The second match, between Eurel and Lee Sang-Deok, was about to begin.
Alice watched from the stands with an uneasy look.
"Lee Sang-Deok... I know he's strong, but are you sure he can win?"
Yu-Han snorted.
"Alice, I told you already. I wasn't exactly counting on Employee Yi-Rang to win.
So obviously, I hired people who could crush their opponents in the other two matches. We have to win, after all."
"...He's that strong?"
Behind them, Yi-Rang had been listening to the whole conversation while giving the back of Yu-Han's head the middle finger.
"Hold it! I object!"
Eurel, already standing in the middle of the arena, raised her voice for everyone to hear.
She pointed straight at Lee Sang-Deok.
"This was supposed to be a friendly match between us and Cheong-Am Center.
So what's this cocky elf doing here?
He's got nothing to do with Cheong-Am Center, does he?"
Alice flinched at the objection.
Lee Sang-Deok didn't so much as blink.
"I've been an adviser to Cheong-Am Center since its early days.
These fools are sorely lacking in wisdom, so I've always had to offer them guidance."
The Cheong-Am group didn't particularly agree with that, but they let it slide.
"Whatever. I'll just finish this quickly."
"Oh? What a good little bitch. Planning to lose nice and quick for me?"
"What the hell is wrong with you...?"
[The second match will now begin.]
Once again, the field unfolded.
This time, the stage was an urban district lined with mid-rise buildings.
"Perfect. I'll finish this in three minutes."
Eurel gathered the wind around herself, launched into the air, and landed on a nearby rooftop.
She held a bow and arrow of light, both formed from mana.
It was common knowledge that cities put elves, who drew upon the power of nature, at a disadvantage. Eurel, however, was skilled enough to commune with spirits even here.
Elf against elf.
She was certain she couldn't lose.
"Who the hell said I'm the one losing quickly...? I'll make you feel what it's like to have your limbs torn off!"
Eurel called upon the blessings of countless spirits and layered spell after spell onto her arrow.
Veins began to stand out along her beautiful arms.
Over the years, she had used magic to optimize her muscle tissue. She might have looked slender, but her actual strength easily surpassed that of an untrained beastkin.
"LIGHTNING and STORM! Tear my enemy apart!"
Eurel released the bowstring.
The arrow of light shot forward at supersonic speed.
Wreathed in high-voltage lightning and a raging storm, it struck its target dead-on and erupted in a massive explosion.
The blast was powerful enough to pulverize an armored vehicle.
She knew that because she'd actually used it on one before.
"If you'd kept your mouth shut, I would've ended this cleanly with one shot to a vital point. Tch."
"Really? You don't look like much of an archer to me."
A chill ran down Eurel's spine at the voice behind her.
She instantly backflipped into the air and loosed three arrows in rapid succession.
Lee Sang-Deok dodged every one with ease.
"Missed every shot again? Tragic."
"You bastard... How did you get here...? The spirits clearly told me where you were!"
"Idiot. Why would the spirits have to tell you the truth?
I told them to lie to you."
"Don't talk nonsense! I've been close to spirits my whole life!"
"The spirits tell a different story. Apparently, they humored you for a while, but found you terribly boring."
"What!?"
Enraged, Eurel raised her bow again.
Lee Sang-Deok's expression never changed. He was too busy judging her.
"Your arrows are pathetically underpowered. Let me show you the true power of nature."
Lee Sang-Deok brought his hands together and gathered mana in an instant.
The blue glow coming from his hands wasn't mana.
It was the Cherenkov effect...!
"PROTONS and NEUTRONS. Erase my enemy without leaving so much as ash behind!!"
Light swallowed Eurel's entire field of vision.
The match was over before she could even feel pain.
"That... was the power of nature...?"
Eurel muttered blankly.
Then she thought about it for a few more seconds and got angry all over again.
"That wasn't the power of nature! That was something created artificially through science and technology—something that takes life and destroys the natural cycle!!"
"Oh, really? Then why are you wearing clothes?
Those are products of science and technology too, aren't they?"
Lee Sang-Deok returned to Cheong-Am's side without even looking at her.
Eurel stood there huffing with rage, looking as though her face might explode.
"Damn it! All that smug posturing... How the hell did I end up saddled with women like you?!"
Son Min-Hyeok started complaining again.
Chae Da-Seon, meanwhile, looked quietly relieved that she was no longer the only one who had lost.
Shim Yun-Seol, the only one who had yet to lose, tried to talk some sense into him.
"Leader... We've lost two out of three. That's our loss.
Her opponent was stronger than Eurel. What are we supposed to do about that?"
Eurel shot Shim Yun-Seol a glare.
Shim Yun-Seol ignored her without a second thought.
Unfortunately, Son Min-Hyeok ignored Shim Yun-Seol just as easily.
"We're not ending it like this! Shim Yun-Seol! If you go out there and completely stomp your opponent, maybe we can still salvage our honor!
Get in there!"
"Why am I getting dragged into this too...?"
Naturally, Shim Yun-Seol wanted no part of the whole mess.
Unfortunately for her, Chae Da-Seon and Eurel didn't seem thrilled by the idea of being the only ones who had been put through the wringer.
"It's not like they'll agree to a third match anyway..."
---
A short while later, Shim Yun-Seol was standing in the middle of the arena.
For the fight, she had even put on her family's robe and witch hat.
"Yu-Han. Why did you agree to a third match?"
"I want to crush every last one of them so thoroughly that nobody can argue about the result.
Besides, it'd be a waste of the hiring fee."
"...Who did you hire this time?"
Just then, a scruffy man with curly hair walked in from Cheong-Am's side.
Alice recognized him.
"Kang Seung-Cheon C! What brings you here? I really liked the wallpaper you put up last time."
"Glad you liked it. Interior work is only a side job, though."
He was the man who had done some interior work for Cheong-Am Center.
They barely knew each other beyond recognizing each other's faces.
"Are you here to cheer us on? Here, sit next to me!"
"Sorry, but I'm not here to cheer.
Someone asked me to take part in this friendly match or whatever it is."
"What??"
Leaving Alice dumbfounded, Kang Seung-Cheon headed toward the middle of the arena.
Even Lee Sang-Deok looked like he had no idea what was going on.
"Hey, Yu-Han. Who the hell is that guy? Is he seriously just an interior contractor? What's his actual job?"
"Artist."
"He doesn't exactly look like someone who's about to win 'overwhelmingly.'"
"It's fine. He's a 'genius.'"
Shim Yun-Seol watched Kang Seung-Cheon approach and let out a sigh.
"I'll ask, just to be sure. What exactly is your relationship with Cheong-Am Center?"
"Officially? Their interior contractor, I suppose."
"...And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"Yu-Han asked me to beat you overwhelmingly.
Said an interior contractor ought to be enough."
"...You weren't briefed on me?"
Shim Yun-Seol was a prodigy who had studied abroad and become the youngest person ever to earn a doctorate in magic.
She also came from a venerable family of traditional magic practitioners, one that had been using magic since long before it became widely known to the public.
"Oh, I read your profile. But when I saw your picture, one thing kept bothering me.
That hat is terribly designed. Want me to make you a new one?"
"!!!"
Shim Yun-Seol bit down on her lower lip and trembled.
The other Red Chasers recoiled at the sight.
"Whoa. I can count on one hand the number of times Yun-Seol's gotten that angry."
"Does that man actually want to die?"
Shim Yun-Seol was normally almost expressionless.
If this much anger was showing on her face, they couldn't even begin to imagine how furious she really was.
[The third match will now begin.]
This time, the field took the form of a beach.
It seemed designed to let the fighters make use of the surrounding water and rocks, but...
"Sorry. I'm not in the mood for a beach day."
Shim Yun-Seol cast her magic.
The entire environment vanished, leaving nothing but a blank white space and flat ground.
She had hacked the field itself.
Kang Seung-Cheon had even been dragged right in front of her.
"I'm afraid you'll have to pay for that insult..."
Two magic circles appeared before Shim Yun-Seol.
A dragon of fire and a dragon of water emerged from them.
They weren't summons. They were constructs created entirely through her own magic.
Moving as though they were alive, the two dragons lunged at Kang Seung-Cheon.
"The symmetry feels off if you're the only one using them. Fine. I'll make a pair of my own."
Two magic circles appeared in front of Kang Seung-Cheon.
An identical fire dragon and water dragon emerged from them and collided head-on with Shim Yun-Seol's.
Steam and mist exploded across the field as the dragons vanished.
"How are you using magic that I developed...!?"
"Imitation is fundamental to art. I could see the magic circles, so I copied them."
"You're making it harder and harder for me to forgive you."
Shim Yun-Seol formed a sword of fire and charged through the mist toward where Kang Seung-Cheon should have been.
Then she spotted him.
He looked caught off guard.
She seemed to be quite skilled at close combat as well.
With a clean, precise slash, she cut Kang Seung-Cheon down...!
"Trick art. Fun little technique, isn't it?"
"A fake...!"
The Kang Seung-Cheon she had cut scattered into particles of mana.
"There's a story about an ancient painter who painted a pine tree on a wall so convincingly that birds flew straight into it and died...
Maybe trick art is a classic after all."
"Enough with the art lecture!"
When the mist finally cleared, Shim Yun-Seol froze.
The blank space she had created was gone.
The beach had returned.
A few rocks that hadn't been there moments earlier now sat naturally along the shoreline.
"It seemed a shame to leave all that empty space, so I filled it back in with a beautiful seascape."
"Damn it... Where are you...?"
Shim Yun-Seol took a few steps—
and walked straight into something.
It was an enormous canvas.
An entire section of what had looked like the sea toppled over with it.
A canvas wasn't a weapon, so technically it was allowed.
"Looks like you're no smarter than those ancient birds. Ha ha."
'Don't fall for such a cheap taunt. Stay calm and track his mana.'
Shim Yun-Seol took a deep breath and focused on the mana around her.
There wasn't a trace of human mana anywhere.
'Did he suppress his own mana?
But then his mana resistance would drop. He shouldn't be able to attack or defend properly...!?'
Then the rock beside Shim Yun-Seol moved.
It wasn't a rock.
It was a performance artist disguised as a rock...!
He was holding a painting.
"Take a good look."
Shim Yun-Seol's peripheral vision began to warp and twist.
Even her sense of direction started to collapse, until she could barely stay on her feet.
'That painting... Mental magic!? Impossible. My defenses against mental magic should be airtight...!
No—it's not magic at all...!?'
Kang Seung-Cheon had pursued art until he reached a truly extraordinary level.
His art itself could function as a signal, triggering specific responses in the viewer's brain...
It was art pushed so far that it could reasonably be called brain hacking.
A short while later, the field dissolved.
Shim Yun-Seol sat slumped on the ground, completely incapacitated.
The light had gone out of her eyes.
She simply stared blankly into space.
"Like a beautiful doll... Even this is part of my art."
Her teammates barely managed to help her back to their side.
It took several minutes before she finally came back to herself.
Son Min-Hyeok, meanwhile, seemed to have lost his.
"You useless bitches... I'll go out there myself!
If I win a match between the leaders, the rest of the results won't matter!"
Son Min-Hyeok pointed at Alice.
"This whole mess was about you from the start, bitch!
Let's settle it once and for all—just you and me!"