Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner

Simon was certain his fist had landed squarely on Aizel’s jaw. But...

’What is this darkness?’

Strength slowly returned to his eyelids, and his vision brightened. The first thing he saw was the sky. It appeared narrow, as if viewed through a telescope, boxed in by the towering walls of the ocean surrounding them.

’Huh?’

Right next to him, he noticed his own arm. A tightly clenched fist. The very fist he had tried to plant on Aizel’s jaw. He was lying flat on his back, his arm raised straight into the air.

"Are you okay?"

A flustered, urgent voice broke through Simon’s hazy thoughts.

"I’m sorry! Are you hurt?"

Turning his head, he saw Aizel. Simon blinked in bewilderment. Don’t tell me I... ’lost?’

"I-I originally planned to research and analyze how to create a close match in a real fight, but..." Aizel babbled, his timid personality on full display. "You suddenly used such an incredible skill that I got startled and ended it without realizing it. I’m so sorry!"

Simon studied Aizel’s face. He was completely fine, without a single scratch. ’Did I not even reach him?’ Lowering his raised fist, Simon rubbed his own jaw.

A dull, stinging pain pulsed beneath his skin. He had been hit by Aizel’s counterattack before his Combat Magic could even connect. And it was a strike strong enough to knock him out in a single blow, at that.

"Haha."

Simon let out a weak laugh. Seeing him like that, Aizel grew even more flustered, frantically worrying that Simon had suffered a head injury.

"Senior Aizel!" Simon suddenly sprang to his feet, looking perfectly fine. "Could we go one more round?"

His voice buzzed with excitement. His eyes were sparkling more than ever.

"Ah, well." Sweating profusely, Aizel pointed upward.

The ocean walls let out a deafening crash, water swooshing violently above them. The sea was about to collapse.

"When I got hit by your move earlier, my spell formation got a bit shaken... I’m struggling to hold it together right now, you see? If we fight anymore, I think it’ll collapse."

"Oh."

A heavy rumble shook the seabed. It wasn’t just ’going’ to collapse. The ocean was literally caving in from the edges. Simon and Aizel screamed in unison and scrambled for their lives.

---

A short while later.

’I-I’m dying.’

Simon and Aizel trudged onto the beach, seawater dripping from their soaked uniforms. When the ocean collapsed, the two of them had been swept away by the raging torrent at the bottom of the sea. If not for Deimos, whom Simon had prepared in advance, they both would have drowned side by side. Simon stared intently at Aizel.

’Just as I thought, this guy isn’t normal either.’

"S-Sorry. This has never happened before. I’ll dry you off."

Aizel waved his hand. Their uniforms fluttered noisily as a cool breeze swept over them, wicking away the moisture. Aizel kept glancing at him, clearly expecting Simon to be angry. Seeing this core aspect of his personality, Simon could somewhat understand why the upperclassman was trying so hard to avoid becoming the Student Council President.

Simon smiled warmly.

"Thank you for the match."

He had lost, but he had no regrets. His chest felt hot, his blood pumping with adrenaline. He had been in a bit of a daze since returning from the North, but finding a new goal filled his body with fresh vitality.

"I enjoyed sparring with you too," Aizel said. "I thought I might be going too hard on a second-year who doesn’t even fully grasp the concept of Fulgor. But if I fought you without it, people might think I was going easy on you."

He lifted his head and met Simon’s gaze.

"But you properly countered my offensive and pushed in! I was so happy. I was especially surprised at the end. ’I might lose.’ I don’t know how long it’s been since I thought that and reacted accordingly."

"On that note, Senior," Simon said with a smile. "Let’s drop the plan to hold back and choreograph our moves in the real match."

"Hmm?"

"A duel for the Student Council President position needs spectators, right? Unless the audience is entirely made of fools, I think a choreographed fight will be obvious."

Simon clenched his fist, his smile turning determined.

"I’ll challenge you fair and square, and I’ll win the Student Council President position."

Aizel let out an ambiguous hum of a laugh.

"You still won’t win."

As expected of this man. He was a pure demon. Even while fretting over Simon and walking on eggshells, he possessed absolute confidence in his own skills.

"If the result is defeat, I’ll cleanly admit it."

"A-Ah, no! I need you to take this a bit more seriously!" Aizel jumped up in a panic. "Even if you quit now, you could just become the Student Council President in your third year, but my life is on the line here! Everyone will find out I’m a nerdy loser!"

Simon scratched his head.

"How about just honestly revealing your true self? I think the real Senior Aizel is plenty cool."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I’ve come too far for that," Aizel said, his voice tinged with despair. "I’ve spent my entire time at Kizen living as the Aizel that others perceive. Now, my friends, the elders of my family, even my parents, and the person I like... No! Just pretend you didn’t hear that last part.

"Anyway, everyone thinks of me as the perfect Aizel. And you want me to show them this pathetic side of me now?"

His face contorted in agony.

"My reputation is dozens of times more important to me than my own life."

Simon didn’t understand it a hundred percent, but unless you had lived someone else’s life, you couldn’t speak carelessly about their choices. Since Aizel felt that strongly about it, Simon figured it wasn’t his place to argue.

"Understood. I’ll take it more seriously, too."

"Thank you."

Since it was about time to head back, Aizel transformed once again. He used the wind to subtly increase his height, swept his hair up to reveal his forehead, and slipped on the glasses that entirely changed his impression. As if he had never been that bumbling senior, he returned to the dignified, elite appearance befitting Kizen’s strongest student.

"I also missed almost an entire semester, so it won’t be easy to make time due to my makeup classes, but..." Aizel said, his voice dropping back into its smooth, elite cadence. "I will try to make time to spar with you once or twice before the final exams. We can patch up your shortcomings and evaluate your techniques then."

"Understood."

Aizel extended his arm.

"It is nearly time for the dormitory curfew. I will take you back."

"Pardon?"

A sudden rush of wind swirled around them. Before Simon knew it, a magic circle had been drawn beneath his feet. Aizel traced a few more magic circles onto Simon’s body using the wind, then floated a few more in the air.

"In front of the Summoning dormitory should suffice, correct?"

"W-Wait a minute! What are you trying to—"

Aizel smiled.

"It is something akin to a teleport."

The air hummed with power. In an instant, Simon’s feet left the ground, and his body shot up into the sky.

"Whoa!"

The surrounding scenery began to blur past him. Intermittently, the wind spread out in the void, transforming into the shape of magic circles. The moment he passed through them, his direction and speed adjusted seamlessly.

’Wow.’

His whole body felt completely free. Even though he was flying at incredible speeds, there was hardly any headwind. It felt smooth and comfortable. Before he knew it, he had crossed the entire Forbidden Forest and could see the Summoning dormitory in the distance.

---

"So I glared the shit out of that bastard."

"And then? What happened next?"

"What could he do? He immediately looked away."

"Hahahaha!"

A few Summoning students giggled as they walked toward the dormitory. Their energy was unusually high, as if they had knocked back a few glasses of wine in Rochest.

"Ah, we’re already at the dorms. Wanna see something cool?"

"What now? Don’t do it. What are you gonna do if a third-year catches you again?"

"Hey, it’s nothing weird. It’s just a new Combat Magic technique."

He crouched low, stepped on a burst of jet-black, and leaped. His body soared fiercely into the sky, spinning five times before spewing jet-black in midair and descending in a sharp, zigzagging diagonal line. He landed perfectly right in front of the dormitory as a rush of wind spread out around him. He struck a stylish pose upon landing, knees bent and arms spread wide.

"Awesome, right?"

"Ooh—"

At their peer’s flashy stunt, his friends let out small cheers and clapped. As he proudly raised his head with an air of triumph, his peers suddenly flinched, their expressions shifting to pure shock.

"What’s with the fuss?"

He followed their gazes up to the sky. A howling gust of wind echoed from above. Someone enveloped in a violent gale descended from the sky like a ray of light, crashing down perfectly in front of the dormitory. His blue hair and black uniform jacket fluttered stylishly as wind rippled outward in massive circular waves from his feet.

It was none other than Simon.

’The deceleration and landing were perfect.’

If he hadn’t known Aizel’s true personality, it was such an excellent Jet-Black Wind spell that Simon would have thought the upperclassman was trying to break his spirit. Lifting his head, Simon smiled happily and walked into the dormitory. Behind him, the group of students had fallen backward in shock, blinking owlishly.

The student who had done the somersaults earlier muttered with a flushed face, "Fucking awesome."

---

The next day.

It was the weekend, but makeup classes began without fail.

"One more time, please, Professor Jane!"

The Jet-Black Mechanics teaching assistant watching them spoke up in a somewhat surprised voice.

"S-Simon? Maybe you should take a little break...!"

"I’m fine!"

Simon’s aura during the grueling makeup class had changed entirely, as if he were a different person. He threw himself into the training even more tenaciously than before.

Jane, who was watching from her chair, let out a soft chuckle and raised a finger.

"It seems you’ve found some motivation. A strong drive makes a student grow."

Her dark magic activated, and once again, butterflies swarmed from all directions. Simon threw himself forward, sparks flying from both hands. After the Jet-Black Mechanics makeup class ended, his Combat Magic makeup class began without a moment’s rest.

"Thank you for inviting us, Professor Hongfeng!"

Hongfeng had invited the Student Council members to her cabin. It was a cozy place with a wonderful view overlooking the ocean. Hongfeng sat down and laughed brightly.

"I think I invited you often during your firzt year, but I haven’t invited you once zince you became zecond-yearz, zo I called you over."

"Man! Professor Hongfeng’s monster cuisine! I really missed it!"

Dick gave a double thumbs-up as he lit the firewood. Kamibarez went to get the seasonings. Meirin, who had set down her plate and sat demurely, looked around.

"But what about Simon?"

"He will be here zoon."

"Professor Hongfeng! The fire is all ready! May I ask where the meat you’ll be cooking today is..."

"He will be here zoon."

Dick tilted his head in confusion.

The moment Hongfeng finished speaking, seawater surged up out of nowhere, and someone burst from within it. With a heavy thud, a man landed lightly on the ground and set down the massive, fish-like monster he had been carrying on his shoulder. Everyone stood up in surprise.

"S-Simon?"

’Huff! Huff!’ "I caught it!"

What Simon had hauled in was a giant monster fish. Hongfeng smiled in satisfaction.

"The level 4 threat monzter, Geumgyoeo, iz quick-witted, zo it’z hard to catch unlezz you perfectly cazt ’Yeonpung’. Have you maztered it enough?"

"Yes!" Simon answered with a bright smile.

Dick burst into laughter.

"What’s this, what’s this? Are you two plotting something amazing again?"

Meirin covered her eyes, her face turning bright red as she shouted.

"Hurry up and put some clothes on, you idiot!"

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