If They Get Obsessed, I’m Doomed - Chapter 94

Chapter 48.1

Skylar glanced at the pale knight before sweeping his gaze over the line of students standing in front of him. His eyes locked onto Ariel, who was standing neatly in line, and lingered on her for a moment.

It wasn’t long. By the time she cautiously turned her head, his gaze had already shifted away.

“Start with number one.”

Skylar ordered, leaning against the wall again.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The assistant gave a small bow and then placed the drawing box on the ground before heading toward the weapon rack.

“You may choose one of the weapons here for sparring. The matches will be one-on-one, and you may use weapons previously selected by others.”

After explaining the rules regarding the weapons, the assistant walked toward the barrier.

“As ordered by His Highness, the matches will proceed in numerical order—starting with number one, followed by two, then three, and so on. I’ll serve as the referee and mediator. If any issues arise during the match, call for me.”

Having finished his explanation, the assistant put on a glove inscribed with a spell on his left hand and stepped into the barrier. Narrowing his eyes slightly as if assessing something, he then turned to the students and spoke.

“Then, please have the first student in line enter the barrier.”

The student at the front of the row stepped forward and selected a medium-length double-edged sword from the weapon rack. Their confident movements suggested it wasn’t their first time. As the knight and the student entered the barrier, the assistant followed closely behind.

The white barrier shimmered before enveloping the three, turning opaque and concealing everything inside.

‘There’s no way to observe or prepare like this.’

Ariel quietly watched the three figures disappear, then averted her gaze.

Her thoughts shifted to the people seated above, near the white railings that resembled a balcony. Devoncia watched the unfolding fight as if he were observing a stage play, while Lexius seemed to have set up the sparring session with similar motives. It felt as though they could see everything hidden inside the barrier.

There were many types of barriers, so it was possible that this one was designed to allow the caster or someone with significant magical power to see inside. It seemed likely that it was set up to be invisible only to those participating in the sparring, preventing them from mimicking or preparing based on previous matches.

This setup reduced the chance of copying tactics and increased the unpredictability of the fights. It was a system purely intended to make the spectacle more entertaining.

‘Just for amusement…’

The more she thought about it, the clearer their ulterior motives became, filling her with aversion. While sparring might be a common activity in magic combat classes, it surely wasn’t conducted in this manner—not like this, especially during the first lesson with freshmen involved.

“Medical team!”

Five minutes had barely passed when the assistant exited the barrier, calling out urgently.

Two medical staff, waiting nearby, rushed in with a stretcher. Shortly after, the student who had entered earlier was carried out of the barrier. It wasn’t clear whether they had simply fainted or sustained injuries, as there were no visible marks.

The students waiting their turn visibly grew more anxious.

Although they knew they had no chance of defeating an imperial knight, to think the knight had been so harsh as to knock a student unconscious was another matter entirely. The sparring guidelines supposedly allowed for discretion, but it was obvious whose orders the knight had been following.

Ariel vividly pictured the faces of Lexius and Devoncia in her mind. She felt like a pawn on a chessboard, set up for their amusement.

And the truth wasn’t far off.

‘Terrifying people.’

Ariel was shaken.

With so much left to do before completing her objectives, she worried whether her body would hold up long enough to reach the special ending. The thought made her hands clench involuntarily, crumpling the number card she was holding.

After ensuring the unconscious student was taken care of, the assistant emerged from the barrier, holding a double-edged sword. He handed it to another assistant, who returned it to the weapon rack. The sword was spotless and undamaged as if it hadn’t even been used—almost as though the student hadn’t been given a chance to use it at all.

“Next up, step forward.”

At the assistant’s command, the second student in line stepped forward with a nervous expression. Although they weren’t a freshman, it seemed this was their first magic combat class.

They selected a longsword from the weapon rack.

It wasn’t long before that student, too, was carried out of the barrier on a stretcher, unconscious.

One by one, over a hundred students were taken out in a short amount of time.

Ariel, feeling the tension rise, cautiously shifted her gaze from the barrier to the back wall at the absurd series of fainting students and the sparring match responsible for it. She couldn’t understand why Skylar, who had no reason to be involved, had chosen to participate in Lexius’s theatrical scheme. Why would someone like him, with no stake in the matter, go along with this charade?

Skylar, still leaning against the same spot, calmly observed the barrier. His expression was unreadable.

“Row four is finished. Row five, first in line. Please step forward.”

Five.

Ariel’s eyes darted from Skylar to the barrier as soon as her number was called. Her heart pounded in her chest. So far, every student has fainted.

‘Please, if I have to faint, let it not hurt!’

The student at the very front of row five seemed to be thinking the same thing, judging by their pale complexion.

While many students had fainted during sparring, the weapons, despite being used repeatedly, still looked pristine, almost as if untouched. It was a haunting reminder of just how powerless the students were.

Just as a trembling girl, her face as pale as a sheet, reached for a weapon, Skylar interrupted.

“I’ll go first.”

Without picking up a weapon, he entered the barrier barehanded. His opponent, the knight assigned to row five, followed behind reluctantly, looking as though they were being led to their doom.

As most of the students had fainted, the number of participants had dwindled from nearly two hundred to just a few dozen. All attention was now fixed on the two of them. Seeing the prince and his imperial guard, meant to protect him, engage in a sparring match was an exceptionally rare spectacle.

It hadn’t even been a full minute since they disappeared into the opaque barrier.

Boom! Bang!

A thunderous sound, reminiscent of the explosion that had accompanied the first barrier’s collapse, echoed through the room. The once milky-white, opaque barrier now turned murky gray, clouded by the force of whatever had just occurred inside. It was obvious who was responsible.

Soon, cracks began to spread from the top of the barrier, accompanied by a sharp splitting noise as it shattered completely. Amid the shattered remnants of the broken barrier, the golden-haired prince emerged. In his left hand, he was holding the unconscious knight.

The knight’s head hung limply toward the ground, his nape firmly grasped by the prince.

The knight, who had easily defeated the students, had himself been easily knocked unconscious by the prince. It was a clear display of Skylar’s overwhelming strength, a reminder to everyone that there was always a higher power.

The students gazing at Skylar were filled with awe.

Among them, the girl who had been first in line for row five had the most fervent expression. Her flushed cheeks and starry gaze made it clear she saw him as nothing short of a savior.

Skylar dragged the unconscious knight along and tossed him in front of the medical team. The limp knight collapsed onto the ground, and the medical staff hurriedly placed him on a stretcher, quickly carrying him away. Ariel couldn’t help but worry, wondering if the knight might have died.

His intervention brought the sparring session to an abrupt halt.