After I Finished YEETing the Protagonist, I Moved on To My Second Life and Found Out that My Students Were the Protagonists of the Sequel

Translator: Tsukii

Editor: Lilia

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 54 – Descendant of the Hero VS Knight of Invisible Impact

The clash of our gazes scattered sparks in the arena. 

The paladin, Sir Topgun Braveheart, glared at me as he wielded his sword.

I glanced over at the audience seats. 

Erin and the others were stunned by the battle that started so suddenly.

The shield that blocked the arena and the audience seats was untouched. The members of the secret squad were probably working together with all their might. 

That classmate of mine will likely say, “Geez, it can’t be helped, since it’s my compatriot.”

“As expected of a paladin. That’s definitely not a force that should be unleashed for an initial clash.” 

“I have judged that rather than winning by acting first, it is best to win by not letting you do anything.”

Sir Braveheart declared with a sheepish expression. 

It was such a calm decision, it was like his earlier raging emotion was a lie.

Knights were scary because they were capable of something like this. 

I had already thought so by the time of our first meeting, but it was hard to tell the difference between the motion of greetings and the motion of drawing a sword against a skilled knight.

Because their emotions and actions were too separate, it was awkward to respond.

“So, what’s the idea now that your first attack failed?” 

“I’ll just cut you from the front.”

It was right after he said that, that something flashed toward me. 

Sir Braveheart’s sword was flying toward my neck.

“……Gh.”

 

I avoided it by leaning back and he jumped away from the spot.

I could hear the sound of an explosion before he accelerated. Perhaps he exploded the ground beneath his feet for speed?

“Oooppsssss?!” 

As I stepped back and retreated, slashes came flying at me as well. 

I avoided, blocked, and emitted light from the Hero’s Sword randomly to knock them out.

“That light! So it can actually intercept attacks as well…!” 

Sir Braveheart safely avoided the beam of light and regained his distance. His black hair flowed smoothly around him as he retook his stance. 

No way… what was with the clash just now? It was too fast.

He was definitely faster than Zanba.

No, of course Zanba had greater maximum speed. He was lightning after all. 

But Braveheart’s perceived speed was definitely higher.

Was he adjusting the direction of his acceleration according to where my focus was directed?

“It’s become much harder to deal with you converting your force into acceleration…!” 

“That sounds like sarcasm, seeing that you blocked all of them despite facing it for the first time!”

Sir Braveheart shouted and swung his sword. 

He probably unleashed a stored impact from his blade.

I focused and brought the world to a standstill. 

“……It’s coming from over there!”

The incoming impact was blown away with a single flash of my sword. 

The invisible artillery was cut into down the middle and crashed into the outer wall of the arena behind me.

The wall collapsed with a loud crash and boom.

I slashed away the shockwaves that were unleashed at me one after another. 

I was wielding the Hero’s Sword; like hell it would crack from simple impacts.

 

“You cut it?! You actually can see them…?!” 

It wasn’t like I could see them. 

There were limits to calculating backwards from subtle atmospheric distortions.

However, I knew my opponent was the paladin Topgun Braveheart. 

Since it was him, he would definitely attack where it would hit me in the most efficient way possible.

I bet on that. I was sure he would choose the best possible move, so I responded accordingly.

“Is that the end of your magic tricks? Then it’s my turn!” 

While scattering light, I closed the gap and swung my sword. 

After blocking the emitted heat rays, I delivered a blow with all my might.

“……!”

 

However, the paladin didn’t move in the slightest.

The force when struck was absorbed and then returned exactly as it was.

“I knew it would be like this~!” 

Since I already guessed it, I deflected the returned force and regained distance. 

For close combat, I needed to be creative to land damage.

There was a boring method of distant combat, in which I kept my distance and kept firing a laser beam of diffused light. 

However, he would easily see it coming. 

If I did that, we might end up in a stalemate as he used impact absorption to counter my laser.

The only way for us to have a proper fight was through close-range combat.

……Well, strictly speaking, I would be in the superior position if it ended up as a sudden-death type match.

However, this wasn’t a battle to grab victory by any means necessary.

It was a battle to fulfill Sir Braveheart’s wish.

“Has your impact absorption ability ever been broken by your opponent?” 

“So far, it hasn’t. It’s an invincible shield.”

“I see. Then let today be celebrated next year as an anniversary.”

I slowly raised my sword and exhaled. 

I then raised my face. I glared at the knight in front of me. 1

“Bear witness, Topgun Braveheart! If your shield is invincible, then I’ll show you the ultimate spear that can pierce through it!” 

“……!”

 

I stepped forward and closed the gap.

Sir Braveheart seemed to sense something and utilized his combat magic formula to the fullest to interfere with my actions.

The stored force changed shape and attacked me, ignoring the distance. 

I avoided, cut, and crushed it with my fist and approached.

“Wha… This didn’t stop you?! Are you a monster?!” 

His face was still handsome despite being distorted in shock. 

I would blow it away.

“This much… is still not enough!” 

I finally stepped into close combat range. 

Sir Braveheart, who was waiting, brandished his sword.

I could tell even without seeing that his blow radiated multiple layers of stored force and would destroy the target with the force of acceleration.

 

In response, I unleashed a flash slash to counter. 

His slash grazed my body while my slash landed directly on Sir Braveheart’s body.

“I told you! I won’t be defeated with tha──?!”

 

The knight’s face froze in shock as he absorbed the impact.

Even though I had lost my balance, I was already swinging my second sword. 2

“You intend to abandon defense?!” 

My slash hit directly, but as expected, he still didn’t waver. 

The paladin swung his sword at close range. It was an attack intended to disperse the impact of my blow and finish me off at the same time.

“Hups!” 

Directly from the front, still off-balanced, I canceled out the impact with a headbutt. 

“H-hah…?!” 

To think he was trying to use the dispersion of impact to finish me off; he was looking down on me. Even if I was rotten, I was still a warrior of the highest rank who inherited the blood of a hero.

It was no good to underestimate me.

“If you focused your impact on one spot and bet on this moment, the result could have been different!” 

I pushed both feet into the ground and stood upright. 

I utilized that momentum and unleashed a slashing attack.

“Don’t you realize it’s useless no matter how many times you try?!” 

Braveheart properly defended against my attacks one after another and absorbed their impacts. 

There was no sound of collision, no sparks were scattered, and the attacks were unilaterally nullified.

“……Gh.”

 

Braveheart’s face became distorted as he continued to block.

I attacked continuously without giving him any chance to discharge the impact, and the stock of his stored force only increased.

Moreover, since he ended up simply absorbing the attack, he might not have fully grasped the magnitude of its power. 

Each of my attacks was powerful enough to destroy a castle gate.

“N-no way…!” 

I had no idea how efficiently he could dispose of the stored force, but since he discharged force almost right after absorbing it, he was probably stocking an amount he could easily discharge. 

He definitely didn’t use something complicated like an interdimensional space to discharge those stored forces.

In that case, it meant force couldn’t be stored without limit, right? 

It meant there was an upper limit on your impact absorption, right? 

“Do you intend to keep attacking like this…?! There’s no way you-!” 

“I could! Even now, you have no chance to unleash your stored impact, do you?!”

Absorption and release of impact couldn’t be done at the same time. 

At least that was how I saw it.

……Strictly speaking, rather than simply erasing the incoming impact, it was more that Braveheart first dispersed the incoming impact so that the force was completely broken down before being stored to be unleashed later.

Since the impact absorption was such a process, it would certainly be hard for him to discharge impact at the same time he absorbed more.

“G-guuhhh.” 

My continuous attacks didn’t stop. 

His expression distorted in agony.

The moment he blocked my slash, the sand at his feet flew away. 

It seemed he chose to ignore the impacts that he couldn’t absorb or block. 

As I grinned, the other party sharpened his gaze. There was no way I would miss that.

“What’s wrong, are you full already?! Eat more, and I’m sure you’ll become a great sumo wrestler!” 

“I have no idea what that is, but I’m not a sumo wrestler, I’m a knight!”

Along with the shout, Sir Braveheart gave up on absorbing any more force and decided to discharge impact at the moment of collision between us. 

If I was to use a modern term, it was like armor with a counter trait.

That’s it, Sir Braveheart. 

I knew you could do it.

I knew you would choose to do that, because it was the best choice you had.   

“You stopped.” 

Sir Braveheart blocked the slash from the above and the both of us clashed in close combat. 

No absorption occurred, and our opposing impacts collided with each other, causing sparks to fly.

At that moment, my lips raised. 

It was all for this moment that I fought him using technique alone all this time.

All I needed was for the afterglow of the extreme light to disappear from his mind, and a single clash would be enough.

“Not g────”

“Blow away, the storm of heretic god.”

The extreme light was unleashed from my sword. 

It was at extremely close range, so there was no escape and no time for him to solidify the shockwave.

The paladin’s body was blown away by the radiance of destruction. 

The audience roared at the clear critical hit.

I guess that was natural. He didn’t even flinch taking direct hits until that one after all.

It was a good decision on my part to force him to consider the limits of his defensive absorption . 

By doing so, I diverted his attention from whether my attack was a physical slash or light from the Hero’s Sword.

“That hit was a good one, wasn’t it?” 

“Right?” was what I said as I looked at the collapsed knight. 

“……! This is not enough to keep me down!”

He stood up vigorously. 

Eeeeeeehhhh…? Didn’t he get struck by my attack directly earlier?

“I still! I don’t care what I have to throw away…! For that sake of overcoming! My stupidity and ugliness!” 

Sir Braveheart hit the ground and got up, and then he closed the gap with me at great speed. 

“I have to get back what I need as a knight!” 

I guess he gave up on absorption. 

I was astonished by the blow that was swung and the power that was emitted from it.

“I’m not qualified to fight for someone else’s happiness! I’m just a mongrel helplessly blinded by my own happiness and desire!” 

The ground creaked every time I blocked his attack. 

The light of the Hero’s Sword was scattered at random, but Sir Braveheart, clad in his reactive armor, forcibly rushed in.

This guy! Wasn’t he more troublesome to handle when he went full offensive?! 

His earlier arrogant combat style was a hundred times easier to handle!

“That’s why I was envious and jealous, and such feelings are not worthy of a knight…! I thought it would be better if you fell from grace so your radiance would become dimmer.” 

With each swing of the sword, an impact exploded an absurd number of times, numbering in the dozens and hundreds. 

His speed and power were completely different from before.

So this was the full power of a paladin no longer held back by anything…!

“Tch…” 

My blocking arm was deflected. 

Even if I tried to focus on evasion, the range of his attack was simply too wide. I couldn’t dodge it completely.

While we engaged in a close range clash, he desperately unleashed attacks with force that would cause fatal injuries.

“I have thought that! Over and over! If only you didn’t exist! I would live like trash, like dust…! I wouldn’t think of anything, and use others as my stepping stones, thinking it would be fine as long as it made me happy.” 

The shockwaves hit me from all directions, as if I had been thrown into a compressed typhoon. 

Even my bones began to creak.

As our sword clash continued, my body felt like it was going to be torn apart.

“If only you didn’t exist! If only you didn’t exiiiiiist…” 

While feeling the pain and suffering, I stood my ground against him. 

A scream sounded from the audience seat. Sir Braveheart’s full force attack was about to hit me from the side.

If I got hit by that directly, my neck would part from my body.

That’s it. 

You wanted to protect your values even if it meant denying others.

That was exactly your ugly side you didn’t want to admit.

“That’s right.”

It was the loudest crash I had ever heard. 

After that resounded, silence descended.

“You just wanted to be comfortable. It’s because your life before was easier for you. It’s much easier to trample on others and show off your patched-up self.” 

The paladin’s sword shone in my hand. 

I had grabbed it with my bare hand just before it hit me. The bones of my fingers and elbow were shattered by the force. It had been a while since I was seriously injured like this. 3

Even so, I didn’t want to avoid it. 

I felt I had to take his shout head on.

“……?!”

“However, you can no longer escape. After all, you have already chosen to walk the harder path. It’s because you have learned the correct thing to do.”

He knew he was wrong, and he knew he couldn’t stay as he was. 

That was why he headed to the temple and tried to abandon everything he didn’t need.

“That’s why I admire and sympathize with you just a little bit. You ── will keep on fighting. The best thing you can do to continue being a knight is to continue to try to be one.”

I gripped his sword tightly, and the metal groaned undernearth my twisting force. 

With all my strength, I broke the paladin’s sword in my grip.

“Hah…” 

“Basically, it’s not because of me! It’s because of your own righteousness! It’s the light within you! It made you walk the hard path, it made you choose the correct thing, even if it was difficult and painful! Don’t try to escape after you made it this far. Just don’t give up and keep running without shaking off your ugliness!”

The sword was snapped in half with a high-pitched sound, and the tip fell to the ground. 

I threw my sword away, clenched my first, and took a step forward.

I transferred the power from the twist of my hips, put it all into my fist, and punched it out!

 

“This is my encouragement for you to grit your teeth and keep advancing. Take it!” 

 

My fist went toward Sir Braveheart’s nose and hit him directly. 

He was unable to switch to impact absorption in time, and at the same time, I could feel the solid response that conveyed my power, sending him flying with all my might.

The body of the paladin, which was sent flying, collided with the outer wall surrounding the arena. 

The figure of the paladin disappeared in the cloud of sand that rose up.

I was worried for a moment that he might stand up like he did before, but it seemed to be over now.

The people in the audience stood up and shouted. 

The results were clear.

……Whether or not the proof of being a knight was enough depended on the person themselves.

Well, I had no choice but to leave that decision to others.

“……Oh.”

 

I saw a silhouette. That was all I needed to know the result.

When the smoke cleared, the paladin standing there wasn’t the tall and handsome man, but the small and round man.

He took his first step toward me, the second, and the third.

After advancing the fifth step, he fell forward.

“……It’s my complete defeat, gowasu.”

That was close. To be frank, I thought that appearance would function as his second form and he would attack again. 

As I approached him, he rolled over onto his back to face me.

“How was it? Are you feeling better?” 

“You sure told me something harsh, gowasu. You told me to keep running as ugly as I am.”

“But you’re cooler that way. I give my words, that your worried self is the coolest.”

After hearing that, he was silent for a few seconds and laughed. 

“……I guess that’s +100 points.”

“What’s the maximum amount of those points?”

When I replied like that, the man relaxed into the ground and smiled. 

I wondered which of my remarks he graded as 100 points, but well, I guess it didn’t really matter.

……Rather, it was my job to grade here, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t it weird after all?


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