Erika held out a handkerchief towards Aether.
A challenge to a duel.
Smirking, Aether took it. Her gaze was on Rol.
None of the other guys mattered, she was only going to beat the hell out of him. Then find a good ti and hear his story.
He’d surely have clues about Lotte. That was all Aether was thinking about.
One by one, the students gathered in the large field. The class president Mayreel brought a teacher who would act as the referee.
A subtle tension began perating through the field.
“How should we set the rules?”
Erika asked.
“How about four against four?”
“That’s so overdone....”
“But that’s the easiest.”
If they did four versus four, then the students of Tilette had to send out three more besides Aether.
“They can send out the first to fourth place. Then it would be a match, no?”
Jarod taunted. But Aether wasn’t ruffled, just smiled as she crossed her arms.
“I’m fine by myself, but those are the rules so I guess we’ll have to pick three more people.”
“What, didn’t you say that you sucked ass in combat earlier?”
“Compared to my peers, that is.”
The only ones who properly understood that were Rosemary and Rol.
The ‘peers’ Aether was referring to were the comrades she had had from a long ti ago.
The Four Heavens.
They were the four highest-ranking Golden-Eyed who had been the core of the Demon Army long before the concept of the The Great Nine chas ca to be.
Rol refrained from speaking. On the other hand, Rosemary looked at Aether with clear, round eyes.
“I was feeling a bit stiff, anyway, been sitting at the desk too much lately.”
“Why don’t you stop acting tough and choose three people already?”
“Yeah? If you say so....”
Aether turned around and slowly scanned the students.
Lotte who had automatically beco the second place student of sester two with Verl gone. Freyr who never missed a perfect mark when it ca to Earth Magic. And unknown to others, Rosemary who had the skills to win even if all of Tilette Academy went up against her.
That should be enough.
“S-sis.... May I stay out of this?”
“Why.”
“I’m not confident I can win against an Elental Magic user....”
Ah, that’s right.
Rosemary was undercover right now.
Elentals picked up on malicious intentions of other people. The higher the level, the more accurate they got, allowing them to instinctively recognize Beasts.
Those elves were the worst opponents for Rosemary who was undercover.
Although she was a potential enemy, she was also her younger sister. Aether was obligated to repay Rosemary for her duties toward her.
“Who wants to go? Anyone can do it.”
“Then this one shall.”
The one who stepped forward saying that was the Crown Prince.
Aether’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Why do you look at with such eyes? I am a student as well, you know.”
“I an, you suck ass.”
“You insolent fool! Your words are too harsh!”
As Klion barked, Aether pulled out her staff from subspace. It was done using the mana in the hardcover.
“Ack....”
Seeing the large, hefty caliper, Klion covered his head in fright; it was instinctive.
“M-my goodness.”
“How can a Golden-Eyed use magic without mana grass.......”
Erika and Jarod simultaneously covered the mouths in shock.
In the anti, rilda watched this scene carefully and spoke.
“Are you perhaps carrying around an evil spirit?”
“What are you talking about?”
“There is a faint trace of innate mana that I sense from you.”
rilda’s eyes narrowed into lines. Her sharp eyes swiftly scanned over Aether and her vicinity.
Had she noticed that she was a Beast?
Aether bit down on her bottom lip while Rosemary stumbled backwards.
“Am I sensing things...? It doesn’t seem like mana that ca from mana grass.”
They couldn’t get caught here.
Maintaining a poker face, Aether tried to co up with an excuse. Her shrewd mind soon thought of a decent one.
“I cheated a little.”
“Cheated?”
“There’s a way for the Golden-Eyed to use magic without things like mana grass.”
It wasn’t wrong, since all she had to do was draw mana from the hardcover given by the Goddess.
But the three elves who didn’t know that looked astonished.
“...How interesting.”
“Signing up for this program was definitely a good idea! To think a Golden-Eyed can use mana without mana grass!”
“If you wouldn’t mind, then could you tell us what that is? It would be a great help for the Golden-Eyed community in our country.”
There was a Golden-Eyed community in Kaurelia? Aether’s mouth dropped open slightly as if surprised.
“Well.”
Well, it wasn’t sothing that mattered right now.
“I’ll think about it if you beat .”
Aether deftly twirled the staff and stepped into the center of the arena.
It was the start of combat.
**
He’d been caught. That was the conclusion Verl ca to after much deliberation.
“Huu....”
A sigh ca out.
Was changing just one syllable a bit lousy?
He’d sohow managed to change his face with costic magic, and that wasn’t enough so he’d altered everything like his mana wave and voice so that Rosemary wouldn’t recognize him.
Yet Aether had still noticed right away.
The fact that Rol was actually Verl Horde.
“Students.... I assu that you are familiar with the rules of dueling. Ahem, as long as your safety isn’t at risk.... Then I will not be stopping you so please fight to your heart’s content.......”
With those words, the elderly professor gave permission to duel. The three elves next to Verl pulled out their staffs all together.
Each staff was made from weaving a branch of the World Tree.
“Anyway, that girl, Aether, isn’t she rather interesting starting with her staff?”
“Yes, I’ve never seen such a shape.”
“They say that a staff taken from subspace followed its master’s temperant and knowledge. Then it probably ans that her experience is quite different from ours.”
Sharing their opinions, Erika, rilda, and Jarod chatted amongst themselves. Verl couldn’t erase the feeling that he didn’t fit in.
What did it matter if he transmigrated as an elf, he was human at the core.
Unlike the other three, Verl–Rol didn’t have an Elental. Was it because his nature was that of a human?
The Goddess was a cruel one. Chewing on his lip, Verl pulled out his shabby staff. His position was naturally at the rear.
His classmates were accommodating him. Because he didn’t have an Elental, he was weak; therefore, he couldn’t be at the forefront.
The weak were not even allowed to stand at the front, and Verl lanted that fact. Not matter how much he went places and practiced, he couldn’t even face a high-ranking Beast or Elental Mage.
It was sad. But there wasn’t much ti to be lost in thought.
Because even now, the world was still moving.
“Three, two, one, begin!”
Bang!
Jarod and Erika’s forms intersected. The two elves moved up swiftly like strikers on a soccer field.
“So fast!”
Soone in the audience shouted.
Of course, as the two elves had finished strengthening their bodies using the Elentals.
The skill that one learned by default if they wielded an Air Elental: ‘Wind Dash’.
That allowed them to cover a distance of over twenty ters in just one second.
“Oh no you don’t!”
From the rear, Freyr created a dirt wall. Instantaneous transmutation with no transmutation circle. At the wall that suddenly appeared, the two elves halted to a stop.
But.
Erika jumped up like a spring and over the wall. Jarod smashed the wall with a gust and advanced.
“Bleeeh, that was to stall for ti.”
Sticking out her tongue, Freyr began to mold a weapon using the remaining tal and dirt.
It was in that ti.
Ka-claang!
Four staffs clashed in midair.
Klion blocked Jarod, and Lotte stopped Erika.
“So you’re the Crown Prince of this country? That a day would co where I cross staffs with one so high and mighty.”
“The sa goes for , couldn’t have imagined that I would be doing this against a High Elf, a race I never thought I’d see.”
“Hey there, seems you have ti to chat in the middle of combat?”
“... Ugh, not bad.”
Lotte thrusted her staff upwards and threatened Erika. Erika quickly withdrew and moved out of the way.
Klion ford a water bullet and protected Lotte while attacking Jarod and Erika at the sa ti. Freyr, too, joined in at this point and it beca a chaotic battle.
Aether was in the middle. Taking deep breaths, she looked at Verl.
Verl also looked back at her, and his eyes took in the statuses of everyone including Aether.
[SYSTEM : Reading stress levels of the characters.][Aether : 65 - Dangerous][Lotte Saliere : 90 - Slight breakdown (Obsession)][Freyr Fon Fasstrand : 15 - Safe][Klion Philiut : 45 - Normal]Damn it.
A ntal ailnt had infected Saliere while he’d been gone.
But at least it’s only Obsession....
If it had been ‘Despair’ or ‘Destruction’, then then situation might’ve been worse. This was one good thing in the midst of the bad.
Verl adjusted his grip on the staff and got into position.
Then.
Right in front of him.
“What are you waiting for?”
A girl’s form shot forth.
“Wh-what the...!”
[Ultimate Air Magic ─ Teleportation]
Aether instantly shot into the rear part of the Iliad camp. It was a swift charge.
“How do you know Air Magic...?”
“A friend I once knew taught .”
Oh, that’s right.
At Verl’s groan, rilda turned around in shock.
“H-how did you just......? N-no.... This isn’t the ti!”
rilda quickly utilized her Elental. A piano that shined like a hologram was drawn before her.
rilda created a lody on the piano. As Verl heard the song, his body filled with strength.
[SYSTEM : Temporary status change due to ‘Song of Mana Reinforcent’.][Magic Accuracy increased ( 20%)][Mana Capacity increased ( 16%)][Magic Defense improved ( 30%)]And other buffs continued to list below them. The longer one listened to the lody that rilda was playing, the greater the number of buffs and their effects.
It was truly a broken ability, so of course she was one of the necessary key figures in defeating the Demon King.
But, wait.
“Hey, there’s no physical defen......!”
Thwaaack!
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