I’m Here to End This Fight

Chapter 205: The Great Battle of the Dragons (14)

Susan’s face hardened sharply.

‘It’s certain, the White Poison doesn’t work.’

She wasn’t sure what kind of trick had been pulled, but her poison wasn’t affecting Yuri Holland at all.

Considering the amount of poison he had absorbed moments ago, it should have already surpassed the lethal dose.

Yet, seeing him still perfectly fine meant that the White Poison was entirely ineffective against him.

Until now, there had been only one person in the Cradle whose poison didn’t work on her—Gunther Ryder.

But today, a second person appeared who was immune to her poison.

However, Susan didn’t give up.

‘It might still work. Maybe it’s only the White Poison that’s ineffective.’

Occasionally, there were people with an extremely high resistance to poison.

Perhaps Yuri Holland was one of those rare cases.

‘If that’s the case…’

Srrrng-.

As the match started, she drew her sword for the first time.

‘I’ll feed you something stronger!’

Susan spun her 30 cm medium-length sword in her left hand, gripping it in reverse.

Simultaneously, her figure shot forward.

Tap-!

Susan’s movements were swift and light as she charged.

Yuri’s eyes briefly gleamed at the sight.

‘So, it’s not just about relying solely on poison?’

Now, even a simple look at her movements was enough for him to gauge her skill level.

From what he could see, even if Susan didn’t use poison, she could easily dominate the middle ranks of the 48th division.

Adding poison to such skill was what had made her the top ranker of the 47th division.

While Yuri was following Susan’s movements with these thoughts.

Ssk-.

Susan’s lips and nails turned purple, and her right hand closed.

Thin nails, seemingly pulled from nowhere, were now wedged between her fingers.

Susan hurled them forcefully towards Yuri.

Ssshh-!

Three nails flew towards him, tearing through the air.

Yuri’s eyes sparked with curiosity as he watched.

‘Hidden weapons?’

And they weren’t just ordinary hidden weapons.

From the faint purple sheen, it was clear they were coated with poison.

Of course, Yuri felt no threat from something like this.

Clang-.

In an instant, he drew his sword and effortlessly deflected the flying weapons.

However, it seemed that the nails were not simply coated with poison on the surface.

Pffft-.

The nails exploded into purple poisonous smoke the moment Yuri’s sword touched them.

The poison quickly filled the surrounding area.

Yuri’s expression soured slightly at this.

‘This is… pretty toxic.’

This poison was much more potent than what was known as the White Poison.

The intense reaction from his energy confirmed this.

‘If it wasn’t for the Divine Beast, this could have been dangerous.’

Yuri realized that poison was a far more dangerous and troublesome means of attack than he had previously thought.

While he felt the poison disintegrate within his body, Susan closed the distance and swiftly swung her dagger.

Swish-.

The toxic, mana-infused dagger sliced through the purple smoke, aiming at Yuri.

A purple poison.

It was the second most potent poison Susan possessed.

The strongest poison she owned wasn’t available in sufficient quantity for practical use.

In other words, if she couldn’t take Yuri down with the current poison, she had no further options.

‘Fall!’

Susan’s poison-laden dagger slashed toward Yuri.

Simultaneously, the thick poison smoke swirled around Yuri in sync with her swordsmanship.

‘Just… one hit is all I need!’

A large wound wasn’t necessary.

Even a tiny scratch from her poisoned blade would induce intoxication far more rapidly and powerfully than merely being exposed to the smoke.

The poison swordsmanship Susan had learned was designed with a focus on poisoning the opponent.

Fwooosh-.

The toxic smoke that hindered Yuri’s movements.

Swish-.

And her swiftly swinging dagger slicing through the smoke, aiming to cut him down.

If it had been any other cadet, they would have been overwhelmed trying to avoid both the swirling toxic smoke and the flying dagger, quickly tying themselves in knots.

They would have ended up inhaling the poisonous smoke, being cut by the poisoned dagger, and ultimately succumbing to the poison one way or another.

But Yuri was different.

Srrrk-.

Yuri easily evaded the onslaught of toxic smoke and the dagger with Cloud Step.

Then.

‘…Again?!’

The control Susan had over the purple toxic smoke abruptly stopped.

Just like how the control over the White Poison had been severed earlier.

Biting her lip, Susan released more poison from her body.

However.

Swoosh-.

Once again, her poison scattered uncontrollably in all directions.

‘How is this happening?!’

As Susan’s face filled with bewilderment at the inexplicable situation, Yuri’s voice reached her ears.

“Want to know why?”

Susan turned her head towards the direction of his voice, but Yuri was no longer there.

Instead, his voice echoed from another direction.

“Why isn’t your poison responding the way you want it to?”

The reason Susan lost control over her poison was simple.

Yuri had preemptively read its flow and disrupted it effortlessly.

“The reason is…”

Yuri watched as Susan turned her head toward the sound of his voice and then activated Cloud Step again.

Ssk-.

He appeared on the opposite side of where Susan was looking and flashed a sly grin.

“Never mind, I won’t tell you.”

Yuri used Cloud Step again, thrusting his sword forward.

He moved like a phantom, avoiding her gaze as if playing a game of tag.

His sword would lightly prick Susan’s body before retreating, and this repeated several times until her entire body was covered in blood.

Stinging pain spread through Susan, and her face twisted with despair and rage.

‘This bastard… he’s toying with me!’

Whoosh-.

An enraged Susan swung her dagger, but Yuri was already gone.

Instead, he appeared on the opposite side and poked her again.

“You… ugh!”

Shhk-.

Susan swung her sword again, but Yuri easily dodged.

As this continued, Susan had to admit that she could never defeat Yuri with her current skill.

And then it happened.

“But you know…”

Yuri suddenly appeared right behind Susan, whispering into her ear.

“Using poison of this level… it means you intended to kill me, didn’t you?”

Yuri’s breath was hot against her ear, but paradoxically, it carried a chilling killing intent.

His low, emotionless voice whispered into her other ear.

“In that case… you can’t complain if I kill you, can you?”

The chilling words spread from her eardrum down her spine.

Susan’s face turned pale, and she instinctively tried to surrender.

But.

Thud-.

Yuri suddenly appeared in front of her, grabbing her mouth and jaw in one swift motion.

Caught in his gaze, Susan’s mind went blank, unable to move.

She felt as if she was being sucked into Yuri’s eyes.

Lost in that moment, she found herself standing in a dark, endless space.

And then.

‘…Ah?!’

A gigantic, eerily glowing golden eye loomed over her in that abyss-like space, crushing her with its presence.

Susan had witnessed a terrifyingly vivid manifestation of murderous intent.

‘Ah… ah…!’

Her mind collapsed instantly, her body froze, and her tongue went stiff.

At the same time, she recalled a horrifying memory she had deeply buried.

‘Th-this… this eye?!’

The moment Yuri Holland spoke of killing her, his eyes had changed.

They were identical to those of her master, who had taught her the art of poison.

The eyes that young Susan had feared so much.

Those eyes she desperately wanted to forget but could never erase from her memory.

She had a name for them.

‘Th… the eyes of a butcher!’

Those were the eyes only someone who had killed dozens, maybe hundreds, could have.

And those eyes were now in the possession of a mere cadet of the Cradle.

Moreover, the person with those eyes had decided to kill her.

Her death was now inevitable.

Having lost the will to resist, all Susan could do was tremble in the face of impending death.

‘P-please… spare me…’

Even though she was within striking distance, Susan couldn’t muster the strength to raise her arm.

Her eyes filled with tears, and she pleaded desperately.

Yuri chuckled at the sight.

“Begging for your life?”

Susan frantically nodded in response to his question.

Yuri hesitated momentarily at her desperation.

“Hmm…”

He had taken many lives as a child.

So many that he had earned the moniker “the Black Calamity” with the blood of countless victims on his hands.

He didn’t regret those actions now.

Even today, if he decided to kill, he was fully prepared to take another’s life.

However, the reason he hadn’t killed Susan yet was because of a voice from his past—Johan’s voice.

[Why do you think your Avatar hasn’t taken a proper form?]

A meaningful question Johan had asked before Yuri entered the Cradle.

[My first wish was for someone’s death. My Avatar, born from that wish, couldn’t fully form once my killing intent faded. Isn’t that why it remains a formless mass?]

And his response to Johan.

[Think it over carefully. What do you need to build to give your Avatar a proper form? And is what you call ‘wish’ truly what it is?]

Johan’s lifelong challenge rang in his mind.

Old memories flooded back like a storm, and amidst that surge, Yuri’s killing intent subsided as a small doubt arose.

Srrrk-.

His hand, which had been gripping Susan’s jaw tightly, released her.

As the oppressive killing intent faded, Susan’s legs gave out, and she nearly collapsed.

But then.

Thud-.

A strong hand gripped her shoulder.

“Hic!”

Startled, Susan convulsed, and Yuri bent slightly forward.

He brought his face close to her ear and whispered softly.

“You… owe me one now. Don’t forget that.”

“……?!”

At the sound of the emotionless voice, the image of the golden eyes from the dark space flashed through Susan’s mind, and she nodded vigorously.

As if it were her only chance of survival, she did so desperately.

Seeing this, Yuri released his grip, patted Susan’s shoulder a few times, and shouted loudly.

“This person here is forfeiting the match!”

The audience, watching the match, looked at each other with puzzled expressions at this unexpected declaration of surrender made by the opponent, not the actual contestant.

However, when the Black Sword Corps acknowledged Susan’s defeat, murmurs spread across the arena.

And the moment Yuri’s victory was officially confirmed—

“Woooooaaaahhh!”

A loud roar suddenly erupted from the stands.

There stood Jerry, perched on the railing, yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Waaahhh! I-I believed in you! I knew you’d win, you crazy bastard!”

He clenched the betting slip tightly in his fist and roared towards the arena.

Just then—

“Woooaaah!”

“Yesss!!”

“Yuri Holland!!”

From the stands of the 49th and 50th divisions, a crowd of people rushed to the railings, screaming with joy.

And in the hands of all those people, without exception, were slips identical to Jerry’s.

Noticing this, Jerry grumbled quietly in displeasure.

“Damn… this will lower the odds.”

The special buzz around Yuri Holland was meant to be his alone… but it seemed Yuri had become too famous.

As Jerry sighed with regret, Yuri averted his gaze from the noisy crowd and watched Susan retreat from the arena as if she were fleeing.

“…That was easier than I expected.”

Of course, he had intended to kill Susan, carrying a killing intent. However, typically, cadets of the Cradle would grit their teeth and charge forward even when faced with such intent.

Yet, Susan had declared her surrender, reacting strangely sensitively to his killing intent.

‘It’s like she saw a ghost.’

That was because Susan, in her childhood, had truly experienced fear close to death.

She recognized the old, deep-seated murderous intent within Yuri that the other cadets hadn’t fully grasped.

A truth that even Yuri himself had not realized.

After Yuri and Susan’s semifinal match ended.

Barely had the situation settled when two young men walked into the arena.

Step, step—

Goetz and Gunther met at the center of the arena as if by some unspoken agreement.

As the two stared at each other, Goetz was the first to speak.

“This year, I was hoping to fight someone other than you with all my might in the Great Battle of No Dragons.”

As he spoke, Goetz’s gaze flicked past Gunther’s shoulder towards the audience where Yuri was seated.

But soon after, Goetz turned his eyes back to Gunther and drew his sword.

Srrrng-.

“To be honest, I know the outcome won’t be favorable… but this time, I intend to give my all because there’s someone I want to impress.”

“……”

“And who knows? Just as the juniors did, maybe I’ll pull off a miracle and make it to the finals? Haha.”

Goetz spoke lightly, spinning his sword in circles, but unlike him, Gunther remained silent.

Then, in a low voice, Gunther finally uttered a single sentence.

“You talk too much.”

Srrrng-.

Gunther drew his sword.

Swoosh-.

As the blade emerged from the sheath, black energy streamed out, beginning to take on a distinct shape.

Seeing this, Goetz’s expression hardened, and he muttered in disbelief.

“Huh… Is that the trend these days?”

Before his muttering even finished, Gunther closed the distance in an instant.

Boom-!

The force from Gunther’s swing struck Goetz like a cannonball, sending him flying.

Crash!

Goetz slammed into the arena wall, and Yuri, watching the black energy from Gunther’s sword, murmured in a surprised tone.

“…A Holy Sword?”