The Deception (Conclusion)
When I heard the words "Shock-Wave," I realized how much I had underestimated him.
···No, I hadn't underestimated him at all. I had even considered the possibility of a counterattack.
The only thing was that his casting speed and the speed at which he drew the magic circle far exceeded my expectations.
The power and range were the only advantages low-level Sign magic had.
It was all about the "speed" that allowed activation with just a hand gesture.
I had planned to use that to shoot a Spark through the tiny gap in the Barrier.
Once the gap appeared, I would widen it further into a bigger one.
But Ferdan had anticipated that too. Instead of waiting, he fired a Shock-Wave at me the moment he saw the opportunity.
I twisted my body in mid-air to avoid the shock hitting my entire abdomen, but...
It seemed my internal organs had taken the hit, and I vomited blood.
Still, I didn't think I was going to lose.
I had survived countless fights worse than this, and I had come out victorious every single time.
Even though my opponent was a mage and I could barely use my Sign at full speed with such a weak body.
Yet I didn't think I was going to lose even a little bit.
"I won?"
With a triumphant smile, I grabbed Ferdan's collar and yanked him up.
After all, Shields were a product of magic. If the caster's concentration broke, the Shield would vanish immediately.
So I closed in and shook his brain with a Sound-Wave.
Of course, I was exposed to even more direct influence from the Sound-Wave than Ferdan.
Well, knights are supposed to endure that kind of thing with guts and determination.
"In this close range, can you beat a knight?"
"I can't... but..."
I swallowed the blood that filled my mouth again.
Was the shock to my internal organs stronger than I thought? Or was my body just that weak, vomiting blood from even minor impacts?
Maybe it was because I had forced the Sign to burn through the air before I was trapped in the ice.
Cluck. As I spat out the blood, Ferdan slipped his arm inside the one I was holding his collar with.
"What? Are you going to try something?!"
Whoosh!
Before I could even finish speaking, Ferdan smacked my hand that was gripping his collar with a force a mage shouldn't have, then backed away to create distance.
But I didn't let him keep that distance. I didn't think a trick used once would fail twice, and with my stomach feeling worse than usual, I stubbornly followed right after.
Clang, clang!
As Ferdan retreated, I pursued him stubbornly. I swung my sword, but the summoned blade blocked my strike.
So I got even closer.
Close enough that the magic circle couldn't fit. I put all my weight into my toes and charged.
Whoosh!
Ferdan's face was right in front of me.
At that moment, my stomach churned so much I thought I might vomit, so I aimed for his shoulder with a single strike to end it.
At that instant, I felt victory. And so did Dalek.
···Kakakak!
Before Ferdan, panting heavily, could grab his ice sword and flick my sword away.
Dalek froze at the unexpected move.
Even though he was watching from afar, as a mage he thought there was nothing he could do in that situation.
"Hah, huh, hah..."
"···You learned swordsmanship too?"
I was just as surprised.
I hadn't imagined he would pull the sword stuck in the ground and flick my sword away.
"Lord of the Magic Tower said that depending only on magic lets you handle 99% of cases, but for 1%, you can't. So..."
"···Hah."
Even if Dalek couldn't see from far away, I saw the expression that rose on Ferdan's face.
It was a faint smile, but it was definitely there.
After that, we didn't speak.
We were locked in sword clashes only within a narrow space of barely five steps.
Aside from the unpleasant feelings, I could feel the rhythm of the swords clashing as I fought Ferdan.
This kid Ferdan was skilled.
All the advantages Ferdan had shown until now came not from innate magic power, but from the effort he had honed over time.
He had made the speed of his magic casting and building the magic circle so fast that no one else could follow.
Because he knew his own weaknesses even more, most mages had learned to use a sword they didn't hold.
He had considered every possible outcome and, while others only focused on the essence of magic, Ferdan had thought about what a mage could do, how to apply magic, and thought again and again.
How much effort it would have taken to become the successor of the Magic Tower Master.
And after that, how much effort he had poured in to maintain that position.
As I watched his awkward yet researched stance holding the sword, I felt.
'···Amazing.'
Ferdan's arrogant self-righteousness had definitely made me feel unpleasant and irritated, and I was certain his choice had been wrong.
But separate from that, I couldn't help but acknowledge the appearance of a hardworking man he showed.
He had to be thorough himself because he was the successor of the Magic Tower.
He had to be thorough in the image he showed others as the president of the Magic Department.
Even though he was currently carrying out his wrong choice thoroughly, we were fighting.
But right now.
Ferdan was probably already sensing his own defeat.
All his attacks were easily deflected, but mine were all desperately blocked.
Clang! Crack! Boom!
The sound of swords clashing echoed inside the training hall.
After only a few exchanges, Ferdan was barely managing to defend, gradually losing his balance.
···But Dalek saw that his eyes were still alive.
He was curled up, hiding his teeth, receiving attacks.
"The last one is..."
Thrust. Instantly, I widened my stance and pulled my sword back.
I saw the weight on his back foot and the rapid circulation of magic power inside his body, as if he was about to deliver a finishing blow.
At that moment. As if he had targeted that instant, Ferdan accelerated his body quickly.
I didn't have the strength to receive it, and no time to use magic.
I targeted the gap in the timing he had prepared.
At the moment weight was placed on his back foot, I charged forward.
But at that instant, I also quickly kicked off with my toes to move my sword.
Soon, the two swords met in a straight line and collided.
The swords collided with each other. And after the brief clash, their bodies crossed and separated.
"···Huu."
I sighed and leaned my body against the sword.
Cough, cough. I wiped the blood seeping from my lips after a deep cough.
Clang!
At that instant, Ferdan's last defensive sword shattered into pieces.
It had been a sword created through the magic circle, but when it broke, Ferdan stared at the fragments of the sword scattered on the floor with a dazed expression.
"···It seems the result of the duel has come out."
Dalek, watching all the scenes, thought he had witnessed something great.
As a mage, Ferdan's training had been endless, and Lir had broken through that with unconventional methods.
Even the weapon Ferdan had hidden until the very end.
It had been an amazing duel, too good to miss by himself.
In the end, I won because I couldn't beat the limit of "knight versus mage" that I hadn't expected.
But I turned around and asked him, who had a dazed expression.
"It's over. So there is no punishment for me, right?"
"···Yeah. Lir Ostin, as expected, amazing."
"What I was going to say. Compared to other students, no, it surpasses the level of any other student."
I truly thought so.
The towers of their respective departments.
I thought Dalek and Ferdan's levels exceeded that of students.
If they filled in the experiential part, they could go straight to the battlefield without issue, and in a few years they would surely shake the world with their names.
For Ferdan, his arrogant attitude needed to be fixed, but the possibility looked promising enough.
"Cough, cough... Why isn't the blood stopping."
At the center of the gym, Lir sat down, breathing heavily, and wiped the blood flowing from her mouth.
After covering her mouth with the tissues Dalek brought for a long time, the blood finally stopped.
Ferdan, watching the scene, opened his mouth while looking at me.
"Since the president of the Magic Department lost to you, there will be no punishment from the duel's result. Lir Ostin."
"Thinking about it, since I won, there should be some benefit for me, right? This way, I'm barely even."
"···I see. So what do you want?"
"Fix that attitude a bit... No, it's fine. Properly educate those two kids' minds."
Ferdan let out a deep sigh and nodded lightly.
"I'll try doing it. Then I have to go. This place can only be used by the 'Knight Department' anyway."
At those words, I laughed in disbelief.
A strange guy. An incomprehensible strange guy.
There was an indescribable sense of unease that I couldn't quite understand.
Even though I had peeked at his effort, I felt I couldn't fully understand Ferdan's thoughts.
The footsteps going to the dormitory were heavy.
I had decided this would be the way, and the result had come out as I expected, but I still felt a bit sorry for Ferdan's heart.
'It's okay. I won't say I tarnished the honor of the Magic Department with this.'
Ferdan's position was quite troubled.
As the student council president of the Magic Department, he had to work for the Magic Department naturally.
But at the same time, he had no choice but to become the student council president because of traditional regulations.
So if something happened, he had to turn his hand toward the Magic Department.
'That's not fair.'
Earlier, the Magic Department had caused noise twice.
A student named Lir Ostin had threatened two students of the Magic Department, and the rumor spread that she would throw a coffee cup.
Naturally, voices with narrow-minded views pressured Ferdan to take action against her.
Eventually, even though I didn't want to, as his position, he had to consider punishing the student Lir Ostin.
But Ferdan knew that the words from the two students who complained to him weren't very reliable.
So he investigated Lir Ostin's usual behavior through Dalek and some students.
She seemed to be easy to get along with and had her own firm lines, but she concluded she wasn't the type to start fights.
Even though he knew that, in the Magic Department, they didn't consider that.
They pressured me by mobilizing professors and others, demanding punishment for the knight student who tarnished the honor...
'Tricky. From my position.'
Ferdan stared at his swollen hands.
Normally, he had thought of losing reasonably.
But with a level far beyond what he expected and a burning momentum, I caught fire too.
So I enjoyed the spar rather than the duel.
Even though I gave my all and showed even greater skill than usual, I lost cleanly.
But as a result, my mana, which was beyond what I could handle, was used, and the hand with the calluses from holding the sword swelled up, and my shoulder cracked so much it was hard to move.
But in the end, it became exactly what I wanted, and I achieved even more results.
Ferdan smiled with the corners of his mouth lifted.
He had no intention of telling anyone about today's events in detail.
All he would pass on was that the duel decided the winner, and he had lost.
That was all there was to it.