One's Own Self (6)
To an outside observer, it looked as though the two of them were sharing the burden equally—issuing commands in lockstep and single-handedly turning the tide of the battle. But what the students perceived was a world away from reality.
He's matching his pace to mine entirely.
Junon was shouldering an overwhelmingly larger share of the combat load than Aris. The students might not have realized it, but there was no way Aris herself could miss it.
But... why?
No matter how she looked at it, his actions felt like an unspoken order: conserve your mana, do not spend it. Yet that made little sense when the Stumps' offensive had already withered away. Nearly every creature trapped inside the botanical dome lay felled across the ground. Junon had even relentlessly tracked down and crushed the last one—what appeared to be the core Decurion Stump—bringing the extermination to what seemed a definitive close. With barely any enemies left, why would she need to hoard this much mana?
"Is it... over?"
"Looks like it."
"All we have to do now is blast an exit through this wall!"
"We're finally getting out of here... whew."
A collective murmur rippled through the ranks: blow open a hole, and escape the Jungle Dome. Naturally, not a single student raised an objection. Aris found herself agreeing with them. By all reasonable metrics, the fight was done.
Yet one person narrowed his eyes, catching a subtle, insidious shift in the air.
"Nobody let your guard down! Back into battle stations, now!"
The interior had turned desolate, carpeted with crushed bark and severed boughs, devoid of anything left standing. But then came the final one—a monstrous entity unlike anything they had faced so far, slowly hauling itself into view.
"What the hell...?! How are they getting back up?!"
"Weren't they dead?!"
Crr-crack! Screeech!
The shattered fragments Junon had pulverized with raw mana began to crawl across the earth, piecing themselves back together. Even the shredded remains Aris had blasted apart gathered into clumps, knitting back into solid wooden frames.
That thing... that's the true Decurion of this swarm...!
Instinct screamed the truth into her mind. A Decurion—a commander of ten. The grotesquely contorted dome warped its own outer walls into the shape of a colossal Stump, weaving vines through the fallen husks like a deranged puzzle, breathing vitality back into every single one of them. Junon had been prepared for this all along. He had operated on the premise that what they saw on the surface was never the whole truth, anticipating the latent threat of this hidden mastermind from the start.
Alright. I'll pour all my remaining mana into wiping it out in one blow...!
Assuming this was precisely why he had told her to conserve her energy, Aris began tracing the lines of a magic circle in the air. But a hand drifted into her field of view.
"...?"
"Hold on, Aris. Now isn't the time."
Bafflingly, he waved his hand, signaling her to stand down. He then turned toward two students nearby. "You two. Cast Fireball toward that flank."
The two nodded hastily and spun their formulas. Having had time to recover their mana during the lull, they executed the spell without issue. Guided by Junon's instruction, the twin spheres of flame slammed dead center into an advancing Stump. Yet the creature, which should have been reduced to cinders, merely rekindled its vitality under the pulsing influence of the Jungle Dome's master, rapidly reforming its scorched bark.
By now, Aris understood. The tactics they had used until now were utterly useless here. Standard combat doctrines were hopelessly outmatched against beasts endowed with this scale of collective regeneration.
"Aris. We're changing the formation immediately."
"To what?"
"The Khenique Formation. Don't worry about individual unit numbers as long as the foundation is solid; just adapt the spacing. We don't have time—I'm moving forward first!"
"W-Wait! Junon!"
Without waiting for a reply, he charged toward the front lines to hold off the resurrected swarm. Aris could only tilt her head in sheer disbelief.
The Khenique Formation? In here? Is he out of his mind?
Seeing Aris hesitate with a furrowed brow, the students behind her grew visibly anxious.
"Instructor Aris?"
"What is it, ma'am? Did something go wrong?"
"Huh? Ah... no, it's nothing! Everyone, reassemble into new positions right now!"
Following her rapid instructions, the students scrambled into their assigned slots one by one. But she was no longer the only one questioning the order.
"Instructor... this doesn't look like an escape deployment at all..."
"It looks like we're burning every last drop of the mana we just saved to fight them head-on."
"Wait, are you saying we're supposed to fight those things again?"
"No way. You can't be serious..."
Aris had ordered them to take their spots before explaining because she anticipated their resistance, and her fears were confirmed instantly. The Khenique Formation was the most textbook military offensive alignment in existence, conceived entirely for the frontal assault, suppression, and total annihilation of an enemy force. Demanding this formation meant one thing: they were going to clash against the monsters head-on.
"How are we supposed to kill Stumps that keep resurrecting over and over?! We barely managed to hold on until you instructors arrived! This is impossible!"
"I really thought we were just going to punch a hole through the dome and run..."
"Instructor! Something's wrong here! That guy is making unreasonable demands, isn't he? He's being reckless!"
"If that's the case, we want to follow your orders! Tell us what to do, Instructor Aris!"
"..."
Aris could not answer immediately. The exact same doubt was gnawing at her own chest. Just as Junon had mentioned earlier, even if backup was delayed, they could fight a war of attrition. The enemy's regenerative core had to expend energy too; they could stubbornly target its reserves until an opening appeared to break through the wall. He had an endless reservoir of tactical knowledge inside his head, so why on earth did he choose a suicidal frontal assault? How could anyone completely annihilate an enemy that possessed infinite resurrection? By all accounts, there was no plan more foolish.
"Instructor, please...!"
The students pressed her, desperate for an answer that would offer a way out. She felt the heavy burden of command bearing down on her, demanding a choice.
"..."
Grip!
Aris reached up and dug her fingers fiercely into her wounded shoulder. That was her answer.
"I-Instructor?!"
"Why are you grabbing your shoulder all of a sudden...?"
"Blood! You're bleeding, ma'am!"
"I know."
"What...?"
"If you know, why are you doing that?!"
She heard their frantic warnings. She felt the warm crimson seeping through her fingers. Yet it didn't hurt. The sharp jolt of physical agony shattered her lingering hesitation, clearing the fog from her mind with icy clarity.
This is enough.
Lowering her bloodstained hand, Aris drew a steadying breath before barking out commands. Fresh blood dripped from her re-opened wound, staining the fabric of her coat, but she didn't spare it a glance.
"Offense Wizards, advance and stick right behind the Vanguards—one pace back, no more!"
"Defense Wizards, take over field vision from the Buffers. Buffers, immediately reapply reinforcement magic to the Vanguards!"
"Mages, fall back alongside the Sorcerers and stand by to cast on my mark!"
Who did she think she was, daring to doubt him? She had been a fool. She hadn't even been able to breach this dome on her own, yet here she was, standing safely inside. Despite all the time that had passed, not a single student under her care had lost their life. It wasn't a matter of blind trust—Junon was simply a man who always mapped out the correct path. He would not be wrong this time either.
"We're going to wipe out every single one of those bastards right here, and then we're going home. Understand?!"
"There's no way that's possible..."
"Where did all your confidence go?! Do you not trust me?"
"N-No! It's not that!"
"It's just... a frontal clash in this situation feels insane..."
Once, she would have felt the exact same way. It seemed inconceivable to charge head-on into an immortal swarm. But even at this very moment, Junon was holding the front line entirely by himself, throwing his body into the fray just to buy them enough seconds to complete their formation. What did that prove? It proved there was a way. A concrete method to bring these abominations down.
"We can do this."
"...Ma'am?"
What these frightened children needed right now wasn't a theoretical debate—it was absolute conviction that their tactics were sound.
"There is a way to destroy them. That's why I adjusted the layout."
In truth, she had no idea. Her tactical foresight couldn't match a fraction of Junon's; she had no clue why this specific formation was necessary. Yet experience had taught her one ironclad rule: during an operation, insubordination and division were the deadliest poison. To prevent that collapse, a commander had to lie without flinching.
"...Let's move."
From within the unsettled ranks, a voice spoke up. It was the class representative from Aris's group—the diligent student who had always taken meticulous lecture notes while the rest of his peers slacked off.
"A-Are you serious? You really think we can kill that thing ourselves?"
"Wouldn't it be better to just dig in and wait for reinforcements...?"
"We're the ones who recklessly charged too deep into the basin in the first place!" the representative snapped, shutting down the dissent. "We're lucky we're not just dead weight holding them back, and now you want to disobey the instructor too?!"
The murmurs died instantly.
"Whatever we try to do on our own, we know nothing! We listen to the people who actually know what they're doing!"
No one dared argue against that. Deep down, every student understood that if Aris and Junon hadn't arrived when they did, none of them would still be drawing breath. Would they choose foolishness a second time after their first mistake had nearly killed them? Absolutely not. One by one, they locked into their assigned posts. Even if built on a calculated lie, the result was undeniably effective.
I've got them in position like you wanted. What's next?
As if responding to her silent question, Junon swiftly read the shift in the field and took a measured step back from the vanguard. His ragged breathing revealed just how exhausted he was compared to earlier. Sinking onto one knee, he gasped for air, his voice rough.
"Whew. From here on out, this isn't my territory anymore. It's yours."
"What are you talking about...?"
"Listen carefully."
As he leaned in and murmured the tactical sequence under his breath, Aris's eyes widened until they threatened to burst from her sockets.
Here they come...!
Shallow, tension-laced breaths filled the ranks. The students were waiting with bated breath for Aris to give the command. And yet...
Why isn't she saying anything...?
They're getting closer...!
She kept her lips tightly sealed, merely watching the battlefield unfold as the Vanguards were steadily forced backward inch by inch. Only when every last Stump had fully reconstituted itself did Aris finally break her silence.
"All Wizards, scatter those lotus blossoms with wind magic!"
"With wind...?"
"The lotuses...?"
As the students hesitated, Junon stepped forward and roared with cutting authority.
"Obey the order! On an actual battlefield, that hesitation is insubordination!"
"Y-Yes, sir! We're casting it now!"
"Why does he have to sound so terrifying... seriously!"
Startled by the reprimand, they grumbled under their breath but immediately snapped into action. Swept up by the conjured gales, the alchemical lotus blossoms drifted through the air, adhering to the wooden flanks of the Stumps and dissolving into oily sheens. It didn't inflict direct structural damage, but it served as a vital catalyst.
BOOM—!
Aris didn't let up, barking sequential orders without a second's pause. Following the pre-established instructions to the letter, the students unleashed their stored spells in flawless sequence. Yet doubts immediately crept back into their minds.
Even if she coated them in oil using alchemy, it barely changed anything. Shouldn't we have just opened with explosive magic from the start?
The instructor's aim is legendary—she doesn't need our wind magic to guide her lotuses...
Why are we dousing them with water magic right after blowing them up? What's the point of that?
Won't dropping the temperature just smother the flames and cut our damage in half...? Why would she do this?
The sequence felt completely unnatural, bordering on tactical malpractice. Burning through mana sequentially for an apparently meaningless combination of elements seemed like sheer waste. But Aris alone knew the truth. This operation could only be described with one word: perfection.
"Final stage—Mage squads, unleash!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
The grand finale fell to the Mages. Their designated role was to flood the area with freezing frost, dragging the ambient temperature down to absolute zero. As the icy fog cleared the residual smoke and ash, every single student froze in place, their thoughts grinding to a complete halt.
The Stumps were encased in solid, unbreakable blocks of ice.
Cold...? So this was about freezing them from the very beginning?!
Most plants burn, but there are species resistant to fire... yet all flora is fundamentally weaker to severe cold than heat!
Wait! Didn't I read somewhere that flash-heated objects freeze dramatically faster when hit with sudden moisture and frost?!
If they're frozen solid down to the core... they can't move! That's what this was for!
Furthermore, the blasts and pressurized water had targeted the exact same anatomical junctions: their limbs. Clustered together as a dense vanguard, the collateral freezing effect rippled through their intertwined boughs with catastrophic efficiency. Thoroughly saturated with water and trapped in permafrost, there was no way for the wooden monsters to knit their cells back together. Why deploy a formation meant for total annihilation? As the frozen monuments of wood stood helpless before them, every lingering shred of doubt evaporated into thin air.
The summit of victory was right in front of them.
"L-Look up there...!"
"It's that thing again!"
How had these lesser creatures resurrected in the first place? Exactly. There was still one remaining—the master of the dome, the one that wove timber and vines to restore its puppets. Buckling the outer walls inward once more, the core Decurion Stump tore through the botanical canopy, descending upon them from above like a falling timber mountain.
Yet one woman had already prepared a massive circle, as if she had anticipated this exact descent. And standing beside her was a man who had already cast an invisible, towering Mana Shield before the students, ensuring not a single ember of the impending backlash would graze them. Everything was unfolding according to a single mind's design.
"You brats better prepare for detention when we get back!"
With Aris's sharp, resounding shout, her grand spell reached completion. A blinding flash of lotus-shaped crimson detonated upward, tearing through the core monster and shattering the dome's suffocating darkness into oblivion.
As ash and wooden debris rained down upon the soil, the warm, golden rays of natural sunlight washed over them. In that brilliant instant, an overwhelming flood of emotions surged through the young survivors.
Escape.
Liberation.
Relief.
And then...
"Wait... is Instructor Aris crying?"
"Maybe... she was actually terrified the whole time?"
"...You don't seriously believe that, do you? Please tell me you're joking."
"If she was that scared, she wouldn't have thrown herself in here to save us."
"Then why is she crying?"
"Who knows...?"
For one woman standing amidst the settling ash, it was a moment of finally coming face to face with the self she had left behind in the past.