Chapter 702
Krrrrrrrrr!
The sea split apart, exposing a massive seabed.
Simon and Aizel descended toward it.
‘Good heavens.’
Simon’s eyes felt like they were about to pop out. He was really standing on the seabed. Seaweed and such were strewn about in a tangled mess, and fish, still thinking they were in water, flopped around in confusion.
‘What principle could possibly cause a phenomenon like this?’
Considering the enormity of what had just been accomplished, Aizel didn’t even look strained. Humming a tune under his breath, he busied himself reinforcing the ground, then glanced back at Simon.
“Here, no one comes, right?”
“Th- that’s true, but…”
Simon looked uneasily at the swirling walls of the ocean around them. A small, gnawing fear told him it could all collapse at any moment. Just in case, he released Deimos from subspace as insurance, letting it roam the sea.
“This exact spot happens to cleverly bypass Keyzen’s detection barrier. I’m the only one who knows about it.”
“…Of course only you would know, senior.”
Necromancers were said to all be twisted.
And so was Aizel. No, he was twisted beyond the usual necromancers.
“Then, shall we get started?”
“Yes.”
On the seabed, the two of them lightly stretched their bodies.
Simon didn’t know the mechanics of it, but Aizel was not only maintaining this gigantic phenomenon, he also had to face Simon. Just that alone meant he was shouldering considerable risk.
Of course, it wasn’t that he consciously thought, I’ll take on a risk for a second-year student. He had merely created the “location” out of necessity.
Pure strength.
His personality might be introverted, but when it came to his skill, he had unshakable conviction. The very thought of losing was, to Aizel, an absurdity far outside reason.
‘If he’s going this far, I can’t afford to lose either.’
Simon grinned, pulling his fighting spirit up.
“I’m ready, senior!”
“I’m ready too. We’ll stick to the same rules as the standard second-year duel evaluations, right?”
“Of course.”
Aizel gestured nonchalantly.
“Good, come at me whenever.”
“……”
Right now, this image—
Inside the raging ocean, calmly smiling and inviting him in, Simon thought it made Aizel appear far more dignified and imposing than when he wore glasses and put on his cold, detached act.
“Then I won’t hold back!”
With the promise of the first strike, Simon opened Darkness.
Two skeletons burst from subspace, immediately breaking apart into bone parts that floated in the air. Simon spread three fingers wide, and with a clattering sound, the bones formed into sharp, fan-like blades.
“Your control of Restoration is impressive.”
Even Aizel let out a note of admiration. At the same time Simon pushed off the ground and charged, the floating bones shot toward Aizel like bullets.
Armor first, then dash.
This was Simon’s favorite tactic in duel evaluations. Unlike the typical Summonology student, who would desperately stall for time until they could bring out enough summons for a mid-to-late game advantage, Simon’s approach was the complete opposite.
“Only because your foundation in Magical Combat is solid can you fight this way.”
Aizel observed calmly, raising his hand.
The fastest magic he could bring forth.
He conjured a long, slender spear of Darkness and hurled it. Simon’s eyes widened.
‘That’s no ordinary Darkness spear!’
Wind swirled around the spear tip like a donut.
Simon instantly sent several bone armor parts forward to deflect its course, while maneuvering others himself to dodge.
Clang! Thud!
Aizel too dashed about, dodging Simon’s bones. His movements weren’t flashy, but sharp and efficient.
Both kept their distance, avoiding projectiles, probing for the right moment to unleash a curse.
Swish!
Suddenly, one Darkness spear twisted in midair and shot toward Simon’s ankle. Simon had no choice but to leap high into the air.
‘He got me airborne.’
Knocking an opponent into the air, where evasion was harder, then sniping with projectiles was Duel 101.
‘If that’s how you want it!’
Simon chose to counterattack instead. Darkness wrapped around his right hand like a knuckle.
< Hongpeng’s Original – Impalement >
Shhhhaaaak!
An attack aimed at the lower body.
Aizel, who had easily dodged bone armor strikes before, this time had no choice but to jump straight up. Both were airborne now. Simon tucked and rolled, spinning his body midair, and gestured.
Tap, tap.
The bone armor parts flew up to form footholds. Using them, Simon straightened his bent knees and launched himself directly toward Aizel.
‘Perfect timing!’
No matter how powerful Aizel’s black magic was, if he was dragged into a pure Magical Combat exchange, Simon had a real chance.
The distance closed, Simon’s fist wrapped with Hongpeng’s Chwita was about to smash into Aizel’s face—
Rustle—
‘!’
He vanished.
Had he propelled himself with Darkness magic or used spirit form, Simon could’ve prepared for it.
But Aizel simply disappeared.
Simon’s fist ripped through empty air.
Crash!
He slid across the seabed to a halt, spinning to look back.
‘Teleport?’
Far away, Aizel stood calmly.
“Your battle sense is remarkable.”
He praised in a light tone.
“I didn’t expect you to leap off bone armor midair for a second rush. Are you really a second-year? The way you fight, it’s like you’ve survived life-or-death battlefields more than once.”
Grinding his teeth, Simon raised his arms.
A massive subspace opened, unleashing skeleton mages casting Dark Blaze, and skeleton archers firing Darkness-imbued arrows.
Even under the rain of Simon’s proudest firepower, Aizel strolled leisurely, hands behind his back, dodging like it was a casual walk.
‘But still…’
Simon’s goal wasn’t to flaunt firepower.
Explosions always produced blast clouds, obscuring vision. Into that smoke, he sent in three ghouls summoned from subspace.
Simon spread his hand open.
‘Lino’s Golden Line!’
In his mind, the three magic circles were neatly cut apart with lines.
—Screeeech!
The berserk ghouls charged like steam engines, closing in behind Aizel, and Simon instantly clenched his fist.
‘Corpse Poison Explosion!’
Boom-boom-boooom!
Green detonations erupted with deafening force.
An unavoidable strike, at unavoidable timing. Simon lowered his hand, eyes fixed on the smoke.
“Well done.”
A voice whispered by his ear, raising every hair on his body.
Aizel was already behind him.
Simon spun instantly, whipping a kick—but once again, Aizel vanished, reappearing even further back, taunting.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect much.”
Aizel shrugged.
“I kept picturing a future where I’d be shoved into the Student Council President’s seat, my true self exposed in front of everyone, and I’d be forced to drop out. But after fighting you…”
His pupils narrowed to slits, like a predator’s.
“For the first time, I feel the tiniest speck of hope.”
Vrrrrmmm! Vrrrrmmm!
Four magic circles bloomed cleanly behind his back.
Aizel’s signature, near-chantless, ultra-fast black magic casting.
He raised both arms freely.
“Here it comes.”
Thud!
Simon felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and coughed dryly, instantly raising both arms over his chest in a defensive stance.
Thwack!
Thud!
Pain struck his arms, shoulders, and this time, his knee.
“Ghhk!”
Simon staggered, staring straight ahead. Aizel had taken a fighting stance. As he gave a slight flick of his fist, another sting burst across Simon’s arm with a dull pop!
‘Magical Combat? No, impossible!’
It looked as though he was disguising it as Magical Combat, but in truth, Aizel’s combat skill was clearly below Simon’s own.
What Simon focused on was the magic circles behind him.
There was no way they were just decoration, left floating idly.
Ta-at!
Simon stepped sharply on Darkness and darted sideways. Where he had just been, pop-pop! bursts of empty air exploded.
‘This must be…!’
Thud!
A clean hit.
The blow landed on his head, sending Simon reeling. His vision spun along with a ringing in his ears.
But—
Tap!
Just before collapsing, he pushed power into his rear foot, barely regaining balance.
Whoosh!
Lowering his posture fast, he avoided the next follow-up attack. Bursts of air exploded overhead, whipping his hair around.
‘Sideways!’
Simon dashed low to the ground, and both in front and behind him, bursts of air detonated.
‘What—!’
Aizel’s eyes widened more than ever.
‘I thought using Fulgor against a second-year would be overkill, but… don’t tell me…’
The corners of his mouth curled into delighted ecstasy.
‘Did he dodge it by sight?’
Simon charged at Aizel, dodging the Fulgor blasts. Sparks danced in Simon’s eyes.
‘Compared to the Fulgor Professor Jane used in supplementary lessons, this is nothing!’
Fulgor was not the type of black magic fired from a magic circle, but the type that manifested directly in midair.
If one could detect the faintest “sign” just before its manifestation, evading it wasn’t too difficult.
Of course, Aizel’s specialty, Fulgor through Darkness-wind spells, had a reputation of leaving no sign at all—silent, invisible, undetectable. Yet Simon was reading them and dodging.
“Amazing! Truly amazing!”
Excited, Aizel thrust both arms violently forward.
“Then, how about this?”
The number of magic circles behind him doubled, and Fulgor bloomed all at once, surrounding Simon on every side.
A Fulgor combo erupting from every direction, unavoidable even if seen.
Bababababababoom!
Shockwaves detonated everywhere, sweeping through the surroundings.
It looked like a perfect hit, but Aizel tilted his head.
‘Not all of them went off?’
Crackle!
From the blast smoke, dark-blue Darkness sparked like electricity. Gasping for breath, Simon grinned.
“Shall we keep going?”
The anti-Fulgor tactic Professor Jane had taught him.
Cancel Spark.
Crackle!
Bolts of current jumped through the air.
When Aizel created the precursor to Fulgor—the “air holes” in Simon’s blind spots—Simon would immediately fling sparks into those positions.
The moment a spark touched an air hole, the magic that should have manifested there was nullified.
“Hahaha!”
Aizel laughed brightly.
This boy had far exceeded expectations.
Boom-boom-booom!
Wind bombs exploded in every direction Simon ran, front, back, left, right, but Simon slipped through them with nimble movement.
The distance between them was now barely five meters.
‘Good sense, but he’s still not fully accustomed to Cancel Spark!’
As the gap closed, Aizel tried to overwhelm him with sheer numbers.
But then—
Fweeeeng—
A sudden haze clouded his mind, drowsiness washing over him.
‘Sleep?’
He had no idea when it was cast, but he was cursed.
And for a curse to break through the resistance he had been stacking since the start of the duel.
‘That famous Sleep of senior Phantasus! When in the world did he learn this?’
Simon continued charging forward.
Though his focus was collapsing under the drowsiness, Aizel swung his arms without showing it.
Around Simon, even more air holes spread than before.
But this time, Simon did not use Cancel Spark. He halted his dash, lifted his leg high, and—
Boom!
He stomped down on the ground. A powerful gust exploded outward from Simon’s foot, sweeping away all the surrounding air holes.
< Hongpeng’s Original – Wind Surge >
“?!”
“Prepare yourself!”
Simon clenched his fist and thrust it forward, while swinging his other arm in tandem.
‘!’
Without resistance, Aizel’s body was dragged forward by the pulling gale.
< Wind Surge Link Technique – Pull Saw >
And waiting beneath his pulled-in chin—was Simon’s fist.
Baaang—!
A dull, bone-rattling impact shook the air.
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