The Name Meilyn Villenne
In the arena of the burning pit where jet-black flames billowed, two girls clashed head-on.
BOOM! KRA-KOOM!
Serne's Dark Flare rained down from above without mercy.
Ash drifted down, whipping at her faded hair as Meilyn sprinted wildly across the arena floor.
"Haaap!"
Leaping high into the air to dodge a incoming fireball, she thrust her index finger straight out and aimed it at Serne.
<Bounce>
Her fingertip recoiled from the pushback, and a curse in the shape of smoke flashed brilliantly as it shot away.
"Hehe."
Serne curled her lips up and extended her own index finger. The flying curse was sucked toward Serne's fingertip like iron filings to a magnet, then circled around it in lazy loops. Humming a little tune, Serne waved her finger this way and that, and then— with a playful little 'yap'—she snapped her fingertip sideways.
CRASH!
The next instant, the curse shot off in the direction she pointed, caving in the arena wall.
"Your Jet-Black Elemental Magic doesn't even work on me—your signature specialty. What makes you think a curse would be any different?"
"...Kgh!"
"My turn again now."
Dark Flares came down from the sky one after another. Every direction Meilyn ran, a massive explosion erupted and jet-black flames surged skyward.
"Kya-hahahaha!"
Serne's villainess laugh echoed across the entire arena.
It was one-sided, overwhelming violence.
"I—I can't watch this."
Timid Camibarez was hiding her face in her palms. Dick smacked his lips and scratched his head.
"Seriously, how is she supposed to... huh? Where's Simon?"
"Simon?"
The two of them belatedly glanced around. Simon, who had been sitting with them in the stands, was gone.
THUD!!
Meanwhile, Meilyn had been driven all the way to the edge of the arena dodging the incoming Dark Flares.
"Kehk!" Blood sprayed from her mouth. The jet-black backflow symptoms had begun to set in.
SERNE AINDARK : 100%
MEILYN VILLENNNE : 4%
"Haa. Haa."
This was her limit.
Her vision rippled and swayed dizzily, and even the figure of Serne—the girl she'd wanted so badly to break—was growing blurry.
She's disgustingly, monstrously strong.
I can't even touch her.
Now I understand why the Elders handed her the succession. Why they rewrote the Tower's laws themselves to raise Serne to heir.
Even I have no choice but to accept it.
The stubborn defiance born of her fury came loose, and strength slowly drained from Meilyn's entire body.
"Meilyn!!"
That was when it happened.
That fierce shout, drilling straight into her ears, snapped Meilyn awake in an instant.
Up in the stands directly above, Simon was gasping for breath.
"S-Simon! Weren't you at your match—!"
"Forget that!"
Simon swept a wary glance toward Serne, then raised his voice.
"Think about what YOU'RE good at!"
"...Wh-what?"
"You're too buried in your opponent right now. Fighting like this, you'll just keep getting played! Everything you've learned so far! Think only of the things you excel at!"
Meilyn stammered.
"B-but! Can't you see? The whole arena's a sea of fire—what good is Jet-Black Ice Magic going to do here—!"
If she took this message as nothing more than fire versus ice, Meilyn would never change. Simon's eyes flashed.
"Weren't you going to become stronger than anyone?"
The day Meilyn first used Jet-Black Ice Magic after enrolling at Kizen.
Surprisingly, it had been during a Magic Combat class.
A joint session with Class C. They'd played a ball game, something like an inter-class dodgeball match. Meilyn had used Jet-Black Ice Magic for the very first time, sent her opponent—Serne—slipping to the ground, and declared:
I'm going to become stronger than anyone, and before I graduate from Kizen, I will break you with my own two hands. But there's no need to fixate on you alone to get there.
Meilyn had said it clearly, with her own mouth. And from that day on, she had made Jet-Black Ice Magic her main discipline—and her abilities had exploded.
"Remember this. Beating Serne, winning or losing this match—"
Simon continued in a grave voice.
"They're all just one step in a longer process."
"Oh my~"
Serne laughed, cupping her own cheek. Simon and Meilyn flinched and turned to look at her.
"To think Simon would go this far cheering on a student of our Ivory Tower—I'm just so, so happy~"
As she raised a finger, the Dark Flare magic circles hanging in the air began to tremble violently.
"But drag this out any longer, and things might get dangerous for you?"
FWOOOOSH!
A dozen-plus Dark Flares came flying with no gaps to slip through.
...
Meilyn lifted her head.
And for a moment, she simply observed the sight of the burning witch of flame bearing down on her, maw stretched wide open.
The things I've learned.
Meilyn staggered, then straightened her stance.
She set her remaining jet-black across her whole body.
The things I'm good at.
Kiiiing! Kiiiing!
A magic circle unfolded beneath the soles of her feet where they pressed against the arena floor.
Breaking Serne, the outcome of this match—just one step in a longer process.
Her brilliant sapphire eyes flashed.
The eye that had been wandering came back into focus.
Her two arms, which had been wound tight with tension, loosened and swayed gently at her sides.
"Ah, forget it—"
At last.
An exhilarated smile spread across her lips.
"I don't know anymore either!!"
KRA-KA-KA-KA-KOOM!
FWOOOOOOM!
Dark Flares slammed into the floor and walls one after another, erupting in explosion after explosion. Even Simon in the stands was pushed back by the fierce shockwaves.
It was such devastating firepower that even with a protective barrier spread over the arena, the front rows would have been melted away.
The spectators' eyes went wide as they leapt from their seats.
"Is it... over?"
"No—look there!"
Far from where the fireballs had struck, Meilyn was crouched in perfect condition, untouched.
The crowd murmured.
"Teleport?!"
"Did she just teleport out of nowhere? What was that?"
But a handful of sharp-eyed spectators, Simon among them, saw through it. A single straight line of ice had been carved across the floor and was now melting into water—as if to show the trail of her movement.
Swoosh.
Meilyn raised her head.
<Ice Road>
SHRA-SHRA-SHRA-SHRA-SHRA-K!
Both her feet lifted slightly off the ground, and from that spot she poured out ice beneath herself, gliding forward at high speed as though levitating.
Serne immediately launched fireballs, but Meilyn tore across the floor at overwhelming speed. Skimming the ground, she rode straight up the wall, and before long she was moving freely across the very ceiling of the arena, evading every incoming flame.
OOOOOOOH!
The crowd roared at the sudden reversal.
Inside this arena dominated by Serne, Jet-Black Ice Magic melted away within seconds. Useless as a projectile, worthless even as cover.
But.
An Ice Road that keeps spawning ice as it moves? That's a different story!
SHRA-SHRA-SHRA-K!
Meilyn wove through the countless fireballs streaking down like falling stars, S-turns and Z-turns and corkscrews—a level of skill that would make anyone who watched it gasp in disbelief.
Blistering speed.
And pinpoint control.
The pale gray ash piled on her head scattered on the wind, and her sky-blue hair, restored to its color, whipped about in a refreshing flourish.
Her gaze locked onto Serne.
Don't get tied down! Think freely!
Meilyn spread a magic circle across her palm.
Just like this Ice Road—find a way to stand against flame using my specialty, Jet-Black Ice Magic!
And then she began rewriting the formulas and circuits however she pleased.
Magic circle modification.
A recklessly dangerous feat she'd never even dared attempt before—but she had to pull it off.
Remember! Everything I've learned at Kizen!
Countless equations and Rune Script characters from every textbook she'd ever studied lined up in her mind.
"Our Meilyn's dodging so nicely, every which way~"
FWOOSH!
Serne predicted Meilyn's path and painted a Dark Flare directly onto her own palm, launching it.
But she was already waiting. Toward the incoming fireball, Meilyn thrust her palm out straight and true.
<Ice Cannon>
A massive shell of ice fired with a cannon's roar—only to sizzle and melt away the instant it touched the fireball.
"Ice, of all things? Forcing it like that isn't a good look, you know."
As she spoke, Serne's eyes went wide. The water that had melted into the Jet-Black flames and pooled on the floor was rippling—moving.
Sploosh! Spat!
Like water pistols firing, the melted water shot toward Serne, grazing her arm and thigh as it passed.
For the first time, a red light lit up on her Barrier Gauge.
WAAAAAAH!
The crowd went wild at Meilyn's first counterattack.
"She landed a hit! What? What just happened?!" Dick shouted, worked up.
"She modified the ice magic formula!" Camibarez cried, trembling with emotion.
Ordinarily, Jet-Black Ice Magic formulas enhanced temperature, hardness, launch velocity and the like—but Meilyn had lowered every single value to the bare minimum.
She had dropped the melting point right to the edge of still functioning as ice, and in exchange, built in the ejection function for when it became water.
Dick let out a disbelieving laugh.
"You can pull off a modification that fast? Without the circle exploding?"
"She really is a genius!"
Camibarez shouted.
"Jet-Black Ice into Jet-Black Water! Doesn't that actually flip the elemental matchup in her favor?"
"It doesn't."
Simon, back in his seat at some point, spoke between ragged breaths.
"Simon!"
"Casting a prepared Jet-Black Water spell from the start, and imitating one with melted ice, are two completely different things."
Simon knew better than anyone—he'd seen Phantasos, the Student Council President, a monster among monsters who wielded genuine Jet-Black Water Magic.
Dick nodded.
"So her aim's that much worse for it."
"Yeah. Still, the fact that she carved out a chance to counter Serne at all is incredible!"
Having found her rhythm, Meilyn was counterattacking in earnest. She deliberately crashed her ice into incoming flames, then used the melted water to strike at Serne from wild, unpredictable angles.
"Is this a neighborhood water-gun fight? Feels like you're just squirting little pecks at me~"
Serne said, utterly at her leisure.
"Got any attacks with a little more conviction, Meilyn?"
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!"
Meilyn pressed in on Serne with everything she had, out of breath. Dodging with Ice Road, hurling melted water without pause.
"I'm done being played by you!"
She flung both arms roughly above her head. Instantly, all the melted water scattered across the arena surged upward at once, spouting skyward like geysers.
And hanging in the air above was a single magic circle Meilyn had placed there in advance.
The moment the mass of water passed through that circle—
KRA-GA-GA-GA-GA-K!
It transformed into rock-hard, frozen ice spears. The largest ice Meilyn had produced in this entire match.
<Meilyn Original — Glacia>
"She refroze the water!!"
"Bring it down!"
By now the entire crowd was invested in the match, screaming in fever-pitch excitement.
Serne scowled and thrust out her arm.
<Dark Flare>
FWOOSH!
The Dark Flare erupting from Serne's palm swallowed the glacier whole in the blink of an eye.
"I am!! Neither a successor candidate! Nor the Ivory Tower's second! Nor Serne's errand girl!"
Meilyn swept both arms down with every ounce of strength left in her, the strength she'd suckled at as an infant.
"I am Meilyn Villenne!!"
FWOOOOSH!
The flames split to either side, and Meilyn's Glacia plunged down through the fire.
Along with Serne's shocked expression, the ice slammed into her barrier.
"...!"
"Match over!"
That instant, the referee watching the barrier gauge on the screen threw out his arm and bellowed with all his might.
SERNE AINDARK : 71%
MEILYN VILLENNNE : 0%
"Winner! Serne Aindark!"
Under the arena's searing heat, Meilyn's Barrier Gauge had hit zero in the end.
But the mood in the arena was anything but a defeated Meilyn.
Meilyn clenched both fists tight and roared to her heart's content.
"YAAAAAAAH!"
Buzzzz—
Everyone who heard that cry felt a chill run down their spine.
The spectators answered in kind, clenching their fists and letting out a thunderous cheer.
WAAAAAAAH!
Before so many seniors and classmates alike.
It was the match that carved the name Meilyn Villenne—long buried beneath the colossal name of Serne of the Ivory Tower—firmly into everyone's memory.