The Eye That Sees Mana
The moment Chris appeared and instantly captured two 3-star mages, Arina swallowed dryly. Their eyes met in midair. His gaze was dry and utterly devoid of emotion. The longer she stared into those pale, almost ghostly eyes, the more an inexplicable chill crept down her spine. She gripped the Mana Restriction Cuffs on her left wrist so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“……”
Unlike her, Chris seemed to feel nothing at all from their eye contact. He stared at her with a somewhat dazed expression, then suddenly took a step forward.
“Huh?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected move, Arina reacted a beat too late. Her eyes widened as he stepped straight into her territory without any caution whatsoever.
What on earth is he thinking?
The question flashed through her mind, but her eyes soon grew even wider. Chris was calmly walking across the wave of spells that flowed beneath everyone’s feet.
“Eh?”
A stupid sound slipped from Arina’s lips before she could stop it. That single syllable carried equal parts confusion, surprise, and a generous spoonful of shock.
If Arina’s greatest strength was the sheer volume of mana granted by her overwhelming affinity, Chris’s greatest strength was his extreme precision in mana manipulation, made possible by his Ebon. Arina could pull formulas from her mind like taking books off a library shelf thanks to Professor Magnus’s special cramming lessons, and the fact that she had created such intricate magic circles in such a short time was certainly impressive. Yet her style inevitably felt somewhat crude and simplistic. That was both the limit of rote education and her own current limitation.
And that limitation of hers turned out to be the worst possible matchup against Chris.
“……”
Chris lightly tapped the spell formulas with his foot to double-check their stability, gave a small nod, and then broke into a rapid sprint. The magic circles spread across the ground activated all at once to block his advance, but he didn’t hesitate for even a second. The instant the spells touched his skin, they slid off him like water droplets on a waterproof coat. This was not like Baraki, who had prepared defensive magic in advance. If anything, it felt closer to what Ilon Doyan had tried to do—resisting Arina’s magic by force.
He was dismantling her magic circles on the spot, without any prior preparation. By spreading his mana into an infinitely thin, delicate film and interfering with the incoming spell formulas. It was like picking every lock with a single wire. In magical terms, it was a form of dispel. In martial terms, it resembled the soft redirection of a heavy sword—the principle of yielding to overcome strength.
Is that even possible?
Arina had only been able to use these magic circles thanks to her own hard work, but Professor Paracelsus’s detailed lectures on their formulas had played a huge part. In contrast, this was the first time Chris had ever seen them. Yet he was neutralizing her magic with perfect precision, without the slightest error. In other words, his mana manipulation had already reached the level of a professional mage.
Like Aaron Dice, the student council president of Benedict Academy, he was a mage who stood on the threshold of 5-star rank. No—since he was an Ebon user whose strength couldn’t be measured by star grades, one could argue he had reached the 5-star realm in a far more meaningful way than Aaron Dice.
“Hah!”
Snapping out of her stunned daze, Arina refocused. Her opponent was closing in at terrifying speed. He wasn’t just running across the ground—he was stepping on the stretched space in every direction, precisely targeting only the spots where the forced extension of distance couldn’t reach. His running speed was slower than Baraki’s, but in terms of how quickly the gap was shrinking, he was far faster than Baraki, who had forcibly compressed space using his body’s elasticity.
At this rate, he would reach her in moments. And even while breaking through the resistance of countless magic circles, he never once took his eyes off her.
Yeah, this would’ve been tough for Shubi to break through.
She had roughly expected as much. It would be annoying to drag him in too. The only way to bring Shubi through was to eliminate the caster. Staring at the sparkling Arina far off in the stretched distance, Chris calmly made up his mind.
I’m going to fight her.
That resolve reached Arina loud and clear. His goal wasn’t simply to break through this area. It was to force her retirement. If she retired, she would be given a ten-minute penalty. Considering how many of their opponents were currently trapped in her snare, the match would likely be decided in those ten minutes. No matter how many monsters Jeon hunted, those points wouldn’t apply to the team.
That can’t happen.
She could never accept her team losing because of her. It was fine if she took damage herself, but she could never tolerate others suffering because of her. That altruistic personality of hers ignited her fighting spirit to its peak. Her usually gentle eyes narrowed sharply. Her concentration rose even higher than when she had faced Baraki. She compressed the tension within the stretched space into the shape of arrows and fired them straight at Chris.
Shaaaa!
Chris began countering Arina’s attacks with lasers. He accurately struck the tips of the arrows, shooting them down one by one. Even so, his running speed didn’t decrease at all. On the contrary, as time passed and he grew familiar with the magic circle patterns, the distance between them shrank even faster.
This sparkle goes here. The next one goes there.
Like someone playing a rhythm game, Chris stepped precisely on the glowing notes and advanced. The stretched space had also stretched the arrangement of mana between them. That created gaps between the sparkles. He calmly stepped on those star-like glimmers and pressed onward.
If the Evil Eye was the natural enemy of all living beings, then Chris’s Ebon—the Eye that Sees Mana—was the natural enemy of every being who wielded mana. Facing that near-cheat ability head-on, Arina suddenly pulled out another spell embedded within her Mana Restriction Cuffs.
Elemental magic—Shock Wave.
It was a spell that magically reproduced the tremors found in nature, like seismic waves. It flew forward with ferocious momentum, threatening to sweep away everything in its path.
Direct attacks won’t work.
Especially with wide-area attacks like Shock Wave, they were easily pierced at their weak points and broken through. So she changed her approach. She activated Shock Wave on the magic circles installed around her, intentionally disrupting the arrangement of their formulas.
Vrrrrrm!
The formulas inside the unstable magic circles began rearranging themselves irregularly. Unfamiliarity crept into Chris’s previously fluent interpretation of the spells. His speed seemed to slow—just a little. But she knew it wouldn’t be long before he charged at her with the same ferocity as before.
I need to buy more time while I have the chance.
She compressed the magic circles. Then fired them. She repeated the process endlessly. Like an archer who had once aimed arrows at a flying phoenix. Even though she knew it was a futile struggle, Arina could not stop.
“……”
Fire, get shot down, fire, get shot down, fire, get shot down, fire, get shot down, fire, get shot down again…
No surprise attack could hide its sparkle from Chris’s eyes. On the contrary, as the distance narrowed, he seemed to judge that she was now within his attack range. Sharp counterattacks began flying toward Arina at irregular intervals.
The battlefield had shifted from a siege into a chaotic melee. Still, his aim was apparently still a bit off. A laser grazed right past her cheek, and Arina clenched her teeth hard. Her skin peeled away, and a stinging fluid oozed over the burning wound.
“Is that guy crazy?”
Watching the scene, Jealousy forgot he was acting as Professor Clara and spat out a curse. How dare he ruin a girl’s face like that? And not just any girl—his lady’s niece? Even if this was a virtual world and there would be no lasting damage once they returned to reality, that was no excuse.
“He’s making me want to peel his face right off.”
He hadn’t been able to indulge in his hobby of collecting beautiful faces even once since infiltrating as Professor Clara. Maybe he should go rip one off to vent? Jealousy frowned deeply, radiating killing intent, then clicked his tongue and forcibly swallowed his rage.
“If it were up to me, I’d kill him right now.”
He didn’t even like the fact that this boy was helping his lady grow stronger.
“Huh? Senior. Doesn’t it look like she’s getting hit less often?”
It was only a short while later that everyone else began to notice the anomaly Jealousy had sensed. It started when they realized that even though the distance had closed, the number of wounds Arina was receiving had decreased.
Distance was Arina’s greatest advantage. At the same time, it was the only reason she could currently hold Chris at bay. The fact that this advantage was disappearing meant the walls surrounding her had begun to crumble, and that she was losing the means to defend against his attacks.
Logically, her wounds should have been increasing. She should have been on the verge of retirement. Yet at this very moment, the number of injuries Arina sustained was decreasing at an exponential rate.
“……”
Fire, shoot down, fire, shoot down, fire, shoot down, fire, shoot down…
The roles had reversed. Until recently, Arina had been the one launching most of the attacks. But the number of attacks gradually evened out, and now Chris was the one unleashing a relentless barrage on her. Nevertheless, Arina was accurately striking down every single laser he fired, just as he had done earlier.
She wasn’t looking at the sparkling core of the mana like Chris could. The reason she could do this was simple. Arina Grant was not only born with overwhelming mana affinity—she also possessed an innate mana sensitivity. Her sensitivity was sharp enough to feel a sense of déjà vu even when looking at the disguise of Jealousy, the continent’s greatest assassin.
Through that sensitivity, she could feel it. The weak points in the lasers Chris used.
Arina was a girl who had lived her entire life far removed from combat. In harsher terms, she was a child spoiled by peace. A pearl necklace on a pig’s neck. She was the perfect example of someone who had wasted the talent she was born with. And precisely because of that, this battle was slowly causing her latent talent to bloom.
She was learning from Chris’s combat style, evolving, and taking another step forward. She had already reached 3-star rank from just one previous journey. If she continued gaining combat experience, just how much further could she grow?
The sparkles have gotten bigger.
Observing the speed of her growth through his Ebon, a faint spark of interest appeared in Chris’s usually emotionless eyes. The boy who had swallowed all mana like a black hole last time, and this girl who now radiated brilliance like a supernova. Their team really was full of interesting people.
This is fun.
But he had no intention of losing. He had to win this for Professor Repli.
Let’s meet again in the next match.
That was the end of it. Having enjoyed Arina’s growth just enough, Chris prepared to deliver the final blow—when it happened.
Crackle!
Perhaps he had been too focused on Arina. Chris noticed Jeon charging from behind a beat too late. Unlike Chris, Jeon faced no interference and was sprinting straight toward them. With no stretched distance to slow him, his speed was incomparably faster.
“……”
Chris aimed a laser to block him.
Bang!
A single arrow interrupted the laser’s activation itself. Chris’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked forward—and met Arina’s round, triumphant gaze.
“This time, we win.”
While Arina bought time, Jeon slipped past Chris and sprinted ahead. Right before Chris’s eyes, Jeon and Arina exited through the escape gate together.
“……”
First place confirmed. Chris stared blankly at the scene, then came to a complete stop in the spot where all resistance had vanished.
“The interference is gone!”
“Run!”
The area grew noisy. People freed from Arina’s resistance rushed toward the exit, hoping for at least second place. Even as they ran past him, Chris simply stood there, staring vacantly at the place where Arina had disappeared.
Shaaaaaaaah!
A moment later, the entire area was incinerated by beams of light the instant Chris stomped his foot. Every survivor in the vicinity except Shubi was retired.
From within the pure white radiance, Chris emerged. Shubi cautiously walked up behind him and asked,
“Your movements were pretty rough. Are you mad?”
“Mad?”
Chris tilted his head at Shubi’s question. He stared straight into his friend’s eyes for a moment, then nodded.
“Yeah. I think I’m angry right now.”
So this was what frustration felt like. If winning had been completely impossible, his heart wouldn’t feel this unsettled. Losing victory right in front of his eyes was more irritating than he could bear. Especially since it had happened because of his own carelessness.
I won’t lose next time.
Chris closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again and slowly began walking. Toward the shimmering escape gate that stood alone in the middle of the empty clearing created after everyone else had been retired.