[623] Scout Reporting (4)
"Ugh—!"
Shirone's pupils dilated completely, and his consciousness swelled as if the whole world were being sucked into that one point.
In an amplification that could only be called an explosion, he felt like a giant swallowing the world.
"Photon Cannon!"
A blinding flash that seemed capable of devouring a person burst forth and slammed square into the basilisk's face.
On impact, the reptile's head was driven down into its throat and its entire body was shoved backward.
"What the hell… is that?"
None of the school's students had ever seen the physical power of an Ataraxia attack up close like this.
"Impact value. How many?"
At Baikal's question, Elizabeth fell silent.
System Two Thousand never lied, but the figures it displayed were so unreal she couldn't bring herself to speak them aloud.
It just… wouldn't stop!
Having felled the enemy before him, Shirone launched himself toward the center of the battlefield.
With a single shotgun movement, the Colosseum was cleaved into eight.
Where the flash passed it was as if an eraser had wiped everything clean; centerless rifts blossomed into spherical bursts, a sight that brought to mind a planet tearing itself apart.
"That bastard's insane! That's cheating!"
Shirone's body hadn't changed, but the participants felt as if they were facing some colossal presence.
Wyverns caught in Shining Chains had their necks and spines snap at once and collapsed to the ground, and ogres were crushed like meteors under the falling Photon Cannons.
"Report the impact amount!"
Frustrated, Baikal barked, and Elizabeth hurriedly collected herself.
"Ah—yes! Photon Cannon single impact: 2.3 million Crash! Magic value…!"
It took time to read the figures flashing on her retina.
"It's currently exceeding 170 million!"
"One hundred seventy million?"
He'd increased the power, altered the system, and this time had even transcended scale itself.
"Examiner, at this level…"
"I know. I'm not mistaken."
Baikal had no choice but to admit it.
This was not a power anyone should normally be able to wield. Even so… he was holding on?
The thought of how vast a human mind could be made to contain sent chills up their spines.
"Evaluate him."
Elizabeth's voice trembled with excitement.
"F."
The unexpected rating made Lala tilt her head.
"No matter how transcendent the power, it still negates the meaning of extreme-endurance survival — that hasn't changed."
"But this—"
"One thing to add."
Baikal continued. "If Number 27 can keep going until the end…"
If he could break the existing system.
"Even if not because of me, scouts around the world will sing his praises."
That was the only method Miro had proposed.
We have to climb to the highest possible rank!
While everyone gaped, the number of creatures—the ones called some kind of kings—was rapidly falling.
"Sona Explosion!"
When magic was cast at coordinates rather than a target, several monsters were swept up in a storm of mass and vanished.
Tier 5 was almost wiped out, and when Tier 4 numbers dropped by tens, the participants could finally look at the battlefield from a scout's perspective.
They think we're idiots!
At first people assumed he'd tire himself out, but at this rate Shirone would steal the spotlight and finish the first evaluation.
Fight.
Just as the participants changed stance and prepared to charge, Fermi cast one of her trump cards—a ground-shattering spell, Super Eruption.
The radius where System Two Thousand applied split open, and massive beasts were crushed as the earth swallowed them.
Why?
Those who glanced at Fermi realized quickly.
I see. It can't be maintained for long anyway.
If Ataraxia was a magic-amplifying formation, then Shirone's gigantic mind would hit its limit too; sensibly, that time would not be long.
Now then, Shirone—what will you do?
The aftershock of a full mental expansion in the physical sphere was impossible to predict.
So Shirone would want to leap as many stages as he could in this state, and Fermi's role was to block that desire.
Enjoy the rest you wanted so badly. Don't make a scene, okay?
When a creature was annihilated, thirty seconds were granted; in that time the mentally-amplified state would subside.
When Super Eruption ended, System Two Thousand restored the ground to its original state.
The participants stared at the cleared Colosseum in a daze while Fermi clapped and said, "All right, take a little rest…."
-Entering Extreme Survival Stage 8.
"What?"
Fermi's words cut off, and the participants turned toward a corner of the Colosseum.
"Ku—!"
Shirone, still caught in the amplification, let out a rough groan and clenched his fists.
"Up there."
A basilisk wrapped in a Shining Chain slowly descended from high above.
"I won't be swung around by you anymore."
Fermi said with a rotten smile.
"That won't change anything."
Shirone silently reached and placed his hand on the basilisk's face.
A black orb.
When the dark sphere formed, the monster's limbs trembled, then unspooled into code and were sucked into the darkness.
Get a grip! We're in Stage 8!
Tier-3 demons were already flooding the Colosseum.
They weren't as huge or grotesque as Tier 4; precisely because they weren't biological and instead belonged to a mental domain founded on magic, they proved to be true magic-beasts.
Why are there so many of them?!
Two hundred and forty mid-tier demonic beings—Incubus succubi, half-divine half-soul vampires, sleep-demons Sandmen, malevolent Larvae—were summoned and began attacking the participants.
There were more summons than the previous stage because they were mid-tier, but given their extraordinary magic that couldn't be quantified, the difficulty was absurd.
Damn it! Fight!
This wasn't something you could stall out with a ten-minute staring contest; under the onslaught of powerful demonic attacks, the participants scattered.
"Saint Barrier!"
Dozens of vampires cornered Eden and slashed with their claws, whipping up winds like a storm.
A little farther off, succubi fired focused torrents of raw magic—the Magic Storm—hammering at Eden's shield.
"They're enduring both the vampires' physical attacks and the succubi's magic at once. Impressive."
Despite the praise, Elizabeth's voice lacked vitality.
"Spiral Hunter!"
Under Ruman's crowd-control spell the ground twisted like a vortex and swallowed the succubi's lower bodies.
"Wailing Barrier!"
Then a massive barrier sealed off the surroundings as Binder fired prescribed spells in rapid succession.
"Wind Cutter!"
Even a simple spell, buffed by Suabi, hit with crushing force, and at last one succubus was erased.
"Combination of 16, 18, and 20. A decent team."
"It seems mid-ranking students from the graduation evaluation banded together. Each specialty is playing its role."
They deserved praise for taking down Tier-3 demons, but Baikal said little.
He'd overseen countless graduation exams, but never before had the very standards seemed to be collapsing.
In the end, everyone was watching only one person.
Spectators and even foreign scouts had only one name on their lips—Participant Number 27.
Creatures that surrounded Eden were obliterated by a single frenzy, and the value of one Photon Cannon shot outstripped Binder team's entire firepower.
If that's the case, strategy and tactics become meaningless.
Making the value of technology meaningless—that was the true point of an unlocker, of scale magic.
-Extreme Survival Stage 8 has ended. Entering Stage 9 in 30 seconds.
As System Two Thousand announced that, Shirone—his physical amplification spent—slumped to his knees.
Ugh…
The pain that felt like his whole body was breaking was nothing compared to the shock of his shredded psyche.
Thirty seconds. I have to recover my mind within thirty seconds.
He gave everything to concentrate, but his thoughts were foggy, as if half his brain had been blown away, and his consciousness remained far off.
"This is serious."
Baikal watched Shirone panting and said, "You gambled your life for this thirty-second chance. But can you pull it back?"
26 seconds. 25 seconds.
There was no sign his dried-up well of magic would refill, and each passing second felt like the world was collapsing.
21… 20… Please…!
Shirone gripped his trembling wrist and shut his eyes tight.
Please recover! You have to recover!
19… 18…
Everyone in the Colosseum—the participants, the scouts, the audience—watched Shirone.
Catching sobs that burst from him without meaning to, he put every ounce of will into it, but it was like pouring water into a bottomless jar.
"Shirone…"
Amy bit her lip, and Iruki stared without blinking.
"Help Shirone!"
Nade shouted. "Suabi, please—cast a recovery spell on Shirone!"
Suabi's utility was monopolized by Binder, so that plea was impossible.
"Pony! Please, Refresh—"
Nade rushed to Pony and begged. "I'll pay! Anything you want…!"
"I can cast Refresh. If there's appropriate compensation."
"But he won't want that. From the first evaluation on, I don't want to become Shirone's enemy."
Iruki said coldly. "Nade, the more you act like this, the more you ruin Shirone's future."
"You're saying I'll ruin him…?"
Nade looked at Shirone, curled up and steadying his breath.
He was suffering that much…
What on earth was a mage's license worth to be worth this?
"That student's been a real spectacle since earlier."
Among the spectators, everyone inspected the participants seriously, but Nade looked like a circus monkey.
"Exactly. This is a life-or-death test, so be serious. Everyone else is fighting with their lives on the line, and he's off playing friend. Lacks basic decency."
Nade's mother, Teriya, flushed at the torrent of criticism from other parents.
"It's beyond embarrassing. That's why I said I wouldn't come. Seeing a son live so poorly and still finding excuses to attend school instead of trying to earn some money…"
"I'm proud of him."
Baloom gave a sympathetic smile as he looked at his son.
Of course she would. So he wouldn't make a single coin.
You must learn patience if you want to live with Teriya.
16 seconds. Please. 15 seconds. Please!
Half the rest period had passed and despair shadowed Shirone's face.
"Magic level?"
Elizabeth's eyes flared.
"Still zero. It seems unlikely he'll recover in time."
…Will it end as nothing more than a good attempt?
12 seconds. 11 seconds.
—What governs the mind is the heart.
Secret of the Heart of Emptiness!
Recalling the esoteric technique Zulu had taught him, Shirone slowly closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.
Inhale. Exhale.
Focus on breathing.
Let go of the graduation exam, the competition, the need to restore magic—let go of the life of a mage—and concentrate solely on being alive.
Hoo… hoo…
As the torment fell away, the pieces of his shredded mind began, impossibly, to knit themselves back together.
Nothing in this universe matters.
That was the Heart of Emptiness.
"Examiner, his magic level… it's rising again."
Shock filled Elizabeth's eyes.
"One million magicles. Two-point-two million magicles. An incredible recovery rate."
No way.
Baikal shook his head for the first time.
It shouldn't be possible for a human mind to recover so quickly after bursting past its limits.
Shirone, what kind of life did you live…?
Top secret.
Inhale.
The world drew into a point.
Exhale.
The world swelled without bound.
System Two Thousand couldn't detect it, but the audience felt, with visceral certainty, as if they were inhaling and exhaling the universe.
Seven seconds.
Inhale.
Six.
Exhale.
"This is weird. Why do I keep getting goosebumps?"
Only a few present could truly grasp what was happening in the Colosseum.
Yes, Shirone. That's you!
Rian clenched his fist, and the hooded woman's eyes flashed.
Everyone's been overlooking it. Visible skill isn't everything. Before being a mage—
She spoke up for the first time.
"Shirone is Banya."
(End of Volume 25)