The color of the plates that had been identical suddenly flipped. Mine turned matte black, while Seong Hyunjae’s remained white but gleamed. I summoned the black plate into the air, matching Yuhyun’s movements. An S-Rank Hunter’s speed is, of course, incredible. The plate was just big enough for two feet, leaving almost no margin for error.

Whoosh— the plate cut through the air and settled horizontally. No sooner had it settled than Yuhyun’s toes touched its surface. Then he leapt again, and again, and again, as the plate’s movement lagged just a fraction. I spun the plate swiftly. He landed precariously on one sharp corner, and his body wrapped in black gear sprang upward. A ribbon decorated with blue feathers trailed behind him like a tail.

Yuhyun’s movements were familiar. I could sense them just a hair ahead. Still, guiding the plate to the exact spot was not easy. It felt like pulling five strings on a marionette, each one moving differently and complexly.

Tap-tap-tap—!

By contrast, Seong Hyunjae was far more skilled. A row of white plates lined up in a shimmer, and Song Taewon sprinted across them as if they were solid ground. The plates shifted in perfect synchronization, recalling a factory assembly line.

‘...Seong Hyunjae must know Director Song even better,’ I thought. They’d clashed more often—and more intensely—before Director Song’s death. Whoever already saw through him would have analyzed every little habit by now.

The white and black plates hurtled toward each other. Thud— the sound of a foot on the last white plate was heavier than anything before.

‘Watch out!’ I shouted in my mind to my brother. He must have maximized his body weight. On top of being taller and heavier than Yuhyun, he was now enhanced by skill; a direct collision would surely shove him [N O V E L I G H T] back.

With terrifying speed and pressure, Song Taewon charged at the black plate. Yuhyun twisted lightly in midair and rose higher than Taewon, tilting his body forward. In that moment, he angled the black plate swiftly beneath his feet.

Clang!

Like an arrow aimed at Song Taewon, Yuhyun sprang from the plate that had shifted perfectly beneath him. Taewon came to a halt, and a white plate slid into place between his feet, giving him an ideal stance for bracing. His horizontal staff collided like lightning with Yuhyun’s.

Crack!

Song Taewon’s legs bent slightly, absorbing the shock perfectly. Simultaneously, Yuhyun’s body rebounded, arcing like a swallow over Taewon’s head. With no time to catch his breath, Taewon angled another white plate in the air. Thud— Yuhyun’s staff shot out sharply, but Taewon stepped lightly in a dance-like twist to meet it, and the two strikes met.

Three collisions followed in an instant.

Rustle—

A swirl of blue willow leaves swept around Taewon, obscuring his vision. If Yuhyun stepped on them, he’d lose, but they weren’t a problem for their intended use. Taewon’s eyes blocked, Yuhyun darted in again, but—

Clack!

He parried it effortlessly. Damn precognition. And Seong Hyunjae had two pairs of eyes on them—his was useless.

“Isn’t it only fair to blind those eyes over there?” I wanted to shout. I couldn’t see properly either! I had no choice but to rely on Yuhyun’s vision. Meanwhile, they had two pairs of eyes!

Right after the last collision, Yuhyun used the rebound to spring upward again. A simple close-quarters fight wouldn’t work. He couldn’t open his inventory to use items, so he intended to retreat and regroup. As Yuhyun landed, I moved a white plate—

“Ugh!”

The black plate I’d placed slid in right above the one I’d just set. Damn it! Yuhyun twisted his body sharply just before stepping on the black plate. Without a foothold, he changed his landing direction purely by muscle power. I hurried to move another plate, but Seong Hyunjae doggedly followed me. Yuhyun twisted direction again—but it’s impossible to stay airborne long without a plate!

“You scoundrel!”

Yuhyun’s height, once dizzying, plunged halfway in an instant. Seong Hyunjae answered my shout with a serene smile. I really will grab him by the collar! But at this rate, Yuhyun would either hit the ground or step on the black plate. Evading his precognition seemed impossible, and I had no time to interfere with Taewon the same way. Yuhyun twisted direction once more—and now the ground was just beneath him.

Damn, changing the plate’s size is obviously impossible... Wait, maybe.

I moved a white plate beneath Yuhyun’s foot. As the black plate overlapped from above—

Snap!

I focused the magic from the other four plates all at once and shattered that one. Shards sprayed everywhere. Yuhyun sprang up again, stepping on the tiny fragments.

Crack!

He shattered another plate, and another, his body climbing ever higher. When he finally reached a stable position, he gasped for breath. His neck felt slick with cold sweat.

“Can I really break them?” he asked.

“All that matters is the overall volume. You can’t cover the entire floor with plates,” Myeong-woo explained calmly. So splitting a plate into pieces might even be advantageous, though—

‘...These fragments!’

Handling five plates was hard enough, but when they broke into pieces, it became far more difficult. And restoring them meant pulling each shard back together one by one. Yuhyun was small and used to darting across willow leaves, but others—even Director Song—would struggle.

It was more stable to move the five whole plates.

Once again, white and black plates whirled in chaotic exchange. Yuhyun and Song Taewon raced through the air. With direct attacks blocked, the faster Yuhyun had the advantage—until you factored in Director Song’s experience in close combat and Seong Hyunjae’s precognition. No matter how rapidly Yuhyun struck, Taewon met and repelled each blow like an impregnable fortress.

Thud!

When Yuhyun backed off after one failed assault—

‘Why can’t I do the same?’

Taewon shifted a white plate swiftly atop the black plate he would step on—

Crunch!

“What the—!”

The black plate, which should have lain flat, stood upright and the white plate impaled it on its sharp edge. Taewon sprang up, balancing on the protruding corner of the black plate.

“Myeong-woo!”

“Durability is the same. If you concentrate force on the edge, the flat side will break through. Even with identical magic, structure changes the outcome,” Myeong-woo said.

So it was a lesson in creative application: not just moving the plates, but using their shape and structure.

“Of course, you can’t destroy the system or the plates with Awakener power. You can only move on them.”

Inside the grid of plates. And now I was even touching them directly. Seong Hyunjae moved a black plate, and I spun a white one. Standing a plate on edge could block interference—but its area shrank drastically, requiring far more precise control.

Just before Yuhyun and Song Taewon collided again—

‘If the plates’ durability were strongest—’

I moved a white plate in front of Taewon’s staff to block its arc, but—

Whoosh—

His staff passed right through the plate and struck Yuhyun’s.

“Huh?”

“You see, although the plates are tougher than the staffs, they can’t be used defensively. If you try, the opponent’s staff will pass through. Same for any body part except the feet. Be careful—team members’ bodies or staffs won’t phase through,” Myeong-woo explained.

“I think that kind of detail should be told in advance!” I complained.

“You have to discover the basic system structure yourself.”

Is he really a teacher? He seemed determined not to share anything beyond the basic win-loss rules. So strict.

The black and white plates moved faster and more precisely, weaving a dizzying pattern in the air. An S-Rank’s speed was indeed incredible, but compared to teleportation-level magical movement, it began to slow. Both Seong Hyunjae and I could still keep up with Yuhyun.

At the same time, the plates collided even more violently: crack, bang— each trying to push the other away to secure a foothold. Two white plates linked together in a row. Seemingly on cue, Song Taewon crouched. One hand grasped the corner of the plate under his foot. Suddenly—

“Yuhyun!”

I sent the warning to my brother at once. Yuhyun leapt upward just as—

Shraak!

The white plate bearing Taewon shot at Yuhyun’s previous position at terrifying speed. Insane—Taewon was slower than Yuhyun. Yet he covered that gap so cleverly! And the plates were far more agile than any human. A perfect brake, then a rise. Despite the pressure proportional to that speed, Taewon rose without falter and swung his staff.

The tip of the staff swept past Yuhyun’s back by less than a sheet of paper. Yuhyun barely twisted away and retreated. But almost immediately, with precognition, Taewon and his white plate chased him again.

“Damn it!”

There had to be a way! Shing— Yuhyun stood all four white plates on edge except his own foothold. Sharp corners jutted out.

Whoosh—!

He spun them forcefully. The white plates clashed with Taewon’s foothold. Seong Hyunjae tried to block with a black plate, but using two plates to stabilize left him outnumbered. Taewon’s plate shattered.

Taewon sprang from the shattered plate, and Yuhyun pounced without missing a beat. Without relying on plates, Yuhyun’s speed was unquestionably superior. As Yuhyun dashed across plates like a swallow, I slid a black plate under his feet. The moment I broke a white plate—

Snap!

The black plate broke too. Black and white shards mixed—

“No!”

The black fragments turned white. Of course—I could change their color too, you cheater! I hurriedly tried to match the color—

“It’s okay, hyung,” Yuhyun murmured softly. Then tap, tap, tap— he stepped lightly on the fragments. No defeat declaration sounded. Wow.

‘He memorized every position in that time?!’

Is my brother a genius? If the dungeon hadn’t exploded, he’d be in medical school by now!

But if fragments of the same color mix even more frantically, even Yuhyun would struggle to distinguish them. His speed had already slowed somewhat. Meanwhile, Song Taewon found another stable foothold and withdrew.

Scattering fragments was now disadvantageous. Yuhyun had speed and mobility, but he could be caught by shifting plates. Controlling plates was relatively easy and preserved mobility and speed.

Ping—!

The shape of the white plates changed. As long as total volume stayed the same, you could reshape them. The white bars thinned into lines, then nearly into threads. Four of the five plates stretched long, crisscrossing the air like spider silk.

“Interesting,” Seong Hyunjae’s eyes flickered. Yuhyun stepped onto the thin threads. A white plate circled him protectively.

Now Song Taewon couldn’t leave the black plates recklessly. He might step on a white thread by mistake. And Seong Hyunjae couldn’t replicate that method—though he could step on the threads and move, he’d be less skilled and slower than Yuhyun. Better to cut the threads and treat the black plates as mounts.

Yuhyun ran along the threads as if running on nothing. Swish— a black plate flew in, cutting threads with crisp snaps. Severed threads reconnected in an instant.

I inhaled deeply. Even broken threads held in place as long as the plates anchored them, so Yuhyun could keep moving. I could momentarily look away from controlling plates and threads.

‘Auxiliary skills are available.’

And there was no rule barring me from using them on the opponent. I activated Eunhae’s skill and shaped a shard into a sharp point, holding it lightly in my hand. As Yuhyun and Taewon drew near, I clenched, channeling the Teacher Skill at Song Taewon.

‘...Ugh!’

My vision spun from the recoil, and pain in my hand jolted me back to clarity. Taewon’s precognition and Seong Hyunjae’s vision flooded in. Gritting my teeth, I gripped harder, filtering it all safely to Yuhyun.

Yuhyun’s body darted up and down between the threads like a swallow, sensing Taewon’s moves a step ahead, stepping precisely on threads, then twisting behind him in three-dimensional motions unseen on solid ground.

It was unavoidable. Just before Yuhyun could seize him from behind, Taewon tossed his staff upward. The plate landed exactly where the shaft would return.

Thunk—!

Like a rubber board, it bounced the staff precisely toward Yuhyun. His arm swung. The staff, shot at incredible speed, stabbed at Yuhyun’s back with less than a hair’s breadth of clearance—too fast even for S-Rank vision.

“Han Yujin wins,” Myeong-woo declared. I had won.

‘...Changing material is possible too,’ I thought. Damn you, Seong Hyunjae.

“Hyung!”

Yuhyun leapt down in one motion and supported me.

“Open your hand quickly!”

My body wouldn’t move properly. Sharing Seong Hyunjae’s senses meant I’d effectively used the Teacher Skill on two S-Ranks at once. Fortunately, knowing me, the recoil was less severe. Yuhyun pried the shard from my palm. As he hesitated, wondering if we needed a potion, disinfectant, ointment, and a bandage appeared out of nowhere.

“You don’t need to turn off poison resistance.”

...Myeong-woo’s voice was icy. Yuhyun treated my hand, and the throbbing in my head eased. Then—

“Give me your collar.”

Seong Hyunjae shrugged as if resigned, then leaned forward slightly.