The Final Four, Match Two: Rebecca vs. Hervena (2)
"Master, is there anything in the world that fire can't burn?"
...A glittering, childish question from Blow's early years.
White Flame only smiled, soft as ever, and shook their head at the boy and girl whose eyes shone as they watched.
"There is no such thing in this world."
A pure white flame bloomed up for them to see. It had a strange beauty, like a goddess in white robes caught mid-dance. That wavering blaze, as if it might swallow everything, remained in the boy's memory as a mark that would never fade.
For no reason he could name, the old memory surfaced. Blow swallowed against a dry throat and met Jane's eyes. She gave the faintest nod, so slight it was almost not there, as if the same scene had risen in her as well.
Then Hervena's chant reached them both.
⟨ Salamander's Nest ⟩
Hervena's magic circle flared, enormous, pouring out a vast violet light. Upon it, branches shedding that same violet radiance stacked layer upon layer until they formed a nest, and several lizards wreathed in violet flame crawled inside, folded their tails, and lay down.
"What in the world is that...?"
The spell was strange to everyone watching. Spectators half-rose in their seats, unable to sit still, and even Mnevoir and Aurora, presiding as judges, drew their brows tight and tilted their heads. Rebecca was no different. She glided toward it, if only to see what kind of magic it was—and a heat fierce enough to swallow her whole wrapped her body, forcing her back up into the air.
"It's too hot."
"Right? It's the dead of summer in there."
"Hotter than that, I think."
"Wait—the teachers' barrier is supposed to keep magic from leaking out, isn't it? Then what on earth is it like inside...?"
The heat was as if someone had torn the sun loose and set it down on the grounds, and the clamor from the stands swelled with it. Rebecca let out a long breath, feeling as though a massive wall had risen in her path.
She said nothing.
Star of the North. Glacier Princess. Those were the words that defined her, and her reliance on cold magic ran deep. Now the entire dueling ground had been swallowed by a sea of fire. There was no gap to slip through, and her thoughts only grew heavier—while Hervena Westriver laid several cold spells around herself, folded her arms, and looked up as if to say she would wait and see.
First, a Supreme Tier spell...
A little steadier now, Rebecca finally extended her arm toward Hervena.
⟨ Ymir's Breath ⟩
With the chant, a fierce blizzard roared out of Rebecca's golden magic circle and drove toward the arena. It never even reached Hervena. The golden snow melted, dripped, and evaporated where it fell.
"Getting humid, isn't it, senior?"
Hervena laughed under her breath and shrugged. At the sight of it, Rebecca let out a thin sigh and cast the strongest Supreme Tier spell she had.
⟨ Glacier Drop ⟩
Rebecca turned a flip in the air, and from the tip of her foot a glacier the size of a house began to fall, throwing its shadow across Hervena. Every mouth in the crowd fell open—and Hervena, perfectly at ease, snapped her fingers toward the nest.
A crisp snap rang out. One of the lizards sleeping inside opened its eyes and charged the glacier dropping toward their heads.
BOOM—
The explosion shook the ground. Vivid violet flame wrapped the glacier whole, and in a matter of seconds it was gone without a trace.
The gap was overwhelming. Her element had been devoured, and neither the quality of her magic nor her mana came anywhere near Hervena's. The lizards in the nest had lifted their heads to watch her, eyes flashing as sharp as a viper's fixed on prey. Hervena's playful voice reached her again.
"Senior, do something. The students are raising quite a fuss."
Just as she said, the stands were in an uproar. Their noise, and Hervena's easy face and teasing voice, scraped at Rebecca all at once.
Composure. Keep your composure.
Set on putting out that sea of fire first, she unleashed the strongest water spell she could cast—Wave 3—in a barrage toward Hervena. Golden swells poured down on her. Hervena did not so much as blink. She flicked her fingers, snap, snap, and the lizards left the nest one by one to intercept the waves.
If anything, the heat only grew fiercer, and the steam off the vanished water seemed to tighten around every throat in the arena.
"She's drying her out completely."
"Why is she doing this to us too?!"
"The gap is that wide?"
"Is her mana infinite? Even with a supreme spirit, casting magic like that without blinking once—does that even make sense?"
The stands had become a madhouse because of her. Hervena glanced that way and smiled, bright and pleased. Truly, lovely things to hear. The smile broke into a laugh before she knew it; she burst out, then shouted across at Rebecca.
"Exactly! Why do you keep testing the waters? You're making a person spiteful!"
Rebecca bit down until her teeth ached, let out a deep breath, and finally dropped. Sweat broke across her whole body in the tremendous heat. She wrapped herself in cold magic and charged Hervena in a straight line.
As if she had been waiting for precisely that, Hervena flicked her finger once more. A lizard rose. Rebecca, meaning to cancel it, sent a single golden wave ahead of her.
⟨ Wave 3 ⟩
BOOM— The golden wave and the violet lizard annihilated each other, and steam shut out the view. Another lizard pierced the smoke, its dull, low violet mouth gaping wide as it lunged.
Two of them, staggered?
Rebecca twisted on instinct, but the violet lizard bent just as fluidly and latched onto the meat of her shoulder.
"Ah."
Light burst from between its scales, a flash bright enough to blind.
BOOOOM—
Smoke rolled over the arena and climbed into the sky. Even the stands that had been howling about the heat fell, for a moment, utterly still. What broke the silence was Hervena humming.
"Hmm— hm— hmm."
She had twisted her bob up off her neck. Summoning a magic circle, she walked unhurriedly toward the place where Rebecca had been standing, and soon Rebecca's face came into view, twisted with pain.
"Is that the end, Senior Rebecca?"
"......"
"Mmm. This won't do. Is it because it's too hot?"
Hervena waved a hand. Salamander's Nest spewed flame and vanished in an instant, and a chill sank bone-deep into everyone on the grounds.
"Achoo—"
"Put your coat on! You'll catch a cold!"
The opposite of the earlier uproar tore through the stands. Rebecca, for whom merely staying upright was all she could manage, gave ground a little at a time before the approaching Hervena and began to build a circle. Hervena stopped dead and opened her palm, as if granting a favor.
"Go on. Try it now."
"This isn't like the magic workshop..."
"The magic workshop?"
Hervena tilted her head, plainly not following, then added, almost kindly, "You still need to score points, don't you, Senior Rebecca?"
"......"
She chuckled. Danvers, watching the match, bit her lower lip so hard that blood dripped from it. Here and there in the stands, people pointed at Hervena and muttered that she was a demon. Yulia let out a heavy breath and set a hand to the back of her neck.
"Hervena knew Rebecca would do that."
"She did?"
"Yes. She must have known Rebecca would open the distance and watch, so she used a Supreme Tier area spell like that."
A perfect reading of the match, and the confidence that she could answer whatever came. An absurd depth of mana, and an understanding of magic that made the impossible ordinary. A fighting strength no one had seen or heard of before. The illusion that one of the 6 Great Mages stood on the grounds. A chill ran down Yulia's spine.
...Good thing I changed the plan. If I'd gone in like this, I wouldn't have had one chance in a hundred.
The road ahead was no less bleak for that. Yulia let out a long sigh.
After those several exchanges, Rebecca staggered on the arena floor, a groan slipping out of her. The awkward, half-collapsed posture stirred something like pity in Hervena instead, and she spoke as if in passing.
"I thought you'd forfeit."
"Never. There is no forfeiting."
"Spoken like the Star of the North."
⟨ Ymir's Arrow ⟩
A single arrow leapt from the golden circle toward Hervena. It melted and vanished before it could so much as touch her.
"All right. I understand. Then have it your way."
Hervena's head turned. Her gaze found Yulia in the stands. She smiled at her, then opened her hand toward the sky, and a violet magic circle flashed at her fingertips.
From overhead, at once—
RUMBLE—
a sound rolled out as if it would shatter everything. Yulia's face twisted as she realized what it was.