Chapter 254
Chapter 254
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 254
Chapter Title: A Different Sky (4)
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As Ataraxia's integration level surpassed fifty percent, the students couldn't bear the heat from their bracelets and cried out in pain.
Mark also spun his bracelet around and asked Amy.
“Senior! Are you sure this thing is safe?”
Amy was also breaking out in a cold sweat.
Honestly, she couldn't be sure. Even when the most flamboyant magic users in the graduating class fought, the bracelets had never gotten this hot. It was clear that the Icheonbeon couldn't handle the sheer volume of information from Ataraxia.
“I don't know either. Be careful, it might explode.”
“Y-You can't be serious...”
Despite that, Amy's gaze was fixed on the Icheonbeon. It was a determination to see the result, even if her bracelet exploded.
At that, Mark followed his senior's lead and ignored it. What was a minor burn in the face of a clash between geniuses of the century?
At that moment, Dante surprisingly deactivated his Automaton. If he let things continue, Shirone's magic circle would be completed, and the tense balance of power would shatter.
Iruki was purely impressed.
“An excellent choice. He's even reading the flow of the battle.”
It's difficult to abandon a trump card strategy. Onlookers could say whatever they wanted, but for the combatant who had put everything on the line, the inertia of their commitment was not easily broken.
But Dante broke it.
Knowing that being swept away by the opponent's momentum was the most fatal mistake in battle, he had once again stepped into the unknown. This judgment alone proved that Dante was indeed a genius.
*Damn it! I've come this far, I will not lose!*
Dante converted his Spirit Zone to Sniper Mode. Nearly a hundred amplification magic circles extended in a straight line in front of him.
The Hundred-Layer Ultra-Precision Serial Magic Circle.
The magic circles rotated around an imaginary axis, tightening.
In this sleek, serial structure designed solely for power amplification, not even a millimeter of error was permissible.
With the Automaton deactivated, Shirone could focus on Ataraxia. But his heart sank into despair.
If things had gone as planned, victory would have been his. But Dante had created another variable.
*You're incredible, Dante. Then again, I would have done the same...*
Now, it was a race to see who could construct their magic circle first.
Dante's Hundred-Layer circle had a much shorter activation time than Ataraxia, but Shirone had already integrated over seventy percent of the information through time-division.
A smile formed on Dante's lips. Hundreds of magic circles had vanished, but Pascal was still intact.
“This is the difference between you and me.”
Shirone realized something he had overlooked and glanced down. A spatial transfer magic circle was already inscribed beneath his feet.
Shirone's body sank into the ground, then reappeared in the sky, falling headfirst toward the exact same spot.
“Damn it! He had a trick like that!”
Nade slammed his fist down in frustration. Dante could attack at will while still constructing his Hundred-Layer circle.
Of course, this was just an onlooker's critique, but if he wanted to win, he should have definitely been more careful.
Iruki sighed in resignation. Shirone had demonstrated incredible skill. It was just that Dante had one more, very minor, trick up his sleeve.
“It was a good match. We have to admit it.”
Nade's fists trembled with frustration. He didn't hate Dante; he hated Dante's perfection.
“That bastard. He deliberately chose spatial transfer magic.”
“The Icheonbeon registers active magic as a block. An attack spell would have given Shirone a chance to endure it. So he went for a physical blow. A testament to the kingdom's best defense, I suppose.”
In that time, Dante's Hundred-Layer circle was completed. A Fire Strike was then loaded at the start of the amplification tunnel.
Having regained his composure, Dante smiled and said.
“This is the end—!”
Dante's words were cut short.
Puzzled, the students followed Dante's gaze. Then their eyes widened in shock.
Even though Shirone had lost consciousness, Ataraxia remained in place.
*Ping.*
A single drop of information fell into the halo.
*Ping. Ping, ping.*
Another drop. And then two more.
*Pingpingpingpingpingpingpingpingping!*
Eventually, light began to pour in at a tremendous speed.
The halo's rotation accelerated, and a brilliant, five-colored light filled it, moving too fast for the eye to follow.
Olivia shot to her feet in disbelief.
“Impossible! The information is imagining itself!”
Alpheas was just as surprised. But if one knew whose ability Shirone's Ataraxia was, such a phenomenon was only natural.
“It's not human logic. It's an information system that begins to think for itself the moment it crosses a critical point. Is that not why it is called the magic of the Celestial Realm?”
Olivia asked back, bewildered.
“Magic of the Celestial Realm? What are you talking about?”
Alpheas held his tongue. She would find out eventually after this duel, but at this moment, the heavens were not what mattered.
“We've finally reached the destination. The match will be decided here.”
As if telling her not to miss a good show, Alpheas gestured toward the Icheonbeon with his chin, and Olivia turned her head.
Shirone, having regained consciousness, slowly stood up. As he lowered his head, a burst of light erupted in front of him, creating the photons for a Photon Cannon. A single Photon Cannon, forged with his last shred of mental energy.
“Damn it!”
Dante barely suppressed the urge to scream and fired the Fire Strike. The spear of burning air pierced through the magic circles, growing in size.
At that moment, the magic circle in front of Shirone was complete.
Super Mana Amplification Circle, Ataraxia.
Shirone watched the Fire Strike, amplified by the Hundred-Layer circle, surge toward him. And into the heart of that inferno, he fired the Photon Cannon.
The scene of the photons passing through Ataraxia registered in everyone's eyes as if in slow motion.
And the moment it finally crossed the line.
*FLASH!*
The world was filled with light.
Everything beyond Ataraxia was swept away by a storm of immense mass.
The momentary flash registered slightly slower in people's perception, and ripples in the air became visible, pushing everything away as if peeling off the very skin of space.
*Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!*
At the same time, a series of shattering glass sounds erupted where the students were gathered. The information processing had overloaded, causing all the crystal orbs on the bracelets to burst. The Icheonbeon stopped working, and the simulated landscape vanished.
Like a midsummer night's dream, the spectacular scene was gone, leaving only the dry physical blocks in view.
No one spoke.
They were too busy trying to comprehend the magic they had just witnessed to think of anything else. Even the instructors had never seen magic of such a massive scale.
All eyes were focused on Shirone and Dante.
Seeing the two of them standing steadfast at the same distance as before, the students began to murmur.
The variable was that Dante had not fallen.
Shirone's magic was of a power that no one could block. The fact that the amount of information exceeded the Icheonbeon's memory was proof enough. If this had been a real battle, the existence known as Dante would have been erased without a trace.
But this was the Icheonbeon, and Dante was standing.
Even at fifty percent synchronization, if the anti-magic had registered, he should have already lost consciousness.
Perhaps the Icheonbeon's system had crashed before the impact registered. If so, determining a winner and loser would be a bit forced.
Considering it was a duel between students held at the academy, it was highly likely the faculty would end the situation by declaring it a beautiful draw.
But that was not what Shirone's friends, nor any of the students who had watched the battle, wanted.
Shirone and Dante had fought a legendary match that could go down in history.
It was a selfish thought, but the students present wanted their memory to have a definitive conclusion.
Shirone gasped for breath, glaring at Dante. With the Icheonbeon gone, he could only watch, but in truth, he was so exhausted he could do little more than breathe.
“Haha...”
Dante let out a dry laugh. But he too was so exhausted that words wouldn't come out easily. He struggled to take a step, but ultimately stopped after failing to take even three.
His voice leaked from between his slightly parted lips.
“You...”
At that moment, blood gushed from Dante's nose. His eyes gradually lost their light, and then, like a great tree falling, he collapsed to the floor right where he stood.
Iruki said in a trembling voice.
“It registered. The anti-magic hit before the system shut down.”
Iruki's voice was quiet, but it spread from student to student as if by telepathy.
“He lost, right? Dante really lost?”
“I think so? Dante... *the* Dante, lost.”
At that moment, as if under mass hypnosis, all the students stood up and erupted in cheers. The sound waves mixed, causing the air in the hall to vibrate powerfully.
“Shirone won! Shirone beat the kingdom's best, Dante!”
Mark finally came back to his senses. Hearing the students' shouts, he felt his tension release, only for another emotion to pound in his chest.
This was the moment Shirone became the kingdom's biggest star.
“Waaaaah! Senior Shirone won! Now you all know who's the best, right? Huh? Bring it on! If anyone else wants to challenge him, come on!”
Mark cheered as if he himself had won. Dante's friends were sitting right next to him with chilly expressions, but with so much adrenaline pumping, such trivial thoughts had long since been erased from his mind.
Killine muttered as if in a dream.
“My god... Dante...”
It was an unbelievable result. But the sight of Dante, his face buried in the cold physical blocks, was an undeniable fact.
473 battles, 472 wins.
And 1 loss.
It was the first defeat Dante had ever experienced since entering the world of magic, and the end of a ten-year undefeated streak.
Olivia, buried in the sound of students' cheers from all sides, remained in her seat with a calm expression.
She was worried about Dante but had to remain neutral for now.
Shina checked on Dante and gave a signal that he was okay. Only then did a small sigh escape her lips.
*So, Dante lost.*
She had never once doubted Dante's victory. But strangely, now that he had lost, she felt no emotional turmoil.
Perhaps it was because it didn't feel real yet, but the duel had been so incredible that it was easy to think of the outcome as inevitable.
*I have to acknowledge it. Dante gave it his all. Shirone was stronger. That's all. But...*
The magic Shirone had cast at the end. What in the world was that power? Based on its nature, it was clearly Shirone's specialty, Photon Cannon.
But she could say with certainty that it was no ordinary Photon Cannon.
It was a level of power that even she, a specialist in incantation magic, would have to be determined to unleash. No, putting power aside, the problem was the amplification, which defied common sense. To elevate a student-level Photon Cannon to the power of an archmage was something even she couldn't do.
Olivia looked back at Alpheas. As expected, he said nothing, which meant he must have known from the beginning.
Was the reason he had looked forward to the duel with Dante a desire to see a miracle that had only a minuscule chance of occurring? Like a boy rubbing his hands together in front of an exciting new toy.
*That crafty old fox. He completely played me, didn't he?*
Olivia ground her teeth in frustration. But Alpheas, whom she had expected to gloat and tease her, remained silent for a long time, lost in thought.
*Was it really this powerful?*
Super Mana Amplification Circle, Ataraxia.
He had some expectations after hearing the tales of Shirone's exploits, but seeing its power with his own eyes was different from hearing about it.
Above all, this was a duel held under the supervision of the Kingdom Teachers' Association. A special correspondent was here, along with video recording devices.
With this much, there was no way the royal castle wouldn't make a move.