Descent Magic — Ensifer
"We will now begin the duel between Prince Andre and student Simon Polentia."
The head butler looked each of the two over once, then lowered his arm.
"Begin!"
Whoosh!
Shnk!
The moment the match started, the two boys took completely different approaches. Andre spread a magic circle from the outset and devoted himself entirely to preparing a high-tier dark spell. Simon, meanwhile, traced only a single circle behind his back—and then charged straight at Andre.
Good judgment.
Watching Simon's back as he sprinted forward, Lorraine crossed her arms.
Second-year dark magic is on a whole different level. The best move is to carry only the bare minimum insurance and settle this with martial combat early.
Boooom!
Simon, aiming for close quarters, kicked off the ground with Jet-Black and launched himself into the air. Andre's eyes widened sharply at the sight.
What the hell is this guy?!
From where Andre stood, the black figure that had been far away seemed to snap right up into his face.
Thwack!
Andre crossed both arms to block the kick, his expression contorting.
What kind of strength—!
Both his legs dragged long furrows through the ground as he was pushed back. Simon kept pressing the attack, unleashing a barrage of kicks that left afterimages behind like the thrusts of a spear, and Andre struggled to deflect them with his arms.
Tat.
Then Simon's left foot drove in deep toward Andre. His upper body followed, tilting so sharply forward it seemed to drag the very space along with it—and a powerful straight punch with his right arm lanced out.
Fwoooooosh!
The savage blow cut through empty air. Andre leaned his body aside to dodge—and seized his chance for a counter.
A mere first-year!
He stepped in toward Simon in turn and threw a punch of his own.
Thud!
He'd been certain the straight had left Simon wide open—yet in the blink of an eye, Simon's arms had already returned to position and caught Andre's arm mid-strike.
"!"
The instant his arm was seized, Andre's vision lurched skyward. His body was being flipped over.
"Ugh—!"
CRASH!
Before his back could slam catastrophically into the ground, both legs—drawn up with Jet-Black—planted themselves first and held. Simon had intended to follow up immediately, but the moment he saw the magic circle Andre had left floating in the air, he backed off. A Jet-Black blade skimmed past, slicing only the hem of his outer coat.
Damn it—! No more careless mistakes. Ever!
Andre scrambled to his feet, wiped his mouth with a swipe of his hand, and raised his Jet-Black.
Vmmm! Vmmm! Vmmm!
Three magic circles spread out around him. This time it was Jet-Black Arrows. Watching them, a flicker of puzzlement crossed Simon's eyes.
Jet-Black Arrows? From a second-year?
Another circle layered itself in front of the arrows', and then the whole assembly began to spin with tremendous speed, like the wheel of a carriage.
Ratatatatatatatata!
The arrows poured out in a straight line like a machine gun, and Simon flung himself aside in alarm. Everywhere he ran, arrows hammered down like a wall blocking his path.
[The distance is opening up again, boy! You need to close it somehow!]
Got it!
At the very least, he'd confirmed he held the advantage in close combat. Simon zigzagged as he ran, steadily shrinking the distance to Andre once more.
'!'
Then it happened. A chill raced straight up his spine—the sensation of something black rushing in from his side. Trusting pure animal instinct, he raised Lorraine's dagger and swept it out laterally.
BOOOOOM!
Simon's body folded sideways like a snapped hinge. Something like a greatsword had come slamming into his flank without warning. He barely caught it on the very tip of the blade Lorraine had lent him.
Scraaaaape!
Simon skidded backward, carving a long trail through the dirt. He glanced at the dagger—the red energy along its blade had already lost a good ten percent. That had been close to the impact of being hit by a galloping carriage.
"Didn't expect you to react to that."
Andre smirked. The unknown thing that had struck Simon had already vanished.
What was that?
Simon wiped away cold sweat and leveled the dagger. Until he could figure out what that technique had been, he couldn't recklessly close in and fight it out with martial combat. And all the while, Andre's dark magic was racing toward completion.
"Open your eyes wide and watch!"
He raised his arm high.
"And understand what it means to have survived one more year at Kizen!"
Sssssssssss.
Black smoke poured out of the magic circle, blanketing Andre's surroundings. From within that smoke, a giant of indistinct form burst forth—its entire body sheathed in black armor, a fierce, murderous gleam bleeding from its helmet. And gripped in its right hand was the very greatsword that had struck Simon moments ago.
Whoosh!
The massive thing hefted its greatsword across its shoulder and looked down at Simon. A prickling, crawly sensation washed over Simon's whole body.
He was a Spirit Magic major.
A dark spell that used Spirit to imbue a special wraith with physical force, granting it full physical manifestation—the pinnacle of Spirit Magic, known as Descent Magic.
"With this thing complete, the duel is decided."
Andre extended his arm.
"Die."
The instant Simon arched back in alarm, the greatsword carved through the air where he'd stood, leaving a black streak in its wake. His hair stood on end at the thought that a slower reaction would have cut him clean in two.
The greatsword isn't that long. First, put distance between us.
Simon whirled and ran. The monster was enormous, sure, but it was swinging its sword around Andre as its axis. It shouldn't be able to reach far.
Fwoooosh!
But the descending greatsword's length and girth grew. Watching it come crashing down over his head in an instant, Simon hastily raised the dagger.
CLAAAANG!
Dagger met greatsword with a thunderous roar.
Ugh!
It looked like an ant fencing with a human. Thanks to Lorraine's dagger the impact didn't reach him, but another considerable chunk of its Jet-Black drained away.
"You thought you'd be safe if you just put distance between us?"
Andre smirked. Ensifer's attack range exceeded dozens of meters. The sword could reach every corner of this open ground serving as the arena.
"Run, you pathetic coward!"
Simon panted and raised the dagger. Clang!—blade struck blade again, and more Jet-Black bled away.
Strength, speed, range—I can't beat him on any front. What kind of dark magic IS this…!
No way to oppose that monster came to mind. The only option he could see was striking the caster, Andre, directly. Mercifully, Andre remained fixed in place after summoning his 'Ensifer'—most likely because the magic circle's coordinates were locked, preventing him from moving.
All right.
Having thought that far, Simon pulled six skeletons out of subspace and set them running. But before they'd gone far—Fwooosh!—the skeletons' bones went scattering through the air.
"Hahahaha! You've noticed the gulf between our summons, haven't you!"
Several of his mental links snapped, and his skull throbbed. But he chose the skeletons whose links still held. The scattering bones halted midair, their sharp ends all turning to point forward.
⟨ Bone Nail ⟩
As the bones flew forward, Andre calmly spread a Jet-Black shield and blocked them.
"!"
The moment he deflected the Bone Nail, zombies came arcing down from above in a parabola. A delayed attack—Simon had seized zombies with his Overlord and hurled them like trebuchet stones.
Shraaak!
But before Simon could detonate them with Corpse Explosion, Ensifer swung its greatsword and cleaved them in half.
Tch, this is tough.
The enemy's openings simply wouldn't show. At this rate, he'd have no choice but to complete his own dark magic. Simon switched to pure evasion, dancing out of the way of every attack. Of course, Ensifer's greatsword flew faster than Simon could run, so it mostly came down to absorbing the blows with Lorraine's dagger.
And that, too, was beginning to reach its limit.
A murmur rippled through the crowd. As the match began to tilt one-sidedly, the nobles were already stealing glances at Lorraine and Serne.
"At this rate, student Simon is going to lose."
"I'd say the two ladies were rather reckless."
"Do you suppose he'll actually kneel before a true prince?"
"Who knows. Either way, it'll be quite the headline."
Lorraine, arms crossed, and Serne, watching with one hand cocked insolently on her hip, both wore utterly unbothered expressions.
"And on what grounds did you bet on Simon's victory?"
Serne asked.
"You?"
"Because you did, so I followed suit~"
"You're insane."
Serne smiled and shrugged.
"Anyway, you still haven't answered my question."
"It was the obvious judgment."
Lorraine exhaled a sigh and continued.
"Ensifer—what second-year Spirit Magic majors learn. Simon can use something even more powerful than that."
BOOOOOM!
At last, the dagger Lorraine had lent him shattered to pieces against Ensifer's greatsword. Simon staggered backward, gasping for breath.
"The only hope keeping you alive is gone."
Andre, holding the momentum, spoke with leisurely confidence.
"So what now? That thing the Ivory Tower woman gave you—when exactly were you planning to use it?"
"I'm already using it."
Simon pulled the golem core from subspace.
"Thanks to that, it's just now finished."
Click!
With his free hand, Simon activated the magic circle he'd been quietly tracing behind his back. The circle detached from him and floated up into the air, and he immediately fused it with the golem core.
"Insolent little—!"
Andre thrust out his arm, and Ensifer's greatsword came down. Simon stood rooted to the spot. Lorraine's dagger was spent; there was nothing left to block with.
KWAAAAAAM!
The onlookers screamed in horror. Dust billowed up in a pale haze around the impact site. The head butler, who had been serving as referee, cried out in alarm.
"Y-young master! If the Kizen student is harmed—!"
"It's fine."
Andre clicked his tongue.
"This is a legitimate duel, entered with his own consent. No matter what the Witch of Death says…… hmm?"
Krrk. Krrrk.
Within the hazy dust, Ensifer's greatsword was trembling.
Andre's eyes went wide.
It held? HOW?
As the pale dust settled, Simon came into view—down on one knee. And in front of him, an emerald arm had burst from the golem core lying on the ground and was gripping the greatsword in a deadlock.
"Coming up."
Simon raised both arms.
Grrrrrrrumble!
The golem's arm was rapidly sheathed in Cloud. Because he'd been continuously squeezing and refining Cloud through the circle behind his back the entire time, the coating spread far faster than usual.
It took me thirty minutes at the BMAT—but this time, complete in ten.
The difference in focus Serne's feather made was truly enormous. Lorraine had given him the power to endure; Serne, the power to cut the time he needed.
The result—
Krrk!
A torso formed from the golem core, and a second arm sprouted and seized the greatsword. Before long, two legs began to squirm, pushing the body upright.
"No—it can't be!"
The moment he recognized what that dark magic was, Andre's face drained white.
"Why would a first-year know a third-year seniors' technique—?!"
"There's no law saying juniors can't learn what the seniors know."
The golem, now swollen to three meters in height, slowly rose to its full stature.
"First-years should only learn first-year techniques—is that the tradition you're so fond of emphasizing, Your Highness?"
"You little bastard!"
As the golem wrenched the blade away, Ensifer's massive greatsword was shoved clean aside and slammed deep into the ground.
The Blood Golem's raw strength was simply greater.
"Now."
Simon synced the magic circle on his chest with the golem, activating the Blood Link as well.
"I'll counterattack properly."