Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Killing Water
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"Is it really okay to clash head-on like this? We won't get hurt?"
Madelia gave a light nod at Kasena Page's tense question.
"You won't get hurt. So there's no need to worry."
There was no need to hold back in the duel exam.
That was thanks to the barrier deployed by Marhena, a specialist in illusion magic. The cadets believed they were using real magic, but in reality, they were merely exchanging harmless blows within the illusion.
'But the pain is applied as is. Plenty of cadets scream forfeit after getting hit by agonizing spells.'
And her opponent was a senior from Melev Academy, which specialized in anti-personnel lethality. Madelia had said there was no cause for concern for Kasena, but she still felt a twinge of worry.
"Here I go★"
Nora Reden flipped open the grimoire hanging from her waist. A blue light seeped into the magic circle drawn on the center page, manifesting its power.
The magic circle took the form of two concentric rings.
The inscribed runes were Lu (漏) and Sun (循).
In essence, it imbued a 2-star water-attribute spell with the properties of Lu (permeating) and Sun (pursuing).
"As expected, she went straight for it—Killing Water."
Gertrude Fenton, leaning her elbows on the spectator railing, let out a whistle.
Melev Academy was a school that specialized in water-attribute magic among the four great elements, just like the Fenton family.
'But their usage is completely different.'
The Fentons had fused the flow of water with martial arts.
By leveraging the 'flowing' nature of water magic, they had developed versatile spellcasting for switching between offense and defense in close- to mid-range combat.
But the key was never forgetting the essence of water-attribute magic.
'Yet Melev...'
The dazzling magic circle shattered with a clear chime, splintering into countless streams of water that surged toward Rain.
"Dodge, Rain! Even one hit is lethal!"
Just as Christa urgently shouted, Melev twisted the very essence of water magic to use it.
Hence its nickname: Killing Water.
Hearing the arena murmur with such voices, Seri looked to Elin in confusion and demanded an explanation.
"If it were straightforward water magic, that spell could only be used for repelling or blasting away as a check."
"......?"
"If you slam it directly to pin them against the wall, sure, it could deal double damage. But that's the limit."
"Exactly! Water isn't meant to be a frontline combat spell to begin with."
"But the Melev folks are different."
Lu (permeating) was one of the signature runes from Melev's school of thought magic.
"It makes the spell's power act as internal force rather than external, and at a certain level, it destroys the meridians inside the body without a trace."
In other words, the moment you took damage from that water magic, the water would seep deep into the impact point, inflicting fatal internal injuries.
'Oh, big brother...'
As Seri swallowed dryly in worry, strands of light began weaving above Rain's palm.
"Yorhen type?!"
"High-speed computation for a 2-star spell?"
"Whoa, what a monster."
The gasps from the spectators were drowned out by the roar of the earth surging up like a mountain, the pristine marble tiles crumbling in orderly fashion.
"It's no use♪"
At the clash of water and earth, the crowd's eyes widened. Contrary to expectations of a massive splash and dispersal,
"Th-the water...!"
"It's permeating...?!"
"Into the mud wall...!"
Exactly.
Over a dozen streams of water seeped straight into the earthen barrier, piercing through its pores at high speed and charging toward the enemy on the other side.
Toward Rain Ludwig, who had no way of knowing what was happening across from him.
"Nora Reden must have deeply mastered Lu."
Head Professor Marhena murmured in genuine admiration. Vice Professor Kyle nodded.
"She undoubtedly reinforced that magic circle with new equations based on that understanding. The idea of piercing walls..."
This isn't over yet?
Any moment now...
As the crowd whispered, Elin Ludwig smirked as if teasing them.
"They must've forgotten who Nora is—and who we are."
Can't see through the wall?
Far from it.
We're Ludwigs. The mage clan called magic thieves. Our eyes pierce all abilities. And my genius nephew already possesses those eyes at his age.
"Bell Sidias."
Rain's eyes blazed scarlet, the pupils in their centers blooming into silver-white death stars. Within those crimson irises, all phenomena were parsed into numbers and fed directly into his brain.
"Th-those eyes...!"
"The Ludwig bloodline limit...!"
"No way, isn't he only sixteen...?!"
Skalji Ludwig, a representative of the older generation alongside Marhena, had awakened Bell Sidias at seventeen.
His son Kevn at eighteen, his daughter Elin at twenty-one.
Elin might seem the latest among them, but she too had awakened her bloodline limit quite early in the family's history.
The consecutive geniuses in the family had shaken the magic world and elevated the Ludwig name to its pinnacle.
'As expected, it was a bluff.'
Rain withdrew the mana sustaining his spell. In the next instant, the massive earthen wall collapsed along with the water veins piercing its interior.
And then he simply charged.
Through the thick dust cloud rising from the quaking ground, at full speed... Meanwhile, a sneer curled on Nora Reden's lips.
'Hmph, I knew he'd try to close the distance.'
Think you nullified my sure-kill wall? Think again. I lured you out from beyond it.
"The magic circle is two concentric rings, inscribed runes Lu (漏) and San (散)♬"
Thousands of water droplets deployed around Nora like a shroud. Logan, watching the match, licked his upper lip.
"Th-that dirty trick...!"
In duels, condemnation of the opponent is the highest praise.
It wasn't wrong.
As a senior from Chaihak, which specialized in close combat, he could see just how refined and perfect Nora's move was—hence the praise.
"It's not just scattering water droplets."
"Yeah, it's no different from sowing caltrops!"
"Caltrops only work on the ground, but that... blocks the air too!"
Nora Reden—her future was terrifying. When her skill reached its peak, would there be any mage who could face her?
"So what is Young Master Ludwig doing now?!"
All eyes focused on Rain Ludwig, who had vanished into the dust. And... in the next moment, the protagonist burst forth.
"Just a mindless charge?"
"Doesn't he know?"
"Can't he see it with Bell Sidias?"
But such puzzled mutters were soon buried. Under sighs of disbelief that made one doubt their eyes.
"Wh-what...?!"
"No way...!"
"Osarius-style staff arts...?!"
It looked like a reckless rush at first glance. But closer inspection revealed otherwise.
The water droplets were shattering under the snake-like twists of the staff in Rain's grip.
Only the necessary ones.
Only those on the shortest path to reach Nora Reden. With the staff's growth rings glowing green from mana.
"Whoa, a frontal breakthrough...!"
Chaihak's vice dean lit up. That turned Nora Reden's move into a self-own.
The widespread droplets certainly blocked a broad area. But breadth meant thinness—that was the law of nature.
Nora thought she'd countered Ludwig's move, but Rain Ludwig had perfectly neutralized hers!
"M-Master, that's...!"
In the spectator seats, a girl wearing her academy's signature sedge hat pulled her stone staff close and looked up at the middle-aged man beside her.
"Yes, it seems so. Hard to believe, but..."
They were from Osarius Academy, representatives of the north.
Even after rising to university status through Great Mage Lin's feats, they had continued leaving their mark on the magic world—Lin's descendants, as it were.
The sedge hats and stone staffs they wore were marks of respect for Lin. Thus,
"But it's different somehow. Master always said not to go on the offensive like that!"
Indeed. The original Osarius disciples would never charge so aggressively. Because,
"If you lure them into close range, a perceptive opponent reads it and counters. Just like Nora Reden's perfectly laid trap."
In battle, where thought is but an instant and vision narrows to a pinhole, charging blindly through that gets you killed on the spot.
Thus, Osarius staff arts had always been seen as passive defense tools. Not active offense like this.
'But that kid is different.'
Only that kid.
He wields our staff arts, supplemented by the 'strongest eyes.'
That eliminates any flaws.
'Which makes it all the harder to believe...'
Just one glance showed it. Rain Ludwig's staff arts had no wasted motion. Proof he'd reached the pinnacle.
'Where, from whom, how did he learn Lin's staff arts to this level?'
Osarius wasn't like the other eight great academies, taking in many students.
'Our academy uses a one-on-one master-disciple system like the witches—one master teaches one disciple.'
As the Osarius student pondered this, the match in the arena reached its climax.
The moment Rain Ludwig, having pierced the droplet wall head-on and closed to killing distance, kicked off the ground hard.
The moment Nora Reden, calmly at the turning point, flipped her grimoire to its final page and infused it with mana.
"......!"
"......!"
"......!"
The final clash between those vying for the top of <Delaiten> began in an instant—and ended in an instant.
What the crowd thought they saw was this:
Nora's final spell was a 3-star water magic. A water barrier enveloped her, blocking all incoming attacks while destroying the intruder's muscles entirely.
Before Rain's thrusting staff could reach Nora's throat, his body seemed caught in the barrier, leading to defeat.
But no.
The moment that thought crossed minds, the water wall engulfing Rain shattered into countless particles of light and vanished without a trace.
"What?"
"Huh?"
"What just happened?"
Elin Ludwig, one of the few who knew the answer amid the stunned arena, nodded to Brim with a satisfied smile.
"Did you see that, sis?"
Brim Ludwig nodded back and clapped toward her son's back. Seri, clueless, jumped up and down.
"What is it, Aunt? What happened?"
"Oh, you pitiful niece! Rain just crushed the Melev snobs with our bloodline limit! With Bell Quirius!"
"With Bell Quirius?!"
Elin proudly shrugged.
Incredible.
Dad said it's not just about using the eyes—you have to instantly reverse-engineer the opponent's spell to nullify it.
'And from watching with Bell Sidias just now, that Melev spell vanished the instant it was cast.'
A proud smile spread across Elin's face.
Good grief, really.
Such a pitiful niece.
'No wonder I can't look away.'
By the time it all ended, Rain's staff was halted before Nora's eyes. Vice Professor Kyle, overseeing the match and judgment, raised his hand.
[Match 1, end! Winner, Rain Ludwig!]
A brief silence washed over the blinking spectators, followed by explosive cheers and applause.
"Woooooooo!"
"Insane, what was that just now?"
"Is this really a match between sixteen-year-olds?"
Logan clenched his fists and shot to his feet as well.
"Young master, nice one!!!"
Feeling the baffled stares from friend Illin and his fellow seniors and juniors, he cleared his throat and sat back down.
"Th-this is just following big senior's orders! We have to act like this so the calamity genius doesn't suspect me!"
Chaihak students stared blankly at Logan before wiping moved tears and patting his back.
"Sob, we believed in you!"
"Yeah, our senior is different!"
"Right, muscles aren't all—his acting is top-tier too!"
Meanwhile, Chaihak's vice dean nodded to Professor Owen. It validated the letter Owen had sent about Rain.
"Of course Logan lost. But I'm puzzled. How did he break Nora's barrier?"
Nora, who knew the answer, collapsed to her knees, legs giving out.
The pressure of facing those eyes, with silver-white seven-star points spinning... that inscrutable insight stabbing into her mind...
Of course, she didn't actually collapse. Rain extended a hand to support her.
"You're really promising. You've got every right to boast."
"......?"
"But bad matchup. That second spell? Next time, scatter it 180 degrees forward instead of 360. It'll be more threatening."
For some reason, Rain's words felt less like a victor's humiliation and more like advice from a benevolent senior.
'Why...?'
She'd been taught never to lose. Especially in magic combat. That was their raison d'être—Melev couldn't exist after defeat.
Yet she'd lost.
In the past, defeat would have shattered body and soul in despair. But here, now, why...?
"......"
Meanwhile, complex worry clouded the eyes of Valensidis, who had leaned against the south gate passage and watched the match from start to finish.
'Bell Quirius at sixteen. A dangerous figure with limitless potential.'
Likely an obstacle to Tureina's plan, so should she leave it to Ribarden to handle, or...?