Chapter 155: Eliminated (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 155: Eliminated (6)
Ellen — This is Aura...! (Not really)
It was mere coincidence that Ellen witnessed the Sword Emperor’s blade.
Or perhaps, it was a fate bestowed upon him.
Unlike a certain someone, he had no reason or need to care about the other students. He hadn't even noticed the dark mage who had fallen right in front of him.
Driven by curiosity toward the massive storm of mana he felt from afar, he had gone to investigate. As a result, he was able to appreciate the Sword Emperor’s blade in its purest form.
A blade that shone brilliantly, like starlight.
Simply infusing a sword with mana.
Refining that further to create Sword Energy.
And going even further to reach Aura, which was said to be able to cut through anything—it was all just mana in the end.
“Beautiful…”
It wasn't that Ellen was seeing the Sword Emperor’s Aura for the first time. He had seen it often while receiving lessons alongside Adam, and he had tried to imitate it several times already.
However, there was only one reason Ellen felt such beauty from the Sword Emperor’s blade now.
It wasn't just a simple display of Aura; it was being used to destroy McGregor’s grand magic.
In other words, it wasn't a simple demonstration for the students. While not his full power, it was being used in actual combat. On top of that, the fragments of magic being shattered were creating a visual masterpiece.
To put it bluntly, it was a WWE performance by the two head professors for the sake of the students.
Simply put, the whole thing was staged.
And that was why it was beautiful.
The ignorant students were impressed by the mere appearance of it, but to Ellen, whose genius allowed him to see beyond the surface, it looked like a masterpiece of a painting.
The mana covering the world and the mana crushing it.
Reading the flow of mana that burst forth as it was shattered by the impact, Ellen felt the beauty, and…
“…A painting.”
Through that, he gained an epiphany.
Yes, a painting.
Using the tip of the sword as a brush and mana as the ink to draw a picture.
Not being bound by what he had learned until now. Being free.
I thought Aura was simply the compression of Sword Energy…
Even mages knew how to simply infuse a sword with mana. Even Daisy had done something similar when she first picked up a sword.
Of course, not every mage could easily imbue objects with mana, but those with good intuition could do it without much trouble.
But Sword Energy was different.
There was a reason people said you had to refine mana or hone it to a sharp edge.
And for the next stage, Aura, many described the process as compressing that refined mana over and over again, like a master craftsman forging a legendary sword to its absolute limit.
That wasn't it!
Naturally, that was total bullshit.
If the Sword Emperor had heard Ellen’s thoughts, that’s exactly what he would have said.
Aura was indeed the compression of Sword Energy.
That was why, without an epiphany, one couldn't create it no matter how much mana they had. Conversely, even if one had the epiphany, it was difficult to create true Aura if their innate mana was lacking.
However, Ellen—a genius born with the greatest talent for the sword in this world—began to create Aura through a completely nonsensical epiphany.
And the bloodline and wealth of the Leon Royal Family, known as the Kingdom of Knights and the Realm of the Sword, provided him with a massive amount of mana that no one his age could ever hope to possess.
The result of combining insane talent with a silver spoon was this:
“This is Aura…!”
Abandoning his previous clumsy attempts at compressing mana, Ellen created his own version of Aura.
Naturally, this was also total bullshit.
Suppose there were a hundred Sword Masters gathered here. Ninety-nine of them would have looked at the "something" fluttering from Ellen’s sword—the thing claiming to be Aura—and reacted exactly like the Academy students who had witnessed Adam Smith’s "magic."
But, unfortunately.
At this very moment, most of the people here were Academy students weaker than Ellen.
“Hahahaha!”
And the only expert capable of calling him out, the Sword Master and Sword Emperor Aren, was the only human among those hundred Sword Masters who would say, “Well, that counts as Aura too, so isn't it just Aura?”
And so, the Sword Emperor’s blade clashed with Ellen’s.
It was a battle that occurred at least a year earlier than the events in the original work Violet spoke of.
The swords clashed, and the shockwave was anything but ordinary.
Even though I was close by, the shockwave was more intense than when the head professor of the Magic Department was destroying magic. For a moment, I lost my bearings.
“…Huh?”
Flutter. I saw something flying toward me.
At first glance, it looked like a butterfly fluttering lightly. No, it felt more like cherry blossoms drifting in the spring breeze…
“What the fuck?”
It was Aura.
I hurriedly drew my sword and swung it with all my might.
“What?!”
It felt like I was trying to push a mountain away with my sword. Terrified, I had no choice but to retreat.
“Is he insane?!”
I almost died.
For the sake of the exam, the school uniforms already had significant defensive functions, and they had been further treated with various magic. That was why the students could afford to be a bit more reckless.
But this was on a different level.
As proof:
“Does picking up a sword cause your intelligence to drop?!”
Professor McGregor, the head of the Magic Department, shouted a slur against swordsmen in front of everyone, but I didn't say a word in protest.
Ellen’s sword was definitely a dwarf-made blade from the royal treasury, not a magic sword with special functions. It was just a sharp, sturdy sword.
But right now, if someone told me it had an item option that gave -50 Intelligence, I would have nodded in agreement.
“This isn't even Senbonzakura…”
Unrefined Aura scattered and drifted in the wind.
The problem, again, was that Prince Ellen’s sword wasn't a Zanpakuto; it was just a damn sturdy dwarf-made sword.
In other words, it didn't have a function to automatically control the fluttering Aura.
That meant he had to control the Aura manually, but it seemed Prince Ellen, who had just awakened and was currently battering down the door to becoming a Sword Master with a battering ram, had neither the ability nor the presence of mind to do so.
What did that mean?
“Aaaagh!”
“Get it together! Don't leave my domain!”
If it hadn't been for a Grand Mage capable of handling Aura—namely, Professor McGregor—this could have turned into a major catastrophe with actual casualties.
“……”
I could tell by looking at the corpse of the presumed dark mage, which was being turned into "something that used to be human" by the fluttering shards of Aura that hadn't been blocked.
I felt a chill run down my spine.
In a world where dark mages aren't treated as human, even I—someone who could slit a dark mage's throat without hesitation—was thinking, That’s a bit much…
In fact, several students were actually gagging after seeing that scene.
“Was it like this in the original?”
“…Do you even have to ask?”
I checked with Violet, and as expected, it wasn't.
“Ellen was a typical knight, in both good and bad ways. The standard of standards…”
Violet stared at Ellen, who was exchanging blows with the Sword Emperor, with hollow eyes.
“…So why did a SkullGreymon pop out instead of a MetalGreymon?”
Of course, that was just an analogy.
It wasn't that Ellen had undergone a dark evolution. He was just in a state similar to a "Qi Deviation" in martial arts terms, which sometimes happens to those trying to break through a wall.
That was why the Sword Emperor had rushed to Ellen immediately.
To be honest… at first, I thought he just rushed in because he was excited that Ellen had broken through the wall.
But it seemed he was trying to stop his disciple and junior’s rampage as the head professor of the Swordsmanship Department and a senior of the blade…
“Hahaha! This is fun! Such a free sword! How did Dike end up with a son like this?!”
“……”
Never mind. He just jumped in to play.
I really can't read that man.
Fortunately, seeing the "Senbonzakura" petals gradually decreasing, it seemed it would be over soon.
“Aaaagh! Another one’s coming!”
“Professor, block it properly!”
“You little brats! You’re from the Swordsmanship Department, aren't you?! If you don't like it, go outside and ask your own professor to protect you!”
“No, Professor McGregor! Swordsmanship students are Academy students too!”
“This is discrimination! Discrimination!”
“Swordsmen are people too!”
“Shut up!”
For the time being, a temporary truce was established between the Swordsmanship and Magic Departments.
It wasn't the "Clash of the Titans" between me and Boradori, nor was it the "Let's just beat everyone up" method of the two head professors. It had turned into a game of avoiding a natural disaster.
Well, once this is over…
“What are you doing?”
I asked Violet, who was stuffing her Badge of Survival—which was supposed to be worn on a designated area—into her cleavage. I looked at her with an expression that said I had lost what little sanity I had left after the Prince Ellen incident.
“Preventing a surprise attack?”
Watching Violet shove it deep inside and give me a look that said "Take it if you can," I had no choice but to just flip her the bird.
To cut to the chase, Ellen’s rampage finally ended after he exhausted all his mana.
When asked why he let him use up all his mana, the Sword Emperor replied:
“Why didn't I knock him out? Because if you lose consciousness during a rampage, you often lose all self-control entirely.”
He explained that if one becomes completely unconscious, the rampage can sometimes worsen.
And Violet’s plan…
“Kyaaaak! This is sexual harassment! He-help! Not there! Where are you touching?!”
…was a total failure.
In technical terms, she was being "handled roughly."
“This girl put the sacred Badge of Survival in a place like that?”
“It’s annoying that it actually stays hidden there.”
“Wow. It’s bigger than I thought!”
“Is this what they call a mana pouch?”
Naturally, due to physical characteristics, women are generally much weaker than men by average standards. This is a difference stemming from physical traits, and except for a few special cases, it was an absolute rule.
But what kind of world was this?
It was a world where mana was more important than muscle.
Of course, physical training, including muscle building, could never be excluded. But if you had mana, it helped with the stamina needed to consistently perform that physical training.
Because of that, the ratio of women in the Swordsmanship Department wasn't that low.
While it wasn't as high as the Magic Department, where the ratio of women to men was at least 6:4 or sometimes 7:3, the Swordsmanship Department still had a ratio of about 7:3 in favor of men.
So, while everyone was dazed, watching the incredible battle between the Sword Emperor and Ellen and Professor McGregor’s tearful struggle to minimize the damage, I had secretly approached the girls from the Swordsmanship Department.
“Hey, Violet hid her Badge of Survival in her chest.”
“…Isn't that a violation?”
“She said she was doing it so I wouldn't launch a surprise attack since we’re in a temporary truce.”
“Ah.”
“I guess.”
“If the opponent is Adam, she might think that…”
“……?”
What the hell.
Did I come to the Magic Department kids instead of the Swordsmanship Department?
When I made that face, they responded:
“So, didn't you come here to tell us to jump her as soon as this is over?”
“I did, but…”
“And you’re making that face after saying that?”
“Your conscience…”
“Still, as a classmate, I’ll pray for you. Please, just die of natural causes.”
“If the Magic Department assassinates me, isn't that a natural cause?”
“I guess that can't be helped.”
“……?”
There were some minor incidents.
“…I’ve been defiled.”
In the end, the Swordsmanship Department succeeded in their revival by taking down the enemy leader, Violet.
…This was the story of the 5th day, with two more days of the exam still remaining.