Ch.24The Vain One (5)

Screeeech-!

The sound of air being sharply cut.

Following it, a spear comes rushing in.

It was an attack falling quickly in a straight line.

I calmly raise my blade like a shield.

Thud-!

Immediately after, a heavy impact travels to my fingertips.

My body naturally gets pushed back.

An incredible strength impossible to believe came from such a slender frame.

While I correct my posture after that tingling sensation, a taunt flies at me as if it had been waiting.

“You’re holding up quite well? I thought you’d collapse in one go.”

Her lips twist fiercely.

The girl holds a spear formed of ice in her hand.

It was Amelia’s ability [Freezing].

“But you’re still just a bug!!”

Whoosh-!

I hear something sharp flying at high speed from behind me.

I lightly twist my body to avoid it.

Thwack-!

What stuck into the floor was an arrow.

Looking back, I see additional ice fragments flying from my blind spot.

An ambush targeting my opening.

However, I don’t panic.

“My, my~ This is troublesome.”

Slash-!

My leisurely sword strike cuts down the arrow.

Ice fragments fall to the floor.

“Tch…!”

The girl clicks her tongue and retreats.

Her blue eyes are filled with sticky irritation.

Is she getting agitated?

The bubble top student she thought would easily fall.

Such an opponent had been flexibly blocking her attacks all this time.

I smile brightly.

“Things don’t seem to be going as you planned?”

“Ha…!”

She bursts into a hollow laugh.

Perhaps she never expected to hear such provocation from a bug she’d been dismissing.

Indeed, her mental state was easily shaken.

“How dare you, someone like you…!”

“Oh my.”

Clang!!

A piercing sound erupts.

The spear thrust made in emotion gets consumed by shadow. We continue our power struggle for a moment with our blades pressed against each other.

Her wide-open eyes are filled with venomous light.

Creak… Thud!

I push away the girl who was roughly pushing in.

The distance widens slightly from the recoil.

“This is disappointing.”

I continue my cheerful taunting.

“I was expecting more since you spoke so confidently… but it’s been 30 minutes and you haven’t even grazed me once.”

“Shut up.”

“At this rate, becoming top student will be difficult.”

“I said shut up…!”

Ah, happiness.

This is what dopamine feels like.

Her reactions were so good that the satisfaction of needling her was exquisite.

While deflecting the sharp spear tip that occasionally thrust in, I continue my gleeful taunting.

“How about trying to hit even my toe?”

“I’ll tear you apart. Definitely that mouth of yours…!”

“How exciting~? May I ask when you plan to tear it?”

“How dare you to a noble lady of Venatti…!”

“The level of Venatti is quite apparent. To think someone like this is the successor.”

Clang! Crack, crunch…!

The more sharp noises continue, the more the girl gets swept up in the atmosphere.

Before long, the duel has taken a one-sided turn.

“Haa, haa…!”

Amelia gasps for breath as if tired.

Her blue hair is wet with sweat.

By now her legs should be giving out, but she’s still holding her spear.

I guess a stubborn person stays stubborn.

“Haah, huff…!”

“Your skills are certainly excellent… but your opponent was unfortunate.”

This was sincere.

No matter how enjoyable the taunting was, I had no intention of deliberately belittling my opponent.

Amelia was clearly one of the top geniuses of this generation.

Solid fundamentals forged through various efforts.

Her spearmanship following her overwhelming ice magic, sniping, and psychological warfare had already surpassed student level.

With slight exaggeration, two Amelias might be able to handle Sharlotte.

Her talent was undoubtedly one for the history books.

You could call it well-founded confidence.

The girl was more than qualified.

Just… her opponent wasn’t human.

“Haha~ Such attacks will never reach me?”

Clang-!

I once again deflect an arrow flying from my blind spot.

The fragments of ice fall away limply.

Murmurs of commotion can be heard among the spectators.

Students who can’t hide their astonishment.

-W-what… are we even watching?

-The Venatti noble lady can’t put up any resistance? Is she in poor condition…?

-The bubble top student is fighting too well.

-He seems to be completely dominating.

-He’s been deliberately defending from the beginning. As if he’s… playing with the Venatti noble lady.

‘Like toying with her.’

Amelia must surely be hearing it too.

The whispered reactions of those people.

The status she had built up was crumbling, and the stage she had meticulously prepared had become a trap ensnaring herself.

It was the moment of tearing open the scars of her inferiority complex.

“How about surrendering now?”

“……”

I return the exact words she had said before the duel began.

Since I decided to take this seriously, I intended to trample her thoroughly until she was in tatters.

Of course, the girl seemed unable to accept it.

After regulating her breathing for a moment, she glares at me with clenched fists.

“…who do you think you are.”

A sticky killing intent wafts from her.

How persistent.

It seemed she intended to see this through to the end.

Amelia discarded the ice spear she was holding and began drawing power by bringing both hands together.

Her clear blue eyes were already clouded.

“I will never lose to someone like you… I, absolutely, must not lose.”

Crackle, crackle-!

Blue sparks fly.

The mana inside her body begins to explode.

The ‘Mana Rampage’ state artificially induced by colliding what little mana remained and creating hundreds of thousands of frictions.

It was a crazy utilization impossible to even attempt without exceptional control.

In the midst of the turbulent flow.

Her red lips recite an incantation.

“O bitter winter.”

Before records were established.

O Meribel who bloomed frost flowers in the innocent world.

Hear the call of me, the rightful successor of the snow cold.

I covet your great slaughter.

Gathering the tears of fallen witches to build a tower of grief.

“Erase everything.”

-Amelia-style Ice Magic Secret Technique-

‘Frost Blade’

As soon as the incantation ends, the surrounding temperature instantly becomes chilly.

White frost begins to form around the girl’s feet.

Clear breath rises from her mouth.

Behind Amelia, massive glacier fragments have risen.

“Haah……”

Ten thousand ice spears filling the sky.

I twisted my lips while taking in this spectacular scene.

So you’re finally bringing out your ultimate technique.

It’s quite moving to face this directly after only seeing it through the game.

Whoosh-!

The pressure was no joke.

It naturally made one feel overwhelmed.

Even the noisy students in the stands were keeping silent.

“……”

“……”

Our gazes cross briefly.

Neither eye contains defeat.

Only determination or conviction that each will win occupies their place.

A momentary standoff.

“Winter.”

The peace breaks fleetingly.

The red lips finish the final sentence.

“Rage forth.”

Simultaneously.

The ten thousand spears adorning the sky pour down all at once.

Like a shower made of azure blue.

Swoosh!!

The fierce downpour was naturally aimed at where I stood.

A waterfall of spears delivering distant despair.

But.

“Huhu.”

Even in such a situation, I laugh.

As if too delighted to contain myself.

“Magnificent.”

Since the opponent showed something good first, it’s my turn to show something now.

I gently extend my hand.

Rippling black mist.

I calmly condense the ‘lie’.

Screeeech-!!

A noise that tears apart the surrounding atmosphere.

I make a gun with my index finger and aim it at the pouring rain.

The shadow writhes.

“Huhu.”

No need for anything elaborate like with Sharlotte.

Simply a difference in caliber.

I’ll crush it with pure output.

With power gathered at my fingertip, I recite the incantation as if pulling a trigger.

“Shatter.”

Click.

The next moment.

The entire arena turns black.

***

The students were all excited.

A duel between the bubble top student and the villain noble lady.

“The Venatti noble lady has finally drawn her sword.”

“That person is quite unfortunate.”

“Judas Snakus… he seems surprisingly skilled, but it was a bit wrong for him to be in the top student position.”

“It doesn’t make sense for him to surpass the princess.”

“Still, we got a good spectacle.”

Though they didn’t express it like Amelia.

Students who had secretly questioned the results of the class placement test.

For them, this duel couldn’t help but be interesting.

It was an opportunity to properly confirm the boy’s skills, which they couldn’t see last time due to Sharlotte’s barrier.

“Who do you think will win?”

“Obviously the Venatti noble lady, right?”

“I guess so.”

“She’s an outstanding person. If not for Her Highness the Princess, she would have taken the top position long ago.”

“They say no one her age can match her in ice magic.”

No one particularly expected a reversal.

Because everyone knew the prestige of the name ‘Amelia’.

“I bet the noble lady will win within 1 minute.”

“Then I say 30 seconds!”

“Aren’t you all underestimating the noble lady too much…? I think 5 seconds.”

The students in the stands each predict the outcome.

The top student’s defeat seemed certain.

But.

Unlike the students’ predictions that it would end one-sidedly.

The fight continues as a fierce battle.

《Clang! Crunch…! Thud!》

At first, both seemed to be fighting well.

“What? He’s holding out longer than expected?”

“His movements are clean and not bad… wasn’t he supposed to be a bubble?”

“Right, he’s quite skilled.”

“The noble lady will win in the end, but… huh?”

As time passes, the atmosphere becomes strange.

The flow begins to tilt to one side.

The gap starts to widen.

While Amelia shows signs of struggling, the boy continues to evade with ease.

Without attacking even once.

“W-what… are we even watching?”

“The Venatti noble lady can’t put up any resistance? Is she in poor condition…?”

“The bubble top student is fighting too well.”

“He seems to be completely dominating.”

“He’s been deliberately defending from the beginning. As if he’s… playing with the Venatti noble lady.”

The villain noble lady visibly losing ground.

The stands fill with confusion.

It was surprising enough that he was keeping pace with Amelia, but now he was overwhelming her.

The unexpected development delivers a powerful shock.

What on earth was happening?

According to rumors, he was supposed to be nothing special, just an ordinary student.

Then what was this scene before them?

“Impossible.”

“The noble lady is being toyed with…?”

One hypothesis flashes through their minds.

The class placement test that left great opposition in the academy.

Sharlotte who forfeited.

Perhaps she didn’t give up the match out of mere caprice, but because she truly faced an opponent she couldn’t defeat.

This implausible hypothesis.

“No way that could be…”

The air turns turbulent.

Right then.

The duel finally races toward its extreme.

《Winter.》

The cornered girl is perilously vulnerable.

She seems to be walking on a razor’s edge.

Yet she didn’t back down.

Forcibly exploding her remaining mana, she draws out her maximum output.

Pale blue ice covers the sky.

“Good heavens… what is that?”

“I knew she was counted among the geniuses, but to think she was at this level…?”

“The entire arena is going to be destroyed.”

“Isn’t someone going to die from this?”

“Shouldn’t the supervisor step in…!?”

They urgently look for professors, but they merely watch silently.

Finally.

The girl’s lips finish the incantation.

The ten thousand spears densely arranged like stars begin to move.

《Rage forth.》

Boom!

A deafening sound pierces their eardrums.

The fiercely raging winter arrives with the momentum to devour everything in the world.

It truly seemed like watching an apocalypse.

“Kyaaaah!”

“What do we do!”

“Even if he’s the top student, getting caught in those spear tips would cause severe injuries at minimum…!”

The children retreat, anticipating disaster.

But.

The boy was different.

The snake who smiled alone stands still in place.

Then raises his finger to aim at the sky.

Was he insane?

He should be backing away frantically, yet he stands frozen.

The students scream.

Regardless.

The boy moves his lips.

《Shatter.》

For just a moment, his narrowed eyes open.

Transparent white pupils shining.

Time seems to stop.

Immediately after.

A handful of shadow shoots from his fingertip.

It penetrates through the shower of spears, then quickly spreads in all directions.

The sky turns pitch black.

《Crack, crackle-!》

It’s coated instantly.

The ice spears covered in jet-black surface stop in midair.

The shadow drips down.

Snap-!

Then the boy flicks his finger.

Elegantly.

The next moment.

《Crash!!》

Ten thousand pieces of ice.

They all shatter at once.

The vicious winter scatters into countless fragments.

Breaking into smaller and smaller pieces.

Whoosh-.

Black snow falls.

Following the gentle breeze, the black snowflakes dance gracefully.

Like a snow field wet at night.

Alien, yet beautiful.

One’s gaze is naturally drawn to the layers piling softly on the arena floor.

A rapturous scene emitting a subtle light.

“”……”

The stands now filled with silence.

The students blankly appreciate the winter mixed with shadows.

Having forgotten even their previous confusion.

Crunch, crunch-.

A scene resembling a handful of dreams.

In the dreamlike landscape, there is one boy walking alone.

The snake asks generously.

《Do you still wish to continue?》

It was a bewitching whisper.