Episode 22: Sometimes, Hitting Them Yourself Is the Answer. (4)
Thud....
The empty air that had blocked dozens of fists.
A turbulent shockwave spread out like a lake into which a stone had been thrown.
“Hoo, hoo!”
Heavy beads of sweat dripped from Jii.
The boy, having shown unexpected concentration, blocked every one of Sid’s fists.
An opaque light blocked the space between the two, as if forming a giant dome.
But a clear gap appeared amid the dozens of spells.
Like a single tree standing especially distinct in a fog-covered forest.
Sid didn’t miss it.
“Thunder....”
A blue electric shock surged up Sid’s right arm.
Through the rippling defensive magic, Jii also spotted it.
“Tch!”
If the lightning slipped through this gap, it would pack a painful punch.
If the defensive magic was destroyed like that, a burning fist would come flying in, and Jii’s defeat would be certain.
That’s why Firepow didn’t stay still either.
“Flame...!”
Jii’s fierce steam billowed up like Sid’s flashing light.
Only the remnants of the remaining defensive magic stood between the two boys.
Their gazes passed through that opaque wall.
The two growled at each other without averting their eyes.
The moment the defensive magic exhausted its power and shattered, the two boys’ explosive magic would detonate.
Crack!
The shattered defensive magic fluttered like glass shards.
The scattered magic fragments dispersed in different forms in every direction.
Having finished casting, the two prepared the greatest firepower they could muster.
In the heat of the suffocating battle, Jii seemed to have forgotten even to tear his scroll.
Crackle, crackle!
Sid brought his middle and index fingers together.
It was his unique stance for unleashing lightning magic.
Whoosh... whoosh!
Jii grasped a crimson magic circle.
The magic circle spewing murky steam was engulfed by fierce flames.
Soon, the two incantations were completed.
“...Strike!!!”
“...Strike!!!”
KABOOM!
An enormous bursting sound rang out like thousands of birds taking flight.
It was a different level of power from the earlier Explosion, but the force of magic clashing against magic was enough to make one break out in a cold sweat.
The spectators broke into a sweat at this incredible battle.
BOOM!
But the flames and lightning did not affect each other.
They merely passed the point of collision and flew toward their respective targets.
“Kuaaack!”
Jii was blasted away along with the flashing light.
He tried to grit his teeth and endure, but there was no way he could withstand the lightning striking like a storm with his bare body.
At the same time, the necklace Jii was wearing exhausted its effect.
Crack!
An emerald-colored stone crumbled to the floor.
The boy, seared by the electric current, rolled across the ground and was flung away.
Bam! Thud-thud! Bam! Bam!
“Kurk!”
Sid had likewise been struck by the flames.
Fierce flames swept past like a phoenix spreading its wings.
In the scorching heat of an inferno intense enough to keep one’s eyes shut, the explosive heat burned his skin, and the protective necklace exhausted its effect and shattered.
The scattering fragments had long since been consumed by the red flames.
Crack!
Thud-bam, bam! Bam! Thud!
“Kuek! Kuk!”
Sid was also blasted away like Jii.
But reflexes honed through priestly life held the boy’s body firm.
Pushed all the way to the end of the arena like that, Sid stopped his body just before hitting the wall.
At the tips of his feet, which had endured fierce friction, white steam billowed up.
Goooo....
“Hoo....”
His skin, passed over by the inferno, was full of red burn marks.
The hazy smoke rising above it made one feel the power of the magic.
Who would look at this and see a match between first-year freshmen?
[Initiating health insurance treatment.]
“No. Wait! Don’t.”
[Details]
Balance Inquiry
[Amount Withdrawn]
[Amount Deposited]
[Balance] *273 (Eirena Academy)
‘Hoo.’
Sid caught his breath while checking his balance.
If his body were perfectly fine after taking a fatal attack, it would have obviously drawn suspicion from the referee and others.
Moreover, both protective necklaces had already turned to dust long ago.
Remembering what he had heard from Haemond, this counted as both sides losing—in other words, a draw.
“Did you see Firepow’s skill? He did use scrolls, but I can’t believe he’s the same guy from two months ago.”
Sid shook his tingling arm.
And he waited for Haemond’s declaration of the end, but the expected voice did not come.
Because of the thick smoke, the two in the center of the arena couldn’t even be seen.
“Like this... I can’t end it like this!!!”
Jii, who had been on the opposite side, also got up.
Despite the unsightly marks of lightning spreading across him, Jii seemed to have no intention of acknowledging a draw.
It was incomprehensible why he would show such an unpleasant aftertaste despite having put on such a good match.
[78]
‘What is he going to do with that mana?’
Moreover, contrary to his strong will, Jii had no mana left.
Having wildly cast various magics and fiercely competed, both sides were running on empty.
Sid glared at the foolish Jii.
“Stop there. It’s over.”
“Because of you... Just a mere orphan!”
Jii twisted his trembling body and approached Sid.
Sid frowned.
As the distance between the two boys narrowed in the black smoke, Sid clenched his fist.
The moment he resolved to end it even if he had to pummel him.
Something white clenched in Jii’s right hand was visible.
It was the last scroll he had hidden out of sight.
“You...!”
“Explo...!”
[Balance] *273 (Eirena Academy)
If he used Explosion at this distance, neither of them would escape unscathed.
Jii’s eyes were unfocused, as if such things didn’t matter.
No, his two eyes that seemed unfocused were filled with resentment, leaving only malice.
It was something different from Diallo, who had admonished Sid, or Rowark, who had fought over the monastery.
At the murderous intent determined to take his life at all costs, Sid felt a sensation unlike anything he had felt until now.
‘Damn...!’
There was no guarantee that pouring out his remaining mana would succeed in defense.
The only remaining method was to neutralize the magician before the magic was manifested.
Sid’s eyes changed at the killing intent that tightened around his throat like icy hands every passing moment.
Tap!
The left chest where mana welled up.
Sid pressed his hand against Jii’s chest.
The pounding heartbeat traveled through his right arm, and the moment the scroll was torn to complete the magic, his mouth opened.
A weapon he had briefly read about before but resolved not to use....
The moment his life was threatened, such an oath had long been forgotten.
“Mana Burn!”
Thud!
Thump....
The impact of Mana Burn was not great.
It merely delivered a shock to Jii equivalent to lightly tapping his heart.
But the fact that the mana had been properly withdrawn meant the spell had been successfully cast.
[Details]
Withdrawal
[Amount Withdrawn] *270 (Mana Burn)
[Amount Deposited]
[Balance] *3 (Eirena Academy)
‘Did it work?’
Sid swallowed.
A spell that squeezed out every last bit of remaining mana at the final moment.
But Jii merely looked slightly surprised and didn’t seem to have taken a great shock.
Jii tried to tear the scroll regardless of the trivial happening.
At that moment, red blood sprayed across Sid’s face.
Splurt!
“Pfft!”
Jii failed to complete the Explosion.
An unprecedented sense of wrongness settled into his pounding heart.
And from the fingertips that had torn the scroll, Jii’s small arm began to tremble.
“What... what did you do?”
Thump....
Sid also doubted his eyes upon seeing the magic circle disappearing before him.
His face, which had been filled with killing intent, contorted in horror.
Sid, belatedly removing his hand, realized something had gone wrong.
At the moment this entire silence settled.
An immense pain erupted in Sid’s right arm that had released the Mana Burn.
“Kuek! Kuaaa...!”
A pain hard to describe blazed up—as if every single blood vessel was being burned away, or as if countless needles were swirling through the muscles of his arm.
And Jii before him also let out a terrible scream.
“Kuaaaack!!!”
“Huff... kup! Heok!”
It was hard enough just to breathe through the pain in his right arm.
But looking at Jii before him, Sid couldn’t close his mouth.
Cyan veins slowly spreading from the left chest where his Circle was.
Sid’s face contorted, tangled with cold sweat at this gruesome sight.
“What... what is happening....”
[Insufficient mana to switch to health insurance. Time is required to recover your arm.]
“What?”
At the calm tone, Sid’s gaze turned to his forearm.
It looked hideous, as if a massive ogre had grabbed it and crushed it whole.
But rather than his own ruined arm, his eyes went to Jii, who was falling apart in real time.
Jii sobbed, feeling the terror of death with bloodshot eyes.
“You... what did you do to me! Kulk, puhuk! Keuk!”
Thud!
Jii dropped his head.
Unable to finish the words he had briefly mumbled.
Dark red blood seeped out through his trembling lips.
Collapse!
At the unimaginable result, Sid sat down on the spot.
The fear of having driven someone to death and reason returned to him belatedly.
“Te... Teacher! Teacher!!!”
“What! What happened!”
When situations become desperate, most children look for adults.
In the thick smoke, Ri and Ruer, who had been waiting for the two boys’ victory or defeat, came running.
And Haemond, his thick belly fat swaying, also arrived pale-faced.
“What is this...!”
Jii collapsed, vomiting blood, and Sid sitting before him.
Moreover, at the ‘Explosion Scroll’ that was torn but had failed to activate, the three faces stiffened.
If that scroll had displayed its full effect, the situation would have been much worse.
The most bewildered in that situation was Ri, the older brother of the collapsed Jii.
“What... Jii! Get a hold of yourself, Jii!”
Ri’s eyes rolled back seeing his younger brother’s condition.
No matter how much a brother might want to scold his younger sibling, no brother would simply stand by and watch him die.
“Oh my goodness! What is this? What do we do about this!”
Haemond, who should have stopped the two from the beginning, turned white and merely stamped his feet.
As Ri shouted, Ruer tore Jii’s top.
But at Jii’s heart, stopped like a broken clock, Ruer’s expression hardened.
“His heart isn’t beating! What did you do!”
“Jii... get a hold of yourself, you brat! I was going to praise you...! I was going to tell you that you did well! Get a hold of yourself, you brat!!!”
Ruer’s urgent voice and Ri’s desperate voice tangled together.
Only Haemond, this foolish man, hovered in the back.
Ruer shoved a massive lump of light into Jii.
“Puh!”
“He’s breathing again! Call the medical team!”
“Haa, S-Senior! Our... our Jii is...!”
“Call them quickly!”
Perhaps because Ruer’s treatment had taken effect, Jii let out a breath.
The expression on Ri’s face, drenched in cold sweat, brightened, and Ruer devoted himself to healing.
Sid’s crushed arm wasn’t in good condition either, but the student on the verge of death took priority.
“Who won?”
“Ah, I can’t see because of the smoke. Can’t someone blow it away with wind magic?”
“What? You didn’t hear the scream?”
The spectator seats, unaware of the situation, were busy murmuring.
The spectators watched the thick smoke and waited for the situation to be revealed.
Soon the black smoke settled and the result of the fight was revealed.
“Oh...!”
Joy and sorrow split as soon as victory and defeat became known.
Jii collapsed helplessly and Sid sitting unharmed seemed to show who the victor was.
“Sid won...!”
“Brother!”
Reiya, who had been watching anxiously, covered her mouth.
The spectators excited by the splendid fight were primed to unleash a round of exclamations.
Just as an explosive cheer was about to burst out, a loud roar shattered the excited atmosphere.
“Which damnable bastard used Mana Burn!!!”
- To be continued in Episode 23 -