Struggle (2)
My mind is hazy. I can't even tell exactly what I'm doing. Shane throws a punch. I don't dodge it and counter instead. Thud! It was blocked, but my impression was different. 'Something feels cleaner.'
The movement of my body, my presence—my body itself felt changed. 'Has it been established?' The movements of everyone I'd seen. My body, a collection of all those things, had begun to move. 'Feels refreshing.'
Though there were still unnecessary parts, though it wasn't perfect, my changed body gave me a sense of having been washed clean. Shane charges forward without wiping away her smile. 'If it were before, I'd have lost.'
If I'd fought Shane seriously using mana from the start, I'd already be defeated and on the path to ruin. But once I began to struggle, she stopped using mana to match me. 'It helped.'
Without Daren's information, this tactic wouldn't have been possible. Thud! Shane's fist is blocked by my arm. Without hesitation, she launches a kick at my upper body. I duck to avoid it and try to strike her chin, but she's already gone from in front of me.
"Fun, isn't it, Adel?" She approaches and says something, but it doesn't reach my ears. Fully focused now, I push my growth even further. 'What's different?'
It was invisible to the eye, yet I could feel it clearly. Shane's presence was far stronger than mine. 'Devour it.' I don't know what it is. I can't see the principle behind it either. But there's only one thing I need to do. 'Devour it.'
After all, digestion will be handled by my future self. With the mindset of a gourmet savoring everything, I prepare to devour. "Then here I come?"
As if my preparation had been exposed, Shane begins to charge. Whoosh! Her fist, closing in instantly, aims for my face. The moment I try to grab it, her other hand targets my abdomen. I guard to block the abdomen, and she aims for my face again. Dozens of times, unable to counter, I only took hits.
From that exchange, I could feel one fact. 'Our experience is different.' She moves as if she knows what I'm about to do and how I'll respond. Like an experienced fighter. 'Makes sense.'
She's grown up fighting since she was young. Only her family would know how many battles she's been through. 'That presence—' Isn't it the trace of all her struggles? Dozens, hundreds, thousands of struggles becoming a single wind pushing her forward?
'In that case—' Could I use that kind of presence? I don't have her level of experience. I haven't fought nearly as much. But I have a different talent. 'Devouring.' The thing I'm best at, and strangely, the thing that comes most easily. If it's that, maybe I can devour Shane's presence too.
'It'll be a little different.' This isn't devouring as a gourmet, but recreating as a chef. There was a difference between eating and creating, just as there was in this act. But— 'It's possible.'
I don't know the meaning of impossible. If it doesn't work, make it work. That's my favorite saying. There's nothing that can't be done. After all, it's just devouring—so recreating it should be possible too. Rumble! Her fist flies toward me, carrying her presence.
Watching it, I felt it. What kind of presence it was. 'I can see it.' The traces of time, the process of desperate struggles, her life. I don't know why I can see it. I simply saw it because it was visible. I indirectly experienced countless struggles without living them directly.
I take the stance to throw a punch. Shane's fist, now right in front of me, is visible. The world seems to flow slowly. Pulling my right hand back, I thrust it forward using my waist, shoulder, and arm all at once. The presence contained within it seemed no different from Shane's.
BOOM! Fist met fist. Though they were fists without ordinary mana, the fists of those who had experienced countless battles sent shockwaves even to the barrier. As the shockwaves from our fists gradually subsided, Shane stepped back.
"Hah..." Shane continued with a hollow laugh. "I surrender." Hearing her words as she raised both hands, my mind cleared as if washed with water. The world gradually sped up again, and I grasped the situation.
"...Did I win?" I muttered blankly. Cain, who had approached at some point, shouted, "Yes, you won. The winner of the sparring match is Adel Ifrit! Adel Ifrit!" He shouted loud enough for all the watching students and instructors to hear.
There was no thunderous roar. I hadn't expected one either. I looked at the familiar faces. Daren gave a thumbs-up, Christina and Siris wore faint smiles, and Vanya sat with elegant poise. "Haha..." Seeing them, a smile formed on my face without me realizing it. I didn't know why, but I felt refreshed.
***
The rumors about the sparring match between Shane Krakt and Adel Ifrit spread throughout the entire academy grounds, one after another. "...What? Really? Adel Ifrit won?" "Yeah! That's what I'm saying! So stop badmouthing him already. You'll regret it later." "So he's not just handsome anymore?" "There was a reason he was in Class S." "Anyone who took the Martial Arts Comprehension class already knew. Mm-hmm." "...It must be small, right?"
Some were shocked that Adel, ranked 500th, had defeated 'that' Shane. Those who already knew his skill accepted it calmly. Walking through the academy grounds, I was receiving everyone's attention. 'Sigh.' I could've gone to the private training room or the dorm, but I had a reason to walk around despite the attention. 'Shane Krakt.'
The woman I'd just sparred with—the one I'd defeated. If I found her, there were things I wanted to ask. What that presence was, why she'd surrendered. '...Where is she?' I'd already wandered quite a bit. For some reason, she hadn't been visible since the match ended. "Tsk."
As I clicked my tongue for no reason, a red dot appeared at the end of the path where I stood. '...Shane?' It seemed to be her. There was no way I wouldn't recognize the face of the woman I'd just fought. A woman with a red ponytail carrying a spear on her back. It couldn't be common. I approached the woman who looked like Shane in an instant. "Shane?"
When I called her name, the woman in front of me turned her head. Round red eyes looked at me. "...What are you doing here?" I asked, puzzled. "I was heading over there." Shane's finger pointed to a certain place. There was a training room. "Hmm... Then want to come to my private training room?"
There was a personal purpose, and it would be good for both me and Shane to train. Two birds with one stone. As if my thought had gotten through, she answered. "Really? Let's go." I took the lead toward the training room. After chatting for a bit and entering the private training room, Shane asked, "...Adel, you train in a place like this?" "Yeah, I've been here for the past three days." "...That's impressive. I could train, but it'd feel like dying from the heat."
As she asked, beads of sweat began forming on her body. 'Is it that bad?' I didn't feel it. Since I'd been living as if this was the normal temperature, there was no way to know. Fwoosh. As if sensing my arrival, flames approached me. "...What is that?" Shane looked at me with a flustered gaze. "I don't know the details either, but it seems the flames like me." "..."
When I voiced my thought, she fell silent. She seemed to be organizing her thoughts. Crackle! When Shane shot red lightning at me, the flames around me devoured it. As if protecting me. "...As expected." Shane nodded as if her thought had been confirmed. "What is it." Tell me too. As I looked at her with that expression, she opened her mouth. "It's nothing much. I thought your mana affinity seemed high, so I tried it once to test how high it was." "So how is it?" "You probably didn't know, but it's the highest. A talent that might appear once in a hundred years."
With that, she nodded. It was an action whose reason I couldn't understand. 'What could be the influence?' Is it because I'm the protagonist? Or is it because of the Flame Divine Art that my affinity with flames is high? 'Well, it's a good thing either way.' It would be nice if an answer came, but there was no reason to seek an answer that wouldn't come. And I had a feeling I'd find out someday. "...Shane. Can I ask something now?" "Huh? Go ahead."
Since she'd gotten the answers she wanted earlier, it was my turn now. I began asking her the things I'd been curious about.