Chapter 524
“Waaaaaaaah—!”
White was struck by the attack.
The crowd was utterly enthralled by Maelyn’s performance, chanting her name over and over, while in the VIP seats, a calm silence lingered.
The chancellor of Moyran and Jane, the vice-chancellor of Keyzen, stood with hands clasped behind their backs, silently observing the duel between students.
“Impressive. To see through White and press him this far.”
Flap—
The chancellor of Moyran unfolded the document in his hand.
“That child is this year’s vice president of Keyzen.”
Jane nodded, glancing at the chancellor of Moyran.
It was difficult to find any trace of the neat appearance from the photograph at the school entrance in his early days. Wrinkles had deepened, and his hair, burdened by years of hardship in the chancellor’s seat, had turned white as frost.
“She’s an excellent student.”
Jane added one more remark.
“A hardworking student, too.”
—Professor! Professor! This case is, well…!
Ever since she became vice president, she had been quite the handful for Jane, who was in charge of the student council.
In front of her peers, she would strut, declaring, “I’m the vice president!” But that was more of an unconscious attempt to satisfy her ego than anything else.
Behind the scenes, however, she was more dedicated to council work than anyone, grinding herself down to live up to her position.
“What a pity.”
Glancing over Maelyn’s profile, the chancellor spoke with a hint of regret.
“A child with such circumstances. The runner-up in a succession struggle is always burdened with hardships.”
Jane neither agreed nor denied, simply keeping her gaze forward. The chancellor continued.
“For children like her, you must satisfy their desire for recognition. No matter how much adults insist that ‘ranking isn’t everything in life’, children cannot understand that.”
His eyes shifted, taking in Maelyn, gasping for breath with hands pressed to her knees as if she were about to collapse.
“Admirable. It seems Maelyn has discovered something she wants beyond her ambition.”
“……”
Maelyn had indeed always carried a burning inferiority complex toward Serne.
From the moment she enrolled in Keyzen, everything in her life had been a means to defeat her.
But as her supervising professor of Class A had seen, living alongside Team 7 had shaved away much of that harshness, and in the year-end duel evaluation against Serne, she showed signs of overcoming that inferiority.
Now, through her time in the student council, it seemed Maelyn was beginning to set her sights on a path beyond merely reclaiming the heir’s seat from Serne.
“It is precisely the students with something missing who can grow the most.”
The chancellor of Moyran set the papers down, continuing.
“Those raised perfectly upright without any flaws will continue steadily forward, but they can never become irreplaceable. It is the rough, dirty stones buried in the earth that, once cut, refined, and polished, reveal a brilliance that shocks the world.”
Jane diverted the conversation.
“About White’s transfer.”
“Yes.”
“I heard the students were strongly opposed. For a chancellor who has led Moyran so successfully over the past five years with overwhelming support, why take such a reckless gamble?”
The chancellor tore his gaze from the arena, lifting his head to look at Moyran’s vast lake.
“No matter how much effort it makes, a ‘lake’ can never become a ‘sea’.”
He turned back to Jane with a strange smile.
“When faced with an overwhelming wall, humans are bound to gamble.”
“……”
Today, Jane thought, the wrinkles deepening around the chancellor’s smile looked heavier than ever.
Then the chancellor pointed to the document in front of Jane.
“Since Keyzen seemed concerned, I also prepared White’s profile. Have you read it?”
“I have.”
White had already been thoroughly vetted by Moyran.
Keyzen too paid extreme attention each year to the nine transfer students. At the elders’ urging, Keyzen had even sent people to investigate White separately, and found nothing suspicious.
Could a first-year really defeat a third-year Student Council President? Even as he was now, White was close to a weapon.
Jane slid her eyes sideways to look at the chancellor of Moyran.
‘What are you and the Shahed Kingdom plotting?’
At that moment—
Paaaaaaah!
From within Maelyn’s ice, a dazzling white light flared. The audience murmured in confusion, and even the exhausted Maelyn stumbled back in shock.
“As I’d heard.”
Jane folded her arms, recalling what she had read in White’s profile.
“A fearsome power indeed.”
* * *
Simon and Kamibarez also shot to their feet in shock from the audience.
From within Maelyn’s ice, a blinding white radiance burst forth like a chick breaking from its shell.
“This is…!”
Kamibarez’s pupils quivered.
“Is… is that Holiness?”
“No. It’s different.”
Simon, who could actually wield priestly power, realized it instantly.
“That’s Darkness. No doubt about it.”
Pure-white Darkness.
The audience gasped in horror.
“An ill omen! A cursed sign!”
“White Darkness?!”
“Priest, go crawl back to the Holy Federation!”
Booooooo!
Jeers and curses poured in from all directions, but White calmly fixed his gaze on Maelyn.
In the arena, Maelyn forced a weary smile, wiping her forehead.
‘So that’s what you were doing with my Darkness, draining it away…’
Until now, White had only defended.
But from now, the true assault would begin. He swung his arm, launching a white sphere.
<Ice Road>
Shhhhrk!
Though she possessed poor physical ability and dull reflexes, Maelyn had always covered it with magic.
She slid back on conjured ice beneath her feet, and the spot she had just vacated was struck by the white sphere.
Thud!
Its strange appearance was matched by its sound. Instead of exploding, it drove into the ground with a deep rumbling, gouging out earth.
In an instant, it carved a massive pit, then faded out like a dimming lamp. That was all.
‘If I get hit by that even once…’
Flames of scarlet ignited in her right hand.
‘It’s over for me!’
Whoosh!
The pure mana flames she conjured were blocked by White’s white sphere, which he then hurled back at her.
“Kh!”
Too fast. She dodged just in time with Ice Road, but the speed chilled her heart.
If he had predicted her route, she would not have escaped.
‘I must end this now!’
Maelyn stretched out both palms. On one hand, a blue magic circle; on the other, a black one. Symbols and diagrams filled in, racing toward completion.
Vrrrrrm—!
White raised another white sphere on his palm and charged forward with it.
Rrrrumble!
The arena floor split and scarred.
It was a horrific sight, yet Maelyn’s concentration never wavered.
‘I’m the vice president of Keyzen!’
She thrust out her right arm.
‘I cannot—must not—lose to another school!’
From her right hand, a pure flame blazed forth, then was overlaid with black Darkness fire like a lid sealing it.
Two kinds of flame burned at once, fusing into one massive fireball.
<Maelyn’s Original – Blaze Egg>
Clutching the completed fireball, she charged head-on toward White and his white sphere.
The duel reached its climax.
Every spectator leapt to their feet. Kamibarez trembled, whispering encouragement, while Simon bit his lip.
‘A direct clash with White is reckless!’
Just as the distance between them shrank, Maelyn flicked her hand.
<Wall of Ice>
Shhhhrk!
A wall of ice suddenly formed between them. White’s expression never changed as he drove straight in.
Craaaash!
As his white sphere smashed through the wall, Maelyn darted around its side on Ice Road.
“Haaaaaahhh!”
She swung the blazing fireball clenched in her hand with all her might. White, as if expecting it, twisted his waist and swept his white sphere toward her.
Kwooooooom!
The fireball and the white sphere collided, erupting into a massive explosion.
Her fireball burst apart, but White’s white sphere only shrank in size—it still remained intact.
As he swung his arm to cut through the smoke—
Grab!
Maelyn burst through the smoke and seized White’s right arm. Though her barrier gauge dropped sharply at the touch of the white sphere, she didn’t care.
She used her weight to drag herself down to the ground, forcing White into an awkward position above her.
“!”
White glanced back. Floating above him was her original spell, descending straight for his back.
That earlier fireball had only been a decoy—just a simple Darkness flame. The true Blaze Egg was what she had hurled skyward a moment earlier, timed to fall now.
“My victory!”
Maelyn grinned. The fireball crashed down on White’s back, detonating.
Kwooooooooom!
Flames engulfed the two of them in a blazing explosion.
“Maelyn!!”
Kamibarez screamed her name in desperation. Simon let out a dazed, half-nervous laugh.
‘...S-Scary.’
Whether in studies, work, or duels, she always carried herself neatly and properly, yet her obsession with victory was terrifying.
As black smoke spread, all eyes turned instinctively to the screens showing the barrier gauges.
“Match over!”
The referee blew his whistle and raised his arm.
“The winner is—!”
As the flames cleared, Maelyn was revealed collapsed on the ground, her face strained in exhaustion.
And there was White—his left hand tucked behind his back, his right hand clutching her throat.
[Maelyn Villene: 0%]
[White: 60%]
“The winner is Moyran’s student, White!”
* * *
Here is what had happened:
At the same moment Maelyn’s Blaze Egg fell on White’s back, White had extended his free left hand to unleash Darkness Absorption.
The only damage he took was from the pure mana flame inside the Blaze Egg.
Meanwhile, with his right arm—the one Maelyn had grabbed—he drained her barrier.
The protective suits students wore were barriers forged of Darkness. White, merely by touch, could drain her barrier gauge to 0%.
For Maelyn, who had planned her follow-up attack, it was a devastating and unforeseen blow.
‘Still… incredible.’
Simon thought she had done more than her very best.
Her defeat came down to one simple fact: she hadn’t known he could absorb with his left hand as well, nor that he could drain barriers.
Yet even without knowing anything of her opponent, she had forced White into a corner and nearly overwhelmed him. That was truly an achievement.
“Well fought, Keyzen!”
“That was a great match!”
The crowd rose to their feet, applauding. For the first time, a standing ovation burst from all sides. Still, Simon couldn’t help worrying.
‘With Maelyn’s personality, she must be burning with frustration…’
Sure enough, Maelyn trudged off the arena, peeling off her protective suit. She forced a sheepish smile and waved to Simon and Kamibarez.
“Sorry, I lost.”
“You were amazing, Maelyn! Truly incredible!”
Kamibarez pulled on her arm to cheer her up. Simon also gave words of encouragement, though cautiously. She suddenly burst into laughter.
“Ha! No need to force encouragement, you know?”
She smacked Simon’s back with a slap as she walked past. Simon rubbed his sore back and asked quietly:
“...You’re not too disappointed, right?”
“Not at all.”
She grabbed her bag from the bench with an air of certainty.
“Once I fought him, I realized—I never had a chance to win. That’s why there’s no regret, no frustration. Nothing. Let’s just go back to Keyzen.”
“Yes, Maelyn!”
She excused herself, saying she’d stop by the restroom. But though her words were calm, her clenched fist trembling outside her sleeve betrayed her true feelings.
“Maelyn.”
She stopped dead.
Turning, she saw Simon smiling softly.
“I’m truly glad… that you became our vice president.”
“……”
Her cold, composed expression broke in an instant. Her blue eyes rippled like a lake touched by wind.
“...I-I don’t know! Idiot!”
She sniffled and bolted away. Simon and Kamibarez exchanged glances, smiling quietly.
* * *
Jane turned around.
“Is everyone ready?”
“Yes!!”
The Moyran transfer evaluations were complete, and the nine transfer students had gathered.
At Jane’s side stood Simon, Maelyn, and Kamibarez, each wearing their student council armbands.
“Then, let’s depart for Keyzen.”
She stepped toward the teleportation circle, the others following behind.
Except for White, whose eyes seemed absent and unfocused, the other eight gleamed with determination.
Every one of them had passed through odds of hundreds to one. More than a year of hardship and effort, all for this very moment.
Benz grinned widely and shouted:
“Let’s go—to Keyzen!”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters