Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Echo
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Before the duel between Adel and Delphine had even begun.
Veronica was searching for Delphine, figuring she might as well cheer him on.
“That bastard…”
Adel didn’t seem like the type who needed cheering up anyway.
He probably hated that sort of thing from the start…
He’d handle it just fine on his own, right?
“But… where the hell is this guy?”
Delphine was nowhere to be seen.
Normally, he’d be holed up in his lab or the clubroom…
But lately, he’d been scarce.
“When did it start…?”
Thinking back, Delphine had started vanishing from sight…
Right after the semester project kicked off.
“Busy, huh?”
…Yoram’s faculty were always busy as hell, that was a given.
But Veronica, who knew that full well, still let the words slip out.
If Adel had heard that, he’d definitely have thought, *Wicked Dragon Lady* in his head.
“Hmm…”
She flung open the door.
Veronica threw open the clubroom door without hesitation.
But there was no one inside.
“He here?”
She flung open the door.
This time, the student council room.
And only there…
“He’s here?”
“…Hm?”
Delphine, sitting at the table with a hologram projected, intently studying something.
And next to him… Violet, watching Delphine like it was a spectator sport.
“What, where’s the president?”
“Off catching the cat.”
“…What’d that thing do this time.”
“Got caught raising slimes in the library on the sly.”
“Didn’t he do that last time too?”
“Yeah.”
“…Tch.”
Veronica paused to ponder how to deal with that one cat… Neru, that was…
But soon shook her head, remembering her original purpose.
She hadn’t come here because of that damn cat.
“…?”
She approached Delphine abruptly.
But Delphine didn’t even glance up from the hologram as she drew near.
Veronica tilted her head, following his gaze to the hologram.
And…
“Damn… you’re one tenacious son of a bitch.”
“What do you mean, Dean?”
Inside that hologram…
Was every video record of Adel.
From the first-semester project to evaluations… everything captured on film…
Delphine was meticulously reviewing them one by one.
“You’re a real psycho, you know that?”
“Dean, calling a normal person crazy is a pretty deep wound.”
“Then show me that wounded look.”
“Aw.”
“Fucking bastard.”
Adel had been jotting everything down in his notebook in his own way…
But Delphine was no slouch either.
Veronica alternated between thoughts of the two and let out a hollow chuckle.
“You two really are like family, huh.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Yeah. Nothing, you bastard.”
Veronica cringed, furrowing her brow.
Seriously… how could they resemble each other so much?
From their competitive drive to their every damn habit…
“Why go that far, anyway?”
I mean…
How petty did you have to be to dig through footage like this just to beat one student as a professor?
“Tsk tsk.”
As Veronica clicked her tongue, Delphine—eyes still glued to the hologram—continued.
“When I look at Student Adel.”
“?”
“Sometimes, I see echoes of my own past.”
“…What bullshit is that.”
Clatter.
Sensing the conversation dragging on…
Violet shot up in a hurry and bolted out of the student council room.
“A self that denies itself instead of affirming it…”
“…Why stop mid-sentence.”
Delphine paused, giving a wry smile and shaking his head.
“Nothing.”
“Ugh… stubborn bastard.”
Of course… Delphine let Veronica’s words go in one ear and out the other, refocusing on the hologram.
Not without tossing in a line, though.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Huh? Oh, to cheer you on.”
“Oh my… I’m touched. Tears are coming.”
“…….”
Veronica sighed and shook her head.
Still, since Delphine had been her student too…
She couldn’t play favorites between Adel and Delphine.
“So… lose as spectacularly as possible?”
“…Dean. That’s what they call favoritism.”
***
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Delphine ]
Attributes
: 「Ice」
: 「Fire」
Skills / Traits
: 【High-Speed Synthesis】
: 【Multi-Casting】
: 【…】
Unique Skill
: 【…】
Unique Trait
: 【…】
Stats
: Physique : 34 (A)
: Strength : 28 (B)
: Intelligence : 37 (A)
: Willpower : 37 (A)
: Mana : 29 (B)
Talent
: 【Magic (F-)】
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
Delphine’s talent was the same “lowest” as mine.
But… with that “lowest” talent, Delphine had risen to the youngest professor at Yoram.
…Snap.
Delphine snapped his fingers, and the magic circle forming at my feet blazed with intense light.
“Student Adel? Daydreaming, are we?”
Whoosh!
I reflexively wrapped mana threads around my body and shot into the sky.
At the same moment, spells unfurled below, surging toward me.
‘…….’
I’d analyzed Delphine’s patterns into three main categories.
“I’m not that easy an opponent.”
One of them…
Delphine keeps talking to break focus, using deployed magic to obscure vision.
Then, in that gap, he quietly prepares the next spell.
But…
I have 【Laplace’s Eye】.
Shallow tricks like that don’t work on me.
─────!!
The dagger, writhing with tuned mana, stabbed into the magic circle the moment it flew…
And the casting spell dissolved into nothing mid-air.
“This feels a bit unfair. Should’ve banned artifacts after all.”
Plus…
Before this duel started, I’d downed a potion.
A prototype from Caramel.
A potion that temporarily delays the pain of 【Stigma】.
I’d grabbed it along with the dagger.
“Should’ve banned regular potions too.”
Delphine had no idea about my situation anyway.
No real reason to hold back.
Swoosh…
I brought my hand to the mask’s edge.
My personal ready stance for 【Word Spirit】.
【Word Spirit】 wasn’t just some magic spell.
A power that engraves meaning into “language” itself.
Etching “words” into the world, hardening them into “reality.”
And…
“…Speed (速)”
Whoosh…!
The wind exploded.
My body vanished in an instant, slicing through the air.
Before Delphine’s eyes could track me…
I was already behind him.
“Of course… I figured you’d do that, Student Adel.”
The moment Delphine muttered, the reverse-gripped dagger plunged toward his back.
But… at his feet, a completed magic circle already glowed.
…Snap.
Delphine snapped his fingers… and the circle’s light erupted.
“……!”
I ducked low, twisting the dagger’s path.
The instant the blade tip pierced the circle…
The light faded instantly, and the spell dissolved into nothing.
‘…As fast as possible.’
My strength is destructive power.
Durability? Paper-thin.
Glass cannon.
If I don’t end it in one go, I shatter first.
…Meanwhile, Delphine’s a mage.
The type who squeezes maximum results from minimal expenditure.
- Zzzt…
Bent low, I swung my elbow back, pulling 【Leviathan】 from my inventory.
Its weight and centrifugal force yanked my arm, spinning my body along with it.
“…Oh.”
- Boom…!!
【Leviathan】 slammed into Delphine’s basic barrier.
The sudden clash rang in my ears like tinnitus.
…Whoosh.
I instantly returned 【Leviathan】 to my inventory and thrust the dagger at his barrier again.
Clang…!!
Glass shattering.
Delphine’s spell broke, and the blade aimed to pierce his chest.
But…
“Didn’t see this coming, did you, Student Adel?”
“……!”
My wrist was caught in Delphine’s hand.
No matter how I struggled… the strength gap between us was clear, and the next instant…
Boom!
“Gah…!”
My body flipped, back slamming into the ground.
Ignoring the pain spreading from my back… I gritted my teeth and activated 【Silence Walker】.
“Vanishing again, I see.”
…Didn’t expect that.
A fatal mistake.
I’d assumed Delphine couldn’t handle close quarters—never used martial arts in student duels.
[ 【Illusion】 disengages! ]
The ring on my finger dissolved into mist, reforming as a mask.
I layered it over my existing one.
[ Equipped 【Dreamlike Mask】. ]
I… brought my hand to the mask’s edge again.
“…Wind (風)”
Rooooar…!
A gale whipped up around Delphine.
At the same time, I spat out something—blood or whatever.
Probably from chaining two 【Word Spirits】 in a day.
Caramel’s potion was hitting its limit.
‘…….’
But this was Veronica’s subspace.
No direct wounds…
The problem was the backlash after leaving.
“How long do you plan to hide?”
…Snap.
Delphine snapped his fingers again.
《Ice / Intermediate Magic》
「Polar Fragments」
Ice shards mixed into the raging storm.
The subspace temperature plummeted in seconds.
“Hoo…”
White breath scattered.
Suppressing my pounding heart…
I prepared to end this in one strike.
“…….”
Ranged fights with Delphine were nearly impossible.
Mana control, precision, efficiency… all realms I couldn’t touch.
So, unique magic 「Horizon of Events」 was sealed for now.
If pushed to the brink… self-destruct it is.
“…Tch.”
In the end, I could only rely on…
Leviathan’s manifestation or 【Void Dragon】’s defense ignore.
I brought my hand to the mask’s edge again.
Steady breath, tune mana to a single point.
“…Speed (速)”
Roooar…!
Vision warped instantly.
My body hurtled toward the storm’s center, winds slicing like blades.
[ 【Illusion】 activates. ]
Crackle—
The ice shards distorted en masse, morphing into copies of me, all charging Delphine.
Dozens of “mes” swarming him—an illusion.
“Whoa… when did you multiply like this, Student Adel?”
Delphine chuckled playfully, raising a finger.
…Snap.
The snap of his finger.
‘….’
But I knew.
Delphine snaps on every spell cast—like a trigger.
Mixed with fakes… bluffs in between.
Simple psychological warfare to deceive eyes and ears…
Blending real and fake to disrupt casting, throw off responses.
Plus, at this range, spells would hit him too.
But…
“But, Student Adel…”
“……!!”
“You’ve done quite the research on me, haven’t you?”
As Delphine spoke,
Countless ice shards gathered at his fingertips.
And… those fingers pointed at me.
“So… I decided to turn that against you.”
…I suddenly recalled Veronica’s words.
That Delphine and I were alike.
But…
I give bone to take bone.
Delphine… gives flesh to take bone.
Both accept calculated losses to strike the core… but methods differ.
《Ice / Supreme Magic》
Crackle—
Delphine’s body began to freeze.
And simultaneously…
「White Dwarf」
A small, cold star formed at Delphine’s fingertips.
Swollen like a giant moon…
It hurtled toward me, plummeting from the storm’s heart toward Delphine.
“Urk…!”
My body froze.
The chill enveloping me defied even mana.
But… through 【Laplace’s Eye】, the mana flows.
Spotting one gap within, I twisted mana threads to widen it.
─────Whoosh!!
Shifted trajectory with the dagger…
Lost balance from the impact, crashing to the ground sprawling.
“Whoa? You dodged that.”
Snow was falling in the subspace now.
And…
Thud!
I yanked 【Leviathan】 out and slammed it into the ground…
Twisting abyssal waves churned at my feet.
“Know this, Student Adel?”
Fwoosh…
A tiny flame sparked at Delphine’s fingertips.
“I could only use basic spells like 「Fireball」 and 「Iceball」.”
The flame grew…
A sun rose.
“But… spamming just those two to death, I realized something one day.”
《Fire / Supreme Magic》
“‘Lowest’… is just the starting point to become ‘highest.’”
「Red Giant」
“So… try blocking this.”
His fingertips didn’t aim at me.
Delphine looked up, pointing at the sky.
“……!”
I reflexively glanced skyward.
And there… the still-lingering 「White Dwarf」.
The frozen moon floated, emanating extreme cold.
“Unique magic.”
《Frostflame / Unique Magic》
Sun and moon.
Red star and white corpse.
「Red Giant」 and 「White Dwarf」.
The moment the opposing stars collided…
I gritted my teeth and twisted 【Leviathan】.
But…
“Supernova.”
「Supernova」
───────!!!
A choking roar.
All air expanded at once… cold condensed to extremes, heat soared to limits…
The world… exploded.
***
…Squish.
“Really… persistent.”
From the narrowly cracked abyss rift, my body oozed out.
Barely alive, unbelievably…
But Delphine was in the same boat.
Beeep─────
Tinnitus tore at my ears…
My whole body screamed.
“…….”
Got careless?
…No, never once arrogant.
Every judgment on solid ground, every action calculated.
‘…Then.’
Did I not give my all?
‘……….’
………No.
I hadn’t even shown my best—nothing yet.
-Mask!
…Tap.
Something touched the mask.
-Call!
Bee—
In the tinnitus gaps… layered echoes resounding.
Assailing my ears: spirits’ voices.
“This… isn’t this too much?”
Delphine’s face twisted in genuine disgust.
He stepped back with a wry smile…
──────!!
…Too late.
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【Call of Echoes】
The cries of lost spirits echo in your ears.
: Summons a spirit.
Reach out your hand.
Spirits will never ignore your call.
Light or darkness, as you desire…
All will answer your summons.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
I reached out.
And to that call, the echoes in my ears converged as one.
Light or darkness…
All existences… would answer me.