[247] 6. Clash of Magic (7)
"Shirone is a strong kid. He's not the type to be crushed by a single loss; if anything, he could gain something bigger from defeat. A true teacher must also teach how to learn from losing."
Olivia raised her hand to cut off Alpheas's voice.
"Understood as the excuses of a fourth-rate loser."
"Heh heh heh. Anyway, today I'm just a spectator. Shirone and Dante. This will be fun."
Finally, the time for the match had come.
When Shiina, the referee, walked to the center of Ring 2000, the atmosphere in the hall turned solemn.
Soon the greatest talent from Alpheas School of Magic and the kingdom's finest would collide.
Mark, trembling as if short of breath, looked over at Iruki beside him.
"Ugh, this is making my blood run cold. Senpai, Shirone-senpai can win, right?"
"I think both of them will have their chances. Shirone has a wider variety of offensive magic, but you can't ignore Dante's tactical play. If the number of magic circles increases, Shirone will find his hands tied, too."
Even from Iruki, who could be called a close aide, no hopeful prediction came. Mark opened his mouth in a frown, but the students suddenly erupted in cheers.
Shirone and Dante were climbing up to the sides of Ring 2000.
Shiina, after showing respect to the former and current headmasters who were acting as judges, called Shirone and Dante to the center of Ring 2000.
The faces of the students watching the two meet turned pale. Shirone had stepped past his designated mark and was approaching Dante.
'Oh no!'
Shirone snapped back to his senses and stopped. But by then Dante's face was already right in front of him. He had been thinking too deeply and hadn't been paying attention.
The students took Shirone's movement for provocation and grew louder, but those who knew Shirone's character saw it differently.
He was clearly nervous.
Kilrain laughed, pitying the unusual sight.
"Hoho! What is this? When did the world come to such cheap provocations?"
Many challengers had tried that with Dante before. Each time Dante rebuffed them with ease and left his opponent embarrassed.
'Heh heh—Dante. What kind of performance will you start with today... huh?'
A question crossed Kilrain's face. Dante, too, didn't flinch; he was simply glaring at Shirone.
Shiina explained the rules, but it felt like no one heard a word.
Dante's friends, who had never seen him like this, were equally puzzled.
Sabina bit her nails and said, "Don't you think Dante looks a little tense?"
"That's not his style. He was in good condition this morning, right? Let's wait a bit. It might be showmanship."
Iruki, who had been listening to them, spoke up.
"He can't help being nervous."
"Huh? 'Can't help being nervous'?"
Mark turned his head in shock. His anxiety had reached its peak; whatever Iruki said startled him.
"Shirone has never lost in competition. He hasn't practiced magic for long, but he's come this far by repeatedly overcoming high-level barriers. Of course Dante has built near-impossible records over a long time. Now those two are facing each other."
Amy said, "A defeat is a mark etched into a person's life. It changes the direction of one's life in some way. But both of them have no defeats. It's an abnormal career that allows no mistakes. They don't want to lose that."
Iruki added, "And today, one of their careers will be finished. One of them will carry that record of defeat for the rest of their life."
Mark went blank. Is this the world geniuses live in? Stamped with defeat at fifteen was a reality he couldn't grasp.
Yet he felt no regret. He simply wanted Shirone—the one who beat him—to win again, and his chest ached with his pounding heart.
"Ugh. This is killing me. When on earth does it start?"
Shiina, who had explained the rules, ordered them to fall back. But no one moved. It was as if they couldn't hear the command.
"Both of you—return to your assigned positions and wait."
A flood of thoughts crossed Dante's mind. Who was this boy? At first he said he didn't want to fight, that he didn't need power or honor—yet now he was glaring like he would devour Dante.
'No. Don't think about it.'
Dante snapped himself back. He'd been undefeated for 472 matches; it was reasonable to expect he would remain so. Like the other challengers, he would simply be put down.
"Shirone! Dante! Follow the referee's instructions!"
Only after Shiina shouted did the pair come to their senses and step back without averting their eyes.
At his mark, Dante took a deep breath to loosen his tension.
Sixty meters looked farther than usual.
But he had beaten every renowned strong opponent. Under normal circumstances, he shouldn't lose.
'Right. Fight my way. His only choice will be to strike first. I'll turn that against him. As a target-type, I'm superior in speed.'
He pushed his numerical sequence to the limit, unfurling a Spirit Zone that spanned from one to ten thousand—an expanding target-type Spirit Zone meant to swallow Shirone at his feet.
'Got him...!'
At that thought, Dante's eyes widened. Tens of photon cannons had already reached right in front of him.
Dante switched power cells and erected a defensive magic circle. The hail of photon cannon fire pounded the circle. Only then did he grasp how the battle was unfolding.
'Immortal Function!'
Shirone had activated Immortal Function from the start. Moreover, regardless of tactics, he was firing photon cannons without pause.
The physical force rivaled earth magic, and the speed was high. Experiencing it directly, Dante found it maddeningly dangerous.
Each time a crack appeared in his defensive circle he gathered information and repaired it, but he couldn't hold out.
When Dante teleported clear, Shirone—who had been firing photon cannons at high speed—cast Photonization and pursued.
Two streaks of light embroidered the sky above Ring 2000.
A barrage from the outset—no, a one-sided display of firepower—left the students dumbstruck.
Iruki let out a helpless laugh.
It's a brilliant plan. But he hadn't expected cautious Shirone to gamble so early.
"He's trying to prevent the other from even being able to set up a magic circle from the start."
Mark asked in a trembling voice, "This is incredible. Is the one fighting now the same who dueled me in teleportation last semester?"
"Probably not. In any case, Shirone being so determined not to give time to set up techniques means he's serious. If it goes like this, the result is unpredictable."
Shirone pressed Dante with flashy movement. He used patrol techniques to block left and right, then reversed a Rainbow Drop to soar into the sky. Tens of photon orbs, forming at a rate of several per second beneath his feet, trailed after him.
Shirone fired them all. With the photon cannons controlling the space, Dante retreated to the only escape—ground level. Air-to-ground bombardment followed, but he didn't even want to look up.
'Damn! Let me use some magic too! That guy's a maniac.'
No—maybe this was better.
He couldn't maintain Immortal Function for long anyway. If he survived the initial onslaught, the victory would be his.
'Yeah, at this rate it won't last more than thirty minutes. Hold thirty minutes and...!'
Photon cannons swept the ground in a line and fell. Dante changed direction while tracking Shirone's position.
At the spot where he expected Shirone to be, tens of photon masses were pouring down.
Realizing his mistake, Dante felt a chill.
'Damn it! Thirty minutes my foot—I won't last five!'
He blocked the first barrage with a defensive circle, then pierced the gap in the delay before the second barrage to slip out of the bullet curtain. But there was nowhere left to go. Before he knew it, he'd been pushed to the outer edge of Ring 2000.
Shirone occupied space with patrol techniques, driving Dante to the very edge. When it looked like Dante might escape, Shirone compressed photons in his hand and threw them. A straight streak of light shot forward.
Unable to break out, Dante hastily formed a defensive magic circle. The weight behind this attack was on another level.
As the second and third strikes hit the same spot, cracks widened even as he repaired the circle.
Iruki smiled pityingly.
"Has his head frozen from being so nervous? If you've faced this kind of opponent, you should know. You can't stop this with a hastily-made circle."
When the magic circles protecting Dante shattered into fragments, Shirone rushed in as if compressing space to a point.
Dante chose to forgo evasion and buy time to prepare. He spread magic circles in all directions to cut off the approach, but Shirone bent at the waist and cast Wild Frenzy.
"Ugh!"
Thirty light curtains a second hammered the circles, and Dante felt his mind tearing.
He'd only seen Wild Frenzy used defensively in tactical training, so he hadn't expected much. But firsthand it was an area-destruction spell.
Seven of his magic circles collapsed and his balance shifted. Dante, hiding his face, checked ahead over his wrist.
But Shirone was nowhere to be seen.
Lowering his gaze, Dante's eyes met Shirone—bent at the waist, photons compressed in his hand.
Shirone dove into Dante's space and swung. Afterimages of photons trailed out.
Two seconds is plenty of time for a mage to strengthen an attack. Dante had no time for other thoughts and formed a defensive magic circle.
A photon cannon flung at point-blank range crashed into the circle, shattering it in one blow and striking Dante in the abdomen.
Dante staggered for an instant. But a quick self-check showed the impact wasn't severe.
'Tch! Still, I mostly blocked it! From here on...!'
At that moment, Shirone grabbed Dante's collar with both hands and cast Photonization. With no time to wonder at the unexpected close combat, Dante turned to light and moved.
In the disorienting blur it was impossible to tell where was where. When the photonization wore off, Dante groped to find Shirone's position.
Turning, Shirone was gone—his vision filled with countless photon rounds.
Kwah-kwah-kwah-kwang!
Photon cannons slammed into the spot where Dante had stood, and a white light erupted. The students shaded their eyes against the onslaught of photons, but still couldn't make out the situation.
Shirone stopped his assault and caught his breath. Only five minutes had passed since the battle began.
Dante stood with seven magic circles arrayed before him, arms shielding his face. But the circles' light soon dimmed and shattered like glass. One of Dante's knees buckled and he hit the ground with a thud.
The students' eyes trembled in shock. He had formed a circle, but it was clear he hadn't defended perfectly.
Iruki's eyes shone.
"He finally broke through. That one landed hard."
Dante was famous for never losing the initiative.
Once he entered a fight he neutralized attacks with genius tactical play and finished with a counter. Yet Shirone had pierced that seeming impenetrable defense and landed a decisive hit.
Among the five hundred gathered at the arena, no one dared speak. Even Kilrain, who'd watched Dante since childhood, and his friends wore faces of disbelief.
472 matches, 472 wins.
The undefeated Dante had been forced to his knees by his opponent in five minutes. As if to show the ferocity of the battle, a rough wind swept through Ring 2000.
(End of Volume 10)