Schlus stood still, without saying a word.
At first, I thought he might be preparing some kind of spell, but—
*Bang!*
“What?!”
As a yellow flash hit him, Trie’s eyes widened.
He got hit.
Directly from a firepower that could melt even rocks.
Or rather, it was the hologram that reproduced that fire magic.
‘D-did he just die?!’
There’s no way he could survive a flame like that.
Unless there was some kind of barrier.
But with Trie’s weak sensing ability, there was no barrier felt.
To withstand that level of firepower, the barrier needed to be high output enough for me to sense it.
“Schlus Hainkel! Injury!”
“What…?”
However, Trie was astonished at the mechanical sound emitted by the artifact.
Injury?
Not a death sentence?
For a moment, I doubted that it was broken.
“What in the world…”
But when he saw Sergey looking equally shocked, that doubt vanished.
Sergey calmly examined all the calculations of the artifact.
The mana Aintz unleashed, the form of the spell, and the effects of the magic taking into account the surrounding environment.
Everything was accurately projected into reality.
*Gugugu…*
“Ha. Hahaha!”
A black silhouette finally emerged from the smoke.
Schlus Hainkel, unchanged, stood right there.
Not even a change in expression.
As if nothing had happened, he looked unconcerned.
Sergey squinted at the artifact again, doubting.
This time he focused not on Aintz’s magic but on Schlus’s physical condition.
And according to the artifact…
“Is this even possible?”
For just a second.
Schlus’s physical strength shot up to levels that couldn’t be measured.
It wasn’t a barrier or magic.
He simply took in the magic with his body.
I’d heard something similar before.
‘Vajra…!’
Vajra.
A legendary technique said to make the body endlessly durable.
There was a hypothesis that it was a baseless rumor made by confusing a Majin pretending to be human, but now I couldn’t help but believe it.
That legendary technique actually existed.
*
I was caught off guard.
No, I actually wasn’t complacent.
It’s just that Aintz was smarter than I was.
If it had been the old Aintz, he would have just tried to slam maximum output fire magic on me.
Then I would have instantly dismantled the spell, approached, and knocked him down.
But that wasn’t possible.
I didn’t even realize the existence of the spell itself.
“Damn…”
For me to completely conceal the spell was practically impossible.
Aintz knew that.
So he used a crafty trick.
He crafted a spell that emitted a wavelength similar to the one the simulation artifact released.
He chose to hide the trees among the forest.
Thanks to that, I got trapped in the barrier from the start.
In a mana vacuum state.
It was probably a barrier created to limit my magic operations, but because of that, my eyes and ears were sealed.
Feeling a strong vibe, for just 1 second, I used ‘Selection and Concentration’ on strength.
Sure enough, the flame magic—and I mean the effect that projected flame magic—immediately hit my body.
‘Guess I can hold on.’
It started to sting all over my body, as if I had burns from the injury effect.
Even with strength exceeding 100 in stats, I still had to take damage from Aintz’s fire magic…
I realized just how monstrous his talent was.
If he could just land a hit, he could deal enough damage to the Majin.
‘Found it.’
I hadn’t even paid attention before, but now that I focused, I could tell which was the artifact’s wavelength and which was Aintz’s spell.
In an instant, I broke the barrier.
Then, the thick smoke around me.
And the dazed expression of Aintz came into my sight.
“Hey, this… the gap is just too big…”
Aintz seemed flabbergasted, falling back onto his rear.
One step.
Another step.
Every time I took a step, a spell would form and then forcibly disintegrate.
After about ten times repeating that, no further spells got inscribed into the mana.
It seemed Aintz’s mana had run out.
“So, what? Want to try barehanded combat?”
“Damn, I know you spar with that muscle girl every day. How could I compete against you? I surrender.”
*Beep!*
The whistle blew.
That meant all matches had concluded.
Apparently, this was the longest lasting duel over here.
I grabbed Aintz’s hand and pulled him up.
“Good job.”
“Uh, yeah. That was amazing. I seriously can’t beat you…”
As Aintz brushed past me, he couldn’t meet my gaze.
Something felt off.
It’s okay for Aintz to admire me, but fear is a problem.
No, it wasn’t fear, more like a sense of inferiority.
If it was that, then it was an issue Aintz needed to overcome on his own.
Now that he awakened, Aintz had the potential to surpass even Hertlocker.
“Trie…”
Did I win after all?
I really wished for a miracle to happen and for me to lose.
It seemed that in the end, I’d end up fighting against Trie.
Of course, that was if I could endure the next two matches.
I barely managed to pass through against Aintz by just using ‘Selection and Concentration’ for 1 second—
“The injuries from the first match will remain to the end. In other words, the pain I’m enduring right now will continue.”
“Ha…”
I ended up with the injury effect as a penalty.
My whole body felt like it was on fire.
And I had to keep feeling this…
I wanted to smash the artifact that was inflicting this pain on me.
“I will now start the second match!”
“Huff… Hah… Hah…”
If I took any more damage penalties here, I might not be able to move at all.
I exhaled sharply and climbed back up to the arena.
My opponent was…
An extra whose name I didn’t even know.
I shouldn’t let my guard down, but at least they wouldn’t be faster than Trie or stronger than Aintz in terms of mana.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Uh?!”
For some reason, the opponent looked terribly surprised, and I shook hands with them and returned to my starting position.
Let’s finish this quickly.
*
Both the second and third matches ended.
There were no surprises.
In the end, Schlus Hainkel and Edengard Trie von dem Schulzenburg made it to the finals.
Trie had ended all her matches before the spells even activated, tackling them within a second.
Schlus’s case was a bit different.
In the second match, he had dismantled all of his opponent’s spells, making them surrender in barehanded combat, and in the third match, he suddenly unleashed a barrage of mana emission spells to silence his opponent.
They say doing the same tactics repeatedly invites counters, but…
Schlus’s spell dismantling ability wouldn’t be something the students could handle regardless of how many times it was repeated.
Sergey couldn’t understand why he had wasted his mana on purpose.
“We will now proceed to the finals. The score difference between the first and second places isn’t that large, so don’t get too nervous.”
His intention was to ease the tension, but Schlus still didn’t look good.
His breath was irregular and sweat was trickling down his forehead.
It was the injury penalty the artifact was inflicting on him.
However, he stood tall without expressing any pain, just as upright as Trie.
“Professor. Can’t you give us time to bring weapons now?”
“No. Once the exam starts, bringing in weapons from outside is not allowed.”
Sergey rejected Trie’s request immediately.
Carrying weapons was the easiest way to maintain high combat power.
Evaluating that preparedness was precisely the purpose of this exam.
One couldn’t turn their back to grab a weapon in battle.
“Both of you, face each other.”
As other students gathered to watch.
The finals were about to begin.
What kind of spectacle would unfold? Sergey couldn’t predict.
Trie preferred to enhance her body’s capabilities through internal circuits rather than focusing on spell dismantling, so the spells wouldn’t be any use either.
It would likely come down to whether Schlus’s magic deployment was faster or Trie’s charge was quicker.
No matter how strong Schlus might be in close combat, it would be tough to beat Gawayne’s daughter with a sword.
‘Is he going to show something bizarre again this time?’
Sergey swallowed.
Right now, Schlus had just…
Displayed a technique that seemed like Vajra in front of the students.
He was a stark contrast to the one who only displayed restrained force before.
Could it be that since using that magic in Whist Forest, he gave up hiding his strength?
If so, then perhaps there was still more to show.
I wondered if he was planning to reveal it this time.
“When I signal, we begin.”
“……”
“……”
Trie lowered her stance to spring forward, while Schlus stood upright where he was.
As expected, the situation unfolded as anticipated.
Trie would approach, and Schlus would end it with magic.
An unbearable silence settled over the exam hall.
Everyone held their breath, fully focused, and at that moment—
“Go!”
The match began.
At the same time, Trie’s physical abilities soared on the artifact display.
She had activated her internal circuits.
Trie had already crossed half the arena, and yet there were still no spells being deployed.
Had Schlus given up?
Just when it seemed the outcome was decided—
“What?!”
Trie’s eyes widened as she suddenly hit the brakes.
Stopping against Schlus? Are you out of your mind?
Confounded, Sergey tilted his head and looked at Schlus.
And then, just like Trie, his eyes went wide.
*Ziiiiiing…*
His right hand.
A blue pillar of light was emerging from his palm.
It wasn’t magic.
There were no spells deployed in the surrounding mana.
It was something other than magic, thus it couldn’t be dismantled.
Sergey gave up predicting the outcome of the fight beyond that point.
