The Arrow That Challenges the Sun
Jeon went flying backward after taking Aaron Dice's attack head-on. He skipped across the ground like a stone skimming over water, bouncing several times before tumbling helplessly across the dirt. He lay there completely still, as if he'd lost consciousness entirely. Aaron looked down at him and cautiously touched his own chin.
I didn't expect to get hit square like that.
He had tried not to underestimate them, but it seemed he'd subconsciously looked down on them simply because they were first-years. A bitter smile formed on Aaron's lips as he reflected on that fact. The metallic taste of blood spread across his tongue along with the smile—his mouth must have split inside.
But he won't be getting up after that.
He had adjusted the power appropriately, yet Jeon had taken his magic directly. He probably wouldn't rise again before this mock battle ended. Thinking that, Aaron turned his head to the side.
Looks like they've made thorough preparations over there as well.
Though he couldn't see it, he could feel it. The spot where Arina's body heat registered. The countless magic circles surrounding her as she crouched beneath the rock. That was the impregnable fortress Arina had built while Jeon bought her time.
Is she an alchemist?
Typically, alchemists weren't as suited for combat compared to mages who studied other branches of magic. The reason was simple: they required a long time to properly cast their spells. But conversely, if given enough time, it meant they could demonstrate a power that surpassed any other mage.
I wasted more time than I thought.
Jeon's resistance had been fiercer than expected. Feeling the ache in his jaw and sensing Arina's fortress, Aaron marveled at his juniors' desperate struggle even as he gathered his mana once more.
I can't show an unsightly sight in front of juniors who are trying so hard.
He had noticed the multiple magic circles from the lingering traces of mana, but since he couldn't see, he had no way to guess what formulas were inscribed there. Therefore, reverse-calculating and forcibly dismantling the circles was impossible. That left only one method.
To forcibly smash the installed magic circles with overwhelming firepower.
Fwoooosh!
Flames starting from Aaron's fingertips began to boil up around him in an instant. The flames bubbled like lava, colliding with each other and amplifying their destructive power. In the blink of an eye, the inferno swelled to several times Aaron's size.
"......"
Feeling that heat on her skin, Arina swallowed nervously. Just because her eyes were blinded didn't mean she was completely unaware of the situation. Jeon's retirement, and Aaron's magic manifesting with the clear intent to shatter her circles. Arina's exceptional mana sensitivity allowed her to roughly gauge the power of the opponent's prepared attack, and she reached a swift conclusion.
I can't block it.
No matter how sturdy a wall Arina built, it would be nothing more than a sandcastle before a 4-star mage's attack. It would be mercilessly swept away by the incoming tide.
The way to win is...
She racked her brain, but no clear solution came to mind. Still, she couldn't simply sit there and take it. Everyone else had fought with everything they had to win this mock battle.
Humm.
Following Arina's gesture, the magic circles laid around her trembled lightly. She envisioned the invisible circles in her mind—the formulas she had constructed, the shapes she had created, the magic she had written. She forcibly twisted them, deliberately collapsing the established format.
It was the Fluid Magic Circle, a system she had only just begun learning and hadn't succeeded with even once yet.
This is all I have right now.
To win, she had to gamble. Since it was an attack she couldn't block anyway, the best defense in this situation was a counterattack.
Hiss.
As the form of the magic circles collapsed, the formulas trapped within the circular frame were released freely. Reaching the limit of her control, the mana contained inside leaked out alongside the collapse like water from a broken dam. It was mana being endlessly wasted, and she couldn't even utilize it like a dark mage. If Arina hadn't possessed such high mana affinity, the leaking power alone might have caused her to lose consciousness from mana exhaustion.
Discard all formulas unnecessary for the attack.
She was different from Professor Paracelsus. She naturally lacked his perfect understanding of formulas, making it impossible to use every ounce of power in the circle without losing any, like the technique he had shown. So she thought: If she couldn't handle it all, she would simply use the minimum parts that suited her own style.
It's okay. I can do this.
She boldly cut out the unnecessary parts and rewrote only what was needed. It wasn't much different from the formula problems Professor Magnus kept assigning her. What she had to do was derive the correct answer for the problem before her eyes. It was simply reusing what she had been doing all along.
Hummm.
The written formulas were extremely unstable, but there was no hesitation in the mana she poured into them. With nothing but the confidence that she could do it. Without fearing mistakes, boldly. Her eyes, which had lost focus because of Professor Karlsen, were now filled with light illuminated by her own belief.
Done!
What she created was a single arrow. Mimicking the magic circle shape transformation that Professor Paracelsus had shown her, the arrow formed from the circle took aim at Aaron, who was wrapped in a massive explosion.
The sight seemed to perfectly recreate the Fan Empire's ancient myth of a single arrow shooting down the sun in the sky. The recklessness of daring to challenge the massive sun with human power. It was a defiance against the natural order of the world—a rebellion against heaven. Harboring such a miracle, Arina's arrow shot toward Aaron Dice.
"......"
Something was flying toward him. Aaron, who possessed affinity and sensitivity on par with Arina's, realized it. But he didn't bother responding. After comparing them in his head, his own manifested magic held the advantage in power over the opponent's attack.
Crackle!
If only there hadn't been a sudden variable.
A lightning bolt suddenly fell, precisely targeting Aaron's position. The moment he tried to dodge it, an unknown attractive force yanked at his clothes, forcibly halting his escape.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Jeon glared straight at Aaron, his resolve to protect firmly set after the realization he'd had in the Vivaldi Territory. Gritting his teeth, he reached out his hand.
Interesting.
A smile deeper than before formed on Aaron's lips. That was the moment his movements began to change drastically.
Boom!
The flames surrounding him flipped, blocking the lightning falling from the sky. A functional shift from attack to defense. Taking advantage of the opening created, Arina's arrow reached right before him.
"......"
And everything around Aaron froze. Temperature inversion—flipping the ultra-high temperature formulas of the surrounding flames to ultra-low temperature in an instant. A world of chilling cold where even the flow of mana slowed. Within it, the only one maintaining his movements was Aaron, who had raised his body temperature.
Oh no!
He leisurely dodged Arina's arrow and charged toward her at high speed. Seeing this, Jeon desperately chased after Aaron.
Fwoooosh!
But the momentary illusory time of temperature inversion ended, and the ice that had returned to flames hotly blocked his path. By isolating the space with flames, he divided the battlefield in two. Having completely blocked Jeon's approach this way, Aaron grabbed the wrist of Arina, who was still crouched on the ground.
"Next time we meet, I'm looking forward to that last magic being completed."
With just a brief observation, Aaron had discerned that the arrow she shot was incomplete. He smiled brightly. Of course, Arina—with her wrist grabbed—couldn't see that smile.
The team competition is going to be fun.
The juniors' performance had been fiercer than he thought. To the point where it wouldn't be easy to face them without going all out.
There are still some shortcomings visible, though.
If they filled those shortcomings before the team competition, perhaps the greatest challenge wouldn't be other academies but these first-year students. Even having realized that, there was no jealousy or envy in Aaron's eyes. Quite the opposite. His motivation burned to help these juniors grow even more during the remaining time until the competition. He instinctively knew that if these first-years performed greatly in the tournament, Benedict Academy's fame would naturally increase.
Crack.
Aaron's grip crushed the bracelet on Arina's wrist. Unlike Jeon, Arina lacked the physical ability to resist those swift movements, so she couldn't even put up a single resistance. With the destruction of the bracelet, her vision returned. As she looked at Aaron standing before her, her gaze unconsciously dropped to the ground.
"Ah......"
Seeing the bracelet shattered into powder, an involuntary sigh mixed with regret escaped her. Aaron quietly turned his back on her. And as the surrounding flames were withdrawn, Jeon—who confirmed the broken bracelet—frowned and gritted his teeth.
Match Over! Winners: Student Council Team!
With Professor Karlsen's victory declaration, the mock battle—which had been more intense than expected—came to an end.
"Looks like it's finally over."
There was another battlefield just as devastated as the one where Aaron Dice had fought Jeon and Arina. The clearing had been flattened so completely it was hard to believe it had once been a rocky mountain. In the middle of the space littered with tiny shattered pebbles, Sylvia shook her head with a slightly tired voice.
What a damn persistent guy.
The boy had kept charging at her and Baraki—two 3-star mages. No matter how many times they knocked him down, he kept getting back up. The sight reminded her of a berserker under some kind of berserk enchantment.
What kind of body doesn't even pass out?
Still, this wasn't a virtual world, so they couldn't just fling around lethal magic. In the end, all they could do was use Baraki's magic to tie him up so tightly he couldn't move anymore.
"......"
Had Togun heard Professor Karlsen's voice as well? The struggling movements that had continued even while bound by Baraki finally went still. Baraki retrieved the long, tentacle-like fingers that had been holding him. Looking at his aching fingers that felt like they might snap from enduring the boy's rampage, he let out a grin.
"Quite the strong junior."
"He's just annoyingly sturdy, that's all," Sylvia grumbled in response to Baraki.
"And ridiculously difficult to handle."
A divine blade that cut through magic without hesitation. She'd heard the general story, but she hadn't realized the artifact was that absurd. From what she'd heard, the posthumous curse from the 8-star dark mage who once fought the Masao family had grown stronger over the generations. For someone with that ridiculous physical ability to wield such a monstrous thing made it no small hassle.
Having to face something like that again during the team competition...
No, knowing the president's personality, he'll probably keep running these mock battles to help those first-years until the actual event.
Realizing that, a sigh of annoyance escaped Sylvia's lips.
"Hey! Junior! Can you get up and walk?"
Well, that was that and this was this. She'd worry about the annoyance later. For now, Sylvia approached Togun with concern. Even though he'd been released from his bindings, he still hadn't gotten up from the ground.
I lost.
Apparently not hearing her call at all, Togun covered his eyes with his right arm and quietly reflected on the battle that had just taken place. This result was perhaps only natural. His current physical abilities were barely enough to fight a 3-star opponent. No matter how powerful his heirloom was, defeating two 3-star mages at once was still impossible.
It's because of me.
Even so, Togun blamed himself. If only he had escaped those seniors faster. If only he had quickly joined up with Brother Jeon to stop the student council president. Maybe the outcome would have been different.
It's a little frustrating.
He had thought today's defeat would be natural and that he wouldn't mind. Yet now that it had happened, frustration washed over him. Not because they had lost, but because he felt like he could have done better and hadn't. It was regret.
"Huh? Junior, are you crying?"
Clear tears flowed from beneath the arm covering his eyes. Sylvia, who had come closer, panicked at the sight and turned to Baraki.
"W-what do we do?"
Perhaps thinking she had made a child cry, her eyes shook rather violently.
"That's why I told you to go easy on him."
And Baraki immediately cut her off. As if he had done nothing wrong, he crossed his arms and turned his head away.
"Hey, you! How can you call yourself a person after that?!"
At that, Sylvia gaped at him with a betrayed expression and shouted. Then she plopped down on the spot and urgently called out to Togun.
"J-Junior? Your name was Togun, right? I'm sorry. I'll apologize for going too hard, so please stop crying, okay?"
"...Hic."
"Please don't cry anymore! I'll buy you cola once we get out of here!"
And so, on one side of the arena where the mock battle had ended, only Sylvia's desperate cries trying to console a crying child echoed pitifully.