༺ Fury (4) ༻
“Ho-ho…”
Miya admired.
Until just a moment ago, Isaac had been processing a 6-star magic circle in his head that he was still not familiar with. Observing the form of the light blue magic circle that was deployed behind him, Miya realized it was the 6-star ice spell [Frost Wave].
Soon, the magic circle casted by Isaac emitted an intense light.
Chararararak──!!!
Starting from Isaac, an icy chill violently spread out in all directions.
Miya leisurely deployed a fire magic circle, spreading flames around her to counteract Isaac’s chill.
The battle between fire magic and ice magic was determined by their temperature and momentum. Would it be overwhelmingly hot, or overwhelmingly cold?
Generally, fire had the upper hand, but if the skill gap wasn’t too large, the result that appears would be…
Chshhhh──
Boom──!!
A steam explosion.
The spreading steam. On the dueling grounds, now turned into a sheet of ice, visibility was blocked for both sides.
Miya sensed Isaac’s mana, tracked it, and was ready to cast a spell, but…
“…!”
As soon as she finished her thought, Isaac had already penetrated the steam and reached right in front of Miya’s nose.
For Miya, who was experiencing Isaac’s combat style for the first time, it was inevitably baffling. It was an unbelievable physical ability.
In other words, Isaac’s choice of tactic was because Miya was his opponent.
If the opponent had been someone like Tristan, who knew Isaac’s combat style well, they wouldn’t have been easily flustered like Miya.
A moment of carelessness pushed Miya into a corner.
Bash──!
“Gah!”
Suddenly, Isaac’s fist, covered in [Rock Armor], drilled into Miya’s face.
There was a crack, the sound of something breaking was heard. Isaac’s rock fist boasted the power to even break through Miya’s [Basic Protection Magic].
Miya’s body flew backward like a ball. Blood gushed from her mouth and nose like an open faucet.
But she disregarded the pain, and quickly spread flames explosively below her, lifting her body up and regaining her posture.
“You filthy insect!!!”
Furious, Miya instantly deployed three magic circles.
As she was about to engulf Isaac in flames, suddenly, his school uniform jacket flew and entered Miya’s field of vision.
Using something like that to block her vision and launch an attack? It was such a shallow tactic that a sneer involuntarily burst out.
Merely a second. No, less than a second. Miya’s vision was briefly obstructed.
Beyond that, Miya waved her fan and launched a 3-star magic [Fireball].
Despite being cast in an instant, it was very large in size and high in mana density.
Boom!
The [Fireball] mistakenly exploded in the wrong place.
Before she knew it, Isaac had already moved out of Miya’s line of sight.
“Where did he…?!”
At that moment.
Isaac’s falling school uniform jacket emitted a faint blue light.
Something hidden inside it had been activated.
A strange pressure. Miya realized that something with a unique mana structure was hidden inside Isaac’s school uniform jacket.
Miya’s eyes widened.
It was the moment she realized that Isaac had thrown his school uniform jacket to make use of something hidden inside.
─The stored ice mana exploded.
Kraaaaaaaaa──────!!!
5-star ice spell, [Frost Explosion].
The Sheath of Disaster, hidden in the pocket of the school uniform jacket, unleashed a powerful [Frost Explosion].
“Guaah!!”
Miya’s insides were mutilated from the explosion of ice mana, and the rushing ice bore into her body.
Even as she vomited blood, Miya hastily swung her fire magic, burning away every ounce of frost in her wake. Her sincere fire magic was on a different level in both temperature and power from what she first used.
She couldn’t understand the situation. What was inside that school uniform jacket?
Before she could deduce the truth, an unbearable irritation surged. Miya felt a twisting anger inside her.
The density and amount of mana, the power of the magic. All should have been superior to that of her silver-haired senior, who seemed like an insect.
‘Why am I… losing…?’
…It’s obvious.
The difference in combat experience was stark.
Isaac, who brutally trained, sparred, and even engaged in life-threatening battles every day, inevitably had an upper hand in combat experience over Miya.
Furthermore, with superior physical abilities, it was natural that Miya couldn’t fully react to Isaac’s unconventional combat style.
It was only then that Miya realized her grave misconception that Isaac would fight like a usual wizard.
“Ma-!!”
Miya tried to call the name of the nine-tailed fox, intending to use its power.
She wanted to throw away her pride and everything else, just to burn Isaac first.
If she could use the power of the nine-tailed fox, Isaac, who engaged in such despicable combat, wouldn’t be able to do anything further.
As such, while Miya was calculating the summoning spell to use the power of the Nine-tailed fox.
Whoosh─!
Isaac instantly entered Miya’s line of sight. He had already stepped beside her.
Miya’s body was still before touching the ground. In other words, he had caught up to her with a terrifying speed.
Miya’s eyes widened in shock. How on earth could someone move at such a speed?
Miya quickly deployed a 4-star defense spell, [Flame Wall], wrapping her body in flames composed of dense mana for protection.
At the same time, she attempted to pour flames toward Isaac.
By then, Isaac was already pulling up an ice wall infused with rock mana, [Fossilized Ice], right in front of her.
“…!!”
Judging by the timing, Isaac didn’t use [Fossilized Ice] in response to Miya’s attack. It was clear he had been approaching while using [Fossilized Ice] from the start.
Miya’s flames couldn’t melt Isaac’s [Fossilized Ice] instantly.
Only then did Miya notice the magic circle deployed above her. Below it was a spherical mass of mana, emitting a light blue glow.
In this duel,
Isaac was using every fleeting moment advantageously.
Miya felt a revolting sensation as if she had been dancing on Isaac’s palm from the very start.
It was as if her actions were being manipulated.
With her current defense, she wouldn’t be able to block that ice spell.
The light blue sphere instantly unleashed a burst of ice and mana.
「Frost Glitter (Ice Element, ★6)」
Whooooosh─────────!!
The 6-star spell, [Frost Glitter], was a spell that sent out a sphere tightly packed with a massive amount of ice mana and then exploded it.
A blinding flash was unleashed.
Reflexively, she shut her eyes tightly.
Numerous ice spikes, with high mana density, penetrated through Miya’s flames and pierced her body.
Various parts of her body rapidly froze.
“Kaaah!!”
Miya screamed at the top of her lungs and fell to the ground with a thud.
Isaac quickly grabbed her black hair.
Miya’s body was tattered.
Isaac’s other hand was directed towards Miya’s abdomen.
“Like this, wasn’t it?”
Kraaaa───!!
“Kahaak!!”
Towards Miya’s already shattered abdomen, Isaac continuously unleashed [Frost Explosion] of moderate power.
Kraaa!
“Don’t you know?”
“Kuhuk!”
Kraaa!
“White wanted to be friends with you.”
“Stop, stop…!”
Kwaaa!
“I don’t know what conversation you two had, but…”
“Uh, ha…”
Kwaaa!
“What kind of treatment is this to someone… who just wanted to be friends with you?”
“Aaah…”
In the dense fog that had now filled the dueling grounds, only the sound of Miya’s abdomen bursting and freezing echoed.
Terrible pain wildly churned in Miya’s mind.
The constant interruption of her thoughts made it impossible for her to properly calculate the deployment of her fire magic circle or the summoning of her familiar.
Because Isaac had grabbed her hair, her body kept bouncing like a pendulum each time a [Frost Explosion] was cast.
The icy chill and tearing pain ravaged Miya’s entire body. Yet, even amidst that immense pain, she wanted to torment Isaac somehow.
As if she were out of her mind, she chuckled and laughed. Isaac stopped the [Frost Explosion] and glared at her.
“You, filthy, insect…! To do this to me…! My nation, Horan… will not… let you… get away with this…!”
Kraaa─!!
“Kehuk!!”
As another [Frost Explosion] was unleashed, Miya’s eyes rolled back. Her eyes were bloodshot with tears of blood streaming down. A body stained with blood. It was as if he was seeing White from the previous duel.
But Isaac was as bitter as the cold he had used.
Miya just violated the unwritten rule that what happened in the academy must end in the academy. Isaac clicked his tongue in disdain at her vile behavior.
Miya was on the verge of fainting. Isaac grabbed her head and smashed it into the ground.
Boom!
“Horan or whatever, come and see.”
Then Isaac activated a 6-star ice spell, [Frost Wave].
Charararararack───!!!
The intense cold spread rapidly, driving away the dense fog.
The Priestess, battered with frostbite, frostnip, and penetrating wounds, was completely frozen.
It was a shocking sight.
Everyone in the arena was stunned.
Most people, despite feeling sorry for White, had expected Miya to win.
The outcome before their eyes far exceeded their expectations.
The Clover Paladin grinned excitedly as if amused.
Ciel, Mateo, and Jack were speechless.
The arena was engulfed in silence.
Isaac coldly looked down at Miya lying beneath him, his crimson eyes filled with scorn.
“Haa.”
His breath turned into a white frost, scattering in the cold wind.
