Chapter 376
In the arena blazing with dark smoke, two girls were clashing head-on.
Boom! Crash!
Serne’s Dark Flare was raining down indiscriminately from the sky.
Ash fell like snow, stirring her faded hair as Maelyn dashed wildly across the arena.
“Huff!”
Leaping high into the air to dodge the falling fireballs, she extended her index finger and aimed it at Serne.
<Bounce>
Her fingertip recoiled, and a curse, shaped like smoke, flashed forward.
“Hm.”
Serne smirked and extended her own index finger.
The flying curse was drawn into her fingertip like an antenna, then began to spin around it.
Humming a tune, she wiggled her finger back and forth, then snapped it sideways with a cheerful “Hyap!”
Bang!
The curse shot in the direction she pointed, slamming into the arena wall and leaving a deep dent.
“Your specialty, the Darkness Element, didn’t work on me. What makes you think a curse would be any different?”
“...Kgh!”
“Now it’s my turn again.”
Dark Flares rained down in rapid succession from above. Explosions erupted wherever Maelyn ran, black smoke soaring skyward.
“Kya-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Serne’s villainous laughter echoed throughout the entire arena.
It was a one-sided display of brute force.
“I… I can’t watch this…”
Kamibarez, who was soft-hearted, had buried her face in her palms. Dick smacked his lips and scratched his head.
“How the hell are we supposed to… huh? Where’s Simon?”
“Simon?”
The two looked around belatedly. Simon, who had been in the stands with them, was gone.
Boom!!
Meanwhile, Maelyn had been driven to the edge of the arena while dodging incoming Dark Flares.
“Guh!”
Blood spurted from her mouth. Now, even symptoms of Darkness Divergence had begun to show.
[Serne Eindark: 100%]
[Maelyn Villene: 4%]
“Haa… haa…”
This was her limit.
Her vision wobbled and blurred. Even Serne’s form, which she’d wanted so badly to defeat, was growing hazy.
She’s absurdly strong.
Completely out of reach.
Now she understood why the elders had passed down the successor’s position, why they even changed the tower’s laws to elevate Serne as heir.
‘Even I… find myself accepting it.’
The fury that had fueled her was fading, and Maelyn’s body gradually lost strength.
“Maelyn!!”
It was then.
That sharp, penetrating voice rang in her ears, snapping her back to her senses.
Simon was gasping for breath in the spectator stands directly above.
“S-Simon! What about your match…?!”
“That’s not important!”
Simon glanced toward Serne warily, then raised his voice.
“Think about what you’re good at!”
“...Wh-What?”
“You’re too focused on your opponent. If you keep this up, you’ll just keep getting played! Think about everything you’ve learned so far! Just focus on what you do best!”
Maelyn stammered.
“B-But! Look around! The whole arena’s on fire—what’s the point of Dark Frost in a place like this…!”
If she simply accepted this as a fire vs. ice situation, Maelyn would never break through.
Simon’s eyes gleamed.
“Didn’t you say you’d become the strongest?”
Back when she first entered Keyzen and used Dark Frost for the first time.
It had actually been during a Magical Combat class.
A joint lesson with Class C. They’d played a dodgeball-style game, and Maelyn had used Dark Frost for the first time, tripping up her opponent Serne and declaring:
—I’ll become the strongest. And before I graduate from Keyzen, I’ll defeat you with my own hands. But I don’t need to obsess over you alone to become strong.
Maelyn had said that with her own mouth. And after that day, she started using Dark Frost as her main technique, and her skills exploded in growth.
“Remember this. Beating Serne, winning this match—”
Simon continued in a firm voice.
“—it’s all just part of the process.”
“Oh my~”
At that moment, Serne smiled, cupping her cheek. Simon and Maelyn flinched and turned.
“To think Simon would say all that just for one of our Ivory Tower students… I’m so touched~”
As she raised a finger, the Dark Flare magic circles in the air began to tremble violently.
“But if we drag this out any longer… it might get dangerous?”
Fwooooom!
Dozens of Dark Flares flew toward Maelyn without a gap between them.
‘……’
Maelyn raised her head.
She calmly observed the blazing fireballs flying at her, mouths agape.
‘The things I’ve learned.’
Maelyn straightened her staggering posture.
She coated her entire body with the remaining Darkness.
‘The things I do best.’
Zing! Zing!
Magic circles bloomed beneath her feet, touching the arena floor.
‘Defeating Serne, winning this match—it’s all part of the process.’
Her sapphire-blue eyes sparkled with clarity.
Her once unfocused eyes snapped back into alignment.
Her stiff arms dropped gently to her sides and swayed loosely.
“Heh—”
At last, a carefree smile formed on her lips.
“I have no idea anymore!!”
BOOOOOOM!!
KA-THOOOM!!
The Dark Flares exploded one after another against the floor and walls. Even Simon, in the spectator stands, was pushed back by the powerful shockwave.
Though a protective barrier shielded the arena, the front-row seats were melting from the sheer heat.
The crowd stood up with wide eyes.
“It’s… over…?”
“No, look over there!”
Far from where the fireballs landed, Maelyn sat unscathed in a crouched position.
The audience buzzed.
“Teleport?!”
“Did she suddenly use some kind of blink spell?!”
But a few sharp-eyed spectators, including Simon, saw the truth. A thin line of melting ice stretched across the floor, showing her trail.
Shff.
Maelyn lifted her head.
<Ice Road>
Shrrrrrrrrrrrk!
Her feet lifted slightly from the ground, and she began gliding forward as ice gushed from beneath her feet at high speed.
Serne immediately hurled more fireballs, but Maelyn sped across the floor with overwhelming velocity. She zipped across the ground, up the wall, and even reached the ceiling of the arena, dodging every incoming fireball with perfect precision.
Oooooooooh!
Cheers erupted as the mood flipped completely.
In this arena dominated by Serne, Dark Frost melts within seconds. It’s useless as a projectile, and it fails even as cover.
However—
‘With this Ice Road that keeps generating fresh ice, none of that matters!’
Shrrrrrrrrrrrk!
Dancing through the endless fireballs like a star, Maelyn twisted and weaved in rapid S-turns, Z-turns—her control so phenomenal, anyone would be awestruck.
Blinding speed.
And her precise control.
The ash that had piled faintly atop her head blew away in the wind, revealing her now radiant, sky-blue hair fluttering freely.
Her gaze locked onto Serne.
‘Don’t be tied down! Think freely!’
Maelyn opened a magic circle in her palm.
‘Just like this Ice Road, I need a way to counter the flames with my specialty, the Dark Frost Field!’
She began modifying the formulas and runes at will.
Modification of the magic circle.
It was a perilous process she wouldn’t have dared under normal circumstances, but now, she had no choice.
‘Recall it all! Everything I’ve learned at Keyzen!’
Her mind filled with countless formulas and runes from her textbooks.
“Our little Maelyn, really darting around well, huh?”
Fwoosh!
Serne, predicting Maelyn’s trajectory, drew a Dark Flare directly in her palm and launched it.
But Maelyn had been waiting for it. She raised her palm firmly toward the incoming fireball.
<Ice Cannon>
A large ice shell blasted forward with a booming sound, but the moment it struck the fireball—sizzle!—it melted instantly.
“Ice? Seriously? Forcing it like that isn’t going to help you.”
As Serne spoke, her eyes widened. The water that had melted from the Dark Flame spell and pooled on the ground began to ripple.
Splash! Splat!
Like water from a squirt gun, it shot toward Serne, grazing her arm and thigh.
For the first time, her barrier gauge flashed red.
Waaaaah!!
The crowd roared in excitement at Maelyn’s first counterattack.
“She hit her! What was that? What just happened?!”
Dick exclaimed in excitement.
“She rewrote the formula for her freezing spell!”
Kamibarez trembled with emotion as she answered.
Originally, the formula for Dark Frost Field emphasized enhancing temperature, density, and projectile speed, but Maelyn had lowered all those values to the bare minimum.
She dropped the melting point just enough for it to function as ice, then reconfigured it so that when it turned into water, it could function as a projectile.
Dick let out a disbelieving laugh.
“She made that kind of revision in this short time? Without blowing up the magic circle?”
“Yes! Maelyn really is a genius!”
Kamibarez shouted.
“She changed Dark Frost Field into Dark Stream Field! Doesn’t that reverse the elemental disadvantage now?”
“No, not quite.”
Simon, who had somehow returned to his seat, spoke while catching his breath.
“Simon!”
“Using Dark Stream Field from the start, prepared and calculated, is completely different from mimicking it with melted water from ice.”
Simon knew better than anyone—he had witnessed the student council president, Phantasus, a monster among monsters who used Dark Stream Field.
Dick nodded.
“So, that means Maelyn’s still in a bad spot.”
“Yeah. But even so, the fact that she managed to create a window for counterattack against Serne—that alone is amazing!”
With renewed confidence, Maelyn began to press the attack. She deliberately clashed ice against incoming fire, using the resulting water to strike Serne in erratic, unpredictable ways.
“Is this some kids’ water gun fight? You're just spraying wildly at this point~”
Serne said with ease.
“Got anything more serious, Maelyn?”
“Shut up!!”
Maelyn shouted, breath ragged, as she relentlessly drove Serne back. Dodging with Ice Road, she continuously splashed melted water toward her opponent.
“I won’t let you toy with me anymore!”
She threw her arms up above her head. Then, all the melted ice water across the arena shot upward simultaneously, like geysers.
And in the air, a magic circle Maelyn had set in place was waiting.
As the mass of water passed through it—
Craaaack!
It transformed into solid ice spikes. The largest Maelyn had summoned in this entire match.
<Maelyn’s Original – Glacia>
“She refroze the water!!”
“Bring it down!”
The audience, now fully immersed in the match, shouted with feverish excitement.
Serne frowned and raised her hand.
<Dark Flare>
Fwoooosh!
The Dark Flare from Serne’s palm engulfed the glacier in a blink.
“I’m not!! A successor candidate! Not the second-in-command of the Ivory Tower! And definitely not Serne’s lackey!”
Maelyn swung her arms down with all the strength she had left.
“I am, Maelyn Villene!!”
Fwoooosh!
The flames split left and right, and Maelyn’s Glacia pierced straight through the blaze, descending.
Serne’s shocked expression flashed as the ice crashed into her barrier.
“......!”
“Match over!”
At that moment, the referee, watching the barrier gauge on the screen, raised his arm and shouted loudly.
[Serne Eindark: 71%]
[Maelyn Villene: 0%]
“Winner! Serne Eindark!”
Due to the arena’s high heat, Maelyn’s barrier gauge had finally hit zero.
But the atmosphere in the arena was anything but that of a loss for Maelyn.
Clench!
Maelyn clenched both fists tightly, then shouted at the top of her lungs with all her strength.
“YAAAAAAH!”
Zzzzzzt—
Everyone who heard that cry felt chills run down their spine.
The crowd followed, raising their fists and answering her with a thunderous roar.
WAAAAAAHHHH!
In front of countless upperclassmen and fellow students, in a match that had nearly buried her name beneath the overwhelming presence of Serne of the Ivory Tower, Maelyn Villene had made her name known, loud and clear.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters