Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Ensemble (6)
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“Light is beauty.”
“Pardon? What did you say?”
Alpheas asked again. It was natural that she didn't know about photonics, but this kind of answer was unexpected.
“Light is beautiful. Flowers are beautiful, too. We are also beautiful. But the light you speak of… it doesn't sound beautiful.”
Alpheas felt as though he’d been struck in the head with a hammer. It was a direct blow from a pure, unformed thought that could not be molded by language.
“I… I see. But why is light beautiful?”
To Alpheas, light was merely photons. But Erina answered without hesitation, as if she knew everything.
“Because light shows us the darkness. Without light, how would we see the night sky?”
The world fell silent. Like space itself.
Alpheas was speechless. The very thoughts he had truly sought came pouring down on him like a waterfall.
Why had he tried to separate the two? When he took just one step back, it was all so clear.
Because it is beautiful.
That single reason resolved every contradiction.
“Beauty. It is so very beautiful, Miss Erina.”
Erina turned her head with a pure, childlike smile. The moment he saw her smile, Alpheas made a decision.
He would remember this moment for the rest of his life.
Alpheas knelt on one knee before Erina. Then, with the most courteous of gestures, he extended his right hand.
“Please, be my light.”
That night, forty years ago.
His confession under the moonlight was a happy memory Alpheas wouldn't have traded for the entire world. As the veil of Abyss Nova lifted, a gentle smile graced his lips.
The Tables Turned (1)
Canis glared at the white radiance flaring in the palm of Shirone’s hand. Its presence was overwhelming. Of course, he possessed the belligerence to charge headfirst toward death without hesitation. But he figured if he was going to die, he had to at least get his due.
- *Harvest. I’m for fighting. Let’s take him on.*
- *That magic. How fast is it? We might not be able to dodge it.*
- *You just have to block it.*
- *If I can't, you die. If you die, I vanish too. We have to fight eventually, but there are too many variables.*
Exchanging opinions at the speed of thought was a tremendous advantage in battle. But it also had a drawback: when opinions were diametrically opposed, it was impossible to know what judgment to make.
“What is going on here?”
An unexpected voice broke the tense standoff. A shadow flowed like water from the cliff, and a gaunt old man rose to the surface of the darkness.
It was the Great Mage, Arcane.
Arcane’s face contorted as he took in the situation at a glance. The reason he had been able to go all out against Etella was his certainty that the situation here had already been resolved.
Arcane had trusted Canis. No, to be precise, he had trusted Harvest, who was bound to Canis.
But upon arriving, he found the situation was completely different from what he had expected.
Lucas lay defeated in a wretched state, while Canis and Harvest were being intimidated by a single brat.
“My apologies, Master.”
Arcane was not a magnanimous man. He ignored Canis’s apology, turned away coldly, and glared at Shirone.
*I thought he looked familiar.*
He resembled Alpheas. Not in his face or physical appearance, but in the overall disposition he exuded. His boldness in speaking his mind, even under the gaze of a Great Mage, was the same as well.
“Are you the one who planned this?”
“Such insolence from a child. What is your name?”
“I have no desire to give my name to a murderer. Release your mind control at once and leave the academy. If you don't, I won't let you get away with this.”
“Hahaha.”
Arcane burst into a hearty laugh. It wasn't that he was angry. But his criteria for killing someone wasn't rage, but how much amusement he could derive from it. In that sense, Shirone was a perfectly ripe fruit, ready to have his neck snapped at any moment.
“I’m afraid I can’t release the mind control. Because Alpheas’s students must die.”
Sensing the killing intent, Shirone felt a chill run down his spine and, before he knew it, fired the Photon Cannon.
It was a clear misfire.
Arcane twisted his body lightly, evading the Photon Cannon. Only after confirming the magic had dissipated did he turn back.
“A Spirit Zone with a radius of 52.7 meters. Not bad. Quite impressive for your age.”
Even a photon, as long as it had mass, could not exceed the speed limits of the physical world. However, the fundamental velocity of its output made it far faster than any ordinary projectile. To dodge a Photon Cannon in a split second and measure the radius of the Spirit Zone was not a feat of human senses.
Shirone gritted his teeth and compressed photons once more. He had encountered a master whose capabilities he couldn't fathom, but to stop hundreds of students from free-falling off the cliff, he had no choice but to fight.
“Stop, Shirone.”
Etella walked out from the woods. Her clothes were torn, exposing bare skin, and she was covered in dirt from head to toe.
“Don’t attack recklessly. Arcane is a dangerous man.”
Arcane’s brow furrowed. His battle with her had been enjoyable, but he had long since erased from his memory any food that had been stepped on and soiled.
“The loser has some nerve. If you managed to keep your life, you should cherish it.”
Shirone’s group was shocked. Had Professor Etella really been defeated by this old man who was nothing but skin and bones? A Bishop of the Karsis Order. A Zoner, an authority on the Spirit Zone. A publicly recognized Grade 6 mage. None of the titles that described her were easy to obtain.
“No way. Professor Etella…”
Nade wondered if such a thing was even possible. Of course, there were Grade 5 and Grade 4 mages in the world, but he couldn't even begin to imagine what level of mastery it took to be stronger than Etella.
Shirone supported Etella and asked.
“Are you alright, Professor?”
“More or less. But it will take time to recover.”
“What happened? Who is that man? Why is he doing this?”
“Viltor Arcane. A Great Mage who reached unofficial Grade 3 forty years ago.”
The eyes of Shirone’s group wavered. Any student at the magic academy knew what it meant to be an unofficial Grade 3.
A mage’s rank was classified into ten grades, but there were specific intervals where the honor and achievement points required for promotion skyrocketed to an unimaginable degree.
Those were from Grade 7 to Grade 6, and from Grade 4 to Grade 3.
If a Grade 6 was an executive in the Magic Society, a Grade 3 held a position as the head of a key facility in the kingdom. Considering that Alpheas, a publicly recognized Grade 4 mage, was merely the headmaster of a private academy, one could guess just how high a position Arcane had attained.
“Arcane holds a grudge against the headmaster. He won't back down until he achieves his goal.”
“Enough of your prattling. Whining to your student will only make you look more pathetic.”
“I don’t care about winning or losing. I’m a teacher. I will do whatever it takes to protect my students.”
“And so? What can you do? Do you think you can stop me now, when you couldn't defeat me even at your full strength?”
“Your bluffing is excessive, Arcane.”
Arcane’s expression turned fearsome.
“It’s true that I couldn't stop you. But I doubt you have the mental fortitude left to focus on battle, either.”
Etella’s words were half right and half wrong. In truth, after casting a spell on the Minions of Darkness, Arcane’s magical power was at a mere tenth of its normal state. But it was a tenth of a Great Mage’s power. It was more than enough to sweep away an exhausted Etella and these downy-feathered fledglings.
“The times certainly have changed. I was nice to you because you were cute, and now you don't know your place and run your mouth?”
Arcane began to draw out his magical power. It was the tenth he had saved to kill Alpheas, but it didn't matter. Complicated calculations didn't suit his philosophy on life.
“Master, please leave this to me.”
Canis interjected. Abyss Nova was a grand spell that consumed so much mental energy that an ordinary mage wouldn't even dare attempt it. Having cast such a spell and then fought a battle, even his master couldn't possibly be in a normal state.
Arcane looked back at Canis, displeased. He would not tolerate a challenge to his authority, even from a disciple. But after a moment of thought, he turned to Shirone with an intrigued expression.
“Hey, brat. You’re one of Alpheas’s students too, aren't you?”
“You’re a murderer. Don't you dare say the headmaster’s name so casually.”
“Kekekek! Is that so? You seem to respect him quite a bit.”
Shirone didn’t even feel the need to answer. How could he not respect him? Alpheas was the one who had awakened him to magic and was the benefactor who had allowed him, a commoner, to enroll in the magic academy.
“I don’t care if you’re a Great Mage or a Grade 3. Compared to the headmaster, you’re not even a real mage.”
“Puhahaha! Puhahahahaha!”
Arcane erupted in laughter. But his eyes were burning with rage.
*Alpheas. Just how much of a hypocrite have you been all your life? You know it too, don’t you? That you have no right to be respected by anyone.*
Having made his decision, Arcane nodded.
“Very well. It should be amusing to watch the disciples fight. Canis. Spar with that boy.”
“Yes. Thank you, Master.”
Canis was finally relieved. This was his chance to make up for all the mistakes he had made so far. But Harvest’s thoughts were different.
- *Canis, think again. It’s better to leave this to Arcane.*
- *What are you talking about? I’ve already disappointed Master. Now, I have to beat Shirone, even if it kills me.*
To have a disagreement right before a battle was never a good thing.
- *Harvest. Answer me. Even for you, I can't back down this time. We are fighting, no matter what.*
Harvest remained silent. This had never happened before, and it flustered Canis. But with Arcane watching, he couldn’t show any weakness.
Using Dark Port, he instantly moved to where Shirone was. Shirone cast Teleport and flew out over the cliff. He wanted to avoid any collateral damage to the students as much as possible.
“Hmph! You want an aerial battle?”
Under the dark night sky, it wasn't a disadvantageous field for Canis, who moved with Dark Port.
Above the 1,000-meter precipice, the two engaged in a flight reminiscent of fighting hawks, unleashing their respective firepower.
Shirone condensed seven photons in front of him and fired them all at once. The Photon Cannon, activated from the Infinite Realm, was several times more powerful than before, but the recoil was just as immense.
With each spell he cast, his consciousness momentarily faded. The Infinite Realm, which threatened his opponent while simultaneously breaking down his own mind, was truly a double-edged sword.
“What in the world is that…”
Etella stared blankly up at the sky. A photon output that generated shockwaves was something even she had never seen before.
The dazzling streaks of the Photon Cannon split the night sky. It was a spectacle akin to brandishing a golden pen across a black canvas.
Iruki and Nade were captivated by the beams of light. Firing the already powerful Photon Cannon indiscriminately was no different from turning the person named Shirone into a weapon.
“He’s incredible, as always. But is he going to be okay doing that?”
“We just have to trust him. He did fine during the presentation.”
“But this is different from back then. He’s fighting for his life right now. He might cross the line without realizing it.”
Etella turned to the two and asked.
“What do you mean? Are you saying Shirone has entered the Immortal Function before?”
“Huh? Ah, well… lately, it seems like he does it whenever he’s bored.”
Etella let out a sigh. Even after she had warned him that he could lose his life, he didn't even pretend to be careful. Then again, without such passion, such rapid growth would have been impossible.