Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Extra Lives

Three seconds.

In only three seconds, I cut the necks of every member of Team 1.

—Thud.

—Thump.

The sound of the enemies’ heads falling to the ground came from behind me.

It was my first time using it in real combat.

What was unusual was that, perhaps because the enemies’ movements had slowed so dramatically, their weaknesses appeared more clearly.

Drops of blood clinging to the cursed blade dripped down one by one, then turned to ash and scattered into the wind.

—Clack.

Then I sheathed the blade.

“Kgh.”

Blood surged up in my mouth, if only slightly.

Sierra, who had been watching me with her arms crossed, added a word.

[ As calculated, three seconds seems appropriate. Chapter Two itself is still a little rough... but the movement was clean, without any waste. ]

Even cutting down four people had been cutting it close.

Three seconds—no, thirty seconds—was still not enough.

But even those three seconds burdened my stamina. Blood had come out, but since I felt no pain, I could not know how badly my body was aching inside.

I wiped the blood that must have been on my mouth and turned back toward Amon.

Amon’s face was stained with shock.

—Clang!

Just then, Amon pulled his gauntlets from the ground.

After pulling them free, Amon examined the clattering gauntlets and asked me quietly.

“...What the hell are you? It was only for a moment, but I could barely follow you with my eyes.”

“...”

I did not bother answering Amon’s question.

“Last time too, and this time too... you definitely twisted your mana, didn’t you?”

“Did I?”

“Hah, even being unlucky has its limits. If you had that kind of skill from the start, I don’t think there was any need to make a plan like this in the first place...”

Amon snorted as he spoke, then stopped and glared at Lucia over there.

Lucia was sitting collapsed on the ground and had not gotten up.

“I have limits too. If I push myself any further here, I may... die.”

I said that to Amon and slowly began building the stairs.

Stairs that naturally led to second place.

“Hmm... So now, at last, it is time for this Amon Caligus to step forward.”

Understanding my words well enough, the corner of Amon’s mouth lifted.

His smile was not especially reliable.

After finishing my conversation with Amon, I doubted he would look after Lucia, so I stepped forward.

I was the team leader, after all.

When I approached Lucia, making my presence known, she turned her head, looked at me, and began to tear up.

“B-because of me, Mr. Crank... sniff...”

“...Mr. Crank is doing fine.”

“Uuuh... Really...?”

“Yes. I’m sure he is watching us even now.”

Since Crank had been eliminated, he would have left the illusion magic and was probably watching us with Edward.

“Mr. Crank... I’ll definitely avenge you...!”

Only then did Lucia gather herself and stand. For some reason, her eyes were blazing.

The one she needed to avenge him against was none other than herself.

Well, whatever the case, as long as she regained her senses and stood up, that was enough.

Then Lucia looked around, and question marks filled her face.

“Wh-wh-where did the enemies go...!? I’ll use ‘Tornado Calling’!”

“Tornado Calling, my ass... Zeto already cleaned them all up. Lucia, are your eyes just decorations? Should I stuff stones into those useless eyeballs?”

When Lucia raised her index finger and did something rather stupid, Amon, unable to keep watching, approached this way and yelled at her.

“Hiiik...”

Lucia finally covered her eyes with her fingers and shrank back.

Tornado Calling was a high-level spell even among wind magic.

The spell summoned blade-like whirlwinds in the middle of the battlefield, and its power was fairly strong.

I remembered that Lucia “could” use it.

She simply could not control the direction of the whirlwind.

“Then Mr. Zeto took care of them all by himself? If it’s Mr. Zeto, that makes sense! Hehe...”

Perhaps embarrassed, Lucia scratched her head, glanced at me, and smiled brightly.

...I thought Lucia was ordinarily cute, “as long as she was not an ally.”

Innocent, cheerful... in any case, that impression was strong.

Soon, she stepped a little closer to me and opened her mouth.

“Mr. Zeto, you are a magic swordsman, right?!”

“...Pardon?”

“What kind of bullshit is this now...?”

At Lucia’s sudden, absurd question, both Amon and I were bewildered.

“Huh...? In your last sparring match, you definitely used Wind Cutter...?! I-I saw everything...!”

When Amon and I expressed our doubt, Lucia too grew flustered and stammered.

“Is she talking about Chapter One?”

Well, to pure and innocent Lucia, who knew only wind magic, it might have looked like “Wind Cutter.”

Unable to endure Lucia’s outrageousness any longer, Amon immediately gave her a knuckle to the head.

—Bonk!

“Shut up and stop spouting nonsense, please...”

“Uuuh...”

Lucia, whose head had been struck out of nowhere, rubbed it.

For Amon, famous for having a terrible temper, to let it pass with only this was a rare sight.

Had he already experienced a change of heart?

I had not done anything particular to him, yet compared to Amon in the game, he felt a little calmer.

Whether he would be able to shake off the demonic hand reaching toward him in the future was still unknown, so I would need to watch him a little more.

“Shall we return to the forest now?”

With the situation roughly settled, I decided to make our next move.

At my suggestion, Lucia raised her hand and opened her mouth.

“Our legs hurt, so let’s ride our ‘Vroomy’...!”

When the word Vroomy came from Lucia’s mouth, Amon grimaced.

“What the hell is Vroomy? Shut up and walk.”

Amon said this and was starting to move toward the forest when I suddenly grew curious.

“...What is Vroomy?”

At my question, Lucia’s eyes sparkled, and Amon looked back, then sighed.

***

“How is it? How is Vroomy?! I’ve wanted to ride it again for years...!”

Lucia, sitting beside me, said this with a bright smile.

“It is more comfortable than a carriage.”

Amon, Lucia, and I were riding a huge lump of stone.

This strange vehicle, called “Vroomy,” made from stone Amon created and pushed along by Lucia’s wind, was apparently something Amon and Lucia used to ride and play on when they were young.

“This is embarrassing...”

Amon looked utterly displeased.

When I suggested riding it to save stamina, he had no choice but to follow the opinion.

“This is pretty fun.”

Things I had never seen in the game felt even fresher to me.

If we were not in the middle of a mock battle, I might have wanted to ride it longer.

But now we had to get off.

Thanks to “Vroomy,” we quickly arrived at the forest.

We immediately got off Vroomy and began walking carefully through the forest.

“The forest is too quiet.”

While walking through the forest, Amon said that first.

“Whoever it is, by now the victor should have been decided. They may have expected us to come and set a ‘trap.’”

“A-a trap...?!”

At my warning to watch for traps, Lucia stopped walking and froze.

“Even if they are traps, they will be crude. The sort of thing cowardly bastards do is not particularly frightening.”

Unlike Lucia, Amon showed no sign of concern and moved forward without hesitation.

“There is no stopping that.”

Perhaps Amon’s frustration at not having done much was beginning to boil over, because he stopped paying attention to my words.

Eisel of Team 3.

Yuri of Team 4.

Which of them had survived?

During the placement exam, Eisel had displayed such overwhelming skill that it could be called slaughter.

In terms of skill alone, Eisel was naturally the likely one, but Eisel’s face right before we entered the mock battle made it seem she had little interest in this class.

“Whoever it is, I still have to lose.”

I was still aiming for second place.

And a very natural second place at that.

In the forest, which remained quiet without much noise, only the occasional sound of Lucia stepping on branches could be heard.

In that instant, sensing something was strange, I stopped them for a moment and focused on listening.

—Crack...

A very faint sound came from over there. It was definitely the sound of ice forming.

Immediately, from the direction where the sound came, a sharp piece of ice like an icicle flew at Amon.

I could have blocked it, but I deliberately did not.

Amon should be able to react to that much.

—Clang!

Amon reacted just before the icicle touched his chest, knocking it upward with his gauntlet.

“Fuck... Orphel, you son of a bitch... still as gloomy as ever, huh?”

Amon hurled curses toward the place from which the icicle had flown.

Just as Amon said, judging by the circumstances, the owner of this ice magic seemed to be “Orphel.”

Orphel Aisin.

He was the heir of the Aisin family of water, one of the four elemental families.

Soon, following Amon’s curses, the enemies hiding in the forest revealed themselves.

Yuri Clementine, Orphel Aisin.

And the remaining nameless students who had been their team members.

“So Team 4 won in the end...?”

As soon as we faced Team 4, Amon tilted his head and took a stance, and Lucia began trembling.

—Shing.

I drew my sword to match them.

After that, a strange silence flowed between Team 4 and us.

Aside from Lucia, who was trembling, no one moved.

The one who broke the silence was Orphel.

“No questions. Die for my new weapon. Mud pig.”

Suddenly, Orphel created ice in his hand and, insulting Amon, threw the lump of ice at him.

“What the fuck?!”

The moment Amon heard the words “mud pig,” his eyes flipped, and he charged at the hateful Orphel.

Amon had a particularly bad relationship with Orphel.

At a glance, it was an unnatural attack.

It was too ambiguous to call it harassment, and it seemed focused on insult...

“Amon, the trap...”

...My warning could not continue to the end.

—Whooosh!!

Because a huge blaze immediately surged up from the ground where Amon stepped.

“A-Amon—!!”

At the same time, Lucia cried out Amon’s name.

As if mocking Lucia’s shout, flames wrapped around Amon’s body.

This trap seemed to be Yuri’s work.

“Miss Lucia!”

At my request, Lucia nodded and cast magic toward Amon.

“Wind Blast!”

This time, Lucia chanted properly so as not to make a mistake.

“But Wind Blast...?”

—Whooooosh!!

Soon, a fierce gust of wind stretching from Lucia’s hand reached Amon.

Amon, who had been wrapped in flames, was struck by Wind Blast and slammed into a tree over there.

...Strangely, the fire wrapping around Amon’s body had been put out.

The problem was the impact.

“...Thanks. It amazes me that there are times when you are useful.”

Amon, who had been slammed into the tree, rose as if nothing had happened and praised Lucia.

[ Puhuhu, should I say it is fitting for the Caligus family, who would be second to none in sturdiness... ]

Even Sierra, who approached beside Amon, could only admire him.

Lucia, simply happy to have been praised, smiled brightly.

“Did she use Wind Blast because it was Amon?”

I decided to leave that question in one corner of my mind.

In any case, we were still in the middle of battle.

“Since we are fewer in number, would it not be better to group up?”

I proposed this to Amon, but.

“I don’t care about that. That ice bastard dies by my hand.”

Amon brushed it off lightly, stretched his body, and immediately charged at Orphel.

At this, Orphel also created a sword made of ice, and the two began exchanging blows.

If one had to say, Amon had better compatibility.

However, the current Amon seemed to have lost enough judgment to overturn that compatibility.

“I think we can leave Amon like that...”

The instant I thought that, a fireball flew at me.

—Boom!!!

When I lightly cut the fireball apart, the split halves flew behind me and exploded.

It was Yuri Clementine.

Yuri, who had been standing on top of a tree, descended to the ground and spoke to me.

“Sorry, Zeto. I can’t give up on the armory either.”

“...Is that so.”

I answered Yuri that way and glanced at Lucia over there.

In this case, the remaining two would be Lucia’s share.

The Lucia I knew would definitely be eliminated quickly.

“Let’s say I am busy facing Yuri and cannot pay attention to Lucia.”

After finishing that calculation, I charged at Yuri and began swinging my sword.

It was the beginning of a proper battle... no, a play.

***

“Fuck...”

After leaving the illusion magic, Amon muttered harshly.

In the end, Amon had failed to kill Orphel.

In terms of compatibility itself, one could say Amon was better.

However, because Amon had rushed in recklessly with his eyes completely flipped, he could not be a match for Orphel Aisin, who was famous for being cool-headed and calm.

When he looked around, Edward and the students who had already been eliminated were watching the transmission screen.

The mock battle was still continuing on the screen.

Amon’s eyes took in the sight of Zeto fighting against the three members of Team 4.

“I should have survived at least.”

Amon thought this and returned to his seat.

“Amon!”

“Mr. Amon! Over here!”

When he tried to return to his seat, Crank and Lucia, who had been eliminated first, were calling him.

“...How can you eat bread in this situation?”

Amon sat beside them while glaring at Lucia, who was chewing and swallowing bread.

Lucia had been eliminated before Amon.

Until the moment she died, she had been frightened and fired magic all over the place, so even Amon, who had been fighting Orphel, was hit by one Wind Cutter.

Still, unlike Amon, she had killed one of Team 4’s members.

It was a truly strange thing.

“Uuuh... Mr. Crank gave it to me... It’s tasty...”

“Want some too, Amon? Since I got eliminated early, I went outside and bought some.”

Lucia stopped eating bread and began sniffling, and then Crank held out bread to Amon.

“...I will not refuse. Thank you.”

Unable to resist Crank’s generous smile, Amon accepted the bread.

He was hungry too.

Amon took a bite of the bread and looked at the screen.

On the screen, Zeto looked exhausted.

“He said it consumed stamina.”

Amon recalled the swift sword with which Zeto had defeated Team 1, pondered briefly, and then opened his mouth.

“It feels strange to say this now, but I do not think I have the right to go to the armory.”

Amon swept his hair back and admitted his mistake.

Hearing this, even Crank added a word.

“I didn’t even think we’d make it to second place in the first place. But Zeto was absurd... so I thought maybe. Well, whatever the case, someone who got eliminated without even fighting like me has nothing to ask for.”

“N-no... Still, I avenged Mr. Crank properly...!”

At Lucia’s following words, Amon and Crank looked puzzled.

Whether Lucia knew it or not, she took a large bite of bread and shouted while watching the screen.

“Mmph, mm...! Mr. Zeto is doing something strange!”

At this, Amon and Crank focused on the screen too.

“That is...”

The Zeto reflected in Amon’s eyes was sweeping down the blade.

In Amon’s judgment, it was a kind of startup motion.

After Zeto’s sword changed, and he began holding it in a reverse grip, his swordsmanship seemed to have changed as well.

Zeto was about to display his swordsmanship.

“The ranged slash he showed in the Labyrinth? A swift sword with severe stamina consumption?”

Whichever it was, Amon was expectant. Perhaps, if it was Zeto, one never knew.

“Isn’t that what got us?”

“When I opened my eyes after closing them, I was in the classroom, so I was dumbfounded.”

“Scary, scary.”

He heard every member of Team 1, who had been defeated by Zeto’s swift sword, grumbling.

—Boooom!!

Then, after Zeto swept down the entire blade, he vanished from the screen with a roar.

At that moment, Amon instinctively counted the seconds.

One second.

Zeto’s form brushed past Orphel, who had stood before him, and Zeto vanished while a red thread appeared around Orphel’s neck.

Two seconds.

After passing Orphel, the body of the student who had been an archer split diagonally.

At this moment, Zeto’s appearance could not be seen at all.

From this point onward, the students watching this scene fell into shock.

Three seconds.

At last, Zeto, who had not been visible, began to enter Amon’s eyes.

Orphel’s neck, which Zeto had passed by, fell and blood surged upward, while the archer’s body split diagonally.

Zeto stood still.

He was holding his sword against Yuri’s neck as she tried to cast magic, standing completely still.

Time continued flowing.

Yuri, apparently shocked by Zeto’s impossible speed, could hardly move.

The one who moved first between the two was Zeto.

Blood began spraying from Zeto’s mouth, and he collapsed.

The students’ shock began turning into doubt.

Crank and Lucia were just as confused.

“Wh-wh-why did Mr. Zeto collapse?!”

“How much blood is he spitting? Even if it’s fine because of illusion magic... isn’t that dangerous?”

But only Amon knew the answer.

“He said it burdened his stamina... Did he try it just in case?”

Amon could not help admiring Zeto.

With that exhausted body, even after all his allies died and he was left alone, his tenacity did not give up... It was amazing.

The screen went black, and Edward announced the end of the mock battle.

The magic Yuri had been casting had naturally touched Zeto, who had collapsed.

“There is much to learn from him.”