[244] 6. Clash of Magic (4)
The drawback of detonation magic was that its priming wasn't intuitive—casting time could vary wildly with explosive power.
One kilobuster was the force needed to blow away a wagon, and for a certified Rank-10 mage, priming one kilobuster took an average of twenty-one seconds.
But Iruki, a Servant, could finish priming in three seconds. And right now, the power he was drawing up over ten seconds amounted to a staggering ten kilobusters.
Closer intuited this blast would be no ordinary one precisely because Iruki's magic made no sound. Trying to defend everything at once would more likely leave him fatally exposed.
Predicting the strike point, Closer concentrated Earth Skin on his left. Soil piled up as if time had been sped up, forming a solid earthen wall.
At the same moment, Iruki's Atomic Bomb detonated.
Because there was no miss check, Closer didn't move—but the Earth Skin vanished without a trace.
"Phew!"
Closer exhaled roughly. He'd absorbed the shock, but the force that wiped out Earth Skin sent chills down his spine.
At that point, Iruki got serious. He hadn't expected Closer to perfectly withstand a ten-kilobuster blast. He was a far tougher mage than Iruki had assumed.
'I have no choice.'
Iruki split his mind in two and brought another Spirit Zone online. The moment the two Spirit Zones penetrated synesthetically, Closer's eyes widened.
It felt like fighting two mages at once.
'Damn. Isn't this cheating?'
From then on Closer couldn't enjoy himself. If the ten-kilobuster Atomic Bomb he'd just stopped came from both sides, defense would be impossible.
"End it before that!"
He cast Heavy Stone. Soil in midair clumped at incredible speed and a boulder nearly a ton in weight dropped above Iruki's head.
It was merely alchemizing earth—creating a new substance—but executed from a height it became a gravity weapon that could crush a target with potential energy alone.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Rocks fell wherever Iruki moved.
Alchemizing took time, and when travel time was factored in it wasn't especially effective in close duels, but in a situation where movement was impossible, the thought alone was horrifying.
'I see. He's aiming for that.'
Iruki read Closer's intent. The stones taking time to reach the ground meant they could be combined with other magics to create staggered attacks.
As expected, Closer cast Heavy Stone across a wide area.
While several rocks formed in midair, he deftly detached the priming from Heavy Stone and equipped a new priming.
He cast Slug magic; pebbles around them floated like projectiles and were fired.
"How about this!"
Rocks rained from above while pebbles in front scattered like buckshot.
"Tch! I didn't want to use this either."
Iruki converted one Spirit Zone into a defensive type and cast a protection spell.
Along the surface of the Spirit Zone, hundreds of tiny ten-gram-buster bombs floated in a spherical formation. Incoming pebbles hit the bombs and sparked small explosions.
The students watched, stunned, as countless chain explosions rippled across the boundary between offense and defense.
It was the Bomblet Barrier, the detonation mage's hallmark.
You floated hundreds of micro-bombs around you and intercepted approaching objects before they reached the mage—the key was how many of those tiny bombs you could manifest in a Spirit Zone at once.
By that standard, Iruki could manifest 387 micro-bombs simultaneously.
By sheer numbers that was near-professional level, but even after deploying the Bomblet Barrier Iruki found himself on the defensive.
His detachment-style was too dominant. Most of Iruki's advanced techniques arose from detachment-type Spirit Zones, but the Bomblet Barrier delivered maximum effect when used with a defensive Spirit Zone.
In short, it was like an offensively minded swordsman putting down one blade to take up a shield.
Because Iruki used dual Spirit Zones, he at least still had one blade—but unless he ran both detachment-type zones at once, he couldn't break earth magic's defenses.
"Heh heh heh! This ends now!"
Closer covered his face with both arms and charged straight into the Bomblet Barrier. He trusted Earth Skin's defensive strength enough to do it.
Breaking through the curtain of micro-bombs, Iruki detonated Atomic Bombs in a rapid rhythm.
The ten-gram-buster explosions hammered Closer's guard relentlessly; he grimaced. Rather than stopping, he pushed deeper. The moment Earth Skin shattered, he raised his fist and struck Iruki in the face.
Iruki's pupils spun and he collapsed.
Silence fell over the arena. In a duel—especially one between mages—nobody had expected someone to be hit with a fist.
"Is that allowed? He actually punched him."
"I don't know, but it's a duel, right? There's no rule against using your body."
The students' gazes naturally landed on the referee. Etella wore an awkward expression.
A check via the Master Bracelet showed the blow had been devastatingly effective.
Up to that point Iruki's gauge had been dropping at one percent per minute. A steady, hourglass-like decline meant he'd been operating well.
But the moment Closer's fist landed, it was cut in half. The vulnerability of a mage to physical attacks.
Etella, having made her decision, stepped back in a gesture of concession.
Given the nature of earth magic, physical collisions could be effective—so it could be considered a legitimate tactic.
"Heh heh heh, I told you. I gave you hints but you didn't pick them up—being called a genius is just an empty title."
Closer kicked Iruki in the waist as he tried to rise. Iruki's body tumbled and he landed face-down.
It had been an attack that had felled even the hulking Mark, so running dual Spirit Zones was already impossible.
Still, Closer approached with Earth Skin wrapped around his whole body just in case.
"Shall we start the overhaul? First, toughen up that body."
Closer raised his foot and repeatedly stomped on Iruki. Iruki curled up, covering his face, unable to move.
"Hey, does it hurt? Does it? You won't show your face, huh? You were ugly from the start—what's the big deal?"
"That bastard…! I'll kill him."
Nade clenched his fists and trembled. He didn't rush in out of respect for Iruki's last shred of pride.
"Shirone, stay back. I'll handle this."
"If we're going to fight, fight with him. But I don't think we need to step in. Iruki hasn't given up yet."
Nade studied Iruki carefully. Between the folded arms Iruki's smiling face could be seen. Now that his Bomblet Barrier had been broken there was little he could do. What on earth was he thinking to be able to smile while being beaten like that?
"He's tougher than he looks. Hey, roll over a bit."
Pushed by Closer's kick, Iruki rolled onto his back. Contrary to expectations of fear, his expression was oddly relaxed.
"This bastard keeps getting under my skin. This time I'll really break his pride."
Annoyed, Closer lifted his leg to strike Iruki's face. One blow and his nose would collapse.
"Heh heh! Heh heh heh!"
Iruki laughed in an odd voice, bent his waist like a bow, planted his head on the ground, and looked up at Shirone.
"Shirone, sorry. I'd been saving this to use on you."
The students were speechless. Iruki's bizarre behavior was starting again.
"You bastard!"
Feeling insulted, Closer slammed his foot down like lightning—but Iruki's mouth split into a long grin.
"Come see something fun, Shirone."
Bang! The boot hit the ground.
Iruki rolled aside to evade and slipped into Closer's arms. Then with a thin wrist he threw a punch.
Closer was incredulous. With Earth Skin and even Earth Rise active, only the fist should have been harmed.
"Ugh!"
Contrary to expectation, a heavy impact landed in his abdomen and a small groan escaped Closer's mouth.
His pupils trembled with shock. The force wasn't extraordinary, but all the defensive magic that had wrapped him was gone.
"H-How…?"
Iruki sprang up in a crane-style martial posture and pressed two fingers into Closer's eyes.
"Ha—!"
"Argh! My eyes!"
Blinded for a moment, Closer hastily cast Earth Rise. But the spell was canceled as if time itself had been reversed.
Tap. Roll.
The scribe watching the duel dropped his pen, eyes fixed on Iruki.
"…Cancellation?"
A cancellation spell.
Regardless of power, it was top-tier difficulty magic that canceled a mage's omnipotence.
Magic texts often compared Cancellation to a glass.
If you drop a glass and it shatters into pieces, can the fragments spontaneously restore themselves?
The correct answer is: possible.
But no one had ever witnessed it because the probability was astronomically low.
When time began, the world moved from stable states to unstable ones. So when a glass breaks, it shatters under near-infinite variables.
Among those infinite possibilities, there is the one case where the direction and speed of forces acting at the moment of breaking reverse perfectly, and the glass can re-form itself.
After all, breaking is merely interatomic bonds being severed; if forces reverse at the atomic level, it can return perfectly whole without a single crack.
Mages called that a "returned glass."
Iruki had infiltrated Closer's Spirit Zone with a detachment-type Spirit Zone and analyzed the changes occurring in his mind.
He inverted the pattern that occurred in a specific spell into an equation and succeeded in producing a returned glass.
It required calculational ability beyond what an ordinary person could ever pretend to have. Seventy-two percent of mages who could use Cancellation were Servant Syndrome ability users for that reason.
"Arrgh! This is maddening!"
Closer flailed his arms in frustration. He gave up on defense and cast Heavy Stone; ten or so rocks alchemized in midair.
Iruki tapped them one by one with his fingers and cast Cancellation on each. The soil's clumping reversed as if time ran backward and vanished.
"Hah! Hah! Hah!"
Iruki stubbornly continued his martial art. To onlookers it looked like he was mocking Closer, but he was actually earnest.
When he struck Closer's nasal bridge, twin streams of blood spouted.
There was no way to respond to a magic forcibly canceled. It was like a mage fighting a normal person.
How terrifying Cancellation was showed plainly on the teachers' faces. If even a student had mastered Cancellation, it would change everything.
"He was talented, but when did he get something like that...?"
"The environment probably had a lot to do with it. After all, Iruki's father is..."
Mercodaine Albino, head of the Lightning Lords.
He appeared careless, but few in the kingdom knew what he really thought.
Servants had the potential to be the best at antimagics and Cancellation, so someone like Albino had surely trained Iruki from a young age.
"Not all Servants have brains that fast. If managed well, he'll reach a singular domain someday."
As Iruki's small fists were struck again and again like rain soaking through cloth, his bones throbbed.
Closer's face was a mess. His eye sockets were swollen, blood trickled from his nose, and his lips were split and stung with every movement.