Chapter 56: Residue
Three seconds is all it took to slit the throats of group 1 members.
Thud.
I could hear the sound of their heads hitting the ground behind me.
It was my first time using it in real combat. What was unusual was that the enemies’ movements were much slower, and their weaknesses were more clearly visible.
The blood from the Spectral Sword trickles down, drop by drop, and soon turns to ash, scattered by the wind.
“Gulp.”
My mouth watered, though only slightly.
Sierra, who had been watching me with her arms crossed, spoke up.
[By my reckoning, three seconds seems about right. Your use of chapter 2 is still a little sloppy… but it was still a solid move.]
Even slashing four people was a close call. Three seconds, or even 30 seconds, is still not enough.
But those three seconds were enough to take a toll on my stamina. The blood came out, but I didn’t feel any pain, so I didn’t know how much I was hurting inside.
I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and turned back to Amon, whose face was colored with horror.
Bam!
Just in time, Amon pulled the gauntlet out of the ground.
Amon looks at the gauntlet, which is still limp, and asks me in a low voice.
“…Who the hell are you? You were only gone for a moment, but I couldn’t even follow you with my eyes.”
“…”
I trailed off, unable to answer Amon’s question.
“Last time, and this time… You must have twisted your mana, right?”
“Did I?”
“Heh…if you had that kind of skill, you wouldn’t have had to come up with this plan in the first place…”
Amon snorted and glared at Lucia, who hadn’t gotten up from her spot on the ground.
“Even I have my limits. If I push myself any harder here, I might….”
“Hmph… I guess it’s time for this Amon Caligus to step up to the plate.”
The corners of Amon’s mouth twitched upward as he understood what was being said but his smile wasn’t exactly trustworthy.
When I finished talking to Amon, I realized he was unlikely to take care of Lucia, so I stepped up. I’m the leader of the group, after all.
As I approach Lucia, feigning interest, she turns her head to look at me and sobs.
“I, I’m the reason Mr. Crank…”
“…I’m sure Crank is doing fine.”
“Hmph… Really…?”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’s still watching us.”
Since Crank was eliminated, he must be out of the illusion and watching us with Edward.
“Mr. Crank… I’ll avenge you…!”
Lucia pulled herself together and stood up, her eyes burning for some reason. It was no one else she should be taking revenge on, but herself.
Well, as long as she could pull herself together and get to her feet.
Lucia’s face was filled with question marks as she looked around.
“Where’s the enemy…! I’ll use ‘Tornado Calling’!”
“What Tornado Calling… Zetto already cleared it all up. Lucia, are your eyes decorative, or should I put a rock in your useless eyeballs?”
Lucia held up her index finger and did something rather stupid, and Amon, who hadn’t seen this, walked over and scowled at her.
“Hiiin…”
Lucia cringed, quickly covering her eyes with her fingers.
Tornado Calling is a high-level wind magic that summoned a blade-like tornado into the middle of the battlefield and was quite powerful.
I remember Lucia being able to ‘use’ it but she just couldn’t control its direction.
“So Mr. Zetto cleaned up all by himself? If it’s Mr. Zetto, it’s no wonder! Hehe…”
Lucia, who was scratching her head in confusion, glanced at me and smiled brightly.
…I think Lucia would be a normally cute person if she wasn’t a colleague.
Innocent and sunny…That’s the impression I got anyway.
She leaned a little closer to me, and opened her lips.
“Zetto-san is a magical swordsman, right?!”
“…What?”
“What the hell are you talking about…?”
Amon and I were stunned by Lucia’s suddenly absurd question.
“Eh…? You definitely used Wind Cutter in the last duel…?! I, I saw it all…!”
Lucia stuttered as I and Amon expressed our doubts.
‘Does she mean Chapter One?’
To this naive Lucia, who only knew about wind magic, it might have looked like Wind Cutter.
Amon, who can’t stand Lucia’s silliness, immediately feeds her honey chestnuts.
“Shut up and stop talking nonsense, please…”
“Ooohh…”
Lucia strokes her hair after getting hit in the head.
It was a rare sight to see Amon, who was known for his bullshit, give in to it and I wonder if he’s already having a change of heart.
I didn’t do anything to him, but he seemed a little more subdued than the Amon of the game, however it remained to be seen if I could eradicate the demonic touch from him.
“I think we should head back to the forest.”
With the situation sorted out, I decided to make my next move.
At my suggestion, Lucia raises her hand and speaks up.
“My legs are sore, so let’s take a ride on my Bungie…!”
Amon frowns as the word “Bungie” comes out of Lucia’s mouth.
“What Bungie? Shut up and walk.”
As Amon said that and started walking toward the forest, I suddenly wondered.
“…What’s Bungie?”
Lucia’s eyes twinkle at my question, and Amon glances back, then sighs.
***
“What do you think of Bungie? I’ve wanted to ride it for years!”
Lucia, who was sitting next to me, smiled brightly.
“It’s more comfortable than a carriage.”
Amon, Lucia, and I were riding a giant boulder.
Amon had built the stone and Lucia was pushing it with the wind. This bizarre ride was something Amon and Lucia had ridden as children.
“Embarrassing…”
Amon looked uncomfortable but when I suggested we try it to save energy, he agreed.
‘It’s kind of fun.’
The things I hadn’t seen in the game felt fresher to me and if I hadn’t been in a simulated battle, I might have been tempted to stay on but now I had to get off.
Thanks to Bungie, we quickly reached the forest.
We immediately got off Bungie and started walking cautiously through the forest.
“It’s so quiet in the forest.”
As we walked through the forest, Amon remarked.
“Maybe the winner was decided and now they’ve set up a ‘trap’ in anticipation of our arrival.”
“Ha, a trap…?!”
Lucia stops in her tracks and freezes at my mention of traps.
“Even if it is a trap, it’s crude, and I’m not afraid of what cowards like that would do.”
Unlike Lucia, Amon didn’t hesitate, but continued on his way.
‘There’s no stopping him.’
Slowly, Amon began to pay less attention to me, probably fuming at my ineffectiveness.
Aizel or Yuri, I wonder which one of them survived?
Aizel had been so dominant during the placement test that it could be called a massacre and based on her skills alone, she should be the favorite, but the look on her face just before the mock battle made it clear that she wasn’t interested in the class.
‘It doesn’t matter which one of them wins, I’m still going to lose.’
I was still aiming for second place, a very natural second place.
The forest was silent, except for the occasional sound of Lucia stepping on a branch when suddenly, sensing something was amiss, I stopped them and listened intently.
It was the sound of ice being made, and it came from close by. Immediately, sharp icicle-like chunks of ice flew toward Amon from the direction of the sound but Amon reacted just before the icicle touched his breastplate and brought up his gauntlet.
“Fuck… Orphele, you bitch… You’re still as grim as ever, aren’t you?”
Amon cursed at the source of the icicle. He was right, the master of this ice magic appears to be Orphele.
Orphele Aisin, heir to the House of Aisin, the water branch of the Four Elements.
Amon’s cursing is followed by the appearance of his enemies from the forest.
Yuri Clementine, Orphele Aisin and the rest of the group, the nameless cadets.
‘So Group 4 won…?’
As soon as we faced Group 4, Amon shook his head and stood his ground, and Lucia began to shiver while I drew my sword in response.
After that, there was a strange silence between us. No one was moving except for Lucia, who was sobbing.
Orphele broke the silence.
“Die, dirt pig.”
Suddenly, Orphele formed ice in her hands and hurled it at Amon, insulting him.
“What the fuck?!”
Amon’s eyes rolled back in his head as soon as he heard the word ‘dirt pig’ and he lunged at the condescending Orphele.
Amon had never gotten along with Orphele.
The attack was unnatural, even by his standards. It was barely a deterrent, and seemed to be centered on insults…
“Amon, the trap…”
…My words of caution didn’t make it to the end when in the next instant a giant flame erupted from the ground where Amon had stomped.
“Ah, Mr. Amon!!!”
At the same time, Lucia called out to Amon at the top of her lungs as flames engulfed Amon’s body, drowning out Lucia’s cries.
“Miss Lucia!”
Lucia nods at my request and casts a spell on Amon.
“Wind Blast!”
This time, Lucia does her chanting properly so as not to make a mistake.
‘But a wind blast…?’
A fierce gust of wind stretches out from Lucia’s hand and reaches Amon.
Amon, who was engulfed in flames, is hit by the Wind Blast and slammed into a tree on the other side….Oddly enough, the fire that engulfed Amon’s body is extinguished.
The problem is that he was stunned.
“…Thank you, I’m surprised you can be useful at times.”
Amon, who had been pinned to the tree, casually pushed himself up and praised Lucia.
[Fuhhhh, if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s being tough…]
Sierra, who had come to stand beside Amon, could only admire him.
Lucia smiles brightly, seemingly pleased with the compliment.
“Since we’re outnumbered, why don’t we stick together?”
I suggested to Amon.
“I don’t know about that, but I’m going to kill that ice bastard.”
Amon shrugged it off, unwrapped himself, and lunged at Orphele.
In response, Orphele conjures a sword of ice and begins to slash and bash at Amon.
Amon was technically the better fighter. However, at this point, Amon’s judgment seems to have been clouded to the point of reversing the odds.
‘Maybe I should leave him like that…’
Just as I was thinking that, a fireball flew at me.
Boom!!!
I lightly slashed at the fireball, and the fireball split in half and flew behind me, causing an explosion.
From her perch on the tree, Yuri drops to the ground and speaks to me.
“I’m sorry, Zetto. I can’t give up the armory.”
“…Is that so?”
I replied to Yuri and glanced at Lucia, who was on the other side. This meant that the remaining two were Lucia’s.
If this was the Lucia I knew, she would be eliminated immediately.
‘Let’s just say I’m too focused on Yuri to pay attention to Lucia.’
I finished my calculations and charged at Yuri, swinging my sword.
The battle…No, it was the beginning of a play.
***
“Fuck…”
Amon mumbles a harsh word as he emerges from the illusion.
He was unable to finish Orphele off even though the odds were in his favor. However, Amon’s blindsided charge was no match for the cool, calm, and collected Orphele Aisin.
He looked around to see Edward and the other cadets who had already been eliminated staring at the broadcast screen.
The mock battle was still going on and Amon’s eyes widened as he watched Zetto and the three members of Group Four battle it out.
‘I wish I could have survived.’
Amon turned back to his seat.
“Amon!”
“Mr. Amon, over here!”
Amon was about to return to his seat when Crank and Lucia, who were eliminated first, called out to him.
“…Does bread go to your mouth in this situation?”
Amon glanced at Lucia, who was gulping down her bread, and sat down next to them.
Lucia had been eliminated before Amon.
She’d been scared to death, firing spells back and forth, and even Amon, fighting Orphele, had taken a wind cutter blow. But unlike Amon, she managed to kill one of the members of Group 4.
It was a strange thing indeed.
“Ugh… Mr. Crank gave me this… It’s delicious…”
“Do you want some Amon? I went out and bought some since I was eliminated early.”
Lucia cried as she ate the bread, and then Crank offered it to Amon.
“…No thanks. Thank you.”
Amon can’t resist Crank’s cheeky grin and takes the bread. He was hungry, too.
Amon took a bite of bread and looked at the screen that showed a tired-looking Zetto.
‘He told me it would drain his stamina.’
Amon hesitated, remembering Zetto’s skill that had defeated the first group, then spoke up.
“It feels strange to say this now, but I don’t think I’m qualified to go to the armory.”
Amon runs a hand through his hair and admits his mistake.
Crank, hearing this, chimes in.
“I didn’t even think I’d get second place, but Zetto didn’t make sense… just in case… Whatever it is, I don’t want to be the one eliminated without a fight.”
“Ah, no… At least I avenged Mr. Crank’s death…!”
Amon and Crank raise a question mark at Lucia’s next words. Whether Lucia realizes it or not, she takes a big bite out of her bread, looks at the screen, and exclaims.
“Um, um…! Mr. Zetto is doing something weird!”
Amon and Crank also focus on the screen.
“That’s…”
Amon’s eyes flicker to Zetto’s sword and from what he could tell, it was some sort of start-up motion.
Since Zetto’s sword had changed, and he was holding it in reverse, his swordplay seemed to have changed as well.
Zetto was about to demonstrate his swordplay.
‘The ranged strikes he showed in the Labyrinth, or the stamina-draining swordplay?’
Either way, Amon was looking forward to it. Maybe, if it was Zetto.
“That… Isn’t that what we faced?”
“I closed my eyes and when I opened them, I saw the classroom.”
“Scary, scary.”
All the members of group 1 who had been hit by Zetto’s sword could be heard screaming.
Zetto sliced through all of them, leaving behind a loud roar as he disappeared from the screen.
At that moment, Amon instinctively counted down the seconds.
One second.
Zetto’s new sword grazes Orphele in front of him, and then Zetto is gone, leaving a red thread around Orphele’s neck.
Two seconds.
The body of the other cadet, who was an archer, splits diagonally past Orphele.
At this point, Zetto is nowhere to be seen and the cadets who have been watching this spectacle are stunned.
Three seconds.
Amon’s eyes begin to catch a glimpse of Zetto’s invisible form.
The neck of the Orphel he passed falls, blood gushing out, and the archer’s body splits diagonally.
Zetto stood still and held his sword to Yuri’s throat as she tried to cast a spell.
Time continued to pass.
Yuri was stunned by Zetto’s unbelievable speed, and was unable to move.
It was Zetto who moved first. Blood began to gush from his mouth, and then he collapsed.
The cadets’ horror begins to turn to questions and the same was true for Crank and Lucia.
“Why is Mr. Zetto collapsing?!”
“Why is he spewing so much blood? I know it’s an illusion magic, but isn’t it dangerous?”
Only Amon knew the answer.
‘I heard he said it would take a toll on his physical strength… Did he try it just to see if he could…?’
Amon marveled at Zetto.
His determination to keep going, even when he was exhausted and all his allies were dead and he was alone…It was admirable.
The screen fades to black and Edward signals the end of the mock battle.
Yuri’s magic, which she had been casting, naturally touched Zetto, who had fallen to the ground.
‘He’s got a lot to live up to.’