The day after our little party on the hill, I found myself inside Evangeline's private villa.
I threw myself to the side, narrowly evading a downward swing from Chachazero's heavy cleaver. The killer doll lunged again, but I was already leveling the bracelet on my right wrist at her.
"Sagitta Magica: Series Flammeus!" (Magic Archer: Seven Fire Arrows!)
I bypassed the formal incantation, firing the spell point-blank. Seven bolts of fire streaked toward the doll.
"Kekeh! You think a little spark like that is gonna stop me?!"
Chachazero used her diminutive size to her advantage, tucking and rolling beneath the arrows. However, dodging took effort—it forced her into a detour. That half-second of evasion was exactly the opening I needed.
"Arianrhod... Purifying flame that incinerates all, lord of destruction and herald of rebirth... dwell within my hand and devour my foe! Flamma Rubea!" (Crimson Flame!)
Normally, this spell creates a mid-sized explosion. But I had poured a massive surplus of SP into the casting. The resulting Flamma Rubea detonated with several times its intended force, engulfing the area in a roaring inferno.
"Tch!"
Chachazero clicked her tongue, leaping backward to escape the blast radius.
Watching her retreat, I focused mana into my legs and let it erupt in a controlled burst. Shundo—the "Instant Movement" technique unique to this world.
Usually, I'd just use the Spirit Command Accel to boost my speed, but for this session, I had a self-imposed restriction: I was only allowed to use the techniques native to this world. The goal, after all, was to gauge how much of this world's "local" logic I had actually mastered.
Still, it felt a bit absurd that almost every "local technique" I learned was designed exclusively for killing.
"Whoa!"
I lost track of her for a split second. Despite the explosion, Chachazero tore through the smoke from the side, her blades flashing. I burned more mana on a reactive Shundo to clear the path of her swing.
Her cleaver slammed into the ground where I had stood, shattering the stone and sending jagged fragments flying. I prepared to move again, but...
"Ugh—!"
My plan was to reappear right at her flank, but my mana control slipped. Instead of a precise stop, I went careening past her like a runaway train.
"Kekekeh!"
Chachazero didn't miss a beat. She ignored her stuck cleaver and swung a massive combat knife with her left hand, aiming for my head.
"Damn it!"
I churned my mana, making a scooping motion with my hand as if drawing water from a well. In an instant, my shadow surged upward, solidifying into a jagged spike that lunged at her.
Shadow Spear. It was the only Shadow Magic I had managed to grasp so far.
"Oops!"
But it was a half-baked effort. The single spear was only enough to startle her for a fraction of a second. She avoided the spike with a mid-air barrel roll and came charging back, spinning like a deadly whirlwind with both blades extended.
"You're completely ignoring the laws of physics!"
Using the principles of Shundo, I snapped my posture from a sprawl to a combat stance in a heartbeat.
"Ignis!" (Fire, be lit!)
I used the same trick as before, flooding the basic Ignis spell with an obscene amount of SP. Since Ignis is a beginner's cantrip, the spell structure couldn't possibly contain that much energy...
BOOM!
The "spark" didn't just light; it acted like a match in a gas-filled room. A wall of fire erupted, matching the intensity of a high-level Flamma Rubea. The downside of an intentional overload? I had zero control over where the fire went.
"Hot, hot, hot!"
I scrambled back as tongues of flame licked at my boots. Chachazero had also backed off, clearly unwilling to dive into the uncontrolled magical bonfire I'd just created. We circled each other, eyes locked, tension mounting as the distance closed again—
"That's enough!"
Evangeline's voice rang through the air. She had been watching from the sidelines, and apparently, she'd seen all she needed to.
"Aw, Master! We're done already? I wanted to carve him up a bit more!"
"Quiet, Chachazero. Have you forgotten the purpose of this match? It was to confirm how much of this world's craft Axel has absorbed."
"Cheh. Fine. Though I guess I should be happy—thanks to this guy, I actually get to cut loose inside the villa for once."
Chachazero grumbled as she wandered off, idly swinging her cleaver. Evangeline watched her go with a weary smirk before turning back to me.
"I'll give you a passing grade for Fire Magic. Though you really need to expand your repertoire beyond 'make it explode.' As for Shadow Magic... is a single spear really all you can manage?"
"Pretty much. I've been focusing on Fire, so the Shadow work has fallen by the wayside. And I haven't even touched Summoning yet."
"That's to be expected. To summon something, you need a contract with a creature... and there's almost nothing in this world worth the effort. If we went to the Magic World, you could find a dragon or something similar."
"A dragon, huh..."
Having survived worlds filled with giant robots, the idea of a dragon was strangely nostalgic—or perhaps, it was exactly the kind of power I craved. I found myself imagining capturing a dragon and letting it roam the pastures of the White Star.
"Forget about Summoning for now," Evangeline said, snapping me out of my daydream. "More importantly, weren't Yukihiro Ayaka and Naba Chizuru supposed to join us? I wanted to see what they could do."
I gave her a wry smile. They had both been eager to come when we talked last night, but life had other plans.
"Ayaka had an emergency with the Equestrian Club. Chizuru is filling in at the nursery school because the regular teacher came down with a fever."
"Hmph. I see," Evangeline muttered, sounding uncharacteristically bored.
Chachamaru, who was standing nearby, didn't miss the tone. She tilted her head slightly. "Master... are you sulking?"
"Wh—! Of course I'm not!"
Since we were inside the Magical Diorama, Evangeline simply floated up into the air and began playfully pinching and pulling at Chachamaru's cheeks.
"Stop playing around. Anyway, about the Shadow Magic..."
"Mmm... I'd like to give you more advice, but the only Shadow spell I really use is The Gate," Evangeline admitted. "As I told you before, Shadow Magic is a niche field. Even here in Mahora, the Kanto Association's headquarters, I think there's only one student who uses it. The Gate is high-level spatial magic. Even with your 'glitched' rate of magical growth, you aren't ready for it yet."
The Gate. Essentially teleportation. I'd heard there were versions that used water as a medium; I wondered if a fire-based version existed. The idea of individuals being able to warp around at will... it made the tactical superiority of System XN feel a lot less unique.
"So Summoning is out, and you can only teach me teleportation which I can't learn yet. I guess Fire stays my primary, then?"
"Likely. Our elemental affinities are different, so I can't give you detailed pointers on the finer arts. Given your absurd mana capacity, you're probably better off finding your own style rather than mimicking mine. Honestly, I don't get it—you have so much talent, yet you're completely hopeless with anything that isn't Fire, Shadow, or Summoning. Normally, a mage can at least use the basic spells of other elements. Even I can use Lightning to some degree."
Evangeline tilted her head in confusion. My "affinities" were lopsided. I could technically use other elements, but the SP cost was three to five times higher—sometimes ten. It made more sense to specialize in the three skills I actually had listed. Better to be a master of a few than a novice of many.
The rest of the day passed quietly. As thanks for the training, I offered Evangeline a few drops of blood, and then spent the afternoon idling in her villa.
I took the opportunity to browse her massive library, specifically looking into Fire Magic. That was when I stumbled upon a spell called Purpura Ignis Captura—the "Violet Flame Snare."
According to the text, it traps the target within a cylindrical pillar of violet fire. Interestingly, despite being made of flame, the spell is designed so it doesn't actually burn the target. Instead, the interior is like a high-temperature sauna, and the pillar acts as a barrier that requires significant magical effort to break.
A non-lethal binding spell made of fire was a rarity. Most mages in this world would probably just learn a specialized binding spell from another element, but since I was "hopeless" at anything else, this was a godsend.
With my "Idiot-Level Mana," as Evangeline called it, I figured I could make this quite formidable.
"Axel-san, would you care for some tea?"
I was pulled from my reading by a soft voice. Chachamaru was standing there in her maid uniform, carrying a tray with tea, sandwiches, and cookies.
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
"Not at all. Master has seemed much happier since you started visiting, so consider this my way of thanking you. As her familiar, I wanted to ensure you felt welcome in this villa."
"Welcome," huh? Her personality was still faint compared to someone like Echidna or Lamia, but compared to the mass-produced W-Series, her ego was clearly evolving.
She was a fusion of magic and science. If Lemon Browning were here, I wondered how much interest she'd take in Chachamaru. The thought was both exciting and terrifying. I could easily see the Technical Team—and probably Murdock—going into a complete frenzy over her design.
"Um... is it not to your liking?" Chachamaru asked, looking slightly flustered by my silent staring.
Her reaction felt remarkably human. I smiled, shook my head, and took a bite of a sandwich. It was shrimp with tartar sauce and lettuce—and it was, for the record, absolutely delicious.
[Character Status]
Name: Axel Almar
LV: 38 | PP: 625
Melee: 262 | Ranged: 282 | Skill: 272
Defense: 272 | Evade: 302 | Hit: 322
SP: 462
Ace Bonus: SP Boost (Enhances Slime performance via SP)
Growth Type: All-Rounder / Special
Terrain Rank: Air: S | Ground: S | Sea: S | Space: S
Spirit Commands:
Accel, Effort, Focus, Direct Hit, Awaken, Love
Skills:
EXP Up, SP Boost, Telekinesis Lv.10, Attacker, Gunfight Lv.9, In-fight Lv.9, Morale Limit Break,
Geass (Grey), Magic (Fire, Shadow, Summoning).
Kill Count: 376
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