[628] Two Systems (1)
Iruki aimed at the Fire Strike that swelled in an instant and calculated the detonation equation.
"Nuclear fusion!"
The Fire Strike's body ballooned like a blister and detonated with tremendous force.
"Guh!"
A shock of anti-magic washed over the minds of every participant who'd already ducked away.
'I dodged that…'
The #2000 System's attack flag had been strong enough to register an attack across the whole coliseum.
"You planning to go all the way?"
A chaotic mêlée broke out around the blast's epicenter, and through it all Fermi remained unbothered.
'This is almost boring.'
Because he'd deliberately held himself back at the final hurdle of past graduation tests, releasing his limit now made things comfortably easy.
'Wait—if I take out sixteen people, I graduate, right?'
If it was that simple, why were the others making such a fuss?
Blue electricity shimmered in front of Fermi as Raiken, having closed in with Spark magic, swung his hand.
With astonishing reflexes, Fermi widened the gap, puffed at his singed bangs, and said, "Isn't it a bit early? If you try to take me on, you'll kiss graduation goodbye."
From Fermi's flank, Sona's Hershy approached.
"That's your plan, isn't it?"
Given how Fermi had dominated past graduation exams, it was natural the participants avoided a straight fight with him.
"But your era's over. If we corner you, everyone will join in."
'Annoying.'
Hershy's analysis was correct, and Fermi, having been nailed, put on a fake smile.
"Give me a break. We've got history, you know?"
"Spare me. Do you even have feelings like that?"
Hershy activated Sona and Raiken yanked a rubbery hood over his face to the tip of his nose; Fermi's shoulders twitched.
"Kukuku. Kkkkk."
"Don't bluff. All you've got left is a miserable end."
His laughter snapped off.
"Pathetic."
Emotion drained from Fermi's face until it was almost inhumanly cold.
"Kill him!"
Hershy shivered and shouted; Raiken gathered lightning and charged.
'Magma Stream.'
The ground under Fermi's palm liquefied, and an immense surge of magma spouted up.
"An advanced fusion spell."
Combining atmospheric and fire magic required veteran skill, not just power.
"Rule-breaking. Buying experience with money, are you?"
Huge globs of magma coalesced in the sky and poured down toward Hershy and Raiken's position.
"Evade!"
Lava smashed into the ground and spread outward, swallowing the coliseum, so everyone leapt into the air.
Between Shirone and Fermi—the two systems controlling the graduation exam—the participants' heads became tangled.
'Which side should I pick?'
Canis didn't hesitate.
"I'm hitting Shirone."
Harvist unfolded a gigantic palm.
"Kuhaha—shouldn't Arcane's revenge be done right?"
Arin thought it was dangerous.
"Canis, fighting Shirone now—"
"I know what you want to say. I'm stubborn and not pragmatic."
"That's not what I meant. Why do you keep putting yourself down?"
Canis's self-abasement hurt Arin the most.
"That's exactly why I fight. If I back down here… nothing I do afterward will satisfy me."
Watching Canis's first step splash muddy water aside, Arin finally relented.
"All right. Go. This is our fight."
As always, Harvist took point.
"Kwahahaha! We're here, Shirone!"
Shirone's eyes tensed when he spotted Canis.
'As expected, Canis.'
He was a mage who'd honed his craft for battle alone and ranked among the graduating class in sheer physical strength.
"A vendetta match, Shirone."
"Anytime."
Photon Cannons and the Powers of Darkness slammed into each other head-on.
As the black-and-white contrast sharpened with neither side yielding, the scouts murmured in surprise.
"How is that possible?"
Dark magic's single flaw—its weakness to light—should negate its advantages, yet—
'My darkness will overcome light.'
Light and darkness inverted. The heavenly insight that had once guided Arcane to archmage equipped him again, and darkness began to shove aside the light.
"Kwahaha! Yes—that's it!"
Harvist roared, his body twisting like a twisted pastry as it transformed into a razor spear and plunged forward.
—Pierce through it, Harvist!
Many Shirones that existed simultaneously cast Photon Cannon, but the shadow spear didn't even twitch.
"It's swallowing the light. That number twelve—immense physical power."
Elizabeth searched Canis's record.
"He's a student of Viltor Arcane. Arcane also stood out in physical strength. That's why he was so stubborn."
If affinity matchups favored brute strength, no one matched Arcane, who rose to archmage with dark magic.
"Matchups between affinities are a different matter from raw power. It's a fight over who can impose theirs."
"This time I win, Shirone!"
The more Canis focused, the faster Harvist—the shadow spear—moved.
"No, Canis."
Shirone's movement halted. The many Shirones superposed in the Force Dimension evaporated as if erased.
"I will not lose to anyone."
Lowering his center, Shirone thrust his right hand back. Dozens of Shirones trembled as afterimages and began to stack.
'Concentrate every incident to a single coordinate.'
As if an earthquake had struck, Shirone's body trembled and a Photon Cannon formed just outside his palm.
"That's it."
Miro pointed at the sky with her finger.
"Extremes meet at the top."
The ability to carve time into space had parallels with the Thousand-Handed Avalokiteśvara incarnation technique.
The difference was that Shirone's Quantum Superposition overlaid the incident itself, and the magic focused at that single coordinate swelled into a giant sphere.
Quantum Superposition—128-fold overlay.
A two-meter-wide burst manifested with the force of 128 Shirones firing Photon Cannon at once and pushed out toward Harvist.
"Take this, Harvist!"
"Kieeeeeee!"
The shadow spear extended sharp barbs behind it and spun; the massive flash engulfed it whole.
Countless eyes watched the clash of light and darkness.
A ringing in the ears.
"Huh?"
A high-pitched beep felt like it connected both eardrums.
I couldn't see; moments later I realized sensation had drained from my whole body.
"…Canis!"
Arin's voice came from high in the sky.
'What? Why does that voice sound like it's up there?'
I tried to pull at memory, but the instant Harvist struck the Photon Cannon my brain felt as if it'd slipped out of my body and thought went numb.
'Where am I right now?'
I shook my head, but whether my body followed was uncertain.
Vision returned slowly enough.
It took longer still to confirm I'd collapsed in the middle of a lava plain formed by cooled magma.
'I fell? I did? Why?'
"Canis! Dodge!"
As Arin's voice rang clear, a flash tore across the sky.
"Guh!"
Harvist, who'd sprung upright, appeared before Canis and took the Photon Cannon on his body.
"Aaaah!"
As every nerve woke, real pain flooded in.
'Impossible.'
In other words, the impact I felt before blacking out had seemed utterly unreal.
—Canis, you okay?
Harvist's signal came over the mental channel.
—What happened?
—I couldn't pierce him. I was outmatched in physical power. Because you lost consciousness I couldn't move either.
"I… was outmatched?"
Even after negating the light-dark affinity by decoding it, he'd been routed.
"Now! Hit Shirone!"
Seeing Canis start, the participants who'd been waiting for an opening surged forward at once.
Screamer, Conger, and Prings hit in concert while Arin launched a mental strike, yet Shirone's gaze only sharpened.
"A mage who can respond to every variable?"
Each boasted pride in a single specialty, but Shirone met them one-on-one and didn't falter.
Elizabeth said in a trembling voice, "His mental strength is recovering. It's already past thirty percent. He's in a runner's high."
Light flashed in Shirone's eyes.
'Immortal Function!'
Mental power surging from the infinite domain intensified his focus and the Force Dimension's efficiency soared.
"Thirty-six percent! Forty percent! It keeps recovering!"
Ataraxia, Elysion, Sibulsangpokmae, Immortal Function—everything that made Shirone who he was cycled.
"…A flawless system, is it."
Even while embroiled in enemy attacks, Shirone's mind sharpened.
'Strange.'
Logic couldn't explain it, but the movements of everyone opposing him felt as if they were irrelevant to his situation.
'I don't feel like I'll lose. I don't feel danger.'
"He's completely opened his lid."
Albino stroked his chin and muttered; Miro's eyes glittered like she'd found a gem.
"He's started to hear the sound of his own heartbeat."
Poltar turned as if to ask why, but Miro only watched Shirone's fluid motions.
'Time perceived by the brain is split by the heart. That's the essence of rhythm.'
So those who could hear the heartbeat…
"He can split all time into his own rhythm."
"Damn it! If only one strike landed properly…!"
Screamer threw his body at Shirone with everything he had, but no matter the tactic, he couldn't so much as graze him.
He'd been trapped in Shirone's rhythm.
"Please, just land one hit!"
Screamer's body left afterimages as he charged; Shirone's rhythm subdivided into ever-finer beats.
'Evade here.'
A punch brushed past on a steady beat, and an offbeat that bisected the interval became a new steady beat, further subdividing time.
"Uooooooo!"
No matter how fast Screamer moved, he was already a puppet caught in Shirone's rhythm.
"No chance."
Baikal said, "Even a one-hit knockout technique is useless if it doesn't land."
The feeling of a lifetime of martial training becoming null was Screamer's most miserable humiliation.
"This can't be! How could not a single hit land…!"
Other participants pressed Shirone with violent magic, but to him all those moments arrived as individually subdivided incidents.
"Ah—I get it."
In a trance, Shirone's movements were like a dance—art rather than technique—so there was no waste.
"To dance this brief, single moment…"
Albino realized what kind of life Shirone had lived.
"To have filled most of his years with experiences of suffering."
Miro breathed out.
"…A privilege only arrogance can enjoy."
"Exactly me…!"
A light of certainty exploded in Shirone's mind.
"I am the strongest!"
Quantum Superposition—240-fold overlay.
Drdrdrdrdrdrdr!
Following his body's rhythm, 239 Shirones concentrated Photon Cannon on a single coordinate.
As he swung his arm, a massive flash surged out and struck Screamer's abdomen.
"Ughk!"
The impact felt like an explosion in his brain; Screamer's eyes bulged and his consciousness was already gone.
—Participant number 10 has disconnected from System 2000.
Participants went pale and turned away at the ghastly sight of Screamer sprawled out.
"Strongest, huh?"
It was hard to believe such words came from someone apparently humble, yet the force of dozens of Shirones charging was unstoppable.
"Yeah. This is your festival, Shirone."
Miro thought he deserved it.
"Run wild like a mad colt."