Captain Capture
Chapter 213: Captain Capture. It was the simulated match event that Arina and her group had experienced inside Professor Karlsen's Inner World. At the same time, it had been the moment they witnessed the full, unrestrained power of Aaron Dice, Benedict Academy's strongest.
"……"
Even now, the image returned the instant she closed her eyes. The man wreathed in crimson flames that had overwhelmed everything with sheer firepower. Hair redder than fire itself. The scarlet pupils blazing beneath black eyes. The memory of that day had burned itself so deeply into her mind that it refused to fade.
And at last, the chance for revenge had arrived.
'This time, I won't lose.'
Even Arina, who rarely felt competitive, clenched her fists with the determination to win at all costs. She looked like a fledgling bird steeling itself for its first hunt.
'The real one really is cuter.'
Zeon watched her with quiet satisfaction and nodded to himself. The fake Arina from the morning had mimicked her well, but she could never match the real one's charm. He resolved to etch every detail of the genuine Arina into his memory before he lost his sight later.
His gaze, filled with an almost sacred intensity, traced the lines of her face as though he were a musician from a bygone romantic era desperately memorizing one last melody before deafness claimed him.
"By the way, what did you learn this morning?"
Togun slipped between them with an unassuming step, cutting off Zeon's view. Zeon frowned, but quickly averted his eyes when Arina turned toward them, worried their gazes might meet.
"How to handle magic more efficiently…… I guess?"
Togun glanced at her wrists. The thick mana restriction cuffs she had worn every day were gone. In their place rested a thin bracelet with a small green turtle dangling from it.
"You said it was magic your uncle taught you? He must be an incredible mage if he could provide a solution right after the problem appeared."
Togun recalled the brief glimpse he'd caught of Arina's uncle at the café. Jet-black hair and eyes, thick horn-rimmed glasses, clothes that looked like he'd just rolled out of bed to visit the convenience store. At first glance he seemed like an ordinary slacker, yet Togun clearly remembered the violet glow flickering within those black eyes. Even someone as insensitive to mana as Togun had felt an instinctive chill.
Comparing that presence to the two transcendents he had once witnessed clashing in Bivildi territory, Togun could only describe the feeling as an unfathomable depth. If those two had reached the heavens, Arina's uncle felt like an abyss with no bottom.
'If he can radiate that kind of pressure just with his aura, he must be extraordinary.'
Togun couldn't be sure, but he suspected the man was a legendary hidden master. That would explain why even Professor Karlsen and Marily had given their approval so readily.
His conviction leaned further toward the latter possibility. As a boy who admired great mages and modeled himself after the Majoan, the existence of a reclusive master felt like a hero concealing his true identity. 'He might even be stronger than my master.' Something about his master's demeanor suggested a connection to Arina's uncle. Perhaps the reason he called her "young lady" was also tied to that man.
"Uh, yeah, something like that?"
Arina stammered under Togun's sparkling gaze and quickly looked away. 'He's not a mage, he's a dark mage, though.'
Arina had never been good at lying. Her awkward behavior was obvious, yet Togun, already lost in his fantasies about Kain, noticed nothing strange.
"Anyway, he must be amazing. Even I don't know the full details."
Wealth so vast that even Marily couldn't trace its source. Magical knowledge so advanced that even Professor Paracelsus had called it revolutionary despite Kain being a dark mage. Even Professor Karlsen, a 7-star dark mage, had subtly changed his attitude toward her uncle at some point. Though she only ever saw him lounging on the sofa, that alone was enough to make her realize how extraordinary he truly was.
"How old is your uncle?"
"He should be twenty this year."
"So he reached the level of creating new magic at only twenty?"
Admiration deepened on Togun's face.
"I…… guess so?"
Arina blinked, newly struck by the realization herself. Her uncle was only twenty. Yet he had accomplished everything she had just listed. The thought made his greatness feel even more real.
'Maybe it's only natural that he spends all day on the sofa.'
There was an old saying that geniuses found the world unbearably dull because living was too easy for them. Perhaps that was why her uncle lacked motivation for anything.
'Uncle probably doesn't have a single friend, either.'
A merciless fact delivered with the objectivity of someone who had lived with him for two and a half years. Even the ever-indifferent Kain would have struggled to brush it off if he had seen the pity in Arina's eyes right now.
"It looks like it's almost time to prepare."
Zeon approached Arina and Togun as they chatted about Kain. He gestured lightly with his eyes. Benedict Academy's Team A was stretching and chatting with relaxed ease. Shubi and Yura were arguing heatedly about something, while Chris stared blankly at the sky as usual. Ennya Dexspin was gathering students, likely planning another alliance. Leon Nenfil stood around looking smug for no reason while Elon Doyan watched him with weary exasperation.
Everyone had finished preparing for the upcoming match. They all knew this game could decide the entire Academy Tournament.
'It's a lot of pressure.'
Just as Arina watched them, they were also glancing her way. Benedict Academy's Team B. At first, attention had focused solely on the fact that they were first-years. But after defeating two 4-star mages, Aaron and Chris, people had no choice but to acknowledge them. This team was the biggest dark horse of the tournament.
'But for some reason…… it feels good.'
Arina didn't like being the center of attention. Yet right now, the gazes felt pleasant. That only made her want to win even more.
"Let's win this for sure."
Zeon fastened the bracelet on his wrist as he spoke, his voice carrying the renewed resolve of someone who had once fallen but risen again.
＊ ＊ ＊
In battle, momentum was everything. The belief and certainty that victory was possible. History recorded countless instances of smaller forces overcoming larger ones through sheer force of will.
That was why this match, "Captain Capture," held the greatest significance among all events in the Academy Tournament. For Benedict Academy's Team A, it was a chance to cement their dominance. For Sirionella Private Academy and Benedict Academy's Team B, it was an opportunity to stage a comeback.
Of course, losing here wouldn't make a reversal impossible, but rebuilding shattered morale was no easy task. Especially since this was the first time the two 4-star mages, Chris and Aaron Dice, would clash. The losing side's ace might collapse completely for the rest of the tournament.
"Haaam."
Not that Kain cared about any of that. He looked down at the arena with even more lethargy than the day before, likely because he had stayed up all night. His body, that of an absolute being, felt no fatigue, but his mind was exhausted. Habits were terrifying things. Skipping just one night of sleep had left him yawning nonstop.
What irritated him further was the uninvited guest who had appeared without warning.
'These guys always show up when I'm tired.'
Tugwi had been the same. This one was no different. They only appeared when he was sleep-deprived and irritable. If their goal was to annoy him, they had succeeded brilliantly.
Thinking this, Kain furrowed his brow as mana spread around him like fog. The mana poured out in a way that grated on his nerves. Following the overflow of his emotions, the surroundings began to blur dreamily, as though the world itself were being kneaded.
At a glance, nothing had changed. The VIP seats were still separated by a transparent glass window. Below, holograms showed students preparing in the virtual world. With the match-start signal, thunderous cheers erupted from the general stands.
Nothing seemed different from before. Yet something had definitely changed.
"……"
Kain rolled his eyes to the side. The two scouts who had been chattering noisily beside him since two days ago had vanished. Not only them. The entire spacious VIP area, unlike the crowded general stands, had gone completely silent. If Kain couldn't sense their presence, it meant they had been completely erased. Or rather, he alone had been pushed into an isolated world.
This was clearly an Inner World. Unlike ordinary ones, the sky wasn't red. Nor was it pitch-black like Kain's own. The scenery was identical to the real world. The interior of Mendelstone Indoor Gymnasium with its fluorescent lights glowing white. A space where personal ideology had been heavily diluted, reflecting the essence of the world itself. It felt similar to the virtual world the tournament participants had entered, yet Kain was certain that a thin film of someone's Inner World had been overlaid on top.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Death King."
A moment later, someone quietly revealed themselves behind Kain. A man walked leisurely through the hazy fog. Even so, Kain didn't spare him a single glance, as though uninterested.
Paying no mind to Kain's reaction, the man approached and plopped down in the seat where the two scouts should have been. The bench creaked under his heavy frame. Once seated, he met Kain's ominously glowing violet eyes with a round face and a wide grin.