[255] Another Sky (5)
If Alpheas obtained Ataraxia, the Alpheas Magic School's reputation would skyrocket. With Olivia's influence added, it might even topple the royal academy's prestige.
Having reached that thought, Alpheas spoke softly.
"Sade."
Sade stepped forward and bowed his head.
"Yes, Master."
"Retrieve the Black Box from the 2000th match immediately. Do not give it to anyone. Destroy it in front of Shirone. Make sure Shirone confirms its destruction."
"Understood."
Sade answered without protest and bowed.
The crystal orb on his bracelet had been shattered as well.
It had never happened before in all the times they'd overseen the 2000th match, so he sensed the situation might be more serious than expected.
Of course, the bigger the incident, the more the school's name would spread, but when Alpheas gave an order, there was no room for private judgment.
Olivia's fierce expression softened into puzzlement.
She had long known him to be uncompromising, but she hadn't expected him to make such an inflexible decision.
"Are you sure? The Black Box contains all the data from this duel. Dante's Pascal, Shirone's magic circles. If you simply copied it, it would be invaluable. Even if the kingdom invoked security, they would pay a fortune to get it."
Olivia tried to probe, but Alpheas didn't even hesitate.
"It belongs to Shirone. No one may access that information without Shirone's permission."
"He might permit it. Think carefully. He could agree for the sake of his alma mater's prosperity, and it would also benefit the magical community. Shirone has benefited from the work of countless genius mages before him."
Olivia's point had merit. Without the noble sacrifices, challenges, efforts, and talents passed down from previous generations, humanity's magic wouldn't have advanced this far.
That was why Alpheas had submitted his quantum thesis—ushering in an innovation in photon magic—to the state.
Still, Alpheas's stance didn't change.
"Shirone can decide while he's alive. But not now. If he truly feels the need, he can choose for himself. Offering the option like this would be no different from coercion."
Olivia clicked her tongue. Stubborn as ever.
'Well… that was part of what I liked about him.'
Although the duel was over, no students left their seats.
They wanted to see the highlight of the match: Dante kneeling before Shirone.
But Dante, the defeated, couldn't open his eyes even with the teachers' recovery spells.
Sabina shook her head and choked up.
"Dante lost? No, this can't be. He's beaten so many strong opponents. His undefeated record can't be broken by some countryside school."
"Sabina, calm down. Right now we should just hope Dante is okay."
Closer gripped Sabina's shoulder to steady her, but Sabina, already overwhelmed, couldn't accept reality.
There are days like that—when one impossible variable after another occurs and everything goes wrong.
Today was that kind of day for Dante.
"Dante is invincible! His sync rate was fifty percent. At the royal school he fought with a hundred percent sync before! There's no way he could lose to some hick!"
"Hmph. That was only a simulation."
At Canis's remark, Sabina snapped her head around.
"What did you say?"
"Dante's never fought a giant. Nor an archangel."
"What are you talking about? You can't mock Dante like that!"
"I'm asking if he's ever risked his life against an opponent he absolutely couldn't beat. Whether it's the 2000th match or a hundred-percent sync doesn't matter. Real combat isn't like that."
Sabina ground her teeth.
Amy added, "Dante doesn't know real combat. He has talent that could work in the field, sure. But Shirone has always put his life on the line to get where he is."
Canis nodded.
"The 2000th is similar to real combat, but it isn't actual combat. It's not that thrilling. Do you know what it's like to risk your life? When you stand on the border between life and death, your thoughts freeze and only the desire to live remains. Maintaining reason and fighting in that state—that's real combat."
Sabina huffed like a child. Having been mauled by Nade, she understood what Canis meant.
But they didn't know what resolve Dante had when he fought.
Even if they belittled it as a simulation, even if they mocked him for only fighting foes he could beat, one thing remained unchanged.
For Dante, the 2000th match was everything.
Tears filled Sabina's eyes.
"No. No—Dante really did fight with his life on the line."
Silence fell. Shirone's friends no longer felt like mocking Dante and his party.
Honestly, nothing would erase the resentment they'd caused over the semester. But Dante had been strong—enough to make being his rival enjoyable. Though he'd lost to Shirone, the result had upheld his friends' honor and toppled him with dignity.
After an awkward pause, Dante finally came to.
The students who had been chattering fell silent and turned toward the 2000th match.
Sabina and Closer felt sorrow. They would rather he have remained out cold until the day was over; the student with the best defense also had fast recovery, unfortunately.
When Shirone approached, the students even stilled their breathing. Dante looked up at Shirone with difficulty, then bowed his head again as if it were pointless. He began to mutter to himself.
Shirone waited in silence.
At last Dante stopped muttering and raised his head.
There would be no further exchange of information. The victor and the vanquished had been decided; only the spoils remained to be collected.
"Kill me."
Dante's declaration stunned everyone.
Shirone pressed his lips together and glared at him.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. No one had expected him to say he'd rather die than kneel.
They called it childishness, unmanly stubbornness, and worse.
But Sabina knew. Dante's words were neither empty bravado nor a petulant outburst.
—I'll become the greatest mage. To do that, I have to train like the 2000th match is real.
—But Dante, even so, the 2000th is a simulation. There are rulings; it can't be the same as real combat.
Sabina could never forget what Dante had said then.
—Maybe. But training the same as others won't make me an archmage. So I decided: if I lose in the 2000th, it will mean my death.
He had been young, of course.
Sabina had taken it as a pre-match vow to steel himself.
But over time she came to see Dante's sincerity.
There had been many moments across 150, 200 matches where he could have lost.
Yet Dante kept winning.
By the time he passed 400, the words he'd once spoken must have felt like a blade driving him onward.
As a result, Dante grew rapidly and achieved the astonishing record: 472 matches, 472 wins.
Alpheas felt the matter was turning serious.
"I never imagined he'd be thinking that way."
Alpheas glanced at Olivia, who shook her head in surprise. They hadn't expected Dante to truly risk his life. His desire to become the greatest was admirable, but for an eighteen-year-old it was extreme.
Then Alpheas realized something.
Being eighteen, the pressure to hold onto the top spot must have been enormous.
Featured in magazines, revered by every student, defeating rivals—how could that have been entirely pleasant?
Dante's motive for such an extreme choice surely contained that burden.
Dante repeated as if to prove he wasn't lying.
"Kill me. I've never considered losing to anyone. This is my defeat. If you don't want to soil your hands, I'll do it myself. But I won't kneel to you."
Shirone bowed his head and sighed.
Dante was making a grave mistake. How one treated one's own life was up to them, but voicing it would wound some and enrage others.
"You lost, so… you'll kill yourself?"
"Yes. That's the resolve I had going into this duel."
"Why? Who do you think you are?"
The students watched Dante's face, stunned. He trembled with shame. But at that moment the most moved person was Shirone.
"You tell others to kneel so easily, yet you can't even do that much?"
"What nonsense. I really did stake my life. I'm even offering to remove myself—someone who might become your lifelong rival."
"You think you're that great?"
Dante's expression creased again. Even in defeat he had given a fine fight. He'd expected Shirone to understand.
"You've lived up to the title of the kingdom's greatest talent, haven't you? I won't make excuses. But you didn't exactly beat me easily, did you?"
"The kingdom's best? So what can you do with that? Stop a war?"
"What?"
"If you're such an extraordinary person, show me you can change even something small. You can't do anything. So why stake your life over a defeat?"
Dante gasped as Shirone kept pressing.
"You can't stop wars, famine, civil unrest—nothing. And yet you call yourself the kingdom's best? You think that makes you important?"
Shirone's words pierced Dante's head, chest, and heart like daggers. He felt himself falling. Something that had defined him plunged toward an abyss.
"Even if you die, the world won't change. No one will take your death seriously."
Dante snapped. If this continued, he felt he would sink to the very bottom.
"Shut up! Are you so arrogant just because you won once? Do you want to do this for real?"
"Dante."
Shirone looked at him with pity.
"You're just a human."
Dante went pale. The shell that had encased him felt like it shattered.
Canis's words flashed through his mind.
—You'll be made to feel like you're being stepped on to the very bottom of what you can imagine.
Canis hadn't picked a fight without cause. His words were no exaggeration.
"No archmage—no one—can change the world alone. You're human. Therefore you have no right to die claiming you'll change the world."
The students fell silent in reverence. Even those who had mocked Shirone for refusing to fight Dante as cowardice were quiet.
The title "the kingdom's greatest talent."
It was a dream name for aspiring mages. But from afar it was just an inhuman concept made by human hands.
"That boy…?"
Olivia asked Alpheas. Shirone's record would be detailed in the student register, but Olivia wanted to know more.
Alpheas finally spoke the truth.
"Shirone… met Miro. And in heaven he met the archangel Ikael."
Olivia turned, surprised.
Alpheas gave a bitter smile and nodded.
"Yes. He's one of the very few humans who know the truth."
Olivia fell into deep thought.
Even now, this world is upheld by a single mage.
Knowing that fact, all the trivialities of human affairs must have seemed even less significant through Shirone's eyes.
"He's a strong child. Most would have been terrified or resigned."
"He wasn't always like that. He was shy and quiet."
Alpheas remembered the day he met Shirone. The twelve-year-old boy who had eavesdropped on his class from beyond the wall had grown into a promising talent fit for anywhere in the kingdom.