My Aria (2)
The song ended. I had been protecting my ears with Aura, but something felt off.
“Hey, hey—stop covering your ears and get up.”
“Why!? If you hear that thing even once, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Master or whatever—you get completely controlled! My character got one-shot because they didn’t know about it!”
“The song’s over. Get up already.”
Hearing my words, Sera tilted her head as if she couldn’t believe it and slowly rose to her feet. Once I withdrew my Aura, I shrugged at her as if to say listen for yourself. Sera lowered the hands that had been covering her ears and realized there really was no singing voice to be heard.
“……What the hell? Why isn’t she singing?”
“Doesn’t look like anyone took Aria down……”
Seeing the audience members still wandering around the academy like zombies and fighting people, it clearly wasn’t the case that someone had defeated Aria and resolved the situation.
Sera rested her chin on her hand for a moment, lost in thought, then quickly began piecing things together.
“—Kyle. You. Did you hear the song she was singing?”
“I did. Right in front of my face, too.”
“You were in the concert hall? And yet you’re completely fine……”
Hmm— She let out a low hum, then snorted as if she’d figured out the problem and stood up. A sly, wicked grin spread across her face as she clapped her hands together sharply.
“I got it.”
“Got what?”
“She hasn’t grown enough yet.”
“Grown?”
“That’s right—growth!”
In the original story, Aria’s rampage happened in her third year. Right now, she was only a first-year. For a teenager, a two-year gap was an unimaginably huge difference. Two years from now, Aria would be an overwhelmingly powerful psychic capable of controlling even Masters, but the current Aria was nowhere near that level. She could barely manage to control someone at the Expert rank. Of course, that alone was still an astonishing ability, but if even Experts could resist her—then there were quite a few openings.
“Since she didn’t get those two years of growth, the Aria we’re dealing with right now is way weaker than you’d expect!”
That meant she could be taken down. Having shouted that, Sera looked at me and yelled,
“Go, Kyle-mon! Go beat the crap out of Aria and come back!”
“Don’t you have any strategy or something?”
“Where would I get something like that? Just do what my character did in the game and smash everything!”
“Doesn’t seem like it’ll be that easy.”
“What!? You’re a Master! There are only two Masters in this entire school, and right now Aria’s so pathetic she can’t even control a Master! Just go punch her in the face and knock her out—that’s it!”
“Well… I’m not so sure it’ll be as simple as you make it sound.”
I gave a bitter smile as I looked toward the concert hall where Aria had been. And I remembered the glass that had blocked my way. It wasn’t just glass—by now, countless students and distinguished guests would be gathered around Aria. All to protect her.
Piercing through that crowd as an Aura Master was both easy and incredibly difficult. Borrowing the words of Sir Gawain, the other Aura Master:
The world is as fragile as tofu, so one cannot wield power recklessly.
* * *
Finding out where Aria was didn’t take long. Since her voice had been coming through the magic speakers, it was only logical that she was in the broadcasting room right now.
Kyle, impressed by such a perfectly logical deduction, headed for the broadcasting room just as Sera had said.
On the way there, people controlled by Aria’s song came charging at him.
“Dieeee—!”
“Jeez, you scared me.”
He casually swatted aside the audience member rushing at him in a fit of rage, knocking them out. The person who took the hit to the jaw immediately lost control of their body and collapsed with a thud. Some students even drew their swords or started firing spells. Kyle lightly neutralized every single attack as he advanced, but he stopped when three students blocked his path.
“—Die… die, just die……”
“You can’t… go any further……”
“Kyle……”
Hundred, Ruby, and Yuri were standing in his way. Two Expert-rank knights and one Expert-rank mage. It was nowhere near enough firepower to face a Master. If this had been a battlefield, they would have been sliced apart the moment they met. But this wasn’t a battlefield.
Kyle had to subdue them without killing them—and preferably without leaving a single wound.
“Diiiiiie—!”
He smashed his fist into Hundred’s jaw as the boy charged screaming, then glared at the remaining two, determined to knock them out with as little injury as possible. Taking Hundred’s defeat as some kind of signal, the other two immediately launched their attacks. Ruby drew her blade and rushed in, while Yuri began chanting one massive spell after another, not caring whether her allies got caught in the crossfire.
“You’re not… getting past here……”
“I heard that one earlier.”
Kyle picked up the sword Hundred had been holding and unleashed an Aura Blade. The blade of a superhuman that could cut through anything it touched cleanly sliced off the tip of Ruby’s sword, sending it clattering to the floor. Having disarmed Ruby, Kyle struck her solar plexus and knocked her out, then snatched the hilt from her hand and hurled it through the air.
The flying sword hilt collided with the ice spear in midair, exploding with a sharp crack. As the mist created by the shattered ice obscured vision, Kyle slowly walked toward Yuri.
“This is gonna hurt a bit… but bear with it.”
“—Hngh, ngh!?”
In the blink of an eye, Kyle circled behind Yuri and choked her carotid artery until she passed out. It only took seven seconds for someone whose carotid was blocked to lose consciousness. He carefully laid the unconscious Yuri on the floor and looked at the broadcasting room building.
If he went through the entrance, it looked like a whole bunch of these guys would be waiting for him.
Why go through all that hassle?
Even if his head wasn’t the best, he wasn’t an idiot. A path could always be made. Kyle kicked off the ground and flew straight toward the window.
* * *
Aria, who had been singing passionately inside the broadcasting room, soon realized the microphone was malfunctioning. No matter how much she sang, no one was falling under her control.
Realizing the headmaster was interfering with her in some unknown way, Aria glared at him with clear irritation.
“Didn’t I say that if you interfered, the hostages would die?”
“……I haven’t done anything.”
“Do I look like an idiot to you? Should I kill one of them, then?”
When Aria said that, the headmaster bit his lip hard. He had thought he wouldn’t get caught, but it seemed she had noticed he was obstructing her ability through a separate method.
As headmaster, he couldn’t possibly tell her to kill someone. He couldn’t gamble with the lives of the students and distinguished guests.
At that moment, the headmaster knew exactly what he had to do.
“I’m… sorry……”
“Ahaha, Headmaster. It’s hilarious hearing you apologize so politely.”
Aria had been cackling when she suddenly froze. She realized that the signals from the people she was controlling were being cut off one by one. Frowning slightly, she looked at the headmaster as if this was actually perfect timing.
“Fine. I’ll give you a chance to make up for it. Stop them for me.”
“……Stop what?”
Before he could even ask what he was supposed to stop, the door behind the headmaster exploded with a BOOM—and Gawain appeared.
One of the two officially registered Masters in the academy. As soon as Knight Gawain realized Aria was singing from this location, he had rushed over immediately.
“So the headmaster is here as well.”
“Sir Gawain……”
“If you were already here, you should have just knocked her out and ended this… What are you hesitating for?”
With those words, Gawain charged straight at Aria. Realizing what he was about to do, the headmaster quickly cast a spell to block his path.
When Gawain saw the magic barrier standing in his way, he gave a bitter smile and looked at the headmaster.
“—So you were in on it too, Headmaster?”
“Sir Gawain. It’s not like that. There are circumstances……”
“Circumstances? What circumstances? Do you not know what’s happening outside right now?”
Srrrng— A sword was drawn.
The headmaster looked at Aria as if urging her to explain quickly, but she simply shrugged as if there was no need to say anything. In the end, the headmaster raised both hands and tried to explain as quickly as possible why he was protecting Aria.
“If you touch her now, everyone else outside will die too!”
“……What? What are you—”
“That’s the kind of ability she has, Sir Gawain. Right now, outside there are dozens—no, hundreds of students, commoners from the academy’s territory who came to watch the performance, and distinguished guests from other territories. If they all die, do you think we’ll be safe?”
“You expect me to believe such an absurd ability exists? Just knock her out and—”
“Why don’t you try it, then?”
Both men’s heads snapped toward her at the same time.
Aria, who had been listening to their conversation, smiled brightly as she looked at Gawain.
“If you’re doubting whether I really have that kind of ability, shouldn’t you just try to take me down?”
“—You.”
“What? The professor might be right, you know? Maybe I’m just bluffing.”
As an Aura Master, Gawain possessed senses far beyond those of ordinary humans, and he could discern the truth behind someone’s words. Liars gave off unique biological signals, and an Aura Master’s body never missed them.
And from what Gawain could tell, Aria did not appear to be lying. If this was acting, it would mean she could perfectly control even her own biological signals—which was impossible for an ordinary student who wasn’t even a specially trained member of the imperial special forces. Even Gawain himself found the idea ridiculous.
“……Damn it all.”
Cursing under his breath, Gawain moved to sheath his sword again. But before he could, his Aura Master senses detected something flying in from outside the window.
Crash—!
The window shattered, and Kyle leaped inside.
Once inside, Kyle quickly scanned the room before throwing a punch straight at Aria.
“No—!”
The two Masters panicked and immediately stopped him. An Aura Blade and a 5-star spell flew toward Kyle. He swiftly dodged backward to avoid the attacks and stared at the two men in utter confusion.
……I thought she couldn’t control Masters?
From what Kyle could see, the two of them were already under Aria’s control.
After a brief silence, Kyle charged straight at the pair.