Chapter 67
"The match begins!"
The moment the match started, Egir opened his subspace and summoned three skeletons.
Kamibarez curled her right hand like a gun and aimed it at Egir. It was the stance for Bloodshot.
“Sorry!”
Even while attacking, she apologized to her opponent.
A crimson magic circle bloomed at the tip of Kamibarez’s index finger, and with a recoil, Bloodshot fired.
“There’s also one important thing about Egir.”
Dick spoke.
Just before Kamibarez’s exploding Bloodshot hit Egir, his skeletons moved in to block the attack.
BOOOOM!
A blood-red explosion erupted, engulfing the surroundings. Kamibarez flinched and stared into the smoke.
[Kamibarez: 100%]
[Egir: 100%]
No damage at all.
As the smoke cleared, three skeletons holding massive golden shields appeared.
“Egir is filthy rich.”
Dick swept up his bangs and said,
“He gave skeletons shields that cost hundreds of gold each. And his summons aren’t just regular skeletons, they’re Snow Gnolls from the Vanilla Brand.”
“Hey! That’s a super important trait!”
“Of course I told Kami about it.”
After blocking the ranged attack with his expensive skeletons and shields, Egir now floated Dark Flare in the air and fired.
“Ahh! Waaah!”
Kamibarez dashed and hopped around to dodge the attacks.
At that moment, everyone watching the match, men and women, young and old, had the same thought.
‘…Cute.’
‘Why is that cute?’
She wasn’t hit, but while dodging the last Dark Flare, Kamibarez tripped and fell with a tearful expression.
Her opponent, Egir, reconsidered his strategy.
‘She moves better than expected. I won’t catch her with Dark Flare.'
Egir dismissed the Dark Flares and began drawing a new magic circle on his palm.
Seeing this, Dick’s eyes widened.
“He’s preparing a curse! Kami! Do something!”
Gritting her teeth, Kamibarez fired a Bloodshot from a kneeling stance.
But even if it exploded, it was still a simple linear attack, and it was blocked by the skeletons with golden shields.
At this rate, the curse would be completed.
In the end, she stopped attacking and began preparing a new magic circle.
Tension filled the air, as both Kamibarez and Egir entered a spellcasting duel.
<Blood Silk>
Kamibarez completed her black magic first. A carpet made of blood flapped into existence at her fingertips.
“Ugh, that’s a misplay! What’s she gonna do with a spell that has no offensive power?”
Dick scratched his head and muttered, while Maelyn snorted.
“If you don’t know how to watch, just shut up and trust her, idiot.”
Kamibarez pulled out three potions she had made herself from her subspace. The Blood Silk wrapped around the potion bottles and rushed toward Egir.
‘Something’s coming.’
Egir immediately sent his skeletons forward to swing their swords.
Swoosh!
Swoooosh!
But he wasn’t exactly a Summonology student, so his control was clumsy.
With flailing movements, he couldn’t stop Kamibarez’s slippery spell.
‘Just a bit more!’
Just as the Blood Silk closed in, Egir finally completed his curse.
<Bahil’s Remade Paralyze>
A curse shaped like black lightning fired from the magic circle.
Kamibarez, focused on controlling the Blood Silk, couldn’t dodge it, she was hit directly.
But she still controlled the Blood Silk to the end.
The blood-carpet flared open and shattered the potions against Egir’s body.
Clink!
It all happened nearly simultaneously.
“…!”
Drenched in the potions, Egir tried to move his arm, but the sensation in his body had dropped dramatically.
‘Don’t tell me Kamibarez also prepared a paralyze potion!’
Egir frowned in disbelief, while Kamibarez panted, her legs trembling.
Both were paralyzed.
‘Curses and potions, potions obviously wear off faster. And more importantly…’
Sensing victory, Egir extended his right arm.
‘I still have skeletons!’
Egir tapped into the will of his skeleton and issued an attack command. At the same time, he began preparing another Remade Paralyze with his left hand.
And Kamibarez’s response was—
‘…One stack is still manageable. I can move.’
—A charge.
She forced her paralyzed body to run.
Egir’s skeletons swung their swords to block her, but Kamibarez ducked low or took the hits directly as she kept charging.
‘Close combat? Seriously?’
Egir quickly stopped the curse and summoned a Dark Flare in the air.
Kamibarez raised both arms to protect her head and charged ahead with all her might. The Dark Flares grazed her body as she pushed through.
[Kamibarez: 58%]
[Egir: 100%]
‘She took all of that head-on?’
Realizing the danger, Egir gathered Darkness into his fist.
He was confident in Magical Combat, at least enough to not lose to a tiny girl.
And they were both paralyzed, after all.
“AAAAAH!”
But as Kamibarez reached right in front of him, Egir realized something was wrong.
Her pupils, had vertically slit like a beast’s.
Wham!
Kamibarez flung her arms wide and leapt onto Egir, clinging to him. Egir stumbled and fell.
“W-what the hell!”
Flustered, Egir blushed, while Kamibarez opened her mouth wide. Her fangs gleamed with a threatening glint.
Chomp!
And then she bit his neck. Of course, the suit’s barrier also protected the nape, so it didn’t hurt.
‘All that build-up, and she bites?’
Egir looked dumbfounded as he tried to push her head away. But she stuck like a leech, she wouldn’t come off easily.
“Ugh, hey! What do you think you’re doing in a holy duel eva, huh?”
[Kamibarez: 58%]
[Egir: 84%]
Just that one bite had drained his gauge!
Realizing it too late, Egir wrapped Darkness around his fist and pummeled her head. But thanks to her own bluish barrier, only their gauges dropped — there was no real impact.
[Kamibarez: 51%]
[Egir: 64%]
‘…No way!’
The gauges were plummeting. Her biting power was insane.
Egir desperately tried to hit her and shake her off, but Kamibarez wouldn’t budge.
[Kamibarez: 43%]
[Egir: 21%]
“You lunatic! What the hell is this?! Get off me!”
With the paralysis, and his broken stance, even his punches had no strength.
The rate at which his gauge dropped only accelerated, and finally—
"Match over!"
The referee shouted. The final result was in.
[Kamibarez: 37%]
[Egir: 0%]
“The winner is student Kamibarez!”
Everyone’s mouths fell open at the unexpected turn of events.
‘…L-lost.’
Egir’s face went blank.
He had been confident of victory the moment they were both paralyzed, but he never imagined he’d be so easily broken through by a single charge.
‘In the end, it was my carelessness. I underestimated her.’
As Egir sighed inwardly, Kamibarez, who had been biting his neck, cautiously pulled away.
‘Come to think of it, I was just about to get bitten by a vampire, wasn’t I?’
A shiver ran down his spine as he looked at Kamibarez. Before he knew it, she was trembling and flushed all the way to her earlobes.
“I’m sorry!”
She bowed her head and shouted,
“I’m really sorry! I just got too caught up in wanting to win…! Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Uh, no.”
“Waaaah! I’m really sorry!”
“No, it was a fair duel evaluation. What are you apologizing for? That was actually a really good decision.”
Suddenly, the loser Egir was the one consoling the winner, Kamibarez. Laughter bubbled up from various spots in the audience.
As Kamibarez, tearful and sniffly, checked his injuries, Egir suddenly felt his heart float.
‘…Wow, there was someone this cute in Keyzen?’
Time passed, Kamibarez calmed down, and the two of them stood up. Staff members were already cleaning the floor with mops, preparing for the next match.
‘M-maybe I should at least try talking to her?’
Egir, who wanted to get closer to her, approached Kamibarez carefully.
“Kam— are you okay?”
Just then, a boy’s voice rang out from the stands. Kamibarez, who had been hiding her face in her palms from embarrassment, snapped her head toward the sound and quickly waved.
“Yes! Simon! I won~!”
She bounced up and down, beaming like sunshine. Then, belatedly turning to Egir, she jumped in surprise and bowed apologetically.
“Ah! I’m sorry! I didn’t even notice you were here! I’m sorry!”
Egir nodded coolly, saying it was fine, while inwardly shedding tears.
‘…Sniff, it was a short time, but I liked her.’
Meanwhile, the crowd was abuzz with talk of Kamibarez.
“Ahahaha! Amazing! Only Kami could win like that in Keyzen!”
Dick laughed loudly.
Simon added,
“That decision to charge in while paralyzed, tanking the hits, was incredible.”
“Yeah, I’ll give her that! Come to think of it, even the paralysis was probably part of the plan.”
“Our Kami’s got it when it counts!”
Just then, Kamibarez arrived in the stands. She looked completely refreshed.
“Everyone~!”
As she ran toward them, everyone rose to greet her.
“Well done, Kami!”
Maelyn hugged Kamibarez tightly.
“Aww, small and precious~!”
“M-Maelyn! I can’t breathe!”
Simon and Dick laughed and came over, ruffling her hair and congratulating her.
And just like that, all four members of Group 7 secured an important first victory in the duel evaluations.
All four would now begin their evaluations in the Intermediate Squad.
* * *
Tomorrow promised to be a happy weekend.
They had been running nonstop until now, so Simon planned to take a break this weekend. Maybe do some window-shopping at the necromancer store in Rochest…
“Nope, no time to rest.”
Maelyn cut him off flatly.
“You know midterms are right after next week, right?”
“Wha…?”
Snapping out of it, Simon realized midterms were only about a week away.
He’d been so focused on duel evaluations that it felt like getting smacked in the head. On top of that, he had a personal mission, to beat Maelyn in Summonology like he had confidently declared.
‘This isn’t the time to relax.’
Simon realized the fire was on his heels. The moment he returned to the dorm, he grabbed his textbook and headed straight for the study room.
‘…Wow.’
People really do think alike.
Even though it was the weekend and duel evaluations had just ended, the large dorm study room was packed with students. It was so quiet it was chilling, as if everyone was holding their breath while studying.
Feeling the tension himself, Simon quickly grabbed the last remaining seat.
‘I’m fairly confident in Summonology, so today let’s reinforce my weak subjects.’
He opened his Darkness Dynamics textbook and began studying.
About ten minutes later—
‘…W-what? We definitely learned this in class. Why can’t I understand any of it?’
It was nothing like all the summon training he had been doing. Studying alone revealed his limits clearly.
He needed a plan.
* * *
The next morning.
“Yaaaawn.”
In pajamas and with a toothbrush in her mouth, Maelyn shuffled down the hall looking half-asleep.
“...What takes my roommates an hour to shower?”
It was obvious. Midterms or not, they were probably going to meet boys in Rochest again.
As she grumbled her way toward the shared bathroom—
“Maelyn!”
A dorm staff member she knew well came running toward her. Maelyn stopped and turned.
“There’s a male student at the dorm entrance asking for you!”
“Wha—what? Who this early in the morning?”
“I didn’t catch the name, but he’s a really cute boy. He said he’ll wait at the entrance until you come out.”
The staffer winked as she passed by. Maelyn’s face twisted.
‘…The only boys I even know are like, two people.’
The public bath was too far.
Maelyn quickly ran back the way she came and returned to the dorm room. The bathroom door was still firmly closed.
Maelyn kicked the door hard and shouted,
“Would you get out already, you brat! I’m gonna crap my pants!”
“Kyaaaa!”
Forcing her roommate out with sheer violence, Maelyn rushed through a quick, effortless-yet-effortful makeover. Then she threw the Keyzen uniform jacket over her shoulders and dashed out.
Moments later—
“………”
Maelyn wore an incredulous smile.
“That ‘really cute boy’ was you?”
Simon scratched the side of his head.
“Who said that?”
Superb.