’Ah.’
Jessica swallowed hard, her eyes locked on the headless knight—the Dullahan. In a space that should have been completely empty, a skeletal skull sat neatly, almost as if showing off.
Though its proportions were bizarre, the crackling purple jet-black magic connecting its form exuded a suffocating aura of intimidation. That very Dullahan was now charging at her, a massive greatsword resting on its shoulder.
’Ugh!’
Jessica felt as though a massive tidal wave—an uncontrollable natural disaster—was barreling toward her.
’I have to do something!’
Giving up wasn’t in her nature. She thrust out both arms, intending to quickly deploy a magic circle and raise the debris of her factory for a counterattack, but...
’Huh?’
The magic circle failed to deploy. More accurately, the moment she channeled her jet-black magic into the air, it simply dissolved into the atmosphere.
’T-Then what about this?’
She scrambled toward a fallen artifact, snatched it up, and directly infused it with her magic. It flared to life for a split second before dying completely.
’Just what did he do?!’
"Back to the Stone Age."
Everything had changed the moment Simon uttered that phrase. Left with no other choice, Jessica grabbed a piece of rebar from the rubble and wielded it like a sword. It was her only remaining weapon in this dire situation.
The Dullahan stopped right in front of her with a heavy thud. Its vicious, oversized physique loomed over her, the disproportionately small skull flashing with piercing purple light from its eye sockets. With a deafening rumble that shook the atmosphere, the mountain-like greatsword descended. The single piece of rebar in her trembling hands suddenly felt incredibly pathetic.
’Ah.’
Feeling the crushing weight of the blade falling toward her, she squeezed her eyes shut.
’I should have trained harder in Combat Magic.’
A deafening ’boom’ rocked the arena before the referee’s voice rang out.
"Match over!" He raised his arm high.
[Simon Polentia: 2%]
[Jessica Kananor: 0%]
"The winner is Simon Polentia from the Summoning Department!"
The crowd erupted into a thunderous roar. Students leaped to their feet, clapping enthusiastically, while scouts excitedly operated their magical cameras.
"Meirin! Meirin! Simon won!" Kamibarez cheered, jumping up and down in pure joy.
Meirin, who had been covering her eyes in suspense, finally lowered her hands and peeked at the arena.
"He did it!" Meirin shrieked, pulling Kamibarez into a tight hug.
Sitting beside them, Dick chuckled while plugging his ringing ears.
"Wow, wiping out a 100% barrier gauge in one hit?" Dick grinned. "He really knows how to pull off a comeback."
In the distance, Tay, the president of the Newspaper Club, clicked his tongue in disappointment and turned to leave. Catching sight of him, Dick stretched his legs out, thoroughly satisfied.
"Simon!"
"You’re amazing!"
"That’s our Student Council President!"
The trio of first-years, who had belatedly stormed the spectator stands, hugged each other and cheered wildly.
It had been a razor-thin victory. Simon’s barrier gauge had been steadily draining from the poison. Had the Chaos Dullahan’s completion been delayed even a fraction of a second, the match would have ended in Jessica’s favor.
Down in the arena, Jessica slumped to the ground.
’How did this happen? Why did my dark magic...!’
"Good work, Jessica," Simon said, approaching her.
She bit her lip in frustration, glaring up at him as if demanding an explanation. Simon answered the unspoken question smoothly.
"It’s simple. The Dullahan absorbed all the jet-black magic in the area."
"Don’t lie," she muttered. "I’ve never heard of a Dullahan’s mana engine absorbing stationary jet-black magic. Besides, it hadn’t even reached me yet, so how..."
"My Chaos Dullahan maximizes that exact trait."
Simon reached over and lifted Manus’s skull from the Dullahan’s torso. The skull chuckled softly in his grip.
"The Chaos Dullahan sucks in the surrounding jet-black magic and mana like a black hole, creating a sort of mana vacuum. Any jet-black magic or mana exposed to the atmosphere can’t form a magic circle in its presence."
From a distance, the panicked murmurs of the stadium staff drifted over.
"The barrier is about to collapse! The damage is severe!"
"We’ll likely have to hold the next match in a different stadium."
Even the protective barrier shielding the spectator stands had been absorbed and damaged by the Chaos Dullahan.
Jessica’s eyes widened in disbelief.
’It’s strong enough to damage the stadium’s barrier?’
"Jessica, the structural integrity of your chemical factory was incredible," Simon continued. "However."
She had tried to control every single minor detail. The artifact devices, the slimes, the iron bars, the conveyor belts, the pillars, and even the poisonous smoke—there wasn’t a single element of her factory that didn’t rely on her jet-black magic. She was the type of person who couldn’t be satisfied unless she personally micromanaged every step of the process.
It had seemed flawless. She had even pulled off the incredible stunt of lifting and moving the entire factory to dodge his attacks. But that was her fatal flaw.
"That’s exactly why it completely collapsed when the Chaos Dullahan absorbed all the surrounding jet-black magic."
If she had used slightly more primitive methods—if she hadn’t controlled the entire structure with slimes and magic, but instead used standard power sources to run the equipment or physically anchored them to the ground—it wouldn’t have crumbled so helplessly.
"Of course, hindsight is twenty-twenty," Simon said with a gentle smile. "You just had a bad matchup against me. It was a good match, Jessica."
She remained silent.
"And, uh, well." Simon scratched the side of his head sheepishly. "I’m sorry."
Jessica looked up at him in confusion.
"Neither during last year’s midterms nor today was I ever trying to look down on you or go easy on you."
Back then, Simon had messed up his first-ever test and was overly fixated on acing the midterms no matter what. The written exams had taken priority over the duel evaluation. And it was the same now. There was a reason he had brought out his new weapon, the Chaos Dullahan, instead of simply pushing through with Combat Magic.
"I have a goal."
Simon’s gaze drifted toward the spectator stands. Following his line of sight, Jessica was startled to see the third-years gathered there.
"H-Hey. Are you...!" she stammered. "Are you seriously trying to beat Senior Aizel?!"
She cut herself off, looking back at Simon. His eyes were fixed on a place far, far away. The moment she saw that look, a quiet acceptance settled in her heart. With a decisive battle against Kizen’s top third-year looming ahead, would someone like her even register as a threat?
’This guy is just...’
He was living in a completely different world. She suddenly felt a bit ridiculous for being so furious at him for not taking her seriously.
"Anyway, what I can say for sure is that both then and now, I gave it my absolute best."
Simon stepped closer, offering a hand to help her up.
"It was a good match, Jessica."
This exact sight. It was just like their first-year midterms. She bit her lip.
’He’s grown so much, but I haven’t changed at all since then...’
"Jessica!"
A shout rang out from the spectator stands behind her.
"You fought really well!"
"You knocked the Student Council President’s barrier down to 2%! Isn’t that a first?!"
"When you were pushing him back in the middle of the match, I really thought you had it! So close!"
Her name echoed from all around the arena. Dazed, Jessica forced a smile and waved at her Venomology classmates, who were clapping enthusiastically to keep her spirits up.
’Right. Pushing him this far wasn’t due to Simon’s mercy, nor was it thanks to Senior Aizel.’
She grabbed Simon’s hand and pulled herself up with renewed energy.
’It’s the result of my own hard work.’
She ’had’ changed. She flashed a confident grin.
"I hope my record of pushing you down to 2% holds up for a long time."
Simon chuckled.
"I’ll do my best to make sure it does."
---
The match between Simon and Jessica was over, but the excitement in the arena remained palpable. The lingering thrill of the dramatic comeback hung heavy in the air. Simon’s victory, overturning a massive gap to win with only 2% of his barrier remaining, would undoubtedly be talked about for a long time.
Aizel, who had watched the duel evaluation in person, clapped with a satisfied smile from the stands. To the onlookers, he looked like an untouchable powerhouse exuding relaxed confidence. But internally...
’Amazing! Simon! Truly, truly amazing!’
He was actually throwing a massive fanboy fit.
’So you were preparing a technique like that! A summon that renders dark magic completely useless! You’re seriously the best!’
"It was definitely worth taking the time to come watch," remarked Leonard, the Summoning Department representative and fourth-ranked student overall. "That’s an absolute winning card. Once that summon is complete, even you might be in danger, Aizel."
"Bullshit," Sota, the Necromancy Department representative and sixth-ranked student, cut in with a deep scowl. "Do you think Aizel is just going to sit back and take a nap while that thing finishes forming? Trying to deploy a summon that requires such a long preparation time against Aizel, who aggressively pushes the offensive from the very start, is a ridiculous gamble."
"The success rate is 0%. For that to be completed in a real fight—"
Sota’s eyes narrowed.
"Unless the match is rigged, it’s impossible."
At those words, Aizel felt the fine hairs on his arms stand on end. Trying desperately to act as if nothing was wrong, he pushed up his glasses with trembling fingertips.
"O-Of course," he agreed smoothly, masking his panic. "The match would be over long before it’s completed."
"Right? As expected of Kizen’s strongest! Hahaha!" Sota laughed, throwing an arm around Aizel’s shoulders as if they were old friends.
Aizel discreetly summoned a gentle breeze to dry the cold sweat running down the back of his neck.
’Sota isn’t wrong. If I drag out the fight just to let Simon’s Dullahan finish forming, people will definitely get suspicious.’
Aizel rubbed his forehead.
’On top of that, Simon revealed the technique in front of all these people. It’s impossible for me to even act like I was caught off guard.’
The ’Aizel Bringer’ that people envisioned was a flawless genius—overwhelmingly powerful, yet never negligent when it came to analyzing his opponents. If Simon somehow managed to break through his relentless attacks and complete the Chaos Dullahan, the sheer improbability of it would arouse suspicion.
’It’s seriously so hard to avoid becoming the Student Council President.’
---
After finishing his medical treatment, Simon headed back to the Student Council building with his friends.
Walking ahead, Kamibarez chattered away excitedly.
"Simon! That match was truly amazing! It was definitely worth holding out until the very end!"
"Thanks, Kami," Simon replied warmly.
"See, I was right, wasn’t I?" Dick chimed in loudly. "Bringing out the Chaos Dullahan against Jessica was the best possible move!"
He continued, "This match completely changed the atmosphere among the student body! Originally, everyone thought the outcome of your match with Aizel was way too obvious, you know? But after seeing your Chaos Dullahan today, people are starting to think, ’If he can just deploy that, couldn’t he actually win?"
It had been viewed as a fight between a cat and a mouse, with a predetermined outcome. But now, it had been revealed that the mouse possessed venomous fangs. Of course, it still wouldn’t be easy for the mouse to sink those fangs into the cat. But shifting from a 0% chance of winning to building genuine anticipation that the mouse might land a fatal blow changed the dynamic entirely.
"I have a slightly different opinion," Meirin interjected with a sullen expression. "I mean, congratulations on the win, Simon. But honestly, I question whether you really had to reveal the Chaos Dullahan during this evaluation."
"Why?" Dick asked.
"Isn’t it obvious?!" Meirin snapped. "Does it make sense to reveal your trump card this early when you have such an important match coming up? Now Senior Aizel is going to be fully prepared and will do everything in his power to interfere with your summoning!"
Dick cleared his throat.
"Ahem! Well, Simon needed to test it in a real combat situation, and more importantly, it shifted the atmosphere..."
"Does ’atmosphere’ win matches, you idiot?!" Meirin shot back. "Now the entire school is going to be talking about the Chaos Dullahan and discussing how to counter it! What are we supposed to do now?!"
Hearing their bickering, Simon smirked.
"That’s exactly what I’m aiming for."
His friends stopped walking, staring at him in bewilderment. Kamibarez tilted her head.
"What you’re aiming for, Simon?" she asked.
"It was tough, but in the end, I managed to successfully deploy the Chaos Dullahan against Jessica," Simon explained. "Now, everyone—including Senior Aizel—is going to be solely focused on countering this specific technique. And while they’re distracted by that..."
Simon clenched his fist tightly.
"I plan to prepare my ’real’ winning move."
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