Chapter 30

Chapter : 30

Thanks to the methods of Mana training Ian had taught me all this time, I had gained at least the bare minimum of discernment.

So I knew something was wrong.

When I looked to see where the white thunder that had just struck Agares had fallen from, I saw that clouds had descended into the sky above us.

The clouds were lower than usual, closer to the ground.

Dense black clouds that looked as though one could reach up and touch them.

They were undoubtedly Ian’s work. The clouds slowly spread outward, swelling in size. Even so, their color only grew darker and darker.

The next thing to fall would be bigger.

If that hit dead-on—

Would even Agares be all right?

Yes.

Agares was an immortal monster.

Unless the being he had contracted with in the Demon Realm was killed, Agares would recover from any wound, and even if his body were destroyed, he would revive.

“Even so... that...”

My gaze was drawn to the clouds as though bewitched.

Looking more closely, I could see a core of mana within them. The true body drawing the clouds inward. The blue-glowing sphere held a terrifying power.

Even with my own limited understanding, the destructive force contained in that sphere sent a current racing down my spine.

BAAAANG!

The sphere exploded.

At the same time, it devoured the dark clouds around it. As though it meant to swallow space itself, the sphere sucked in the surrounding storm clouds.

The sphere lost its light, turned pitch-black, and dropped into Ian’s palm.

Ian looked at Agares and flicked one eyebrow.

Then he fired the sphere.

If that thing were hurled toward the center of the Academy, it carried enough force to erase several buildings without a trace.

KRRRAAACK!

The sphere opened its maw.

It released a pure white flash.

“Madman.”

The disaster Ian had summoned shot toward Agares.

Its speed was too great to follow with the eye, and just as I stepped backward from the shockwave it would bring—

Agares charged toward the sphere.

He kicked off the ground and soared up into the sky.

He spread his wings. They were long-feathered like a crow’s, yet faintly gleaming.

Agares thrust out his right hand. Black Demonic Aura fluttered and wrapped around it like a combat aura.

He collided with the sphere Ian had fired and was swallowed by the explosion. Then he fell, like a sparrow struck by a stone, or like a meteor.

WHOOOOM!

He crashed into the ground.

Judging by the way his fingers were still twitching, he was alive, at least.

---

Ian Roadbreaker felt his vision turn crimson, but decided that such a thing hardly mattered.

Even through the reddened world, he could still see clearly, hear precisely, and feel distinctly.

Agares, was it?

That bastard who was supposedly the Grand Duke of the North.

Until he defended Dimagen for such paltry reasons, Ian had thought him some half-witted fool.

It was not uncommon for territories to fall into the hands of immature heirs, and Ian had assumed he was simply one of them.

That was not it.

The reason he had refused to cooperate in capturing Dimagen was because he himself was the same kind of Dark Mage.

Because he was the same kind of Dark Mage, he had defended Dimagen.

Filthy bastard.

Agares had fought Raphael while using Dark Power.

The two of them had charged at each other with the intent to kill. Raphael, breath ragged, had resisted Agares with every ounce of strength he had. In that brief instant, Ian understood the entire situation.

Agares was in truth a Dark Mage, and he had been trying to protect his companion, Dimagen.

And Raphael, who, like Ian himself, had lost his parents at the hands of a Dark Mage, had flown into a rage and tried to kill Agares even if it meant overreaching himself.

That won’t do.

Raphael’s sword had been about to pierce Agares’s chest, but Ian shook his head. Agares had not even been using half his strength.

Ian had heard before of the sticky vitality Dark Mages possessed.

Even if Raphael’s sword split his heart, he might still regenerate.

No, judging by the atmosphere, that was certain.

Raphael was his friend.

And that friend was in danger.

At the hands of a Dark Mage.

He was furious.

Tudududuk.

The tendons in his neck stood out, and pressure swelled in his chest.

I’ll kill him.

What consequences might come to Ian himself from killing the Grand Duke of the North ranked lower, at that moment, than releasing the rage burning inside him.

Ian drew mana toward himself. His Magical Power was several times denser than usual, and harder as well.

A qualitative rise in mana.

A storm of Magical Power raged around Ian. He stretched out his hand toward the sky. Gray clouds gathered. Like wide-spread cotton candy collapsing into a single mass, the clouds compressed themselves into one sphere.

The clouds were black beyond reason.

KRRRUMBLE!

He extended his fingertips toward Agares and cast the spell.

A white lightning bolt fell from the black clouds. The instant the pure white flash burst forth, thunder rolled across the Academy. The bolt struck Agares directly.

Agares fell like an insect hit by an electric swatter.

Seeing that sight, Ian burst out laughing, then clenched his fist with a crunch.

The bastard had survived.

He boasted a tenacity like some vile insect.

This time, for certain.

Ian realized that he himself had stepped into a new realm.

Many things he had previously thought possible only in theory were now within reach of reality.

He drew all the mana he possessed to its very limit. He compressed it, then expanded it.

The tightly bound blue sphere of mana shrank itself to heighten its quality, then swelled again without losing that heightened state.

It was a manipulation of mana that defied common sense, but Ian accepted it calmly and finished preparing to kill Agares.

WHOOOOOM!

He fired a Mana Bullet.

Agares scattered Dark Power in all directions to counter the projectile. He formed a combat aura out of Dark Power to protect his hand and tried to shatter the Mana Bullet.

He failed.

PAAAAAAAAANG!

Agares’s wings broke, and he fell.

---

I stood there blankly, overwhelmed by the battle between Agares and Ian.

“Are you all right?”

Ian suddenly leaned his head in beside me. Then he asked whether I was all right.

All right?

What did he mean, all right?

He clearly couldn’t have been worrying about me when I hadn’t taken even a single hit from Agares, so the proper interpretation was that he was asking whether this whole situation was all right.

He had just tried to kill the Grand Duke of the North.

Even that monster, the toughest body in the Empire, had been dropped to the ground and couldn’t even rise properly.

And this fool thought there was any chance this could be all right?

Then again, since it was him, perhaps that was possible, so I answered,

“I don’t think this is all right at all.”

“Where are you hurt? I don’t think you’re bleeding...”

“Me? Me? I’m perfectly fine.”

“Then that’s enough.”

It wasn’t enough.

He had left Agares in that state, so now I had to worry about the aftermath.

I couldn’t understand at all why Ian had attacked Agares.

Could it be this?

I desperately hoped it wasn’t, but no matter how I thought it through, this was the only explanation.

“But what was that supposed to be? Why were you suddenly trying to kill Agares? I have to ask this, just in case. Was it because he and I were fighting? Because you thought he was trying to kill me?”

“Yes. That’s right. That filthy Dark Mage bastard was trying to kill you. You don’t need to explain it to me. I have eyes.”

It didn’t seem as though he did.

I shoved the sigh threatening to burst out deep down my throat.

At this rate, he and Agares were going to fight for real.

In raw destructive force, Ian held the advantage, but Agares recovered no matter how badly he was hurt. In the end, the entire surrounding area would be flattened.

Then the Headmaster of the Academy would demand to know the cause, and my name would be dragged into it as well. I wanted no part of that. To begin with, having monsters like those fighting anywhere near me was itself a disaster sign. I was the one liable to be crushed in the middle.

“Hey, get out of here for a bit. It’s not what you think, so it’s fine. Just go somewhere else first. Get clear.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you stay here, there’s obviously going to be a fight. Agares and I weren’t actually fighting, so stop worrying and just go.”

“I’d win. Against a Dark Mage like that, I’d never lose.”

“I’m begging you. Do you remember what you said back then? The thing about granting me one request? I’m using it now.”

Ian’s eyes lifted sharply.

Red light blazed from those crimson eyes as he glared at me and bit down on his lower lip.

“Don’t die.”

“I won’t even get hurt.”

Ian left the place by magic.

Where he went after that wasn’t any concern of mine. If he stayed at the Academy, I’d see him again eventually.

Once I’d driven off the unwanted guest, I looked over at Agares.

He had apparently only just finished regenerating. A wavering haze of Demonic Aura drifted from his entire body as he rose.

“Where did he go?”

“What?”

“The mage who was floating in the sky. Where did he go?”

“Ah. Well... I closed my eyes and opened them, and he was gone. I suppose he ran away.”

“Hmph.”

Agares flexed his two wings once, then folded them again. They slipped back into his back and vanished. He said to me,

“You seemed to know who he was. Explain. Who is he?”

“He’s a student in the Magic Department named Ian. But the thing is... I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding here.”

No matter what I said, it felt as though he wouldn’t believe me, and my vision dimmed.

Even so, the thought of him and Ian colliding again was horrific. The repercussions would absolutely reach me too. So I did my utmost to persuade him, hoping to prevent that.

But Agares merely gave a faint laugh and said,

“I know. He’s your friend, isn’t he? He did it to protect you.”

“What?”

“Did you take me for such a fool that I couldn’t tell even that?”

I widened my eyes hopefully and asked,

“In that case, could you perhaps forgive him? The reason he attacked you, Lord Agares, was because of me.”

“Hahaha.”

Agares’s shoulders shook.

He clutched at his side, then smacked his knee repeatedly with his palm. In a more animated voice than usual, he said,

“How fascinating. Do you remember what that commoner beside you in class once said? That there are rumors about me—that I drink human blood instead of water, and eat human flesh instead of beast meat.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“I know. Aside from a few idiots whose skulls are purely decorative, who would believe it? The important thing is that such rumors exist. That means people believe my temper to be vicious.”

“Oh, no. Not at all. Lord Agares, you have a very good temperament.”

“Does that truly seem so to you?”

“Yes. It does.”

“Well, how very kind of you. Unfortunately, your opinion isn’t the one that matters. What I have to consider is public opinion. I’ve never forgiven anyone in my life. Because of that, people are careful not to create situations in which I would have to forgive them.”

“...”

“And if I forgive that mage, won’t that reputation suffer damage?”

“No one will know.”

Agares smiled and said,

“You know.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“I believe you.”

Agares stripped off the coat I was wearing and draped it over himself. His own clothes must have been left in rags by Ian’s magic.

“A man of your sort is someone I can trust.”

“In that case...”

“If I were an ordinary man, I would have let it pass just as you wished. I’m not joking, not speaking empty words. I truly do trust you.”

Then Agares added in a lower voice,

“That is what I think.”

He laughed lightly.

“But who am I? Am I not the Grand Duke of the North, lord of the largest territory in this Empire and master of the greatest number of people, aside from the imperial bloodline itself? I can’t make decisions according to my personal feelings.”

“What do you intend to do with that mage?”

“I’ll have to kill him. Or, if not kill him, then at least make people believe he received a punishment equal to death.”

“You have no intention of bending on that point?”

“Of course not.”