<249 - What are you doing? Give me back my ball!>
Since ancient times, those who seize the high ground in war have half the victory.
In dodgeball, where the rule is that if you don’t retrieve the ball before it hits the ground or is caught by someone else, you’re out, this is even more true.
“Class 981. There are many remarkable juniors to match that legendary status.”
The Four Kings of Class.
Even someone who doesn’t belong among the top four can be this impressive.
The absence of the Masugaki Princess doesn’t even show!
“But we, Class 980, will prove that we are no pushovers!”
White Knight Roe.
When resisting evil beings, they receive numerous battle enhancements; a pure showdown of skills must be had with a good being like Northern Grand Duchess Irene.
Stealing away their strengths while fighting specialized skills makes it obvious they’re at a disadvantage.
Their interactions don’t match.
The terrain isn’t right.
The distance restrictions don’t match.
A magician and a swordsman.
A court where lines must not be crossed.
However, there was one unique attribute of the dodgeball that I liked.
The Blue Metal Ball, which has a high mana transmission rate.
The White Metal Ball, which auto-repairs its shape.
The Gray Metal Ball, which is incredibly heavy.
Among those dodgeballs, the one that had entered Roe’s possession was the Gray Metal Ball.
An aspiring knight student who has barely trained would struggle to lift the weight of the ball, and achieving a proper speed would be impossible with an ordinary knight student’s strength.
[Execution of Justice]
[The three divine classes of the Benevolent Deity evaluate your request.]
[This battle is not an encounter with the minions of evil.]
[This battle is not a step toward a good future.]
[This battle is a priori combat that does not violate the universal principles of will.]
[Benevolent Deity Immanuel grants you strength.]
A Priori.
An innate awareness that is possible before experience.
Cognition that understands right from wrong without learning.
The moment that sense turns into power.
The White Knight Roe understood.
Foreseeing that their ball could destroy a significant portion of the pillar even before they threw it.
RUMBLE!
Ignoring the destructive force that tore away more than half of the pillar, the ice pillar shimmered anew, radiating a fierce white chill once more.
If this battle has meaning, it is the clash of the Northern Grand Duchess’s will to not fall behind in the competition and the knight’s determination to not retreat.
The will of the Duchess, who had endured the battlefield since early childhood in the resource-poor North, was not weaker than the will of Roe, who served the three benevolent deities.
Conversely, Roe’s strong faith and resolve, noted by the three deities, couldn’t overshadow the Duchess’s will.
With the recovering pillar, a powerful assault erupted from the top of the distant pillar.
The barrage of Multi Ice Balls that had sent numerous second-years into elimination targeted Roe’s sacred shield, obscuring their vision and eroding the safety of the ground beneath them.
CRACK!
At last, the runes inscribed on the Ice Balls detonated upon hitting the ground, causing ice spikes to shoot up from below inside the shield!
The Duchess proved that the status of a war magician was not mere childlike antics to boost the morale of the soldiers.
“Good. I can’t wait to see how much help that power will be in exterminating the heretics and demons when you return to the North. But today is not that day.”
White Knight Roe, who also entered the Academy with a reputation rivaling that of the Northern Grand Duchess.
As the second years who knew their name witnessed Roe’s momentum burning even more fiercely, they couldn’t contain their shock.
“Is the reputation of the organization exterminator derived from that power?”
“Do you recognize Roe’s power?”
“When the Southern Sacred City-State Federation’s castle was taken over by drugs using Dark Mana, there was a knight who followed the leads found by the previous hero’s comrade and annihilated the organization. That knight is the White Knight Roe, who achieved such accomplishments at just 18.”
The drug organization that sold drugs mutated by the destructive nature of Dark Mana, reducing humans to monsters.
On the day the dark forces that should not exist were eradicated, the boy who walked the lonely path of a priori with only faith and in pursuit of all justice in the world attained honor.
The title of White Knight carries the immense gratitude and hope of the rescued city’s denizens.
“Junior. I am aware that you have the Northern people you must protect.”
“Are you intending to stand strong and not fall before me, knowing that?”
“Stand strong? Wrong. I am always moving forward. Toward the future that humanity must rightfully advance to.”
Certainty leads to absolute self-affirmation.
Many people fail to gain conviction in themselves.
Due to economic reasons.
Lack of strength.
Limits set by their race.
For various reasons, they ignore excuses and rely on the powers of faith to gain unrealistic strength.
Roe was different.
They realized that the path they were taking aligned with the path pointed out by their faith, and simply walked the path of faith.
“Even if God does not recognize me, I will never set foot in any deed that feels wrong to my own actions.”
“Therefore, I can be sure. This battle as well is a step toward the future. There is nothing wrong with my path!”
As the Ice Ball came flying in, it was ensnared by Roe’s massive holy strength, bursting into a dazzling sphere of light.
Some exploded in mid-air, reflecting particles of brilliant light like snowflakes everywhere, but the rest became a gigantic prison that contained Irene’s power.
“Come down. This place is not one you should look down upon!”
With Roe’s single strike cutting through the air, the light prison was unleashed altogether.
Beyond the destroyed prison that battered the pillar to pieces, liberated energy raced forth along a trajectory that determined the path the top of the crumbled pillar would flow down.
Awaiting it was the White Knight.
The owner of the title that now carried a weight and strength far beyond what had been felt at the start of this confrontation.
‘What a different level. Now I understand why they are called the Four Kings.’
Irene felt it.
That senior is truly strong.
Stronger than combining all the upper-class students she had eliminated by her own hands, at least it seemed so.
But they didn’t realize.
The heavy weight of expectations carried by the name of the Northern Grand Duchess.
“If we are to discuss the weight of names, the name of the Northern Grand Duchess is no light matter either.”
From the start, it’s absurd to even be compared.
With a scoff, Irene stood atop the plummeting ice pillar, gathering even more strength.
“!?”
Without a hint of fear, she plunged into close combat against the knight.
She neither leaped into the air, nor stepped back, nor utilized magical finesse to endure.
“One hundred.”
Because she knows.
“Each time I move back from the front lines, one hundred Northern people die.”
The centuria forms the basic unit of the Northern Grand Duchess’s command.
Every time the front lines waver, a unit of a hundred is crushed and disappears.
As she steps forward, one hundred live, and when she retreats, one hundred die.
Those pressures she felt in every battlefield, always and ever.
Sometimes she retreated, and there were moments of uncontrollable defeat.
To recall the moments of great loss when thousands of soldiers died due to her inadequacies is close to pure terror.
In that moment when her heart felt shattered and suppressed.
Even despair like that, she stood back up.
There was no place for the powers of faith to enter.
The voices of those who remained.
The cries of those who wished to survive.
Because there were lives she had to protect.
“If going forward is the right choice, do try stepping out. After you survive this blow!”
Chain – Ice Magic
Activation – Ice Flower
Specialization – Ice Sphere, Stacking, Point Condensation, Great Explosion
Penalty – Freezing
Even accepting the penalty that for the next week, certain parts of her body will be frozen and moving will be difficult until they’re thawed by mana, she unleashed the ultimate strike.
As the gigantic ice pillar was compressed repeatedly and directed toward the end, it was absorbed by an Ice Ball.
A power that cannot be borne of caution, capable of easily killing a person, sent the instructors ready to leap into the coat in a state of high tension.
‘This is the moment of certainty.’
Roe realized.
If they could break that, they could step forward by another step.
‘This is the moment of growth.’
Irene realized.
If she could freeze Roe’s strike, no one could take a step beyond her.
Close combat.
Collision.
In a moment when realizations intersect.
SWISH!
Standing foolishly in the path of their charge, Oknodie had a question mark hovering above their head.
‘What are you doing, not running away?!’
‘Are they planning to slice together?’
Both Irene and Roe were taken aback.
At that moment, Oknodie walked right into the middle of them and reached out towards Irene.
WHAP!
“!?”
Oknodie snatched the ball away.
They said, “Just borrowing this for a sec!”
Borrowing? My strike?
You dare stabilize my blow containing immense power, [Ice Flower]?
Stop it.
It’s going to blow up.
They’ll be consumed by ice spikes erupting from within due to the explosion starting from my hand.
Ignoring Irene’s shock, Oknodie tossed the ball.
Three balls, infinitely accelerating, heading for the infinite repeat section passing through the same interval.
“If I just take that, I’ll return it to you!”
No way, are you using that to get back the ball…?
Then what about me during that time?
With a look of utter injustice, Irene could only watch as Roe struck her with their sheathe instead of a sword.
“Ugh!”
Holding her abdomen, Irene collapsed.
To her, being sent outside the coat was filled not with pain, but with even greater frustration.
