Aland Crumbles
"The match begins!"
The instant those words rang out, Benz raised both arms and activated his magic circle.
"Time to show you what Aland is made of!"
Kugung—!
Behind the arena, a cage gate rattled open, and beyond it, in the darkness, the eyes of savage beasts flashed to life.
Thud. Thud.
Monsters filed into the arena one by one. Each and every one of them bore Benz's magic circle etched across its body.
"What the—? Is this even allowed?"
Simon planted his hands on his hips, wearing an expression of utter disbelief.
"I thought this wasn't supposed to be about pulling undead out of subspace."
"You just don't get it!"
Benz puffed out his chest.
"Here in Aland, as long as you register your picks before the match, you can have up to six monsters or creatures of your choice waiting on standby in the arena!"
And how exactly was I supposed to know that?
Simon gave an awkward laugh.
—Of course they'll pull every petty trick in the book, home-field advantage included.
Jane had been right on the money. So that was what she'd meant.
The stands, packed with students in green uniforms, erupted into raucous jeers.
"All talk, Kizen! Less yapping, more fighting!"
"You came to Aland, you follow Aland's rules!"
"Wooooo!"
Thumbs-down gestures rained down from every corner of the crowd. It was obviously an attempt to chip away at his composure, so Simon simply brushed it off with an amused, easy smile.
"You first, then!"
Benz thrust his arm skyward.
"Gillion!"
A brown bear with blood-red eyes, its body easily three times the length of a man, snorted a cloud of steam. The magic circle on its back flickered to life, and with a roar it charged straight at Simon.
Simon! I've built the perfect strategy to take you down!
Benz wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, brimming with confidence.
Step one! Send in the tamed monsters to drain Simon's stamina and jet-black energy!
His opponent would have to burn through every dark spell in his arsenal just to bring the monsters down—while Benz only spent the sliver of jet-black needed to keep his taming magic running.
Of course, that was assuming Simon could even beat Gillion in the first place.
"Tear him apart!"
Gillion kicked off the packed dirt and barreled forward.
Simon, who had been standing with his hands jammed in his coat pockets, simply twisted his body slightly—and the monster swept past him, grazing nothing but air.
"Chase him down, Gillion!"
The moment Benz shouted, his face froze into a confused, "...Huh?"
Kwuung—!
All it had done was brush past him, and yet Gillion collapsed flat onto the ground. Simon calmly took his stance, the Student Council President's coat billowing behind him.
The spectators who witnessed it began to stir.
"Wait, what did he just do?"
"A monster that size, in a single hit...!"
Benz, for his part, was every bit as rattled.
His opponent almost certainly carried curse resistance, so a curse seemed unlikely. Poison didn't quite fit either—it had just been a graze, hadn't it?
"F-fine, whatever! Next one, you're up!"
Next came a leopard-like monster with protruding fangs, which hurtled itself at Simon.
Boom—!
It too went down helpless, unable to lay a finger on him.
"?!"
Benz, jaw hanging slack, ground his teeth together.
"Damn it! Next! Next!"
But no matter which tamed monster he sent out, the result was the same. Simon drifted about like a butterfly, coat fluttering light as a feather, and every time he passed, the monsters dropped like flies.
At last, every monster he'd prepared lay vanquished. Benz stood frozen, mouth agape in hollow defeat.
"That's all six, right? Got anything else you'd like to show me?"
Simon asked lightly, dusting off his hands.
Jane, watching from the sidelines of the arena, nodded with deep satisfaction, while the Aland professor's hands trembled as they clenched the fence.
"Ngh!"
Benz flung both arms wide.
"Of course I've got more!"
The moment he unleashed his dark magic, holes punched open across the arena floor, and massive plant stems came bursting out of them.
Mwahaha! Cheap trick or not, I planted taming-magic seeds in the arena beforehand!
In an instant, the vines wound around Simon and hoisted him into the air.
With the tide suddenly turned, the Aland students leapt out of their seats.
"That's it, Benz!"
"His arms are sealed! Finish Kizen off right there!"
Simon gazed down at the vines binding him with an unreadable expression, then spoke.
"Open Gate."
Shhhhhrrrrk—!
Six subspaces unfolded in the empty air, and long blades shot out from within, slicing through the vines that bound him as if they were paper.
"Awww!"
The crowd writhed in disappointment as he slipped free so effortlessly. Simon touched down on the ground and looked up just in time to see Benz charging straight at him.
This technique is nothing but a stalling tactic! Step three!
After Summoning, Benz's second-strongest field was Battle Arts.
He clasped both hands together at his side, gathering jet-black energy into a single point within them. Then, once he'd put a comfortable distance between himself and Simon, he thrust his clasped hands forward with all his might.
TWAAAAAANG!
A long-range Battle Arts technique that gathered and released jet-black energy at the target. In response, Simon simply clenched his right hand into a fist and drew it back up to his shoulder.
⟨ Hong Feng Original – Bayonet ⟩
SHAAAAAACK—!
For an instant, Benz thought the world and the sky had been split clean in two.
Simon's technique cleaved the black shockwave Benz had fired straight down the middle, carved a long trench through the ground, and swept past, grazing his shoulder.
Crack! Crack!
His barrier suit registered the damage, and in the blink of an eye its gauge plunged to nearly half.
What the hell is this.
Benz staggered backward.
...Why is he this strong?
It was hard to believe they were the same year. Simon, standing there with the Student Council President's coat billowing in the wind, suddenly felt like an insurmountable wall stretching up before him.
Ugh! And he's way too close on top of it!
Benz gritted his teeth and moved his arms. He germinated the remaining seeds and sent the vines snaking out to bind Simon once more.
Oh?
But this time was different. Simon failed to summon that strange creature from before, and now he hung in the plant's grip, visibly struggling.
He was sure of it.
That summon had some kind of time limit, or harsh conditions to meet before it could appear.
I can win.
There's still hope!
For the first time in the match, Benz drew a skeleton out of subspace.
He was working his way toward a Bone Sphere, splitting the skeleton apart—and then—
"───────!!!"
The spectators, who should have been cheering, shot to their feet and began screaming in alarm.
He was too focused on forming his Bone Sphere to hear them clearly, but the gist of it came through anyway: Watch out. What are you doing? You're in danger.
What danger?
Simon was the one pinned and helpless. I'm the one winning right now.
Snkt—!
The snap of fingers rang out, and the world around Benz snapped into sharp focus. Simon was standing right behind him.
"What the—!"
The Simon he'd captured was gone. Benz's vines were clutching nothing but empty air.
Original curse—Delusion.
One of Bahil's Four Great Curses, a curse that showed its victim a fabricated fantasy.
"The moment you step in close to use Battle Arts..."
Simon's body revolved in a smooth, fluid turn.
"...you step inside the reach of my curse as well."
His palm landed squarely on Benz's back.
⟨ Simon Original – Touch Burst ⟩
WHAMMM!
Benz's body shot forward and smashed face-down into the dirt.
"Ngh!"
He jerked his head up in a panic. The summoned monsters Simon had knocked down earlier were sprawled all around him.
Wait.
Benz's pupils wavered as he stared at them.
They weren't knocked out... they were asleep?
"Taming. I'll admit it's an impressive dark magic—commanding monsters."
Simon turned around.
"But you can only control one at a time, can't you?"
Clap!
With those words, Simon brought his palms together in a sharp crack. The Sleep curse on all six monsters lifted at once, and they rose to their feet in unison.
And the very first thing the newly woken monsters laid eyes on—was Benz.
"You kept sending them at me one at a time, after all."
"U-uwaaaaah!"
WHAM!
THUD!
CRUNCH!
Benz was surrounded and battered by the five remaining monsters. Simon watched with a breezy smile as he lowered his arm.
"Match over! The winner—"
The referee raised a hand.
Simon Polentia : 94%
Benz McBeef : 0%
"Student Council President of Kizen, Simon Polentia!"
From the first second to the last, it had been Simon's flawless victory.
"A fine match."
Jane, savoring her student's triumph, extended a hand toward the Aland professor. Unable to hide the bitter smile on his face, he took it.
"...Ahaha, well. It's Kizen, after all. I don't think the Student Council President even used half his strength. How embarrassing."
Jane's eyebrow twitched.
"I'd like to correct you there."
"Pardon?"
"He won using one-third of his strength. Not half."
The Aland professor gave a hollow laugh.
...What is wrong with this woman all of a sudden?
"Professor Jane!"
Just then, Simon came running up to Jane with his face split in a beaming grin. Jane rearranged her features back into perfect blankness and looked at him.
"I won!"
"A foregone conclusion."
She let out a sigh.
"No need to get this worked up over so little. Prepare to move on to the next necromancer school—Sierra."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Watching her retreating back, the Aland professor chuckled quietly to himself.
Not one for showing her soft side, is she.
The students in the stands were already trickling out like the ebbing tide. And Benz, dragging his feet, shuffled wearily over to the Aland professor.
"I'm sorry, Professor."
He said, shoulders slumped.
"We've got students ranked higher than me, but I got all stubborn and insisted on going out there for nothing..."
The professor gave Benz's shoulder a gentle pat.
"It would have ended the same no matter who went out there. You gave it your best. Your opponent was simply too strong."
"..."
"You worked hard this past year, Benz."
Then he smiled at him, warm and easy.
"Kizen is an incredible place. Go learn everything you can."
"Sniff! Professor!"
Benz's eyes welled up with emotion.
"Thank you so much for everything!!"
And with that, he bowed deeply at the waist.
"Your teaching! My life at Aland! I will never, ever forget them!"
"Yes, yes. Off you go now."
Every year, the three greatest necromancer schools lose their three finest students to Kizen.
That was simply the reality of it.
But for the sake of their students' futures, they could never bring themselves to ask them to stay at Aland.
And truthfully, a student keeping the middle-upper ranks at Kizen did more for the school's honor and interests than one who sat at the top of Aland ever could.
The world could be cruel, sometimes.
"You'll settle into your new school before you know it."
Whether today, or two years from now—a teacher always sends their students on, eventually.
Such was the destiny of those who taught.
At that same moment.
The Headmaster's office, Sierra.
"Aland has fallen."
So spoke the Headmaster of Sierra, hands clasped behind his back as he gazed out the window.
"They'll be here soon enough."
He turned his head. Seated on the office sofa, a boy in a scarlet uniform sat with his legs crossed, wearing a calm, easy smile.
"Your condition?"
"Peak, sir."
"Can you win?"
In answer, the student simply spread out his palm.
FWOOSH!
A flame unlike any ordinary jet-black fire leapt up from his hand, burning with a brilliant, vivid green.
"As long as I'm fighting in Sierra's arena, there's no chance I lose."
He clenched his fist, and the flame snuffed out.
"Though it really is all right for me to beat Kizen, right? It's been tradition for them to hand us our heads for what, hundreds of years. They won't get offended and try to make an issue of it?"
The Headmaster's lips curled upward.
"Of course not! I take full responsibility for everything."
He tilted his head back and laughed from deep in his chest.
"Let them brace for a one-sided match."
The boy rose from his seat, grinning.
"The sooner you get here, the better, Kizen."