Youngest on Top - Chapter 52

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 52

Dmitri swept his hand across the cheek I had struck.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

My lip had split slightly.
But that was only because lips were such a delicate area.
Dmitri’s cheek remained unmarked.

“How…!”

Someone let out a soft groan.
It was Saelika, who had been standing behind Dmitri.

The child had already popped a candy into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out.
Saelika slowly rose to her feet and opened her mouth.

“Doo-dri. (Dmitri.)”
“Yeah.”

Saelika’s posture shifted into an odd angle.

‘Yeah?’
‘That… that stance…’
‘That’s it.’

The stubborn Artemia Trainee Priests
“Mom!”
cried out searching for her before she took that stance.
The stage before Saelika’s righteous fist blazed with fury.
The very thing the Artemia Trainee Priests feared most.

‘That kid… is finished.’

It was the stance Saelika took when she grew angry!

The child popped the candy from her mouth with a soft sound and spoke.

“Beat him down. (Beat him down.)”

Dmitri quietly clenched his fist.

“I was thinking the same thing—”

His arm drew back fluidly before launching forward in a single, explosive motion toward Hendrick.

WHOOOOSH—!

Hendrick flew backward.

CRASH! BANG! BANG!
The ground bore the marks of Hendrick’s trajectory as he skidded across it.
The impact had been so tremendous that the gouges were starkly visible.

Having sent Hendrick flying in an instant, Dmitri turned to look at Saelika.

“—Was that what you had in mind?”

Hendrick’s condition was far from good.

“Ugh… ah, ahhh…”

He couldn’t even stand properly, his body convulsing uncontrollably.
His face had turned ashen, and his mouth hung slack from the shock.

Saelika regarded the helpless Hendrick with cold indifference.

“Beat him more, Dmitri. (Beat him more.)”
“Understood.”

Dmitri smirked and began walking forward.

Thud, thud.
As Dmitri’s footsteps drew closer, Hendrick let out a scream: “Ugh, ugh, ahhhhh!”

And the beating commenced.

* * *

“P-please! Mercy! Mercy!”

Dmitri was truly relentless in his assault.
It wasn’t for nothing that he had experience being thrashed by Saelika.

A masterful beating that targeted only the vulnerable points with precision.
Dmitri was the kind of young man who could take one lesson and apply it in two different ways.

The Reyatan Priests sprang to their feet and cried out.

“This is… this is outrageous…!”
“The opponent is already down! How can he be so merciless!”

Even as they spoke, Dmitri continued driving his fists into Hendrick.

“Bite down hard.”
“Aaagh! Ack! Ack!”
“I said bite down. You’ll bite your tongue.”
“Gaaahhh—!”

Hendrick was already torn and battered everywhere, completely shredded.
The leader of the Reyatan Trainee Priests had become a rag.

The Reyatan Priests shrieked in outrage.

“How much longer does he intend to attack!”
“The match must stop immediately!”

The Artemisia Priests chuckled softly.

“Didn’t you say stopping was impossible?”
“Yes, you said it would be disrespectful to the spectators gathered here today.”
“This is a match where physical force is employed—surely you all anticipated that the trainee priests would sustain injuries?”

They were receiving their own words thrown back at them.
The faces of the Reyatan Priests darkened with fury.
But this was not the moment to argue about it.

‘Hendrick is the commander.’
‘I only taught command to him!’

If I lost Hendrick, this already difficult match would completely fall into Artemisia’s favor.

The Reyatan Priests shot to their feet.

“The child is down and you’re still beating him!”
“Was it right to beat a child who barely reaches the knee in the first place?”
“In the end, that child wasn’t even hit, was he!”

The atmosphere grew increasingly heated.

“Hendrick is practically the future of our Reyatan!”
“Isn’t Dmitri the future of Artemisia? All our trainee priests are the future of Artemisia.”

Derrick shrugged his shoulders.

“If you’re so worried about the future, don’t put them in the match—just follow them around and take care of them. Or cast a protective barrier on them.”
“This, this…!”
“Didn’t Reyatan say it themselves? That the match can’t be stopped on a whim.”

The Reyatan Priests were left speechless.
Those were all their own words.

The distinguished guests seated nearby stifled their laughter.

“Honestly, what the Reyatan Temple is doing is rather amusing.”
“Children from other temples can get hurt, but children from their own temple cannot.”
“I wonder how their standards became so arbitrary.”

Gerald was laughing outright—guffawing with abandon.

“Our baby priest sure is fiery, I tell you.”

Count Noris shook his head in disapproval.
His gaze toward the Reyatan Priests was tinged with disgust.

Nobles place great importance on dignity.
And they despised nothing more than appearing “pathetic.”
Which was precisely what Reyatan looked like now.

Shedmen’s face crumpled in displeasure.

‘At this rate, the distinguished guests will turn away.’

There was no choice.
He raised his hand toward the Reyatan Priests.

“Sit down.”
“But Elder—!”
“We cannot suspend the match like this.”
“But, but—”
“A match must be seen through to the end, mustn’t it?”

Shedmen’s eyebrows rose sharply.

“Ah…!”

The Reyatan Priests who grasped his meaning let out knowing smirks.

Yes, no matter how unexpectedly things unfolded, the ultimate victor would still be the Reyatan Temple.

‘Because we have the Sacred Maiden.’

* * *

Dmitri was enthusiastically pummeling Hendrick.
The Artemisia Trainee Priests watching murmured amongst themselves.

“Dmitri said getting hit doesn’t hurt?”
“Doesn’t hurt? The sound was incredible though?”
“I thought even one blow would shatter his bones.”
“But he looks perfectly fine?”

The Artemisia Children gazed at the Leiyatan Trainee Priests standing before them.

‘Why doesn’t it hurt?’
‘Are they weaker than I thought?’
‘Weaker?’

The Reyatan children, who had been dazed by this unprecedented situation, suddenly snapped back to attention.
The eyes of the Artemia Followers gleamed strangely.

“What, what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Their gaze was like that of a starving beast spotting its prey.

“Why, why are you coming closer?”

They crept forward slowly and deliberately.
At this rate, I’d be caught.

“Blast it, attack!”

The Reyatan Trainee Priests, sensing the danger, began their assault.
The Reyatan Trainee Priests formed a formation.
Then they condensed their sacred power into the shape of arrows, aiming at the Artemia Children.

“Fire!”

A torrent of arrows rained down.
The Artemia Trainee Priests quickly dodged the arrows.

“What should we do? Should we charge in?”
“But that looks like it would hurt a lot…”
“Yeah, at least more than getting punched.”
“No way. Didn’t you hear the sound of Hendrick’s fist? That punch looked way worse.”
“Did Dmitri not feel pain because he’s Dmitri?”
“Well, he’s the leader, after all.”

Just as the Artemia Children were murmuring and coming to an understanding—
A young boy at the very front, who hadn’t been participating in the conversation, suddenly shouted.

“Huh? Hey! It really doesn’t hurt!”

What?
The children’s attention snapped toward the shouting young boy.

“No, I was just curious, so I tested it by hitting myself a little, and it really doesn’t hurt!”
“That can’t be right. Even if the children made them, they’re still sacred arrows.”
“I’m telling you it’s true!”
“That’s impossible—.”

Another child strode forward and casually extended their arm.
The sacred arrow pierced into the arm with a soft thunk.

“—It really is true?”

Of course, it wasn’t completely painless.
But compared to Saelika’s fists, it was merely a tickle.

The children didn’t know the reason, but it was this:

1. I’d been hit so many times that my durability had increased.

2. I’d developed technique in taking hits.
Whenever struck, I reflexively channeled my sacred power to the impact point to reduce the pain even slightly.
In other words, I’d unconsciously gained rebound resistance through sacred power.

3. Saelika had stimulated my Divine Circuit.
Saelika hadn’t simply struck me to cause pain.
She stimulated the Divine Circuit to make the flow of sacred power more fluid.

All of this was possible only because Saelika was no ordinary child.

Normally, only those versed in sacred magic could accomplish such a thing.
A master who had mastered it would analyze the disciple’s body in detail to locate the Divine Circuit.
Then they would stimulate it with meticulous control to prevent rupture.

Because Saelika had once been an angel, she was familiar with the sanctity of Artemisia’s divinity, making it possible.

In any case, the children giggled.

“Ugh, what the hell.”
“I was so scared of accidentally grazing them that I dodged every single arrow.”
“Last time, I thought I was dying from arrows that weren’t even half as strong as these.”

The Artemia Children simply charged forward while taking the hits.
The Reyatan Trainee Priests were horrified.

“Why, why are they like that!”
“Are they insane?! They’re just charging through the arrows… Ugh!”

Thwack!

An Artemia Child’s fist drove straight into a Reyatan Trainee Priest.
It was the same everywhere else.

Pow! Thwack! Boom!

The Reyatan Trainee Priests were thoroughly beaten down.

“Ahhh! Arrows! Make more arrows!”
“Ugh! Dodge! These bastards’ fists hurt like hell!”

One side defended while attacking, the other simply attacked while taking hits.
Normally, those who defend while attacking would win….

Unfortunately, the Artemia Children felt absolutely nothing from the blows.

“Stay right there.”
“Come here. If you run and get caught, you’ll get hit even more.”
“You’re the one who stepped on my head and giggled during the last gathering, aren’t you? You’re done for.”
“Hey, wait your turn. Let me finish with this bastard first, then I’ll deal with you.”

Thwack! Smack!
The clear, crisp sound of punches echoed across the arena.

The spectators watched with their mouths agape.
I’d felt it when that child Dmitri was throwing punches, but these kids—they’re absolutely magnificent at beating people up.

‘They must have learned from some incredible example somewhere….’

But what was truly remarkable was something else entirely.

“The Leiyatan Trainee Priests defend well while moving, so why are they being pushed back?”
“The Artemia Trainee Priests get struck every time they attack, yet they don’t fall?”
“Right? They’re actually advancing?”

The tiles continued shifting blue.

“Is Artemisia actually winning this?”
“Surely not….”
“How much time remains?”

All eyes turned simultaneously toward the broadcast scoreboard.
The numbers on the display were counting down.

11:02

“Only eleven minutes left!”
“W-would Artemisia actually win?”

There was no way to turn over eighty percent of the blue tiles red in a mere eleven minutes.

This was a result no one had anticipated.
Everyone struggled to hide their bewilderment.

Then it happened.

“My children. Come to your Sacred Maiden.”

A dark green radiance erupted explosively from Helene.
The quality of her sacred power was incomparable to the other children, and her domain was equally formidable.

The sanctity of the Reyatan god spread across the entire arena.
From end to end.

In that instant, every blue tile transformed crimson.

“…!”
“They’ve all turned red! All at once!”

People gasped in awe at the miraculous sight unfolding before them.

“Wait, wait! Look at the scoreboard. There’s still one that’s blue?”
“Where?”

Everyone’s gaze turned toward a single location.

Where Sae stood.
Only the tile beneath that child’s feet remained blue.

“Why is that one still…?”

But the question didn’t linger long.
Everyone was captivated by the astonishing power Sacred Maiden Helene had just demonstrated.

“This, this can’t be, could it…!”
“Unification! It’s the Sacred Maiden’s power of ‘Unification’!”
“She’s barely been awakened as a Sacred Maiden, and she can already consolidate the sacred power of other children into herself?!”

【Unification】
A power that literally consolidates and controls the sacred power possessed by other children, drawing it into oneself.

The spectators gazed at Helene with wonder and enchantment.

“What extraordinary talent…!”
“She awakened as a Sacred Maiden ahead of other temples, and now she’s already mastered ‘Unification’!”
“With only ten minutes remaining, all but one tile has turned red!”
“Wow, there’s no way to beat this. Isn’t this cheating?”
“She truly is a Sacred Maiden!”
“Sacred Maiden Helene!”

It was like a dramatic reversal unfolding before their eyes!
The crowd erupted in enthusiasm.

Helene’s lips curved upward as the roaring cheers of the spectators washed over her.

‘Now do you understand?’

How crucial it is whether a temple has a Sacred Maiden or not.

From that day until now.
These four days had been unbearably difficult.
How infuriating it was that situations kept unfolding differently than I’d anticipated.

‘Especially that unlucky wench.’

She’d constantly interfered with me, blocked my path, and even dared to defy me.

‘When I really look at it, she’s nothing special.’

Clearly, she hadn’t even awakened her sacred power.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t be cowering in a corner like that.

Besides, if Dmitri hadn’t been protecting her, she’d be on death’s door by now.

‘She wasn’t even worth dealing with.’

Just a minor character added to my story to create some dramatic tension and enrich the narrative.
That’s all she ever was.

‘Right, if I won too easily, there’d be no drama.’

I suppose I need some extras to fill the stage.
Of course, they’d have to exit once the true protagonist appears.

Just as I was thinking that, Sae opened her mouth.

“Ten each!”
“…?”

What is she saying?
Now that she’s lost the attention I was giving her, is she spouting nonsense?
Desperate to draw my gaze back to her?

Sae’s eyes swept across the Artemisia Trainee Priests.

“Anyone who can’t maintain ten tiles per person will receive special instruction from Sae! I’ll teach the rest of you. (Anyone who can’t maintain ten tiles per person will receive special instruction from Sae! I’ll teach the rest of you.)”
“…!”
“And if you fail, you’ll all face group punishment. (And if you fail, you’ll all face group punishment.)”
“…!!!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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