[635] The Final Gate (1)
The moment Nade's jaw met Amy's fist, she knew by instinct.
"It landed perfectly!"
Even in that instant she twisted her waist with everything she had, and Nade's head snapped as his body spun.
"Grrrrrr!"
As much as Nade unleashed a lifetime of rage, Amy's punch carried the resolve of countless hours compressed into a single finishing blow.
"Mana reading…!"
The percentage on Elizabeth's retina fell as fast as siphoning water with a pipette.
Given the baseline of 1.2 billion magicle, the speed made the skin crawl.
When that percentage drops below three percent, it's truly over.
"Uaaaaah!"
But Nade didn't lose consciousness.
Baikal, who had guessed why, showed emotion for the first time and dropped to his knees with a pained look.
"The reaction speed of electricity."
Amy's strike had indeed landed, but Nade twisted his body with reflexes faster than the shockwave could travel and cancelled its force.
The instant Amy stepped forward with her fist still out, electricity flared from Nade's spinning body.
It was such a brilliant concept—Baikal, who'd seen a glimmer of hope for a moment, could only bite his lip.
"Almost perfect. Be proud of yourself, Amy!"
It had already been a counter beyond human senses, and if she'd gone just a fraction deeper—
If she'd extended just 0.1 millimeter more, the unimaginable result of defeating the mana-assimilation monster might have happened.
"Kraaaaargh!"
Watching Nade scream and discharge massive electricity, Amy let out a sigh.
"Get your head together, idiot."
At the same time, a massive anti-magic slammed into her mind.
- Karmis Amy. Final graduation rank confirmed: 4th place. Remaining participants: 3.
Amy collapsed forward, and Nade—having released the electricity—fell beside her, staring at the sky.
But his consciousness was weakened too.
"Mana reading?"
"Four million magicle."
"That's ridiculously low. He was on the verge of blacking out."
"Yes. But even in a dazed state, four million magicle is abnormal."
Shirone and Iruki, both gasping from different positions, looked at the fallen Nade and had the same thought.
"Just sleep. Please, just sleep."
Then blue electricity curled around Nade's body.
As his consciousness returned, the mana-assimilation blossomed, and the rise in power was grotesquely extreme.
"Breaking past twenty million, fifty million, one hundred million magicle."
"...Something's off."
The bolts around Nade shot into the sky and coalesced into a gigantic humanoid shape.
Kraaaaaang!
The sonic boom made of electricity rattled the entire coliseum; everyone covered their ears.
"Ugh! What the—!"
- Everyone, die! Vanish!
"Has his consciousness been manifested as mana?"
The electric giant expanding with each cry—worthy of being called a Thunder Deity—exuded an overwhelming presence.
- I… what did I do so wronggggg!
The Thunder Deity crossed its arms and howled at the top of its voice.
Electric clusters radiated outward, and as if a transparent wall had been erected before the stands, they began to scrape along the edge of the 2000th barrier.
"Th-this…!"
The pale spectators couldn't blink; they stared at the teal-and-white currents rippling right in front of them.
Each one of those faces was Nade's, twisted into contorted expressions.
- Answer me! Why must I be unhappy? Why must I carry everything alone?
Volum turned to his wife as he watched Nade's face shimmer in electric form.
A normal person would have been cowed, but Teria wore the same look of rage as Nade.
- Answer me!
As the concentrated electricity opened a gigantic mouth and produced a voice, Teria shouted.
"How pathetic!"
All the audience turned to her.
"Honey."
Volum tried to stop her, but at this point nothing could quell her anger except death.
"What kind of whining is this! I did my best too! I gave you everything you asked for! I sent you to the Magic Academy on our meager means! That's why you could take the exam!"
- I never wanted your success!
"Don't be ridiculous! What parent wishes their child to fail? Are you really that hateful? If you pitied me, how could you do this!"
The sudden mother-and-son quarrel set the crowd whispering.
"The West family. I'd heard they'd fallen, but they're really torn apart."
"None of our business. Don't poke your nose in."
Teria, having lost all reason, shouted.
"Do you think you're the only one who suffers? I hate living too! Tending to you, your father—I'm sick of it!"
- Why… did you abandon me?
Compared to the thunder up until now, the whisper was small, but it silenced Teria for the first time.
"That was… in that situation—"
- You didn't even say you were sorry.
"Was it my fault? I—because of that..."
- Want me to tell you what happened that day?
Teria trembled.
She had seen the countless burn-scar marks on Nade's body and had never once asked what had happened.
"I don't want to hear it. It's over."
Electricity streamed like tears from Nade's visage across the transparent wall.
- I thought so too. It's over and can't be undone. So…
As his face softened, the electricity returned to Nade.
- Look closely. See what kind of monster I've become.
Nade, who had lain limp like a puppet beneath the Thunder Deity's form, opened his eyes.
"Shirone. Iruki."
The voice came not from the deity but from Nade himself.
"Sorry, but I have to win."
Even while controlling the mana-assimilation, Nade's face was ice-cold.
"I told you from the start."
Shirone and Iruki didn't feel betrayed.
Whether it was betrayal or not, if it was his own decision, they could accept it—that was the nature of the graduation exam.
"Mana reading: 240 million magicle."
It registered higher than the Ataraxia physical class, yet compared to his prior ferocity, it was almost a humanly moderate figure.
"Which's worse to face: the strongest instinct or a slightly weaker reason?"
Elizabeth didn't feel the need to answer.
Shirone, Iruki, and Nade began to walk slowly from the coliseum's center, each taking up position.
A triangular formation.
A perfect balance where no one could move first made the air over the battlefield heavy with tension.
"Oh? Speaking of the final three…"
Mark said.
"Aren't they from the Supernatural Psychical Science Society?"
"They are. From first to third."
The teachers felt mixed emotions.
"Good grief, those troublemakers."
Shiina muttered, remembering the trio's antics since advanced class.
"They never let anything go smoothly."
"They were peculiar kids. Eccentric, but pure. My head ached a lot dealing with them, but thinking of letting them go feels bittersweet," Etella said, and Shiina smiled wryly.
"...They're students I'll never forget."
After circling the vast coliseum, each of the three settled on his strategy.
Ataraxia.
As a dazzling multicolored magic circle concentrated before Shirone, the scout stones stirred.
"They're going straight for the decisive blow."
"Likely. If you fight with the future in mind, you'll lose. You have to play your strongest hand."
Nuclear Fusion.
At the same time, Iruki began to assemble a detonation equation filled with unprecedented destructive power.
The best outcome would be to eliminate both opponents at once.
To do that required an explosion capable of dominating the entire coliseum.
"Watch closely. See what your broken son can do."
Nade's Thunder Deity compressed into a sphere and began to emit white lightning.
He intended to destroy the graduation exam, the mages, wealth and glory—everything.
And he would tell Teria: all the things you could have had are disappearing forever at this very moment.
The sphere of lightning hovered like a sacred relic while the audience swallowed.
"The force must be beyond estimation. There will certainly be eliminations."
Iruki glanced at Shirone.
'Tricky. Maybe I should detonate first?'
But if he did, Shirone and Nade's magic would focus on him.
'Best is Nade attacks Shirone while I blow both of them away. Then it's over.'
As that thought finished, Nade's thunder split into two.
"Well then."
Iruki smiled a rotten smile.
'Being too close is a problem, really.'
Shirone, too, anticipated Nade's move.
'Fine. If Nade checks Iruki, I'll attack Iruki. Then dodge Nade's strike.'
Nade's bolt speed would be unimaginable, but with Sibulsangpokmae, Shirone could avoid it.
'Now it's all about timing.'
Who would move first?
Before the thought completed, Nade's temper twisted.
'It's Nade!'
The remaining two reacted; both thunder-spheres shot straight at Shirone.
'Tch, not moving how I expected.'
Feigning to target both while actually planning to eliminate Shirone first—this was the danger of a reason that wasn't as strong.
'Then…!'
A massive flash passing through Ataraxia swallowed the thunder-spheres and rotated toward Iruki. As expected, Nade, who cast a spark magic, appeared before Iruki.
'Heh, you idiot. You think I don't know you? But thanks to you…'
Iruki's mouth curved up high.
'Those were fun school days!'
Nuclear Fusion!
An enormous explosion erupted from the coliseum's center and swept through the entire arena.
Albino, stunned by the brightness, muttered blankly.
"That... is he stupid?"
In the cat-and-mouse psych-out, Iruki's final choice was to blow everything up—even at a scale he might not survive.
'A true human weapon.'
From the explosion's core, new blasts kept spawning; all the scout could see was the spectacle filling the inner 2000th barrier.
"If this had been reality, everyone would be dead."
When the sun-like explosion faded, the spectators' gazes drifted aimlessly over the coliseum.
All three lay motionless on the ground, unmoving, and a wave of murmurs rolled through the crowd.
"W-what happened?"
- Mercodaine Iruki. Final graduation rank confirmed: 3rd place. Remaining participants: 2.
At the same time the announcement for the 2000th barrier sounded, Nade staggered to his feet.
"You reckless brat."
Iruki looked up at the sky and said,
"That depends on perspective. Detonate at will. Nobody's going to stop you here."
If it hadn't been for that over-two-hundred-million magicle reading, Nade would have been lying side by side with Iruki.
"...I will."
Nade moved away, and Iruki, who replayed nineteen years like a slideshow, smiled in satisfaction.
"Ah, what a relief."
The audience held its breath, but the 2000th announcement did not sound again.
"He amplified the mass wave to cancel the blast. He intended to defend and attack at the same time."
"My head hurts."
All eyes focused in one place.
"I knew it before, but..."
Shirone slowly pushed himself up from the ground, rubbing his shoulder and grumbling.
"You guys really are impossible to deal with."