Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Limitless (6)
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Seriel's face fell at the news that there was no solution. Having watched their… ‘affectionate’ relationship from the beginning, she was completely absorbed in the situation, as if Shirone were the protagonist of a novel.
“But he can still win, right? Shirone has to win.”
“Hmm.”
Amy rested her chin on her hand and tapped her straw. Mercodine Iruki. Their first meeting had been unpleasant, but there was no denying his talent.
“In terms of pure targeting, it won't be easy. Savant Syndrome is a really powerful ability. If he uses Logarithms, he'll be incredibly difficult to face. Besides, he's serious this time, right? If Iruki had challenged me seriously back then…”
“I-If he had?”
After a moment of thought, Amy pouted and said,
“I might have lost.”
Seriel was shocked. Amy, who had never lost the top spot in the advanced class, the one who set an unbreakable record for Class Five, was saying she might have lost.
She might be more lenient in recalling the past, now that she was in a completely different dimension as a graduating student, but even considering that, it was a staggering statement.
“Hmph, then what do we do? Poor Shirone.”
Seriel's face crumpled into a frown.
***
The day before the Speed Gun test arrived.
Shirone sat on the floor of his dorm, deep in meditation. He was counting numbers, but not in a sequence. If he had been honing his technique until now, today was about finding the answer to what a numerical sequence truly was.
A journey of numbers with a starting point but no destination.
Ten hours passed without the slightest movement. As time flowed on, in a realm most humans could never reach, Shirone grasped the essence of the numerical sequence. The shock was like witnessing a thunderclap right before his eyes.
When he opened his eyes, dawn was breaking outside the window. He hadn't eaten or slept for twenty-four hours, yet he felt no fatigue. A light too reverent to be called an emotion filled his eyes.
Shirone looked up at the ceiling, overcome with sorrow.
What he felt was a great enlightenment, but also a chillingly harsh reality.
‘Is this… truly the truth?’
No one answered. But Shirone felt as if he had heard a reply.
***
Although there were still thirty minutes until the test, the training ground was already packed with participants and spectators. The staff moved about busily. They had reinforced the safety devices and installed scoreboards on all sides of the Image Zone.
Not a single student from Class Seven or Six was absent. It was a glimpse into the hierarchical society, where they sought to make an impression on their seniors.
In contrast, only the Class Four students interested in the duel between Shirone and Iruki had taken the time to come up. Among them, the most recognizable was, of course, Seriel, one of the top students in Class Four.
“Oh! Senior! Good day!”
Mark ran up to greet her, his eyes gleaming as if he'd caught a big fish. Seriel smiled, waved, and looked around.
“Right. All the underclassmen are here to watch. Then again, it was the same in my day.”
“Don't say that. I'm here solely to celebrate Senior Shirone's victory!”
“Oh! That's reassuring! Alright! Let's pour all our passion into cheering him on.”
Seriel and Mark took a spot with the best view of the Image Zone. A path naturally cleared wherever she walked, making the prime spot as good as reserved.
Most of the murmuring was about the duel between Shirone and Iruki. Shirone, with his innately strong Spirit Zone, versus Iruki, who excelled at strengthening his zone through numerical sequences. It was a match to determine who was truly the greatest talent in Class Five.
The two would take the test simultaneously. The school had deliberately chosen a competitive format to draw out the students' maximum potential.
For the same reason, the highest scorers from practice were scheduled for later. Naturally, Shirone and Iruki were assigned to the final group, Group 20.
Etella activated the Magic Barrier, and the scoreboards lit up. After about ten minutes for the students to relax, the test began, starting with Group 1.
While it was strictly a practical evaluation where individual scores mattered, the Speed Gun test was conducted as a duel, making it an enjoyable subject for students to watch.
The participants couldn't help but be conscious of this. That was why, even if they broke their personal records, they would leave the Image Zone with a sour expression if they lost to the other student in their group.
It took about an hour to get through the first ten groups. The highest score so far was 533, and Nade had finished his practical evaluation with a slightly above-average score of 491.
As time passed, the students' eyes grew more lively. They, too, knew what today's main event was.
Finally, after Group 19 finished, Etella called out Shirone's and Iruki's names. The boisterous cheering fell silent in an instant.
Shirone and Iruki walked up the stairs side by side without looking at each other. A fighting spirit emanated from their backs.
“Wow! Senior Shirone looks really fired up. I heard he's completely outmatched by Senior Iruki, though.”
“Hmph. Shirone is strong when it counts! It was the same during the teleportation test, wasn't it?”
Seriel glared, and Mark let out a hollow laugh, scratching his head. He was the one who had been blindsided after underestimating Shirone.
Etella called Shirone and Iruki over to explain the rules.
“You have one minute. It starts the moment the scoreboard turns red. Thanks to the Magic Barrier, you won't cross into each other's zones, so treat it as an individual event. And you two, in particular, have the underclassmen's attention, so don't do anything embarrassing.”
As if to conserve even the mental energy needed for a reply, Shirone and Iruki merely nodded. Etella spread her arms, and the two separated, heading to their respective zones.
The underclassmen strained their eyes, determined not to miss a single moment of the duel. The sound of gulping could be heard. Both were record holders in the 700s, so a high-speed targeting display was sure to unfold from the very start.
Shirone calmly gazed ahead. His heart was pounding, but he felt no tension. It was a phenomenon that occurred when human concentration reached its peak. As the preparatory light on the scoreboard came on, he counted down in his mind.
‘3, 2, 1.’
Start!
The moment the light turned red, Shirone’s eyes widened as he initiated the sequence. He went from zero to a hundred instantly, the numbers racing at incredible speed.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ten photon outputs per second.
A flash of light swept across the entire 360-degree range. All the targets that rose in the first step were destroyed. Iruki's detached Spirit Zone also moved as if scraping through space, eliminating targets.
“Whoa! They're both so fast! Everything exploded right at the start!”
Mark shouted, unable to contain his excitement. The second and third steps were the same. The targets were annihilated the instant they appeared. As they remained tied through the sixth step, Seriel clenched her fists tightly.
“Good. If it keeps up like this, it's anyone's game.”
Shirone and Iruki completed up to the tenth step in the same amount of time. But the next step involved twenty targets rising at once. Since neither could handle that many in a single breath, the real match was just beginning.
So far, the score was 239 to 237, with Shirone slightly in the lead. At this pace, they were on track to easily surpass a final score of 700.
‘Good! I'm holding my own against an all-out Iruki. Let's keep this up.’
A single mistake in targeting would create a gap in steps, drastically shifting the momentum of the match. But Shirone of the Flash and Iruki of the Detached Type hadn't missed a single target.
377 to 377.
At the thirty-second mark, Iruki tied the score. Feeling a sense of crisis, Shirone accelerated his numerical sequence. His Spirit Zone strengthened, and the speed of his linked flashes increased.
When Shirone pulled ahead with a four-point lead, it was Iruki's turn to feel anxious. Unlike his relaxed demeanor during practice, he was now targeting with all his might.
‘And I'm still falling behind? My calculation speed?’
Just three days ago, Iruki's victory had been a foregone conclusion. It was impossible to raise the level of one's numerical sequence in such a short time.
‘I can do it! My strategy is working!’
Shirone had matched Iruki's speed by removing the limits on his modularization. While he had previously processed numbers in bundles of 100, he was now handling them as they came: 232, 187, 99, 276. It was a strategy that traded stability for speed, but thanks to the mental fortitude of his defensive type, his concentration hadn't wavered yet.
469 to 432.
As Shirone pulled ahead of Iruki by a large margin for the first time, the students erupted in excitement. Even Etella couldn't look away, caught in the suspense of the unpredictable match.
Iruki finally saw through Shirone's strategy.
‘He removed the limit on his modularization? He doesn't care about his test score at all. He's taking a risk with the sole intention of winning.’
The corners of Iruki's mouth lifted. How long had he waited for this moment? An opponent who could draw out his full potential. Having met the greatest rival of his life, he gladly accepted the challenge.
‘Shirone, the gamble I'm taking is on a different level from yours.’
Iruki increased the difficulty of his numerical sequence. The change was immediate, and the students blinked in confusion. A new rhythm was emerging from between the continuous bursts.
“Huh? What's that?”
542 to 558.
He had not only caught up to Shirone's score but had completely surpassed it. It was something that should have been impossible without more than doubling his speed in an instant.
“Senior Seriel! What happened? Did Senior Shirone make a mistake…?”
“No. Shirone's score is still climbing. It's Iruki's targeting that suddenly got faster.”
“How is that possible? His score jumped by 100 points in a flash.”
Seriel, who had been staring intently at Iruki's performance, finally realized what was happening and bit her lip.
“…He created another Spirit Zone.”
At that, the students turned to look at Iruki. Sure enough, two afterimages were flying about, turning at different angles.
The Double Spirit Zone was a unique trait of Savant Syndrome, made possible by mental division. It was a trait, not a skill, because it could never be learned.
But what truly astonished Seriel was the fact that his speed had increased even further despite the creation of a second Spirit Zone.
He had to perform two different numerical sequences. But could a human mind perform two calculations simultaneously?
Iruki was proving that it was possible. And he was doing it while applying Logarithms, which were impossible to calculate mentally.
‘Just as Amy said, he's an incredible talent. No, this is beyond what can be explained by talent. He's a mutant, beyond the scope of a human.’
Just how powerful Savant Syndrome was became clear on the scoreboard.
692 to 845.
The score difference was over 100 points, and Iruki was several steps ahead. Once a gap in steps formed, a comeback was impossible; the divide would only widen with time.
‘Faster. Faster.’
Shirone was desperate. The numbers bundled by modularization were now averaging over 300. Since it wasn't a precise matrix, the calculations became even more complex and irregular.
732 to 911.
Shirone had broken his personal best. But Iruki was on a level to not only surpass his own record but also shatter Amy's. If the test ended now, he would surely do it.
Only one option remained for Shirone.
There was a realm that could not be reached by running faster, but only by leaping beyond.
But could he do it? Was it truly possible?
Once again, no one answered. But Shirone felt as if he had already heard the reply.
‘I will transcend numbers!’