A Sword Forged from Light
A cluster of light erupted from one person's hand and engulfed the entire battlefield. The light soared high into the sky before splitting apart like fireworks and raining down onto the ground.
This was one of the events on the second day of the Academy Tournament: 'Ball Throw.' The rules were simple—teams would pick up balls scattered across the field and throw them to destroy only their opponent's target using the balls alone. The first team to burst the target won.
However, Chris, representing Sirionella Private Academy in this match, operated on a much simpler premise.
With that logic, he was unleashing attacks that resembled carpet bombing across the entire arena.
"……."
As always, his four-white eyes gazed at the stadium with indifference. Yet for some reason, the aura he gave off felt slightly different from usual. There was a hint of irritation mixed into it.
And everyone who mattered knew exactly why that was. The cause of his foul mood was none other than Aaron Dice, the representative of Benedict Academy's Team A.
How long does he plan to keep running?
Whenever Chris entered a match, Aaron would appear in another. If Chris deliberately chose a different event to avoid him, Aaron would suddenly show up there instead. It was as if the man could read his every thought. Their matchups felt like playing rock-paper-scissors against a mind reader.
Honestly, whether he fought Aaron Dice or not didn't matter much to Chris. He knew that if he couldn't defeat him head-on, Sirionella Private Academy wouldn't win the tournament. Still, he also knew Aaron's pride would never let him avoid the fight forever. They were bound to meet during the Academy Tournament. And when they did, Chris would crush him. That was all the causality he needed. Win the match. Simple.
The problem was that this situation had made Professor Repli look utterly miserable.
"I'm sorry, Chris. My abilities weren't enough."
Unless it was an exceptional case like Benedict Academy's Team B—where Maril personally selected the participants—the supervising professor usually decided the lineup. In other words, Chris's inability to face Aaron Dice in the same event could be seen as Repli's shortcoming.
Watching his mentor apologize with a gloomy face over the widening score gap between Benedict Academy's Team A and Sirionella Private Academy, a small flame of resentment slowly crawled up inside Chris's chest.
"……."
The sight of Repli's bowed head and slumped shoulders flickered before Chris's eyes. Seeing his respected teacher so drained caused a rare surge of anger to rise within him—someone who almost never showed emotion.
Chris gently touched the black choker around his neck, as if trying to calm himself.
Getting worked up will only hinder the fight.
For now, he would focus on winning. With that thought, Chris looked forward again.
Within the blinding radiance that made it impossible to keep one's eyes open, countless screams erupted. Unlike other events, the Ball Throw had no elimination rule. However, getting hit by an opponent's attack would inflict a delay of up to ten seconds, depending on the amount of mana contained in the ball.
Trapped in Chris's indiscriminate barrage, those who were hit couldn't dodge and kept getting struck again during their ten-second stun. Once stopped, they were locked in an infinite delay prison until the match ended.
"Tsk."
Jeon Raydel clicked his tongue, frowning as if the situation displeased him.
This won't do.
He hadn't been aiming for first place in this event anyway. The real match for first was happening elsewhere. But at the very least, he needed to place high enough to prevent the score gap from widening too much.
Does he plan to keep this up until time runs out?
Chris intended to ensure no one except himself scored by continuing his attacks until the time limit expired. In other words, he was aiming for everyone else to tie for last place. It was a petty act of revenge against Aaron Dice, who kept avoiding him. This way, he could at least narrow the score difference with the others a little.
Having read Chris's strategy, Jeon Raydel's eyes darkened.
In other words, even if I don't destroy the target, just hitting it once with a ball guarantees second place?
There was an old saying: crisis is opportunity. Last place earned no points, but second place granted a fairly substantial amount.
I just need to land one hit.
Driven by his will, mana surged from the three stars within his body. The mana transformed through his spell formula into magic, turning into electric current that rampaged through his insides. Jeon Raydel accelerated the current inside his body, reflexively dodging the opponent's attacks.
At the same time, he gripped the ball in his hand tightly.
First, I need to distract his attention.
The opponent controlled everything in this arena. It wasn't just that his attacks prevented movement. By concentrating light around the targets, he had completely blocked any possibility of a ball reaching them. His Ebon-based vision granted him an abnormally wide field of view with no blind spots.
To score, Jeon Raydel had to create an intentional blind spot in Chris's otherwise perfect sight.
"……."
With that thought, Jeon Raydel's gaze shifted sideways. There stood another mage who, like him, had somehow managed to block Chris's attacks. It was Silvia Cristel from Benedict Academy's Team A.
Their eyes met in midair. Without needing to speak, they nodded at the same time. It seemed their thoughts were perfectly aligned.
Tap!
There was no need for elaborate plans or discussion. Over the past month, the two had thoroughly tested each other's abilities through countless mock battles. Even though they had met as enemies, it was true that one often learned more about an opponent from fighting them than from fighting alongside them.
Without even exchanging signals, Jeon Raydel kicked off the ground and charged forward at high speed. Seeing him weave through the falling laser beams and rush straight at him, Chris quietly shifted his pupils.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the air currents around Chris changed dramatically. A gentle breeze swirled around him, quickly turning into a violent gale that slammed into the spot where he stood.
Swoosh!
A single laser shot from within sliced the raging wind cleanly in two. Chris watched the charging Jeon Raydel with eyes as indifferent as ever, his hair merely fluttering from the wind. The moment he prepared to attack Jeon Raydel, the latter's eyes flashed.
Sssssss.
The strong wind Silvia Cristel had unleashed carried tiny black particles that had been scattered around. They gathered around Chris, drawn by magnetism. It looked like a black cloud. The moment Chris looked up at the sun-blocking mass resembling storm clouds, the corners of Jeon Raydel's mouth curled up.
Elemental magic, lightning attribute application. Magnetic control—'Iron Sand.'
Tiny iron fragments smaller than sand grains clumped together chaotically, generating intense vibrations. The ultra-high-frequency vibrating iron pieces became sharper than any blade. Gathering into the shape of countless small needles, they poured down on Chris like a torrential rain.
Ratatatatatatat!
It resembled the martial arts technique from the Fan Empire known only through oral legends: Ten Thousand Flowers Rain.
A heavy, high-mass attack that pure light without physical force could never block. Too late to dodge, and the area was too wide. Therefore, Chris's choice was to push them all away with pure heat.
He radiated the light he had gathered around himself in every direction. Like the sun itself, Chris melted away everything that approached him. Jeon Raydel's trump card, the iron sand, evaporated before it could demonstrate its true power, disappearing right in front of Chris.
"……."
Yet Jeon Raydel showed not the slightest regret. Instead, as if this had been his intention all along, he reached his hand back without hesitation.
Light swirled around Chris. In other words, the overwhelming brightness had imposed limits even on his monstrous vision. Not missing the opening, Jeon Raydel hurled the ball in his hand toward his target.
Got it!
Silvia had thrown her ball at the same moment. The opportunity created by their combined efforts. Second place was now guaranteed.
Both of them watched the balls they had thrown with optimistic thoughts, but—
Bang!
Unfortunately, their hopes were shattered in an instant. While the targets couldn't be attacked with magic, the balls could be knocked away with it. Even within the intense light, Chris accurately struck both thrown balls with lasers. Seeing the two frowning deeply, he opened his mouth quietly.
Light continuously condensed around Chris. It lacked the overwhelming pressure of when Jeon Raydel wrapped himself in lightning, yet that very absence made him seem even more mystical.
Either Aaron Dice, a 4-star mage like himself. Or that boy who had given him a jolt of unease during the obstacle race—the one with no sparkle at all, like a black hole. Or at the very least, the girl who radiated a brilliant glow comparable to Aaron Dice.
To stop him, they should have sent someone of that caliber. Not people with such half-hearted sparkle.
Swooooosh!
What he completed was a sphere of light. The brilliance was so dazzling it could blind anyone who looked at it. The moment he grasped it, its shape began to change little by little. A long beam of light stretched vertically. What grew short below became the hilt, while what extended long above became the blade.
It was a sword of glory made solely from light, without any other material—just like the holy sword of a hero from the stories. The lion's mane hair of Chris, who held it in his hand, whipped violently in the fierce wind.
Flash Form Magic. Radiant Sword 'The Glory.'
Originally, this spell constructed a formulaic boundary around light—which could not be touched physically—much like filling a bottle with water to change its shape. It was a magic that gave new form to light. Naturally, even hearing the explanation made clear that its operational difficulty was of the highest level. Comparable to kneading space itself with both hands, its power aside, it was a technique no 4-star mage could even imitate.
But Chris's Ebon, the Eye that Sees Mana, made it possible. By overlaying the paths of mana he needed to move at the perfect places within his vision, it guided his spell formula. It allowed him to grant mass to the virtual substance of light and mold it with both hands as if it were clay.
It was power that transcended the limits of stars. A clear testament to why those born with Ebon—innate ability users—were called unreasonable existences.
Tang!
Chris, holding the radiant sword, stepped on the light and leaped forward powerfully. The distance closed in the blink of an eye. Before Jeon Raydel could even be surprised by the figure suddenly right in front of him, the dazzling blade of light swung swiftly before his eyes.
Ah…….
A sigh escaped him inwardly. The brilliantly approaching light. Since it wasn't in the shape of a normal sword, it lacked the eerie menace of a weapon. Yet its beautiful form was more than enough to inspire awe in any person.
I can't win this.
An overwhelming presence that made one feel defeat without even realizing it. The radiance that erased even resentment crossed his vision, and his thoughts faded distantly beyond the light. Sensing his loss in this match, Jeon Raydel could only helplessly watch the back of Chris as he moved away toward Silvia Cristel, his unmoving body left behind.