Magic Armament Suitability Test (4)

A relentless barrage of ranged magic hurtled in a single direction.

No matter what elements came flying, the students were forced onto the defensive. Yet against a crowd of ranged spellcasters equipped with Magic Armaments, defenseless youths who lacked even ordinary weapons stood no chance of holding their ground—save for the two boys whose armaments had only just awakened.

"Why... what did we ever do to you?! What crime did we commit?!" Noel shouted in sheer frustration.

"My, my. Lowborn trash never change, do they?"

"Maybe a few more lashes will teach them where they went wrong."

They claimed a crime had been committed, yet never deigned to explain what it was. It was the most common form of extortion aristocrats inflicted upon the weak and disenfranchised: crushing them with overwhelming force, demanding unconditional submission regardless of right or wrong.

Clang, cla-ang!

John and Noel took the vanguard, swinging their spears to shield the helpless crowd who possessed neither armaments nor ordinary weapons. As if to prove their training had not been in vain, the two managed to parry the barrage of spells unleashed by the nobles. Yet their defense could not hold forever.

"What—what the... my legs...!"

"How do you like that? Far better than the pathetic bindings of those support students back there, wouldn't you say?"

"Hold on, John! I'll—!"

"You idiot! Never mind me, save your—"

"Indeed. You should worry about your own skin before fretting over your friend. Isn't that right, boy?"

"D-damn it...!"

Swarmed by sheer numbers, John and Noel—the only ones fighting back with armaments—finally faltered. Seeing them bound hand and foot, the nobles singled them out to make an example.

"There we go. Looks like both of them are tied up nice and tight. Let's finish this with some flair. Fire mages, on me!"

"Ready!"

Mana gathered from multiple magic circles, coalescing into a roaring furnace of flames that flared before their eyes.

"I-it's impossible..."

"How are we supposed to block that...?"

Even if they tried, stopping something of that magnitude was out of the question. With their feet pinned to the ground, taking a direct hit was an inescapable certainty.

"A campfire in broad daylight! Quite the spectacle, wouldn't you say? Hahaha!"

As the flaming mass surged toward John and Noel, some nobles sneered with oily amusement while others in the crowd squeezed their eyes shut in terror. Before crossing paths with the nobles, the lower-class students had harbored hope—believing that by crafting mana stones and putting in the time, they too might manifest armaments and stand on equal ground. Yet when such one-sided violence descended, ingrained terror reared its head, ravaging their will to resist.

Drop to your knees.

Press your forehead to the dirt.

We're sorry. We were wrong. Please show us mercy, just this once.

Conditioned like Pavlov's dogs, the words spilled unbidden from their trembling lips. Unable to overcome their trauma, the students began sinking to their knees one after another.

"Oh? Finally assuming the proper posture of obedience, are we?"

"Just a moment ago, some of them were glaring like they wanted to tear our throats out. Take this bitch, for instance!"

"Aaaagh!"

Seized by the hair, the girl immediately paled, rubbing her hands together in frantic supplication.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... please, find it in your heart to forgive us just once..."

"Forgive you? Too bad. I really don't feel like it."

Usually, once the students assumed a posture of total submission, the nobles would torment them briefly before letting them go. This time, however, there was no sign of leniency. Unchecked violence masquerading under the name of magic—they used sheer power to ruthlessly crush the fledgling sprouts of these commoners. Faced with nobles wielding both authority and Magic Armaments, the lower-class students could no longer even conceive of fighting back. They simply wished to escape the agonizing clutches of this torment, even if it meant total surrender.

"What's taking you so long? That's already my fourth."

"Ugh, damn it. All the other bastards are bawling and groveling, but this little bitch won't drop that glare. Hey. Did you eat something spoiled?"

"Ngh...!"

Henna refused to submit. Gripping the noble's wrist with all her might, she stared straight into his eyes with unyielding defiance.

"We left you alone because Sylvia was hovering around, and now look at you—completely undisciplined. That simply won't do."

Splash—

"Hm? What are you doing dumping water on her? It doesn't even deal damage."

"Ah, look at Kayden. The man's out for blood."

Mana surged through Kayden's staff, crackling into life as sparks began to hiss and snap. The visual alone was dizzying, but the violent crackle amplified the dread tenfold. Desperate to avoid the coming shock, Henna tried to tear herself free from his grip and flee, but it was futile.

I can't fight back anymore.

With that thought, Henna squeezed her eyes shut.

"Gah?! You bastard...!"

"It's not... over yet...!"

The anticipated lightning never struck. It had been cut off.

Like an enraged boar, someone slammed into Kayden, tackling him to the earth—Noel, the very boy who had just been scorched and thrown by the giant fireball.

"Noel... you...!"

"How dare a piece of filth lay hands on my ankles?! Let go! Let go of me, I said!"

Despite Kayden's furious curses and kicks, Noel clung to him tenaciously. His academy uniform was burned to cinders, ragged and charred beyond recognition. The massive recoil from his defensive barrier had battered his body, leaving him barely able to crawl across the dirt. His newly awakened armament had long since lost its form and dissolved back into raw mana. Though he had wrung out every drop of mana to shield them, the sheer firepower had overwhelmed him. His body was undeniably past its breaking point.

And yet, Noel refused to submit. If his mana was spent, he would pin the bastard down with his bare hands.

"Pant, pant... You persistent little parasite...!"

After kicking repeatedly to shake Noel off, Kayden found himself panting in exhaustion. Seizing that brief opening, Noel screamed at the top of his lungs.

"How long are you going to stay on your knees?! Are we just going to spend our whole lives taking this lying down?! Neither our armaments nor anything else has fully awakened yet! That means we still have potential... Guh-ack!"

A blast of compressed air slammed squarely into Noel's back. The impact was so violent his limbs lifted off the ground, and the last shred of strength he had scraped together vanished, leaving his body limp.

Did Noel's resolve reach the others? It did not. Thoroughly conditioned to subservience, the weak dared not move in the face of raw power.

"Kayden? What are you doing?"

"Hey, if you use that, the guy might actually die..."

"Shut up."

Noel's charge had thoroughly wounded Kayden's pride. Furious to the point of losing all reason, Kayden began weaving a spell, not caring in the least if Noel ended up crippled or missing a limb.

The onlookers squeezed their eyes shut. They could already envision the spray of blood, expecting Noel's bones to shatter or be severed completely. And yet—

Clang—!

A metallic ring accompanied the crisp snap of dissipating mana, and a man materialized before Noel.

"You're right. Nothing has fully awakened yet, which means there is still potential."

"...Who...?"

"You can rest now, Noel. I'll beat every single one of them into the dirt in your place and prove it."

Against these numbers, how could one person beat them all down and prove anything? Noel forced his heavy eyelids open, straining his blurred vision to see. The moment he recognized the face before him, he knew the time had come to rest, and he let his eyes close.

Right... Junon. If it's you...

As he quietly slipped into unconsciousness, a faint smile graced Noel's lips.

"Just when I thought we had enough scum to deal with, the 'weakest vanguard' himself decides to grace us with his presence."

"Well, isn't that fascinating. I didn't see him around earlier and figured he'd tucked his tail and run. What gave him the guts to show his face again?"

"Trash is trash in the end. We'll give you a proper lesson today too, so just stand there and take it like a good dog."

"Hey."

The nobles, who had been whispering amongst themselves, fell strangely quiet at Kayden's low growl.

Whatever. That filth ruined my mood anyway.

Junon's back was turned as he supported Noel. Was there any need to exchange words first? None at all. In fact, wasn't this the perfect opportunity to land a devastating blow?

Kayden drew the magic circle for his quietest lightning spell. Before long, a crackling spear of electricity tore through the air. Unlike the rumors from the duel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠officiated by the young lady, the thrown spear flew straight and true to its target. And at the sharp sizzle of electrical current signaling a direct hit, the corners of Kayden's mouth twitched into a triumphant grin.

"Ah~ That feels refreshing. He's probably writhing on the dirt like a crushed worm right about now, isn't he?"

"Pfft. Guess he really did rely on cheap tricks back then. Otherwise, how could lightning hit him so easily this time?"

"Walking into an area sealed by a soundproof barrier was your first mistake, Junon. Heh heh."

Just as his lackeys sneered, Kayden was thinking along the exact same lines. The sheer thrill of looking down on his twitching foe, preparing to grind him beneath his boot, sent his grin curling all the way to his ears.

And yet.

"Are you done?"

Junon was completely unharmed.

Bizarrely, with a savage gleam in his eyes, he was clutching the lightning spear in his bare hand as though he had simply been waiting for it to arrive. The sight of him gripping a weapon coursing with raw electricity with an unprotected hand was beyond baffling—it was downright eerie.

And then.

"The spell..."

"Did it just... disappear...?"

With a crisp snap, the electrical spear fractured down the middle, crumbling into fine particles with a quiet hiss before fading into nothingness. The nobles, who should have scoffed at the display, found their mouths sealed shut ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beneath an inexplicable wave of pressure. In the fleeting instant the spear dissolved, a silence deeper and heavier than the quiet outside settled over the soundproof barrier.

Passing Noel into the arms of Henna, who stood nearest, Junon turned completely toward the nobles.

"Well now, does he have eyes on the back of his head? What rotten luck."

One of the nobles, irritated by the turn of events, boldly stepped forward.

"Hey, don't act recklessly! Wait—!"

"Let's see you try blocking this one too!!"

Point-blank might be one thing, but there was no way he could block an attack from this range. Confident in his assessment, the noble unleashed an Ice Wave from barely three paces away, attempting to freeze the ground beneath Junon's feet just as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they had done to John and Noel.

Shatter!

"Uh... what?"

With a sound like fracturing glass, the wave of ice surging across the ground vanished into thin air. And anyone could guess the fate of a mage who allowed a vanguard to close the distance.

"That idiot..."

The price of ignoring the warning.

A fist drove squarely into his solar plexus, leaving him unable to utter even a gasp before he dropped to his knees and crumpled to the dirt. While Kayden clutched his forehead in frustration, Junon kicked the fallen noble, sending him skidding all the way to the far end of the alley.

"Guess you lot really don't learn."

His voice was chilling—a tone so frigid it felt as though frost might settle in the dead of summer. Whether it was their imagination or not, a faint, terrifying bloodlust seemed to radiate from Junon.

Yet how could nobles submit to a commoner? Least of all noble rearguards who had manifested Magic Armaments. A flashy display was one thing, but they had only lost a single person. They were still outnumbering him, so the tide had hardly turned.

"He only got lucky because that fool dropped his guard. What gives him the right to act so haughty?"

Kayden rallied the shaken atmosphere, pointing out their tactical advantages in the heavy silence.

"Come to think of it..."

"Right. Why are we flinching?"

"We'll make him pay for every bit of pride he wounded back then."

"Well, shouldn't he get to enjoy the campfire too?"

"I doubt he'll be in any condition to watch when he's the one burning."

When their leader spoke with such conviction, why should the others hesitate? His words made total sense. The fool earlier had simply blundered by closing the distance. If they maintained their range and unloaded a continuous barrage of spells to wear him down, the sheer weight of numbers would inevitably bring him to his knees.

"Getting cocky was your mistake, Junon!"

Elemental spells gathered in their hands, hurtling toward Junon in a simultaneous volley. Plumes of smoke billowed upward, and just like that smoke, the nobles' anticipation swelled. How could they not look forward to seeing what state he would be in? After all, wasn't this the very Junon who had humiliated them before? Their grins stretched ear to ear at the thought of paying him back with compounded disgrace.

Yet once again, their expectations popped like a fragile bubble.

"Aaaargh─!!!!"

One sound was the crunch of a human bone losing its structure. The other was the raw, guttural shriek of a man scraping his vocal cords in sheer agony.

Emerging from the smoke completely unscathed, Junon twisted a noble's arm, snapping it like a dry reed.

"Why? When you or this bastard fire spells like you don't care if Noel loses an arm or a leg, that's fine—but when I crush this guy's arm and yours, suddenly it's not?"

Who was the strong now, and who was the weak? Fear began to spread like a contagion in the opposite direction.

"You're next. Don't dream of walking out of here in one piece, Kayden."

"Ngh, what on earth...!"

Along with a headache so vicious it felt as though her skull were being pulverized, a telepathic transmission echoed through her mind from an origin unknown.

'—Do you have any ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠idea how much──?! It was all thanks to──!'

'──ed! ──him!'

"That bastard you murdered was the hope of this entire Principality!!!!"

The echoing transmission faded. The voice replaying through every broken sentence was unmistakably her own.

And the scene unfolding before her eyes was none other than the very moment the final ember that had defended the Principality with all its might was extinguished forever.

"Junon... you..."