What the hell is wrong with this guy?
Is he brain-damaged or something?
And yet, when I looked over, he gave me a nod like: 【Wasn’t that perfect?】
I wanted to smack this sixty-year-old man square on the back of the head.
At that moment, the assistant director beamed.
“Haha! I see how it is!”
And right then—this was the moment the name Betting Table started to make sense.
“Yes, of course! Of course you can’t expect this for free!”
The reason I’ve always compared the Empire to a casino is simple: the citizens are rabid for bets.
“In that case! We’ll feature the winning professor separately in next month’s Monthly Daily!”
The betting had begun.
I was about to yell that I didn’t need it, but—
“And additionally! The nation of the winning professor will get an entire full-page spread on page two of our monthly!”
...Oh?
Now that changed things.
I knew it cost around twenty million Hika just to run a single full-page ad on page two of Monthly Daily.
And they were offering that for one win?
‘Wait. Am I seriously about to get swayed by twenty million Hika?’
A ridiculous amount, sure. But I was still trying to collect myself when—
Chief Professor Horup suddenly picked up the mic.
“You there. The young professor. You’re Dante Hiakapo, yes?”
He called me out.
I tried not to react, but Wilhelm was already shoving the mic to my mouth like he was feeding candy to a toddler.
“...That’s me.”
“Are you confident, you lowly senior professor?”
“...Excuse me?”
“I am a Grandmaster. A full member of the Total Natural Assembly, the continent’s premier Illusion Studies society. I lead an entire Illusion-Assassin Syndicate. And you—you dare challenge me?”
Chief Professor Horup ended his speech with a thin smile.
“......”
If this were a script, it was now my turn to deliver a line. And everyone was waiting for it.
I shouldn’t answer... but all the eyes on our side were sharp. Wilhelm, the associate professors, maid Lucy, Cheongru, Layme—even Rebecca was frowning. And Gray? She was practically about to burst.
In that case, I had no choice.
“......You’re not worth being my opponent.”
“Kkyaa!” Maid Lucy squealed before clapping her hands over her own mouth.
Everyone on the Kreutz side froze. Everyone on our side lit up with joy.
And the filming crew jumped silently in the background.
【 ‘Ohhh! That’s it—perfect!’ 】
【 ‘Whoa, the frame! This is amazing!!’ 】
【 ‘Holy—yes, yes!! Run it! Light the fire!!’ 】
Horup’s mouth twisted.
“You «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» seem confident, then... Assistant Director, I have a proposal.”
“Yes? A proposal?”
“Let the winning cadet be featured on the cover.”
...What?
What the hell is wrong with this man?
He just poured jet fuel on a burning house.
Why were we even fighting in the first place?
Because there are two people, but only one chair.
In other words, the whole point of the interviews, costumes, and illusion duel was to decide who’d be on the main cover of the Monthly Daily.
And now Horup was suggesting to settle that—through a duel?
That was a literal all-in wager. The Assassination Daily crew, already hyped, leapt to their feet like maniacs.
“Ohh!! This is perfect!!”
“So the loser dies, right!?”
Even though they kept it professional, anyone could see they were one shriek away from full-blown euphoria.
This is absurd.
But ultimately, all authority rested with the director and assistant director. They wouldn’t seriously accept such an unhinged idea, right?
Right?
That’s when they nodded.
“Accepted——!!”
Everyone except me had lost their damn minds.
***
And so, following Part 3, came Part 4.
Assassination Daily—that lunatic company willing to sell out their own executives for clout—immediately set up the match between Horup and me.
“I heard there’s a massive illusion duel about to go down?”
“Who’s it—ah, those two?”
They even dragged in extra bystanders “because an audience adds tension,” and apparently a few of them were Illusion majors.
【 ‘Oh, this is gonna be viral. Kreutz has sunk billions of Hika into Illusion Studies, and now a Hiaka senior professor is dueling their chief?’ 】
【 ‘Even if we reveal the result later, just airing the duel unedited will blow up our sales!’ 】
Their minds were already racing through business calculations. That was the problem.
You can’t air this publicly!
You lunatics!!
But it was too late.
So I decided—I’d cross just one line I had drawn in my heart.
“Consider yourself lucky. What you’re about to see... is a [Forgery] you’ll rarely encounter.”
Then Horup spoke, sounding full of himself.
I didn’t reply, just stared at him.
“My illusions are... special. They use vast, intricate formulas unlike anything you’ll see elsewhere. Everyone who’s dueled me has come away transformed.”
And just like that, I realized his primary ability was 『Imaginary Garden』.
In [Illusion], there are multiple schools of thought.
Some pursue illusions that mimic reality as closely as possible. (Me.)
Others chase exaggerated, dreamlike fantasies as if high on narcotics. (Horup.)
“Begin the illusion duel—!”
The room fell silent as Horup and I stood face to face in the center of the set.
“—Now!”
The moment the signal dropped, magic rippled from Horup’s entire body.
In true assassin fashion, he tried to overwhelm and crush me with a single explosive burst.
Zzzzzrzzzt—!!
His colossal mana shook the entire set.
And then... the miracle began.
“Wh-What the hell...!?”
The set was expanding. What used to be a single room was now the size of an indoor stadium. Though the physical space remained unchanged, the sense of space—its realism and depth—had been masterfully altered.
And that was just the beginning.
It expanded again. And again. Until it was the size of a concert stage.
Then... his body began to transform.
It was like igniting a match the size of an apartment complex. His entire body became an impossibly massive flame, slowly forming into a single shape.
A dragon.
A massive, coiling, Eastern-style dragon with a tail like a whip. Easily 100 meters long. It rose, twisted, and ascended into the heavens.
Then it glared down at me.
KRURURURURURURRK!!
It roared, the sound shaking heaven and earth.
“U-Urgh...!”
Anyone weak of mind might faint from the pressure alone.
It was overwhelming.
So this... is a Grandmaster.
< Why do you not act. >
Then it spoke—not aloud, but straight into my mind, like the voice of a god. A forced [Infusion] formula manipulating another’s senses.
That he could even attempt to inject into my mental structure proved how deep his illusion mastery went.
< Have you lost your nerve? >
One thing I had to admit—his mana was at least three times mine. And that was being conservative.
If I had forged this space, my mana would’ve dried up halfway through. But he still looked relaxed.
And yet...
“Professor Dante! Why are you just standing there?”
“Are you conceding defeat!?”
The crowd started shouting.
From the outside, since I hadn’t conjured anything yet, I looked like I’d already lost.
But no.
< Cowardly fool... >
< I’ll count to five. If you haven’t manifested your illusion by then, I’ll consider it your loss. >
< Five. >
His bored voice echoed in my mind.
But the truth is, I wasn’t frozen.
I’d simply never seen a chief professor–level illusion firsthand before.
I was curious.
And it was amazing.
< Four. >
But now, the sightseeing was over.
< Three! >
He had always favored the grand and the flashy.
But is that really the answer?
< Two!! >
And with that thought—I summoned a tiny Glass Butterfly.
Flutter flutter...
It rose, delicate.
< ...... >
The dragon—Horup—seemed unsure whether this even counted as an illusion.
< You would dare challenge me with that? >
< Pathetic. Worthless. That you think yourself my equal with such trifling skill... >
The monstrous, glittering construct opened its gaping, unreal mouth.
The butterfly floated upward. Horup readied his breath to obliterate it—fire swelling in his chest.
< It ends here. >
He prepared to activate his overwhelming illusion.
But mine was already done.
< Chief Professor Horup. >
I spoke—directly into his mind.
His draconic face contorted in shock.
< ............!!! >
He had been struck by something unexpected.
< Can you hear me? >
< Y-You... what... are you...!? >
< So you can hear me. >
See, World Forgery doesn’t include a [Infusion] formula.
And yet I had just used it on him.
Why?
Because I hijacked his own [Infusion] formula. I tunneled through it, reversed the current, and sent my voice back into his mind.
A reversal made possible only by pure skill superiority.
< You...!! How did you tap into my frequency!? >
Of course he was shaken.
[Infusion] is one of the most extreme one-way formulas in the craft.
Like a teacher drilling facts into a student—you don’t expect the student to inject back.
And yet, I did.
< How!? How are you speaking to me through my own formula!? >
Finally, he asked.
It was rage—but also academic hunger.
< Curious, are you. >
< Tell me what trick you used! Now—!! >
< Chief Professor Horup. You may forget this later, but I’ll still give you one lesson. >
< A lesson...!? >
< Don’t be consumed by grandeur and spectacle. >
< ......!! >
< The essence of illusion... is deceit. >
And the dragon’s face crumpled.
< Nonsense—!! >
FWOOOM!! A savage aura surged, warping the very space.
< You, a mere senior professor, dare to teach me illusion?! I am a chief! A Grandmaster!! >
His rage was justified.
Five years of belief becomes faith. He’d studied [Illusion] for fifty.
And yet—his entire worldview had just been flipped.
< Then allow me to show you. >
< ............!! >
The studio went dead silent.
Horup had frozen.
I raised my hand.
Everyone felt the tension.
And as all eyes watched—
I pointed.
At the dragon’s head.
Flutter...
The butterfly perched.
Then I spoke.
“Die.”
That was all.
【 ‘Uh...?’ 】
【 ‘Wait... that’s it?’ 】
And just as confusion spread—
The change began.
The dragon’s enormous head fell off.
⋮
『World Forgery: Spatial Perception Forgery — [Near Death]』
⋮
Immediately after—
Clink—! Clink—!
His entire illusion space began to detonate in sequence.
From farthest to nearest, in the order it was expanded.
One explosion after another.
CLIIIIINKRRAAAANG—!!
And at last, when the dragon’s severed head exploded—
The entire hundred-meter monstrosity burst apart at once.
Until finally, like shattered glass scattered from a storm,
the entire studio filled with fragments.
───────── !!!