Chapter 377
The First Arena, where Simon and Shatel had clashed, had shot up into the sky before shattering to pieces.
The Third Arena, where Maelyn and Serne had fought, had become a sea of fire.
In the end, Keyzen headquarters ordered both arenas out of use. The managers had to run around like crazy coordinating alternative locations, to the point their legs were cramping.
Meanwhile, Simon, Dick, and Kamibarez descended the staircase toward the waiting room to meet Maelyn. In the distance, Maelyn approached down the hallway with a towel draped over her head.
Unlike the burning hot arena, she sniffled from the cold aura she’d produced herself.
“Maelyn—!”
Kamibarez ran toward her with tearful eyes and leapt into her arms. Maelyn gave an awkward smile with a soft “Ah.”
“Kami. I’m all dirty right now.”
“Ugh! I was really worried about you, Maelyn!”
Kamibarez ended up bursting into tears. Her face blackened with soot in Maelyn’s arms, but she didn’t care.
Maelyn, too, gave a gentle smile as she stroked her back.
“Phewwww! That match was freaking insane! That’s what I call a glorious defeat!”
Dick threw a fuss, reenacting the moment Maelyn brought down the darkness frost barrier.
Simon, who followed them with a grin, added.
“Did you fight without regrets?”
“……Simon!”
The moment she saw Simon and the squad members' faces, Maelyn felt a wave of relief wash over her, blurring her vision with emotion.
But crying in front of these guys was just too embarrassing. She desperately held her feelings back and forced a big smile.
“Did you win?”
To her question, Simon nodded.
“Of course.”
“You beat Shatel? Damn, you too…”
The two shared a quiet chuckle.
Just then, Kamibarez, still buried in Maelyn’s arms, poked her head up.
“Maelyn! You were so cool at the end!”
“Huh? R-Really? I was totally in the zone and didn’t know what was going on…”
“When you went absolutely berserk and cornered Serne, you kind of looked like a girl version of Simon!”
Maelyn’s face flushed red at that.
“Ka-Kami! Is that… even a compliment?”
Kamibarez nuzzled into her and smiled.
“To me, it’s the best possible compliment.”
“Y-You!”
All four of them burst into laughter.
Dick, who was cackling while holding his sides, glanced at the clock on the ceiling and made a shocked face.
“Holy crap, it’s already this late?! Kami! We’ve gotta get ready for our match!”
“Yes, Dick!”
The three of them quickly headed outside.
Simon was about to follow when—
Flutter—
His head turned. A single feather had gently landed on his shoulder.
—Thank you.
As soon as the feather touched his body, Serne’s figure appeared. She was leaning against the wall in the opposite hallway, waving her hand back and forth.
“……Serne.”
“Thank you for helping our Maelyn. She’s a precious talent of the Ivory Tower, so as her successor, it’s only right I give my thanks.”
She gently held the hem of her skirt and gave a polite bow. Simon, on the other hand, sighed and furrowed his brow.
“You’re not about to say you pushed Maelyn to her limit for her own good or some crap like that, are you?”
“Ufufuh. Well, that was the intention at first~”
A mischievous smile played at the corners of Serne’s lips.
“But when our adorable Maelyn came at me with gritted teeth and sheer fury, something clicked, you know? I suddenly wanted to torment her a little. My original plan kind of went out the window.”
Simon spoke with a displeased tone.
“……You really have a bad personality.”
“Isn’t that part of the charm~?”
Simon shook his head at Serne, who said such things with a straight face.
“Hey.”
Tap.
“What are you two doing?”
It was Maelyn. She grabbed Simon’s shoulder and yanked him behind her. Simon blinked in surprise, staring at her back.
“Oh my~”
Serne sounded amused.
“You detected me even though I was using illusion magic?”
“Who do you think I am, an idiot?”
Maelyn pointed to the ceiling with an indifferent expression. At some point, a “Dispel Illusion” magic circle had been drawn on the wall.
“Isn’t it fun? I figured someone like me, you could probably manipulate whenever you wanted.”
Serne simply closed her mouth and gave a faint smile.
“Fine, keep underestimating me. At the end of first year, I reached 70%. Next year, I’ll take it to a draw. And at graduation, third year—”
Snap!
With a proud declaration, Maelyn pointed her thumb down.
“I’ll definitely defeat you. I’ll take the Ivory Tower successor seat too.”
Serne’s eyes narrowed like a fox. Her lips curled into a meaningful smirk.
“I look forward to it~”
Serne turned her back. She winked at Simon, then vanished from the spot as the space around her distorted.
“Phew.”
Maelyn clicked her tongue in distaste with her hands on her hips. Then she turned to Simon.
“Hey.”
A flustered Simon stammered.
“W-Wait! Maelyn! I didn’t do anything, Serne just suddenly—!”
“Thanks.”
Simon stopped mid-sentence.
He thought she’d be angry because it involved Serne, but Maelyn’s eyes were full of warm goodwill.
“What you said from the audience stands really helped.”
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and spoke coyly.
“If it weren’t for you…”
“It was all your effort.”
Simon interrupted, then began walking forward. In the distance, Dick and Kamibarez were waving at them.
“At least for today, be proud of what you achieved on your own.”
“……”
Staring at Simon’s back as he walked ahead, she felt her chest tighten and took a deep breath.
“W-Wait up! Dummy!”
* * *
This duel evaluation had been officially declared the last one for the first-year students this year by Keyzen headquarters.
Simon ranked in the top squad. He completed the year undefeated.
Maelyn had also been undefeated until she met Serne at the end and lost, landing her in the mid-tier squad.
Kamibarez won once in the mid-tier squad and was promoted to the top squad. Dick ended the term in the lower squad.
However, duel rankings were largely based on the content of the duels themselves. Even though Maelyn was in the mid-tier squad, she would receive higher marks than most top-tier students.
Of course, the final squad tier still held significant weight.
Even if you had started in a high-ranking squad, the bottom 100 students of the current lowest squad would be immediately expelled from Keyzen. With the duel evaluations’ weight reduced in the integrated second semester, this expulsion rule had already been eased to this extent.
So, out of the 1,000 students enrolled at Keyzen at the beginning, only 647 remained.
With performance evaluations, finals, mission assessments, and above all, the promotion exams ahead, the number of survivors was bound to drop rapidly.
And then, the all-important subject-wise “Final Practical Evaluations” began.
First up was Professor Hongpeng’s Magical Combat evaluation, the “TA Duel”.
“Kahahaha!”
The TA Simon was to face in Magical Combat was none other than Bred, with whom he had a bad history.
“What’s the matter? Simon Follentia! Go ahead and act cocky like you did back then!”
Bred’s fists flew toward Simon in a relentless barrage inside the duel arena. Simon maintained a purely defensive stance.
The rules of this TA Duel evaluation were clear: only Magical Combat techniques allowed.
Using magic circles meant immediate disqualification.
And if a student could land three valid hits on the TA—regardless of barrier gauge depletion—it was an automatic A+.
“What are you doing?! Come at me properly!”
Bred threw his punches, filled with personal grudge.
He’d gone easier on the other students, but with Simon, there was no holding back. Simon, keeping his guard up, already had his barrier gauge down to nearly half.
But—
“You little...!”
Simon remained calm. Even while crouched in a guard stance, his eyes, unfazed, searched for an opening. Bred found that more irritating.
‘It’s gotta be one of the three techniques: Chwita, Sky Calamity, or Impalement! I’ll never let any of them hit!’
Bred ended his combo and drew back his right fist. As the darkness surged around it, Dick screamed from the audience.
“Simon! It’s Sky Calamity!”
“Dodge it!”
Sky Calamity, a move that pierced through defense.
Grinning wickedly, Bred thrust his right fist toward Simon, who remained in his guard stance.
Swoosh.
Simon stepped forward, dropping his guard entirely, and took Bred’s Sky Calamity straight to the chest.
“What?!”
Even knowing it was a piercing attack, only someone with iron nerves could take it head-on.
Simon closed the distance and slapped his right hand onto Bred’s side.
Then shoved with all his might.
<Simon Original – Shockwave>
BOOM!
Bred’s body was hurled backward. The first hit landed, a red light lit up.
Thud!
“Ggh!”
Bred was sent flying to the edge of the arena, landing on his rear.
‘What was that? What the hell hit me…?!’
And as he looked up, he saw Simon standing with two fingers pressed together, in a finger-flicking pose.
<Simon Original – Wind Snap>
With a dull pop, a shockwave exploded on Bred’s forehead as Simon flicked his fingers.
Another red light lit up. The students watching erupted in cheers.
“What the—what was that?”
“Nice! Keep pushing him!”
Bred snapped back to his senses.
He’d only been thinking in terms of the three main Magical Combat techniques, but suddenly Simon was pulling out original moves out of nowhere.
‘Damn it! Creating new Magical Combat techniques is way harder than crafting original magic circles!’
Bred sprang to his feet.
‘Can’t give him more time!’
No matter what, he couldn’t allow a third hit. This was a matter of pride—for a TA.
Bred stomped through the darkness and charged at Simon.
“Fwooo…”
Simon took a long breath, then gracefully moved his arms into a flowing stance.
He was preparing something.
Darkness swirled unnaturally around Simon’s fist. Bred’s eyes twitched with unease, despite facing a mere student.
‘Damn! What is that?’
Close-range?
Long-range?
Counter?
Ground-based?
He had no clue what Simon was planning.
As Bred slammed on the brakes to observe Simon’s movement—
Boom!
Simon suddenly smashed his fist into the ground. The floor rippled and shook, then crack!—a burst of soil and debris erupted like a fountain beneath Bred’s feet.
‘A first-year using shockwave types…?!’
Though dirt and gravel pelted Bred, it wasn’t enough to trigger the third red light.
Of course—
Slide.
Simon’s real move was in his left hand.
After striking the ground with his right, he smoothly flowed into a follow-up. His left hand swung with the darkness shaped into a jagged blade.
<Hongpeng Original – Impalement>
Slaaaaash!
The rising dust cloud blocked Bred’s view, and through that dirt, the long-range Impalement attack slashed through.
Bred tried to dodge by twisting his body, but—
Slash!
The blade grazed his side and arm. Finally, the third red light lit up.
“Match halt!”
Hongpeng clapped her hands together and shouted.
“Simon Follentia, student! Having landed three hits on the Magical Combat TA, you are officially granted an A+!”
Simon threw his fist into the air in celebration. Dick, Maelyn, and Kamibarez screamed wildly, while the other students also applauded, cheering for the first “A+” performance.
“…Huh?”
Bred, meanwhile, sat there dumbfounded, mouth agape, completely stunned.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters