My Aria (3)
Seeing the headmaster and Gawain under control, I immediately drew my Aura Blade and charged. Individually, they weren't that terrifying. One was a retired knight whose strength had been sapped by war wounds, and the other was an aged mage whose reactions had dulled with time. But facing them together was an entirely different story. Sir Gawain was a legendary knight who had once shaped the era, and the headmaster was a master of magic who had spent decades honing his craft.
“Huuuup—!”
“Kyle—!”
Aura Blade clashed against Aura Blade. The blade of light that severed everything it touched also cut through the kinetic energy of any strike. That was why even an aged knight could withstand a heavy blow without issue—raw power meant nothing in a fight between Aura Masters.
“[Stop.]”
While locked blades with Gawain, a surge of intense mana constricted my entire body. For an instant my movements froze, and in a battle where blades crossed every moment, even that tiny hesitation could lead to a fatal wound. The best way to minimize injury was to charge straight into the blade. I rushed straight into Gawain’s chest, offering my shoulder as I slammed my fist into his solar plexus. An Aura Master could emit aura from their whole body, but its intensity was inferior to that of an Aura Blade. A fist wrapped in aura could still deliver a solid shock to Sir Gawain.
“Kuh—! You damned brat…!”
Gawain groaned in pain and swung a fist at me. I knew that in close combat, I would lose to his accumulated martial skill. So instead of trading punches, I slid between his legs and slipped behind him. The moment I glided across the floor to his rear, I launched myself toward the headmaster.
“W-wait—!”
The flustered headmaster hastily cast several spells, but spells effective against an Aura Master always required time. My Aura Blade sliced through his magic, and the spells whose sources had been severed simply dissipated back into nature. With the headmaster now completely defenseless, I struck his jaw and knocked him unconscious, then turned back to Gawain.
“……?”
Strangely, Gawain—who should have charged immediately—did not attack. It had been a fairly large opening even by my own standards. Sensing something was off, I looked at him. Gawain let out a long sigh and began to speak.
“Kid. We weren’t being controlled by that girl.”
“Then why did you stand in my way?”
“Because if we attacked her, every student she’s controlling would die.”
“What? What do you mean…….”
I stared at Aria in disbelief. She had been watching our fight with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open in surprise.
“Kyle…… you.”
“What?”
“You’re an Aura Master?”
By now, most people around me already knew I was an Aura Master, so her reaction to the realization felt oddly refreshing. I belatedly sheathed my Aura Blade. There was no need to fight if the two of them weren’t being controlled.
“……Ah, Headmaster.”
I turned my head and carefully realigned the headmaster’s jaw before laying him gently on the desk. I worried whether an elderly man like him might be seriously hurt. Gawain hurried over as well, checked the headmaster’s condition, and let out a relieved sigh.
“This much is fine.”
“Really?”
“At his age, the worst that could happen is he’d have to wear dentures for the rest of his life.”
“Isn’t that a big deal?”
“Then who told you to start throwing punches without thinking?”
I scratched my cheek awkwardly. His words weren’t wrong, but in that situation, it had been the most reasonable choice.
‘No wonder they weren’t fighting back.’
If both sides had truly been trying to kill each other, the fight wouldn’t have ended so anticlimactically. They had no intention of injuring me, and I had only meant to knock them out. That was why it ended so quickly.
I exhaled and stood up, walking toward Aria. She was still smiling brightly at me.
“Aria.”
“Yeees?”
“Release your ability and surrender.”
“What if I don’t?”
“You might die.”
“Go ahead.”
Aria grinned as she spoke. She seemed to be relying on the students she supposedly held hostage. But I knew her claim was a bluff. Gawain and the headmaster, lacking detailed information about her, might have believed it—but I didn’t.
‘If she had that kind of ability, Sera would have told me.’
The information Sera possessed was accurate. The only thing that had changed was that variables created by reality had altered the “future” she knew; the information itself remained unchanged. Moreover, after growing close to Aria, I had learned to tell when she was lying. She had a habit of smiling boldly when she lied.
“If you touch me, the students will—mmph!?”
I knew her words were a bluff. That meant I could have knocked her out, but doing so would have drawn interference from Gawain, who was glaring sharply at me from behind. I needed a way to avoid his interference. Fortunately, I knew exactly how. I grabbed Aria and forced a kiss on her.
Our lips met, and the aura I exhaled surged straight into her body. Just like how I had severed that mysterious thread I felt from Princess Hela at the party yesterday, I forcibly cut the threads connected inside her mind.
“Mmmp, mmph!?”
The aura rampaging through her head and severing the connections must have felt similar to having blood vessels in her brain burst. Aria’s nose began to bleed as her eyes rolled back. Even so, I didn’t let go until every last thread connected to her had been severed. Only then did I release her.
Looking down at her as she collapsed limply onto the table, I met Gawain’s dumbfounded gaze.
“What? Never seen someone kiss before?”
“No… what the hell was that all of a sudden…….”
Finally realizing Aria had fallen, Gawain rushed to the window and checked on the students outside. The students freed from her control stood around in a daze, looking bewildered as if they had no idea what they had been doing. Only then did Gawain let out a sigh of relief and stare intently at the unconscious Aria.
[La, lalala─]
After Aria collapsed, the headmaster—who woke up shortly afterward—took her away. He imprisoned her in the academy’s secret prison and immediately began cleaning up the aftermath. Thankfully, not a single person had died in the incident. There were some injuries, but the academy had dozens, even hundreds, of cleric students dispatched from the Holy Kingdom. After they healed everyone, Kyle came to understand just how fearsome the headmaster truly was.
“……I thought it was a crazy idea.”
“—If we can avoid taking any responsibility, then this is the best option.”
The headmaster had brainwashed Aria into singing. Her song spread throughout the entire academy through magical speakers. Everyone who had remained at the academy to investigate the rampage heard it, and all those who had been controlled lost their memories of today’s events. They would only remember that the academy’s cultural festival had been wonderful; they would never recall the details of what had happened.
Watching the headmaster casually manipulate people’s memories to erase the incident entirely, Kyle realized what an old man driven by fear was capable of.
“That’s it. As long as we keep our mouths shut, today’s events become the perfect crime.”
“Headmaster, a crime? What do you mean by that?”
“Ahem, slip of the tongue. It was another fine cultural festival this year.”
The headmaster left immediately, as if he still had more to do with Aria. I was curious about her future, but it wouldn’t be a pleasant one. She had provoked several nobles, and several people had nearly died because of her. To the headmaster, she was a landmine annoying enough to be completely eliminated.
‘I probably won’t see her again.’
It was a shame, but I couldn’t ask him to release a bomb like Aria. Even if she had been my fiancée, the story might have been different—but she and I were complete strangers.
The day after the academy cultural festival ended, Kyle let out a dry laugh upon seeing Aria, who had come to find him.
“Hello, Kyle~.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Ahaha, so this is how it turned out.”
Aria smiled awkwardly as she showed him the black choker around her neck. Beneath the choker was a tattoo wrapped around her nape. Sensing the mana emanating from it, Kyle realized it was some kind of curse. She rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a small remote.
“Here, take this.”
“……What’s this?”
“The headmaster told me to give it to you.”
Handing over the remote, Aria explained what it was.
“If you press this, the spell on this choker will inflict pain on me.”
“What?”
“He said it could even kill me if it’s bad enough. So, it’s basically a slave collar.”
Offering him the device that controlled her leash, Aria smiled bashfully.
“Now you’re my master, Kyle.”
Kyle’s expression hardened at those words. He had realized the headmaster had dumped yet another problem on him—and this time, it was an enormous landmine.