“Light
is beauty.”
“Pardon?
What was that?”
Alpheas
asked again. It was only natural that she would know nothing of photonics, but
an answer like this was completely beyond his expectations.
“Light
is beautiful. Flowers are beautiful, too. We are beautiful as well. But the
light you speak of... doesn’t sound beautiful.”
Alpheas
felt as though he had been struck on the head with a hammer. It was a direct
hit from a form of pure thought that could not be cast through language.
“I-I
see. But why is light beautiful?”
To
Alpheas, light was merely photons. Yet Erina answered without the slightest
hesitation, as if she knew everything.
“Because
light shows us the darkness. Without light, how could we see the night sky?”
The
world fell quiet. Just like the universe.
Alpheas
could say nothing. The thoughts he had truly yearned for poured down over his
head like a cascading waterfall.
Why
had he tried to divide the two? When taking just one step back made it visible
with such clarity.
Because
it is beauty.
Not
a single contradiction remains a contradiction.
“It
is beauty. It is so very beautiful, Lady Erina.”
Erina
turned her head with a smile as pure as a child’s. The moment he saw her smile,
Alpheas made up his mind.
He
would remember this exact moment for the rest of his life.
Alpheas
dropped to one knee before Erina. Then, with the most polite gesture, he
offered his right hand.
“Please
become my light.”
That
night 40 years ago.
The
confession under the moonlight was a happy memory that Alpheas would not trade
for the entire world. A gentle smile rested upon his lips as the veil of the
Abyss Nova slowly lifted away.
The Reversal of Master and Servant (1)
Canis
glared at the white brilliance burning upon Shirone’s palm. It possessed a
truly overwhelming presence. Of course, he had a combative nature that would
race toward death without hesitation. However, his mindset was that even if he
died, he had to get his money’s worth.
Harvest. I am in favor of fighting.
Let’s take him on.
That magic. How fast is it? We
might not be able to dodge it.
You can just block it.
If I fail to block it, you die. If
you die, I perish too. Ultimately we will have to fight, but there are too many
variables.
Exchanging
thoughts at the speed of thougth was a tremendous advantage in battle. Yet it
also carried the disadvantage of leaving them unsure of what judgment to make
when their opinions were split into extreme opposites.
“What
is the meaning of this?”
The
one who broke the standoff was an unexpected voice. A shadow pushed in like
water from the cliffside, and an emaciated old man floated up above the surface
of darkness.
It
was the Archmage Arcane.
Taking
in the situation at a single glance, Arcane’s expression crumpled. The reason
he had been able to exert his full strength against Ethella was his conviction
that the situation here would already have been settled.
Arcane
had trusted Canis. No, to be precise, he had trusted Harvest, who was bound to
Canis.
Yet
upon his actual arrival, the situation was completely different from his
expectations.
Lucas
lay fallen in a gruesome state, while Canis and Harvest were currently being
intimidation-threatened by a single brat.
“I
am sorry, Master.”
Arcane
was not of a generous disposition. Ignoring Canis’s apology, he turned coldly
and glared at Shirone.
I thought he looked familiar.
He
resembled Alpheas. Rather than his face or external appearance, the temperament
emanating from his whole person was similar. The audacity to speak his mind boldly
even under the gaze of an archmage was the same as well.
“Are
you the one who planned this?”
“How
impudent for a little child. What is your name?”
“I
have no desire to tell my name to a murderer. Undo the mind control and leave
the school at once. Otherwise, I will not stand idly by.”
“Hahaha.”
Arcane
burst into a hearty laugh. It was not that he was angry. Yet the criterion by
which he killed someone was not anger, but how much entertainment he could
derive from it. In that sense, Shirone was a ripe fruit that was good to have
its neck snapped right away.
“I
am sorry, but I cannot undo the mind control. Because Alpheas’s disciples must
die.”
Feeling
the killing intent, goosebumps broke out all over Shirone’s body, and before he
knew it, he inadvertently fired the Photon Cannon.
It
was an unequivocal misfire.
Arcane
lightly shifted his body and dodged the Photon Cannon. Only after confirming
that the magic had vanished did he turn back around.
“A
Spirit Zone with a radius of 52.7 meters. Quite impressive. For your age, it is
a considerable level.”
Even
if it were photons, so long as they contained mass, their speed could not
surpass the realm of the physical world. However, since Photon Output possessed
a fundamental baseline speed, it was far faster than ordinary flying
projectiles. Dodging a Photon Cannon in a split second and measuring the radius
of the Spirit Zone were not the senses of a human.
Shirone
gritted his teeth and compressed the photons once more. Although he had
encountered a master whose full capabilities could not be gauged, he had no
choice but to fight if he were to stop hundreds of students from falling into a
free fall down the cliff.
“Stop,
Shirone.”
Ethella
walked out from within the mountains. Her clothes were torn, exposing bare
skin, and she was covered in dirt from head to toe.
“Do
not attack recklessly. Arcane is a dangerous person.”
Arcane’s
brow furrowed. Fighting her had been enjoyable, but food that had already been
stepped on and dirtied had long since been wiped from his memory.
“The
loser is thick-skinned indeed. If you spared your life, you ought to cherish it
dearly.”
Shirone’s
group was shocked. Was it possible that Professor Ethella had lost to an old
man who was nothing more than skin and bones? A Bishop of the Karsis Monastic
Order. An authority on Spirit Zones. A certified 6th-class mage. Not a single
one of the titles decorating her name could be earned carelessly.
“Unbelievable.
Professor Ethella...”
Nade
harbored doubts as to whether such a thing was truly possible. Of course, there
were 5th-class and 4th-class mages in the world, but what kind of realm it was
to be stronger than Ethella was something he could not even begin to imagine
right now.
Supporting
Ethella, Shirone asked.
“Are
you alright, Professor?”
“Barely.
But it will take time to recover.”
“What
happened? Who is that man? Why is he committing such a thing?”
“Viltor
Arcane. An archmage who reached uncertified 3rd-class 40 years ago.”
The
eyes of Shirone’s group trembled. Any student of the magic academy knew what
kind of position uncertified 3rd-class held.
Although
the ranks of mages were divided into ten stages, there existed specific
thresholds where the honor and achievement points required for advancement
leaped to unimaginable heights.
They
were precisely from 7th-class to 6th-class, and 4th-class to 3rd-class.
If
6th-class were the executive level of magic society, 3rd-class was a position
capable of heading the core facilities of the Kingdom. Considering that even
Alpheas, a certified 4th-class mage, was the headmaster of a private school,
one could estimate just how high a position Arcane was a mage who had reached
it.
“Arcane
holds a grudge against the Headmaster. He will not back down until he achieves
what he desires.”
“You
babble on and on endlessly. Whining to your disciple will only make you look
all the more miserable.”
“I
have no interest in victory or defeat. Because I am a teacher. I will do
whatever it takes to protect my students.”
“And
so? What is it that you can do? Do you think you can stop me now, when you
could not defeat me even by coming at me with all your strength?”
“Your
bravado is excessive, Arcane.”
Arcane’s
expression turned terrifyingly grim.
“It
is true that I failed to stop you. However, you cannot possibly have any mental
power left to focus on battle either, can you?”
Ethella’s
words were half right and half wrong. In truth, Arcane’s magic power after
casting Minion of Darkness was a mere ten percent of his normal condition. Yet
it was ten percent of an archmage. It was more than enough power to sweep away
the exhausted Ethella and a handful of green kids with downy cheeks.
“The
times really have changed. I spoiled you because you were cute, and now you
blabber away with your trap, not knowing your place?”
Arcane
raised his magic power. Though it was the ten percent he had set aside to kill
Alpheas, it did not matter. Troublesome calculations did not suit his outlook
on life.
“Master,
please leave this to me.”
Canis
stepped in. Abyss Nova was a grand magic that consumed an immense amount of
mental power, to the point that ordinary mages could not even attempt it.
Having cast such a magic and fought a battle on top of that, even his master
could not possibly be in a normal state.
Arcane
turned back to look at Canis with displeasure. Even if it were a disciple,
challenging his authority was unpardonable. Yet after pondering deeply, he
turned back toward Shirone with an intrigued expression.
“Hey,
brat. You are Alpheas’s disciple too, are you not?”
“Don’t
speak the Headmaster’s name so carelessly when you’re nothing but a murderer.”
“Kehehehe!
Is that so? It seems you respect him quite a lot.”
Shirone
felt no need to even answer. How could he not respect him? Alpheas was the very
person who had opened his eyes to magic and the benefactor who had allowed him,
a commoner, to enroll in the magic academy.
“It
doesn’t matter if you’re an archmage or 3rd-class. Compared to the Headmaster,
you aren’t even a mage.”
“Puhahaha!
Puhahaha!”
Arcane
burst into roared laughter. Yet his eyes were burning with rage.
Alpheas. How much hypocrisy have
you lived with? Don’t you know as well? That you lack any qualification to be
respected by anyone.
Having
reached a decision, Arcane nodded his head.
“Very
well. It should be entertaining to watch the disciples fight as well. Canis. Pit
yourself against that fellow.”
“Yes.
Thank you, Master.”
Canis
finally felt relieved. It was an opportunity to make up for the mistakes he had
committed up until now. Yet Harvest’s thoughts were different.
Canis. Think again. It is better to
leave it to Arcane.
What are you talking about? We have
already disappointed Master. Now, even if I die, I must defeat Shirone.
Having
their opinions clash when they were right on the brink of battle was by no
means a good thing.
Harvest. Answer me. No matter how
much I yield to you, I cannot step down this time. We are fighting, no matter
what.
Harvest
offered no reply until the very end. Having never had a moment like this
before, Canis was flustered. Yet as long as Arcane was watching, he could not
show a weak side.
Using
Dark Port to instantaneously shift to where Shirone stood, Shirone cast
Teleportation and soared out beyond the cliff. It was to ensure the aftermath
would not reach the students as much as possible.
“Hmph!
So you want to fight an aerial battle?”
If
it was a night sky blanketed in darkness, it was not a disadvantageous field
for Canis, who moved using Dark Port, either.
Above
the thousand-meter precipice, the two poured out their firepower while engaging
in a dogfight reminiscent of hawks.
Shirone
condensed seven photons in front of him and fired them off all at once. Fired
from within the realm of infinite, the Photon Cannon produced power several
times stronger than before, yet the recoil was just as immense.
Every
time he cast the magic, his consciousness momentarily faded away. Threatening
his opponent while simultaneously shattering his own mental power, the realm of
infinite was most certainly a double-edged sword.
“What
on earth is...”
Ethella
stared up blankly at the sky. Photon Output generating shockwaves was a sight
even she was seeing for the first time.
Brilliant
beams of light from the Photon Cannon cleaved through the night sky. It was a
sight reminiscent of wielding a golden pen across a black canvas.
Iruki
and Nade were completely mesmerized by the rays of light. Indiscriminately
spamming the Photon Cannon, which was powerful even as a single shot, was no
different from weaponizing the human being known as Shirone.
“He
really is incredible. But will he be alright like that?”
“We
just have to trust him. He did well during the presentation too, didn’t he?”
“But
this is different from back then. Right now, it’s a situation where he’s
fighting with his life on the line. He might cross the line without even
realizing it.”
Ethella
turned back to the two and asked.
“What
do you mean by that? Has Shirone entered Immortal Function before, then?”
“Pardon?
Ah, well, actually... lately it seems like he does it whenever he’s bored.”
Ethella let out a sigh. Even though she had warned him that he could lose his life, to think he did not even pretend to be careful. Then again, had it not been for such passion, a growth this fast would have been impossible.