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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Episode 177: Muscles!

It was the second day of the martial arts tournament. Unlike yesterday, Iris and Sharueina were seated near me, while Sonia was in the waiting room.

“Lord Lewis, how was my match yesterday?”

“Hmmm, I thought it wasn’t bad. Especially that last move in the first match—it must’ve been a good lesson for that guy.”

“Thank you! That garbage was not only hitting on me but was also mocking you, Lord Lewis. I couldn’t forgive that, and I thought it was wrong for him to be so confident while wearing something unnecessary. So, I thought about cutting it off, but I figured that would only dirty your eyes, so I refrained.”

Iris explained this terrifying idea rapidly, but her eyes were brimming with a desire for praise, looking at me like a dog waiting to be petted.

“Ah, yeah. Well done. Your magic control was great, and your manipulation of magic power has improved since before. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to aim so accurately.”

“Hehe. I’m so happy to be praised by Lord Lewis! I’ll work even harder!”

Iris clenched her hands in front of her chest, smiling with motivation shining through.

(I don’t really care how many victims there are as long as I’m not harmed. After all, it’s their own fault.)

Even if someone were to lose their function as a man in the future, that wouldn’t be my responsibility; anyone who tries to act after seeing what happened yesterday is asking for trouble.

“Is. What did you think of my performance? I want to hear your opinion since you’ve fought in real battles.”

Next to me was Sharueina, and perhaps due to her strong desire for improvement, she sought my battle advice.

“I believe Your Highness Sharueina is just fine as you are. You have both judgment and decisiveness; you just need to accumulate practical experience.”

“I see. Well, that’s true. There are things that can only be learned in combat, so I guess it wouldn’t be bad to hear your opinion again in that context.”

In reality, Sharueina’s swordsmanship and magic had nearly reached completion.

I had heard that she optimized her sword skills through books and training with knights, and it was clear she had independently trained based on the foundational magic her father taught her long ago.

Her ice magic wasn’t about conjuring swords or arrows like Iris or Sonia; rather, she used it to enhance weapons, much like Shuvina.

In fact, Sharueina struggled with the detailed control needed to conjure shields or swords like a typical magician. Instead, she utilized weapons to mediate her magic, transforming her magic power into ice magic that way.

“Your Highness Sharueina, since you have abundant magic power, I think it’s best for you to fight using your sword to channel the magic and excel in ice magic along with your swordsmanship.”

“I see. If you say so, then I’ll do just that.”

Despite her difficulty with fine control, her abundant magic power meant that if she just relied on that, she could freeze opponents using ice magic even against less compatible spells by simply outclassing them in quality and quantity of magic.

“Everyone, it seems today’s first match is about to begin.”

While I was discussing yesterday’s matches with Iris and the others, Sephiria called out, indicating the first match of the day was nearing.

(Well then, Shudo is participating in today’s match. It wouldn’t be bad to see if there’s a difference from my previous life. Plus, I need to meet some guests, so today seems a bit busy.)

Sonia had previously instructed me to make sure I watched her match closely, and with Shudo’s match today, it would provide a good opportunity to compare him in this life to the one from my past.

Also, since I had to meet the person I talked to Kamael about yesterday, I felt today would be quite eventful as I focused my gaze on the stage.

After some time had passed since the match began, the first one to step onto the stage was Sonia.

Her opponent was a third-year class A student, a big guy with dark skin, and his well-defined upper body was so muscular it looked almost sculpted. His thick chest and deeply cut eight-pack abs could even be called art.

Why can I talk about this third-year student’s muscles so much? The answer is simple.

“Is he not wearing his uniform again this year?”

As Sharueina pointed out, the third-year student was bare-chested, posing as if to flaunt his muscles.

“Sharueina, if you say ‘again,’ does that mean he wasn’t wearing one last year either?”

“Exactly, Lady Shuvina. His name is Ring Ordner, the heir of the Ordner Baron family. However, that family is a bit unique. They can only use body enhancement magic, thoroughly training their bodies to fight against monsters with their steel-like muscles.”

“But saying they’re like steel is merely a figure of speech, right? I can’t believe they can actually prevent monster attacks with just muscles and body enhancement.”

“That’s not quite the case, Lady Sephiria.”

“Huh?”

“Last year, I fought against him in the martial arts tournament, but my sword didn’t affect him at all. No matter how much I attacked, it didn’t deal any damage, and it made a ringing sound even when hit. Furthermore, I’ve seen him fight against B-rank monsters in the dungeon, wrestling them barehanded. It left my mind frozen in disbelief.”

As Sharueina recalled that moment, she seemed to want to say her head hurt as she pressed against it and let out a big sigh.

“Then how did you defeat him, Sharueina?”

“No matter how amazing his muscles are, he hasn’t trained his insides. So, while attacking, I kept using ice magic to sap his body temperature until he fell asleep.”

“I see.”

No matter how much they condition their external bodies, they can’t take out and train their internal organs, nor can they refine their blood or veins.

Thus, as Sharueina said, using ice magic to lower their body temperature and induce frostbite, or dull their movements and thoughts to put them to sleep is indeed an appropriate way to defeat him.

“Sonia can’t use ice magic like Your Highness Sharueina, so that strategy wouldn’t work for her. It’ll be interesting to see how she tackles this one.”

I watched as Ring stopped posing and began to assume a fighting stance while Sonia quietly started channeling her magic, waiting for the match to begin.

〜Side Sonia〜

As the match began, Ring attacked Sonia without using body enhancement, swinging his arms, as thick as logs, at her mercilessly.

“Haha! My body is invincible!”

Sonia, intending to observe, allowed her opponent to approach and gracefully dodged his attacks by casting body enhancement on herself.

(I thought it would be a good idea to let him attack first to see what he’s got, but that was a bad choice. He might not be as fast as Fiera, but every blow feels like it’s the weight of a massive rock. Plus…)

“Haha! Being hit by a whip doesn’t hurt at all! It feels almost pleasant, like my skin is just being caressed!”

(That’s disgusting. Why does he look like he’s enjoying being whipped?)

Sonia dodged several of Ring’s attacks and retaliated with a couple of whip strikes, but despite being hit, Ring showed no sign of pain, instead laughingly commenting on how much he enjoyed it.

(This is a good time to create some distance.)

“‘Black Hand!’”

To stop Ring’s movements, Sonia conjured black hands from beneath his feet, wrapping them around his limbs and body to restrain him.

“That should buy me a little time…”

“Hmph! This won’t work!”

“Wha…! Ugh!!”

However, Ring used his body enhancement to powerfully break free from the black hands, charging toward Sonia and bringing down a fist that felt reminiscent of a boulder.

Sonia applied her body enhancement with all her strength to brace for the impact, but the shock was too much, sending her flying.

“Magic doesn’t affect me! My trained body deflects everything! Muscles!”

“Ugh… How ridiculous…”

It was just a basic fist strike, no techniques or feints, but its simplicity made its power tremendous. Without my protective arm bracelet, Sonia’s arms would have been shattered by just that one hit.

Afterward, Sonia attempted to cast spells repeatedly to attack, but against that steel-hard body, she couldn’t inflict any damage. It was as if a Golem charged at her without a care for her magic.

(This isn’t going to work with conventional strategies. Then…)

“‘Black Hand,’ ‘Absorption,’ Composite Magic ‘Absorbing Hand!’”

Sonia changed her strategy, whispering the name of the spell, and once more, multiple black hands extended from Ring’s feet, entangling and restraining him.

“Haha! It doesn’t work! It doesn’t work! Muscles! Muscles!”

“Hehe. It won’t end with just one try. I’m going all out now!”

Continuing to evade Ring’s attacks while using Absorbing Hand, Sonia repeated the process of being repelled and activating her magic.

“Gah! W-what? My body isn’t moving…”

“Hah, hah… finally. You really have too much stamina.”

“Grr… What in the world is happening?”

Ring knelt down, struggling to hold up his immobile body. Normally, he shouldn’t even be able to remain kneeling; his ability to stay upright was impressive.

“That’s the effect of the magic I used.”

The Absorbing Hand Sonia utilized was a spell she had arranged for herself. Previously, during an attack from Aido and his group at the magic academy, she noticed that Lewis’s strike had no effect on Aido and prepared this spell for when she found herself in a similar situation.

“The Absorbing Hand I used has a special property; it drains magic and stamina from the opponent. You’ve been losing both magic and stamina gradually from the points touched by the black hands.”

Typically, absorption could only take stamina from the part the user directly touched. However, with Sonia’s high manipulation of magic, she could simultaneously absorb magic alongside stamina, even through the spell’s black hands.

“I never knew such magic existed… How careless of me.”

“You can’t stand anymore, can you? Let’s finish this.”

Sonia used her Absorbing Hand once again, draining the last of Ring’s magic and stamina. Completely deprived, he collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness from magical exhaustion.

“Winner! Freshman Class S, Sonia Scarlet!”

When Sonia’s victory was declared, the crowd erupted with cheers as the first-year student defeated a third-year student.

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If you enjoy this series, please check out my other ongoing work, “The Former Hero, Becoming the Demon King and Devoting the World.”

https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330663836544021

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