Volume 4
Chapter 1
"Hah!"
"Hmph!"
In the outskirts of
Arcazam, in the fields stretching towards the outer edges, two figures, a man
and a woman, were locked in combat.
One was a girl with
long black hair swaying in the breeze, Irisdina Francilt. Dancing gracefully
like a butterfly flitting across the field, she brandished a rapier in one
hand, striking at her opponent. Her speed was like a flash of light. The girl
unleashed a barrage of attacks at a velocity that ordinary people couldn't even
register visually.
The other was a young
man with blue eyes, Nozomu Bountis, holding a katana. He subtly moved the
katana he held, deflecting the continuous strikes that seemed like afterimages.
However, perhaps it was difficult to parry completely, as the young man
gradually retreated.
Irisdina's rapid-fire
attacks, varying in speed, slowly broke down Nozomu's defense. Nozomu gradually
couldn't parry them all, and her rapier began to graze his body, but even so,
Irisdina couldn't completely overwhelm the boy before her.
(Damn it! She's fast
as expected!! I can't parry perfectly!!)
(As expected, amazing!
To parry my sword, which is overwhelming with ability, to this extent…………)
While retreating with
sliding steps, Nozomu transmitted the movement of his backward stepping foot
and the movement of his core to both arms, skillfully deflecting Irisdina's
slashes, which were enhanced by her superior physical abilities.
Against an opponent
whose physical abilities were drastically increased by enhancement magic, it
was difficult for Nozomu to clash head-on.
Her physical abilities
weren't as great as Mars's, but her versatility in using not only swords but
also magic made her numerous attacks troublesome. And Nozomu didn't know all of
her techniques.
That's why, at first,
Nozomu had tried to keep a certain distance, trying to discern even a little of
her hand.
If the two had been
fighting in a narrow room, Nozomu wouldn't have been able to take this
approach. It was only because they were fighting in the spacious outskirts that
Nozomu was using the space to parry Irisdina's attacks.
(But swords aren't my
only weapon, Nozomu!)
At that moment, the
ground at the boy's feet suddenly rose up. The boy lost his footing on the
raised ground, and his steps faltered. However, Irisdina, swinging her sword in
front of Nozomu, hadn't performed any incantations or created any formations to
cast magic until now. The reason the magic was activated anyway was due to her
ability, "Instant Activation."
"Tch!"
Losing his balance,
Nozomu immediately abandoned the parrying techniques he had been using. By
rolling on the ground, he barely avoided Irisdina's approaching sword. If his
judgment had been even a moment slower, her sword would have caught Nozomu's
body.
(I thought that one
had landed, but his judgment is also extraordinary…)
(That was close.
There's almost no time lag in her magic activation. The Instant Activation
ability is this troublesome…)
Irisdina pressed her
attack further. She swung her rapier at Nozomu, who hadn't yet gotten up, but
Nozomu, still on one knee, blocked the rapier with his katana and used the
katana's unique blade curvature to deflect her slash upwards.
(It's my turn now!!)
"Hah!"
Having parried
Irisdina's slash, Nozomu stood up and simultaneously took a step towards her,
thrusting his katana. The thrust katana was naturally blocked by Irisdina, but
Nozomu continued his thrusts without hesitation.
Unlike before, Nozomu
stopped his feet and slashed at Irisdina using the rotation of his hips,
ankles, and knees. The dance of slashes, without any pause, was truly faithful
to the basics.
A high-pitched sound
rang out, and sparks flew as metal clashed against metal. Nozomu's slashes were
accurate and efficient, but his opponent was the top talent of the third year.
She easily parried Nozomu's horizontal slash by raising her rapier and, with a
returning strike, slashed at Nozomu.
"There!"
"Kuh!"
Irisdina's
counterattack aimed to slash Nozomu diagonally, but Nozomu took a step back and
tried to parry. But in the next instant, a black magic bullet approached
Nozomu's eyes.
Nozomu instinctively
drew his scabbard and defended against the magic activated by the Instant
Activation ability, but he was blown away by the impact and lost his balance
significantly.
Irisdina's magic
further pursued Nozomu, who had lost his balance. Several ice arrows the size
of an adult's arm formed in the air.
The magic Irisdina
activated was "Icicle Dance."
A magic that forms and
shoots multiple icicles, impaling the opponent.
The icicles that had
been waiting in the air rushed towards Nozomu at Irisdina's command.
Nozomu activated Flash
Step with all his might. The flying icicles crashed into the ground, shattering
into pieces while kicking up soil from the impact.
Of course, since it
was a mock battle, the spell had been modified to make the tips of the icicles
round, but even so, if they had hit him directly, he would have writhed in
agony from the pain.
"I'm not done
yet, Nozomu!"
(This is bad! This distance
makes me an easy target!!)
This time, a magic
circle was drawn at Nozomu's feet, and dark chains entangled both of his legs.
It was the "Chains of Darkness" that had restrained Rugato's
contracted familiar in the previous incident.
"M-my legs!"
Irisdina pressed her
attack further. A mass of wind formed in front of Irisdina.
Swirling the
surrounding wind, the roaring green vortex looked like a hungry beast with its
prey, Nozomu, dangling before it, eagerly awaiting its moment.
Nozomu's legs were completely
caught by the Chains of Darkness, and it seemed impossible for him to evade
Irisdina's magic. The contracted familiar that the Chains of Darkness had
previously restrained was roughly A-rank equivalent.
Common sense dictated
that Nozomu, who couldn't use magic, had no means to break free from this
binding.
"Here I
come!"
At Irisdina's signal,
the beast of wind was unleashed. The released wind drew a spiral, tearing
through the surrounding atmosphere, and rushed to devour its prey, Nozomu,
while trampling everything in its path.
"Ravenous Beast
of the Wind Tunnel"
A magic where a spiral
of wind rushes through, trampling everything in its path. It was named this
because the compressed, swirling wind let out a roar like a beast.
Since both of his legs
were already restrained, evasion was impossible, and Nozomu, who couldn't use
magic, couldn't take any defensive measures like erecting a barrier.
(But it's not like I
have no means!)
Facing the beast of
wind rushing towards him, Nozomu sheathed his katana while slamming the butt of
the scabbard against the "Chains of Darkness" binding his feet.
Ki Technique:
"Vibration Strike"
Originally an internal
destruction technique that directly strikes the opponent's body, tearing apart
their internal organs. He slammed this into the magic circle at his feet.
The magic circle
shattered with a high-pitched sound due to the Vibration Strike, and the dark
chains dissipated into mist.
The moment his
shackles were gone, Nozomu activated Flash Step. While charging towards the
Ravenous Beast of the Wind Tunnel, he poured all his ki into the sheathed
katana, simultaneously compressing it to the extreme.
Facing the Ravenous
Beast of the Wind Tunnel closing in before him, Nozomu changed Flash Step to
Flash Step - Curving Dance -.
Without losing his
speed, he dodged the approaching magic's trajectory, dashed past the Ravenous
Beast of the Wind Tunnel, and directly closed in on Irisdina.
However, as expected
of the top of their year, she had already readied her rapier, preparing to
intercept. Nozomu drew his katana, about to unleash the extremely compressed ki
blade, but...
"!"
A red nightmare
flashed before his eyes, making him hesitate to draw his katana. And in a
match, there is no victory for those who waver. By the time Nozomu realized it,
Irisdina's descending sword was already right before his eyes.
***
The mock battle had
ended with Irisdina's victory. The two who had finished the mock battle were
sitting down in a corner of the grassland, where Mars, Tima, and Somia were
also present.
Today, they had all
decided to do some early morning training together and had come to this outer
area where it wouldn't matter if they were a little noisy.
"That was a good
match."
"Hah, haah... do
you think so?"
For Irisdina, it was a
genuine compliment for Nozomu's tenacity, but Nozomu, who didn't quite
understand his own abilities, could only give an ambiguous reply to her words.
From Nozomu's
perspective, he had been on the defensive the whole time, and his
counterattacks had been completely blocked, so he didn't think it was a good
match at all.
"That's right.
It's strange that you, who hasn't released your ability suppression, could hold
out that long."
Mars agreed with
Irisdina's words. He was currently sitting on the grass, reading a book. The
book he was reading was a magic-related textbook.
It was unlike his
usual behavior to willingly open a textbook, but perhaps he had some thoughts
after the fight with Rugato.
Tima and Somia were
sitting beside Mars. Both of them had watched Nozomu and Irisdina's mock battle
earlier.
Kuro, the black cat,
was curled up in Somia's arms, and Tima was stroking Kuro in her arms beside
Somia.
Kuro himself was
dozing off, basking in the warmth of the sun, occasionally letting out a big
"fwaaaah" yawn.
"Yeah. I haven't
seen many people fight Ai to that extent..."
"That's right!
Onee-sama is so skilled that she wouldn't even lose to a regular knight of
Forsina, so I think you can be more confident!"
Tima and Somia
continued Mars's words.
Irisdina's rank was A.
This was a rank that first-class individuals could hold, and if considered as a
knight, it was equivalent to a royal knight. Nozomu himself had seen her
abilities in the fight with Rugato and felt that her skills were worthy of that
rank.
"Hmm, I wonder
about that."
However, the
self-evaluation that had been ingrained in him for so long didn't seem to
change easily.
In fact, Nozomu wasn't
that strong. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that his abilities
were too inconsistent to be easily evaluated.
The truth was, it was
strange in the first place that he could fight against Mars and Irisdina, who
overwhelmingly surpassed him in ability, while his ability suppression was
active. At that point, Nozomu's swordsmanship skills far exceeded the level of
a student.
However, in a state of
ability suppression, there were limits no matter how skilled he was. Just as a
dragon, an overwhelming existence, could blow away a first-class swordsman like
a piece of trash with a casual flick of its arm, the pure difference in ability
manifested as an overwhelming gap on the actual battlefield.
Moreover, what was
restricted by Nozomu's ability suppression wasn't just his physical strength,
but also his ki and magic power.
His ki amount decreased,
and the number of times he could use ki techniques, their power, and range were
all significantly limited. As for magic power, it was almost nonexistent,
making magic an unusable option from the start.
It was like fighting
after sprinting at full speed with weights all over his body. Nozomu was always
giving it his all in every fight. He never felt like he had any leeway. Even if
his abilities, with which he could only fight in such a state, were evaluated,
Nozomu only felt a sense of incongruity.
"Besides, even
though I won in the end, Nozomu didn't use that technique. I don't know what
would have happened if he had used that technique in a real fight."
"Indeed."
Mars agreed with
Irisdina's words.
The technique she was
referring to was Nozomu's ki technique "Phantom Void" that she had
seen during the previous incident.
That technique
possessed unbelievable speed and cutting power, and once unleashed, it was
extremely difficult to defend against or evade. Certainly, Irisdina had been on
the offensive throughout the mock battle earlier, but Nozomu had a means to
instantly reverse that disadvantage and hadn't used it. Or rather, he couldn't
use it accurately.
"...Well, we can
talk about that later. By the way, what are you doing, Mars?"
Nozomu changed the
subject and looked at his friend beside him.
Nozomu had never seen
Mars, who was bad at studying, read a textbook on his own. Frankly, it was
extremely out of place, but he was glaring at the textbook as if it were his
parents' enemy.
"Hmm, well, I
have my reasons. I think things can't stay like this."
"So, magic?"
"Yeah."
Mars had used only ki
techniques in combat training so far, except during lectures. This was partly
due to his own temperament, as ki techniques suited him better than magic, but
it was more accurate to say that there hadn't been an opponent who could push
Mars to his limits.
Mars's abilities were
among the top of their year, but since the class he belonged to was the lowest
of the ten ranks, his opponents were always weaker than him. He had never had
the experience of being pushed to his absolute limit in a true sense.
However, being pushed
to the brink by Nozomu at the end of last year and being beaten by Rugato in
the previous incident had probably become a turning point for Mars to
re-examine his past self.
"Ugh, mutual
relationship of attributes? The influence of terrain and geological conditions
on magic? ……What kind of code is this?"
Even so, judging from
Mars's appearance, with steam practically coming out of his head, it seemed
like a long road ahead.
Regardless of his
practical skills, his grades in written exams were far from good.
With a strong desire
to become stronger, he found swinging a sword more to his liking than reading
books, and acquiring and refining techniques allowed him to physically feel
himself becoming stronger.
But in return, his
grades in written exams were abysmal, hovering around the bottom of the class.
Incidentally, Nozomu, who often had to retake practical exams, was actually
among the top of the class in written exams alone.
"That's it! How
about having Tima teach you? Tima has considerable knowledge about magic, and
it would be more efficient for Mars-kun than studying alone, wouldn't it?"
"Eh,
eeeeeeeeeh!"
Irisdina suggested to
Mars that he should have Tima teach him. Tima shouted in surprise, her face
blushing slightly for some reason.
"What are you
saying? Think about Tima's situation too."
Mars stopped
Irisdina's suggestion with a dumbfounded look.
"I'm saying it
after thinking it through. Besides, Tima herself doesn't seem entirely against
it..."
"Um, that...
uuuu..."
When Irisdina said
that to Tima, her face, which had begun to turn red, became completely crimson,
and she looked down. She clearly looked embarrassed, but Mars in question took
her gesture in a completely different way.
"Look closely,
don't force her if she doesn't want to."
For Tima herself,
teaching Mars was not entirely unpleasant, but the person in question had said
something completely off the mark. Tima hurriedly corrected Mars's words.
"I-it's not like
I don't want to! I just thought... if it's alright with you, Mars-kun, would
you like me to teach you?"
"Eh, i-is it
alright?"
"Y-yeah. I think
I can teach you about magic... b-but only if it's alright with you,
Mars-kun…………"
"W-well, I'd be
grateful..."
"Y-yeah."
In the end, Tima ended
up teaching Mars, who was struggling to understand the textbook. The wall that
had existed between Mars and her had completely disappeared after the forced
date by Irisdina and Somia. In its place, however, a strangely endearing
atmosphere now lingered...
"Onee-sama, isn't
it almost time?"
"Hmm, is that so?
Then shall we go to school now?"
Irisdina replied to
Somia's words. The sun had completely risen above the horizon, and its light
had begun to pour down brilliantly on the earth.
Nozomu and the others
began to walk towards the school. And so, a new day began.
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