Descent of the Plasma Blade
This lighting… This temperature… This humidity… This atmosphere… An altitude of twenty meters. To put that height into perspective, it was roughly equivalent to the tenth floor of an apartment building. More than enough to make any human feel true fear.
—Flash!
But Ed killed the thruster engine at that dizzying height. He deliberately cut off the only means he had to counteract gravitational acceleration. Right now, his mind held nothing but cold calculations for dealing maximum damage to the Minotaur King.
—Whooooooosh!
Deprived of thrust, Ed’s body began plummeting toward the ground. Tremendous wind pressure hammered him, but it couldn’t negate the accelerating fall. He dropped like a meteor.
Reinforcement spell.
Ten meters up, Ed circulated mana through his entire body. He distributed it across the thirty-seven mana stones embedded throughout his frame to brace for impact, then activated the reinforcement spell. The core mana stone—reminiscent of an arc reactor—flared to life. The reinforcement rune engraved on its surface activated, issuing commands to the other thirty-six stones.
Those stones immediately carried out their orders. Mana bearing reinforcing properties flooded every part of him, increasing bone density, strengthening muscle fibers, and hardening his skin.
All remaining mana into the blade.
Five meters up, Ed poured every last drop into the morphing plasma gauntlet. The blue circular magic stone on his wrist guard blazed pure white and began emitting a high-pitched preheat tone, boosting the plasma lightsaber’s output even further.
Kiiiiiiiiing—
While that fierce preheat whine filled the air, the straight blue blade started flickering unsteadily, like flames spitting from a flamethrower. Converting such a massive amount of mana into plasma energy at once had spiked the output, straining the magnetic field that contained it.
Just hold a little longer.
Ed kept the output maxed. He knew that if the magnetic field collapsed, the 3,500-degree heat would melt him in an instant. Still, he locked eyes on the Minotaur King and continued his freefall.
To pierce the mana-reinforced hide of the Minotaur King, he had to maintain this extreme temperature no matter what.
I can hold it!
Now it was a pure race against time. Would the magnetic field containing the ultra-high-temperature plasma energy fail first? Or would he drive this apocalyptic heat into the Minotaur King before that happened?
One meter.
The magnetic field began to destabilize. The superconductor generating the powerful containment field was melting, and the blue blade thrashed wildly out of control.
But in that exact instant—
PuuuuaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Time chose Ed’s side. A split second before the field collapsed, his falling body slammed into the Minotaur King’s head and drove the burning blade straight down.
The Minotaur King died on the spot without ever understanding what had hit it. The superheated plasma blade melted through mana-hardened skin, punched through the skull, liquefied every internal organ, and finally exited between its legs.
“………”
A heavy silence fell over the grand auditorium. The Minotaur King—a monster even the academy’s official instructors couldn’t guarantee victory against—had been melted by unimaginable heat and split cleanly in two.
The bisected corpse toppled like a domino. The impact alone shook the ground so violently that every cadet in the auditorium could feel exactly how monstrous the creature Ed had slain truly was.
Having witnessed that shocking sight, the cadets immediately turned their eyes toward Ed. They wanted to see what condition the person who had pulled off such insanity was in.
The screen showed Ed on one knee, one hand braced against the ground, breathing hard. Even so, he kept his sharp gaze fixed forward, confirming the Minotaur King’s complete death. The image looked like a single frame pulled from a hero movie.
Hoo…
How long did he stay like that, catching his breath? While the entire auditorium stared at the screen with mouths hanging open, Ed slowly rose to his feet. He glanced at his gauntlet, which was spitting sparks with a harsh crackling noise, then let out an irritated sigh.
“Damn it. Now I have to build another one.”
They were literally speechless.
The Minotaur King was a monster even an instructor like himself couldn’t guarantee victory against. Instructor Kaiden quietly watched Ed grumble while turning the broken gauntlet over in his hands.
If he had to describe the boy in a single word, this one fit perfectly.
“Crazy bastard.”
It wasn’t an insult. On the contrary, it was the highest form of praise. Kaiden possessed the skill to catch every single detail of Ed’s performance. It might have looked simple, but he understood exactly how many meticulous details had gone into splitting that Minotaur King in half.
Strategically flawless. Not a single wasted movement.
First, Kaiden had been stunned by Ed’s intuitive, core-focused strategy. Luring the creature out of its cave and provoking it, then targeting only the left ankle to restrict its movement—every step had been calculated, not accidental.
It wasn’t reckless courage born from ignorance, either.
Ed’s bravery wasn’t foolhardiness. It stemmed from absolute self-confidence after completing every calculation. He had perfectly understood the Minotaur King’s strengths. The fact that he possessed a weapon capable of bisecting it yet never once engaged in blind close-quarters combat proved that.
He chose the safest possible route to the optimal outcome.
A blind spot. Ed had aimed for the creature’s blind spot and prepared a single, lethal strike from the air rather than fighting on the ground.
How can he stay that calm?
What astonished Kaiden most was the boy’s composure. Ed had been given barely two minutes. Two minutes—that was how long it took the Minotaur King to fully recover. In that razor-thin window, he had to complete multiple missions with zero margin for error. Any delay would let the creature move, throwing off his landing point and causing the killing blow to miss. At that point the momentum would swing to the Minotaur King, and the one torn in half would have been Ed Fix.
He definitely knew that. Yet he still carried it out without hesitation.
Even knowing the worst-case scenario, Ed had acted decisively. Most people would freeze up thinking about the risks, but he had shaken off the terror and executed his plan step by step. He had even shut off the thrusters despite being at a considerable height, throwing himself into freefall to shave off every possible second.
Almost no injuries. Proof of perfect mana control.
Ed’s body had come through with barely a scratch. It showed he had distributed his mana with surgical precision to absorb the impact. In every respect, the cadet was extraordinary.
Strategy, tactics, decisiveness, judgment, adaptability. All of them deserved the highest marks. Numbers were meaningless here.
This tournament match had been held to evaluate the cadets’ abilities. Although the Minotaur King itself carried no official points, its value far exceeded the combined worth of every trash monster in the arena.
“Commoner.”
Isabella descended gracefully through the air, calling out to him. She landed lightly beside Ed, gave the Minotaur King’s corpse a brief glance, then turned to him.
“Are you hurt? Facing something like that and walking away unscathed isn’t easy.”
“…Fortunately not. I got lucky.”
“…Is that so? Either way, congratulations. I’ll admit this one. Of course, I could kill it anytime I wanted, but I have too much to lose.”
Ed simply nodded. With Isabella’s level of mental domination, she really could have killed the Minotaur King. But as her final remark suggested, doing so would have been a net loss for her. Her combat style required expending the “negativity” she had carefully accumulated.
“Instructor.”
Isabella cleanly accepted her defeat. She called for the instructor and declared something no cadet had ever declared before: forfeit.
“You’ve seen the measure of him, haven’t you, Instructor? Just advance him. It’s not in the regulations, but you can make a discretionary call.”
Kaiden didn’t particularly like her attitude. No matter how great a noble she was, once enrolled in the academy she was a cadet, and he was the instructor responsible for her.
“…Correct. I am the one in charge of this match. Therefore, stay out of it. All judgments and decisions are mine. The responsibility is mine alone.”
“……”
“That said, I agree with your opinion. Ed Fix, this is your victory.”
The instructor shrugged as he declared the result. Isabella clapped—clap, clap, clap—with a completely lifeless reaction. Kaiden added one more thing to Ed.
“Additionally, I’m awarding you three demerit points. You did violate regulations and willingly court danger. Honestly, it’s a miracle the outcome was favorable. You nearly died.”
“…Sorry. That was the only way to win.”
“Ahem. Good that you understand. I’d appreciate it if you also remembered that I now have to write a mountain of reports thanks to you. Haah… this is my life. I came here hoping to take it easy…”
Grumbling, Instructor Kaiden waved Ed away. The match was over; it was time to return to the grand auditorium.
Ed and Isabella stepped up to the teleportation magic orb. Right before they activated it, Isabella smiled and spoke.
“Today was fun. You keep piquing my interest. You’ll keep entertaining me next time too, won’t you?”
“…We’ll see. As long as Lady Isabella doesn’t mess with me too viciously.”
“Heh heh. You don’t look like the type to just take it.”
Ed shrugged. From Isabella’s perspective it was an incredibly bold provocation, but that only made her like him more. She felt she could play with this commoner for a very long time.
“Well then.”
Isabella placed her hand on the orb first. As she did, she reflected on today’s fight—her first acknowledged defeat. Would anyone else have been able to give her such an experience? The feeling wasn’t bad at all.
—Flash!
While those thoughts ran through her mind, her body scattered into particles, teleporting back to the auditorium.
“Whew. Mission complete.”
Ed placed his hand on the orb as well. Pure white light enveloped him, and in an instant he was transported back to the grand auditorium.
The moment he arrived, déjà vu washed over him.
This lighting… This temperature… This humidity… This atmosphere…
It was an eerily familiar scene. Everyone stood frozen, staring at him with blank, soulless eyes. Ed scratched the back of his head and muttered.
“Haha… The vibe in here is always like this whenever I show up…”