[254] Another Sky (4)
Once the accumulation density of Ataraxia topped fifty percent, the students could no longer bear the heat from their bracelets and began crying out in pain.
Mark spun his bracelet and asked Amy.
"Senior! This is really safe, right?"
Amy was sweating coldly too.
To be honest, she couldn't be sure. Even when the most brilliant mages of the graduating class clashed, the bracelets had never gotten this hot. It was obvious that Two Thousand couldn't process Ataraxia's information load.
"I don't know either. Be careful—this could blow."
"Th-then…."
Still, Amy's eyes were fixed on Two Thousand. Even if the bracelet exploded, she was determined to see the result.
Mark followed his senior's lead and stopped worrying. A few burns were nothing compared to watching geniuses of the age face off.
At that moment, surprisingly, Dante released his automaton. If it stayed engaged, Shirone's magic circle would be completed and the tense balance would collapse.
Iruki simply admired the move.
"Excellent choice. He's even reading the battle channels."
Giving up a sure strategy is hard. Outsiders can say anything, but the momentum of someone who's put everything on the line isn't easily bent.
But Dante broke that momentum.
He plunged again into the unknown, knowing that being swept along by an opponent's flow is the deadliest mistake in a fight. From that choice alone, Dante was undeniably a genius.
"Damn it! After coming this far, I'm not losing!"
Dante switched his Spirit Zone into sniper mode. A hundred amplification magic circles extended in a straight line before him.
Baekdo — the hundredfold ultra-precise serial magic array.
The circles rotated around an imaginary axis and tightened.
A sleek serial structure designed solely for power amplification could not tolerate a millimeter of error.
With the automaton gone, Shirone could concentrate fully on Ataraxia. Yet despair welled up instead.
If things had gone as planned, victory would have been his. But Dante had created another variable.
"Impressive, Dante. Then again, I would've done the same…."
Now it was a race to see who could complete their magic circle first.
Dante's Baekdo had a much shorter activation time than Ataraxia, but Shirone had already accumulated over seventy percent of the information through time-slicing.
A smile tugged at Dante's lips. Though hundreds of magic circles had vanished, Pascal remained intact.
"This is the difference between you and me."
Shirone looked down and realized something he'd missed. A teleportation circle had been traced at his feet.
His body sank into the ground, then reappeared in the sky and fell headfirst back into the exact same spot.
"Damn! He had that trick up his sleeve!"
Nayd slammed his fist down in fury. Dante could still attack even while building Baekdo.
Of course, such hindsight is easy for spectators to offer, but if you wanted to win you had to think of everything.
Iruki sighed, resigned. Shirone had shown tremendous skill. It was just that Dante had one more tiny edge.
"That was a good match. I have to admit it."
Nayd's fist trembled with frustration. It wasn't hatred of Dante—he hated Dante's perfection.
"That bastard. He picked teleportation on purpose."
"Two Thousand gives blocking judgments for active magic. Shirone could withstand an offensive spell. So Dante went for physical impact. The kingdom's best defense, I suppose."
By then Dante's Baekdo was complete. A Fire Strike was placed at the entrance of the amplification tunnel.
Regaining his composure, Dante smiled.
"This ends it…!"
His words cut off.
Curious, the students followed Dante's gaze—and their eyes widened in shock.
Even though Shirone had lost consciousness, Ataraxia still hung in place.
Ping.
A drop of information fell onto the halo.
Ping. Ping-ping.
Another drop. Then two more.
Ping-ping-ping-ping-ping-ping-ping-ping!
Light began pouring in at an incredible speed.
The ring's rotation accelerated, and the halo filled with colors too dazzling to focus on with the naked eye.
Olivia shot to her feet in disbelief.
"No way! The information is thinking for itself!"
Alpheas was equally astonished. But if you knew whose ability Shirone's Ataraxia was, such a phenomenon made sense.
"This isn't human logic. Once it crosses the threshold, the information system reaches a stage where it thinks for itself. That's why they call it celestial magic."
Olivia, bewildered, answered back.
"Celestial magic? What are you even saying?"
Alpheas held his tongue. They'd find out when the duel ended, but heaven wasn't the priority at that moment.
"We've finally arrived at the destination. This is where the match will be decided."
As if to warn them not to miss the spectacle, Alpheas nodded toward Two Thousand, and Olivia turned her head.
Shirone, having regained consciousness, slowly rose. Light flared directly in front of him and a photon from a Photon Cannon was born—a single shot born of the last of his mental strength.
"Damn it!"
Dante barely held back a scream and fired the Fire Strike. A spear of burning air tore through the magic circle and swelled.
At that instant, a magic circle completed directly before Shirone.
The super-power amplification circle: Ataraxia.
Shirone watched the Fire Strike, amplified by Baekdo, surge forward. Then he fired the Photon Cannon into the heart of that inferno.
Everyone saw the photon pass through Ataraxia in slow motion.
And when it finally crossed the line—
Flash!
The world filled with light.
Everything beyond Ataraxia was swept away by a storm of tremendous force.
The flash reached people's perception with a slight delay, and the air's contours peeled back like skin as the whole scene was shoved aside.
Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
At the same time, a cascade of glass-shattering sounds erupted where the students were gathered. Overloaded by information processing, the crystalline orbs in the bracelets all burst. Two Thousand shut down, and the simulated scenery vanished.
Like a midsummer night's dream, the spectacle faded, leaving only the dry physical blocks.
No one spoke.
They had no room for anything but trying to comprehend the magic they had just witnessed. Even the teachers had never seen a spell of this scale.
All eyes fell on Shirone and Dante.
Seeing the two of them standing at the same distance as at the start, the students stirred.
The variable was that Dante had not fallen.
Shirone's magic had an unstoppable power. The fact that its information volume exceeded Two Thousand's memory proved it. In a real battle, Dante would have been erased without a trace.
But this was Two Thousand, and Dante was still standing.
Even with only a fifty percent sync rate, anti-magic should have cut him down already.
Perhaps Two Thousand's system shut down before the shock could take hold. If so, declaring a winner or loser would feel a bit forced.
Considering this was a student duel at school, the faculty might well conclude the incident with a tasteful draw.
But that wasn't what Shirone's friends—or the students who had watched—wanted.
Shirone and Dante had staged a match worthy of history.
Selfishly, everyone present wanted their memories to have a clear ending.
Shirone panted and glared at Dante. With Two Thousand gone there was nothing he could do but watch; he was too exhausted to do more than breathe.
"Ha ha…."
Dante gave a hollow laugh. He was exhausted too; words wouldn't come. He tried to take a step but couldn't manage three paces and stopped.
A soft sound escaped between his parted lips.
"You…."
Then, with a thud, blood poured from Dante's nose. His eyes gradually lost their light, and like a great tree toppling, he collapsed in his standing posture.
Iruki's voice trembled.
"It hit. Anti-magic got through before the system shut down."
Iruki's words were small, but they spread through the students' minds like telepathy.
"He lost, right? Dante actually lost?"
"Seems so. Dante… that Dante was defeated."
As if under some collective spell, the students all leapt to their feet and shouted. The roar's soundwaves mixed and the hall's air trembled violently.
"Shirone won! Shirone beat the kingdom's best, Dante!"
Mark finally gathered his scattered wits. Hearing the students' cries relaxed him, but another feeling pounded at his chest.
This was the moment Shirone rose to the kingdom's top star.
"Aaaaah! Shirone-senpai won! Now everyone knows who's number one! Huh? Come on! Anyone else want a shot, bring it on!"
Mark erupted as if he'd won himself. Dante's friends sat nearby with icy faces, but adrenaline had erased petty thoughts long ago.
Killain murmured dreamlike.
"My god… Dante…"
It was an unbelievable result. But Dante face-down on the harsh physical blocks was an undeniable fact.
473 fights, 472 victories.
And one loss.
It was Dante's first defeat since entering the world of magic—the end of a ten-year unbeaten streak.
Olivia remained composed amid the students' cheers.
She worried for Dante but felt she must stay neutral for now.
Shiina checked Dante and gave a sign that he was okay. Only then did a small sigh escape Olivia.
"So Dante lost."
She had never doubted Dante's victory, but oddly, she felt no emotional upheaval at his loss.
Maybe it still didn't feel real, or perhaps the duel had been so extraordinary that acceptance came easier.
"I have to admit it. Dante poured everything out. Shirone was stronger. That's it. But…."
The spell Shirone cast at the end—what on earth was its power? By nature it was clearly Shirone's specialty, the Photon Cannon.
But she could say with certainty it wasn't an ordinary Photon Cannon.
Even as a specialist in word-and-command magic, Olivia knew she'd need to unleash everything intentionally to reach that level. No—putting power aside, it was the amplification beyond common sense that was the problem. Turning a student-level Photon Cannon into the power of a great mage was something she couldn't have done herself.
Olivia glanced back at Alpheas. He said nothing—so he must have known from the start.
Had he wanted to see a miracle, even at tiny odds? Like a boy rubbing his hands at the sight of a thrilling toy.
"You sly fox. You completely pulled one over on me."
Olivia ground her teeth, resentful. But Alpheas, whom she'd expected to gloat, kept silent for a long time, lost in thought.
"Was it really this powerful?"
Ataraxia, the super-power amplification circle.
She'd heard Shirone's tales and had some expectations, but seeing that power with her own eyes was different from hearing about it.
Above all, the duel had been held under the Church Council's supervision. Reporters were present and recording devices were running.
At this scale, the royal palace could not possibly remain unmoved.