Weak Will Is Not Allowed!

“Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

Erika and Lina, dressed in their activity uniforms, pointed their gun muzzles at each other.

The location was a special sparring arena not far from the [21st District Training Ground], the monster research facility where they had fought monsters during the joint training in Sevirpol.

The space was finished with concrete produced by mixing magic stones, making it difficult even for magic officer candidates to leave a scratch. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the epitome of Federation scientific technology.

The clothes they wore and the Mosin-Nagant rifles in their hands were the same. All the provided equipment was designed to allow the free use of magic in sparring between awakened ones without any hindrance.

I wanted to secretly stock up and take them back to the military academy.

As a candidate of the Bern Empire, I was quite envious of these aspects of the Federation.

“How about settling down in Sevirpol? I’ll let you use the research facilities freely, at least for you.”

“If I were a student of the Federation, I would have followed you right away, considering it an honor, but unfortunately, I’m a candidate of Bern. I appreciate your words, but I’ll just accept your sentiment.”

“Hahaha, if I had a disciple like you, it would have been immensely enjoyable, it’s truly regrettable.”

Is this where he wants me to watch from? I exchanged small talk with Serty while looking down at Erika and Lina waiting for the signal from the top floor of the building with a clear view of the sparring arena.

“Anyway, I’m infinitely grateful to you, Director, for graciously allowing us to use the facilities. Without you, we couldn’t have done anything.”

“Haha, how could a teacher block students who want to study? It’s the same whether they’re children of the Empire, not the Federation. Moreover, wasn’t it you who made the request?”

Serty shifted his gaze from the sparring arena to me.

“Of course I had to agree.”

Then he patted my shoulder with his wrinkled hand.

I was delighted that such a friendly man was in charge of the Sevirpol Research Institute.

Indeed, the saying that bald people are greedy is just an unfounded folk belief. Even with a smooth scalp, isn’t he overflowing with kindness? Thanks to Director Serty, it became much easier to promote Erika’s growth.

There was no better means to improve skills than sparring between awakened ones.

“Well then, I’ll go ahead. Let’s meet later.”

“Yes, take care.”

Serty left, promising to meet again for monster research. I saluted to see him off, and as soon as he closed the door and left, I moved my toes towards where Erika and Lina were.

Shall we start now?

How long has it been since I’ve seen a sparring match between awakened ones?

Since coming to this world, I’ve encountered various forms of education, but this was the first training that involved handling mana in earnest and engaging in life-and-death struggles between cadets. Normally, this type of education would be inaccessible to candidates for safety reasons, but

we can’t always live in compliance with regulations, can we?

“Ah, shall we start now?”

This is the awakened sparring training, rumored to be closest to actual combat. Although they use non-lethal bullets that mimic magic bullets rather than actual magic bullets, it’s still a fierce battle with real bullets flying, creating tension comparable to war.

Whisk, whisk!

Down below, Lina and Erika signaled their agreement.

“Even though there are safety measures, there’s still a risk of injury. Don’t overdo it, and if it feels dangerous, stop immediately. Don’t act recklessly for no reason.”

There was no need to wait any longer.

Beep─!

I pressed the red button right across from the microphone to signal the start.

---

The first to break the standoff was Lina. She dodged and avoided the concrete that shaped various covers, and finally found Erika and pulled the trigger.

The bullet, not an ordinary one but carrying Lina’s unique power of divine force, caused an explosion accompanied by a terrible sound when it reached its destination.

Boom!

It was truly merciless power. The bullet that should have just lodged in a person’s body and spun around became a tank shell in the hands of an awakened one. The sound of air being torn resonated throughout the entire cavity.

“Ugh…!”

By a hair’s breadth, the mishap of it lodging directly in her body was avoided.

However, it was too early to be relieved.

Lina used mana as a propellant to move horizontally, causing confusion in aiming. As if becoming a single deer targeted by dozens of hunters, Erika was on edge, wary of her nimble movements.

Bang, bang, bang!

Lina’s aim, which accurately squeezed through tiny gaps, was very threatening. The bullets accompanied by magical power were several times faster than ordinary lead bullets, providing tremendous pressure.

Moreover, in the past monster extermination training in Sevirpol, when she was in the same team as Lina and they cooperated, Lina’s divine power acted as a medicine that healed the body, but now…

Sss, sss!

“Ugh…”

Is this what it feels like when you gather all the muggy heat of a tropical region in one place? When the bullets hit objects, they scattered heat like shrapnel, causing unavoidable hardship. It wasn’t simply hot, but at a level that was fatal to the body.

‘Am I, am I on fire?’

Erika quickly ran to cover and hid her body from the aftershock. She peeked out only her head to look at the blackened floor and swallowed dry saliva.

‘As expected, Lina is strong.’

Despite displaying abilities that most cadets would find amazing, Lina was calmly preparing for her next attack. The aspect that seemed to say she hadn’t even shown her real skills yet made the back of Erika’s neck chill involuntarily.

Indeed, befitting the owner of Astrakhan’s top talent.

‘…She’s probably still going easy on me.’

Erika bit her lip hard as she met Lina’s eyes shining through the billowing smoke. Even though she could easily follow up with consecutive attacks, she was just watching blankly.

“Please go all out, Lina.”

“…Are you sure that’s okay?”

“Yes. I’m prepared for any situation.”

Bang, boom!

Erika blushed at her own state, desperately trying to avoid the sporadically flying bullets, a far cry from her earlier determination when she had shouted for Lina to go all out.

She had honed her skills under Yena’s guidance for nearly a month.

She had persevered, getting up even after scraping her knees many times, dedicating herself to training, clenching her fists and engaging in endless struggles with Yena while other children leisurely rested, strolling around the square.

She thought she could match up to Lina by now, staring at the calluses thickly attached to her palms.

After all, she had successfully subdued many monsters in the Sevirpol joint training, and in the individual sparring where Wolf had dropped out, she had achieved a satisfactory ranking by defeating more than ten opponents.

“…How foolish.”

I guess I was overconfident.

Bang, crack!

“Ugh!”

As Lina gradually increased the frequency of pulling the trigger, it became difficult even to avoid. Erika couldn’t bear the pain from a fist-sized concrete chunk that flew into her side, and finally fell to her knees.

Thud!

Even the special outer wall that usually doesn’t crack couldn’t withstand Lina’s overwhelming might, and its edges were shattered.

“…Shall we end it here?”

Erika couldn’t even raise her head towards Lina, who was asking the question while lowering her gun.

The outcome was decided without me firing a single shot. Even though Lina just stayed in one place firing bullets like a machine gun, I couldn’t come up with any proper countermeasure.

‘I’m ashamed.’

This wasn’t what I wanted.

I felt sorry for Yena. She invested her time solely for me, and this is how it turned out. I painfully realized the status of my 2nd grade mana anew.

-In fact, it was somewhat natural that Erika was struggling. Lina had been preparing for her commission as a magic officer since childhood, mastering various fields in the imperial family. It was essentially a difference in proficiency.

But Erika didn’t justify her inadequacy with such excuses.

“Grr… No, I’ll continue!”

Erika shook off the stone dust covering her back and stood up.

Yena once told me. My greatest talent is perseverance. Defeat is a result that comes only when you give up on effort, and you’re someone who never loses because you never lose your motivation.

‘You don’t know until you go all the way.’

With each round, I just need to achieve my own growth.

Click!

She picked up the rifle she had dropped when hit by the concrete chunk. Taking a deep breath to regain her sharp focus, she silently returned to the starting point and waved at Lina, who was standing calmly holding her gun with both hands.

“Let’s go again!”

With the chance to touch Yena’s chewy cheeks at stake, how could she surrender! Not a chance. She would personally demonstrate the maxim that the survivor is the strong one.

Bang!

Erika dodged the bullet that was flying while emitting light bright enough to blur her vision, and confidently pulled the trigger to respond to Lina.

It was the moment when blue flames finally began to spring from her quiet heart.