The Duel of Choice
For Hector, the nomination duel assessment — where duelists could choose their own opponents — was never something he could simply let slide.
“Wh-what the hell! When did you get here?”
Rick jolted backward in a flash, startled out of his wits.
Hector glared down at him, eyes bulging.
“Talk, you trash. Is this intel solid?”
“Even if it is, what are you gonna do about it?”
At that, Meilin stepped forward, her eyes hardening.
“If it's the nomination format, fine — whether you pick Simon is up to you. But who Simon picks is his own free choice.”
“Th-that's right!”
Camibarez worked up her courage too, nodding her head vigorously.
“Hector! There you are!”
“What are you all talking about?”
Rumble!
Not to be outdone, Hector's faction came swarming in from all around. The moment they moved to provide backup—
“Enough. This is a private matter.”
Hector, of all people, raised a hand and held them back.
“I'm fine.”
Simon also waved off his squad members and stepped forward. Soon the two stood facing each other.
“…….”
Swallowing broke out among the surrounding students. Those two facing off always had a way of filling the air with taut, suffocating tension.
Just as Hector opened his mouth to speak—
“Yeah. Got it.”
Simon cut him off, standing tall, and every motion around them froze.
“If what Rick says is true and this duel assessment is the nomination format, you're planning to pick me, aren't you?”
Hector answered in an icy voice.
“Naturally.”
“Fine. When my turn comes, I'll pick you too.”
Hector's eyes went wide. At this unexpected turn, Rick, Meilin, and Camibarez all whirled to stare at Simon in astonishment.
Well, going a round with Hector before the promotion exam isn't a bad idea.
He knew Hector had been craving a match with him for a long time. Until now, he'd dodged it because Hector was too much to deal with — the guy was reckless enough to pick fights in the middle of Langestin, and whenever Hector started a scuffle, the sparks tended to fly onto whoever was nearby. So Simon had simply avoided approaching him at all.
But this time was different.
I need to test Herseba.
He needed to fine-tune Herseba's newly acquired ability from before the promotion exam, to see whether it could actually be used in real combat.
A weak opponent would be a problem. And Hector was a powerhouse who surpassed most Special Admission students. Simon figured he was the perfect sparring partner to draw out Herseba's full strength.
Hector, for his part, was staring at Simon with a somewhat taken-aback expression. Then Simon flashed a smile and extended his hand.
“I hope this becomes a duel that helps us both. Look forward to it, Hector.”
“…….”
Hector did not take the hand.
He kept his mouth shut in silence, glaring into Simon's eyes as if trying to read his true intent.
At last—
“……You arrogant bastard.”
He bared his teeth, letting his true nature show.
“You were thinking of me as a test subject, weren't you?”
“!”
Simon flinched, caught red-handed. Meanwhile, Rick beside him just lounged back, arms laced behind his head.
“Eh, so what? If he takes the match, whatever~ If he doesn't, also whatever~”
“Of course I'm accepting the duel. But you seem to be treating a fight with me far too lightly.”
A chilling killing intent settled into Hector's eyes.
“I'll make sure this becomes a fight that grinds you down and breaks you. And at the end, I'll leave you swaying, crushed under a crushing sense of helplessness and defeat.”
Flap!
With only those parting words, Hector spun on his heel and walked away, his uniform hem snapping behind him. His faction members scrambled after him.
As the suffocating tension dissolved, Simon let out a long breath.
“What's his problem?”
Meilin pulled an exasperated face.
“The whole point of a duel assessment is to test your new capabilities against classmates, isn't it? What does he think the assessment is for?”
Then Simon scratched the side of his head and winced one eye shut.
“……For what it's worth, this time I feel like Hector got one over on me.”
“Huh?”
“This assessment. I really am going to have to prepare hard. See you guys later.”
Simon grabbed his bag and left. The three of them exchanged looks of mild bewilderment.
“Are all boys like that?”
Meilin said, utterly baffled.
“Not all of them.”
Rick shrugged.
“But hey, Rick! If the duel assessment really is the nomination format, how does the system actually work? How do you nominate people, and how do you get nominated?”
At Camibarez's question, Rick shook his head.
“No idea.”
“What?!”
Meilin's voice shot up.
“You were the one who said it was the nomination format!”
“I said it *might* be the nomination format. All I heard was that it could be.”
“You blockhead! Aren't you the one who stirred up the biggest mess of the moment? You planted the idea in their heads and now what's your cleanup plan?”
Rick hammed it up, hands stuffed in his pockets.
“Aww, come on~ Have I ever cared about cleaning up after myself? Besides, what matters is the order. Wonder how this is gonna shake out?”
The answer to that question didn't take long to arrive.
The very next day — the Shamaim Festival event.
The entire first-year class, the largest cohort, filled the Great Auditorium. As the students enjoyed their banquet dressed in fine tuxedos and gowns, the master of ceremonies dropped his bombshell announcement.
“Tomorrow's duel assessment will begin with the nomination format! Word is, the nomination order follows the rankings of the recent After-School BMAT!”
Students who'd had no prior warning began to murmur in dismay.
“What?”
“A duel assessment? Out of nowhere?”
“Tonight was supposed to be the ball!”
Amid the chaos, Rick — who had known all along — snickered behind his hand, while Meilin wore a hollow expression, muttering about how she'd stressed over her dress for nothing.
“BWAHAHAHA! Ah—ah! Forgive me for laughing! I deeply, *deeply* sympathize with how you all feel! I've been through it for three straight years myself!”
Today's master of ceremonies was a third-year student named Darell. Clutching an amplification crystal, he raked the freshmen with his razor wit.
“Kizen students are a vicious breed, I tell you. Slapping a duel assessment onto the Shamaim Festival? That's just child's play! That wonderful feeling of showing up to pick a dance partner and having to pick a duel opponent instead! It'll probably get even worse when you're second-years! Oh, is this something I shouldn't be saying? I'm graduating soon — what do I have to be afraid of! Haha!”
“Darell.”
The MC flinched and spun around.
Where he looked, Jane sat in her chair, glaring daggers at him.
“That's a warning.”
At her frosty tone, Darell whipped his head back around in a flash.
“Hot! Haha! But of course, there is no question that Kizen is a great school producing outstanding necromancers year after year! Of course not!”
Sweat streaming down his face, Darell raised his script cards.
“When it's time to dance, one must dance! Then, let us begin the nomination duel assessment! The results of the last exam were…… let's see now.”
Darell grinned wickedly as he turned to the underclassmen.
“Joint first place — Simon Polentia and Chatel Maer. Step forward.”
As the students murmured, the two boys with the highest After-School BMAT scores rose from their seats and made their way to the podium of the Great Auditorium.
“Hmph.”
Watching from the audience, Hector crossed his arms with a satisfied look.
He and Simon had promised to nominate each other. If the nomination order descended from the top of the exam rankings to the bottom, there was no room for surprises.
“Yesterday was seriously wild~”
A girl from Hector's faction let out an awkward laugh as she recalled the previous day.
— Elisa Celine!! Renounce your duel with Simon Polentia!
— KYAAAAAH! Mommy!
“Honestly, the man barged into the girls' dormitory too.”
“Shut it.”
“Yes sir, yes sir~”
Though her mouth clamped shut at Hector's growl, the teasing smile stayed on her face. Soon the other faction students were snickering too, and Hector squeezed his eyes shut, explaining himself.
“Elisa Celine had a grudge against Simon Polentia.”
Meaning, in a nomination duel assessment, there was a chance she'd pick Simon as her target.
“Wow. So you tracked down and strong-armed *every single student* who might pull something like that on Simon Polentia?”
“You know, Hector's got a surprisingly cute side.”
“Shut it.”
Eventually, the faction students burst out laughing out loud. Oblivious to all of it, Hector stood with his arms crossed, watching Simon on the podium with a more serious expression than anyone.
“It's not my affair, so I find it all quite entertaining! The nomination duel assessment has the wonderful advantage of exposing the currents of everyone's interpersonal relationships.”
Darell smirked as he swept his gaze over the first-year underclassmen.
“Under this rule, each of you must nominate one student from your own squad. Who's gunning for whom, who's worried about whom, who's nursing a grudge against whom — it's all laid bare. Fascinating, isn't it! Isn't that right, underclassmen!”
At the sky-piercing cry of the third-year, the fired-up first-years snapped to attention and roared back.
“Yes, senpai!”
Darell, never one to miss a chance, cupped a hand to his ear and shouted.
“Oh, that voice is too quiet!”
“YES, SENPAI!!!”
“What, are there no girls at Kizen! Just the girls this time!!”
“Yes, senpai~!”
“There we go, there we go!”
“Darell.”
At last, Jane, still seated, opened her mouth. Darell shuddered as if jolted by a current of electricity and whirled around.
Jane was waggling her finger at him.
“P-Professor Jane! I swear I'll be absolutely serious from now on!”
“Come here.”
Darell trudged over to her with the expression of a man walking to his execution. Then, military discipline abruptly restored, he snapped to attention before her.
“Do you not want to graduate?”
“No, of course I do!”
“You think once you're a professional necromancer you'll never see my face again?”
“No, Professor!”
“I will personally review the graduation thesis you just submitted, from first page to last.”
“Please, Professor, have mercy!”
For a while, Jane devoted some time to tenderly mentoring her student.
The third-years were already so strong they could chew up most active-duty necromancers — and even among them, Vice-Principal Jane was a being they could never hope to approach.
At last, a thoroughly deflated Darell dragged himself back to the podium.
“My s-sincerest apologies. Let's begin again.”
He gave a brief explanation of the rules. Working down through the rankings of the most recent exam — the After-School BMAT — each student must nominate exactly one squadmate to face.
In the event of tied scores and rankings, the decision would be made by referencing the detailed metrics of the After-School BMAT results.
“Right now, Simon and Chatel here are tied for joint first place.”
Darell accepted a document handed over by the TA and flipped it open with a flourish.
“So we will determine the order by the sum of detailed metrics!”
In Simon's case, he had carried entire themes in the siege battle and the summon defense, among other standout performances — but he'd received Meilin's help on the Curse Written Theme and had benefited from Cindy Vivace's one-sided assistance on the Spirit Magic Theme.
Chatel, by contrast, had resolved every exam from start to finish on his own strength alone. It wouldn't be reflected in the final grades, but in the detailed evaluations, Chatel held the edge.
“And there you have it! So let's start with our half-giant, Chatel Maer! Who oh who will he nominate!”
The TA held out the list of upper-squad students to Chatel, but he raised a palm and declined it.
“Then, Chatel! Who will you nominate—!”
Darell's voice died in his throat.
The murmur of the audience seats fell silent in an instant.
“……!”
Even Simon's pupils trembled.
Completely unforeseen.
Chatel's huge, thick finger was pointing — at Simon himself.