Fight Spectating: Solaris Dormitory's Third Floor
Solaris Dormitory's third floor. The hallway was a total warzone.
The sleek marble floor was gouged out like something had clawed across it, and the walls bore stark scorch marks from burns. All this devastation from just two students duking it out.
Sylvia and Rufus.
Both were rated highly enough to hold their own on a real battlefield—worth at least three soldiers each. They had claimed second and third place in the entrance exam, respectively.
Yet here they were, their reputations in tatters, glaring daggers at each other while pinned to the corridor walls by mana restraints.
"Cut it out already?"
Eugene, the one who had bound them, sighed as he glanced back and forth between the pair. He was the top scorer in the academy's comprehensive exam, blending theory and practice.
The assistant professors had already swung by once to sort things out. But the moment they left, the fight had reignited—and Eugene had seized the chance to halt it.
"You commoner scum…."
Rufus bulged his eyes at Eugene. As he said, Eugene was a commoner.
Rufus had spent all seventeen years of his life in the duke's inner courtyard. Raised on the textbook elite path, he was deeply displeased with this situation.
His gut boiled with rage, but Rufus couldn't twitch a finger. Humiliating. Pinned to the wall like a bug, utterly helpless.
"Let me go right now!!"
That lowly wretch he wouldn't have dared glance at outside had the gall to….
Sylvia sneered at Rufus's display. She too was restrained.
"You have remarkable patience. Just exchanging a few words with that monkey makes my blood boil."
Sylvia sounded composed, but the massive sword in her hand radiated an uncontrollable rough aura.
"That crazy bitch…!"
Even bound at opposite ends of the wide hallway, the two kept up their vicious exchange. Or rather, they were bellowing at the top of their lungs.
Eugene's ears rang from being stuck in the middle.
"Shut up already." "Haha! No way!"
Rufus, delighted by Eugene's irritation, laughed triumphantly and cranked up his volume even more.
"Haa…."
Eugene squeezed his eyes shut. Even in their brief acquaintance, the childishness had worn him down.
Nobles. Heirs to a dukedom, no less, reduced to this.
"Tch."
The empire's future—his future—looked bleak.
Eugene was confident in his skills. Yet he knew he'd never land a major position.
He recalled a senior he'd never met but whose plight mirrored his own. Kian, hailed as a once-in-a-century genius.
Even he had fled north, solely because of his fallen noble status.
And Eugene? A commoner.
Even if he earned a title through merits, a duke's house at the pinnacle of noble society was a distant dream.
Eugene sighed, eyeing Rufus. That clueless expression grated on him.
In the future, he'd be lucky to work under these two….
The innate gap no amount of effort could bridge fueled his frustration.
"……Go ahead and throw down."
When that day came, he'd have his chance to pummel him properly. This was the only timing.
The academy was the empire's sole haven free from status restrictions.
Grinding his teeth, Eugene released the restraint on Rufus.
Setting aside thoughts of consequences, he prepared to draw out the mana bound to his fingers.
That was the moment.
—Creak.
The door at the hallway's end, leading to the stairs, swung wide open.
"Iyap!"
A cheerful voice pierced the gap. A petite figure appeared, her iridescent rainbow eyes sweeping the corridor.
***
Shouts had assaulted her ears from the stairs up to the rumored third-floor brawl. The duel supposedly ending in a draw was an hour ago.
"Fighting again?"
Listening closely, it sounded like another disaster was brewing.
Her first mission as the new dorm supervisor.
'I can't miss this…!'
It was, of course, prime fight spectating.
Heart racing with excitement, she hurried her steps.
Scrambling up the stairs, she spotted a young man with familiar skin tone and hair color. Kassel, the student who'd pestered her since morning.
He paced frantically outside the third-floor door, biting his lip.
"What're you doing?" "Ah, are you here to mediate the duel, Instructor?" "Er… something like that."
Leaving Kassel's beaming face behind, she flung open the dormitory door.
"Iyap!"
A acrid stench wafted through the slammed-open door.
Her eyes took in the trashed hallway and the trio of students. More precisely, Sylvia pinned to the wall and two male students—one with a sleazy smirk.
"……Huh."
What an oddly suggestive scene.
'…Isn't this a bit too bold?'
Caught off guard, she rolled her eyes and quietly eased the door shut again.
Kassel gawked at the reclosed door and her hand on the knob.
"…N-No, Instructor?" "Am I interrupting…?"
A whirlwind of thoughts raced through her mind.
'At their age, full of vigor, maybe?'
No, that couldn't be.
It was broad daylight, a public space, and they were minors. As an adult, she had to take responsibility.
"Hoo…."
Exhaling with resolve, she turned the knob again.
The next instant, the hallway looked entirely different.
Rufus had sharp water droplets hovering in the air, ready to fire. And an unknown student silently raising his hand to face them.
As she assessed the situation, Kassel burst forward.
"Fellow students! How about we end this quarrel now?"
His voice boomed.
Kassel struck a triumphant pose, chopping the air toward her.
"You wouldn't dream of continuing the fight in front of this person, would you?"
From his words, thankfully—very thankfully—it was indeed a fight.
"Phew. What a relief…." "Y-Yes?"
She sighed in relief and plopped down right there. A prime spot at a glance.
"……."
Even after her tacit approval, all eyes stayed glued to her.
"What? Keep going."
She addressed the two students staring in bewilderment.
"Um… weren't you here to stop the fight—?" "Quiet!" "…Yes, ma'am."
She snapped at Kassel's out-of-left-field remark.
At the same time, she layered mana barriers over the entire hallway.
A perfect ring for just the two of them.
Her first person-vs-person brawl since arriving in this world. She almost regretted the lack of popcorn.
"…You're really okay with this?"
She nodded at the unknown student's question.
She recognized Rufus and Sylvia from the original story at a glance, but this student was new.
'Top enough for Solaris third floor—must be a prodigy among prodigies.'
Dark navy-blue eyes and hair. Midway through recalling descriptions….
"Hoo…."
The student exhaled briefly, then crooked a finger at Rufus.
"Come at me." "What the…."
Rufus looked baffled but eagerly took the bait.
***
Eugene whipped his mana-lashed tendril, twisting the trajectory of the incoming water droplets.
The errant projectiles slammed into the wall.
—BOOM!
Despite the roar, the corridor held firm.
"Tch…!"
He had deflected dozens of attacks already.
Rufus clicked his tongue, pride stung, but Eugene's focus had shifted elsewhere.
A girl rustling a snack bag while spectating—somewhere she'd scrounged it up.
She was the one who'd deployed this flawless barrier over such a wide area.
A face from Eugene's memory, not just for her striking looks.
The girl yawning nonstop amid the entrance ceremony's faculty lineup.
'Definitely an academy professor.'
So why was she here? And why not stop the fight?
No professor would come just to gawk.
'Then… she's sizing us up.'
Eugene nodded to himself and deflected another shot.
"Why aren't you counterattacking?!" "Haa… Short-sighted."
To Eugene, this wasn't just a brawl.
Blasting attacks emotionally like Rufus? Amateur hour.
Just showcase your full potential—that was enough.
Rufus had far more mana reserves anyway.
So Eugene focused on his strengths. Maximum output from minimal power.
His whip was woven with an even more intricate, precise spell than usual.
"You little…."
Rufus gnashed his teeth.
Then he summoned every drop of mana from his core.
Tzzzzzt.
All his water droplets and the ambient moisture converged.
"…Madman."
Eugene narrowed his eyes, watching.
A massive Water Demon swirled in Rufus's hand.
Soon, a colossal Hail formed—the family secret passed from his father.
Eugene couldn't parse the full spell, but its power was instantly clear.
A desperate spell.
Eugene's instincts screamed: deflection wouldn't cut it anymore.
Yet he didn't back down.
He retracted his mana whip, clasped his hands, and aimed at Rufus.
Eugene too gathered all his mana.
Vibration. His mana affinity.
High-frequency vibrations compressed to the limit.
A formless, transparent ripple formed between his palms, emitting eerie friction.
—Ziiiiing!
The eardrum-shredding noise filled the hall.
As Eugene aligned his Vibration Cannon with Rufus's motion….
—Clap!
A single clap echoed.
"Eh. That's a bit much."
The roiling Hail in Rufus's hand spilled limply to the floor.
Eugene's sharpened vibration snuffed out like a candle.
An anticlimactic silence.
Followed by Rufus and Eugene's bewildered voices.
"…What was that!" "Spell Disassembly…?"
To bridge the mana gap from poverty and birth, Eugene had toiled endlessly.
Forcibly dismantling spells was naturally in his research wheelhouse.
He stared at his trembling hands.
His mind raced through the disassembly steps.
Instantly decoding the spell's design, which shifted wildly with the caster's experience.
Seizing control of the magic already shaped by the caster's mana.
An inscrutable realm.
So esoteric, he was the only researcher.
"How…."
A domain he'd deemed impossible, yet couldn't abandon.
Eugene turned.
Gazing at the culprit who'd replicated it with a single clap.
A girl in his view, dusting snack crumbs from her fingers.
"Was pretty fun, though."
Eugene blankly stared at the girl—no, the academy professor—muttering flatly.
The moment his dream came alive before his eyes.