༺ The Grand Festival (6) ༻

A video of Isaac embracing Princess Snow White while running was played in the middle of the stadium, in mid-air.

The entire academy gaped at the sight.

No matter how close they were as mentor and mentee, they were still a commoner and a princess.

But Isaac looked like a prince straight out of a fairytale as he saved the princess.

Despite being in Isaac’s embrace, White showed not a hint of rejection as she clung even tighter to him.

The only blemish was her unbecoming manner of crying.

“…”

The expression of Luce Eltania, a female student whose rose gold hair was elaborately styled, was filled with a sinister aura. Her eyes were fixed on the video like someone plotting a murder.

The second-year Magic Department students gathered around were overwhelmed by her murderous intent, trembling with fear.

Princess Snow White. Her relationship with Isaac must have grown close through almost daily mentoring.

The fact that some of the limited time she could spend with Isaac was allocated to that woman… It was enough to make Luce shudder.

To her, the sobbing White looked like nothing but a conniving vixen as she clung to Isaac. Such a sight only served to intensify Luce’s wariness.

Meanwhile, in a seat in the audience.

A beautiful female student with light green pigtails was trembling, her fists clenched.

Her face twitched repeatedly. She stared blankly at the video with her jade-colored eyes, unable to control her shaking body.

“I… I haven’t… received it yet…”

Kaya Astrea murmured to herself in a soft, sighing voice.

A princess carry from Sir Isaac.

She remembered when Lisetta Lionheart received a princess carry from Isaac during last year’s joint practical evaluation.

She hadn’t received one herself yet… It was something she had only enjoyed in her imagination up till now…

Princess Snow White received it first… How could this be?

She knew the circumstances, but she had not expected White to be protected in such a manner.

Kaya was so jealous of White that it was almost palpable.

“Ah!! As many students rushed at Isaac at once!! Indeed, how will Isaac overcome this crisis?!”

The announcer, Amy, shouted with an excited voice.

Running while the princess was in his embrace. Indeed, his friend, Isaac, was pleasantly insane.

On the Arcball race track. The remaining participants were swarming towards Isaac.

The second-year student with silver-blue hair, Isaac, looked straight ahead and spoke.

“White, take off my glasses.”

“Huh, yes…!”

Snow White, who was sobbing in Isaac’s arms, took off his glasses. The reason her tears hadn’t stopped was because the shock of having ridden on thrilling waves and then abruptly crashing was still being stirred in her heart.

The glasses that she had just taken off were a magic tool, Ribella’s glasses.

Just as wearing sandbags and then taking them off could make one’s body feel temporarily lighter, wearing those glasses and then taking them off allowed one to follow the flow of mana more easily for a while.

Isaac’s eyes quickly scanned the competitors swarming in from the front.

“Hand it over!!”

“Give us the Arcball!!”

Woooosh!

Using the 2-star spell [Cold Divergence], Isaac spread a pure white mist with fierce momentum.

The participants attacked Isaac with elemental magic or their rackets, cutting through the mist.

He skillfully dodged the attacks or countered with elemental magic, moving past the students.

Isaac, despite the limitation of holding White, dazzled as he bypassed his competitors.

His remarkable physical abilities allowed him to follow the flow of mana even in the cold, dodging his opponent’s magic or using elemental magic at the right moments, showing excellent judgment and reflexes.

Truly an artful movement. The students who had rushed at Isaac were astounded by his dazzling movements, it was difficult to believe that he had come from the Magic Department.

Only top students from the Knight Department could possibly hope to match him.

“Aah!”

“What do you think you’re doing attacking me, idiot!”

As the chill thickened, participants began attacking each other indiscriminately due to their obscured vision.

By the time many students had dispelled the mist with basic elemental magic, Isaac had already passed through the mist and gone beyond all the students who had rushed at him.

“What…?!”

The students were bewildered as they watched Isaac, who was ahead, running fast on the race track.

Is he really running while embracing a woman? What kind of speed is that?

Cheers from the students erupted in the stands.

“Wow!! Isaac successfully dodged the attacks of numerous students!! Amazing!!”

Announcer Amy shouted with a smiling face.

Whoooaah!!

At that moment, a chilling mana swept over the race track again.

Behind Isaac. Water mana pulsed through the air and waves of blue began to crash with ferocity that belied the power of elemental magic.

“Ah, Senior Isaac…! Behind, behind you!!”

The wave naturally covered the race track. At that terrifying sight, White’s pale face turned even paler.

“T-t-t-that! Is, is that basic elemental magic?!”

Even someone with a low mana perception could feel it. That wave contained an enormous amount of water mana.

If White herself were to be swept away by that wave, fainting would be the least of her worries.

Isaac casually turned his head back to check the wave sweeping the ground.

“Does that even make sense…?”

“Arrrgh!”

“S-save me…! Aaah!”

The students who failed to attack Isaac looked at the approaching huge wave with faces filled with horror.

They desperately turned to run, but the wave, arriving much faster, swept them away first. It was a powerless end.

The man running behind the wave was Pierre Flanche. A first-year in the Magic Department and a genius with Grade S mana.

Pierre’s popularity and reputation were partly due to his innate abilities. Not many in this academy could win against him in a fight.

Amidst this, Isaac nodded in satisfaction.

“Good.”

“What?!”

Pierre’s ruthless attack was helpful in eliminating competitors. Isaac had anticipated this.

The regrettable part was that Pierre’s teammates were still alive. They must have agreed among themselves that Pierre would take care of the rear.

“What now, that crazy guy!?”

Lisetta Lionheart, having not rushed at Isaac, was still running ahead.

As someone who knew the true capabilities of the archwizard Isaac, she had no confidence to rush at him.

Anyway, what kind of monster is that beige-haired junior who popped out of nowhere?

Although it was incomparably lower than the true mana Isaac displayed when the Abyssal Sea Monster appeared, there was no denying that the junior before her possessed tremendous mana.

“White put your arm around my shoulders and hug me. It’ll be uncomfortable for a moment, but bear with me.”

“Yes, yes!”

The possession limit of 2 minutes for the Arcball was rapidly approaching. They needed to pass the Arcball to a teammate quickly.

White wrapped her arms around Isaac’s shoulders and clung tightly to him.

To prevent White from slipping away as her strength waned, Isaac created rock cuffs around her arms to secure her.

One of Isaac’s hands left White’s shoulder.

As her center of gravity shifted towards her hips, White had to hug Isaac even tighter, like someone hanging from a cliff.

“Huu, ah…!”

She couldn’t move. Yet, for some reason, being unable to move in Isaac’s embrace seemed to ignite a fire in White’s heart.

It was a rather pleasant feeling of restraint and pressure. For White, who was a teenage girl before she was a princess, it was a highly stimulating sensation.

“Ah, ah, no…!”

…Let’s restrain ourselves.

Just like during the joint practical evaluation, she felt guilty for harboring such lascivious desires towards a senior she respected.

White clenched her eyes shut and struggled to suppress her rising passion.

She felt a murderous intent from somewhere, but it must have just been her imagination.

“Tristan!”

Isaac swung his racket and threw the Arcball. Tristan, with light green wind swirling around him, flew in at an incredible speed and easily caught the Arcball, which was cutting through the air like a baseball.

“I’ll be right behind you!”

“Ha! Do as you like!”

Tristan moved ahead again.

Isaac released the rock cuffs that bound White’s hands and then grabbed her shoulders again.

Isaac returned White to a princess carry again.

White’s cheeks were flushed, but she tried to compose her emotions and maintain her usual expression.

However, she couldn’t stop her lips from quivering or her eyebrows from twitching.

“White, you can fly with wind for a bit, right? Just like we practiced before.”

White immediately understood that he meant for her to escape.

White was startled.

“Eh? What about you, Senior Isaac?”

“I’ll stop what’s coming behind us.”

“What?”

Behind them, the vast wave was still approaching relentlessly. It was about to reach Isaac.

“H-h-h-how are you going to…?”

“Quick!”

“Ahh, yes! Uwaaah…!”

As wind flowed from White, Isaac let go of her.

Whooosh!

White flew away on the wind.

Her mana mastery wasn’t enough for her to fly for more than 10 seconds without severe dizziness and disruption of her mana circuit, but it was sufficient to escape.

Isaac stopped running. Like a car slamming on its brakes, the soles of his shoes slid and screeched against the racetrack.

Isaac turned around. The wave was about to engulf him. The reason the risen wave didn’t stop and continued was that Pierre was constantly infusing it with mana.

There was no escaping him now.

Someone had to stop Pierre, and Isaac was ready to take on that role.

The wave, fundamentally a basic elemental spell, would be weaker than most attack spells, but Pierre’s immense mana fortified it. Being swept away would certainly mean unconsciousness.

Isaac slammed Zhonya’s staff into the ground, drawing up mana.

Is he preparing to counter Pierre?

The students in the stands held their breath, watching the scene unfold.

“…”

Pierre Flanche was still running along the racetrack, one arm extended forward, channeling his mana, while the other wiped the blood from his forehead.

Beyond the wave, Pierre could feel Isaac’s mana.