The Black Light's Assault
The dense, flawless spell formulas lined up in tight formation. If an ordinary mage's formulas were liquid, then the ones Chris had inscribed were solid. Forcing a Fluid Magic Circle into them was no different in difficulty from driving a fragile finger into a cement wall.
"……."
Yet Arina was somehow managing to pull it off. Amid the raging blades of light, a single sword broke free from Chris's control and reversed its predetermined trajectory. Chris stared ahead with his emotionless white eyes, calmly shattering the rebel hidden within his own magic.
"Hahk… hah……."
Arina's current state could hardly be called good, even as an exaggeration. Sweat poured down her face as though a showerhead had been turned on above her. Her breathing grew increasingly ragged, and her focus wavered far worse than Chris's, who was forcibly anchoring his vision with magic.
Interesting.
Even so, her magical skill was growing more refined with each passing moment, as though she were perfecting her magic through the fight against Chris. After all, Arina had no other options left. Her understanding of spell formulas was still immature. Professor Magnus's rote memorization had barely covered that weakness, but a mage's lack of formula calculation ability remained her most fatal flaw. She could manage alchemy, which she used often and had grown somewhat accustomed to, but other magical systems were still below average.
While most mages chose a primary direction and honed it intensively, the gap between Arina and others in this regard was especially severe. Therefore, even at a disadvantage, she had no choice but to push forward with this method. It was the only thing she could do.
Fluid Magic Circle application: Spell Intercept.
The place where she now stood was a thousand-foot cliff. A dead end with no detour. The only option was to face the oncoming disaster head-on. And that desperate situation only accelerated Arina's growth. There was no room for other thoughts. All she could do was pierce through Chris's dense formulas. Focusing her entire mind on that single task, at some point her mental world slipped into a state of selflessness.
"……."
Her consciousness grew distant. She no longer knew what she was thinking. Her body moved on its own. Without realizing she had exceeded her limits, she forced her eyes wide open to decipher the opponent's magic. Bloodshot sclera. Eyelids that refused to blink. Fingers that never stopped moving. Even the mana being squeezed out of her without rest.
The more battles she fought, the more she survived Chris's attacks, the more explosively Arina's talent erupted.
Kwaaaang!
A blade of light exploded upon striking the ground. In the center of the crater, where the earth had been crushed like pudding dropped from a great height, Arina barely kept her balance. Even then, she never took her eyes off Chris as she seized the now shapeless magic circle.
The circle stretched like rubber following her movements. Elongated into a thin, needle-like form, it pierced between Chris's blades of light and forcibly opened a small gap within his formulas.
"It's useless."
But the gap closed almost instantly. Her opponent was Chris. A genius who, with the power of his innate ability, had already reached the level of a professional mage in terms of formula precision alone. No matter how quickly Arina was developing, Chris had already moved far beyond that. Breaking through his defenses was never going to be easy.
The gap between them was simply too vast. A single battle could never close that distance. Even so, Chris genuinely admired Arina. She was still standing despite him fighting at what he considered near full strength.
Shaping it into other forms won't work.
Chris's unique magic, Flash Shaping. Though it was his self-created secret technique, it wasn't limited to forming light into the shape of swords. If he could imagine it, he could create anything with light. Of course, that was currently impossible for Chris. The difficulty of this magic was far too high for a mere 4-star mage. The only form he could currently handle perfectly was a sword.
That was the problem. Any form other than a sword would have formulas too crude, immediately exposing gaps to the girl. Yet he couldn't keep restricting himself to swords either.
She's getting used to it.
The reason Arina's counterattacks had increased compared to the beginning was because she had grown familiar with the formulas of the blades of light. A constitution where the body learned before the mind. Though her understanding lagged behind ordinary people, her adaptability ranked among the highest even among mages. Every professor had evaluated her talent as leaning more toward a martial artist or spirit summoner than a mage.
Faced with her zombie-like persistence that refused to fall no matter how many times she was struck down, Chris briefly considered how to respond before discarding the thought.
Well, adapt if you can.
Even if things continued this way, the outcome of this fight would be decided before she could surpass him. After all, even a state of selflessness had its limits. And more than anything, Chris was confident. No matter who stood before him, no one could match him in operational ability.
"……."
Spell Intercept was blocked at every turn. Arina's bloodshot eyes darted busily. She searched for even the slightest opening. If none existed, she looked for a hole she could force open.
"The reason Dispel doesn't work well against high-level mages is because they have complete control over their own magic."
Her uncle's words flashed through her mind. The reason mages valued self-control so highly. Allowing interference from others was clearly something only the unskilled did. In that sense, Spell Intercept was undoubtedly more effective against spirit summoners than mages.
"But among the participants in this Academy Tournament, there isn't anyone at that level."
Aaron Dice, and Chris as well. To the eyes of the participants, they were monsters, but to Kain, they were nothing more than rookies no different from the others.
"Don't hesitate. If something feels suspicious, just touch it. It's not like you're actually going to die, so you should rack up as much real combat experience as possible right now."
Following his advice, Arina struck at any part she found even slightly suspicious without hesitation. Whether she was certain it was one of Chris's traps or thought it was a gap created by his mistake, she shot down incoming blades of light, seized control, and clearly targeted those spots.
"Ah."
And then her vision went black. Damage had accumulated until it finally exploded. The first place the abnormality appeared was in her eyes, the most sensitive sensory organ in the body. With the blackout, Arina's consciousness returned from the state of selflessness, and she let out a silent scream at the belated pain that had exceeded her limits.
Her muscles trembled uncontrollably. Her joints ached as though the bones had been broken. Her heart pounded as if it would burst. Her lungs felt as though they were being torn apart. Yet even then, Arina's eyes remained fixed forward.
"Once you get used to it like that, your body will eventually remember where to strike for maximum efficiency without needing to see it."
She couldn't see. But she could see. The trajectories of the incoming magic. The formulas inscribed within them. And… the gaps in her opponent that, until moments ago, she hadn't known where to strike at all.
It was a new world. A realm of understanding Arina had never experienced before. Intoxicated by that ecstasy, she reached her hand forward.
Kwachang!
And all the blades of light surrounding Arina shattered at once. Like fragments of a broken stained-glass window, sparkling pieces of light scattered around her. With her vision restored for an instant, Arina looked straight at Chris and grinned.
"What a shame."
Then she collapsed to the ground. The blade of light that had pierced through her back was the one she hadn't managed to break. As Arina was eliminated, impaled by the very thing that should have granted its master the glory of victory, Chris muttered indifferently.
"Told you so."
What was that at the very last moment? His magic had been perfect, just like before. Yet it had broken. Where had the gap been? What exactly had that girl seen in his magic? He was curious. Far too curious. That was why Chris voiced the same sentiment as Arina at the end. It was truly a shame that their fight had already concluded.
"……."
With that thought, Chris stood in place for a moment to catch his breath. Closing his eyes, he organized his fatigue with mana. After roughly ten seconds of silence, he opened his eyes again. His head turned to the side.
Step… step… step… step……
There, a woman was approaching him. Yura Aquiz. A member of the Sirionella Private Academy team participating in this Academy Tournament alongside him. Had she been hiding until the fight between Chris and Arina ended, only now revealing herself? Though she was an ally rather than an enemy, Chris immediately aimed his laser at her appearance.
"Who are you?"
Her outward appearance was clearly Yura Aquiz herself. But her inner self was different. The faint sparkle of Yura Aquiz that he had confirmed every day. Yet now, even that faint sparkle could no longer be felt from her body. It wasn't that the sparkle was completely absent, like with Togun. It was simply far too dark red. As though trying to teach Chris the fact that light could shine so darkly.
If there had been a participant like that, I wouldn't have missed it.
At first, he thought another participant had disguised themselves as Yura. Either through transformation magic or some magical tool for disguise. But no participant in the tournament could hide their true nature from Chris. And Chris was certain. Among the Academy Tournament participants, there was no one emitting such a unique black light.
"Chris."
In response to his question, Yura Aquiz—or rather, whatever was wearing her appearance—lifted her head toward him. Where the whites of her eyes should have been, there was only pitch-black darkness. The yellowish pupils floating in the center shone with an ominous glow as they fixed on Chris.
"Found you."
Then Yura Aquiz's mouth stretched wide open. It was not a human face, but the face of a ghost from a horror movie. The black stone embedded in the center of her chest emitted an unpleasant light, and at the same time, Yura's body leaped toward Chris in an instant. A zero-to-hundred acceleration that seemed to skip the middle process entirely. Yura closed the distance at a speed Chris, somewhat fatigued from his fight with Arina, couldn't react to, and reached out toward him.
Paaang!
With the sound of a balloon bursting, she was sent flying in the opposite direction. Yura Aquiz crumpled headfirst into the ground. Looking down at her indifferently, Chris spoke in a calm voice.
"Oh, you startled me."
He had reflexively attacked because he was so surprised. He hadn't even figured out who she was yet.
She isn't dead already, is she?
He didn't want to eliminate her so soon. Thinking that, Chris slowly walked toward her crumpled form on the ground.
"Ugh!"
Then he suddenly collapsed to the floor. His complexion turned pale. Nausea rose along with the urge to vomit.
What the hell……?
What was this? What had she done? There hadn't been anything suspicious. Even with his eyes that could see mana, he hadn't been able to perceive what his opponent had done at all.
"Kek."
As he thought that and raised his head, he saw Yura Aquiz, who had already risen and was approaching him. And then he noticed it. From the tips of his own fingers, his mana was turning pitch-black, as though contaminated by poison. Just like the black light currently radiating from Yura Aquiz.
"Who the hell are you?"
Staring at the unidentified monster that had approached right in front of him, Chris's white eyes twisted in displeasure.