[98] Toward Infinity (2)
Arkein scowled with obvious displeasure.
"Hmph. You praising me now? Even a passing dog would laugh."
"Are you sure about this? Even if your mental strength has been restored, it's ultimately a trick of the brain. If you try to push any further, I can't guarantee you'll survive."
Magic doesn't come for free. The mental strength recovered by the Abyss Memory had been paid for in an equivalent exchange that carried the risk of brain death.
"So? You think you can stop me?"
"If you step back, we can end this here. This may be your last chance. I can offer it only because everyone is still alive. If you cling to your obsession, you will pay the price."
"Kekeke. Your tongue hasn't changed a bit. You pretend to be considerate, but in the end you only think of yourself. Do you think that if I step aside your past will be buried? It's already too late. Everyone here—and the students who fell to the Abyss Nova—will have ears open. You won't be allowed to remain principal."
Shirone glanced at the students who had lost their memories. Once the magic wore off, they would remember everything that had happened here. Even if the battle ended safely, the fallout would be enormous.
"Ha! Now you finally see the situation? How about I just kill them all right here? If I do, I could cover it up for you."
Alpheas lifted the corner of his mouth.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Then how about coming with me? I'm actually giving you a last chance. Isn't it right to carry on Erina's will? Now look. Behold what I've achieved. A magical organism—a Harvester!"
Shirone's group turned toward where Arkein pointed. The Harvester lay on the floor like a discarded rag.
"...Well, it's a bit shabby now. Still, the experiment succeeded. If you help me, we can achieve far greater results. That is what Erina truly wanted."
At the mention of Erina, a cold light flashed in Alpheas's eyes.
"Master. Please, grow up."
Arkein finally revealed his killing intent. Their petty banter had been meaningless from the start. They were rivals who could never be reconciled.
"Do you really think someone like you can beat me? Principal? How laughable. You still make foolish judgments while pretending to be clever, Alpheas."
Dark power unfurled in the air and condensed into the shape of a fist. In response, Alpheas slowly raised both hands and prepared his spell.
"No. This is the right course. One foolish judgment is enough."
Alpheas compressed a photon between his palms. Seeing a photon output any light mage could produce, Arkein snorted in disgust.
"You think that'll stop me? You've weakened, Alpheas."
"You won't know until you try."
"Kekeke! Wasn't 'you won't know until you try' the phrase you used to hate? Where's the Alpheas who used to say that?"
"A mage lives in the future. Though my edge has dulled, I haven't only grown old. Do you think I couldn't have calculated your forty years?"
"Oh? You foresaw today? And all you prepared was a photon output?"
"Let's finish this."
Alpheas thrust both hands into the sky. The photon between his palms compressed until it was smaller than dust. At the same moment Arkein swung his fist. A colossal dark power poured toward the ground. This blow would finish it—for forty years of pent-up rage.
Shirone and the others watched, stunned, as the dark power fell at tremendous speed. Up close it was far larger than they'd imagined.
Alpheas's hands slowly lowered. His arms flowed like water, then split into dozens of afterimages. Everyone watching felt the same bafflement.
What was he doing?
Alpheas's afterimages moved agonizingly slowly. The photon compressed in his palms vanished in an instant. Meanwhile, the dark power hadn't yet covered half the distance.
Shirone couldn't move a finger. He couldn't even breathe. Time seemed to dilate. Only a single photon, smaller than a speck of dust, traveled at light speed.
The photon plunged into the massive darkness. The ripple it made rolled outward with an amplitude as slow as the stretched time itself.
Then—
Flash!
A powerful burst of light whitened the world.
The dark power was shredded and scattered. The light that swept across the academy faded from the center outward and dissolved into a ring.
When time snapped back to normal, Shirone's group stared up at the sky in disbelief. The clouds had vanished; a pale moon hung in the night.
What kind of magic was that?
It wasn't a physical strike like a photon cannon, nor did it have the persistence of Shining. It was a spell designed to explode the greatest possible light in a single instant.
Arkein's expression twisted.
"Alpheas..."
"It's a spell I call the Big Bang. It's too shameful to report to the Association, but I thought it would make for a fitting parting gift."
"Indeed... so you didn't spend forty years running for nothing."
Arkein understood Alpheas's plan. This wasn't a counter specifically developed against dark magic, nor a spell intended to surpass him. Alpheas had spent forty years honing the Big Bang for this exact moment and situation.
"Not bad, for you."
Arkein's knees thudded to the ground. The aftereffects of the Abyss Memory had left his brain function dangerously impaired.
"Well done, Alpheas. Your fifty-year bet paid off. You beat Arkein himself—your fame will rise. Is becoming a grand mage what you dreamed of?"
Alpheas shook his head. Even in a moment like this, Arkein clung to the need to be superior—the very vanity that had driven him and, in a way, made him pitiable.
"Master, you are no longer a grand mage. That title belonged to fifty years ago. A tenth-rank novice could become a second-rank grand mage in that time. Our era is over. The world has changed, and you're too old to chase ambition. Don't you see that?"
A vein throbbed at Arkein's temple. Though defeated, he had lived long enough to be lectured by his disciple—hardly an ignoble thing.
"Why do you think you're some arrogant Alpheas? You'll say misfortune swept you up by bad luck. I'll tell you the truth. You're not a genius. You're just a pathetic mage who runs from misfortune."
Arkein forced his shaky legs to stand.
"Too old? I reached grand mage at your age. How about some honesty? You lack confidence. You can't climb any further, so you make excuses."
"Advancement isn't everything. With age should come proper reflection. Yet you are no different from a boy chasing sweet ambitions."
"Kekekeke! Foolish Alpheas! What are you so afraid of? Step back and look. There's no categorical imperative that says things must be one way!"
A terrifying aura burst from Arkein again. Alpheas's eyes widened—Arkein intended to erase memories with Abyss magic once more. One Abyss Memory could be borne by the brain; a second would almost certainly mean death.
"You old fool! Have you decided to die?"
Arkein sneered and unleashed his dark power. The shadow at his feet expanded like a basin, then lifted the memory-lost students into the air and hurled them toward the cliff.
This time Alpheas had to be terrified.
"Stop! This is pointless slaughter! What will you gain from this?"
"The victor's satisfaction."
"You imbecile! At your age you still want to win! Do you still think you're a boy?"
"Foolish Alpheas. Listen well."
At what he believed to be his last moment, Arkein smiled with certainty.
"A mage is... an eternal boy."
The four hundred students caught by the dark power flew over the cliff like water ladled out. Alpheas couldn't understand it. He'd spent mental strength bought with his life on something so foolish.
What drives you? What can such a reckless conviction possibly bring?
There was no time to ponder. Having poured everything into the Big Bang, Alpheas turned and shouted urgently.
"Save the students!"
At that command, Sad transformed into a streak of light and flew. Shirone followed, then Naid and Iruki teleported to the cliff. Four hundred people—there was no way to save them all. The situation left no room for such calculations.
Sad descended to the mid-cliff and used air magic to form a wall of air. But to cover at least fifty square meters, the wall had to be thin.
A weak point opened in that thin area and the students spilled downward.
Below Sad, Iruki and Naid were working frantically, but it was too late to turn the tide. Watching children and graduating adults tumble down in a cascade brought tears to everyone's eyes.
"Damn it! Damn, damn!"
Through a blur, Iruki looked up at the sky. The stars glittered, and a streak of light shot straight down.
"Shirone!"
The beam passed even Iruki and continued downward. Moving at extreme speed, Shirone saw a red-haired girl.
"Amy!"
Hearing Shirone's voice, Amy turned her gaze. Under the effects of the Abyss Nova, such a reaction should have been impossible, so Shirone shouted again with a sliver of hope.
"Amy! Snap out of it!"
Snap out of it?
Humans are thinking beings. Not thinking is harder than thinking. But when the Abyss Nova blocks memory, the very sources of thought are cut off.
"Amy! Amy!"
Still, Amy could think.
That was because she was Amy of the Carmis family.
"Amy! Try to wake up!"
'I don't feel like it. Please don't do this.'
"It's me! I'm Shirone!"
'Shirone?'
What did that mean? The word was unfamiliar. Yet that three-syllable sound kept tickling her brain and she couldn't shake it.
'What is it? What is it? What was it? I'm so curious.'
Amy kept thinking. Electrical signals spread through her cerebral cortex as she began searching for the missing information. Finally, a pattern snapped into place and the meaning of Shirone flooded through her.
'Oh, right. Shirone! It was Shirone.'
Amy breathed out as if she'd been suffocating. Her eyes flared red as her crimson-eye ability activated. The Abyss Nova burned away in an instant and memories flooded in like a tidal wave.
'What an idiot! What am I doing right now?'
Her trait was the crimson eye—academically called self-image memory.
When members of the Carmis family manifest red eyes, they can revert their state to a specific moment.
For example, they can store the motion of raising a blade and repeat that exact motion infinitely without error. Because it functions like a schema in the realm of feeling, error correction is immediate.
Their motto—"One mistake fuels growth; two mistakes bring shame to the family"—captures that confidence.
What is my current state?
Using her self-image memory, Amy analyzed neural-level error. She was within the influence of gravitational acceleration. Her body's center was tilted 87.6 degrees and her heartbeat was 1.6 times faster.
"We're falling."
She had no particular complaint about that. She could see Shirone riding the beam down. The things she had done to him came back. How could she ever forget Shirone?