The test hung in the balance.
Viktor was certainly putting up a fight, but Valteric had kept him on the defensive the entire time.
The dummies standing in for civilians continued to break apart, while Viktor was too busy protecting himself to defend them.
The battle already looked one-sided.
The watching students had no choice but to murmur among themselves.
“So this is how it ends.”
“No matter how good Class E's top student is, there's no way he can beat a faculty member.”
“Professor Valteric is really going after him. It's impressive enough that he's holding out without going down.”
“Class E's top student really is amazing, though.”
It was a high-level spar.
The students were disappointed, but they also acknowledged Viktor's ability.
He was putting up an excellent defense against Professor Valteric, an opponent far above him and a terrible matchup to boot.
Still, they considered it only natural that he was being pushed back.
“Is it still too soon?”
“He's only a first-year. There's no way he can handle someone on a professor's level already.”
“Still, his future looks promising. If he's this good as a first-year, he might be truly overwhelming by the time he graduates.”
The students were not the only ones.
Other Grandia faculty members were also expressing their surprise.
“I never imagined he was this capable.”
“It's astonishing. A first-year cadet has held out against Professor Valteric for over twenty minutes...”
“What brilliant talent.”
The professors lingered over their admiration.
Of course, even they did not predict the boy's victory.
They believed a baby elephant that had just learned to walk could not possibly defeat an adult lion.
“...”
Only Javert, who knew the boy's true nature, watched the match without much reaction.
Perhaps because it was such a high-level spar, the crowd was growing rather excited.
Noise spilled out from the stands.
“Don't lose! I bet six months' worth of living expenses on youuu!”
“Serves you right, you lunatic who bet on the underdog. Have you finally come to your senses?”
“Win somehow! I scraped together every last coin I had and bet it all!”
“...Don't tell me you've been digging up grass roots to eat at the hunting grounds because of that?”
Regardless, the test seemed to be nearing its end.
Ice arrows poured down from the sky like rain.
The civilian dummies were wrecked before they had a chance to resist.
[Number of civilians remaining: 332]
[Number of civilians remaining: 301]
[Number of civilians remaining: 289]
The numbers fell rapidly.
Just as the students began putting away their opened bags of popcorn...
“...Huh?”
The boy suddenly muttered something.
A pitch-black sphere then drifted up into the center of the training grounds.
It writhed like a mass of shadows.
The two figures were sucked into the sphere.
“H-Huh? They disappeared all of a sudden?”
“What? What on earth is going on...?”
The students panicked as they scanned the training grounds.
Then, a screen appeared above the hologram that had been broadcasting the test and serving as the scoreboard.
《Ta-da.》
A playful voice rang out.
The broadcast showed the inside of the pitch-black domain.
The masked boy appeared to be holding a crystal ball as he filmed, flashing a V sign at the screen.
Malice practically rippled from that playful gesture.
《Surprise.》
《The real show starts now.》
It was a cheerful declaration.
The corners of the mask's mouth were twisted into a grotesque grin.
* * *
Inside the pitch-black domain.
Valteric and I stood facing each other.
“Hah.”
Valteric looked around.
Endless darkness.
The entire space was filled with nothing but pitch-black shadows.
The only things here with any color were him and me.
“Is this... a barrier? I didn't expect you to be able to use sorcery.”
“It's only a modest skill.”
“So you'd been hiding a trump card like this.”
“What a shame. If you had broken just one more dummy, the test would have ended immediately.”
I spoke mockingly.
A broadcasting crystal ball rested in one hand.
Before entering the domain, I had snatched one of the crystal balls floating in the air and brought it in with me.
'This way, they can see what's happening in here, too.'
Now that the highlight was finally beginning, it would be a shame if they couldn't watch it.
I flashed a cheerful V sign at the crystal ball.
Valteric stared at me coldly.
His blue eyes darkened. Then, as if he had finished calculating something, he opened his mouth.
“I see... So the little rat put that brain of yours to work. You isolated me from the dummies.”
“Correct.”
“The barrier is quite high-quality, too. It doesn't look like I can break it by force.”
“The easiest way to break the barrier would be to kill its caster.”
“Right. But I'm a faculty member. I can't kill a student in the middle of a test.”
Checkmate.
Valteric was trapped here.
“There are a little over forty minutes left until the test ends. Are you planning to kill time until then? You can certainly complete the assigned task that way. This test only requires you to keep at least two hundred dummies safe.”
“A perfect plan for victory, right?”
“Hah, to think I'd get played this thoroughly.”
He gave a twisted, hollow laugh.
Perhaps his pride had been wounded, because Valteric's voice was openly sarcastic.
“I suppose that's why you're defective. The speed at which you hatch petty schemes is an art form.”
“Yes! I'll take that as a compliment! From a professor stupid enough to get played by a defective, no less.”
“...So what are you trying to do? Are you just telling me to waste forty minutes in here?”
“Huh? No?”
I replied as if he had said something ridiculous.
At the same time, I spun my scythe in one hand.
“Why would we just waste time? I need to give you a thorough beating for the rest of the time limit.”
“What?”
Did he think I had brought the crystal ball for no reason?
I brought it so I could wreck him and show it to the entire student body.
I pointed my scythe's pitch-black tip at him.
“Didn't I tell you? I'd dust you so thoroughly in front of the whole school, not a speck would be left.”
Tap, tap.
I pointed at the broadcasting crystal ball.
Valteric stared blankly for a moment, then furrowed his brow as he understood what I meant.
“You intend to take me head-on... here?”
“What do you think? Isn't it a brilliant idea?”
“You think you can defeat me just because you've put up a barrier like this? You couldn't even leave a scratch on me until now.”
“Of course I can.”
“I don't know where that confidence is coming from.”
Creak, creak!
Blue frost wrapped around Valteric's body.
A fierce wind blew, and white snowflakes bloomed inside the pitch-black domain.
“I showed you some restraint, and now you're getting carried away. I'll have to crush you completely.”
“With pleasure.”
Shhhhk!
Valteric's mana spread out violently.
“Activate. Gloves.”
I prepared myself as well.
The soft feel of a glove enveloped my right hand.
The next moment, neither of us waited for the other as we kicked off the ground.
Boom!
An explosive sound violently shook the inside of the barrier.
Arrows rushed at me, and I knocked them aside with my glove.
“You dodge well for a little rat.”
“I'm pretty quick.”
I closed the distance in an instant.
Just as he had done all along, Valteric used teleportation magic to keep his distance.
“I'll show you the difference between us.”
-Glacia Style Freezing Magic, Ninth Form-
'Perpetual Snow'
Kwoooooo!
A pure-white storm swallowed the entire domain.
Icicles split into hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of pieces and descended upon me.
It was brute force in its purest form.
Even most faculty members would have struggled against an attack like this.
Yet I paid it no mind and boldly pierced straight through the heart of the storm.
“Hup.”
“...?!”
I charged directly into the storm.
Valteric was horrified.
Ding!
[Broken Crown]
-Category: Accessory
-Rank: A
-Status: Destroyed
-Description: This is the crown worn by the ruler of nightmares, the 'Black Queen.' It has now been destroyed, leaving only her remnants behind. It can be worn for up to fifteen minutes a day. When worn, you can use the skill 'Nightmare Transformation.'
Yet a crown had already settled atop my head.
Blackness pierced through winter and shot forward.
The gap between us rapidly closed.
As expected, Valteric tried to leave his position.
This attempt was destined to fail.
“Space. Distance. Reduce.”
As I spoke those few words, the domain contracted in response to my command.
The next moment, I was right in front of Valteric.
A swift punch sank into his abdomen.
Thud!
“Ghk...?!”
Valteric flew backward.
Only then did he resume teleporting to put distance between us.
“What is this...?”
“Hehe.”
This was why domain skills were broken.
I could control this entire space however I wanted.
I could drastically shorten the distance, or pull forward the spot where I stood.
Just like editing a video.
Crackle!
On top of that, I mixed in a little Step Bug.
My leaps became too fast for the eye to follow.
“What do you think? It's similar to the magic you use, isn't it, Professor?”
Blink.
It was similar to the short-range teleportation magic Valteric had been using.
“In an environment like this, you can't run away anymore, can you?”
“Urgh...!”
Our speeds had become equal.
In other words, he could no longer avoid close combat.
I spoke with an open sneer.
“This is why mages are no good. Once you let someone close, you have no answer to close-quarters combat, do you?”
His eyes filled with panic and anger.
As if trying to shake me off, Valteric made his mana explode.
Gathering the cold around his entire body, he bound a fierce strike into a single arrow.
“How dare a defective like you...!”
His hand drew a bowstring.
Blue light flashed like lightning.
“I'll crush you completely!!!”
-Glacia Style Freezing Magic, Secret Art-
'Fierce Cold Snow'
Kagagagak!
An arrow compressed into a single point shot toward me.
Had he forgotten his duty?
It was an attack that a student could never withstand.
An ordinary cadet would have had their upper body turned into a lump of meat.
“How ugly.”
Yet that finishing move was deflected far too easily.
My gloved hand lightly cut through the air.
Parrying.
A sound like escaping air rang out.
The arrow's trajectory was knocked aside, and it struck only the barrier wall.
Kwoooong!
“Now it's finally my turn.”
With that whistling sound behind me, I kicked off.
The distance between us had already closed to within reach.
I smiled faintly.
“It was my fault for being born defective.”
“It's only natural for my brother to hate me.”
For a moment, I remembered Rin speaking with her cheeks red and swollen.
“Come to think of it, Professor, you care for your little sister so much. So much that you regularly call her out to slap her.”
Smack.
My gloved palm covered Valteric's face.
It landed precisely on his right cheek, just as Rin's cheek had been swollen.
“Let's see how you like being cared for instead.”
Ding!
[The second skill of the exclusive weapon 'Black Mist' activates.]
[Skill Name: Devour]
-Stores all damage inflicted on the user.
-The stored damage can be released.
Take this.
Javert's strike, inflated fourfold through the Double Counting Bug.
“Release.”
My lips moved.
And then...
Whoooosh!
A pure-white flash surged as if it would shatter the domain.
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