Ch.110Red Sea (4)

The match continues in a tense state.

Magic collides fiercely.

The speed of both combatants was too fast to follow with the naked eye, and only fierce sparks remained in the empty air after their clashes.

The only things visible were faintly fluttering shadows.

And occasionally, aftershocks hitting the barrier around the spectator stands.

The crowd stirs.

“What is this? What are we even watching…?”

“It’s moving too fast to follow with our eyes.”

“I can’t even understand the exchanges happening each moment… let alone distinguish what movements they’re making.”

“Weren’t they students just like us? Is there really such a difference in level?”

“I can feel the mana density even through the barrier…”

The match had already transcended comprehension.

The students couldn’t discuss what they were witnessing.

They couldn’t even establish the minimum basis for comparison.

“What kind of power is that…?”

It wasn’t just the students.

The professors were the same.

Even if the standard was set at faculty rather than students, this match contained something that sent chills down one’s spine.

It was a fierce battle taking place at an incredibly high level.

“Does this even make sense…?”

“It’s preposterous.”

“No matter how much time has passed since retirement, he was once called the pinnacle… yet he’s not falling behind at all against such a veteran.”

“Tsk tsk… It’s like watching a monstrous gem in the rough.”

Everyone lets out dazed exclamations.

It was certainly surprising enough.

In fact, it would be stranger not to be surprised.

Everyone knew he possessed outstanding talent, but until now, no one had properly measured the boy’s limits.

That was because there had rarely been an opportunity for him to exercise his abilities.

Everyone had similar reactions.

A settling silence.

Simply.

Awe.

The scene before their eyes far exceeded the realm of understanding, so the spectators neither needed nor wanted to comprehend it.

They could only stare blankly at the “genius” who hadn’t existed until now.

The cool air overwhelms the audience.

“Is this even possible…?”

“How would I know? Besides, you’re the one who said he might put up a good fight.”

“Well, that was half a joke, obviously… And this isn’t just putting up a fight, they’re clashing as equals!”

“Maybe the professor is going easy on him?”

“Does that look like someone going easy to you? Even the other professors are just staring in shock.”

“It’s really a close match…?”

“Go! The long shot is paying off!!!”

The students’ exclamations added nothing.

Professor.

Cracks were forming in a name they thought could never be defeated.

The heat in the arena grows increasingly intense.

The fierce exchange that had been intense from the start now reaches its extreme, and suddenly the snake catches his opponent from behind and slams him into the ground.

Against the background of a dull bursting sound, the professors murmur.

“Has a student ever defeated a professor in a challenge match before…?”

“Just once.”

It had happened.

Just once.

A person who, as a student, surpassed a professor.

“The Crimson Sword Saint.”

A name known to have reached the highest star.

Undoubtedly the greatest hero remaining in the Empire, and a superhuman whom no one throughout history has been able to surpass.

It was a record set when he was still a sixteen-year-old boy.

“……”

The professors thought simultaneously.

Today.

History might be written once more.

《Heh heh.》

On the screen transmitted by the magical device, dust swirls.

Shadows fall across the arena.

The boy who had been traversing the empty air until just now lands on the ground, his black coat fluttering.

Then, with a sinister smile on his lips, he asks:

《Do you perhaps wish to continue?》

His narrowed eyes smiled ominously.

***

The faculty challenge match.

Originally, I had intended to take it lightly.

I knew that causing a commotion in a place like this would only draw unnecessary attention.

There was no need to add to my troubles.

But.

-What can you possibly do with mere illusion magic?

Selena being ridiculed in front of the students.

I didn’t like that moment.

She was someone who had helped me in many ways… I felt a surge of heat and the urge to step forward.

Though the person in question didn’t seem to mind.

I personally had grown fond of her.

Because she reminded me of myself.

More precisely, of myself from a time so distant I could barely remember.

Perhaps it was a kind of reminiscence.

‘Whatever the reason.’

I intended to return what my opponent had provoked.

Even if it was just a formal relationship, he had tarnished my teacher’s name.

As a disciple, it was only right to return the favor.

Yes.

Just like now.

“Ugh, urgh…”

Professor Cadel writhes while kneeling.

Groans are buried between his breaths.

I ask with my coat fluttering:

“Do you perhaps wish to continue?”

“……”

For a while, he doesn’t answer.

Was it because of the shock remaining in his body?

Or was he shaken by the fact that he was pushed back by a mere student?

I guess it might be both.

“Ha…”

After catching his breath for a moment.

The professor regains his composure.

He suddenly raises his head that had been lowered.

Though he was still confused, he doesn’t easily let his pace be disrupted.

As expected of a veteran, he adapts quickly to the situation.

The professor dusts off his collar.

Regaining his composure.

The eyes that had been filled with composure now swirl with a cool chill.

It seemed he was recognizing the difference in skill.

“…I’ll acknowledge it.”

Cadel suddenly says.

Around him, mana of terrifying mass swirls.

His pupils stare directly at me.

“I never expected to be pushed this far… It seems I underestimated you too much.”

“I’m glad you’ve finally recognized it.”

“My dignity as a professor is in shambles. I intended to show an overwhelming difference in skill, but instead I’ve only raised questions about my qualifications.”

The air settles into an especially quiet calm.

Like before a terrible storm.

In the precarious eve that continues, the professor once again takes his stance.

This time, mana was erupting from his entire body.

“I’ve already lost, in a sense.”

“Hmm?”

“As a professor, I was defeated the moment I was pushed back by a student. But since it’s come to this, I’ll do my best to crush you.”

“That sounds exciting.”

“I’ll use my full power for the finale.”

“By all means.”

The professor brings his hands together neatly.

Then the mana begins to resonate.

A spell of incomparably higher density than before fills the arena.

The adult’s pupils flash with unparalleled cruelty.

Kuguguugu-!

Not long after, the arena begins to shake.

An unknown bursting sound occurs in the empty air.

A tension that seems ready to cut at any moment devours the area.

The students who had been exchanging opinions fall silent, and the professors who had been dazed stand up in surprise.

Truly overwhelming spirit.

‘Is it coming?’

I knew.

This was a precursor.

The precursor to a massive catastrophe.

“I’ll try to control it so you won’t get hurt.”

Jjak-!

The professor claps his hands heavily.

Immediately after.

A wave begins, centered on the ground where he stands.

It was a tsunami large enough to cover the entire arena.

Filling the circular space made of barriers, the foam at the top rises to a height of nearly 50 meters.

It was the ultimate technique of a man renowned for his destructive power even in the original work.

-Cadel-style Ocean Magic Secret Technique-

‘Red Sea’

A wave so large one wouldn’t dare to look up at it.

Even the onlookers fall into confusion.

Screams expressing concern about the match ring out everywhere.

Despite this, the professor’s pupils remain calm.

Only his moving lips shine amidst the catastrophe, and the ensuing doom prepares to devour everything around without exception.

Just a short incantation remains.

“Sea.”

Cadel commands, as if squeezing out his last bit of strength.

“Wash away the blood.”

Simultaneously, the wave’s color turns bright red.

As if soaked in abundant blood.

The crimson tsunami pours down following the final incantation.

The cries of students echo beyond the barrier.

-Wh-what! Shouldn’t that be stopped…?!

-How is anyone supposed to block something like that!

-He’ll die if he gets swept away! He should forfeit now!

-It’s too late because of the barrier…!

The situation continues urgently.

Everyone seemed panicked.

Well, since this was the first magic of such density they’d seen, the children could only reflexively scream.

An ordinary student would have lost consciousness by now.

It was literally a situation of being crushed by mana.

“Heh heh.”

However.

I don’t back down.

Instead, I step forward.

A smile flows deeply across my lips.

Even though a dark shadow completely covers the wide arena, I walk fearlessly toward the breaking foam.

At my fingertips swirled the thickest lie ever.

“Sea, hear the call.”

I recite the incantation.

“The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

And the Lord said to me, “Why do you cry to Me?

Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.

Sin shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

When you stretched out your hand over the sea, the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.

“Thus I speak to the false believer.”

Lies swirl around me.

In my hand is a staff made of woven shadows.

I bring down the raised staff to the ground.

Kwak-!

“Break.”

The finishing sentence.

Immediately after.

The shadow of the tsunami that had covered the sky disappears.

The wave that was about to devour the arena loses its power, and the calm Red Sea parts on both sides, making way.

It was a scene close to a miracle that defied the laws of nature.

“……”

Everyone is dumbfounded.

The sea parted like a lie.

It was an incomprehensible landscape, as if they had fallen into the boundary of a dream.

Yet the foolish sheep cannot take their eyes off it.

Tak tak-.

The sound of shoes whispers distinctly in my ears.

I walk through the gap where the tsunami has parted.

As I cross between the submissive catastrophe, I meet the gaze of the young man standing unsteadily at the end.

He was standing there in an exhausted state.

“Haa, haa…”

Cadel, unable to breathe comfortably.

It seemed he had experienced mana depletion.

Though his eyes had been full of vigor until just before the match began, now they held a dejected atmosphere, as if he couldn’t believe what had happened.

The professor opens his stiffened lips and mutters.

“Such… a monster…”

Thud-.

The young man collapses, unable to continue speaking.

He was already unconscious.

“Hmm~ Does this mean I’ve won?”

I ask toward the device illuminating the arena.

Only the snake’s smile was being transmitted on the huge screen.

“What do you think?”

A moment of silence.

And then the announcer’s voice, belatedly understanding the situation, declares.

It was the sound announcing the end of the match.

《The, the match has ended…!》

《Professor Cadel Evans has forfeited. The winner is Head Assistant Judas Snakus!》

The students all wear shocked expressions.

Their reactions gradually change.

From fear to shock, from shock to surprise, from surprise to fervent cheers.

Just before such thunderous cheers erupted.

The first thing that echoed through the arena was a single shout.

-The long shot paid off!! 200 to 1 odds!!!!!

A student dances while waving his betting slip.

Following such cheers, applause began to pour from the entire audience.

Waaaaa-!!

“Ahem.”

The Crimson Sword Saint.

It was the first time since the achievement of the hero who represented the Empire that a student had overwhelmed a professor—a momentous event.

The snake stood as a part of history with his characteristic playful smile.