clenched her fists tightly.
She had always been genuinely happy whenever Leo performed spectacularly, but today…
Even after giving it her all, she couldn't win.
She had always known there was a gap between them, but that didn't make it any less frustrating.
Lowering her head, she clenched her teeth, trying to hold back tears.
Meanwhile, outside, Celia slapped her own cheek.
Don't cry. Crying won't change anything.
Taking a deep breath, she straightened her back.
As a proud Zerdinger, now was the time to congratulate her cousin Leo.
The Noble Dormitory was eerily silent.
"D-Duran, I told you not to overdo it, so why?"
"Shut up."
Duran stood in the training room, gripping his sword as he worked through his strength drills. His dormmate tried to stop him, but one cold glare silenced him.
At the library, Abad was buried in a book, undisturbed by the chatter around him.
"Abad~, aren't you going to get ready for the party?"
Some Noble girls pouted as they watched him.
"You've been locked in that book forever. Sure, losing sucks, but the test is over, so let's celebrate!"
Abad merely responded with his usual gentle smile and continued reading.
On the highest balcony of Noble Dorm, Eliza sat cross-legged, her eyes closed as she focused on gathering elemental energy.
Meanwhile, Walden was at the Harmony dormitory, communing with the elementals in solitude.
At the very center of Lumene, atop the Tower of Heroes, Mel gazed down at the academy, bathed in the colors of twilight.
"You wanted a hero who could stand up again… even after facing despair, failing, and hitting their limits, right?"
The Dawn Hero Lumene had once lamented his own failures, calling himself weak. He had wanted the next generation to walk a different path.
That was why he had left behind the words: "Surpass your limits."
"Your will is still being passed down to this generation. So just hold on a little longer."
Mel clenched her fist as she looked out at Lumene, glowing in the twilight.
"The person you admired… will be the one to save you."