Territory Seizure
FWOOOOSH—!
Dazzling radiance erupted from Herseba, the wand planted deep in the ground.
The ink-black floor of the domain, which had been devoured by Domain Inversion, began transforming into dense, blazing gold.
"This insane...!"
Elisa, Special Admission No. 7, watching from the stands, broke into a cold sweat.
"That's not dark magic! That's a special ability!"
"Heh heh heh heh!"
Beside her, Dick let out a sly chuckle. Elisa whipped her head around.
"Hey, merchant! What's going on?"
"Well, as you can see, Simon can do this sort of thing now~"
She wrinkled her nose.
"Stop showing off and answer the question! Did Simon always have an ability? Or was he hiding his power all this time and now he's going all out because his opponent is Chatel?"
"Simon...!"
The answer came from beyond Dick's shoulder. Camibarez placed a hand over her heart and spoke with utter seriousness.
"There has never been a single moment when he wasn't giving it his all."
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm." Benya beside her nodded along.
Elisa's expression turned a little sheepish.
"O-okay, got it. Why do you have to be so solemn about it?"
"And as for that—"
Dick shrugged.
"That's a power Simon has newly equipped."
"...Abilities are innate. What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Heh heh heh! If you don't get it, shut up and enjoy the show. The fact that he's using that technique here means Simon has no intention of hiding his strength anymore."
Inside the arena.
"......"
Chatel was rattled.
Even though the power of Domain Inversion blanketed the entire arena, the golden floor empowered by that wand refused to move an inch.
A force that stood in direct opposition to his domain. Even now, at this very moment, the golden earth was pushing back Chatel's territory, expanding its grasp wider and wider.
And standing defiant at the heart of that golden land was a boy.
Simon Polentia.
Over his dueling suit, something like an emblem—or a bandage—swirled round and round, functioning as a garment of its own. That was no Matou-style Black Clothes, nor a Jet-Black Film.
A special ability.
Simon Polentia was using an ability, right now.
"Looks like I surprised you."
Simon raised both hands, palms out, with a faint smile.
"The counterattack starts now."
GRUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!
At his gesture, the entire arena shook, and something began rising from the golden earth.
"!"
It was the rooftops of buildings. And not just one or two of them.
An entire 'city' rose up, revealing itself as though it had been buried beneath the ground all along.
THUD! THUD!
Countless footsteps thundered across the golden floor.
From the doors of the freshly risen buildings, monsters wrapped head to toe in bandages came shambling and bursting out.
Screams and cries of astonishment crossed from every corner of the stands.
"It's a Mummy!"
"An actual Mummy!"
Murmurmurmurmur!
The appearance of ancient undead spoken of only in legend sent the entire stands into massive shock.
From Chatel's standpoint, he could no longer afford to stand by and watch. He triggered Domain Inversion at a spot Herseba's Goldenization had not yet reached, lifting the ground and hurling it like a cannon shell.
Seeing it coming, Simon slipped deftly behind a building.
CRASH!
KRA-KOOM!
Debris and golden structures collided, ripping eardrum-shattering roars out of the air one after another.
"Go!"
At Simon's follow-up shout, the Mummies advanced one by one.
They looked like zombies wrapped in bandages. But they were bigger and faster than zombies, and their movements were far more natural.
-Kyakyakkyakyakyakyak!
As the Mummies came surging in a horde, Chatel's face sharpened with focus as he threw himself into his dark magic.
Domain Inversion — Adjustment
Across his front, he raised earthen ramparts to block the Mummies' approach, then lifted every fragment of the arena—rubble, soil, gravel—into the air.
GRIND! GRIND!
Then he reassembled the fragments mid-air. After a bit of additional shaping, their ends were carved into razor-sharp spikes.
Before long, Chatel lowered his palm—the signal.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM!
A ultra-wide-area physical bombardment rained down across the entire city.
"Whoa...!"
Dumbstruck gasps burst from all over the stands.
Simon built the city. Chatel bombarded it.
The clash between the two had already soared far beyond the bounds of an ordinary Duel Evaluation.
GRUMBLE-RUMBLE—
Dust billowed in thick clouds across the whole city.
"......"
Chatel, having pulled off a wide-area bombardment with a single flick of his hand, gazed at the screen with a flat expression. He checked the Barrier Gauge—and sure enough, Simon had evaded the attack.
SNAP—!
"?"
When Chatel turned around, a Mummy that had circled around behind him at some point had flung its bandage and coiled it around his left arm.
Shrrk! Shrrrrk!
The other Mummies were the same. Bandages flew like whips, wrapping around Chatel's arms, head, and thighs.
Chatel tried to tear them off with brute force, but the constriction was stronger than he'd expected.
Tup. Tep.
Meanwhile, the Mummies were using their bandages like climbing ropes to scale the towering ramparts Chatel had erected, nimbly hauling themselves up. Undead or not, their bandage utilization was impressively skilled.
This was getting dangerous.
"Hup!"
Power surged into Chatel's eyes.
Domain Inversion — Control
He drove spearheads up out of the ground beneath the Mummies binding him, impaling them, and collapsed the ramparts to bury the rest under a avalanche of soil.
Having cleared his immediate surroundings, Chatel turned his head and swept a wide glance around him.
"......"
At some point, he had been encircled. The right and left flanks of the arena—and now the rear as well.
Every inch of ground except the small patch beneath Chatel's feet was gleaming gold.
It was like a game of land-grabbing.
Once time passed and the buildings rose, Mummies would pour out of that ground too.
"It's no use, Chatel."
Simon's voice carried from somewhere in the city center.
"There's no escaping this city."
WAAAAAAAH—!!
The stands had descended into absolute pandemonium.
The entire arena glittered gold. Everyone stared, mouths agape, at Simon's dazzling new technique. Even the second- and third-year seniors cheered and clapped without reservation.
"Unbelievable. A first-year can control dozens of undead at once?"
"Looks like at least forty of them to me."
"Is he a Legion Commander or something?"
"Whatever it is, it's definitely not a mental-contact method."
The students were too busy absorbing and studying the new technique to think of anything else.
"......"
In the end, Chatel changed his plan. First he raised fragments of the ground and molded them into rounded, circular blades.
The moment all fifteen blades were complete, he crouched low and leapt toward the city.
KU-WUUUUNG!
Trampling two Mummies along the roadside, Chatel landed at the heart of the city where Simon was hiding.
At some point the buildings had grown dramatically taller, now rivaling Chatel's three-meter-plus frame.
-Kyakyak!
-Kyakyakyakyak!
But this was deep in enemy territory, and the Mummies came swarming. Chatel swung his arm.
WHIIIIIIINE!
The circular saw blades responded. They orbited round and round around Chatel as if shielding him, slicing whole through the Mummies pressing in from every direction.
Each time a blade passed, a Mummy's upper and lower halves came apart. The Mummies raining down from rooftops hurled bandages at Chatel, but the spinning blades cleaved through even those with ease.
Despite having never seen these undead before, Chatel had already devised a complete anti-Mummy strategy.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Now it was a game of tag.
Chatel strode through the city hunting for Simon, and at last his eyes caught sight of Simon scurrying away down a narrow alley.
Chatel accelerated to give chase—but then.
"!"
Sensing something, he spun around to find a bandage-wrapped zombie flying at him through the air.
-Kyakyak!
A Mummy behind him had bound the zombie in bandages and thrown it.
At the same instant, Simon clenched his right fist tight.
Corpse Explosion
KWAAAAAANG!
With a colossal roar, the zombie detonated. The blast staggered even the mighty Chatel, knocking him flat to the ground.
BARRIER GAUGE
Simon Polentia : 98%
Chatel Maer : 87%
"There it is!"
"That's the first damage Chatel's taken!"
No matter how thick his Jet-Black Film, nothing could fully negate the raw firepower of a Corpse Explosion.
The moment a crack opened in Chatel's defense, Simon pivoted instantly to the counteroffensive. All across the city, Mummies and zombies began working in pairs.
The Mummies bound zombies in their bandages, then used the city's terrain to hurl them. Some swung zombies around rooftops by their bandages and released them with centrifugal force; others dropped them in ambush from ceilings or through windows.
And the instant a zombie got anywhere near Chatel—
Corpse Explosion
Simon blew it sky-high.
KWAAAAAANG!
BOOOM!
Chatel was driven back onto the defensive yet again. No matter how superb the circular blades were, blocking every one of these attacks—hunting Simon while fending off zombies launched in the most outlandish ways imaginable—was simply beyond him.
"His undead control is pure art!"
The spectators were at a fever pitch.
"Is Simon seriously about to beat Chatel?"
"Either way, this is the greatest Duel Evaluation in history."
By now the cheers for Simon were drowning out the voices of Chatel's fans outright. It was a display of match management more flamboyant and spectacular than anything anyone had ever witnessed.
"Someone's thoroughly hooked, eh? Chairman."
In the VIP seats where the professors sat, the Vice Chairman of Kizen spoke up.
And in front of him, Phantasos—a mountain of a man—had leapt to his feet, clenching his fist like a child.
"Mm! Of course I am!"
The corner of Phantasos's mouth curled upward.
"This is the Duel Evaluation of the boy I hope will one day succeed me!"
The Vice Chairman chuckled at that.
"Trying to shove that grueling post onto him. You're terrible."
"It's not a burden, it's a dream!"
KWAAAAAANG!
Meanwhile, Chatel, having weathered the Corpse Explosion, slid backward step by step. He had reached the point where dodging Simon's attacks mattered more than finding Simon at all.
Worse, the Mummies' numbers weren't dropping. Even now, at this very moment, they kept multiplying.
Hsssh.
At last, driven onto the back foot, Chatel lifted his right foot.
The Domain Inversion magic circle had been stuck to the sole of his shoe all along.
'So that's where it was.'
Simon, hidden behind a building wall, had been secretly observing the whole time.
'No wonder the Goldenization kept coming undone only where his foot touched. Herseba, another Corpse Explosion, coming up.'
Just then, Chatel pulled the shrunken Domain Inversion circle off his sole—and simultaneously peeled a second magic circle off his back.
Seeing it, Simon clicked his tongue.
'He's been holding another dark spell behind his back this whole time? Mid-fight?'
Chatel slammed the two magic circles together.
CRACK! CRACK!
A fused magic circle.
An ultra-advanced dark magic not taught until the third year.
"Simon Polentia."
HMMMM!
Chatel spoke. His voice boomed across the arena as if projected through a microphone.
Simon flinched and strained his ears.
"You said... you had the advantage. Against. Me."
KRK-KRK-KRZZT!
The two magic circles merged into one.
"Then I'll return it. In full."
Chatel Original — Territory Seizure
Dual magic circles fused — the entire battlefield falls under absolute dominion.
FWOOOOSH!
The instant the magic circle activated, the whole resplendent golden city went dark, as if the power had been cut.
The moment the earth was seized, every building and every Mummy vanished like smoke on the wind. Even the building Simon had been leaning against melted away.
'H-Herseba? What's happening?'
The once-dazzling golden city collapsed like an illusion, leaving behind only the black arena floor, fully claimed by Territory Seizure.
Chatel turned his head and glared at Simon, standing alone on the flat, empty plain.
"Found. You."
'...Ugh!'
Simon yanked Herseba out of the ground and retrieved her, for starters. Chatel slowly raised a finger toward the sky.
"?"
Simon's gaze flicked upward—just for a heartbeat.
GRUMBLE-GRUMBLE-GRUMBLE-GRUMBLE!
The entire arena floor began to heave.
"KYAAAAH!"
"What's going on?!"
Cries of panic erupted on all sides. Simon, bewildered, glanced wildly around.
The students on the first tier of the stands were sinking downward. No—they weren't sinking. Simon was shooting up into the sky.
KWAANG!
At last the arena's ceiling burst apart, and brilliant sunlight poured down over Simon's head. A cool outdoor breeze whipped through his hair.
Without his noticing, the arena was floating high in the air.
'...Th-this is no joke.'
Simon wiped the cold sweat from his brow with his sleeve.
Simply lifting the entire arena with a Jet-Black earth spell—Chatel's scale defied imagination.
"There is. No escape. Now."
Chatel's eyes blazed.