[630] Two Systems (3)
The impact of two-thirds of a Photon Cannon cast through Ataraxia striking a single point was something no one could take—even if it happened two thousand times over.
"Aaaargh!"
As Fermi collapsed to the ground and writhed, everyone instinctively stopped fighting and turned to look.
"Fermi…."
He screamed in agony.
Students who knew him and even the teachers, seeing something they'd never witnessed before, fell silent in the colosseum.
"12 million Crash?"
In reality the entire radius would have been flattened. It was, in a way, lucky that the figure was expressed as the 2,000× multiplier.
"The power isn't the only problem. The mass is small, but it struck at a velocity far beyond the speed of sound."
If divine punishment uses high-altitude potential energy, the Angel's Punishment creates kinetic energy by inverting time and space.
Its raw power didn't match divine punishment, but the precision strike capability using a Manifestation and the ultra-high-speed projectile that even teleportation couldn't evade made it plainly overpowered.
"Hah, hah."
Shirone glared at Fermi trembling on the ground and exhaled heavily.
A Manifestation was a realm, but because the Angel's Punishment incorporated magic, it still ate into his mental strength.
"The percentage value has dropped to twenty-seven percent."
'Dispassion.'
For a moment the meaning of the world was cut off, and through the Immortal Function his mental power began to recover.
"Thirty percent. Thirty-two percent. It's rising again."
Elizabeth no longer looked surprised.
"A near-perfect mechanism."
It wasn't just high-efficiency magic; countless functions were endlessly being combined as needed.
"Arghhhh!"
When Fermi howled and forced himself up, the spectators felt as if they were watching a scene from a horror story.
"He survived that?"
Elizabeth reported.
"Mental gauge at fifty percent. It's magic."
Without equivalent exchange, filling half of one's mental gauge was impossible.
Depreciation Contract—Demon's Forfeit.
By giving up ownership of all assets acquired outside regulations, one could double a spell's efficiency, but once cast the magic carried the risk that the contract could be voided.
"He changed his mind."
Fermi stared only at Shirone.
"I'll make sure you're eliminated."
Depreciation Contract—Gipoxigang.
Krrrrr!
Thick black clouds twisted into a vortex, filled with what looked like flaming air, and a blizzard charged with lightning swept through.
"Climatic magic, Gipoxigang. Damn Black Line."
While the Red Line's archmages received kingdom support, Black Line mages always needed money.
Of course, Pentaros—the archmage ranked among the world's hundred most dangerous—wouldn't hand over a spell for chump change, but if something interested him, he might lend it freely.
"You traded to break the balance of the graduation exam. This is a blatant attack on the Red Line. The Association should file a complaint with Pentaros."
"The agreement wasn't breached. He didn't intervene personally. That's not the point. Gipoxigang controls every phenomenon of the natural world."
Fermi floated like a god and looked down at Shirone.
"Die."
Flames fell with forked lightning, and sharp hail poured down like a merciless local storm.
When winds sharper than blades swept past, Shirone's mental gauge began to be shredded.
'This is enormous power. I'll be driven back like this.'
It was time to counterattack, but Fermi had vanished into the storm clouds.
"Hahahaha! How does it feel to be a frog in a well?"
Faced with brutal natural phenomena, the other participants didn't dare press forward.
"This is ridiculous. What kind of graduation exam allows magic like that?"
As Ruman said, it was top-tier Black Line magic, and even the academy teachers couldn't guess at spells that defied nature's laws.
"Massively overpowered. Fermi won't hold out long either."
"The percentage value is dropping rapidly. At this rate, he'll be exhausted in five minutes."
He intended only to eliminate Shirone, ignoring the consequences.
'I can't give up here!'
Diving into the Gipoxigang clouds, a massive current clung to him and electricity ran through his entire body.
"To catch a devil you must go into hell."
"Shirone's mental strength is depleting rapidly. He'll be exhausted in three minutes."
The thunder of the storm cloud echoed through the colosseum.
'I've won, Shirone.'
Fermi watched Shirone's face grow paler with pleasure.
'One more year? Let's have some fun together.'
Even if he were eliminated afterward, wouldn't hell be fun as long as he was with Shirone?
"Ughhh!"
Opening Immortal Function, Shirone squeezed every last drop from the Photon Cannon and Fermi quickly backed off.
'He can just dodge it.'
Then his head swam and the scenery warped dizzyingly.
"What…?"
"Time's up."
Boil in the audience looked to Pandora.
"Time's up for what?"
"Scent magic—Paralysis of Pleasure. It's a strategy Master Mael taught me. Colorless and odorless, it addicts you without you knowing. The downside is it takes a long time."
"On Fermi?"
"I built it up little by little. It was the only way I could fight. In the end it still didn't reach sufficient levels…."
Pandora looked up at the Gipoxigang.
"At least bite his heel."
"Ughhh!"
The Photon Cannon flew at Fermi, smearing the bridge of his nose.
"Aaah!"
He screamed and bent his torso as if about to snap; a flash grazed his ear.
'I'm not some insect to be bitten!'
Fermi spread his arms wide and Gipoxigang rumbled as massive electricity struck Shirone.
"It's over!"
That was the first second.
"Shibulsangpokmae!"
Spreading countless golden strands, Shirone compressed a single Photon Cannon.
"No way…!"
Every time he calculated space to evade, Shirone's afterimages scattered, and finally a flash struck Fermi in the abdomen.
"Ugh!"
- Participant No. 1 has exited the 2,000× system.
Shock filled everyone's faces as they watched the storm clouds dissipate.
"Fermi… has been eliminated."
When the Gipoxigang clouds cleared and Fermi fell to the ground, everyone who knew him stood dumbfounded.
"Fermi's off-regulation spell was undeniably excellent," Alpheas said bitterly, watching his student's end.
"But a mage's pride can't be bought with money."
In fading consciousness, Fermi fixed his eyes on Shirone floating in the victor's place.
'Manifestation.'
And the many magics linked to that Manifestation.
"That is…."
Fermi's eyes closed.
'I couldn't buy that no matter how much I offered.'
With a thud his body struck the ground.
No one rushed to catch him; they simply watched his unconscious form without emotion.
"Is he… dead?"
Olivia answered the crowd's question.
"The impact was quieter than expected. It's an automatic response algorithm."
Alpheas let out a hollow laugh.
"He was really overconfident."
That he'd been so sure of himself yet still considered the possibility of defeat was, in the end, very Fermi of him.
"Ugh!"
Shirone dropped to the ground, clutching his chest and trembling.
"I'm pretty drained. Well, of course."
No matter how excellent a system, recovery efficiency inevitably declines.
'Fifteen remain. Fermi is out and Shirone is exhausted.'
For everyone, graduation was becoming a tangible possibility.
'I need to eliminate five more. Five people.'
As they all sized each other up, Ruman smirked.
'My team's gone, but…'
A crowd-control technician never needed allies in the first place.
'I'll control the battlefield!'
Crowd Controller—Ant Nest.
As Ruman focused, his body trembled and massive amounts of earth rose from the colosseum's outer rim, forming a domed maze.
"What scale."
"It's a maze with anti-magic applied. That'll be hard to escape."
A crowd-control mage taking the lead signaled complete confidence.
"Dammit! What is he thinking?"
Trapped in a hemisphere that let in no light, the participants cast Shining spells one after another.
'Heh heh, crafty bastard.'
Only Fjord, at the dome's center, seemed to understand and shrugged.
"So you dare use me?"
Still, it was such an excellent strategy they had no choice but to play along.
"Then gladly…."
Fjord's hands glowed green as he traced a circle.
Mass-affliction magic—Pryus.
Centered on him, a gas of extreme toxicity erupted and poured into the complex tunnels.
"Poison magic! Most participants' mental gauges are dropping rapidly."
"Does the one who endures graduate?"
"Arghhhhh!"
Though the Ant Nest's interior wasn't visible, screams burst through the walls and drained color from the spectators' faces.
"Exit! Where's the exit?"
It was a three-dimensional maze and the walls had anti-magic, so even the Spirit Zone couldn't pinpoint locations.
"Not a bad situation."
Having neutralized the poison in his own body, Richard vented gas through a side ejector, while Pisho donned a large beetle-shaped antidote device like a gas mask and wandered the dark tunnels.
"This ends here."
Insect magic—Parasite.
Half of his right arm melted into a doughy mass and transformed into the upper body of a grub-like parasitic insect.
It was the Argones parasite his master Keller had taught him about.
"Pisho!"
From one of the six branching tunnels, Amy leapt out and froze.
'Of all people, Pisho.'
Her eyes blinked ruby-red, but the shock of the deadly toxin was depleting her mental strength even faster.
'I'm at a disadvantage here.'
It was a confined space, and facing Pisho, who could detoxify the poison, would be disadvantageous.
'Amy will be the sacrifice.'
If his feelings toward her were measured by fondness, they leaned toward affection.
'She's always so diligent.'
It was like an older brother's pity for a younger sister.
"Too bad for you. You met the wrong person."
"Don't be ridiculous! Does luck decide a graduation exam?"
Seeing Amy still defiant eased his conscience a little.
"I won't be too rough."
Pisho raised his right arm and the Argones gaped its huge mandibles with a grotesque shriek.
'I have to find Maya!'
Kaiden dashed like a madman through the Ant Nest's tunnels searching for Maya.
'She won't hold out.'
If anyone couldn't handle this, it was the mentally fragile Maya.
'Hold on! Maya!'
Steeling his wavering focus against the shock of the poison, Kaiden picked up his pace.
'This is it.'
Maya lay in the Ant Nest's clearing, blinking like a dying animal.
She had done her best, but luck had mattered more than skill in this pathetic exam.
'I guess she won't be able to return to school.'
She'd probably have to go back to her tribe and sell goods to feed her siblings.
Footsteps sounded, and a figure flickered in the poisonous gas.
'She can't even fight, anyway.'
"Maya?"
The moment she heard the voice her eyes snapped open.
"Shirone?"
Seeing Shirone stride toward her without caution, her heart pounded.
'No. How long have I been holding this back….'
Perhaps someone more precious than life.
"Maya, are you okay?"
That gentle voice unclenched her bolt.
"Sniff, sob."
Maya, who had been holding back, finally collapsed and bawled like a fool.
"Shirone—."