Chapter 383
Chapter 383
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 383
Chapter Title: The Meaning of Survival (5)
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Crunch. Crunch.
At the sound of something approaching, crushing bugs underfoot, Shirone slowly raised his head.
Fermi was walking over, his hands tucked in his pockets. A twisted smile played on his face, which was already more than halfway transformed into a skull.
He crunched on the bugs in his mouth and spat out the shells, causing the students watching through the vision to grimace.
“Ugh!”
It was too much for their stomachs, even just watching it on a screen.
“Fermi is quite formidable, isn't he?”
At Olivia’s words, Colly nodded.
“Yes. Last year, he made it to stage five and became the final survivor. But with Shirone here this time, I can't be sure of the outcome.”
“Hmm…”
Olivia's gaze remained cold.
She knew Fermi had engaged in collusion unrelated to graduation. She just couldn't press him on it without any proof.
‘Just as I thought. He's definitely a Deviant Perceiver.’
If omniscience is recognizing an apple as an apple, the omniscience of a Deviant Perceiver is accepting an apple as a strawberry.
A cognitive distortion powerful enough to deny reality.
Unlike Shirone with his Immortal Function or Gaold with his self-discipline, he could only be seen as a twisted human being from the very start.
Splat!
Shirone's right eye burst as if crushed. A swarm of disgusting maggots then crawled out.
Fermi watched the scene with a nonchalant air, continuously chewing and spitting out bugs.
Despite this, his throat kept tickling.
‘This certainly isn't a pleasant feeling.’
Honestly, he hadn't expected him to last this long.
In all his time in the graduating class, Shirone was the first person to endure to the end of stage five alongside him.
‘I thought he was nothing special…’
Back during the ghost incident, he was just a kid. But in the space of a year, he had grown at an incredible rate to be here now.
‘Should I go… a little further?’
Fermi himself had never been past stage five. With his personality, unconcerned with victory or scores, it wouldn't matter if he stopped here.
But when his opponent was Shirone, it was a different story.
Fermi was the type who wouldn't be satisfied until he had eliminated any obstacle to his business, by any means necessary.
“Looks like we won't settle this here. Let's move on. I wonder what's waiting for us next?”
Spitting, Fermi finished his sentence and spat out another bug.
“…”
Shirone merely remained silent.
The moment his state of Natural Body wavered in the slightest, his mind would be overturned like a sea in a storm.
Splat!
Shirone's remaining eye burst. And with that, stage five, the King of Insects, came to an end.
* * *
“Stage six! Entering the Inferno!”
The voice of Colly, the usually composed evaluation instructor, was trembling with excitement and anxiety.
In his long career as a teacher, this was only the second time a student had reached this point.
The depth of one's enlightenment has no bearing on their level of magic or their age. But the Inferno was a dangerous realm even for an ascetic.
“Th-That's…”
The shadows of flames flickered in the students' eyes. In a world made of nothing but fire, Shirone and Fermi faced each other.
The collars of their clothes began to smolder, then erupted into a roaring blaze that consumed their bodies.
“Ugggh…!”
The students shrank back, their faces pale with horror.
The sight of three-meter-high flames completely incinerating a person was so intense they could feel the heat without even being inside the Virtual Zone.
While pain is normally felt through the nerves, fire directly stimulates them, inducing the absolute threshold of agony.
What was even more horrific was that this was a virtual world where the body was constantly reconstructed.
Fwoooosh! Fwoooosh!
The two of them burned like candles on a candlestick. Their expressions didn't change, but their minds were screaming in agony.
Just because one has crossed the brink of death doesn't mean they have transcended it. Humans are not that strong.
Pain coursed through their bodies, and fear ground against their minds like gears.
‘This is bad. This is truly dangerous.’
Shirone's face began to contort. Even with his Adamant Mind, it was difficult to maintain his composure.
What kind of life had Gaold lived to be able to freely create a hell like this?
But even that thought was swept away and vanished in the face of the horrific, boundless pain.
The students watching through the vision no longer cheered.
It was painful enough just to watch; what must the participants themselves be feeling?
Anyone who shouted words of encouragement now would instantly be branded a psycho.
“Kekeke.”
Fermi watched Shirone's flickering form through the flames. Did he dare try to endure to the end against him?
‘Insolent brat.’
Stage six was difficult for Fermi as well. Had he known it would be this intense, he might have reconsidered his decision.
‘That's what makes it so much more irritating.’
He no longer cared about evaluation scores.
The only thing that mattered was money.
He had to finish Shirone here and now for this year's business to come to a successful fruition.
“You're holding up pretty well. This sauna isn't half bad, is it?”
Shirone didn't have the strength to answer. He just wished this were reality so his body would quickly burn away to nothing.
But cruelly, his body was reconstructed in real time, and his nerve thresholds were reset every moment.
“Why don't you just give up? It's only your fourth week.”
Shirone's face twisted.
His mental state had reached the pinnacle of irritation. He hated everything in the world, and was sick of the very fact that he was alive.
An infinite amount of resentment was building up inside him, enough that just talking to someone could knock him out of the Spirit Zone.
Fermi, being in the same space, surely knew this. That's why he was prodding at his nerves.
In that case, he had to respond in kind.
“Who… who on earth are you?”
The students watching through the vision gulped.
Shirone's question encapsulated all the doubts they'd had during their time in the graduating class.
“Who knows? Who am I?”
Fermi wasn't in a normal state either. But he used his own condition as a mirror to grate on Shirone's nerves even more.
“Why did you attack Amy? Why won't you graduate? What reason does someone with your skill have to remain at the academy?”
“I don't know what you're talking about. I just have a stronger mentality than others, so I can endure it better.”
The students stared blankly at the two's conversation.
Talking about the graduating class while their bodies were on fire. They could only think that both of them had gone mad.
‘It's coming.’
Fermi sensed his limit. His inner soul was raging too fiercely to pretend to be composed.
He couldn't just endure it with a scowl on his face. Would clients flock to him if they saw their star suffering?
‘Public relations are important in business, after all.’
Activating the timer in his head, Fermi walked towards Shirone to offer him one last chance.
“Whatever you're thinking, it's not true. Of course, I know I'm under suspicion. But hey, in the graduating class, isn't it always the one who stands out who gets hit first? That's the natural order of competition.”
Shirone glared at Fermi with burning eyes.
‘I know. And you're using that to your advantage.’
He was concealing his crimes within the students' competitive spirit. It was the same principle as a security guard in a bad mood beating a robber to a pulp on a whim, with no one ever knowing.
He didn't like it, but it was a brilliant strategy.
“Let me give you a piece of advice as your senior in the graduating class. It's not good to stand out too much. You'll end up being eliminated early on.”
The bridge of Shirone's nose wrinkled. The flames pouring from his eyes and mouth seemed to speak for his rage.
“Is that a threat?”
“A threat? It's just advice. Twenty points is a lot. But is it more important than spending another year in the graduating class?”
It was a threat.
He meant that if Shirone didn't give up here, he would make him fail the graduation exam, just as he had done to Amy.
He knew the fate of those targeted by Fermi. Even the great Amy was eliminated early on without any time to prepare a countermeasure.
No matter the event, he would be ganged up on by everyone. A year's worth of effort would vanish into thin air.
Conversely, if he accepted the offer by forfeiting the 20 points, Fermi would surely ensure he passed.
The question, 'Is it more important than spending another year?' was the same as saying he wouldn't have to spend another year.
‘Just give up already, you damn brat. Stop interfering with my business and get the hell out of this academy. I'll make sure someone like you graduates right away.’
Shirone clenched his fists. The intense heat seeping from between his gritted teeth made them feel like they were fusing together.
Despicable Fermi.
‘Because of scum like you…’
He now understood how hard Amy had worked for the past year, what pain she had endured to become a mage.
And Fermi had blown it all away. He had made her break down and cry all night, her heart shattering with sorrow.
“Eliminated? Go ahead and try, if you can. I will never, ever lose to someone like you.”
Even within the inferno, Fermi's eyes momentarily became as lifeless as a corpse's as he looked down at Shirone.
The negotiation was over.
And as long as he was at the academy, Shirone would never be able to become a mage.
“Alright, then. I'll be looking forward to it.”
With those words, Fermi turned away. He had reached his limit.
“Wait. I'm not done…”
The moment Shirone opened his mouth, Fermi's form vanished. He had disengaged from the Spirit Zone.
Lying in the Virtual Zone, Fermi's eyes snapped open. The pain of the inferno was still so vivid he couldn't even twitch a finger.
Even so, the timer in his head continued to tick away, precisely keeping time.
‘…Two seconds. One second. It's starting.’
An announcement came.
-Entering stage seven of the Survival Program: Kalpa of Emptiness.
‘This is my gift to you, Shirone.’
Having experienced stage six, Fermi guessed that not even a Deviant Perceiver could withstand stage seven.
Furthermore, if it was a difficulty that only one person in the history of Alpheas Magic Academy had ever passed, there was no way Shirone would emerge unscathed.
‘If he gives up, then that's that. But will he…?’
Colly headed for the control device to shut down the Virtual Zone. Even if a team won, it was possible to challenge a higher stage for an individual evaluation, but that stage was never meant to be the Kalpa of Emptiness.
‘This stage wasn't created because it's humanly possible. It's merely a cap to define the limits of the survival test. I have to end it here.’
Placing his hand on the Virtual Zone's switch, Colly turned to Alpheas and announced,
“I am shutting down the Virtual Zone.”
Having already sat up, Fermi pointed at the vision.
“No. I think he's going to continue.”
“What?”
Colly's head snapped around. On the vision, Shirone was standing in a darkness where nothing could be seen.
It was, without a doubt, the starting point of the Kalpa of Emptiness.
‘Despicable Fermi.’
For the first time, Shirone regained his composure.
Every stage up to this point had felt like an eternity, but the past that had gone by was now just a faded event.
‘I will never bow to someone like you.’
Shirone did not disengage from the Spirit Zone.
Even though he had become the final survivor, he didn't feel good because Fermi had resorted to dirty tricks until the very end.
As of today, Fermi had made Shirone his target. It was clear that sooner or later, he would use his characteristic ability to incite others and apply pressure.
‘In that case, I will pressure you, Fermi.’
That was Shirone's strategy to counter Fermi's.
He would never give up the initiative. If he could maintain a tense balance of power between them, incitement would be impossible.
Stage seven of the survival test was certainly a dangerous challenge, but that was all the more reason to attempt it.
‘But... where on earth am I?’
Shirone looked around.
It was strange to say that he could see darkness, but in truth, apart from himself, darkness was all there was to see.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
He felt a vibration. It was a tremor of the entire space, so pervasive he couldn't even discern its direction.
“Huh? Wh-what?”
Feeling a sense of foreboding, Shirone reached out his hand. From all sides, the darkness began to press in on him, crushing him.
‘Is it death by crushing this time?’
His arms were bent in towards his body. Even so, the darkness continued to increase its pressing force.