[632] What Truly Matters (2)
A thin-legged pilot insect fell to the ground with a plop, and Amy's boot crushed it.
"I won't forgive you."
Whether Shirone had helped Maya or not, she would make him answer for it.
Humiliation at having her feelings exposed and shame at being manipulated by another's will fanned Amy's fury.
'Ignite!'
Her body flared like dry kindling as the fire spirit Ifrit materialized.
But everyone's expectations were overturned when Ifrit lunged for Shirone.
'Shirone…! So infuriatingly kind!'
Ifrit's fist whipped up a blast of hot wind as it swung, and the afterimages of Shibulsang Pokmae cut through the flames.
At that unexpected turn, Amy's hand grabbed Shirone by the collar.
"We'll settle this after the test."
Shirone smiled faintly as Amy spun and hurled him at Pishot.
"Cheh!"
Pishot raised Argones, but in the single second already seen in the future, the photon cannon had detonated against his abdomen.
"Ugh!"
In reality his body might have been mangled, but the 2,000-fold anti-magic wasn't physical force.
'Good. One down first!'
An Atomic Bomb chain explosion tore through the groggy Pishot.
- Participant number 24. Removed from the 2000 System.
There were now thirteen survivors.
Shirone and his friends had taken out Pishot with a surprise pincer attack, but the most likely next elimination was, unsurprisingly, Shirone himself.
"Hah. Hah."
If it weren't for the tension of the graduation exam, Shirone would already be exhausted; his mental stamina had bottomed out.
"A mage—"
He could hardly make his voice come out.
'It'll be okay.'
As the participants' magic concentrated on Shirone, his percentage value finally dropped below one percent.
'I'm sorry, Shirone.'
Maya struggled desperately to pull herself up.
"Taha!"
Kaden still stood guard at her side, but her eyes saw only Shirone.
'It's my fault. I was weak…'
If she hadn't gone into the ant nest to save him, they wouldn't be facing elimination now.
'But that's Shirone.'
Among mages ruled by cold reason, he had been the only one to show her genuine care.
'He'll never change.'
Moisture gathered in Maya's eyes.
"I love you so much."
Unregulated Rite — "Only This Moment."
When her song began, the contestants were forcibly frozen and the VIP box murmured.
"Magic power reading: 120 million Magicles."
"What?"
"Only This Moment" was the song Maya had sung the one and only time she'd been on stage.
"It's an unregulated rite."
The contestants, realizing their focus had been forcibly loosened, glanced around and felt the gravity of the situation.
'Mental strength is recovering.'
Meanwhile, Shirone's spirit surged upward.
'Accept my song, Shirone.'
It was an extreme risk she could use only once in her life, but producing the 120 million Magicle level of concentration was attributable solely to her genius.
'Incredible skill.'
Even Reina, who as a court musician had heard countless voices, felt a resonance in this one that could not be measured by technique.
"Maya…"
Tears sprang to the chieftain's eyes.
When she was twelve, Maya had had the chance to open for the singer Canaria. Even then her voice had stunned the crowd, but the only response had been jeers.
'Being too talented was her downfall.'
Canaria's popularity was so vast that the audience couldn't accept the opening performance of a twelve-year-old. No second chance was given, and when she learned only perverse nobles offered sponsorship, she gave up on being a singer.
"Only—this moment."
At first the contestants had resisted, but now they had no choice but to listen.
'My hairs are standing on end.'
Colli grabbed his hair with both hands and trembled.
'Who would call this girl weak?'
He had been the one to bring twelve-year-old Maya to the School of Magic, captivated by her.
'I'm not singing to look impressive. I didn't practice every day to be judged.'
That was why it wasn't the most polished performance, but it was sincere—true feeling born of the kind of pain that could only be transmuted by that posture of looking up from the lowest place.
'If things like this exist, everything becomes beautiful…'
Criticize, analyze, compare, rank.
'Do we rank our own feelings?'
If not, there's no hierarchy to Maya's song.
"Only—this moment!"
As the song reached its peak, a fierce wave of emotion rocked the contestants' minds.
"Shirone's percentage is rising while everyone else's values are falling."
"She's not stealing from others to give to him. It's a balancing ability."
In theory, it was an emotional equalizer produced by the resonance of her voice.
"Ugh!"
When Maya's pure high note pierced the sky, Sabina, unable to bear the tension of that emotion, fainted.
'Two more!'
With two eliminations left until the final ten were decided, Pony bit her lip until it bled.
'This can't be! Why isn't anyone falling!'
As the desperate pleasure of the contestants' frustration reached its peak at the nobility's downfall—
"Hah!"
Pony's knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground.
'I did my best…'
What had she lacked?
Without finding an answer, she, like the other eliminated contestants, slammed her forehead into the dirt.
'Now one left.'
As the participants' wills flared even hotter, only Kaden wore a sad smile.
'I love you, Maya.'
Watching Maya, who looked only at Shirone, Kaden offered his farewell.
'I don't think I can go with you.'
When the song ended, Maya would collapse from exhaustion, but the future that awaited her would be entirely different from Kaden's fall.
'I want you to be happy. I mean it.'
With a clink as his cross-sword hit the ground, Kaden closed his eyes and accepted the song with all his heart.
It wasn't technique.
Because it wasn't technique, the moment you accepted it prejudice dissolved, and her song became not magic but feeling that soaked into the chest.
'My muse…'
As Kaden silently fell, a voice of pure, unstained clarity echoed across the sky.
"Go—away—now."
A chill ran down the spines of everyone gathered in the Coliseum.
'A genius. No need to test that.'
Reina stared at Maya in astonishment.
To have moved everyone present—scouts from around the world—meant her tomorrow would be utterly different from today.
'It's over.'
Maya drew a slow breath and lifted her head to look at Shirone.
"Thank you for everything, Shirone."
Shirone could not speak; he only bowed his head with the most reverent air.
This had been a song she sang for only one person, and now all that remained was for her to become the most famous person in the world.
"Goodbye…"
As Maya closed her eyes and collapsed, the unregulated rite ended and the contestants regained their freedom.
Their minds spun as they faced reality.
'Wait—so what happens now?'
- Participant number 26. Removed from the 2000 System. The final ten have been decided.
The 2000 System continued its announcement.
- Mystic Maya. Final graduation rank: 10th confirmed. Remaining participants: 9.
"Wooooaaah!"
The audience rose as one in a standing ovation.
It was applause for the ten who had passed graduation, but even more so praise for Maya, who had overcome adversity to finally earn the right to be called a mage.
"Chieftain! Sister—sister!"
Maya's siblings could not finish their sentences, and the chieftain secretly wiped his tears away.
'Well done! Truly well done, Maya!'
As praise poured in for Maya, who had gloriously cleared the final gate of graduation, Elizabeth asked,
"Mystic Maya. Please deliver your final evaluation."
From tenth place onward, graduates were formally scouted, so etiquette demanded they be called by name rather than number.
"F. She's lacking in every respect to operate as a mage."
As if she had expected it, Lara clicked her tongue and began to write, but Baikal unusually added a supplemental remark.
"But if I ever have a chance to attend one of her performances, I'll make sure to book an S seat."
The Coliseum's applause showed no sign of stopping, and the remaining contestants felt their legs give out.
'Passed. I passed.'
Whatever else, the thrill of having succeeded at graduation was intoxicating.
'Really… I graduated?'
Amy felt both an unreal elation and a crushing sense of relief.
But it lasted only a moment; she steeled herself and shook her head.
'Get a grip. It's not over yet.'
If you let yourself be satisfied, that's where you stop.
Around them, the other contestants, faces saying it wasn't finished yet, gathered in the center of the Coliseum.
"First, congratulations…."
Dante lifted his chin. "But we still have to decide who's the best, right?"
As if on cue, everyone's gaze fixed on one person, and Shirone smiled and loosened his throat.
"Anytime."
Maya's unregulated rite had equalized the contestants' mental strength.
So this was a fresh start; no one needed to worry about elimination anymore—the true contest began.
"Uuuuuuu!"
Then the crowd began to jeer.
Unlike the contestants in the center vowing to give their all, the voices were aimed at Nade standing in the corner.
"Coward! What kind of mage are you!"
"There's no mage who passes on luck alone! Give your spot to someone else!"
Shirone had been the most prominent, but other contestants had each fought desperately from their positions to take a pass.
Nade, by contrast, had shown no mage-like ability in the first evaluation, and in the second he had arrived here through an absurd stroke of luck without clashing with anyone.
Given Maya's success and the audience steeped in emotion, it was only natural they resented his inclusion in the final round.
"Nade is not a coward."
Reese, attending as an Alpheas School of Magic graduate, looked at Nade with a pained expression.
"He's just… lost his way."
She who had erased the only path left to Nade felt that more keenly than anyone.
"If you give him one more chance—"
Reese clasped her hands and prayed that Nade would not let go of that last thread of hope.
"West Nade. He has shown nothing warranting judgment. No combat. No one chose to face him."
Elizabeth's words were nodded to by Lara.
"Luck is a kind of skill, yes. But this is extreme luck. Has anything like this happened before?"
"Impossible."
"Pardon?"
Baikal spoke with a grave look.
"There's no probability someone would rise to the final rankings while avoiding conflict. So it's not that Nade fled; it's more accurate to say everyone fled from Nade."
"But… he didn't look particularly skilled."
"That's why they're jeering. I don't know—what could they have feared so much that they refused to fight, even at the risk of death?"
For a mage, something more terrifying than death—
"An uncontrollable situation."
Baikal lifted his head, realization dawning.
"A variable capable of destroying the system. What they feared was perfect chaos."