Thirty-Third Chapter
The Depth of Darkness from Blind Faith
The thunderous applause reached into the waiting room. It was the signal that Tesfia’s and Alice’s match had ended.
Loki was getting ready by the entrance. She was wearing an unfamiliar outer garment, and held both of its edges as she wrapped her arms around herself.
It looked similar to what was supplied by the military, but it was shorter, ending at her waist. Since there weren’t any sleeves either, it was pretty much a cloak.
As she fastened the clasp around her neck, Loki looked down at the cloak. The principal had gotten hold of this for Loki to wear out of consideration. Her AWRs could be quite unwieldy when there were many of them. So far, she hadn’t needed that many knives, but in this next match she couldn’t afford to go easy on her opponent.
The cloak was pretty thick, and its interior was lined with bands and pockets. The tightly packed knives were also quite heavy but Loki showed no signs of paying that any heed. She was already used to it. Besides, she wasn’t so weak that she would complain about it.
One may have wondered how her thin arms could be so strong, but to Loki this was within the range of weight she’d carry on a daily basis.
She spread her arms to see how it felt. As expected from custom made wear, it didn’t get in her way at all. That was thanks to its short length and the fact that it only covered half her arms, guaranteeing free range of movement. She made a final check in satisfaction.
“Ms. Loki, I wasn’t of much use, but good luck out there,” Felinella, standing next to her, said apologetically.
The truth was that she hadn’t been able to get any kind of information on the opponent Loki was facing. But that wasn’t a fault of hers or the other students gathering information. It was simply that he’d ended his matches in a flash, preventing anyone from getting any decent information.
Felinella was skilled at information gathering, but she couldn’t exactly infiltrate his hotel and get the information she wanted.
“That’s not true. It just means that he’s rather strong and not stupid enough to show his hand. I’ll just have to see for myself in the match. Well, the outcome is already clear, though.”
Felinella was surprised to see Loki being so talkative and fearless, but she also felt a weight come off her shoulders. “Don’t push yourself.”
“That depends on my opponent. Besides, missions are one thing, but I don’t think it’s possible to be reckless on stage with all eyes on you.”
“That’s true, but...” Felinella began, but she swallowed the rest. “It’s about time. We’re going to go check up on those two,” she said, looking over to a nearby screen. Displayed on it were Tesfia and Alice being carried away on stretchers.
“I doubt they’ll be able to properly fight in the finals,” Loki said.
“So it seems.”
Loki noted that they’d shown power beyond their abilities. They’d truly gone all out. She was exasperated that they’d fought without any consideration for the future, but she wondered if she could do the same in her own match.
After that, she stood by the entrance, leaning against the cold wall and closing her eyes, waiting for her name to be called.
This was one match she absolutely couldn’t lose.
Of course, she wanted to obey Alus’ instructions, but even more than that—she’d sworn that she would win.
Loki felt up to this point that she hadn’t been able to do anything as Alus’ partner. It wasn’t like he didn’t acknowledge her, but her lack of strength was undeniable.
He’d given the excuse that they had to split up for this mission, that his mission this time around was too difficult to bring her with him. But even then she wanted to be at his side, hoping to be able to give her life for his if the moment called for it.
She had no qualms about living with Alus. If anything, she was in bliss. But Loki knew in her current state, Alus saw her as someone to be protected.
She always wished to be of use to him. That’s why she had no hesitation to become a wall to protect him. Her image of the ideal partner’s position was to be one step behind him. But where was she now? When she thought of that, his back felt ever more distant.
Then again—she’d done her best not to overstep her boundaries and had held back on being pointlessly stubborn. That was because Alus’ existence was just too great... no, perhaps that was only an excuse. Since she’d become his partner, her life had been so fulfilling. It might be that she just didn’t want to give up her current situation.
I really am selfish. But even then...
But even then—Loki was fine with that. There was a wonderful promise awaiting her after she had won. And she was going to secure that win no matter what.
And best of all, it was Alus himself who had suggested it. I promise to bring you along on my missions, he had said.
He left this mission to her because he trusted her. He had presented her with a wall to overcome because he expected her to overcome it. So it was only natural she would respond in kind.
That’s why she had to win.
That’s why she had to carry out her mission.
The distant sound of her name being called by the announcer reached her ears, and she slowly opened her eyes. There was an unshakable determination in them.
She narrowed her eyes due to the brightness of the day, but she was too focused to hear the explosive cheers. Al wouldn’t give me a wall that couldn’t be climbed.
Loki had had almost impossible tasks pushed onto her before, but she’d cleared them all or had been within reach of the top. Surely he’d entrusted this mission to her because he thought she could win.
With that thought in her mind, she began to rapidly spin up plans and strategies. She’d put on a bold face in front of Felinella, but remained cautious, knowing who she was up against. If her next opponent was just a normal opponent, it wouldn’t be worth calling a wall for a Triple Digit like Loki.
Her next opponent was Fillic Argan. He was the student of Rusalca’s Single, Jean Rumbulls, the ranked No. 3. From what little information they’d managed to glean, he was a Triple Digit with the abilities of a Double Digit.
Meanwhile, Loki was near the rank of No. 100 at best, but she wasn’t a Double Digit yet. She took this in stride, because she knew she’d picked up more strength compared to before.
Her opponent’s strength was unknown, but she wasn’t being asked to go up against a Single. It didn’t matter if he was stronger than her. In this tournament, it wasn’t the one with more mana or more powerful spells who won.
Indeed, it would be the last person standing who would win.
Most battles between Magicmasters were typically determined by dealing fatal damage to the opponent. This was something most had gotten a feel for during training and mock battles. With the headache that was brought on, they weren’t in a state to cast spells.
So should she make the first move, then? The answer was no.
Even without counting the fact that Fillic’s abilities were those of a Double Digit, he’d won his way into the main tournament without showing his hand, so he wouldn’t go down that easily. So exposing her own hand right off the bat was out of the question.
Loki slowly moved to her assigned spot, and finally raised her head and looked at her opponent for the first time.
Fillic Argan. A first-year student from Rusalca’s First Magical Institute. His build reminded her of Alus, but the atmosphere around him was clearly different.
Even though he wore a refreshing smile, loathing seeped through that mask, and he was looking her way with a ferocious stare.
With less than two minutes left before the match, all they could do was wait until the start signal rang out. Or so she thought.
“What a disappointment. Your ‘Sir’ Alus ran away at the last minute, did he?” Fillic’s voice reached Loki’s ears, and she raised her eyebrows in response.
His words were dripping in sarcasm. And the way he’d so unpleasantly added the ‘Sir’ was clearly trying to provoke her out of scorn. “And here I was hoping to show all the nations’ rulers Alpha’s No. 1 struggling against a mere Triple Digit from Rusalca.”
“That would be impossible for you. You should be happy that you’re not going to get embarrassed too much.” Loki coldly narrowed her eyes at the sight of this pitiful fool who didn’t understand Alus’ greatness. The edges of her lips turned up into a ridiculing smile.
“Haha, I wasn’t expecting to win against the ranked No. 1. But I would at least have had a better chance than going up against Sir Jean.” The moment he said that name, Fillic’s expression changed. “Truly... he is meant to sit on the throne of No. 1. Not that guy. I don’t know how he did it, but it was clearly through some dirty means. It seems Alpha is really good at squirming in the darkness like bugs.”
He continued, not even trying to hide his scorn anymore, “The sight of the ranked No. 1 struggling against Sir Jean’s pupil would’ve thrown doubts on the title of the greatest. That’s why this is such a disappointment! I never thought he would get cold feet... and of all things hide behind some girl! I take my hat off to his boldness.”
There was irritation in Fillic’s voice as he continued to mock Alus. He’d heard from Jean that the girl in front of him was Alus’ partner, but no matter how much abuse he threw at her, she wasn’t Alus himself.
Why was he even so obsessed with Jean’s position in the first place? The reason for that lay four years in the past.
At the time, Fillic lived in a town in the remote regions of Rusalca. Having been born into the underclass and in a terrible environment, he made a living through stealing, his talent in magic helping him in his work.
As he used his magic for evil and piled up successes, he eventually became convinced that he’d always be able to escape no matter what.
But the end came suddenly. He finally tasted defeat.
The whole thing happened in an instant. The magic he prided himself on had no effect, and he didn’t realize he’d been caught until his cheek was pressed against the ground.
It was none other than Jean, who’d come out to the countryside for an inspection, who caught him. On a whim, Jean decided to interrogate Fillic, learning of his circumstances and noticing his talent for magic.
Jean was already a first-rate Magicmaster at the time, and Fillic’s self-taught magic wasn’t going to work on him. But he did have a knack for it, and ever since then Fillic had been in his care.
It was all thanks to Jean that Fillic was even in the institute. That, coupled with the fact that he trained him from time to time, meant that Jean had become irreplaceable to him.
He saw Jean as the ideal Magicmaster and worked hard every day to catch up to him. To Fillic, Jean wasn’t just his savior; he was also the one who taught him how to live and pointed him in the right direction in life.
That’s why he couldn’t believe—or stand for—someone the same age as him having a higher rank than Jean.
Eventually, when he’d started training more with Jean and going out into the Outer World, he heard rumors from the other members of their squad of how Alpha had faked their No. 1 ranking Since that point, he’d begun to question if Jean’s rank had been given through a fair evaluation, or if Alus had stolen his rightful place from him.
In contrast to his spiteful words, Fillic wore an unblemished smile. In other words, he wore a mask for show as he sneered at Loki.
Loki always stayed cool, but she couldn’t stand for Alus being criticized any longer. “You weren’t told anything, were you? I suppose that’s just how little you mean to Sir Jean.”
He probably hadn’t heard that Alus had left on a mission. And that if Alus said it was a difficult mission, it had to be something extraordinary.
Looking around the venue, it also appeared that the guards around the rulers had decreased in number. In other words, this was a national-level incident, and probably involved more than just Alpha.
Loki had vaguely understood this, but if Fillic hadn’t, then... That’s all there is to him.
Now it was Loki’s turn to sneer, as an icy smile floated up on her expressionless face, and she held a finger up. “You are misunderstanding one thing. Even if you were to fight Sir Alus, someone like you wouldn’t even be able to see a fraction of his strength. That means that he decided I would be enough for an opponent like you.”
The daring statement made Fillic’s temple twitch, but his expression remained unchanged. “Ms. Loki, was it... I’ll throw those words right back at you. Someone like you won’t be a worthy opponent for me, unfortunate as that is... but this is fine in its own way. You’ve been trained by ‘Sir’ Alus, haven’t you?”
“...” Even the thought of answering him filled Loki with disgust, and she stared at Fillic with cold eyes.
“So I’ll win this my way to satisfy myself. It will also help to prove Sir Jean’s superiority, and by having you disgracefully lose and expose the extent of your abilities, it will show that ‘Sir’ Alus has no eye for talent.” Fillic covered his mouth with the palm of his hand, but he was no longer planning on hiding his hostility.
Fillic’s appearance might attract plenty of girls. But it was clear that he was twisted.
Loki felt sick to her stomach. But she also saw another side to him. The true nature of that ugly side was his reliance on and absolute belief in someone else that poisoned his mind to look down on anyone else.
She, too, respected and admired and devoted herself to Alus. So she could somewhat understand his attitude as someone else who had extreme respect for another Magicmaster.
However, she didn’t look down on other Singles as useless like he did. You could say that she had no interest in them, but she did have a connection with Lettie who was a fellow Single of Alpha, and as a woman she had a degree of envy of her too... though she kept that to herself.
All things considered, Loki made sure to pay at least the minimum degree of respect to all Magicmasters with a modicum of strength, especially if they were Singles like Alus.
Moreover, her feelings wouldn’t change even if Alus wasn’t a Single Digit Magicmaster. Just staying at his side was enough. So Alus’ rank, talents, and status came second.
To her, Fillic’s attitude and way of thinking was abnormal. It felt extreme to her. So the only thing his twisted sense of values and unbending arrogance made her feel was disgust.
The buzzer signaling the start rang out, but neither Loki nor Fillic moved.
“Sir Jean this, Sir Jean that... Frankly, it’s... Are you gay?”
It was those words that started the match.
Fillic’s smile quietly faded away as he directed a deathly glare towards Loki. A torrent of mana swirled around with Fillic at its center and soon spread out over the ground. He seemed to be saying there would be no mercy for Loki after touching on something that was off-limits.
Loki bent down, emitting mana, ready to move at any moment. She fixed her sight on her opponent so that she could react no matter what happened.
But when she looked—she saw he was empty-handed with no AWR in sight.
Fillic swung his right arm to the side and opened the palm of his hand.
For a moment, Loki felt like she saw the shadow at his feet move... no, it really did move. A black circle was born below his open palm, and the shadow turned into a dark liquid and rose up as if it had been given life. It transformed and whirled in a conical shape, its tip stretching up towards his hand.
Fillic closed his fist as if grabbing something, and the shadow slipped off like water off a flat surface.
“...” Loki stared at the shadow.
The object cloaked within the shadow was revealed. In Fillic’s hand was suddenly a long sword. It was a little too big to wield with one hand, but it likely wasn’t just a simple weapon.
The sword was pitch black, as if manifested from hatred itself, with impurities in places across the blade’s surface. The sight of it made warning signs go off in Loki’s head. It was no normal weapon, and the magic formula engraved on it only proved it. It was a bizarre sword.
But even more surprising than that—
“The dark element...” With this intense mana, Fillic’s affinity was finally revealed. It was like an indication of his true nature that he hadn’t even shown a shred of in his previous fights.
“That’s right. Are you surprised? Sorry, but I don’t think you’ll lose this painlessly,” Fillic answered lightheartedly, as a sadistic smile spread across his face.
Loki didn’t answer. Instead she searched her memories for all the information she had on the dark attribute, one of the two elements.
As its name implied, the dark element had a grim reputation. It was an attribute that rarely saw the light of day. Those with the affinity were valuable, but it was said that they were also selfish, unstable and prone to crime. In fact, many with an affinity for the dark element were magic criminals. They easily broke the laws of society for their own gain and desires, hurting anyone they pleased. They had no hesitation crossing the line most would stop at.
Moreover, perhaps because of the influence of their affinity, they sought stimulation to a greater degree than normal. Many dark attribute spells also had the characteristic of being effective and powerful once a location was chosen.
People with the talent and ability to control themselves could become first-rate Magicmasters, but those without often didn’t hesitate to turn to crime.
Having thought this far, Loki suddenly realized a certain possibility and pointed the tip of her knife towards herself.
“Don’t worry. I’m not that type,” Fillic coldly laughed, having seemingly read her mind. Seeing Loki hadn’t let her guard down, he smiled wryly, but Loki was no longer reacting to his attitude. She just cautiously observed him.
There were two types of dark attribute Magicmasters. The first used spells belonging to the dark element.
The other directly influenced their opponent’s mind. These were techniques categorized as mind manipulation or illusions. In the past, there had been one who’d reached the heights of a top class user of these kinds of techniques among the magic criminals.
Loki had been worried that Fillic was in the latter category of dark attribute users, and that he’d already used a spell to influence her mind. The most effective way of snapping out of that was to shock the mind awake through self-inflicted pain. If needed, she wouldn’t hesitate to use her knife on herself.
Fillic fearlessly grinned at her. “It probably would’ve been easier that way, but I guess you aren’t that lucky.”
“That’s enough prattling. Please just die. Oh, I guess I would be disqualified if you did. Instead you’ll eat dirt without any time to regret your foolishness.”
Loki quietly and calmly moved her knife. Before long electricity shot out from its tip.
However, Fillic swung his long black sword upwards and easily scattered it as if he’d expected it. The remaining electricity still on the sword was soon devoured by the darkness. “The lightning attribute sure is fast,” he said with a smile.
He casually handled his sword, as dark mana swirled around the blade of night. With a peculiar gait, Fillic closed in on Loki at a frightening speed.
Loki observed him and swung her knife upwards. “‹‹Electro Road››”
Lightning shot up from the ground, shooting upwards like an electric whip and assaulted Fillic. But a simple sidestep moved him out of the whip’s way and it scorched the air. It wasn’t the kind of spell that would end just from being dodged, though.
Loki next swung the knife diagonally downwards. The lightning flying towards the roof then came flying back down towards the ground, following the knife’s movement.
She should have successfully taken him by surprise, but Fillic’s smile only grew wider. The snake-like lightning strike let out a loud roar as it assaulted him from above. But just before it hit, a massive arm sprouted from the shadow trailing behind him and caught it.
The electricity was then crushed and scattered within the black hand’s palm.
“...!!” Loki was astonished for a moment by the spectacle.
Using that opening, Fillic closed in further and swung down his long and narrow weapon. His movements were pretty fast, but it still looked slow to Loki who had the advantage in speed. At that speed, even if she had been slightly distracted, she wouldn’t have fallen behind him.
The scarily fast swing caused the long sword to cut through the air and sink into the ground.
But as Loki jumped backwards, she saw something surprising. “—Ugh!!”
The black mana whirling around the sword turned into several tentacles, and their sharpened tips reached out towards Loki. As she was upside down, Loki could see the sharp tips flying towards her.
She shot out electricity to scatter two of them, but then realized she wouldn’t be able to deal with the rest and covered her face with her arms and curled up. The sharpened tentacles that she had been unable to dodge grazed her arms and legs.
Loki’s face distorted as she kept her posture low while landing. A slight headache told her she had taken damage, but there was something she now understood. “That was a spell...”
She’d been sure that what was wrapped around the sword was mana, but seeing it freely transform and attack her, she became convinced it was actually a spell wrapped around the sword. That explained why the magic formula on the blade wasn’t glowing.
Fillic narrowed his eyes, and surprisingly gave her praise. “Well dodged. You properly analyzed the situation and changed your trajectory with electricity. But it seems you weren’t able to escape unharmed... well, it would have been disappointing if that had ended it.”
Despite being praised, Loki only felt disgust and completely ignored him.
It was certainly a troublesome spell. Even with her speed advantage, Loki would need to keep on guard for the sharp tentacles that came after her once she dodged the sword. Not to mention that giant arm that blocked her Electro Road was a rather high level spell.
Electro Road was one of the more complicated intermediate spells. Even at a quick estimate, the spell that crushed hers was most likely an advanced spell.
Fillic pulled his sword out of the ground, and slowly readied it in an exaggerated fashion.
Loki kept a close watch on him, when she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. She hurriedly jumped away. Moments later the giant shadow arm violently came pounding.
A loud crack rang out as the ground was shattered and dust kicked up. In the aftermath, thin fractures ran across the ground like a spider’s web.
“So you dodged that too.”
Loki glared at the boy who’d sounded impressed, and saw the arm turn back into a shadow in the corner of her eye. She’d been able to quickly notice it with her sonar, but it was a troublesome attack. And she ground her teeth at how unpleasant it was.
The way he exaggeratedly handled the long sword had probably been on purpose to attract her attention, which slowed down her reaction. That let her know that he was clearly used to fighting. At the very least, he might be more used to fighting people than she was. So far his attacks had used shadows, but who knew how many tricks he had up his sleeve.
Loki kept herself from clicking her tongue in frustration, and tightly pursed her lips. Normal magic likely wasn’t going to work here. And so she let out a light sigh.
The new spell she was now determined to use was something she’d practiced in secret to surprise Alus. She’d always been expecting to face Alus in the finals, so she’d quietly prepared it for that day. It probably wouldn’t work on someone at Alus’ level, but she might at least have taken him by surprise and earned herself some praise. She’d never expected to have to use it here.
Showing her new move off when Alus wasn’t here didn’t sit right with her, but she wasn’t in a position where she could choose not to. And she most definitely wasn’t going to hold back if it meant not fulfilling the promise made with Alus.
With new resolve, Loki swung her arms behind her, pulling out eight knives. She held them between her fingers. Mana flowed out of her body and made the magic formulas on the knives glow.
Before long, it all turned into lightning. Scattered bits of lightning floated around her neck, making her silver hair flutter.
“I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’ve already finished my preparations.” Fillic spread his arms as five black wolves crawled out of the shadows beside him. They all had glaring, ferocious red eyes, with snarls reverberating from their shadow bodies.
Loki assumed it was a form of summoning magic, but she showed no signs of being shaken. Even summoning magic familiars like these should be an advanced spell, and he’d summoned five of them.
If she was more well-versed in magic like Alus, she might have been impressed. However, such superfluous thoughts like those didn’t add to her chances of success. That was reserved for superior Magicmasters like Alus.
But Fillic wasn’t done. The shadows that wrapped around the five black wolves each sprouted two arms, like the one that had attacked Loki before.
Even that wasn’t all. The arms bent, and the fingers burrowed into the ground. Darkness spread out from them in the form of a black circle. The dark arms put even more strength into it, as if to forcibly make the black circle bigger.
Eventually the black circle distorted, and a sharpened horn emerged from it. The horn was attached to the forehead of an otherworldly face that slowly appeared from the circle. And following the face came the neck and shoulders, and finally it grabbed the edge of the circle to climb out. It appeared that the arm from before had belonged to this creature.
This monstrous giant must have moved as Fillic commanded. It had a demonic appearance similar to Fiends, sporting a length of over four meters. The creature had fangs sticking out of its lips, and below its horn was a red cloth blocking its vision. Bone-like spikes stuck out from its shoulder blades, and its form was surrounded by a dark red smoke.
The red eyeballs behind the cloth seemed to pick up on Loki’s existence. The creature’s giant face was turned downwards, clearly looking in Loki’s direction. Next, a strange black smoke began spewing out from between its fangs.
“Now then, I’ve even brought out hidden demon Yaksha, so isn’t that enough? You were honestly stronger than I expected. But spending any more time on you would hurt my reputation.” Fillic wore a broad smile and raised his long sword. “So let’s...” At those words, the shadow wolves took off running.
The five of them spread out like trained soldiers, baring their vicious fangs, with black smoke pouring out of their mouths as they closed in on Loki.
Loki remained quiet. Like a clear stream, she was completely silent and unperturbed. She was neither upset nor panicked.
Like hunting hounds, the five wolves flew toward their prey, as at the same time the demon called Yaksha behind them started moving as well.
Suddenly the earth trembled. Yaksha took a step forward and jumped, making the ground sink in. It followed a low trajectory, but moved at high speed. As it flew past the wolves that were supposed to be in front of it, it raised its arms high, before swinging its heavy fists down at Loki.
She appeared to remain unmoving, but just before the massive fists were about to hit, she activated the trigger of the spell she’d kept ready.
“‹‹Force››”
The reason Alus had hammered home the point of being careful when using this spell was because it put an extraordinary strain on the body, especially for a still developing girl’s body. Bone fractures, muscles snapping and similar injuries that could end a Magicmaster’s career were very likely if one was careless.
Moreover, Force also had a side effect of numbing the sense of pain, so the body could take more punishment than the user realized, leaving them incapacitated. An example would be feeling your muscles cramp up, when in reality they were close to tearing.
Also the longer the spell was used, the duller the sense of pain grew, and the user wouldn’t notice how bad of a state they were in until their body ceased functioning properly.
Alus had talked to Loki about this spell because she wanted strength. It was a spell that anyone with an affinity for lightning and a wish to become stronger would hear about at some point. Seeing how Loki wanted power not for her own gain, but to be of use to him as his partner, Alus could be forgiven for letting the information slip.
As for how the spell worked, mana was converted into electricity and covered the body. That allowed for freely controlling the signals from the brain, accelerating them, and enhancing all physical abilities.
There was a slight change in the nature of mana that let the user enhance themselves past their limits, but the risks were high, making it a double-edged sword.
It was truly a spell meant to be used by those with an innate talent for it. On top of being a lightning attribute spell, it also required very delicate mana control on the level of a spotter to maintain, meaning there were few users of this spell. Alus had believed Loki had the aptitude for it.
However—Yaksha’s attack could also be described as super fast.
When Loki was just about to use Force, the shadow of Yaksha’s destructive attack covered her small body.
The next moment, its attack smashed into the ground, blowing it away with an explosive sound.
Fillic saw that immense destructive power and looked to be casually waiting for the buzzer to signal the end of the match. However, soon his eyes opened wide, and he braced himself against the scene playing out before him.
The wolves following after Yaksha were somehow being extinguished, one after another. As he looked on in a daze, the ferocious wolves were defeated, and dispersed into a black smoke.
They were summonses, so they’d disappear in the same fashion if Fillic had undone the spell, but he had no memory of doing that.
While shaken, he suddenly noticed something, and stared at a point in the arena. One of the wolves there was about to disappear, but before it did he could see a blurry shape slashing at it. And before the black wolf dispersed, Fillic could see something sparkling around it.
They were sparks from the electricity Loki was draped in. But when he realized that, the wolf had already been defeated, and with that all five wolves had turned into smoke in the blink of an eye.
When Fillic saw a long trail of light from the electricity, he spoke out. “Tsk, so you weren’t done in!” He ground his teeth in frustration, and poured mana into his long sword to cast—“Wha—!!”
There was quite a bit of distance between him and where the wolves had been defeated. And yet Fillic felt like someone was pushing him from behind. This sensation was followed by a burning heat, and he reflexively rolled forwards.
After he dodged it, he felt a powerful headache come on. The realization that he’d been cut in the back came as his head pulsated in pain.
There had been such a distance between them, so when had she closed in? And the attack had come from behind. It seemed not even Yaksha could track that speed, as it simply stood around the area where the wolves had disappeared.
Fillic didn’t know what happened, as he fell to one knee and turned to look behind him. When he did, he saw the many knives chasing after him.
He clicked his tongue in his mind, and turned his face to dodge the knife that was almost on top of him. He then created a shadow wall to block the remaining knives.
But the knives—wrapped in electricity—pierced right through it. The next instant, the wall dispersed, revealing Fillic’s face distorted from his headache.
The remaining knives had grazed his arms, legs, shoulders, and other places in his body. Yet even as he endured the pain, in front of him was... nothing. He could just barely make out some sparks from electricity in the corner of his eye.
“Ack!!” Fillic was attacked from behind yet again, this time a kick to his flank, sending him flying.
Rolling across the ground, he managed to get back on his feet and slid to a stop. He didn’t even have enough time to worry about his headache as he looked where he’d just been standing.
“...!! What did you do?!” he asked, astonished by his opponent’s transformation.
Loki, who was now standing still and confirming the sensation of her kick, slowly lowered her leg towards the ground.
Fillic could see the electric sparks dancing around Loki’s body. But where was she hiding the strength to send someone heavier than her flying with a kick?
He could get a feel for the power behind the kick through his headache. The damage was converted to mental damage, but he clearly had broken ribs.
Yaksha, standing in the fading dust cloud, wavered for an instant as if it was disappearing. A clear sign that he was starting to lose control of it due to his inability to focus. He didn’t know what she’d done or what kind of spell it was, but not being able to maintain Yaksha right now was bad. So he started to pour his mana into it to keep it stable.
The color of Yaksha’s body was now darker, and it exhaled a red breath mist as it turned around.
“Yaksha!” At Fillic’s shout, Yaksha’s body turned into a black mist. That mist immediately moved in front of Loki and returned to its original form. It had practically teleported its massive body.
Yaksha swung its sharp claws sideways, launching a sweeping attack at Loki.
Even a single claw hitting would be fatal, but—
As expected, the claws hit nothing but air.
Yaksha looked at its hands in confusion, but then it realized the slight sensation and got a cruel smile on its face.
Some distance away, Loki was holding her left shoulder that had been scratched by the claw. She was probably moving slower than expected because of the pain. That was especially true, seeing how Fillic was able to follow her afterimage. She’d likely not be able to go unseen from now on.
Meanwhile, to Fillic she looked like she was teleporting in bursts, leaving behind afterimages. By now he’d realized that that was because Loki was moving at unimaginably high speeds.
As proof that he was getting used to it, black smoke appeared before Loki, and Yaksha smashed its arms down.
“Kuh!” In Loki’s mind, it was a hit she should’ve avoided completely. Perhaps she’d pushed herself too far, as there was a slight lag between her will and her legs moving, sending a chill down Loki’s back.
But if she took a serious hit now, her situation would turn for the worst. That’s why she forcibly turned her speed up another notch.
Dodging the tremendously fast arms and claws, she left Yaksha in the dirt and zigzagged towards Fillic.
“...!!” Fillic readied his long black sword and cast a spell. The shadow at his feet rose up to form a big wall.
“Agh!!” But before he could finish his defenses, Loki kneed him in the gut.
His body bent backwards as the breath was knocked out of him. He crumbled and writhed in pain.
Seeing he was injured—Loki followed up with a roundhouse kick and sent him flying again.
The next moment she sensed Yaksha coming from behind, and she veered to the side to escape. She didn’t have the time to deal with Yaksha. She would need to finish this with the next hit or she wouldn’t be able to move anymore because of the backlash from Force.
Just a little more... Loki had managed to kick him to the right place after all.
Having been sent flying, Fillic rolled to the area where the five wolves had been defeated, and shook his head while slowly standing up. When he did, the magic formula above the ground started glowing blue as a sign that it was activating.
“Wha—!! Fuck! That bitch!”
Fillic glanced around and realized the situation with an astonished expression, desperately moving his legs to get out of there.
Around him were several knives sticking out of the ground and forming a circle. He knew then that he’d been thrown into the hunting grounds. It was a massive magic circle six meters in diameter. An electric field ran between the knives, with static electricity discharging from the magic circle itself.
It made Fillic shudder, and a shiver ran down his spine.
Suddenly, the shadow by his feet contracted. Of course, Fillic hadn’t ordered it to do so. Instead, his surroundings were getting brighter as if a spotlight was shining on him.
He looked up and saw a dazzling source of light. He realized its power and that it was like a representation of the hostility directed towards him. In an instant he began trembling with fear.
Loki picked up more speed, shaking off Yaksha, and jumped up.
Left behind, Yaksha shook its head, and then looked up at the source of light just like Fillic.
By then, Loki had already reached the ceiling of the arena, landing on it upside down. The electricity coiled around the knife in her hand was blindingly bright. Perhaps because of the amount of concentrated energy, a shrill vibrating sound shook the air.
Force’s effect had now expired, and when she landed, an unpleasant sound could be heard from her bent calves and thighs. The sound was probably from some of the muscle fibers being damaged and snapping.
She scowled at the pain, but bit down to endure it, and elevated her focus. The side effects of Force weren’t considered damage dealt by the opponent or outside effects, so it wasn’t converted into mental damage.
Meanwhile, as the air rumbled, Fillic turned to Yaksha. It had now found Loki again and was stretching its arms out to jump after her and catch her.
However, the distance between them was considerable, and it wouldn’t be able to return back to Fillic’s side and protect him in time. Considering the volume of electric sparks, it was an advanced level spell.
Fillic realized everything. He gritted his teeth and looked up. By now it was all too late.
That’s why the decision on what to do next came in an instant. To think she’d corner me this far...
Vast amounts of electricity gathered in Loki’s knife, looking like it might discharge at any moment.
So far, he’d only ever looked down on her, but having come this far he felt honest admiration.
Without struggling against gravity, Loki’s feet left the ceiling and she fell head first, brandishing her knife.
“‹‹Lightning Ray››”
The lightning rampaging about like it was trapped in a small box—was released in one moment.
With a thunderous roar, the mass of energy descended down towards its target.
The lightning left behind a thunderclap as it drilled into the ground. The ground crumbled apart and a burnt smell filled the air.
Black smoke rose up as the aftermath of the lightning coiled around the entire arena like a snake.
Loki landed some distance from where the lightning had struck, but staggered as she was unable to brace herself. An unfathomable pain ran through her knees, and she put her hands against the ground to keep herself from collapsing.
If she collapsed here it might be judged a draw. So she poured all of her strength into her arms to push herself up until the call was made. As a result, she ended up pretty much sitting with her legs stretched out and a grimace on her face. With this, she at least shouldn’t be considered as being down on the ground.
Now I’ll be able to give Sir Alus the good news. With her mind on Alus, Loki barely even registered the applause.
But suddenly the audience fell silent, and noticing that the cheers had stopped, Loki was pulled back to reality.
She doubtfully looked over to... where he was.
There was a burnt smell in the air. Smoke was rising up. She clenched her fist as she spotted a black, humanoid silhouette.
“It’s known as...” That quiet, almost muttering voice came through the smoke. Following the voice was a right leg, and then a whole body.
Loki’s eyes opened wide.
The figure wore a jet black armor that covered their entire body. On the helmet was a horn sticking out at an angle. Since the helmet’s visor was down, it was difficult to see the wearer’s expression, but deep inside was a pair of unsettling eyes.
Loki attempted to stand up as her face twisted in pain. She tried her best to keep it from showing, but her face was pale when she stood up.
The armored figure fearlessly stared at her as it opened its mouth. “It’s known as an expert level spell, but Yaksha is not a so-called summoning spell. I do have to acknowledge you for making me use this... Yaksha’s Garment, my ace card. But even then the victor remains the same...!!”
The figure, Fillic, triumphantly walked to the center of the stage, but his knee suddenly gave out and ruined his posture, which he clicked his tongue at. “I suppose I still can’t handle the highest level of spell perfectly yet. This has resistance to all attributes aside from light, but I seem to have taken more damage than expected... but from what I can tell, you can’t move properly either. Just maintaining this is taking all I’ve got.”
Fillic instinctively frowned at the fact that Lightning Ray had exceeded his armor’s defenses and dealt more damage than expected. Because of the damage taken, a portion of Yaksha’s Garment was wrapped in a black haze because it wasn’t properly materializing.
However, with a grin, the boy transformed into a black knight continued to speak, proud of his current position of superiority. “Well, I can’t move much myself... but this Garment can connect to the shadows and let me use magic without going through my AWR... like this... you see.”
What he meant was that by merging with the shadows, he could connect to the AWR remotely from afar. But the AWR had to be inside the shadows, and it wasn’t as though he could use magic without limits either.
As Fillic finished speaking, he brought up his arm and opened his fist. A black shadow ball of mana formed in his palm and he closed his hand once more to crush it.
It looked like a sideshow as he enjoyed his advantage. However, Loki was staring at him without letting her guard down, and saw a different reason for his action. The reason he’d crushed that mass of mana was to test how well he could put together spells with his headache, knowing that he couldn’t perfectly use Yaksha’s Garment.
At least that’s what Loki expected... no, she was convinced of it.
Just maintaining the spell should drain a lot of mana, and despite his composure, Fillic seemed to be complaining. Hence why he’d done what he just did.
Loki had seen through him, but she would probably collapse herself if she didn’t do anything. But if she were to do anything, she knew that her next spell would be her last.
Fillic spoke to Loki. “I’m not a fan of attacking someone who’s defenseless, but this is a match. Don’t think badly of me... I’m going to win this for Sir Jean’s sake!”
Loki reacted to his words. Just like how he said he was doing this for Jean, she would say that she was doing this for Alus. She was going to prioritize her promise with him over all else. That meant that for her, this wasn’t some school event or a tournament. It was a battlefield to prove that her existence had meaning.
Sweat ran down her chin as she smiled. “What are you talking about? I’m defenseless? Of course not. So what if you used Yaksha’s Garment. That has nothing to do with me.”
“So you can still crack jokes. Very well. Then this should end it...!”
Suddenly something fell onto the ground like rain, as the sound of clashing metal rang out. Loki had taken out all of the knives in her cloak and scattered them across the ground.
“What’s this? Surely you’re not surrendering?”
“...” Loki wordlessly pointed her palm downwards.
Thin electricity discharged from the tips of her fingers, passing through the holes in the knife handles. Eventually the blades of the knives began vibrating like they had a will of their own. An electric field like a string connected the knives.
Next, Loki pointed her palm upwards, and the knives floated up, guided by her motions. The knives formed an orderly circle and pointed their blades at Fillic, beginning to rotate at high speeds.
“That’s more like it... so you’ll struggle until the end.” Seeing this, Fillic resolved himself to face her with the strongest spell he could use.
Just as Loki had anticipated, he’d used quite a bit of mana. That’s why he was going to use the rest of his mana on the next attack to finish this.
Fillic stretched his right hand out. As he did, the shadow at his feet moved forward, ripples spreading across its surface like it was a liquid.
A pitch-black orb rose up from the unnaturally sunken shadow. The orb was the size of a human head, made of an almost glass-like substance with a black liquid inside.
This was an advanced level spell that Fillic often used, and it was similar to Jean’s style of using several small ball AWRs. However, it was an erosive kind of spell that obstructed its target’s movements, so the only thing that was actually similar was the spherical shape.
Bringing the overly proud Fillic back to reality was the muttering of a chant reaching his ears.
“With thunderous roar, may the vertex of tempestuous thunder manifest...”
“—!!”
Inside the circle of rapidly rotating knives—was another smaller circle rotating in the opposite direction. An electric light pulsed out from the center of the dense electric fields. The rotating speed gradually accelerated, with large amounts of light escaping the center as the energy gathered there.
Sensing that this spell was even more powerful than the advanced level spell that had hit him before, Fillic felt cold sweat run down his back as his fear pushed him into casting his own spell.
“‹‹Darkness Granaechord››”
After pushing it with his palm, the sphere flew towards Loki at a high speed.
The shadow it cast drew a dark line on the ground connecting Loki and Fillic.
If touched, the sphere would erode Loki’s body and stop her from moving. However, in a match like this, even that would be converted into mental damage, so its original effect wouldn’t be all that pronounced.
That said, its powerful erosion and ability to seal the opponent’s movements would deal massive damage when converted, giving it more than enough power to finish the match.
Loki’s spell completed fractions of a second later, and she quietly spoke its name.
“‹‹Naruikazuchi››”
She weakly thrust her palm against the center of the two circles.
This was the spell she’d secretly been practicing to show Alus. It was also the spell she had used in the past to become his partner, but back then she’d used a Fiend’s core as a catalyst—a taboo.
But now—with an increase in total mana and honest hard work—she was able to use it without a taboo.
Its power wasn’t all that different from when she’d used the taboo. But normally it wasn’t a spell she would’ve been able to use. Expert level magic wasn’t that simple.
To be honest, not even Loki knew how she’d become able to use it even after her hard work. One possibility was when Alus had turned her mana into his own and paid the price for the taboo when she had been defaulting, in order to save her life. If that was the case, she couldn’t thank him enough.
It was also possible that Loki’s disposition had changed to accommodate the ability to use that spell after using it once; but she preferred the former idea. That way, she was able to think of the mana flowing in her body as a miraculous breath gifted to her by Alus. That’s why she had wanted him to see this spell first.
Ignoring her complex feelings, Naruikazuchi sped through the arena in a straight line and engulfed everything.
Fillic was convinced of his victory the moment he casted Darkness Granaechord. It wasn’t a spell meant for destruction, but the torrent of magic eroded even spells cast to counter it, affecting their structure. That’s why most spells clashing with it would be eroded and swallowed by the darkness. Almost all resistance was assimilated with the dark sphere, making it bigger.
Which was why he could only look on as his own spell was scattered and dispersed by Loki’s massive lightning strike.
And in the blink of an eye, it engulfed even him.
Even the ground was heaved up by the shockwaves left behind by the divine lightning thrusting forward like a gigantic spear of light. Its absolute power nullified even Yaksha’s Garment and pierced through Fillic’s body.
“Aaaggh! A-Ahh...”
By the time the blinding light died down, white smoke was rising up around Fillic, who barely remained standing.
Once his jet black armor was fully stripped off, Fillic’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fell forward as if the strings holding him up had been cut.
This time for sure, Loki told her mind and body as she exhaled a heavy sigh, trying to keep her fading mind from cutting out. She couldn’t stop herself from sitting down and slumping over, but surely Alus would at least forgive her for that, as the edges of her lips rose up into a smile.
“Victory, Second Magical Institute, Loki Leevahl.”
The silver-haired girl let out a triumphant “I did it,” but it went unheard by the public.
She’d won, yes, but it had been a tightrope walk of a match. Once Alus heard about it, he’d likely bring up point after point to reflect on. But even so, Loki would carefully listen to these points in glee.
A promise was a promise. And with this, you could say she had become Alus’ partner in the true meaning of the word. The joy and satisfaction from that knowledge filled her heart.
“Ms. Loki, are you okay? ... I suppose not.”
Looking back over her shoulder, she could see Felinella bringing over medical personnel.
“Yes... I am not quite okay. I probably have ruptured muscle fibers in my legs and some other places.”
“I can’t really blame you after seeing your opponent’s strength, but try not to cause people to worry too much. For Mr. Alus’ sake, too.”
Loki couldn’t really say anything back against that, other than a weak “Yes...” with exhaustion visible on her face.
“Just leave the rest to us.” Felinella put her hand on Loki’s shoulder as she was carried away on a stretcher. Her own match was coming up.
With this victory, Alpha had taken a big step towards an overall victory.
If the second-years could win, it would be all but confirmed.
***
Having been taken to the intensive treatment room, Loki’s head hurt over hearing the doctor’s diagnosis. There were over a dozen tears in muscle fibers in both her legs, as well as her knee ligaments, triceps, quadriceps and biceps.
Normally it would take over two months to heal, but the doctor told her there was nothing to worry about, giving their stamp of approval as they explained. Apparently there were twenty very skilled healing Magicmasters here, including specialists that weren’t even in the military.
Some of them were working on Fillic as they spoke. Surprisingly enough, he was less injured than Loki, as most of his injuries had been converted into mental damage, leaving him unconscious, but he still hadn’t woken up.
Loki’s own wounds would be healed, and she’d be walking around again by the end of today as long as there weren’t any emergencies. It would be a few days until she was fully healed, but it still came as a surprise to her.
Like the doctor said, the healing Magicmasters were skilled, as once they began the treatment her pain disappeared almost immediately.
After twenty minutes of first aid medical procedures, Loki was—regrettably—lying in bed next to Tesfia and Alice. Incidentally, once Loki’s match ended, Ciel had returned to the waiting room.
“You pushed yourself quite a bit, Loki dear,” Alice said, sounding worried.
“Are your legs okay?” Tesfia asked.
“Yes. I will be able to move around soon, so there won’t be any problems,” Loki replied. Her legs were wrapped in bandages and strung up in the air to ensure she kept them still. Tesfia and Alice naturally cast doubtful stares her way.
Loki had been blunt, but after being reminded of the taste of victory, she puffed her chest up in pride. “Speaking of forcing yourself, so did you two.”
The two girls smiled wryly at her remark. “It was a match in the main tournament. We had to go all out after all,” Alice said. She’d been unable to go easy on Tesfia when they stood in the arena. It was a rare chance for her to have a serious fight with her best friend.
“Still, I doubt you’ll be able to fight in the finals like that...” Tesfia said, bringing up the topic nobody had touched on yet.
Loki had secured a victory for the Second Magical Institute, but she couldn’t forget about that. The trophy received for individual victory was made out of mithril, and it would be useful for Alus’ research.
However—“I’ve been ordered not to by the doctor, but I could fight if I wanted,” Loki said with a fearless smile.
“You can’t do that!” Tesfia rejected the idea outright. To her, it looked like she was just putting up a brave front.
“Yes, Al would be worried if you pushed yourself even more and worsened your injuries.”
“Ugh... I wouldn’t want that.” If Loki simply suffered from exhaustion and mana shortage like Tesfia and Alice, she could fight after resting, but merely moving would put a lot of strain on her. “But still, you seem to have recovered quickly, despite saying you wouldn’t make it for the next match,” she said with envy.
Alice shook her head. “Not at all. The healing magic helped with the headache, but my mana is still...” She raised her arm and ran mana through it, but she couldn’t even properly control it.
“I won’t make it to the next match either. It’s vexing, but I can’t help it,” Tesfia said mournfully.
“I wonder what will happen?” Alice said.
“Well, the finals are going to be between two students from the same institute, so maybe it can be cancelled? They can’t do anything about injuries,” Tesfia noted.
“Which means... there’s the question of determining third place.”
“...!”
“...!”
Tesfia and Alice both reacted to Loki’s words.
Having seen the match on the screen, neither of the two girls could rejoice. Though Loki had won, neither of them felt like they’d stand a chance against Fillic.
“Let’s leave all the winning decisions to Feli. We should just focus on recovering,” Tesfia said, to fix the atmosphere in the room.
“Though the only thing we need to focus on is lying around.”
At Loki’s words, silence fell over the infirmary.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login