Chapter 92
Chapter 92
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: 10. I Came, I Saw, I Won (8)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
#15 Their Circumstances: Aris Lil Retia's Circumstances.
Crimson battle aura blazing like flames clashes against a sword that is literally fire itself.
It was unbelievable swordsmanship for a mage, but the fundamentals were on a completely different level.
The sword moved with the precision of someone who knew how to fight.
It looked like she'd been trained by a swordsman of very high caliber, but not for long.
A year at the shortest, less than five at the longest.
Her opponent grasped the essence of swordsmanship perfectly, but her body couldn't keep up flawlessly.
“Pierce through, Thunder Light!”
But that was irrelevant.
Her opponent was a mage.
One who wielded magic, not a sword.
The fact that she could wield swordsmanship at this level was the strange part.
“Rise, freeze, whirl, judge!”
After the astonishing swordplay, she proved she was a mage by chanting spells at rapid speed.
And the spells she chained together were all of different attributes.
Magic normally involved manifesting the same lineage of spells, yet she flawlessly unleashed different attributes in succession.
“Urk?”
Dodging orbs of fire, enduring the chill stretching toward his spear hand, slicing through wind blades aimed at his body—he couldn't block the lightning coursing along the ground at the end.
-This kid's fighting while predicting everything. Be careful, Aris! She's no ordinary opponent!
-I know!
It started from the beginning, freezing the ground.
At first, he thought she was creating openings in his movements by icing the floor around them.
Everyone knew the lower body was key in techniques handling swords or any weapon.
Sealing that to gain an advantage was something he'd fallen for multiple times at Yuglasia Academy!
He thought experience from those defeats would let him counter it, but she'd added lightning magic, twisting the situation entirely.
She'd made faint electric shocks flow through the ice into his feet.
“Magic consumption's too high.”
The battle aura boasted mana consumption on another level from ordinary sword aura.
Even limiting it to the spear tip drained an enormous amount!
Combined with the mana spent shielding against her lightning attacks, his once-vast reserves were starting to run dry.
-Why not switch from Spear Aura to spear qi and aim for a prolonged fight?
-No, spear qi can't withstand that Leviathan.
Magic was tricky enough, but Leviathan enduring even Spear Aura made the battle grueling.
Especially.
‘Why isn't the floor ice melting despite that heat?’
Even at a distance when sword and spear clashed, the scorching aura that felt like it evaporated the moisture in his body left the floor ice untouched.
-That's a magic sword that burned a world. A weapon on par with divine arms. Targeting specific foes at the user's will is child's play. You don't turn to stone just looking at my shield, do you, Aris?
-That's not encouraging at all!
The goddess's matter-of-fact words offered no help.
Was this goddess subtly useless, or was it just his imagination?
-Aris, I'm sensing some very disloyal thoughts right now… Above!
“Hah!”
“Grahhh!”
The fire giant, its upper body severed by sword aura, howled in pain and was reverse-summoned.
But at the same instant, a small gash appeared on his waist.
“Urk.”
“Close one.”
That last strike had been meant to kill.
If he hadn't dodged instinctively, his waist might have been severed!
He'd evaded to just a waist wound, but she'd sent wind blades at his waist, arms, legs, and even throat.
“Isn't the throat too dangerous?”
“You're a swordmaster, right? You won't die from something like that.”
She smirked, spitting out emotionless quips.
She hadn't been like this watching yesterday's match; it felt like a completely different person.
“As a noble, have you no intent to observe etiquette?”
Older and lower in noble rank, yet she bantered so casually—he chided her, but she just smiled brightly.
“Quit stalling. Everyone knows you're buying time to recover.”
“Tch!”
The follow-up attack came right away!
He'd tried chatting to drag things out, but she wouldn't allow it.
-Something about that girl reeks of Yuglasia!
-I don't know the scent, but somehow I get it!
Her attacks didn't suit a lady of House Nermia, famed even in the empire for magic.
Unlike Nermia's focus on one-strike kills, she pressured with swift strikes and close combat via Leviathan.
Using her summon, the great demon Surtr, as a shield or cannon fodder felt like facing a fairy-tale villain.
Moreover.
“Hah!”
An unavoidable strike.
Yet she dodged it.
“What...”
Even as a warrior, before noble or woman, she'd never rolled on the ground to survive except dodging the silver devil's attacks.
This was the Imperial Tournament, no less.
Broadcast across the empire, key moments saved for replay.
Rolling headfirst on the ground to dodge her spear in front of everyone!
“Have you no pride?”
“Does pride put food on the table?”
She brushed dirt from her brown hair without a care, laughing coldly.
“What?!”
But she never stopped attacking while talking.
A storm of cold suddenly blanketed the space.
Even skilled mages could chant while speaking, or even cast silently with will alone!
But completing a grand spell on “[Does pride put food on the table?]”!
“This much...!”
He barely dispersed the raging cold storm, but a single flame sword flew at his face.
“You really mean to kill me?”
It wasn't magic.
She'd hurled Leviathan, the flame sword she'd held all along!
“Aegis!”
“Surtr!”
Summoning the goddess's shield swiftly to block the thrown Leviathan, a massive shadow loomed overhead.
“Damn youuuu!”
The giant plummeting wreathed in flames felt, despite appearances, like a moth to fire.
“Don't make me laugh!”
Gripping Aegis in his right hand, he hurled his spear skyward with his left.
“Kwaaak!”
The spear tip's aura pierced it, drawing a scream from the fire giant.
At the same time, the incoming Leviathan's momentum weakened.
“It's over now!”
Even with fast resummoning, no more fire giants for a while.
She'd thrown Leviathan, leaving her unarmed!
Nail this attack, and he could end it in one go...
“Yeah, it's over.”
“Uh!”
But first, powerful lightning coursed through his body!
“Wha...t?”
With movement unbelievable for a mage, she'd slipped into his blind spot and unleashed lightning at zero range.
“Again.”
“Urk!”
-Aris!
Elite magic engineers received assassin training, or so they said—was this it?
Leviathan forced a frontal shield, blinding him; the overhead summon drew eyes up.
In that split second, she flanked to his blind spot for zero-range lightning.
Then, without pause, chained more lightning while he let his guard down.
“Urk...”
Favoring lightning induced paralysis!
His body prickled all over, making even swinging the spear difficult!
“How long can you last? I'm curious.”
“Ugh!”
He couldn't lose. This was the finals.
For Yuglasia Academy's championship legacy, he couldn't afford defeat...
“You held out well, but it's done.”
“Gaaah!”
Pain familiar to him ripped a scream as intense lightning struck his body.
And then.
“Ugh...”
His eyes fluttered open to a white ceiling.
“Did I... lose?”
Indescribable emotions flooded his body.
-Aris... it's okay.
“Hic...”
It was so unfair. Yuglasia Academy's win had seemed a given, yet he'd created the stain.
In the highest-scoring match of the three-day event, no less.
That unfairness crushed him.
“I could have won. Stronger than anyone from the other academies! But I had no reason to lose!”
-Yes. But conversely, you weren't guaranteed victory either.
“Right. And that's what makes it more unfair! I... trained so hard for half a year. Struggled to survive! Yet I lost!”
How much effort to dodge the silver devil?
Yet defeat.
“It's unfair. Infuriating. This is the first time losing feels this unjust! I get why someone would sell their soul to the devil to win!”
Furious, so furious.
He uttered words he shouldn't have.
-Ah, Aris! You can't say that!
The goddess panicked, but it was too late.
“I'll take you up on that!”
“N-No!”
The voice was the unforgettable devil's.
“No need to hold back. Master said sis would say something like that around now, and she was right!”
Turning, he saw the devil approaching step by step, beaming.
“Aris, are you oka—Huh?”
Behind her, the door opened to his best friend!
“S-Syr... save...”
“I'll take my leave.”
Syr met his eyes once, the silver devil's once, then fled swiftly.
“S-Syr? Syr!”
Desperate calls got no reply.
Worse, someone slammed the door shut!
“Hey? Anyone? Syr! Syr! Please! Someone? There was someone behind Syr! President? Another officer? Please, get me out of here!”
“Hee hee! No one's coming, sis! Just us, nice and co~oo~zy!”
“N-Nooo!”
“You said you'd sell your soul to the devil to win!”
“Th-this isn't what I meant!”
Thus, tasting the silver devil's fist after so long.
He regained his resolve never to lose again.
For entirely different reasons than before!