[627] Prajna's Magic (4)
"Boil!"
While everyone kept their guard on Shirone, only Pandora ran to Boil.
She confirmed his face was pressed to the ground and he was convulsing, then spun him over and shouted.
"Get the medics! He looks unconscious!"
As she tilted his head to secure his airway, a soft sob escaped him.
"Ugh… huu—"
Boil was sobbing.
The sight of him unable to move even a finger, with countless eyes fixed on him, only made the scene more miserable.
"Why did this happen to me…?"
When he and Pandora had vied for the top of the advanced class, he never imagined such a hopeless outcome.
"I did my best…"
The world does not want everyone to be happy.
"You did well, Boil."
It wasn't just about that single year in the graduating class.
"Make sure you pass, Pandora."
Pandora, feeling genuine sympathy from Boil's last words as he was carried out on a stretcher, glared at Shirone.
"Guhk!"
The instant her eyes met Shirone's unshaken, watchful gaze, she found herself backing away without meaning to.
'I can't win in a straight fight.'
Her anger simmered in the face of cold reality, but the weak have their own ways of fighting.
"I understand how he feels."
Mark, having finished emergency care and taken a seat in the stands, said.
"Honestly, I didn't expect the gap to be this big."
When Shirone told him to back off he'd been furious, but after watching the conclusion of the survival trial, all that remained was hollow misery.
"Don't beat yourself up, Mark. Think of it as valuable experience."
Maria's consolation made Mark grit his teeth and bow his head. At that moment, Sade approached.
"Maria is right."
"Teacher Sade."
Mark turned reflexively but couldn't bring himself to meet Sade's eyes, and dropped his head again.
"We have to be honest. You did your best. But the difference between you and Shirone is on a whole other level."
"Talent, huh."
Everyone throws the word "talent" around, but no one actually claims it for themselves.
"Maybe such a thing exists. But even if it does, humans aren't that remarkable, Mark."
Sade turned his gaze toward Shirone and continued.
"No one can create something from nothing. That's not talent. It's just that Shirone has had overwhelmingly more experience, more failures, and more problems he's had to solve than you have."
"Experience… you mean?"
"Yes. And now, through today's test, you've gained the kind of experience most people never get."
Mark finally looked at Sade.
"Only those who rise from failure grow stronger. Skill and raw power aren't everything."
A familiar voice cut in.
"So he's a mage who can handle every variable?"
Sade turned in surprise, and Mark and Maria brightened.
"Senior Seriel!"
She'd graduated Alpheas Magic School a year earlier and was Amy's close friend.
"Hello, Teacher Sade."
"It's been a year. I heard you passed the certification. What have you been up to?"
"I recently started an internship at the World Health Organization."
Mark's eyes went wide.
'World Health Organization. She actually did it.'
For a healing mage it was a dream job—and it was also the goal of Maria, the woman Mark liked.
"Oh, that's fantastic! Congratulations!"
"Hehe, I was lucky. A lot of familiar problems came up on the exam."
No one gets into the WHO by luck, so Seriel's casual composure felt like someone from another world.
'That's what a professional aura looks like.'
It wasn't makeup or a suit—confidence radiated from every word and movement.
"Come find us after the exam. Everyone will be glad to see you."
"Sure. I'll stop by later."
After Sade left, Seriel leaned on the back of Mark's chair and looked down into the colosseum.
'Amy. You finally came back.'
She'd felt guilty for a year after watching Amy be knocked out early of the graduation exam because of the Gold Orb collusion.
"Sit here, senior."
Mark scooted over and offered her the seat. Seriel set her shoulder bag on her lap and sat.
"Thanks. Things are getting interesting."
"They're incredible. Shirone turned the tide in an instant. On the other hand, Senior Amy… still doesn't seem to be showing her full strength."
Seriel gave a wry smile at Mark's frank assessment.
"She's too soft-hearted."
"Pardon? Amy?"
"She still hasn't made up her mind."
Watching Shirone unfurl his Force Dimension and keep every foe in his sight, Amy felt a mix of emotions.
'I wish he'd at least say something.'
She knew private feelings had no place in a graduation exam, but right now everyone was an enemy to Shirone.
'Even the day he came to see me…'
Was Shirone thinking about the current situation?
"Outwardly fiery, Amy's actually softer than I am. She can't ignore someone in pain. Even if asked for forgiveness, she'll fold and take them in."
Listening to Seriel, Amy realized it was true.
"It must be harder because it's Shirone."
"But it'll be fine."
Seriel watched her friend fiercely controlling the field with pride.
"Karmis won't forgive two mistakes."
Amy's crimson eyes flared.
'This is where it begins!'
Unlike the early elimination a year ago, the current situation was even; there was no need to be nervous.
'I just have to take my own graduation exam!'
Amy's movement was the signal—other contestants teleported at once.
As Shirone rotated, Amy's Fire Strike slammed into the Prings aiming at his rear.
'Targeting me?'
A Pring blocked with a veil of ice and tilted its head in confusion. Iruki, Dorothy, and Hershi attacked other contestants.
"The new system pushes out the old."
Baikal's analysis was accurate.
If you couldn't take Shirone down immediately, there was no point stubbornly sticking to a losing plan.
It made more sense to use Shirone's system to eliminate other contestants—better odds of passing that way.
Purely selfish calculation left no room for emotion, and the battle began to dissolve into chaotic melee.
"Damn it! What the hell is this?"
Screamer, still undecided, glared at Shirone amid the crossfire.
'One hit and he might go down.'
Everyone knew Shirone was exhausted, but no one could find a way to break Quantum Superposition.
'Should I do it? Just take it head-on?'
While Screamer hesitated, Shirone's friend-or-foe identification ran at lightning speed.
'There are no allies. If they want to use me, maybe it's better to strike from the rear.'
Not a bad choice, but so far more people opposed his system than followed it.
'Eliminate the neutrals first.'
When Shirone targeted Screamer and charged, the man who had been wavering abruptly widened the distance.
'Screw this! I won't be the sacrificial lamb.'
Diving blindly into Shirone's Force Dimension—Shirone's domain—was suicide.
"Heh, a monster's a monster."
Fermi, still composed for the moment, circled wide to avoid Shirone's area.
'A four-dimensional space, huh…'
Shirone's Force Dimension was a miniature of the upper layers of Istas, where all events coexist simultaneously.
The difference was that Gahun's Force Dimension used stop-magic's time device, so there's no limit to how many layers you can stack.
'This could be interesting. Want to try breaking through it?'
Judging by the spells Shirone had cast so far, his mental gauge was probably below ten percent.
'No, not yet.'
Even so, Quantum Superposition was powerful enough that Fermi wouldn't risk throwing himself into an uncertain fight.
"That must be Shirone."
Iruki's father, Albino, smiled.
"For one person's system to draw twenty-six different responses means there's almost no crack to exploit."
Amy's father Shakora agreed.
"He has a massive presence. Saying he's controlling the battlefield fits perfectly."
Arganes nudged Albino.
"Honey, don't talk only about Shirone—analyze Iruki too. You are his father, after all."
"You're quick, but there's too much going on."
That ended Albino's analysis of his son.
"By the way…"
Shakora stared at Shirone—the only one in the colosseum moving freely.
"Whatever he's showing now must be why he could fight at full power in the first evaluation. Is it improvisation, or a premeditated strategy?"
"Probably both."
Albino tracked Shirone with his gaze.
"A calculating person would never choose a strategy like that. But it's not reckless pushing either."
"Then…?"
"He just knows."
Albino could guess Shirone's thought process.
"He must have experienced countless failures and corresponding successes. Repeat that enough and you learn—no matter what problem comes up, you'll eventually find a solution. You start to believe that about yourself."
"…Self-insight, you mean."
"Yes. In Yongrei they say the lid of the mind has opened—thought flows freely like water."
Shakora watched Shirone calmly dominate the field and bait enemy reactions.
"Amazing. Definitely the kind to make someone fall for him…"
"Yes, Iruki is—"
They spoke at the same time.
"Worth falling for."
Shakora turned to Albino.
"Huh?"
Albino smiled without a word and drank in Iruki, who was fighting on Shirone's side.
'Nice problem, kid. Do your best.'
Calculations flashed through Iruki's mind.
'Seven are trying to use Shirone. Best play is to remove my rival. The trickiest opponent is—'
Iruki fixed his gaze on Dante.
'You.'
Dante also intended to use Shirone's system, but allies didn't mean anything here.
'Atomic Bomb!'
A chain of explosions raced forward, and Dante neatly slipped out of the blast's path.
'Alright, let's do this.'
Since the Royal Magic School days he had always considered this someone he had to face.
Central Computation Magic Circle—Pascal.
Two hundred instance runes rose around him, each glowing a different color, and the spectators roared.
"So it truly begins."
Automata sprang into action and a torrent of magic poured out as Iruki teleported in a zigzag.
'Pascal's a fine spell.'
Iruki's Spirit Zone slammed into Pascal.
'But logic can't beat me.'
Overdrive!
Electricity surged through the circuits that made up his brain, his eyes flashed, and Pascal's nodes were analyzed in an instant.
'Cancellation!'
He thought that was the end.
"What the—?"
But Pascal was still intact, two hundred eyes rising to aim at Iruki.
'Encrypted?'
Pascal's circuits were triple-locked with knot-theory security.
"You didn't really leave it unprepared, did you?"
Dante spread his arms and flew above Pascal; two hundred amplification circles overlapped into a tunnel.
Ultra-precision serial magic array—Baekdo.
"If you are the pinnacle of logic, then I am the architect who handles it."
Kiiiiiiing!
A Fire Strike sent through two hundred circles in series was amplified to 189 times its original power and launched.