I Became a Terminally Ill Magic Genius at the Academy

The first to act was Geron. 

As the representative of the White Wolf dorm, he surged forward, displaying his intense anger. 

His body rapidly grew larger, fur sprouting all over as he transformed into a full-fledged werewolf. 

Dropping down to all fours, he darted toward Haverto with even greater speed.

“You bastard! Using magic to strike from behind after the match was already over?” 

His rage was justified. 

Geron’s growls filled the air as he positioned himself protectively in front of Yohan, towering over Haverto, who scrambled backward in a panic. 

Arriving just a moment later, Violet quickly assessed the situation and took control. 

With a flick of her magic pen, she drew a magic circle in the air and summoned a serpent made of water, which swiftly coiled around Haverto, binding him. 

Facing the towering figure of a transformed werewolf, Haverto’s fighting spirit was extinguished, leaving him powerless as the water snake restrained him.

Violet glanced down at Haverto, her face showing clear disgust. 

“A disgrace to the Golden Lion dorm.”

“…”

Haverto could not muster a response and simply hung his head in shame, panting heavily. 

Yohan’s gaze shifted from the defeated Haverto to Violet, who sighed lightly before speaking loudly and clearly.

“… We, the Golden Lion dorm, concede our defeat. I apologize for what has just transpired.”

With Violet officially acknowledging defeat and apologizing for Haverto’s actions, the loud voices of anger from the White Wolf dorm students began to subside. 

Geron seemed to accept Violet’s response and reduced himself back to his human form, returning to his normal size.

At last, the situation was resolved.

Yohan glanced around, meeting the eyes of those who were watching him with varying expressions. 

Among them was Cecilia Diaz.

‘Since when has she been here?’ 

——-

Cecilia had been watching the situation intently since the start of the duel. 

Ever since her golem had been destroyed in her battle with Yohan on Aaron Island, she had been preoccupied. 

Though she had made temporary repairs, they were just that—temporary. The golem was far from perfect.

Cecilia had spent most of her time secluded in her workshop, building and researching golems, but the battle with Yohan had taught her an important lesson.

No matter how much thought and care she put into creating her golems, if they were not tested in real combat, they were far from complete. 

That’s why, instead of staying in her dorm, she had come to observe the magic duels in person, to learn from them. 

The first match had gone well enough.

‘So that’s how you use stealth magic.’

If someone used stealth like that, perhaps she could install heat sensors on her golems to detect hidden opponents. 

But where would she place them? 

How would she connect the sensors to the golem’s reaction systems? 

These thoughts raced through her mind, sparking new ideas.

The second match was unlike anything she had seen before.

The student from the White Wolf dorm threw potions as weapons. 

Cecilia couldn’t help but show a slight grimace.

‘How do you even counter that?’ 

A golem could withstand a certain amount of explosions, but if they kept coming one after another like that, it would be a challenge to deal with.

“You have to be prepared for that kind of attack.”

Cecilia thought to herself as she kept a close watch on the third duel. 

It was between that somewhat unpleasant guy, Haverto, and the notorious madman, Yohan Hart.

‘He’s pretty good.’

To begin with, Haverto’s magic was surprising. 

It was faster than she expected and matched Yohan’s power. 

In fact, there were moments where it seemed like Haverto’s magic might even be slightly stronger. When Cecilia saw Haverto’s Stone Spear pierce through Yohan’s shield, her eyes gleamed.

After repairing her golem, she started to envision a potential rematch against Yohan, picturing how she might adapt and fight to win.

However…

“Stone Strike.”

When Yohan calmly and efficiently dodged all the flying stones that Haverto launched, Cecilia had to rethink everything. 

Or rather, there was nothing to rethink. She simply couldn’t comprehend the situation.

“How did he avoid that?”

She already knew that Yohan had excellent reaction speed; after all, she had fought against him herself. 

However, having good reflexes and being able to dodge over a dozen flying stones with such minimal, precise movements were two very different things.

It was as if Yohan could predict exactly where and how the stones would fly toward him in advance.

Faced with an unsolvable mystery, Cecilia narrowed her eyes.

Then, she heard a faint voice.

“He analyzed the magic circle…?”

Cecilia quickly turned her head toward the source of the voice, and she immediately recognized who had spoken. 

Despite not having many friends or being very social, Cecilia knew who she was.

‘Violet Heinz.’

The dorm representative of the Golden Lion dorm and the student council president. 

There wasn’t a single student who didn’t know her. 

But more importantly—what did Violet just say? 

That Yohan had analyzed the magic circle?

Cecilia blinked in surprise.

“What?”

So… Violet was saying that Yohan analyzed the magic circle to read the direction of the attack and dodge it accordingly. 

But was that even possible?

Cecilia could analyze magic circles as well. 

Given enough time, what magic circle couldn’t she analyze? 

However, the situation just now was entirely different. 

The magic circle was being drawn in real-time, and the time for analysis was incredibly short. 

Plus, since the circle was incomplete, even if someone tried to analyze it, they would have to start over every time the circle evolved or shifted as it was being drawn.

‘Who could possibly do that?’

While Cecilia already knew that Yohan’s magical abilities lived up to his reputation, the idea of analyzing a magic circle mid-battle seemed too far-fetched to believe. 

Even for a student council president, making such a claim could be a misjudgment.

Yes, it must have been a mistake on Violet’s part, Cecilia thought, trying to brush the thought away.

That is, if the person in question wasn’t Yohan.

And if it had been anyone other than Violet who made that judgment, Cecilia might have brushed it off without a second thought.

‘Could it really be true?’

Just as a seed of doubt started to form in her mind—

Bam!

Haverto launched a spell at Yohan even after the duel was already over. 

Cecilia reflexively raised her magic pen, but the situation was already handled.

Geron, the dorm representative of the White Wolf dorm, had intervened. 

At the same time, Violet stepped in to subdue Haverto.

“… The Golden Lion dorm concedes. I apologize for what just transpired.”

Violet bit her lip before speaking. 

Losing to the White Wolf dorm was frustrating enough, but Haverto’s underhanded attempt to attack Yohan after the match had ended brought great shame to her as a dorm representative. 

Joyful exclamations erupted from the White Wolf dorm students, while the Golden Lion dorm students clenched their fists and bowed their heads in embarrassment.

However, to Cecilia, the outcome of this dorm competition wasn’t of much significance. 

She belonged to the Cautious Iron Bear dorm, which had nothing to do with either the Golden Lion or White Wolf dorms. 

What mattered to her was whether Yohan truly had analyzed the magic circle to evade the spells or if it had simply been a fluke, combined with quick reflexes.

If Yohan really did analyze the magic circles and dodge based on that…

‘Then, how am I supposed to counter that?’

Cecilia’s thoughts ran deeper and deeper as she considered the possibilities.

——-

‘Why is she staring at me so intensely…?’

Yohan quickly averted his gaze from Cecilia, feeling uncomfortable under her intense scrutiny. 

Just then, Geron placed a hand on Yohan’s shoulder. 

A moment ago, Geron had taken on the fearsome form of a beast, but now he looked like an ordinary human, as if nothing had happened.

“I had faith in you, Yohan Hart.”

“You say that, but you seemed really anxious in the middle there.”

“Well, anxiety is just the fear of losing faith, right? In the end, it means I still believed in you.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

Yohan gave Geron a baffled look, but Geron just laughed heartily, attempting to pull Yohan into a bear hug. 

Of course, Yohan wasn’t about to let that happen and deftly dodged to the side.

“I don’t know how you managed to dodge those attacks, but it was seriously impressive, Yohan.”

Kyle approached, smiling as he spoke to Yohan. 

And it wasn’t just Kyle who wanted to talk to him.

“Thanks to you, we can finally eat proper meals. Really, thank you.”

“If you ever need help with assignments or anything, just let me know.”

The students of the White Wolf dorm crowded around Yohan, showering him with praise. 

Since Yohan wasn’t used to this kind of attention, he responded awkwardly and quickly made his escape from the group. 

With two other targets, Leila and Kyle, available to take the spotlight, it wasn’t hard for him to slip away unnoticed.

As the White Wolf students turned to offer Leila words of comfort and awkward praise to Kyle, Yohan stepped away from the crowd. 

And then he saw Herzyn, the vice representative of the White Wolf dorm, standing there with a look of despair on his face.

“We’re doomed.”

“You think you’re the only one? I’m in deep trouble too.”

Herzyn wasn’t alone. 

A girl with bright yellow hair was standing beside him, frowning and mumbling to herself.

“I mean, we’re always dead last. Why did we have to win this time?”

“Underdog bets are always the way to go, but I bet on the sure thing this time for some reason…”

Overhearing their conversation, Yohan quickly pieced the situation together. 

‘Looks like they placed some bets on the match.’

But really, shouldn’t Herzyn, the vice representative of the dorm, have bet on the White Wolf dorm to win? 

Yohan couldn’t help but feel a bit incredulous.

Just then—

“Yohan.”

“Yes, Violet-sunbae.”

“I just want to apologize again for what happened earlier.”

“It’s okay, sunbae. It wasn’t something you could control.”

Yohan’s response was sincere. 

Violet hadn’t done anything wrong, nor had the other students from the Golden Lion dorm. 

In fact, after Haverto’s unsportsmanlike sneak attack, the Golden Lion dorm quickly acknowledged their defeat without any further protest. 

They knew that it would be even more shameful to deny their loss after Haverto’s actions.

“Thank you for understanding. Well then, I need to go meet the principal, so I’ll be off.”

“Yes. See you soon.”

“Soon?”

“Yes. To collect on that promise.”

“Oh, right. Understood.”

With that, Violet nodded and turned to leave.