Arc 22: Final Exams (5)

As expected, Aster was the first to reach Frondier.

His god, Baldur, increased all of Aster’s stats—a simple ability, yet brutally powerful.

“Frondier! No cutting in line!”

Frondier smiled at Aster’s words.

“Just like you.”

CLANG!

The hand Aster reached toward Frondier struck something. He withdrew his tingling arm and looked at Frondier.

Strange. There was nothing to see, yet something had blocked him. It had definitely felt like metal against his hand.

Behind him, Jane and Elodie began deploying their mana. As mages, they could launch spells far faster than they could run. Their magic bullets took only seconds to form. A comfortably quick pace.

CRUNCH!

But both their magic bullets were stopped by a wall of ice that rose before them.

Its scale, the chilling cold of the ice—there was no mistaking its creator.

“Aten...!”

Elodie spotted Aten. She had cast her spell from a distant position, nowhere near Frondier.

‘She had her position secured from the start. For a spell this large, she must have started chanting ages ago.’

This was probably Frondier’s team’s plan. Of course he would not be reckless enough to try sneaking away alone with the victim on his back.

But then, what was the purpose of this plan? Even if they stopped Elodie and Jane, there were still Aster and Atzier. Was Frondier going to handle those two alone?

Just as Elodie expected, Atzier quickly reached Frondier.

He closed in without hesitation. He needed to remain wary of Aster nearby, but securing the student playing the victim again came first.

Atzier thrust his spear. He already knew Frondier had invisible weapons. Piercing straight through the space before him, the spear knocked aside most of Frondier’s woven weapons.

“Urgh...!”

Flustered, Frondier backed away. Atzier was not about to let him go. He swiftly closed the gap, grabbed Frondier’s collar, and reached toward the student playing the victim on his back.

Why had Jane been so certain that the student on Frondier’s back was the “victim”?

Because Frondier was carrying them, they wore an upperclassman’s uniform, and their appearance matched.

There, in front of Atzier’s outstretched hand, Frondier’s hidden card smiled faintly.

SHRRK!

The student on Frondier’s back extended a hand. A fan rested in it, and as it snapped wide open, blades shot out from between its ribs.

“...!”

Atzier hurriedly swung his spear shaft to knock the blades away.

Those blades, and that fan.

The woman on Frondier’s back—could she be...?

“Would you really lay your hands on a lady so rudely, Professor Atzier?”

Quinier de Biet. Her black fan gleamed.

Frondier had never been carrying a victim at all. He had merely carried Quinier and disguised her as one.

And now, at this very moment—

The moment they realized that the supposed victim on Frondier’s back was actually Quinier.

‘Do you understand what this means?’

Frondier had no time to say it aloud. He could not even carelessly shift his eyes.

‘The situation has changed.’

Frondier gripped the necklace, Black Lotus. In that brief instant when Atzier retreated from Quinier’s attack.

An opening in Atzier’s defenses was hard to create. But Frondier was not the one who would exploit it.

‘Aster!’

Frondier cried out inwardly, almost in prayer.

As though answering him, Aster instantly changed direction and drove his blade toward Atzier.

The person Frondier had been carrying was not the victim. In other words, Frondier was an ally, not a rival.

The situation had reversed in an instant. Now Atzier was cornered instead of Frondier.

Evans Family Weapon Arts

Basic Sword Form

Horizontal Slash

Aster’s sword swept horizontally once again. Atzier’s stance had crumbled as he retreated.

But Atzier always had one more move left.

Atzier’s Unique Spearmanship

Falling Tension

Atzier’s outstretched spear touched Aster’s sword. For an instant, the two weapons clung together, and the strength drained from Aster’s strike.

Aster’s eyes widened.

‘From a stance that unstable...!’

Falling Tension knocked the sword from his hand.

Seeing that, Atzier tried to recover his stance, but—

“Menosorpo.”

A familiar voice recited an unfamiliar word. Frondier. Atzier instantly felt magical power surge throughout the area.

A magic circle? He was activating a magic circle without even drawing it on the ground?

Before he could finish that thought, however, a sword appeared before his eyes.

Ampere’s sword, Gram.

“...!”

Atzier’s eyes flew wide, and he dodged the strike. After slashing vertically downward, Frondier twisted his lowered sword tip.

Atzier’s Basic Spearmanship

Frondier-Style Sword Adaptation

Diagonal Slash

The Diagonal Slash flowed without hesitation, as though he had known Atzier would dodge.

“Foolishness!”

But Atzier was the originator of the Diagonal Slash Frondier had unleashed. He could read its trajectory perfectly.

He raised his spear shaft into the path of the blow. The timing was perfect for a parry.

WHOOSH!

But Gram vanished. No, it scattered into some ink-like liquid.

‘?!’

Atzier’s spear shaft swept through empty air. He had not made the mistake of missing so completely in years.

Quinier seized that opening.

SHRRK!

Quinier fired blades from her fan at Atzier.

Despite leaving such a large opening, he used his shoulders and arms to deflect them.

But immediately afterward—

“This is the real attack.”

Quinier’s fan came within an inch of his throat. He turned his head to evade even that, but—

“...!”

Four spears were already hovering in the air around Atzier, all aimed at his neck.

“Hah... Hah... Finally caught you.”

Frondier panted heavily.

Atzier quietly regarded the spearheads aimed at his throat.

He thought for a moment. With his own strength, he had ways to escape even this situation. Had he fought at full power from the beginning, he would never have been cornered this badly.

But he was only playing a monster in this exam. Frondier and the other students had stopped here precisely because they knew it was an exam.

If he truly were a monster, would he have a way out? Or could he have prevented this situation from arising?

After considering it—

“I’ve lost.”

Atzier conceded. If anything, he looked refreshed as he admitted defeat.

He quietly examined the four floating spears. What a marvelous technique. Spears had formed where nothing had been a moment ago—and in midair, no less.

“Frondier. Is this your technique?”

“Hah, hah... Y-yes. It is.”

Frondier still could not seem to catch his breath. He was the only one present in such a state, making his still-inadequate stamina plain to see.

“Whew.”

Aster released his Divine Power. The white radiance vanished, and he returned to his usual self.

“Frondier, what would you have done if I’d kept attacking you?”

“I trusted you wouldn’t. I figured we’d never get a chance to catch my brother unless we went this far with the deception.”

Aster smiled wryly.

It was hardly a safe plan, but it had worked, so he had nothing to say.

“Oh, right! What about Elodie...?”

Aster turned around.

There stood Jane, both hands raised in unreserved surrender.

“Could you stop this girl? I keep telling her I surrender, but she won’t listen.”

Jane was pointing at Elodie, who had both hands extended toward her.

She had apparently already completed an enormous mana formula. Mana roiled around her, and the brace on her wrist shone.

“Elodie! It’s all right now! It’s over!”

“I know! Canceling magic halfway through is harder!”

Shouting, Elodie gradually lowered her hands. Her magical power slowly subsided, and a hiss of escaping air came from the brace. It was not just a sound; smoke poured out as well.

Frondier approached and asked,

“Elodie, is that unbreakable steel?”

“Hm? Oh, well, yes.”

She answered casually. Frondier had seen her buy the unbreakable steel at the auction, after all.

At her answer, Frondier silently studied the metal brace on her wrist.

Something about his gaze frightened Elodie, and she hid it.

“Wh-what? I’m not giving it to you, no matter how you look at it.”

“You don’t have to.”

His answer was a little strange. What did he mean, she didn’t have to? She had said she wouldn’t.

Something suddenly occurred to Elodie.

“Come to think of it, you bought something strange back then.”

“Something strange?”

“You bought the Cursed Cloth. Did you have some use for it?”

“Oh,” Frondier said, pointing at his tie.

... What about his tie?

“This is it. The Cursed Cloth.”

“Eugh?”

“Heh heh. It’s cursed.”

“Euuugh.”

Elodie backed away with a look of genuine disgust.

* * *

Everyone watching the screen witnessed Aster’s and Frondier’s teams claim victory.

Those around Frondier during the fight knew him to some extent, which softened the impact for them.

But a tremendous shock swept through the spectator stands like a gale.

“Frondier...”

“How did the Human Sloth...?”

There had been teamwork and surprise attacks, but Frondier had made Atzier admit defeat.

That fact stunned the students. It shocked them even more than the Fireworks had.

Yet the students were not the most astonished people there.

“Just in case you’re thinking of asking, don’t. I’m surprised too.”

“This wasn’t your doing?”

“I told you it wasn’t. How could I do that?”

Ampere and Malia had seen it.

Only for an instant, but it had unmistakably been Gram.

It had not made it onto the screen during Frondier’s fight with Binkis. But joining Aster to fight Atzier was the biggest match of this practical exam. There was no way it would not be shown.

Without realizing it, Ampere gripped the scabbard at his waist. The sword inside was unquestionably Gram.

He had seen its exact likeness on that screen, though it had soon vanished like some sort of liquid.

Malia asked,

“It must be an illusion, right?”

“If it were, Atzier would not have tried to block it.”

“Everything was happening so fast. He must have misjudged it.”

Malia’s explanation was plausible. Even Atzier might become flustered amid such confusion, faced with multiple attacks that had begun so suddenly.

And there was no possibility other than her suggestion. Ampere still physically possessed Gram, after all.

Yet the look in Atzier’s eyes when he saw Frondier wield Gram—that expression sent an indescribable chill through Ampere.

“Anyway, doesn’t this practically guarantee Frondier first place? He cleared his own alarm, then took the lead in helping another team win too.”

Malia nodded in satisfaction.

There was still some cause for concern depending on how the scores were calculated, but no student had distinguished themselves as much as Frondier in this practical exam.

Of course, Ampere would deny it—

“Indeed.”

“... Huh? What did you say?”

“I also believe Frondier will take first place. I never expected Atzier to lose.”

Even Ampere said Frondier was first.

He acknowledged it so readily that Malia felt unease before joy.