novelraw Chapter 103 : The Spark That Was Lit (1)
Chapter 103 : The Spark That Was Lit (1)
Chapter 103: The Spark That Was Lit (1)
“Looks like you’re expecting something.”
Nylon read my expression.
“If I can go, I want to go.”
I had no intention of denying it.
“The fact that there’s no precedent means that, up until now, there hasn’t been a single student who transferred between branch schools. That means you can’t go. If you couldn’t go, isn’t it natural that there’s no precedent?”
I didn’t know why it had to work that way.
It just looked like a flimsy excuse he wrapped up because he didn’t want to do it.
Since the other party was a young student, it seemed he thought he could just gloss over it like this.
“So there’s no school rule that says transferring is impossible, right? It’s just that there’s no precedent.”
“……Why are you suddenly so fixated on transferring? The Ed Branch School is a sufficiently excellent school even compared to the Rus Branch School. Is your reason really just because of the uniform?”
When I poked at the ambiguity in his words, he instead dug into my reason.
“Tell me. It seems like there’s some special reason.”
Transferring was just something I threw out there to test the waters anyway.
It wasn’t a goal I absolutely had to achieve.
There was no reason to get into an unnecessary argument with Nylon here.
“No. Anyway, transferring isn’t allowed, right? Then please just pretend you didn’t hear it.”
I answered like that and stood up from my seat.
“……Well, fine.”
When I cleanly gave up on transferring, he didn’t show any particular reaction either.
If that was the case, I’d put meeting Alfric off until later and, as per my original plan, meet Etar first.
“Ignito, follow me.”
“Yes? Is that an order?”
The Royal Guard’s resting place in the Underworld.
Today, unusually, Daemon had sought him out first.
“That’s right.”
Daemon answered coldly and took the lead.
Ignito could only trail quietly behind Daemon.
But the place Daemon was heading toward was strange.
If he had received an order, they should have been heading to the top of the main school, and the waypoint connecting the Underworld and the top was the Hall of Assembly.
However, Daemon was heading into a forest completely outside the Mage’s District.
“…….”
Ignito quietly checked behind him.
Today, for some reason, the city’s appearance looked nothing but hollow.
‘Looks like he’s made his decision today.’
And it wasn’t hard to tell what Daemon’s actions meant.
It was so easy it was like solving a single-digit addition problem.
When they crossed a clearing in the forest, Ignito stopped and spoke.
“Hey, Daemon.”
Daemon stopped as well and turned to look at Ignito.
His expression was badly twisted.
“Cut the act. The purpose is obvious anyway.”
As he answered, Ignito pulled out a red potion from his waist and quickly downed it.
It was Transcendental Water that allowed one to handle the Fire Element.
Meanwhile, Daemon crossed his arms and simply watched his actions in silence.
“Purpose?”
“Yeah. You must have received an order from that oh-so-great Tyrant to get rid of me. So let’s not waste our strength on pointless acting. Let’s settle this right now.”
As the effect of the Transcendental Water he had just drunk manifested, Ignito’s hair and pupils split cleanly into half red and half black.
“You rat bastard of the Ed Family, do you think you can deal with me? I am a mage of the Lamic Family, your natural counter.”
“You won’t know who’s longer or shorter until you measure it. How does a guy who’s even the captain not know that?”
“You really show the characteristics of the Ed Family. That ignorance.”
Daemon began manifesting his magic.
The grass and trees around them shook violently under his enormous magic, and the natural sounds of grass and branches colliding came to Ignito like a requiem.
The enormous magic Daemon manifested.
Orbification of the Water Element.
In the darkening sky, a massive blue sphere of water rose proudly, as if replacing the moon.
Crack-!
Then, part of his orbification began to freeze.
‘Freezing on top of orbification……. Magic he’s never shown even while being the Royal Guard Captain. That means he intends to kill me no matter what.’
Honestly, I was scared.
I had joined the Royal Guard prepared for death, but now death itself was gradually taking shape and approaching.
How many people in this world could calmly accept something called death?
If it were a natural death that came quietly after growing very old and having one’s body worn down everywhere, one could accept it humbly, but for Ignito, this wasn’t that kind of normal death.
“Royal Guard Captain Lamic Daemon, I shall carry out the Full Moon’s execution.”
“Interesting.”
Even though he was prepared for death, Ignito had no intention of obediently offering up his neck.
He planned to pour out every bit of struggle he had, whether it existed or not.
“Ed Impel resists that execution. One of the Ed Family’s traits is that our resistance is fierce.”
With that, Ignito discarded the name he had used while serving as a Royal Guard and officially faced him under his real name.
Ignito—no, Impel—manifested orbification as well.
The difference was that, although it was a burning orbification, its color was black.
Because he had already handled the Dark Element and had just drunk Transcendental Water, this peculiar orbification was created.
“…….”
At the never-before-seen form of orbification, Daemon’s composure cracked slightly.
As the two men’s enormous magics began to collide, the trees and grass around them that had been fine were torn out as if someone were forcibly ripping them apart.
Trees that touched Daemon’s orbification froze in less than a second, and when they were then drawn by Impel’s magic and touched Impel’s orbification, they shattered to pieces and lost their shape entirely.
Just like the water that had originally been there seemed to completely disappear as steam created by boiling spread toward the sky, so too was the fate of the trees around them.
As Daemon’s orbification rotated, it sprayed shards of ice, and as those shards cut into Impel’s cheeks, arms, legs, and every part of his body, thin blood burst forth.
It was a speed he couldn’t keep up with.
‘Head of the family…… no, Father. It seems escaping alive is nothing but my selfish wish.’
He had no intention of completely suppressing Daemon.
From the start, because he wasn’t prepared right now, he knew he didn’t have the power to suppress Daemon.
Moreover, if he wanted to escape, he needed to conserve his strength.
So Impel’s plan was to create an opening by manifesting enormous magic and then escape through that gap.
However, the Daemon he faced as an enemy for the first time was an existence without any openings.
If the Royal Guard Captain was at this level, he couldn’t help but wonder just how strong the Archmage Draco Tyrant, who commanded them, must be.
The more he continued to face him, the more his confidence froze solid.
‘Still…… I couldn’t give up. Everything I could do…… I would bring it all out. I wouldn’t stockpile even the strength to run away.’
At that, Impel clenched his molars tightly and manifested one more orbification.
A magma orbification, with black lava dripping down like chocolate ice cream left under the blazing sun.
But it was an excessive spell for a body that wasn’t prepared.
From the backlash, streams of blood flowed down from both of Impel’s eyes and his nose.
“You…… how could you have two orbifications…….”
“I told you, didn’t I? The Ed Family’s resistance was fierce.”
“With that being the case, judging by your condition, you’re just an ember about to go out, aren’t you?”
Looking at Impel’s face, Daemon instinctively realized it was a fight he could win just by dragging out time, and he wrapped a wall of water around himself.
“Doesn’t matter. You die, then I die, Daemon.”
“……?”
“What is…… this kind of presence……? Am I drunk……?”
At the same time, the tavern.
Rezi’s eyes, who had been chatting with Former for quite a while, widened dramatically.
An enormous mana presence felt from very far away.
It was such mana that it almost made him think he was mistaken because of the alcohol he had drunk.
“…….”
But only after seeing Former’s expression did he realize that what he felt was real.
At the same time, Vise, who had briefly gone down to the basement, hurriedly came up to the first floor operated as a tavern and wore a bewildered expression.
“This couldn’t be…….”
Former simply stood up quietly and walked toward the window.
Three faint spheres visible far in the distance.
One was mixed with water and ice, and the other two were spheres of black fire and magma.
The moment he saw them, Former understood the situation.
“It’s Impel…… sir. Take Rezi and hide in the basement. We’ll have to conceal ourselves for a while.”
“……Rezi, go down.”
“Yes…….”
After Rezi went down, Vise approached Former’s side and witnessed the three spheres floating in the sky.
“Is Impel fighting Daemon……?”
“That’s the only way to see it. Impel already destroyed the mob on his own. It looks like an execution.”
“What are you going to do? Just watch like this?”
“……Sir, you don’t look well. You took that potion, didn’t you?”
“……That’s right.”
“Go down to the basement. I’ll handle this.”
With that, Former boldly flung the tavern door open.
“H-hey, wait! For—!”
Vise hurriedly tried to shout, but fearing that the sound would leak outside as the door opened, he shut his mouth.
Former didn’t look back and headed toward the place where the three orbifications floated.
“……Damn it.”
Former arrived at the problematic location.
It just so happened that the sun had already set, and darkness had fallen over the forest.
Using that darkness, and adding his own magic, Former thoroughly concealed himself and went in search of Impel.
‘There could still be Royal Guards around. I absolutely must not clash with them head-on.’
His objective was only to take Impel out.
He had not the slightest intention of fighting the Royal Guard.
Taking one step at a time, carefully searching over time, Former was finally able to find Impel.
The fallen Impel.
The blood that had flowed from his eyes and nose had already dried, and his body was in a hideous state due to large and small wounds everywhere.
And in front of him lay the fallen Royal Guard Captain, Daemon.
Daemon’s condition wasn’t very good either.
But at least compared to Impel, he was in a far healthier state.
‘To end up like this…….’
Former looked around the place where the two had fallen.
Because it was dark, it wasn’t clearly visible, but the trees and grass were gone, and only ice sheets and heavy black scorch marks remained, resembling hell itself.
Former hurriedly tried to hoist Impel onto his back before the Royal Guard arrived.
Thud!
Impel grabbed Former’s wrist with a trembling hand and asked in a voice full of wariness.
“W-who…… are you…….”
Like someone on the verge of death, Impel’s voice cracked and rang with a metallic sound.
Even though his eyes were open, they weren’t focused on Former.
“W-who…….”
With his other trembling hand, Impel manifested a flame smaller than even a match spark.
Former simply manifested a small Dark Element spell in his hand, extinguished the tiny spark Impel had created, and answered in a whisper at his ear.
“It’s me, Impel.”
“……Root?”
“Yeah.”
“Hah…… haha…… I couldn’t see…… so I didn’t know…….”
“…….”
The dried blood vessels in Impel’s eyes and nose.
They were body parts connected to the brain.
All magic originated from the brain, and he had poured out magic to the point where the brain couldn’t endure it, putting strain on it.
If he were an ordinary mage, it would have been magic that pushed the brain past burnout and into brain death.
“……It’s just dark right now.”
He might have completely lost his eyesight.
But Former didn’t give such a negative answer.
“You look exhausted, so get a little sleep. I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
“Th-thanks…….”
As Impel replied with difficulty, his head drooped.
At the sight of his head dropping as if he were dead, Former’s heart sank, but fortunately, he was breathing normally.
‘You did well, Impel.’
With that, Former carried him on his back and hurriedly left the place.