Won't You Learn the Heavenly Maiden Divine Art!!
"Won't you learn the Heavenly Maiden Divine Art!!"
"…It's too uncomfortable."
"What is?"
I was studying in the library with Spear when I suddenly muttered that.
"I feel like I'm going insane because I can't use my mana."
Once you've gotten used to wielding mana in the past and then suddenly lose it, the inconveniences pile up endlessly. Especially now that my mana detection is gone, I keep getting startled way too often. Nero's curse serves as a decent substitute, but a curse is just that—a substitute. Mana has its own unique roles.
"But you said there's nothing you can do about it, right? I overheard you whining to Rain about how you tried everything to get rid of Principal Skaya's mana, but it just wouldn't budge."
"You heard that?"
Honestly, the whining was a bit embarrassing. But it was true—nothing worked. For starters, unlike Skaya's mana, this stuff had zero fluidity. It was so rigid, you could mistake it for a damn rock.
"Did you go see Principal Skaya?"
"…You wanna hear her answer?"
"Yes."
"'I believe you'll figure it out. Go for it!'"
"No, what about the process leading up to that conclusion?"
"That's the process and the conclusion. Looks like you don't know Skaya all that well yet."
At the entrance ceremony, most students thought Skaya had held back a lot, but her "restraint" was just enough to keep us from dying. Minel and I, who blocked her attacks directly, knew that bone-deep. But no one else would believe it. With her image carefully crafted as an eccentric but ultimately benevolent figure, they'd probably just call me a liar.
"She said she believes you'll pull it off… Probably because of her unique mana blocking the flow, right?"
"Yeah, Dominion Mana. It only listens to its master, Skaya—it's a bitch of a power."
"So, what's the mechanism that makes her mana move?"
Mechanism? I racked my brain, but I'd never heard anything like that. Skaya herself was a freakishly rare case where her unique mana manifested from birth, so there were no comparisons. No one to benchmark against.
"Do you know what your own unique mana is?"
"Destruction."
The trait—annihilation of those weaker or inferior in capacity than me—honestly suited a berserker more than a hero, but I'd made decent use of it. It synergized brutally well with my fire-attribute mana that devoured weaker flames.
"Then how about destroying Skaya's mana with your own?"
"Impossible right now. Not just the massive gap in raw capacity between her mana and mine—even if I wanted to scratch it, I'd need to add a compression step to my mana refinement process. But Skaya's mana sure as hell won't sit idly by while I do that."
Compression? Hell, the moment mana generation kicked in, it'd react, suck it all up in an instant, and expand its territory even further. I'd be handing over what little space my mana circuits had left on a silver platter.
"What about some special magic tool? Something that zeros out mana entirely, or a demonic sword that forcibly absorbs it to grow stronger?"
"You think something that convenient…?"
"Right? No way something that OP exists. Let's just keep studying."
"It does."
"…Huh?"
"It exists!!"
Not a demonic sword, but a magic tool nonetheless!!!
"Follow me!!"
"No, I'll just stay here solving math problems…"
"Is math more important than this?!"
"To me, yeah?!"
I dragged Spear to the academy's small lake. It was supposedly the sacred site where the Three Great Heroes received their holy swords, revered as such—but the thing living here wasn't some holy fairy or noble angel.
"Nero."
"Blast it."
She was a total shut-in who hated leaving her room more than anything. Disrupt her deep sleep like the heroes did, wreck her hideout, and out she came.
A wish-granting fairy, basically. As Nero gathered curses laced with physical force at my command, Spear had already retreated to a safe distance, cracking open a book. Where'd she even pull that from?
"This time, let's add a proper launch formula…!!"
Whooooom!!!
The heavily compressed curse formed into a black orb, then slowly morphed into a sharp arrowhead shape.
…She won't die, right?!
I averted my eyes in unease and fired the curse. One second after it vanished into the water… two… three…
BOOOOM!!!
"Whoa, pretty."
"…Do people usually say that when something explodes underwater?"
It was beautiful. No fireworks spectacle, but the eardrum-rattling burst sent water droplets arcing into the sky, refracting sunlight into a shimmering seven-colored rainbow. A sight to behold.
If only what I was after hadn't been down there. Shame.
"A… fairy?"
"Something like that."
The fairy before us was… well, not exactly glamorous. Her outfit was worlds apart from commoner clothes: a massive garment with a hood dangling from the neck, paired with shorts so tiny they evoked men's underwear. Bluntly put, she looked less like a fairy and more like a whore—or a beggar, with all the dirt caked on her body.
"Do we really have to do it this way?"
"Otherwise, she won't come out."
Wait, I thought fairies came from Apollo's body?
Take that up with the historians, not me. I didn't invent history.
"Anyway, time to wake her up properly?"
Should I slap her cheek?
"Heavens! Who dares think of striking the cheek of Vivian, the lake fairy?! Unforgivable!!"
Back then, I'd played along with her theatrics and groveled like a slave to win her favor and snag the item. Looking back, it was pathetic.
"Hey."
"Hey?! How dare you use casual speech with Vivian, fairy of the lake!!! The Arondight I bestowed upon the hero shall smite you!!!"
Shut up.
"Spear, want any magic tools?"
"…Anything that boosts focus or stops random thoughts?"
"First one's negotiable, but the second's a cursed item. No dice."
"Don't underestimate it!!!"
"Enough. Do your job, Lake Fairy?"
"Hmph! You rude lot aren't worthy of my magic tools!!"
"Sigh, why you gotta be like this?"
Is she sulking because I won't play along? A being who's probably lived thousands of years acting like this?
"If you wish for my magic tools, you must fully comprehend and inherit my Heavenly Maiden Divine Art…"
"Nero, boil up some curse."
Heavenly Maiden Divine Art, my ass. I get where she pulled the name from, but damn, what a lazy knockoff.
"Y-You!! Using witchcraft on me?!"
"Witchcraft? Give me a break!!!!"
"Try scratching me!? I'll destroy my treasures on the spot!"
Now threats? Fine, threats deserve threats.
"Whatever. Magic tool…"
"I said no!!!!!"
Sigh, this is getting annoying… Should've played along if I knew she'd throw this big a fit…
As I scratched my head with a quiet sigh, Spear—still reading her book behind me—tapped my shoulder and shot me a "leave it to me" look.
What’s she—
"Fairy lady, oh fairy lady."
"What?! Have you finally come to learn Vivian's Heavenly Maiden Divine Art…?"
"Do you know about this thing called math?"
Oof, Vivian's in trouble now.