“Winner! Agnes Elizabeth Blaze!”

“Woohoo! Blaze! Blaze won!!”

“Hellfire! Hellfire!”

“As expected of the future Archmage of the Crimson Tower!!”

 

The result announcement from the arena and the cheers of the spectating students reached the waiting room.

As that burdensome voice echoed inside, the tension I had tried to suppress began to rise again.

Undoubtedly, Agnes, the top freshman in the Magic Department, must have thoroughly defeated Isabel, who was second-ranked. It was obvious without even watching.

This was one of the basic events that would occur even if you only played “Luminor Academy” once or twice, so I wasn’t particularly surprised.

Unless the protagonist character entered the Magic Department, Technical Department, or Pharmacy Department and targeted Agnes, this event would occur with 100% probability.

In fact, it wasn’t even really an event. In actual gameplay, it would only appear in the form of a summary in one or two sentences and had little significance to the game‘s actual story progression. It was just pitiful for Isabel, who kept getting beaten up every time just because she was second-ranked. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

Thinking about this, after about ten minutes passed as the arena was being prepared, the battle between Karen and Siz, ranked 3rd and 7th respectively, also began.

The result of that match also ended anticlimactic in less than 5 minutes, just like Agnes’s evaluation battle.

 

“Winner, Karen Iris Stormweaver!”

“Woohoo!”

“Karen! Karen!”

 

The victory declaration and students’ cheers were heard again, not even ten minutes after Agnes’s duel had ended.

It was to be expected. Students with the right to choose their opponents tended to pick opponents they could easily defeat.

If you only looked at the skills of the 3rd and 7th ranked, it shouldn’t have been a match that ended this quickly, but Karen had a huge advantage over Siz in their specialties.

Karen’s specialty was Wind Magic, while Siz’s specialty was Nature Magic.

 

‘Originally, I was supposed to win comfortably against opponents using Summoning Magic or Dark Magic and wrap up the semester.’

 

I still couldn’t understand how it had turned out like this.

This academy just wouldn’t let me relax even until the end of the semester.

 

“Lilith.”

“…Yes, Young Master Ethan.”

 

Ethan, who had been waiting with me in the same waiting room out of concern, approached me.

Surely, he wasn’t going to tell me to forfeit because he was worried, right?

Even if he said such a thing, I had no intention of missing out on this major XP event from the start. I would have to politely refuse somehow…

 

“You must win, Lilith.”

“…Pardon?”

“I believe you can win, Lilith.”

 

…What’s with him suddenly?

Well, it was still much better than telling me not to do it because it was dangerous.

Rather, receiving encouragement helped me focus my mind a little more. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

I slightly bowed my head and answered Ethan, who was speaking to me with a serious look.

 

“Of course, that’s what I intend to do.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting.”

 

…If I say this so shamelessly and then come back defeated, I won’t be able to show my face for a while out of embarrassment.

It seemed I had no choice but to win this duel and return victorious.

“Next duel! Magic Department, 4th rank, Lilith Blackwood Rosewood! Technical Department, 2nd rank, Luke Cruella!”

 

As I walked out to the arena when the duel announcer called my name, the quite spacious Magic Department evaluation battle arena greeted me.

At the same time, I felt the strange sensation of other students’ gazes reaching me.

 

‘It can’t be helped. The evaluation battle event is quite a spectacle even within the academy.’

 

As an academy created on an isolated place called the Island of Knowledge, these sword fights and magic duels between top students were one of the few spectacles for the students.

They say the most interesting things in the world are watching fires and fights, right?

Thinking this, as I approached the center of the training ground, I could also see Luke walking toward the center of the arena from the opposite side.

She seemed to have steeled herself with quite a solemn resolve to face me in this duel.

 

‘She’s really harboring some serious grudge.’

 

Just by looking at the two daggers, her signature weapons, held in both hands, I could clearly see that she wasn’t approaching me with a light heart.

She had literally ‘sharpened her knives’ in preparation for this duel with me.

If I let my guard down for a moment, it wouldn’t be strange if a dagger was suddenly thrust into my side and I was forced to retire.

Incidentally, this evaluation battle arena is equipped with Death Prevention Magic to prevent accidents during intense duels.

After all, this is a facility that gathers famous talents from all over the country to learn knowledge and nurture talent, so of course, they would have to prevent fatal accidents during evaluation battles.

The moment a fatal wound is inflicted on the body, the said magic stops the progression of that wound, and the student who has received such damage is transported to the academy church through Spatial Transfer Magic.

Of course, this doesn’t completely erase the damage received; it just prevents death itself, so the injured might have to lie in the church for days or even weeks.

Anyway, the important thing was that lives, which should be protected as the highest priority, could be preserved somehow, and in this world, most injuries could be treated except for those in the mental. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

…In other words, there was no problem with rushing at your opponent with killing intent in this arena; because the Death Prevention Magic was protecting lives.

 

‘It also means I can use Mana Blast without worrying.’

 

If I could land just one hit, it would be my victory. Conversely, if I failed to hit or failed to cast, it would be my defeat.

It was a simple formula for victory. I just thought the process of getting there might be a bit difficult.

As I made eye contact with Luke walking towards me from the opposite side, I immediately felt complex emotions directed at me from his gaze.

We took our positions at a slightly reduced distance, ready for battle, without any further conversation.

 

“…Ready.”

“……”

“……”

 

Luke and I took our stances in our positions at the announcer’s words.

I gripped the silver dagger in my uniform’s inner pocket, ready to chant a spell as soon as the battle started, while Luke held daggers in both hands, looking like she might pounce at any moment.

In this strangely tense atmosphere, the announcer’s declaration to start the battle fell.

 

“Begin!”

Thudthudthudthud!

 

Luke’s body rushed towards me with quick steps, her daggers swinging towards both sides of my body.

Her twin daggers, which closed the distance of about 15 meters in an instant, swung quickly as if to finish me off in one blow.

Blades that would be difficult for an ordinary person to even perceive approached, aiming at my body from left and right.

It was a firm resolve to stab me no matter which way I dodged, but the sound that followed was not of blades cutting and piercing flesh, but a single sound caused by friction.

 

Shiiiing!

“…Huh?!”

 

The silver dagger from my chest collided with Luke’s left dagger, causing some sparks to fly in the air from the impact.

At the same time, murmurs of surprise at my reaction could be heard from the spectators’ seats.

 

“A sword? Isn’t that a dagger?”

“Wasn’t Lilith from the Magic Department?”

“Hey, hey, isn’t she the woman who cut Raidenhart’s wrist with a silver dagger at the entrance ceremony…?”

 

Most students in the Magic and Swordsmanship Departments already knew that I could fight with a silver dagger due to the incident I caused at the entrance ceremony, but the spectators’ seats weren’t just filled with students from these two departments.

It wasn’t that strange for them to show such surprised reactions. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

The same seemed to be true for Luke, who had rushed at me with daggers.

 

“H-How…?”

 

How, my ass. You shouldn’t be surprised by something like this when you’re the one who picked this fight in the first place.

To be fair, it wasn’t purely a battle of sword against sword. She was swinging her daggers purely with the grip strength of her hands, while I had deflected her sword once using Mana Imbue and a Shockwave.

I dodged one of the blades coming from both sides by turning my body and deflected the other to create an opening.

Of course, this wasn’t particularly important. What mattered was that I had the means to deal with Luke’s movements and techniques.

 

“Weren’t you a mage…?”

“No, I am.”

“Then how can you use a dagger…”

“Well, what can I say? If you don’t like it, use magic yourself.”

“……”

“You’re from the Technical Department, but you’re making a fuss. Don’t make this troublesome.”

 

Obviously, there was no rule saying that a mage couldn’t use a sword in the final evaluation battle.

In the first place, magic itself wasn’t exclusive to the Magic Department, and there were quite a few close-combat warriors among the nobles who used magic as a supplementary means even if they weren’t in the Magic Department.

It wasn’t against the rules for someone from the Magic Department to fight with a sword or a spear.

After all, what the academy wanted was “academy students with combat abilities,” and they weren’t a stupid group that would prohibit magicians from equipping secondary weapons to develop those combat abilities.

 

“……”

 

On the other hand, Luke, whose first attack had been blocked by me, showed somewhat confused emotions in her eyes. [GalaxyTL/Axiomatic]

For someone with strong pride as the princess’s guard, the situation of having her blade blocked by a female student from the Magic Department must have been hard to understand.

However, that moment of hesitation on her part became an opportunity for me.

For a close-combat fighter to give distance and time to a Magic Department student meant giving them time to respond.

Thanking Luke’s momentarily foolish judgment, I used the next spell I had secretly memorized.

 

*SHIIIINE*

“Ugh?!”

 

Blurred Light, a spell I had learned separately from the auxiliary magic tree for this battle.

It was a magic used to momentarily blur vision by flashing a strong light in front of the eyes, allowing other party members to attack in the meantime. Of course, there were no other party members with me, so I had to do both the support and the attack myself.

Luke showed an opening as she momentarily squinted at the flash of light thrust before her eyes.

That opening was exactly the moment I was aiming for, and this time, I cast three Magic Arrows, created by triple casting flew toward Luke.

There wasn’t enough time to use Mana Blast, so the plan was to inflict small wounds little by little for now.

 

Whoosh!

“AAAAARGH!”

 

With only a 20% hit rate, there was a possibility that all three shots would miss, but fortunately, it seemed the god of fate hadn’t abandoned me.

One of the three Magic Arrows pierced Luke’s left forearm, and her painful scream reached my ears.

 

‘Well, that’s one hit.’

 

For a duel between a close-combat fighter and a mage, it wasn’t a bad start.

Whether I could end it this decently until the end remained to be seen.