[634] What Truly Matters (4)
From the Radiant Seraph's incarnation stacked at a single coordinate, three hundred flashes fanned out like a net.
To the human eye it was clearly simultaneous, but in truth it was a convergence of extreme temporal offsets.
Of the 300 incarnations—excluding Shirone's, who had unfolded a Force Dimension—the other 299 hurled spears from different timeframes, and Nade, who cast Spark magic, kept being born and unmade among the strobing flashes.
While eighty-seven spears driven into the ground dimmed one after another, ninety-three still descended from the sky; the Radiant Seraph was swinging spears of light within time fractured to its limits.
Eighty-five, seventy-three, forty-nine...
Those who blinked after the Seraph's barrage had not even closed their eyelids a tenth of the way.
Between the spears that had just struck the ground and the vast gulf to the spears still clutched in the Seraph's hands, Nade realized in the pure realm of signals:
With each repetition of the Seraph's punishment, the Radiant Seraph's temporal intervals were squeezing the evasion window to the extreme.
Three, two, one.
As Nade dodged the two hundred and ninety-ninth spear, his possibilities were bound to Movement Zero.
Shirone's Radiant Seraph—having released the Force Dimension—drove the three hundredth spear into the ground.
Nade still stood at the center of that vast space.
But that point had already become merely the terminus of an event that had passed through every coordinate.
And the spear of light pierced him.
"Kraaaaaaa!"
Struck by one of the three hundred spears fanned out in every direction, Nade straightened and screamed.
The audience, unable to imagine the clash of time and electricity that had occurred in that instant, only admired the grand spectacle of light.
"Hit!"
When the flash that had pierced Nade vanished, all remaining participants concentrated their fire.
"Bring him down!"
Richard's mana gem spat flame at full output, and Iruki's Nuclear Fusion detonated into a massive explosion.
Where Prings' ice wave had swept, Amy's Inferno arced and fell.
It was firepower worthy of the final stage of the graduation exam, but the percentage figure hovering on the analysts' retinas for Nade fell so slowly it was hard to notice without close scrutiny.
"It's pointless. Anti-magic can't even dent him."
"The System 2000 being too perfect is a problem too."
Baikal thought that, in this case, maybe it would have been better if the system had crashed.
"Kraaaaaa!"
Plasma spread around Nade, a white radiance like a scratch flaring outward.
"You bastard!"
The six remaining players scattered in all directions from around Nade.
Thud! As the air scorched, Nade appeared in front of Prings.
He thought, I have to dodge—, but his body moved faster than his mind.
Do it!
Nade's fingertips brushed skin.
- Druze Prings. Final graduation ranking confirmed: 7th place. Remaining participants: 6.
Does a graze mean instant death?
From the final ten onward, a single rank made the whole feel different; the key was to hold on as long as possible.
"This will be a clear benchmark."
Elizabeth said.
"For deciding final ranks?"
"No. It's too extravagant a criterion to use only for ranking."
"Then?"
"We're not deciding the kingdom's number one."
Baikal felt the thrill of a scout.
"We're deciding the greatest in the entire history of the kingdom."
In perfect chaos, the scouts' attention focused on who could endure the longest against something as immense and natural as Nade.
I can dodge! I can keep fighting!
Richard blasted flames from his left leg, leapt into the air, and looked down at Nade.
Neural circuits predicted trajectories as freezing magic shells fired razor-sharp ice rounds in rapid succession—and then Nade vanished.
- Warning! Frame deviation!
Disappearing faster than the lens could capture at 180 frames per second, Richard gritted his teeth and fired his left-foot thruster.
"Damn it!"
A fingertip that had appeared from the sky narrowly missed Richard; in any case, it hadn't been a dodged strike he'd seen.
"Hgh!"
Before anyone noticed, Nade was attacking Amy, and in the next instant appeared before Iruki, Dante, and Shirone.
"Is nature fair?"
There was no calculation left—only a will to obliterate whatever the electric field detected.
I'll be taken out like this!
Dante activated Pascal and converted every cubic face in the three-dimensional space into teleportation magic circles.
What a monster!
When Nade lunged at Dante and entered a teleportation circle, thick bundles of electricity occupied every arrival coordinate and flared.
"Kuuugh!"
As Dante gritted his teeth under an information load that could shatter Pascal, Nade slipped out of the circle and rushed at Amy.
Sammaejinhwa!
As the trance broke and consciousness returned, a razor-sharp sensitivity wrapped Amy's whole body—so acute she felt she could count down to each down feather—and the world sharpened as if skin had been peeled away.
"Aah!"
A bolt of lightning grazed the tip of her nose, and Nade vanished.
Don't come to me!
While everyone thought the same, Nade bore down on Shirone.
Shirone is out...!
As he activated Sibulsangpokmae and hoisted his upper body, Nade diverted and aimed at Richard.
No way! Damn it!
- Warning! Frame deviation!
While Richard fell back on jet thrust, Nade's face suddenly loomed right in front of him.
Huh? I'm flying at incredible speed—so why is he always ahead?
A fist had been captured in the last frame of the 180-fps sequence.
The world spun and Richard's machines shut down.
- Ainka Richard. Final graduation ranking confirmed: 6th place. Remaining participants: 5.
Making the final five felt different from making the final ten.
Now it's the upper ranks.
The four facing Nade kept vying for rank even as they dodged transcendental lightning.
Is it me this time?
When Nade dashed past Shirone and charged on, sparks flashed in Iruki's eyes.
Overdrive!
The servant's brain analyzed every possibility for Nade, but timing was still tight.
"Guh!"
Nade passed by Iruki as she lunged, claws flashing.
Damn! I can't hold out much longer!
Then Nade planted his foot and stopped, then charged at Iruki again.
Why am I the only one getting two turns?
It felt so unfair she swore she'd complain after the exam.
"Aaah, seriously!"
Iruki hit the ground, and scalding lightning so bright it could blind swept over her face.
I'll get you later.
As Iruki scrambled to her feet, she saw Dante's parallel magic circle Baekdo aimed straight at her.
"Nade isn't our only enemy."
"Fuck...!"
Iruki drove Pascal's Spirit Zone through to attempt Cancellation, but an ironclad cipher still held.
I can't match the timing!
Just as flame mounted on Baekdo's muzzle, Albino spoke.
"Don't think."
As the amplified flames rushed through the magic circle's tunnel and tried to exit—
"What?"
Cancellation dismantled Pascal.
"You're not a machine, Iruki."
One hundred percent is the safest number, but it isn't the most efficient.
"A fifty percent chance is enough for a human to act. Believe in yourself—believe in the life you've been given, not the probability."
It wasn't brute force or perfect calculation.
They'd simply gambled the moment they judged themselves ready within a probability of probabilities—and at that moment Iruki's future shattered its limits and began expanding into infinite possibility.
Intuition, huh? That's unbecoming...
While Dante floundered at the unexpected, Amy sprang up and swung Ifrit's fist.
"Nade and Iruki aren't our only enemies."
"Phew."
Dante blew a strand of hair from his mouth as he watched Amy.
With their magic already read, casting spells was impossible; flames slammed into him and the No.2000 bracelet lit up.
- Airhain Dante. Final graduation ranking confirmed: 5th place. Remaining participants: 4.
"Done! Almost there!"
Amy, Iruki, and Shirone's gazes hardened.
"Kraaaaaa!"
Fewer targets meant more encounters with Nade, but Sammaejinhwa, Overdrive, and Sibulsangpokmae were operating at full efficiency, and the chaotic battlefield finally began to form a new order.
We're really crazy! No one's getting knocked out this quickly!
As Sammaejinhwa continued, Amy felt thousands of needles prick her body, but that pain became her strongest weapon for survival.
Unable to handle it, Nade aimed at Iruki again, but intuition-enhanced Overdrive proved far more effective than before.
I'm uneasy.
It's not a hundred percent—one moment could still send me plummeting.
But I feel amazing!
For the first time she felt truly alive, and detonation equations computed at staggering speed battered Nade's body.
You need to take a few hits.
A few attempts fizzled, but when Atomic Bomb detonated its power was incomparable to before.
Then, simultaneously from left and right, Fire Strike and Photon Cannon struck.
"Nade's magic level is currently 1,210,000,000 magicles. We've dropped him tremendously."
"But it still means nothing."
Nade was literally an impregnable fortress; after twenty minutes the three were reaching their fatigue limits.
That Sibulsangpokmae is infuriating.
With Shirone maintaining stable evasions, the graduation exam narrowed to a survival battle between Amy and Iruki.
Just hold on a little longer.
Since Iruki wasn't at a hundred percent either, time favored Amy.
But...
As Sammaejinhwa's sensations started to be adapted to, her speed was beginning to slip.
I can't let this end like this.
A thirsty person digs a well—Amy tried a last-ditch method.
We just need to knock Nade out!
Elizabeth watched as Amy broke position and charged.
"You're going to gamble."
"Good judgment. I don't think there'll be another chance."
Casting Sparks in rapid succession and approaching like a specter, Amy clenched both fists.
No matter how great a spell, the body that casts it is human—schema is decisive.
The moment he attacks me is the chance!
Still, to hit Nade—who dodged the instant he was touched—required a counter to a counter to a counter: a flash of perception.
Muscle memory!
Nade closed on Amy and slashed with his nails—
"Guh!"
Amy's eyes flashed crimson at unprecedented speed as she twisted her waist and threw a punch.
No retreat before battle. Is she seeking life beyond death?
Baikal held his breath and watched.
This is the end, you bastard!
Amy's fist struck Nade's jaw precisely.