[383] Vol. 16 - The Meaning of Survival (5)
Crackle. Crackle.
Shirone slowly raised his head at the sound of insects being crushed as they came closer.
Fermi walked toward him with his hands in his pockets. The twisted smile on his face had already become more than half skull.
He kept crunching the bugs in his mouth; when he spat out the shells with a wet sound, the students watching the feed grimaced.
"Ugh!"
Even on a screen it was enough to turn their stomachs.
"Fermi's no pushover either."
Olivia's remark drew a nod from Colli.
"Yes. Last year he reached Level 5 and became the final survivor. But with Shirone here this time, I can't guarantee the outcome."
"Hmm..."
Olivia's gaze was cold.
She knew Fermi had colluded in ways unrelated to graduation—only there wasn't proof, so she couldn't move against him.
'As I thought. Definitely an out-of-spec mind.'
If omniscience recognizes an apple as an apple, an out-of-spec mind recognizes an apple as a strawberry.
A cognitive distortion strong enough to deny facts.
Unless someone was an Immortal Function like Shirone or an extremist like Gaold, you had to regard a person like that as twisted from the start.
Thunk!
Shirone's right eye exploded as if crushed. Repulsive maggots poured out one after another.
Fermi watched calmly, continuing to chew and spit the larvae.
Still, his throat kept tingling.
'Definitely not pleasant.'
Honestly, he hadn't expected Shirone to hold out this long.
In all his years with the graduating class, Shirone was the first to follow him to the end of Level 5.
'I thought it'd be nothing…'
During the ghost incident he'd been just a rookie. But in a year he'd grown at an astonishing pace and come this far.
'Should I go a little further…?'
Fermi himself had never passed Level 5. He wasn't the type to obsess over wins or scores; stopping there would normally have been fine.
But when the opponent was Shirone, everything changed.
Fermi was the sort who removed anything that got in the way of his business by any means necessary.
"We won't settle this here. Let's move on. I wonder what's next."
He spat another bug.
"...."
Shirone remained silent.
The moment his natural composure wavered even a little, his mind would be overturned like a sea caught in a storm.
Thunk!
Shirone's remaining eye burst. With that, the Level 5 stage came to an end.
* * *
"Level 6! Entering the Initial Flame!"
Colli's voice—cold and professional—trembled with excitement and anxiety.
A student reaching this point was only the second case in his long teaching career.
Depth of realization had nothing to do with magic level or age. But the Initial Flame was a dangerous realm, even for seasoned practitioners.
"Th-that is…."
The students' pupils shimmered with the shadow of fire. In a world made entirely of flame, Shirone and Fermi faced each other.
The hems of their clothes began to smolder, then flared into raging tongues of fire that consumed their bodies.
"Uuuugh…!"
The students recoiled.
Three-meter-high flames completely incinerating a person felt hot even without entering the Virtual Zone.
If nerves registered pain, fire directly assaulted them and drove sensations past the breaking point.
The more dreadful fact was that this was a virtual world where bodies were reconstructed in real time.
Flarrr! Flarrr!
Like candles on a candelabrum, the two burned. Their expressions did not change, but their minds unleashed agonized screams.
Crossing the brink of death did not mean transcending it. Humans were not that strong.
Pain crawled through the body; fear meshed with the mind like grinding gears.
'This is bad. This is really dangerous.'
Shirone's face began to contort. Even his Geumgangtae-honed spirit struggled to stay composed.
What kind of life had Gaold lived to unleash such hell so freely?
Even that thought was swept away by pain that rose without limit.
The students watching the feed no longer shouted encouragement.
It was painful just to observe; how much worse must it be for the ones inside?
One shout to urge them on would have instantly branded the shouter a psycho.
"Ke ke ke."
Fermi took in the sight of Shirone wavering in the flames. Had he actually tried to hold out against him to the end?
'Arrogant brat.'
Level 6 had been tough for Fermi too. Had he known it would be like this, he might have reconsidered.
'Which only makes it more annoying.'
By now, scores no longer mattered.
Only money did.
He had to finish Shirone here to make sure this year's business yielded proper profit.
"You're holding up well. This virtual sauna's not bad, is it?"
Shirone had no energy to answer. If anything, he wished this were reality so his body would burn away quickly.
But cruelly, the body reconstructed in real time and the nerve thresholds reset every moment.
"Why not just give up? It's only week four, after all."
Shirone's face twisted.
His mental state had reached the extreme of irritation. He hated everything and was weary even of being alive.
Rage had accumulated to the point that merely conversing with someone could force you out of the Spirit Zone.
Fermi, sharing the same space, surely knew this. That was why he kept prodding his nerves.
So Shirone had to reply in kind.
"Who exactly are you?"
The students watching the feed swallowed.
Shirone's question condensed every doubt he'd gathered while in the graduating class.
"Who knows? Who could I be?"
Fermi was far from normal. But mirroring his own state, he scraped at Shirone's nerves.
"Why did you attack Amy? Why won't you graduate? What reason does someone of your skill have to stay at the school?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I just have stronger mental resilience than others, so I endure better."
The students gaped.
They were discussing the graduating class while their bodies burned. Both of them had to be mad.
'It's approaching the limit.'
Fermi felt himself near the edge. Pretending composure, his soul roared within.
One cannot scowl and endure forever. Would customers flock if the business's face looked miserable?
'Business is all about publicity.'
He triggered the timer in his head and took a step toward Shirone, offering a final chance.
"No matter what you think, it's false. I know people suspect me. But isn't it true that the standout gets hit first in the graduating class? That's the natural order of competition."
Shirone glared at Fermi with eyes of flame.
'I know. You're exploiting that.'
He hid his crime behind the students' competitive instincts. Like a surly guard who beats a thief on a whim and no one reports it—the logic was disgusting but effective.
He didn't like it, but it was an excellent strategy.
"As a senior in the graduating class, here's some advice. Don't stand out too much. You'll be eliminated early."
Shirone's nostrils flared. Flames licked from his eyes and mouth as if to match his anger.
"Is that a threat?"
"A threat? It's advice. Twenty points is a lot. But is it more important than spending another year in the graduating class?"
It was a threat.
If he didn't give up here, Fermi would eliminate him in the graduation exam just as he had with Amy.
Those marked by Fermi knew the consequences. Even formidable Amy had been knocked out early without time to prepare.
No matter the event, they would be lynched by everyone. A year's worth of effort would be rendered meaningless.
On the other hand, if they accepted and surrendered twenty points, Fermi would see them passed.
Asking whether twenty points mattered more than another year was tantamount to saying you wouldn't have to stay another year.
'Give up quickly, you damn kid. Don't interfere with business—get out of the school. I'll make sure someone like you graduates right away.'
Shirone clenched his fists. Heat seeped from between his clenched teeth, making them stick together.
Vile Fermi.
'Because of scum like you…'
He finally understood how much Amy had suffered and what pain she'd endured the past year to become a mage.
Fermi had trashed all of it. The realization collapsed his heart into a night of bitter sobs.
"Eliminate me? Go ahead and try. I'll never lose to someone like you."
Even within the inferno of the Initial Flame, Fermi looked down at Shirone with lifeless eyes as if his vigor had been drained.
Negotiations were over.
And as long as he remained at the school, Shirone would never be able to become a mage.
"Fine, then expect it."
Fermi said that and turned away. He had reached his limit.
"Wait. I still have—"
Before Shirone could finish, Fermi's figure vanished. He had deactivated his Spirit Zone.
Lying in the Virtual Zone, Fermi's eyes snapped open. The pain of the Initial Flame still felt vivid; he couldn't move a finger.
Even so, the timer in his head kept checking seconds precisely.
'…2 seconds. 1 second. Now it begins.'
A voice announced:
- Survival Program Stage 7, entering the Void.
'A gift from me to you, Shirone.'
Having experienced Level 6, Fermi suspected that even an out-of-spec mind couldn't endure Level 7.
And if in Alpheas School of Magic's history only one person had ever passed it, there was no way Shirone would be safe.
'If he gives up, that's the end. But will he…?'
Colli moved to shut down the Virtual Zone device. Even if a team had won, individuals could challenge higher stages for personal evaluation—but those stages weren't the Void.
'This level wasn't made for humans to clear. It's merely a lid to define the survival test's limits. We should end it here.'
Placing his hand on the Virtual Zone switch, Colli announced as he looked back over Alpheas.
"I will terminate operation of the Virtual Zone."
Fermi, somehow on his feet, pointed at the feed.
"No. I think it will continue."
"What?"
Colli's head snapped around. In the feed Shirone stood in a darkness where nothing could be seen.
Needless to say, it was the starting point of the Void.
'Vile Fermi.'
For the first time, Shirone regained calm.
All that had passed had felt like an eternity, but it was already a concluded event.
'I will never yield to someone like you.'
Shirone did not deactivate his Spirit Zone.
Even though he'd become the final victor, he felt no joy—Fermi had played a cowardly last move.
Today, Fermi had used Shirone as a sacrifice. It was certain he'd pressure others later with his demagoguery.
'Then I'll pressure you, Fermi.'
That was Shirone's counterstrategy.
He would never give up the initiative. If the balance of power between them remained taut, the demagoguery couldn't take hold.
Survival Stage 7 was undeniably dangerous, but that made it worth attempting even more.
'But where the hell is this place?'
Shirone looked around.
Saying he could see darkness was odd, but aside from himself there was nothing but black.
Kukukukukuku!
He felt vibration—an undirected tremor across the entire space.
"Huh? Oh—"
A foreboding feeling made Shirone reach out. Darkness pressed in firmly from all sides and began to crush him.
'Is this suffocation this time?'
Both arms curled toward his torso. Even in that position, the darkness only increased its pushing force.