[633] What Truly Matters (3)
Amid the endless barrage of criticism, the contestants still turned to the unmoving Nade.
I knew this would happen.
Prings remembered clearly the terror Nade had caused during Scramble Royal.
He wasn't exactly sane either, and he'd shaken it off after a while, but it was an episode he never wanted to repeat.
Definitely a ticking time bomb you don't touch.
But the final ten were already set; with nothing to lose, challenging him might look good to scouts.
"Come on then. There's nowhere left to run, is there?"
Prings waved his hand and taunted, but Nade only stared vacantly at the sky.
Graduating? Would it even mean anything?
Even if he graduated like this, no organization would hire someone who'd done nothing. Just as official and unofficial ranks differ, so too does society treat mages according to its recognition. If he were eliminated now, it would fulfill his original plan to give his mother a bitter disappointment.
"I'm not going to fight."
He couldn't imagine fighting Shirone.
Unbelievable.
Dante had never seen the real Nade, but he knew how certain strong types made others uneasy.
"If you say you don't want to fight, are we supposed to just accept that?"
"I don't care what you think. I'm not fighting."
The arrogant reply only made the crowd louder.
"That coward has no right to be a mage!"
"Come on, crush him! Teach him a lesson!"
It wasn't a simple matter that kept Nade from moving.
Iruki stepped toward Nade.
"How about you take the loss? This fight means nothing to you."
Nade's vow from the day before the graduation exam flashed through his mind. If he conceded now, the memory would be unpleasant but there wouldn't be a lifelong enemy.
When Nade said nothing, Iruki jabbed a finger.
"See? You want to fight. You don't want to be eliminated, do you?"
Mother.
Even in the packed stands, Teria was easy to find. Her face wasn't noble, but it was still beautiful—and among hundreds of faces it stood out, twisted like a demon, pressing down on Nade.
A face he hated with a passion.
And yet, because she was his mother, he couldn't help but love it.
"Get out of here! You're a disgrace to mages! Don't shame the school!"
Teria flushed at the crowd's condemnation.
"This is embarrassing. What a disgrace."
Volum scolded his wife.
"Stop. You should at least cheer him on."
"Look at the other students. They're all fighting to make their parents proud. How selfish can someone be?"
Raiken approached from behind Nade.
"This is irritating. Just die already."
He grabbed Nade's neck, sent a bolt of lightning through him, and flung him to the edge of the coliseum. The arc of electricity that followed struck the spot where Nade had fallen.
Idiot! Electricity—!
Prings went pale; everyone who knew about mana assimilation tensed at Nade.
"What—?"
But Nade simply lay there and looked at Teria with a pitiful expression.
It was three days after Nade's mind had been broken by torture at the hands of the Chickenhead bandits that the household retainers finally came to rescue him. Among charred corpses, the young Nade wept like a fool; even after spending a fortune on treatment, the convulsions didn't stop.
"Why are you crying! Why are you crying! Do you know how much damage you caused your mother?"
She'd borrowed money from relatives to pay for her son's care; her heart burned with anger.
"Mom, mom…"
Nade held on with everything he had. More terrifying than the monster inside was his mother's pain; slowly the convulsions dwindled into hiccups and then subsided.
What did I do wrong?
She had once yelled at him.
"It's not like I wanted this to happen! What did you ever do for me?"
Volum threw a liquor bottle at Nade.
"You rotten brat!"
Perhaps annoyed at his frightened wife's nerves, he lashed out at the child—yet Nade felt only wronged.
"Uaaaaaa!"
To destroy the body they'd given him, Nade dashed at the wall and smashed his head against it.
"Aaaaah!"
Teria clawed at her face with her nails.
"Honey!"
Volum rushed over in shock, and Nade stared blankly at his mother's blood-soaked face.
And then—
"Kill me! Just kill me!"
Without hesitation, Teria slit her wrist with a knife.
"Damn it! Somebody, hurry! Call a doctor!"
"Mo—mom…"
While the household scurried, Nade alone seemed frozen, staring at her.
"I'm sorry…"
Nade sobbed with a foolish face.
Don't be mad. It's my fault.
No child can ever win over a parent.
"She's beyond saving. It's over."
While Nade sniveled, the remaining eight contestants ignored him and collided in the center of the coliseum.
Everyone's eyes were stolen by the spectacle of extravagant magic—only Nade and Teria exchanged looks.
"It's pathetic. I can't stand to watch."
Teria stood and turned away. Nade's fists clenched until his knuckles whitened.
Go. I'm never becoming a mage! I will never live the life you want!
It was what he'd wanted.
So why did it hurt so much?
Why did he keep plunging into the abyss?
We'll sink together! If we all die, it doesn't matter!
The moment Teria disappeared into the shadow of the exit—
"Uaaaaaa!"
Nade roared and leapt to his feet.
What did I ever—!
Electricity crawled over his body.
What did I do so wrong—!
As he screamed, Nade shot behind Shirone and swung his arm.
Gah!
Shirone hit the floor before he could even react; the contestants turned with shocked faces.
Rrrrrr!
Nade ground his teeth and convulsed; there was a terrifying sense that he might explode at any moment.
"What's his magic level?"
Baikal asked, but Elizabeth couldn't answer—she only blinked.
"What's wrong? His magic level!"
"...I'm sorry. I'll check again."
When Nade took a step forward, everyone lurched back ten paces.
Why? Why, exactly, why?
Nade's question rose from a fathomless hatred with no discernible cause.
Whaaaaaa!
Lightning tore through the coliseum's sky and System 2000 sounded an alarm.
- Data capacity limit exceeded. Activating emergency system. Opening Core 2.
The lights in the coliseum flickered.
- Data capacity limit exceeded. Opening Core 3. Opening Core 4.
A white pillar of lightning shot up like a column, raced across the floor, then dispersed into hundreds of bolts that swirled wildly.
"Opening Core 4?"
Baikal knew of no precedent.
- Activating final stabilization device. Opening Core 5.
Only after all five emergency systems engaged did System 2000 return to normal, and the analysts' displays glowed the same blue.
"How much?"
"...1,480,000,000 magicles."
Baikal's head turned as if it would snap.
One billion four hundred eighty million? Is that even possible?
"The problem is…"
Elizabeth's voice trembled.
"It's still rising."
Iruki, who had been checking on the fallen Shirone, frowned.
"What about your promise? You said you wouldn't fight Shirone. Did you stab me in the back like this?"
"It's okay."
Shirone rose slowly to his feet.
"This is a test. You weren't trying to kill me."
Iruki wanted to believe that, but what remained in Nade during his mana assimilation was nothing but purposeless killing intent.
Argh!
Shirone looked at Nade's grotesquely contorted face and gave a sad smile.
"At first I thought you had a terrifying face."
He was so soft-hearted and kind that he couldn't even get angry unless he hated someone.
"Actually, it was a face of pain, Nade."
He couldn't destroy anything without destroying himself first.
Kraaaaaa!
"Final magic level: 1,860,000,000 magicles! It's a mana assimilation! If we leave him like this he'll die!"
"Perfect chaos. No wonder we feared this."
Nade, stripped of every shred of reason, was far more violent than the state Shirone had previously encountered.
Krrrrruuum!
Pure, bone-white lightning spread from Nade and swelled until it threatened to consume the entire coliseum.
Argh!
Like an insect touching an electric fence, Fjord screamed and collapsed when the blinding light struck him.
Uuuuuu!
All the contestants pressed against the walls and waited for the power to subside; the audience was stunned by Nade's sudden might.
What is that? Worse than Infercus?
Teria was equally aghast. There had been isolated cases of mana assimilation blowing up storage rooms, but she had never imagined a force this horrific.
None of this concerns me.
Teria turned toward the exit, but Volum grabbed her wrist.
"Where are you going? The exam isn't over."
"Is the exam the problem now? If the machine fails, we could sue for damages."
"Is that all you can see? Can't you feel Nade's pain?"
"Just kill him already! I don't want to live like this either!"
Volum ground his teeth and dragged her back to her seat.
"Sit down! At least today, watch your son properly!"
Nade's lightning, which had swelled into a globe, stopped expanding and shot up in a pillar.
"Now! Attack!"
As the bolts vanished, as if on cue, everyone charged Nade and unleashed magic.
Damn it! It's System 2000!
In a real fight the body would have taken damage, but burning through 1,860,000,000 magicles with anti-magic was a dream.
Idiots! Just go kill him.
Raiken cast a spark, grabbed Nade from behind, and forced his face down. Just as he tried to wrench Nade's neck, sparks flew—Nade's figure vanished and erupted from every direction, throwing punches.
Aaaaaah!
The finishing blow landed; Raiken's nose caved in and Nade's wrist twisted.
"The moment you get hit, you're out. It's like God's lottery."
Among the rampaging, senseless bolts, Shirone launched into the sky.
"Nade!"
The manifestation of the Bright Angel rose huge; its right arm lifted as vast energy gathered into a spear.
Angel's Retribution!
The flash struck with terrifying speed, and Nade's body seemed to evaporate.
He dodged it?
Even high-speed projectiles looked slow to Nade, who shared reactions with electricity.
Then—!
Shirone activated Quantum Superposition and his body multiplied into hundreds, making the scouts' eyes widen in horror.
Quantum Superposition — 300 stacks — Avatar Technique — Angel's Retribution.
This… is beyond a graduation exam.
Three hundred angels raised their arms in unison and drove spears of light down at Nade.