Sertia’s office was usually a space of silence, but today, there was a rare guest.

 

Not a student, nor a professor, but a guest nonetheless – someone personally summoned by Sertia herself.

 

“Ah, come in. How did the task I requested go?”

 

The owner of the room stood up from her seat to greet the guest who had come.

 

It was a woman with striking sky-blue hair.

 

Her name was Freya.

 

A figure known as the Sword Saint, and said to be the strongest human in the Empire at present.

 

Freya gave a slight nod, then sat across from Sertia.

 

Her answer came next.

 

“Regarding this generation’s hero, things are going smoothly so far. In his current state, he is comparable to active-duty knights. He is at a level where he can be deployed for field missions without issue.”

 

“What about the hero’s starlight?”

 

“……”

 

“I see, it’s not ready yet.”

 

Sertia let out a sigh as if disappointed.

 

Ariel had not yet bloomed into his power as the hero.

 

She had thought that if he sparred with someone stronger than himself, he could overcome that wall, but it did not go as well as she had hoped.

 

With the Empire’s ranks having thinned considerably, the hero’s awakening needed to happen as soon as possible. Still, the problem was that the conditions were unknown.

 

Not only the hero himself, but even Sertia, who had been on the battlefield with the previous generation’s hero, did not know.

 

Therefore, they were at an impasse.

 

His swordsmanship progressed quickly, but it was meaningless if he couldn’t awaken the hero’s power.

 

“Sertia, you mentioned having high expectations for this generation. After all, the generation includes the child of the previous hero, Elion.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“In the end, aren’t you relying on the hero for everything? Is placing all your hopes on a single superhuman really what you see in this generation?”

 

“How could that be?”

 

Sertia picked up her teacup and swallowed a mouthful of black tea.

 

“Of course, I admit that the expectations placed on the hero are quite large. However, it is wrong to say that the Empire relies on the hero alone. As it has been for every generation until now, facing the calamity is not just the hero’s responsibility alone. Just as I stood by the hero’s side in the past..”

 

“You mean to say?”

 

“If we look purely at individual talent, one student surpasses even the hero. It was like looking at myself as a student.”

 

Sertia continued, thinking of a certain second-year student.

 

“Occasionally, there are those with a unique constitution with a large amount of mana in their blood. Commonly called mana-blood.”

 

“I believe her name was Sera. Is that child truly so remarkable?”

 

“Actually, the number of people with mana-infused blood isn’t extremely small. If you look closely, it’s a constitution that clearly exists in some individuals. Still, those who awaken it as a talent are a tiny minority. Including that child, there are probably only two in the Empire, right?”

 

“Who is the other one?”

 

“Who do you think it is?”

 

Sertia smiled slightly.

 

There was one in the past, too.

 

A mage who bloomed mana-blood at a young age and established legendary achievements.

 

That was why she was interested in Sera.

 

Because the mana-blood awakener of the past had accomplished the feat of severing the Demon King’s head.

 

“It’s me.”

 

“……”

 

“Even so, does this generation seem hopeless to you? I don’t think so.”

 

Geniuses exist in every generation.

 

Sertia did not think that the members of this generation were inferior to those who had achieved great accomplishments in the past.

 

Rather, they were the ones who would grow even more than that.

 

At least compared to herself, who was waiting for death without being able to do anything.

 

***

 

Sera’s mana level is 8300, which stands out even among second-year students.

 

However, her capabilities are not limited to just that.

 

The measured amount of mana is only a superficial number.

 

Sera has the unique constitution of having mana in her blood and converts spilled blood into mana.

 

The amplified amount of mana from that surpasses even the academy’s professors.

 

Sera placed a large amount of blood on the scale and transformed it into mana.

 

A huge mana wave blew across the training ground.

 

A storm of pure mana without any spell overlaid had blown.

 

Iria was slightly pushed back by that wave.

 

The total amount of mana she amplified with blood was 28000.

 

It was more than enough to turn a single training ground into hell.

 

After spreading the enormous mana in all directions, Sera stood before Iria.

 

The voices of the spectators watching were noisy.

 

Even the referee was astonished.

 

Many had predicted Sera’s victory, but they had not imagined her capabilities would be to this extent.

 

And the most flustered among them was Iria.

 

Because mana-blood is the natural enemy of monsters, especially to vampires. (TN: This is the teeth thing Amy was talking about.)

 

The scent of blood covering the training ground paralyzed Iria’s reason.

 

However, she must not put it in her mouth.

 

To her, who was not human, it was a deadly poison.

 

Of course, Sera likely did not intend that. Still, in any case, it flowed into an even more disadvantageous situation for Iria.

 

Iria frowned and bit her lip for the first time during the match.

 

“I’m surprised, Iria. I didn’t expect you to be strong enough to overturn that much of a mana difference.”

 

“……”

 

“That’s good. This is something I haven’t shown even Ariel, but I’ll show it only to you to commemorate breaking my arm.”

 

Sera created an ice awl with the spread-out mana and gripped it in her hand.

 

Her body was wrapped in a blue-green wind.

 

She had deployed two types of attribute magic simultaneously.

 

The purposes for each were different; the weapon’s formation and the body’s acceleration.

 

“Wind magic isn’t something only you can use.”

 

Sera knew that close combat against Iria could be dangerous.

 

Just before, she had underestimated her and got her arm broken.

 

However, she could not give up.

 

Rather than keeping distance and giving the advantageous position to the mage, responding with the same close combat was her way.

 

It had been a while since she met a worthy opponent.

 

Ending the match in such an anticlimactic way was out of the question for her.

 

The mana enveloping Sera’s body was like a barrier.

 

Extreme body reinforcement using mana, a mana barrier wrapped around the entire body, and with a single sword, she could go toe-to-toe with Iria without being pushed back.

 

At least, that seemed to be what Sera thought right now.

 

Sera gripped the ice sword with her bloodied hand.

 

In her heart, she wanted to respond with her fists like before, but unfortunately, her arm was broken.

 

If her arm was broken, wouldn’t it be impossible to swing a sword too?

 

She could endure that much pain with willpower.

 

Enduring the pain and taking a stance, Sera provoked Iria.

 

“We should finish what we started earlier. Right?”

 

“……”

 

Even when gestured to come at her with all her might, Iria still did not take the bait.

 

She just stood there and waited.

 

Sera laughed as if dumbfounded.

 

It seemed she was not the type to fall for provocations after all.

 

In the end, Sera decided to go herself.

 

She kicked the ground hard and leaped.

 

Sera’s basic physical abilities were poor, but it was a different story if she wrapped herself in a large amount of mana.

 

To what extent was it?

 

The ground she kicked was smashed.

 

After leaping, she immediately swung the ice awl and pressured Iria.

 

It was fine even if it didn’t hit.

 

She would just keep swinging until it did.

 

In the training ground blanketed by Sera’s mana, her perspective differed from that of ordinary people.

 

Mana is ultimately just another physical organ.

 

It was impossible to follow Iria’s movements with human eyes.

 

But in the dense mana, Sera could read her movements.

 

Rather than following with her eyes, she grasped it in advance through the vibrations in the surrounding mana.

 

It would have been impossible normally, but she could keep up now.

 

Because she detected Iria’s actions ahead of time through the subtle vibrations in the mana.

 

Sera fiercely pursued Iria as she retreated backward.

 

Although slower than Iria, Sera accelerated several times by pouring in mana and caught up.

 

In the eyes of ordinary people, the fight was barely visible.

 

They could only vaguely see that several exchanges had occurred between the two.

 

They had to guess that an intense battle was unfolding from the occasional impact sounds and the flashes spreading between them.

 

But in the eyes of the skilled, it was different.

 

Iria was avoiding Sera’s rough sword slashes with astonishing movements.

 

Iria had no proper weapon after all.

 

Receiving them barehanded would be too much of a burden, so even when blocking, she used her feet.

 

That was the identity of the impact sounds from before.

 

The sword slash came flying in a trajectory impossible to avoid; Iria had blocked it by raising her foot.

 

Of course, Iria was not just avoiding the whole time.

 

When she had successfully received Sera’s sword slash, Iria put strength into her legs and pushed Sera away.

 

With her incredibly strong leg strength, just that sent Sera’s body flying through the air.

 

Although creating distance against a mage would only give them an angle to snipe…

 

– Bzzt!

 

The pushed-back Sera poured down lightning toward Iria.

 

That was the flash that followed the impact sound.

 

No matter how fast Iria was, she could not perfectly avoid lightning while responding to Sera’s sword slashes.

 

So Iria spread out the wind and let it flow past her.

 

It was no longer a fight at the student level.

 

Among those gathered in the spectator seats, except for an extremely small number, many did not even know what was happening.

 

Most of the students felt a wall between the match of the two.

 

Now, it would not be strange if either won.

 

However,

 

“Ugh.”

 

The match seemed even to be tipping towards one side as time passed.

 

Sera’s movements, which had unreasonably swung her sword with her broken right arm, had dulled.

 

And Iria did not miss that opening.

 

When dealing with Sera, she could not afford to be lenient.

 

She had broken her right arm, but Sera had still been fine, so this time she decided to shatter her ribs.

 

“Kugh!”

 

Iria, wrapped in the sharp wind, accelerated and struck Sera’s abdomen with her fist.

 

Sera had a barrier wrapped around her entire body, but Iria had smashed it with pure strength.

 

Along with a great impact, the wind blades tore Sera’s body.

 

The wound inflicted after penetrating the barrier was deep.

 

Blood spattered onto the training ground.

 

At a glance, Sera was now close to being heavily injured.

 

Iria had not held back her strength because Sera followed along better than she had thought.

 

Among the students, Sera was the only one who had been hit by Iria in earnest.

 

She could take pride in not dying even after that.

 

Iria asked again.

 

“Do you want to keep going?”

 

There was no answer.

 

Sera was catching her breath in a blood-drenched state.

 

Her entire body was covered in wounds, and several bones were broken.

 

She was already in no condition to fight.

 

But,

 

“Huff……”

 

Sera stood up again, converting even the blood she shed into mana.

 

Her body was in tatters, but the newly awakened mana was as sharp as ever.

 

She transformed all the mana into flames.

 

Then, she wrapped it around her hand.

 

Her right hand was broken, so this time it was her left.

 

Sera wrapped the flames around her blood-smeared hand.

 

Iria was strong.

 

Much stronger than she had thought.

 

The figure of the small girl seemed so gigantic on the training ground.

 

After clashing a few times, she understood.

 

Iria was stronger than her.

 

The result would have been the same if they had fought in different conditions.

 

Sera took a deep breath.

 

She had decided to acknowledge Iria as stronger than herself.

 

Then she would simply measure it: How much was the difference between herself and Iria? How wide was the gap between them?

 

Once more, she charged at Iria.

 

For a strike launched with an injured body, it was fierce.

 

The flames flared greatly.

 

And,

 

– Snap!

 

Sera’s left hand, which had charged forward, was broken.

 

Because Iria had countered it with her fist.

 

Of course, this time as well, she didn’t hold back her strength.

 

Sera’s attack was not something that could be properly received if she went easy on her.

 

Because Iria was also wary of Sera’s attacks.

 

If the difference in strength had been as large as with Lucia, she would have obviously gone easy on her.

 

Talented humans are unlikeable like this.

 

“I think it would be good to stop now.”

 

Iria, who had received Sera’s attack head-on, spoke.

 

She couldn’t understand Sera. It was just a single match, yet why was Sera being so desperate?

 

Iria grabbed the fist wrapped in fire that had charged at her.

 

She grabbed it while exerting strength, so Sera could not pull back now.

 

“……”

 

Before losing consciousness, Sera pulled together all the flames nearby for the last time.

 

The blaze that had been burning gathered in one place.

 

She brought together all her mana and held it in her right hand.

 

With her left hand grabbed, she aimed a spell at Iria.

 

The spilled blood became flames and raised the firepower.

 

The more her body became like a rag, the more the firepower increased.

 

This flame contained Sera’s everything.

 

Sera gathered all her mana, turned it into a single spell, and held it in her right hand.

 

With her left hand grabbed, she aimed the spell at Iria.

 

As she pushed beyond her body’s limit, Sera’s body burned.

 

She exhaled breaths, heated to the point of scorching her throat.

 

“…… You shouldn’t have let your guard down until the end.”

 

No matter how prepared Iria was, she couldn’t block this spell.

 

She couldn’t divert it with wind, and she couldn’t block it with mana.

 

Because it was mana that surpassed 30,000 by amplifying it one more time and gathering it in one place.

 

On top of that, Iria was grabbing Sera’s left hand, so avoiding it was also impossible.

 

Sera, who was certain of victory at that point, smiled faintly.

 

Just before detonating the flames she’d compressed to a single point, she said,

 

“If it had been anyone other than me, you would have won.”

 

Iria let out a small sigh.

 

Sera wasn’t speaking empty words; this flame was quite threatening even to her.

 

If it hit her directly, it would have hurt quite a bit.

 

But Sera’s eyes meeting Iria’s was faster than her unleashing the spell.

 

“This close distance isn’t only advantageous for you, you know.”

 

The moment Sera’s eyes met Iria’s, her movement stiffened.

 

Iria’s mind control becomes harder to resist the closer the distance.

 

Sera’s mental strength was high, but in her current state of weakness, resisting was nearly impossible.

 

After all, even standing there was a miracle.

 

In the end, Sera’s flames scattered without reaching Iria.

 

“Sleep well.”

 

Iria whispered to Sera as she collapsed powerlessly.

 

From the audience’s point of view, the long match had finally ended.