Foreword

For reference, here’s the current strength ranking (author’s assessment).

No spoilers included. Within these ranks, the further left, the stronger.

I’ll fill them all out someday.

Everyone loves strength rankings, right? The Three Heroes, Thor, White Lotus, and the rest are secrets for now.

As I mentioned in the comments once, my take is:

“Regular soldiers < Gamers < Soldiers who overcame death.”

I believe staking your life is the ultimate path to becoming the strongest.

Of course, in reality, some gamers might risk their lives too…

But what about gamers who’ve overcome death?

“Huh?”

Everyone watching the battle stood there with their mouths agape, voiceless gasps leaking out.

Reina alone looked utterly proud, as if to say, Of course!

“Coincidence? Gotta be a fluke, right!?”

“If I ran it a thousand times, even I’d beat Jin…”

“You for real? No way. No matter how many tries, we couldn’t…”

The trio of flashy guys racked their brains, desperately grasping for some special excuse.

But deep down, they knew Jin too well—their minds rejected any notion of pure luck.

“Wh-what’s this… what!! Zeke! What in blazes has happened to your boy!?”

Colonel Star snapped sober, leaping to his feet in excitement.

A retired Holy Knight himself, he still packed considerable skill—and years of spectating had honed his eyes razor-sharp.

Even through his gaze, the result was downright freakish.

“This is… hahaha!! What the hell! Jin—that Jin—couldn’t lay a finger on him and got crushed!”

“Naturally. My big brother’s the strongest in the world.”

“Ahh, incredible. Sword-kun’s blown right past student level—no, Jin too. Their depths are unfathomable! And that’s against a Holy Knight Captain with no war experience under his belt! This is…”

Star’s tension skyrocketed, turning him unusually chatty.

The model student Rilbelt and Duke Zoid still gaped like fish, jaws working silently at the spectacle.

Then Sword stepped down from the simulator.

Jin still couldn’t stand.

“Impossible… I’m a Holy Knight Captain… This can’t… impossible… fufufu.”

He muttered to himself in the pilot’s seat, then burst into broken laughter.

Everyone—including Colonel Star—swarmed toward Sword.

“Sword! What—what was that!? Explain! Where’d that monster strength come from!?”

They all demanded answers about his power.

Sword launched into the excuse he’d cooked up beforehand with Zeke.

“Dad trained me brutally strict since I was little! Like, life-or-death intense!”

“Hoh! That tracks. Zeke was top-tier strongest back in the day—rusty now, sure, but you got the genius upbringing too, eh!”

“Unfair!! Why couldn’t I have a Holy Knight Captain for a dad—!!”

“My folks are just commoners…”

They bought the excuse completely.

If you’d been drilled by a Holy Knight Captain’s parent from childhood, having strength they couldn’t fathom? Not weird at all.

Sword basked in the praise—amazing, amazing!

Then someone grabbed his shoulder from behind.

“Good thing it was you, Sword-kun…”

“Jin-san…”

“Haa… haa. One more time. Just one more. Yeah? A little one. Just a bit. Haa haa.”

Jin’s breaths came ragged.

Sword figured exhaustion at first—but no, his cheeks were flushed bright red, like he was insanely thrilled.

“That was the best… the absolute best. You. Getting me pounded so thoroughly… More. Beat me even harder. Haa haa.”

“Eh?”

Jin had snapped, shattered by the existence of Sword—a peerless superior.

Or maybe… this was his true self all along.

Jin, who’d never lost to anyone his age, awakened to a new sensation under Sword’s thrashing.

“This long-forgotten taste of defeat! It’s… intoxicating! I can grow even stronger!”

As a total masochist.

“Kinda creepy, Jin-san.”

Jin groped at Sword all clingy and sticky.

He was a KOG junkie through and through—living for KOG, dying for KOG.

And for him, Sword—the one who’d effortlessly leaped past him—was the pinnacle, the ultimate purpose. Worship morphed into outright affection.

“Jin’s got that kinda character…?”

“Thought he was the cool type, but nope—high-energy pervert.”

Everyone on hand recoiled just a touch at Jin’s meltdown.

“Ah, then, Bro—I wanna spar too. Been ages.”

“Uh, th-then… me too?”

Reina and the flashy trio begged for matches against Sword.

Jin wouldn’t let up, and Sword didn’t want to lose the feel of it anyway—music to his ears.

And so, mock battles against Sword kicked off.

“No freakin’ way—!! Can’t land a single hit, dead in a blink!!”

“Guh… Stronger again. The gap just keeps growing.”

“Haa haa, Sword-sama… Such exquisite technique. Haaaan!!”

Every pummeling Sword gave Jin broke him further.

By the end, with Jin straight-up calling him sama, everyone edged away a bit—but Sword kept running sims with the whole group.

Total victory every time. No one could touch the current Sword.

They went at it awhile; turns out they’d ordered delivery for lunch and kept battling in the simulator room till late afternoon.

“Whew—what a show! Pure eye candy! Zeke’s got himself a fine son.”

Colonel Star drained his glass, grinning in satisfaction.

Sword’s fights had more than sated his spectator’s itch.

“Fuu… apologies. I lost my composure. Sword-sama—er, Sword! A most fruitful time. Thank you. Here’s to more.”

Jin patched up his facade, cool as ever, extending a handshake.

“Nah, I learned plenty too.”

Sword flashed a mature smile in reply.

(He went ‘haaan!!’—too late to play it cool now.)

Still, inwardly, he was put off.

Jin had cracked but willed his ironclad mind back to normal.

That display, though? Burned straight into Sword’s memory. In his head, Jin was cemented as a pervert.

“Alright, Sword—we’ve seen Reina’s skills too. Call it a day? Emergency imperial broadcast’s up next.”

Colonel Star called for withdrawal.

Apparently, a mandatory alert was hitting every screen across the Earthguard Empire—everyone had to tune in.

The group started packing up. That was when…

“Well, looks like you were at it here. Already wrapping up? Shame—I wanted to watch.”

Suddenly, everyone dropped to their knees.

The figure’s arrival demanded utmost courtesy.

“Made it through enrollment safe and sound, eh, my knight—Sword Silfield?”

All but one boy, who’d sworn no oaths of fealty.